WEBVTT NOTE Podcast: Acts 29 Vancouver Episode: Core Strength Workout: Joy - Part 5 Publishing Date: 2024-10-13T06:04:44-07:00 Podcast URL: https://acts29.ca Episode URL: https://acts29.ca/core-strength-workout-joy-part-5/ 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 I'm live. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.000 Okay. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:22.800 All right, you guys, we'll start now. 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:29.260 So we'll continue with our series on core strength. 00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:37.260 We were talking about core strength as being joy, but before that a few quick announcements. 00:00:37.260 --> 00:00:45.540 One, there's a baby shower for Prashant and Yetu's baby, and that's on October 26th. 00:00:45.540 --> 00:00:50.980 The ladies will receive an email with regard to what else they need to know, so that's 00:00:50.980 --> 00:00:51.980 on the 26th. 00:00:51.980 --> 00:00:54.460 Just wanted to announce that. 00:00:54.460 --> 00:01:02.420 And then if you see Shiloh, it was Shiloh's birthday yesterday, so make sure he knows 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:03.740 that you know. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:11.220 Yeah, I think he's off to the Sunday school already, so if you see him, make sure you 00:01:11.220 --> 00:01:12.660 let him know. 00:01:12.660 --> 00:01:19.980 And Nick is going to New York after the service, and Shireen is going to India and Dubai, so 00:01:19.980 --> 00:01:23.300 they will be missing for a little while. 00:01:24.140 --> 00:01:25.780 Thanks, man. 00:01:25.780 --> 00:01:35.900 And we've been talking about core strength, core strength, and how joy is supposed to 00:01:35.900 --> 00:01:41.420 be one of the core strengths that every believer has, so this is part five of it. 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:45.860 And today we'll talk about the joy of hide and seek with God, the joy of hide and seek 00:01:45.860 --> 00:01:46.860 with God. 00:01:47.020 --> 00:02:00.940 We've been talking about how, unlike David, we do not know what it is to long for, to 00:02:00.940 --> 00:02:05.540 to long for, to yearn for God. 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:09.180 And we've been talking about that, so if you listen to the messages in the past, you'll 00:02:09.180 --> 00:02:12.140 get an idea of that. 00:02:12.140 --> 00:02:13.940 Am I good, Brandon? 00:02:13.940 --> 00:02:14.940 Okay. 00:02:14.940 --> 00:02:20.260 So if you read Deuteronomy 33-12, it's about Benjamin, eh? 00:02:20.260 --> 00:02:23.340 And here's what it says about Benjamin. 00:02:23.340 --> 00:02:24.340 It says, 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:37.580 Let the beloved of the Lord, let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, let the beloved 00:02:37.660 --> 00:02:51.420 of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him day and night or all day long. 00:02:51.420 --> 00:02:53.340 And I love the next part. 00:02:53.340 --> 00:03:10.580 And the one the Lord loves and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:14.740 Crazy, eh? 00:03:14.740 --> 00:03:23.260 You wonder whether John knew about the scripture, because that's where you find John. 00:03:24.060 --> 00:03:31.340 John would literally live out the scripture, where he would rest between Jesus' shoulders. 00:03:31.340 --> 00:03:39.340 You wonder whether he got the idea from Deuteronomy 33-12, where it says that Benjamin was the 00:03:39.340 --> 00:03:42.900 beloved of the Lord, and then John takes the same language, eh? 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:47.900 And he calls himself the beloved of the Lord, the one that the Lord loves most. 00:03:48.100 --> 00:03:53.260 You'd almost think that the guy copied and pasted from Deuteronomy 33-12. 00:03:53.260 --> 00:04:01.420 And so, let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and 00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:06.380 the one that the Lord loves, the one that the Lord loves rests between his shoulders. 00:04:06.380 --> 00:04:12.380 It's the idea of someone putting his head on your chest and just resting there. 00:04:13.020 --> 00:04:16.860 Sometimes like a baby, sometimes like one who is a... 00:04:16.860 --> 00:04:21.580 This is where the word bosom friend comes from, like John was with Jesus, or someone 00:04:21.580 --> 00:04:24.060 who's a lover. 00:04:24.060 --> 00:04:25.540 We've been talking about that, eh? 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:33.220 That intimacy with God is not possible if you don't see God in his personhood. 00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:43.140 And his personhood is either displayed in his fatherhood or in Christ being your friend, 00:04:43.140 --> 00:04:44.740 because that's what he says about you. 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:49.500 He says, hey, Mark, you're not my servant, you're my friend. 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:52.020 If you were a servant, you wouldn't know what I was doing. 00:04:52.020 --> 00:04:53.900 But because you're a friend, I let you in. 00:04:53.900 --> 00:04:58.420 Or you can go to the Holy Spirit, and now the Holy Spirit is someone who sticks closer 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:01.940 than a brother, and you can interchange. 00:05:01.940 --> 00:05:06.780 Why do you want God to be a father, a lover, a friend? 00:05:06.780 --> 00:05:13.260 But unless we deal with the personhood of God, it is impossible for us to get intimate with 00:05:13.260 --> 00:05:14.260 him. 00:05:14.260 --> 00:05:20.100 And when we do, our language changes, because the language of intimacy is far, far beyond, 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:23.820 hallelujah, praise the Lord, worthy, holy. 00:05:23.820 --> 00:05:25.620 Try that with your wife. 00:05:25.620 --> 00:05:27.960 Doesn't work. 00:05:27.960 --> 00:05:29.540 It has to go beyond that. 00:05:29.540 --> 00:05:33.580 The language of intimacy has to go beyond that, and it only happens when I begin to 00:05:33.580 --> 00:05:35.060 treat God as a person. 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:36.060 We talked about that. 00:05:36.060 --> 00:05:43.260 And then we come to this, where we see public expressions or displays of God and people 00:05:43.260 --> 00:05:44.260 in love. 00:05:44.260 --> 00:05:49.140 So it was this with Benjamin, and then we see an actual portrayal of it in the Song 00:05:49.140 --> 00:05:57.100 of Songs, where it's Christ and the bride, and then we see it between Christ and John. 00:05:57.100 --> 00:05:59.660 Why can't we have the same? 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:03.180 That's been the intent of the last five teachings. 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:06.460 It's not so much joy, it is enjoying God. 00:06:06.460 --> 00:06:09.500 It's enjoying God. 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:10.500 Enjoying God. 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:19.980 Or in this case, we could change the title to Enjoying, Hide and Seek with God. 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:24.140 Enjoying, hide and seek with God. 00:06:24.140 --> 00:06:26.140 Any questions before we go on? 00:06:26.140 --> 00:06:32.220 I don't know if there's a question, but is there a hierarchy between the two worlds? 00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:34.180 Is there a hierarchy to the relationships? 00:06:34.180 --> 00:06:35.180 No. 00:06:35.180 --> 00:06:39.460 There's depth to relationships with God, but there is no hierarchy. 00:06:39.460 --> 00:06:42.660 Like if you take John, he was the youngest of them all. 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:45.180 So I meant more like... 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:47.740 Oh, in terms of the triune God. 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:48.740 Yeah. 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:49.740 No. 