1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:02,920 It's an honor to be here with all of you. 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,920 I want to thank Josh for giving me the opportunity to preach one 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:09,400 last Sunday. It's wonderful to be here with 4 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:13,480 all of you today and worship the King of King and Lord of Lords 5 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,640 with you one final time. We'll get in today's text, but 6 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,480 before we do, please join me in a brief moment of prayer. 7 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,240 Heavenly Father, you are holy. We shout the same words of Moses 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,360 from the Exodus. Who among the gods is like you? 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:36,400 Lord, who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome and glory, 10 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:41,080 working wonders? Oh God, who among the gods is 11 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:43,640 like you? Let us be reminded of that 12 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,760 today, that there was no one like you in the heavens or on 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,960 the earth. May you give us a holy 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,800 imagination of who you are, a refreshed reminder of Your grace 15 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,800 towards your people, and a bold faithfulness towards the call 16 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,640 that You have given us, even when it makes no sense. 17 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:02,280 Lord, you are faithful and true, and there is no one like you. 18 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:05,319 It is in your Son's holy and precious name that we pray. 19 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,120 Amen. The the 2000's pop band The 20 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,600 Script opens their song Break even with the line. 21 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,480 I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathing, just praying to a God 22 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,480 that I don't believe in. And it's a heartbreak song, but 23 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:22,680 there's something raw and honest in that lyric. 24 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:26,800 In a moment of deep pain, the singer turns to prayer, even to 25 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:28,880 a God he claims that he doesn't believe in. 26 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,200 I think that taps into something bigger. 27 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,400 In our culture, when life slips out of our control, we grasp for 28 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,440 something, anything, that might give us control back. 29 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,680 And for a lot of us, prayer can drift into that category. 30 00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:44,480 We put God in our back pocket for when times get tough. 31 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,120 We treat prayer like a tool to soothe our emotions, vent our 32 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,400 frustrations, or, if we're honest, manifest what we want to 33 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:54,320 happen. I've been doing hot yoga over 34 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,320 the past few months and before each class we set an intention 35 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,280 which often sounds something like you are the main character. 36 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,680 Visualize what you want. Manifest good energy, and the 37 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:07,640 universe will make it happen. Now I can get on board with 38 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,600 positive thinking, but if I'm not careful, the manifest 39 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,920 mindset can just slip right into my prayer life. 40 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:17,040 Suddenly prayer turns from what was a place of communion with 41 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,400 God into a place of manifesting what I want. 42 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,120 Running late? God, give me a good parking 43 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,240 spot. Or while I was in the seminary 44 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,440 and failed to to find the time to study. 45 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:28,880 God help me pass the test that I didn't study for. 46 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,160 Or a throwback to misses Rosa's third period Spanish class. 47 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,800 God make sure Nikki Richter wants to go to prom with me. 48 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:41,240 Spoiler alert, she did not. And sometimes the answer is not 49 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:43,160 to pray harder. It's to leave early and get 50 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,120 there on time, to find the parking spot, to create time to 51 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,000 study, or to just work on being less awkward around Nikki. 52 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:53,360 And don't get me wrong, God does care about the small things. 53 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:56,600 I think in Mark chapter 10 when Jesus asks the blind man, what 54 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,240 do you want me to do for you? He cares about our desires. 55 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:03,560 But if we only ever approach him as a divine therapist or cosmic 56 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:05,640 genie, we've missed something essential. 57 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:08,760 Because in scripture, prayer isn't safe. 58 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,080 It's not about leveraging God for what we want. 59 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,600 It's about encountering the Holy sovereign, ever creating King of 60 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:17,640 the universe, and Isaiah learns in his moment of crisis. 61 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,120 Seeing God for who he is doesn't just soothe us, it undoes us, it 62 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,760 remakes us, and it sends us out for the sake of others. 63 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:28,080 Our chapter begins with a timestamp. 64 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,520 It's like when the movie Gladiator opens with the screen. 