WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.600 Well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to uh Hebrews chapter 11. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:04.799 If you don't, don't worry about it. 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:06.719 We'll put the uh verses up on the screen. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:10.880 I do want to let you know though, this Friday night, we're gonna be doing our early commitment. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:26.239 Uh Friday night, uh, we're gonna have a worship night here, and then if you feel clear as you've been praying about what's your part to do over these next uh three years, uh you feel free to come that night, and even if even if you're not uh clear on what you're doing, just want to invite anybody to come. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:29.120 We're gonna have child care uh on Friday night, alright? 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:30.800 Okay, Hebrews 11. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:33.200 I'm gonna do something I've never done before. 00:00:33.280 --> 00:00:39.119 Okay, I've been preaching now for like 20 years, and I've never preached on Enoch ever. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:43.039 So uh, you know, I know you guys don't care, but this is a big moment for me, all right? 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:45.600 It's a big moment uh for me personally. 00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:47.439 Hebrews 11 5. 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:48.880 Hebrews 11 5. 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:52.560 Enoch's part of the 16 people mentioned in the cloud of witnesses. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:58.079 It says, it was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:01.119 He disappeared because God took him. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.079 For before he was taken up, he was known. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:09.680 I want you to note this here, he was known as a person who pleased God. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.359 He was known as a person who pleased God. 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:24.640 Uh, Enoch, if you've ever heard of him, you probably heard of him related to what you just saw here, which is the way that he was, that he left the the world. 00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:26.319 It says essentially he didn't die. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:28.480 God took him, just took him. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:38.719 And um, yet the writer of Hebrews wants us to look at the life of Enoch, not just to note how he left, but how he lived. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:41.599 Uh we find this in Genesis 5. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:47.359 Genesis 5, verse 21, it says, When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah. 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:58.159 And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch lived, note this here, in close fellowship with God for another 300 years, and he had other sons and daughters. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:04.400 Enoch lived 365 years walking in close, notice this, close fellowship with God. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.639 So Hebrews 11 5 says that he was known as a person who pleased God. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:17.039 Genesis 5 said that he walked with God in close fellowship, and then one day he disappeared because God took him. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:30.000 Um, let me give a little bit of background here and and hopefully give you, I want to continue to arm you and equip you with um reading your Bible and interpreting the best we can and not being confused by it. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:38.319 Uh if you just open up to the beginning, you start reading in Genesis, pretty quickly you come up against stories and you come up against things that are kind of confusing. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:40.240 You're like, wait, what should I make of this? 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:50.960 For example, we're in Genesis 5 here, and there is a genealogy that mentions 10 different people, and the the numbers are astronomical in terms of their ages. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:57.199 So you have like Methuselah, who was 969 years old, is the oldest uh person mentioned in the Bible. 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:03.919 And so you see, you know, people who are 800 years old and 900 years old, and it's like, what in the world do you make of this? 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:04.960 You know, is this real? 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:05.840 Is it not? 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.280 Um, did this happen? 00:03:07.439 --> 00:03:07.759 Okay. 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:17.280 And one of the things I want to uh I I don't I will not have time to fully do this justice today, but thank God we live in a day where good scholarship is available to you. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:27.759 But I uh you might want to research this if this is interesting to you to go further into really understanding that the Bible is 66 books, and those books have genres. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:34.000 And to understand the nature of the genre of the book and the nature of the literature, so to speak, that you're reading. 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:39.680 When we read the book of Genesis, we're reading literally some of the oldest writings anywhere ever. 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.080 It's super, super ancient writings and it's it's Eastern. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:54.080 It's written, it's front coming from the East, and the difference between modern-day Western thinking and uh ancient Near Eastern writing is is really, really different, right? 00:03:54.240 --> 00:04:01.520 And we understand this conceptually when you think about genres because you wouldn't read a poem in the same way you would read a lab report. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:09.840 We know that Eastern, uh Eastern teaching, eastern writing focuses heavily on pictures and stories. 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:16.959 Okay, and when we think Western, we tend to make a point and then to use bullet points to prove that point. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.839 We like fill in the blanks, we like things that really essentially reverse engineer something and can explain it. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:24.959 And there's a lot of good. 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:38.560 I'm not saying we shouldn't be Western, but we have to be careful that we don't read something that was written a certain way Eastern, and we read it through a modern-day Western perspective, and there's a lot of room for confusion. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:53.680 So, for example, the way that we look at words in quotations as a modern-day Western person is different than what an Eastern uh writer would have done when they were writing uh essentially a piece of literature, a poem. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:55.600 I'll give you a great example. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.800 Um, the documentary The Last Dance. 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:16.560 Uh it's like 10 episodes of the Chicago Bulls uh dynasty, and there's this portion where Jerry Krause, who is the GM of the Bulls, he's quoted in the newspaper saying, players don't win championships, organizations win championships. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:20.480 Well, this sends Michael Jordan through the roof because he's like, What are you talking about? 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:22.000 We went out and played that game. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:24.399 Why are you trying to take something away from us? 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:26.000 And so they get in this big thing. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:28.959 And Jerry Krause says, I didn't say that. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:35.759 I said players alone don't win championships, but organizations win them together. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.000 I wasn't trying to take anything away from Michael and Scotty and Dennis Rodman. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:43.279 I was trying ultimately to put value on the custodian. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:45.040 I'm putting value on the front office. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:49.439 I'm saying everybody who does anything in this entity is part of that championship. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:54.399 But the one word alone changed the entire quote. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:03.279 So when you read something in the Wall Street Journal or you read something that's a quote, if one word is off in that quote, it's a misquote. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:07.759 And the whole veracity and validity of that quote, you know, goes away. 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:23.920 Well, when we're reading Genesis and we see God saying things in quotation marks, okay, you have Moses who's writing this, and the early readers are the Jewish people who have come out of uh come out of Egypt, they're at Mount Sinai, and he's writing about cosmology. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:30.399 He's writing some of the um some of their oral traditions into their theology, bringing this all together. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:33.920 And so you have him putting God in quotations. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.240 God said to Abraham, do this and this. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:42.000 And he's putting it in quotations 700 years after the life of Abraham. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:48.800 If we're not careful from a Western perspective, we start mincing the words and we look at it like we're reading the Wall Street Journal. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:54.160 But the better way to read it is to step back and to say, what is the writer trying to show us? 00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:56.319 What is the writer trying to teach us? 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:02.879 If you look Western and you just go right into, and by the way, just trying to be clear, I'm not trying to make everyone Eastern. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:07.360 Okay, but the goal is that we, if we understand what we're writing, we can understand it better. 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:10.240 And I think both Western and Eastern bring a lot of value. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:14.560 We just have to make sure we understand how we should be looking at this. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:24.800 Um when you see Genesis 5, if you're not careful from a Western perspective, you start looking at these ages and you get really disoriented. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:34.720 Okay, and what you have to understand is even the way the Bible looks at numbers and Eastern perspective on numbers is more about qualitative than it is about quantitative precision. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:36.560 It's it's making a statement. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:40.160 And so, again, the man, you could really go in on this. 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:45.759 I mean, if you can go look at genealogies, the significance of the number, the 365. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:48.079 You look at the the fact that it's 10. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:54.879 Uh, in that day, there was the um uh the Sumerian kings were a genealogy pre-flood, right? 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:59.279 And so they would say that if so-and-so ruled for 30,000 years. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:00.399 What's the point? 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:03.519 They're making a qualitative statement more than a quantitative statement. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.720 So don't get hung up on 800 years or 700 years. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.120 I know I've just started the conversation. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:12.879 If you have about 57 hours, I can have more of it with you. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.040 But my whole point being, we step back and we go, why Enoch? 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:17.920 What's the point? 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:19.279 What's being said here? 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.639 And why, by the way, does he make it into Hebrews? 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:30.079 In the New Testament, of all the Old Testament characters, only 16 are mentioned in Hebrews, and Enoch's one of them. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:34.399 What does the writer want us to know about Enoch? 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.399 It's not just how he left, it's how he lived. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:40.720 Okay, so let's start to look at this. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:41.919 What, why, why? 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:47.039 Why is Enoch significant and how is he relevant to us in 2023? 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:53.279 Um, well, it says in Hebrews 11 that he was known as a person who pleased God. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:09:03.039 And then it says in Genesis 5 that he lived in close fellowship with God, that he walked closely with God. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:09.519 Let's get our bearings on what the world would have been like, or somewhat of what it was like when Enoch lived. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.600 Enoch lived before the flood. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:16.159 Enoch lived before the law was given, before the rules were given. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:21.519 Um, Paul talks about this era a little bit in Romans chapter 5. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:29.440 In Romans chapter 5, uh he says, uh Romans 5, he verse 12. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:34.559 He says, When Adam sinned, sin entered the world, and Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone. 00:09:34.639 --> 00:09:38.240 In other words, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, you lie to me, I lie to you. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:40.080 You're violent to me, I'm violent to you. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:41.919 You hurt my kid, I'm gonna hurt your kid. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.840 You take this from me, I'm gonna take that from you. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.279 Okay, that's just what happens. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:47.840 Sin sets off a chain reaction. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:56.720 And said, verse 13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given, but it was not counted as sin because there was not yet law to break. 00:09:56.960 --> 00:10:01.360 So, in other words, there wasn't, it the law hadn't been codified yet. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:06.639 The law hadn't been articulated, but when you lie, you still kill relationships. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:09.919 When you're violent, you still uh hurt people. 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:19.120 And verse 14, still everyone died from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even though they didn't disobey an explicit command of God as Adam did. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.440 So what you have is a lawless world. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:43.440 Enoch lived in a lawless world, and it says in Genesis 6, so the next chapter, that by the time his grandchildren and great-grandchildren rolled around, he said, look at this, verse 11 of Genesis 6, the earth had become so corrupt and was filled with violence. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:48.559 God observed all the corruption in the world and said, For everyone on earth was corrupt. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:51.279 Is that literal? 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:53.519 No, it's hyperbole. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:11:03.039 We know it's hyperbole because it says in Genesis 6 that God found Noah to be a righteous person, that Noah walked with God. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:16.559 So at least one person had something good going on inside, but the way it felt with all of this eye for eye, tooth for tooth, was that all of this pain was introduced and hurt people, hurt people. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:22.240 So we're hurting each other and we're hurt and we're hurting and we're hurting, and I'm hurting and I'm hurting. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:34.399 And so now it said it's spread to everyone, and so Enoch in his lifetime lived in a time that felt like everyone was corrupt and violent. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:49.039 And yet it says of Enoch that in a day when it felt like everyone was corrupt and violent, somehow Enoch found an alternative to living corrupt and violent. 00:11:49.759 --> 00:12:00.720 Which, when you live in an environment that feels like everyone is living one kind of way, it's almost impossible to not get sucked into it. 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:03.039 Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:12.000 If you've ever lived in an environment where it's like everyone's corrupt, the only way you can survive around here is to be corrupt. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:19.279 The only way you can survive around here is the backstab, is to manipulate. 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:23.039 Like corruption, like I didn't want to be corrupt, but everyone's corrupt. 00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:26.960 And if everyone's cheating, if you don't cheat, you don't survive. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.519 And so you gotta become corrupt. 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:37.440 If you live in an environment that's violent, even if you don't want to fight, I don't want to be violent, but in some way I gotta strike a blow. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:42.480 I gotta show that I can't be picked on, I gotta show that that I'm not an easy win. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.000 And so what happens? 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:48.320 You you begin to initiate violence because that's part of how you survive. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:55.600 And so, in a day of corruption and violence, it says he wasn't corrupt and violent. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:13:07.039 In fact, he walked with God, he sought God, he pleased God, and what Enoch found was that in a corrupt, violent world, he was able to find an alternative. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:15.840 An alternative, and he was an anomaly because people do what people do, which is to get sucked into it. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:19.039 And yet he was in the world but not of the world. 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:32.320 In a day where he didn't grow up in church, he didn't have the law articulated, and yet he turned to Yahweh, he sought God, and now Enoch just got really relevant. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:58.080 Now Enoch makes a lot of sense as to why the writer of Hebrews found it noteworthy to show us not just how he left but how he lived, that if you turn on the television, or you watch the news cycle, or you see the debates, and you see the violence, and you see the things that trouble you, the things that you feel you feel like I might have to get sucked in just to survive. 00:13:58.639 --> 00:14:00.240 And it troubles you. 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:10.960 Enoch offers an alternative, and the alternative was to walk by faith and to seek God. 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:13.679 So let's look at these two things. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:14.240 Okay? 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:18.559 Um, Hebrews 11 5, let's go back to that. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:31.679 Hebrews 11 5 uh ends with he was known as a person who pleased God, but then it says in verse 6, and it's impossible to please God without faith. 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:41.360 Anyone who comes to him, I'll look closely at this, anyone who comes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:42.320 Okay? 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.240 Hebrews 11 6, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:49.039 Without faith, it's impossible to please God. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:54.480 He who comes to God must believe that he is, that he exists, and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:55.679 Well, look at that. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:01.840 What it says of Enoch, okay, Hebrews 11, 6 was inspired by Enoch. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.080 Hebrews 11 5 says he pleased God. 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.519 Well, how would he how did he please God? 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:07.919 Well, number one, he believed God exists. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:09.679 So he believed in God. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.840 God, I believe you're there. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:16.720 And then second, is it says he sincerely sought God? 00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:18.799 He sincerely sought God. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:30.879 And here we we receive what how do I retrain my instinct from getting overwhelmed or sucked into a culture that is corrupt and violent? 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:36.159 I use corrupt and violent because that's what it said of Genesis, uh in Genesis 6. 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:42.720 But like, how do I not get sucked into something that is wrong? 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:51.360 How do I see something that bothers me and I feel my flesh feels that it's inevitable for me to live in this without joining in? 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:53.759 How do I do that? 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:07.120 It says, what Enoch did that pleased the Lord was instead of using a corrupt culture as a valid excuse to become corrupt, I'm gonna say that again. 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:15.600 Instead of allowing a corrupt culture to create a valid excuse to become corrupt, well, I only did that because you did that. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.679 I only said that because you said that. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.559 Well, everybody's doing that, so you have this is what you have to do. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.799 It's not my rules, it's the unspoken rules. 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:32.639 When something violated his conscience, when he saw corruption and violence, the alternative to becoming that and getting sucked into that was he sought God. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:42.080 When we think about what we do here, right, we come together and we make time every week to come together and to seek God. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:50.799 You know, we're singing, when we're singing about the character of God and who God is, we're calibrating ourselves to make sure we don't forget. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.120 You're the one who made the blind see. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:56.720 The same one that made the blind see lives inside of me. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:58.320 I know that you can't do anything. 00:16:58.480 --> 00:16:58.879 Why? 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:04.960 Because, man, on Monday, it really feels like I have to be corrupt and violent just to just to survive. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:13.440 And so we come and we seek God and we take those overwhelming feelings of fear or or sometimes feelings of hopelessness, and we seek God. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:18.000 But I love the fact that we have both Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:28.160 Hebrews 11 says that he sincerely sought God, he believed in him, and he sought him, but then Genesis 5 says that he walked with him. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:35.039 In other words, he took when he sought him, and and it says God rewards those who sincerely seek him. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:41.039 So God gave him some kind of reward, some kind of clarity, uh, some kind of action step, something. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.240 God entered with him. 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:44.559 But then what did he do with it? 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:45.599 What did Enoch do? 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:49.519 He didn't just seek God and bow before God, he walked with God. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.640 In other words, he took him everywhere that he went. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:18:00.400 And when we think about the vision of our church, right, like it's we don't have to get too grandiose with it. 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:03.680 Really, what we do is we come here and we seek God. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.200 We see things with our eyes, we're bothered by it. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:08.079 Everyone does. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:08.799 We all do. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.839 We live in a world we're just inundated with images. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:16.640 We know what's happening geopolitically, but we know what's happening in our own mind and our own families. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:26.079 And so, with all of that, instead of getting sucked into what our flesh would do, which is that's the common thing, that's the impulse, we transcend that by seeking God. 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:28.319 We come here and we we we bring it to the Lord. 00:18:28.559 --> 00:18:37.680 We bring it to the Lord, we bow before him, we think about his character, we we magnify his name, and then he rewards those who diligently seek him. 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:41.920 He shows us what we're supposed to do, he shows us what we're supposed to see. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.240 And then, like Enoch, we seek God, but then we walk with God. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:49.200 In other words, I take it with me home with me. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:53.200 I take it into my neighborhood, I take it in my community, I take it on the job site. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:08.240 And so, as the body of Christ, this isn't just the temple that we come to bow before God and then go back on our own power, but we come here and we seek God, but then we walk with God, and the church goes everywhere we go. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:09.599 This is really important. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.880 Like, if this is new information, I'm glad you're hearing it. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:23.039 If it's not, we have to stay calibrated because as we're building square footage and bigger rooms and more seats and more parking spaces, that's not what builds the church. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.880 What builds the church is when we recognize we are the church. 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:28.960 We are the church. 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:30.640 Why do we want to expand? 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:35.359 We're not trying to expand so we can so we can add and pad the numbers. 00:19:35.440 --> 00:19:38.480 We're not looking because uh that's our measure of success. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:48.160 In fact, it's quite it's quite common and it's quite likely that a church could gather people and count the heads and call that number success. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:53.119 Just because we've doubled the seats doesn't mean that we've doubled success. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:59.680 It gets down to are we people that seek God in a culture that disturbs our conscience? 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:08.480 Or do we get sucked into our own violent corruption and we just we just stamp it with Jesus or Christian and yet we're just as corrupt as anybody else? 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:15.920 Or do we seek God and the Lord rewards those who diligently seek him and then we walk with him outside of here? 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:23.039 That's why I kind of hate it and I kind of love it, the fact that we can't really fully quantify this success. 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:24.160 We can't. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:36.400 We can count people and we can do all that, and that's great, but we can't quantify it because there's no full way for me to or any of us to be able to quantify the depth of what's happening in your life. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:45.599 How how would we quantify the fact that that that the marriage used to, we used to have knockdown, drag out fights, and now we're actually showing honor and respect to each other? 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:50.480 How can we measure that I used to look at people this way and now I look at them more like Jesus did? 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:55.599 How how how can I measure what what's happening in terms of the faithfulness of your activity? 00:20:55.680 --> 00:20:59.200 You know, I used to say this with my mouth, now I haven't done that as much. 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:01.759 Um, you know, how do we measure the depth? 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:02.799 We we can't fully. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:17.440 And this is where as individuals we have to look and be honest with ourselves that this is not about, this is not about building a bigger church, this is about deepening what's happening in the lives of people and then walking with God. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:33.519 If all we do is gather people to a location and we just made space to gather more people, then it's a false positive of what it really should be, which is people then taking that and it permeating every single corner of our community. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.000 Everywhere you go, the church goes too. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.119 So, what was so noteworthy about Enoch? 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:50.799 What was noteworthy about Enoch was he lived in a wicked time, he lived in a lawless day, and yet he didn't get sucked into lawlessness. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:54.079 He sought God and then he walked with God. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:59.759 If we go back to Hebrews 12, where it says, uh, you know, let us run with perseverance. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.319 The race God has set before us. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:15.920 If you keep reading, it says, we do this by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the champion, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame and is now seated, you know, at the right hand of God, and you know, all this. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:38.799 So essentially what it's saying to us is at the example of Jesus, the cloud of witnesses, the Enochs and these others, and then with the advantage we have, which is fixing our eyes on Jesus, that the spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives inside of us, and we have we have the example of Jesus who was willing to walk through corruption and violence and not get sucked into. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:50.480 And he said, in fact, if when you're feeling real bad about it, it said, think about all the hostility he endured, Jesus endured from sinful people, then you won't lose heart. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:55.359 It says, in fact, he goes, think about it, you've not yet given your life in your struggle against sin. 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.759 In other words, you're not dead. 00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:04.720 Um about 10 years ago, I had this idea to do a boxing match. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:16.559 And I was actually inspired by these very passages of the cloud of witnesses and by uh you know fighting the good fight, and I realized like in my relationships with people that everyone's in a fight. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:22.960 Often people would share things with me that they hadn't shared with anybody, and it was people that previously I thought had it all together. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:25.759 I I had no idea they were battling what they're battling. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:36.240 It's really honestly, this job has changed my life in that I've just learned that you just know you have no idea what people are walking through. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:42.799 You have no idea what's going on in another man's mind, you have no idea what's going on in a woman's mind or experience just based on what you see from the outside. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:49.599 Because there were people that they put up such a good front, and then I met them and I found out how afraid they were and what kind of battles. 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.200 And sometimes it's a battle of I'm just trying to stay sane. 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.160 I'm I'm battling uh what's happening in my head. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:08.000 Sometimes it's battling past failures, mistakes, and shame, and sometimes it's battling your finance and your money, and sometimes it's battling uh trying to heal after a broken relationship or grieving a death or whatever. 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:11.519 Everybody's in a fight, so I decided to do this boxing match. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:20.480 So I trained for six months, and we made a documentary uh of this fight, and I taught through Hebrews 11, 12, or really mostly Hebrews 12. 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:32.319 So anyway, I go in and I hire this trainer, and he goes, Hey man, uh today's lesson, we're gonna, I'm gonna show you how to survive getting hit by a huge shot. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.519 I was like, How you plan to do that? 00:24:35.599 --> 00:24:38.559 You know, something like this should be interesting, you know. 00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:46.880 He's like, Well, he goes, the reality is when if you get tagged, you usually don't see it coming, and it'll throw you for a loop. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:56.160 Uh, you'll be disoriented, you don't know which ways up, which ways down, the room's spinning, and you don't want to have that happen when everything's on the line, when you're in the actual fight. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:59.119 So we gotta we gotta do drills, we gotta learn how to do this. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:01.039 So I said, Okay, how are we gonna do it? 00:25:01.119 --> 00:25:06.319 He goes, Well, I'm basically we're gonna get you dizzy, and then we're gonna do mitt work while you're dizzy. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:16.160 So he has me spin around as fast as I can for a period of time, and then he yells out and starts throwing these number combinations out for me to hit these mitts. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:21.839 And I kind of, it's my least favorite part of the documentary because I look like a total idiot. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.000 Okay, like he I get super dizzy. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:29.279 He starts calling out these combinations, I'd and I'm just like, I'm like stumbling around, okay? 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.160 I'm standing real tall, my center of gravity's off. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.000 I look like a total idiot. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:38.000 In fact, at one point he he like slipped around behind me, and I'm still throwing punches. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:40.000 This I can't I can't find him. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:41.200 It was horrible. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:44.799 And so he's like, hey, that was bad, and uh, we're gonna try it again. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:46.960 And and he said, Here's what we're gonna do. 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:49.200 He said, Uh, you kind of did everything wrong. 00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:56.559 He goes, basically, we're gonna do this again, we're gonna get you dizzy, and you're not gonna know which ways up and which ways down. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:02.000 But when I start calling numbers, he said, the first thing I want you to do is get in this, get in a good stance. 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:05.839 He goes, You were standing up tall like this, you're staggering, your center of gravity was off. 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.119 He goes, you need to sink your butt, get your feet in the ground, and get in a good, fundamentally sound stance. 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:14.559 He goes, and then I just want you to start throwing one-twos, one-twos. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:16.720 He goes, go to the thing you know to do. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:22.079 Don't get cute, just throw basic, we're gonna do basic one-twos, and we're gonna get your legs under you. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:23.200 Have you ever been watching a fight? 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:25.839 Somebody gets tagged, you're like, they're done, it's over. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:27.839 And all of a sudden they're back. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:30.319 They're like, how'd they survive that round? 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:37.039 It's because they got their base under them, they did the fundamentals, they went back to what they know to do. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:40.960 And he changed my life with that lesson. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:27:00.079 Because I realize often, in a world that overwhelms me, if I'm not careful, I'm a sitting duck because I get mentally lazy, I get emotionally lazy, I get discouraged, I'm disoriented, the room's spinning, I'm standing up like this, and the enemy just tees off. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:20.079 And I learned that in the disorientation, in the evil, in the corruption, I learned this, by the way, from Enoch, who in a disorienting world of corruption and violence learned to not be a sitting duck to stand there and have the enemy tee off, but to get his base underneath and go back to his fundamentals of what he knew to do. 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:20.720 What is it? 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:23.359 I seek God and I and I walk with him. 00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:24.880 I seek God and I walk with him. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:28.480 What I learned is, what I learned is this. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:35.119 What you're walking into isn't as important as who you're walking in with. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:44.000 What you're walking into is not nearly as important as who you're walking in with. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:52.640 Enoch in a lawless day, in a lawless day, walked by faith. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:56.319 He didn't get sucked into the corruption and the violence. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:59.119 He didn't get sucked into the culture of the day. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:04.480 He transcended the environment by seeking God and by walking with God. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:06.160 Say this last thing. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:12.319 The guy that trained me, he was told me like two weeks before the fight, he's like, hey, listen, I'm just gonna prepare you now. 00:28:12.640 --> 00:28:18.880 The hardest part, the hardest part of the fight is getting in the ring. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:25.200 He said, getting hit in the face isn't as hard as getting in the ring. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:26.799 Getting in the ring is hard. 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:36.240 He goes, because I'm gonna hang out with you in the locker room, I'm gonna walk with you to the ropes, but at some point you're gonna have to climb those ropes by yourself. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:41.759 And you're gonna have to climb that thing by your ring, and you're gonna go in there by yourself, and it's gonna be you and him. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:45.599 He told me that two weeks before. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:29:04.160 But I was in Hebrews 11 and 12, and I realized that for some, they may think they're getting in the ring by themselves, but I realize, like Enoch, I don't get in any ring by myself. 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:10.480 I don't ever, you don't ever get in any ring by yourself. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:16.240 What you're walking into isn't near as important as who you're walking in with. 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:21.599 And whatever ring you're climbing into, you're climbing into that ring with God. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:24.319 With God, all things are possible. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:31.279 Whatever season you're walking into, whatever environment you're walking into, you're not walking in by yourself, you're walking in with God. 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:37.200 And when you actually look at the legacy of Enoch, who was the great grandfather of Noah, right? 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:45.759 He was the father of Methuselah, the great grandfather of Noah, what it says of Noah who lived in a corrupt time was that he walked with God. 00:29:46.319 --> 00:30:00.160 So may we, no matter how dark the world gets, no matter how painful the world gets, no matter how scary the world gets, no matter what corruption or violence that we see, may we learn to seek God and walk with God. 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:01.279 Amen.