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So it was once a husband and 
wife driving down the road. 

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The husband was driving and 
lights flashed behind, pulled 

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over. 
The officer came up to the 

4
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window and said, I suppose you 
know why I pulled you over. 

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The husband said no, I don't. 
And the officer said you were 

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driving 75 in a 55 zone. 
And the husband said, no, no, 

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no, no, no. 
I was going 65 at the most. 

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And his wife said, honey, you 
were doing 80 now, I've said, 

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00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,120
and since I pulled you over, I'm
also going to need to give you a

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00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,320
ticket for the broken tail light
that you have on the back of 

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your car. 
And the husband said broken tail

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light, I had no idea there was a
broken tail light. 

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And his wife said, honey, you've
been talking about that broken 

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tail light for weeks. 
The husband said, woman better 

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shut your mouth or I'm going to 
shut it for you. 

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The officer got upset about that
and he said, ma'am, does your 

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husband talk to you like this 
all the time? 

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She said, no, Sir, only when 
he's drunk. 

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

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Such a thing as too much 
honesty, but that's the 

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exception rather than the rule. 
Honesty, truthfulness is, is 

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something it's essential to a 
healthy family, healthy 

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relationship, a healthy society,
the ability and capacity to 

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trust one another, to trust the 
things that we're told and to 

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say and do and be trustworthy 
people. 

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What we see in the scripture 
today, the is, is the the legacy

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of the opposite, the legacy of 
lies. 

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And, and it's hard to tell that 
the actual passage for this was 

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really, really long. 
And I tried to pull out enough 

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00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:55,880
of it for it to make sense. 
I'm not sure I quite did it 

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because it was too long to read 
all of it. 

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But, but here's the reality of 
it and, and the full context of 

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00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,920
it for Laban and his daughters, 
Rachel and Leah. 

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That and you remember, we've 
talked about this a couple weeks

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00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:10,120
ago, Jacob came into town, fell 
in love with the younger 

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daughter Rachel, and and asked 
Laban, their father, if he could

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marry Rachel. 
And Laban said yes. 

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Just work for me for seven 
years. 

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00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,360
He worked for seven years. 
And on the night of the wedding,

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Laban switched his daughters and
Jacob married Leah rather than 

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Rachel. 
It was a lie. 

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It was a lie. 
He deceived his future 

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son-in-law, and he eventually 
married Rachel as well. 

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But it stuck and it stung. 
And now, years later, Jacob is 

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00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:43,480
having that urge. 
And it's really, we see in the 

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00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,400
scripture, it's a divine impulse
to leave where he is, to leave 

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00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:52,000
Laban's household and return to 
his father Isaac, his family of 

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origin, back in Canaan. 
And he's concerned that his 

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00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:57,640
wives won't want to leave their 
home. 

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00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:01,280
And he says to them, that's what
I'm planning. 

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00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:02,960
God feel like I've had this 
dream. 

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00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,720
Feel like God's calling me to go
back to Canaan to take for us 

53
00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,920
all to go to Canaan. 
And they're like, yeah, do 

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00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:12,840
whatever you want. 
Our dad sold us. 

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00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,920
And then our dad wasted what he 
got for us, so and in. 

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00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:23,000
In the meantime, Jacob's flocks 
had increased and Laban's flocks

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00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,840
had decreased, and Jacob had 
gotten wealthier and wealthier, 

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while Laban got poorer and 
poorer. 

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00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:32,600
And Laban's lies, which he 
initially told because it was 

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00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:36,440
good for him, it was convenient.
I can marry off two daughters 

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00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:42,080
instead of 1. 
I can I can make more from this 

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transaction than I otherwise 
would have. 

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00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,240
I got 14 years of Labor from my 
son-in-law instead of just seven

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00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,240
years of Labor from my 
son-in-law. 

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00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:55,040
What he did for a short term 
gain ended up costing him long 

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00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:59,000
term with daughters who had no 
interest in maintaining a 

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00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,200
relationship with him. 
And we're now going to be taking

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00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,760
his grandchildren far, far away,
and he might never see them 

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00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,840
again. 
It's a legacy of lies. 

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00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:13,280
Jacob can hardly stand in 
judgement over Laban. 

