WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:05.839 All right, so this week uh I was watching the news and at the I watched NBC News every night. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:07.120 Don't know where you get your news. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.359 Uh NBC every night is where I watch my news. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:10.960 And so this week there was this little story. 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.720 It was like a little 30-second story coming back from a commercial. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.839 And our president Obama, he had just finished a round of golf. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.760 Let me remind you the president is, by the way. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:23.920 His name's Obama, because we forget that at this point, at the end of somebody's term, right? 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.679 And so he doesn't get a lot of media coverage. 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.760 He actually got a little media coverage, took it from Donald Trump, an amazing feat to do. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.719 And so he had finished this round of golf, and I think he was in San Diego or something, and he finished his round of golf. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:36.159 And on the 18th, anybody see this? 00:00:36.320 --> 00:00:37.359 Some few of you, okay. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:42.240 So he he finishes on the 18th green, he walks across the 18th green, and a couple had just gotten married. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:47.119 And so he walks over and he talks to them and he hugs them and he gets a picture with them. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.799 And then he goes on his way. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:52.719 Okay, so a pretty unbelievable moment for this married couple. 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:53.840 The president of the United States. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:04.560 I mean, this is the most powerful man in the world, still, even though we don't hear a lot from him at this point in his term, still he holds the nuclear weapons, the greatest subnuclear weapons in the world. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:07.439 He still holds the power over the greatest military in the world. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:21.599 I mean, he is still the most powerful man in the world, and he had places to go and people to see, mind you, but he takes the time to cross the 18th green and to take a picture just with some people, just some common folks like me and you. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:21.920 Nice. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:23.840 I played golf on Friday. 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:24.959 We had the Redeemer Cup. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:25.840 Brian organized it. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:26.719 It was very thrilling. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.719 There was about 15 or 20 of us. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:34.799 And so I I finished my round of golf at the uh there at um City Club Marietta or whatever it's called. 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:38.400 And so I get to the end of the 18th, and actually we got a picture taken. 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.000 Somebody took our picture, all the guys, and there there were some people taking a picture. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:45.680 I think it might have been a wedding maybe the next day or something, and there they're taking a picture. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:53.760 Now imagine I had walked over to this group and offered myself to be in this picture with them. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:02:00.319 I actually they would have been like, can you move a little to the left, a little more to the left, a little more to can you actually just don't talk to us? 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:11.039 Now, why would that well of course that would be that way because I'm not this powerful man of influence coming into their common world, right? 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:21.919 There's something about when a powerful person comes into a common world and it is um it resonates. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:24.080 It means something, right? 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:27.919 So here's a way to think about it when it comes to God. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.759 It's this is that the love is great because the power is great. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:34.000 The love is great because the power is great. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:38.159 It's like this is great because that is great. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.840 And see, this is where we're at coming into Exodus chapter 7, right? 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:42.240 Remember? 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:50.639 I mean, six generations of slavery for these people, the Israelites in Egypt, six generations, Moses and Aaron have been raised up. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:57.919 Go to Pharaoh, go to the king of Egypt, go to him, and say, Hey, you know, free these people, and Pharaoh's not having any of that. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:03.520 And so they're requesting on on behalf of God, you need to release the people, like you don't know what's coming. 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:10.800 And then we get to this point in the story because Pharaoh is still resistant, he's not letting the people go, and then the plagues start. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.520 Nasty, horrific plagues. 00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:22.479 And maybe you're here, and this is you go, this is this is actually just the type of story that makes me go, like, I don't believe that. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:29.039 Like, I don't, that's where the Bible, I'm not into the Bible, is because of that. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:43.599 Because on one side you have God that is so absolutely for an oppressed people, and then on the other side, it's just like he's it feels like he's so against these other people. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.960 I mean, I read this and I have a lot of questions, and I've been reading this story for a long time. 00:03:51.039 --> 00:03:52.560 But he's doing something. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:57.199 And that's what I want us to see this morning, is that he's doing something. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:06.479 Because the story, this story, difficult, difficult story, this story is a part of a grander story. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:11.439 So let me reread what Courtney read for us, because I like to read it. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.400 It helps me within my sermon if I can read it, so just bear with me. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:16.319 Exodus 7, 8 through 13. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:26.720 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you, prove yourselves by working a miracle, then you shall say to Aaron, Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a servant. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.480 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:35.199 Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.920 Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, magician, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:51.600 Now I'm not quite sure, like legit, not legit, tricky, not like David Blaine, tricky, or like real, like, you know, demonic stuff. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:52.399 I I don't know. 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:53.360 I'm open to either. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.560 I'm totally open to either. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:56.079 You can be open to either as well. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:05:06.160 But this is what's playing out, and then here's what happens is for each man cast down his staff and they became serpents, but Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs, right? 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:11.199 I mean, just basically God saying, like, uh-uh, like, like I'm bigger than you. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.240 Like, like your gods, your ways, your things, I'm big. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:15.839 I just swallow it up. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:22.319 Yet still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them as the Lord had said. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:24.240 So Pharaoh's still resistant, right? 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:27.759 I mean, he sees this, he's still resistant. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:31.680 And then this is when the story just gets really rough. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:34.319 These ten plagues. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:39.040 I have ten two points, not ten points, oh Lord, that'd be rough for you. 00:05:39.199 --> 00:05:40.800 Uh two points this morning. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.920 And the first is this is the the furious justice of God is seen in the ten plagues. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.279 The furious justice of God is seen in the ten plagues. 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:55.839 And the second point is the furious love of God is seen in God's actions in history. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:59.040 So, point number one, let's work our way through this so we can understand this. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.160 It's difficult to understand. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:04.480 The furious justice of God is seen in the ten plagues. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.879 Well, Monday I sat down and I opened up my Bible, next chapter, what's coming next. 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:10.800 And you're like, oh, joyful, ten plagues. 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:12.000 What a great week, right? 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:15.759 Like, I can't wait to spend my week studying the ten plagues. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.240 This is going to be a wonderful, how exciting. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:32.639 I mean, even yesterday uh we were at a pumpkin patch, we're on like a hay ride, and you know, it's fall, and it's crisp outside, and the sun is shining, and we're sitting in the hay, and there's like this little part of my brain went to the sermon, and I'm like, ten plagues. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:35.759 Like, well, that's that's that's so exciting, right? 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.800 I mean, there's just not a lot of excitement around the ten plagues. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:44.879 And yet, yet, there's still so much for us in this story. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:47.519 So much for us. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:07:05.600 So this week I dare to do something I had not done before, and that was like, maybe maybe I'll step back from viewing this story as a 36-year-old post-Enlightenment Western American Christian raised in the Southeast, conservative Christianity person. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:12.879 Maybe, maybe step back and maybe just look at it, and what was this story like for the Egyptian mom? 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:15.680 Same story. 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:18.000 I mean, imagine this. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:20.959 You you have children to feed, care for, it's hot out. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.279 You're in Egypt, by the way, it's hot out. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:28.079 And then all the water in your village turns foul and bloody. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:31.839 Kills all the fish, ruins drinking supply. 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:35.920 So there's no water to water the crops, there's no water for your livestock. 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:41.519 I mean, livestock, maybe maybe they have a little bit of wine to drink, maybe have a little bit stored up. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.439 They're burning with thirst, so eventually they drink the blood. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:47.040 They have no choice. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:51.360 Maybe one of the children becomes sick and dies, and then frogs come. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:53.360 Second plague. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:54.240 All the frogs come. 00:07:54.399 --> 00:08:01.360 Frogs are everywhere, they cover everything, they're in the tents, they're in beds, they're dying, they're rotting in the sun, it smells horrible. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.120 And then this brings gnats. 00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:05.680 Gnats come like they've never seen before. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.839 The air is thick with them, getting in their mouths, and then their ears, and their children's mouths, and their children's ears, up their children's noses. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:14.800 I mean, they're air, they can't get away from them. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:21.120 I mean, the mother's just barely surviving, getting by, just barely short of insanity here. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:34.159 And then flies come and cover all their food, the livestock go berserk, and then a plague kills all the livestock, and then nobody will eat the meat of the livestock because they're scared that there's something wrong with the meat. 00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:40.639 I mean, the mother, the children, these people, they're being broken like never before. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:42.320 And then sickness strikes them. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:44.240 They get boils all over their bodies. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:51.440 I mean, they can't stand, they can't sit, they can't lay down, they can't do anything without being miserably uncomfortable. 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:59.120 And then hail comes, maybe it kills her last goat that they were using for milk, maybe it crushes their barley. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:04.240 What's left is eaten by the locusts, anyway, because they come next. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:06.720 And then the skies go black. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:07.919 Just darkness. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:08.720 Middle of the day. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:10.159 It goes dark. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:18.320 And then finally, in case that wasn't enough to break you, the firstborn of every family dies. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:22.639 And they're left with nothing. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:25.679 Except a question. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:28.720 Who is causing this? 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:44.799 Because we had a God of the Nile, and we had a God of fertility, and we had a God for the crops, and we had a God for the rain, and we had a God, we had created a God for everything, and we were sacrificing them, and we were working for them, and apparently they're powerless. 00:09:45.039 --> 00:09:47.440 Who is causing this? 00:09:49.840 --> 00:09:54.720 And so the Israelites see this, and the Israelites they go, Oh, I get it. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:56.480 I get who this God is. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:03.679 He is unbelievably powerful, and the Egyptians are left going, who is this? 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.039 And it can seem pointless to us at this point in history. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:10.159 We're so modern. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:23.519 It can seem, but at this point in history, the tribal gods, a god for this and a god for that, perhaps just this is part of the story of God of him laying out for humanity who he is. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.480 I always think back, and maybe I even shared the story. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:27.759 I can't remember, I'm getting old like that. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:37.279 I always think back to one night Christy was gone, and I said I had all three girls, and and we're we're gonna watch a movie, and so I decided, well, we're gonna we're gonna watch, we're gonna watch Annie, the original Annie. 00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:38.159 That'd be so great. 00:10:38.240 --> 00:10:40.480 We're gonna eat pizza, we're gonna watch the original Annie. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.639 And you know, I just not thought this through. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.919 I have these three little girls, these little sweet, sensitive hearts. 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.679 And the original Annie, I mean, it's it's like she's an orphan, right? 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:55.600 I mean, so right away you're explaining like an orphan and an orphanage, and the lady in the orphanage is not real nice. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:59.919 I mean, so we get through that, and I'm like, hang in there, hang in there, you know, like we're gonna be okay. 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:01.440 You know, why are they all crying? 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:04.799 You know, like we'll be okay, we'll be okay, and my girls are crying, we'll be okay. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:08.000 You know, like there's more to the story, there's more to the story, is all I keep saying. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:09.440 And we get to the end of the story. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:11.279 Do you remember the end of the original Annie? 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:15.519 I don't know about the new Annie, but the original Annie, like the drawbridge goes up. 00:11:15.600 --> 00:11:17.519 There's a scary man chasing her. 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.600 She's crawling up this drawbridge at the end, she's hanging, right? 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:35.840 Like she's hanging at the top, and like her rich future dad is on the helicopter coming in, and my girls are like crying, and she's gonna die, and the scary man, and I'm like, no, like hang on, the story's coming, the story's coming. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:46.799 And this is sort of what I feel like when I read these stories in the Old Testament and the stories about justice and the wrath of God, and you're going, like, yes, it's true, yes, it's but it's part of the story. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:48.080 There's more to the story. 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:50.320 It's going somewhere. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:52.000 It's going somewhere. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:57.440 He is saying something about his justice, but it's going somewhere. 