WEBVTT
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Okay, today is the last message in our series called the Prophetic Anthology.
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We're looking at we're looking at the 12 minor prophets and the six major themes of those 12 books.
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I gotta be honest with you, it was a little nerve-wracking preaching a series on the minor prophets in June.
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Alright, you just never know how that's gonna go.
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Alright, June's already usually people start traveling and leaving, and sometimes, you know, people are like, I don't know if I want to go to church.
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It's sunny today.
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And then the pastor's preaching on the minor prophets.
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You're like, yeah, you know what?
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I think I'll mow the lawn.
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You know, I'm good.
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Okay, and you just never know how people are gonna respond.
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But you guys have been down for it, man.
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I I gotta commend you.
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I I've just, it's been kind of cool from my perspective, just a lot of people sharing with me testimonies of the way God's used these messages.
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It never ceases to amaze me because the Bible sometimes gets a bad rap as this archaic, old, antiquated book, and yet you start looking at things that are, you know, 2,800 years old, okay, and you find just unbelievable similarity to the world that we live in right now.
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The application often isn't that hard to see.
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It's sitting right there if we look at it the right way.
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So that's what we've been trying to do.
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Uh when you think of the minor prophets, if you've not been here, I'll give you just a few things so you don't get lost.
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Um, minor prophets, when you hear minor, it doesn't mean lesser.
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It doesn't mean that they were less significant or that their messages were less important than anybody else.
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It just means the books are concise and short.
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That's why they're called the minor prophets.
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And then the idea of a prophet is someone who God raises up to disrupt the status quo.
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In other words, it's a godly disruption.
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When we think of disruption, usually we think about someone who's antisocial or someone who's antagonistic.
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But God would use these prophets not to be antagonistic for the sake of division, but for uh contrition and for repentance and for getting people back on track.
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And we've just been honest about that since the beginning of this series, that no matter how much you mean well, no matter how sincere you are, all of us find ourselves off course from time to time.
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So we just mature enough to know that sometimes the lesson I don't want to hear is the message I most need to hear.
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And sometimes God may even use a messenger that I wouldn't have asked for to deliver that thing.
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And sometimes it's delivered in a provocative way because sometimes it takes shocking things to shock the system.
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And so we we've seen that all throughout the book, and we've predetermined to be receptive to whatever God would want to say to us.
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Uh we talked about the six themes, uh, well, five uh five, and we're gonna get the sixth today, but the we talked about idolatry, we talked about predatory economics, uh, religious hypocrisy, shallow worship, and bad leadership.
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And today we're going to complete the six with the theme false security.
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False security is trusting the wrong things for safety.
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Trusting the wrong things for safety.
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Uh, what I'm going to do is show you again, if we looked at those 12 books together, you would see that there were four things that the nation of Israel, who at the time was a divided nation, okay, so they're a northern and southern kingdom.
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When you read the minor prophets, when you see Israel, it's talking about the northern kingdom.
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Some of your translations say Ephraim.
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Whenever you see Ephraim, don't get confused by that.
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It's not talking about individuals' name, it's talking about the northern kingdom.
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That's shorthand language for the northern kingdom.
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And then Judah is the southern kingdom.
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So you have within the kingdom of Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms, uh, you have really four big things that cause them to put their security, their safety in these things, and these things were misplaced as we're going to look.
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The first is they believed that because we are part of God's in-group, we're safe.
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In other words, the nation of Israel had a covenant with God.
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So they had a covenant, they had God's law, so they had the Torah, God's command.
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Uh, they knew the one true God, Yahweh.
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And so, in their minds, because we are God's chosen people and we have the temple and we have the promised land, we're good.
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Like God likes us better than everybody else.
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And uh, you know, whatever we do, it's gonna be fine because we're in God's in-group.
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Micah 3.11 says, uh, her leaders, speaking of the nation, her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, her prophets tell fortunes for money, yet they look to the for the Lord's support and say, Is not the Lord among us?
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No disaster will come upon us.
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In other words, they they they sort of think their corruption is no big deal because they're God's people.
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Okay, because we're part of the in-group.
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We got the right theology, we know the one true God.
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Therefore, all these things we're doing that are out of alignment with the word of God and the heart of God, they're not that big a deal because we're God's people.
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Look in Amos 9:7.
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God says, Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?
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Ask the Lord.
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I brought Israel out out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kerr.
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In other words, yeah, of course, I know you love the story of how I brought you out of Egypt and the Exodus, but don't forget, like, I made everyone in my image.
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Uh I love the Ethiopians too.
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I love the Arameans too.
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Uh, I love the Philistines too.
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And so they thought because they had got a covenant with God and they had the temple of God, that somehow uh that they were safe and that their conduct and behaviors didn't matter.
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Uh the next thing is uh they were they had a false security in their imperial alliances.
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Okay, in other words, our powerful superpower allies will protect us.
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Hosea 7, 11 says, the people of Israel have become silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
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Okay, so it paints a picture of a bird flitting back and forth between these two empires.
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And of course, you have to remember Israel is a relatively small nation.
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And so they're they're among, they're they're constantly being pressured by uh foreign empires.
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And it says, so instead of looking to God's word and and looking to God to be their protector, okay, they go to these other nations and they broker deals with them, they pay tributes to them, okay, in a way that, again, it's not like it's necessarily wrong to have a foreign alliance, but the way they were going about it is they're paying financial tributes to get these empires off their back, but instead of the elites, the people with the wealth paying it, they actually the elites broker the deal and then they pass the cost down to the people at the bottom, and so they're buying off Egypt and they're buying off Assyria at the expense of their own countrymen, of their own brethren.
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And so, because of that, they think they're safe because the king of Assyria is off our back and Pharaoh's not giving us a problem.
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Meanwhile, you offended God and you don't really seem to care too much about that.
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Um Hosea 12, 1 says, the people of Israel feed on the wind, okay, which is a metaphor of uh eating something that will not sustain you.
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You you're trying to live on something that cannot nourish you.
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So it says they they feed on the wind, and it said they chase after the east wind all day.
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They pile up lies and violence.
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Look at this.
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They're making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
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So their foreign alliances, they actually valued above being faithful to God and God's word.
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The next was they trusted in their military strength.
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They thought, because uh because we are uh have a great military, we're fine.
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Uh Hosea 10, 13 says, You have eaten the fruit of lies, trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.
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Uh the fourth false security they had was they trusted in their prosperity.
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They thought we're safe because we can hide behind our financial fortresses.
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Hosea 12 8, Israel boasts, I am rich.
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I've made a fortune all by myself.
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No one can has caught me cheating.
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My record is spotless.
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Hosea 13 4, when I fed them, this is God speaking, when I fed them, they were satisfied, and when they were satisfied, they became proud, and then they forgot me.
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It did not fit into their theological framework to think that they could be prosperous financially and for God to still have a problem with them.
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The way that they believed, their theological framework was if we are doing our duty at the temple, we're checking the religious boxes, and we have financial prosperity, that is proof, open and shut proof, that God is on our side, that God is happy with us.
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And one of the messages that the prophets had a very hard time getting across is that prosperity is not proof of God's approval.
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I just want to sit here for a quick second and make sure that we don't buy the same convoluted theology that they did.
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Prosperity, okay, is not necessarily proof of God's approval.
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God cares how you got it.
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God cares what it took to get it and what you had to do to people in order to get, okay.
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There's nothing wrong with having stuff.
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There's nothing wrong with having power or prosperity.
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Those things are not wicked in and of themselves.
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The question is, what did it, what did it take to get it?
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And so just having it doesn't mean that you're blessed.
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So what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the confusion.
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We we just looked at the confusion they were in.
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The question is, how did we get so confused?
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And second is, how do we get out of here?
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Okay?
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How do we get here and how do we get out of here?
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So let's take everything we just talked about, we'll set it on the shelf, we'll come back to it in a second.
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I want to go back to when I talked to you guys about idolatry, uh, I shared something with you.
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I want to go back and revisit as a foundation to answer those questions.
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So if you remember, we talked about with idolatry, we talked about we have reasonable desires that are reasonable but corruptible.
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And if they're corrupted, okay, if they're corrupted, then ultimately they go from reasonable desires to ultimate demands.
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Okay, and so we talked about four reasonable desires power, pleasure, peace, and connection.
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Right?
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Those are not bad, those are good things.
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In fact, power, having a measure of power, we would use the term agency.
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Right?
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The idea that you're an empowered person, that's not that's not a bad thing.
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That's a good thing for you to have agency.
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Okay, that's a good thing that you have ability.
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The New Testament calls them gifts.
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God made certain people have gifts to do certain things well.
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Okay, you have ability, and part of that ability is then responsibility, that you now have something that you carry, some authority.
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That's good.
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All the way back in the garden, God gives Adam the authority to name all the animals.
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He gives them the power to work the land and to work together with God.
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So you get some power.
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We don't let it go to our heads, or we shouldn't, but it's nice to have some power.
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That's good.
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It's agency.
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Uh pleasure, okay, delight.
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We are sensory beings.
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We have, you know, taste, see, smell, sound.
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Uh I think I missed one.
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Touch.
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Okay, you get it.
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Uh you have you have you have senses and and uh nerves, and when you have a sensory experience, it's awesome.
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You see something great.
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You want someone else, hey, did you see that?
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You see that, hey, run it back.
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I want you to see this.
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I want you to see the same thing I see.
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Okay, you taste something awesome.
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You're like, oh, eat this, try this.
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I want you to try this.
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Okay, you want people to taste it, and and and when you have that, oh, this is so good, and then they go, ooh, that's just isn't that great?
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That's just a wonderful part of the human experience, right?
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Okay, we get the idea, beautiful sounds.
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I mean, just a moment ago, the choir, you know, just I even told them, I'm like, I love our musicians, they're incredible.
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But I was like, don't overpower those voices, because boy, when those that choir, when they all are singing in synchrony, it does so.
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I want everyone to hear that.
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It's just powerful, it's a sensory experience, right?
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So you get the idea, like this, these are good things, and it brings delight, okay, back to the garden.
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All these fruit trees, just eat eat of all of them except one, but but but eat, you just get all a get a good taste that's a proper sensory experience.
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And then peace, right?
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Stability, order, rest.
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Order's great.
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Have you ever just cleaned a room and just been like, ah, like it was just it was just messy for a while, and you you start cleaning it, and you just you got that thing done, you're like, ooh, man, that's good.