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00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:16,120
He might be frustrated. 
He might be wounded by the 

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00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:19,079
deceptions that Laban's 
perpetrated against him and 

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00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,760
against his wives, But he can't 
really throw stones. 

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00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,320
He's living in a glass house, 
after all. 

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00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,680
The only reason he's there 
anyway is because he lied. 

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00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:35,400
He deceived his father when his 
father was old and blind, and he

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00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,240
was wanting to give his final 
blessing upon his oldest son, 

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Esau. 
When Esau went out to kill to 

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00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:46,960
get the the meat that that his 
father had asked me. 

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00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:50,920
Make me that Stew that you make 
from that that meat that I love.

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00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:53,440
And and Esau went hunting to get
the meat. 

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00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:56,800
And while he was gone, Jacob 
snuck in and pretended to be 

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00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,120
Esau with his mother's help, 
disguised himself as his brother

84
00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,960
and deceived his father and 
stole his brother's blessing or 

85
00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,360
stole his father. 
The blessing that his father 

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00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:12,120
meant for his brother to have. 
Jacob received instead a 

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00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,200
blessing of leadership, a 
blessing of wealth, a blessing 

88
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,960
of the one that would rule over 
his brother. 

89
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,320
All of that was to be given to a
Esau. 

90
00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,720
But Jacob stole it, and Esau 
became angry. 

91
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:26,760
Angry enough that he threatened 
to kill his brother. 

92
00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:30,520
And so Jacob had to run for his 
life once again. 

93
00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:35,600
A shattered family. 
Because a lie for a short term 

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00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,600
gain, a lie for the sake of 
convenience, a lie for getting 

95
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,880
what I want because I don't 
really trust God to provide it 

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00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,920
for me. 
That wrecked a family. 

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00:05:47,280 --> 00:05:50,640
That drove people apart. 
That led to alienation, 

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00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,920
estrangement, and threats of 
about a severe threat of 

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00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:55,920
violence. 
You can get as you can get in a 

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00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,640
family. 
These are the legacy of lies. 

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00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,600
We all know that. 
Well, yeah, Not as he sold us. 

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00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,160
I forgot I included these. 
But he has used up what he has 

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00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,440
paid for us. 
Surely all the wealth that God 

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00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,400
took away from our father 
belongs to us and our children. 

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00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,160
God's dad sold us for money. 
Now we're going to take all of 

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00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,160
his wealth with us and go. 
It belongs to us anyway. 

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00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,240
Do whatever God has told you. 
And this is what he saw. 

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Held a grudge against Jacob 
because of the blessing his 

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00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,840
father had given him. 
He said to himself, the days of 

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00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,160
mourning for my father are near 
them, and I will kill my brother

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00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:37,960
Jacob. 
The problem is an ongoing one. 

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00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,720
There's an increasing challenge 
and problem of deception. 

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00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:46,040
It's not that I think people are
any more prone to lie now than 

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00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,120
they used to be or any more 
prone to deceive than they used 

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00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:50,080
to be. 
It's just the tools for doing it

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are so much better than they 
used to be. 

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00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,400
Used to be seeing was believing,
right? 

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Missouri is the show me state. 
You got to show me before I'll 

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00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:00,960
believe it. 
Now you can see stuff and you 

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00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,880
have no way of knowing whether 
it's real or whether it's true. 

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00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:10,480
We tend to glamorize and glorify
certain times of the lying as 

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00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,760
well. 
Abby Ellen in her book Duped 

123
00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:20,920
tells how a con artist fooled 
her and and and robbed her of 

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00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,840
dignity and promised 
relationship, promised marriage 

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00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,920
and ended up just taking and 
taking and taking and the damage

126
00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,720
that did to her emotionally and 
psychologically. 

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00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,160
She talks about con artists that
have become very well known in 

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00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:35,960
that book. 
Frank Abagnale Junior, do you 

129
00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,320
remember that name? 
It was a movie a few years ago 

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00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,520
called Catch Me If you Can. 
Really good movie. 

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00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,040
Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio.
It's a great movie. 

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And Abagnale became famous. 
He went on the talk show 

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circuit. 
There clips out there of him 

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00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,720
appearing on The Tonight Show 
with Johnny Carson telling about

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00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:54,000
these amazing cons that he did 
and he did go to jail. 

