WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:01.040 Let's get in the word. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:03.359 Hebrews 11. 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:05.200 I'm going to get there in just a moment. 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.200 If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there. 00:00:07.519 --> 00:00:08.400 But I'm going to start out. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.720 I'm going to do something I don't normally do. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:13.599 It'd be a little risky, but I'm going to go with it. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:15.599 I'm going to ask for a volunteer. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:16.079 Okay? 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.480 And this is none of this is scripted. 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:20.800 We're going off the script today, okay? 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:22.960 I'm going to ask a question. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:26.559 And if you if this is you, lift your hand. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:26.960 Okay? 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:31.440 And if you lift your hand, that means you're volunteering to talk. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:31.839 Okay? 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:34.079 So you have to answer a few questions. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.439 And then also you need to be telling the truth, okay, about this answer. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:38.159 All right. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:39.679 Here's the question. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:43.759 The question is: how many of you in this room actually read novels? 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.679 Okay, raise your hand high. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.200 My man Jeff's gonna help us out. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.759 Jeff, you pick uh pick somebody, you know, pick somebody to do this. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.759 You have to actually read novels and you've got to be ready to answer some questions. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:56.320 Okay? 00:00:58.560 --> 00:00:59.359 You get ready. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:01.280 Okay, who what do we got here? 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:02.799 Okay, I can't see real well. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:03.439 Who do we have? 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:05.200 What uh is is the mic on? 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:05.840 Hello. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.959 Oh how's it going? 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:09.840 It's great. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:10.480 Is it? 00:01:10.640 --> 00:01:10.879 Yeah. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:12.000 You novel reader? 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:12.560 I am. 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:15.040 How how many novels do you think you've read in your lifetime? 00:01:15.120 --> 00:01:16.959 You don't have to be precise, but like what appropriate? 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:18.400 Over 150. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:19.120 What? 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:19.840 Yeah. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:21.040 150? 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:21.760 Yeah. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:22.959 Are you serious? 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:23.760 Yes. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.040 Do you have a life? 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:28.719 No. 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:32.879 That's quite impressive. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.400 150 novels. 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:34.799 Yeah. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:35.680 Wow. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:37.599 Um, okay. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:41.599 It's no way there's no do you have a favorite novel? 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.200 Of this season, yes. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:43.760 Okay. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:45.439 I can go I can get with that. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.400 What what is just pick a not pick a great novel. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:52.719 Like a great novel that you that that you can share about in church. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:02.079 Um it's great. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:03.040 Is that hard? 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:04.159 Is that that difficult? 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:05.200 No, it's great. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:06.879 Um it's called Scythe. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:07.680 What's it called? 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:08.479 Scythe. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:09.120 Scythe? 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:12.479 Scythe, like S-C Y T H E. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:13.599 Okay. 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:16.000 S-C Y? 00:02:16.800 --> 00:02:17.599 T-H-E. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:20.080 T H E. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:21.199 Scythe? 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:22.639 Tell me about it. 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:24.000 What is Scythe about? 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:40.879 Um, it's like in this post-apocalyptic world of like we've humans have beat death, but then like there are people who are charged with the task of, you know, keeping the numbers sane. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:50.000 Um and it's just like about the journey of a girl who goes in there and realizes that everything's messed up and things aren't right, people are corrupt, and tries to fix it. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:50.960 Alright. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.639 Who who are uh a couple of your favorite characters in Scythe? 00:02:56.479 --> 00:03:00.400 Uh um his name is Scythe Godard. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:02.879 Also, Scythe is a person. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:04.800 He's no, that's just his title. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:05.599 It's like Mr. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:07.680 He's Scythe Godard. 00:03:07.759 --> 00:03:08.639 So Godard. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:10.240 Scythe Godard? 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:10.800 Yeah. 00:03:11.039 --> 00:03:11.360 Okay. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:14.560 Um, how long did it take you to read it? 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:15.759 Three days. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:16.719 Three days? 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:17.520 Yeah. 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:19.039 That's pretty impressive, actually. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:19.759 Quite impressive. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:20.479 I have no life. 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.960 Alright, so I just looked up, what's that? 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:24.400 I have no life. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.639 It looks like there's is there more than one scythe book? 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:29.759 Yeah, it's a series. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:30.319 Okay. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:37.360 Alright, so scythe, which I, by the way, would like to go on record to say I'm not recommending because I haven't read Scythe. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:39.120 And so if you read it, don't at me. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:41.039 And be like, you know, you talked about it in church. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:42.240 Okay, I don't know. 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:43.840 It's her fault. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.800 Um Scythe, it says here if I'm on audible.com. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:55.680 So if I was if you were to listen to a narrator or someone read it, it says that scythe would take about 10 hours. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:00.800 Okay, 10 hours, a little bit more actually, 10, 10 and a half hours. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:05.919 If you just read it non-stop, but I'm sure you read it right in a few different I stopped. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:06.800 You stopped a few times. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:07.520 Occasionally. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.240 By the way, would you just give it up, give it up one time? 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:11.120 All right. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.400 Thank you, Jeff. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:15.120 You can take you, I'll take it from here. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:16.240 That was super helpful. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.319 Okay, so so think about this now. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:25.839 If you read Scythe and you read it, um, even with starts and stops, whatever, it's gonna take you about 10 hours. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.920 Um, often what they'll do is they'll take they'll take novels and they turn them into movies, right? 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:39.279 So you have The Godfather was a novel, turns into a movie, you know, Lord of the Rings, whatever, The Hobbit was a novel, now it's a movie. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:47.199 Lord of the Rings, by the way, if you read the novel, 30 hours is on Audible, it's a long one, okay? 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.199 But but Scythe is 10 hours. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:56.480 If if you have a movie, if they make it into a movie, it will be about it'll be about two hours, okay? 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.680 Two or three, whatever. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:59.199 You get the idea. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:03.040 Have you ever watched a movie with someone that read the novel? 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:07.920 It's not a good experience, right? 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.920 What do they say? 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:15.360 They all say the same thing, you know? 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:17.680 It's not as good as the novel. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:31.360 Okay, because think about it, you know, you get the you read the novel, you you take three days, and you this is ten hours, and and they do such an in-depth job of character development and setting these scenes. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:41.759 You've got to use your imagination and you imagine what scythe looks like, and and you know, you've got these descriptions, but you've you've materialized this person in your mind's eye. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.879 You see what this is like, and then they make the movie, and whoever, whatever actor they picked, it wasn't the right one, you know. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:54.879 It's like, come on, that's not him, that's not what he looks like, you know, and and and they don't do the scene justice, and they have to leave stuff out because they don't have 10 hours. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:56.480 They got to do it in two. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:01.120 But in the two hours, you get the basic idea of the storyline, right? 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:03.519 Like, like a moment ago, we heard a summary. 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:05.600 You've got the trailer, okay. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:10.000 The trailer is uh is like 30 seconds. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:30.079 Okay, the summary, the summary that we just like you you could read a summary of of uh the book, and you could probably get that in about 10 seconds, or you could see the cover, you see the cover, and you can see that in a glance. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.800 You might just get the name and just kind of a feel. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:49.519 I want you to think about the fact that you're in a room full of people, you're in a world full of people, you go to work with people, you live around people, and they're novels, they're complex people. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:03.680 If you were to read the novel of their lives, the 10-hour version, the 30-hour version, they would make more sense than if you just judged the book by its cover. 00:07:04.639 --> 00:07:22.160 Often we don't even really take the time to read the title, which we understand we have to give ourselves a little grace because we live in a world with 8 billion people, and there's lots of people, and every one of them is a novel, and you come across people and you realize pretty quick, I can't know everyone's novel. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:25.199 I can't know everyone's full story. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:48.720 But throughout life, you come in contact with people and you know this, you know this, the deeper you understand their story at the novel level, the deeper the connection you have to that person, the more you understand things that maybe others might see with just a 30-second, 10-second, and draw a conclusion about that story and about that person. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:56.000 Because sometimes we we see uh we see enough of the story to be able to tell the story, but we don't understand the story. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:08:04.639 For example, have you ever watched a trailer and you you watch the trailer as 30 seconds, you're like, I don't even need to watch the movie. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:06.399 You ever had that? 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:08.000 Like, I I get it. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:09.920 I mean, I I get the idea, I see what happened. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:11.120 They blew some stuff up. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.240 I get the tension, I get it, you know, I see, I know what happened. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:20.160 And so you know, you might even in a 30-second snippet know the story. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:33.279 Or read the cliff note or read the summary and know the story, but not understand the story like the one that read it in 10 hours and that took days and sat with it. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:41.919 And so when you think about this, we think about the depth of connection, the depth of relationship. 00:08:42.240 --> 00:08:45.519 Um, let's think about the depth of a church. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.320 You've heard this before. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:56.320 The church today, or the church in America, or the church, whatever, is a mile wide and an inch deep. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:57.840 Have you ever heard that? 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:04.240 The church in America today, or the church in the world today, is a mile wide and an inch deep. 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:05.759 Well, okay. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:07.360 Maybe. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.679 I think that's probably true sometimes. 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:11.200 I think that's quite possible. 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:12.879 Maybe it is true. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.120 But what is a deep church? 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.600 Because we can just throw that stuff out there. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.120 But what does that even mean? 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:26.960 And by the way, I'm pretty sure nobody in this room wants to be a part of something shallow, right? 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:29.519 We all want to be a part of a deep church. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:31.919 But what is a deep church? 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:33.519 What does it mean? 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:37.600 If you talk to people and somebody says, well, that church is that church is deep. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:39.759 Or the church is not deep. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:41.679 And you go, well, what is deep? 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:46.799 To some folks, deep means we sang for two hours and we didn't preach. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:48.480 That's deep. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:53.360 To some people, they think we preached for two hours and we didn't sing. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:55.120 That's deep. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:00.080 Some people think deep is that all the folks in the church spend all their time at the church. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:04.720 And some people think deep is all the folks in the church spend all their time in the community. 00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:10.320 And some people think a deep church, uh, when you're a deep Christian, all of your friends are Christians. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:14.639 And some people think that if you're a deep Christian, all of your friends are heathens. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:23.279 And some people think that if you're a deep Christian, if you're if you're a if you're a deep church, a deep church all cries together. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:29.440 And some people think that if you're a deep church, you have so much faith that you're stoic and you never cry. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:31.279 What is deep? 00:10:31.519 --> 00:10:33.200 How do we even know what deep is? 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:49.759 Because none of us want to double our seating and double our parking and double our community space and double our kids' space and add special needs space and to have a form of godliness and deny the power, have something that's just now two miles wide and one inch deep. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:56.879 So we have to steward this opportunity, but we need to come to some definition, otherwise, we're just speaking in platitudes. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:58.480 What is deep? 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:08.720 I think deep, I'll just tell you how I define it, and where I get where I get this from is actually uh Jesus, Luke 10, 27. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:13.679 He's talking, basically trying to summarize the complexity of the Torah, 613 laws. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:15.039 He's talking to a lawyer. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:17.840 He says, Well, what's the great commandment essentially? 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:18.639 What is this? 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:19.519 Summarize it. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:20.799 It's it's complicated. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:23.840 Take this novel and bring it down to a summary. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:31.279 And he says, Well, this you know, it comes down to this love the Lord your God with your heart, all your heart, soul, mind, strength, neighbor. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.440 And this is a great summary because it's it's it's how we're wired. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.440 It's your heart, you're emotional. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:46.559 So it's so if we want to be deep, we've got to be emotionally deep, we've got to be mentally deep, we've got to be spiritually deep, we've got to be physically deep, and we've got to be relationally deep. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.200 And if we only pick one, then we're missing some other stuff. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:52.960 So let's talk this through. 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.720 Emotionally deep. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:11:56.320 Paul talks about this. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:11:58.799 He says, weep with those who weep. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:00.879 Mourn with those who mourn. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.799 Celebrate with those who celebrate, rejoice with those who rejoice. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:12.000 And so a part of the depth of a relationship comes actually through the depth of emotional connection, emotional availability. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:21.120 This is why you'll see sometimes people who are married who are fiercely committed to one another, but their relationship lacks depth because they're not emotionally available to one another. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:34.960 And if you're too cool to get excited when things are exciting, and you're you're you're too cool to get sad when things are sad, and you have this wall up and you have you keep people at an arm's length emotionally, then you will have a certain type of shallow relationship. 00:12:35.120 --> 00:12:37.600 And now you can't go that deep with everybody all the time. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:38.799 I can't read all the novels. 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:41.279 I'm not a good enough reader to read 150. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.879 I can read, though, a few novels in my life and I can go there. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:47.600 The 10-hour version, the 16-hour version. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:13:08.480 And if you come to this church and you come to this place and you're really going through stuff, and yet it's all about we're too blessed to be stressed, and we're all got the Sunday smile, and everything's on the surface, but you have no one to go there with you, and you don't go there with anyone, then there's going to be a certain shallowness no matter how smart we are. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:10.960 No matter how good we know the Greek. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.240 There's a depth that happens when you hit that place. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:25.679 I changed the way I read the Bible a number of years ago, and it was the probably one of the biggest moves of my discipleship journey was to just stop reading the Bible just so I could get the information. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.720 I really start going there with the characters. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:32.799 And when you do that, the Bible takes on an emotional depth. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.960 You start seeing things you hadn't seen. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:43.039 Like I remember reading John 11, it's the story of Lazarus, you know, when he dies, and his older sister Martha reaches out to Jesus. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.279 She texts him, you know, sends him a text, hey, your buddy's gonna die. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:50.000 Your buddy's about to die, and this is not a drill. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:51.120 I need you to get here. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:52.720 He's gonna die, you gotta get here soon. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.240 And it says in John 11, Jesus took his sweet time. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:14:01.519 He waits two days, and in that time, Lazarus dies. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:06.000 And Jesus then shows up not so fashionably late. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.919 He gets there and they're already grieving and weeping and mourning. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:16.559 And his sister is now starting her stages of grief, and Martha's ticked. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:25.039 And she comes in hot and she comes, runs up to Jesus in verse 21 of chapter 11, and she's like, Why? 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.440 If you had been here, you could have done something about this. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.240 I called you two days ago. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:36.480 What took you so long? 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:41.360 And Jesus doesn't come back at her, like, How dare you? 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:42.799 Don't you know I walk on water? 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.879 How dare you, don't you know I'm the Messiah? 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:51.440 Jesus made room and space for Martha to feel her feelings. 00:14:51.759 --> 00:15:01.759 And you keep reading it, if you'll read the novel and not just the trailer, you'll realize that it gets all the way to verse 35 of the famous verse, Jesus wept. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:10.159 And then verse 36, in verse 36, it says the people all looked at Jesus weeping and were like, man, he really loved this guy. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:19.200 But then I sit with it and I think about Martha, and I'm like, if I'm Martha, verse 35, Jesus wept, isn't really that cute because I would be ticked. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:21.200 What are you crying for now? 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:24.720 What are you crying for now? 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.519 Why weren't you crying two days ago when you could have done something? 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:31.840 None of us need to be crying. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:43.519 And all of a sudden you see the emotional depth where it's not just a trailer of explosive, you know, explosives, and you have uh uh Lazarus come forth. 00:15:43.679 --> 00:15:56.000 Yeah, there's that in there, but you also see like uh a woman who was upset and a woman who was confused, and lightning didn't strike her dead for her anger. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:16:04.399 And she trusted Jesus enough to express herself, and Jesus loved her enough, had grace for her to make space for that. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.039 That's huge in your discipleship journey. 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:10.639 I talked to a lady recently whose husband dropped dead unexpectedly. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.240 He had a he had a uh a genetic heart issue that they didn't know about. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:25.679 He was in great health, thought he was in great health, but he had 99% blockage in an artery, and he dropped dead immediately when they should have been going into their retirement years, when they should have been going into the best years of her life. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:30.320 And she said for years she had this mentality of God that who am I to be upset with God? 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.200 You know, I'm just a little peon, I'm just a little nobody. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.360 And who am I to look at God and say, what? 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:36.000 Why? 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:36.799 How could you? 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.799 I call two why didn't you warn us? 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:41.279 There's so many ways you could have solved this problem. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:47.200 And she said, I stuffed it, I stuffed it, I stuffed it, and it was stunting my growth. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:54.799 And one day I had a revelation of God as Father, and I thought, you know, if he's as good a dad as I think he is, I should be able to just open up my heart. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:58.559 She said, and the dam broke, and it and everything came gushing out. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:02.639 And she said, it was in the breakthrough that I started to heal. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:05.279 It was the emotional depth. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:16.160 So the emotional depth that we have as a community, the emotional depth that you have as a family, it's not the only factor, but it's a huge factor in the depth of this community. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:18.000 And this needs to be a place. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:22.079 I said it last week, and but this is really my big thought of the day. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:27.759 Church is not a place you come to escape reality, it's a place you bring your reality. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:34.880 And we have to have the emotional maturity and the emotional depth as a community to walk through people, through anything. 00:17:36.720 --> 00:17:41.759 And the only way churches work is if everybody is part of that. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:45.279 From the moment we started one church, we only had a few people. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.400 It was already too big for me to read everyone's novel. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:52.640 I realized day one, it doesn't matter if it's a small church or big church. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:17:55.920 There's no only one person, you can only get to so many. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:04.400 Everybody deserves to have their novel read, everybody deserves to have depth like that, and the only way it happens is if everyone says, I'm in for that. 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.200 So heart, soul, spiritual, right? 00:18:09.359 --> 00:18:10.640 Spiritual depth. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.079 Spiritual depth. 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:15.440 There is the spiritual depth of we are going to walk by faith. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:17.279 We are going to take God at His Word. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:20.799 We are going to be steadfast when when our eyes can't see it. 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.880 You know, that it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:29.279 That we we you know, we work like it depends on us, but we pray like it depends on God. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:31.839 Prayer is not the last resort, it's the first resort. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:38.640 It's not the least we can do, it's the most we can do, that we bring everything to God, we trust God, okay, we walk with God. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:43.759 And so a spiritually deep church, a mentally deep church. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.960 That we we don't live in cognitive dissonance. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:51.759 We can ask questions, we we don't oversimplify complicated things. 00:18:52.000 --> 00:19:01.759 We look at them in their complexity, we we do use our logic, we do think about things and and we're willing to have our thoughts challenged, and so we go deeper in our thoughts. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:07.200 So we're deeper, emotionally deep, spiritually deep, um, uh mentally deep, physically deep. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:12.960 We we show up physically, we meet needs, we show up and help each other. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.400 You know, what good is it? 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:19.920 What good is it that we sit here and we talk about lofty concepts when there are needs among us that we can meet? 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:23.920 And often it's it's it's you know, a cup of cold water in Jesus' name. 00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:26.000 Sometimes it's meeting a practical need. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:30.480 Like I don't need, I don't need your lofty words, I need you to show up and help me. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.920 And that that that's community. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:35.039 I had a lady one time, she came to me, she was so she was so overwhelmed. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:36.400 She's like, Pastor, thank you. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.519 Uh this is such a great church, thank you for everything that you've done. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:42.000 And you don't understand how how helped I've been. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.359 I'm like, well, tell me, what happened? 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:45.519 You know, she's like, you're not gonna believe this. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:48.000 She said, I was, I I I she's a single mom. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:52.319 She had raised money, saved money to paint her house. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:58.160 And she wanted to paint her house, and she gave this money to a painter, and the painter took the money, didn't pay her house. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:59.599 She's like, I had no recourse. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.319 I tried, I couldn't, I just couldn't do anything, and I was so upset. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:07.119 She said, I came down for prayer, just basically, I didn't just need, I just wanted prayer. 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:12.319 She's like, so I came down for prayer and I went to, she told me who she went to, and this uh this is a dude, okay? 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:18.480 She goes to this dude, he's a friend of mine, and she's like, and I told him, you know, somebody took my money and didn't paint my house. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:20.319 And she's like, and he took care of it. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:23.279 You know, I was like, oh Lord Jesus, what happened? 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.960 You know, I know that, I know this dude, I know this dude, okay? 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:31.839 I was like, oh, la la la la, you know, don't tell me, you know, you call the police, you know. 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:33.759 I mean, don't I don't I don't need to know. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.319 And uh but she's like, no, he took care of it, you know. 00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:39.680 I was like, how did he take care of it? 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:46.400 You know, and she's like, well, he went and got some guys in the church, you know, and I'm thinking, Lord, help this story to go well. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.200 Because I know some, I know his friends too, you know. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:58.559 And um, she said he went and got these guys and they put their money together and bought her paint, and then they got their paintbrushes and painted her house. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:02.880 And and I would have never I would have never known the story. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.039 The guy that did it never told me about it. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:16.000 And I called him and I just thanked him up and down, and then, but you know, she walked out and I just started thinking, you know, man, you know, you you you don't need some lofty speech, man. 00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:21.119 You need somebody to help you get make it right, you know, somebody show up and do what you can do, and you can't do everything about it. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:31.359 I thought, you know, what my thought in that moment was, I pray we always have a church, man, that God's working so organic that the impact of what he's doing through this body can't be measured in an annual report. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:36.559 That that wouldn't show up in an annual report because we wouldn't have counted, we wouldn't have known to count it. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:58.319 And how many of those other things that you're doing in a classroom, that you're doing in a community, that you're doing as your coach in a kid's team, that you're doing in a in a cubicle or over a Zoom or or in your place of employment or in your extended family or whatever it might be that that that a deep church is a church, not only that does that with one another, but meets physical needs. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.759 And and this is again. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.359 We want to expand. 