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:54.300 Because like it or not, if you go to the Holy Spirit, eventually his intent is to point 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:56.380 you to Jesus. 00:06:56.380 --> 00:07:01.220 If you go to Jesus, his intent is to point you to the Father. 00:07:01.220 --> 00:07:02.780 I have come to show you the Father. 00:07:02.780 --> 00:07:05.540 The Holy Spirit says, I have come to reveal Christ to you. 00:07:05.540 --> 00:07:10.060 And if you go to the Father, he'll say, if you want to know me, I am the invisible God. 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:12.940 Let me point you to the visible Christ. 00:07:12.940 --> 00:07:17.940 And when you look at Christ, he says, if you want to know me, let me point you to the Holy 00:07:17.940 --> 00:07:19.820 Spirit because I didn't leave you orphans. 00:07:19.820 --> 00:07:22.940 I put myself in you so that you may live with me. 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:27.980 So there's this amazing harmony between the triune God and yet we can connect with him 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:28.980 in his personhood. 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:33.300 This is a brilliant God, eh? 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:34.620 Who had everything set up. 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:37.580 And now he's saying, guys, please enter in. 00:07:37.580 --> 00:07:41.820 Please don't leave me at holy, hallelujah, worthy and praise the Lord. 00:07:41.820 --> 00:07:47.580 It has to be more than that. 00:07:47.580 --> 00:07:50.940 The angels can't have this relationship, guys. 00:07:50.940 --> 00:07:53.660 So let them do the holy, holy for a while. 00:07:53.660 --> 00:07:57.380 Let's change to something a little more intimate. 00:07:57.380 --> 00:08:00.860 I'm not saying we shouldn't say that, but please try and understand where we want to go. 00:08:20.940 --> 00:08:38.900 Yeah, I would say that it doesn't matter who you seek in the three-person triune God. 00:08:38.900 --> 00:08:45.660 They all have the same will, the same intent, a kind of unity that we can't even imagine. 00:08:45.660 --> 00:08:49.500 So it doesn't matter who you seek direction from. 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:50.740 Just... 00:08:55.740 --> 00:09:01.380 What I'm trying to say is if I go seek directions from God, I'll go ask the Father, or I'll 00:09:01.380 --> 00:09:04.060 ask the Holy Spirit, or I'll ask Jesus the Son. 00:09:04.060 --> 00:09:09.580 It doesn't matter because at the end of the day, at different times in my life, I'm relating 00:09:09.580 --> 00:09:16.340 to God sometimes as a father, sometimes as savior and messiah and Christ and master, 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:20.900 sometimes as one who sticks closer than a brother, sometimes all three at three different 00:09:20.900 --> 00:09:23.300 times during the day. 00:09:23.300 --> 00:09:29.060 And so I wouldn't clinically divide him that way because in a sense, the Lord our God, 00:09:29.060 --> 00:09:30.580 the Lord is one. 00:09:30.580 --> 00:09:36.860 So one of the things that happens to us guys, and this is not to pick on Mark, but we suffer 00:09:36.860 --> 00:09:43.980 from something called the paralysis of analysis where we begin to analyze it so deeply that 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:46.740 we just get totally messed up. 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:51.260 This is at the end of the day, remember who God is primarily, and I've said this before 00:09:51.260 --> 00:09:55.820 and it's worth repeating, that at the end of the day, the one distinguishing factor 00:09:55.820 --> 00:10:01.860 about the Christian God is that he is a father. 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:07.660 You take that away, you don't have a Christian God. 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:17.420 He is referred to in Luke as the, Adam is referred to as the son of God. 00:10:17.420 --> 00:10:21.660 When he talks about being a God, he talks about being the God of Abraham, Isaac and 00:10:21.660 --> 00:10:25.700 Jacob, it's a generational pattern of fathers and sons. 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:30.500 In Ephesians 3, 16 to 18, you hear him saying, I bow my knee before the father from whom 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:32.940 all families take their names. 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:36.600 The first thing that happens when the Holy Spirit comes into your heart is what? 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:43.280 The Abba cry, taken out of slavery into adoption so that the first cry that comes out from 00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:47.680 a believer's heart is that of father. 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:53.320 When he rises from the grave, the first words he speaks to Mary is, go tell my brothers 00:10:53.320 --> 00:10:59.040 that I'm going to their father and my father. 00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:06.380 At the end of the day, you take away the fatherhood of God, you do not have a Christian God. 00:11:06.380 --> 00:11:12.580 He is so father that it's a one thing that if we don't wrap our heads around, regardless 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:18.180 of the fact that we may have had abusive fathers or absentee fathers, regardless of that, know 00:11:18.180 --> 00:11:23.380 this for certain that God has put in every man an understanding of what a good father 00:11:23.380 --> 00:11:25.820 looks like. 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:31.340 It is so deep that because we don't know it, all of us are born orphans, some of us 00:11:31.340 --> 00:11:36.040 are orphans that have been abused and have a hatred towards our physical fathers or mothers, 00:11:36.040 --> 00:11:42.880 but the fact remains that every person knows, boy, girl, everyone knows what it is to have 00:11:42.880 --> 00:11:44.560 an ideal father. 00:11:44.560 --> 00:11:47.340 That will never be taken away from us. 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:51.160 Because when he made us, he made us his children. 00:11:51.160 --> 00:11:54.260 How many since Christ he restores us as children. 00:11:54.260 --> 00:11:58.120 To everyone who called upon him, he gave them the right to be called the children of God, 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:04.960 John 1. 00:12:05.640 --> 00:12:13.000 One of the things God really wants us to do is he wants to say to us, listen, I created 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:32.420 you so that you can enjoy what my son, Jesus, has with me. 00:12:32.420 --> 00:12:33.640 That's one of his intents. 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:37.520 I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the father. 00:12:37.520 --> 00:12:40.960 I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the father. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:42.400 What does he have most? 00:12:42.400 --> 00:12:46.800 It's not the riches according to the glory of Christ in Philippians 4.19. 00:12:46.800 --> 00:12:52.720 What are the three distinguishing marks of Jesus that Jesus always has had with the father? 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:54.720 One, affection. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.920 Two, intimacy. 00:12:58.920 --> 00:13:02.460 Three, trust. 00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:07.820 These are three things that he has had since eternity and will always have till the end 00:13:07.820 --> 00:13:08.820 of time. 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:14.380 And so, I mean, you don't have the end of time because eternity is forever. 00:13:14.380 --> 00:13:17.740 But at the end of the day, these are three things that Jesus has with the father. 00:13:17.740 --> 00:13:19.420 He's always had this with the father. 