God Wants to Party With You

God wanted you to party so much he designed an entire sacrifice built around it. He instituted a sacrificial system to facilitate it because he knew we would be bad at it. The missing piece to a life of peace is celebration. My relationship with God is most whole when I’m in oneness with other people. Our neighbors shouldn’t be strangers.

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    - Written at the base of Mount Sinai,
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    Leviticus is set in between
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    the Israelites' rescue from slavery
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    and their deliverance into the Promised Land
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    God set for them.
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    They were literally camping between stops
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    on their journey.
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    On the surface, Leviticus might look like
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    a collection of laws that no longer apply,
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    but it's really a story of God pursuing
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    His most beloved creation, us.
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    Since the beginning, God has always wanted
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    a relationship with his people,
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    but they consistently turn their backs on Him,
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    just like us.
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    To make matters worse, their beliefs
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    about God's character were being hijacked
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    by the popular culture surrounding them,
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    just like us.
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    Today, like the Israelites, everyone is moving
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    from something and towards something else.
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    It's easy to look at the strictness
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    of the Old Testament, the rules, wars,
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    and the brutality and think
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    that God is different than the one we worship.
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    Leviticus actually proves the opposite.
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    If God is anything,
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    He's consistent in His pursuit of his people.
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    Leviticus helps bring the Old Testament
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    and New Testament together as it holds some of
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    the deepest revelations about God's character
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    and His intense pursuit of us.
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    - Yeah.
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    Oh. Oh, so, so good, I think. Oh.
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    Oh, can you smell that smell?
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    The smell of goodness.
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    Smell of -- I can't --
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    Anybody want any of this?
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    Come on. Come on, now. Get you some.
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    There you go.
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    Oh, you can't have something like this and,
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    like, not share with anybody.
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    That doesn't work. That doesn't work.
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    Go ahead. There you go. Mmm, so good.
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    This is one of the -- this is one of the rewards
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    for being an extrovert and sitting in the front row.
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    Yeah.
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    Anyone else over here? Anybody? Come on.
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    Yeah, get on that.
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    You know, good stuff.
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    Good stuff is meant to --
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    it's meant to be enjoyed with other people.
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    This is what we're talking about today.
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    I'm going to have a bunch of punches, angles, insights
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    to help us see that peace comes
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    when we are connecting with God
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    and connecting with each other,
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    communal connections, community and peace.
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    I got one more piece I'm going to give out. One more.
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    It's always the men who are aggressive on this.
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    It always -- or mostly the men.
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    So hey, let's pray before I get any further into this.
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    God, You are good to give us things.
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    You gave some of us a little bit of brisket today.
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    You've given us some music that's uplifted our souls.
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    I pray right now you give us some scripture,
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    some truth that's going to nourish our souls,
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    that's going to help us understand You better,
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    our self better,
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    and what it means to have peace in a better way.
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    And I pray these things according to
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    the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.
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    So we're in this series -- or not series.
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    We're taking some weeks to take a look at
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    the Book of Leviticus, which is one of
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    the most controversial books in the Bible,
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    one of the most confusing books in the Bible.
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    It's a book in the Bible that people love to soundbite
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    to be a skeptic or be a cynic.
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    Like, if you're looking for a way to poke a hole
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    in somebody's Christian faith,
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    look in the book of Leviticus because
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    you'll find something in there that's going to be
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    a great soundbite to make you sound really smart
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    and somebody else will be stupid
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    for actually believing the Bible.
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    The thing is about the book of Leviticus.
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    It's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
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    Those five books in the Bible are known as The Law.
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    Those five books -- also known as the Torah.
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    Those five books in the Bible are the parts that
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    we as Americans don't like because
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    we want to do whatever we want to do.
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    We don't want somebody else telling us what to do.
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    And in that law, we often times see that God smites.
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    He still smites, by the way,
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    that's not a comforting thought for us.
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    He does still smite, but there's all these
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    beautiful, amazing verses in there
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    that just don't get noticed or talked about
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    because we get upset with the difficult things in the Bible.
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    Let me share one with you right now.
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    It's one that you probably have never heard in church.
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    You probably never heard a sermon on it,
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    except I gave one a few years ago on it.
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    I'm just going to give a little, little mini right now
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    just to whet your appetite for what's going to happen today.
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    One of the laws -- there's some laws in the Bible
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    that are very temporary.
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    They're there and they pass away because Jesus fulfills them.
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    There's other laws that are there in the Bible
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    that are meant to go on forever and ever,
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    like, thou shalt not steal never goes out of business.
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    Right? Thou shalt not murder never passes away.
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    And normally it's just very obvious
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    when you take a look at does this go away,
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    this one not go away?
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    There's some laws, there's some instruction from God
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    that are from the beginning of the Bible
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    to the end of the Bible.
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    One of them is tithing.
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    That's when you take the first 10%
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    of whatever God gives you and God says, "That's mine,
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    that's mine. I want you to return it to me."
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    In the book of Deuteronomy,
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    there's an amazing, generous aspect of God
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    where He goes, here's what I want you to do with your tithe.
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    Like, if you're finding when you got to bring it
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    to the temple, you've got your first born,
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    all your firstborn of your herds and flocks.
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    Or if you're a gold miner, all of your gold,
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    or whatever it is, it's really heavy.
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    You're going to bring your 10% to return it to me.
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    I got some unique instructions for them.
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    Check this out. Deuteronomy chapter 14.
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    Yeah, someone says.
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    So, this is an exception where God says
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    right here in this specific time, these people,
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    look, hey, man, it's tough to kind of
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    carry all your grain that way.
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    Why don't you turn it for money and have a drink on me.
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    This is my money. Have a drink on me.
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    It says strong drink, wine.
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    I'm not saying you have to drink.
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    I'm not saying you should drink.
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    It is a great idea for a lot of people to not drink.
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    All of us have been touched too closely by alcoholism.
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    I'm not ignorant of that.
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    And I'm also aware that this is what God says.
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    Or He says, "Anything you crave."
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    Isn't that amazing about God? "It's fine.
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    You crave chocolate cake. Get some chocolate cake.
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    Brisket, pastries, strong drink, whatever it is."
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    This is the character aspect of God,
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    He wants to be enjoyed and He wants us to enjoy one another.
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    That is what the peace offering is about
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    that we're talking about today.
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    We have different offerings.
