1 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:13,080 Friends are teaching Scripture this morning and we'll have a 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:17,280 little bit of teaching and a little bit of lectio comes from 3 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:21,640 two places, Hebrews chapter 12, verses one and two, and chapter 4 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:24,040 4, verse 16. It says. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,160 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud 6 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:31,400 of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin 7 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:35,160 that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the 8 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:39,240 race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the pioneer 9 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,840 and perfector of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set 10 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,040 before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has 11 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,200 taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. 12 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:54,560 Chapter 4 verse 16 says. Let us therefore approach the 13 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:59,000 throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and 14 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,640 find grace to help in time of need. 15 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:07,080 This is the word of the Lord. It's good to be with you this 16 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,040 morning. It's a gorgeous Sunday morning. 17 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:16,680 I always love how the light comes through and if you're in 18 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,080 the back, you'll have to wear sunglasses. 19 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:22,480 So Carl's demonstrating that I'm just seeing that that's how 20 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,360 bright it is in Ohio on this wonderful day. 21 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:32,080 So this, this Sunday, is the last Sunday in the liturgical 22 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:37,040 year of the church for churches that follow closely the church 23 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,720 calendar. And at Central Vineyard, we 24 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:43,680 roughly follow the calendar during Advent, leaning up to 25 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:49,040 Christmas and Lent leading up to Easter and then Easter tide 26 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,000 leading up to the day of Pentecost. 27 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,200 So you might not know that, but we try kind of intentionally to 28 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:00,680 follow the church category and those the, the church calendar 29 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,680 in those particular seasons. And those are the seasons that 30 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,960 we lean into the calendar of the church and allow our imagination 31 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,639 to be shaped alongside the whole church. 32 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:17,440 And next week, you might know, is the first Sunday of Advent. 33 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,160 And so we have an Advent series that we're super excited about. 34 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,840 Advent is that time in the church calendar where we are, we 35 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,480 are holding and waiting an expectation for the birth of the 36 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:36,840 Savior, Jesus the Messiah, the one who would bring 37 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,240 reconciliation between God and all of the humans. 38 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:43,960 But what he would also do and what he would preach about and 39 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:47,600 enact with his life and, and his death and resurrection and 40 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:53,080 ascension is he would be enacting a new Kingdom and a new 41 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:57,160 reality, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of God. 42 00:02:57,160 --> 00:02:59,640 That's what Jesus is coming to bring. 43 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,480 And this Sunday at the very end of the church calendar is a 44 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:08,360 Sunday and initially A feast day called Christ the King Sunday. 45 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:14,280 Today is Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King Sunday was a 46 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,760 late addition actually to the church calendar. 100 years ago 47 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:23,120 is when Christ the King Sunday came to be a part of the church 48 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,320 liturgical calendar. And it happened on the heels of 49 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,720 the end of the First World War. And I want to just say a little 50 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,920 bit about Christ the King Sunday and why it was implemented 51 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:41,240 because from our scripture text this morning, we are headed into 52 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:47,440 the lectio of a passage that has us approaching the throne of 53 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,320 grace with confidence. And on that throne is Christ 54 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,840 himself. So around 100 years ago, the 55 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,880 whole world was reeling with the trauma of the First World War. 56 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:04,320 And at the time there was a, a leader who is the Pope, Pope 57 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:08,760 Pius the 11th, and he began talking about and writing about 58 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,240 the shifting landscape of the world. 