How to Demolish the Barrier Between You and God

At some point, all of us feel like there is a barrier between us and God. This week Kyle talks about demolishing the barrier between you and God.

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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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    Well, hey, good morning. My name is Kyle,
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    one of our teaching pastors here at Crossroads.
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    And we are talking about Leviticus,
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    like you just saw in that video.
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    And as we've been talking about it,
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    we've got some major prop game, haven't we?
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    We had the swinging smoke thing on the first week.
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    Smoke on a rope is what I call that.
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    And then we had two goats, not one, two goats on stage.
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    That was pretty cool.
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    And then we had smoked meat for you out in the atrium
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    and pretty cool props.
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    I think today, though, is going to take the cake
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    because today we have something incredible.
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    We have a really big curtain.
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    Yeah, yeah, that's from the Bible
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    and we're going to talk about it a lot.
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    So there you go.
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    I know. I know what you're thinking.
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    You're like, "Man, Kyle, when I went through
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    all the effort to get ready for church,
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    you know, because it takes some effort, right?
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    It takes some effort.
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    I had to get dressed. I had to eat breakfast.
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    I fed most of my kids, I think, brought them all here.
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    And then I was just hoping all that effort
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    would pay off and church would be about
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    something awesome like angels or the Apocalypse,
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    you know, something exciting.
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    But a really big curtain, man, what a friggin treat.
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    So excited. So excited."
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    Yeah, well, this is what we're talking about.
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    This comes from the Bible,
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    from the book of Leviticus.
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    And it's actually a curtain that God made for a reason,
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    so He'd be separated from us.
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    He made it as a barrier, which typically
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    at Crossroads we're not really about that.
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    We say this all the time:
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    No matter who you are, no matter what you believe,
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    we're just really glad you're here.
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    We're very welcoming. We're also very honest.
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    And so let me just be honest.
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    There are a few types of people who,
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    if you're here, I'm actually not glad that you're here,
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    and I would love there to be a barrier
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    like this between us.
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    In fact, no one's glad you're here.
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    For instance, if you're the kind of person
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    who calls after I text you,
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    I am not glad you're here.
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    I'm just not.
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    I don't know why this doesn't carry
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    a jail sentence at this point.
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    Like, if you're a normal person,
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    you don't want to talk to anybody
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    on the phone ever under any circumstances. Right?
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    Some people call you back.
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    Those kind of people you don't want to be around you.
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    Also, the kind of people
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    who if you're at a group dinner,
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    you know, there's friends hanging around.
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    There's 8 or 10 of you or whatever at the table.
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    And the waiter comes, if you're the kind of person
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    who tells the waiter to just split the check evenly
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    to make it easy.
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    I don't want to be around you
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    because 100 times out of 100,
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    you're the only one who ordered the steak
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    and the rest of us got a salad or a cheeseburger.
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    I wasn't really looking to donate to your dinner tonight.
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    That wasn't in my plan.
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    I don't want to be around you.
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    And lastly, maybe most importantly,
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    if you're the kind of person
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    who poops at other people's houses,
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    don't want to be around you. Thank you.
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    The rest of us don't do that.
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    Do you know why? We're good planners.
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    Maybe you could try that.
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    You got that one, buddy, right?
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    The one that comes over to your house
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    and he's immediately just like,
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    '"ey, man, do you mind if I take
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    a quick business meeting in your bathroom?"
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    You know, and like, 25 minutes later,
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    he comes strutting out like he won a war.
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    "You're out of toilet paper."
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    Don't want to be around you.
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    This is a barrier.
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    God did make it because
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    He didn't want to be around us, seemingly.
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    He had to put a barrier in place.
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    In fact, Leviticus is a book all about barriers.
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    Each week of this series, we've zoomed in
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    to look at one of the offerings or sacrifices
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    that's listed in Leviticus.
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    We covered four so far:
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    the burnt offering, that was that was the smoke;
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    the guilt offering, that was the goats;
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    the peace offering,
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    that's when we learned we could have parties;
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    and then the grain offering,
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    that's when Chuck and Justin Mosteller last week
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    made us all cry with their story.
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    That's -- we've looked at all those.
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    And today we're going to cover a fifth,
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    the sin offering
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    and this curtain that's directly tied to it.
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    Now, Leviticus is a tough read.
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    I'm not -- going to be very honest with you.
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    It is a very, very tough read.
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    We're looking at it, though, because
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    if you don't understand Leviticus,
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    you cannot understand Jesus.
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    It's that simple. It's that simple.
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    It's directly tied to who He is.
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    Now, the language in it, if you were to read it,
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    it's very impersonal, but it actually deals
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    with an incredibly personal topic.
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    It's the idea of why do we feel
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    separation between us and God?
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    And this is what I find most people, most of us,
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    whether this is your first Sunday in church
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    or whether you've been coming to church for decades,
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    most of us live with some ongoing constant
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    level of feeling of disconnection or barrier
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    or separation between us and God.
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    Maybe you experienced it earlier this morning.
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    The music started and the person in front of you
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    raised their hands, you know, and you just
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    had this moment where you went like,
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    "I've never felt that close to God
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    the way that she feels."
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    Or maybe you're the kind of person
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    who raises your hand in worship on Sunday morning,
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    but you go home and on Monday morning,
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    God just feels further away from you.
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    Like somehow He moved
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    or somehow He went behind the curtain.
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    And there's this, there's this gap between you.
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    What happens for most of us is we follow God
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    over years that turn into decades
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    is at some point we just decide
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    that's how it's supposed to be.
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    That's just kind of how it is,
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    there's always going to be this gap.
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    Most of us feel separated from God.
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    My question is why? Why do we feel that way?
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    Now, Crossroads has been accused
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    of being church lite in the past.
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    You know what I mean by that, like Bud Light.
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    You know, like, full church flavor,
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    but half the carbs, that's Crossroads.
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    You know?