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    We had the burnt offering the first week.
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    We had the offerings with the goats last week
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    that we sent out, by the way, one of those goats,
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    Elvis was with us.
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    We just ate Elvis. He tastes really good.
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    [crowd reacts]
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    There is -- I've never actually had goat.
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    I've never, never, never tasted that.
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    But there's all these different offerings
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    that are given in the book of Leviticus.
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    One of them is the peace offering.
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    We're going to look at today the peace offering.
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    The peace offering is the word in Hebrew Shalom.
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    Shalom, Shalom. Peace means wholeness, oneness,
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    the way things ought to be.
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    When they're disjointed and we're out of whack,
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    it's just -- it's just not right.
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    It's odd. It's jarring.
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    Peace is when things come together.
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    That's what we're looking at,
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    peace and communal connection.
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    Leviticus, we don't like the Leviticus.
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    We don't like the Bible.
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    We don't like the Old Testament because
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    it stands against our American forms of spirituality.
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    American spirituality, whether it's some Christians
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    who practice American spirituality
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    or people who are not Christians at all
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    that practice a form of spirituality.
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    I say we're spiritual.
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    It's a number of things that are exactly opposite
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    of biblical faith, a biblical spirituality.
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    It is subjective, impersonal, and private.
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    Subjective: pop spirituality.
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    My opinion versus your opinion.
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    It's just what I feel. It's my emotions.
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    We never say it's my emotions. It's my spirituality.
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    It's very subjective.
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    It's impersonal.
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    Star Wars took off.
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    It was a brand of spirituality
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    because it's our American spirituality.
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    May the force be with you.
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    The force, the aura, the light.
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    It's impersonal. Not a personal entity.
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    And it's private.
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    It's my beliefs. It's my faith.
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    You have your beliefs and your thoughts.
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    I have my beliefs, my thoughts.
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    They don't have to jibe or sync together.
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    You've got your spirituality. I have my spirituality.
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    It's private.
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    Biblical spirituality is number one, it's objective.
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    It's objective.
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    That doesn't mean everything about my faith
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    you can put in a petri dish
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    and explore it in a laboratory.
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    But it means this book objectively tells me
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    things I should do and not do.
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    That's why there's parts of this book I don't like.
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    That's why I struggle with some things that are in this book.
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    Everybody does. Everybody does.
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    And that's the thing about modern American spirituality.
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    You don't struggle with anything.
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    If it doesn't feel good to you, you just eliminate it.
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    Let me ask you this.
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    Whatever your God is,
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    how would your God get your attention?
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    How would your God give you instructions
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    that you don't want?
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    See, unless you have an objective way
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    to hear from your God, you're never going to know if
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    you're actually hearing from the one true God.
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    This is one of the ways that God is objective with me.
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    I've got to play by the same rules,
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    understand the same characteristics of God
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    as people of faith who live in Pakistan
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    and follow this book and who have lived in
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    way back when countries that are gone, gone, gone
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    and have been around forever because it's --
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    The second thing is it's personal.
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    It's not impersonal. It's personal.
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    God exists in three forms: God the Father, personal entity;
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    son, personal entity; Holy Spirit.
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    The Holy Spirit in the Bible
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    is frequently referred to as a he,
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    not an it, not a force, not a power, not a light, a he.
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    God is personal.
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    And here's the big one for the rest of today,
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    He's communal.
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    Instead of private, we all have our private things
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    and we all go in our place
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    and have our own private experiences with God,
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    our private --
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    He's communal.
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    It means that I can't experience God without you
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    and you can't experience God without me
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    or the person close to you.
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    This is what the peace offering is about.
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    Let's look at it. Leviticus 7:11. Here's what it says:
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    This again is just like that Deuteronomy passage
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    where we talked about fine foods,
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    things you crave, strong drink.
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    This is a potpourri of amazing deliciousness,
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    wafers with oil because, you know,
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    dry wafers aren't that good.
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    Moist wafers are the way to go.
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    And I know a lot of us hate that word moist,
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    but it's kind of here in the Bible,
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    or things with oil that are bringing flavor,
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    things of thanksgiving, all this stuff.
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    And this is the peace offering.
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    The peace offering.
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    Now this offering, these other offerings we've had
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    on this that we've sort of replicated on this altar
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    are about you and I having peace with God.
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    This animal is being sacrificed because
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    I'm reminded that I can have peace with God.
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    The peace offering, however, it's a bit different
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    in that the peace offering is about
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    all of us having peace with one another.
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    It's about God having us commune together
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    and enjoy peace together.
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    It's wholeness.
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    This is why you can bring a lot of things
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    to the peace offering: a cow, a goat, a lamb.
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    You couldn't bring a bird.
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    Other offerings you can bring a bird to sacrifice.
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    You can't bring a bird,
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    because a bird can't feed any more than one person.
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    Everything you're bringing and sacrificing
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    is meant to be shared communally.
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    These sacrifices they bring,
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    they had to be eaten in 1 to 2 days.
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    Because it wasn't meant to help you with your grocery budget.
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    You couldn't just salt it and say, "Okay,
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    I'm going to keep this for,
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    like, the next two weeks of my eating."
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    It was like God was saying, "No, no, no, no.
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    You're going to bring it. You're going to slaughter it.
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    And it's got to be all eaten and gone in two days."
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    You eat it, the priests eat it, everybody else eats it
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    around you because God wants us to be communally connected.
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    I believe that our form of spirituality in America today
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    that many of us as Christians or church goers
  • 00:13:45
    and many people who are not in church practice,
  • 00:13:48
    that again, I'll tell you what it is again,
  • 00:13:50
    that is private, subjective, and impersonal.
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    I believe that is why our suicide statistics
  • 00:13:59
    keeps going up, up, up.
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    That's why our mental health statistics
  • 00:14:03
    keep going down, down, down.
  • 00:14:05
    Every happiness indicator I've read
  • 00:14:07
    is going the wrong way in our country.
  • 00:14:09
    And yet we're still a very, very, very wealthy country.
  • 00:14:12
    But what we're not doing is
  • 00:14:13
    we don't have communal connection.
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    Long gone. Long gone.
  • 00:14:17
    And when everybody in the neighborhood
  • 00:14:19
    went to their own schools,
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    everyone knew the neighborhoods.
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    Now we all ship our kids off to different schools
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    that align with where we are.