59 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:16,959 And this shifting landscape came to be known sort of 60 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:20,360 sociologically as the Secular age. 61 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:26,240 The Secular Age began around the early 20th century, just on the 62 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,680 heels of the end of the of the First World World War. 63 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,680 And in in an age that is most succinctly defined like this, 64 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:41,920 belief in God in the secular age is no longer the default belief. 65 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,120 It's just sort of one option among many. 66 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:49,800 And even when people do choose to believe in God, it's kind of 67 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,720 a fragile option to believe in God. 68 00:04:53,880 --> 00:04:57,720 The whole, you know, experience of faith is sort of contestable 69 00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,560 in the secular age, in the 20th century. 70 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,560 It's they, they may, they might you. 71 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:07,960 You might say that belief in God had become a bit SUS from a 72 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,960 cultural perspective because honestly, for the first time in 73 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,640 all of society, all of Western society, you knew really smart 74 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,640 people in your real life who didn't believe in God or go to 75 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,280 church. It's like a first time in 76 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:28,320 Western society. It's now possible and plausible 77 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,200 and culturally acceptable to live your whole life without 78 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,440 reference to God. This is how the secular age is 79 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:40,120 defined. And this reality where you you 80 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,120 would go to the market, you would go to your job, you would 81 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,160 go to the university, and you would meet really smart people 82 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,520 who did not Orient their life around God and church. 83 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,600 This reality begin to shape the framework and the understanding 84 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,480 of how people experience the world. 85 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,360 Not just believers, not just non believers, but believers as 86 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,400 well. What begins to happen 87 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:07,800 simultaneous with this and because of this is the world 88 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,640 also begins to become disenchanted. 89 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:17,320 Hang with me here for a second. The trauma of the World War One 90 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,360 creates a world where people leave behind the mysteries of 91 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:24,280 religion and the idea that the world is filled with the 92 00:06:24,280 --> 00:06:29,360 supernatural and the miraculous. In the enchanted world before 93 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:34,320 the war, things happened because people who were made in the 94 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:39,520 image of God were actively working alongside of God to do 95 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:42,680 good in the world. That's how people understood the 96 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,120 world prior to the First World War. 97 00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:52,880 It was an enchanted age story really, really mattered, and 98 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:59,560 mystery and like sacrament and like power from on high were 99 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,920 things that people talked about. But in the disenchanted world, 100 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:12,480 after the war, the world is kind of run by impersonal forces, the 101 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,840 tyrant leaders, they kind of just do what they want and 102 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,960 prayer might as well just be pretending. 103 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,520 They would say the whole world is no longer a drama unfolding 104 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:28,200 where some supernatural and other world Kingdom is being 105 00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,160 birthed into the world by God and his presence and his grace 106 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,440 and his kindness. That's how everyone thought 107 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:40,400 before the world. But after the war, the Kingdom 108 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:45,640 of this world is being managed and ruled and measured and 109 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:50,240 controlled by men with power and money and prestige. 110 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,440 The world became disenchanted, lost its mystery. 111 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,240 And it was in this world that one of the religious leaders of 112 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:05,040 the time post Pope Pius, said that in the face of all of this 113 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:10,000 shifting change, that the thing that we must do is that we must 114 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:13,800 worship. And that the thing that we must 115 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:20,760 remember is that there is no other king but Christ, no other 116 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,760 king but Christ. Christ is king. 117 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:29,240 And he declared the last Sunday of the liturgical year Christ 118 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:34,039 the King Sunday. The presence of God is real, and 119 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:41,159 this king is alive and among us. Friends, this morning, there is 120 00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:46,480 no king. There is no king but Christ. 121 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,680 Does it feel like that's the world we live in? 122 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:59,400 It doesn't, does it? It's because we are being 123 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,720 trained and taught to live in a disenchanted world. 