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    I don't think we've ever been that,
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    certainly not in this series and certainly not today.
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    It's a 401 level day because
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    to answer this simple question
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    of why do we feel separated from God,
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    we have to wade into some fairly deep theological waters.
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    But please hang with me because my hope is
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    at the end of this experience,
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    it's going to turn very personal,
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    very simple and very clear for you.
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    See, the idea today is very simple:
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    God removed every barrier to be close to you,
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    and now it's your turn.
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    Would you pray with me?
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    God, thank you for today.
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    Thank you for the effort that it did take to be here,
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    the effort that it does take to watch.
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    I pray that you'd reward us.
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    Reward us for being here, God,
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    reward us for leaning in and listening with more of you,
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    with more closeness to you.
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    Knock down every barrier standing in the way. Amen.
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    So Leviticus is the third book of the Bible.
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    It comes right after Exodus.
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    Exodus is the story where God frees His nation,
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    Israel, from slavery in Egypt.
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    And God's plan is then to live with them
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    symbolically in a place called the Tabernacle.
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    Tabernacle is a tent.
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    It basically can travel with them
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    as they make their journey from Egypt
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    to the Promised Land.
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    And that's His plan, the tabernacle.
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    Now, we haven't talked about the tabernacle
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    explicitly in this series, but it's where
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    all of the sacrifices we've learned so far
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    have taken place.
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    So here's a picture, an artist's recreation
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    of the outside of it.
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    And you'll see right there in the middle it says Altar.
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    That's where all the sacrifices took place
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    in the courtyard, which was part of
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    this structure called the Tabernacle.
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    Now, the tabernacle was not designed by people.
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    It wasn't a thing that Moses dreamt up or anybody else.
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    God specifically designed it
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    and He designed it for a reason.
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    He wanted it to be reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.
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    Why?
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    Because in the Garden of Eden,
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    there were no barriers between us and God.
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    None at all.
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    Like, to the point where Adam and Eve walked around naked.
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    That's how much there was no barriers.
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    And maybe you're in here and you're, like,
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    "I think Adam and Eve are allegorical
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    or they're a fairy tale."
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    That's fine.
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    That's totally okay for the point I'm trying to make.
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    The vision, though, is that there was
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    once this relationship of no barriers
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    and it had changed.
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    And so God designed the temple or the tabernacle
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    to be reminiscent of the time
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    when there were no barriers because
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    that's how He wanted it to always be.
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    I don't know if you know that about God.
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    Do you know God doesn't want there to be
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    any barriers between you and Him?
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    Do you know that He wants to be close to you?
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    Not distant.
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    Not like some some faraway God who you have to
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    posture in order to approach
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    or say some prayer exactly perfect for Him to hear you.
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    That's not the relationship He wants with you.
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    He wants closeness, utter and complete closeness.
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    The one time Jesus prayed for you in the Bible,
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    you can look it up yourself after this, John 17.
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    Do you know what His prayer was?
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    It was that you would be one with God,
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    no gaps between you.
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    But this gap had been created.
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    And so God makes the Tabernacle, designs it like Eden
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    to say, "Hey, I want to go back to the way it was."
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    Some similarities between the two.
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    Eden faced east, the garden.
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    The tabernacle, no matter where it was set up,
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    no matter where they were traveling,
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    was specifically always to be set up facing east.
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    The Garden of Eden was guarded by Cherubim.
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    Cherubim are like God's guardians of His Holiness.
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    And the Tabernacle Cherubim show up in two places,
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    one, on this curtain.
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    This is a replica of the curtain
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    that divided the rest of the tabernacle
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    from the most holy place.
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    God said design two Cherubim on it.
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    That's these winged figures that you see up here
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    to guard My Holiness.
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    And then they also showed up
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    on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant,
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    which was behind this curtain,
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    inside the Holy of Holies.
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    Eden had the Tree of Life in it.
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    The tabernacle had the lampstand
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    designed to look like a tree.
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    You know it as a menorah.
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    It looks like the Tree of Life.
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    The Garden of Eden had
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    the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
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    which God specifically said, "Don't touch it.
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    Don't touch it because you'll die."
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    Do you know inside the Tabernacle
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    was the written word of God, the law of God,
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    which was the knowledge of good and evil,
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    literally the Ten Commandments carved on stone,
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    which were inside the Ark of the Covenant,
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    which God said specifically,
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    "Don't touch it or you'll die."
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    The point is God was saying something
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    to humanity at this at this moment.
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    He was saying, "I'm designing this tabernacle
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    to make a declaration, to declare to you
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    that I am building a way back to how it was in Eden
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    when there were no barriers between us."
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    The inside of the tabernacle was also very intentional.
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    This is a kind of a cutaway section
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    of what it looked like on the inside.
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    You can see this curtain shows up.
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    Now, interestingly, as you move through the tabernacle,
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    moving from east to west, things got more holy,
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    more west, more holy.
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    The materials changed.
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    When you were outside it was wood,
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    and then it became bronze,
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    and then it became silver,
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    and then finally it became gold
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    when you got around the most holy place.
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    But the real eye catcher, the stunner,
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    if you were to walk inside, was this gigantic curtain,
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    which God had them hang up to create separation
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    between Himself and the people.
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    Here's the instructions God gave for its creation
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    in the book of Exodus, Exodus 26.
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    And you shall make a veil of blue and purple
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    and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.
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    It shall be made with cherubims skillfully worked into it,
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    and the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place
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    from the Most Holy.
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    The veil is the barrier that allowed God to be close,
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    but not too close because that was His plan.
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    I just want to be close to you, but immediately
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    it just all goes to crap because
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    the Israelites mess up in this massive way,
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    so much so that God can't even be around them at all.
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    Like, they can't even enter into the tabernacle.
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    This is how Exodus ends and where Leviticus picks up.
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    I'll read it to you. Leviticus one.
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    Now the Lord called to Moses
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    and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting.
