WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:01.919 Good morning. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:05.200 Welcome to Christ Community Church. 00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:10.000 We are very happy that you're here and we're happy to be here too. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:14.640 Um sorry that it's so chilly. 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.120 You'd have been with me at my wedding yesterday afternoon. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:19.679 You'd be happy that it's chilly. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:20.480 Uh trust me. 00:00:20.559 --> 00:00:21.120 But anyway. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:22.079 Let's pull it down a little bit. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:22.480 Oh, sorry. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:25.440 I'm getting the sign language from the crew in the back. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:27.839 Okay, thank you. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:28.719 Thank you. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:37.280 Um we're gonna look at this parable uh in Luke chapter 8. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:53.520 It's you can find that parable in Matthew, Mark, and in Luke, and that's very significant because there's not but just a few things that all three of those gospel writers chose to repeat. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:58.000 And so that means that it's uh really significant. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.880 And so I will probably need to look at this to today and next week, too. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:06.239 I don't know that we'll get through with everything today, but that's all right. 00:01:06.480 --> 00:01:11.680 Um listening, oh well, let me say this about the parable just before we get started. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:24.079 This was probably, if if the smart people that I read regularly are right, then this was the very first parable that Jesus taught. 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:33.840 There are other parables in some of the gospels that are mentioned earlier, but that doesn't mean that they were taught earlier. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:43.680 This is probably the very first one that Jesus taught, and it's the parable where Jesus explains why he used parables. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:45.680 So it's very significant. 00:01:45.840 --> 00:01:47.840 It's a very important parable. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:52.319 And um, yeah, we'll talk more about that in a minute. 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:55.040 Um listening is very important. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:01:57.599 Listening is very important. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:10.240 Um it will determine our lives and our relationships and our marriages, our futures, right? 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:11.280 Right. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:37.599 Part of being a human being is our, hopefully, our recognition, our acknowledgement, our ownership that listening is not only important, it's very, very difficult for almost all of us. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:39.439 We get it honest. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:42.080 Uh it's what started all the problems. 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:44.800 Adam and Eve had a hard time listening. 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:50.800 And we've received the same family trait. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:03:11.520 Uh, truth be told, you probably don't have a relational problem in your life that, in some degree, small or large, is not the result of one or two of you being unwilling to listen well. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:31.280 Um, there is nothing that I see in my counseling of couples that is a bigger cause of relational trouble than their inability or their unwillingness to listen to one another. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:36.080 Now, I know you're about to say, but Larry, you do such a good job of listening, right? 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:37.039 Yes. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:38.800 Yes, dear. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:43.439 Um, it it it's true of all of us. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:56.000 Everyone, I think, has some struggle listening, really hearing what a person's saying, stopping what they're thinking to listen to the next person, rather than thinking about how they're going to resp respond to it. 00:03:56.159 --> 00:04:01.120 But um, Larry has a unique ability to um, you know, I'm kidding you. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:03.199 To No, it's the I struggle. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:04.159 I struggle with this. 00:04:04.479 --> 00:04:15.759 To start to hear the beginning of this the thing I'm saying, or the question or the comment that I'm gonna say, and thinking where it surely must go, must begin. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.439 Surely this is going here, and then answer that. 00:04:21.920 --> 00:04:22.959 You know what I'm saying? 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.120 Rather than the I haven't finished the question yet. 00:04:25.199 --> 00:04:25.920 It wasn't going there. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.040 It's going, but he he thinks, well, it's gonna go there. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:36.879 And expediency is uh a big uh trait uh well, a good trait that Libra has. 00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:42.800 And so the expedient way is to hear just a little bit and go, well, this is going here, so I'll go ahead and answer that. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:49.600 So it begs the question: should I have waited for you to finish the question? 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.360 That's one possible answer. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:57.600 Another possible answer is you could have asked a better question, that would have gone toward my answer. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:08.959 Just I can I can formulate a good solid question, pretty sure. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:10.240 No. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.319 And so we we've learned a pattern of uh-oh, uh-uh, uh oh. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:16.079 That's not my question. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.240 You know, and vice versa. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.720 I'm sure you could tell plenty of times that I haven't listened. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:22.399 We interrupt each other all the time. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:31.199 But you do a so much better job of that than me, than I do. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:33.680 Um part of it is your rearing. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:40.160 Uh our family was wonderful, but it was always combative. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:47.040 It was survival of the fittest, you know, who could sway the argument, overpower the argument. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.040 You wanted to win the argument. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:06:07.920 I've to a tragically, let me say that, tragically, I'm wanting to make the conversation a means to an end, rather than making the conversation that which is utmost important. 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.360 And that's not my parents' fault. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.360 It's just, it's just, it's a yeah, you you see. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:24.480 And so learning, choosing, intentionally developing the skill of listening. 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.240 It's it's we do a terrible job of that, most of us. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:40.800 And for me, one more uh at school, it's interesting because I've been teaching school a very long time, and but the the students that enter, and I've said this before, but the students that enter my classroom are all always the same age. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:44.879 I am never the same age, but they're always 17. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:49.600 And then next year 74 more 17-year-olds come in there. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.720 So the gulf gets bigger and bigger between what they're saying. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:59.120 It's not impossible to breach at all, but what they're saying and what I can understand. 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:03.360 I mean, sometimes I literally have to say, I don't know those words. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.000 I don't know this language, I don't know those words. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:12.000 You have to tell me what you mean because this new language that evolved, I don't understand what you're saying. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:23.759 And they will do that, but the listening requirement, I am required more and more to listen more and more carefully as the breach in our ages gets bigger and bigger. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:25.920 Thank you for saying that. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:35.600 That leads me to something that I will say today, and then, Lord willing, next Sunday, and I want you to not miss the significance of it. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:08:07.120 Or the greater the distance between two people, two families, to uh the greater the difference between two, the more challenging it is to listen well. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:18.399 I want to say again, the greater the difference between two, the more challenging it is to listen well. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:21.040 I want you to think about that. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:23.360 A man and a woman. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:29.439 All the differences makes listening very hard. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:34.559 Between people that are of different ages. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:36.399 That's what you were talking about. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:53.919 You're getting older, the girls are not, and so the the longer that goes on, the the wider that gap becomes, and the wider that gap becomes, the more challenging it is to listen well. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.759 And I'm gonna go on the record and say that the responsibility falls on me. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:06.960 If I want to have a relationship with these people, the the responsibility of listening better falls on me. 00:09:07.679 --> 00:09:13.120 Because they're gonna they're gonna come and go amongst themselves, and their language is they understand that. 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:15.039 I'm the the one that doesn't understand it. 00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:19.679 So that responsibility is mine. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.600 Point well made. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:34.960 But if I were a wise student in that class, I would also take ownership and responsibility for that as well. 00:09:35.200 --> 00:10:11.600 Not instead of, but that's why we have our the problems in our society, whether it's the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor, males and females, young and old, different cultures, the the broader the difference or the distinctions, the harder it is to really effectively hear and understand what is being said. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:27.600 Because we we assume things, we are already formulating a response, um there's all kinds of uh preconceived ideas, distractions, familiarity with the part of it is that I've been married to this woman forever. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:29.840 Ever and ever and ever. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:40.000 She tricks me into connecting the dots twenty times in a row, and then she throws me a curveball. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.000 And so that that that's your fault. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:43.279 Got to keep things interesting. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:45.039 Yes, yes. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:11:10.159 Um the best thing that I will ever do with my life, and the best thing that you will ever do with your life, is make the intentional decision that you're gonna get to know the Lord Jesus. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:17.039 Whether you make him your Savior, there are people in this room that have not made the Lord Jesus your Savior. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:23.039 You've not heard, I love that song, Christopher. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:30.559 That actually you sang two in a row that talked about he calls you by your name. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:35.840 And then the second one said it he whispers your name or something like that. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:42.799 He calls you out of the grave, and he whispers your name in the night, or something close to that. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:59.519 And for there are people in this room that either you've are yet to hear him call your name, or you have heard him call your name, and you've said, not now, or no, thank you. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:27.200 Um but even if that's the case, I'm telling you, it is a good thing, a wise thing, a uh uh it is uh uh of great benefit for us to make the decision that we are gonna get to know who Jesus is, what he taught, what he believed, what he valued, and how he lived. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:37.120 And one of the things that made Jesus Jesus, Jesus at his core, he was a teacher. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:57.759 In fact, that was one of the favorite names that people that were around Jesus, he had other names, but the the I don't know that there was a name that anyone called Jesus more often than the title or the word teacher. 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.200 He was a teacher at his core. 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:11.679 And his favorite way to teach was using parables. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:20.320 He loved to use parables, and he, we don't know how many parables he taught or used. 00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:27.279 Um we have recorded, depending upon the theologian you read, there's some debate. 00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:32.480 There's between 30 and 50 parables recorded in the Gospels. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.279 Some people define parables differently, but there's at least 30. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:39.200 Somewhere between 30 and 50. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.679 What's unique about Jesus' parables? 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.080 Well, there's a zillion things that make them unique. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:59.039 One thing that makes them unique is that the all of Jesus' parables you can read from beginning to end, any one of his parables, somewhere between a few seconds and a few minutes. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:04.080 None of them take five minutes to teach or to read. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:21.039 Case in point, the one Rainy just read for us. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:29.519 Um Jesus used these tools, this tool, parables, for various reasons. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:40.480 And I won't get into all the reasons, but I will tell you that Jesus taught a wide range of people. 00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:58.080 When he would stand in a boat, like here, or on the seashore, or on a mountainside, or in a home, the crowds that listened to his words, they were made up of a wide range of people. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:02.720 Any thoughts on what kind of variety might be there? 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:03.519 Sure. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:09.039 Um eventually the the very poor and eventually the rich. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:09.840 Yeah. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:16.639 Um skeptics, doubters, um, working class folk. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:22.159 Um there were a lot of people that had been ousted by their group that followed Christ. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:22.799 Marginal. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.480 A lot of the marginalized people, a lot of the women were that way. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.720 You know, they had demons or they had, you know. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.799 Lepers, yeah. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:33.279 Yeah. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:33.600 Yeah. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:34.559 Sick. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.080 Um so a huge variety. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:42.799 And I think that's super interesting that it wasn't like one tiny core of a certain type of person. 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:49.759 In fact, it would have been the opposite of a group that was very united and homogenous. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:50.159 Yeah. 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:50.879 Wasn't that? 00:15:51.360 --> 00:16:06.799 Um very religious people, very irreligious, um people that were had been touched by by him and they adored him, people that were very suspicious, people that were afraid of him, opposed to him. 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:17.200 And one of the things that Jesus would do when he wanted to teach such a wide range of people is that he would teach them in parables. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:23.360 And I want to challenge, this will mean nothing to you if you didn't grow up in church. 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:25.919 Okay, so you don't have to worry about this. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:33.600 But if you really grew up in church and you've really been a Bible student most of your life, I want to make a statement that'll bother you probably. 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:35.600 You can just go home and think about it. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:39.679 Parables are not. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.440 Now remember this from seminary 40 some odd years ago. 00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:56.720 Not head taught me this statement that parables, I'll never forget the word he used, they were short, pithy, which what in the world does pithy mean? 00:16:57.039 --> 00:16:59.360 Like, you know, kind of memorable. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:00.159 Memorable. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:01.440 That's what pithy means. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.160 Anyway, okay, whatever have you. 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:13.039 Short, pithy nuggets of truth to help people understand how to live. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:18.960 That's not right at all. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:20.880 That's wrong. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:25.680 He probably was taught that 40 years earlier by his professor. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.440 That's not at all. 00:17:27.599 --> 00:17:44.240 Um, they were not, in fact, concise, pithy nuggets of truth to help us know how to be better, how to be moral, how to be nice, how to act nice. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.599 That's not what they were. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:46.880 How to be a good person. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:53.039 Yes, yes, that is not the purpose of parables. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.039 And I'm gonna, I'll just there, like I said, there are many purposes of parables. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.119 I want to give you just a couple. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:16.319 One of the things that led Jesus to use parables was the same purpose that the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel in particular, but many other Old Testament prophets, they used parables. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:23.680 In fact, that was one of their favorite modes of communication, was to use parables. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:29.920 And they used them for a specific reason, and Jesus used them for the same reason. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:42.240 And that was to force people, if you will, polarize people into two groups. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.359 It touched people's humility. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:53.839 These parables would touch people's humility, or it would touch their pride. 00:18:57.119 --> 00:19:23.440 People would hear the words of Jesus in these parables, just like the people heard Isaiah's parables or Jeremiah's or Ezekiel in particular, and when they would hear these nuggets of truth, if you will, those that heard them with ears of humility wanted to hear more. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:31.039 I don't understand, help me understand. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:35.599 I don't understand, help me understand more. 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:43.519 I'm not clear, so I'm coming for clarity. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:46.960 That was one of the purposes of parables. 00:19:48.240 --> 00:20:02.720 For people who heard Jesus' words, Jesus' parables, and their ears were clogged with pride, it offended, it alienated, it actually confirmed what they already suspected. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:05.200 This guy's stupid. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:08.000 This guy's nuts. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:12.480 This guy's, I knew there was something wrong with him. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:36.880 Parables touched on people's humility, people's pride, and it polarized them into groups who wanted to know and hear and understand more and better, and people who heard, but it just confirmed what they already knew. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.359 I don't want what he's selling. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:58.960 It opened wider the open-minded, and it closed more definitely the closed-minded. 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:23.039 Another thing that Jesus' parables did, it was a very subtle but powerful way of helping people understand in the first century and in the twenty-first century how God wants us to study his word. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:29.119 Jesus did not give people list of rules. 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:44.240 Just tell me the ten things I need to do to be happy, successful, and get to heaven, and I'll follow that checklist and then buy. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.119 I got this. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:49.680 That's not the way Jesus taught. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:52.319 That's not what Jesus taught. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:54.319 Well, that list of rules already existed. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:55.599 The Pharisees lived by it. 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:59.359 I mean, it was you know and couldn't uphold it. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:01.759 It already existed. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:03.599 He had to do it another way. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:04.480 Yes, that's good. 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:05.279 You know what I'm saying? 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:07.359 Yes, that's that's very good. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:17.440 That's not the way Jesus ever intended for his listeners to receive what he was teaching. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:24.160 It was never God's intention, nor the writers that God chose to write his word. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:37.839 It was never their intention for us to just read the Bible, identify a list of commandments that God wants us to obey, and then move on. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:23:06.400 The Bible was written, Jesus spoke, with the intention that we would hear, we would recognize that God is speaking, and then we would go home and we would ponder and we would wrestle and we would discuss and we would ask questions and we would argue and debate all with ears of humility. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.559 That I don't there, I will miss this. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:42.799 On my best day, I will miss what God is saying to me unless I get his help and your help and y'all's help, and I go back to this truth, this idea, this way of life again and again and again and again, and over time, a little crack, and I begin to see. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:47.039 And then I see more and I see more and I see more. 00:23:52.960 --> 00:24:02.880 One of the things that I see is that, oh my gosh, there's still a Pacific Ocean more that I haven't seen. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:14.079 Part of the purpose of parables is that Jesus is saying, if you come to a place where you conclude, I've read the Bible, I've got that. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.559 Let's move on. 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:20.319 You missed the whole conversation. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:22.079 You missed. 00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:31.759 Jesus spoke in parables to confirm what David wrote in the very first Psalm. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:43.039 Blessed is the one who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:54.000 The parables were designed by Jesus to communicate. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:59.839 God does not want us to follow a bunch of rules. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:16.480 He wants us to discover his heart, his values, his priorities, his passions, to grow in our ability to trust his love and his wisdom. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:32.720 And one of the things that's uncomfortable for any of us in this room that grew up in very fundamental, I'll leave any denominations out, I'll just say very conservative fundamental spiritual communities. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:54.079 It's very uncomfortable for us to come to the conclusion that God might be speaking to Brenda about things in her life and speaking to her in ways that would be very different than he might be speaking to Robin with the very same passage of Scripture. 00:25:54.319 --> 00:26:11.759 And for those of us, and I'm raising my hand first, who sees Christianity, if I don't fight it every day, I will see Christianity as this box full of little compartments. 00:26:12.640 --> 00:26:15.359 And the goal, just no need to listen. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:25.279 Just identify the truths, pull them out, and plug them, you know, put them in the little boxes, and when you get the whole dead gum thing filled, you win. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:28.559 But that's not how God wrote the Bible. 00:26:28.640 --> 00:26:30.319 It's not the way Jesus taught. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.119 It was not Jesus' desire or goal. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:39.519 He taught people in ways that forced them to go, what? 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:42.240 What are you saying? 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:44.720 I need help. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:58.319 I need to go home and pray about this and read this and reread this and think about this and talk about this, both to Jesus and to those others that love Jesus. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:03.920 It's a completely different way of seeing things. 00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:09.200 I found this verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:10.720 It says this, listen. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:19.039 The law kills, but the Spirit gives life. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:26.799 Jesus wants us to grasp God's heart, not his rules. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:32.880 Because rules are for babies and slaves. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.039 That's not who Jesus came for. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.119 Jesus didn't come for babies and slaves. 00:27:39.279 --> 00:27:42.400 I mean, you understand, yes, of course he did. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:47.279 But what he really is seeking after are sons and daughters. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.920 He wants to create us into sons and daughters. 00:27:50.160 --> 00:28:01.440 Sons and daughters who've gotten to know their dad and they trust him and they love him and they've got, they've they've spent enough time with him, they go, of course that's the right way to do. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:04.079 Why wouldn't you do it that way? 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:06.319 Of course that's the wise way. 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:19.759 And they embrace those, those ways of living, not as laws and rules, but just as superior ways of living. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:52.240 You tell me all the time, you in jest about the girls that come into your room, and there's such a difference in the girls that come into your room, who want to know what do I have to do to get an A, versus the ones that come into the room, and they want what you possess to get in them, to get on them, to affect them. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:53.359 You know what I'm saying? 00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.160 Now you don't say it, you don't say it that way, but that is exactly those little girls do. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:03.279 And they've got their notepad and they've got their pencil, or they probably don't write that way anyway, but you know what I'm saying? 00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:04.640 And they're, what do I need? 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:06.559 What do I how many books do I have to read? 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:07.759 How many papers do I have to write? 00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:14.240 How long do the versus the girl, the little girl uh Ansley, who who came in and Ms. 00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:18.960 Ray, I want what's in you to get in me. 00:29:19.680 --> 00:29:20.799 You see that? 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:23.920 Faults. 00:29:28.480 --> 00:29:32.319 I think that what I think, I didn't know you were gonna say this. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:33.839 I didn't either. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:45.839 The answer is the same. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:30:01.200 You know, um, the girl who's who comes, and I will say there are fewer and fewer, it's it's but the girl who comes and says, Um, why did I make a 99 instead of a 100? 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:04.880 You know, um she needs to be slapped. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:06.079 She does not. 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:08.240 No, she does not. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:10.000 She needs the same answer. 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:11.440 She needs to be loved. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.480 She's she's um I know, I know. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:17.920 Somebody has made her feel like her, I don't know who made her feel like them. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:24.720 Maybe herself, maybe her family, I don't, maybe the system that she in a 99 is not enough. 00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.880 Or 98, God forbid, is j oh. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:51.359 Um I guess the answer is not the same, but the the big answer is the same, and that is that a good teacher, which Jesus, of course, is the example, wants everybody to come in all their different ways and get an answer of acceptance and love, even if they don't get it. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:54.000 It would be like me trying to get an A in chemistry. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:55.279 I'm not gonna do that. 00:30:56.799 --> 00:30:57.920 I can't do that. 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:01.599 But I can receive instruction from the chemistry teacher. 00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:10.640 I can be find myself in a place of humility rather than anger. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.039 It's something I don't get. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:24.640 This may be slightly off topic, but with with Rennie sitting in the front room, I remember picking her up from college, and college was over, and she was a theology major at Wheaton College. 00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:39.279 And so she gets in the car, college is over, we packed all the stuff in, I'm driving home or whatever, and she's in the back and she says something along the lines of you know, when Jesus was walking around with his disciples and preaching to people, I bet they thought he was pretty annoying. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:45.359 And I said, I literally said, I'm not sure everybody can say that. 00:31:46.480 --> 00:31:48.000 You can't call Jesus anointing. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.359 And then, what in the She said, but then think about it. 00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:52.160 Think about it. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:57.200 Someone asks Christ a question, and he says, Jesus, what's going on? 00:31:57.359 --> 00:31:58.640 Jesus, what's happening in the world? 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:00.880 What about the what about how we're supposed to live here? 00:32:00.960 --> 00:32:02.240 What about the kingdom of heaven? 00:32:02.400 --> 00:32:03.680 And he says this. 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:07.119 A farmer went out to plant a seed. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:08.799 Or consider the lilies. 00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:09.839 Consider the lilies. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:16.640 Two people are walking together in the field, and you're like, I just ask you a direct question. 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:20.480 And he gives the answer that he gives. 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:22.720 And it's good. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:26.799 Chris's choice of the song A Good Good Father was perfect for today. 00:32:26.960 --> 00:32:27.440 Yeah, it is. 00:32:27.599 --> 00:32:28.799 Good job, dude. 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:35.359 And so the prideful will say, I gotta, you know. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.480 Well, because we humble will try to hear it. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:44.160 Make it clear, make it quick, make it simple, tell me what I need to know, and then I'm gonna move on. 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:46.480 Gosh, that sounds like me. 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:57.359 And I'm I'm I'm ashamed of that, I truly am, but it's and that is not the way Jesus taught. 00:32:58.880 --> 00:33:04.960 Jesus did not come for the people that are making A's. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:08.960 You think Jesus, in the vast scheme of things, cares about that? 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:09.519 No. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:18.079 He came to teach people things that would help them experience life. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:31.599 And he taught in a way that forced them to really listen the gulf between people that are different. 00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:35.200 The bigger the difference, the greater the gulf. 00:33:35.759 --> 00:33:39.039 Wow, wonder how wide the gulf is between me and Jesus. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:43.440 Which means the the more difficult it is for me to hear him. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:53.759 But he taught in a way that forced those that had ears to hear. 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:55.759 That's what he says. 00:33:56.640 --> 00:33:59.119 If you have ears to hear, listen. 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:09.199 And then I find it so significant that not in your the the one you read in Luke 8, but in the in the, I think it's in Matthew 15. 00:34:09.360 --> 00:34:10.719 I think it's Matthew 15. 00:34:11.199 --> 00:34:22.719 Um he told the parable, but who did he explain the parable to the disciples that evening, the ones that came back? 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:25.039 I want to know more. 00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.039 I don't understand Jesus. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:29.199 Would you explain this to me? 00:34:29.519 --> 00:34:33.599 And don't you know they probably asked that a hundred times. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:36.719 I stuck what about this, Jesus? 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:38.239 What about this, Jesus? 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:39.679 I'm confused about that. 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:49.039 And Jesus, it created dialogue and conversation and ultimately relationship. 00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:51.440 Because that's all Jesus cares about. 00:34:52.239 --> 00:34:54.079 That's all he cares about. 