00:13:19.420 --> 00:13:23.020 When he says, take my yoke upon you, this is the yoke he's talking about. 00:13:23.020 --> 00:13:25.560 This yoke is easy and light. 00:13:25.560 --> 00:13:29.720 This is the only yoke that he's been wearing since the beginning of time. 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:32.360 He says, my yoke is easy and light. 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:34.120 Come, let me teach you. 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:35.120 Walk with me. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:36.800 I'll teach you how to walk under this. 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:41.560 Christians have been so scared of the yoke that Jesus is going to put on you. 00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:43.660 But he says it's easy and light. 00:13:43.660 --> 00:13:49.120 What has he been wearing since the beginning of time that only his father has given him? 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:52.920 Throughout scriptures and into the book of Hebrews, the one thing you find continuously 00:13:52.920 --> 00:13:57.860 about Jesus is that there's great affection between him and the father. 00:13:57.860 --> 00:14:01.740 You can hear it in the father's speech at different times during baptism just before 00:14:01.740 --> 00:14:05.120 going to the cross. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:13.820 And isn't it so sad if I am not able to capture this at least five times during a regular 00:14:13.820 --> 00:14:16.820 day? 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:27.480 Affection, intimacy, trust. 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:31.980 Great affection like you have for your spouse or your child. 00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:37.820 Great intimacy like you have with your spouse or your child. 00:14:37.820 --> 00:14:45.500 Great trust that you have towards your spouse and that your child has towards you to be 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:53.980 experienced on a daily basis many times during the day. 00:14:53.980 --> 00:14:56.980 And it is a habit. 00:14:56.980 --> 00:15:03.200 It must be created. 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:04.560 How do you create a habit? 00:15:04.560 --> 00:15:07.240 Every time you forget it, you start again. 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:10.080 That's the only way to create a habit. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:11.520 How do you create a habit? 00:15:11.520 --> 00:15:16.720 Every time you realize as shucks forgot all about it, you start again. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:22.280 That's how you create a habit. 00:15:22.280 --> 00:15:30.940 And some of us will run faster than the others just because the habit is now creating desire. 00:15:30.940 --> 00:15:34.040 Delight creates a habit which creates a desire. 00:15:34.040 --> 00:15:37.220 Delight creates a habit which creates a desire. 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:40.260 Delight creates a habit which creates a desire. 00:15:40.260 --> 00:15:45.900 Once these three come together, gosh man, you got it made. 00:15:45.900 --> 00:15:50.100 And remember, Jesus had to learn this through. 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.280 He didn't automatically come saying, I love the Father, I love the Father. 00:15:53.280 --> 00:15:54.700 No, he had to learn this through. 00:15:54.700 --> 00:15:57.260 He grew in wisdom, stature, favor with God and man. 00:15:57.260 --> 00:16:00.800 He had to learn it. 00:16:00.800 --> 00:16:04.040 By the time he was 12, he was so fluent in it. 00:16:04.040 --> 00:16:10.020 So it is available for all of us, including your kids. 00:16:10.020 --> 00:16:15.700 This is just nuts. 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:16.980 It is your daily portion. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.460 I don't know how far we'll get today. 00:16:19.460 --> 00:16:22.980 It is your daily portion. 00:16:22.980 --> 00:16:26.460 It is your daily portion, as in the Breakfast of Champions. 00:16:26.460 --> 00:16:43.460 It is your daily portion to have or to experience the love of God poured out on you by the Holy Spirit. 00:16:43.460 --> 00:16:52.460 Romans 5, 5. 00:16:52.460 --> 00:16:55.260 It is your daily portion. 00:16:55.260 --> 00:17:01.060 Everybody sitting here, it is your daily portion to have the love of God poured out on you. 00:17:01.060 --> 00:17:05.260 Not a dribble, poured out on you. 00:17:05.260 --> 00:17:10.120 Which means then tomorrow waits for me. 00:17:10.120 --> 00:17:11.580 Tomorrow waits for me. 00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:19.700 It waits for me to wake up so that I can be saturated, drenched once again in what I was saturated and drenched today. 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:22.700 And you can go in for as many refills. 00:17:22.700 --> 00:17:25.900 Refills are free. 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:30.900 It is my daily portion. 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:36.340 It's what sustains the child. 00:17:36.340 --> 00:17:40.140 And we come back to the same dilemma we always have. 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:43.700 We do not have time. 00:17:43.700 --> 00:17:46.700 But time can be created. 00:17:46.700 --> 00:17:47.700 How do we create time? 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:49.700 By prioritizing something. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:51.700 How do we prioritize something? 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:52.700 By liking it enough. 00:17:52.700 --> 00:17:53.700 How do we like something enough? 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:55.700 By tasting it. 00:17:55.700 --> 00:18:00.700 God is a God who is interested in experiences. 00:18:00.700 --> 00:18:03.700 He wants to give you an experience of Him. 00:18:03.700 --> 00:18:06.700 Faith gets you to the experience. 00:18:07.260 --> 00:18:14.260 Experience is supposed to now cause you to catapult in faith or have faith gather such momentum. 00:18:14.260 --> 00:18:17.260 But if you do not taste, you will not know. 00:18:17.260 --> 00:18:20.260 And the church is avoiding the taste of God. 00:18:28.260 --> 00:18:31.260 I know it feels so alien, right, when we talk about this? 00:18:31.260 --> 00:18:36.260 One of the things that's happening all across the earth, doesn't matter how good a church it is or how lousy a church it is. 00:18:36.820 --> 00:18:40.820 Churches are becoming functional before they become intimate. 00:18:40.820 --> 00:18:41.820 What would you prefer? 00:18:41.820 --> 00:18:46.820 Would you prefer a wife who is highly functional or would you prefer a wife who is highly intimate? 00:18:46.820 --> 00:18:49.420 The answer is both. 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:52.420 But which comes first? 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:55.220 Intimacy must come first. 00:18:55.220 --> 00:18:56.220 Functionality comes after. 00:18:56.220 --> 00:19:05.220 To have a functional wife who is not intimate is a pits man. 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:13.180 And to have an intimate wife who is not functional, you'll want to rent a hotel room every night because you don't want to come home. 00:19:15.180 --> 00:19:20.180 But when both work together, it must be intimacy first and then functional. 00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:24.180 God desires this and it's the same desire that He has of you. 00:19:24.180 --> 00:19:29.180 What good are you, Jacob, if you preach well, if you do not know what it is to be intimate with me? 00:19:29.180 --> 00:19:32.180 Because you're being highly functional but you have no intimacy. 00:19:33.140 --> 00:19:36.140 At some point you will run out of oxygen. 00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:39.140 It's the same in a marriage, right? 