WEBVTT 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.080 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:10.160 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:18.000 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. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:29.359 --> 00:00:40.159 After the crazy year that we just lived through and all of the challenges we are still navigating moving into the new year, it just feels like all of our lives need a reboot. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:46.719 Now, to be clear, this is much more than a simple list of resolutions to make. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:51.920 Resolutions normally are broken about by this time in the year. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:01:07.439 As a matter of fact, if I could just get a hand raise in the chat or an amen in Holotus, if you have already broken your resolution this year, maybe I can get just like a crying, laughing face because you never made a resolution in the first place. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:09.840 Didn't want to set yourself up for failure. 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.959 And really, that's what it felt like we were. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:19.359 I mean, the new year started on a Thursday, which as we all know is weekend eve. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:22.000 It's like we're not gonna start a new habit on a Thursday. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:28.319 So if we were gonna do resolutions, it's like, well, we'll wait till Monday, but Monday is Monday night football. 00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:30.640 And you can't really have Monday night football without queso. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:32.719 So at that point, you're off the rails anyway. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:34.400 The resolution is broken. 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:36.480 We'll try again next year. 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:37.359 No, no, no. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:44.239 We don't need new empty resolutions, empty promises to ourselves. 00:01:44.560 --> 00:01:46.239 We need a reboot. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.200 This means refreshed vision, renewed strength. 00:01:51.519 --> 00:01:55.920 This means a bigger perspective on our life. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:02.560 So we can walk powerfully into whatever 2021 throws at us. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:14.319 A reboot lets you walk into 2021 in a way that refuses to acknowledge or concede that the year 2021. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:16.800 We were not defeated. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.400 We're still standing and God still has a purpose for our life. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:24.879 Last week we started by looking at the idea of a revision. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:29.280 We saw that to reboot, we need a revision lifestyle. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:45.120 The simple truth is that to write a great story is the same way that you live a great story, revision and edit, revision and edit, expose the broken parts of our story, and by looking to God, correct them. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:50.240 We're gonna keep looking at aspects of our life that may need a revision to help us reboot. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:54.080 And today I want to talk about what it means to respond. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:09.280 If you're like most people, you've probably not spent a lot of time really thinking about the idea of your responses to events and environments or the response of other people around you. 00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:13.280 It is just a part of what happens every moment of every day. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:18.639 We are surrounded by response and we are filled with responses ourselves. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:28.719 In a very real sense, your entire life is a series of the people around you responding to things and you responding in turn. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:34.960 However, we don't stop to analyze this or to learn from it very often. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:40.960 Those who have studied how we respond as humans have come to some very interesting conclusions. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:51.919 If you want to hear some of this research in very simple, easy to understand terms, Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, Talking to Strangers, is almost exclusively about this topic. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.479 And here is the bottom line. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:06.400 We are generally awful at anticipating how others are going to respond in any given environment or to any given event. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:15.599 What complicates that further is that most people consider themselves experts in anticipating that exact thing. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:23.600 Most of us really feel confident we know how people will respond, and yet the statistics and the studies do not bear that out. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:34.000 Not only are we not good at understanding how people will respond, but we are also generally very unpredictable in our own responses as well. 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:40.079 Part of this is due to what Gladwell calls the Friends Fallacy. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:41.680 They ran an experiment. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:49.040 They got a large group of people and they had all of them watch one episode of the TV show Friends. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:57.600 Maybe you were a huge fan of the show back in the day, Rachel and Ross and the sister and the funny guy and the dumb girl. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:04:58.480 I never watched it. 00:04:58.560 --> 00:04:59.920 But maybe you liked Friends. 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:01.519 It was a huge smash hit. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:02.879 All of these people watched it. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:04.079 It was a simple experiment. 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.879 They all watched the same episode, and at the end, they had to write a synopsis of what the show was about. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.639 But here was the catch. 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:17.600 Everyone watched that episode with the volume on mute. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:24.000 They could not hear one single word of dialogue from the entire episode. 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:43.839 And what's even more amazing is that almost everyone who watched an episode of Friends on mute could write down whether they were fans of the show like some of you, whether they'd never watched it like me, almost everyone could write down a general synopsis of the plot. 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:50.720 They couldn't hear what they were saying, they were only reading facial responses. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:06:01.920 It's amazing in our culture, having had generations of people growing up watching television, how much it informs what we assume about our reality. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:14.319 Because we can watch a TV show on mute and still pick up most of the plot points, we consider that we should be able to, with dialogue, look at the people around us and know what they're actually thinking or feeling. 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.600 We consider ourselves experts at response. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:23.279 And because we're experts, we don't spend a lot of time thinking about it or analyzing it. 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.399 This is called the Friends Fallacy. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:32.319 It's a fallacy because life does not work like a TV show. 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:49.680 As a matter of fact, actors and actresses go through years and years and years of training in order to learn how to respond in ways that we would anticipate. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:05.120 And so you watch a character on friends get surprised, and their eyes get big and their mouth goes like and they throw their hands on their face and they jump back because they are shocked, and you know that they just got surprised. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:10.560 In real life, though, you can surprise people sometimes and they'll start crying. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:18.319 You can surprise someone with something that they weren't wanting, and know they're gonna have to now drive all the way back to TJ Maxx to return. 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:30.720 And what you're gonna see on their face is not what you see on Rachel and Ross's face, what you're gonna see is some weird mixture of trying to make you think they like it when they're really actually frustrated and a little bit sad they're having to go through this. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:45.199 On friends, when someone gets mad, their eyebrows furrow and their upper lip and their nose come into closer contact with each other and their eyes really narrow to a point and they throw their arms at their side and they're very obviously mad. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:52.720 That's how we think mad should look because they've been professionally trained to display a mad response. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:08:07.839 However, in real life, people get mad and sometimes they start laughing, sometimes they begin crying, sometimes someone gets mad, and they actually get even more calm all the way until they get outside into their Toyota Camry and beat the crap out of their steering wheel. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:12.879 We just think we know how people are going to respond, but it is a fallacy. 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:25.040 Even in our own life, we often get angry at times that we should be happy, we get frustrated when we should be grateful. 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:32.159 Someone that we love goes out of the way to do something kind for us, we barely notice it. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:36.879 Not responding when the time calls can be costly. 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:38.399 We see this all the time. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:41.519 We're we're we're bad at responding. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:59.360 Like the first time the doctor tells you that you're tipping the scale a little bit, you really need to start thinking about weight management, and instead you just double down on your negative eating habits, or the first time that your significant other tells you they're not really happy, and you just assume it's their fault, so you keep living the same way you've been living. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:13.759 When your manager or supervisor tells you that they're not happy with your work, when you miss out on the promotion and they explain it's because of your behavior at work, and you just assume that your boss is an idiot, so your work doesn't improve, it actually declines. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:31.360 We don't respond appropriately, and then months or years later, when we're in really bad health and our marriages are ending, and we're at the bottom of the ladder at work, we're curious of how we got there. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:37.919 It's simply through a number of ill-advised responses. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:44.639 Isn't it crazy that for like over 50 years we have known as a society that cigarettes kill you? 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:45.919 We know that. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:51.120 When you know something kills you, the correct response is to stop doing that thing. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:56.720 And yet, a huge percentage of Americans simply refuse to respond. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:03.200 In parenting, we know that what gets rewarded gets repeated. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:07.919 We know that at some level we know what gets rewarded gets repeated. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:17.759 And yet, when our children are throwing tantrums to get their way, we give in and give them their way, and then we wonder why they throw tantrums all of the time. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:21.840 It's just the wrong response. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:32.879 We are bad at responding, we're bad at anticipating the response of others, and we are bad at responding to things ourselves. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:38.960 We have in our mind how things should go, but it rarely reflects reality. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:41.200 This is a big deal. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.120 Our idea for today is to reboot. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.519 We must respond. 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.279 And we must respond appropriately. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:53.600 We all want this reboot. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:11:10.080 I don't know what 2020 did to you, I don't know the pain that it caused, I don't know how far you feel like it set you back, I don't know what it did to you relationally or financially or mentally or in your physical health, but we're all hoping for a reboot in this new year. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:16.799 And to reboot, you very simply must respond, and you must respond well. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.879 All of the scenarios that we have laid out so far are important. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:38.320 How you manage relationships, how you navigate a world where people are responding all of the time, how it affects you in your health, in your wealth, in your career, in your marriages, with your children. 00:11:38.960 --> 00:11:42.639 But today I want to drill down to the core. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:55.600 I want to focus on the one area of response that if we were to get it right, would begin to naturally correct all of the other areas where we are not responding appropriately. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:00.879 Today, I want to talk about how we respond to God. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:03.120 Would you pray with me? 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.279 Father, we are all too often on the wrong end of our responses. 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.440 God, we are wanting something new in this new year. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:22.480 We're wanting to see you work in our lives in ways we haven't seen before. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:32.879 We're wanting to experience the kind of significance that only comes from truly being connected to the purpose you have for our life. 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:37.679 In this year, God, we want our relationships to flourish. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:39.919 We want to be wise with our finances. 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:44.399 We want our children to thrive and our health to improve. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:54.960 God, we want all the same things that we come to every new year desiring, and yet so many of those years we fall so short, God, we're not here to make a list of resolutions. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:56.799 We are here for a reboot. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:13:00.639 We are here to allow you to have your way in our life. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:22.879 And I pray as we look at how we respond to the events and the environments around us, that as we look at how we respond to you, God, that you would show us something new, that you would challenge and correct us, that you would encourage us and envision us with what our life could look like if we were able to respond and experience a reboot moving into the new year. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:23.440 We love you. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:26.320 We pray all these things in Jesus' name. 00:13:26.639 --> 00:13:27.279 Amen. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.480 Today we're going to look at a story that happens early in the Jewish scriptures. 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:36.240 It's the very first book of our Bibles, the book of Genesis. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:41.039 And maybe the central character of Genesis is Abraham. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:49.840 The whole world has become very wicked, and God calls us one man and promises this one man that he will make him into a great nation. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.480 And Abraham carries that promise. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:14:01.919 He passes it on to his son Isaac, and Isaac eventually has two sons of his own, twins, Jacob and Esau. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:07.840 Now, the way things worked is the firstborn son would be the son that carries on that promise. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:11.840 And the firstborn son from Isaac was Esau. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:14.639 Jacob was the younger brother. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:19.440 He came out right after Esau and always lived in Esau's shadow. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.440 Esau was Isaac's favorite. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:26.080 He was a tough, strong man, calloused hands, sunburnt skin. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:29.679 He was a hunter, gatherer, he was a man of the fields. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:39.519 Jacob was he was a mommy's boy, you know, well-manicured hands, stayed in the shade, didn't do any work. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.879 Esau was the child of promise. 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:48.000 And yet, Jacob was a manipulator and a deceiver. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:15:01.679 And over a period of time and through a series of manipulations, Jacob stole not only Esau's birthright, but he stole Esau's blessing. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:06.080 Through deceit, Jacob became the son of promise. 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:12.240 Now, when Esau found out, he was going to kill Jacob. 