  • 00:14:25
    And I'm not saying
  • 00:14:26
    that's necessarily bad in and of itself,
  • 00:14:28
    but just a micro slice of so much
  • 00:14:31
    that is not great to keep us connected.
  • 00:14:33
    Long gone are bowling leagues.
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    When do we ever hang with each other, right?
  • 00:14:38
    Long gone are ways that we all had common experience.
  • 00:14:42
    Long gone are days when we all served in the military
  • 00:14:45
    or were drafted in, or the Peace Corps or something like that.
  • 00:14:48
    We had communal connections that forged us,
  • 00:14:51
    long, long gone are that.
  • 00:14:52
    And we're more isolated.
  • 00:14:53
    And long, long gone are we're getting out
  • 00:14:55
    and doing things with our neighbors.
  • 00:14:57
    We're staying inside dark rooms and doing Call of Duty.
  • 00:15:00
    None of those things individually are awful. Hear me.
  • 00:15:03
    None of those things individually awful.
  • 00:15:05
    I'm just saying look at the whole of it
  • 00:15:07
    and we're very isolated, we're very unhealthy,
  • 00:15:11
    and all statistics show this.
  • 00:15:14
    How many of us would like to have peace,
  • 00:15:16
    more peace than we have right now?
  • 00:15:18
    How many of us would like to have a 50% raise?
  • 00:15:21
    Come on, who wants to make 50% more money?
  • 00:15:23
    You know, I would like to have 50% more money.
  • 00:15:25
    I don't know if we have any board members in here.
  • 00:15:27
    That'd be wonderful. [laughter]
  • 00:15:30
    No, you and our board is very generous with me.
  • 00:15:32
    Thank you very much.
  • 00:15:33
    But, you know, we all -- We all feel --
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    We all feel, man, if I had 50% more
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    than what I have right now,
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    most of us feel that I would be more peaceful,
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    I'd have less stress walking to the --
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    walking to the mailbox.
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    If I had an accident, I wouldn't immediately
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    be freaking out over what's going to do
  • 00:15:53
    to my insurance rates.
  • 00:15:54
    I could do that.
  • 00:15:57
    We'd love that peace.
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    Here's a crazy thing.
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    You can increase your peace by 50%
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    by doubling your relationships.
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    Check this quote out
  • 00:16:09
    from the National Institute of Health:
  • 00:16:18
    That's good news, because most of us can't figure out
  • 00:16:21
    how to make 50% more money than we do right now.
  • 00:16:23
    But I'll tell you what, you can figure out
  • 00:16:25
    how to have two friends
  • 00:16:26
    because you probably don't have one right now.
  • 00:16:28
    I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious.
  • 00:16:30
    The average person has a hard time
  • 00:16:32
    identifying two friends.
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    And by friend, I'm not talking about
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    someone you laugh with at work.
  • 00:16:36
    I'm not talking about somebody
  • 00:16:38
    who you exchange some emails with every once in a while.
  • 00:16:40
    I mean, somebody you know them,
  • 00:16:42
    and if they have kids, you know their kids' names
  • 00:16:45
    and they know you and they know something about you
  • 00:16:47
    that's unflattering about yourself,
  • 00:16:48
    and you can recite three times
  • 00:16:50
    you laugh your butts off together, and you can --
  • 00:16:53
    It's very, very rare.
  • 00:16:56
    The kind of person who will help you move.
  • 00:16:58
    That's what good friends do.
  • 00:16:59
    Good friends help you move.
  • 00:17:01
    Great friends help you move a body.
  • 00:17:11
    Very few of us have that kind of friendship.
  • 00:17:14
    And I think that's part of why we're struggling so much.
  • 00:17:22
    The New Testament portion of the Bible
  • 00:17:24
    written after the Old Testament, obviously,
  • 00:17:26
    written at the time of Jesus
  • 00:17:27
    and the Old Testament is before Jesus.
  • 00:17:30
    It's -- we again, the cynics and skeptics
  • 00:17:32
    love to pick things out of the Old Testament, go,
  • 00:17:34
    "Oh, yeah? Well, how come you're not
  • 00:17:36
    scraping mildew off your walls anymore?
  • 00:17:38
    How come it says this? You're not doing that.
  • 00:17:40
    How come it says you're not doing this?"
  • 00:17:41
    They don't understand this basic intelligence.
  • 00:17:46
    The early Christians understood all of those things
  • 00:17:49
    because that was part of their Jewish faith.
  • 00:17:51
    And they knew all along,
  • 00:17:52
    "No, those things are fulfilled.
  • 00:17:54
    Those things have gone away."
  • 00:17:55
    It's not that they were wrong to begin with,
  • 00:17:58
    but they were setting us up to understand Jesus
  • 00:18:01
    because Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice on the Cross.
  • 00:18:04
    The understanding of sacrifice was all built on the altar,
  • 00:18:07
    and they understood there were certain laws
  • 00:18:09
    that were going to go away,
  • 00:18:11
    and there are certain laws that were going to be fulfilled.
  • 00:18:13
    And it's pretty easy to understand which ones
  • 00:18:16
    if we're just not as cynical as many people are.
  • 00:18:18
    The Book of Hebrews talks about a law,
  • 00:18:22
    a way of life that is absolutely rock solid,
  • 00:18:25
    always true, always in focus.
  • 00:18:27
    Let's watch it right here, Hebrews 10:19-25:
  • 00:18:36
    It's the blood of the sacrifice
  • 00:18:38
    that gives us oneness with God at-one-ment.
  • 00:18:42
    So also Jesus, it's His blood that gets us one with God,
  • 00:18:46
    that's what's saying here.
  • 00:18:57
    He's a priest.
  • 00:18:58
    So just like there was priests
  • 00:19:00
    who would assist in the killing of the animals here,
  • 00:19:03
    the sacrificing of the animals,
  • 00:19:05
    and be the go between between us and God,
  • 00:19:07
    Jesus is our priest.
  • 00:19:08
    We don't need a human being to go in between for us.
  • 00:19:11
    Jesus is our priest and He's Got at the same time.
  • 00:19:13
    That's what's saying here.
  • 00:19:14
    So all those priests,
  • 00:19:15
    the whole priest function not necessary anymore.
  • 00:19:17
    In fact, it was never the long term plan.
