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Our scripture today is Genesis 
31 verses 3 through 5 and 14 

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through 18 selected verses from 
a larger story. 

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And I want to give you the 
context before I read the verses

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because the verses will make it 
make a little more sense. 

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So Jacob has been working for 
his father-in-law Laban for for 

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well over 14 years now. 
And Laban's wealth has been 

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decreasing and Jacob's wealth 
has been increasing. 

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And Laban is now having a less 
than happy attitude toward 

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Jacob. 
They made a deal that Jacob 

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takes care of all of the tending
of the flocks. 

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He ever sees all of that and and
all of the breeding of the 

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flocks, he ever sees all of 
that. 

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And they made a deal that after 
an X certain period of time, 

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Jacob would get to keep all of 
the goats and sheep that were 

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speckled, spotted or striped, 
and Laban would keep all of them

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that were solid white colored. 
And, and suddenly, and Bible 

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tells us through God's 
intervention, there's a lot of 

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speckled, spotted and striped 
livestock being born. 

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And so Laban's flocks are 
shrinking. 

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Jacob's flocks are increasing. 
Laban is not happy about this. 

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And God appears to Jacob in a 
dream and says, it's time for 

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you to go home, go back to the 
land of your father, face your 

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your past and but it's time to 
go back. 

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And so Jacob is concerned at 
this point that his wives, 

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Rachel and Leah will not want to
leave their home. 

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And so he goes to talk to them. 
So that's the context here. 

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Then the Lord said to Jacob, Go 
back to the land of your 

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father's and to your relatives, 
and I will be with you. 

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So Jacob sent word to Rachel and
Leah to come out to the fields 

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where his flocks were. 
He said to them, I see that your

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father's attitude toward me is 
not what it was before, but the 

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God of my father has been with 
me. 

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Then Rachel and Leah replied, Do
we still have any share in the 

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inheritance of our father's 
estate? 

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Does he not regard us as 
foreigners? 

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Not only has he sold us, but he 
has used up what was paid for 

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us. 
Surely all the wealth that God 

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took away from our Father 
belongs to us and our children. 

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So do whatever God has told you.
Then Jacob put his children and 

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his wives on camels and he drove
all his livestock ahead of him, 

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along with all the goods he had 
accumulated in Padan Aram to go 

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to his father Isaac in the land 
of Canaan. 

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May the Lord add his blessing to
the reading and hearing of his 

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word, talking about truth or 
consequences today. 

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There was one. 
Once Upon a time there was a a 

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husband and a wife. 
They've been married for a 

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number of years. 
They were driving down the road 

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together. 
The lights flashed in the 

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rearview mirror. 
The husband was driving. 

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He pulled over the the patrolman
walked up to the window and 

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said, Sir, I suppose you know 
why I pulled you over. 

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And the husband said, I'm, I'm 
afraid I don't know why you 

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pulled me over the officer, the 
officer said, well, you were 

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doing 75 in a 55. 
And the husband said, no, no, 

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no, no, no, I, I couldn't have 
been driving more than 65 miles 

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an hour. 
And his wife said, no, honey, 

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you were doing 80. 
And he looked at her sternly, 

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need to look back to the office.
And the officer said, well, and 

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since I've pulled you over 
already, I'm going to need to 

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give you a citation for your 
broken taillight. 

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And the husband said, I have a 
broken taillight that must have 

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just happened. 
I didn't know anything about it.

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And his wife said, no, honey, 
you've been complaining about 

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that light for weeks. 
Husband looked at her again, and

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this time he shook his finger at
her. 

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And he said, look, woman, you 
need to shut up or I'm going to 

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shut you up. 
The officer said, hey, hey, hey,

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hey, hold on. 
He leaned in and he looked at 

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the wife and he said, does he 
always talk to you this way? 

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His wife said, no, officer, only
when he's drunk. 

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There can be such a thing as too
much honesty, right? 

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That, however, I am convinced is
the exception rather than the 

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rule. 
Yes, there are those times to 

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save people's dignity and save 
people's feelings. 

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We might tell them that their 
haircut is better than it really

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is or their clothes fit better 
than they really do. 

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But those kinds of things that 
help people help guard people's 

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dignity. 
Those are those are you know, 

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no, we're you know, we're not 
talking about that today. 