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    It means that God was in it and Moses was outside.
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    He spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting.
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    And the spoiler that I need to give you
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    is Leviticus is the chapter where God
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    starts to create the way back to closeness,
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    back to there being no barriers.
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    That's the sacrificial system.
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    Every single one of them was meant to be
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    a temporary solution that someday
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    Jesus would permanently solve.
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    And we see how this plays out.
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    If you look at the first verse
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    of the book after Leviticus,
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    we see that it worked to a degree.
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    Numbers 1:1:
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    And so Moses goes from the outside of the tent
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    to able to enter into the tent
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    because of this sacrificial system.
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    That's the idea behind the entire thing.
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    Now, there's a question, though, we have to ask,
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    critical question, which is
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    why would God need to be separated from us at all?
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    Why would this curtain need to exist in the first place?
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    You know?
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    As a kid I heard this explained
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    and I don't know the exact words people used.
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    This is just my impression, my takeaway
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    going to Sunday school in different churches
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    and stuff like that.
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    What was described to me was kind of this
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    two parter situation that I was sinful
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    and because I was sinful,
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    God did not want to be around me because He was Holy.
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    And so He would stay back here
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    and create distance between me.
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    Because I was sinful, He couldn't be around me.
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    That would be, like, on one Sunday,
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    and then the next Sunday I'd come back
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    and they would tell me about
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    what a great father God was.
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    And I was like, "That doesn't make sense,
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    actually, if you think about it."
  • 00:15:24
    Because I wasn't always good at home growing up.
  • 00:15:28
    Sometimes I sinned.
  • 00:15:30
    I had a little brother,
  • 00:15:31
    sometimes I would punch him or take his things
  • 00:15:34
    because that's what you're supposed to do
  • 00:15:36
    when you're the older brother. Right?
  • 00:15:38
    But you know what my dad never did?
  • 00:15:40
    He never hung a giant curtain in our house
  • 00:15:44
    and said, "Kyle, you stay over here.
  • 00:15:46
    I'm going back here.
  • 00:15:47
    I don't want to be around you.
  • 00:15:48
    That's way better. Whoo."
  • 00:15:51
    My dad never did that. Right?
  • 00:15:54
    That'd be weird.
  • 00:15:55
    You guys wouldn't be, like,
  • 00:15:57
    "He should be Dad of the Year if he did."
  • 00:15:59
    It's weird.
  • 00:16:01
    So, why can't God just be around us?
  • 00:16:05
    Well, it does have to do with God's Holiness
  • 00:16:09
    and our sinfulness.
  • 00:16:10
    Those are the important components.
  • 00:16:13
    But it's not about God doesn't want to be around us,
  • 00:16:16
    it's that God can't be around us.
  • 00:16:18
    You see the holiness of God
  • 00:16:20
    and the sinfulness of humanity do not, cannot,
  • 00:16:24
    will not mix. It's a conflict.
  • 00:16:27
    Let me explain it to you.
  • 00:16:28
    The holiness of God.
  • 00:16:30
    Holiness means unique.
  • 00:16:32
    It just means different,
  • 00:16:34
    and not different in a worse way,
  • 00:16:35
    but different in a better way.
  • 00:16:37
    Like, so incredibly different,
  • 00:16:39
    it's just on a different plane, different category.
  • 00:16:41
    That's what holiness means.
  • 00:16:42
    And so God is holy in that He is uniquely loving,
  • 00:16:47
    He is uniquely compassionate,
  • 00:16:49
    He is uniquely comparing, He's uniquely forgiving.
  • 00:16:53
    All those things are true.
  • 00:16:54
    But God is also uniquely just,
  • 00:16:57
    not commonly just like we are, uniquely just.
  • 00:17:01
    Common justice is what we do.
  • 00:17:04
    It's where we excuse injustices.
  • 00:17:06
    It's where we take inconvenient truths
  • 00:17:08
    and we just kind of kick them under the rug
  • 00:17:10
    so we don't have to deal with them.
  • 00:17:12
    That's not who God is.
  • 00:17:14
    And if God were to do that,
  • 00:17:15
    if God were to be commonly just,
  • 00:17:17
    He would cease to be unique,
  • 00:17:19
    which means He'd cease to be holy.
  • 00:17:23
    And that's not an option.
  • 00:17:25
    He would in doing so cease to be God to a degree, right?
  • 00:17:29
    Second thing is our sinfulness.
  • 00:17:32
    It used to be back in the day,
  • 00:17:33
    the most radical Christian beliefs were things,
  • 00:17:37
    like, I believe in the virgin birth
  • 00:17:39
    or I believe in the resurrection
  • 00:17:41
    or the divinity of Jesus. You know?
  • 00:17:43
    Enlightened secular thinkers would look at you
  • 00:17:46
    and call you an idiot, because
  • 00:17:48
    those are superstitions and fairy tales, you know.
  • 00:17:50
    And and I miss those days. I miss them.
  • 00:17:54
    Those were the good old days. You know?
  • 00:17:56
    This is not the case anymore.
  • 00:17:58
    Now, we live in this age of enlightened
  • 00:18:01
    general spiritualism where you can believe in
  • 00:18:04
    whatever you want to
  • 00:18:05
    and have mystical spiritual experiences.
  • 00:18:07
    It's totally fine.
  • 00:18:08
    Anything, everything spiritual and weird,
  • 00:18:10
    it is in and okay.
  • 00:18:13
    Now the single most radical Christian belief is sin.
  • 00:18:19
    And there's not a close second.
  • 00:18:21
    Not at all. Not at all.
  • 00:18:23
    See, today, enlightened secular thinkers
  • 00:18:28
    increasingly deny that humanity is inherently sinful.
  • 00:18:35
    This is the big idea behind things
  • 00:18:37
    like self actualization or manifesting
  • 00:18:41
    or the ever popular pop psychology line
  • 00:18:43
    of everything you have is just inside of you.