  • 00:19:20
    In fact, the nation of Israel was told
  • 00:19:21
    even before the priests were instituted
  • 00:19:23
    in the Book of Exodus, "You're all a nation of priests.
  • 00:19:26
    All of you are going to be this."
  • 00:19:27
    I'm giving you a lot of information today.
  • 00:19:29
    Let me take a breath.
  • 00:19:31
    Everybody okay? I'm giving you a lot of Bible,
  • 00:19:33
    a lot of information.
  • 00:19:34
    We okay? Good. Okay. Let's keep going. Let's keep going.
  • 00:19:39
    I need another bite. I need --
  • 00:19:40
    I need to give myself a little.
  • 00:19:44
    What are you complaining about?
  • 00:19:46
    You hear him back there, like, oh?
  • 00:19:48
    All right, let's keep going.
  • 00:19:49
    I know I'm not supposed to talk with my mouth full,
  • 00:19:51
    but it's going to happen anyway.
  • 00:19:53
    Here we go. I'll start at 23.
  • 00:20:19
    Do you see the communal connection in this? '
  • 00:20:24
    He's saying some people in the habit
  • 00:20:27
    of not having communal connection,
  • 00:20:29
    some people are in the habit of just blowing off
  • 00:20:31
    whatever it is, group attendance, church attendance,
  • 00:20:34
    hanging out with their neighbors.
  • 00:20:36
    They just choose to not be in community.
  • 00:20:39
    But you, He says, you, we need to encourage one another,
  • 00:20:43
    be firing each other up and have a place
  • 00:20:45
    and times in our schedule where we stir each other up
  • 00:20:49
    to love and good deeds.
  • 00:20:50
    Don't forsake the gathering together.
  • 00:20:52
    Don't forsake your communal connection.
  • 00:20:54
    Your faith is not private.
  • 00:20:57
    Your faith is not personal in the sense of only you.
  • 00:21:02
    Our faith is experienced when around people,
  • 00:21:05
    and that's what the peace offering shows us.
  • 00:21:07
    It's about enjoying and encountering other people.
  • 00:21:11
    One of the things I like to do
  • 00:21:12
    when we talk about encountering other people,
  • 00:21:14
    women, generally speaking, are much better in this.
  • 00:21:18
    They are much, much better.
  • 00:21:19
    Women are generally have have lower suicides than men.
  • 00:21:23
    Much lower.
  • 00:21:24
    Men are more crisis, mental health than women are.
  • 00:21:27
    Men are 4 times more likely to have a suicide than a woman,
  • 00:21:30
    3 times more likely to have mental illness than a woman.
  • 00:21:33
    One of the reasons for this, I believe,
  • 00:21:35
    is that women are better relationally.
  • 00:21:38
    They can start up conversations easier.
  • 00:21:39
    They can say, "Oh, let's just go for coffee,"
  • 00:21:41
    and it's wonderful and great.
  • 00:21:42
    Guys, like, "Hey, let's go for coffee.
  • 00:21:44
    I don't know you, first time meeting you. Ehh.
  • 00:21:47
    I'm not sure. Very nervous to talk to another human being."
  • 00:21:56
    Men, generally speaking, when relationships start,
  • 00:21:59
    it starts because we're doing something together,
  • 00:22:02
    not just sitting and talking.
  • 00:22:03
    We're doing something together.
  • 00:22:06
    My best friendships are with guys
  • 00:22:09
    who we've done things together.
  • 00:22:10
    One of the things I like to do is I like to hunt.
  • 00:22:13
    It's a lot fun.
  • 00:22:14
    I like it, especially when I'm with other people,
  • 00:22:17
    hunting and experiencing the whole thing.
  • 00:22:20
    This is the most recent thing I had on a hunt.
  • 00:22:23
    It's a pretty crazy animal.
  • 00:22:25
    It was in Texas called a nilgai.
  • 00:22:27
    It was quite a cool hunt.
  • 00:22:29
    At the end of that hunt, what's a better --
  • 00:22:32
    the best part is I get that meat,
  • 00:22:34
    I get that processed meat.
  • 00:22:36
    It goes in my freezer,
  • 00:22:37
    and then I get to cook it for people
  • 00:22:41
    that I'm having community with.
  • 00:22:43
    It's wonderful.
  • 00:22:44
    Now people go like, "Oh, isn't that gamey?"
  • 00:22:47
    And whenever someone says, "Oh, isn't it gamey?"
  • 00:22:49
    I always know one of two things.
  • 00:22:51
    One, you've never actually eaten game
  • 00:22:52
    that's actually been killed the honest way.
  • 00:22:54
    Or two, you've only eaten
  • 00:22:56
    when someone didn't know how to cook.
  • 00:22:59
    It's wonderful. It's great. It's amazing.
  • 00:23:03
    I love when we do -- when I'm at one of our camps.
  • 00:23:06
    I love to take out, I'll pull out of the freezer
  • 00:23:08
    some of the elk that I shot a couple of years ago.
  • 00:23:10
    It stays in the freezer real long.
  • 00:23:11
    I make elk balls and -- meatballs, that is.
  • 00:23:14
    And I put them put them on a platter.
  • 00:23:16
    I sprinkling -- sprinkle, sprinkle.
  • 00:23:19
    Sprinkle it, sprinkle --
  • 00:23:20
    That wouldn't feed many people.
  • 00:23:22
    I sprinkle it with some Ruby's seasoning
  • 00:23:26
    and I just take it around the campsites
  • 00:23:29
    and I go, "Hey, you want some?"
  • 00:23:30
    It's communal connection.
  • 00:23:32
    We rarely have anybody in our homes anymore.
  • 00:23:35
    We rarely cook for anybody anymore.
  • 00:23:37
    It's again, we're isolated.
  • 00:23:39
    Like, my parents would always have people over
  • 00:23:42
    for bridge parties and dinner things.
  • 00:23:44
    That was the generation, like,
  • 00:23:46
    we just don't do that anymore
  • 00:23:48
    because we're lonely and we're fragmented.
  • 00:23:53
    We don't have any peace because
  • 00:23:55
    we've gotten out of a biblical cultural framework
  • 00:23:59
    of how we operate life or how they always did,
  • 00:24:01
    and how God told us to do it.
  • 00:24:04
    It's part of why our country is so contentious as well.
  • 00:24:07
    There's a bunch of micro cultures inside of our country.
  • 00:24:11
    And that's fine.