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We're talking about honest to 
goodness deception. 

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Maybe that's not the best way to
phrase that lies and dishonesty 

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and this whole series of events 
that we've been looking at in 

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Genesis are are riddled with 
lies and dishonesty and the 

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consequences of these lies told 
for short term game. 

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The consequences are long term 
and devastating. 

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When we look at wrong button, 
when we look at Jacob and Laban,

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they both have a legacy of lies 
that wreaked havoc in their 

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lives. 
Laban Laban, who had two 

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daughters, Leah, the oldest, 
Rachel the youngest, has his 

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relative. 
Jacob comes to town, falls in 

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love with Rachel, asked to marry
her. 

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He says, oh sure, just work for 
me for seven years. 

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Jacob works for seven years. 
And on the wedding night, Laban 

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switches daughters and sends 
Leah in instead, deceives his 

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son-in-law and uses his 
daughters in a deceptive way. 

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He says, well, you can still 
marry Rachel. 

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You just got to work for another
seven years. 

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And so Laban's lie got him seven
extra years of free labor from 

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his son-in-law, Jacob. 
And now years later, Jacob is 

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leaving with great wealth. 
God's told him to go back to 

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Canaan, and he's concerned that 
his wives won't want to go. 

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And so he goes and he invites 
them all the way. 

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They notice he didn't go back to
where they're, you know, they 

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were all their tents and 
everything were set up. 

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He invites his wives to come out
to the field, get them as far 

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away from Laban as possible and 
says, hey, God says I need to go

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back to Canaan. 
They're like, fine, What's our 

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father done for us? 
He's disowned us. 

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He's treated us worse than 
foreigners. 

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He deceived and he lied and he 
sold us, and then he squandered 

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what he got for us. 
Laban's lies cost him his 

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relationship with his daughters.
Laban's lies was about to cost 

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him his relationship with his 
grandchildren. 

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And by now he had a lot of 
grandchildren. 

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All because he wanted to get 
ahead. 

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All because he lied. 
All because he deceived. 

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Relationships were broken. 
It's a legacy. 

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It's a legacy. 
Let's just read that first 

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again, Rachel and Leah's 
response to Jacob's concerns 

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about whether they would want to
leave their father. 

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Not only has he sold us, but he 
has used up what he paid for us.

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Surely all the wealth that God 
took away from our Father 

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belongs to us and our children. 
So do whatever God has told you 

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to do. 
Broken relationships with his 

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own family. 
It was Laban's leg. 

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The legacy of Laban's lies. 
Jacob had a legacy of lies as 

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well. 
He, he, he could be legitimately

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upset about Laban lying to him, 
but he really wasn't in a 

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position to throw stones because
he was definitely living in a 

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glass house. 
He had lied. 

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He had deceived his own father 
to steal the blessing that his 

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father meant to give to his 
older brother, Esau. 

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Isaac was going to bless Esau. 
He he wanted Esau to prepare a 

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very special meal before that 
and and Esau had to go hunting 

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to get the meat to do it. 
And while he was out, Isaac, I'm

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sorry. 
Jacob dressed up like with the 

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help of his mother, disguised 
himself as a brother, went into 

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their father who was blind, 
pretended to be his brother, and

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stole through that deception the
blessing that Isaac had intended

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to give to Esau. 
He gave to Jacob instead a 

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blessing that placed Jacob over 
Esau and authority and position 

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and power and the covenant of 
God. 

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Now God had already promised 
that to Jacob, and he told Ray 

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or told his mother Rebecca about
that before he was born. 

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But rather than trusting God to 
do what God was going to do, 

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they lied, they deceived. 
And it was the same kind of 

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response. 
Shattered relationships, a 

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family torn apart. 
This was Esau's response. 

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Esau held a grudge against Jacob
because of the blessing his 

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father had given him. 
He said to himself, the days of 

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mourning for my father are near.
That is, my dad's going to be 

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dead soon. 
Then I will kill my brother 

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Jacob. 
And so Jacob fled for his life. 

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Legacy of lies. 
A legacy of deception, tearing 

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apart families, destroying 
relationships. 