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You say if you ever cleaned a room so good, you set up a chair and just looked at it.
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Just like, ooh, that feels good.
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I've done the opposite too, man.
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I I I've gone in, man, the room was dirty.
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I was too tired to clean it.
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I just went to a different room.
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I've just gone room to room, all through the house, so I found a clean one.
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Just to get a little bit of peace, okay?
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A little bit of peace, a little bit of order is good.
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Rest is good when you're nice and rested, having something to just relax.
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Okay, this is peace.
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You're supposed to have this.
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Reasonable desire.
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Connection, belonging.
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Man, we had men's night the other night on Friday night.
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It was great.
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It was great, okay?
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You know why?
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Connection.
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I mean, we had a beef jerky wall, which I was, I couldn't wait to get here just to see what that was.
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I was like, beef jerky wall?
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What is it?
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You know what it is?
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It's a wall with beef jerky, is what it is.
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And I've had more than my fair share.
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And then, and then I mean, there was a chicken wing eating contest, which I mean, nobody loses when everyone's eating chicken wings.
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It was great.
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Three-point shooting.
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Okay, we had all these activities.
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We could have been doing anything, dude.
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We were together.
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It's awesome.
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Belonging, man.
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I've got my tribe, I've got my people, I belong here.
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I give and receive love.
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This is good.
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This is what families are about, this is what communities are about.
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Okay.
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What what the Old Testament would call this 250 times is the word shalom.
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Most of the time it shows up as the word peace in English, but it peace isn't big enough.
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It needs all of this.
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The Hebrew word is a range of meaning, and it means all of this.
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It's a good life.
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Not perfect.
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Not perfect doesn't mean it's free of conflict.
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We're not talking about a fantasy.
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We're talking about real world.
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I'm in right relationship.
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I have agency.
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I'm not good at everything, but I'm good at some things, and I know my place in the community.
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I get to contribute, I give, I receive, I'm loved, I give and receive love, I have some rest, I do some hard work, okay, and I have a proper sensory experience.
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That's a real good life.
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Now, here's the problem.
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We are vulnerable.
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We are vulnerable.
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Vulnerability leads to fear.
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Once I realize that these things can be, I'm vulnerable to not having them.
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In other words, the first time somebody broke up with you, okay, you're in a romantic relationship or you're dating, someone broke up with you against your will.
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You wanted to be with them, they didn't want to be with you.
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You felt what it felt like to lose the power, something was taken away from you, and you you felt pain.
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You felt what a broken heart feels like.
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You felt what it's like to want someone to not be wanted back to feel that level of rejection.
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Okay, when someone took something or somebody walked away from you or took something away against your will, or someone died and there was nothing you could do about it.
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Okay, uh, you we understand that we can lose agency.
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If somebody uh took your agency away, someone abused you, okay, someone someone hurt you, okay.
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Now you understand your vulnerability, that vulnerability leads to fear.
00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:35.120
I'll never forget 17 years ago my first child was born.
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.639
And I'll never forget that.
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:49.600
And I remember leaving the uh uh hospital, and leaving the hospital, we load that baby carrier and and and the baby seat, and then I'm in charge of driving, and I I remember like it was yesterday.
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.919
I grabbed that wheel at 10 and 2.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:52.559
Yes, sir.
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.639
Right for decades I've been doing this.
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.600
And I put that baby in there, and it was like back to the fundamentals, okay?
00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.720
And all of a sudden I became a defensive driver.
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.559
And trust anybody.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.599
Look both ways like 10 times.
00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:13.839
Just make sure nobody's coming yet.
00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:14.400
Okay?
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:23.359
I remember before I put it in drive, I remember thinking now somebody could hurt me.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.000
But before you hurt me, I you just hurt me.
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.359
I can get through it.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.200
You you heard her?
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.759
You can really hurt me.
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.039
You can really hurt me.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.200
I felt vulnerable.
00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:48.079
A few months later, in our neighborhood, the the we were in Toledo at the time, the economy was down, and during when the economy went down, people started breaking into people's homes.
00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.799
So there were all these burglaries in our neighborhood.
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.400
And I came out one day, this is a Ella is an infant.
00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.599
I come, I came out, my neighbor stand out there, he said, You hear what happened?
00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:58.720
I said, No, what happened?
00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.640
He said, Last night, he he works third shift.
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.640
He worked third shift, he's at work, his wife calls him in a panic.
00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:07.839
What's going on?
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.640
She she said, I can hear adult male voices in the baby monitor coming into the room, and our child, there's grown men trying to break in our baby's window.
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:23.759
So he's in the car driving home as fast as he can, on the phone, trying to support his wife, okay, and talk her through all this.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.599
He tells me that, and I had this whoosh of fear and vulnerability.
00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.359
And so I went to Cleeland's outdoor world.
00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:46.079
And Cleeland and I came up with a plan as to how my house was gonna be safer today than it was yesterday.
00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.240
Some of you know what I'm talking about?
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.839
Few of you are judging me right now, and I couldn't care less.
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.039
That's your problem.
00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.039
You gotta deal with being judgmental.
00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.680
Some of you are judging, that's fine, dude.
00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:58.160
I don't care.
00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:00.079
We ain't even having that conversation today.
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.440
Few of you are judging me, and a few of you are like, yeah, bro, I got one too.
00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:20.400
Alright, so the idea of being overpowered in something that could crush my spirit made me feel vulnerable, which provoked fear, which led to overwhelming need, demand for control.
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.039
If you've been hurting relationships, you're gonna be tempted to want to control relationships.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.240
You've been hurting your finances, you're gonna want to control those finances.
00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:34.160
Anywhere that you experience pain and hurt and vulnerability and fear, you're gonna want to take control.
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:36.079
Pleasure, same thing.
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.680
If you deal with uh the opposite of pleasure is what pain.
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.359
You suffer.
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:42.880
Or you're numb.
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.279
Okay, or you're you you're you're deprived, sense, you know, deprivation.
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:56.400
Okay, you get to this place where where you now are are it goes from just simply being delight to indulgence.
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:57.759
Indulgence.
00:19:57.920 --> 00:19:59.759
In other words, I'm I'm overindulging.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.920
It's I I just want to feel good.
00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:08.000
If you've been under pressure and you've been in pain or you've been numb for a long time, you just I just want to feel good.
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:12.400
And there's people all the time who make decisions that they know are bad.
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.759
They know this is not gonna quench the thirsting of my soul, they know this isn't taking me, but I just want to feel good today.
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:27.920
I just want to feel good right now because I I've gotten to this place where in my vulnerability and in my fear and in my suffering, now I'm over here.
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:28.880
Peace, right?
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:31.200
The opposite is anxiety.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:35.039
You're dealing with anxiety, your your your world is chaos, right?
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:38.079
So now often that leads to an escape.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:43.440
I'm just trying to escape, I'm trying to get out, and my uh my my mind is racing so much I can't sort it out.
00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:44.720
And so you look for an escape.
00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:47.599
It could be through a substance, it could be through some activity.
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.160
I just want to forget about my reality.
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:51.920
And then again, connection.
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:58.240
Uh if belonging is at its best, at its worst, it's it's isolation, it's loss.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:03.200
Again, it might be someone who literally walked out on you, or it might be someone who died.
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.039
They just they they didn't do anything wrong, they just died and and they're gone.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:15.359
And so now that loss makes me want to just hang on to everybody, and so now, again, at its worst, it becomes code dependent.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:17.680
Code-dependent.
00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:19.440
Okay.
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:48.400
And so we understand how how this, how fear and vulnerability now takes these this idea of shalom, and it takes us out of bounds, and it makes us prone to not only idols or syncretized theologies, but what it does also that we've not talked about yet, is it distorts healthy community and robs us of communal relational shalom.
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.559
I want you to think about this.
00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.039
This here, this security is designed to be delivered in community.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:21:59.680
Okay?
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:09.279
So, in other words, I have my ability and my responsibility, and in the healthy community, we esteem people for doing their part.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.200
We don't create some hierarchy.
00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:27.680
You may have an org chart, so to speak, or there may be some different levels of authority or power based on clarity, but in a healthy community, we know it takes a lot of people doing a lot of things to make the world go round, and you don't have to be at the top of the food chain to be honored.
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:29.440
We understand you did your thing.
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.480
Thank you for using your gift to contribute to the community.
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.160
So there's esteem, there's honor, there's respect within the community.
00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:37.440
People are treated right.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:40.079
And you know, again, this is language we've already used.
00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.759
Hesed, unfailing love, mercy.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:45.920
It's a commitment to a person.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:55.440
So the Hesed that we receive from God, his covenantal love and mercy, we then he says over and over again through the prophets, okay?
00:22:55.519 --> 00:23:00.400
I'm just connecting dots back to, I don't want us to miss this and all the six messages.
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.480
He got God keeps bringing them back.
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:10.480
The Hesed that you get from me in the covenant needs to become part of the security of your community that you give to each other.
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:16.400
So the idea of a commitment to one another, the idea of Mishpat, which is restorative justice.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:22.240
Not only if somebody messes up and breaks the law, we want to help them get back to the best version of themselves.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.160
Or maybe for some to get to the best version of themselves for the first time.
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:35.359
But for others who maybe shot their shot in a business deal or they tried to do the right thing and somehow a famine hit or sickness hit or something outside.
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:40.960
We want to we're gonna lend to them without a bunch of interest because we don't want to drown them in that.
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.240
We want them to get out.
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.240
It's why it's built into the law.
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.119
Don't harvest the edges of your land because somebody's going through a hard time.
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.960
They also are an image bearer.
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.880
Don't make them come knock on your door.
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.240
Uh help yourself, man.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759
That tree's for you, bro.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.319
Get what you need, get the sustenance you need.
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.000
We're in the same community.
00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.160
We're living in Shalom, Hesed, um, Mishpat.
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.279
And so this is what God gave them.
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:10.640
This is the ethos of their community.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:25.200
But instead of following what God gave them and the ultimate security coming again from relationship with God and each other, they buy into, they flip back and forth between Assyria and Egypt.
00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:34.799
And what happens is empire is built not on the power of love, but on the love of power and the power of fear.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:42.480
And so now empires are designed to have transactional relationships.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:44.960
Transactional relationships.
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:47.599
Not simply reciprocal, right?
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.880
Reciprocal makes sense.