124 00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:08,440 And the reason that we gather together and worship and lift 125 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:13,760 our voices and come into prayer is to remind ourselves that the 126 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,560 real world that we are inhabiting is an enchanted world 127 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:23,360 with the mystery of God alive in community in the room. 128 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:31,800 Which is why we say, come Holy Spirit, Christ is king and he is 129 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:37,280 among us. He is ushering in a Kingdom with 130 00:09:37,280 --> 00:09:44,120 His love and His mercy and His grace, and He is inviting you to 131 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,120 participate into that. I want you to hang on to that. 132 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,280 That's where we're headed in prayer this morning. 133 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:56,040 We've been in this series over the past eight weeks. 8 weeks, 134 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:58,280 Man, that's a long series, isn't it? 135 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,320 8 weeks. We've been discussing the 136 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,760 passions. The passions are desires and 137 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:10,000 attitudes and the sometimes obsessive emotions and thoughts 138 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,800 that are at work inside of us. And so if you imagine that 139 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,920 there's this place inside of you that is full of energy and 140 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:21,960 desire and resistance, and God has made this place inside of 141 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,160 you for life and vitality and goodness and love and courage, 142 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:29,440 all of that stuff is meant to flow out into the world. 143 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:34,200 It's designed to be a factory of thoughts and feelings and love 144 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:39,640 and desire that is meant to flow out of an enchanted place into a 145 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:45,040 disenchanted place. But because of sin, a lot of 146 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:49,280 that energy that God has placed inside of us and in that little 147 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:54,680 desire factory inside of us gets dissipated and fragmented and 148 00:10:54,680 --> 00:10:57,200 disordered. And this disorder or this 149 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:01,200 fragmentation of our desire keeps us from loving in the way 150 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:06,160 in which we were meant to love. I've just described for you in 151 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:09,040 just about a couple of minutes all of the problems of the 152 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,480 world. Did you know that that could be 153 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,720 done? But that's the reason The reason 154 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:19,800 is that we were meant for love and our loves have grabbed a 155 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:24,880 hold of so many things. And so if you could imagine that 156 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:29,680 you have this great stream that is meant to flow out of you with 157 00:11:29,680 --> 00:11:33,240 this rushing sort of river kind of mentality. 158 00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:38,160 But because the stream gets divided in 1000 different 159 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:43,440 directions, all of the force of that love gets divided, which is 160 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:47,760 why you and I struggle to love in the way in which we were 161 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,400 designed to love. So the passions are named in the 162 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:58,640 formation tradition like this. If you've been with us, these 163 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:04,440 will feel familiar, and if this is your first time, these will 164 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:10,240 feel very familiar to you. Gluttony, lust, avarice and 165 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,080 greed. A sadness or a despondency that 166 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:18,640 simply will not go away. Anger, Acedia, which is that 167 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:21,800 sort of like leaned back posture in life. 168 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:29,080 Vainglory and pride and where we began this series was looking at 169 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,560 this really honest confession by the apostle Paul. 170 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:36,600 He says to the churches in Rome in his letter to them, he says, 171 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:41,960 effectively, there are all kinds of things that I wish that I did 172 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:45,200 not do, and yet I find myself doing them. 173 00:12:46,760 --> 00:12:50,120 And there are a whole other set of things that I really want to 174 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,560 do and yet I cannot get myself to do. 175 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:58,640 I do not understand anybody can relate to this. 176 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:02,480 This is one of those passages where we find ourselves so 177 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,080 easily in the scriptures. Even if this were read outside 178 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,880 of the church and nobody thought it was from the Bible, you would 179 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:11,880 get a bunch of head nods. Yep, that is how my life works. 