WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:05.519 Well, there's a bunch of positivity to uh lead us into 2017. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.160 We'll get to why it is positive because it it will lead us there. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:15.359 It'll lead us somewhere quite beautiful. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:27.519 So the very wise Jim Carrey, speaking of beautiful, the very wise Jim Carrey said, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:35.840 Now, if you want somebody maybe more cultured, perhaps, I don't know, Oscar Wilde, 19th century novelist, said almost the same thing. 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:38.320 There are only two tragedies in life. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:43.759 One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.840 So, what are these two guys saying? 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:51.759 Two guys, different centuries, quite different from each other, both artists, both insightful. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:58.479 Well, philosopher Pete Rollins uh he explains it by talking about the Roadrunner and Wiley Coyote. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.560 Anyone grow up watching Roadrunner? 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:00.880 I did. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:06.719 I grew up watching Roadrunner on Saturday mornings, that and Tom and Jerry, which is pretty much the same cartoon if you think about it. 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:09.680 It is the same thing, like one guy chasing the other. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:23.519 And so I would I woke up in uh Wiley Coyote to catch you up to speed, if perhaps you've never seen The Roadrunner, Wiley Coyote would chase this bird every Saturday morning and never catch him. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:23.920 Never. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.480 And and Wiley Coyote was well resourced. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:31.680 I mean, he had weapons, catapults, traps, bombs. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:40.400 I mean, he had some, he had really good gear and he'd spend all his time building whatever, and he had his plan, and then it just never happened. 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:47.599 He just it was just week after week after week, uh, just never quite getting that bird. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.879 So now Wiley, uh, he could have given up, right? 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:53.280 He could have said, I'm I'm done. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:54.480 Uh you know what? 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.079 I'm just gonna go get a job. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:57.760 I'll I'll take up some fishing. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:03.280 That might probably be easier than catching the roadrunner, and I'll watch TV and hang out. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:04.719 Like that's what I'm gonna do. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:07.200 But you you know, you know what would be true. 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:13.680 In the back of his mind, he'd be thinking, if I had only gotten that bird. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:17.680 If I'd only gotten that bird, right? 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:22.879 If I had just gotten that bird vent, then I would be satisfied. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:23.919 Right? 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:26.400 I mean, this is a dangerous line of thinking for life. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:34.000 If I if I could only get that or her or it or then, then I will be satisfied. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:39.520 As for this present moment, I'm not willing to consider any type of present moment satisfaction. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:42.319 If I get that, then I'll be satisfied. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.360 But what would have happened? 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.439 What would have happened if Wiley had actually caught that bird? 00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:48.400 What would have happened? 00:02:48.479 --> 00:02:49.280 We know what would have happened. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:03:00.080 He would have made a little campfire, he would have cooked that bird, he would have had a nice little meal, and he would have woken up the next day and he would have found another bird to chase, wouldn't he? 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.680 And you know why we know that? 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:03.280 Because we do it, right? 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:06.960 Like that's why we know it, because that's that's that's life. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:11.520 And that's a little bit what this Ecclesiastes is talking about. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.759 This is what it's coming around to, that the next day always comes. 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:22.319 Jim Carrey saying it, Oscar Wilde saying it, and then we get to this book of Ecclesiastes, we're gonna spend the next couple of months in. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:23.919 It's a strange book. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:26.080 It's a strange Old Testament book. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:29.280 It's full of rants, a lot of pessimism. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:33.280 So there's but it's gonna lead us somewhere beautiful. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:49.199 But you have to hang in there, especially if you're a person who loves positivity and you're not quite sure if you want to move into realism or cynicism at all, you're gonna have a hard time with this, but you've got to hang with it because all the rants always lead us somewhere beautiful. 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.039 Now, there's two voices in the book of Ecclesiastes, it's important to know. 00:03:55.199 --> 00:03:57.039 So the first voice is the narrator. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.000 The narrator is in chapter 1, verses 1 through 11. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:04.639 We just read it, and the narrator then jumps back in at the end of the book in chapter 12. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.879 Everything in between is another voice. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:12.560 Now, it's assumed everything's written by one person, but the middle is it's a creative writing, right? 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:14.080 Biblical creative writing. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:15.439 We're okay with that, by the way. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:16.800 It's a creative writing. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:37.120 And everything in between is this other, just this ranting, raw honesty, sort of like pessimistic, and kind of catches himself at times and kind of comes back into like a measure of like what would be good for him, and then he rants again, and then the narrator comes back in at the very end of the book and he says, Hey, by the way, here's the answer: fear God. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:42.560 Now we think Solomon wrote it, but we're not sure. 00:04:42.959 --> 00:04:53.040 It could have been written by somebody else, like as a biography of Solomon, but we know it is about Solomon and King Solomon's life. 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:59.680 And we know it is, it feels like a journal, like a really dark, depressing journal. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:02.079 Yeah, so come to church in the coming weeks. 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:03.199 That's what we're gonna be reading. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.680 A dark, depressing journal of somebody's. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:07.759 Now, Solomon was loaded. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:16.560 He had probably in modern terms, you know, people like to work up the calculations, but maybe he's pulling in a billion dollars a year. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:18.079 A lot of money. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:19.680 Money's not a problem. 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:22.160 But it's never really about money, is it? 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:31.920 It's almost never about money because money is the thing that we use to feel adequate or comfortable or somebody. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:35.040 Like finally I will be okay. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.360 And Solomon was he was revered. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:38.639 I mean, he had accomplished something. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:41.040 He wrote Proverbs, by the way, in case you're wondering. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:44.079 I mean, quite a book to write, a little bit of wisdom coming out of him. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:45.920 He's known. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:58.800 And we think, oh, if I could have these things, if I could be approved, if I could be approved at this level, then, then, like if I catch that bird, if I catch that roadrunner, then I'll be satisfied. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:08.079 And this guy, who has had all of this, he says, by the way, vanity of vanities, to all of that, to that line of thinking. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.399 And that word vanity, it means vapor. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:17.120 Like it's here, and then it's just gone. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:29.839 So, what do you do when everything you thought would give you meaning, and then you figure out it doesn't? 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:32.319 What do you do then? 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.079 Well, let me reread a few of these words as we go through it. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:51.439 Ecclesiastes 1, 1 through 3, the words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, vanity of vanities, vapor, vapor, says the preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:58.000 What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:00.000 So, a few points. 00:07:00.160 --> 00:07:09.600 Point number one, all of the good and all of the bad can feel like vapor. 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.160 Now, I'm not saying it is vapor, right? 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:17.600 And the Bible's not saying everything is vapor because this is a reflective journal of some guys. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.240 He's saying it feels like vapor. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:22.800 We can feel like it's just all meaningless. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:23.839 It's just vapor. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:30.800 So on the way to the gym, every morning, I walk out of my driveway, down the street, I walk up to the hospital, I walk up the hill. 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:34.399 I cut in between two buildings to get back to the health place gym. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:35.839 Cut them between two buildings. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.879 There's these three silos that I walk by. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:43.839 I don't know what they're holding, but this vapor comes out from underneath them every morning. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:48.399 I walk through this cloud that I'm relatively sure is gonna give me cancer. 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:52.160 I walk through this cloud and I come out the other side. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:53.839 Every morning I do this. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:08:00.480 This cloud comes out from under the silos, it only goes up to about seven feet, and then it's gone. 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:02.480 It's gone. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:05.839 Because it's just it's just just vapor. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:11.839 See, this is how Solomon is feeling about his life. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.759 I mean, have you ever felt like that? 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.439 We're not saying it is that, we're saying have you ever felt like that? 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:21.839 And in the grace of God, he's burying his soul. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:28.079 So, verses four through seven, the narrator goes super poetic. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:30.079 I won't reread those. 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:32.159 Preachers like to get super poetic. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:38.320 And then jumping back in in verse eight, all things are full of weariness. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.559 A man cannot utter it. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:45.840 The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:51.120 So, point number two, I'll say it, you already know it. 00:08:51.440 --> 00:08:56.159 This life is full of weariness. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:59.120 That's why some of you are starting to fall asleep. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:08:59.759 Right? 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:02.000 A little bit, a little bit is me. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:02.879 I understand. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:10.399 But some of it's just like life is so weary, you finally sit still and you just fall asleep. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:11.919 Right? 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:23.679 It just feels like, it just feels like the laundry and the conflict and the job that's just it's not great. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:36.720 And driving down the expressway, and then you drive back up the expressway, and the rejection again, or like when will I ever break through whatever that thing is again, and the feeling of not being enough? 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:40.000 I mean, it's just all so weary. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.759 And that person's still that way, I've been trying to change them, it's not working. 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:49.279 And it's all this feeling like I need to do something else. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:58.320 Like this present moment, not not, I'm not willing to come into this present moment and let Jesus be sufficiency for me here as all satisfaction. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:04.720 Surely Jesus is not really the answer to full sufficiency because I'm not feeling that. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:11.440 What I'm feeling is like King Solomon, I am feeling like everything's weariness. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.720 And it can feel like that. 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:18.559 And so we cope, right? 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:20.879 We cope by forming dreams. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.720 Or we cope by reliving the past. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:35.840 Or we cope, like last night I take a home tour on my phone of Oprah's home and telluride. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.759 Now, why am I doing this? 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.679 Why do I know she owns a home and telluride? 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:45.919 I know how much she paid for it. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:47.279 I know the square footage. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:48.559 I've been in all the rooms. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:50.159 I've been in every room. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:51.679 Why am I doing this? 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:54.080 Because I love to cope with reality. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:55.759 I love to cope with disappointment. 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:58.000 I love to cope with anxiety. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:05.200 I don't turn to alcohol, I don't turn to a lot of other things, but I love to form a dream. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.759 I love to form a dream way out in the future, and I'll cope with this. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.759 And I'm not quite sure Jesus is sufficient right now. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:14.879 So I'm feeling. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:15.919 So, you know what? 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:17.919 I'll form a dream and I'll just entertain it. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:19.120 I'll just entertain it. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:20.240 You know what it is? 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.159 It's my little roadrunner. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:23.039 Right? 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.360 Just a little roadrunner for me to chase. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:27.200 We all do it. 00:11:27.360 --> 00:11:28.480 I don't know what yours is. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:29.440 We all do it. 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:36.720 And all of this is very bothering because it's just so real. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:39.679 It's just how we feel so much. 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:45.120 And this is what Ecclesiastes is doing is it's just opening up how we feel about things. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:47.360 Because Solomon's just letting it rip. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:53.200 I mean, he's just letting it rip how he feels about reality at the moment he's writing this thing. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:02.720 And then verse 9 what has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.159 A lot of motivation for entrepreneurs and inventors and artists, right? 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.240 It's how he feels. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:15.919 Point number three, there's nothing new in this life. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:17.759 This is how he feels. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:23.200 So this is just that feeling, this is the feeling like this again? 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:26.320 Like a like again, like eating again? 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:27.679 Like I just ate. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:49.759 I'm gonna do that again, I'm gonna do it again, I'm gonna do it again, I'm gonna do it again, I'm gonna do this again, I'm gonna wake up, I'm gonna do this like work thing and come home and this again, and then I'm gonna do that again, I'm gonna do that again, I'm gonna do this laundry again, I'm gonna do this again, I'm gonna go again and again, and the kitchen sink's full, again, I'm clipping my fingernails again, like it just keeps coming over and over and over and over. 00:12:51.360 --> 00:13:00.080 Like, not to mention pain, not to mention grief, because you're hurting again. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:13.200 Christy and I went to this uh Christian worship uh event this week, and I was thinking, oh, this is gonna be just a great day to get get away for the day. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.600 I don't think I'm not in charge of anything. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:46.000 And we get there and we immediately see a friend that we haven't seen uh a few years, and like right away it's very clear that he's very sick because his speech is is uh slurred, his movements are are kind of off, and we don't say anything about it, but we're we've been with him for about an hour, and then he finally says something about his health, and and then we said something, and we end up talking for like two hours about his health, a neurological disease I can't figure out, and then on top of that they find out he has cancer. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:53.679 And you're like, oh wait, again, like more pain, more more pain for him, right? 