WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:07.040 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.640 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:21.440 Thanks, you guys. 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:22.239 Good morning. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:23.600 It's so good to see you. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:25.120 Yeah, I'm Jay. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:28.079 If we've never met, uh I I know you. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:29.199 You don't know me. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:32.479 So I'm a creeper that way on the Insta. 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:33.600 You know what I mean? 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:39.359 Um, but the reason I creep on all of you, it's not because I'm naturally a creeper, I'm actually a pretty normal guy. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:51.920 But I have a very, very deep, deep love and a very unique sort of um affinity for this faith community, obviously, because of what Ryan said. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:00.320 Uh almost 11 years ago, because I think in September you all are celebrating the 11th birthday of this incredible faith community. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:05.760 So almost exactly 11 years ago, I was here, like right here at Del Mar. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:11.280 And I think our first month, maybe month and a half, uh, our worship gatherings were in the theater. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:13.760 I know you guys have been in the theater a bit. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:18.400 I st I still remember you guys our very first official Sunday. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:20.480 I don't know how many of you were here. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:22.799 My guess is it's it's very few of you. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:26.000 How many of you were actually here on the first Sunday of Awakening? 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:28.719 A handful of the Grazians, of course, legends. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.000 Yeah, a handful of others. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:31.519 I know Marnie was as well. 00:01:31.760 --> 00:01:36.879 I remember, Dave, were you with us when we got under the um stage that day? 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:37.840 Do you remember that? 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:43.200 We were like three hours away from literally opening the doors to this new church. 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:48.400 And so I don't know, rem I don't remember what was wrong, but something was wrong with the stage. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:53.599 And you don't know this about me, but I am not handy with tools in my hands. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:58.079 But when you're planting a church, it does not matter what you can or can't do, right? 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:03.439 So, Ryan, Dave, myself, a couple of others, none of us are really that handy with tools. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:09.199 We get under the stage, and I'm like 50% of me was like, This is it, this is how I go to meet the Lord. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:15.199 I'm gonna die under the stage because we're fixing a stage three hours before, and Ryan's gotta preach. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.120 He's wearing like a nice shirt, it's getting all dirty, I'm all sweaty. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.560 I mean, it was just wild. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:49.439 But I remember back, I mean, that's one out of hundreds of stories in those early days, and I think back to that season of my life, not just ministry, but life and how formative it was for me as a follower of Jesus to literally sweat and bleed, to be a part of a community of Jesus followers being birthed in a place where following Jesus is so hard, like the Bay Area and the Silicon Valley. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:02:53.199 Um, man, I would not trade that season of my life for anything. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:54.719 It was so powerful. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:03:03.039 So, because of that full circle, that's why I'm a creeper, and I follow all of you guys on Instagram, not all of you individually. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:05.120 You're all scared now, like he follows me. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.159 You're looking through your followers like, is this guy really following me? 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:08.879 That's weird. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.719 Uh I mean this church and this church community, this body. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:14.159 Uh, it means a lot to me. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:17.039 So it's a joy for me, honestly, you guys. 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:20.240 Such a joy and an honor and a thrill to be back. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:23.759 I actually haven't been back in uh in a decade. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.280 Um, so it's really fun to be back with you all. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:29.199 So let's jump in here. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:52.240 Uh, what I want to do just for a few moments today with all of you is sort of look back a little bit to earlier this summer and um maybe look back and then look forward and ask the question as we look back on some things we explored together as a church community this past summer, what does that mean for us moving forward? 00:03:52.479 --> 00:04:07.360 What I mean by that is this uh in June and July, you all went through um a series where you went line by line through uh text in the New Testament, uh, in the Gospel of Matthew, called the Beatitudes, right? 00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:08.960 The Blessed Rs, right? 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.000 You went through like week by week, line by line. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:21.279 We had friends of mine that were here, Dan Kimball and I think Steve Clifford and Nancy Ortberg, so many others, who came and taught sort of line by line. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:28.000 What did Jesus mean when he said, Blessed are, blessed are the peacemakers, the meek, on and on. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:48.639 And what's interesting is that whole section of Scripture, the Blessed Rs, the Beatitudes, are the beginning of what is probably the most famous sermon in history, what people call the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus gives a sermon on a mountainside, hence the Sermon on the Mount. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:05:01.040 And today what I want to do is I want to look at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount as a way of propelling us from what we learned this summer into the rest of our lives. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:03.279 So, to do that, let me show you an image. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:10.720 This is the image of uh the very first telegraph machine that was ever developed. 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:20.319 Now, some of you, I'm just looking at your faces, and you have no idea what a telegraph machine is, because you don't really even know what a telephone is, right? 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.319 This is like, what is this? 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:26.319 Did they find this in a cave with the Neanderthals? 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:32.720 The telegraph machine was developed in the 1830s by a man named Samuel Morse. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:38.879 And Samuel Morse, the name probably sounds familiar because you may know the term Morse code, right? 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:47.680 It's a way of communicating with essentially like bits and pieces of, you know, beeps and dots. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:06:03.360 And essentially, Samuel Morse, who's this brilliant man, he created the telegraph machine as a way of communicating across great geographic divides in real time with immediacy. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:11.680 And so the very first telegraph message was sent in the year 1844 between Washington, D.C. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:13.519 and Baltimore, Maryland. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:21.120 And essentially the way it worked was they laid a physical electrical wire between the two cities, Washington, D.C. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:22.000 and Baltimore. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:24.480 It's not that far, but it's far enough. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:40.319 And they laid an electrical wire, and they were able to, using the telegraph machine and using Morse code, they were able to communicate between the two cities with almost immediate uh results, right? 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:41.600 It was real time. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:59.680 And the telegraph machine, it rose to prominence so quickly that two decades later, by 1866, they had laid electrical wires, not between DC and Baltimore, but between the East Coast of the United States and Europe. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:17.680 So within 20 years of developing the telegraph machine, human beings were able to now communicate literally across the planet, to the other side of the planet with almost immediate connection to one another. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:24.560 The reason this is important is because the telegraph machine eventually gives rise to the telephone. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:46.480 And the telephone eventually gives rise to things like radio, television, and those things obviously give way eventually to where we are today with the internet and social media and news media and the access to information all the time that you and I have with a touch of a finger in our back pockets. 00:07:46.720 --> 00:07:48.160 Now think about this. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:52.399 This began in 1844. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:55.519 That's not that long ago. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:57.920 It's less than 200 years ago. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:20.560 So less than 200 years ago, up until about 200 years ago, for the remainder of human history before the last 200 years, communication, information, knowledge traveled at the speed of not technology, it traveled at the speed of travel, right? 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:28.959 If you wanted to get information from point A to point B up until 200 years ago, how quickly could you get that information across? 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:33.279 Well, you could get it across as quickly as you could travel. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:43.120 And so, up until about the 1830s or 40s, when they developed the telegraph machine, the fastest way to travel at that point in history was train. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:48.000 And trains at that time moved at about 35 miles an hour. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:09:01.519 So until the telegraph machine, to get information from point A to point B, the fastest you could get that information from point A to point B was about 35 miles an hour. 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:12.080 When is the last time you drove in your car and you were driving in a 35 mile an hour zone and you actually drove 35 miles an hour? 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:13.679 When's the last time? 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.919 No one wants to raise their hand because you're like, oh my gosh, I'm a sinner. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:20.960 Lord, please forgive me because you're breaking the speed limit all the time. 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:24.720 35 miles an hour seems so slow, right? 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:35.919 Now imagine your, I don't know, your Instagram feed and your friend who lives in Brooklyn, what they had for brunch yesterday. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:37.759 You know that information. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:40.960 You know it the moment they post about it. 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:46.000 And typically that friend posted about it before they even finished their brunch. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:55.200 They sat down at this posh restaurant in the Fort Green neighborhood of Brooklyn, and they ordered their avocado toast that cost$28. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.840 And they were like, I'm not gonna eat it, I'm gonna photograph it, right? 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:01.360 Because that's why I paid$28. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:24.559 They pull out their phone, they take a photo of it, boom, it's up on their Instagram, and here you are, living in the Bay Area of California, literally on the other side of our nation, and you know in real time that your buddy is eating a$30 avocado toast in Brooklyn, New York, before he's even eaten the toast you know. 00:10:24.960 --> 00:10:25.600 Right? 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:27.600 Now think about this. 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:39.440 What if it would have taken 35 miles an hour for your friend to communicate to you that they were having a$30 avocado toast? 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:42.240 Would they take the time? 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:44.559 Would you wait? 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:45.679 No. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:49.039 You'd be like, dude, who cares? 00:10:49.200 --> 00:11:01.360 What if you got a letter in the mail tomorrow, and it was your friend in Brooklyn, New York, and you you're like, oh my gosh, nobody ever sends like actual physical anal and analog letters anymore. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:03.120 This is like so special, right? 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:10.639 You open the letter, you open it up, and all it is is a photo of avocado toast. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.759 And a receipt. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:17.440 It's like$28, and they left tips, so it's$38. 00:11:17.919 --> 00:11:20.080 They paid for this avocado toast. 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:29.759 And then there's a time you can see on the receipt, it's like, oh, my friend, a week and a half ago, paid 40 bucks for an avocado toast. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:31.919 What would you think to yourself? 00:11:32.240 --> 00:11:37.600 You would think to yourself, first you'd be like, why$40 for an avocado toast? 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.279 And then you'd be like, why did you send this to me? 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:43.200 What is the point? 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:44.399 Right? 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:51.039 But because information travels so much more quickly now, this is normative. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:58.720 To have access to this must information that that really in the big scheme of things doesn't really matter. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:01.120 We have access to it and we enjoy it. 00:12:01.279 --> 00:12:02.639 We love it, we love our feed. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:08.080 Just scroll through, you're like, oh my gosh, avocado toast, and another one, and another one, right? 00:12:08.159 --> 00:12:09.279 Whatever it might be. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:10.799 And it's not all bad. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:17.759 Sometimes social media and news media they give us access to information that's really necessary, it's really important. 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.600 I was just checking on um the hurricane down south. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:34.720 I don't know if you guys have been following, but I have some friends who are pastors down there, and uh I was just checking on their social media and then on some news feeds this morning on how things are going, how their churches are going. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:42.399 So we were communicating via text in real time, just praying for them, and um that's a really beautiful gift, right? 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:49.039 That it didn't have to take, you know, 35 miles an hour for me to get information about how they're doing. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:52.720 So it's not all bad, but this is really important. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:59.360 Telegr the telegraph changed um how we think about information. 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:03.200 There's a writer named Neil Postman, some of you know him. 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:05.200 He wrote a book about 40 years ago. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:08.159 He wrote a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death. 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:17.279 And he says this telegraphy gave form of uh a form of legitimacy to the idea of context-free information. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:24.159 That is, to the idea that the value of information need not be tied to any function it might serve. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:33.919 The telegraph made information into a commodity, a thing that could be bought and sold, irrespective of its uses or meaning. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:42.799 Today, you and I, we live in what most people call the information age, or the digital age, or the internet age. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:50.639 And this is having a significant impact on how we continue to engage with and interact with knowledge and information. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:52.879 Postman, again, he says this. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:57.120 The tie between information and action has been severed. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:05.360 Information is now a form of entertainment or worn like a garment to enhance one's status. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.000 We are glutted with information. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.240 We're drowning in information. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:15.519 We have no control over it, and we don't know what to do with it. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:18.000 And why does any of this matter? 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:20.879 It's interesting, but why does any of this matter? 