180 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,440 I actually have a friend who just this week told me he, he 181 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:20,520 happens to be one of those guys that regularly interacts with 182 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:24,160 like Hollywood execs and producers and all that kind of 183 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:25,880 stuff. And he was in a meeting over the 184 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,000 past couple of weeks where he read a small portion that 185 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,520 included this passage. And people who do not have life 186 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,400 with God, people who do not refer to themselves as a 187 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:42,480 Christian, are in the room. And there's something coming 188 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,560 alive in the room because people are like, I've never heard some 189 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,920 piece of literature describe my life so clearly as that. 190 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:58,240 These are people who live in a disenchanted world and they're 191 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:04,200 grabbing a hold of truth. So later on in Paul's letter, he 192 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:06,360 gets to this section in the letter where he's trying to 193 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,240 offer a little bit of guidance, and he says this to the people 194 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,920 he's writing to. He says, I appeal to you. 195 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,600 Therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to 196 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:21,000 present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable 197 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,920 to God, which is your spiritual form of worship. 198 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:30,760 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the 199 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,880 renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will 200 00:14:34,880 --> 00:14:39,160 of God, which is good and acceptable and perfect. 201 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:44,480 For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not 202 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:48,040 to think of yourselves more highly than you ought to think, 203 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,840 but think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of 204 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:56,640 his faith. He says, think about yourselves 205 00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,520 with some sobriety. Don't overlook the reality of 206 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:06,440 your real life. Take a real hard look at what is 207 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,240 actually going on in your life, in the way that your life has 208 00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:14,240 taken on the shape of the whole rest of the world without any 209 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:21,320 distinction, that you inhabit an enchanted story while the whole 210 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:24,160 rest of the world has become disenchanted. 211 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:29,120 And then once you do that assessment and once you get to 212 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,160 that place of sobriety where you're really able to see maybe 213 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:38,480 kind of what's wrong with your life, he says. 214 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,480 Because of God's mercy, come before God and offer your life 215 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:48,640 and allow your whole being to be transformed from the place that 216 00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:51,800 it is right now to the place where God is taking you. 217 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:54,640 And this is what we've been talking about, friends, over the 218 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,640 past eight or so weeks. We've been trying to help all of 219 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:04,320 us get in touch with the way our life tends to just take on the 220 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:10,160 shape of a disenchanted world where we grab a hold of so many 221 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,160 things and our love gets dissipated. 222 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:17,640 And listen, this list, I don't know what your experience has 223 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,400 been, but I have been able to see myself and basically all of 224 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,600 this. We run to food and drink. 225 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:31,920 We have sexual desires in ways that, outside the healthy 226 00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:36,320 fulfilment of that desire, we tend to want more than we need. 227 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:41,720 We fall into large seasons of helpless despondency. 228 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:44,680 We allow our anger to Stew and spill out sideways. 229 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:49,040 Our attention gets fragmented in all kinds of ways, and we easily 230 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,320 run to any number of things to satisfy our boredom and our lack 231 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:58,200 of zeal for life. We want to be seen by others in 232 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:02,320 certain ways, and we often have a hard time imagining ourselves 233 00:17:02,320 --> 00:17:08,280 as the person in the story that needs to be saved and rescued 234 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,960 and cared for. You know, when I was praying 235 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,319 about this sermon series and just like meeting with our 236 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:18,760 teaching team, I think what I thought was, you know, I think 237 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,160 most people would find themselves in maybe one or two 238 00:17:22,160 --> 00:17:25,000 of these. Like, that'd be a good win if if 239 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,040 people would be like, oh, yeah. Like, I can see myself in in 240 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:30,920 that despondency or that lust or that greed. 241 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,440 But as I have, like, met with people and talked with many of 242 00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:40,640 you, as I have reflected on myself, I have become confronted 243 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,400 with the reality that every single one of those things is 244 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,800 active in my life to some degree, some more than others, 245 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,240 for sure. We tend to grab a hold of and 246 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:54,120 fall into patterns on one or two of these things. 