  • 00:18:47
    No, it's not, according to the Bible.
  • 00:18:50
    See, the Bible says that every one of us is born sinful
  • 00:18:53
    and completely and utterly unable
  • 00:18:55
    to meet God's moral standard, completely.
  • 00:18:59
    But just believing that God has
  • 00:19:01
    an absolute moral standard
  • 00:19:03
    and that He actually holds us to it
  • 00:19:06
    will make you not just an outsider in culture,
  • 00:19:08
    but increasingly an enemy.
  • 00:19:11
    One of my favorite modern theologians
  • 00:19:13
    is a guy named John Mark Comer,
  • 00:19:15
    who wrote a book called Live No Lies.
  • 00:19:17
    He talked about it this way:
  • 00:19:37
    That alternative vision he references
  • 00:19:40
    is the basic idea that if we humans can just be freed
  • 00:19:45
    from the oppressive religious idea of moral absolutes,
  • 00:19:50
    we will be able to evolve upward
  • 00:19:53
    into a harmonious utopia.
  • 00:19:57
    You've heard the phrase
  • 00:19:58
    "be on the right side of history."
  • 00:20:00
    Well, friends, let's talk about history.
  • 00:20:02
    Do you know that whenever humanity
  • 00:20:04
    has been freed from moral absolutes,
  • 00:20:06
    we do not evolve upwards into a harmonious utopia,
  • 00:20:10
    but we devolve into a violent mob.
  • 00:20:13
    That's what happens.
  • 00:20:14
    Think about this.
  • 00:20:15
    The one time God showed up on Earth
  • 00:20:17
    in the person of Jesus, do you know what we did to Him?
  • 00:20:19
    We killed him. That's what we did.
  • 00:20:22
    See, our sin makes us a danger to God.
  • 00:20:25
    We can't be together.
  • 00:20:27
    The two things do not mix.
  • 00:20:31
    Think about it for a minute.
  • 00:20:32
    In order for us to be together, one of two things,
  • 00:20:35
    and only two things would have to change.
  • 00:20:37
    Either God would have to cease to be holy,
  • 00:20:39
    we've talked about why that can't happen,
  • 00:20:41
    or we would have to cease to be sinful,
  • 00:20:43
    something we are completely and utterly
  • 00:20:45
    unable to do on our own, which is why
  • 00:20:49
    the sin offering was instituted in the first place
  • 00:20:51
    to temporarily deal with the problem.
  • 00:20:54
    Now, there's lots of different sin offerings
  • 00:20:56
    in the Bible.
  • 00:20:57
    If you want, like a really thrilling read,
  • 00:20:59
    read Leviticus four and five for yourselves.
  • 00:21:02
    And when I say really thrilling, I mean
  • 00:21:04
    have a coffee next to you the whole time
  • 00:21:07
    and maybe a Red Bull on the other hand,
  • 00:21:09
    because it's a lot. Okay.
  • 00:21:11
    It's a lot.
  • 00:21:12
    And I'm not going to read you everything from it.
  • 00:21:14
    I'm not going to read you all the nuances
  • 00:21:16
    and different types of sin offerings.
  • 00:21:17
    I just want you to see the big picture idea.
  • 00:21:20
    Common across all of them something happens,
  • 00:21:23
    a sin is committed which results in guilt.
  • 00:21:25
    And the response is a blood sacrifice
  • 00:21:28
    must be offered which results in atonement.
  • 00:21:31
    That means payment for the sin
  • 00:21:33
    and then subsequently forgiveness.
  • 00:21:35
    And very specifically, it's the blood of the animal
  • 00:21:39
    that's the most important thing.
  • 00:21:40
    And many of these sin offerings,
  • 00:21:43
    the good part of the animal, the meat,
  • 00:21:45
    is actually taken outside the camp,
  • 00:21:47
    put on an ash heap and burned.
  • 00:21:48
    It's the blood that's scattered around the altar,
  • 00:21:51
    and even before this very veil.
  • 00:21:53
    Here's what it says in Leviticus 4:
  • 00:22:09
    It's a blood sacrifice that deals temporarily with the sin.
  • 00:22:13
    Now, if you fast forward a few years,
  • 00:22:16
    a few hundred years, that traveling tabernacle
  • 00:22:18
    becomes a fixed permanent stone structure
  • 00:22:21
    in Jerusalem called the temple.
  • 00:22:23
    The setup is the same as the tabernacle.
  • 00:22:25
    Same idea, same process, same Most Holy Place,
  • 00:22:29
    same curtain hanging up still to block us from God,
  • 00:22:32
    it just becomes permanent.
  • 00:22:34
    If you fast forward a few thousand more years to,
  • 00:22:37
    like, today, though, you might have noticed something.
  • 00:22:40
    There is no more giant curtain usually on stage.
  • 00:22:44
    And we don't really sacrifice animals in church anymore.
  • 00:22:47
    Have you noticed that?
  • 00:22:48
    Haven't killed a single animal this whole time.
  • 00:22:51
    Some of us are excited about that.
  • 00:22:53
    Brian Tome, not sure he's excited.
  • 00:22:54
    I think he'd like to hunt a deer on stage, honestly
  • 00:22:56
    Maybe we could make that happen for him.
  • 00:22:58
    I don't know if we can or not.
  • 00:22:59
    Just saying, most of us are excited and it's gone.
  • 00:23:04
    Why?
  • 00:23:05
    Well, because, as you've heard me say
  • 00:23:07
    a couple of times through this message,
  • 00:23:08
    and I think you've probably heard
  • 00:23:10
    every week of this series,
  • 00:23:11
    the sacrifices, the offerings were temporary solutions,
  • 00:23:15
    that Jesus brought the permanent,
  • 00:23:17
    everlasting once and for all solution to.
  • 00:23:20
    That implies the sin offering as well.