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:17.440 And so Jacob's mother packed his bags, and Jacob ran for his life. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.840 We pick up that story in Genesis chapter 28, starting in verse 10. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:25.120 It says, Jacob left Beersheba and went towards Haran. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:28.480 He reached a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:35.120 He took one of the stones from that place, put it there at his head, and lay down in that place, and he dreamed. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:42.720 A stairway was set on the ground, with its top reaching the sky, and God's angels were going up and down on it. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:48.639 And the Lord was standing there beside him, saying, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:53.360 I will give you and your offspring the land on which you are lying. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:16:00.080 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:06.240 All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. 00:16:06.799 --> 00:16:10.080 Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:15.440 I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:25.039 And when Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.159 We learn several things from this one passage of Scripture. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:36.320 Number one, God is honoring the promise that was given to Jacob through deceit. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:44.320 He actually reinforces the same promise that he had given Abraham all of those years ago. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:55.279 I will make you into a great nation, as much as the dust on the earth will be your offspring, and all of the nations someday will be blessed through your lineage. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:17:04.079 That is the promise of the Savior who would come generations and generations later, the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:16.400 Now, this passage should be very encouraging news because if there was anyone who did not deserve a visit from the Lord, it was Jacob. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:20.880 Jacob, the deceiver and the manipulator. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:27.359 Jacob, who had worked his entire life to circumvent his brother's blessing. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:31.680 And yet, the Lord meets with Jacob. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:39.839 He confirms his promise to him and he speaks of a purpose that will take place through him. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:42.880 And I don't know. 00:17:43.440 --> 00:17:49.359 Maybe you feel like you are the last person that God would ever show up to. 00:17:49.519 --> 00:17:57.680 Like you don't even really need a sermon about responding to God because God is not gonna waste his time working on a life like yours. 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:00.799 And I've certainly been there myself. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:09.200 So aware of just how unworthy we would be for God to even be aware of us. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:31.039 Maybe you feel like Jacob, and perhaps in Genesis chapter 28, you can begin to put a crack in the lie that has been instilled in your heart that because of who you are or what you've done or where you've come from, that you're too far away for God to ever use. 00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:34.319 No, God has created each of us with a purpose. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:47.440 And no matter how you got to today, maybe you walked the line, maybe you dotted the I's and crossed the T, or maybe you ended up where you're at today through manipulation and deception and dishonor. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:54.400 Wherever you got to and however you got there, God still has a plan for your life. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:57.759 God is a God who meets us right where we are. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:00.319 Jacob was not where he was supposed to be. 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:05.519 He was not in his father's house, sleeping in the room and the bed provided for him. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:14.720 He was on the run with a stone as his pillow and guilt as his only friend, and God met with him. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:18.880 He spoke a new vision into his life. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:21.279 Do you understand what's happening here? 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:24.799 Jacob is getting his reboot. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.319 It's offered to him right there. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.480 But we'll all come down to how Jacob responds. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.920 Will he follow his old patterns and try to get one over on God? 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:42.480 Will he try to ask for more than what God has offered him? 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:43.759 Will he try to make a deal? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:44.720 Will he try to bargain? 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:45.759 Will he haggle? 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.319 Will he be Jacob the deceiver? 00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.000 Or will he respond? 00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:58.000 And in responding correctly, get the reboot he so desperately needs. 00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:01.759 God got Jacob's attention. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:15.279 And yet, there's this line that closes the passage that speaks so strongly to one of our greatest disadvantages in responding well to God. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:24.160 Jacob said, the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:33.839 I think that spiritually we live very unaware lives. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:51.680 For most people who are seeking to be a part of the movement of Jesus, what we call the church, they want to live a significant life, they want to believe they have a purpose, and if they have a purpose, they want to live it out, we don't respond well to God because we live so unaware of his presence. 