1 00:00:00,700 --> 00:00:03,700 Well friends I want to Dive Right into our text. 2 00:00:03,700 --> 00:00:08,600 This morning is Rashad said we're in Matthew 5 in verse 8 3 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:11,400 and I want to get us started this morning with a question. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:16,100 Question is this have you ever hidden something about yourself 5 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:18,700 or played a part in order to be accepted? 6 00:00:19,300 --> 00:00:22,300 We have her hidden something by yourself or played a part in 7 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:25,000 order to be accepted a while back. 8 00:00:25,100 --> 00:00:28,600 I was at a social event with some neighborhood dad's that I 9 00:00:28,608 --> 00:00:32,100 was just getting to know. And I was really excited to 10 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:35,100 connect, we were huddled around a fire pit in a buddies, 11 00:00:35,100 --> 00:00:36,900 backyard. And I was just like, I'm glad I 12 00:00:36,908 --> 00:00:39,300 got invited to this thing. I've been wanting to get to know 13 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:41,900 some of the guys who are stage of life and live close to me, 14 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:46,000 and we were having a great time, the drinks and the jokes were 15 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,400 traveling around pretty freely. Most of the evening was really 16 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,400 just beautiful and connecting but there was a specific point 17 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,700 in the evening. When I got caught up, when I got 18 00:00:56,700 --> 00:00:59,900 caught playing a part, an individual came up in the 19 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:03,700 Conversation, who candidly a bunch of the people in the group 20 00:01:03,700 --> 00:01:07,000 did not like very much. Someone made a joke at his 21 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,600 expense and then another person followed on with a pretty 22 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,900 ungenerous judgment about this individual. 23 00:01:12,900 --> 00:01:15,100 And before you knew it, it felt like everybody was kind of 24 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:18,600 piling on and part of me felt uncomfortable. 25 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:22,900 I was like, oh, this feels off, you know, granted, I know this 26 00:01:22,900 --> 00:01:24,900 individual. I've been also put off by some 27 00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:27,500 things that had recently happened, but the way that he 28 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:29,300 was being mocked kind of bothered me. 29 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:34,200 And at the same time, there was a bigger part of me that I'm 30 00:01:34,200 --> 00:01:36,200 embarrassed to say just like wanted to fit in. 31 00:01:36,500 --> 00:01:41,000 I was more worried about kind of being part of the crew that I 32 00:01:41,008 --> 00:01:44,400 was about how I showed up as relates to this other guy. 33 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:48,600 And so before I knew it in an attempt to connect with these 34 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,100 other guys to build some Rapport, I found myself. 35 00:01:51,100 --> 00:01:54,300 Not only awkwardly laughing along but chipping in with with 36 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:58,000 a snide comment my own the very next day and my spiritual 37 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,600 practice is the holy spirit brought Me back to that moment 38 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:04,500 with a highlighter underlining it and instantly I had one of 39 00:02:04,508 --> 00:02:07,100 those moments you know, when you're when you're communing 40 00:02:07,100 --> 00:02:10,199 with Jesus and it's like, I missed it there. 41 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:13,300 I'm disappointed in how I showed up. 42 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:17,100 I hadn't done anything, particularly flagrant, but as I 43 00:02:17,100 --> 00:02:20,300 looked back on the events of the previous evening, I just, I 44 00:02:20,300 --> 00:02:24,100 immediately knew I had gotten, pulled out of my values, out of 45 00:02:24,100 --> 00:02:27,900 my integrity and begun to play a part in order to fit in. 46 00:02:29,100 --> 00:02:32,400 Maybe you can relate is there been a moment where you've 47 00:02:32,700 --> 00:02:35,100 you've hidden something about yourself, you've played a part 48 00:02:35,100 --> 00:02:38,200 in order to be accepted or to get something that you want. 49 00:02:38,700 --> 00:02:41,800 Pastor and author, Mark scanned Rhett in his book on the 50 00:02:41,808 --> 00:02:46,200 Beatitudes suggest that not only do each of these sayings of 51 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,800 Jesus invite us into a new posture, but they also invite us 52 00:02:50,900 --> 00:02:55,700 out of a default or a first instinct way of relating with 53 00:02:55,700 --> 00:02:58,800 one another. And this morning we come to the 54 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,400 Words of Jesus that Rashad's already read for us. 55 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:05,400 In Matthew 5:8, where Jesus says, blessed are the pure in 56 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:09,700 heart for they will see God. So what's the opposite of that? 57 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:15,100 If we were to pick an opposite of pure in heart, Pastor scanned 58 00:03:15,100 --> 00:03:18,900 Rhett suggests that, it might be this instinct to hide and 59 00:03:18,900 --> 00:03:23,300 pretend the instinct to hide and pretend and this Instinct has 60 00:03:23,300 --> 00:03:26,000 been with us for a while, has it not right. 61 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,500 This goes all the way back to the Garden at the very beginning 62 00:03:29,500 --> 00:03:32,700 of scripture. Story in Genesis 3, we find our 63 00:03:32,700 --> 00:03:36,400 first parents disobey God and then immediately, how do they 64 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,400 respond? Right? 65 00:03:38,500 --> 00:03:43,000 They begin to cover up and hide. They, they want to Shield 66 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,400 themselves from being seen, no sooner than had Adam and Eve 67 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,100 disobeyed. God, then there was something 68 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:54,000 inside of them that for the very first time broke where there had 69 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,800 been wholeness, there was now Division and they knew it, they 70 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,800 sense something was off internally and so their 71 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:07,000 instincts to hide to avoid being seen to avoid being seen. 72 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,300 Posed in their Brokenness, there was something that told Adam and 73 00:04:10,300 --> 00:04:13,900 Eve, even in that first moment of Shifting out of Innocence 74 00:04:13,900 --> 00:04:18,300 that if I show up if I allow God to see me if I'm seen by God, 75 00:04:18,300 --> 00:04:22,500 then this thing that is off inside, my soul will be exposed. 76 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,700 And so they responded by hiding and this is an instinct friends 77 00:04:27,700 --> 00:04:32,000 that continues on for each one of us, right up until today, 78 00:04:32,300 --> 00:04:36,900 right, everyone of us is a paradox, if you will where a 79 00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:40,000 mixed bag, Back because on the one hand and this is this is 80 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,300 true, I can't overstate this enough. 81 00:04:42,700 --> 00:04:48,000 Every single one of us is beautiful Created in God's Own 82 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,300 image designed for good. We're beautiful. 