  • 00:23:22
    See, God flips the script with Jesus.
  • 00:23:25
    Every offering was I bring what I have to God.
  • 00:23:29
    I offer something to Him as payment.
  • 00:23:33
    But God flips the script with Jesus.
  • 00:23:35
    Instead, He takes Jesus and offers Him to us,
  • 00:23:39
    if we'll just take Him and we'll just receive Him,
  • 00:23:42
    if we just take His blood as payment for our sin
  • 00:23:45
    and will cleanse us forever.
  • 00:23:46
    That's the gospel.
  • 00:23:49
    Maybe you've seen John 3:16 on a sign at a football game.
  • 00:23:51
    It's because it's really clear, makes it really clear.
  • 00:23:54
    Let me read it to you, John 3:16,
  • 00:24:13
    Jesus didn't come to tell you what you've done wrong.
  • 00:24:15
    Jesus didn't come to hide behind the curtain
  • 00:24:18
    and shout at you how bad you are.
  • 00:24:20
    He didn't come to condemn the world, but to save the world,
  • 00:24:24
    To cleanse us from all of our sins,
  • 00:24:26
    using the one thing that could do that, His own blood.
  • 00:24:31
    We've been also looking at Hebrews in this series.
  • 00:24:33
    It's kind of like the answer key in a way to Leviticus.
  • 00:24:35
    If you've been in the Crossroads app in the morning,
  • 00:24:38
    you've seen readings from Hebrews
  • 00:24:39
    and that's kind of why, it pairs with it.
  • 00:24:41
    I read you what Hebrews 9 says:
  • 00:24:58
    See Jesus atoned for our sin.
  • 00:25:00
    The once and for all sin offering
  • 00:25:02
    was taking place which wiped out our sin.
  • 00:25:04
    The Bible says it removes our sin
  • 00:25:06
    as far as the East is from the West.
  • 00:25:08
    So we've been cleansed as white as snow.
  • 00:25:10
    And friends, that means this curtain is no longer needed.
  • 00:25:13
    The barrier gets to go away.
  • 00:25:14
    In fact, if you've been around for an Easter service,
  • 00:25:16
    you've probably heard this passage read
  • 00:25:18
    where right after Jesus dies on the Cross,
  • 00:25:20
    the curtain is ripped in two.
  • 00:25:22
    Matthew 27:51 says: [FX storm]
  • 00:25:24
    And behold, the curtain of the temple
  • 00:25:26
    was torn in two from top to bottom.
  • 00:25:28
    And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
  • 00:25:32
    And it falls.
  • 00:25:33
    And it's amazing, friends. It's amazing.
  • 00:25:36
    No more curtain. Yes. [Hallalujah Chorus]
  • 00:25:45
    Yes.
  • 00:25:47
    Yes, I still have a question.
  • 00:25:51
    That happened 2000 years ago.
  • 00:25:54
    Why do you and I, 2000 years later,
  • 00:25:56
    still feel like there's a barrier between us and God?
  • 00:26:01
    And I believe that did happen.
  • 00:26:03
    Well, the answer is because there's two veils.
  • 00:26:06
    There's the one that God made
  • 00:26:08
    and there's the one that you've made.
  • 00:26:10
    There's the one that God tore down
  • 00:26:12
    and there's the one that you and I are still holding up.
  • 00:26:17
    Do you see God did everything
  • 00:26:19
    to remove every barrier between Him and you.
  • 00:26:22
    If you feel distance,
  • 00:26:24
    it's because you're making the barrier.
  • 00:26:27
    There's a second veil.
  • 00:26:28
    This is my favorite picture of my wife, Sarah,
  • 00:26:31
    probably ever.
  • 00:26:32
    It's from our wedding day 16 years ago.
  • 00:26:35
    Just love it.
  • 00:26:36
    And I love it because of the veil.
  • 00:26:38
    The veil is kind of half covering her face,
  • 00:26:40
    half on, half off.
  • 00:26:42
    And this is the moment of marriage.
  • 00:26:43
    It's the moment of movement
  • 00:26:45
    from one state of being to another
  • 00:26:47
    where there's a barrier, there's a distance between you
  • 00:26:50
    to where there's no barrier.
  • 00:26:51
    The Bible actually says that
  • 00:26:52
    when you're married you become one, no barriers.
  • 00:26:58
    Now, this is a picture I took of Sarah just recently.
  • 00:27:01
    This is another picture.
  • 00:27:02
    And I want you to look very carefully
  • 00:27:05
    and see what's missing.
  • 00:27:09
    There's no veil.
  • 00:27:11
    You notice that?
  • 00:27:13
    I know, I know.
  • 00:27:14
    And you're like, "But what's the thing on her --
  • 00:27:17
    What's the black thing on her head?
  • 00:27:18
    Is that a veil?"
  • 00:27:21
    Nope. That's a visor.
  • 00:27:23
    That's a visor, very close to a veil,
  • 00:27:24
    but it's actually a hat just to keep sweat out of her eyes.
  • 00:27:27
    So completely different.
  • 00:27:28
    This might shock you.
  • 00:27:30
    Since our wedding day 16 years ago,
  • 00:27:32
    Sarah hasn't worn a veil a single time.
  • 00:27:36
    Just hasn't -- just hasn't done it.
  • 00:27:41
    Imagine for a minute that a couple got married, right?
  • 00:27:44
    And the bride comes up the aisle with her veil on
  • 00:27:48
    and at the altar, there's the moment
  • 00:27:50
    of they get married, they exchange vows.
  • 00:27:53
    And she just decides to keep it on.
  • 00:27:55
    She just decides, "This is, you know what?
  • 00:27:57
    I kind of like this.
  • 00:27:59
    This is kind of I'm just going to keep it here.
  • 00:28:02
    This is kind of cool."
  • 00:28:04
    And she goes through her life with the veil on.
  • 00:28:06
    She goes back down the aisle.