65 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,200 In the winter of 180 AD, Emperor Marcus Aurelius 12 year campaign 66 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,040 against the barbarian tribes in Germania was drawing near to an 67 00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:39,200 end. They are setting the context for 68 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:41,480 which the story of Gladiator will be told. 69 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,440 In the same way when Isaiah starts his chapter with in the 70 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,800 year that King Uzziah died, he's giving context to what is going 71 00:03:47,800 --> 00:03:50,640 on around him. And be frank, is not good. 72 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,560 The Lord is about to send Israel into exile. 73 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,120 He's going to use the great empires of Assyria and Babylon 74 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,480 to judge the people of Israel as they persist in their idolatry 75 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,360 and oppression of the poor. And it was in the very moment of 76 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:04,680 crisis that the Lord revealed himself to Isaiah. 77 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:10,760 High and exalted, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty. 78 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,280 The whole earth is full of His glory. 79 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,680 The Angel shouting holy, holy, holy is not mere repetition, but 80 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,440 it's rather exponential, each time emphasizing that He is more 81 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:25,720 holy than the previous breath. He is separated from everything 82 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:28,640 else in all of creation. God's holiness is not just about 83 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,960 morality, but it's about transcendence, it's about 84 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:33,640 otherness, and it's about His glory. 85 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,280 Isaiah cannot find the language to describe how magnificent, 86 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,360 wonderful, glorious, majestic and resplendent that God truly 87 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,000 is. And it was seeing God in all of 88 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,760 his splendor in his throne room that I made Isaiah realize how 89 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,000 broken he really is. Woe to me, I am ruined. 90 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,720 I'm a man of unclean lips. And it was see, in a radical 91 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:58,720 encounter with the living God leads to radical self-awareness. 92 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:00,800 There's no comparison to those around us. 93 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,760 It's an inward look of seeing how holy God is and how unholy 94 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:07,840 we are. See, God's holiness is not just 95 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:10,520 something to admire, it is something to be encountered. 96 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,000 And the good news is, God meets Isaiah in the very place of his 97 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,440 unclean cleanliness. The cold touches Isaiah's lips 98 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:23,280 not to harm, but to heal. The place of greatest brokenness 99 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:25,320 becomes a place of greatest calling. 100 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,200 There's a philosophy in Japanese art called I'm going to butcher 101 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,040 the pronunciation, so I apologize, but Kintuji. 102 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,000 And it's the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, 103 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,520 highlighting the cracks and breaks instead of hiding them. 104 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,840 It's this philosophy that embraces imperfection and sees 105 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:45,520 beauty in the scars of life. See, God does not discard broken 106 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,840 vessels. He heals them and fills them 107 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:51,520 with his glory to use. The very place where we feel the 108 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:54,480 most unclean becomes a vessel for beauty and calling. 109 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,360 It is exactly why Paul says to boast in your weakness, because 110 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:01,400 our own willpower will fall short. 111 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,560 But when we come to God, humbly confessing our sin and letting 112 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,760 Him cleanse us, those very weaknesses become the places 113 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,320 when resurrection power shows up. 114 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,640 That is when hell starts to shake. 115 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,080 Because when the weak rise up in mercy and power, death begins to 116 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:19,280 lose its grip. It is exactly from this posture 117 00:06:19,280 --> 00:06:22,040 that we get to ask, Oh death, where is your sting? 118 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:24,000 Oh, death, where is your victory? 119 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:27,240 And it's that posture that we also get to hear the call from 120 00:06:27,240 --> 00:06:31,280 God that Isaiah heard and say, here I am, send me. 121 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,760 It is from this place of complete and total surrender 122 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,440 where God does not smite Isaiah, nor does he leave him, but he 123 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,720 heals him and he calls him. But it's not a calling that we 124 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,160 might expect. It's a challenging call, and it 125 00:06:47,160 --> 00:06:50,480 is deeply painful for Isaiah. God is going to send the people 126 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,760 of Israel into exile because of their disobedience, idolatry, 127 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:55,480 and forgetting the covenant with the Lord. 128 00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:57,320 Sounds a little bit something like this. 129 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,840 OK, Isaiah, here's your mission. You're going to go preach my 130 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:02,600 word. But it's going to have this 131 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:05,520 strange effect. The more you speak, the less 132 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,440 they'll actually hear you. The clearer you make it, the 133 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,200 more they'll resist it and the eyes will glaze over it and 134 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,640 hearts will harden. It's not going to wake them up. 135 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:17,160 It's going to expose how far gone they already are. 136 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,240 And this is judgement through the word itself. 