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:57.279 Like the neurological disease wasn't enough, like cancer also, right? 00:13:57.360 --> 00:14:02.879 Like more pain, and then you know what, you're like, oh again, now I I have another another friend that's sick. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.960 You're like, it's just so weary, it's just so wearying. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:12.879 And Solomon's saying, hey, I I like I get that. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:13.600 That's how I feel. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.080 I'm gonna I'm letting this out. 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:17.600 I need to let it out. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:22.159 And there is no southern evangelical composure going on here, right? 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:24.320 I mean, you this is not, this is not that. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:25.919 There's no pretension here. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:27.600 It's just I'm not feeling it. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:28.720 This is how I feel. 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:32.399 But a hint is given in this text, just a hint. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:34.720 You could read over it so quickly. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:37.279 And it's this phrase under the sun. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:45.679 Everything's vanity, everything's vapor under the sun, which excludes one thing. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:47.840 The sun. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:15:07.759 And this is this poetic hint because the sun is the light of the world, and then the narrator comes in in chapter 12 and says, hey, the answer to all this is to fear God, which is the Old Testament's way to say, come under God, come under his authority, live in humility to receive from him. 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:19.679 He is sufficient for you, he is sufficient to declare morality, he is sufficient to declare pleasure, he is sufficient to give you peace, come under him, fear him. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:31.440 But being your own God, seeking your own pleasure, attempting to make meaning of any of this by your own autonomy, that is vapor. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:34.480 That's under the sun. 00:15:35.600 --> 00:15:42.480 That's not the sun beaming light onto you, which changes everything. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:58.000 Because Paul says in the New Testament, something quite different than what Solomon's journaling here, what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, 31, so whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.679 So Paul's saying, Solomon, I'm a good Jew. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.120 I know your book. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:05.919 I know it. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:07.120 I've read it. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.519 I know how you feel. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:22.080 But in the grace and the glory of God, and the light of the world, Jesus, everything means everything. 00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:24.639 See, the hint was given. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.879 Solomon gave the hint, but he just feels one way at the moment. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.200 But the truth is something different. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:33.200 And it comes from outside of us. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:36.639 It's the beam of light, it's the light of the world, it's Christ. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:48.879 And Paul says, unto the most basic, unto the most basic of life things, the most mundane, the most wearying, the thing that's not new, eating. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:50.960 Right? 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:56.559 Like a bowl of cereal, milk and Cheerios, or cinnamon toast crunch. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:16:58.000 Anybody's cinnamon toast crunch. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:05.839 I mean, unto that, at the kinchin counter with your spoon, to the glory of God, it has meaning. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:13.759 Not just the church stuff and the devotional, not all of it has meaning. 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:28.960 Because you are a created, beloved child of God, and he shines his light on you, which means everything you do has meaning. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:32.960 This light is known in the cross. 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:35.359 That's why we keep talking about Jesus as sufficiency. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:43.839 We talk about Jesus as sufficiency because at the cross he takes on our sin and shame and he gives to us his righteousness, and so we're forever God's beloved. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.640 Listen, we will die. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:48.799 We will all die. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.240 That's not news. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:54.960 And our lives are filled with ordinary actions. 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:03.039 Now, don't be misled to think your life is gonna be filled with radical faith stories. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:04.559 It's not. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:06.799 Hate to break the news. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:07.759 It's not. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:10.319 You're gonna have some, praise God. 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:11.119 You know what? 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:13.920 You're gonna have some great faith stories, praise God. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:15.759 You're gonna tell your friends, it's gonna be wonderful. 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:19.119 There's gonna be a whole bunch of bowls of cereal, is what your life's gonna be. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:25.359 You're gonna clip your fingernails, you're gonna cut the lawn, you're gonna do the laundry, a whole bunch of ordinary actions. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:26.319 And you know what? 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:30.640 Paul says, unto the glory of God, all of it. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:48.079 And I know it doesn't make the headlines, and we don't do like testimony videos, and we're not up here interviewing Cindy Lou, how she did the laundry and folded it for her little kids unto the glory of God, but that is incredibly relieving for us. 