83 00:04:52,300 --> 00:04:57,100 And also paradoxically were broken, right? 84 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,500 Something inside. Our soul has been Shattered by 85 00:04:59,500 --> 00:05:03,600 sin and there's their pieces of us that are off, right? 86 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,200 That have been warped and twisted from their original 87 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,800 intent. And deep down everyone of us, 88 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,600 know this, we sense that there are certain parts of us that are 89 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:17,400 more loveable than others. This is The Human Condition, 90 00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:22,200 Paradox, beautiful, and broken. And our first instinct if skin 91 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,400 red is, right? Is that if we're going to feel 92 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,700 okay and our desire to be accepted to, in our desire to 93 00:05:27,700 --> 00:05:33,200 find belonging that we default to hiding and pretending. 94 00:05:34,500 --> 00:05:37,200 Brene Brown. The noted. 95 00:05:37,200 --> 00:05:39,900 Shame researcher talks about fitting in and says fitting. 96 00:05:39,900 --> 00:05:43,100 In is about assessing a situation and becoming who you 97 00:05:43,100 --> 00:05:46,800 need to be in order to be accepted when we distance 98 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,400 ourselves from the parts of our lives that don't fit in with who 99 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:52,700 we think we're supposed to be, we stand outside our story and 100 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:56,200 hustle for our worthiness. And this kind of hustling for 101 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,900 our worthiness is at the very core of this instinct to hide 102 00:05:59,900 --> 00:06:02,900 and pretend and man it starts off, not only early back in 103 00:06:02,900 --> 00:06:05,400 history but it It's early for us, doesn't it? 104 00:06:06,300 --> 00:06:09,900 Like from from childhood from childhood. 105 00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:13,700 It starts out when I was little my parents love. 106 00:06:13,700 --> 00:06:17,100 The fact that I was precocious, they were both teachers and in 107 00:06:17,100 --> 00:06:20,100 our home you know they didn't this wasn't like explicit but 108 00:06:20,100 --> 00:06:23,200 they valued intelligence, they valued academic success. 109 00:06:23,900 --> 00:06:27,700 And so anytime I be carrying around a clipboard anytime I'm 110 00:06:27,700 --> 00:06:30,600 like learning the ABCs all of a sudden my parents like they just 111 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,500 got so excited guys. They were like oh yeah, we are 112 00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:36,000 Really smart. This is wonderful, right? 113 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:37,400 I don't know. Probably wasn't even that smart, 114 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,700 but my parents were, like, really hype about this and, you 115 00:06:41,700 --> 00:06:45,200 know, it's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing to 116 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:46,700 celebrate things. In your kids. 117 00:06:46,700 --> 00:06:50,200 I have an almost two year old daughter now and I find myself 118 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:51,400 all the time. Oh my gosh. 119 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:52,600 Ava. You're so beautiful Ava. 120 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:57,300 You're so smart, right? But but implicitly at a subtle 121 00:06:57,300 --> 00:06:59,000 level. What happens, right? 122 00:06:59,500 --> 00:07:03,300 We began to foreground certain parts of ourselves. 123 00:07:03,900 --> 00:07:07,500 And hide others, right? We begin to show off the parts 124 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:10,800 of ourselves that we think others want to see and hide and 125 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:13,900 pretend when it comes to these parts that are not ashamed of 126 00:07:13,900 --> 00:07:17,300 and and friends, if there is ever been a time when this is 127 00:07:17,300 --> 00:07:20,700 problem in the world, it's got to be now, right? 128 00:07:20,700 --> 00:07:23,500 It's got to be now when our whole world pulls out us and 129 00:07:23,500 --> 00:07:26,700 invites us into a posture of hiding and pretending, I've 130 00:07:26,700 --> 00:07:29,700 recently been interacting with the work of Sherry turkle the 131 00:07:29,700 --> 00:07:33,000 sociologists and psychologists at MIT and she names this 132 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,800 reality. Saying texting email, posting 133 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,000 all of these things. Let us present the self as we 134 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:44,900 want to be. We get to edit and that means we 135 00:07:44,900 --> 00:07:49,900 get to delete, it means we get to retouch the face, The Voice, 136 00:07:49,900 --> 00:07:53,900 the flesh, the body instead of being in the world and with 137 00:07:53,900 --> 00:07:58,000 others as we really are we find ourselves wearing masks 138 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,100 cultivating. Personas in order to win favor 139 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,400 and the acceptance of others. And look at some level. 140 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:09,500 I get it right? This makes sense at some level. 141 00:08:10,300 --> 00:08:14,100 So, like, all of us, all of us want our parents to like us, all 142 00:08:14,100 --> 00:08:16,900 of us, right? One other, one of the accepted 143 00:08:17,100 --> 00:08:19,400 you look nice. Today, I make up the most of you 144 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,600 took showers before coming here. I'm not complaining about that. 145 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,100 Okay, right. There is, there is a level at 146 00:08:25,100 --> 00:08:29,000 which it makes sense for us to foreground parts that are 147 00:08:29,008 --> 00:08:31,200 beautiful. I'm not suggesting that any of 148 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,799 you walk out of here today. And, you know, Yourself. 149 00:08:34,799 --> 00:08:37,500 Hello, my name is Josh. Please allow me to introduce you 150 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:40,299 to all the most dysfunctional and terrible parts of me, right. 151 00:08:40,299 --> 00:08:42,299 That'd be a weird way to introduce yourself. 152 00:08:42,299 --> 00:08:46,100 Not everyone is worthy to hold your wounds and your tender 153 00:08:46,100 --> 00:08:48,600 parts, right? Not everybody's worthy to hold 154 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,900 your wounds and tender parts. But here's the problem while 155 00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:56,800 this instinct to hide and pretend works at a level to keep 156 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,700 us safe, right? It's a great survival strategy. 157 00:09:02,300 --> 00:09:06,500 This very same strategy Keeps Us divided and keeps us stuck. 158 00:09:09,300 --> 00:09:14,500 Even if we are successful. Using the strategy even if we're 159 00:09:14,500 --> 00:09:18,100 effective at masking the broken parts of our souls even if we 160 00:09:18,100 --> 00:09:21,700 can cultivate and curate a compelling image in score, 161 00:09:21,700 --> 00:09:24,900 thousands of likes and follows and become an influencer or a 162 00:09:24,908 --> 00:09:27,900 YouTube celebrity out there with a divided life. 163 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,600 They'll be something in our soul that says, it's not. 164 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:37,100 Okay, it's not real. Parker Palmer so beautifully. 