00:20:52.799 --> 00:21:08.079 I do this, and it's it's sad when you think about it because it's almost like we are so overwhelmed with concerns of this life that we live unaware of the one who gave us this life. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:13.920 Awareness is the first step to responding well to anything. 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:21.119 Have you ever had someone get mad at you because you did not do something that they never asked you to do? 00:21:21.359 --> 00:21:22.319 You were unaware. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:24.640 How could you possibly respond? 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:31.279 I've never lost sleep over which team is or is not in the NHL playoffs. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:31.839 You know why? 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.160 Because I'm an American and I don't watch hockey. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.640 I'm unaware of it, so it doesn't bother me. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.640 I have no response to it. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:45.599 One of the most beautiful things about my marriage is that Katie is just completely unaware of the news. 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:47.440 She chooses not to watch it. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.960 She is politically almost completely unaware. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:59.519 She knows enough to kind of make up her mind about some policies and stuff, but all of the drama and all of the things that have our entire country. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.440 Completely overwhelmed with political response, it doesn't affect her. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:08.960 She has none of that stress in her life. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:10.400 Can you imagine? 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:17.279 Can you imagine trusting so much that God actually has control of this that you don't have to lose sleep over the political environment? 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:24.240 If you are not aware, then you're not even in the game to be able to respond. 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:30.000 There are some things that we should block out our awareness of to live a more productive life. 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:42.160 But when it comes to what we're talking about, responding to God, if we are living spiritually unaware of God's presence, then we will forfeit our opportunity to respond correctly. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:50.960 And if we cannot respond to God, we will struggle to see a reboot of our life. 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.519 God got Jacob's attention. 00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:57.519 He became aware. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:02.079 I did not know it, but the Lord was right here in this place. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:07.839 Right here in the wilderness, right here in my guilt, right here in my escape. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.680 Let's look at his response. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:20.160 Verse 18 says, Early in the morning, Jacob took the stone that was near his head, and he set it up as a marker, and he poured oil on top of it, and he named the place Bethel. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:24.720 Though previously the city was named Luz. 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:39.759 Now setting up a stone or a monument like this, especially one that you would anoint with oil, this was a traditional way to signify and remember a significant and a special moment. 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:46.160 This is something that his father Isaac had done, as well as his grandfather Abraham. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:52.640 Now, after setting the sign up, Jacob made a commitment and he attached it to his response in verse 22. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:24:05.599 He says, This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God's house, and I will give you a tenth of all that you give to me. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:15.039 Jacob made a commitment to the Lord that day that he would give back to God a tenth out of whatever God blessed him with. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:24.480 A tenth of his money, a tenth of his animals, a tenth of his land, a tenth of everything and anything that he got was going to go back to the Lord. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:30.000 Now, some of you grew up in church, and so you hear tenth, and you automatically think tithe. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:31.680 That's what a tithe means. 00:24:31.839 --> 00:24:33.759 It means a tenth. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:38.880 And if you grew up in church, you might have been beaten over the head with tithe, tithe, tithe. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:45.759 Your expectation to give 10% of whatever you make back to the Lord through your local church. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:55.519 Here's what is so significant about this moment with Jacob is the idea of the tithe came through the law. 00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.400 And the law was given through Moses. 00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:04.640 And Moses would not be born until centuries after this moment. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:08.799 What that means is that the tithe was not a mandate. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:14.319 It means that Jacob did not make this commitment out of a sense of obligation. 00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:21.039 The 10% was not an expectation that Jacob is finally making his way towards meeting. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.640 It is a free will offering. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:35.920 It did not come from an outwardly imposed law, it came from an inwardly gracious response. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:45.200 Here is the very simple idea that Jacob's story lays out. 