WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.760 Uh, anybody excited to be in God's house today? 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:07.919 Listen, I uh I love preaching and I love getting the opportunity to talk today. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:14.080 I want to dig into a conversation that I pray, that I pray challenges you. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:16.879 And then when you walk out of this room, you say, Amen, God. 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:19.199 I got you today. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.239 Y'all cool with that? 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:21.679 Let's pray this morning. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:22.960 Father, we thank you. 00:00:23.199 --> 00:00:28.000 We love you, we give your name the glory and the honor, because God, it all belongs to you anyway. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.760 We under we need you and we love you. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:31.359 And Jesus pray, somebody say amen. 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:35.759 Now, y'all know when I preach, you gotta talk back to it because if not, we will be here until kickoff. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:36.479 Amen. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.280 All right, so I want to tell you a story. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:42.960 I want to tell you a real life true story about me growing up. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:45.520 See, growing up, I was a model child. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:47.759 Don't laugh too soon. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:50.640 This is already starting off bad. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.719 I never got in trouble. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:55.200 Cause I'll ping, all right. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:59.200 See, I was never the class clown, never went to ISS. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.280 Y'all remember ISS in school suspension? 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:02.079 Never, I never went there. 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:03.439 That was for the devil. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:08.879 I used to sit on the front row of my class, had an apple on my desk. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:10.879 I was always locked in in class. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:11.599 That was me. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.640 Y'all like, yo, you're right, Pastor Jared, get to the truth. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.680 See, I was I was a great kids' room, I really was. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:24.079 See why all the other kids behind me were throwing paper, making airplanes, not paying attention. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.920 I never engaged in any of that foolishness. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:30.879 Because I was a model student. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:34.159 Studious, A, 100s. 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.280 You know, back in the day they used to put letters on your report cards. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:39.519 I used to have E's for excellent. 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:40.640 That was me. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:49.040 Now, if my mother and my sister came up here and they would tell you a different version of this story, how I got F's and was always in ISS. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:55.439 But I'll never forget the day I did participate in the foolery behind me. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:02:00.959 I was in Miss Hutchison's classroom, fifth grade, third hallway, third, second classroom on the left. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:03.200 Don't ask me why I remember, just know I remember it. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.000 See, me and Miss H, I'm gonna call her Miss H from this point on. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:06.959 See, we didn't get along. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.039 Me and Miss Hutchison, we didn't see eye to eye. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:11.520 She didn't like me, I didn't like her, four flats pen. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:12.080 That's it. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:13.039 We we can fight today. 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:13.919 I see her. 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:17.199 See, Ms. 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:19.759 Hutchison wrote me up. 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:24.479 And back in the day, we used to have these things called discipline referrals. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:26.240 Y'all know what a discipline referral is? 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:31.439 I don't know what y'all give y'all kids nowadays, but back in the day when I was growing up, I'm about to age myself, they used to look like that. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:34.240 There was a white copy, a yellow copy, and a pink copy. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:39.439 See, the white copy stayed at the office, the yellow copy went back to the teacher, and the pink one you took home for your mama to sign. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:40.319 Y'all remember that? 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:41.280 Uh-huh. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:47.360 See, when I got to the principal office, she gave me two commands, two instructions. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.360 She said, Jerry, I want you to go back in that classroom and I want you to act like you got some sense. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:53.759 I said, Yes, ma'am, I could do that. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:55.280 So you know me. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.599 I ain't like Miss Hutchinson, we not already established that. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:58.560 So what did I do? 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:04.159 I decided to put on the most Oscar-winning performance I could ever give. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:18.240 And before I walked in the classroom, I took that little white piece of paper that, or the yellow one that I was supposed to give her, and I took my finger and I licked my tongue real good, and I said, and I just put, like, you know, you ever did that, or you make five fake teardrops? 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:20.240 You never did that to get out of whooping whooping? 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:21.599 Oh, okay. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:25.680 Boy, I can tell some of y'all ain't going to heaven because y'all lying already. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:26.960 But I did that. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:32.319 I took my finger and I said, eh, eh, and I walked in class, she said, Well, Jerry, do you have anything to say? 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:35.759 I said, Yes, ma'am, I'ma act right. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.319 Well, y'all know I was lying, I wouldn't go act right. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:45.439 But when I got home, my mother met me at the doe. 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.199 Not the door, but the doe. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:50.960 DO. 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:56.560 She said, Well, Jared, how was your day? 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:02.159 And you can imagine, to my surprise, I'm like, it was good. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:04.479 You know, I had a really, really great day. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:08.159 And you know, mamas always know the truth. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:11.439 And she stepped back and she looked at me. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:15.520 She said, Well, is there anything else you got to tell me? 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:19.680 And I had thought about for a brief moment that Oscar-winning performance and MB winning performance. 00:04:19.839 --> 00:04:20.480 I had just gave Ms. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:23.920 Hutchins a class, and I decided to roll with it a little while longer. 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:26.639 I said, Mama, I had a great day in class. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:28.079 Nothing went on. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.439 The the teaching, that class was great. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:36.720 My mama, whoo, she took a deep breath. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:39.839 And you know how y'all our mamas do, they give us that little look. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:05:01.120 And I don't know about your house, but in the black mama house, she stood over, she stood back, and she had this posture, and she knows when she squint her eyes and do this little thingy thing with her neck, she said, and I knew right then and there I was headed to be on the next episode of the first 48. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:03.439 I knew it. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.439 I knew I was headed to die. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:12.160 Out of all the words in the world my mother could have used, she chose the word and. 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:14.879 It meant there was more to the story. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.360 It meant, Jared, you left something out. 00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:22.240 It meant you just told me what might be true, but you didn't tell me the whole truth. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:25.600 Because you know the old saying, there's always three sides to the story. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:27.920 There's they side, my side, and what? 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:28.639 The truth. 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:36.480 And the older I've gotten, I realized that my mother that day may have been teaching me a lesson that I did not know I was going to need until today. 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:43.920 See, because the power of and has a way of looking at what you thought was the end of the story, and it says, keep going. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:50.000 And tells you what happened was real, but it doesn't get to be the only thing that is real. 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.720 And makes room for two things to be true at the same time. 00:05:54.959 --> 00:05:58.959 And if we're honest this morning, that is where most of us are living right now. 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:01.120 We love God and we have questions. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.199 We're grateful and we're disappointed. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:06.800 We're blessed, and there are still places in our lives where it hurts. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:10.079 We're healing, and on some days we still feel the womb. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:13.360 We believe God, and sometimes we're scared. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:17.600 We can smile on Sunday and still cry on Monday. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:27.600 That is the power and the duality of and we know God is good and we still don't understand what He is doing. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:29.199 Are y'all with me so far this morning? 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:35.680 The problem is somewhere along the way, we were taught we don't get a both and we get an either or. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:38.720 Either we have faith or we have fear. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:41.040 Either we are grateful or we're disappointed. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:43.120 Either I'm strong or I'm struggling. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.279 Either I trust God or I have questions. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:50.560 And maybe the spiritual maturity I want to teach you this morning isn't choosing between the two. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.800 Maybe maturity is learning how to hold both of them in your hands. 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:58.720 Maybe faith is being able to say, This hurts, but I still trust God. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:00.879 I don't understand and I still believe. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.800 I'm disappointed and I still haven't lost hope. 00:07:04.959 --> 00:07:06.000 Are you with me so far? 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.800 The best thing about Anne, it refuses to let the worst thing that happened to you have the final word. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.199 And says, There's more. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.199 Say it out loud, there's more. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.120 There's more to your story. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.279 Anne says your story is not over. 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:26.879 Anne says there's more to be written where you put a period, God has put a comma, it says, keep going. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:28.639 That's what An says. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:30.399 Y'all with me so far this morning? 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:36.240 But for a few moments, I want to talk about the most boring word in the English dictionary. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:37.199 Somebody say and. 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:45.600 It's not a big word, it's not dramatic, and I promise you, nobody preaches sermons on the word and except for me. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:50.319 See, we use we use this word so often that we barely notice it. 00:07:50.480 --> 00:08:03.519 We use it every day to describe things that belong together, like peanut butter, uh-huh, salt, mat, cowboys, and all right. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:12.240 And joins things together that seem like they were made to be together. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:21.040 But we also use it to describe moments in our lives when we say things like, I forgave them and it still hurts. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:26.000 I trust God and I'm still scared about what happens next. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:31.120 I'm grieving what I lost, and I'm still learning how to live again. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.480 And it's rarely the star of empty sentence until it is. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:40.240 Because that little word carries the power of connection. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.759 It says that these two things can exist in the same sentence. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:50.559 The word has become has done the same job in English for over a thousand years, joining what belongs together. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:56.559 In the King James Version of the Bible, and appears 28,364 times. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:00.480 That is the most frequently occurring word in the Bible by count. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:11.440 That is not just a tastic, it is the reflection that the Bible is not a collection of disconnected stories, it is one unfolding story of God's work. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:18.720 It is creation and covenant, promise and fulfillment, grace and truth, faith and works, suffering and glory. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:25.600 The Bible even begins in Genesis 1 and says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:35.919 From the very beginning, God reveals Himself as the one who holds together what seems to separate heaven and earth, spiritual and the natural, seen and unseen. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.679 And throughout scripture, God keeps doing what only God can do. 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:48.080 He connects what sin has broken and restores what pain has separated and brings together what people assume cannot live in the same place. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:52.639 John said this about Jesus: that Jesus came full of grace and truth. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:56.159 Psalms 85 says, Mercy and truth are met together. 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:58.399 Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:03.919 And one thing scripture does not make, it does not do is make grace the enemy of truth. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:06.639 It does not make mercy the enemy of righteousness. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:11.039 God brings them together because God is holy and compassionate. 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:12.960 He is just and forgiving. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:28.000 He can be just and he can be righteousness all at the same time. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:38.080 And that is important because and does not only connect things that naturally fit, sometimes it holds together the realities that we feel should be contradicting one another. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:40.240 Now, that's who God is. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:41.679 But watch this. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:58.240 If God can hold grace and truth, mercy and justice, connection and comfort with one another without castling out the other, then he's not surprised when life shows up, when your life shows up holding two things that don't seem to go in the same sentence. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:10:59.919 Y'all with me so far? 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.960 And that's where I want to live this morning. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:12.480 In the honesty of and in the seasons of our life where you don't get one clear emotion, one simple explanation, or an easy answer. 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:18.639 Have you ever been there at a season of your life where you're asking God, God, what in the world is going on? 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:26.720 Have you ever been there where you're questioning and you're searching for answers, and you're like, Lord, what are you doing in this season of my life? 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:28.639 Because don't none of this make sense. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:31.519 I thought I was headed this way, but clearly I'm going this way. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:36.720 I thought I was going on I 35, but clearly I'm on I 30, headed towards I 20, headed towards 75. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:40.240 Lord, where am I going and what is happening? 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:41.360 Have you ever been there? 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:43.200 Have you ever been there? 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.080 That is some of us in this room. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:46.799 That is me. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:50.159 There are times in my life when I'm like, Lord, this feels real good. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.759 And then I hit a bump in the road and I said, Lord, I just busted up my tire. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:54.960 What is really happening? 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:59.120 Because the last time I came this way, it wasn't no roadblock here, it wasn't no bumps here. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:01.600 Because the last time I've been down this journey, it was smooth. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.120 And the Lord is saying, Maybe this time I got something else to teach you. 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:06.559 Oh. 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:14.320 I want to talk about the seasons and places where you believe God and you're still scared. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.320 Places where you have prayed and nothing has changed yet. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:22.799 Places where you know God is good and this don't feel good. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:27.440 Places where you are wounded and you're still choosing to worship. 00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:34.000 Places where you don't understand the process and you still trust his promise. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:39.200 But before we get into the text, I want to sit in something for a second. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:42.559 The tension of the word and somebody say tension. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:49.600 See, and creates tension by building anticipation and delaying the resolution. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:55.759 It's a tiny word, but it is but it is a psychological pull on our emotions. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.039 Check it out. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:04.320 One thing that and does is signals without saying that there is more information coming. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.120 And that is what I want to tell somebody today. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.519 That there is more information coming. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.919 And forces us to wait on the final outcome. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:19.519 This is what's called a linguistic cliffhanger. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.720 Don't you just hate when TV shows do this? 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:30.000 They get to the very end, get to the real good part, and then the next thing it is, and on the next episode of Days of Our Lives. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:35.200 Now, some of y'all, some of y'all laughing because y'all know what days of our lives are. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.840 The young people like anybody that was born in 95, they just like, what is Days of Our Lives? 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.159 Or it's like on the next episode of General Hospital. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:46.480 Y'all remember General Hospital? 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:49.679 Or all my children. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.080 That was my grandma's favorite show. 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:56.159 But that's how a cliffhanger works. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:05.519 They pull you in to the next episode and they get you right to the point and they say, and dot, dot, dot. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:13.120 Don't, and is inherently a forward-moving word, refusing to let you stop. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:25.360 While a period forces a full stop, a comma offers a brief pause and demands that you keep walking into whatever comes next, whether you're ready for it or not. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:31.840 Now, when you think about the tension that it causes, I want us to look at and through a few different lenses. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.799 And if you want to take notes this morning, I want you to take these few notes, right? 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:35.679 Here we go. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.360 The first lens I want us to look through is called the burden of accumulation. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.039 Somebody said the burden of accumulation. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:48.000 In life, and in its natural state, it's additive. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.320 That means there's something else coming. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:54.960 It means your troubles, your tasks, your fears aren't replacing one another. 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:55.919 They're stacking. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:57.200 Anybody ever done this? 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.279 You go grocery shopping, you go to H E B. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.559 If you don't go to H E B, I'm praying for you because I don't like Kroger. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:13.600 If you go to H E B and you go and you get all them groceries, you put them all in your car, and when you get home versus making multiple trips, you start to accumulate the groceries on your arm. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:14.720 You ever done that? 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:22.000 You start stacking them here, here, here, here, here, and the next thing you know, you get in the house and luck, you didn't you didn't work out 17 times. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.799 That is called the burden of accumulation. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.399 And sometimes life does that. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.080 It stacks one thing on top of another, on top of another, on top of another. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:32.879 It's this and it's that, it's this and it's that. 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.000 Has everybody, anybody ever experienced a this and a that? 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:37.679 Is if it's not that, it's this. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.120 And if it ain't this, it's that. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.600 It seems like you never can catch a break. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:44.960 That is called the burden of accumulation. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.639 The second thing I want you to see is called the denial of closure. 00:15:48.720 --> 00:15:49.840 Now, this is a good one. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:55.679 Sometimes the tension of and is that and refuses to let it go. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:58.480 Think about the last time you had a hard conversation. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.960 Everybody got out what they needed to say. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:07.919 You think the conversation's good, and then somebody says, Well, and one more thing. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.919 Or, better yet, and this one burns me up. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.919 You at work and you want a Zoom call. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.639 And the Zoom call about to be over with. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.120 And here come that last person. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:26.320 Well, and another thing, if you don't shut up, you ever been there? 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:31.600 And it's like what you could have said could have been an email. 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:35.519 They refuse to let the conversation close. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:42.879 And sometimes Anne does not let the conversation or the room or the point in your life close. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:47.039 The next thing is the illusion of equality. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:49.840 Ann does not discriminate. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:55.120 It's like linking a grocery list and a diagnosis with the exact same word. 00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:56.320 Check it out. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:17:00.399 You on the phone, you say, Well, I went and picked up the milk, and guess what? 00:17:00.480 --> 00:17:02.080 The biopsy came back. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:12.000 Same weight, same breath, same small word, holding two sentences together. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:18.240 But you and I both know that both those, the milk and the diagnosis, don't equal the same weight. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:19.440 We know that. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:23.039 And that's where the tension lives. 00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:30.240 When and makes two things sound like they belong in the same sentence, even though one of them just knocked the wind out of you. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:32.640 Then the last one is the overwhelming effect. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.720 Somebody say the overwhelming effect. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:40.960 And is when you stack and after and after and after without without stopping the breath. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:43.440 I'll never forget in 2018 when my grandmother died. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:44.240 I'll never forget. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:18:00.960 It was, it felt like it was and, and, and, it was Mimo and Aunt Jada and Uncle Ricky, and then it turned into Uncle Carl and Uncle Shot and then Aunt Maddie, and then Unc, you know, Pa Paul Miller. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:03.200 It just felt like the and just kept going. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.079 And, and, and, have you ever been there? 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:12.720 Where it feels like life just keeps a whole bunch of and a bunch of run-on sentences, and you're like, God, where is the period in this? 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:17.119 That is called the overwhelming effect of and. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:22.559 But the biblical weight of and scripture does this on purpose. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:35.119 Genesis 1 doesn't give you six disconnected paragraphs, it gives you one, it gives you and God said, and God saw, and God called, one thing after another, building towards the same and eludible stance. 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:40.559 Beginning a sentence with and gives it an unstoppable, faithful momentum. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.079 Like the events are moving whether you're ready or not. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:49.279 And there is a father that I want to talk about today, that I want us to live. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:53.519 I want us to live in his story that is found in Luke chapter 8. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:59.519 He knows exactly what it feels like to go through every single last one of these lenses. 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.079 And that's where I want to park the message. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.880 He's about to feel it in a way that most of us, that I hope most of us never do. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:09.759 He's headed towards Jesus with an urgent request. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:13.759 He has no idea how far the end is about to take him. 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.240 Which brings us to Jairus. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.799 Jairus was respected. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:21.359 He had responsibility, he had position. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.720 People knew his name. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:28.640 He spent his life in the house of God, serving around the things of God, carrying the weight of leadership among the people. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:36.240 The Bible introduces us to Jairus not as a stranger, not as somebody with no influence, but as a ruler of the synagogue. 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:37.519 Y'all cool so far? 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:54.640 It is also worth noting before we go any further in this point that at this point in the Gospel of Luke, that some of the synagogue rulers had largely lined up against Jesus, watching him, questioning him, and trying to already plot against Jesus because of the works that he've already done. 00:19:54.799 --> 00:19:59.119 But here we find Jairus in need and having trouble. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:13.039 And one thing I found out about trouble, y'all, is that trouble has a way of reminding us that our titles do not make us untouchable, that our positions cannot always protect us from pain, nor can our influence always keep crisis from entering our house. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:14.960 Anybody know that so far this morning? 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:19.920 And Jairus is here with a crisis in Luke chapter 8 that no title can fix. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:27.119 The Bible says he has one daughter, his only daughter, and she's about 12 years old and she is dying. 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:31.759 Can y'all, I want y'all to put yourself in Jairus' feet for Jairus' shoes for just a second. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:32.880 Can you imagine this? 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:33.920 Can you see Jairus? 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:39.119 He's not a synagogue ruler right now, he is a daddy who's about to lose his little girl. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.359 How you can you can you imagine that? 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:48.960 This is a man who may have had answers for everybody else, but now he has a situation at his own house that he cannot solve. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:53.839 And one thing I learned is desperation will make you do things that dignity never would. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:00.160 This man who has spent his life standing in front of people now falls at the feet of Jesus with one thing only in his hands. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:01.920 He has a need in his hand. 00:21:02.160 --> 00:21:05.599 Have you ever had a need that you just fell at the feet of Jesus with? 00:21:06.480 --> 00:21:07.599 How do you have a need? 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:12.480 What is the need in your life where you just ran to Jesus and you said, Father, here is my need. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:14.240 Father, I stretch my hands to thee. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:18.400 God, if you don't fix this, I don't know who will. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.000 Have you ever been there? 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:23.279 Jairus is in what I call Jairus' now moment. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:30.319 Jairus runs to Jesus, he makes his way through the crowd, he falls down and he says, Jesus, I need you now. 00:21:30.559 --> 00:21:33.039 Have you ever need Jesus to show up in your situation? 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:36.000 Not tomorrow, not next week, but now. 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.559 Your back is against the wall. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:49.279 Money is funny and change is strange, and you're trying to figure out God, if you don't intervene, I don't know how I'm gonna get out of this. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:57.599 Jairus says, in effect, in verse 41 of chapter 8, Jesus, I need you to come to my house because my daughter is dying. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.759 And I wonder if anybody knows how that feels. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:02.880 And maybe you don't have a daughter dying at home. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:04.400 Maybe your peace is dying. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:05.759 Maybe your joy is dying. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:07.839 Maybe a relationship is on life support. 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:08.799 Maybe it is your hope. 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:10.960 Maybe it is a dream you've carried for years. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:15.119 And lately it feels as though it is fading right in front of you. 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:17.279 God, I need you now. 00:22:18.160 --> 00:22:22.000 Jairus is not coming to Jesus casually. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:24.640 He believes Jesus can help. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:29.599 But he's also afraid of what may happen if Jesus doesn't get there too soon. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:34.559 See, Jairus has hope and he has pressure. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:39.359 He has trust and he has tears in his eyes. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:41.519 And that's where some of us live. 00:22:41.839 --> 00:22:45.119 We love God and we're under pressure. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.279 We know the word and we're still facing a real situation. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:54.880 We have faith and we also know this season of our life don't feel good. 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.680 But Jairus teaches us something. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:12.240 That before we ever get to, before Jesus ever gets to his house, that we just need to bring our needs to Jesus, to fall at his feet, to tell him the truth, to put the urgency in his hands and trust the one you called on and know that he's still able. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:18.640 Jairus didn't call a committee, he didn't organize a strategy, he didn't phone ahead and say, Hey man, y'all let Jesus know I'm coming. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.240 Jairus made his way and said, Jesus, here I am. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:24.319 And that is what some of us need to do. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:33.200 The next time we face a crises and we have an urgent need, don't form a committee, don't go talk to nobody else, don't call your mama, don't call your daddy, don't call anybody. 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:34.720 Get straight to Jesus. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:39.839 There's a song that says, just have a little talk with Jesus and tell him all about your troubles. 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:43.039 We gotta do that. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:50.640 Reverend Cleveland Derrick's in 1930, he was a young, gifted African-American preacher, and he wrote the lyrics to this song. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:54.880 And his song says, Now let us have a little talk with Jesus. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.960 Tell him all about our troubles, and he'll hear our famous cry. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:02.960 Then the Bible says, and then the song says, and he will answer by and by. 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:10.319 And I used to always hear the old saints say, Oh, in the great by and by, meaning sooner or later, God gonna show up in my situation. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:14.799 And I don't know who's in the by and by right now, but God is headed towards your house. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:24.720 God sees you, God hears you, and sooner or later, that situation that you're facing, sooner or later, the trouble that you're in, sooner or later, the crisis that you're facing is gonna turn around. 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:30.480 But you gotta stay in the race, you gotta stay in the fight until Jesus shows up at your house. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:42.079 Who then Cleveland said, I feel a little prayer returning. 00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:44.720 He's saying, you know, a little fire is burning. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:47.039 Just have a little talk with Jesus. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:48.480 Makes it right. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:57.839 And I don't know if you've ever, if you've ever had to have a little talk with Jesus, and you really have to tell him all about your troubles. 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:00.319 Have you ever had that moment? 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:03.680 Well, Jesus, this don't feel good. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:06.240 Jesus, this is painful. 00:25:06.799 --> 00:25:12.480 And my grandmother used to always say, Jerry, he'll meet you in your troubles if you let him. 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:15.039 She used to tell me that. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:17.200 He'll meet you in your tears. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:19.759 He'll meet you at your need of desperation. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:21.759 But you got to take it to him. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:28.400 Cleveland knew that there was only one man who could solve what Jairus was going through. 00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.799 And in verse 41, there's no strategy, there's no spin. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:39.519 We just need to lay in front of the only one who can carry it and wait in the soon and by and by. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:46.480 Verse 41 proves that Jesus didn't make that Jesus didn't make him wait. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.319 Jesus agrees to go to Jairus' house. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:51.839 Can you imagine? 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:57.359 Can you imagine the relief that Jairus felt when he got to Jesus and said, Jesus, I need you to come to my house. 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.519 And Jesus said, I'll come. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:00.880 I'll come. 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:02.240 I'm on my way. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:03.680 Not a problem. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:10.880 But before he gets there, there's a story that we all know, but I gotta talk about it because there's something that we all miss in this story. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:15.440 A woman is in the crowd who had been suffering for 12 long years. 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:17.279 We know her as the woman with the issue of blood. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:18.720 Y'all know the story, right? 00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.400 She tried everything, in case you don't know it, she tried everything she knew. 00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.400 She had, she has carried that pain that nobody could cure. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:31.839 She has endured a condition that has taken from her physically and emotionally, socially and financially. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:36.000 But she says within herself, if I can just touch the hem of his garment. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.000 And she, when she touches the hem of his garment, the Bible tells us that she's immediately healed. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:41.759 See, she matters. 00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.960 Her pain matters, her healing matters, her testimony matters. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.440 Jesus does not see her as an interruption. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:50.720 He stops, he calls her forward, and he lets her speak. 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:59.920 Then the woman who everybody else has called unclean and has isolated her and forgotten about her, Jesus takes all the labels off her in that very moment and calls her daughter. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:01.599 He sends her away in peace. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:05.599 But while Jesus is speaking to her, Jairus is still waiting. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:11.440 Jairus is in the background waiting. 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:16.799 His daughter is at home dying. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.720 And Jairus is still waiting. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:27.680 Have you ever been there where you see Jesus blessing everybody else? 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:29.920 And you still waiting. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.400 You see everybody else get their healing, and you still waiting. 00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:38.720 You see everybody else get their deliverance, and you're still waiting. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:40.319 This is Jairus. 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:44.720 The Bible says he was still standing there. 00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:52.079 They were on the way, and an eruption happened, and Jairus is now forced to wait. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:28:02.160