165 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,900 Describes, this burden saying the divided life is a wounded 166 00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:44,500 life and the Soul keeps calling us to heal the rude. 167 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,700 See when we operate in this posture in this first instinct, 168 00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:52,800 default of hiding and pretending, we begin to lose 169 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:54,200 touch with the core of our being. 170 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,300 We begin to lose touch with our souls. 171 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,400 We start to disappear into personas and projections And 172 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:03,800 very often, we sense that there's something off, there's 173 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:05,600 something missing, something's not right? 174 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,900 But instead of going inward, we go outward. 175 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:12,100 We began to see if we can create that thing. 176 00:10:12,100 --> 00:10:15,700 Which will reflect back to us the worthiness that we long for. 177 00:10:16,700 --> 00:10:19,700 You know, if I can just get in this relationship over here and 178 00:10:19,700 --> 00:10:25,000 this girl, or this guy, right then, I'll feel like complete, 179 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,100 right? If I could just man, if I could 180 00:10:27,100 --> 00:10:30,200 just get this job and this salary, right? 181 00:10:30,300 --> 00:10:31,800 Then on, I know that I've made it. 182 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,200 I'm Legit. I'm I'm if I could just get into 183 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,600 that school, right? Then. 184 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,300 I would know if I can buy this house in this neighborhood, 185 00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:42,500 right? If we could have a kid and on 186 00:10:42,500 --> 00:10:46,900 and on and on, we go with these attempts to somehow create 187 00:10:46,900 --> 00:10:49,400 externally. These mirrors, that would would 188 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,700 show back to us that we're okay that we're worthy were accepted 189 00:10:52,700 --> 00:10:56,000 in all the time, we fail to realize in our search for the 190 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:02,900 missing piece that that which is missing is us As long as we 191 00:11:02,900 --> 00:11:07,900 attempt to manage our image and traffic in projections real 192 00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:11,500 relationship remains Out Of Reach, you may have 1,000 193 00:11:11,500 --> 00:11:13,200 connections but you're still going to wind up with deep 194 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,000 loneliness. Palmer suggest that there can be 195 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,900 no greater suffering than living a lifelong lie and friends. 196 00:11:20,900 --> 00:11:24,300 I don't think it is accidental that we are now in a space in 197 00:11:24,300 --> 00:11:28,800 our society and culture where we are more connected than we have 198 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:32,000 ever been. And also more moment. 199 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:38,100 So many of us are caught in this default of hiding and pretending 200 00:11:38,100 --> 00:11:43,900 me too, instead of showing up as we really are, So what's Jesus 201 00:11:43,900 --> 00:11:48,000 got to say about all this, back to our text Matthew 5:8, Jesus 202 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:53,400 proclaims a blessing, over those who are pure in heart, blessed 203 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,100 are the pure in heart. He says, for they will see God. 204 00:11:57,700 --> 00:11:59,300 Now let me be real with y'all for a second. 205 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,100 When I first read this verse, I thought Jesus was talking about 206 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:04,600 sex. Okay, maybe you did too. 207 00:12:04,700 --> 00:12:07,200 I don't know. I grew up in Conservative 208 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,100 Christian culture. Somebody else out here did to I 209 00:12:09,100 --> 00:12:13,900 know And, you know, there's a strong Association if that's you 210 00:12:13,900 --> 00:12:19,200 between Purity and sex, right? So if you are reading this and 211 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:21,800 thinking as kind of I did initially, that Jesus is 212 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,000 warning, that if you really want to connect with God, don't look 213 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:25,900 at explicit content or sleep with you partner outside of 214 00:12:25,908 --> 00:12:27,800 marriage, right? That is not. 215 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,900 I would suggest to you, what is actually going on in this text 216 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:33,300 now, there may be other good reasons for that, right? 217 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,000 But tonight, despite my initial assumptions, I don't think 218 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,700 that's what this passage is all about. 219 00:12:37,700 --> 00:12:42,200 See in scripture Purity, generally has A much deeper and 220 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:45,300 richer meeting than it's kind of given in Purity culture. 221 00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:50,600 When a material is free is pure in the world rather it has the 222 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,800 characteristic of being free from division, right? 223 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:59,300 It's not contaminated by other sources, its whole later in the 224 00:12:59,300 --> 00:13:03,400 same sermon Jesus again brings this same concept back in in 225 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,000 chapter 6, verses 22 through 24 and there he's warning again 226 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,700 about the same danger of a divided heart, but his caution 227 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:12,000 isn't about sex. It's actually about the love of 228 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,800 money and the danger or of walking in a Vision where we try 229 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:18,800 and pursue both Jesus and wealth. 230 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,900 The same time in another context, James is talking about 231 00:13:21,900 --> 00:13:24,800 the same thing. When he says a double minded, 232 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,600 man is unstable. The kind of Purity Jesus is 233 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:32,100 describing here has to do not primarily with sexual 234 00:13:32,100 --> 00:13:36,200 abstinence, but it has to do with interior, alignment and 235 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,100 undivided Soul. So Jesus says, blessed are the 236 00:13:40,100 --> 00:13:44,800 pure of heart and heart here, too, can be a word that can get 237 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:47,800 us off track based. Our cultural assumptions about 238 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:52,300 what the heart is, right? Because in our, in our language, 239 00:13:52,300 --> 00:13:54,600 and in our thinking, very often the heart has to do with the 240 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,200 emotions, it has to do with our feelings, right? 241 00:13:57,700 --> 00:14:01,300 But this word in the Greek actually has to do with the 242 00:14:01,300 --> 00:14:05,600 interior, the deepest part of one's Soul, right? 243 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:08,300 So what Jesus is saying in otherwise is this, he's saying, 244 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:13,200 blessed is the one whose values beliefs and actions are aligned 245 00:14:13,500 --> 00:14:15,400 right down to the core of their being. 