00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.119
We understand the ecosystem, things are circular.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.160
We understand you give and receive love and we replenish.
00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:04.799
We're not talking about that, we're talking about transactional, which is I only do this if you have value and you can offer something, that all of that represents your value.
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.119
If you don't have that, you're worthless, right?
00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:14.160
If I'm a Hebrew slave in Egypt and I can't make bricks, I have no value.
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:19.839
And in an empire, when you have no value, you're eliminated.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:21.119
You're discarded.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:22.400
We don't need you.
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.960
You're just another mouth to feed that can't work.
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.640
And so what happens to me?
00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:27.279
I'm gone.
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.200
What happens to my wife and kids?
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.200
They end up going and having to earn some value.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:26:00.559
So the idea that in an empire mentality, what you have is people now substitute shalom and relational connection, true relational security for a fake version of that, which is essentially me buying tokens that I can exchange within the culture and actually having transactional relationships instead of covenant relationships.
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:03.359
I've got some good stuff.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:18.960
If you like like uh reading um academic papers and things like this, uh, especially if you're kind of a psychology enthusiast, okay, I've got stuff because by the way, modern psychology proves what I'm saying over and over and over again.
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.839
Um essentially, it says this.
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.079
Well, I'll I'll actually show you the paper.
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.680
If you want to go fact-check me, read the stuff on your own, okay.
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:28.799
Go ahead and bring it up.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:33.519
I'm gonna cite my source, so I'm not up here going, somebody said something one time, and you're like, whatever, dude.
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.720
Okay, so look at this.
00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:36.720
The symbolic power of money, okay.
00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:39.440
So this is published in the Journal of Psychological Science.
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:46.160
So this is uh the symbolic power of money, reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain.
00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:47.279
Okay, so you see that.
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.079
Strict screenshot it and go read it on your own time if you're into that.
00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:51.759
But I'm gonna summarize it for you.
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.119
This is what they say.
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.599
The higher level of relational connection that you have and relational satisfaction.
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:09.279
In other words, if I said, tell me how do you feel in your human relationships, in your home, in your extended family, in your community, in your okay, in your relationships, how secure do you feel?
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:10.480
How connected do you feel?
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:15.519
And if you go really high, I feel really accepted, I feel unconditionally loved.
00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:36.319
I believe in my circle, in my people, if something happens to me, if I end up for some reason, man, uh hungry, if I end up homeless, if I end up jobless, if I end up in a spot where I really don't have anything to offer according to the culture, I believe that there are people that love me based on who I am enough.
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:42.079
Someone's gonna give me something to eat, someone's gonna help me get a place safe, someone's gonna help give me a shot, get me back on my feet.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:47.200
Okay, at some point I'm gonna have to work for myself because nobody gets to just be dead weight and have people dragging them through life.
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:51.759
I will have to get back up, but I know if I'm down, I've got people that help me up.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:02.240
So if you are like that, if that's if you have a high relational satisfaction, I feel fulfilled and connected, they have a much lower materialistic drive.
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:05.440
And the opposite is also true.
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:12.319
So, in other words, uh people that have low satisfaction, they go, I'm you want to know what I believe?
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:15.759
I believe if I can't produce, nobody will be there for me.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.119
If I end up hungry, they'll let me fend for myself.
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:22.880
If I end up with that, nobody's even gonna let me sleep on their couch.
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.160
I I think if I'm destitute, they're gonna let me be destitute.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:31.440
If that's your belief, it literally immediately provokes materialism.
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:31.759
Yeah.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:50.799
A desire to a craving for money, a craving for status, a craving to find any sort of social capital that I can have because my belief is if I'm not pretty enough or I'm not powerful enough or I don't have enough resources, I'm in an empire.
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:57.440
And the empire is materialistic, and the empire, the empire is driven by transactional relationships.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:02.880
And if I have nothing to transact with, I've lost faith that anybody's gonna love me for me.
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.640
So because you don't love me for me, I'm gonna make sure I have something to trade with.
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:13.680
And if I have nothing to trade with, and by the way, I'll have a fear in the back of my mind that what I have to trade with isn't enough, and I could lose it.
00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:19.039
So I live in this constant fear that leads to shallow relationships, which leads to vicious cycles.
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:20.960
I know I'm talking fast, but just hang with me.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:23.440
It leads to vicious cycles like this.
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.039
I'm a workaholic.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.200
Why am I a workaholic?
00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:33.279
Because I'm trying to get some capital to make sure I don't end up suffering and no one cares.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.519
I don't end up depleted and no one cares.
00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:39.359
I really deep down, I want agency, delight, stability, and belonging.
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:40.559
I want shalom.
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.119
But but we've gone a long way from that.
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:55.680
Now I'm just trying to control and I'm trying to make sure that if nobody it's dog eat dog out there, if nobody looks out for me, if I if I'm vulnerable in any way, okay, I'm gonna end up by myself, I'm gonna end up alone.
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.319
It's it's terrible, it's it's a visceral fear.
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.039
And so, because of that, that's why I work so hard.
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:23.279
But here's the problem with that workaholic ends up spending all their time with workaholics who are also in transactional relationships, so your best energy and your most of your waking hours are working with other transactional people who are all playing nice because we work together, but we all know if I can't produce, I get eliminated.
00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:29.039
And that's who I'm giving my best to, and the people I'm in covenant with only get me when I'm wiped out.
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:30.559
When I've got nothing to give.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.720
I'm not even cultivating those relationships.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.319
I'm not making space for those people.
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.279
Because I don't, why?
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.519
Because I have a deep fear that's driving me.
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:38.960
I'm I'm gonna help somebody today.
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:40.480
I probably not everybody.
00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:42.000
Some of you guys are past this.
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:43.759
I'm gonna help somebody with this.
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:57.839
There are some of you today, there are some of you today who love God, love God, committed to God, faithful to God, but you've got this gnawing issue of greed, materialism.
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.079
You care way more about what people think than you want to admit.
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:10.160
You're always trying to level up on status, you're always puffing your chest out, trying to show everybody how successful you are.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:28.799
You find yourself acting like you have more money than you do, trying to look like you have more money, you got no cash because you're in debt, trying to pay off one credit card with another so you can get another materialistic thing, and you know it's off, you know it's bad, and you love God, and you know, you keep saying, Yeah, I still have an issue with greed.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.039
Yeah, I still have an issue with status, and you can't figure out why God won't deliver you from it.
00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:35.359
And this is why I'm gonna just help you right now.
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:40.720
The issue is not you and God, the issue is your human relationships are shallow.
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:53.279
And it might start in your own marriage, it might be within your own people, your own family, the people closest to you, that you feel deep down, if I can't produce, I will be eliminated.
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:59.599
And so, because of that, the draw for materialism, you keep calling it greed, but I'm gonna I'm gonna rename it today.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:00.799
It's survival.
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.240
You're actually probably not that greedy, you just want some peace.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:13.359
You really want to be loved, but you've given up on that because the empire has taken over, and the empire set the tone of the culture.
00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:20.319
We got away from covenant, we got away from Hesed, we got away from Mishpat.
00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:26.960
This old archaic book that's been telling the truth from the beginning.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:35.200
So, how how can you be in the world and not of the world?
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:39.200
How do we get out of this mess?
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:48.480
How do we live in a world that's driven by the love of power and the power of fear?
00:32:48.720 --> 00:33:01.200
People that are so far entrenched in transactional relationships, I might have to fake like I'm more successful, I'm smarter, I'm stronger, so that I have something to trade on.
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.440
Otherwise, I get eliminated.
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:06.160
How do we get out of it?
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:08.400
I end with this.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:14.799
Where I love to end every chance I get with Jesus.
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:22.880
I appreciate you guys being patient.
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:24.400
Alright, this is my third time doing this.
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:26.480
The other ones is like we gotta turn the lot over.
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:27.680
There ain't nobody else coming.
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:32.559
Alright, so I'm gonna just give me like seven minutes to go over on this one if you don't mind.
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:34.000
I will wrap it up.
00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:41.039
So Matthew 25.
00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:43.359
Matthew 25, here's what's going on.
00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:45.440
It's called the Olivet Discourse.
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.640
It's basically right before Jesus goes to the cross.
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.079
He's on the Mount of Olives.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:51.440
He has his disciples.
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.359
They're literally looking down at the temple.
00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:02.960
Jesus is giving them, uh, trying to, I mean, you know, when you're about to go to the cross, everything we're talking about is the stuff that really matters.
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:04.960
We're wasting no words now.
00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:05.920
This is very important.
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:07.759
I want to make sure you get it.
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:19.440
And so in Matthew 25, 31, Jesus starts out, he says, uh, but when the when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne.
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.880
Now, what he's doing here is he's borrowing prophet language.
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.599
This is all, it's all rings of the Old Testament.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:36.880
He's pulling from Daniel, he's pulling from uh uh Ezekiel, he's pulling from a lot of these prophets, and it's creating throne imagery, but it's like royal judgment.
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.719
So the king's about to judge.
00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.320
And it says, All the nations will be gathered in his presence.
00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.719
This is apocalyptic literature.
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:57.039
It's it's it's uh he's reaching to the past and he's reaching to the future, and he says, uh, all the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.
00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:01.119
Okay, now, sheep, again, they would have gotten it like this.
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:03.840
Sheep were seen as obedient animals.
00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:09.840
These are the ones that remember John 10, where he says, I think it's 1027, he says, My sheep know my voice.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:11.039
All right, they know me.
00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:11.920
We're connected.
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:13.440
I say something, they follow.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:18.880
In fact, he says, the bad leader, the false shepherd, has to scare the sheep because the sheep won't follow them.
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:22.239
So they go, boo, scare them, so then they'll run, they can get them to move.
00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.400
But instead, a shepherd doesn't have to do that.
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:26.800
They the sheep know his voice and they follow him.
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:34.480
So the idea that the sheep, okay, these are the true followers, and the goats are the ones that are disobedient and hard to work with, right?
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.280
They're the ones that there's the difference.
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:47.039
By the way, again, in their world, just to let me teach for a quick second, what what you have is in the in the royal metaphor, they often would use shepherds for with kings.
00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:53.679
So the king, even though they're, again, they're not physically in a field, they're saying, I'm like the shepherd of the nation.
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:57.119
In fact, if you've ever wondered, why did a king have a scepter?