137 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:22,800 It's not God, it's not that God wants people to be blind and 138 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,280 deaf. I think if you look all 139 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,880 throughout Scriptures, quite the opposite, but it's when the 140 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,440 truth confronts stubborn idolatrous hearts. 141 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:31,960 It's like sunset sunlight on wet clay. 142 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,360 The same light that can soften can also harden depending on the 143 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:39,400 condition of the heart. And Isaiah understandably asks, 144 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,440 how long is this going to go on in in God's answer in verses 11 145 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,400 and 12 is heavy until the cities are empty, the land is 146 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,720 devastated, and the people are carried away. 147 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:54,640 In other words, so until the consequences of the rebellion 148 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,280 have run their course. So this is one of those places 149 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:00,160 where we see the paradox of God's word. 150 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,760 It's life to the humble, but it's a stumbling block to the 151 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:05,560 proud. Isaiah's role is to speak 152 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:07,880 faithfully even when it looks like nothing is working. 153 00:08:08,440 --> 00:08:11,920 Because God's Word is not just about changing people, it's 154 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:15,160 about revealing people. Something what's already in the 155 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,400 heart. I think this can be really hard 156 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:22,640 for those of us who are swimming in the waters of 21st century 157 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:24,880 America. I don't just mean out there in 158 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,640 the secular world. I'm talking about in here in the 159 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,240 church. So much of the American church 160 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,960 has quietly swapped, quietly swapped Jesus. 161 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:34,520 Favorite way of talking about the Kingdom? 162 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,240 A seed in the dirt for a spreadsheet and a quarterly 163 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:40,559 report. We've basically rebranded the 164 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,840 Kingdom of God as a Fortune 500 company. 165 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:45,960 The goal? Growth charts up and to the 166 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,000 right, neat blueprints, predictable timelines, and the 167 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 highest possible return on investment. 168 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:54,840 And if you think I'm exaggerating on this mindset, 169 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,640 God is basically the CEO and the consultants down the street at 170 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,680 Bain are telling him you should really cut the dead weight and 171 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:03,640 move on. It's exactly the logic Judas had 172 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:07,920 when Mary pours the expensive oil all over Jesus and Judas 173 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:12,880 asks why this waste and Jesus? Jesus responses. 174 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:14,800 In my Kingdom, nothing is wasted. 175 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,200 In other words, you're running the wrong mental model because 176 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:21,400 the Kingdom is not a boardroom, it's a garden. 177 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,080 Gardens are slow and they're messy. 178 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,880 And yes, the farmer makes a plan and yes, seeds are scattered and 179 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,720 growth will happen, But the kind of growth, the form it will 180 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:35,880 take, the way that it all comes together, it's not something 181 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,320 that we can put on a schedule or a Google Calendar. 182 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:43,680 It's Genesis 1 all over again. God brings life out of the dirt 183 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:47,160 in ways that we can't control. It's the mystery of grace at 184 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,920 work in the soil. That's the entire through line 185 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:52,160 of scripture. Even in the book of Isaiah where 186 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:56,720 the message that he is going to proclaim is exile, is this very 187 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,520 book that describes God Creator as creator more than anywhere 188 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,600 else in all of scripture. Because that is exactly what God 189 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,360 does. He creates. 190 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:09,640 Even in the broken, messy world that we live in now, He's still 191 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:15,680 creating all around us. Around the same time that I 192 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:18,840 began my residency here at Garden, I also started working 193 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:21,200 at Greystone, which if you're unfamiliar, it's just a cafe 194 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,200 down the street. And I very much so viewed it as 195 00:10:24,200 --> 00:10:28,400 a way to live out missionally and, and live my faith with live 196 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,960 out my faith and, and extend the love of Jesus to those who are 197 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,960 in our community that we gather every day or every Sunday. 198 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:40,120 And so over time, I got to know a lot of the regulars and I was 199 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:41,640 getting more and more comfortable with them. 200 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,880 And I was able to, you know, feel, feel like I could have 201 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:48,080 more spiritual conversations more, make some more invitations 202 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:50,680 to these people. And there was one in particular. 