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:04.319 We want to keep we want to keep expanding this. 00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:06.640 And then the you know the fifth is relational. 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:10.400 So emotional, mental, spiritual, physical, relationally deep. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:12.000 That's what a deep church means. 00:22:12.160 --> 00:22:15.839 And it's up to us to decide if we're gonna be a mile wide and an inch deep. 00:22:16.240 --> 00:22:17.200 I don't think we are. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:24.400 I don't think we are, but we gotta make sure that as we extend our reach, that we continue to extend our depth. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:30.079 Um I'll take you to scripture real quick, and then I've got a few minutes, I'll be out of your way. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:36.960 Hebrews 11, if you think of it through this lens, Hebrews 11 is like a bunch of trailers. 00:22:37.759 --> 00:22:43.279 It starts out in Hebrews 11:1, it's like faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:46.559 But then it's mentioned 16 trailers. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:49.839 16 different people, and it just gives you a snapshot. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:55.119 By faith, Abel, you know, gave a sacrifice to God that it pleased him, and he still speaks to us from the grave. 00:22:55.200 --> 00:23:02.480 It's like the writer of Hebrews writes these trailers because he wants you to go watch the movie. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:10.319 So go find it in Genesis, go find it in Judges, go find these stories and watch the movie and apply. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:16.400 And so as you read it, right, it's building to this crescendo because it's like all these stories are pretty epic. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.119 It feels like a run of epic trailers. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:31.440 But then it gets to uh it gets to verse 33 and it says, by faith, you know, these people overthrew kingdoms like you know, guys like Gideon and ruled with justice and received what God had promised and shut the mouths of lions and quenched the flames of fire. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:32.640 Can't you see these trailers? 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:37.680 You know, it's just victory wins, wins, success. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:41.519 Okay, escape death by the edge of the sword, adventure. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.400 These these weak weakness turned to strength, okay? 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.000 Okay, that was uh uh Rocky. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:53.279 I don't know if you okay. 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:54.960 Um they became strong in battle. 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.319 I know I'm not very uh strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:23:59.839 Now look at this, verse 35. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:01.359 Verse 35. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.920 Women received their loved ones back from the death, but others were tortured. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:07.599 Okay, so it turns. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:15.359 It goes from all victory and wins and champions and arms in the air to what we just talked about. 00:24:15.519 --> 00:24:19.839 That reality is sometimes you don't win. 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:23.519 Sometimes you don't get the person back from the dead. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.319 Sometimes you experience loss and grief. 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:35.440 Sometimes by faith you put whole armies to flight, and other times, you know, look at this is it um put their hope in a better life. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:42.720 Oh, I'm sorry, back uh others were tortured, refused to turn from God in order in order to be set free. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:45.839 They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:53.519 Some were jeered at and their backs were cut open with whips, others were chained in prison, some died by stoning. 00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:54.960 Horrible way to die. 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:57.680 Some were sawed in half, even worse. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:04.240 Others were killed with the sword, some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:10.000 And they were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.559 So it's it's talking about reality. 00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:19.279 That faith isn't a hocus pocus, faith isn't that it always you end up with your hands in there. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.240 Sometimes faith feels like you're getting sawed in half. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:26.000 And so it's like, well, then what it why then why even live by faith? 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:27.359 Like, what in the world? 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:29.599 And look at this verse 39 and 40. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:31.839 It said, All these people earned a good reputation. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:41.119 In other words, their lives were noteworthy, their lives were great because of their faith, yet none of them received all God had promised. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:46.000 In other words, some of them saw something in their mind that they never saw with their eyes. 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:52.799 And it says verse 40, for God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:54.720 What does it mean reach perfection? 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.599 It doesn't mean perfection like you think, like everything's perfect. 00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:04.880 It means that that what was fulfilled from their dream was fulfilled through another generation. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:17.359 God put an idea or planted a seed or had a dream through a generation, and the fulfillment and the progress of that dream came sometimes after they died, one way or another. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.440 I'll tell you this last thing. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:31.519 So I earlier this year I went to Atlanta, I was speaking at a men's conference, and I while I was there, I went to Ebenezer Baptist Church, which is uh where Martin Luther King uh Sr. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:32.799 was the lead pastor. 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:34.319 Martin Luther King Jr. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:39.599 uh was a pastor on staff there, and then eventually uh where his funeral was held. 00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:48.640 And so they have a memorial and a museum, and uh while I was there, uh I went in the auditorium, and it's really sobering to be there. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:53.920 They have Martin Luther King, a loop of Martin Luther King Jr.'s sermons that are being played. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:06.319 And so I while I was there, one of the um, it was like a security guard came around, and he's actually also his like a historian, and he starts telling me the story about Martin Luther King Sr. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:14.799