00:35:57.280 --> 00:35:58.239
That's kind of weird, right?
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.000
Like they're holding this royal stick.
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:01.199
Like, what is a scepter?
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:05.039
Well, scepter was shepherd imagery.
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:07.519
So think about the Lord is my shepherd, right?
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.960
And he says, by your rod and your staff, right?
00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:12.000
They comfort me.
00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:13.519
Well, what is a rod and a staff?
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:20.400
The rod and the staff are there to not only guide the sheep in the right direction, but they're there to take care of the predator.
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:24.079
So this is a I'm I'm gonna protect you with the rod and the staff.
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:25.519
I'm gonna fight for you.
00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:30.239
So the king's job is not only to guide the people, but to keep the predators off.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.679
So the idea of a scepter was like a staff.
00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:39.440
It was like using shepherd imagery, but in a royal sense that this is the king's job to love the people.
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:43.039
Okay, as if they were, he was a shepherd and they were the sheep.
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:47.199
So he says, okay, so at the end of days, you've got now you've got this visual.
00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:48.960
Royal imagery.
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:54.079
It's like somewhere between a throne scene and a judgment scene.
00:36:54.159 --> 00:36:57.119
And he says, I'm going to separate the sheep and the goats.
00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:02.480
Verse 33 says, and he'll place uh the sheep at my right hand and the goats on his left.
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:17.440
And verse 34, the king will say to those on his right, the the sheep, the the true followers, he says, Come, you who are blessed by my father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.
00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:18.800
And why?
00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:19.840
Why us?
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:21.199
What makes us sheep?
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.159
Why would we get such an honor?
00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:25.599
Verse 35.
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.199
I was hungry and you fed me.
00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:33.760
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:39.760
I was a stranger and you invited me into your home.
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:44.719
I had nothing to transact with.
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:48.639
I had no status, I had no money.
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:53.679
In fact, I was nothing but a hungry, thirsty, naked stranger.
00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:54.719
And you brought me in.
00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:56.400
I was I was naked, you gave me clothing.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:57.360
I was sick.
00:37:57.679 --> 00:37:59.599
I couldn't even work, and you cared for me.
00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:00.960
I was in prison.
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:08.639
I was incarcerated, I was locked up, I had all of my liberties taken away, and you cared about Mishpat to help restore me.
00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:12.239
You visited me, you valued me when I had no value to offer you.
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:15.199
And he says, These righteous ones will reply.
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:16.400
What?
00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:20.880
Lord, when did that happen?
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:24.159
I don't remember that.
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:25.360
We did all that?
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:26.880
When when did we do that for you?
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:29.039
I don't remember seeing you out there.
00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:31.840
When were you hungry and we fed you?
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:33.840
When were you thirsty and we gave you something to drink?
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.280
When were you a stranger and we gave hospitality or naked and gave clothes?
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:38.639
I don't we don't even remember this.
00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:39.519
What are you talking about?
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.400
When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visited you?
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.239
And the king will say, I tell you the truth.
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:56.239
When you did it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:08.079
When you brought shalom, God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:14.880
When you did it for the person who had no transactional value, you did it unto me.
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:17.760
And then he goes on to talk to the goats.
00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.559
And he says, you know, depart from me.
00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:21.440
I never knew you.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.360
He says, you know, and he goes through the same thing.
00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:25.599
I was hungry, you didn't feed me, I was naked, you didn't care about it.
00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:26.880
I was a stranger, you didn't bribe.
00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:28.960
Okay, he goes through all that, and they're like, When, Lord?
00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:29.599
We don't remember.
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:36.800
So what's funny is both the people that were the sheep and got it right, and the goats that missed the whole thing, they're both shocked.
00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:39.039
It's almost like one of those tests.
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:41.920
You think you're taking one test, but you're actually taking a different test.
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:48.880
You come in, they got you doing this test, and you think it's about this, but the whole time they were testing you on something you didn't even know you were being tested on.
00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:58.239
So he says, He says, I know my sheep, and my sheep know my voice.
00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:06.559
And he says, the ultimate measure of this will be how it comes out in terms of how you do a relationship with each other.
00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:11.199
And of course, some say, Well, Lord, if if we would have known it was you, we would have done it.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:12.400
And he goes, I know.
00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:15.760
Now you know.
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:22.400
So here's here's the reality.
00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:24.960
The world's not gonna teach us how to do this.
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:28.639
Empires don't do this.
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:31.119
Empires don't do this.
00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:34.079
So we have to figure out how to be in the world and not of the world.
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:37.679
We don't have the magic button to go fix everybody.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:40.800
We can start with ourselves.
00:40:41.440 --> 00:40:44.239
We can turn that mirror around, we can start in our homes.
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:47.840
We we may need a new vision for our marriage.
00:40:49.039 --> 00:40:53.360
We may need a new vision for our family, how we think about each other.
00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.599
We we may have to start something that we've never seen done before.
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:05.599
We may have to create a new Hesed, Mishpat, Shalom family culture when we came out of chaos.
00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:08.400
When we came out of dysfunction.
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:13.440
We have to decide what kind of community we will be within the community.
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:15.199
What kind of church do we want to be?
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:17.199
What kind of neighborhood do you want to live in?
00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:19.599
What are we gonna be?
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:21.119
What are we gonna be?
00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:27.679
Today I leave you with three questions that I ask you to bring to the Lord.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:34.320
First question is, what am I looking to for security that I should be looking to God for?
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:38.079
Is there anywhere in your life that you have a false security?
00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:41.280
You've been looking to something for control.
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:52.000
Maybe your vulnerabilities led to fear, and that fear has led you to then start to create idols and to look to other things other than God.
00:41:52.800 --> 00:41:59.519
The second is what fear is driving my need for control, accumulation, or self-protection?
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:02.880
What fear is driving that?
00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:10.239
The third is, has my pursuit of security made me more generous or more guarded?
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:12.079
Let's pray together.
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:14.880
Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name.
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:24.559
Lord, we refuse to allow ourselves to become discouraged by the world around us.
00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:31.360
And we also refuse to become discouraged in well-doing.
00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:36.079
Because we know in due time we'll reap a harvest if we faint not.
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:49.679
Lord, we thank you for the way that even a Bible with 66 books and an Old Testament and a New Testament, an old covenant, and new covenant, we can really boil it down to some simple things you really care about.
00:42:51.039 --> 00:43:00.079
That our relationship with you is a demonstration of unconditional love and commitment that then we should offer to our brothers and sisters.
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:06.159
That, Lord, your justice is restorative justice.
00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:14.400
And Lord, that justice should be offered to restore ourselves and the people around us.
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:23.440
Lord, it's your will for our lives and our community that we find the appropriate power, pleasure, peace, and connection.
00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:28.079
And yet we, Lord, we know that life often throws curveballs.
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:44.719
And in this community, God, I pray that you would shape us as imperfect as we are, as vulnerable as we are, to be able to create a community that makes what happens here on earth look an awful lot of like what you intend for it to look from heaven.
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:47.519
Help us to be a community of shalom.
00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:52.159
And Lord, every time we veer off course, send a prophet.
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.920
Send a prophet, send somebody to call it out.
00:43:56.639 --> 00:44:05.119
Lord, even if that doesn't it's not somebody preaching from a stage, maybe it's not even somebody who's who's quoting scripture and verse, Lord, do whatever.
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.920
Bring it, bring it in a song, bring it in a documentary.
00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:11.360
Lord, bring it, bring it in the most unlikely source, Lord.
00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:17.039
Help us to see, help us to see, give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see.
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.920
For your glory in Jesus' name.
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:21.280
Everybody said amen.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.719
Okay, today is the last message in our series called the Prophetic Anthology.
00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:11.199
We're looking at we're looking at the 12 minor prophets and the six major themes of those 12 books.
00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:16.960
I gotta be honest with you, it was a little nerve-wracking preaching a series on the minor prophets in June.
00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:18.879
Alright, you just never know how that's gonna go.
00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:24.879
Alright, June's already usually people start traveling and leaving, and sometimes, you know, people are like, I don't know if I want to go to church.
00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:26.079
It's sunny today.
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.800
And then the pastor's preaching on the minor prophets.
00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:30.000
You're like, yeah, you know what?
00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:31.440
I think I'll mow the lawn.
00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.039
You know, I'm good.
00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:35.759
Okay, and you just never know how people are gonna respond.
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:37.520
But you guys have been down for it, man.
00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:39.039
I I gotta commend you.
00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:48.479
I I've just, it's been kind of cool from my perspective, just a lot of people sharing with me testimonies of the way God's used these messages.
00:00:48.640 --> 00:01:04.159
It never ceases to amaze me because the Bible sometimes gets a bad rap as this archaic, old, antiquated book, and yet you start looking at things that are, you know, 2,800 years old, okay, and you find just unbelievable similarity to the world that we live in right now.
00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:06.719
The application often isn't that hard to see.
00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:09.120
It's sitting right there if we look at it the right way.
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.040
So that's what we've been trying to do.
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.480
Uh when you think of the minor prophets, if you've not been here, I'll give you just a few things so you don't get lost.
00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:20.560
Um, minor prophets, when you hear minor, it doesn't mean lesser.
00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:25.840
It doesn't mean that they were less significant or that their messages were less important than anybody else.
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.640
It just means the books are concise and short.
00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:30.400
That's why they're called the minor prophets.
00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:37.280
And then the idea of a prophet is someone who God raises up to disrupt the status quo.
00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:39.599
In other words, it's a godly disruption.
00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:46.000
When we think of disruption, usually we think about someone who's antisocial or someone who's antagonistic.
00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:56.640
But God would use these prophets not to be antagonistic for the sake of division, but for uh contrition and for repentance and for getting people back on track.
00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:07.200
And we've just been honest about that since the beginning of this series, that no matter how much you mean well, no matter how sincere you are, all of us find ourselves off course from time to time.
00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:14.000
So we just mature enough to know that sometimes the lesson I don't want to hear is the message I most need to hear.
00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:19.599
And sometimes God may even use a messenger that I wouldn't have asked for to deliver that thing.
00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:25.120
And sometimes it's delivered in a provocative way because sometimes it takes shocking things to shock the system.
00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:32.240
And so we we've seen that all throughout the book, and we've predetermined to be receptive to whatever God would want to say to us.