203 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:52,880 It was on Good Friday. It was a girl. 204 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:55,240 She'd been coming quite often. She just asked me what I was 205 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,360 doing that weekend. It's Easter weekend, so I was 206 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:00,560 celebrating Easter. I returned the question, what 207 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:02,560 are you doing this weekend? And she said, well celebrating 208 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:04,840 Easter, but I'm doing it at Hunter's and celebrating Sunday 209 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:08,080 Fun day in Southie. And it was this opportunity was 210 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,720 put on a silver platter. It was a pitch grooved right 211 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,320 down the middle. I could have invited her to this 212 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,960 place that I not only worship, but I work for them to come and 213 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:19,760 experience the radical love of Jesus through the resurrection. 214 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:23,800 Instead, I handed her iced coffee, said have a great 215 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,040 weekend and I'll see you Monday. My heart, it still breaks 216 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:31,720 knowing that I had this opportunity to extend the love 217 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,680 of Jesus to a person and I didn't. 218 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,640 I chose self preservation over an awkward moment. 219 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,080 And it probably would have been awkward and it would have been 220 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,680 far more awkward than it would have been amazing. 221 00:11:42,160 --> 00:11:44,600 But it would have been Jesus if I just extended that love. 222 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,640 And it was in this moment that I felt the loving kindness through 223 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,520 rebuke of Jesus because so often I would pray on the train and I 224 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,400 would say, Jesus, give me an opportunity to share your love 225 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,400 today. And there was 1 morning when I 226 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:05,960 just heard him say, beloved you, you are the opportunity. 227 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:09,240 And it was in this in, in this moment. 228 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:11,640 And then I just, I was able to shift my mind. 229 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:13,360 And honestly, there was such a freedom in that. 230 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,400 I think I noticed the way that I showed up even more open and 231 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:19,760 engaged, really having a heart for working with excellence and 232 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,720 love. Well, I never saw anyone come to 233 00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:25,720 faith in Jesus and no one ever accepted my invitation to join a 234 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,480 Sunday gathering. I can confidently say that I 235 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,840 lived intentionally trying to love them more than the world 236 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,040 does. There was actually one couple 237 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:35,280 that came regularly that I got close to when we got dinner a 238 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,160 couple times and they just spoke such kind words and we're so 239 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:39,880 grateful for my time at Greystone. 240 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,280 And I don't say that to say, hey, look how good I am at 241 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,480 making friends, rather the opposite. 242 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,200 Before I had that encounter about being faithful, I would 243 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:53,520 have never had that impact. It was simply by surrendering to 244 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,600 Jesus that I was able to enter into these people lives, get to 245 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:58,640 know them and have some really good conversations. 246 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,240 Actually, I grabbed breakfast with the the gentleman from the 247 00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:05,480 couple yesterday, just doing my round of goodbyes before leaving 248 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:09,160 and he asked me something which I I would never have thought I 249 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,240 would have been asked this question, but here we are. 250 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:12,760 And he just said, how are you so hopeful? 251 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,200 It's not a word I would describe myself, but my answer was 252 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:18,480 simple. Has nothing to do with me. 253 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:21,240 Simply because of Jesus and His grace. 254 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,760 See, grace is a celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all 255 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,520 the non celebrants in the world. It's floating cosmic bash 256 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:31,880 shouting its way through the streets of the universe, 257 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:34,800 flinging the sweetness of his causations to every window, 258 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:38,280 pounding at every door in hilarity beyond all liking and 259 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:40,280 happening. Until the prodigal's come out at 260 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,320 last and dance and the elder brothers finally take their 261 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,720 fingers out of their ears. That was Robert for our Capone, 262 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,040 and while they didn't come to faith after our conversations or 263 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,000 enter the throne room like Isaiah did, maybe they will in a 264 00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,480 few years. Maybe the Lord was using me as a 265 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:02,320 seed or as a stump that will blossom into a beautiful flower 266 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,680 of faith. Because along the way, other 267 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:08,120 faithful people will be able to have a similar relationship with 268 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:11,720 them and continue to love them more than the world does. 269 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,360 Because at the end of the day, that is what living a life with 270 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,440 Jesus is all about. It is about receiving a love 271 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:23,960 from Him like no other and then giving that love to those people 272 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,000 around you. The most impactful thing you can 273 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,880 do for the Kingdom of God is to love the person that is closest 274 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:31,840 to you. And by closest, I mean 275 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:34,600 geographically, the person that is closest to you on the street 276 00:14:35,040 --> 00:14:37,000 and the office in your neighborhood. 