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Where there should have been 
love, honesty, peace and 

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harmony, there was violence. 
The threats of violence use 

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using people instead of loving 
people, deceiving people instead

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of being real with people and 
that broke their families and 

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very, very tragic ways. 
One of the things I love about 

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the Bible is that that even the 
heroes of the Bible are not 

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painted as perfect. 
We see them as flawed, broken 

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human beings, just like we're 
flawed, broken human beings. 

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And God can and does work 
through that. 

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And with that, we'll talk about 
that a little more next week. 

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But but here we see, you know, 
these broken people living very 

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real lives and having the same 
kind of consequences that lying 

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and deception have today. 
Broken relationships, broken 

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families, this business of 
deception and dishonesty, it's 

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an increasing problem in our 
culture. 

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I don't think people lie anymore
now than they used to. 

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I think people are people, and 
people have been people for 

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since the Garden of Eden. 
It's just we've got better tools

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for lying than we used to. 
We can do it a lot more 

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effectively than we used to be 
able to. 

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Part of the problem and now and 
I think probably also in the 

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past is we sometimes glamorize 
lying and, and we will, we will 

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glorify really, really good 
liars. 

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You ever you ever hear of Frank 
Abagnale Junior? 

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Does that name ring a bell to 
you? 

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It was a movie about his life a 
few years ago called Catch Me If

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You Can, starring Tom Hanks and 
Leonardo DiCaprio. 

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Really good movie. 
If you haven't seen it, a lot of

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fun. 
It's got Tom Hanks and Leonardo 

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DiCaprio in it. 
It's going to be a good movie. 

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Frank Abagnale Junior, a real 
guy, a con artist. 

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He started off passing checks, 
bad checks and making money that

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way. 
And, and he went on to he, he, 

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he through deception, got a 
pilot's uniform from a major 

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airline, pretended to be a pilot
with that airline and got free 

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passage on airplanes back and 
forth across the country for 

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years. 
He, he, he took the bar exam. 

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He never became a lawyer. 
And he took the bar exam in one 

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of the southern States and 
practiced law without a license 

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for years. 
He pretended to be a doctor and 

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worked in a hospital for years, 
actually providing medical and 

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health care to people. 
And you can hear him talk about 

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that. 
He, he went to prison for a 

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while. 
He got out and he became an 

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agent and worked with the FBI to
catch fraudsters and to help 

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them find people that were 
committing fraud. 

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And then he went on the talk 
show circuit. 

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There were clips on YouTube of 
him on The Tonight Show with 

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Johnny Carson entered Carson 
interviewing him and telling 

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about his escapades and he 
became a folk hero for all of 

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these things. 
Now. 

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Now, here's the irony is Frank 
Abingdale Junior is a liar and 

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he lied about his history as a 
con artist. 

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He passed some bad checks. 
He went to jail, but once people

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fact checked his book, back when
the book came out, people did a 

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little less fact checking than 
they do now. 

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Once they fact checked his book,
they discovered that there was 0

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evidence he had ever posed as an
airline pilot and gotten free 

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rides across the country. 
There was 0 evidence they had 

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ever been posing as a doctor, 
working in a hospital and giving

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healthcare, and there was 0 
evidence they did ever. 

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Not only had he not taken the 
bar, he'd never pretended to be 

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a lawyer and to see people that 
way. 

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And while he worked as a 
consultant a little bit for the 

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FBI, he was never an agent with 
the FBI. 

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He lied about his lies, made a 
lot of money doing it later made

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a lot of money doing it. 
But, but that's not something, 

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it's a good movie. 
I can't lie to you. 

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It's a really good movie, but 
that's not something that should

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be celebrated. 
Lying to people and conning 

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00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:04,520
people hurts people. 
Abby Ellen will tell you that 

227
00:13:04,520 --> 00:13:08,120
she wrote a book a few years ago
called Duped, and she had her 

228
00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:12,080
own experience of a con artist, 
a man who came into her life and

229
00:13:12,080 --> 00:13:14,480
lied about his past. 
And there was enough truth in 

230
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:18,800
his lies that even though she 
her career was an investigative 

231
00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:25,320
journalist, it took her months 
and even after she was engaged 

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00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:29,960
to him before she finally 
unraveled the lives and was 

233
00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:34,840
devastated in that relationship.
This man whom she had loved, 

234
00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:39,640
whom she had shared her life 
with for a time, had deceived 

235
00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,920
her so thoroughly. 
She felt humiliated and 

236
00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:46,120
disgraced and ashamed, even 
though she hadn't done anything 

237
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,920
wrong. 
She just believed someone who 

238
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:54,960
was a really good liar, and she 
writes about that in her book 

239
00:13:54,960 --> 00:14:00,040
and how people's lies and 
deceptions devastate people that

240
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,720
they're close to. 
And it's not an uncommon 

241
00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,400
problem. 
It's a very common problem. 