00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:51.140 You can fill your head with a whole lot of academic Hebrew and Greek and it means nothing if you can't say, I love you in Greek. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:57.140 I mean it passionately in Hebrew. 00:19:57.140 --> 00:20:00.140 Neither of which I know. 00:20:03.140 --> 00:20:06.140 Here's a question. 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:17.140 Are you consciously resting between His shoulders? 00:20:18.100 --> 00:20:21.100 Are you consciously resting between His shoulders? 00:20:30.100 --> 00:20:33.100 Are you consciously resting between His shoulders? 00:20:33.100 --> 00:20:40.100 Is it possible for me, as I'm teaching right now, to consciously rest between His shoulders? 00:20:40.100 --> 00:20:43.100 Do you know what that can do to what I'm teaching right now? 00:20:43.100 --> 00:20:45.100 Do you know what that can do to you? 00:20:46.060 --> 00:20:49.060 If I'm consciously resting between His shoulders and teaching right now. 00:20:49.060 --> 00:20:51.060 What does that even mean? 00:20:51.060 --> 00:20:54.060 Take it in human terms. 00:20:54.060 --> 00:21:04.060 What does it mean when you rest your head on your spouse's chest? 00:21:04.060 --> 00:21:06.060 What does it mean? 00:21:06.060 --> 00:21:13.060 I've seen my mum and dad, when my dad was alive, occasionally my mum would go and put her head on my dad's chest. 00:21:14.020 --> 00:21:19.020 They're quite old by now and it usually used to happen when I used to cause trouble. 00:21:19.020 --> 00:21:25.020 It would be amazing how whenever I'd cause a stir they'd be deeply in love. 00:21:25.020 --> 00:21:32.020 And so I would see her resting her head on my dad's chest. 00:21:32.020 --> 00:21:35.020 I'm telling you man, it was the sweetest thing to watch. 00:21:35.020 --> 00:21:39.020 And then they would try and they would cry a little and try to make me change my mind, 00:21:39.020 --> 00:21:40.020 which would never work. 00:21:40.020 --> 00:21:43.020 But it was such a sweet thing to watch. 00:21:43.980 --> 00:21:46.980 What happens then? 00:21:46.980 --> 00:21:49.980 There's safety, there's warmth, there's assurance. 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:52.980 One of the things God loves doing is assuring us. 00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:56.980 Never think that because He's told you something yesterday that He won't say it again today. 00:21:56.980 --> 00:21:58.980 Which parent doesn't? 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:00.980 Which parent doesn't? 00:22:00.980 --> 00:22:03.980 Reassuring is so much a part of Him. 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:08.980 So don't be surprised if you receive a word yesterday from God, another prophetic word tomorrow 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:11.980 and three days from now another dream reassuring you. 00:22:11.980 --> 00:22:14.980 It's not God thinking that you haven't gotten it through your skull. 00:22:14.980 --> 00:22:17.980 It's God saying, but this is what I do. 00:22:17.980 --> 00:22:19.980 I reassure you. 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:21.980 It's my favorite thing to do. 00:22:23.980 --> 00:22:28.980 What else happens when a spouse is resting on her husband's chest? 00:22:28.980 --> 00:22:29.980 What else happens? 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:31.980 She hears his heartbeat. 00:22:31.980 --> 00:22:33.980 She knows what he's going through. 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:35.980 There's safety in his arms. 00:22:35.980 --> 00:22:40.980 She doesn't care about whether the washing machine has stopped or the oven's overcooked. 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:42.980 She doesn't care about what needs to happen tomorrow. 00:22:42.980 --> 00:22:43.980 Why? 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:45.980 Because there's a place of safety. 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:46.980 Why do you want to know the future? 00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:48.980 I'll tell you why you want to know the future. 00:22:48.980 --> 00:22:53.980 The only reason you and I want to know the future is because we want to feel safe about tomorrow. 00:22:59.980 --> 00:23:04.980 And now what happens when you're resting in the arms of the one who is safety? 00:23:06.980 --> 00:23:08.980 It has to be tasted, guys. 00:23:10.980 --> 00:23:17.980 For those who are still single, may you find someone like this? 00:23:17.980 --> 00:23:22.980 For those who are married, you've already found that. 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:27.980 Are you consciously resting between his shoulders? 00:23:27.980 --> 00:23:29.980 Again, what does it need? 00:23:29.980 --> 00:23:32.980 How much time? 00:23:32.980 --> 00:23:35.980 A minute? 00:23:35.980 --> 00:23:37.980 To reconnect? 00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:44.980 Have you seen spouses where they'll be busy washing dishes or the guy is doing the laundry 00:23:44.980 --> 00:23:50.980 and the wife is just walking past and they stop and they, and then keep walking? 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:51.980 Why? 00:23:51.980 --> 00:23:53.980 Why do they do that? 00:23:53.980 --> 00:24:00.980 Or they're in the same room and they're hardly two meters apart, but oh my God, 00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:02.980 they've got to hug each other and kiss each other. 00:24:02.980 --> 00:24:06.980 And you think to yourself, where should I look right now? 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:08.980 Why do they do that? 00:24:08.980 --> 00:24:11.980 It's not because if they don't do that, things will collapse. 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:13.980 There is a need to stay connected. 00:24:13.980 --> 00:24:17.980 At the end of the day, that's what we are talking about. 00:24:17.980 --> 00:24:25.980 Father, I just forgot you for the last eight hours, but I come to reconnect. 00:24:25.980 --> 00:24:29.980 I feel like I'm using you, but you have no problem with that. 00:24:29.980 --> 00:24:36.980 Let me once again rest my head on your shoulders like John used to. 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:42.980 It's not physical, but Father, I just know that my spirit can connect with you. 00:24:42.980 --> 00:24:47.980 As a father connects to a son, as a friend connects to a friend, and a lover connects to a lover, 00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:50.980 it is absolutely possible and I do that right now. 00:24:50.980 --> 00:24:56.980 When you do that, even if it lasts for two minutes, those are the best two minutes of your life. 00:24:56.980 --> 00:24:59.980 And you have to try it. 00:24:59.980 --> 00:25:04.980 Song of Songs is being written by two people who are not near each other. 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:06.980 They're quite far apart. 00:25:06.980 --> 00:25:09.980 It's being written by two people who are at a distance. 00:25:09.980 --> 00:25:12.980 She says, behold, I see you coming over the mountains. 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:14.980 The winter has passed, the springtime has come. 00:25:14.980 --> 00:25:18.980 She's seeing things at a distance and reacting. 00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:22.980 Don't you long for someone when they are away? 00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:26.980 Does invisibility and the absence of presence mean that the person is not loved? 00:25:26.980 --> 00:25:28.980 Absolutely not. 00:25:28.980 --> 00:25:29.980 We don't think of God like this. 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:32.980 I know I've been saying it every week, but guys, we're in this together. 00:25:32.980 --> 00:25:34.980 I long for it. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:37.980 I want to write Psalm 63. 00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:42.980 Don't you? 00:25:42.980 --> 00:25:44.980 It's become my favorite verse in the Bible. 