246 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:18,600 I think the message translation actually gets at this pretty 247 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,600 effectively when it says blessed are you when you get your inside 248 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,300 World your mind and heart put right? 249 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,000 The best way of describing this kind of purity of heart. 250 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,600 Jesus has in mind here, might actually be Integrity integrity. 251 00:14:36,100 --> 00:14:39,600 In other words, Jesus is inviting us from a posture of 252 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,100 hiding and pretending into a posture of wholehearted. 253 00:14:43,100 --> 00:14:47,400 Integrity, and integrity is a powerful word, isn't it? 254 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:49,700 As it has some weight to it, right? 255 00:14:49,700 --> 00:14:53,300 You know, instinctively kind of what this quality of Integrity 256 00:14:53,300 --> 00:14:56,600 is, right? If your chair has some Integrity 257 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:01,100 to it, you're good, right? If it loses his Negra T, what 258 00:15:01,100 --> 00:15:04,000 happens? What happened? 259 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,100 So you've all right, somebody's gonna end up on the ground, 260 00:15:06,100 --> 00:15:08,300 right? You want you chair to have some 261 00:15:08,300 --> 00:15:12,800 Integrity to it? Integrity is this characteristic 262 00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,200 of alignment that says that when things are in Integrity, 263 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,700 everything fits together, everything aligns, everything is 264 00:15:17,700 --> 00:15:20,600 where it's supposed to be. And this quality of Integrity, 265 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:24,400 when its present, it allows for things to function, effectively 266 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:27,100 and powerfully. Potently for several years 267 00:15:27,100 --> 00:15:28,700 growing up, I study martial arts. 268 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,800 I'm not cool. I was not very good at it. 269 00:15:32,900 --> 00:15:35,700 I Remember very much of it and please, I do not want to spar 270 00:15:35,700 --> 00:15:40,300 you after this Gathering, okay? But one thing I do remember is 271 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:43,300 how important alignment was right? 272 00:15:43,300 --> 00:15:46,000 This is something that our instructors like drilled a sin. 273 00:15:46,900 --> 00:15:49,900 If you're going to throw a punch the punch doesn't come from your 274 00:15:49,900 --> 00:15:52,800 elbow, right? The punch comes from your lower 275 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:55,100 body. All the way from from your hips, 276 00:15:55,700 --> 00:15:57,200 right? When you throw a punch 277 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,200 correctly, the energy is being transferred, from your hips, 278 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:02,700 through your shoulders, down your arm, and into your 279 00:16:02,700 --> 00:16:05,300 opponent, right? And when you throw it, when you 280 00:16:05,300 --> 00:16:08,900 throw a punch with alignment with integrity, something on the 281 00:16:08,908 --> 00:16:12,100 other end is going to move. There's some power there, right? 282 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,500 What happens when you throw a punch out of alignment? 283 00:16:16,500 --> 00:16:18,400 Well, a couple of things can happen, right? 284 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,800 One thing that can happen, is that your punched just kind of 285 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:23,400 crappy, right? There's not a lot of power 286 00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:25,400 there, right? You just you throwing This 287 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,700 Little Light punch that's coming from, from your elbow or from 288 00:16:27,700 --> 00:16:29,900 your shoulder. Another thing that can happen is 289 00:16:29,900 --> 00:16:33,000 you can actually get injured. Very often. 290 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,300 This is exactly what happens. People actually get injured. 291 00:16:35,300 --> 00:16:38,200 In fact, the injury is so common, it's called boxer's 292 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:42,400 fracture and boxer's fracture is the injury that occurs when you 293 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,500 throw a punch and, and things are not aligned. 294 00:16:45,500 --> 00:16:48,900 And instead of that, that power are flowing through you into 295 00:16:48,900 --> 00:16:50,400 your opponent. What actually happens is your 296 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:52,400 hand gets snapped in the process. 297 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,500 Right. Integrity and Alignment are 298 00:16:57,500 --> 00:17:00,800 important and they're not just important in boxing. 299 00:17:02,900 --> 00:17:07,300 You know this right? When we lose Integrity in our 300 00:17:07,300 --> 00:17:12,099 lives, when we lose a purity of heart, it frustrates our ability 301 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:17,300 to show up in the world with power and our ability to connect 302 00:17:17,300 --> 00:17:19,800 with other people a few minutes ago. 303 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,400 I described the situation in which I began to slide out of 304 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,099 alignment in response to some perceived social pressure. 305 00:17:26,300 --> 00:17:28,700 I was more concerned with fitting in even if it meant 306 00:17:28,700 --> 00:17:33,100 putting forward, a projection of myself, then I was about being 307 00:17:33,100 --> 00:17:35,800 true to my values and maintaining my own Tegrity. 308 00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:39,100 I was hiding and pretending in order to fit, in, in this moment 309 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,200 and friends. This is the absolute opposite of 310 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,600 what we see in Jesus. It's the absolute opposite of 311 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:49,400 what we see in Jesus, and Jesus is fascinating to me, because 312 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:51,300 Jesus, honestly, is kind of weird. 313 00:17:51,900 --> 00:17:54,500 I don't know if you thought about this before, like Jesus is 314 00:17:54,500 --> 00:17:58,000 a super weird, dude, right? Don't get me wrong. 315 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:02,300 Jesus is enormously impressive. There's huge Authority and power 316 00:18:02,300 --> 00:18:06,000 that comes out all over the place, but there were any number 317 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,400 of parts of Jesus that you would think that he'd be a little bit 318 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,400 awkward by, right that he try and hide that he try and kind of 319 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:17,000 move into the background. I mean, this is a dude, there 320 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,600 was rumors that Joseph wasn't his real dad. 321 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,900 He was from a Podunk Village out in the middle of nowhere, right? 322 00:18:24,900 --> 00:18:27,400 Vocationally, he did not have a quality education. 323 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,700 This man was working as a lowly Tradesmen. 