277 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,240 More than the world loves them. Spreading a word that is about 278 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:45,760 how much more the Lord God Almighty who is holy, holy, holy 279 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,400 loves them. And it may not yield the results 280 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:53,440 that we want or long for, but God is not asking you and I to 281 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:55,840 be a people who produces outcomes, but rather a people 282 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,600 that is obedient. You see Jesus actually quotes 283 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,000 this passage from Isaiah in John chapter 12. 284 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,600 So after he enters Jerusalem it through the cries of Hosanna. 285 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,840 Even after Jesus had performed these so many signs, they still 286 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:16,440 would not believe. And then John will quote Isaiah 287 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:20,760 6 after he writes and then say Isaiah said this because he saw 288 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,480 Jesus's glory. This means that the throne room 289 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,840 encounter that Isaiah had was Jesus on the throne. 290 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,240 The glory that filled the temple was his, the voice that called 291 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:35,760 Whom shall I send? It's his. 292 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,080 And when Jesus is lifted up, it's not in the temple, but it's 293 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,600 on a cross. And the throne is wood, the 294 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,400 crown is thorns, and the robe is blood soaked. 295 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:54,520 And that's where glory lives. There's a there's a theory in 296 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,760 economics, the greater fool theory. 297 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,920 And essentially what it is, it's like hot potato. 298 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:02,800 There's this product that no one thinks is valuable, but they 299 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,760 think there's someone out there, fuller, more foolish to buy it. 300 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:07,760 So I'm going to buy it and wait for the fool to come and buy at 301 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:12,240 a higher price. And I think when thinking about 302 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,000 the Kingdom of God, that is who God is, God is the greatest 303 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:20,480 fool. There's this this beautiful 304 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:25,760 thing, the church, like I said, it's messy and it can can it 305 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:28,480 feel times really painful and really hard. 306 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,680 But God's not passing the buck. It stops with him and he absorbs 307 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:37,920 the cost, which I think is the most foolish thing in the world. 308 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,320 But as Isaiah will go on to say later in his chapters, his ways 309 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,920 are higher and our ways are foolish. 310 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,480 See, Jesus dealt with the same difficulty that both you, myself 311 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,840 and Isaiah are dealing with. This is going off of the back of 312 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:53,360 him raising a dead guy back to life. 313 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:56,720 They still didn't believe, and the message is always going to 314 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,400 be hard. Yet through faith and obedience, 315 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:02,360 Jesus models that this isn't about yielding results. 316 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,319 It's about being obedient to the very end. 317 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,760 And that is the same thing that you and I are called to. 318 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,119 You and I are being called to something that might seem 319 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:13,520 foolish. It might seem like it's 320 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,720 wasteful, but in God's economy, there is no waste. 321 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,560 It's from here that we are called to trust God to the seas 322 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:22,440 we scatter. He will do the growing. 323 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:27,200 So this week I invite you to pick a place, whether it be your 324 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,640 office, your local coffee shop, or the park where you take your 325 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:32,320 kids. And imagine what it would be 326 00:17:32,320 --> 00:17:35,600 like if we went with a refreshed vision of God and said, before 327 00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:43,560 going here I am, send me. And went and offered that vision 328 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:46,400 of God to our neighbors, our friends, and even the people 329 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:49,920 that we don't particularly like and proclaim and demonstrate 330 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:53,240 that the God of the universe is relentlessly pursuing them with 331 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,640 his love. And are we willing to do it even 332 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,600 if it falls on deaf ears and hearts remain hardened? 333 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:07,240 Do we trust Him enough to go even when we don't see the 334 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,840 fruit? Do we trust Him enough to pray 335 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,200 bold prayers even if they feel foolish? 336 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,000 The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are 337 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,760 perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of 338 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:24,080 God.