00:14:21.120 --> 00:14:34.480 Again, in June and July, you all went week by week, line by line, through Jesus' teachings in the early teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, the Blessed Hours. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:45.840 And within the span of a few short chapters, Jesus gives, again, what is the greatest sermon ever, and he gives the blueprint for what life in the kingdom of God looks like. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:15:03.120 But at the very end of that sermon, at the very end of the greatest sermon ever, at the very end of Jesus' blueprint for what it looks like to live the Jesus way in real life and in real time, he concludes the Sermon on the Mount this way. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:18.879 He says, Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.240 Puts them into practice. 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:30.480 That phrase in the original language of the text, Koine Greek, is a single Greek word. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:33.120 It's the Greek word poieo. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.879 And the Greek word poieo is a very simple word. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.360 It just means to do. 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:55.200 So what Jesus is saying here is listen, I have given you the entire blueprint for what it looks like to be a God-centered, Jesus-centered person in a real way in the real world. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.840 The blueprint for kingdom living. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:15:59.679 But here's the deal. 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.039 If you just hear it, it's not enough. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.519 You have to poieo. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.440 Put it into practice. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:08.879 You have to do it. 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:13.360 Don't just hear this stuff and applaud and say, wow, Jesus, great sermon. 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:15.759 Do this stuff. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:37.440 Essentially, hearing or knowing or being informed or having great knowledge, great theological insight, or an understanding of the Greek language or historical cultural context, those things are all beautiful and wonderful and can be helpful, but they're not enough. 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.320 Especially today, it is easy to be informed. 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:51.919 There's so little actual change in our lives, even though we are more informed than any generation of human beings before us. 00:16:52.240 --> 00:16:56.399 We know so much today, but we do so little. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:58.879 This is catastrophic. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:05.839 So again, Jesus is making the point here that doing the stuff of Jesus is what really matters. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:10.160 In fact, let's look at just different translations of Matthew 7, 24. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:16.400 In the ESV, it's translated: everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them. 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:21.839 The NLT, anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:28.640 Or the NRSV, everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:34.799 So the invitation is to do something, to follow up, to take action. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:39.279 And then Jesus paints this really fascinating imagery. 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.119 Let's read the whole text. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:50.880 Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:57.519 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.680 Yet it did not fall. 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.680 Because it had its foundation on the rock. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:12.559 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:22.480 And the rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:24.880 Fascinating. 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.640 Has anybody ever been to the Italian town of Pizza? 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.559 Not Pizza, but Pisa. 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:33.519 Anybody? 00:18:33.680 --> 00:18:33.920 Yeah? 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.519 Have you you all have so you've seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa, right? 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:40.480 You can't go to Pisa without seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:41.680 You all know it. 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:50.880 1178, the year 1178, five years into construction, five years in, you guys, think about how frustrating this was. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:57.039 Five years in, the builders of the Tower of Pisa are on the third floor at this point. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:58.559 They're working on the third floor. 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:06.000 Five years in, three floors in, that's when they realize, dude, I don't know if this is straight. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:11.680 Five years in, all this money, all this time, all this energy. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.359 So you know what they do? 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:16.960 They're like, one or two or a dozen brilliant guys. 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:19.440 They're like, hey, here's what we should do. 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:22.319 Let's just compensate, let's not fix it. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.720 Let's just compensate as we build and straighten it out. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:33.839 So they start compensating by shortening the uphill side of the tower, which actually makes it worse. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:39.039 And today we have the famous leaning tower of Pisa, which is off center by about 15 feet. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:40.559 Now here's what's really interesting. 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:45.279 What the builders at the time did not know in as much detail as we know today. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.200 It wasn't all their fault. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:56.720 What's interesting is that there are two other bell towers in the city of Pisa that also tilt off-center. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:59.119 One at the church of St. 00:19:59.359 --> 00:20:01.359 Nicola and one at the church of St. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:02.079 Michelle. 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:11.039 Now, this is because, in large part, uh the city, Pisa, it's actually named after a Greek word meaning marsh. 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:29.039 The word Pisa is actually, it's it comes from a Greek word meaning marsh, because the city sits near the ocean, and so the subsoil, not like the soil you can see on the on the like surface, but the subsoil, uh, the substance beneath is soaked in seawater. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.079 And so it's a really unstable foundation. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:35.200 And you wouldn't know that just looking at it on the surface. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.519 But this is how life works, right? 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:48.720 It's not the stuff on the surface, it's the substance beneath that makes all the difference when it comes to the foundations that we build on, be it a tower or a life. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:58.079 And this is the point Jesus is making that the substance beneath a life worth living isn't knowledge or information. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:05.039 It's not just good ideas or good intentions or simply hoping that things will go well. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:17.599 The substance beneath the soil of a life worth living, the substance that is strong enough to build a life worth living in Jesus is action. 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:23.039 It's participation with God in the way of Jesus. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:30.160 It's not just learning and knowing the way of Jesus, those are critically important, of course. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:35.440 You cannot possibly live the way of Jesus unless you learn the way of Jesus. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:40.400 But simply learning the way of Jesus is unstable ground. 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:48.960 Living the way of Jesus, not just knowing what Jesus did, but trying to do what Jesus did. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:51.359 Not just like him, Jesus is God. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:52.799 We are not, of course. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:22:05.440 But being a disciple of Jesus means like following Jesus into life and into the The world and living as an embodiment of the way of Jesus. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:09.599 Again, Christians are a people of hope, of course. 00:22:09.839 --> 00:22:13.119 But we hope in and through action. 00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:16.559 Our hope is a participatory hope. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:25.599 Eugene Peterson once said this hoping, excuse me, hoping does not mean doing nothing. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:29.359 It is not fatalistic resignation. 00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:38.400 It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:52.480 We build strong and durable foundations for a meaningful life by going about our assigned tasks, by learning and living or doing the way of Jesus. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:56.160 You know, sometimes I have two little kids. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.960 I have an eight-year-old daughter named Harper, and then a five-year-old son named Simon. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:05.759 And like 70% of the time, they play really well together. 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.759 But 30% of the time, some of you had siblings growing up, I'm sure. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:14.640 Some of you maybe have young children, and you've experienced this firsthand. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.680 30% of the time, it's just World War III in my house. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:20.559 You know what I mean? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:24.720 And it's never, it's never like a nice, happy medium. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:35.440 It's always they're just happy, off running together, playing and having the greatest time, best friends, and then 30% of the time it's just like they're at each other's throats. 00:23:35.680 --> 00:23:54.079 And every time I try to discipline them, I always, you know, I sit them down after they've had a big fight and I talk to them about why we need to treat one another a particular way, why our family values dictate that we love each other and compromise and sacrifice for one another, and on and on and on. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.119 And at the end of it, I always ask them, like, okay, Harper Simon, do you understand? 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:00.720 I've always asked them that. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:03.759 You want to know something really incredible? 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:09.119 Not once in their lives have either of them told me, no, dad, I don't understand. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:10.319 Tell me more. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:12.559 Not once have they said that. 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:16.400 Always they're like, yeah, totally understand. 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.400 Completely get it, dad. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:19.599 I'm with you. 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:21.680 Never again, is what they say. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:22.880 You know what I mean? 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:29.680 But what inevitably happens two days later, or two hours later, or two minutes later? 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:31.680 What inevitably happens? 00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:35.279 They just get, they fall right back into the same rhythm. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:44.480 Now, as a dad who loves my children and understands where they are in their stages of development, nothing but grace. 00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:45.920 I mean, they're eight and five. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:46.799 It's normal. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:50.240 They're gonna fight, they're gonna stumble and fall along the way. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:55.839 That's a normal thing to expect of an eight-year-old and a five-year-old, of course. 00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:59.759 But why do I continue coming back? 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:04.079 Every time they fight, why do I continue reminding them? 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:07.920 Is it so that I can just go through the same routine and rhythm? 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:14.079 Is it because my hope is that I'll just go through the same routine and rhythm for the next 40 years of their lives? 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:27.279 No, the hope and the desire is that eventually over time, they would not simply understand knowledge-wise, but that they in their actions they would embody what they know. 00:25:27.519 --> 00:25:44.640 And what's really interesting is in the last few years, couple of years, I've watched them grow, where they embody it just a little bit, more and more every single day, where they begin to show a little bit more grace, a little bit more compromise toward one another. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:26:02.640 My desire for them is not simply that they know how to be, but they actually be the way that God has called them to be, the way that our family values sort of dictate and necessitate that they interact with one another. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.119 I love the way Dallas Willard puts it. 00:26:05.359 --> 00:26:22.000 He says that our aim under love is not to be loving to this or that person, or in this or that kind of situation, but to be a person possessed by love as an overall character of life, whatever is or is not going on. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:24.960 I do not come, I love this line right here. 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:29.119 I do not come to my enemy and then try to love them. 00:26:29.519 --> 00:26:32.720 I come to them as a loving person. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:43.680 This is the difference between knowing, okay, this is my enemy, I despise this person, but I know God said, love your enemies. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:46.640 So I'm just, I'm gonna try, I guess. 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:52.240 It's this mental exercise that is almost impossible to accomplish. 00:26:52.559 --> 00:26:59.599 But instead, to love our enemies, we just need to become loving people. 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:13.920 That regardless of whether this is friend or foe, who I am becoming, what I am doing with my life, how I am leaning and directing my energy and my focus is in the direction of love. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:15.680 Christ-centered love. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:18.480 Love is a condition of the will. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:24.000 It is not something you choose to do, but what you choose to be. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:26.720 And so, what does this actually mean? 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:28.559 What does this actually look like? 00:27:28.880 --> 00:27:40.000 If you go back, not just to the Beatitudes, but all of Matthew chapters 5 and 6 and 7, which essentially are the Sermon on the Mount, what are some of the things Jesus says? 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:44.480 He says, Let your light shine before others by your good deeds. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:48.960 He instructs us to fight anger and lust. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:53.200 He teaches us to keep our promises. 00:27:54.400 --> 00:27:57.759 He tells us again to love our enemies. 00:27:58.559 --> 00:28:12.720 He teaches us to quietly give to those in need, to store up heavenly treasures and not earthly ones, to stop worrying about tomorrow, and to trust God today. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.559 He teaches us to not judge. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.079 These are just a handful of examples. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:31.039 In fact, I would encourage you, it doesn't take long, I mean, it'll take you 10 minutes, 15 minutes, tops, to read all of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. 00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:39.599 If you've got some time later today, I would encourage you, take 10, 15 minutes and read the Sermon on the Mount. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:44.799 And read it and ask yourself the question, not just, do I know this stuff? 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:46.000 Of course you know this stuff. 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:47.839 You just read it, you know it. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.359 But ask yourself, am I doing this stuff? 00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:53.119 Am I living this stuff? 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:55.599 Am I embodying this stuff? 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:59.440 Let me just make one point clear here. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:08.319 If I'm not careful, a lot of this can come across a little bit like works-based uh faith or something. 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:08.799 Right? 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:15.680 Like what I'm essentially telling you is like, hey, if you want to be a good Christian, you better like behave appropriately. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:21.519 If you want to be a good Christian, if you want to live in God's good graces, you better do the right things. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:30.160 You better like, you know, check everything off on the task list that God demands of you as a follower of Jesus. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:33.039 But this is actually the reverse of that. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:46.400 It is the grace of God that is unmerited, it is unearned, it is the grace of God which compels us to embody the way of Jesus. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:30:06.400 Listen, if what you heard from me today is compelling you out of guilt or out of shame or out of some sort of strange sense of Christian duty, it's driven by fear, then don't do any of it. 00:30:06.720 --> 00:30:13.440 Because what the scriptures tell us is that perfect love, the love of God, casts out fear. 00:30:14.160 --> 00:30:39.200 So, first and foremost, what we have to understand is if our following of Jesus is driven by any sense of unhealthy fear, and I know this is a reality, um, there's been all sorts of psychological psychological research done based on like how Christians view their relationship with God as father, and how it's so reflective of our own relationships with our own earthly dads. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:41.839 I had no relationship with my father. 00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:44.400 I remember my dad died. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:47.279 We were about a year into awakening. 00:30:47.440 --> 00:30:48.799 We had planted this church. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:58.079 I remember I was supposed to preach one Sunday here, and the Wednesday before I was supposed to preach, I got a phone call that my father had died. 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:06.960 He lived his entire life in Korea, and I remember just breaking down in tears in a totally unexpected way because he was a stranger to me. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:16.720 And I remember calling Ryan about 30 minutes after that phone call and saying, I can't preach Sunday, I gotta fly to Korea and bury a dad who I did not know. 00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:21.119 And so I like I still have those distinct memories. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:33.680 And my history or non-existent history with my father has in many ways colored and shaped my own sort of ongoing journey with God the Father. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:37.839 And so here, I just want to be very, very clear here. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:52.240 None of this call to do the Jesus stuff should be driven by some sort of anxiety or fear that God is some angry dad who is going to punish you if you don't meet expectations. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:56.799 He already sent his son to die for you. 00:31:57.279 --> 00:32:02.319 He did this for you before you ever breathed your first breath. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:15.279 The scriptures tell us that God knew you, that he dreamt you up in his creative imagination out of love before you were ever formed in your mother's womb. 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:25.680 God's posture toward you is a posture of love, and that has always been true, and it will always be true, and it will never change. 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:39.279 So, this invitation to do the Jesus stuff is simply an invitation to respond appropriately to the grace and the love of God that we have already received in spades. 00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:56.160 Uh, because um, you know, we don't get hurricanes in California. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:58.079 That's like a Florida thing, right? 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:12.559 Uh well, um 2018, about five years ago, October of 2018, I don't know if you guys remember, but there was a hurricane called Hurricane uh Michael that swept through parts of Florida and all sorts of parts of Central America and Cuba. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:24.240 And um the peak winds were like 160 miles an hour, caused about$25 million in damages in the US alone, and um it wiped out entire cities. 00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:35.279 But uh this photo that you're looking at right now is um on a beach in Florida, a beach called Mexico Beach, Florida, and uh you see this lone house standing. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:37.200 It looks photoshopped, doesn't it? 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:38.160 It looks fake. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:38.880 It's not fake. 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:42.960 This is a real photo of a house called the Sand Palace. 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:54.160 And the reason the Sand Palace withstood Hurricane Michael is because this was the one house on this entire beach that was built with reinforced concrete. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:34:00.000 It had 40 feet, uh 40-foot pilings that were driven deep into the ground. 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:09.599 And so when the hurricane came, this is the one house because of its foundation that withstood the storm. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:12.880 And that's what Jesus is saying. 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:28.400 Living, practicing, doing the stuff I've taught you to do, and not if, but when the storms of life come, you will experience stability. 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:31.679 You will experience strength. 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:41.760 You will experience the ability, not in and of your own strength, but the God-given ability to withstand even the greatest storms. 00:34:44.639 --> 00:34:51.360 In our first few years of planting this church, those of you who were around, the Grazians might remember, maybe Marnie will too. 00:34:51.760 --> 00:34:55.840 Um do you guys remember Kirk and Christina Tang? 00:34:56.079 --> 00:34:57.440 I don't know if you guys remember them. 00:34:57.920 --> 00:34:59.599 Um beautiful young couple. 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:02.239 They were uh newlyweds in our church. 00:35:02.320 --> 00:35:05.920 They were with us from day one when we planted here at Del Mar. 00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:18.400 And they had gotten married, um, but and they were newlyweds, they were kind of fresh out of college, and Christina um during their engagement, she started having really serious stomach pains. 00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:25.440 And during their engagement, Christina um discovered that she had a very aggressive form of stomach cancer. 00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:27.440 She was in her early 20s. 