00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:46.980 Oh, Lord, you are my God. 00:25:46.980 --> 00:25:47.980 Early will I seek you. 00:25:47.980 --> 00:25:49.980 My soul longs for you. 00:25:49.980 --> 00:25:57.980 My body thirsts for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 00:25:57.980 --> 00:26:00.980 I want that man. 00:26:00.980 --> 00:26:07.980 If a guy in the Old Testament can have it, we can have it. 00:26:07.980 --> 00:26:15.980 You know, the thing that God has done is the presence of God is no longer your responsibility. 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:16.980 Why? 00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:17.980 Because he's moved into you. 00:26:17.980 --> 00:26:22.980 No longer is the presence of God your responsibility anymore. 00:26:22.980 --> 00:26:26.980 There's nothing you can do about it. 00:26:26.980 --> 00:26:34.980 Therefore, the distance you feel from God has nothing to do with actual proximity. 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:36.980 It just has to do with your intimacy. 00:26:36.980 --> 00:26:37.980 Hear me again. 00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:45.980 The distance you feel between God and you, the distance that I feel between God and me, has nothing to do with actual proximity. 00:26:45.980 --> 00:26:49.980 It has everything to do with intimacy. 00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:50.980 Why? 00:26:50.980 --> 00:26:55.980 Because the responsibility of the presence of God being with you is no longer yours. 00:26:55.980 --> 00:26:56.980 You have to do nothing. 00:26:56.980 --> 00:26:57.980 He moved in. 00:26:57.980 --> 00:26:59.980 His presence is permanent. 00:26:59.980 --> 00:27:07.980 And now he's not some kind of, you know, those plants you touch and they wither away? 00:27:07.980 --> 00:27:09.980 I think it's called mimosa samosa or something. 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:13.980 That's a genetic name. 00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:18.980 And so you touch it and it withers away. 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:20.980 And so I think it's something like that. 00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:29.980 I remember my classes from Botany in 1986. 00:27:29.980 --> 00:27:31.980 And so God is not like that. 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:36.980 You know, we think the Holy Spirit is so sensitive that if you say a wrong word, he just flies away. 00:27:36.980 --> 00:27:40.980 No. 00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:54.980 The crap that he takes from both believers and unbelievers is just so much. 00:27:54.980 --> 00:27:58.980 Is it mimosa and? 00:27:58.980 --> 00:27:59.980 Oh, she's a botanist. 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:06.980 Okay. 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:11.980 Guys, seek him out. 00:28:11.980 --> 00:28:14.980 Seek him out. 00:28:14.980 --> 00:28:15.980 Seek him out. 00:28:15.980 --> 00:28:16.980 Tomorrow morning, seek him out. 00:28:16.980 --> 00:28:18.980 Psalm 27, verse 8. 00:28:18.980 --> 00:28:20.980 Let's quickly turn to the scriptures. 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:22.980 Psalm 27, verse 8. 00:28:22.980 --> 00:28:27.980 Psalm 27, verse 8. 00:28:27.980 --> 00:28:28.980 You know what, guys? 00:28:28.980 --> 00:28:30.980 I'll show you this works. 00:28:30.980 --> 00:28:33.980 I've made it an aim in life for the next few years. 00:28:33.980 --> 00:28:35.980 Can I everywhere I go show the world? 00:28:35.980 --> 00:28:40.980 Show the world that this is possible. 00:28:40.980 --> 00:28:44.980 You know, nothing is learned unless it's modeled. 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:48.980 Once it's modeled, people can imitate. 00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:49.980 Rise up to it, man. 00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:51.980 Show them that this works. 00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:55.980 Because when people don't see, what can they believe? 00:28:55.980 --> 00:28:59.980 He came down so that they could see what the father looks like. 00:28:59.980 --> 00:29:03.980 Well, then show them what it is to be intimate with the father. 00:29:03.980 --> 00:29:04.980 You rise up. 00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:09.980 Because if it's not modeled, it cannot be taught. 00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:17.980 This is why children who grow up without parents find it very hard to understand parenthood. 00:29:17.980 --> 00:29:21.980 They even promise themselves that when they grow up, they'll be good parents. 00:29:21.980 --> 00:29:27.980 But they mess up big time because they haven't known what it is to live like that. 00:29:27.980 --> 00:29:29.980 It has to be modeled. 00:29:29.980 --> 00:29:36.980 It is my absolute intent to model it here on earth so that the 20s and the 30s that are coming up, 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:40.980 my God, man, may they not go through what some of us have been through in terms of God, 00:29:40.980 --> 00:29:44.980 where he's so sterile when it comes to experience. 00:29:44.980 --> 00:29:46.980 What is our experience of God? 00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:53.980 Speaking in tongues and falling over. 00:29:53.980 --> 00:30:02.980 There's more to it than that, man. 00:30:02.980 --> 00:30:03.980 Seek him out. 00:30:03.980 --> 00:30:05.980 Psalm 27, verse 8. 00:30:05.980 --> 00:30:12.980 My heart has heard you say, beautifully, my heart has heard you say, 00:30:12.980 --> 00:30:14.980 come and talk with me. 00:30:14.980 --> 00:30:17.980 And my heart responds, Lord, I'm coming. 00:30:17.980 --> 00:30:18.980 That's the NLT. 00:30:18.980 --> 00:30:22.980 My heart has heard you say, come and talk with me. 00:30:22.980 --> 00:30:26.980 And my heart responds, Lord, I'm coming. 00:30:26.980 --> 00:30:29.980 Try this tomorrow morning, man. 00:30:29.980 --> 00:30:32.980 Next scripture, Isaiah 45. 00:30:32.980 --> 00:30:35.980 Isaiah 45, sorry, Isaiah 45, 19. 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:38.980 Isaiah 45, 19. 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:44.980 Isaiah 45, 19. 00:30:44.980 --> 00:30:46.980 This is God saying, eh? 00:30:46.980 --> 00:30:48.980 I publicly proclaim bold promises. 00:30:48.980 --> 00:30:52.980 I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. 00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:56.980 I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. 00:30:56.980 --> 00:31:01.980 I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right. 00:31:01.980 --> 00:31:02.980 Listen to that again. 00:31:02.980 --> 00:31:04.980 I publicly proclaim bold promises. 00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:08.980 I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. 00:31:08.980 --> 00:31:14.980 I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. 00:31:14.980 --> 00:31:18.980 Hide and seek is something he thrills at. 00:31:18.980 --> 00:31:27.980 He knocks and then runs and hides and hopes that you will wake up and find him. 00:31:27.980 --> 00:31:30.980 Where do you think you got that? 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:33.980 Why do you do it with your children? 00:31:33.980 --> 00:31:38.980 Why do you do it with your cousins and nephews and nieces? 00:31:38.980 --> 00:31:45.980 Knock and then go hide and they come looking and you make small noises so that they find you. 00:31:45.980 --> 00:31:48.980 Where did you get that from? 00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:55.980 From Freud? No. 00:31:55.980 --> 00:31:56.980 Seek him. 00:31:56.980 --> 00:32:04.980 Another scripture, then we'll partake in communion. 00:32:04.980 --> 00:32:07.980 Isaiah, sorry, Jeremiah 29. 00:32:07.980 --> 00:32:12.980 Jeremiah 29, 13. 00:32:12.980 --> 00:32:14.980 Jeremiah 29, 13. 00:32:14.980 --> 00:32:18.980 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 00:32:18.980 --> 00:32:23.980 I'm saying this to you guys in all honesty. 