324 00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:35,000 And yet Jesus did not hide. He didn't try to impress people 325 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,200 or cater to them. In fact he constantly invited 326 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:43,000 people into the reality of his life and he went he will like 327 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,400 far with this friends like Jesus straight up said, hey follow me, 328 00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:50,400 come with me even when he did not have a place to live. 329 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,900 We thought about this like the tank says he did not have a 330 00:18:53,900 --> 00:18:57,200 place to lay his head. Can you think about the audacity 331 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,000 of that with me for like one second? 332 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:02,800 All right, you are homeless, you literally do not have a place to 333 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,500 stay and you're like, yo, why don't you come to my place 334 00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:07,400 afterwards? Like this is gonna be great, 335 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,700 right? I mean that's some that's some 336 00:19:09,700 --> 00:19:13,800 audacity right there. It wasn't just that how many of 337 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,000 you have ever been in a situation where you had to ask 338 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:20,500 somebody for help, right, maybe for it, maybe was a cow. 339 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:23,600 Ouch, you need to crash on for a couple nights either just 340 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,900 because you're out and bad luck or we're traveling. 341 00:19:25,900 --> 00:19:27,700 Maybe you need to borrow somebody's car. 342 00:19:27,900 --> 00:19:30,400 Maybe you go on a service trip and you need to raise a couple 343 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:32,000 bucks, right? And you had to go around and ask 344 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,200 some family and some friends. If they chip in, I don't know 345 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:36,700 about you. I've been in that position a few 346 00:19:36,700 --> 00:19:39,500 times in my life and let me tell you, it feels it feels 347 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:41,300 vulnerable. Doesn't it right? 348 00:19:41,700 --> 00:19:45,000 You know, if you've been in that spot it's like who this feels 349 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:46,600 vulnerable. I don't like not being 350 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:49,500 self-sufficient. I don't like needing to depend 351 00:19:49,500 --> 00:19:53,000 on other people. Get my needs met and yet. 352 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:57,200 Jesus whole Ministry. This dude who is literally the 353 00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:00,600 creator of the universe? The possessor of all things puts 354 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,700 himself in a position where he has to vocationally depend on 355 00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:07,100 other people's generosity to do his work. 356 00:20:07,900 --> 00:20:10,600 Like scripture tells us that there was a group of women that 357 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,300 had the bag, like they were, they were helping this man get 358 00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:16,500 paid so he could continue doing this thing. 359 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,900 And what's crazy is that Jesus didn't debit any of this out of 360 00:20:19,900 --> 00:20:23,300 his profile. All right, like we got the text. 361 00:20:23,300 --> 00:20:26,400 Jesus, loved it all in there. Like, how easy would it be for 362 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:28,800 Jesus? Or for his followers to say is 363 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:30,400 kind of what's our guy in a bad light? 364 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:32,300 Lets, you know, we're just going to shake this up a little bit 365 00:20:32,300 --> 00:20:34,800 over here, put a little filter, on it, over here, we can, you 366 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:36,800 know, make that a little thinner, you know, it's going to 367 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,800 be good. Jesus leaves it all in. 368 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,400 And that's Integrity, Jesus knew who he was. 369 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:48,100 He operated in a wholehearted Integrity for Jesus. 370 00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:52,000 The deepest parts of his nature and character flowed through his 371 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:56,300 values into his actions into his behavior into the way he showed 372 00:20:56,300 --> 00:20:59,200 up with people. And there was an authority, it 373 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:04,200 was present because of that. It was nothing tisza T, that's 374 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:08,500 present because of that. Now friends, I am embarrassed to 375 00:21:08,508 --> 00:21:09,800 admit this, but I'm a millennial. 376 00:21:09,900 --> 00:21:11,100 How many Millennials we got out here? 377 00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:12,200 If you're a millennial in the crowd. 378 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,300 Okay, Millennials everywhere. All right, shout out to all the 379 00:21:15,300 --> 00:21:19,200 Millennials out there. So if if there's one thing that 380 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:25,700 we value as Millennials it is, Authenticity, cool. 381 00:21:25,700 --> 00:21:28,500 I thought someone was gonna say iPhones, but yeah, authenticity 382 00:21:28,500 --> 00:21:31,400 is actually the answer that I was looking for authenticity. 383 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,700 Unlike most Millennials, I have a high value for authenticity, 384 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,400 but I think sometimes in our culture Authenticity is put 385 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,900 forward not as the real version of authenticity, but is a 386 00:21:45,900 --> 00:21:47,800 counterfeit. Does anybody know what I mean? 387 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,800 By this? Write as a times we use the word 388 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,900 authenticity which again I think is a good thing is a value. 389 00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:56,900 But sometimes we use this kind of counterfeit version of 390 00:21:56,900 --> 00:21:58,800 authenticity. That means something along the 391 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,100 lines of just, I'm going to express whatever feels true to 392 00:22:01,100 --> 00:22:04,000 me, right? I'm going to say, whatever. 393 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,400 I think with no filter, right? My dad used to say. 394 00:22:07,700 --> 00:22:08,800 Yeah. You're like somebody who just 395 00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,200 like open their mouth and their brains fell out, right? 396 00:22:11,300 --> 00:22:14,800 It's like Sometimes we think that that's what authenticity 397 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,100 looks like. And I would suggest that these 398 00:22:18,100 --> 00:22:20,900 versions of authenticity are actually counterfeit. 399 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,400 To according to scripture, there's not one you inside you. 400 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:29,300 Right. We're actually in this innermost 401 00:22:29,300 --> 00:22:33,100 being we're divided. There's there's a lot of stuff 402 00:22:33,100 --> 00:22:35,900 going on Paul talks about this in Romans 7 when he describes 403 00:22:35,900 --> 00:22:39,300 the wrestling that he experiences between conflicting 404 00:22:39,300 --> 00:22:41,300 desires. He says, I don't understand what 405 00:22:41,300 --> 00:22:43,900 I do. Like I want to do. 406 00:22:44,100 --> 00:22:47,400 I don't do it like, but what I hate I do that. 407 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,500 What's going on here? I'm like, Paul, I feel the same 408 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:53,700 way when I need to go to sleep, but there's like social media 409 00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:55,800 and there's something on Netflix and then there's this bad, a bag 410 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:57,500 of chips, that's calling. My name, right? 