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:32.000 And the doctors told her, hey, this is not years, this is months. 00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:33.599 Like it could be weeks. 00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:34.559 We don't really know. 00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:36.000 It's pretty bad. 00:35:36.719 --> 00:35:42.800 And um, that's the condition she was in when I met her, when our church sort of met them. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:46.159 And I remember I still have a photograph of it. 00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:51.679 Um and it it's uh it's really hard to look at and beautiful to look at. 00:35:51.840 --> 00:36:00.639 Uh, one of the last times Christina was with us at a church service, was um a Christmas Eve service we did right here in this room. 00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:10.960 And back then we had a stage actually down here on the floor, and uh we didn't know how long Christina had to be with us, and she was an incredibly gifted musician. 00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:18.079 So Ryan and I, who are incredibly mediocre musicians, we were like, dude, let's just write her coattails. 00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:21.519 So the three of us led worship on a Christmas Eve together. 00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:24.719 Ryan, myself, and Christina. 00:36:25.119 --> 00:36:28.639 And Christina like carried us, you know, with her vocals. 00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:46.159 And uh I just remember that Christmas Eve as she led just how powerful it is, because she's singing, you know, she's singing songs about um Christ coming to be with us and us going to be with him and salvation and eternity. 00:36:46.400 --> 00:36:56.480 And uh I remember those words had so much more weight because for her, uh this was like real stuff. 00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:57.519 You know what I mean? 00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:10.800 Like for her, it wasn't some hypothetical, like, oh, I'm 23, this is like a nice song to sing, great words to sing, but I got like 50 more years before I have to worry about going to be with the Lord, you know? 00:37:11.119 --> 00:37:18.480 For her, she's just like, this might be the last time I sing this, and the next time I sing it, I might be singing it in the presence of Christ. 00:37:18.719 --> 00:37:19.840 Who knows? 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:35.920 Long story short, not long after that, just a couple of months after that, um, I was uh by her bedside with her husband and some friends and some folks from our church and praying with her as she breathed her last few breaths. 00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:40.079 And I remember those few months of her final days. 00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:51.039 Uh she um she was a songwriter and she had written all these songs about her sort of journey with Jesus as she faced death. 00:37:51.280 --> 00:38:00.559 And she pushed herself so hard to finish those songs, and our church rallied around her and helped her record the songs in a studio and had them mixed and mastered. 00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:20.960 And when she passed away, I remember we gave um CDs to everybody in our church, and um what I remember most about her is that I would spend so much time writing sermons that I thought were like these are this is a good sermon, it's gonna inspire some people. 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:27.920 And I would find myself having such perspective shifts when I was with her those last few months. 00:38:28.639 --> 00:38:38.880 Because I realized these words I'm putting down that I'm gonna read to people in a room, they're one thing, they're important, they're helpful, hopefully, but man, this is it. 00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:42.079 Like this is it, this is the real stuff. 00:38:42.880 --> 00:38:46.239 Like living the way of Jesus as you face death. 00:38:46.800 --> 00:38:48.159 This is the real stuff. 00:38:48.400 --> 00:38:57.360 And I saw a young woman in her early 20s be hit with the storm of literal death stand tall. 00:38:58.400 --> 00:39:02.880 Like on a beach laid waste by fear and anxiety. 00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:16.800 I visited her at Stanford Hospital in the terminal ward, at the cancer ward, where there was just hopelessness, anxiety everywhere, and her little bed and her little what she was living in with every fiber of her being. 00:39:17.679 --> 00:39:23.840 And this is what happens when we not just know, but we do take the Jesus step. 00:39:24.719 --> 00:39:28.559 We can withstand any storm, even the storms of death. 00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:32.079 Think about the words of the psalmist and psalm 8. 00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:37.199 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:42.400 My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. 00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:43.679 Amen. 00:39:44.320 --> 00:39:44.639 Amen. 00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:45.920 Let's pray together. 00:39:48.000 --> 00:39:53.039 Jesus, we um thank you for the gift of your teachings. 00:39:53.360 --> 00:40:01.760 We thank you for the scriptures, we thank you for the gospels, which give us the blueprint for what it looks like to live the life of the kingdom. 00:40:03.199 --> 00:40:09.519 But we know that you call us to do so much more than just know, to be informed, or to read these words. 00:40:09.679 --> 00:40:12.000 You call us to live them, to embody them. 00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:17.920 So we ask that you would give us the strength and the courage and the confidence to do just that. 00:40:18.719 --> 00:40:22.320 To live and to embody the way of Jesus in all things. 00:40:23.360 --> 00:40:31.360 So that no matter what storms of life may come, we are able to stand with you as our foundation. 00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:33.519 Pray these things, Jesus, in your name. 00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:34.400 Amen. 00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:38.079 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:40:38.239 --> 00:40:42.719 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:40:42.880 --> 00:40:44.960 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:51.039 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.