00:32:23.980 --> 00:32:28.980 There has not been a time in the last 35 or 40 years that I've been a believer, 00:32:28.980 --> 00:32:30.980 there has not, 35 years that I've been a believer, 00:32:30.980 --> 00:32:33.980 there's not been a time where I've sought him wholeheartedly as in, 00:32:33.980 --> 00:32:36.980 Hey, I really want to talk to you. 00:32:36.980 --> 00:32:38.980 I really want to find you. 00:32:38.980 --> 00:32:41.980 There has not been a time that I have not had. 00:32:41.980 --> 00:32:44.980 God respond. 00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:51.980 And that's not because I'm special, because I'm the worst of sinners. 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:56.980 As Paul would say, it is impossible for you to seek him wholeheartedly and not have him respond. 00:32:56.980 --> 00:32:57.980 Guaranteed. 00:32:57.980 --> 00:33:00.980 Try this tomorrow and let him play hide and seek. 00:33:00.980 --> 00:33:07.980 Remember, he is not a cosmic vending machine that you throw a few hallelujahs into and out pops God. 00:33:07.980 --> 00:33:11.980 No, it's a relationship. 00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:13.980 Find time. 00:33:13.980 --> 00:33:16.980 Find time. 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:17.980 I wish you were all pastors. 00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:20.980 You'd have plenty of time. 00:33:20.980 --> 00:33:28.980 But then I'd be out of a job. 00:33:28.980 --> 00:33:38.980 George, you have time for the next two months. 00:33:38.980 --> 00:33:39.980 Let's end with this. 00:33:39.980 --> 00:33:52.980 Intimacy requires, intimacy requires engaging his presence. 00:33:52.980 --> 00:33:57.980 Intimacy requires engaging his presence. 00:33:57.980 --> 00:34:04.980 The reason God put Christ in me and me into Christ, and it says so in John 14, verse 20. 00:34:04.980 --> 00:34:09.980 In John 14, verse 20, it says, I have been put in Christ and Christ has been put in me. 00:34:09.980 --> 00:34:17.980 The reason God put Christ into me and me into Christ is so that presence was no longer dependent on me. 00:34:17.980 --> 00:34:20.980 Intimacy requires engaging his presence. 00:34:20.980 --> 00:34:25.980 How do you find his presence tomorrow? 00:34:25.980 --> 00:34:26.980 Yes, he lives in you. 00:34:26.980 --> 00:34:28.980 But how do you engage him? 00:34:28.980 --> 00:34:31.980 How do you engage his presence tomorrow? 00:34:31.980 --> 00:34:34.980 How do you locate his presence tomorrow? 00:34:34.980 --> 00:34:36.980 How do you locate his presence? 00:34:36.980 --> 00:34:39.980 Very simple, guys. 00:34:39.980 --> 00:34:41.980 Voice. 00:34:41.980 --> 00:34:43.980 What do you mean voice? 00:34:43.980 --> 00:34:46.980 Hear his voice. 00:34:46.980 --> 00:34:49.980 Hear his voice. 00:34:49.980 --> 00:34:57.980 And you will find him. 00:34:57.980 --> 00:35:04.980 When you want to locate your phone, you've got that find my phone thing. 00:35:04.980 --> 00:35:07.980 When you want to locate your wife, you call out her name. 00:35:07.980 --> 00:35:11.980 When your child is hiding or when you are hiding, what do you do when the child can't find you? 00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:13.980 You start making noises. 00:35:13.980 --> 00:35:15.980 The child then realizes where you are. 00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:17.980 It's the same thing with God. 00:35:17.980 --> 00:35:20.980 You want to locate and engage his presence tomorrow? 00:35:20.980 --> 00:35:21.980 Hear his voice. 00:35:21.980 --> 00:35:22.980 What do you mean hear his voice? 00:35:22.980 --> 00:35:24.980 Different ways of doing it. 00:35:24.980 --> 00:35:25.980 Read the word. 00:35:25.980 --> 00:35:26.980 You will find him. 00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:28.980 Wash your face in the word. 00:35:28.980 --> 00:35:30.980 Your eyes are no longer blurred. 00:35:30.980 --> 00:35:36.980 Just like the man who saw trees and then saw Christ, it literally helps you see who Christ is. 00:35:36.980 --> 00:35:41.980 When we are talking about finding his presence, how do you find someone's presence when they are hidden? 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:43.980 Noise. Voice. 00:35:43.980 --> 00:35:49.980 That's why they have these guys who, what's that guy who put an apple on someone's head and shot it with an arrow? 00:35:49.980 --> 00:35:51.980 Sorry? 00:35:51.980 --> 00:35:53.980 William Tell. 00:35:53.980 --> 00:35:55.980 William Tell, yeah. 00:35:55.980 --> 00:36:00.980 I mean, when these guys do that in circuses, who did you say it was? 00:36:00.980 --> 00:36:01.980 William Shakespeare. 00:36:01.980 --> 00:36:03.980 No, it's William Tell. 00:36:03.980 --> 00:36:09.980 So, I mean, when you shoot arrows or when you throw daggers at people, what do you do? 00:36:09.980 --> 00:36:14.980 You make a tiny little noise so that it misses your nose and just goes above your head. 00:36:14.980 --> 00:36:15.980 You get that noise wrong. 00:36:15.980 --> 00:36:19.980 There will be a guy with a dagger between his eyes. 00:36:19.980 --> 00:36:22.980 How do you find someone when they are hidden? 00:36:22.980 --> 00:36:23.980 Voice. 00:36:23.980 --> 00:36:25.980 What do you do to find him? 00:36:25.980 --> 00:36:26.980 Engage him. 00:36:26.980 --> 00:36:27.980 Go to the word. 00:36:27.980 --> 00:36:29.980 One of the easiest ways is to go to the word. 00:36:29.980 --> 00:36:31.980 And as you read it, he comes alive. 00:36:31.980 --> 00:36:33.980 He comes alive. 00:36:34.980 --> 00:36:39.980 Remember, those words on paper are actually life. 00:36:39.980 --> 00:36:45.980 Everything was made out of nothing using just one thing, words, words that he spoke. 00:36:45.980 --> 00:36:48.980 You will always find him in the word. 00:36:48.980 --> 00:36:50.980 That's one way you start. 00:36:50.980 --> 00:36:51.980 How about other ways? 00:36:51.980 --> 00:36:54.980 Talk. 00:36:54.980 --> 00:36:56.980 Talk as in he's your father. 00:36:56.980 --> 00:36:57.980 Begin to talk to him. 00:36:57.980 --> 00:37:02.980 As you talk to him in conversation, you will begin to find him. 00:37:03.980 --> 00:37:05.980 You should try it. 00:37:07.980 --> 00:37:09.980 I mean, you do that with your child. 00:37:09.980 --> 00:37:12.980 The child doesn't know English or Malayalam or Hindi or French or Greek yet. 00:37:12.980 --> 00:37:16.980 And it goes, and you respond. 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:18.980 Why does that happen? 00:37:20.980 --> 00:37:24.980 The entire church did that with Phoebe for two years. 00:37:25.980 --> 00:37:29.980 Now we do it with Judah and with Emmanuel. 00:37:30.980 --> 00:37:35.980 At the end of the day, when you begin conversations and when the conversation is genuine, 00:37:35.980 --> 00:37:41.980 I guarantee you because of the Spirit of God living in you, you will begin to connect. 00:37:43.980 --> 00:37:45.980 It's impossible not to. 00:37:46.980 --> 00:37:50.980 But please don't make a feeble attempt at it. 00:37:53.980 --> 00:37:56.980 You're dealing with alpha and omega. 00:37:56.980 --> 00:38:00.980 I happened to wake up early yesterday, like 6.20. 00:38:00.980 --> 00:38:02.980 The sun was rising. 00:38:03.980 --> 00:38:05.980 I rarely see that. 00:38:05.980 --> 00:38:08.980 And I was standing on my balcony. 00:38:10.980 --> 00:38:12.980 And it was the most magnificent sight. 00:38:12.980 --> 00:38:18.980 Sun rising on one side, sun hitting the water on the other side. 00:38:19.980 --> 00:38:25.980 Thousands and thousands of fish and dolphins and stuff in the water, birds flying over. 00:38:26.980 --> 00:38:29.980 And I'm thinking to myself, how do you do this alpha and omega? 00:38:30.980 --> 00:38:34.980 You're this huge, extensive, big, massive God. 00:38:34.980 --> 00:38:43.980 And yet you and I, Chava, can talk to him as if he is our own father and he is. 00:38:43.980 --> 00:38:49.980 And as you begin to converse with him, you will find that you easily locate him, easily engage him. 00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:51.980 And as you do, he'll start responding. 