247 00:17:55,680 --> 00:18:01,200 But we've been talking through the way that we're transformed 248 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:03,800 over the past eight weeks. We've been trying to figure out 249 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:08,760 and lean into how is it that we actually then become 250 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,880 transformed? And we've been reciting week 251 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:16,160 after week, a little prayer, a little liturgy that Parker LED 252 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,240 us in. And it goes like this. 253 00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:23,200 We are infinitely loved by God, and God's infinite love is in 254 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:27,000 the process of healing everything in us that clings to 255 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:32,680 false things. The invitation of God is to 256 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:39,240 allow God to be the divine physician, and the medicine of 257 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:44,080 God is God's own love poured out into our heart through the Holy 258 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,000 Spirit. So friends, we are changed by 259 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,400 coming into the presence of God and allowing ourselves to be 260 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,560 loved by God and then partnering with God in our transformation 261 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,080 by receiving the mercy and the grace of God. 262 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:02,320 That is the thing that heals us. The mercy and the grace of God 263 00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:06,160 is the thing that heals us. It's the thing that allows our 264 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:11,280 hands to become sort of untightened from all of the 265 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:17,480 things that we're hanging on to. And this healing is an enchanted 266 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,800 healing. It is a mystery about the way in 267 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:25,440 which it works. It's miraculous, but it is not 268 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,480 Pixie dust or magic. It doesn't happen in a moment or 269 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,120 in an instant. It's kind of like the healing 270 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:37,480 that feels a little bit like a long process of chemotherapy or 271 00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:40,600 a long road back from the surgery with all of the physical 272 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:44,240 therapy included. It's the kind where you start 273 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:47,640 where you can barely stand up, but over time you learn how to 274 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,120 walk again slowly. There are things being healed in 275 00:19:51,120 --> 00:19:53,320 our life. It's that kind of healing that 276 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,600 our friends at a A and recovery know how to walk through. 277 00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,200 It's that one day at a time kind of healing. 278 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,240 God is doing a healing work inside of us and it will take 279 00:20:04,240 --> 00:20:09,120 the rest of our life. And so if you find that. 280 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:12,320 As we've been reflecting on these things or have you been 281 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,720 reflecting on your life that it just feels so slow? 282 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,720 I just want to say it just is what it is. 283 00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,800 You know, all throughout the Scriptures, there's a sense of 284 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:35,360 slowness, of change, and there's a frustration that can come when 285 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,640 we look at our lives and we're like, Lord, really? 286 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:42,120 Is it going to take this long? And the Apostle Paul at 287 00:20:42,120 --> 00:20:45,520 different times, he kind of has these kinds of prayers that he 288 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:48,840 prays to God like he talks about these afflictions that he has or 289 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:54,720 this this thorn in his flesh. And he says, I, I pleaded with 290 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,680 God to take this thing away from me. 291 00:20:57,240 --> 00:21:04,520 And God's response to him is my grace is sufficient for you, for 292 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:08,600 my power is made perfect in your weakness. 293 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:13,040 And so if over the past eight weeks, if you've leaned into any 294 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:16,160 of this series and it has brought you in touch with a 295 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:21,760 sense of weakness of your own humanity, my encouragement to 296 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:26,280 you would be for you to really understand that it doesn't mean 297 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:31,400 that you're doing it wrong to feel so weak or to feel the 298 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:34,000 slowness of God's work in your in your life. 299 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,320 My grace is sufficient for you is what Paul says. 300 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:45,000 And then the writer of Hebrews, which gives us to our text this 301 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,200 morning, he echoes the apostle Paul. 302 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:52,480 So Paul encouraged us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. 