411 00:22:57,600 --> 00:22:59,600 Like I get it. There are things that I like, I 412 00:22:59,608 --> 00:23:02,300 want to do but I also don't want to do those things. 413 00:23:03,500 --> 00:23:05,500 There's a battle inside us, right? 414 00:23:05,500 --> 00:23:07,300 Where a mixed bag where a paradox. 415 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,100 It's interesting. Like Paul said this like a while 416 00:23:10,100 --> 00:23:13,400 ago, internal family systems. If any of you therapy nerds out 417 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:15,100 there saying the same thing, right? 418 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,400 We have all of these parts inside us that are operating in 419 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,300 different ways and showing up in different ways and pulling us in 420 00:23:21,300 --> 00:23:24,700 different directions. Everyone of us is a paradox. 421 00:23:24,700 --> 00:23:27,800 We are beautiful and we are broken. 422 00:23:28,700 --> 00:23:34,000 Both things are true. And the path forward. 423 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,300 I think this is, I want to dial in on this because sometimes in 424 00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:40,200 the push, for authenticity. What actually ends up happening 425 00:23:40,700 --> 00:23:44,000 is we say, I'm just going to embrace and celebrate the whole 426 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,800 back. Write everything that is 427 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:50,600 present. And I would suggest to you that 428 00:23:51,100 --> 00:23:55,000 the path forward is not just settling for a divided soul. 429 00:23:56,100 --> 00:23:58,100 Right. It's not just saying, okay well 430 00:23:58,100 --> 00:24:00,200 there's all this going on, it's all good. 431 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:05,400 It's all to be celebrated great. Nor is it as I think sometimes 432 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,900 in the church, we do more often or is it self-hatred right? 433 00:24:08,900 --> 00:24:11,600 Because there are parts of us that we dislike. 434 00:24:13,900 --> 00:24:17,500 Wholehearted Integrity can accept and be with all of who we 435 00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:21,000 are, the good Bad and the Ugly, but here's where it differs 436 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,500 from. This kind of counterfeit 437 00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:26,700 authenticity wholehearted, Integrity, invites us Beyond it, 438 00:24:26,700 --> 00:24:30,800 it offers us, an actual path forward towards wholeheartedness 439 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,000 and healing. Towards an undivided heart where 440 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,100 we increasingly align all the way from our values through our 441 00:24:38,100 --> 00:24:42,900 feelings, into our Behavior will become the beautiful people that 442 00:24:42,900 --> 00:24:47,800 God has designed to us to be. So, what is this path to Purity? 443 00:24:48,500 --> 00:24:50,100 I think it's actually hinted here. 444 00:24:50,500 --> 00:24:52,700 It's not a lot of text and I'm working with this morning, but I 445 00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:55,600 think it's hinted here in Matthew 5:8. 446 00:24:56,300 --> 00:25:01,700 Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God, 447 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:03,300 you see it. You see the pathway. 448 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,500 It's precisely the opposite of hiding and pretending. 449 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:10,200 It's the opposite of settling for a divided. 450 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,000 Soul. The pathway to purity of heart 451 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,400 is coming out from behind our cover-ups, into the light to be 452 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:21,100 seen and to see God. In our Christian faith is 453 00:25:21,100 --> 00:25:25,200 practice is called confession. And confession really is just 454 00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,500 simply the act of naming. What is real naming? 455 00:25:28,500 --> 00:25:32,000 What is true. And this is counterintuitive for 456 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,200 us friends, because it goes directly against some of our 457 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,800 instincts in this matter. Right. 458 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:43,300 Because our instinct to hide and pretend tells us, yo, if you 459 00:25:43,300 --> 00:25:47,600 bring this thing into the light, they will reject you. 460 00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:51,500 Right? If you bring this thing into the 461 00:25:51,500 --> 00:25:54,400 light, then you cannot be worthy. 462 00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:59,200 You cannot be loved. And sometimes it feels when 463 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:01,100 we're attempting to bring this thing. 464 00:26:01,100 --> 00:26:03,600 That's so hard to name. That's wrapped in shame where 465 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,300 we're hurt or broken or traumatized into the light. 466 00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,700 It feels like, oh my gosh, this would absolutely crush me. 467 00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,600 It'd be so shaming that I could never stand it. 468 00:26:13,900 --> 00:26:16,200 But I can say, and this doesn't make sense, but I can tell you 469 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,600 it's true, is that when we actually bring our shame to 470 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:24,800 Jesus, we bring it into the light and the presence of loved 471 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:26,600 that. Instead of being reinforced, or 472 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,000 us being crushed, somehow, it's diffused by his presence, maybe 473 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:32,900 I was witness to that. Anybody else out there, have 474 00:26:32,900 --> 00:26:37,800 that experience. In first, John 1:9 scripture 475 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:40,000 talks about this. It says, when we confess our 476 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,500 sins, when we bring them into the light, Jesus Will purify us, 477 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,100 So purify us and the Greek word for Purity. 478 00:26:47,100 --> 00:26:50,400 Here is the r is 0 from which we get the word cathartic 479 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,700 cathartic. I don't know if you've 480 00:26:53,700 --> 00:26:56,200 experienced this but I can tell you there have been times in my 481 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,300 life where I was sitting on a point of Shame for a while. 482 00:27:00,500 --> 00:27:04,400 And it felt to me, like, oh my gosh, I can't tell anybody about 483 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,700 this. If I do, I will die. 484 00:27:06,700 --> 00:27:09,500 Terrible, things will happen. I will be rejected. 485 00:27:11,500 --> 00:27:13,700 There are times looking back in my story where I was stuck in 486 00:27:13,700 --> 00:27:16,400 that place for a couple of years, like for a minute. 487 00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:22,600 I can tell you every time, every time I have vulnerably brought 488 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,300 those pieces of Brokenness, those pieces of hurt to 489 00:27:26,300 --> 00:27:30,900 trustworthy people in my life who looked like Jesus, What I 490 00:27:30,908 --> 00:27:35,900 have gotten is not shaming or more hurt, it's actually been 491 00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:38,900 healing, it has felt cathartic, right? 