  • 00:24:13
    We're not so much a melting pot.
  • 00:24:15
    We're a bunch of micro cultures who are kind of duking it out,
  • 00:24:17
    trying to figure out who wins,
  • 00:24:19
    who wins the national budget,
  • 00:24:20
    who wins the elections, who wins this, who wins this?
  • 00:24:22
    And often times these are divided along racial lines.
  • 00:24:25
    And that's part of maybe the extra tension we have right now.
  • 00:24:27
    When I was the little kid,
  • 00:24:28
    the dominant cultural viewpoint was white people.
  • 00:24:32
    And that worked out really well because I was white.
  • 00:24:35
    You know, the majority of people who are born
  • 00:24:37
    in hospitals across the country right now are brown.
  • 00:24:39
    They're not white, they're brown,
  • 00:24:42
    whatever shade of brown you want.
  • 00:24:45
    White babies are in the minority in maternity wards,
  • 00:24:50
    and I will be, because I plan on living
  • 00:24:53
    at least another 20 years, 30 years,
  • 00:24:56
    I will be in the minority in America
  • 00:24:58
    by the time I'm an old man.
  • 00:25:00
    And you know what? That's good by me.
  • 00:25:03
    I'm totally fine with that.
  • 00:25:04
    And let me tell you why.
  • 00:25:06
    Because no matter what happens in the culture of America,
  • 00:25:09
    I'm mostly into the culture of the Kingdom of God.
  • 00:25:11
    While other people are are fighting,
  • 00:25:13
    fighting over what happens to the culture of America,
  • 00:25:18
    I'm a part of a culture that transcends
  • 00:25:20
    whatever the lifespan of America is.
  • 00:25:22
    So while we all have our opinions.
  • 00:25:23
    I have opinions of America as well,
  • 00:25:25
    and how I want it to operate, as all of us do.
  • 00:25:27
    I'm not ignoring that, but I'm saying
  • 00:25:29
    let's recognize that there is an evil force
  • 00:25:31
    that's fragmenting and dividing us.
  • 00:25:35
    And the peace offering says,
  • 00:25:37
    can we come together and be whole?
  • 00:25:39
    Can we eat together? Can we have a beer together?
  • 00:25:43
    Can we have some coffee?
  • 00:25:45
    Can we just see our human connection with God
  • 00:25:48
    instead of always being upset with each other?
  • 00:25:51
    Peace offering is what God is trying to do
  • 00:25:53
    to get people to do that.
  • 00:25:57
    And we're missing it in our culture.
  • 00:25:58
    We're missing this entirely.
  • 00:26:00
    We're fixating on things like tobacco use,
  • 00:26:02
    which I think isn't a bad idea because we all know
  • 00:26:04
    that cigarette usage is not good for you
  • 00:26:07
    and we've had an all out war on it.
  • 00:26:09
    And I'm fine with that. That's fine.
  • 00:26:10
    Even as a tobacco user myself, I'm fine.
  • 00:26:13
    I see the wisdom of it. All good. All fine.
  • 00:26:16
    But we're not talking about the toll
  • 00:26:19
    of living biblically, which is living personally
  • 00:26:23
    and not living in a communal sense.
  • 00:26:25
    Check this statistic out.
  • 00:26:26
    I'll just quote for you because you won't believe it.
  • 00:26:28
    Here we go.
  • 00:26:48
    Man, dudes, this is huge.
  • 00:26:51
    And God knew this all along.
  • 00:26:53
    This is a big deal, friends.
  • 00:26:55
    Now, what do we do with this?
  • 00:26:57
    Let's make a jump. Let's make it happen.
  • 00:26:58
    This is all too set up to
  • 00:27:00
    there's things that we should do.
  • 00:27:02
    We're not going to have a little peace offering
  • 00:27:04
    and kill whatever it is
  • 00:27:05
    and share it with our friends on an altar.
  • 00:27:08
    But all of this is framework for how God
  • 00:27:10
    saw our lives had to work
  • 00:27:12
    and our cultures have to work
  • 00:27:13
    and our schedules have to work.
  • 00:27:15
    So let's let's make the jump of application.
  • 00:27:17
    What do we do with this? Three real quick, quick things.
  • 00:27:19
    Number one, identify who your community is
  • 00:27:25
    and tell them they are your core community.
  • 00:27:29
    Or as I would say, I got this term from a friend of mine,
  • 00:27:32
    who's your eight? Who's your eight?
  • 00:27:35
    If you're going to have a traditional funeral
  • 00:27:37
    with a casket, you're going to have
  • 00:27:38
    eight people carrying the casket.
  • 00:27:40
    Who are the eight people carrying the casket?
  • 00:27:43
    If you're going to have yourself cremated,
  • 00:27:44
    okay, Who are the eight people
  • 00:27:46
    you're going to sprinkle your ashes?
  • 00:27:47
    Who is your eight?
  • 00:27:52
    Three of mine are men in my family,
  • 00:27:55
    my son, my two sons-in-law, they are certainly three.
  • 00:27:57
    And I'm not going to tell you the other five.
  • 00:27:59
    I'm not going to tell you right now what they are,
  • 00:28:02
    partially because the next 2 or 3 are real obvious,
  • 00:28:05
    and the last two, there's probably like a ten way tie.
  • 00:28:08
    And if I start naming people,
  • 00:28:10
    people are gonna get really bummed that they're not in it,
  • 00:28:12
    when they really are.
  • 00:28:13
    There's just not that much room around the casket for you.
  • 00:28:15
    So sorry.
  • 00:28:17
    So I'm not going -- I'm not going to give them.
  • 00:28:21
    But those folks, you probably know who you are.
  • 00:28:23
    I'm pretty sure.
  • 00:28:24
    That's great.
  • 00:28:25
    Here's the thing. Here's the thing.
  • 00:28:27
    Someday you're going to carry me
  • 00:28:29
    and I'm going to carry you right now.
  • 00:28:33
    I'm going to be there for you. I'm going to laugh with you.
  • 00:28:35
    I'm going to serve you when I can.
  • 00:28:37
    I'm going to -- I'm going --
  • 00:28:38
    And you're going to carry me and I may carry you later.
  • 00:28:42
    We may as well start right now.
  • 00:28:44
    Who is it? Who is your eight?
  • 00:28:47
    Not like, "I'm just -- I just like people."