00:38:52.980 --> 00:38:56.980 What do you think happened that morning in John 21, verse 7? 00:38:56.980 --> 00:38:58.980 They were fishing. They were busy fishing. 00:38:58.980 --> 00:39:02.980 And they see the silhouette of this man in the morning mist. 00:39:02.980 --> 00:39:05.980 And he says, boys, do you have some fish? 00:39:05.980 --> 00:39:07.980 What triggered Peter? 00:39:07.980 --> 00:39:09.980 He saw the man, he didn't recognize him. 00:39:09.980 --> 00:39:11.980 What triggered him? 00:39:13.980 --> 00:39:16.980 He hears the voice and he says, that's the master. 00:39:16.980 --> 00:39:18.980 He jumps off the boat. 00:39:18.980 --> 00:39:22.980 And as you get habituated to this, every morning you will hear him. 00:39:22.980 --> 00:39:24.980 Sometimes it'll be a song. 00:39:24.980 --> 00:39:26.980 Sometimes he wakes you up with a song. 00:39:26.980 --> 00:39:29.980 You think you've got that song stuck in your head? 00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:31.980 No, no, no, no. He stuck it there. 00:39:32.980 --> 00:39:34.980 He wakes you up with a song. 00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:41.980 Quickly grab the words of that song because that song will mean everything for your day. 00:39:41.980 --> 00:39:44.980 He'll either knit it together or dismantle something with it. 00:39:49.980 --> 00:39:51.980 Taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:39:51.980 --> 00:39:53.980 We've got to do this, guys. 00:39:53.980 --> 00:39:54.980 Yeah? 00:39:54.980 --> 00:39:56.980 Let's break bread. 00:39:59.980 --> 00:40:01.980 This is so unfair. 00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:04.980 You know how much I've finished this month? 00:40:05.980 --> 00:40:07.980 And there's so much more to go. 00:40:11.980 --> 00:40:12.980 Let's break bread. 00:40:12.980 --> 00:40:15.980 Hey, on the Day of Atonement, here's what would happen. 00:40:15.980 --> 00:40:17.980 You will read about it in Leviticus 16. 00:40:17.980 --> 00:40:22.980 On the Day of Atonement, two goats would be brought to the priest. 00:40:23.980 --> 00:40:27.980 And so the priest would then cast lots. 00:40:28.980 --> 00:40:36.980 And the reason they would cast lots is because one goat would be selected as a sacrifice to God. 00:40:36.980 --> 00:40:39.980 The other goat would be called the Azazel goat. 00:40:41.980 --> 00:40:43.980 That sounds a little like your name, right? 00:40:44.980 --> 00:40:45.980 No. 00:40:45.980 --> 00:40:48.980 No, sorry. 00:40:48.980 --> 00:40:50.980 Didn't want to go there. 00:40:50.980 --> 00:40:51.980 Yeah. 00:40:51.980 --> 00:40:52.980 So Leviticus 16. 00:40:52.980 --> 00:40:55.980 So on one hand, you cast lots and now you've got these two goats. 00:40:55.980 --> 00:40:58.980 One goat, the Lord falls on the goat to be sacrificed to the Lord. 00:40:58.980 --> 00:41:00.980 And so they would set that goat aside. 00:41:00.980 --> 00:41:02.980 And then the other goat would be called the Azazel goat. 00:41:02.980 --> 00:41:05.980 Or the word scapegoat came from this. 00:41:05.980 --> 00:41:07.980 The idea of scapegoat was this other goat. 00:41:07.980 --> 00:41:13.980 And so then they would take the goat that was picked for a sacrifice to the Lord, and they would slay it. 00:41:13.980 --> 00:41:17.980 And they would take the blood into the holy place and they would sprinkle it. 00:41:17.980 --> 00:41:22.980 And that goat was supposed to pay for the sins of Israel for that entire year. 00:41:22.980 --> 00:41:24.980 So yesterday they would have done that. 00:41:24.980 --> 00:41:27.980 If the temple was still there, they would have done that. 00:41:27.980 --> 00:41:30.980 They would have slain a goat, sprinkled the holy place with the blood of the goat. 00:41:30.980 --> 00:41:34.980 And it was the payment of sins for the entire nation. 00:41:34.980 --> 00:41:39.980 And then they would take the other goat and they would bring it and they would lay their hands upon this other goat. 00:41:39.980 --> 00:41:46.980 And after laying hands on the goat, they would transfer the wickedness of Israel and the rebellion of Israel onto this other goat. 00:41:46.980 --> 00:41:52.980 And then there would be a man appointed to take the goat into the wilderness. 00:41:52.980 --> 00:41:58.980 And in the wilderness they would sometimes toss it over a cliff because they were scared it would return. 00:41:58.980 --> 00:42:02.980 That would happen on the Day of Atonement. 00:42:02.980 --> 00:42:09.980 And the idea was, can God cover our sins completely by doing two things? 00:42:09.980 --> 00:42:12.980 The first thing, paying for our sins. 00:42:12.980 --> 00:42:15.980 The second thing, sending sin away. 00:42:15.980 --> 00:42:19.980 Paying for our sins, sending sin away. 00:42:19.980 --> 00:42:21.980 That's what Jesus came to do. 00:42:21.980 --> 00:42:24.980 Jesus' blood pays for the sin. 00:42:24.980 --> 00:42:28.980 The blood pays for the sin. 00:42:28.980 --> 00:42:31.980 The cross deals with the sinner. 00:42:31.980 --> 00:42:34.980 The blood deals with the sin. 00:42:34.980 --> 00:42:37.980 The cross deals with the sinner. 00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:39.980 You send it away. 00:42:39.980 --> 00:42:41.980 Where do you see this in the Bible? Galatians 2 verse 20. 00:42:41.980 --> 00:42:42.980 What does it say? 00:42:42.980 --> 00:42:45.980 I have been crucified with Christ. 00:42:45.980 --> 00:42:48.980 I no longer live. 00:42:48.980 --> 00:42:50.980 But Christ lives in me. 00:42:50.980 --> 00:42:52.980 It's not just a payment of sin that Christ does. 00:42:52.980 --> 00:42:55.980 He sends sin away. 00:42:55.980 --> 00:42:58.980 It's no longer a part of your equation. 00:42:59.980 --> 00:43:05.980 So as we partake of this, remember how they used to every year have to do this. 00:43:05.980 --> 00:43:07.980 Every year, you bring sacrifices. 00:43:07.980 --> 00:43:12.980 You bring doves, goats, rams, bulls. 00:43:12.980 --> 00:43:14.980 It would never send sin away. 00:43:14.980 --> 00:43:19.980 It would only pay for your sins. 00:43:19.980 --> 00:43:21.980 Christ died so that sin could be sent away. 00:43:21.980 --> 00:43:25.980 As in, the sinful old man was crucified with Christ. 00:43:25.980 --> 00:43:30.980 It no longer lives. 00:43:30.980 --> 00:43:33.980 That's huge, eh? 00:43:33.980 --> 00:43:37.980 Just think of that for a second, and then we eat and drink. 00:43:37.980 --> 00:43:42.980 The blood of bulls and goats could only pay for sins. 00:43:42.980 --> 00:43:46.980 And it had to be done again and again and again. 00:43:46.980 --> 00:43:49.980 The Day of Atonement was the ultimate day 00:43:49.980 --> 00:43:53.980 where the sins of a nation would be forgiven, would be paid for 00:43:53.980 --> 00:43:56.980 with the blood of bulls and goats. 00:43:56.980 --> 00:44:01.980 And so you'd have to do it again and again every year. 00:44:01.980 --> 00:44:04.980 Along comes Christ, and with his blood, 00:44:04.980 --> 00:44:09.980 he does pay for the sins of all mankind, present, past, future. 00:44:09.980 --> 00:44:11.980 But then he does something else. 00:44:11.980 --> 00:44:18.980 In dying on the cross, he sends the sinful old man 00:44:18.980 --> 00:44:20.980 that he was born with away. 00:44:20.980 --> 00:44:22.980 It no longer exists. 00:44:22.980 --> 00:44:27.980 So in me, there is nothing that desires to sin. 00:44:27.980 --> 00:44:31.980 I've got a brand new spirit saturated with the Holy Spirit. 00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:36.980 Sent sin away. 00:44:36.980 --> 00:44:39.980 One last illustration, and I know it's old 00:44:39.980 --> 00:44:43.980 for guys who've been through Christ's life. 00:44:43.980 --> 00:44:49.980 If Fuyo is my slave, 00:44:49.980 --> 00:44:52.980 he serves me, he brings me coffee, 00:44:52.980 --> 00:44:55.980 he does everything he's supposed to do every day. 00:44:55.980 --> 00:45:00.980 One day, I wake up and Fuyo hasn't brought me coffee. 00:45:00.980 --> 00:45:03.980 And I'm upset. He's my slave. I own him for life. 00:45:03.980 --> 00:45:04.980 He doesn't bring me coffee. 00:45:04.980 --> 00:45:07.980 And so I get angry and I wait for five minutes. 