492 00:27:38,900 --> 00:27:40,300 And some of you know what I'm talking about. 493 00:27:40,300 --> 00:27:42,200 If you've been down this road, you know what I'm talking about 494 00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:46,300 when that thing that you've been holding and walking with alone 495 00:27:46,300 --> 00:27:48,300 when you're able to share it with somebody else. 496 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,700 There's a freedom that emerges but it's not just cathartic in 497 00:27:53,708 --> 00:27:56,600 the sense of releasing some kind of emotion because I can tell 498 00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,700 you that when we're willing to face these places of Shame, 499 00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:04,100 these places of injury and sometimes it's things that we 500 00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:07,500 have done, sometimes it's things that have been done to us, 501 00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:09,800 right? Sometimes we're talking about 502 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:12,400 sins, sometimes we're talking about trauma, but whatever. 503 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,300 These things are these places of injury and Brokenness in which 504 00:28:16,300 --> 00:28:19,300 we feel unworthy and unloved, when we bring them into the 505 00:28:19,300 --> 00:28:21,900 light, Right? It's not just a cathartic 506 00:28:21,900 --> 00:28:24,300 experience. We're actually taking the first 507 00:28:24,500 --> 00:28:27,300 crucial step towards wholeheartedness and integrity. 508 00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:33,500 Just before John's call to conversion confession. 509 00:28:33,500 --> 00:28:36,700 And first John 1:9, he says, two verses earlier. 510 00:28:36,700 --> 00:28:41,600 In first, John 17, if we walk in the light, as he is in the 511 00:28:41,608 --> 00:28:45,300 light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of 512 00:28:45,300 --> 00:28:47,900 Jesus. His son purifies us from all sin 513 00:28:48,700 --> 00:28:49,900 man. I could talk about that for a 514 00:28:49,900 --> 00:28:53,100 minute. What is he saying? 515 00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:56,200 He's saying when we bring these points of Shane and Brokenness 516 00:28:56,200 --> 00:28:59,100 into the light, right? Two things happen. 517 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:03,800 One we have Fellowship. Right, we get connected. 518 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,600 You cannot connect based on a false Persona. 519 00:29:08,700 --> 00:29:11,800 You can't be deeply. Loved when you are pretending. 520 00:29:13,100 --> 00:29:16,600 But when we come into the light as we really are in all of our 521 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:21,300 Beauty and Brokenness connection happens, right? 522 00:29:21,900 --> 00:29:24,700 And not just connection but we're actually purified. 523 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:26,700 All right, there's that word again. 524 00:29:26,700 --> 00:29:29,900 Where purified? We move towards Integrity. 525 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,600 Why is it that Jesus says, blessed are the pure in heart 526 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:36,000 for they will see God. What? 527 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,600 If one of the people who are pure in heart get to see God. 528 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,500 I'd suggest to you this morning is that when we choose this 529 00:29:42,500 --> 00:29:45,800 pathway of Purity, when we choose this, this pathway of 530 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:47,600 wholehearted Integrity. What we're choosing is to 531 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,700 abandon this strategy of hiding and pretending. 532 00:29:50,900 --> 00:29:53,600 And we're entering the very presence of God. 533 00:29:54,500 --> 00:29:58,500 And what then happens is transformation, what then 534 00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:02,600 happens is wholeness because if you spend time in God's 535 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:06,400 presence, you will be changed. Right? 536 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,800 It's not a neutral. Transaction that relationship 537 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:15,400 will transform you friend. And honestly, I don't mean this 538 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:22,000 to sound like a threat, okay. Starfighter initiating. 539 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:27,000 I'm not sure what's happening back here, but Jesus said, Jesus 540 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:28,400 taught us. I'm gonna need a minute. 541 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,800 Jesus taught us that whatever is inside of us eventually comes 542 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,000 out right? Whatever is inside of us 543 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:39,500 eventually comes out. He said in another place there's 544 00:30:39,500 --> 00:30:43,400 nothing hidden that will not be disclosed nothing concealed that 545 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,200 will not be known or brought into the open. 546 00:30:47,700 --> 00:30:49,800 See. Jesus understood that God knows 547 00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:53,400 all and everything eventually reveals itself. 548 00:30:54,900 --> 00:30:57,000 This is incredible. How this happens? 549 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:01,400 Friends, some of you who are nerds, like me may have read 550 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,800 Bessel, Van, Der kolk Sex book, number one, New York Times 551 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:08,900 bestselling author. The body keeps the score to 552 00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:12,600 talks about how trauma lives in our bodies, right? 553 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,100 And he says, a lot of things, but one of the things that van 554 00:31:15,100 --> 00:31:18,100 der kolk, explorers in, this book is how traumas from our 555 00:31:18,100 --> 00:31:23,300 life manifest actually physiologically in our bodies, 556 00:31:23,300 --> 00:31:27,000 right? Is a crazy but profound read and 557 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,400 friends. When we choose to tolerate The 558 00:31:29,400 --> 00:31:32,600 Divided self, granted some of us are doing it because we feel 559 00:31:32,600 --> 00:31:33,800 like we got to protect ourselves. 560 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,000 We got to stay safe, right? But, when we choose to tolerate, 561 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:43,000 The Divided self, there is a cost that accrues to us, right? 562 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,300 Places of sin and wounding unhealed can manifest in all 563 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:51,100 sorts of ways. We're embodied being so 564 00:31:51,100 --> 00:31:54,000 spiritual and emotional problems show up in, chronic pain, and 565 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:59,200 sickness Unforgiven an unhealed trauma can show up as hauntings 566 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,300 in new relationships, that continue to distort fresh 567 00:32:02,300 --> 00:32:05,500 relationships with injuries that were incurred in the past, 568 00:32:06,100 --> 00:32:07,600 right? The addiction that you think 569 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,400 that you have a handle on. If it remains hidden will grow 570 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,400 Until you find yourself. Engaging in Risky behaviors 571 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,600 that. You may end up getting exposed. 