242
00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:11,080
We see that in the world around 
us and relationships around us, 

243
00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:15,360
people that simply don't tell 
the truth or they only tell 

244
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:18,400
enough of the truth to to get 
what they want. 

245
00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,960
And they use lies and deceptions
and half truths to manipulate 

246
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:27,880
and control and gain a temporary
advantage at the cost of a long 

247
00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:31,440
term relationship of trust and 
it hurts people. 

248
00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:38,080
The challenge now is our tools 
for lying are so good and so 

249
00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,840
effective that even now on when 
when we get information 

250
00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:48,760
digitally, it is very, very 
difficult, sometimes impossible 

251
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,120
to tell whether what we are 
seeing and hearing is real or 

252
00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,800
fake. 
Now, sometimes you can, 

253
00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:57,920
sometimes there are context 
clues. 

254
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,720
I, I, although I was fooled a 
few times before, I realized, 

255
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,240
yeah, probably there aren't 
eagles flying into people's. 

256
00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,000
When, when I saw the video of 
the eagle grabbing the toddler 

257
00:15:09,160 --> 00:15:12,160
and lifting it up in the air 
while the dog was holding on to 

258
00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:15,160
the toddler's pants to keep the 
And I was like, I don't think 

259
00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,360
this is real. 
Was it real? 

260
00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:20,880
Those are funny. 
Those are silly. 

261
00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:22,960
At the end of the day, those 
don't hurt anyone. 

262
00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,400
Their exercises and video 
making. 

263
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:31,040
But there was a video out on 
YouTube now by oh, I should have

264
00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:32,120
checked it. 
Feynman. 

265
00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:34,760
Did anyone know what's the 
There's a physicist, very famous

266
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:36,600
physicist. 
His last name is Feynman. 

267
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,280
I can't remember his first name.
I blanked out on it this 

268
00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:40,400
morning. 
I'm still anyone know? 

269
00:15:41,280 --> 00:15:42,640
That's all right. 
Feynman. 

270
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,280
Richard Richard Feynman. 
That's it. 

271
00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:47,280
Very famous physicist from 
decades ago. 

272
00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:52,360
And there's a video on YouTube 
that that was him explaining why

273
00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:54,680
lightspeed is the upper limit of
speed. 

274
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,160
And now it's not really what we 
think it is and all of that sort

275
00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:58,960
of thing. 
And I started listening to it 

276
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:00,600
because I'm interested in that 
kind of stuff. 

277
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,120
And, and, and I'd heard of 
Richard Feynman. 

278
00:16:03,120 --> 00:16:05,400
I was listening to it. 
That sounds a little odd. 

279
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,120
And it went down into the 
description and it was all fake.

280
00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,520
It's all fake. 
His voice had been synthesized 

281
00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:17,400
and according to one comment 
that that at most 85% of the 

282
00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:20,200
video were things that Feynman 
had actually said are written 

283
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:25,960
and the rest was made-up. 
Within a few years, none of us 

284
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:29,120
will be able to tell the 
difference and when we when we 

285
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:31,480
watch the news. 
There was a what MSNBC did that 

286
00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:34,440
recently. 
It was a one of the folks killed

287
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,560
up in Minnesota, I think, and 
they doctored his picture to 

288
00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,000
make him better looking so 
people would be more sympathetic

289
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,480
to him. 
Now, now that for one hand 

290
00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,320
leaves me concerned that if I 
ever get killed, I don't think 

291
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:49,840
that if, if you have to be good 
looking to have sympathy when 

292
00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:50,880
you're killed. 
I'm in trouble. 

293
00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:58,440
I'm in big trouble. 
But but they and and they almost

294
00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,240
got away with it made him look 
better. 

295
00:17:01,440 --> 00:17:04,359
Just changed, changed how we 
looked just a little bit 

296
00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,119
doctored those photos. 
Within a few years we won't be 

297
00:17:07,119 --> 00:17:09,880
able to tell. 
We won't be able to tell. 