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:57.679 And so I've never told y'all this. 00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.280 This is new information. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.320 You ought to read your Bibles every day. 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:10.559 But not as a means of some kind of a spiritual boot camp checklist. 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:18.960 Canteen, bayonet, hand grenade, pistol, you know, whatever else you have in your in your backpack. 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:25.599 Um do we get up in the morning and do we hold this? 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:30.320 I mean, I know it's just ink and paper. 00:35:30.480 --> 00:35:31.760 I understand that. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:35.039 But it's also the words of life. 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:44.719 And do I approach it with the recognition that God wants to speak to me. 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:50.880 And He will speak to me if I will just listen. 00:35:51.760 --> 00:35:53.199 It's very hard. 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:55.119 It's very hard for me. 00:35:55.599 --> 00:36:04.400 My mind is racing all the things I need to get done for my mom and my daughter and my grandson and my wife and for y'all. 00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:08.079 Y'all send me these prayer requests and these things that I need to, and I want to do them. 00:36:08.559 --> 00:36:09.840 It's the joy of my life. 00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:23.199 And my mind is, and to be able to stop and focus on the one in whose presence I am dwelling right now. 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:35.280 And it's not how many chapters I read or what time of the day or what version of the of the Bible or uh, you know, uh none of that. 00:36:35.440 --> 00:36:41.840 It's if you have ears to hear, listen. 00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:45.199 If you have ears to hear, listen. 00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:52.559 We'll finish up next week. 00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:54.880 Um thank you. 00:37:05.119 --> 00:37:06.559 Thank you, friend. 00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:13.760 Um Bryce? 00:37:14.880 --> 00:37:16.880 You and Lawrence want to come help me? 00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:19.360 Well, I tell you what, I don't like you today, Larry. 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:20.400 April, you come. 00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:22.239 You and you and Bryce come. 00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:28.559 And um Dale and Donald, would y'all come and help me, please? 00:37:31.840 --> 00:37:35.599 Two of y'all come on this side and two of y'all this side. 00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:41.760 The question's not, is God speaking? 00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:52.159 I get in the car with my grandmother every my grandmother, my grandson every morning. 00:37:52.559 --> 00:37:57.199 And I feel this compulsion to try to talk to him. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:37:58.559 You know, how did you sleep? 00:37:58.719 --> 00:37:59.920 What did you dream about? 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:01.599 What did you eat for breakfast? 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:03.679 What's going to go on at school today? 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:09.360 You know, all just what he wants is to be left alone. 00:38:11.039 --> 00:38:14.079 Ah, wow, just be quiet. 00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:20.559 And I I understand that better than most. 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:29.039 But the joy of my life is to have conversation with him. 00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:33.360 And it the topic doesn't matter. 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:38.320 And it's, I'm not going to give him any answers that are going to necessarily change his day. 00:38:38.960 --> 00:38:43.440 What is important is that he knows that whatever he faces, I will be there. 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:45.280 I will be there. 00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:49.119 Win, lose, or draw, I'll be there. 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:53.679 Regardless of what we chat about, I'll be there. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:55.440 Don't you worry. 00:38:56.400 --> 00:39:04.400 God delights in talking with us, sharing with us, listening to us, and us listening to Him. 00:39:04.559 --> 00:39:15.760 Not necessarily because of the information that is exchanged, but just the preciousness and the connection. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:17.360 Just the connection. 00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:20.960 We have ears to hear. 00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:22.239 Let us hear. 00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:37.199 A supper which is arguably a parable. 00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:51.519 A parable that declares and reminds that God sent his son to establish a new kingdom. 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:56.960 And it's a kingdom that began or begins in people's hearts. 00:39:57.920 --> 00:40:17.599 And it begins and it that's possible because that son sacrificed his body and blood so that our sin, our debt, our offense, our rebellion, our selfishness could be forgiven and removed. 00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:25.280 And we could have relationship with this son, this new king that has come. 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:30.320 And he says, when you gather, eat and drink and remember. 00:40:30.960 --> 00:40:35.599 Remember and give thanks until the day that I come. 00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:46.159 And when he comes the second time, and we no longer have to do this, he'll establish his kingdom in more visible and powerful ways. 00:40:46.320 --> 00:40:50.400 Right now, it's still a mustard seed in our hearts. 00:40:51.199 --> 00:40:55.920 No less real, just operating in different ways. 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:57.760 And we'll talk about that next week. 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:07.440 But uh I invite you to come and eat and drink and give thanks and remember and rejoice that he is coming one day again.