WEBVTT 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:07.200 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:08.400 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:10.560 I'm the pastor here at MetaChurch. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:18.239 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:20.800 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:32.719 As you guys know, it is Mother's Day 2020. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:38.479 We love our mamas so much here at MetaCurch, and most years we've really tried to blow it out. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:41.359 We've kind of started a tradition of giveaways. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:44.960 I think last year we gave away some big spa package and everything else. 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:50.079 Well, as you know, uh some things aren't open and not everyone's traveling and we're still somewhat quarantined. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:56.479 And so this year uh we took the safer route of allowing you to uh have something that's meaningful to you uh right at home. 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:03.119 We're going to be giving away in every one of our live streamed services, we're gonna be giving away Amazon gift cards. 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:08.079 I think they're hundred dollar gift cards, so some some serious cheddar for the mother in your life. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.920 And here's how the giveaway works. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.640 Uh, we need your help right now in the chat. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.959 I need you to put the name of a mother you would like to nominate. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.439 And yes, mothers, you can nominate yourself. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:20.959 Gosh dang it, you are worth it. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:21.599 You deserve it. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:25.120 But if you want to nominate your mom, if you're on social media, tag her. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:31.920 If she's on social media, tag her on there and just say a couple of things about why you love your mom so much. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:35.439 So right now, fill up that chat with the names of mothers. 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:42.560 We're gonna get all those names and we will randomly select some and announce the winners tomorrow, Monday, May 11th. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:44.719 Right now, fill up that chat while you're doing that. 00:01:44.879 --> 00:01:47.920 I'm gonna give shouts out to a few of the mothers in my life. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:52.400 First of all, my wife, Katie, who I'm sorry, babe, but you can't win because it would be a conflict of interest. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.640 But I love you anyway, but you can't win the Amazon card. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:01.840 Um, but it I have like hit the jackpot uh of all wives and watching her be a mother to our kids. 00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:14.319 And a lot of you know the way that God just miraculously brought our family together and all the different dynamics that were at play there, and just watching her and learning from her and just growing alongside of her, and you're such an incredible mother, and I'm thankful for you. 00:02:14.639 --> 00:02:17.360 If you're still in the chat, man, this is the kind of stuff you need to be doing. 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:18.560 Let your mom know. 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:26.719 My mom, Renee Tyner, I was trying to think what to say about my mom, and then I thought this could kind of like just wrap it all up. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:31.199 Two years ago, we moved across town, we moved to a new neighborhood. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:40.879 And when we got there, we immediately started searching, found a house 12 houses away, and begged and pleaded and manipulated my mom until she moved 12 houses away. 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:46.560 And as an adult, you want your mom close because you want the people that you love close, and I'm so thankful for all that you've done. 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:52.879 And and last but not least is my mother-in-law, and I've got like the mother-in-law that everyone dreams about having as a mother-in-law, and Mary Young. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:58.159 I wish I could get you 12 houses away as well, but you've got a pretty baller house where you live, so you're probably not coming. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:02:59.680 But I love all of you guys so much. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:13.599 I love all of the mothers who are out there, uh, single mothers, mothers who are just kind of in a standard family situation, adoptive mothers, foster mothers, uh, even shout out to single dads who are having to learn how to do ponytails and do all the kind of mother hat type things. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:15.680 Man, this is a day for all of you. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:27.360 We're so thankful, and today you're gonna see how you have provided us with the ultimate analogy to help us weather the storm that we are in right now in our world. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:32.240 So as the chat is filling up with names of mothers, uh, let me go ahead and pray over you. 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:37.199 God, uh, we love you, and we're thankful for you. 00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:41.759 And God, we just want to lift up every single mother. 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:44.960 God, we want to lift them all up to you. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:48.479 We want to ask for a day of blessing on their life. 00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:02.319 God, as their children, as their spouses, as their grandchildren, as their neighbors, as their friends, I pray that we would do what we need to do today to celebrate them, to show our thanks and our gratitude to them. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:05.759 God, you love us so much. 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:15.680 And we see this earthly metaphor for your love for us because you're called our parent, our heavenly father, the one who looks after us and provides for us. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:22.959 And when we're young, the first place we see that kind of love is so often in the eyes and the arms and the words of our mothers. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:24.639 And so, God, we couldn't be more thankful. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:26.079 And I pray that today is a special day. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:32.480 And God, I know that there will only be like you know a few winners of some Amazon gift cards, but we are all winners because of the mothers in our life. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.879 You've blessed us so abundantly, and so we thank you. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:39.439 I ask you to just guide this message today, and we give it all to you in Jesus' name. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:40.399 Amen. 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.319 I want to jump right into scripture. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:51.360 In John chapter 16, it says this when a woman is in labor, here we go, she has pain because her time has come to give birth. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:05:01.120 But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of a joy that the person has been born into the world. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:02.160 And so you. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:03.920 You also have sorrow now. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:05.439 But I will see you again. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:11.279 Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.199 My message for you today is called labor pains. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:16.319 Labor pains. 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:19.839 If you're paying attention, uh go ahead and put my title in the comments right now. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:25.439 Labor pain, and then do that emoji like like hurt face where the eyes go in, labor pains. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:27.519 And I just thought, who better? 00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:32.639 Who really, honestly, is more of an expert to talk about labor pains than me? 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:36.000 A guy who has never and will never give birth. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:39.360 Not only that, but y'all know I have three kids who are my kids. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:43.839 I mean, I will defend it, they've got me for the rest of their lives, whether they like it or not. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:47.759 However, none of them are biologically my kids. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:54.160 So not only have I never given birth and will never give birth, but I've actually wasn't in the room when any of my kids were birthed. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:02.879 And I actually have never even seen a birthing room, and I'm pretty sure in middle school, when they talked to us about the birds and bees and they tried to show us the birthing video, I just fainted because I have no recollection. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:09.040 Like, with all that experience and expertise, who better to talk about labor pains than me? 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:10.079 Of course I'm kidding. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:25.600 Uh, one of my fears, I've got some staff here socially distanced so that I'm not preaching to a floor in cameras, but one of my fears you guys remember in creative was that on Mother's Day I would get up and feel like I am mansplaining labor pains to all of the mothers. 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:30.240 Out the and for the women who don't know what mansplaining means, that's when something's obvious. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.399 But as a man, I think I need to see what I'm doing is I'm mansplaining, mansplaining. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:36.800 It's like mansplain inception right now. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.319 That's what I don't want to do today, and so let me just get it out there. 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:41.759 Let me just get it out there. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:43.040 I have no idea. 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.040 I don't know, and I will never know. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:56.959 What I know is the worst pain that I can ever recollect is nowhere close to pushing a nine-pound 10-ounce baby out of my body, and that's not a random weight, that was my weight. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:07:00.720 I was a big baby, I looked like a tiny Winston Churchill. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:05.839 I came out precious, I had 10 fingers, ten toes, 11 chins. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:06.800 It was amazing. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:08.319 Huge baby. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:09.439 I don't know. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:10.079 I don't know. 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:12.160 I don't know labor pain. 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:19.839 But although we can't know it, I can only imagine, I can only know it on a mental level. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:23.120 It is a normative part of our world. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:30.000 It is the way that God has given us to procreate, to create new life. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:38.800 When he first created man, he he said, be fruitful and multiply, fill the world, and have dominion over it. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:40.720 It's a normal part of our life. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.519 There are unnormative ways that create pain. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:51.040 So so maybe there is pain that is greater than labor, maybe severely being burned, or maybe being shot. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:52.480 Like those aren't normative. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.959 This is the way it's supposed to work, and it's so painful. 00:07:58.240 --> 00:08:01.199 The the physical pain, something I can never imagine. 00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:08.879 And I know there are mothers out there who haven't actually gotten to go all the way through with labor, and it's a different kind of pain. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.720 It's an emotional pain that I also will never fully be able to understand. 00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:21.920 Perhaps the pain of not being able at this point to get pregnant, or maybe the pain of a miscarriage, or maybe the painful process of waiting for a foster kid. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:27.360 Or Katie and I went through a three-year process of adopting overseas, and at the end it just all fell apart. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:29.360 We never got our kid. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.039 A different type of labor pain. 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.519 And the one thing they all have in common is an element of waiting. 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:54.799 And in scripture, the analogy of labor pain is used because of the normative part of our life, something that women who have given birth can understand fully and completely and grasp onto, something that the rest of us can see and observe and at least conceptually understand. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:09:00.559 It is used as a metaphor and analogy to help us understand waiting. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:08.639 And right now, universally, we understand the weight, the weight of waiting. 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:10.559 It's tremendous. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:17.519 All of us are waiting to get back out of quarantine, to work hopefully through the phases. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:18.480 We're waiting. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:23.600 We're waiting to see if we make it to phase two and if phase two to make it to phase three, and if phase three to make it to phase four. 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:24.720 We just don't know. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:29.759 Some of you are waiting for the call now that businesses are opening to tell you that your furlough is over. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:33.360 Some of you are waiting for the call to see if you might just get that job back. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.559 Some of you are single and you're waiting because you're lonely. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:40.559 You're jealous, you're seeing people, at least they have their family in quarantine. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:44.399 You're ready to get out, to get with friends, to get back in the game. 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:47.039 Some of you are just touchy-feely people. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:58.720 You're extroverts and you love love and you love everyone and you and you love driving people crazy, and you love bothering introverts, and it's like, man, if this waits one more week, you're gonna just go rug hug random strangers. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:01.519 Like, you just can't hold it in any longer. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:05.039 We're we're waiting, we're waiting. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:17.600 And it's been like two months, and we're waiting, and we're waiting, and no one can really tell us when it's gonna be over, and we're waiting, and we're waiting, and there's great wait in the waiting. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:21.600 And what happens is waiting creates great worry. 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:33.120 We see a very worried world right now, and worry, if unchecked, leads us to our worst ways, and so we have waiting leading to worry leading to worst ways. 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:43.519 And the reason we go to our worst ways is to escape the weight, the pressure, the suffering, the weight of waiting. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:54.799 And I don't think we're running to our worst ways, we see empirical evidence because in the last two months, online pornography use has been at a record all-time high. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:09.519 It's an escape, and the pressure of emergency causes us to look for escape, and the suffocation of the suffering and the stagnation, it causes us to look for some way out to numb it. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:12.480 And alcohol cells are up almost 300%. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.360 We're numbing, we're avoiding, we're ignoring. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:33.039 If we can just find a way to get out from under the weight for just a moment, I heard even this week that the suicide hotline, the number of calls they've gotten, has increased by close to a thousand percent. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.919 But there is weight in waiting. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:39.679 There's weight. 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:46.320 And if you can't find a way to escape it, because at the end of the day, the alcohol's not gonna do it. 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:51.440 At the end of the day, the pornography's not gonna do it, at the end of the day, the drugs aren't gonna do it. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:56.799 When you come out of this temporary release, you're gonna walk right back under the weight, it never went anywhere. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:58.879 You just ignored it for a time. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:04.879 And the weight has grown so much that it's beginning to crush people altogether. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:10.240 And how do we handle the weight in the waiting? 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:20.320 In the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures back in our Bible, the analogy of labor pains was used to describe this just intense waiting for a Messiah to come. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:25.679 And all of Israel knew and believed that when the Messiah would come, he would free them. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:27.679 They would be the rulers of it all. 00:12:27.840 --> 00:12:29.759 Through them, they would bless the whole world. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:31.039 And that's how it started. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:33.759 But by the end, they didn't really care about blessing anyone else. 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:37.279 They saw every non-Jew as just a dog, someone to be despised. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.120 By the end of it, it was just a power grab. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:45.600 When the Messiah comes, we can be bigger than Rome and badder than Rome and get out from under Rome's weight. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:50.960 So much weight in the waiting, and the Messiah came, but it was unexpected. 00:12:51.039 --> 00:12:59.759 He didn't show up in Jerusalem, he showed up in Bethlehem, and he wasn't born in a palace, he was born in a barn, and he didn't sit on a throne, he was born in a manger, and nothing looked like it was supposed to look. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:04.399 And there was this small group of people who saw the Messiah, Jesus, for who he actually was. 00:13:04.559 --> 00:13:08.240 But then towards the end, he started talking about dying all the time. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:18.879 In John chapter 16, Jesus is talking with his closest disciples, he's laying it out. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:21.440 I'm going to die. 00:13:22.720 --> 00:13:27.440 And of course, the analogy he goes to in John 16, 21. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:33.519 He says, Listen, when a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. 00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:44.480 But when she's given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into this world. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:51.519 The cross is coming, but he is showing that there is purpose in the pain. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.759 There is purpose in the pain. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:58.720 And greater than that is without the pain, you can't get to the purpose. 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:00.879 Nine months. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:02.399 Nine months. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:06.720 My wife woman explained to me that it's really 40 weeks. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:07.759 It's really 10 months. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.000 When you say nine months, it's really 10 months. 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:13.039 And you can see it. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:14.240 You can see it. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:15.919 Let me let me help all the men out. 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:16.879 Just don't ask. 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:17.919 Just let them tell you. 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:18.960 You don't want to be that guy. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:19.919 Hey, when's it due? 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:21.039 When's what due? 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:22.159 You don't want to be that guy. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:27.759 You can see it, but the purpose is on the other side of the pain. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:33.440 The purpose of the Messiah coming, the purpose of Jesus was on the other side of the cross. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:35.919 There's purpose and the pain. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:44.960 And verse 22 says, So you also have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:46.720 And Jesus died. 00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:55.360 And for three days, his followers were crushed under the weight of the waiting. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.840 Many of them went back to their old lives, their old jobs. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:01.679 Many of them gave up hope. 00:15:01.840 --> 00:15:12.080 As a matter of fact, on this Mother's Day, let's take five seconds to celebrate that the ones who stayed, the ones who kept showing up at the tomb, the ones who kept their hope and their expectancy, it was the women. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:13.759 The women kept showing up. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:15.919 The women held on to their faith. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:21.039 The women held the weight of the waiting. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:23.039 It's like you were built for it. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:25.039 It's like God knows. 00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:26.799 Man, I nine months. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.080 Let's call it 10? 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:29.440 40 weeks. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:34.559 That's a job only strong enough for a woman. 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.960 And so they're waiting and they're waiting. 00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:38.480 And you say, Well, it was only three days. 00:15:38.799 --> 00:15:40.639 Three days, the stone rolled away. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.320 Jesus was delivered out. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.200 He was resurrected, rebirth, renewal. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.159 Everything's changed. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:47.519 Everything's new. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:49.279 It's just three days. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:50.159 You had to wait three days. 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:54.720 They waited like, I don't know, eight hundred years for Jesus to show up. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:56.960 That's a longer labor pain than the disciples. 00:15:57.039 --> 00:15:58.480 They just had to wait three days. 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.480 It's not about the time, it's about the intensity. 00:16:00.879 --> 00:16:05.440 Most labors don't last more than a few hours, unless you're my sister who took over 20 hours to come out. 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:06.480 My mother is a saint. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:10.159 It's like intense. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:11.840 All hope gone. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:15.759 The one who they believed held the future in there, and he's dead. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:17.919 And three days. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:18.639 Three days. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:19.440 And they're waiting. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:20.080 They're waiting. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:20.639 They're waiting. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:22.639 And Jesus says, There's purpose. 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:25.360 It's just on the other side of the pain. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:29.440 And Jesus resurrects and he comes out and he spends 40 days with him, and it's wonderful and it's beautiful. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:35.360 And a lot of people see him and he starts this movement, this movement that we're still a part of today, but after 40 days, he ascends. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:36.639 He leaves. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:40.080 And he leaves with a promise, and the promise is that he will return. 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:43.759 And he has not yet returned. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:49.120 He hasn't come on the clouds and raptured the church and resurrected the dead and instituted his kingdom. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:49.759 He hasn't come. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.279 You know what that means? 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:56.320 It means we're in the waiting. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:02.639 Once again, we find ourselves under the weight of the waiting. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:05.279 And so many of you have put your faith in Jesus. 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.680 So many of you have believed. 00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:11.759 And now you're in the waiting. 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:18.400 Between being a citizen of heaven and getting to enter into it. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:24.240 In Romans chapter 8, Paul talks about the weight of the waiting and what analogy does he use. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:25.279 Of course. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:33.599 In 822 he says, For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains. 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:36.799 The whole creation. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:38.559 The whole creation. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:39.920 I'm so selfish. 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:40.880 You know who I think about? 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:41.839 I think about myself. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:43.039 That's who I think about. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:53.279 I think about how the quarantine is affecting me, how I'm going crazy, how I have to help teach the kids, how I have to now multitask, how I can't leave my house, I can't hang out, I can't go to restaurants. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:55.279 We're so focused on ourselves. 00:17:55.440 --> 00:17:57.039 Paul says, open your eyes. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:58.640 It's all of it. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:02.000 The whole world is broken. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:05.200 And it wasn't created that way. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:07.680 God created it and he said it was good. 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.359 And he created man and he said, I am handing over dominion. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.240 I'm placing it in your hands to steward it. 00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:18.960 And you have everything you need. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.559 And the temptation came. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:24.000 And we know the story. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:28.799 And Eve got too close to the tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree that she wasn't supposed to be at. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:31.039 And she gets tempted. 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:33.119 And they're living in perfection. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:35.359 And in perfection, there's no waiting. 00:18:35.519 --> 00:18:37.039 There's nothing to wait for. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:38.640 You have it all. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.359 All expectations are met. 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:48.880 And one question Does God not want you to eat this fruit? 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:55.839 Could it be that God knows when you eat it, you will see it all. 00:18:56.079 --> 00:18:59.519 And you will be like God. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.319 And he said, wait. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:05.119 Wait. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:10.880 You see, there's wait in the waiting. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:11.839 Wait. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:13.279 Is there more? 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:19.519 And all of a sudden, in perfection, where you need no expectation, expectation is formed. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:26.000 And all of a sudden, the garden that was keeping you in now feels like it's locking you out. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:27.759 Is there more? 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:33.359 Is God limiting me? 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:37.279 Is there something I don't know that I wait? 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.279 And all of a sudden, she could no longer wait. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.640 She looked for a way out. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:47.920 She satisfied the expectation. 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:48.640 She ate the fruit. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.440 She gave it to her husband. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:50.000 He ate it. 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:57.039 And our sin, our rebellion against God is so potent that not only did we fall, it all fell. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:20:00.240 And nothing is living as it's supposed to live. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:04.319 Every facet of creation, while beautiful or broken. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:05.680 Every part of it. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:10.880 Paul says, open your eyes, it's not just you, it's the whole of creation. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:23.039 And in the next verse, it says, not only that, not only the whole creation groaning with labor pains, but we ourselves who have the spirit as the first fruits. 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:41.920 And isn't it interesting that Paul is delineating between all of creation, and now we see including people who are not in Christ, who have not believed in Jesus, all of creation, including those who are outside the faith, and then there is we, we who have the first fruits of the Spirit. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:43.680 We also groan. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:49.119 We are not excused from the weight of the waiting. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:55.519 We groan within ourselves, we're eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:57.279 And you go, I thought we were already adopted. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:01.119 I thought when we believed and we put our faith in Jesus, I thought we were already his children. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:02.640 I thought it was like a done deal. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:03.920 And you're right, it is. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:04.799 It's done. 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:08.480 It is done right now and not yet. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:10.079 And how many times have we talked about this? 00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.359 How many times have we talked about now and not yet? 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:21.680 Right now, you are a sanctified, satisfied, righteous child of the God of the universe, and you're still jacked up. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:29.680 Right now, you are seen as covered by the blood of Jesus, his righteousness on you, his righteousness is perfect. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:31.839 Now you are not. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:35.440 Some of us are still sinning like it's our job, like we get paid by the sin. 00:21:35.599 --> 00:21:41.359 We are racking them up, like we have the spirit, but we are walking all too often in the flesh. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.039 Now, but not yet. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:44.400 Jesus is king right now. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:45.759 You better believe that. 00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.920 The king of all of the kings, right now, and yet his kingdom is not yet in full force. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.079 Now and not yet. 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:55.599 How do we understand that? 00:21:55.759 --> 00:21:58.079 That's almost ununderstandable. 00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.279 Some good grammar there. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:07.039 Well, it's kind of like giving birth. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.880 And if you're pregnant, you have a child right now. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:14.720 And this wasn't planned, I just feel God putting it on my heart. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:20.000 We've experienced it, and I know many of you, many of you have lost children before birth. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:21.680 Many of you have miscarried. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:25.359 And I want you to know that that is your child. 00:22:25.440 --> 00:22:29.920 And I need you to hear from me today, you will see that child in eternity. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.880 I need you to hear it because when you are pregnant, you have a child now. 00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:39.279 And yet there's an element of not yet. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:45.839 There's still a purpose not yet accomplished, a purpose that's on the other side of pain. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:49.680 Now and not yet. 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:59.039 And he says that we who have the spirits, who we have the spirit as the first fruits, we also groan within ourselves. 00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:03.759 What's the difference between you and the rest of creation, the rest of humanity? 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:05.039 It's nothing you did. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.240 It's that God supernaturally gave you the spirit inside of you. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.160 All you did was open the present. 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:12.000 All you did was accept the gift. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:14.799 Jesus did all the work, and God gave you the spirit. 00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:15.839 That's the only difference. 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:21.920 It's not because you're better, smarter, more mature, more spiritual, can sing better, talk better, treat people better, better husband, better parent. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.599 It has nothing to do with you. 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:26.480 But the spirit is inside of you. 00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:32.400 I grew up in church where we sang, you know, hymns, and uh there was a line in one of the songs, and I'll never forget it. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:33.519 It's such a beautiful line. 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:57.359 It says, Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine, a foretaste of glory divine, a glimpse, a sample of what is to come in the not yet while you're still living in the now, and this is why you've got to walk in the spirit and move in the spirit, not just believe in Jesus, but follow after him, because it will put you in the flow of the spirit, and you will get a sample of what's on the other side. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:23:58.880 And here's what's hard. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:09.599 What's hard is that sample of heaven, that piece of heaven inside of you, that glimpse of eternity that you get when you follow the spirit. 00:24:10.240 --> 00:24:15.200 It actually exacerbates the gap between now and not yet. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:23.519 It almost makes it harder, but it also makes it irresistible. 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.160 I uh I like ice cream. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:28.640 I'm lactose intolerant, but I'm also an idiot. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:32.960 So I like ice cream, and uh I I here's how dumb I am. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.839 I used to think I could game the system, right? 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:42.240 So I would go to Baskin Robbins, and you might not have tested it, but they will give you a sample of every ice cream in there. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:52.720 Like if you have no social skills like me, you'll try every single, and what I would think is I'll go get 15 samples, which is pretty much a scoop and a half, and then I'm out, I didn't spend any money. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:56.000 What a bunch of idiots giving out free samples, and it would never fail. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:24:58.640 I would go in and I would start slow. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:02.400 Start with what I know, start with the normal. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.559 Uh, can I get a sample of chocolate? 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:06.559 I know, I know chocolate ice cream. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:09.359 I can go, I can go to the freezer and get chocolate ice cream. 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:12.000 But I would, you know, good sample. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:12.880 Thank you so much. 00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:14.400 Um, let me go with vanilla. 00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:15.759 I'm just working my way in. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:17.200 I really just want the sugar. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:19.119 The flavor is just added, you know. 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:23.279 It's so it's like I would work my way cookies and cream that I've had a million times. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:24.000 Let me try that. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.319 Like I don't know what it tastes, and it would never fail. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:29.279 Five or six in, I'd get adventurous. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:31.599 Oh my gosh. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:34.799 Churro ice cream, shut up. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:36.319 I'd have to try it. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:42.640 I'd have to get the sample, and it was new, and it was real, and I could smell it before I tasted it. 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:44.400 Oh, what a fuck. 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:46.799 And I I couldn't stop. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.559 Once I had it, I was like, wait, us, wait. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:52.319 There was an expectation. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:53.519 I gotta get it. 00:25:53.680 --> 00:25:54.960 Three scoops,$17. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:55.680 I don't care. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.359 Hook me up, Baskin Robbins. 00:25:57.599 --> 00:26:02.720 I I know now I've had a taste, I've had a sampling of what the fullness of it is. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.839 I've tasted it now, but I don't yet have the full bowl. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:19.920 They would get me every time the spirit, this glimpse, this sample of what is to come, what it means to walk in a spiritual life, what it means to die to the flesh, what it means to see the presence and fullness and the Shekinah glory of God that is on the other side of this life. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:28.240 Man, Paul tasted it so many times that he said, I guess I'll stay alive, but I would rather be dead so I could just get the whole thing. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:32.319 Now, but not yet. 00:26:32.480 --> 00:26:39.039 And on one side, the spirit exacerbates the distance between now and not yet. 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:41.680 But there's more. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:43.680 We started in verse 22. 00:26:43.759 --> 00:26:45.119 I want to go back for some context. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:51.359 In verse 16, it says, the spirit himself testifies together with our mind. 00:26:51.759 --> 00:27:02.160 No, wait a second, with our intelligence, testifies together with sending a Zoom link to us so that we can talk with him and make sure that we are still God's. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:03.039 No, no, no. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:08.079 The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:13.200 Now this is one of the most important verses in the Bible. 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:21.839 Because it does not say that the Spirit testifies with us, with our flesh, with our mind, not even with our soul. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:26.880 The Spirit of God testifies with the Spirit of God. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:31.119 The Spirit in us, with the Spirit of the Omnipresent Father. 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:35.119 The Spirit converses with Himself and leaves you out of the occasion. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:40.480 And a lot of you grew up in a scenario where whether or not you ended up in heaven was on you. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:42.319 Jesus did the work he needed to do. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:44.559 Now you do the work that you need to do. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:52.480 And if you can be good enough, and if you can keep from being bad, too bad, bad enough, then all of a sudden maybe you have a shot at it. 00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:59.680 And if my salvation is up to me, I might go to heaven on Monday. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:05.920