  • 00:28:49
    No, I'm not talking about that.
  • 00:28:50
    "Oh, I'm just an extrovert."
  • 00:28:52
    No, you can be an extrovert
  • 00:28:53
    and be very isolated, very lonely,
  • 00:28:55
    have no meaningful communal connection.
  • 00:28:57
    Who is it that comes and picks you up
  • 00:29:00
    in the middle of the night
  • 00:29:01
    when when Uber can't come and get you?
  • 00:29:04
    Who is it that can forward you 100 bucks
  • 00:29:06
    to get through the next paycheck, or 5000,
  • 00:29:09
    if you hang out with people who have that much money?
  • 00:29:13
    Who is it that can do that when you're in a pinch?
  • 00:29:15
    Those are the kind of folks I'm talking about.
  • 00:29:17
    Who are they?
  • 00:29:20
    Identify who those people are
  • 00:29:22
    and tell them that's where they are.
  • 00:29:24
    Number two, schedule weekly time for connection.
  • 00:29:29
    Schedule weekly time for connection.
  • 00:29:31
    When I moved to Cincinnati,
  • 00:29:33
    I was offered the job to start Crossroads.
  • 00:29:35
    I moved in November 15, 1995.
  • 00:29:38
    And when I moved over it was two breakfasts a day,
  • 00:29:42
    two lunches a day, an afternoon coffee,
  • 00:29:44
    trying to woo people and convince people
  • 00:29:47
    to be part of our volunteer core
  • 00:29:49
    and to start this thing called Crossroads.
  • 00:29:50
    And I gained from November to when we started in March,
  • 00:29:54
    I gained like 20 pounds, you know.
  • 00:29:56
    A man can't eat that much
  • 00:29:58
    and not show up around his belly.
  • 00:29:59
    So that was happening.
  • 00:30:01
    And then from that whole time
  • 00:30:02
    and then at the first year or two,
  • 00:30:03
    this would take place, I would interact with people
  • 00:30:05
    and they would drop --
  • 00:30:06
    they would say something with this.
  • 00:30:08
    They would say, "Well, I used to go to such and such church,
  • 00:30:10
    but it just got too big.
  • 00:30:12
    I used to go, but it just -- it just got too big."
  • 00:30:16
    And it was so deflating when they would say that to me
  • 00:30:19
    because they would say it to me saying,
  • 00:30:21
    "You're kind of small and insignificant.
  • 00:30:23
    So I kind of like you.
  • 00:30:24
    And if God ever blesses you, we're going to have to leave."
  • 00:30:27
    That's kind of what, you, as in the church.
  • 00:30:30
    "We're going to have to leave."
  • 00:30:32
    The truth is,
  • 00:30:33
    about 95% of churches in America are under 200.
  • 00:30:37
    95%. Why is that?
  • 00:30:38
    Because when churches 400, 500,
  • 00:30:41
    let alone four digits, five digits,
  • 00:30:43
    when it gets larger than 200, everybody in the church
  • 00:30:47
    can't be married and buried by the pastor.
  • 00:30:49
    He can't be the personal counselor for everybody.
  • 00:30:52
    And so people in the very, very small churches,
  • 00:30:54
    they don't so much have to work at their communal connection.
  • 00:30:58
    They just show up
  • 00:30:59
    and assume it's all going to be okay for them.
  • 00:31:01
    And it probably is if it's a church of about 100 or so.
  • 00:31:03
    But when you're talking about a whole nation,
  • 00:31:05
    like the nation of Israel, that didn't work.
  • 00:31:08
    It wasn't, like, "I know my priest. I know my priest."
  • 00:31:11
    No, God put into the calendar, into the week,
  • 00:31:14
    "Here's the things that you have to do."
  • 00:31:16
    That's why Crossroads we offer you a bunch of things
  • 00:31:20
    to enable you to find communal connections.
  • 00:31:22
    Serving as one of them.
  • 00:31:23
    It's not just blessing people
  • 00:31:25
    and increasing the impact of God,
  • 00:31:26
    but it's also increasing the hit rate.
  • 00:31:28
    You're going to find somebody that might be a friend.
  • 00:31:31
    Things we do, like, go to a Cyclones game, Camps.
  • 00:31:36
    Camps are awesome.
  • 00:31:38
    They're the most, in my opinion,
  • 00:31:40
    the most life transformational thing that we do around here.
  • 00:31:42
    And it's because you're with people two nights
  • 00:31:46
    in an intense environment where you're most likely
  • 00:31:48
    to be vulnerable and have communal connection
  • 00:31:50
    and maybe find a friend,
  • 00:31:52
    if you don't have one already, that could transcend Camp.
  • 00:31:55
    It's these things that are put in the calendar.
  • 00:31:58
    It's what has to happen for us
  • 00:32:00
    to take responsibility to find that connection.
  • 00:32:03
    Number three. Number three is calendar for celebration.
  • 00:32:07
    Calendar for it.
  • 00:32:09
    Jesus had this celebration was calendared for Him.
  • 00:32:12
    It was called Passover.
  • 00:32:14
    Passover was another thing that happened
  • 00:32:15
    in the book of Exodus, where --
  • 00:32:17
    I'd love to go into these stories.
  • 00:32:18
    I can't get into all these stories.
  • 00:32:20
    But basically it was this feast.
  • 00:32:22
    And every year they were supposed to have this feast.
  • 00:32:24
    While Jesus is at this feast, He makes the switch
  • 00:32:28
    from Passover to communion.
  • 00:32:30
    As the disciples at the Last Supper,
  • 00:32:32
    which is why we call this --
  • 00:32:34
    we're going to do in just a moment --
  • 00:32:36
    why we call it the Lord's Supper,
  • 00:32:39
    He flips the script on what it means
  • 00:32:42
    while they're having a form of peace offering,
  • 00:32:45
    while they're having a communal connection
  • 00:32:47
    that was mandated in the Bible.
  • 00:32:50
    What do you have in your calendar every year
  • 00:32:54
    that mandates celebration?
  • 00:32:56
    In a few weeks we have Easter coming up,
  • 00:32:58
    which is going to be a great time.
  • 00:33:00
    We're going to do our best to have
  • 00:33:01
    a great Easter weekend services.
  • 00:33:04
    But quite frankly, I've been a little bit bummed
  • 00:33:06
    with our church in the last few years
  • 00:33:08
    and I take responsibility for it.