00:02:32.400 --> 00:02:47.680
Uh we talked about the six themes, uh, well, five uh five, and we're gonna get the sixth today, but the we talked about idolatry, we talked about predatory economics, uh, religious hypocrisy, shallow worship, and bad leadership.
00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:52.879
And today we're going to complete the six with the theme false security.
00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.840
False security is trusting the wrong things for safety.
00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:01.039
Trusting the wrong things for safety.
00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:15.280
Uh, what I'm going to do is show you again, if we looked at those 12 books together, you would see that there were four things that the nation of Israel, who at the time was a divided nation, okay, so they're a northern and southern kingdom.
00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:19.759
When you read the minor prophets, when you see Israel, it's talking about the northern kingdom.
00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.439
Some of your translations say Ephraim.
00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:25.759
Whenever you see Ephraim, don't get confused by that.
00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:28.319
It's not talking about individuals' name, it's talking about the northern kingdom.
00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:30.639
That's shorthand language for the northern kingdom.
00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:33.199
And then Judah is the southern kingdom.
00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:48.159
So you have within the kingdom of Judah, the northern and southern kingdoms, uh, you have really four big things that cause them to put their security, their safety in these things, and these things were misplaced as we're going to look.
00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:55.439
The first is they believed that because we are part of God's in-group, we're safe.
00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:00.240
In other words, the nation of Israel had a covenant with God.
00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.599
So they had a covenant, they had God's law, so they had the Torah, God's command.
00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.199
Uh, they knew the one true God, Yahweh.
00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:16.959
And so, in their minds, because we are God's chosen people and we have the temple and we have the promised land, we're good.
00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.759
Like God likes us better than everybody else.
00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.040
And uh, you know, whatever we do, it's gonna be fine because we're in God's in-group.
00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:40.879
Micah 3.11 says, uh, her leaders, speaking of the nation, her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, her prophets tell fortunes for money, yet they look to the for the Lord's support and say, Is not the Lord among us?
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:42.480
No disaster will come upon us.
00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:48.079
In other words, they they they sort of think their corruption is no big deal because they're God's people.
00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:50.160
Okay, because we're part of the in-group.
00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.199
We got the right theology, we know the one true God.
00:04:53.360 --> 00:05:01.600
Therefore, all these things we're doing that are out of alignment with the word of God and the heart of God, they're not that big a deal because we're God's people.
00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:03.600
Look in Amos 9:7.
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:08.959
God says, Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?
00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:10.800
Ask the Lord.
00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:18.720
I brought Israel out out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kerr.
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:29.759
In other words, yeah, of course, I know you love the story of how I brought you out of Egypt and the Exodus, but don't forget, like, I made everyone in my image.
00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:31.920
Uh I love the Ethiopians too.
00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:33.519
I love the Arameans too.
00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:35.839
Uh, I love the Philistines too.
00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:46.879
And so they thought because they had got a covenant with God and they had the temple of God, that somehow uh that they were safe and that their conduct and behaviors didn't matter.
00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:53.759
Uh the next thing is uh they were they had a false security in their imperial alliances.
00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:59.519
Okay, in other words, our powerful superpower allies will protect us.
00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:09.519
Hosea 7, 11 says, the people of Israel have become silly, witless doves, first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:16.480
Okay, so it paints a picture of a bird flitting back and forth between these two empires.
00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:20.240
And of course, you have to remember Israel is a relatively small nation.
00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:25.680
And so they're they're among, they're they're constantly being pressured by uh foreign empires.
00:06:25.759 --> 00:07:07.040
And it says, so instead of looking to God's word and and looking to God to be their protector, okay, they go to these other nations and they broker deals with them, they pay tributes to them, okay, in a way that, again, it's not like it's necessarily wrong to have a foreign alliance, but the way they were going about it is they're paying financial tributes to get these empires off their back, but instead of the elites, the people with the wealth paying it, they actually the elites broker the deal and then they pass the cost down to the people at the bottom, and so they're buying off Egypt and they're buying off Assyria at the expense of their own countrymen, of their own brethren.
00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:13.279
And so, because of that, they think they're safe because the king of Assyria is off our back and Pharaoh's not giving us a problem.
00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.439
Meanwhile, you offended God and you don't really seem to care too much about that.
00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:27.439
Um Hosea 12, 1 says, the people of Israel feed on the wind, okay, which is a metaphor of uh eating something that will not sustain you.
00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:30.560
You you're trying to live on something that cannot nourish you.
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:36.800
So it says they they feed on the wind, and it said they chase after the east wind all day.
00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:38.800
They pile up lies and violence.
00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:39.439
Look at this.
00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:46.000
They're making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.
00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:51.439
So their foreign alliances, they actually valued above being faithful to God and God's word.
00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.480
The next was they trusted in their military strength.
00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:00.000
They thought, because uh because we are uh have a great military, we're fine.
00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:12.959
Uh Hosea 10, 13 says, You have eaten the fruit of lies, trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.
00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.600
Uh the fourth false security they had was they trusted in their prosperity.
00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.839
They thought we're safe because we can hide behind our financial fortresses.
00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:25.920
Hosea 12 8, Israel boasts, I am rich.
00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.639
I've made a fortune all by myself.
00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.600
No one can has caught me cheating.
00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:33.360
My record is spotless.
00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:43.840
Hosea 13 4, when I fed them, this is God speaking, when I fed them, they were satisfied, and when they were satisfied, they became proud, and then they forgot me.
00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:53.519
It did not fit into their theological framework to think that they could be prosperous financially and for God to still have a problem with them.
00:08:54.159 --> 00:09:16.320
The way that they believed, their theological framework was if we are doing our duty at the temple, we're checking the religious boxes, and we have financial prosperity, that is proof, open and shut proof, that God is on our side, that God is happy with us.
00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:24.960
And one of the messages that the prophets had a very hard time getting across is that prosperity is not proof of God's approval.
00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:35.519
I just want to sit here for a quick second and make sure that we don't buy the same convoluted theology that they did.
00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:43.519
Prosperity, okay, is not necessarily proof of God's approval.
00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:45.759
God cares how you got it.
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:52.480
God cares what it took to get it and what you had to do to people in order to get, okay.
00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:54.399
There's nothing wrong with having stuff.
00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:58.159
There's nothing wrong with having power or prosperity.
00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.399
Those things are not wicked in and of themselves.
00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:02.720
The question is, what did it, what did it take to get it?
00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:05.919
And so just having it doesn't mean that you're blessed.
00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:13.600
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the confusion.
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:15.519
We we just looked at the confusion they were in.
00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.080
The question is, how did we get so confused?
00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:20.480
And second is, how do we get out of here?
00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:21.039
Okay?
00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.200
How do we get here and how do we get out of here?
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:27.039
So let's take everything we just talked about, we'll set it on the shelf, we'll come back to it in a second.
00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.799
I want to go back to when I talked to you guys about idolatry, uh, I shared something with you.
00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:38.080
I want to go back and revisit as a foundation to answer those questions.
00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:47.120
So if you remember, we talked about with idolatry, we talked about we have reasonable desires that are reasonable but corruptible.
00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:55.120
And if they're corrupted, okay, if they're corrupted, then ultimately they go from reasonable desires to ultimate demands.
00:10:55.279 --> 00:11:00.480
Okay, and so we talked about four reasonable desires power, pleasure, peace, and connection.
00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:00.879
Right?
00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:02.799
Those are not bad, those are good things.
00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.360
In fact, power, having a measure of power, we would use the term agency.
00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:07.759
Right?
00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:12.000
The idea that you're an empowered person, that's not that's not a bad thing.
00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:14.480
That's a good thing for you to have agency.
00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.279
Okay, that's a good thing that you have ability.
00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:19.360
The New Testament calls them gifts.
00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.519
God made certain people have gifts to do certain things well.
00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:31.120
Okay, you have ability, and part of that ability is then responsibility, that you now have something that you carry, some authority.
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:31.919
That's good.
00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:37.039
All the way back in the garden, God gives Adam the authority to name all the animals.
00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:41.919
He gives them the power to work the land and to work together with God.
00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:42.960
So you get some power.
00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:46.559
We don't let it go to our heads, or we shouldn't, but it's nice to have some power.
00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:47.039
That's good.
00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:48.159
It's agency.
00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.320
Uh pleasure, okay, delight.
00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:51.919
We are sensory beings.
00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.279
We have, you know, taste, see, smell, sound.
00:11:55.440 --> 00:11:57.039
Uh I think I missed one.
00:11:57.679 --> 00:11:58.159
Touch.
00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.360
Okay, you get it.
00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:05.679
Uh you have you have you have senses and and uh nerves, and when you have a sensory experience, it's awesome.
00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:06.799
You see something great.
00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:08.480
You want someone else, hey, did you see that?
00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:09.679
You see that, hey, run it back.
00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:11.039
I want you to see this.
00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:12.799
I want you to see the same thing I see.
00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:14.639
Okay, you taste something awesome.
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:17.440
You're like, oh, eat this, try this.
00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:18.639
I want you to try this.
00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:26.080
Okay, you want people to taste it, and and and when you have that, oh, this is so good, and then they go, ooh, that's just isn't that great?
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.200
That's just a wonderful part of the human experience, right?
00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.840
Okay, we get the idea, beautiful sounds.
00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:37.840
I mean, just a moment ago, the choir, you know, just I even told them, I'm like, I love our musicians, they're incredible.
00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:45.200
But I was like, don't overpower those voices, because boy, when those that choir, when they all are singing in synchrony, it does so.
00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:46.559
I want everyone to hear that.
00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:49.679
It's just powerful, it's a sensory experience, right?
00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:56.080
So you get the idea, like this, these are good things, and it brings delight, okay, back to the garden.
00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:04.399
All these fruit trees, just eat eat of all of them except one, but but but eat, you just get all a get a good taste that's a proper sensory experience.
00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:06.000
And then peace, right?
00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.879
Stability, order, rest.
00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:10.799
Order's great.
00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:26.399
Have you ever just cleaned a room and just been like, ah, like it was just it was just messy for a while, and you you start cleaning it, and you just you got that thing done, you're like, ooh, man, that's good.
00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:31.200
You say if you ever cleaned a room so good, you set up a chair and just looked at it.
00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:36.240
Just like, ooh, that feels good.
00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:38.639
I've done the opposite too, man.
00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:40.559
I I I've gone in, man, the room was dirty.
00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:41.679
I was too tired to clean it.