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00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:58,440
He spent a few years in prison 
for passing bad checks in his 

137
00:07:58,440 --> 00:08:01,400
book and his autobiography and 
part of the movie was how he 

138
00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,280
pretended to be a pilot, I 
believe it was for United 

139
00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:05,600
Airlines. 
It was one of the major 

140
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,280
airlines. 
He got free rides back and forth

141
00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,120
across the country on that 
airline for years because he he 

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00:08:12,120 --> 00:08:14,880
conned his way on as a pilot 
when he wasn't. 

143
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,520
He claimed to have been a a 
doctor and conned his way in and

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00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,840
practiced medicine, claimed to 
have practiced law as an 

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00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,200
attorney and passed the bar. 
Here's the thing, after all was 

146
00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,400
said and done, and his book was 
fact checked after he got famous

147
00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,200
and after the movie was made, 
turns out he didn't do most of 

148
00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,400
that. 
He passed some bad checks, but 

149
00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,520
there's no evidence he ever 
passed himself off as a pilot. 

150
00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,320
There's no evidence that he ever
worked in a hospital as a 

151
00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,480
doctor. 
There's no evidence that anyone 

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00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,360
ever believed he was a lawyer 
and that he actually practiced 

153
00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:52,160
law. 
His autobiography was a con, but

154
00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,000
he became a hero, a folk legend 
for telling lies. 

155
00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,400
There is a bit of irony that he 
became a hero by lying about 

156
00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:09,880
telling lies in all of that. 
But lying, Lying doesn't make 

157
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,280
someone a legend. 
It can make someone emphasis an 

158
00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:16,040
infamous. 
But lies destroy. 

159
00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,560
Lies hurt. 
Lies break families. 

160
00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:23,800
Lies break relationships. 
Abby Ellen in her book says that

161
00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:28,880
statistically speaking, about 
15% of women and 25% of men, 

162
00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:35,120
married men and women have 
adulterous affairs, lies and 

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00:09:35,120 --> 00:09:37,840
deceptions that hurt and break 
families. 

164
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,680
The challenge today is that we 
can't even believe what we see. 

165
00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:45,680
We can't even believe what we 
hear. 

166
00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:48,440
The deep fakes are getting very,
very good. 

167
00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,880
And and you know, there are some
videos you see on YouTube and 

168
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,320
you go, OK, yeah, I don't think 
a bird can pick up a three-year 

169
00:09:56,320 --> 00:09:58,480
old, no matter how big the bird 
is. 

170
00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:03,040
That's probably not real. 
But there's a great video out 

171
00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,440
there of of physicist. 
I want to say fine, I can't 

172
00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,800
think of his first name. 
All the sudden Feynman, world 

173
00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:13,920
famous physicist and, and, and 
you listen to it and, and it 

174
00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,640
sounds just a little bit off. 
And so went down into the 

175
00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,320
comments and it was like, yeah, 
they should put a warning on 

176
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,240
this, that this is not Feynman's
voice. 

177
00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:26,480
This is a synthesized voice. 
And he only said about 85% of 

178
00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,160
what they're saying he said. 
And the rest of it's just 

179
00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:34,400
made-up within three or four 
years, probably now it's just 

180
00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:36,680
not everyone has the technology 
yet to do it. 

181
00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,480
But within three or four years, 
those things will be so good, no

182
00:10:39,480 --> 00:10:45,000
one will know. 
Back when I was first starting 

183
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:50,760
off as a pastor about 30 years 
ago, there was one of the, these

184
00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:54,360
national consultants, well known
people not just in the United 

185
00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,000
Methodist Church, but in other 
churches. 

186
00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,040
Bill Leeson was talking about 
the future and, and, and, and he

187
00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,560
at that point, it was when the 
information superhighway was 

188
00:11:03,560 --> 00:11:07,560
really just kicking off and, and
information was the key and 

189
00:11:07,560 --> 00:11:10,960
people that had information and 
could access information, that 

190
00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:13,480
was the key to being successful 
in business. 

191
00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,760
They claimed that was the key to
being successful in churches as 

192
00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:18,880
well. 
But Isom said when you look down

193
00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,200
the road and, and, and I don't 
think not all of his predictions

194
00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:24,400
came true, but he hit the nail 
on the head on this. 