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:50.160 When God reveals, we respond. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.559 When God reveals, we respond. 00:25:55.119 --> 00:26:01.839 This is a biblical equation for how life works correctly. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:09.279 God came to Noah and revealed to him that there would be a massive flood. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:35.920 The reason that God could trust Abraham with this great promise and choose him as the lineage through which Jesus would one day come is because God came to Abraham. 00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:37.440 He revealed himself. 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:51.759 He asked Abraham to leave the home that he had always known, the land where he lived, his father who he loved, his community that he had surrounded himself with, to leave all of it and to go to an unknown land. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:56.559 God revealed, and Abraham responded. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:00.079 And God counted it to him as righteousness. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:08.240 One day, a 13-year-old David showed up to the front lines of battle, not to actually fight in the war, but to bring provisions for his older brother. 00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:14.000 That's when he spotted this nine-foot giant who was cursing his God. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.559 And God revealed that victory was his. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:26.880 And so David went and he got a slingshot and he got some smooth stones and he got a can of twisted tea, and he went down there and he took down the giant. 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:29.440 God reveals and we respond. 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:30.960 It happens over and over. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:37.599 An angel comes to a young virgin betrothed to be married and says, You will become pregnant and give birth. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:38.880 Her life will be on the line. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:40.640 You become pregnant out of wedlock. 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.680 It's not a slap on the wrist, it might be death. 00:27:44.160 --> 00:27:47.759 And Mary says, May it be so. 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.200 I am the Lord's servant. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:56.240 Jesus comes to the disciples and says, You'll no longer be men who fish. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:58.720 You will be fisher of men. 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:06.799 God revealed they responded, they dropped their nets. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:13.519 A centurion hung Jesus on a cross, hammered nails through his body. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:29.279 And in the process, right before Jesus breathed his last, God began to reveal himself, and the centurion responded, Surely this is the Son of God. 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:35.599 Over and over and over again, God reveals and we respond. 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:44.160 This is the path to the life of purpose, but it has to start with an awareness that God is real, that He's actually moving. 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:46.720 We are not waiting on a move of God. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:53.759 God is waiting for a spiritual awareness from us that he is, in fact, already on the move. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:29:01.599 If you live unaware, you will miss the revelation. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:06.319 And if you miss the revelation, you will miss the opportunity to respond. 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:21.279 And not only will you miss the life that God has for you, but all of these other areas of our life where our responses are so broken, all of those areas will continue in their brokenness. 00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:29.920 At the core of getting a life of response correctly is how we respond to God. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:47.200 And almost every page of Scripture has encouraging examples of God revealing and these heroes of Scripture responding, and yet Scripture is also full of warnings. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:57.200 Stories where God reveals and people choose instead to respond their own way. 00:30:08.079 --> 00:30:10.880 They walked and talked in the garden with him. 00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:12.559 He revealed his truth. 00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:19.279 You can eat from any tree except the one in the middle, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:25.920 The hard part of being human is we're not very good at responding. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:29.680 They gave in to the temptation and they ate. 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:34.559 Most people are familiar with the story of their first sons, Cain and Abel. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:41.359 They both gave an offering to the Lord, and God only accepted Abel's offering, and Cain was outraged. 00:30:41.519 --> 00:30:47.119 And everyone knows Cain killed Abel, but do you know that before that happened, God came to Cain? 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.839 He revealed himself to Cain, he revealed the truth. 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:55.599 Sin is crouching at your door, ready to overcome you. 00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.880 But you, Cain, you must master it. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:01.200 God revealed. 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:04.799 And Cain did not respond instead. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:11.440 He dropped his awareness of God and gave in to the awareness of his rage. 00:31:11.519 --> 00:31:17.440 He killed his brother and was cursed because of it. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:21.279 God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and he did the gospel there. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:26.079 Jonah boarded a ship in the wrong direction. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.240 It took a big fish to get his attention. 00:31:28.400 --> 00:31:29.920 Samson was the greatest warrior. 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:33.279 God revealed to him the path for his life. 00:31:33.920 --> 00:31:37.920 Really, two simple rules: don't cut your hair, don't marry a Philistine. 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:44.400 Samson's awareness of his lust was stronger than his awareness of God's purpose. 00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:48.319 He went to bed with the enemy. 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:52.720 God took his strength. 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:55.440 Over and over and over again. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:05.920 We see Judas Iscariot, who walks with Jesus, God in human flesh, for three years and still sells him out for a bag of silver. 00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:15.519 How we respond to God determines the direction that our lives head in. 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:24.079 Some of us are experiencing God, but we are more aware of our own desires than God's desires for our life. 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:31.119 And some of us are living spiritually blind, completely unaware that God is moving in our life at all. 00:32:32.720 --> 00:32:36.720 To reboot, we must respond. 00:32:37.759 --> 00:32:47.599 When God reveals we must respond, we must open our spiritual eyes to the reality that God is at work in our lives. 00:32:48.960 --> 00:33:02.000 Spiritual awareness where we don't wake up in the morning just thinking it's just another day, another day on the grind, another day dealing with all of life's problems, another day listening to all the bad news on all of the different channels. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:14.000 What if we woke up with an awareness that God had held us through another night and had placed us in this world for another day on purpose with purpose? 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:19.119 What if we really blessed our food? 00:33:19.680 --> 00:33:21.200 Like God gave me this food. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:22.880 I need food to live, and here is food. 00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:24.720 And most of the world doesn't eat the way that we ate. 00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:26.160 And what if we thanked God for that? 00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:29.119 What if we raised our spiritual awareness? 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:42.079 What if we were able to truly see how God is trying to operate and function in every area of our life? 00:33:42.319 --> 00:33:56.160 He is working in your triumphs, he is working in your failures, he is working in your gladness, he is working in your frustrations, he is working when everything is going your way, and he is working when everything is going the opposite of how you envisioned it. 00:33:56.319 --> 00:34:02.160 He is working, he is revealing, but are we responding to reboot? 00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:05.279 We must respond. 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:17.920 And sometimes the hard part of making shifts and changes in our lives is that it feels very complicated. 00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:25.039 In the past, to deal with some of my own health issues, I've gone on very complicated diets. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:38.320 You know, where it's like, you gotta understand every food that's acidic and every food that's alkaline and every food that's neutral, and you can only eat alkaline with neutral, and you can only eat acidic by itself, and acidic in the morning and alkaline in the evenings, and it's like two days in, it's just too complicated. 00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:43.119 I can't do it, I can't think of all these things and navigate all the other things I have to do in life. 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:48.079 To reboot, we must respond. 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:52.320 You are a part of the movement of Jesus. 00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:58.320 The way that that movement has been organized right here, we call it Metachurch. 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:05.440 We have a very simple strategy for helping people meet Jesus and live out their purpose. 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:08.960 I'm gonna give you the three easiest steps I know how. 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:17.440 And I want to challenge you, although they are simple to take them seriously. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:29.119 These are three steps as we walk into a new year that if you will commit to, if you will take seriously, will begin to change your life. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:36.159 They will put you in position to be aware of and to respond to God's revelation in your life. 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:40.559 And if you can learn to respond, you can experience a reboot. 00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:45.679 These are about as simple as you can imagine. 00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:50.639 The first way to respond is to get here. 00:35:51.199 --> 00:35:52.159 To get here. 00:35:52.559 --> 00:36:09.199 Hebrews chapter 10 says this, and let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, and not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:14.559 Now, Metachurch was built on the truth that the church is not a building. 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:19.440 It's never been a building, it's not an organization, it's not even a service. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:31.280 But the different areas where we intentionally gather together, while they are not the church, they are a part of how we live out being the church. 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:35.840 You are the church, and the gathering of God's people matters. 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:38.159 Hebrews says, do not neglect it. 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:48.079 Now, I'm not saying that in this crazy time of pandemic that you get physically into one of our venues, but I am saying to be present with us. 00:36:48.320 --> 00:36:51.280 If you are streaming, really be present. 