00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:43.600
I just went to a different room.
00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.320
I've just gone room to room, all through the house, so I found a clean one.
00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.480
Just to get a little bit of peace, okay?
00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:52.879
A little bit of peace, a little bit of order is good.
00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:56.639
Rest is good when you're nice and rested, having something to just relax.
00:13:56.960 --> 00:13:57.919
Okay, this is peace.
00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:59.360
You're supposed to have this.
00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:01.039
Reasonable desire.
00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:02.799
Connection, belonging.
00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:05.679
Man, we had men's night the other night on Friday night.
00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:06.480
It was great.
00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.159
It was great, okay?
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:08.799
You know why?
00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:09.440
Connection.
00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:14.240
I mean, we had a beef jerky wall, which I was, I couldn't wait to get here just to see what that was.
00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:15.759
I was like, beef jerky wall?
00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:16.080
What is it?
00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:16.960
You know what it is?
00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:19.919
It's a wall with beef jerky, is what it is.
00:14:20.320 --> 00:14:22.320
And I've had more than my fair share.
00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:28.879
And then, and then I mean, there was a chicken wing eating contest, which I mean, nobody loses when everyone's eating chicken wings.
00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:29.679
It was great.
00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:30.799
Three-point shooting.
00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.480
Okay, we had all these activities.
00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:34.480
We could have been doing anything, dude.
00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:35.600
We were together.
00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:36.639
It's awesome.
00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:37.679
Belonging, man.
00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:41.200
I've got my tribe, I've got my people, I belong here.
00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:42.879
I give and receive love.
00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:43.440
This is good.
00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:46.240
This is what families are about, this is what communities are about.
00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:46.799
Okay.
00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:53.039
What what the Old Testament would call this 250 times is the word shalom.
00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.679
Most of the time it shows up as the word peace in English, but it peace isn't big enough.
00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:00.799
It needs all of this.
00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.080
The Hebrew word is a range of meaning, and it means all of this.
00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.360
It's a good life.
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:06.480
Not perfect.
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.559
Not perfect doesn't mean it's free of conflict.
00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:10.559
We're not talking about a fantasy.
00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:12.240
We're talking about real world.
00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.679
I'm in right relationship.
00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:14.559
I have agency.
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:18.399
I'm not good at everything, but I'm good at some things, and I know my place in the community.
00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:28.320
I get to contribute, I give, I receive, I'm loved, I give and receive love, I have some rest, I do some hard work, okay, and I have a proper sensory experience.
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:29.679
That's a real good life.
00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.279
Now, here's the problem.
00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.000
We are vulnerable.
00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:35.200
We are vulnerable.
00:15:35.440 --> 00:15:36.960
Vulnerability leads to fear.
00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:43.039
Once I realize that these things can be, I'm vulnerable to not having them.
00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:51.759
In other words, the first time somebody broke up with you, okay, you're in a romantic relationship or you're dating, someone broke up with you against your will.
00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:54.000
You wanted to be with them, they didn't want to be with you.
00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:59.759
You felt what it felt like to lose the power, something was taken away from you, and you you felt pain.
00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:01.519
You felt what a broken heart feels like.
00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:05.679
You felt what it's like to want someone to not be wanted back to feel that level of rejection.
00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:13.919
Okay, when someone took something or somebody walked away from you or took something away against your will, or someone died and there was nothing you could do about it.
00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:17.279
Okay, uh, you we understand that we can lose agency.
00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:25.600
If somebody uh took your agency away, someone abused you, okay, someone someone hurt you, okay.
00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:30.399
Now you understand your vulnerability, that vulnerability leads to fear.
00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:35.120
I'll never forget 17 years ago my first child was born.
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.639
And I'll never forget that.
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:49.600
And I remember leaving the uh uh hospital, and leaving the hospital, we load that baby carrier and and and the baby seat, and then I'm in charge of driving, and I I remember like it was yesterday.
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.919
I grabbed that wheel at 10 and 2.
00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:52.559
Yes, sir.
00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:56.639
Right for decades I've been doing this.
00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:03.600
And I put that baby in there, and it was like back to the fundamentals, okay?
00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.720
And all of a sudden I became a defensive driver.
00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:08.559
And trust anybody.
00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.599
Look both ways like 10 times.
00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:13.839
Just make sure nobody's coming yet.
00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:14.400
Okay?
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:23.359
I remember before I put it in drive, I remember thinking now somebody could hurt me.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:28.000
But before you hurt me, I you just hurt me.
00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.359
I can get through it.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:31.200
You you heard her?
00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:33.759
You can really hurt me.
00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.039
You can really hurt me.
00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:37.200
I felt vulnerable.
00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:48.079
A few months later, in our neighborhood, the the we were in Toledo at the time, the economy was down, and during when the economy went down, people started breaking into people's homes.
00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.799
So there were all these burglaries in our neighborhood.
00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.400
And I came out one day, this is a Ella is an infant.
00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:57.599
I come, I came out, my neighbor stand out there, he said, You hear what happened?
00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:58.720
I said, No, what happened?
00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:02.640
He said, Last night, he he works third shift.
00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.640
He worked third shift, he's at work, his wife calls him in a panic.
00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:07.839
What's going on?
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:16.640
She she said, I can hear adult male voices in the baby monitor coming into the room, and our child, there's grown men trying to break in our baby's window.
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:23.759
So he's in the car driving home as fast as he can, on the phone, trying to support his wife, okay, and talk her through all this.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.599
He tells me that, and I had this whoosh of fear and vulnerability.
00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:33.359
And so I went to Cleeland's outdoor world.
00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:46.079
And Cleeland and I came up with a plan as to how my house was gonna be safer today than it was yesterday.
00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.240
Some of you know what I'm talking about?
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:51.839
Few of you are judging me right now, and I couldn't care less.
00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.039
That's your problem.
00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:55.039
You gotta deal with being judgmental.
00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:57.680
Some of you are judging, that's fine, dude.
00:18:57.759 --> 00:18:58.160
I don't care.
00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:00.079
We ain't even having that conversation today.
00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.440
Few of you are judging me, and a few of you are like, yeah, bro, I got one too.
00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:20.400
Alright, so the idea of being overpowered in something that could crush my spirit made me feel vulnerable, which provoked fear, which led to overwhelming need, demand for control.
00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.039
If you've been hurting relationships, you're gonna be tempted to want to control relationships.
00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.240
You've been hurting your finances, you're gonna want to control those finances.
00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:34.160
Anywhere that you experience pain and hurt and vulnerability and fear, you're gonna want to take control.
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:36.079
Pleasure, same thing.
00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.680
If you deal with uh the opposite of pleasure is what pain.
00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.359
You suffer.
00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:42.880
Or you're numb.
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:47.279
Okay, or you're you you're you're deprived, sense, you know, deprivation.
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:56.400
Okay, you get to this place where where you now are are it goes from just simply being delight to indulgence.
00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:57.759
Indulgence.
00:19:57.920 --> 00:19:59.759
In other words, I'm I'm overindulging.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.920
It's I I just want to feel good.
00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:08.000
If you've been under pressure and you've been in pain or you've been numb for a long time, you just I just want to feel good.
00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:12.400
And there's people all the time who make decisions that they know are bad.
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.759
They know this is not gonna quench the thirsting of my soul, they know this isn't taking me, but I just want to feel good today.
00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:27.920
I just want to feel good right now because I I've gotten to this place where in my vulnerability and in my fear and in my suffering, now I'm over here.
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:28.880
Peace, right?
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:31.200
The opposite is anxiety.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:35.039
You're dealing with anxiety, your your your world is chaos, right?
00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:38.079
So now often that leads to an escape.
00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:43.440
I'm just trying to escape, I'm trying to get out, and my uh my my mind is racing so much I can't sort it out.
00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:44.720
And so you look for an escape.
00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:47.599
It could be through a substance, it could be through some activity.
00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.160
I just want to forget about my reality.
00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:51.920
And then again, connection.
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:58.240
Uh if belonging is at its best, at its worst, it's it's isolation, it's loss.
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:03.200
Again, it might be someone who literally walked out on you, or it might be someone who died.
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.039
They just they they didn't do anything wrong, they just died and and they're gone.
00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:15.359
And so now that loss makes me want to just hang on to everybody, and so now, again, at its worst, it becomes code dependent.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:17.680
Code-dependent.
00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:19.440
Okay.
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:48.400
And so we understand how how this, how fear and vulnerability now takes these this idea of shalom, and it takes us out of bounds, and it makes us prone to not only idols or syncretized theologies, but what it does also that we've not talked about yet, is it distorts healthy community and robs us of communal relational shalom.
00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.559
I want you to think about this.
00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:59.039
This here, this security is designed to be delivered in community.
00:21:59.440 --> 00:21:59.680
Okay?
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:09.279
So, in other words, I have my ability and my responsibility, and in the healthy community, we esteem people for doing their part.
00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:11.200
We don't create some hierarchy.
00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:27.680
You may have an org chart, so to speak, or there may be some different levels of authority or power based on clarity, but in a healthy community, we know it takes a lot of people doing a lot of things to make the world go round, and you don't have to be at the top of the food chain to be honored.
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:29.440
We understand you did your thing.
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.480
Thank you for using your gift to contribute to the community.
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:36.160
So there's esteem, there's honor, there's respect within the community.
00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:37.440
People are treated right.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:40.079
And you know, again, this is language we've already used.
00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:43.759
Hesed, unfailing love, mercy.
00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:45.920
It's a commitment to a person.
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:55.440
So the Hesed that we receive from God, his covenantal love and mercy, we then he says over and over again through the prophets, okay?
00:22:55.519 --> 00:23:00.400
I'm just connecting dots back to, I don't want us to miss this and all the six messages.
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:02.480
He got God keeps bringing them back.
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:10.480
The Hesed that you get from me in the covenant needs to become part of the security of your community that you give to each other.
00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:16.400
So the idea of a commitment to one another, the idea of Mishpat, which is restorative justice.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:22.240
Not only if somebody messes up and breaks the law, we want to help them get back to the best version of themselves.
00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.160
Or maybe for some to get to the best version of themselves for the first time.
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:35.359
But for others who maybe shot their shot in a business deal or they tried to do the right thing and somehow a famine hit or sickness hit or something outside.
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:40.960
We want to we're gonna lend to them without a bunch of interest because we don't want to drown them in that.