195
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,360
He said within 2025 years, it's 
not going to be information 

196
00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,520
that's going to be the key. 
It's going to be who can tell 

197
00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:35,680
what's true from what's false 
with all of the information 

198
00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:40,040
that's out there. 
We live in a world now in the 

199
00:11:40,040 --> 00:11:44,200
Western world where it is nearly
impossible to know when we 

200
00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,600
receive information digitally, 
what's true and what's false, 

201
00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:52,160
what's made-up and what's a lie,
what's real and what's a 

202
00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,960
fabrication. 
And that's just the reality that

203
00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:58,960
we live in. 
And, and I have no idea on 

204
00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:01,880
practical terms how that's going
to be resolved in the future. 

205
00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,800
As election cycles go on and as 
videos get more and more 

206
00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,840
realistic and audio gets more 
and more realistic, how we will 

207
00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,160
ever really know for sure 
whether we're being told the 

208
00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:17,480
truth about events or people or 
politicians or anything else. 

209
00:12:17,680 --> 00:12:22,720
It will be so easy to fake and 
do what there was, I think it 

210
00:12:22,720 --> 00:12:26,520
was MSNBC recently with one of 
the, the people that got shot up

211
00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:29,880
in Minnesota where they, they 
adjusted the photograph of the 

212
00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,040
person who was killed to make 
him better looking so people 

213
00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,880
would feel sorrier for him, 
which says a lot about what they

214
00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:42,000
would think if I got killed. 
I I guessing they would say no 

215
00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:44,160
one's going to care and there's 
nothing we can do with that 

216
00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:53,680
picture. 
Truth and reality in the digital

217
00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:56,480
world are nearly impossible to 
distinguish now. 

218
00:12:57,720 --> 00:13:01,800
And this is a challenge and an 
opportunity for the church 

219
00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,840
because the vision that we have,
the calling that we have from 

220
00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,240
Jesus is to follow where he's 
leading. 

221
00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:19,080
And, and it's hard to know where
God's leading in this world 

222
00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,520
right now. 
It's hard to see what's going to

223
00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:24,160
what the world's going to be 
like 5 years from now, much less

224
00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:27,000
35 years from now or 50 years 
from now. 

225
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We really don't know where all 
this is going. 

226
00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,400
We don't know what schools are 
going to look like. 

227
00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:33,960
We don't know what church is 
going to look like. 

228
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:35,760
We don't know what politics is 
going to look like. 

229
00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:37,520
We don't know what war is going 
to look like. 

230
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So many things changing so 
rapidly. 

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We don't know what media and 
television and move. 

232
00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,840
We don't know what we don't know
where everything's going. 

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00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:47,600
The next 40-50 years are going 
to be extraordinary amount of 

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00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,280
change and we don't know where 
it's going. 

235
00:13:51,840 --> 00:13:54,840
But that's the real place the 
disciples were in that night 

236
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before Jesus died. 
Jesus knew where he was going, 

237
00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,440
and he kept telling his 
disciples over and over and over

238
00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:04,000
again, I'm going to go to 
Jerusalem, I'm going to be 

239
00:14:04,080 --> 00:14:06,480
betrayed and I'm going to be 
killed. 

240
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:08,840
I'm going to be crucified. 
I'm going to die on the third 

241
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,120
day. 
I'm going to rise again from the

242
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,400
dead. 
It never clicked. 

243
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,400
They kept thinking he was 
talking in parables. 

244
00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,280
He was talking in riddles. 
They didn't really understand 

245
00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:19,240
until after it was all said and 
done and the resurrection 

246
00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,320
happened and they were like, oh,
that's what he meant when he 

247
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:25,920
said he was going to die. 
He meant he was going to die and

248
00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,440
come back to life. 
And then he ascended into the 

249
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,680
heavens. 
And they did not know where all 

250
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:36,000
of this was going, and they 
couldn't predict where all of 

251
00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:41,040
this was going at the moment 
Jesus ascended into heaven. 

252
00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:46,680
His closest followers still 
thought that Jesus was simply in

253
00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:48,280
this. 
You know, in their minds, this 

254
00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:52,640
was huge, but simply the Messiah
for the Jewish people who would 

255
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,200
restore the Kingdom of Israel to
greatness. 

256
00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,880
The notion that people like us 
would one day be followers of 

257
00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:05,440
Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, 
they could never predict. 