  • 00:33:09
    I don't like it.
  • 00:33:10
    Every year, and I'm a really bad planner,
  • 00:33:12
    every year the last several years
  • 00:33:14
    we come up to Holy Week, which is the week before Easter.
  • 00:33:18
    You have Lent, which is the 40 days before Easter,
  • 00:33:21
    in which many of us,
  • 00:33:22
    because we're a personal spirituality,
  • 00:33:24
    we go into our personal spiritual mode.
  • 00:33:27
    We make it a way for us to get better.
  • 00:33:29
    I'm going to give up sweets for 40 days.
  • 00:33:31
    Okay, how's that --
  • 00:33:32
    How's that connected with communal growth
  • 00:33:35
    and deepening with God?
  • 00:33:37
    "I don't know. I'm just going to give up sweets."
  • 00:33:39
    Okay. That's today's --
  • 00:33:40
    can't pin it to anything in the scriptures.
  • 00:33:43
    Can't pin it to how it's helping the community.
  • 00:33:45
    But it's like, "Oh, I get to improve me.
  • 00:33:47
    I'm all about improving me.
  • 00:33:48
    I'm all about cutting sweets out."
  • 00:33:50
    I'm all about cutting sweets out
  • 00:33:51
    if you want to during during Lent.
  • 00:33:53
    But it's got to be something that's about God
  • 00:33:56
    and not about the goal that I have for myself
  • 00:33:58
    because that's my private brand of spirituality.
  • 00:34:01
    Are you track with me at all?
  • 00:34:02
    Are you seeing at all how these things
  • 00:34:04
    just get woven through us when we get off
  • 00:34:06
    a biblical standpoint that's ancient and works?
  • 00:34:10
    So, all that was a lead up,
  • 00:34:11
    but what was the point I was making?
  • 00:34:13
    What was the point I was making?
  • 00:34:14
    What was I saying right before that?
  • 00:34:16
    You've been with me.
  • 00:34:17
    You've been paying attention the whole time,
  • 00:34:19
    one of the few people.
  • 00:34:20
    What was I saying right before that?
  • 00:34:21
    Holy week. Thank you. Thank you.
  • 00:34:23
    Russ, Thank you.
  • 00:34:24
    Yes. The educator. Appreciate it.
  • 00:34:26
    Holy Week, I feel like we've really dropped the ball
  • 00:34:28
    on that the last several years.
  • 00:34:30
    We've just been overwhelmed. having --
  • 00:34:31
    And I was like, "Oh my gosh, all we have is Easter services.
  • 00:34:34
    There's a whole bunch of things to commemorate that week."
  • 00:34:36
    We're going to rectify that this year.
  • 00:34:39
    We're going to have a whole slew of opportunities
  • 00:34:41
    for you to deepen your walk with God
  • 00:34:43
    and connect with other folks all through Holy Week.
  • 00:34:46
    It's going to be really, really solid.
  • 00:34:48
    The last day, which is Easter,
  • 00:34:50
    I encourage you to do right now, think about it,
  • 00:34:52
    maybe reach out to your eight or your family, whoever,
  • 00:34:56
    and say, "Hey, why don't we have lunch at my place
  • 00:34:58
    or go out here and let's have a celebration."
  • 00:35:01
    Easter should be a celebration,
  • 00:35:02
    not just what happens on a stage at one of our sites,
  • 00:35:06
    but it should be with all of our friends.
  • 00:35:08
    What are your calendar systems to stimulate you
  • 00:35:13
    to have celebration and peace with other people?
  • 00:35:17
    Now we're going to do this communion right now.
  • 00:35:23
    And what I'm going to try to do is
  • 00:35:24
    I'm going to try to tie communion to this altar.
  • 00:35:31
    In fact, some of you might come from church traditions
  • 00:35:33
    where the communion table is known as the altar.
  • 00:35:36
    It's like tracing all the way back
  • 00:35:38
    to we're slaughtering animals
  • 00:35:41
    and then we're sacrificing animals
  • 00:35:43
    just like Jesus is sacrificed,
  • 00:35:45
    they're trying to do where that goes all back.
  • 00:35:47
    This -- this --
  • 00:35:49
    Let me tell you something else I don't like about our church.
  • 00:35:51
    I hate these. These suck.
  • 00:35:55
    They honestly, they're really bad.
  • 00:35:57
    Now hear me out.
  • 00:35:58
    Communion doesn't suck. Communion doesn't suck.
  • 00:36:01
    Just these things suck.
  • 00:36:04
    The reason we do it this way is because
  • 00:36:07
    we can't figure out an efficient way
  • 00:36:10
    to move 3000 people through in under 45 minutes.
  • 00:36:15
    In fact, we can't figure out a way
  • 00:36:16
    to move 300 people through in under 15 minutes.
  • 00:36:20
    And some of us would say, "Ah, well, that's why
  • 00:36:22
    I want to go to a smaller church
  • 00:36:24
    because we can get through it quicker."
  • 00:36:25
    Well, that sucks too. Let me tell you why.
  • 00:36:28
    Even there, and we've done this at some services,
  • 00:36:31
    you come forward, you dip the bread in the thing
  • 00:36:34
    or you fed the wine, you have the wafer.
  • 00:36:36
    That is the early followers of Christ
  • 00:36:39
    would look at that and go, "You what?
  • 00:36:42
    This is communion?"
  • 00:36:45
    No, because America always tries to systematize it.
  • 00:36:48
    Let's get it efficient.
  • 00:36:49
    It was known as the Agape Love Feast.
  • 00:36:52
    When Jesus has the Last Supper, He flips the script
  • 00:36:55
    on what the elements are in Passover.
  • 00:36:57
    He's grabbing for things.
  • 00:36:59
    He's not saying only bread and only wine,
  • 00:37:03
    or juice if you have a problem with wine.
  • 00:37:07
    And this is why the first century,
  • 00:37:09
    if you don't know this story,
  • 00:37:11
    you won't understand First Corinthians chapter --
  • 00:37:15
    Let me get to it here.
  • 00:37:17
    First Corinthians where they're abusing communion actually.
  • 00:37:21
    They're actually taking this Agape Love Feast,
  • 00:37:24
    an entire an entire meal.
  • 00:37:25
    That's the way communion was initially in the early church.