303 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:57,040 He says give your whole self to God, and God will transform you 304 00:21:57,040 --> 00:22:02,000 into something new by his mercy. And the writer of Hebrews is 305 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:06,480 making a similar appeal as he encourages and exhorts his 306 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,080 recipients to persevere, to take courage, to keep the faith, and 307 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:14,520 to keep walking in faith, believing that God is the one 308 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,800 who is carrying them. And if they do not give up, that 309 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:20,720 in the end everything that they have longed for and hoped for 310 00:22:20,720 --> 00:22:24,400 will come to completion, he says. 311 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:28,560 There's this whole host of people that has been on this 312 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:33,520 journey before you, this great cloud of witnesses in the story 313 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,040 of the Scriptures, and they kept this vision of God's promises to 314 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,640 them out in front of them, even in the midst of the 315 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,560 circumstances in their life falling apart or being 316 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,720 confronted and sobered by their own weakness. 317 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:52,320 He says, just keep believing that it is God's grace and mercy 318 00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:56,960 that rescues you. And so in our passage this 319 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:02,200 morning, he invites them to keep in mind that there's this whole 320 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:06,400 bunch of people surrounding us who live their life in this 321 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:08,840 enchanted story of the Kingdom of God. 322 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:13,800 And he invites his readers to consider what it might be that 323 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,560 is weighing them down. Listen to what the writer of 324 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,680 Hebrew says. He says, Therefore, since we are 325 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:26,920 surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside 326 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,960 every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us 327 00:23:31,960 --> 00:23:35,760 run with perseverance the race that has been marked out for us. 328 00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:44,120 There's these weights and wounds of sin that weigh us down. 329 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:50,080 And the invitation of the writer of Hebrews is to throw that 330 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:55,960 stuff off, the weight of all of that stuff that we cling to, 331 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:58,600 that we that we think is going to satisfy us. 332 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:03,040 There's an active role for us to play in kind of disentangling 333 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,760 ourselves from that stuff. So if you could imagine that 334 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,640 there's just like this weighty rope that is tied around you 335 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,600 because of our engagement and all of those things, and that 336 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:19,160 rope is weighing us down. There's a sense in which what 337 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:23,160 the writer of Hebrews says is figure out what that rope is in 338 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,840 your life and partner with God and throwing that off so that 339 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,000 you can actually run a race without being tripped up. 340 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,680 There's another image that has been really helpful for me to 341 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,640 understand this. There's this image that comes to 342 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:43,160 us from a a pastor and a theologian in the 12th century. 343 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,840 His name is Bernard. Everybody say Bernard. 344 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:55,240 OK, strange name. So Bernard of Clervau LED a 345 00:24:55,240 --> 00:25:01,280 group of monks and he asks us to imagine that in our most 346 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:06,640 original form, our our created form of, of being a human being, 347 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,880 that we are naked before God, that we bear the image of God, 348 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:13,640 that we are made in the likeness of God. 349 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:18,200 And that in our most original form, we are able to love 350 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:25,400 exactly the way that God loves. But it's as though over time we 351 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,760 get covered and we cover ourselves with coats and cloaks 352 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:36,760 like 1 after another. Like, imagine your body covered 353 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:43,040 with like 10 different coats. All of those things that we 354 00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,680 cling onto so tightly, all of those lesser goods that occupy 355 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,760 us and they split our love and affection, the ways that our 356 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,360 desires leak out in lust and gluttony and Vainglory and 357 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:56,680 pride. They're like coats and cloaks 358 00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:02,720 that cover over our naked body. And what Bernard says is that 359 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:08,120 over time, God and his grace is trying to help unburden us from 360 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:13,000 all of those extra layers and to return us to that original form 361 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:19,600 where we take those clothes off and come into God's presence and 362 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:25,480 join God. But it it's really important how 363 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:30,480 you think about that process of taking off the cloaks. 364 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,560 And this brings us to our second reading. 