258
00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,240
They could never imagine. 
It was not anywhere on their 

259
00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,280
radar. 
They had no idea really where 

260
00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:13,080
Jesus was going with all of 
this. 

261
00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,480
And that's what Thomas said. 
So, Jesus, we don't know where 

262
00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:19,360
you're going. 
How could we follow you? 

263
00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:21,160
We don't know where you're 
going. 

264
00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:28,320
And Jesus's response and Thomas 
said, Lord, we don't know where 

265
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,080
you're going. 
How can we know the way? 

266
00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,800
Jesus answered, I am the way and
the truth and the life. 

267
00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,040
No one comes to the Father 
except through me. 

268
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:43,960
If you really know me, you will 
know my Father as well from now 

269
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,200
on. 
You do know him and you have 

270
00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:50,360
seen him. 
I am the way Jesus said I am the

271
00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,600
truth. 
In a world and in a culture 

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where deception is becoming the 
norm, where reality is becoming 

273
00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:05,160
indistinguishable from fiction, 
particularly when we receive 

274
00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:10,360
that information digitally, the 
church needs to become and can 

275
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,840
become a haven of honesty and 
authenticity. 

276
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,520
We can offer this to the world. 
We can offer this to the 

277
00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:22,240
community. 
If you're looking for something 

278
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:24,560
that's real, come hang out with 
us. 

279
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,280
We'll be real with you. 
In a world where people feel 

280
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,800
like they have to put on masks 
and they have to put on an image

281
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,640
and make a show when they don't 
see themselves as a person, but 

282
00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,480
they see themselves as a brand. 
And the brand is all that's 

283
00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:39,120
matter. 
And I can't let anyone see the 

284
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,880
real me. 
We can say come here and be 

285
00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:46,360
yourself and we'll be ourselves.
Come here. 

286
00:16:46,360 --> 00:16:48,680
You can be authentic here 
because we're going to be 

287
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,840
authentic to you. 
We don't need to put on masks. 

288
00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,480
We don't need to put on a 
veneer. 

289
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,080
We don't need to be a brand 
because we know that Jesus loves

290
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:02,200
us just the way that we are and 
our brokenness and our flaws and

291
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:05,359
in our imperfections. 
Jesus loves us just the way we 

292
00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,960
are. 
We do not need to hide. 

293
00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:12,440
We do not need to. 
We don't need to present a false

294
00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:15,839
front. 
We don't need to Polish up the 

295
00:17:15,839 --> 00:17:19,079
brand. 
We just need to be ourselves. 

296
00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,599
I'm not sure there's anyone else
that's doing that out there 

297
00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:26,160
right now. 
There. 

298
00:17:26,160 --> 00:17:30,440
There are a lot of places that 
say we're going to, you know, we

299
00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,480
accept you just as you are. 
But once you get in there, you 

300
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,120
realize there's a whole list of 
things that you have to be for 

301
00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,800
them to accept you just as you 
are. 

302
00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,400
And a whole list of things you 
have to believe for them to 

303
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:43,720
accept you just as you are. 
And a whole different list of 

304
00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:45,040
things that you just have to 
say. 

305
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,240
And another list of things that 
you just can never say. 

306
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:49,320
To be accepted. 
Just as you are. 

307
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:54,680
But Jesus said. 
Just as you are, come to me. 

308
00:17:55,360 --> 00:18:01,640
Broken, wounded, weary, happy, 
sad, joyful, successful, 

309
00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:07,600
failing, struggling, excelling. 
Whatever situation you're in 

310
00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:11,720
right now, whatever you're 
feeling right now, whoever you 

311
00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,600
are right now, come to me. 
Jesus says. 

312
00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:16,920
You don't know where I'm going. 
That's OK. 

313
00:18:17,120 --> 00:18:20,800
I'm the way. 
You have a difficulty in this 

314
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,160
world distinguishing between 
fantasy and fiction and reality.

315
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,360
Don't worry, I'm the truth. 
Jesus says I'm the truth. 

316
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:35,200
And that's where the. 
Life is too in Jesus, in Jesus. 

317
00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,760
Part of this means is that the 
church, as a church, we have to 

318
00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,520
commit to honesty and we have to
commit to authenticity. 

319
00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,040
And I don't mean that kind of 
honesty that that this sort of 

320
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:49,880
that self satisfied, 
self-righteous. 