00:45:07.980 --> 00:45:09.980 He still doesn't come. 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:12.980 I go into his room where he sleeps, 00:45:12.980 --> 00:45:14.980 and he's lying on the floor sleeping, 00:45:14.980 --> 00:45:17.980 and I'm enraged that he's sleeping instead of serving me. 00:45:17.980 --> 00:45:20.980 So I grab him and I start kicking him, beating him, 00:45:20.980 --> 00:45:21.980 and he doesn't move. 00:45:21.980 --> 00:45:23.980 So I grab his neck, and when I grab his neck, 00:45:23.980 --> 00:45:28.980 I realize there is no pulse and that he's actually dead. 00:45:28.980 --> 00:45:31.980 And now that he's dead, I'm even angrier 00:45:31.980 --> 00:45:36.980 because in his death, he has escaped my mastery forever. 00:45:36.980 --> 00:45:40.980 In his death, he can never be my slave again. 00:45:40.980 --> 00:45:43.980 In his death, he's escaped forever. 00:45:43.980 --> 00:45:47.980 In his death, he's broken my hold over him forever. 00:45:47.980 --> 00:45:50.980 That's what Christ did. 00:45:50.980 --> 00:45:52.980 He sent sin away. 00:45:52.980 --> 00:45:58.980 In me dying on the cross, there's nothing in me that wants to sin. 00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:02.980 So as we eat and drink, thank God for the fact 00:46:02.980 --> 00:46:11.980 that you do not have something sinful inside you that desires to sin, 00:46:11.980 --> 00:46:15.980 that you've been set free from even the desire to sin. 00:46:15.980 --> 00:46:18.980 That is your present reality. 00:46:18.980 --> 00:46:21.980 Not only are your sins paid for, there's nothing in you. 00:46:21.980 --> 00:46:23.980 If you've given your life to Jesus, 00:46:23.980 --> 00:46:29.980 there's nothing in you that has a desire to sin, nothing. 00:46:29.980 --> 00:46:37.980 That's new creation, man. 00:46:37.980 --> 00:46:43.980 So on the night he was betrayed, he took bread, he broke it, 00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:45.980 he gave thanks, and he said, 00:46:45.980 --> 00:46:48.980 this is my body which is broken for you. 00:46:48.980 --> 00:46:52.980 When I die and I'm crucified, you will be crucified with me. 00:46:52.980 --> 00:46:57.980 I will send the old man away so that you, like me, 00:46:57.980 --> 00:47:00.980 will not have a desire to sin. 00:47:00.980 --> 00:47:03.980 Eat this in remembrance of me. 00:47:21.980 --> 00:47:24.980 Getting dark here quite early, eh? 00:47:24.980 --> 00:47:34.980 In the same manner, after supper, he took the cup, he gave thanks, 00:47:34.980 --> 00:47:40.980 and he said, this is my blood with which I write a new agreement with you. 00:47:40.980 --> 00:47:42.980 A new agreement. 00:47:42.980 --> 00:47:46.980 That's what I write with my blood. 00:47:46.980 --> 00:47:50.980 That not only have I sent your sins away, 00:47:51.980 --> 00:47:53.980 I've forgiven all your sins. 00:47:53.980 --> 00:47:55.980 I'll never hold them against you. 00:47:55.980 --> 00:47:58.980 I will not reckon your sin against you. 00:47:58.980 --> 00:48:00.980 Never, Jacob. 00:48:00.980 --> 00:48:04.980 You are forever forgiven, forever accepted. 00:48:04.980 --> 00:48:08.980 That's what smiling about, right? 00:48:08.980 --> 00:48:17.980 So can we be a little less somber? 00:48:17.980 --> 00:48:21.980 Tony, you want to lead us in a non-somber song? 00:48:26.980 --> 00:48:27.980 Don't drink it yet. 00:48:27.980 --> 00:48:30.980 If you have drunk it, not a problem. 00:48:33.980 --> 00:48:38.980 But can we be happy about what he's done? 00:48:38.980 --> 00:48:40.980 It is a happy thing, right? 00:48:42.980 --> 00:48:45.980 Can we be happy about what he's done? 00:48:46.980 --> 00:48:48.980 Previous one. 00:48:50.980 --> 00:48:54.980 This is a new covenant, new agreement I write with you. 00:48:54.980 --> 00:48:57.980 And what did I say after that? 00:49:01.980 --> 00:49:04.980 I can come up with something, but it may not be what I said. 00:49:04.980 --> 00:49:06.980 Sorry, Nick. 00:49:10.980 --> 00:49:13.980 Yeah, it's not a somber occasion, eh? 00:49:13.980 --> 00:49:15.980 There are times when we are supposed to be somber about it. 00:49:15.980 --> 00:49:18.980 There are other times when we're not supposed to be somber about it. 00:49:18.980 --> 00:49:20.980 Today is one of those times. 00:49:20.980 --> 00:49:21.980 Yeah? 00:49:21.980 --> 00:49:23.980 So don't be somber about it. 00:49:23.980 --> 00:49:26.980 What are you going to sing? 00:49:28.980 --> 00:49:30.980 Too somber. 00:49:35.980 --> 00:49:37.980 Too loud. 00:49:40.980 --> 00:49:42.980 Something else? 00:49:43.980 --> 00:49:45.980 Think of something, guys. 00:49:49.980 --> 00:49:51.980 Too short. 00:49:59.980 --> 00:50:02.980 No, what if we don't sing anything that has to do with communion, 00:50:02.980 --> 00:50:06.980 but it's a song that's joyful. 00:50:06.980 --> 00:50:09.980 Stuff being a worship leader, eh? 00:50:12.980 --> 00:50:14.980 Lion. 00:50:14.980 --> 00:50:17.980 You don't know that song. 00:50:17.980 --> 00:50:19.980 Okay. 00:50:28.980 --> 00:50:30.980 Glorious day. 00:50:30.980 --> 00:50:32.980 Glorious day? 00:50:32.980 --> 00:50:34.980 Glorious day, sure. 00:50:34.980 --> 00:50:36.980 Glorious day? 00:50:36.980 --> 00:50:38.980 Okay. 00:50:41.980 --> 00:50:43.980 Brandon, glorious day. 00:50:43.980 --> 00:50:46.980 I think it's guesting crowns. 00:50:48.980 --> 00:50:50.980 Let's start with the chorus. 00:50:50.980 --> 00:50:52.980 As you drink it, celebrate what he's done for you. 00:50:52.980 --> 00:50:54.980 You have been forgiven. 00:50:54.980 --> 00:50:56.980 There's nothing standing against you. 00:50:56.980 --> 00:50:59.980 And your sin has been sent away. 00:50:59.980 --> 00:51:01.980 There's nothing in you that wants a sin. 00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:02.980 Yeah? 00:51:02.980 --> 00:51:04.980 Brand new species, man. 00:51:04.980 --> 00:51:05.980 Mimosa samosa, all right. 00:51:05.980 --> 00:51:07.980 Let's go. 00:51:12.980 --> 00:51:14.980 Come, Sheldon. 00:51:22.980 --> 00:51:24.980 Thank you, Jesus. 00:51:32.980 --> 00:51:34.980 Come, Jesus. 00:52:02.980 --> 00:52:04.980 Come, Jesus. 00:52:32.980 --> 00:52:34.980 Let's go to the first verse. 00:53:02.980 --> 00:53:09.980 Well, the mong man, my example is he. 00:53:09.980 --> 00:53:15.980 The word became flesh and the light shined among us. 00:53:15.980 --> 00:53:19.980 His glory revealed. 00:53:19.980 --> 00:53:25.980 Living he loved me, dying he saved me. 00:53:25.980 --> 00:53:31.980 Buried he carried my sins far away. 00:53:31.980 --> 00:53:38.980 Rising he justified freely forever. 00:53:38.980 --> 00:53:44.980 One day he's coming, oh glorious day. 00:53:44.980 --> 00:53:47.980 Oh glorious day. 00:53:55.980 --> 00:54:01.980 One day they led him up Calvary's mountain. 00:54:01.980 --> 00:54:08.980 One day they nailed him to die on a tree. 00:54:08.980 --> 00:54:15.980 Suffering, anguished, despised and rejected. 00:54:15.980 --> 00:54:21.980 Bearing our sin, my Redeemer is he. 00:54:21.980 --> 00:54:27.980 Lived as a nation, stretched out on a tree. 00:54:27.980 --> 00:54:31.980 Took the nails from me. 00:54:31.980 --> 00:54:37.980 Living he loved me, dying he saved me. 00:54:37.980 --> 00:54:44.980 Buried he carried my sins far away. 00:54:44.980 --> 00:54:50.980 Rising he justified freely forever. 00:54:50.980 --> 00:54:56.980 One day he's coming, oh glorious day. 00:54:56.980 --> 00:55:00.980 Living he loved me, living he loved me. 00:55:00.980 --> 00:55:04.980 Dying he saved me. 00:55:04.980 --> 00:55:11.980 Buried he carried my sins far away. 00:55:11.980 --> 00:55:18.980 Rising he justified freely forever. 00:55:18.980 --> 00:55:25.980 One day he's coming, oh glorious day. 00:55:25.980 --> 00:55:30.980 Oh glorious day. 00:55:48.980 --> 00:55:50.980 Thank you. 00:55:50.980 --> 00:55:52.980 Thank you. 00:55:52.980 --> 00:55:55.980 May he bless you. 00:55:55.980 --> 00:55:59.980 Cool guys. 00:55:59.980 --> 00:56:02.980 If you need prayer, there will be people here up front to pray for you. 00:56:02.980 --> 00:56:04.980 So feel free to come up for prayer. 00:56:04.980 --> 00:56:07.980 Otherwise, dawn.