WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org. 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:20.320 Let's pray together. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.320 Oh, Father, may we be able to see the joy on your face. 00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:31.440 Thank you for inviting us into your presence so we acknowledge that. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:42.079 We want to come before you this morning as kids who are safe and secure, unashamed to ask our Father for a good gift because he's got a lot of candy in his pocket. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:45.840 We want to be joyful and generous people. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.679 Even with our nonverbals, we want to preach the gospel. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:54.719 Make us more aware of who you are. 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.399 Increase our capacity to see ourselves through your eyes. 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:09.359 And increase our responsibility to notice those around us who need to know about your faithfulness and your goodness. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:12.079 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:13.040 Amen. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:14.719 Thank you guys. 00:01:14.879 --> 00:01:16.239 Well, good morning, church. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:23.200 I'll say, bless the Lord if you'll say, Oh my soul, bless the Lord, bless his holy name. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:24.400 My name is Chris. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:26.959 I'm kind of like a weird athlete's foot. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:29.439 I appear every once in a while at your church. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.640 You think you've gotten rid of me, and then I show up again. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:42.640 I pastor a couple microchurches uh in Franklin, Tennessee, and have just been a longtime friend and extended weird cousin of this church. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:44.159 So thank you so much. 00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:48.000 I just want to honor you guys for making it here this morning. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:49.680 Thank you for being present. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.040 I don't know about you. 00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:58.000 Getting myself and my family to a place actually on time usually is a minor miracle. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:05.120 Um, and I sometimes I'm usually never more unchristian than when I'm trying to go do Christian things with my family. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:09.759 Um so for those of you who need to repent for what happened on your way here, just take a minute. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:11.280 You and Jesus, it's okay. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:15.039 You are not alone, but you're here, and I want to honor that. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:19.840 And I've been praying for every single one of you, prayed over every chair, that you would hear from God. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:24.879 And you need to know that comes with my family's blessing, um, and that they're praying for you as well. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:28.719 Uh, thank you for the way that you guys have organized. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:30.960 Thank you for the staff that you have. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.560 Uh, Neil and Marcy, just want to honor you for always being. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:40.960 The Bible says this um, you are happy to share not only the gospel with me, but your very lives. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.159 And so my life is always better when I intersect your life. 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:45.599 So thank you for that. 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:47.759 All right, that's enough. 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.120 You guys have been journeying through the book of Acts, and this morning we're gonna take a break. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:58.719 So um I we we walk through books of the Bible together in our microchurches. 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.360 We try to read them every day and kind of interact with each other. 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:06.560 We always want to be telling God's story to each other so that our stories don't become the story. 00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.039 If I'm just living my story, it's so overwhelming. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.840 Sometimes it can feel so heavy and hopeless. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:19.919 But when I remind myself, I fit into this huge narrative both here and overseas, and there's this great cloud of witnesses. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:25.360 I get to read and remind myself, oh, okay, I'm a part of something bigger. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.479 Uh, and recently we were reading through the book of Judges. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.280 We're trying to get some Old Testament fiber in our diet, right? 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.199 Because I got to prove that, hey, we're a real church. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:36.479 Even though we meet in homes, we read the old testament, okay? 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:38.800 Maybe we'll talk about that later. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:43.280 But uh has anybody ever read any of the stories in Judges? 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:44.159 Okay. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:46.879 I was first exposed to this. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:54.240 Uh uh, my parents put me in Christian school up until about junior high, and and then it it all took a tragic left turn. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:57.439 But in the fifth grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:07.199 Weaver who, oh, she was round and lovely and glasses down here, and it swished like lycra every time she came down the hall, smelled a little bit like potpourri. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:20.399 And uh, she figured out one of one of the biggest influences looking back on why I wanted to teach, she figured out how to get rambunctious little fifth graders who capture their attention. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:28.399 She would read us the book of Judges every day in class, and she would leave off right at the climactic moment and say, we're gonna pick it up there again tomorrow. 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:36.480 If you can get fifth grade boys to start booing you for stop reading the Bible, you have a supernatural impartation from the Holy Spirit. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:45.680 So when I get to Judges, I'm smiling thinking about Miss Weaver, and then I'm reading these stories and going, How in the world are we gonna preach a sermon out of these? 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:46.879 We're about to find out. 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.399 So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Judges chapter three. 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:51.839 We'll put it up on the screen. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.079 I'm gonna read a story here. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:05:07.279 Um just for like genre's sake, for those of you who like shows on Netflix about Vikings and death and depravity and arbitrary violence, the book of Judges is for you. 00:05:07.439 --> 00:05:09.519 You're gonna feel it right at home, okay? 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.800 First three chapters are PG 13, and then it's just straight R. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:14.639 So just that's that's a heads up. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:18.000 And if you think the Bible's boring, you're reading the wrong passages. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.560 Pray for us as we read God's Word. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.920 Holy Spirit, would you give us eyes to see and ears to hear? 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.920 Jesus, would you go before us in this text and make a way? 00:05:28.800 --> 00:05:31.600 And together we say the words that ravage your heart. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:32.959 Speak, Lord. 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:35.120 Your servants are listening. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.000 Amen. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:38.560 So we're in Judges chapter 3. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:40.639 We'll start in verse 12. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:42.959 And I'm gonna read this whole section. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.879 So get locked and loaded, have fun, picture this in your mind. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:52.079 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:58.639 He gave King Eglon of Moab power over Israel because they had done what was evil in the Lord's sight. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:06.959 After Eglon convinced the Ammonites and the Amalekites to join forces with him, he attacked and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of palms. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:12.399 The Israelites served King Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:18.639 Then the Israelites cried out, 18 is just probably a magic number, like I'm praying that over my teenager. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.959 Like at 18 years, you're gonna cry out to the Lord and go, Oh my gosh, save me. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:32.720 The Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he raised up Ehud, son of Gera, left-handed Benjamite, as a deliverer for them. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:37.920 The Israelites sent him with tribute for the King Eglon of Moab. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.759 Ehud made for himself a double-edged sword 18 inches long. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:48.800 He strapped it to his right thigh, put it under his clothes, and bought tribute to King Eglon of Moab, who was an extremely fat man. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.600 Getting the casting pictures here, right? 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:56.800 When Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he dismissed the people who had carried it. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:03.439 At the carved images near Gilgal, he returned and said, King Eglon, I have a secret message for you. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.360 The king said, Silence! And all of his attendants left him. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:12.000 Then Ehud approached him while he was sitting on the throne in his upstairs room where it was cool. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:16.879 Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:25.439 And the king stood up from his throne, and Ehud with his left hand took the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into Egglon's belly. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:30.240 Even the handle went in after the blade, and Egolon's fat closed over it. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:36.639 So that Ehud did not withdraw the sword from his belly. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.160 And the waist came out. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.439 Ehud escaped by the way of the porch, closing and locking the doors of the upstairs room behind him. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.240 Ehud was gone when Egon's servants came in. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.560 They looked around and found the doors upstairs locked. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:50.720 They thought he was relieving himself in the cool room. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:56.639 The servants waited until they became embarrassed, like all of us reading this text out loud on Sunday morning. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:00.319 And they saw that he had not opened the doors to the upstairs room. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:04.959 So they took the key, opened the doors, and there was their Lord lying dead on the floor. 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:07.600 Ehud escaped while the servants waited. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:11.279 He passed the Jordan near the carved images when he reached Sarah. 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:16.000 After he arrived, he sounded the ram's horn throughout the hill country of Ephraim. 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:21.439 The Israelites came down with him from the hill country, and he became their leader. 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:27.519 He told them, Follow me, because the Lord has handed over your enemies, the Moabites, to you. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:34.480 So they followed him, captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:41.440 At that day at time they struck down about 10,000 Moabites, all stout and able-bodied men. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:43.360 Not a one of them escaped. 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:49.279 Moab became subject to Israel that day, and they had peace for eighty years. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.000 The word of the Lord for the people of God. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:55.360 I told you, right? 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:02.879 What you just got yourself into a slightly parental guided, suggested Netflix show. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:04.240 This is history, right? 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:05.279 At its finest. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.519 When you're reading through here, here's what I enjoy about all the genres in scripture. 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:15.519 This one especially, it is full of satire, suspense, and humor. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.799 What's setting this up, just in case you're wondering where this gets dropped in the Bible universe? 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:25.279 The prequel to this, right, you remember Moses who led his people out of Egypt? 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:31.600 He was a guy who was restricted by his speech patterns and then also his criminal record, but God decided to use him anyway. 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:38.559 So then he gets him, leads the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, but sometimes that slavery still lives in our heart. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:42.799 And so they're wandering around the deserts trying to burn out some old bad habits. 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:45.279 Then finally it's time to go into the promised land. 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:49.200 His intern named not Moses, Joshua takes over. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:51.440 They get in, they conquer the land. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:56.240 But again, their hearts are still drawn after foreign gods. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.240 And that slavery piece is tough to get out of, the habit of. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:08.320 And so the question that the entire book of Judges is asking us and asking the Israelites is this will you worship God alone? 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:20.639 Will you surrender and submit the totality of your life underneath the lordship and the care of Jesus Christ? 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:25.919 And when you don't, will you repent and return? 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.559 That's why we see all over butt judges this phrase. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:35.840 And again, and again, and again, and again. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:37.600 I don't know about you. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:42.879 I'm tired and embarrassed that I live in again and again and again. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.639 You ever sit down to have some prayer time and repent to the Lord and all you hear is this voice of shame? 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:50.080 Really, Chris? 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:51.279 Again? 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:53.679 We're here again? 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:55.120 Yeah. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:06.879 But again, and again, and again, what you learn about God is He is slow to anger and has quick loving and forgiveness waiting for you. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:09.679 Will you worship God and God alone? 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:13.440 And if you don't, will you repent quickly and return? 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:23.440 Because again, and again, and again, you will find a God who is with you and for you because of Jesus Christ. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:26.960 And he will come after you when you're not. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.759 Again and again and again. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:36.879 That's why we show up here again and again and again. 00:11:37.120 --> 00:12:02.000 To remind ourselves who we are, to say we're sorry when we're acting like we're outside of our identity, to get in classes to better understand how we can live out this gospel message, to find out places where we can step in and be a full representation of the gospel when people are in need, a place to raise our children and understand I can't do this by myself. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:05.600 Again and again and again. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:11.200 So I dropped you into a slightly inappropriate story, which Neil said beforehand, just be yourself. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:13.759 Okay, well, we're gonna talk about inappropriate stories then. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.679 Satire, suspense, and humor. 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:20.720 So did you see some of the suspense and humor moments, right? 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:23.200 The suspense is they're being oppressed. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:24.320 They need a liberator. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:29.440 It's been like 18 years, and uh, then there's the humor, right, of how they're drawing the picture. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:30.559 It's Eglon. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.080 He's kind of like this job of the hut, muy gordito, right? 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.039 So we're really getting a great villain picture. 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.279 So you have that suspense building up, and then there's the humor about who he is. 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:45.120 Then there's the suspense of they pick uh who's this guy? 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.600 Ehud from the tribe of Benjamin? 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:48.159 Okay. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:53.360 You got the suspense of he's in his shed fashioning out this dagger, putting it around his thigh. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:54.960 Well, how is he gonna get there? 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.799 Oh, he's gotta go pay tribute. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.559 Oh, so he's going to pay his taxes and say, hey, we're so sorry. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.320 Please continue to rule over us. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:05.360 But somehow he sneaks past the guards. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.240 And then there's this kind of humor, right? 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:12.240 Where he says to the king, I have a secret message for you. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:14.399 I am not right-handed, right? 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:15.440 I am left-handed. 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:17.360 You killed my father, prepared to die. 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:19.919 And just, oh my gosh, how did he do that? 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.919 And then there's a suspense, right? 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:31.360 He he actually gets him alone, and the guy wants to hear a message from God, which again, sometimes I get excited when people say, I think that God has something for you. 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:32.960 And I'm like, Great, I'd love to hear it. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:35.440 Now I'm gonna say, hey, show me your right thigh real quick. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:37.679 I just need to double check. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:39.519 Oh, yeah, okay, great, we'll take it. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:43.759 So he steps up, and then there's I understand this is gore and giggles. 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:45.039 There's a little humor here, right? 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:50.159 So he puts it into his belly and it goes all the way in, and you can't see it come out. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.480 Um, and his bowels release, okay? 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:54.799 The King James Version, God bless them. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:00.000 They're trying to do their British best to put some uh poopery over this passage. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:03.200 If you'll read it, it says the dirt came out. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.759 Okay, so there's a little bit of humor, right? 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:09.519 This is blood and giggles, they're like, oh, okay. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:11.279 But now you got the suspense. 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:13.759 He's killed the king, he's delivered him. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.960 Now there's a large man who he can't move, and the guards are outside the door. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:20.799 What is he gonna do? 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:27.279 Moves him into the bathroom, locks the door, says, do not disturb, and goes out the balcony and sneaks out. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:35.039 And then you have the humor of the guards going, uh King Eglon, King Eglon, on the bathroom. 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:36.559 Are you done with the sports section? 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:37.200 Hello. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.200 They have to wait till the point of embarrassment. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.879 And then they kick the door in and they find their king dead. 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:54.559 By this time, Hehood has retreated and he's rallied an army and they route and deliver the Israel to 40 years of peace. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:59.120 Satire, suspense, and humor. 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.200 Not dissimilar to our lives. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:11.120 So I told you about the suspense and the humor, but I left out the satire until the very last because it's in the text hiding in plain sight. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:14.720 Let me give you a definition of satire just in case you're wondering what it is. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:27.200 Satire is the art of making something or someone look ridiculous, raising laughter to embarrass, or to humble or discredit your opponents. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:37.039 God picked, raised up Ehud, a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:46.720 At first I didn't catch it, but then as I read on, Benjamin, the name of that tribe, literally means son of my right hand. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:55.600 God raised up a left-handed man from the tribe of right-handed people. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.559 Tell me again your excuse about why God can't use you. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:18.159 Tell me about why you can't have consequential conversations or spiritual conversations or hear the Holy Spirit speak to you in such a way that you can act right then and there and see God do miraculous things right in front of you in the midst of your mundane and boring life and exercising those details and errands? 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:27.279 God calls as a deliverer a left-handed man from the tribe of right-handed people. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:29.679 We want to make it even more powerful. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.039 Literally, in the Hebrew, it does not say left-handed. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.759 It says restricted in his right hand. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.360 Maybe a spiritual, just something. 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:53.440 All of us know what it's like to grow up in a tribe that values certain things that you do not possess. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:16:58.559 Spiritual, physical, emotional, relational. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:04.240 What does it feel like when you look around and go, People can do things that I cannot do? 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:06.240 Do I really fit in here? 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:09.440 Hehood. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:12.799 Restricted in his right hand. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:15.440 From the tribe of right-handed people. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:18.319 God calls a left-handed deliverer. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:20.079 Robert Ferrara, K. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:24.480 Pond, one of my favorite writers, calls this the left-handed power of the kingdom of God. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:32.079 We want to see like dominance and we're on the top and power and control and force submission, right? 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.880 We want to win, we want to dominate, we want to know that we're best. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:55.359 But then sneakily comes in Jesus and the power of the resurrection, not a man that you would behold and think any of, who comes from a weird part of Nazareth, who's teaching in different ways, but that left-handed power, the kingdom of God that sometimes you never see coming, winds up weaving a story of redemption so powerful you can't give yourself credit for it. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:05.119 What does it look like when we feel restricted in our right hand around a bunch of right-handed people? 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:13.599 A quick question I just I have for you this morning is what if because we all have limitations and liabilities, right? 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:18.000 Lincoln, unbelievably cute, amazing, right? 00:18:18.480 --> 00:18:24.319 He he's gonna have such gifts that God's given him that we're gonna have to identify, bring out, nurture, and cultivate. 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:26.400 He's also gonna have limits and liabilities. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.880 Your kids will have brokenness in a broken world. 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:35.759 None of us get through this without some sort of limitation, wound, or scar. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:37.119 Here's my question. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:46.880 What if the limitation that you've spent your entire life hiding is the very way that God wants to reveal Himself to you? 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:55.039 What if your restriction met the power of the resurrection? 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:06.799 What if what has been breaking you for 15 years is the very thing God wants to use to break the bondage of slavery for other people? 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:22.559 If you'll just have the courage to stop hiding it, to get rid of the voice of shame, and to surrender and submit it to God and say, all of my life, my gifts, my assets, my abilities, and also my liabilities and my limitations. 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.759 I surrender to the king and kingdom. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:28.240 Do with me what you will. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:31.119 What would it look like? 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:37.599 I I I know when I start talking this way, I uh I have a lot of some of my leader friends go, Chris, slow down, pump the brakes. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:41.680 You're always going straight into like the soul-crushing, fearful places. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:43.599 Can we just talk about football for a little bit? 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:45.200 I'm like, that's fine, sure. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:45.920 Great. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.680 Can we talk about it now? 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:52.720 I I I know this will take courage and vulnerability. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:20:01.680 Um and I know that when we're talking about it, some of you are shaking in your boots right now because you're thinking about that one thing that you go, mm-mm. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:04.720 No one will ever know that about me. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:15.119 I'm wondering this morning, would you have, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the ability to embrace that shake to see what he winds up doing? 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:23.599 To help drive the image and metaphor, I think this is really helpful sometimes when the Lord gives us pictures about what he's talking about in the text. 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:27.359 I want to show you a quick video from a TED talk called Embrace the Shake. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:29.920 If you'll direct your attention to the screen. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:36.559 So when I was in art school, I developed a shake in my hand, and this was the straightest line I could draw. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:43.039 Now, in in hindsight, it was actually good for some things like mixing a can of paint or shaking a Polaroid. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:45.519 But at the time, this was really doomsday. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.720 This was this was the destruction of my dream of becoming an artist. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:55.759 The shake developed out of really a single-minded pursuit of pointalism, just years of making tiny, tiny dots. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:02.799 And eventually these dots went from being perfectly round to looking more like tadbols because of the shake. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:07.920 So to compensate, I'd hold the pen tighter, and this progressively made the shake worse. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.680 So I'd hold the pen tighter still. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:16.160 And this became a vicious cycle that ended up causing so much pain and joint issues, I had trouble holding anything. 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:21.759 And after spending all my life wanting to do art, I left art school. 00:21:22.400 --> 00:21:24.000 And then I left art completely. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:31.920 But after a few years, I just couldn't stay away from art, and I decided to go to a neurologist about the shake and discovered I had permanent nerve damage. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:38.000 And he actually took one look at my squiggly line and said, Well, why don't you just embrace the shake? 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:39.599 So I did. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:43.279 I went home, I grabbed a pencil, and I just started letting my hand shake and shake. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:45.119 I was making all these scribble pictures. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:50.720 And even though it wasn't the kind of art that I was ultimately passionate about, it felt great. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:55.279 And more importantly, once I embraced the shake, I realized I could still make art. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:58.559 I just had to find a different approach to making the art that I wanted. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:06.079 I still enjoyed the fragmentation of pointalism, seeing these little tiny dots come together to make this unified whole. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:14.079 So I began experimenting with other ways to fragment images where the shake wouldn't affect the work, like dipping my feet in paint and walking on a canvas. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:23.839 Or in a 3D structure consisting of two by fours, creating a 2D image by burning it with a blowtorch. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:30.400 I discovered that if I worked in a larger scale and with bigger materials, my hand really wouldn't hurt. 00:22:30.640 --> 00:22:39.680 And after having gone from a single approach to art, I ended up having an approach to creativity that completely changed my artistic horizons. 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:46.799 This was the first time I'd encountered this idea that embracing limitations could actually drive creativity. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:53.599 At the time I was finishing up school and I was so excited to get a real job and finally afford new art supplies. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:23:01.759 I had this horrible little set of tools, and I felt like I could do so much more with the supplies I thought an artist was supposed to have. 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:04.240 I actually didn't even have a regular pair of scissors. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:08.720 I was using these metal shears until I stole a pair from the office that I worked at. 00:23:09.039 --> 00:23:16.319 So I got out of school, I got a job, I got a paycheck, I got myself to the art store, and I just went nuts buying supplies. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:23.759 And then when I got home, I sat down and I set myself to test to really try to create something just completely outside of the box. 00:23:24.000 --> 00:23:27.680 But I sat there for hours and nothing came to mind. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:33.839 The same thing the next day and then the next, quickly slipping into a creative slump. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:39.200 And I was in a dark place for a long time, unable to create. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:45.200 And it didn't make any sense because I was finally able to support my art, and yet I was creatively blank. 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:53.279 But as I searched around in the darkness, I realized I was actually paralyzed by all of the choices that I never had before. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:59.920 And it was then that I thought back to my jittery hands, embrace the shake. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:08.960 And I realized if I ever wanted my creativity back, I had to quit trying so hard to think outside of the box and get back into it. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:14.079 I wondered, could you become more creative then by looking for limitations? 00:24:15.039 --> 00:24:18.400 What if I could only create with a dollar's worth of supplies? 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:28.400 At this point, I was spending a lot of my evenings in well, I guess I still spent a lot of my evenings in Starbucks, but I I know you can ask for an extra cup if you want one. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:30.720 So I decided to ask for 50. 00:24:30.880 --> 00:24:32.720 Surprisingly, they just handed them right over. 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:37.279 And then with some pencils I already had, I made this project for only 80 cents. 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:45.680 It really became a moment of clarification for me that we need to first be limited in order to become limitless. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:53.200 I took this approach of thinking inside the box to my canvas and wondered what if instead of painting on a canvas, I could only paint on my chest. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:25:00.960 So I painted 30 images, one layer at a time, one on top of another, with each picture representing an influence in my life. 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:06.480 Or what if instead of painting with a brush, I could only paint with karate chops? 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:15.440 So I dipped my hands in paint and I just I just attacked the canvas and I actually hit so hard that I bruised a joint in my pinky and it was stuck straight for a couple weeks. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:32.960 Or what if what if instead of relying on myself, I had to rely on other people to create the content for the Thank you for going me with part of that is I'm a huge Bruce Lee fan, so I just wanted you to see the point where he did hid Bruce Lee. 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:41.440 But I'm gonna try to contain the pastoral and prophetic imagination of what that just translates. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:45.039 As pastors, that's what we see in our churches. 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:49.440 We see all of our fragmented lives coming together, right? 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:50.960 This is what Scripture said. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:25:56.400 You are God's masterpiece, created with works in advance to do in Christ Jesus. 00:25:56.559 --> 00:26:05.039 And even though you know your life is not this perfect, neat, tiny, refined little point, it's more like this squiggly line. 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:13.680 When we bring all of that together, God's creating a picture that we can't possibly fathom until we step back and take a look. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:22.160 And that your life and your limits and your liabilities not only belong here, they're essential. 00:26:22.559 --> 00:26:25.359 We need you to step in full force. 00:26:25.599 --> 00:26:40.640 Because I know what it's like, and so do you, that when we're trying really, really hard to control and manipulate every single outcome and relationship and financial decision in our life, and it's not working, we double down and do what? 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:41.920 We grip tighter. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:45.920 And we wind up having that nerve damage. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:56.319 And we begin to shake, and we begin to step back from partnering with God to create the future of the kingdom of God. 00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.240 And we basically go, Frank Sinatra, I'll do it my way. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:04.400 No, no, no, I'm not surrendering or submitting any of that stuff to you. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:07.599 I'm now in damage protection mode. 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:11.920 What is the most I can do so that the least amount of bad will happen to me? 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:20.880 And that has led to fragmentation and fracture in our souls, and we are distrustful and mistrustful people. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:24.160 But what if there's a different way that's possible? 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:26.400 What if you just owned it? 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:27.680 Yeah. 00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.960 I have been hurt and I have hurt people. 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:37.440 Yes, there are some shameful decisions I have made and some shameful things that have happened to me. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:43.519 Yes, there are certain situations in life that have me shaking in my boots. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:49.839 Like the artist said, what would it look like if I actually, with Jesus, embraced that shake? 00:27:50.079 --> 00:28:00.640 What if I saw the restriction as an opportunity for God's creative image to be put on display in front of the entire world? 00:28:02.079 --> 00:28:04.319 Now that's not the easiest thing to do. 00:28:04.880 --> 00:28:07.839 And there's multiple environments where this church tries to create. 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:11.039 Like you have a men's weekend coming up with Sam Storms, right? 00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:11.759 Awesome. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:14.480 Please let me be pumped in, be a video feed. 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:15.839 Love Sam Storms, incredible. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:22.880 You have women's weekends, you have weekday classes where you're trying to figure out what emotionally healthy spirituality looks like, what does this look like? 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:40.559 It is coming together with other wounded, shaking people and having the vulnerability, the availability, and the responsibility in front of God and each other to embrace that shake so that he can create something you never possibly could have imagined. 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:44.480 Or don't do that. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:46.079 Don't. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.400 I mean, this is technically your option, right? 00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:50.799 Yeah, God can use anybody, right? 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:53.200 That's great, left-handed guy and a right-handed trap. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:53.759 That's fine. 00:28:53.920 --> 00:28:54.640 That's fine for him. 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:56.000 But that's not gonna be me. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:02.319 What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna continue to control and I'm gonna continue to manipulate, and I'm just gonna let you see so much. 00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:04.240 And this is the perfect side. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:29.039 And quietly in my heart, I'm gonna nurse private addictions, anger, and resentment, let that build up, take it out on the people closest to me, participate in generational brokenness and hopelessness, and try to micromanage my life to my very last breath, realizing that at the end of my days, no one has ever truly known me, and I've never truly known God because I've never offered him my true self. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:45.119 Or we can embrace the shake and realize we're all squiggly lines trying to come together and see if the God who is the God of art itself can't assemble it. 00:29:45.440 --> 00:29:59.759 And we can decide, you know what, I don't know really know how to do this, but I'm done lying, I'm done denying my deformities, I'm done trying to act like I have it all together, I'm done trying to live the American dream that I am limitless and I can do anything I want. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:01.200 I can't. 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.119 I wonder if true creativity can't come in here. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:11.839 And before we we get to response time, I just want to make sure that I'm uh I'm being crystal clear here, by the way. 00:30:12.079 --> 00:30:14.240 I am not saying embrace the sin. 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:17.359 I'm saying embrace the shake. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:21.680 Okay, if you and I were talking, I'd like to dig down into your sin. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:30.240 Because chances are the shake that you have is for you getting your needs met sinfully rather than trusting God for that. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:39.039 Chances are underneath that sin is a longing and a desire that you chose not to trust God with, and you're gonna get it met in your own way. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.200 So I'm not saying, hey, it's okay, just keep on sinning that grace may abound. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:44.000 Not at all. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:31:07.519 What I'm saying is whatever it is that keeps you from boldly approaching the throne of grace as a son and daughter of the high king of heaven through the blood of Jesus, you embrace it, walk through it, and make sure you make a beeline to your daddy in heaven who will wrap you up in his arms and say, I've created you just like you are to put my display on for the rest of the world. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:13.039 And chances are it's not gonna look like right-handed power, but left-handed creativity. 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:20.720 When you can just start to shake your head and go, What am I doing leading the ministry of the Ukraine? 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:22.640 What are we doing adopting? 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:24.559 What are we doing leading this charge? 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:27.119 I can't believe I'm actually considering going overseas. 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:28.559 I hate plane travel. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:33.599 I can't believe I'm about to walk into a group of strangers and we're actually going to open up our lives together. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:34.640 What am I doing here? 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:38.079 Oh my gosh, the Lord is actually calling me to lead this ministry. 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.000 I'm not really sure it should be me. 00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:52.319 Every microchurch leader that we have power to disciple and lead in their relational networks, the second they start to do it, the first voice they hear in their head is, you're not qualified, you shouldn't be here, go back to what you were doing. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:32:00.400 Sometimes I wonder if the voice of shame and condemnation isn't the loudest when you're closest to embing territory and about to make a difference. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:04.240 What would it look like, church? 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:25.839 If we were not only honest about our restrictions and our limitations and our liabilities, but we actually embraced them and surrendered them underneath the sovereignty of Jesus Christ and said, I surrender that because I bless the wave that dashes me against the rock of the ages. 00:32:26.319 --> 00:32:32.799 I look back and I see the woman at the well who has this encounter with Jesus, who has so many restrictions and limitations, right? 00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:41.279 She's the wrong gender and the wrong people on the wrong side of the tracks with the wrong reputation at the wrong time of the day, out for an encounter with Jesus. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:53.599 And all of those excuses are actually reasons he picks to reveal his messianic identity to her, and she becomes the first evangelist in the Gospel of John with this simple evangelism strategy. 00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:59.119 Hey, come see the man who told me everything I ever did. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.119 Do you think he's the one? 00:33:05.119 --> 00:33:08.160 And you know everything I've ever done that I've been trying to hide. 00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:09.680 He told it to me. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:12.160 And you know what the text says? 00:33:13.039 --> 00:33:17.519 Many believed in the town because of the word of the woman. 00:33:18.480 --> 00:33:21.119 Ah, let's be a church that embraces the sheikh. 00:33:21.680 --> 00:33:31.599 Let's be a church that creatively assembles this robust kingdom vision so that we can taste and see that the Lord is good. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:39.519 And just so we're clear, this is not some Norman Vincent Peel positive of power, whatever, positive thinking spin. 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:41.359 This is the gospel, right? 00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:47.680 Jesus' restriction led to our rescue and salvation. 00:33:48.319 --> 00:34:00.000