298
00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:16,119
And that's, that's a, there's a 
lot to be concerned about with 

299
00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:21,240
that as as our lives are 
increasingly online and 

300
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:25,480
increasingly digital, as the 
information we received is 

301
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,680
increasingly digital, to be able
to distinguish truth from 

302
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:34,080
falsehood, lies from reality, 
it's going to get harder and 

303
00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:36,400
harder and harder and more and 
more important. 

304
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:41,880
But because of the nature of 
that, because of the reality of 

305
00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,600
it, and it's there and there's 
nothing any of us can do about 

306
00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,120
it. 
That's just the world we're 

307
00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:50,880
living into right now where it's
we can lie that effectively that

308
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:52,280
we won't know. 
Now. 

309
00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:55,040
Now you can get robo calls. 
I haven't had this, I haven't 

310
00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:57,080
experienced this yet, at least 
as far as I know. 

311
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,800
But you can get a call from 
someone who you know, and their 

312
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,800
voice has been perfectly 
duplicated, but it's all faked, 

313
00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:08,600
asking for money, help for this,
that and the other. 

314
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,200
Anyone experienced those yet? 
I've heard about them. 

315
00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:12,880
I haven't received one of those 
calls yet. 

316
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:15,000
You've gotten one. 
OK. 

317
00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:15,680
OK. 
Yeah. 

318
00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:18,520
Yeah. 
It's it's it's nuts. 

319
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:26,640
And this will continue to have 
an increasingly challenging toll

320
00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:32,480
on our group psychology, our 
emotions, our relationships, as 

321
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,760
it becomes harder and harder to 
know what's real and what's not.

322
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:39,600
And this is the world that we're
living into. 

323
00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:44,120
This is the mission field that 
we're living into. 

324
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:47,120
And so this is part of Our 
Calling as a church. 

325
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:49,920
And Jesus, although it was, you 
know, he lived thousands of 

326
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:55,120
years before deep fakes. 
Jesus spoke to us and has 

327
00:18:55,120 --> 00:18:58,080
already given us vision and 
direction in this regard. 

328
00:18:58,360 --> 00:19:01,080
And there's more at stake here 
than just don't tell lies. 

329
00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:03,920
There's more at stake here than 
just you know. 

330
00:19:04,480 --> 00:19:06,400
Thou shalt not bear false 
witness. 

331
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:11,840
While that's important, this, 
this notion of being able to 

332
00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:17,440
trust other people in our 
culture and society, how do we 

333
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,920
trust? 
How do we know what's real? 

334
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,080
How can we have a culture if we 
can't trust and we don't know 

335
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:27,600
what's real? 
How can we have a society? 

336
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,640
How can we have a community 
that's more than just following 

337
00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:33,640
rules? 
That's how do we do life 

338
00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,840
together? 
We don't know where all of this 

339
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:39,640
is going. 
We don't know what tomorrow 

340
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:41,480
holds. 
But we know who holds tomorrow. 

341
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,520
We know who holds the future. 
We know who holds our hand and 

342
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:48,800
and Jesus is already there. 
None of this is surprising. 

343
00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,240
God and Jesus has a plan. 
He's got a purpose, He's got a 

344
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:54,000
direction. 
There's a place that God is 

345
00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,520
leading all of us in all of this
and we don't know what it's 

346
00:19:57,520 --> 00:19:58,880
going to be. 
We don't know what the next, we 

347
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,960
don't know what the next five 
years is going to look like, 

348
00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:07,560
much less the next 45 years. 
But we do know this, that Jesus 

349
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,360
is already there and he already 
knows. 

350
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:11,840
This is the same situation the 
disciples were in. 

351
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:17,080
Disciples the night before Jesus
was going to die and Jesus keeps

352
00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,600
telling him he's been telling 
him for weeks now I'm going to 

353
00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,720
go to Jerusalem. 
I'm going to be betrayed. 

354
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:23,560
They're going to kill me on the 
3rd day. 

355
00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:25,720
I'm going to rise from the dead.
And they kept thinking he's 

356
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:28,040
talking in parables, he's 
talking in riddles. 