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:55.359 You're gonna have some great faith stories, and then you're gonna have a whole bunch of ordinary, and all of it has meaning. 00:18:55.599 --> 00:18:57.599 All of it has meaning. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:02.400 It's ordinary and it's meaningful. 00:19:04.559 --> 00:19:09.279 Because this love that we receive gives meaning. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:16.640 So at this Christian conference we were at this week, I had not been to anything like it in years. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:19.839 Uh I have no idea how long, a long time. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:25.519 And I walked in, I found myself getting quite uh emotional and grateful. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.559 And it could have been the bass drum because it was really loud. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:32.480 Very possible, because I feel the same at Coldplay concerts. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:37.039 So it's possible, but it's not totally, it's not totally it. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:38.640 I know it was more than that. 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:46.799 Because this place had served just oh so formative in my life, like about 18 years ago. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:51.039 And I find myself very emotional being there this week. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:20:00.160 And part of the Lord was helping me to see as I was standing there and I was reflecting and being emotional. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:10.640 For 15 years of my Christian life, I used emotion to feel secure with God. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:17.839 And if I wasn't feeling emotional, then I felt like I wasn't secure. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.359 This was a path unto meaninglessness. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.759 This turned spirituality into vapor. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:29.759 Some of you know what I'm talking about. 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:35.440 And this is how this is how secular life and religious life can both be vapor. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:47.759 And this is why gospel, which is the beam of light from outside of you under the sun, the sun unto you, given to you, is always meaningful, whether you feel it or not. 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:51.200 And so I'm standing there, I'm feeling the same emotions I used to. 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:53.920 So, okay, I'm going 18 years ago, I'm doing this. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.599 18 years ago, same thing, same emotion, same feeling. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:05.519 But for so long, I used this feeling to feel secure with God. 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:10.319 And then by God's grace, when I was in exhaustion, going, like, what is this? 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:12.799 Why do I feel like my faith is meaningless? 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.880 Why am I about to walk away? 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:24.319 The difference is to then see that I am secure by Christ's work for me outside of myself. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:29.759 And that security births emotion. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:32.960 And then there's days that there's not emotion. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.079 And then the grace of God that's fine too. 00:21:38.319 --> 00:21:45.119 Because the core of my being rests, rests in Jesus and in the unmerited love to me that God has. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:50.640 See, our satisfaction in Jesus does not create our meaning and our security. 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:58.640 Rather, Jesus is our security and sufficiency, which makes him our satisfaction and birth emotion. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.680 I'll read that whole thing again. 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:00.880 I worked really hard this week. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:06.960 See, our satisfaction in Jesus does not create our meaning and security. 00:22:07.279 --> 00:22:15.839 Rather, Jesus is our security and sufficiency, which makes him our satisfaction and birth demotion. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.559 So listen, there's rest for you. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:34.559 On that day you feel like Solomon and you sit down with a pen to journal and you're letting it rip with raw honesty about how it feels weary and it feels meaningless and it feels like vapor, there's rest for you, there's grace for you. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:38.960 Or the day you feel like King David, and you just wonder where God is. 00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:40.559 Where's he at? 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:48.559 Or maybe the day you feel like Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, and you realize you can't pull it off. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:50.799 You can't pull it off. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:23:00.640 You can't maintain being a good enough Christian, and you're left with only one beat of your heart, and the only thing it's saying is, thank God for Christ Jesus. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.559 Thank God for Christ Jesus. 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.079 Hope of glory, hope of my glory. 00:23:07.519 --> 00:23:12.720 So, my brothers and sisters, you are loved and you are redeemed in Jesus. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:22.480 May you know the beam of light that shines from above and gives you great rest and great meaning and great satisfaction. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.240 Let's pray together. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:34.319 God, thank you for your grace to us and the gift of Jesus, that we might know you. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:42.799 Thank you that we do not have to rely upon ourselves and our work or our emotion. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:48.400 But we can rest in something that's permanent and secure. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:56.160 May that great work and the gift of your spirit into our hearts be our hope. 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.079 And may nothing else be our hope. 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:11.039 Would you teach us to trust greater in you, who you are, your work for us, that we might find satisfaction in you. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:12.240 In Jesus' name. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:12.880 Amen.