00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.240
We want them to get out.
00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:44.240
It's why it's built into the law.
00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.119
Don't harvest the edges of your land because somebody's going through a hard time.
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:50.960
They also are an image bearer.
00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:52.880
Don't make them come knock on your door.
00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:54.240
Uh help yourself, man.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:23:55.759
That tree's for you, bro.
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.319
Get what you need, get the sustenance you need.
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.000
We're in the same community.
00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.160
We're living in Shalom, Hesed, um, Mishpat.
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.279
And so this is what God gave them.
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:10.640
This is the ethos of their community.
00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:25.200
But instead of following what God gave them and the ultimate security coming again from relationship with God and each other, they buy into, they flip back and forth between Assyria and Egypt.
00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:34.799
And what happens is empire is built not on the power of love, but on the love of power and the power of fear.
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:42.480
And so now empires are designed to have transactional relationships.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:44.960
Transactional relationships.
00:24:46.160 --> 00:24:47.599
Not simply reciprocal, right?
00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:48.880
Reciprocal makes sense.
00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.119
We understand the ecosystem, things are circular.
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.160
We understand you give and receive love and we replenish.
00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:04.799
We're not talking about that, we're talking about transactional, which is I only do this if you have value and you can offer something, that all of that represents your value.
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:07.119
If you don't have that, you're worthless, right?
00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:14.160
If I'm a Hebrew slave in Egypt and I can't make bricks, I have no value.
00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:19.839
And in an empire, when you have no value, you're eliminated.
00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:21.119
You're discarded.
00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:22.400
We don't need you.
00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:24.960
You're just another mouth to feed that can't work.
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.640
And so what happens to me?
00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:27.279
I'm gone.
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.200
What happens to my wife and kids?
00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:33.200
They end up going and having to earn some value.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:26:00.559
So the idea that in an empire mentality, what you have is people now substitute shalom and relational connection, true relational security for a fake version of that, which is essentially me buying tokens that I can exchange within the culture and actually having transactional relationships instead of covenant relationships.
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:03.359
I've got some good stuff.
00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:18.960
If you like like uh reading um academic papers and things like this, uh, especially if you're kind of a psychology enthusiast, okay, I've got stuff because by the way, modern psychology proves what I'm saying over and over and over again.
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.839
Um essentially, it says this.
00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.079
Well, I'll I'll actually show you the paper.
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.680
If you want to go fact-check me, read the stuff on your own, okay.
00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:28.799
Go ahead and bring it up.
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:33.519
I'm gonna cite my source, so I'm not up here going, somebody said something one time, and you're like, whatever, dude.
00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:34.720
Okay, so look at this.
00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:36.720
The symbolic power of money, okay.
00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:39.440
So this is published in the Journal of Psychological Science.
00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:46.160
So this is uh the symbolic power of money, reminders of money alter social distress and physical pain.
00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:47.279
Okay, so you see that.
00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:50.079
Strict screenshot it and go read it on your own time if you're into that.
00:26:50.240 --> 00:26:51.759
But I'm gonna summarize it for you.
00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:53.119
This is what they say.
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:59.599
The higher level of relational connection that you have and relational satisfaction.
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:09.279
In other words, if I said, tell me how do you feel in your human relationships, in your home, in your extended family, in your community, in your okay, in your relationships, how secure do you feel?
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:10.480
How connected do you feel?
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:15.519
And if you go really high, I feel really accepted, I feel unconditionally loved.
00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:36.319
I believe in my circle, in my people, if something happens to me, if I end up for some reason, man, uh hungry, if I end up homeless, if I end up jobless, if I end up in a spot where I really don't have anything to offer according to the culture, I believe that there are people that love me based on who I am enough.
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:42.079
Someone's gonna give me something to eat, someone's gonna help me get a place safe, someone's gonna help give me a shot, get me back on my feet.
00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:47.200
Okay, at some point I'm gonna have to work for myself because nobody gets to just be dead weight and have people dragging them through life.
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:51.759
I will have to get back up, but I know if I'm down, I've got people that help me up.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:02.240
So if you are like that, if that's if you have a high relational satisfaction, I feel fulfilled and connected, they have a much lower materialistic drive.
00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:05.440
And the opposite is also true.
00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:12.319
So, in other words, uh people that have low satisfaction, they go, I'm you want to know what I believe?
00:28:12.559 --> 00:28:15.759
I believe if I can't produce, nobody will be there for me.
00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:19.119
If I end up hungry, they'll let me fend for myself.
00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:22.880
If I end up with that, nobody's even gonna let me sleep on their couch.
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.160
I I think if I'm destitute, they're gonna let me be destitute.
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:31.440
If that's your belief, it literally immediately provokes materialism.
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:31.759
Yeah.
00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:50.799
A desire to a craving for money, a craving for status, a craving to find any sort of social capital that I can have because my belief is if I'm not pretty enough or I'm not powerful enough or I don't have enough resources, I'm in an empire.
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:57.440
And the empire is materialistic, and the empire, the empire is driven by transactional relationships.
00:28:57.519 --> 00:29:02.880
And if I have nothing to transact with, I've lost faith that anybody's gonna love me for me.
00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.640
So because you don't love me for me, I'm gonna make sure I have something to trade with.
00:29:06.960 --> 00:29:13.680
And if I have nothing to trade with, and by the way, I'll have a fear in the back of my mind that what I have to trade with isn't enough, and I could lose it.
00:29:13.759 --> 00:29:19.039
So I live in this constant fear that leads to shallow relationships, which leads to vicious cycles.
00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:20.960
I know I'm talking fast, but just hang with me.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:23.440
It leads to vicious cycles like this.
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:25.039
I'm a workaholic.
00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.200
Why am I a workaholic?
00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:33.279
Because I'm trying to get some capital to make sure I don't end up suffering and no one cares.
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.519
I don't end up depleted and no one cares.
00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:39.359
I really deep down, I want agency, delight, stability, and belonging.
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:40.559
I want shalom.
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.119
But but we've gone a long way from that.
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:55.680
Now I'm just trying to control and I'm trying to make sure that if nobody it's dog eat dog out there, if nobody looks out for me, if I if I'm vulnerable in any way, okay, I'm gonna end up by myself, I'm gonna end up alone.
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.319
It's it's terrible, it's it's a visceral fear.
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.039
And so, because of that, that's why I work so hard.
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:23.279
But here's the problem with that workaholic ends up spending all their time with workaholics who are also in transactional relationships, so your best energy and your most of your waking hours are working with other transactional people who are all playing nice because we work together, but we all know if I can't produce, I get eliminated.
00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:29.039
And that's who I'm giving my best to, and the people I'm in covenant with only get me when I'm wiped out.
00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:30.559
When I've got nothing to give.
00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:32.720
I'm not even cultivating those relationships.
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.319
I'm not making space for those people.
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:35.279
Because I don't, why?
00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:37.519
Because I have a deep fear that's driving me.
00:30:37.599 --> 00:30:38.960
I'm I'm gonna help somebody today.
00:30:39.039 --> 00:30:40.480
I probably not everybody.
00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:42.000
Some of you guys are past this.
00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:43.759
I'm gonna help somebody with this.
00:30:44.079 --> 00:30:57.839
There are some of you today, there are some of you today who love God, love God, committed to God, faithful to God, but you've got this gnawing issue of greed, materialism.
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:02.079
You care way more about what people think than you want to admit.
00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:10.160
You're always trying to level up on status, you're always puffing your chest out, trying to show everybody how successful you are.
00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:28.799
You find yourself acting like you have more money than you do, trying to look like you have more money, you got no cash because you're in debt, trying to pay off one credit card with another so you can get another materialistic thing, and you know it's off, you know it's bad, and you love God, and you know, you keep saying, Yeah, I still have an issue with greed.
00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:33.039
Yeah, I still have an issue with status, and you can't figure out why God won't deliver you from it.
00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:35.359
And this is why I'm gonna just help you right now.
00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:40.720
The issue is not you and God, the issue is your human relationships are shallow.
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:53.279
And it might start in your own marriage, it might be within your own people, your own family, the people closest to you, that you feel deep down, if I can't produce, I will be eliminated.
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:59.599
And so, because of that, the draw for materialism, you keep calling it greed, but I'm gonna I'm gonna rename it today.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:00.799
It's survival.
00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.240
You're actually probably not that greedy, you just want some peace.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:13.359
You really want to be loved, but you've given up on that because the empire has taken over, and the empire set the tone of the culture.
00:32:13.599 --> 00:32:20.319
We got away from covenant, we got away from Hesed, we got away from Mishpat.
00:32:21.279 --> 00:32:26.960
This old archaic book that's been telling the truth from the beginning.
00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:35.200
So, how how can you be in the world and not of the world?
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:39.200
How do we get out of this mess?
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:48.480
How do we live in a world that's driven by the love of power and the power of fear?
00:32:48.720 --> 00:33:01.200
People that are so far entrenched in transactional relationships, I might have to fake like I'm more successful, I'm smarter, I'm stronger, so that I have something to trade on.
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.440
Otherwise, I get eliminated.
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:06.160
How do we get out of it?
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:08.400
I end with this.
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:14.799
Where I love to end every chance I get with Jesus.
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:22.880
I appreciate you guys being patient.
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:24.400
Alright, this is my third time doing this.
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:26.480
The other ones is like we gotta turn the lot over.
00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:27.680
There ain't nobody else coming.
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:32.559
Alright, so I'm gonna just give me like seven minutes to go over on this one if you don't mind.
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:34.000
I will wrap it up.
00:33:39.279 --> 00:33:41.039
So Matthew 25.
00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:43.359
Matthew 25, here's what's going on.
00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:45.440
It's called the Olivet Discourse.
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.640
It's basically right before Jesus goes to the cross.
00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:50.079
He's on the Mount of Olives.
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:51.440
He has his disciples.
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.359
They're literally looking down at the temple.
00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:02.960
Jesus is giving them, uh, trying to, I mean, you know, when you're about to go to the cross, everything we're talking about is the stuff that really matters.
00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:04.960
We're wasting no words now.
00:34:05.119 --> 00:34:05.920
This is very important.
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:07.759
I want to make sure you get it.
00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:19.440
And so in Matthew 25, 31, Jesus starts out, he says, uh, but when the when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne.
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.880
Now, what he's doing here is he's borrowing prophet language.