365 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:39,320 He says this. Let us therefore approach the 366 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:46,880 throne of grace with boldness so that we may receive mercy and 367 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,080 find grace to help us in our time of need. 368 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:57,920 So friends, here's how I want to end this whole series and begin 369 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:01,040 a new Advent year. I want to say this to you. 370 00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:06,880 The way that we allow ourselves to be transformed is to come 371 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:12,600 into the presence of God, to approach the throne where Christ 372 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:20,880 is king and is present to us, and to simply receive mercy and 373 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,720 grace to help us in our time of need. 374 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:30,720 That's how you become someone different is you come before God 375 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,680 with all of those layers, all of the things that we've been 376 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:38,400 talking about and without any shame because there's no 377 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,320 condemnation for those that are in Christ. 378 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:49,800 We simply come before God and we receive mercy and find grace. 379 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:55,440 And it's as though that mercy and grace over time removes 380 00:27:55,440 --> 00:28:01,920 those cloaks because in the presence of God we come to know 381 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:05,960 that even in our most naked form, without all of the stuff 382 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,960 that we're clinging on to, that we can come before God and be 383 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:11,400 loved. Does this make sense? 384 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:17,520 God loves you with 10 coats on, and God loves you with 50 coats 385 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,000 on. Whatever is going on in your 386 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:24,360 life, the invitation of the writer of Hebrews and of the 387 00:28:24,360 --> 00:28:28,120 whole of the Scriptures is to come into the presence of God 388 00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,400 and to be met with kindness and love. 389 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:32,840 This is not a throne of judgement. 390 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:37,880 It is a throne of mercy and it's a throne of grace. 391 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:47,720 This is how we get changed. And I suspect that most of you 392 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:53,760 are like, really? This is really how it works. 393 00:28:55,840 --> 00:29:00,040 And I just want to say to you that I do believe this is how it 394 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,560 works. I think this is how we get 395 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:06,920 better, not better in a sense of, but better in a sense of 396 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,520 like this is how we we gain our healing is that we come to the 397 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,280 presence of God. We approach the throne where 398 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,120 Christ is king to receive mercy and to find grace. 399 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:26,560 So we're going to spend a little bit of time in a form of prayer 400 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:30,840 called Lexio Divina. And lexio is just when we take a 401 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:33,760 piece of scripture. And this morning, the kind of 402 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:36,880 lectio that we're going to lean into is a form of imaginative 403 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,160 prayer. I want to ask you to use your 404 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,000 imagination. This is all throughout the 405 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:43,720 scriptures. People have prayed with their 406 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:46,360 imagination. And the temptation in this 407 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,720 moment is going to be to check out or to fall asleep. 408 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:53,880 So one more time, say Bernard. OK, so now see you're awake 409 00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,520 again. So I want to invite you to go 410 00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,120 ahead and get comfortable. I'm just going to lead you into 411 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:04,560 a time of imaginatively praying ourselves into the Scripture, 412 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,360 and if that's helpful for you to close your eyes, you can go 413 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:12,800 ahead and do that. If not, if you think you'll fall 414 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,120 asleep, I encourage you not to close your eyes. 415 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:30,750 Come, Holy Spirit, I want you to imagine that you are weighed 416 00:30:30,750 --> 00:30:38,000 down with hindrance, that you are weighed down with things, 417 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:45,440 that you cling tightly to lesser goods, and that you are weighed 418 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:53,560 down with afflictive thoughts that simply will not go away. 419 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:05,520 And imagine that all of those hindrances and sin and 420 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:11,000 afflictive thoughts are like cloaks or coats layered upon 421 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:24,980 layer. And imagine that you walk into a 422 00:31:24,980 --> 00:31:30,540 room. It was a sweet aroma. 423 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,240 It's filled with light and beauty. 424 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,240 You feel the weight of God's presence there. 425 00:31:58,650 --> 00:32:05,490 You're in the very throne room of Christ the King and you have 426 00:32:05,490 --> 00:32:09,960 all of these cloaks and coats that you're wearing. 427 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:21,000 Just take a moment and let yourself feel the weight of the 428 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,960 things that you are struggling with in your life. 429 00:32:38,750 --> 00:32:41,310 So together we come into the presence of God. 430 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,800 And I want you to ask God this morning to speak directly to 431 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,600 your heart. We believe that God can speak 432 00:32:54,600 --> 00:33:00,840 directly to your heart about 3 things this morning. 