WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:02.399 Woo! All I have to say. 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:03.359 We can just keep doing that. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:05.839 Steve actually does have something to share today, though. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.519 But God is so worthy of all of our praise, isn't he? 00:00:09.759 --> 00:00:10.560 He's so awesome. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:11.199 He loves us. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:24.879 Woo! Steve said I could share for a minute and then um and then if there's any time left, and he was actually what I what I wanted to share, just take a second. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:28.320 Um there's he's gonna share a little bit about this, but we had a lot of things. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:29.519 It's a new year. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:32.560 It's a fresh start, it's the beginning of a lot of things. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:33.759 It's gonna be an awesome year. 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:34.640 I really believe that. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.280 No matter what last year was like, it's gonna be an awesome year. 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:38.719 God is with us. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.159 God is with each of us, and he's doing some awesome things. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.240 So Steve's gonna share some about that today. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:47.920 Some things happen in some of the areas with all different ages of kids. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.600 It's it's incredible. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:58.079 And one of the things I wanted to personally thank a lot of people that are sitting in here is we we don't have a nursery back there anymore. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:00:59.840 Just want everybody to know that. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:02.159 We do not have a nursery back there where the nursery is. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.920 We have a garden, a beautiful garden. 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.680 And that was the vision that God gave for the for the nursery back there. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:20.640 And so we've a lot of us, I'm looking around, I see a lot of different people, boy, put a lot of time, sacrifice, energy, money, a lot of things into that nursery, and it is incredible. 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:37.599 It truly, I think, reveals the beauty of God, the creativity of God, the vision of God, and I do believe God gave the vision for that nursery through Megan McTear and then a lot of other people, helped her to implement that vision that God gave. 00:01:37.680 --> 00:01:42.879 And that vision is, and you'll see it right when you walk in, but the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. 00:01:43.840 --> 00:01:44.319 Get this. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:55.599 When it is sown, even though it is the smallest of seeds, it grows into the largest of all the garden plants so that even the birds of the air can nest in its shade. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:01.760 And so we got a whole bunch of gardeners back there today and they are sowing seeds today. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:03.120 And it's really awesome. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:08.400 And so our littlest seedlings, I really believe, will grow with God into the largest of trees. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:10.879 Largest of trees, and it's really awesome. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.400 But I just wanted to thank everybody who participated in that. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:15.919 It was a huge effort. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.439 And um, and I do think you can walk through the nurse, we got to keep safety and security. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:24.319 But if you want to walk through and look at that, all that everyone, all the love and the vision that God gave. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.240 Um, you can go after 1140 after all the kids are checked out if you want to walk through there. 00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.280 But I just want to thank God for giving vision. 00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:36.719 I just want to thank him for giving vision because he cares about we care about other people. 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.080 I hope all of us in her do and love other people, but he does even more. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:40.639 Okay. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:43.280 And especially those those children, he cares about them. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.159 And so I thank God for the vision, and I thank all of you who implemented that vision. 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:49.120 Thank you. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:02:57.360 Good morning. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.000 Happy New Year. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:18.960 I was uh, you know, the wild card playoff started uh yesterday, and there was they're showing a play, it was when the Titans won, and they call it the Music City Miracle, and it's the last play, and it's a big lateral, and they score, and I think it's a year they ended up playing in the Super Bowl in Atlanta. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:26.960 But I was thinking yesterday that uh that was a great play, but uh what's happened the last few weeks here really is a miracle. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:35.919 And any of us, probably all of us have been involved in big projects, and it's always more difficult and takes more time, and and uh just so much has happened. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:52.240 And really, the nursery's just been transformed and and um you know certainly not physically, there's just so much thought and and inspiration and love that has gone into that, and not just uh there, but really in every area in every area that affects our kids. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:57.599 Uh in his kids, we've got a new Team Five Clubhouse, and that's for the fifth graders. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:13.840 And uh starting today, the fifth graders have their own space to start out, and they get together, and then they get incorporated into uh the worship and into the teaching, and they have an opportunity to bribe to to lead and encourage the younger kids, and that's gonna be an exciting thing. 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:20.639 Uh this morning over on this side, uh w the youth area we call it the arena, um, for whatever reason. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:34.720 But um we, I guess, broadcast the worship live over there for the first time um today, and so uh the junior high students over there worshiping uh with us at the same time, and they're all super excited about that. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:58.560 And all that took so much uh um time, and there's so many people that gave uh just hours and hours and and equipment and companies that loaned uh their employees and uh did things at cost, and then so many of you uh gave financially, but just an exciting, exciting thing to see, and exciting to see that like Susan was talking about vision and and just the love for kids. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:05.120 You know, God loves kids so much, and so for us to be able to love on them uh is really exciting. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:20.319 And I will say, uh one group that really aren't kids anymore are the high school students, and uh y'all have gone from I guess maybe being loved on to to loving others and really helping a lot of people, and we're really proud of you and thankful for you as well. 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:33.199 Well, if it's your first time here, hope you can tell you just relax and uh and be yourself. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:34.240 I do agree with Susan. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:40.240 I think we're gonna have a great year, a great year together, um, a great year for for each of us individually. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:43.759 Um I was thinking about what I wanted to share this morning. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:48.319 To me, it's important because I really want us to start the year off, you know, uh right. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:54.959 And so I got went back and and forth about different different things, and I always kept coming back uh to the same thing. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:06:03.839 And it's so it's it's something we've talked about somewhere between some and a lot, but it uh is such a foundational truth. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:13.839 And and for me this week, thinking about it again, even though uh I've thought about it in the past, was just so great and uh encouraging uh for me. 00:06:14.319 --> 00:06:18.480 And so, what I want to talk about is the tree of life. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:38.639 And I really believe that I might say it is impossible to understand God without going back and understanding the Garden of Eden and what happened with people and God's uh relationship and and why and where God wants to take it now and uh and why. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:42.959 And it's a foundational thing in the Bible, it's really become foundational here. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:55.199 You know, in the talk about the kids area in um uh in his kids in the playground, there's a big tree of life uh uh clubhouse or tree house in the check-in area now. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:57.279 There's a big tree of life right in the middle. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:05.199 In in uh Marlin painted a beautiful tree of life in what is now a baby uh uh gym that you can see right as you walk in. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:10.959 In each room in the nursery, uh there's a a tree of life uh painted on the wall. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:28.319 Uh throughout the whole building, you can see where really the Holy Spirit, I believe, just flew, flowed, flew, flowed, I guess, uh, through Marlin, who just has created all these beautiful uh uh uh depictions of uh of the tree of life. 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:33.040 And in many ways, the Bible begins and ends with the tree of life. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:37.120 Um in Genesis 2, we find the first tree of life. 00:07:37.199 --> 00:07:42.319 And then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:48.160 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:53.040 In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.040 So that's at the beginning of the Bible. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:57.120 It's the very end of the Bible in Revelation. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:01.360 It says, Then the angel showed me water of life river, crystal bright. 00:08:01.439 --> 00:08:05.360 It flowed from the throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:11.519 The tree of life was planted on each side of the river, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:15.199 The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:22.560 So it's one of the keys to understand what God is really like, how he designed things, how he intended things, and what's important to him. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:27.839 Um so we'll start at the beginning in Genesis 1. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:30.319 So God created human beings in his own image. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:32.399 In the image of God, he created them. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:34.639 Male and female, he created them. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:52.399 So whether we're a guy or whether we're a gal, you know, we may not like the way we look, we may not like uh some of the different gifts that God gave us or didn't give us, but one thing you can know for sure, and that is that you are created in the image of God. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:58.240 Part of God Himself is imprinted upon you, is imprinted upon your heart. 00:08:58.480 --> 00:09:04.399 You know, sometimes we think we're just so inherently uh bad, and it's not true. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:25.279 You're created in the image of God, inherently good, and so a lot of the things that uh that we experience, joy when we give, uh desire sometimes to be parents or grandparents, a desire to help others, to pick up the underdog, desire to do things of lasting importance, those all come from God. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:30.320 Those all are part of you because you are created in the image of God. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:44.240 And different things that we we uh think about, different things that really reflect art, art and music and uh nature, all those things can reflect God, but nothing reflects God more than you. 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.200 Because you're created in his very image. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:49.120 And it was true of Adam and Eve. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.440 They were created in the image of God. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:02.159 Um it's interesting that the vision for the nursery is God's garden and uh with all the trees of life. 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.840 But God did plant a garden, and it was a it was an amazing place. 00:10:06.399 --> 00:10:12.320 Said, we read part of this, and the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:18.000 The Lord God made all sorts of trees, grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:22.480 In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:27.759 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.679 It's where Adam and Eve lived, and they really weren't that much different than us. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:39.200 You know, they had uh dreams and they had cares and they had responsibilities, and they also had a relationship with God. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:47.039 It says that God would come down in the cool of the evening and he'd walk and he would talk with Adam and Eve. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.519 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:59.039 But the Lord God warned him, You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.200 If you eat its fruit, you're sure to die. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:09.039 It wasn't so much him saying, This is going to be your punishment, it was him knowing how everything was created and said, This is gonna be the result. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:15.200 And so it's this beautiful garden, probably a bit unimaginable for us. 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:17.679 And in the middle, there's these two prominent trees. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:24.320 One is the tree of life, they can eat freely from that tree, live under the tree if uh if they want. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:35.519 Um, the other tree, uh, the forbidden fruit, if you will, uh we don't think about it much what the other tree is. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:38.240 In fact, we usually think of it uh wrongly. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:47.759 You know, we think of Eve and an apple and the forbidden fruit, and it might come to mind that, oh, it's some sort of selfishness, some sort of sexual sin, you know, some greed. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:55.360 You know, but the fruit and the forbidden fruit, what it was, uh, is critically important. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:04.639 It wasn't the tree of sexual desire, it wasn't greed, it wasn't the tree of drugs and alcohol abuse, although none of that gives life. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:08.159 It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:15.200 That was, we might say that is the forbidden fruit. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:16.480 It's kind of weird, isn't it? 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:24.000 Of all things, of all things that God would forbid, why would it be what we would call the rules? 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:26.720 This is good, this is evil. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:28.960 Do this, don't do that. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:31.120 The knowledge of good and evil. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:37.200 It happens to be the one thing that religion tends to focus on the most. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.320 The thing that is the forbidden fruit. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:43.919 We'll talk about that in more in a minute, but it's a choice. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:48.320 The choice was relationship and life or rules. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.480 Satan was going to come along soon and deceive them. 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:57.120 Uh Satan's a liar, and so pretty much everything he says to them is some form of lie. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:02.480 One day he asked the woman, Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden? 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.240 Well, of course, God didn't say that. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:05.440 It was just the one. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:11.440 Of course, we may eat from the trees in the garden, the woman replied, It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we're not allowed to eat. 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:14.080 God said you must not eat it or even touch it. 00:13:14.240 --> 00:13:15.679 If you do, you'll die. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:20.639 And Eve embellished a little bit because he actually didn't say not touch it. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:22.720 He just said, Not eat it. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:26.720 But then here goes Satan again, you won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:32.639 God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:34.559 And that was the big lie. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:40.799 It is still the big lie that you will be like God. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:42.799 We would say godly. 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:48.080 We will be godly if we just know what is good, what is evil. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:59.919 Learn what to do, determine to do more of that, learn what not to do, stop doing so much of that, and over time we become more and more godly, more and more like God. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:01.279 And it makes sense, really. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:06.159 I mean, God's good, so we do more good, we become more like Him. 00:14:06.399 --> 00:14:07.600 It's the big lie. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:10.799 It is the basis for most religion. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:22.639 It's uh a lie that invades much of Christianity, that we can become godly by learning all about what is good and what is evil. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:29.759 And so we can go to church and we can memorize um what's good, what's evil, to stop doing the evil. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:32.639 It's not God's plan. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:37.120 God's plan is embracing God's love and relationship with Him. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:45.919 You know, we can even become the morality police if we want, not only study it ourselves, make sure everybody around us knows what is good and what is evil. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.960 But it's not God's plan. 00:14:49.600 --> 00:14:55.759 In Philippians 3, it says, yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.600 Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my master. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:03.600 Firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:04.879 Dog dung. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:09.519 I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:21.279 I don't want some petty inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ, God's righteousness. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:24.960 Rules and religion and appearances. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:27.039 I mean, there is no life. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:30.799 But that is the tree that Adam and Eve chose. 00:15:31.039 --> 00:15:33.840 It's the the lie that they believed. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:35.919 And even then, God didn't abandon them. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:41.600 He clothed them and took care of them, but it was never set the same living at the wrong tree. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:45.039 And so for 4,000 years, people were stuck at that tree. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:53.840 And we look at the Old Testament, and um, I think if we were to be honest, God seems kind of schizophrenic. 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:00.799 You know, in the Old Testament, the way the way he was, compared to what we talk about uh in the New Testament. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:11.600 What we don't see is that a lot of the things that God did that we consider God's laws were actually things that he didn't necessarily want to do, but he was accommodating people. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:15.919 Uh it doesn't, the law doesn't always reflect God's heart. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:24.879 So there's a time when Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and they questioned about a law, and he says, you know, that law was only given because of your hard hearts. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:36.720 And the overall purpose of the law was was not to show people how to be godly and what it looks like to be godly. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:44.320 It was to prove to us that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a dead-end street. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.320 To get us back to the tree of life. 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:54.159 And Romans 3.20 says, For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.840 The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:04.559 Colossus 2.20 says, So why don't you keep on following the rules of the world, such as don't handle, don't taste, don't touch. 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:08.400 Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:20.960 These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline, but they provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires. 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:27.680 It's the difference between life and relationship and religion and rules. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:32.240 If we can get a hold of this, it really does change our life. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:41.440 If we just celebrated Christmas, and what Jesus did when he came to earth was to put us all back in the garden. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.279 So now we're not stuck with Adam and Eve's choice. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.000 Now we get to make our own choice. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.119 Is it going to be Jesus and God and love and life? 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:59.279 Or is it going to be religion and rules and a focus on what's good and evil? 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.720 And even, this is a little aside, but I mentioned God seeming schizophrenic, which he isn't. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:06.559 Um, but God's always been love. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:15.200 He showed so much mercy in the Old Testament, so much of the things that we don't understand, like why did he allow this or why did he do this is all intended to get us back to the tree of life. 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:23.680 And so things like we've talked about this before, but like in uh the flood, where most of the of the people in the world were killed. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:25.519 It's a short-term situation. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:32.720 It says in 1 Peter 4, and it's hard to understand, but it says that Jesus went back and preached to those that were killed in the flood. 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:37.039 And those that were destined uh for death now have eternal life. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:49.359 So God's plan has always been, even through the Old Testament, even through the Old Law, is to get us back to the garden, back to the tree of life, back in a relationship with God. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:52.319 And so we all have that choice. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:03.920 We just kind of naturally think that if we can get our act together, we can have a better relationship with God. 00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:10.000 But so much of what God does and the way God is is counterintuitive to us as people. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.440 Because the opposite's true. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:24.160 If we can just develop a deeper relationship with God, then He will help us over time get it together, change us from the inside out. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:33.759 And then we can have real life, you know, freedom forever with God kind of life. 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:41.440 You know, in a real relationship where we can feel his presence and we can experience his peace and his joy life. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:49.759 And so what we can see at the very start, the beginning of Genesis, is we don't become godly by memorizing a bunch of rules. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:56.640 We dive into a relationship with Jesus, and then he starts to change us from the inside out. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:03.759 John 10, it says, I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:08.559 John 11, 25 said, I am the resurrection and the life. 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:11.920 John 6, Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.920 Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.559 Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:22.480 John 5, you search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, but the scriptures point to me. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:26.640 John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.319 Jesus is the tree of life. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:41.200 And we all get to choose for ourselves religion and rules, or Jesus and a relationship with the living God. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:51.359 And the somewhat surprising thing is when we choose the relationship with God our Father, the Holy Spirit, with Jesus, we do become more godly. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:21:02.160 We do become more like God, which is to say, more like He made us, more in His image, more loving, more giving, more caring, less selfish. 00:21:03.839 --> 00:21:11.279 And of course there's choices that God wants us to make, and they're for our own good, but it's kind of a which comes first, the chicken or the egg sort of thing. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.960 Do we get it together and then connect with God? 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.039 Or do we connect with God and then he changes us? 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.960 So this time of year, I tell you, you know, not everybody does resolutions. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:27.279 I do, but mostly it's because of procrastination. 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.720 Where like September I think, you know, I really need to start eating better. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:36.000 I'm like, well, it's almost New Year's, so I'll just wait till then. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:51.759 Um but I do, I've got a bunch of goals, uh, eating better, getting in shape, spending more time with Jesus, you know, being a uh a better husband and dad and granddad and that type of things, um, ways that I want to lead better here. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:22:05.279 Uh but the most important thing I can do is not to muster up more self discipline, it's to get closer to Jesus to talk to him about everything, talk to him each day, develop our relationship. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:08.480 Paul had goals and he had plans. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.160 He talks about that in Romans. 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.880 It says, it happens so regularly that it's predictable. 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:17.039 The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:22.319 I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:27.440 Part of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:29.359 I've tried everything and nothing helps. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:30.400 I'm at the end of my rope. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:33.279 Is there no one who can do anything for me? 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:35.519 Isn't that the real question? 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:41.599 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:50.160 He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but I'm pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:54.880 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. 00:22:55.119 --> 00:23:01.599 Those who enter into Christ being here for us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:03.440 A new power is in operation. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:14.400 The spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a faded lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:21.759 This is God trying to give us life, real life, his life. 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:33.119 You know, we can just not get it together and then go to God. 00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.960 You know, in our own words, in our own way, it's Jesus, I need you. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:38.160 Jesus help me. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:39.839 Jesus, save me. 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:43.440 And then we are creating God's image with the Spirit inside of us. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:45.119 That Spirit comes alive. 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:48.079 And then He starts doing the heavy lifting. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:51.440 He starts changing us from the inside out. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:59.119 It says in Ephesians 3.20, God can do anything you know, far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:02.640 He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:06.240 His spirit deeply and gently within us. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:20.319 And so the key to 2013 being my best year ever, being all of our best years ever, being our best year as a family together, is developing our relationship with Jesus. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:23.759 Spending time with him, talking with him about everything. 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:35.119 You know, 2 Peter says, everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know personally and intimately the one who invited us to God. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:38.400 The best invitation we ever received. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:42.559 Jesus says, Live in me, make your home in me just as I do in you. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:50.640 In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself, but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you're joined with me. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:52.640 I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:25:00.319 When you've joined with me and I with you, the relationship intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. 00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:08.319 So our best New Year's resolution, if we do resolutions, is to live 2013 at the Tree of Life. 00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.640 You know, in a life-giving relationship with Jesus. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:23.440 I've talked before about kind of the difference in my life living it at uh one tree or another. 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:30.960 And I grew up in church, and uh it really was all about the rules. 00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:39.279 And not only that, but we actually felt like we knew the rules, no one else cared enough to really know um themselves. 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:52.240 And so we learned the right rules, and then we tried to do the right rules, and there wasn't a lot of life, but that's how I grew up grew up, and that was my thought process, and so it affected all areas of my life. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:59.680 Um like when I became a dad, I wanted to be a good dad, and I had a list in my mind of what makes a good dad. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:13.680 You know, it's gonna be we're gonna pray at meals, I'm gonna pray with the kids at bedtime, and I'm gonna coach their teams, and and I'm gonna go to their games and performances, and um and I did all those things. 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:29.839 But sometime, probably about two-thirds, uh too late for them to really enjoy it, but uh two-thirds into their uh their lives, I really met Jesus for the first time, and he started changing me, and I started to move to the other tree. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:32.079 See, that was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:35.200 This is what a good dad does, this is what a good dad doesn't do. 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:38.319 I'm gonna do what a good dad does, and therefore I'll be a good dad. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:57.599 Um, but when I moved to that other tree, I just fell in love with my kids, you know, and I wanted to know them, and I wanted to spend time with them, and I wanted to know what they were thinking about, I wanted to know what they were afraid of, I wanted to know what their dreams are and and and that type of thing. 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:02.240 And the other stuff happened too, you know, but it just happened naturally. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:06.720 And our relationship became one of life. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:25.680 You know, it's so easy with our spouses, you know, all relationships, but especially with our spouses, to live at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where we view our spouse as, you know, a constant list of, okay, I come home from work on time, that's good. 00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:27.519 I'm grumpy, that's evil. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:29.200 I take out the trash, good. 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:31.680 Lose my temper, evil. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:33.119 Good and evil, good and evil. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:38.079 We're always evaluating our spouse as you know, is it more good than evil? 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:48.880 You know, but we can move our entire relationship to the tree of life, where we just love each other, where we see that that we're created in the in God's image. 00:27:49.119 --> 00:28:00.000 And we notice the flaws and mistakes, and we take it upon ourselves to uh to fill in the gap and to provide strength and and and encouragement. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:09.039 And so we help each other in the areas that that we need and we appreciate each other uh the way that God's uh wired us. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:16.960 And then we just let Jesus fill us up with his life and his love and then pour that into each other. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.400 And we live life together. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.519 We can do it at work at our at our company. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:39.359 In fact, I would say that the people that I've known that have been, and the companies I've known that have been successful are people that live their business at the tree of life, or their careers at the tree of life, where it's not so much about, okay, I gotta do this, I gotta do that, I gotta do this, I gotta do that. 00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:47.200 It's more about helping and serving and and and and uh just pouring in to other people. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:51.759 We've got, at our company, we've got three books that each new person has to read. 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:58.240 Uh one before they start and two in the uh in the first 30 days um after they start. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:02.319 One I mentioned before, it's a book called Um The Energy Bus. 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:04.559 And it's by John Gordon. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:11.680 And uh I first heard of this book because Coach Rick, George's coach, was asked about how they turned their season around. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:23.680 And he said that Mike Smith, the coach of the Falcons, had given him a book that the whole staff of the Falcons reads, and he had ended up having his whole staff and team, and it just made a huge difference. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:25.599 It's this book called Energy Boss. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.400 And it's really a pretty simple book, it's kind of a novel, if you will. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:45.279 Um, but it's all about how we see things, you know, from what perspective, and and how if we live life in a positive way and see the best and see the good and see the opportunities and that type of thing, it affects um our whole life. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:47.200 And it it is so true. 00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:48.160 It is so true. 00:29:48.319 --> 00:29:51.279 And at work we can live at the tree of life. 00:29:51.440 --> 00:30:06.000 You know, we're we're encouraging our, we're not resenting our boss, we're encouraging our boss, and and we're not just competing with our co-workers, we're helping and encouraging and loving on our co-workers and our customers and and everybody around us. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:12.160 We can let Jesus fill up us up with his love and then pour it out at work as too. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:14.400 You know, in Philippians 4.8, it says, sum it all up, friends. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:26.400 I'd say you do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise, not things to curse. 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:30.960 Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:37.680 Do that, and God who makes everything work together will work you into his most excellent harmonies. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:44.640 You know, it's true with our really both our weaknesses and and good desires. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:48.720 You know, it's what tree do we want to live at? 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:57.680 You know, it could be that um it could be that I get on my computer and uh look at pornography. 00:30:58.319 --> 00:31:00.559 And then it's like, you know what, that's evil. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:01.759 I'm evil. 00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.319 You know, God must hate me right now. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.880 And the relationship just gets further and further apart with God and I. 00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:14.799 Or it could be, you know, that probably saddens God, but he loves me, you know, and so I go to him. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:15.680 You know what? 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:17.119 I don't want to be like this. 00:31:17.279 --> 00:31:20.079 You know, I'm not gonna just determine never to do it again. 00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:21.680 It's God, I need your help. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:23.759 I need you to help me see things differently. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.000 I need you to be my comfort. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:28.880 I need you, you know, it's it's true with anything. 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:35.279 It could be alcohol, it could be prescription drugs, it could be any area of weakness in our life. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:44.960 And just determining not to do something again and feeling like, okay, that's evil, I'm evil, is of no help. 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:47.519 We've got to get to the tree of life. 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:55.759 You know, where we, you know, in fact, I'd say uh the greatest recovery programs, that is the principle. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:58.880 It's that it's not enough just to decide to do better. 00:31:59.039 --> 00:32:01.440 I've got to abandon myself to God. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:07.440 I've got to allow God to change me, um, to uh to live with Him. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:09.839 But that all happens at the tree of life. 00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:13.599 It can be it can be with good desires. 00:32:13.759 --> 00:32:18.799 You know, uh God talks about generosity as a gift that some people have more naturally than others. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:26.319 And I be, you know, I really want to be more giving, I really want to be more generous, but you know, I just have trouble with it. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:28.240 A lot of times that that's really a trust issue. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:31.680 Do I really trust that God's gonna take uh care of me? 00:32:31.920 --> 00:32:34.480 But that's the type of thing, you know, God, you're generous. 00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:35.599 I want to be generous. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:37.839 You know, help me to trust you, change me. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:45.519 You know, it could be uh I grew up reading uh where reading the Bible every day was was uh kind of a big deal. 00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:48.079 And the problem with that is I hated it. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.240 And uh and so I decide, you know, okay, I'm gonna read the Bible, and I'd make it about a week, and then it was so boring. 00:32:54.400 --> 00:32:56.960 Um I would just put it down. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:59.920 You know, and so I was like, you know, I know God's not happy with me. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:05.759 I know that to please him, I've got to be reading his word every day, and it's good for me and all that type of stuff. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.599 But it just didn't happen. 00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:13.039 And that was living at the tree of knowledge and good and evil. 00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:17.759 Reading it's good, not reading it evil, reading good, not reading evil. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:31.039 Until one day, I took my Bible and myself over to the tree of life and said, you know, I know that this is good for me, and I know you say that it's good for me, but it just bores me to tears. 00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:33.039 And so I'm gonna need your help. 00:33:33.200 --> 00:33:38.960 I'm gonna need to help in seeing things differently, I'm gonna need to help and understand some of the stuff that doesn't make sense to me. 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:42.960 I'm gonna need the grace to skip over all the names in Leviticus or whatever. 00:33:43.200 --> 00:33:52.880 Um, but mostly, God, I need you to make me give me the desire to read your word. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:56.799 Make it exciting to me, make it life-giving to me. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:00.960 Make it so it's not a chore, make it something I love and enjoy. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:02.559 And you know, he did. 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:09.360 And and literally, every time I read God's word now, it's supernatural. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:10.960 It's supernatural. 00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:19.599 I come away encouraged, I come away peaceful, I come away excited, and it's rarely ever does it feel like a chore. 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:22.320 You know, it's living at the tree of life. 00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:25.039 This is what I want to be, this is how I want to be, God. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:27.280 We're buds. 00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:28.559 I need your help. 00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:29.760 Change me. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:32.400 Here's my good things, here's my bad things. 00:34:32.719 --> 00:34:33.599 It's all there. 00:34:33.840 --> 00:34:36.159 Just change me. 00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:51.440 You know, religion and rules and boring tradition does not make us who God created us to be. 00:34:52.480 --> 00:35:04.800 That only comes from living at the tree of life, where we stop trying to impress God and stop focusing on this is good, this is evil, this is good, this is evil. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:21.360 Instead, focus on our life-given relationship with Jesus, where we live every day just talking to Him about everything about our hopes, our fears, our weaknesses, our strengths, our relationships, our jobs, our kids, our lives, everything. 00:35:21.679 --> 00:35:23.360 Living at the tree of life. 00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:32.000 So if the worship team will come up, that's my hope for me and us this year is that we could just live this lot year at the tree of life. 00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:45.679 And it sounds I don't to me, the difference between the tree of life and the knowledge of good and evil is so weird it doesn't even make sense. 00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:47.840 It's almost like a can that really be true? 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:49.679 Well, can that be true? 00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:53.199 Because it's been drummed into my head my whole life. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:55.039 It is true. 00:35:55.280 --> 00:36:00.719 See, and here's the thing is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is still the forbidden fruit. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:02.480 Nothing's changed. 00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:04.400 God's put us back in the garden. 00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:05.519 We get to choose. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:07.679 And what's it gonna be? 00:36:07.840 --> 00:36:11.760 Do we really want a relationship with God? 00:36:12.000 --> 00:36:16.159 Do we really want to live our life with Jesus? 00:36:16.400 --> 00:36:18.239 And that's the only life there is. 00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:23.519 It's the difference between the forbidden fruit and the tree of life. 00:36:23.760 --> 00:36:26.079 And so that's probably new for some of us. 00:36:26.320 --> 00:36:32.159 Um and uh it's probably just a reminder for many of us. 00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:35.199 You know, but it's it's what God is really about. 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:39.039 I mean, of course, there's ways God wants us to live. 00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:51.039 But it's not about the rules, it's about the relationship, allowing Him into our lives, allowing Him to transform us from the inside out. 00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:58.000 And so in John 10, Jesus said that He came to give us more and better life than we could ever imagine. 00:36:58.320 --> 00:37:04.320 To me, that probably sums up most of our New Year's resolutions. 00:37:04.480 --> 00:37:07.840 More and better life than uh we could ever imagine. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:13.920 And that only comes of the tree of life, where we walk with God, experience him, and uh everything that he created. 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.880 So I think this year is going to be a special year for each of us. 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:26.960 I think it's a special year for us together as a church and family, and thank God for Jesus who tells us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:37:28.639 --> 00:37:31.760 I want to make sure that today was the day that we're doing the last song. 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.400