357
00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:31,120
They had no idea that he was 
given the literal truth and they

358
00:20:31,120 --> 00:20:33,480
were so confused. 
And he's telling that and 

359
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,680
they're like, I'm going to go 
into prayer place for you and 

360
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:38,880
that where I am, you may also 
be. 

361
00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:41,400
And Thomas says, how are we 
going to get there? 

362
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:43,560
We don't know where you're 
going. 

363
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,400
How do we know the way there? 
And that's the situation we're 

364
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,800
in. 
We don't know where Jesus is 

365
00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:52,120
going. 
We don't know where our 

366
00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:54,280
culture's going. 
We don't know what the church is

367
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,760
going to look like in 10/15/25 
years. 

368
00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:58,360
We don't know what schools are 
going to look like. 

369
00:20:58,360 --> 00:20:59,920
We don't know what politics is 
going to look like. 

370
00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:01,800
We don't know what entertainment
media is going to look like. 

371
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,920
We don't know what our jobs are 
going to look like. 

372
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:11,960
We don't know any of that 152530
years from now, but we have the 

373
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,800
same answer now that Jesus gave 
Thomas. 

374
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,280
Then Thomas said Lord we don't 
know where you're going so how 

375
00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,880
can we know the way? 
And Jesus answered, I am the 

376
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:28,720
way, the truth and the life. 
No one comes to the Father 

377
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:31,320
except through me. 
If you really know me, you'll 

378
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:33,240
know my Father as well from now 
on. 

379
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:35,720
You do know him and you have 
seen him. 

380
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:40,400
Jesus says I am the way. 
That's all the GPS we need. 

381
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,240
That's all the road map we need 
to go into an uncertain future. 

382
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:51,560
Jesus is the way and and Jesus 
is also the truth and that's a 

383
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:56,080
foundational thing for us. 
Lies and deceptions are the tool

384
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:59,800
of the devil. 
Lies and deceptions are the tool

385
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,920
of the enemy. 
And we cannot do the Father's 

386
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:07,280
work with the devil's tools. 
And so Our Calling as a church, 

387
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,600
as we move into this world where
it's harder and harder for 

388
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:15,160
people to trust, is for the 
church to be the one place and 

389
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:18,720
maybe the only place. 
But for the church to be a place

390
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:23,680
that is is a haven of honesty 
and authenticity where folks can

391
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:25,720
say, you know what? 
I don't know where if I'll get 

392
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,560
the truth and I'll get what's 
real anyplace else. 

393
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:31,000
But I know at Rock Springs 
United Methodist Church, those 

394
00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,480
folks are real. 
Those folks are honest. 

395
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:37,080
And when I go there, I know that
what I see is what I get. 

396
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:41,280
They're not. 
They're not out there just 

397
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,240
pushing a brand. 
They're not out there pretending

398
00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,600
to be something they're not. 
They're not out there putting on

399
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,440
a show. 
They're not out there trying to 

400
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,760
be fair. 
They're just real folks who love

401
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:53,240
God and who love each other. 
And they'll love me too. 

402
00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:57,040
And I know they'll love me just 
as I am because they love each 

403
00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:01,840
other just as they are. 
And that's who we are called to 

404
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:06,800
be and how we are called to be 
honest and authentic. 

405
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,440
And that can be so hard. 
It can be so hard. 

406
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,960
The the temptation. 
There's a song from a few years 

407
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:15,480
back, you know, the group 
Casting Crowns. 

408
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,360
They had a song a number of 
years ago called Stained Glass 

409
00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:21,840
Masquerade about how people put 
on their Sunday best before 

410
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:23,840
going to church. 
And they're pretending 

411
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,560
everything's OK when it's not. 
They're pretending their lives 

412
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,280
are different than they are. 
Better, more perfect, perfect, 

413
00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:35,440
less flawed, less broken. 
And and we cannot afford to be 

414
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,720
that kind of church. 
No church could really afford to

415
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:43,680
be that kind of church, because 
we'll never be as good at 

416
00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,280
dishonesty and deception as the 
world is. 

417
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,440
We we just won't. 
They got more money and better 

418
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,600
tools than we do. 
They just do. 

419
00:23:51,800 --> 00:23:53,840
It's like, you know, we'll never
have as good a music. 