  • 00:37:27
    An entire meal was celebrating one another,
  • 00:37:29
    every communal connection with one another.
  • 00:37:31
    And by the way,
  • 00:37:32
    this represents the body and blood of Jesus.
  • 00:37:35
    Now watch how the apostle Paul calls people out.
  • 00:37:38
    Here's what he says"
  • 00:37:48
    -- Which is really weird.
  • 00:37:50
    They're coming together. How is that?
  • 00:37:51
    Well, because they're all getting wasted.
  • 00:37:53
    They're having a massive gluttony gluttony fest --
  • 00:38:10
    See this whole thing about us being divided,
  • 00:38:12
    it's not a 21st century American thing,
  • 00:38:14
    it's a human thing.
  • 00:38:16
    These are even all people of the same skin tone
  • 00:38:18
    who were at Corinth. Right?
  • 00:38:20
    It's natural for us to be at odds with one another,
  • 00:38:23
    which is why God says no, man, peace.
  • 00:38:26
    You gotta figure out a way to bring you people together.
  • 00:38:42
    So they have all the food spread out
  • 00:38:43
    and one person like, "Oh, I'm famished."
  • 00:38:45
    They scarfed down the food and they eat all the food
  • 00:38:48
    while the other people, there's none left for them.
  • 00:38:50
    They're not thinking about communal connection
  • 00:38:52
    where we all share.
  • 00:38:53
    And there's the wine there.
  • 00:38:54
    The wine, and they're getting wasted.
  • 00:38:57
    They're just downing wine.
  • 00:38:58
    They're not seeing the significance of it.
  • 00:39:00
    They're downing it and they're getting drunk.
  • 00:39:02
    That's because communion for them
  • 00:39:04
    was an entire communal meal.
  • 00:39:06
    It wasn't a this or a cup and a bread.
  • 00:39:10
    It was built on the sacrificial system
  • 00:39:12
    and all of them having peace being with one another.
  • 00:39:23
    If you're just going to gorge yourself,
  • 00:39:25
    can't do that at home?
  • 00:39:26
    If you're just going to get wasted,
  • 00:39:28
    can't you do that in a bar or in your basement?
  • 00:39:31
    Why do you do that here?
  • 00:39:33
    So all that to say, this here,
  • 00:39:37
    no matter what form of communion has ever happened
  • 00:39:39
    in any church building, it will always, always
  • 00:39:42
    come short of the biblical model of communion,
  • 00:39:44
    which is in a home with community and a full meal.
  • 00:39:48
    But, it's still worth celebrating
  • 00:39:51
    because we get to remember the sacrifice of Jesus.
  • 00:39:54
    So it's still good. It's good.
  • 00:39:56
    Let's do that right now.
  • 00:39:57
    Take that top little layer off.
  • 00:40:01
    Take that top, little layer off.
  • 00:40:06
    Oh, man.
  • 00:40:07
    It's just why I hate these things.
  • 00:40:08
    I can't even get the get the freaking layer off.
  • 00:40:12
    Oh, there it is. Okay. All right.
  • 00:40:16
    By the way, if you've never received Christ,
  • 00:40:19
    if you've never come into a biblical spirituality.
  • 00:40:22
    You can do that right now.
  • 00:40:23
    This could actually be your first communion.
  • 00:40:25
    You can right now say, "Jesus, I want you in my life.
  • 00:40:27
    I want you as my sacrifice.
  • 00:40:28
    And right now, as I consume this,
  • 00:40:31
    I want to consume You and Your Spirit.
  • 00:40:33
    Would You fill me up.
  • 00:40:34
    And I'm going to give the rest of my life to You."
  • 00:40:36
    This could be your first communion.
  • 00:40:37
    Take that -- Take that bread, your wafer.
  • 00:40:40
    This wafer represents the body of Christ.
  • 00:40:43
    This wafer represents the burnt offering.
  • 00:40:46
    This wafer represents the peace offering.
  • 00:40:49
    This wafer represents someone who was broken for you and I
  • 00:40:56
    so we would no longer need to be spiritually broken.
  • 00:40:58
    The body of Christ, break, take and eat.
  • 00:41:07
    Peel back the next part.
  • 00:41:11
    This is representative of the blood of Christ.
  • 00:41:17
    And He told us to do this.
  • 00:41:18
    Just like we have remnants of the blood from last week
  • 00:41:22
    still on some of these these stones here.
  • 00:41:25
    So there was a blood stained cross
  • 00:41:28
    in the Middle East about 2000 years ago.
  • 00:41:31
    Over 2000 years ago, about 2000 years ago.
  • 00:41:34
    And this blood we remember
  • 00:41:36
    how Jesus spilled blood for us,
  • 00:41:40
    just like animals spilled blood to bring peace
  • 00:41:44
    and to bring wholeness.
  • 00:41:45
    He spilled His blood to bring peace to us,
  • 00:41:49
    to bring wholeness with God, oneness with each other.
  • 00:41:53
    Do you recognize before we do this,
  • 00:41:55
    do you recognize how much He loves you?
  • 00:41:57
    Do you recognize how important you are to Him?
  • 00:42:00
    Do you recognize that no matter what your problems have been
  • 00:42:03
    or what you've done before today,
  • 00:42:05
    or how you might have been on a wrong path spiritually,
  • 00:42:08
    do you recognize how pleased He is
  • 00:42:10
    that you're present with Him
  • 00:42:12
    and you're celebrating the ultimate sacrifice.
  • 00:42:14
    He loves you so much and He's proud of you,
  • 00:42:18
    proud of you being here
  • 00:42:19
    and proud of you celebrating who He is.
  • 00:42:22
    The blood of Christ shed for forgiveness and oneness.
  • 00:42:26
    Take and drink. Mmm.
  • 00:42:34
    Lord, You're good.
  • 00:42:36
    Thank You for bearing with
  • 00:42:39
    frail, fallen people like myself.
  • 00:42:42
    Thank You for blessing us with community and intense
  • 00:42:46
    and intensive relationships, for the opportunity.
  • 00:42:49
    God, we give You the rest of our day.
  • 00:42:51
    We give You the rest of our week.
  • 00:42:52
    Lord, we want to be different.
  • 00:42:54
    We want to be one with You.
  • 00:42:55
    We want to be one with others.
  • 00:42:56
    Bring us peace in Your Name, I pray, Jesus. Amen.

Mar 5, 2023

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