  • 00:28:08
    The reception she's got the veil on.
  • 00:28:10
    Honeymoon the veil is on.
  • 00:28:12
    She goes through their first year of marriage,
  • 00:28:14
    veil's on; first baby, veils on
  • 00:28:16
    even at the hospital, it's crazy.
  • 00:28:18
    Day after day, month after month, week after week,
  • 00:28:20
    year after year the veil stays in place.
  • 00:28:24
    Would that be a sign
  • 00:28:26
    that something was off in the relationship?
  • 00:28:29
    Would it be a sign?
  • 00:28:31
    Friends, do you know that if you believe in Jesus,
  • 00:28:33
    you're part of the Bride of Christ?
  • 00:28:36
    And the question is, are you living with a veil?
  • 00:28:39
    If you experience any sense of distance
  • 00:28:41
    between you and God, the answer is yes.
  • 00:28:45
    See, most of us still live behind a barrier.
  • 00:28:50
    Interestingly, back in the Garden of Eden,
  • 00:28:52
    when Adam and Eve sin,
  • 00:28:53
    the very first thing they did is create a barrier.
  • 00:28:56
    The Bible says they took fig leaves
  • 00:28:58
    and they wove clothes together.
  • 00:28:59
    They needed some kind of separation
  • 00:29:01
    between who they are and God seeing them.
  • 00:29:03
    And they made a barrier and then they hid.
  • 00:29:07
    They hid.
  • 00:29:08
    This is another picture.
  • 00:29:10
    This is my dad, Joe, Joe Ranson right there.
  • 00:29:14
    He caught a fish. That's my son Ben with him.
  • 00:29:16
    I love my dad.
  • 00:29:17
    Him and I are very different, though,
  • 00:29:19
    very, very different, like exact opposites.
  • 00:29:21
    He's an introvert. I'm an extrovert.
  • 00:29:24
    He was a chemical engineer.
  • 00:29:25
    I'm a designer.
  • 00:29:27
    He was really great at math.
  • 00:29:29
    I liked art, you know, very different.
  • 00:29:33
    There's just always been naturally barriers between us.
  • 00:29:37
    But he has worked hard my whole life
  • 00:29:39
    to bridge every one of those barriers,
  • 00:29:41
    even when I'd slam the door in his face.
  • 00:29:43
    He's always worked hard to bridge them.
  • 00:29:45
    About 18 months ago, he called me up.
  • 00:29:48
    And he said, "Hey, I'd love to go on a trip together.
  • 00:29:50
    Just just me and you, just to spend time together.
  • 00:29:53
    I'd love to go on a trip.
  • 00:29:55
    In fact, I'll remove every barrier.
  • 00:29:56
    I'll take care of everything.
  • 00:29:58
    I'll pay for everything.
  • 00:29:59
    And we can go wherever you want to.
  • 00:30:01
    I was thinking maybe like Red's Spring training.
  • 00:30:03
    You know, catch some ball games,
  • 00:30:05
    play some great golf out in Phoenix.
  • 00:30:07
    Something, something like that.
  • 00:30:08
    And I'll take care of all.
  • 00:30:10
    I'll pay for plane tickets, hotel, car rental,
  • 00:30:14
    greens fee, everything.
  • 00:30:15
    I'll remove every barrier.
  • 00:30:16
    I just want to be around you.
  • 00:30:18
    I just want to hang out with you."
  • 00:30:19
    And I was like, "Dad, that is awesome.
  • 00:30:21
    That is so great.
  • 00:30:22
    Let me check my calendar and I'll get back to you."
  • 00:30:27
    And then a month went by and my dad called me.
  • 00:30:30
    He said, "Hey, son, have you had a chance
  • 00:30:31
    to find some dates that work?"
  • 00:30:34
    "Oh, Dad, no, man, that's busy.
  • 00:30:36
    The kid's got a lot going on.
  • 00:30:38
    I haven't had a chance to look at the calendar,
  • 00:30:41
    but I will.
  • 00:30:42
    I'm going to look at the calendar this week,
  • 00:30:44
    talk to Sarah, and I'll get back to you."
  • 00:30:46
    Two months go by.
  • 00:30:48
    He texts me, "Hey, you got those dates figured out yet?"
  • 00:30:51
    "Oh, Dad, no.
  • 00:30:53
    I mean, things are busy at Crossroads.
  • 00:30:54
    It's a busy season.
  • 00:30:56
    You know, it's a busy -- never not been a busy season,
  • 00:30:58
    but it's a busy season.
  • 00:31:00
    And I just haven't.
  • 00:31:01
    I just haven't had a chance."
  • 00:31:03
    Then a year went by, a year, and the clock hit 2023
  • 00:31:09
    and it hit me like a two by four between my eyes.
  • 00:31:13
    My dad had removed every barrier,
  • 00:31:16
    every barrier on his end,
  • 00:31:19
    every barrier that he could possibly remove.
  • 00:31:21
    He had removed all of it just to spend time with me.
  • 00:31:25
    But there was still a gap there.
  • 00:31:27
    It still wasn't happening.
  • 00:31:28
    We still weren't having that close trip, that relationship.
  • 00:31:30
    And there was only one reason, it was me
  • 00:31:34
    because I was making a barrier called time,
  • 00:31:37
    being too busy.
  • 00:31:41
    And that's the same barrier
  • 00:31:42
    I tend to make between me and God.
  • 00:31:44
    Same excuse I tend to use with Him,
  • 00:31:45
    "I'm too busy, I don't have time
  • 00:31:46
    to do a full, quiet time with You this morning,
  • 00:31:48
    really spend time with You.
  • 00:31:49
    I just got to kind of fly through things.
  • 00:31:51
    It was a late night last night.
  • 00:31:52
    I'm going to sleep in a little bit.
  • 00:31:54
    I'm going to kind of move around, God.
  • 00:31:55
    I don't have time to pause and pray
  • 00:31:57
    before the big things in my day.