321
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,520
Well, I'll be brutally honest 
with you. 

322
00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,040
Ha ha, ha. 
I'm happy to tell you the truth 

323
00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,320
about all the things that you're
wondering about. 

324
00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:00,360
It's the honesty that says we're
going to be honest with 

325
00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:05,800
ourselves and we're going to be 
honest about ourselves and we're

326
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:09,440
not going to wear the mask. 
There's an old Casting Crowns 

327
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,840
song from years ago called 
Stained Glass Masquerade about 

328
00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:16,000
all the people who go to church 
and put on their Sunday best and

329
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:17,840
pretend to be something that 
they're not. 

330
00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,520
In order for people to like and 
accept and receive them, and to 

331
00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,480
truly be a haven of honesty and 
authenticity, to truly be 

332
00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,400
something different in the 
world, we have to decidedly and 

333
00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:34,880
determinedly not be that kind of
church, but instead decidedly 

334
00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:41,120
and terminally commit to being 
honest and authentic so that 

335
00:19:41,120 --> 00:19:43,960
when people meet us, they can 
see something real. 

336
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,080
Not something. 
Pretend not something fake, not 

337
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,480
something where we're trying to 
be a brand, but just be in 

338
00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,600
ourselves. 
And that they know. 

339
00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:57,320
That when we speak to them that 
we'll be telling the truth and 

340
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,920
not lies. 
And then they can. 

341
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,360
Trust. 
So hard to trust and a world 

342
00:20:04,360 --> 00:20:07,000
where you don't know when 
someone's telling the truth and 

343
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,240
when someone's telling a lie. 
And I think when Jesus said let 

344
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,000
your yes be yes and let your no 
be no that there was so much 

345
00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,840
more than giving a rule against 
taking oaths. 

346
00:20:17,720 --> 00:20:24,120
Jesus was saying be real, be 
authentic when you say a thing. 

347
00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:27,800
When you say a thing, people 
need to be able to trust and 

348
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:33,320
believe you that what you say 
your yes is a yes, your no is a 

349
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:35,200
no. 
You're not going to deceive. 

350
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,280
You're not going to manipulate. 
Lies are the tool of the devil. 

351
00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:44,720
Jesus is. 
The truth We cannot follow Jesus

352
00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:46,920
while using the tools of the 
devil. 

353
00:20:47,040 --> 00:20:52,320
We cannot do God's work with the
devil's tools and lies and 

354
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,120
deceptions and fronts and 
branding. 

355
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:58,640
This is all just, you know, when
it comes to this life, if a 

356
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:02,680
business needs a brand, 
absolutely that's a real thing. 

357
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,040
Everyone knows that human beings
need to be human beings. 

358
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:12,480
To be ourselves, warts and all, 
successes and all, failures and 

359
00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,120
all struggles and all. 
To be able to be honest about 

360
00:21:16,120 --> 00:21:20,320
that with each other and the 
people we encounter, there is 

361
00:21:20,400 --> 00:21:23,040
and can be such a thing as too 
much honesty, but it's the 

362
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,400
exception rather than the rule. 
I do a little bit of time, so 

363
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:29,080
I'm going to tell another story.
I had two stories in my pocket. 

364
00:21:29,080 --> 00:21:30,600
I was open at what time for both
of them. 

365
00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,880
There's a story of a king and a 
great Kingdom once. 

366
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,040
This is a Once Upon a time 
story, not a historical story. 

367
00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,640
Once Upon a time, a great king 
and a great Kingdom, and he was 

368
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,000
growing old and he didn't have 
any children and he needed to 

369
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,520
name a successor in his Kingdom.
And he had a plan. 

370
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:53,160
I wanted a young person, someone
who would live a long time. 

371
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:57,000
And he wanted to be a wise 
person and a real person. 

372
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,080
And so he, he, he proclaimed the
day in which he invited all the 

373
00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:04,480
youth, all of the young people 
in the Kingdom to come to the 

374
00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,760
Capitol, come to the palace. 
And once they arrived, he gave 

375
00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:12,320
every single one of them a seed.
And he said, here's what I want 

376
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,480
you to do. 
Take the seed home, plant it in 

377
00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:20,680
a pot, grow it and, and, and 
grow as luxurious a plant as you

378
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,480
possibly can and bring it back 
here next year on this day and 

379
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,920
let me see what you've drawn. 
So everyone did that. 