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.480 And we can pretend like we don't care about justice. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:01.519 You can pretend like that. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:10.399 Like you can pretend like all you care about is love and all that, but you can pretend like that until you are hurt and you are wounded, and then all of a sudden you're all about justice. 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:20.399 Point number one: the furious justice of God is seen in the ten plagues, but it's not the end of the story. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:28.000 Because you have point number two, the furious love of God is seen in God's actions in history. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:36.399 The plagues are a lesson of love for both the Israelites and the Egyptians. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:41.360 Now you might think I'm crazy saying that based on the Egyptian mother. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:43.679 Maybe I am crazy for saying that. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:45.200 Doesn't mean it's not true. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:54.320 But see, each plague is, every single one of them is dismantling a false God that they held, that they had created. 00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:02.879 Whether it be that God of the Nile, the fertility god, or whatever God it was, I mean, every single plague was dismantling a God that they created. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:12.799 And if you want to know about suffering, real suffering, then live under the slavery of a false God. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:14.080 And we know about that. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:16.080 And our culture is just different. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:16.639 Right? 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.960 It's not frogs, it's not a god of a Nile. 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:21.759 We're way too, you know, we're way too smart for that. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:33.600 For us, it's just like the God of approval, God of comparison, wealth, materialism. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:37.039 And it doesn't give you freedom. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:38.159 You know it doesn't give you freedom. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.200 You do it just like I do it. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:40.320 It doesn't give us any freedom. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:48.240 Actually, what it does is the same thing that these Egyptians, the slavery they were living under, it demands of you more and more and more and more. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.440 More sacrifices, more sacrifices, more sacrifices. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:53.759 And then, like, like that's the promise. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:58.159 Like, and then it'll give you rain or sunshine or happiness. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:00.000 That's suffering. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:02.879 Like, that's the unseen suffering. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.200 Like, see, in this story, we see the seen suffering. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:06.960 And that's usually what we respond to, right? 00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:21.519 Like, that's the thing that we in our humanity, we have so much legitimate difficulty with in this story, is we read the ten plagues and we see all this suffering, legitimate suffering, and it's seen suffering, but we don't consider is all the unseen suffering. 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:31.679 And that is their day-to-day life, worshiping false gods that are exhausting them bit by bit by bit by bit. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:39.600 And God, in an act of justice on that idolatry, he reveals this to everyone. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:44.320 Listen, God is on a ruthless mission. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:56.159 A ruthless mission in all of our lives and all of humans to reveal to them that life outside of his grace and sovereignty is slavery. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:14:59.840 So after all this, right? 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:04.399 All these plagues, all of this, Pharaoh's seeing all this, he's experienced all this. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:07.440 And then we get this Exodus 10, 27 through 29. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:10.080 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and we've talked about that. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:12.240 I won't repreach it, although I really want to. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.759 The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:18.799 Pharaoh said to Moses, get out of my sight. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.159 Make sure you do not appear before me again. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.960 The day you see my face, you will die. 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.080 Just as you say, Moses replied, I will never appear before you again. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.600 Now, though there was that last plague. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:43.120 Right, I mean, incomprehensible pain and loss for Egyptians. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:46.639 I mean, uh the to lose the firstborn. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.039 And see, this is a judgment on ISIS. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.720 This is its God that protected children. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.600 Not too good of a God. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.480 And here's how this worked. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.159 It was different than all the other plagues. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:01.440 The other plagues just came. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:05.440 This plague, it required something of the people because here's what it said. 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.720 Here's how this played out. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.399 It said, hey, take an unblemished male lamb and kill it. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:24.320 Every Israelite family, take an unblemished male lamb, kill it, take the blood of the lamb and smear it on your doorposts, on the sides and on the top, and then take that lamb and roast it and eat it. 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:38.159 And every family that did that, when this angel came through and killed the firstborn of every family, and he saw the blood, he would pass over that house. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:40.320 This is where we get the term Passover. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.360 The only protection was the blood. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:52.559 And then Pharaoh finally lets him go. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:58.559 I mean, we hear these stories, and you just have you have a lot of questions, right? 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:04.720 I mean, you just have a lot of questions, but it doesn't mean it's not true, and it doesn't mean we shouldn't receive what it means for us. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:11.440 So I sort of got toward the end of the week of studying this and thinking about it and going, like, how do I, how do we think about this? 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:24.319 And so I just like to draw things, draw things out, it helps me, I don't know if it helps you, and so I I just sort of worked this up, just kind of you know, just trying to get away to think how do I think about this? 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:33.279 So you have this furious justice of God, and the acceptance is conditional, you have to make the sacrifice, you have to smear the blood. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:40.079 It's your sacrifice, and God is known as Yahweh, and God is known as Jehovah, He's known as mighty, He's known as just. 00:17:40.240 --> 00:17:47.519 And what we see in the scriptures, because in 1 Corinthians 5 7, what it says is that Christ is the final Passover. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.000 That's incredible, unbelievable news. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:58.160 So all this furious justice goes into Christ on the cross, and coming out of the cross, what we have is furious love. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.920 And the acceptance is unconditional because it's his sacrifice, not our sacrifice. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.240 And then in the New Testament, unbelievable, right? 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:13.200 In the New Testament it says, oh yeah, I'm still Jehovah, I'm still Yahweh, I'm still just, but you can now know me as Father. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:19.200 Oh, actually, by the way, you can know me as Abba, like dad. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:27.599 See, that's how big the cross is, that it handled the justice. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:42.960 See, you don't have to keep putting your hope in secular ways of deifying frogs and beetles and the Nile or work or relationships or status to bring you hope and relief. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:50.079 You also don't have to place your hope in your ability to keep making the sacrifices. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.119 Because in his love, he humbled himself, right? 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.440 Can't take you back to the golf course? 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:06.960 Like in like he crossed over and just became a part of the common person. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:13.599 The most powerful maiden the world walks over, takes a picture with common folks. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.519 Let me explain it this way. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:21.519 So this past week they filmed a movie on our street, very exciting, by the way, for everybody on our street. 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:33.759 And so it was filmed at the house, kind of diagonal across from ours, and they were there for probably a week or a little bit more, but the filming was for three days, Monday through Wednesday of this past week, and they just took over. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:37.680 Like we had to move our cars, like we couldn't drive in and out, and they just took over. 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:41.440 They filmed in our neighbor's front yard and then on the street. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:56.240 And so we would all go out in the afternoons and the evenings and just line our chairs up on the sidewalk across the street, and everybody'd have a beverage and kids are playing, and then when you know, action, you know, action, everybody get perfectly still and quiet, and they'd shoot. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:09.279 It was an Owen Wilson movie, so he's out in the front yard acting, and then Andy from the office is the other guy in the movie, and so he's there, and they're just like 15 feet away, and they're doing their scene, and then they go back to you know, the set, reset, and all that stuff's going on. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:16.960 There's like a hundred people making this thing happen in the street, and then you have all of us morons on the sidewalk lined up in our lawn chairs, right? 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:24.960 And so the whole week um we're working toward can we get a picture with Owen Wilson with all of our children? 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:29.359 I don't know if you realize that, but he's he's the voice of one of the cars and movie cars. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:36.000 I didn't even know this because we got girls, we don't do transportation apparently, we just do other forms of movies. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:41.920 So uh all the kids the last day have on t-shirts, a car's t-shirt. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.920 I mean, we're lined up on the sidewalk, we're ready. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.599 I mean, we're just, you know, we know like how long does this take? 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.799 It doesn't take that long, right? 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:53.279 I mean, you just walk across the street, you take a picture. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:57.920 I'm talking I'm thinking maybe if we time this thing out, it's maybe 60 to 90 seconds. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:59.680 Like, this is how long it takes. 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:01.359 And we're working toward it, it's gonna happen. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:02.720 We hear it's gonna happen, you know. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.880 Andrew, our contact, he's making it happen. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:06.240 Things are gonna happen, it's in the works. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:15.599 Owen Wilson's gonna cross the street, and then uh, you know, his scene ends and he goes and he gets in his car and he leaves. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:24.400 Now, maybe he had a flight to catch, maybe there's a contract issue and he needs to leave, maybe there's something we don't know about. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:29.119 But I I I do just wonder like how groundbreaking, right? 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:34.160 Like for him to take 60 to 90 seconds across the street. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:47.039 And just say, hey guys, thanks so much for letting us dominate your life for the past three days and tell you that you can't stand in your own front door in the front lawn and you can't talk on your street. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:48.240 Thank you for letting us do that. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.079 Can I get a picture with your kids? 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:51.519 Can can I do that? 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.279 I would love to do that. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:55.279 Right? 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:59.759 To have this mighty power that obviously the whole thing is just circles. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:05.119 Around him, I mean, to have this mighty power humble himself. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:10.079 For the powerful to become accessible, we would still see his power. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:13.279 We'd still see the justice, but we would know the love. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:19.759 We would still see his power and influence, but we would know some, we would know the tenderness. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.960 See, this is great because that is great. 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:41.119 See, Tim Keller, author, pastor, the guy I like to read, here's what he always says is that we know the extent and depth of his, of God's love for us because of what it cost him. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:23:03.119 So all this justice in God, perfect justice, all this justice in God is demanding to be satisfied, and he loves us so much that he crossed the street, he crossed the 18th green, he humbled himself on the cross rather than endlessly demanding us to be perfect. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:10.480 I read a quote this week, I was doing my devotions and I read this, and I was like, oh man, this ties in, or at least I thought it did. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:15.119 And it's a quote by Brendan Manning, great, late, fantastic author. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:29.279 He says, In the God I've come to know by sheer grace, the Jesus I met in the grounds of my own self has furiously loved me regardless of my state, grace or disgrace. 00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:30.559 And why? 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:42.880 For his love is never, never, never based on our performance, never conditioned by our moods of elation or depression. 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:48.960 The furious love of God knows no shadow of alteration or change. 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:54.559 It is reliable and always tender. 00:23:55.039 --> 00:24:07.680 The awesome love of our invisible God has become both visible and audible in Jesus Christ, the glory of the only Son filled with enduring love. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:12.000 See, the voice of love is always at work. 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:17.599 Even in the most difficult of stories that we read in the scriptures, the voice of love is always at work. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:27.759 See, that Passover, tenth plague, that Passover is to help all people get to the final Passover. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:35.039 And it points us to who God fully is, not a tribal God, not just a God of the Israelites. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:36.960 I mean, this would have been mind-blowing at the time. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.640 We don't even think about it at this point in history. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:46.400 This would have been mind-blowing at the time for them to think that a God might be inclusive of every tribe, every nation. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.480 This is what he's moving them toward. 00:24:50.720 --> 00:24:58.160 He's moving them toward the final Passover, his sacrifice for them. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:07.519 So, brothers and sisters, may you understand his furious justice as to be more enamored of his furious love for you. 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:09.119 Let's pray together. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:34.720 God, thank you that you are both just and loving, and that in the cross we do not live in the wake of just your justice. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:42.160 For in our brokenness and idolatry, we have no way to stand before you. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:48.079 And yet, in the cross and in your sacrifice for us, you humbled yourself. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:58.240 And in Jesus, we are ushered in to a relationship with you that's not based on our work, but based on your work. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:03.599 Relieved of the slavery that we still toil with. 00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:06.799 And yet our position sealed. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:10.160 We are your children. 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.559 You want to move us toward freedom. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:22.319 You want us to know you as Jehovah and as Yahweh, but you also want us to know you as Father and Abba. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:31.279 Help us to understand your justice more as to know your love in greater ways. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.359 In your Son's name we pray. 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:34.079 Amen.