  • 00:31:58
    I don't have time to actually spend time with my kids
  • 00:32:00
    and teach them about You.
  • 00:32:01
    I'm just kind of I'm moving quick.
  • 00:32:02
    God, I'm doing I'm doing ministry work. Right?
  • 00:32:04
    It's all good. It's all good."
  • 00:32:05
    I put the same barrier in place,
  • 00:32:07
    the barrier called time.
  • 00:32:11
    I wonder about you.
  • 00:32:12
    What's the barrier you're creating between you and God?
  • 00:32:15
    And if you sense any bit of distance
  • 00:32:18
    between you and Him, it's not on His end, it's on yours.
  • 00:32:22
    I want you to get out this card,
  • 00:32:24
    your little replica of the curtain
  • 00:32:27
    that we passed out to you.
  • 00:32:29
    Get out this card.
  • 00:32:30
    You just put it on your knee if you want to.
  • 00:32:32
    I want you to think about what that barrier is.
  • 00:32:35
    And yes, this is going to require
  • 00:32:37
    a little bit of work on your part.
  • 00:32:39
    God's done a lot of work on His.
  • 00:32:41
    You'll be okay, a little bit of work.
  • 00:32:46
    I want you to think about what that barrier is.
  • 00:32:48
    And when you have it in your mind,
  • 00:32:50
    I want you to draw a symbol that represents it.
  • 00:32:52
    On the curtain God made God drew cherubim wings, why?
  • 00:32:56
    To symbolize His Holiness.
  • 00:32:57
    That was the barrier on His end
  • 00:32:59
    and our sinfulness that was creating the division.
  • 00:33:02
    So try to think about what your symbol is.
  • 00:33:04
    If I was drawing this,
  • 00:33:06
    I would probably just draw a clock to represent time.
  • 00:33:11
    This is my barrier.
  • 00:33:12
    You can just draw it on the back when you think of it.
  • 00:33:15
    I don't know what it is.
  • 00:33:16
    Maybe it's like mine, maybe it's time.
  • 00:33:19
    Maybe it's your calendar.
  • 00:33:20
    Maybe you've heard us talk for weeks and weeks
  • 00:33:22
    about camps, and you were, "That sounds great.
  • 00:33:25
    Spend time with God."
  • 00:33:27
    Back we had the past four weeks before this one
  • 00:33:28
    we had tents and stuff out in the atrium.
  • 00:33:30
    Maybe you walked by that and you're, like,
  • 00:33:32
    "That sounds like a good idea."
  • 00:33:33
    You got that catalog.
  • 00:33:34
    "That sounds like a good idea.
  • 00:33:37
    I just don't know how the calendar is going to play out,
  • 00:33:39
    though, you know? Better not, better not sign up."
  • 00:33:43
    If that's you draw a calendar or draw a clock.
  • 00:33:47
    Maybe for you it's not time.
  • 00:33:48
    Maybe it's your career.
  • 00:33:51
    You know, like, if your boss
  • 00:33:52
    were to call you tonight during dinner,
  • 00:33:54
    you would pick up the phone, wouldn't you?
  • 00:33:56
    Or, in fact, if your boss were to call you right now,
  • 00:33:59
    you would kind of sneak out the aisle
  • 00:34:01
    and you'd go back there and you'd take the call,
  • 00:34:03
    wouldn't you? Why?
  • 00:34:04
    Because you've got to climb that ladder.
  • 00:34:06
    If you miss that call,
  • 00:34:07
    you might miss the next promotion. Right?
  • 00:34:09
    If that's you draw a ladder,
  • 00:34:12
    the ladder you're trying to climb.
  • 00:34:13
    Maybe for you, it's your drinking habit.
  • 00:34:15
    Started out as as a beer a week or a glass of wine a week.
  • 00:34:19
    And then it became a glass every night.
  • 00:34:20
    And then it became two.
  • 00:34:21
    And now it's become three.
  • 00:34:23
    And you know it's coming between you and God.
  • 00:34:25
    If that's the case, draw a glass.
  • 00:34:27
    Maybe it's your need to control everything.
  • 00:34:30
    It's the things that you're still holding on to tightly
  • 00:34:33
    and you won't give over control.
  • 00:34:34
    Maybe it's your finances.
  • 00:34:35
    You haven't given God control of your money.
  • 00:34:38
    If that's the case, draw a dollar bill
  • 00:34:39
    or draw a money symbol.
  • 00:34:42
    Maybe it's what happens in your bedroom.
  • 00:34:44
    You know, it's not what God wants.
  • 00:34:46
    Just keep doing it anyway.
  • 00:34:47
    If that's true, draw a bed.
  • 00:34:50
    Or maybe it's your inability to forget your past,
  • 00:34:54
    a past mistake that God's saying
  • 00:34:56
    He's forgiven you from, but you haven't.
  • 00:34:59
    If that's true, you can just write the word unforgiven.
  • 00:35:03
    See friends, this is a repentance exercise
  • 00:35:05
    is what this is.
  • 00:35:07
    And the Bible says very clearly in Romans 2
  • 00:35:09
    that it's God's kindness that leads us to repentance.
  • 00:35:14
    See, God hasn't just cleared away the barrier
  • 00:35:17
    just to be around you, just to hang out with you.
  • 00:35:20
    He wants to bless you extravagantly,
  • 00:35:23
    if you'll remove your barrier.
  • 00:35:26
    I'm going to give you a minute to think of this.
  • 00:35:28
    I want everyone to write something or draw something
  • 00:35:30
    if you want to have this moment with us.
  • 00:35:32
    So I'll give you a minute.
  • 00:35:33
    We'll play some music to not make it awkward.
  • 00:35:35
    Here you go.
  • 00:36:48
    We're going to keep this moment going.
  • 00:36:49
    So if you need more time, you've got it.
  • 00:36:51
    It's okay. You can keep thinking.