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.599
This is all, it's all rings of the Old Testament.
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:36.880
He's pulling from Daniel, he's pulling from uh uh Ezekiel, he's pulling from a lot of these prophets, and it's creating throne imagery, but it's like royal judgment.
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.719
So the king's about to judge.
00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:42.320
And it says, All the nations will be gathered in his presence.
00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:44.719
This is apocalyptic literature.
00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:57.039
It's it's it's uh he's reaching to the past and he's reaching to the future, and he says, uh, all the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.
00:34:57.360 --> 00:35:01.119
Okay, now, sheep, again, they would have gotten it like this.
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:03.840
Sheep were seen as obedient animals.
00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:09.840
These are the ones that remember John 10, where he says, I think it's 1027, he says, My sheep know my voice.
00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:11.039
All right, they know me.
00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:11.920
We're connected.
00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:13.440
I say something, they follow.
00:35:13.599 --> 00:35:18.880
In fact, he says, the bad leader, the false shepherd, has to scare the sheep because the sheep won't follow them.
00:35:18.960 --> 00:35:22.239
So they go, boo, scare them, so then they'll run, they can get them to move.
00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.400
But instead, a shepherd doesn't have to do that.
00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:26.800
They the sheep know his voice and they follow him.
00:35:27.039 --> 00:35:34.480
So the idea that the sheep, okay, these are the true followers, and the goats are the ones that are disobedient and hard to work with, right?
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.280
They're the ones that there's the difference.
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:47.039
By the way, again, in their world, just to let me teach for a quick second, what what you have is in the in the royal metaphor, they often would use shepherds for with kings.
00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:53.679
So the king, even though they're, again, they're not physically in a field, they're saying, I'm like the shepherd of the nation.
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:57.119
In fact, if you've ever wondered, why did a king have a scepter?
00:35:57.280 --> 00:35:58.239
That's kind of weird, right?
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:00.000
Like they're holding this royal stick.
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:01.199
Like, what is a scepter?
00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:05.039
Well, scepter was shepherd imagery.
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:07.519
So think about the Lord is my shepherd, right?
00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:10.960
And he says, by your rod and your staff, right?
00:36:11.039 --> 00:36:12.000
They comfort me.
00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:13.519
Well, what is a rod and a staff?
00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:20.400
The rod and the staff are there to not only guide the sheep in the right direction, but they're there to take care of the predator.
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:24.079
So this is a I'm I'm gonna protect you with the rod and the staff.
00:36:24.159 --> 00:36:25.519
I'm gonna fight for you.
00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:30.239
So the king's job is not only to guide the people, but to keep the predators off.
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.679
So the idea of a scepter was like a staff.
00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:39.440
It was like using shepherd imagery, but in a royal sense that this is the king's job to love the people.
00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:43.039
Okay, as if they were, he was a shepherd and they were the sheep.
00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:47.199
So he says, okay, so at the end of days, you've got now you've got this visual.
00:36:47.519 --> 00:36:48.960
Royal imagery.
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:54.079
It's like somewhere between a throne scene and a judgment scene.
00:36:54.159 --> 00:36:57.119
And he says, I'm going to separate the sheep and the goats.
00:36:57.280 --> 00:37:02.480
Verse 33 says, and he'll place uh the sheep at my right hand and the goats on his left.
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:17.440
And verse 34, the king will say to those on his right, the the sheep, the the true followers, he says, Come, you who are blessed by my father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.
00:37:17.760 --> 00:37:18.800
And why?
00:37:19.039 --> 00:37:19.840
Why us?
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:21.199
What makes us sheep?
00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.159
Why would we get such an honor?
00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:25.599
Verse 35.
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.199
I was hungry and you fed me.
00:37:30.559 --> 00:37:33.760
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink.
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:39.760
I was a stranger and you invited me into your home.
00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:44.719
I had nothing to transact with.
00:37:45.519 --> 00:37:48.639
I had no status, I had no money.
00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:53.679
In fact, I was nothing but a hungry, thirsty, naked stranger.
00:37:53.840 --> 00:37:54.719
And you brought me in.
00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:56.400
I was I was naked, you gave me clothing.
00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:57.360
I was sick.
00:37:57.679 --> 00:37:59.599
I couldn't even work, and you cared for me.
00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:00.960
I was in prison.
00:38:01.440 --> 00:38:08.639
I was incarcerated, I was locked up, I had all of my liberties taken away, and you cared about Mishpat to help restore me.
00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:12.239
You visited me, you valued me when I had no value to offer you.
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:15.199
And he says, These righteous ones will reply.
00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:16.400
What?
00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:20.880
Lord, when did that happen?
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:24.159
I don't remember that.
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:25.360
We did all that?
00:38:25.519 --> 00:38:26.880
When when did we do that for you?
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:29.039
I don't remember seeing you out there.
00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:31.840
When were you hungry and we fed you?
00:38:31.920 --> 00:38:33.840
When were you thirsty and we gave you something to drink?
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.280
When were you a stranger and we gave hospitality or naked and gave clothes?
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:38.639
I don't we don't even remember this.
00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:39.519
What are you talking about?
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:42.400
When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visited you?
00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.239
And the king will say, I tell you the truth.
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:56.239
When you did it to one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me.
00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:08.079
When you brought shalom, God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:14.880
When you did it for the person who had no transactional value, you did it unto me.
00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:17.760
And then he goes on to talk to the goats.
00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.559
And he says, you know, depart from me.
00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:21.440
I never knew you.
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:23.360
He says, you know, and he goes through the same thing.
00:39:23.440 --> 00:39:25.599
I was hungry, you didn't feed me, I was naked, you didn't care about it.
00:39:25.760 --> 00:39:26.880
I was a stranger, you didn't bribe.
00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:28.960
Okay, he goes through all that, and they're like, When, Lord?
00:39:29.039 --> 00:39:29.599
We don't remember.
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:36.800
So what's funny is both the people that were the sheep and got it right, and the goats that missed the whole thing, they're both shocked.
00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:39.039
It's almost like one of those tests.
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:41.920
You think you're taking one test, but you're actually taking a different test.
00:39:42.159 --> 00:39:48.880
You come in, they got you doing this test, and you think it's about this, but the whole time they were testing you on something you didn't even know you were being tested on.
00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:58.239
So he says, He says, I know my sheep, and my sheep know my voice.
00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:06.559
And he says, the ultimate measure of this will be how it comes out in terms of how you do a relationship with each other.
00:40:07.119 --> 00:40:11.199
And of course, some say, Well, Lord, if if we would have known it was you, we would have done it.
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:12.400
And he goes, I know.
00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:15.760
Now you know.
00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:22.400
So here's here's the reality.
00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:24.960
The world's not gonna teach us how to do this.
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:28.639
Empires don't do this.
00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:31.119
Empires don't do this.
00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:34.079
So we have to figure out how to be in the world and not of the world.
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:37.679
We don't have the magic button to go fix everybody.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:40.800
We can start with ourselves.
00:40:41.440 --> 00:40:44.239
We can turn that mirror around, we can start in our homes.
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:47.840
We we may need a new vision for our marriage.
00:40:49.039 --> 00:40:53.360
We may need a new vision for our family, how we think about each other.
00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:57.599
We we may have to start something that we've never seen done before.
00:40:58.320 --> 00:41:05.599
We may have to create a new Hesed, Mishpat, Shalom family culture when we came out of chaos.
00:41:06.559 --> 00:41:08.400
When we came out of dysfunction.
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:13.440
We have to decide what kind of community we will be within the community.
00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:15.199
What kind of church do we want to be?
00:41:15.280 --> 00:41:17.199
What kind of neighborhood do you want to live in?
00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:19.599
What are we gonna be?
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:21.119
What are we gonna be?
00:41:22.239 --> 00:41:27.679
Today I leave you with three questions that I ask you to bring to the Lord.
00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:34.320
First question is, what am I looking to for security that I should be looking to God for?
00:41:34.960 --> 00:41:38.079
Is there anywhere in your life that you have a false security?
00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:41.280
You've been looking to something for control.
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:52.000
Maybe your vulnerabilities led to fear, and that fear has led you to then start to create idols and to look to other things other than God.
00:41:52.800 --> 00:41:59.519
The second is what fear is driving my need for control, accumulation, or self-protection?
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:02.880
What fear is driving that?
00:42:03.199 --> 00:42:10.239
The third is, has my pursuit of security made me more generous or more guarded?
00:42:10.719 --> 00:42:12.079
Let's pray together.
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:14.880
Lord, we come to you in Jesus' name.
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:24.559
Lord, we refuse to allow ourselves to become discouraged by the world around us.
00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:31.360
And we also refuse to become discouraged in well-doing.
00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:36.079
Because we know in due time we'll reap a harvest if we faint not.
00:42:36.639 --> 00:42:49.679
Lord, we thank you for the way that even a Bible with 66 books and an Old Testament and a New Testament, an old covenant, and new covenant, we can really boil it down to some simple things you really care about.
00:42:51.039 --> 00:43:00.079
That our relationship with you is a demonstration of unconditional love and commitment that then we should offer to our brothers and sisters.
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:06.159
That, Lord, your justice is restorative justice.
00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:14.400
And Lord, that justice should be offered to restore ourselves and the people around us.
00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:23.440
Lord, it's your will for our lives and our community that we find the appropriate power, pleasure, peace, and connection.
00:43:24.079 --> 00:43:28.079
And yet we, Lord, we know that life often throws curveballs.
00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:44.719
And in this community, God, I pray that you would shape us as imperfect as we are, as vulnerable as we are, to be able to create a community that makes what happens here on earth look an awful lot of like what you intend for it to look from heaven.
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:47.519
Help us to be a community of shalom.
00:43:48.079 --> 00:43:52.159
And Lord, every time we veer off course, send a prophet.
00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:55.920
Send a prophet, send somebody to call it out.
00:43:56.639 --> 00:44:05.119
Lord, even if that doesn't it's not somebody preaching from a stage, maybe it's not even somebody who's who's quoting scripture and verse, Lord, do whatever.
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.920
Bring it, bring it in a song, bring it in a documentary.
00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:11.360
Lord, bring it, bring it in the most unlikely source, Lord.
00:44:11.599 --> 00:44:17.039
Help us to see, help us to see, give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see.
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:19.920
For your glory in Jesus' name.
00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:21.280
Everybody said amen.