380
00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:30,720
Took their seeds home. 
They put them in the pot. 

381
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,840
They watered them. 
A year came and was almost a 

382
00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:35,120
year. 
They came and there was one 

383
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:39,000
young man and nothing had grown.
He'd faithfully watered his 

384
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:41,080
seed. 
He made sure the soil was good, 

385
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,400
that all the fertilizer that 
needed to be in it was there. 

386
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,360
Nothing grew. 
And he told his mom, I'm not 

387
00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,560
going. 
This is embarrassing. 

388
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:52,240
I'm not going. 
I'm not going. 

389
00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,400
His mom said no, you should go. 
Just explain to the king what 

390
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:57,400
happened. 
He'll understand. 

391
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,800
Sometimes things don't grow. 
And when he got there, his worst

392
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,640
fears were confirmed. 
Everyone else had these huge 

393
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:07,560
plants. 
Some of them had to have great 

394
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,480
big pots and bring them in on 
carts. 

395
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:13,240
Some of them were wonderful 
flowers, others were were fruit 

396
00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:17,280
trees, others were these 
tremendous luxurious vegetables.

397
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,640
And, and it was just incredible.
And the boy just shrank and 

398
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,920
shrank and shrank and shrank and
shrank as person after person 

399
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,920
ahead of them was going up to 
present their plants of what 

400
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,840
they had grown to the king. 
The king was looking around, and

401
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:34,760
he kept looking around, and he 
finally he saw the boy in the 

402
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:36,720
back. 
He saw this boy holding an empty

403
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:39,040
pot. 
And the king said, Hey, you come

404
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:41,560
up here. 
The boy went up. 

405
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,080
To the front. 
Red as a beet. 

406
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:46,680
It's like this is going to get 
scolded. 

407
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,680
I'm going to get embarrassed. 
The King's going to call me out 

408
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,080
in front of everybody. 
The king said, I see you have an

409
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:53,720
empty pot. 
And the boy said, yes, Your 

410
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:57,880
Highness, I'm sorry, I planted 
the seed and I watered the seed 

411
00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,920
and I fertilized the seed, but 
nothing grew. 

412
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:05,240
The king said, I think I found 
my heir. 

413
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:08,880
The boy looked amazed. 
The king said, you see, every 

414
00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:12,120
seed I gave away last year I had
boiled. 

415
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:15,320
None of them would grow 
anything. 

416
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,160
And you're the only. 
One who's had the courage to be 

417
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,480
honest about what happened. 
And I need. 

418
00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,560
Someone who is honest and 
someone who is courageous to be 

419
00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,480
my successor. 
This is the way of Jesus. 

420
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:38,160
The courage to be honest, the 
courage to be ourselves. 

421
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,000
I think maybe in this world, the
courage to be yourself is is 

422
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,040
might be take more courage than 
anything else. 

423
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,520
In a world where it's easy to 
get cancelled, it's easy to get 

424
00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:52,320
crushed, it's easy to get 
condemned and have that spread 

425
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,320
all over. 
Courage, to be honest, the 

426
00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:00,080
courage to be ourselves. 
This is something that we as a 

427
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,440
church can offer this world that
the world can't get anyplace 

428
00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,160
else. 
No place else. 

429
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,480
No matter how good. 
Our music gets we're never going

430
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,320
to be as good as Beyoncé and 
Taylor Swift and and Ed Sheeran.

431
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,480
I don't know who the current 
people are in that crowd. 

432
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:20,320
Jelly Roll, there we go. 
Not going to be we'll never be 

433
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,120
that. 
We'll you're never going to get,

434
00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:23,800
you know, the best preaching in 
the world. 

435
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,640
We're never going to have the 
you'll never have the most, 

436
00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,600
well, quaffed pastor in the 
world. 

437
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,200
But there's one. 
Thing that we can give that 

438
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,680
folks can't get on YouTube and 
they can't get on TV and they 

439
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:45,560
can't get on TikTok and that's 
real authentic, honest to 

440
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:50,280
goodness human beings who are 
being honestly themselves. 

441
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,760
Let's do that together in Jesus 
name, Amen. 

442
00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:54,640
Amen.