  • 00:36:55
    I want to read you a verse that we read earlier
  • 00:36:57
    and highlight a phrase you might have missed.
  • 00:37:00
    Matthew 27:51 says:
  • 00:37:11
    Why would God take the time to record how the curtain tore?
  • 00:37:14
    Isn't it enough to say it's gone?
  • 00:37:17
    It's to communicate something.
  • 00:37:19
    He's saying I did everything on my end,
  • 00:37:21
    starting with me, everything I could control
  • 00:37:24
    to come down to you.
  • 00:37:25
    I tore the curtain down.
  • 00:37:29
    Will you tear yours up?
  • 00:37:32
    That's the invitation of God.
  • 00:37:34
    And I know.
  • 00:37:35
    I know some of us are hesitant to do that, right?
  • 00:37:40
    We're hesitant to do that because we hear
  • 00:37:43
    messages like this one about the gospel
  • 00:37:45
    and how much God loves us
  • 00:37:46
    and He tore down the curtain and John 3:16
  • 00:37:48
    and all these things.
  • 00:37:49
    And we think, "That must apply to everybody else,
  • 00:37:52
    but not to me.
  • 00:37:55
    God doesn't want to be around me."
  • 00:37:57
    See the common thing that tends to underlie
  • 00:37:59
    every single barrier you and I have is shame.
  • 00:38:05
    That's what drove Adam and Eve to create their barrier.
  • 00:38:08
    It says they were ashamed of their nakedness,
  • 00:38:10
    so they hid, covered themselves up.
  • 00:38:12
    They made a barrier.
  • 00:38:14
    We tend to do the same thing.
  • 00:38:17
    I have good news for you, if you'll believe it.
  • 00:38:20
    Do you know that Jesus is not ashamed of you?
  • 00:38:23
    He's not.
  • 00:38:25
    Hebrews, 2:11 says:
  • 00:38:35
    He's not ashamed of you.
  • 00:38:37
    He doesn't see you walk up and go,
  • 00:38:39
    "No, no, no, no. Everybody else not."
  • 00:38:41
    That's not at all what He does.
  • 00:38:43
    He says, "You're my brother. You're my sister.
  • 00:38:45
    Come in here. I've got a place prepared for you.
  • 00:38:48
    I took care of everything.
  • 00:38:50
    I paid for everything for you just to be with you
  • 00:38:53
    so I can bless you extravagantly."
  • 00:38:57
    Here's another one. Colossians 1:21:
  • 00:39:24
    That's how God sees you.
  • 00:39:27
    And when you walk up to somebody
  • 00:39:28
    who you believe loves you more than anybody else
  • 00:39:31
    in the universe, you take off your veil,
  • 00:39:35
    you tear down every barrier just to be close,
  • 00:39:38
    just to stand face to face.
  • 00:39:41
    2 Corinthians 3:
  • 00:39:59
    God wants to transform you. He does.
  • 00:40:02
    And it'll happen if you get close to Him.
  • 00:40:04
    But to get close to Him,
  • 00:40:05
    you have to tear up your barrier.
  • 00:40:07
    You have to tear it up completely.
  • 00:40:10
    And if you want to with other people
  • 00:40:13
    who want the same thing in life that you want,
  • 00:40:15
    other believers who are seeking more of God,
  • 00:40:18
    more closeness, maybe, maybe you believe in Jesus fully,
  • 00:40:20
    maybe you don't yet. It doesn't matter.
  • 00:40:22
    If you want more closeness with God,
  • 00:40:23
    I want us to rip this up on the count of three.
  • 00:40:26
    Start at the bottom as a way of saying,
  • 00:40:28
    "God, this is my intention to tear it up."
  • 00:40:31
    One, two, three. [ripping]
  • 00:40:40
    I think there may be no more beautiful sound
  • 00:40:42
    to God this morning than that.
  • 00:40:45
    Nothing more beautiful to Him.
  • 00:40:47
    God sees your intention. He sees your heart.
  • 00:40:51
    And I just believe it makes Him glad.
  • 00:40:53
    But I want to tell you something about intentions,
  • 00:40:56
    they have a very short shelf life.
  • 00:40:58
    They spoil fast.
  • 00:41:01
    Those intentions need to turn into follow through.
  • 00:41:04
    Tomorrow morning,
  • 00:41:05
    I'm flying to Phoenix to hang out with my dad.
  • 00:41:07
    [cheers & applause]
  • 00:41:14
    I figured we'd watched some Reds games
  • 00:41:15
    and play some golf. Why?
  • 00:41:18
    Because my intentions were nice,
  • 00:41:21
    but the follow through is what matters.
  • 00:41:25
    So follow through today. Follow through.
  • 00:41:28
    Maybe it's signing up for camp, just doing it.
  • 00:41:30
    "Hey, I know how the calendar is going to play out.
  • 00:41:33
    I'm going to camp because nothing's more important to me
  • 00:41:35
    than spending time with my Father."
  • 00:41:37
    Maybe it's setting aside time to pray as a family tonight.
  • 00:41:42
    Maybe it's dumping out your liquor cabinet,
  • 00:41:44
    telling a friend you need help.
  • 00:41:46
    I don't know what it is, but take action today.
  • 00:41:49
    You'll be so glad you did.
  • 00:41:51
    The God of the universe has removed
  • 00:41:53
    every single barrier just to bless you
  • 00:41:57
    and He wants to be around you.
  • 00:41:58
    Let me pray for you.
  • 00:41:59
    God, thank you for this time.
  • 00:42:02
    Thank you for the truths found in your Scripture.
  • 00:42:04
    Thank you for how they weave together
  • 00:42:06
    into a picture we can see, into an action we can take.
  • 00:42:09
    And you give us the courage, the boldness,
  • 00:42:13
    the energy to take the step of following through
  • 00:42:16
    to be closer to you. Amen.

Mar 19, 2023

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