572 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,100 Jesus says, there is nothing hidden. 573 00:32:21,100 --> 00:32:23,900 That will not be disclosed and friends for some of us that is 574 00:32:23,900 --> 00:32:27,200 our greatest fear, right? That that thing that I've been 575 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,100 hiding would come out to the light that people would know it. 576 00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:36,300 I get it, it's risky. But what I'm saying this morning 577 00:32:36,300 --> 00:32:38,100 is that we actually have a choice. 578 00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,800 We have a choice about how we bring these things into the 579 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:48,200 light. Right, it going to happen at 580 00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,400 some point some way. But you can choose to be in 581 00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:56,200 control of that process, you can choose to bring it to people who 582 00:32:56,200 --> 00:33:00,400 are trustworthy in a way that allows you to be healed. 583 00:33:01,500 --> 00:33:04,400 In a way that allows you to connect and find true belonging 584 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,900 and friends. I get it stepping into the light 585 00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:10,300 is terrifying. It's scary. 586 00:33:11,300 --> 00:33:15,000 It feels as though sometimes our shame will crush us or will be 587 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,000 rejected. But isn't it interesting that 588 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:23,000 the person that we are invited to bring things to is the one 589 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:30,200 who already knows? Hey, isn't it funny like anybody 590 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:32,000 else sometimes trying to hide things from God in here? 591 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,700 I do. Is anybody trying to hide things 592 00:33:34,700 --> 00:33:36,700 from yourself that you totally know to be true? 593 00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:39,000 But you're like, I'm gonna pretend that's not a real thing, 594 00:33:39,300 --> 00:33:42,700 right? Isn't it ironic, we are silly. 595 00:33:44,300 --> 00:33:46,300 Because we're embarrassed about these things, we try and hide 596 00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:50,500 them from from the people who can help us right from ourselves 597 00:33:50,500 --> 00:33:54,900 from God. Friends. 598 00:33:55,900 --> 00:33:59,700 Jesus is the one who already knows, you completely and loves 599 00:33:59,700 --> 00:34:05,000 you, absolutely. He is the one who knowing fully 600 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:11,000 all of your Brokenness. Still loved you so much to give 601 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,400 everything in order to be connected to you. 602 00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:19,500 This is crazy. What I'm saying is that, Jesus 603 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:22,900 is one, who is worth holding your broken parts. 604 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,699 It's still going to feel like a risk, but Jesus is worth the 605 00:34:27,699 --> 00:34:30,800 risk. Jesus is worth bringing it to. 606 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,699 Because friends, there is a reward for integrity. 607 00:34:34,900 --> 00:34:37,699 When we move down the path of Integrity towards 608 00:34:37,699 --> 00:34:40,600 wholeheartedness. The reward is intimacy. 609 00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:45,300 If you will choose to move towards Integrity, you'll get 610 00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:48,500 intimacy. And so, this text tells us 611 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:52,300 blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. 612 00:34:53,300 --> 00:34:56,500 And be seen by God. Intimacy. 613 00:34:58,100 --> 00:34:59,500 Friends. That's why it's worth it. 614 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,500 His transformation and intimacy are some pretty big payoffs. 615 00:35:05,700 --> 00:35:11,700 It's worth the risk. You want to see God, you've got 616 00:35:11,700 --> 00:35:16,000 to allow yourself to be seen. If we were to imagine this this 617 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,700 morning is a physical posture, I think it might look like 618 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:24,000 standing or maybe even kneeling with an open body position open 619 00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:27,000 hands Open Hearts. Actually, let me invite you to 620 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:28,800 just get into that position. Now physically, whatever that 621 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:32,800 looks like for you and open body position, maybe on crossing your 622 00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:38,800 arms, opening up your chest, raising your head, maybe there's 623 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,200 some muscles that need to be relaxed. 624 00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,800 Maybe there's some shoulders that could be opened up. 625 00:35:46,300 --> 00:35:48,200 Friends. We're going to move into a time 626 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:54,900 of response this morning. An opportunity to move towards 627 00:35:54,900 --> 00:36:00,300 intimacy to move towards transformation. as we move into 628 00:36:00,300 --> 00:36:05,500 confessions, we move into wholeheartedness And friends 629 00:36:05,500 --> 00:36:08,600 I'll just name with you again. You know, it's risky, I get it I 630 00:36:08,607 --> 00:36:11,000 feel it. It feels that way for me too. 631 00:36:13,300 --> 00:36:17,300 But the reward for integrity is intimacy. 632 00:36:18,700 --> 00:36:25,400 And you can trust Jesus. So this morning, as we move into 633 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:29,300 a time of worship, we're going to have the prayer rugs down at 634 00:36:29,300 --> 00:36:32,700 the front. Here are open If you want to 635 00:36:32,700 --> 00:36:37,000 calm want to pray, we'll have some space afterwards if you 636 00:36:37,008 --> 00:36:41,800 want to talk to somebody. I'd ask you to consider. 637 00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:46,900 What's true for you? What does that thing in your 638 00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:49,500 life that you've been hiding been sitting on been pushing 639 00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:53,100 down, have stuffed into the backpack that you're just trying 640 00:36:53,100 --> 00:36:55,500 to make it alone. It feels like if you were to 641 00:36:55,500 --> 00:37:00,500 surface you would just die. But you're carrying alone. 642 00:37:04,300 --> 00:37:05,900 Where have you? Abandon yourself? 643 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:12,300 Or maybe you're in performance and projection you know you're 644 00:37:12,300 --> 00:37:15,400 hustling you got a million connections, your Instagram 645 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,200 profile or your Tick Tock is popping but you still feel 646 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:23,900 lonely. Where's your life out of step 647 00:37:23,900 --> 00:37:28,800 with your best and truest self? What are you trying to project 648 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:30,800 to the world? Or convince everybody else is 649 00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:35,000 true. How might you bring what you're 650 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:40,100 noticing into like this morning? And with whom in your life, 651 00:37:40,100 --> 00:37:46,800 might you take the risk to share Jesus and some trusted people 652 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:50,500 who are up for holding those tender wounded parts. 653 00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:53,300 Did you pray with me? Did you pray with me?