433 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:09,760 Things that are hindering you, the sin that is entangling you, 434 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,600 and the thoughts that are afflicting you. 435 00:33:24,940 --> 00:33:32,220 To imagine Christ on the throne, the presence of God is with you, 436 00:33:35,420 --> 00:33:41,860 and you simply ask God, what are the things in my life that are a 437 00:33:41,860 --> 00:33:46,380 hindrance to the life that you're inviting me to? 438 00:34:04,420 --> 00:34:07,100 Let us throw off everything that hinders. 439 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,920 Just let the Lord see you for who you are and say to you what 440 00:34:34,920 --> 00:35:14,760 He will. And then I invite you just to 441 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,680 say to the Lord Christ the King on the throne. 442 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,680 Is there any sin that you would want to point out to me that is 443 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:35,080 an entanglement for me? What are the things that I'm 444 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:38,960 presently clinging to too tightly? 445 00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:51,760 Just speak to God. He's he's on the throne, and 446 00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:53,720 it's a throne of mercy and grace. 447 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:07,160 With great boldness, we approach the throne of Christ the King so 448 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,600 that we may receive mercy and find the grace that we need. 449 00:36:25,630 --> 00:36:48,020 Have mercy, O Lord. And if you feel timid, be bold. 450 00:36:50,620 --> 00:36:53,500 Ask for the mercy and the grace that you need. 451 00:37:24,450 --> 00:37:31,450 Let us approach the throne of grace with boldness so that we 452 00:37:31,450 --> 00:37:37,810 may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of our need. 453 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:52,440 Come Holy Spirit, pour out your love into our hearts. 454 00:38:17,460 --> 00:38:23,940 Let your heart be filled with the love of Christ, the mercy, 455 00:38:23,940 --> 00:38:29,720 and the grace of God for whatever it is that is hindering 456 00:38:29,720 --> 00:38:44,870 you and entangling you. And last, we invite God to speak 457 00:38:44,870 --> 00:38:51,310 to us about those areas of our life that feel like afflictive 458 00:38:51,430 --> 00:38:59,230 thoughts. You know, where are you having a 459 00:38:59,230 --> 00:39:03,040 hard time resting? Like where do your thoughts tend 460 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,440 to drift and pull you away from peace? 461 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:15,280 We bring these afflictive thoughts into the throne room of 462 00:39:15,280 --> 00:39:20,120 Christ the King and we ask God to speak to us about them. 463 00:39:26,880 --> 00:39:34,320 And I want to encourage you to get specific, particular God I 464 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:41,320 name in your presence my anxiety about whether or not you will 465 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:47,560 provide. I cry out to you, Lord, I have 466 00:39:47,560 --> 00:40:00,770 clung to security. Have mercy on me, whatever that 467 00:40:00,770 --> 00:40:03,290 is for you. Just get specific with God. 468 00:40:36,100 --> 00:40:39,860 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, 469 00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:48,040 so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of 470 00:40:48,080 --> 00:41:29,060 need. In Christ's name, Amen. 471 00:41:29,060 --> 00:41:37,540 I want to close with one last time, just the reading of this 472 00:41:37,540 --> 00:41:41,020 liturgy. We'll move into a time of of 473 00:41:41,020 --> 00:41:42,460 ministry. You want to invite Parker to 474 00:41:42,460 --> 00:41:45,340 come up and see if you have anything here. 475 00:41:45,340 --> 00:41:59,640 But we we close with this last here we are together. 476 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:07,760 We say I am infinitely loved by God, and God's infinite love is 477 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:11,880 in the process of healing everything in me that clings to 478 00:42:11,920 --> 00:42:16,040 false things. The invitation of God is to 479 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:19,120 allow God to be the divine physician. 480 00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:25,120 The medicine of God is God's own love poured out into my heart 481 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:29,920 through the Holy Spirit. So friends, as always, we're 482 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,840 going to make some time to pray. I'm going to invite the worship 483 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:38,400 team back up. You know, my sense as I was 484 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:41,640 praying this morning, You know, last week, if you were with us 485 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:45,640 last week, there was a a real tenderness in the room with us 486 00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:52,440 last week during worship. And my sense and my desire is 487 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:58,440 that that tenderness continues. I just have a real sense that 488 00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:02,880 God is leading us into a time of tenderness where his presence 489 00:43:02,880 --> 00:43:07,320 feels a little weighty, where we feel like we can come before God 490 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,960 and something is sort of being opened up. 491 00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,160 And I just had a sense even as I, you know, I get this unique 492 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:17,680 position as I lead you in, in this lectio to see the Holy 493 00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:19,640 Spirit kind of resting a little bit on you. 494 00:43:19,640 --> 00:43:21,800 And I think there's some of you in the room that are feeling 495 00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,160 really tender to the Lord this morning. 496 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:25,720 And we would love to pray for you. 497 00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:29,160 So if you have some stuff that's come up for you this morning, 498 00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:32,200 please don't hesitate to get some prayer.