420
00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,120
If we if we had Jelly roll maybe
as our worship leader, then we 

421
00:23:57,120 --> 00:23:59,760
would, you know, but but we're 
never going to have Jelly roll 

422
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:04,920
as our worship leader. 
We're never we're there's always

423
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:06,560
going to be able to. 
We'll be able to get better 

424
00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,480
music out in the world. 
People be able to get better 

425
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:10,920
preaching. 
There's always better preaching 

426
00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:12,600
that's out there. 
There's always better teaching 

427
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,200
that's out there. 
There's always fancier buildings

428
00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:17,600
with, with, you know, you know, 
more modern. 

429
00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:19,480
All of that's always going to be
there. 

430
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,120
We're never going to be able to 
compete. 

431
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:26,400
If we try to turn ourselves into
a brand and market ourselves as 

432
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:32,200
a brand and, and, and put on a 
good show, the world will always

433
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:37,240
win that battle. 
But, but the world has already 

434
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:42,160
reached a point where it can't 
be honest anymore or it has to 

435
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:45,520
be deceptive. 
They're always covering stuff 

436
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:47,400
up. 
They're always, and you see it 

437
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,360
in in individuals online 
influencers are not people. 

438
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:56,160
They're a brand and they know 
that and they present themselves

439
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,880
as a brand. 
And that's why they have such 

440
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,440
fear of truths from their past 
coming up, because it will 

441
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:05,600
destroy their brand image. 
And then they lose their 

442
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,760
sponsors and they lose their 
money and they lose their income

443
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:09,800
and they lose their influence 
and they lose their money. 

444
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,560
And so the brand is what's 
matters, not the person, not the

445
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,800
reality, not the authenticity. 
But we in the church, we don't 

446
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,640
have to worry about all of that 
because our God already loves us

447
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:27,320
just the way we are, flaws and 
warts and brokenness and all. 

448
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,400
Our God already cares about us 
just the way we are. 

449
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,080
So we don't have to put on the 
front. 

450
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:34,360
We don't have to play the 
stained glass masquerade. 

451
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,400
We can have the courage to be 
honest. 

452
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,240
We can have the courage to be 
ourselves. 

453
00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:40,600
We can have the courage to let 
others be the same. 

454
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,760
And the church can be one of the
few, maybe the only place in the

455
00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:49,840
world where people can come and 
say, I know at least things are 

456
00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:54,080
real there. 
I know at least the people are 

457
00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:58,080
real there. 
And that's what we're called to 

458
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:01,800
be. 
Now, there is such a thing as 

459
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,320
too much honesty. 
And sometimes we got to say, oh,

460
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,000
the haircut looks great. 
Even if the haircut doesn't look

461
00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,440
great, We got to say that, oh, 
yes, those clothes fit 

462
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,040
perfectly. 
They're very slimming even when 

463
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:18,120
they're not those. 
That's guarding people's 

464
00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:21,640
dignity. 
But we need to have the courage 

465
00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,760
to be honest. 
I got time for one more story 

466
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:26,320
and I'm I'm was hoping I would 
have time to get this one in, 

467
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,240
too. 
It was that Once Upon a time 

468
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,200
there was a king and a very 
great and vast Kingdom many 

469
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:35,280
years ago. 
And the king had no children and

470
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,800
the king was aging and he knew 
he was not quite as effective as

471
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,360
he used to be. 
And it was time to name and 

472
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:44,400
train a successor. 
And he wanted someone young, 

473
00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:48,320
someone young who would be able 
to live and lead the Kingdom for

474
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,880
many, many years. 
And, and, and so the king 

475
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:55,840
decided that to choose a 
successor, he would call all of 

476
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,720
the young people of the Kingdom,
all of the youth of the Kingdom 

477
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,040
together. 
And he would give them all the 

478
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,880
same challenge. 
He gave them a seed. 

479
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,680
He said, take the seed home and 
plant it. 

480
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,960
And a year from now, everybody 
come back and show me what 

481
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,560
you've grown. 
So everyone got their seed. 

482
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,800
They went home, they planted 
them in a pot. 

483
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,680
They put in the soil, they 
watered, they fertilized, they 

484
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,680
grew. 
And there was young, one young 

485
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:27,920
man that just a few weeks before
that one year anniversary when 

486
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,040
they were all to bring their 
plants back, he looked at his 

487
00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:33,440
mom and his mom. 
It's not nothing's grown. 