00:36:51.440 --> 00:37:02.800 Take it seriously, pay attention, engage in worship, do something really crazy this year and get a notebook and take some notes so you can remember and apply these things to your life. 00:37:03.119 --> 00:37:04.000 Get here. 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:12.400 Hebrews isn't written to people who are sleeping in or going to tournaments and missing Sunday service. 00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:21.519 It is written to people who, by just claiming the name of Jesus, have lost their jobs, have been kicked out of their families, have been imprisoned. 00:37:21.679 --> 00:37:25.599 He's writing to people who by gathering together could lose their lives. 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:31.280 And he says, do not neglect gathering together. 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:33.199 There is power in it. 00:37:33.440 --> 00:37:43.519 And 2020, you may not know this, but gave one of the best affirmations imaginable to Hebrews 10, 25. 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:50.239 I have a screenshot from a Gallup poll that went all across the nation. 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:56.880 This Gallup poll was specifically measuring people's mental health in 2020. 00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:04.719 From January to the end of the year, how would people rank their mental health compared year over year? 00:38:04.960 --> 00:38:10.400 The thing about this poll is it hit every demographic and category imaginable. 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:13.519 And what it found was very unsettling. 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:20.960 It found that everyone across the board had seen a decline in their mental health in 2020. 00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:22.000 Everyone. 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:44.480 Everyone, with one exception. 00:38:44.880 --> 00:38:57.760 In 2020, a year like none other, there was one group of people, and only one that saw a net positive plus four in their mental health from January to the end of the year. 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:06.800 The only group that saw an increase in their mental health are people who attended their church every week. 00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:09.920 That was it. 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:14.800 People made hundreds of thousands, millions. 00:39:14.880 --> 00:39:20.800 Some of our billionaires became super billionaires and saw a decline in their mental health. 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:22.000 Some people got promotions. 00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:23.920 Many people got married. 00:39:24.239 --> 00:39:27.280 Pandemic marriages doesn't matter. 00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:29.679 Decline, decline, decline. 00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:33.440 Do not neglect gathering together. 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:36.719 There is power in getting here. 00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:45.440 There is power in realizing there are others who are going through what you're going through, who are walking through what you're walking through, and who are with you. 00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:59.519 There is power in getting together and singing praises, recalibrating our minds, our hearts, our souls, our spirit that there is a God who is bigger, he is greater, he lives inside of us, he goes with us. 00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:01.280 There is power in the word of God. 00:40:01.440 --> 00:40:03.280 There's power in opening it together. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:06.320 There is power in receiving something from the Lord. 00:40:06.639 --> 00:40:07.920 You want to reboot? 00:40:08.079 --> 00:40:11.039 Your first response is to get here. 00:40:12.079 --> 00:40:13.280 Don't miss it. 00:40:13.679 --> 00:40:17.440 Do not neglect gathering together. 00:40:17.840 --> 00:40:20.239 Make it a priority. 00:40:24.960 --> 00:40:26.480 Number one, we get here. 00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:28.880 And number two, we grow here. 00:40:29.119 --> 00:40:43.840 The apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy, and he said this: Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth. 00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:50.719 Paul was constantly calling Timothy, another young pastor, Titus, to maturity, to growth. 00:40:51.519 --> 00:41:00.320 One of the things that we built metachurch on is the belief that the movement of Jesus is not a movement of information, it is a movement of application. 00:41:01.440 --> 00:41:06.239 That the word is only as good as how it actually affects our life. 00:41:07.360 --> 00:41:22.320 One step of that is our first response to get here, to spend time in the word, to spend time in worship, to be challenged by the people around you, to be inspired and enlightened to see new paths for your life. 00:41:22.559 --> 00:41:24.320 But that's not the only thing we have. 00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:32.400 Pandemic shut down some of the aspects of how we have paths for growth at Metachurch, but we're done with that. 00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:34.159 We're moving forward. 00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:39.280 This week and next, we're calling for new life team leaders. 00:41:39.440 --> 00:41:41.679 We're gearing up to launch our life teams. 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:43.360 This is how you get in community. 00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:45.119 This is the second step for the weekend. 00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:56.079 This is how you come together with other people to be real and raw and talk about what you're going through and then look at what we learned in the word and actually apply it into your life. 00:41:57.039 --> 00:42:02.880 Scripture says, do not be hearers of the word only and deceive yourself. 00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:06.480 Don't just hear a good message and think you've actually made a difference. 00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:11.840 It says, be doers of the word, apply it. 00:42:12.159 --> 00:42:15.119