488
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:36,200
It's been almost a year and 
nothing's grown. 

489
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:37,760
He did everything he was 
supposed to do. 

490
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,120
He watered it. 
He's fertilized, he kept it in 

491
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:41,800
the sunlight. 
All of the things he was 

492
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:43,360
supposed to do in the sea didn't
grow. 

493
00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:45,800
And he's like, I'm I'm not 
going, mom, this is 

494
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:47,360
embarrassing. 
I'll be humiliated. 

495
00:27:48,360 --> 00:27:51,320
I'm not going to take this to 
the king in front of all those 

496
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:54,600
people, people I know and people
I don't from all over, all over 

497
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,080
the Kingdom. 
And his mom said no, no, you 

498
00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,720
need to go, you need to go. 
This is important. 

499
00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:01,920
Just explain to the king what 
happened. 

500
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,440
Sometimes seeds don't grow. 
Just explain what happened. 

501
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,440
The king will understand. 
So the son, much against his own

502
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,120
better judgement and and and 
desire, he went and he took his 

503
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:17,320
empty pot and we got there into 
the the, the gathering space at 

504
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,520
the palace. 
His worst nightmares came true 

505
00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:24,920
as he looked around and he saw 
people with these amazing 

506
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:28,120
plants, some of them in pots 
that had to get big pots and 

507
00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,920
bring them in on carts. 
And some of them were were giant

508
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,000
vegetables, other were were 
small fruit trees that were 

509
00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,760
already bearing fruit. 
Some of them were were were 

510
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,360
beautiful flowers and these 
giant, you know, floral things. 

511
00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,200
It was just incredible. 
And young person after young 

512
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,760
person had these wonderful 
plants and pots of all different

513
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,960
sizes, and they were lining up 
to present to the king these 

514
00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,800
things they had grown. 
And the king was looking and he 

515
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,280
didn't seem particularly pleased
or particularly distressed at 

516
00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:58,400
anyone. 
But every once in a while he 

517
00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:01,200
would look up and look around 
the room and finally caught the 

518
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,440
eye of the young man and he 
noticed him carrying an empty 

519
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,920
pot. 
King snapped his fingers and 

520
00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:10,600
said Hey you boy come on up here
and bring your pot. 

521
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,280
Boy was now he was like maybe I 
can wait till last and no one 

522
00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:18,760
will see but he's making me walk
up in front of everyone. 

523
00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,520
And he was humiliated. 
It was beet red and he was 

524
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,240
embarrassed and he walked up to 
the front of the line and he 

525
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:28,240
held up his empty pot before the
king and the king said you 

526
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:33,000
didn't grow anything. 
The boy said I tried Sir, I put 

527
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,000
the seed in, I watered, I 
fertilized, I kept it in the sun

528
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,600
but nothing grew. 
I'm very sorry that I failed 

529
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,080
you, Your Highness, the King 
said. 

530
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,800
I think I found my successor. 
I said, see, last year when I 

531
00:29:46,800 --> 00:29:51,760
gave away those seeds, I boiled 
every single seed before I gave 

532
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,520
it away. 
None of them could grow 

533
00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:58,800
anything. 
And you're the only one that had

534
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:04,400
the courage to be honest and 
bring me back the seed that I 

535
00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:08,680
gave you. 
This is what Jesus calls us to. 

536
00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:15,080
The courage to be honest. 
The courage to be ourselves. 

537
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:20,000
The courage to let down the 
masks, put the stained glass 

538
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:24,320
masquerade behind us. 
The courage to be who we really 

539
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:29,000
are, flaws and warts and 
brokenness and all successes and

540
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,320
hopes and and achievements as 
well. 

541
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:35,480
All of it all mixed together. 
The good, the bad and the ugly. 

542
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,520
The courage to be honest. 
The courage to be authentic 

543
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:46,520
because Jesus loves us as we are
and other folks need to see us 

544
00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:50,000
doing the same thing, loving 
ourselves and loving each other 

545
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,840
as we are, so that they know 
they don't have to put on a show

546
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:58,080
when they come here either. 
They can be themselves too, and 

547
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,040
they'll be loved too. 
And they'll be received too 

548
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,520
honestly and authentically in 
Jesus name. 

549
00:31:04,920 --> 00:31:06,360
Amen. 
Amen.