1
00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,720
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation

2
00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:07,200
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank

3
00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,520
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope

4
00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:12,600
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to

5
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:17,160
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.

6
00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:21,400
Speaker 1: I really have to tell y'all. The first time Pastor

7
00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,599
Speaker 1: Stephen and Holly invited me to come to Elevation, I

8
00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:30,000
Speaker 1: thought they were confused, because I love this house. Pastor Tim,

9
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,519
Speaker 1: you fat move like dance. I thought he's only been

10
00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 1: a believer for a short period of time, because that's

11
00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:41,160
Speaker 1: that's some BC rhythms from before Christ rhythm right there, brother.

12
00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:47,479
Speaker 1: But the first time, really, I want like I need

13
00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,120
Speaker 1: a little bit of training between service. My my baby

14
00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:53,960
Speaker 1: can dance, but mama ain't got no rhythm. The first

15
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:55,920
Speaker 1: time I got to come be with y'all, I was

16
00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,600
Speaker 1: so excited because you have taught me. I've learned so

17
00:01:00,680 --> 00:01:04,640
Speaker 1: much about Jesus through your house. And I thought, surely

18
00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:09,080
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen has got me confused with Lisa Bevie. Now,

19
00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:11,280
Speaker 1: I don't know if y'all know who Lisa Bevie is,

20
00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,600
Speaker 1: but a woman can preach where about the same age,

21
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:18,080
Speaker 1: but she has much more authority than I do. And

22
00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:22,000
Speaker 1: she wears leather pants a lot of times when she preaches,

23
00:01:22,160 --> 00:01:25,280
Speaker 1: and I thought, uh, oh, to keep up the charade,

24
00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:27,880
Speaker 1: I might have to wear leather pants to elevation. And

25
00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,080
Speaker 1: when I wear leather pants, it sounds like ducks are

26
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 1: being killed. So I'm not quite as lean as the

27
00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,200
Speaker 1: other Lisa, and I thought, oh, this is gonna be

28
00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,320
Speaker 1: so uncomfortable. So I was thrilled to find out that

29
00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,840
Speaker 1: they lowered the bar, that they actually knew. I wasn't

30
00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:48,080
Speaker 1: that Lisa. And so to get to to get to

31
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,760
Speaker 1: be with y'all. Now, it's pure grace, y'all. It's pure

32
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:56,760
Speaker 1: grace that I get to come back and run hard

33
00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 1: towards Jesus with this house. I love me some elevation deeply,

34
00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:07,440
Speaker 1: deeply respect. That's my cousin right there, so deeply respects

35
00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:10,600
Speaker 1: what God has done and is doing through your house,

36
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,320
Speaker 1: through pastor Steven Holly, the whole team here. I just

37
00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,440
Speaker 1: I'm in the middle of a forty day fast on sugar,

38
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:21,359
Speaker 1: and when Chunks called me, I was like, I'm gonna

39
00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: get some sugar after all, baby, I get to go

40
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,239
Speaker 1: to Elevation. Not too many sweeter houses that I've been

41
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:30,400
Speaker 1: to in the world. I do want to make just

42
00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,119
Speaker 1: a couple of qualifications before we dive into the message.

43
00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,799
Speaker 1: The first is I'm a spitter, and so I'm so sorry.

44
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 1: We're just gonna call it a baptism. E fam y'all

45
00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,480
Speaker 1: can breathe a sigh of relief that you're not in

46
00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,800
Speaker 1: the room. I will not sprinkle you, but anybody with

47
00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,040
Speaker 1: about fifteen feet y'all just plan to get wet. And

48
00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,400
Speaker 1: then my second qualification is for the tech tech team.

49
00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,359
Speaker 1: This is the first time I've been to Elevation that

50
00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,799
Speaker 1: I actually have a title. They always have to make

51
00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:02,080
Speaker 1: up a title for me. I'm creatively challenged, but I

52
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:04,520
Speaker 1: have a title. So for those of you who are

53
00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:08,440
Speaker 1: enneagram ones or threes or eights, y'all are note takers,

54
00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 1: I know you are. Heaven forbid. Here's the title. The

55
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,320
Speaker 1: title for our message this morning is Mick Jagger was wrong.

56
00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,600
Speaker 1: You with me? Mick Jagger was wrong. I'll explain that

57
00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:26,400
Speaker 1: in a minute. I even have a secondary title, Bruce

58
00:03:26,639 --> 00:03:32,280
Speaker 1: Springsteen was right. Mick Jagger was wrong. Bruce Springsteen was right. Now,

59
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,800
Speaker 1: for those of you gen zers who don't know who's

60
00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,320
Speaker 1: Sir Jagger or the Boss who they are, y'all need

61
00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:44,320
Speaker 1: to rectify your spotify because they're two of the best.

62
00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,760
Speaker 1: But theologically Mick Jagger was wrong, and light of that title,

63
00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,400
Speaker 1: we probably need to pray before we dive into God's word.

64
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 1: And so since we've loosened up a little bit on

65
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,480
Speaker 1: the restrictions, and y'all are sitting next to your beloved,

66
00:03:57,520 --> 00:03:59,600
Speaker 1: reach out and touch them. If they're not your beloved,

67
00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,480
Speaker 1: don't grow. But let's pray. Those of y'all who are

68
00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:06,560
Speaker 1: listening to this online and you're driving, please don't close

69
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:13,680
Speaker 1: your eyes while you pray. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, King

70
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,160
Speaker 1: of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Lion and the Lamb,

71
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:23,719
Speaker 1: the Lily of the Valley, Mighty God, wonderful counselor Messiah, Oudai,

72
00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:31,400
Speaker 1: the Christ, the Anointed One. Jesus. Thank you for your mercy,

73
00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,719
Speaker 1: Thank you for your compassion, Thank you for your accessibility.

74
00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:40,520
Speaker 1: Thank you that what we saying was not just inspirational.

75
00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: Thank you that you actually do meet all of our

76
00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,960
Speaker 1: needs according to your riches and your glory. Thank you

77
00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,359
Speaker 1: that you stick closer than a brother. Thank you that

78
00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 1: we can cast all our anxiety on you because you

79
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,960
Speaker 1: care for us. Thank you, Jesus that when you ascended

80
00:04:58,000 --> 00:04:59,600
Speaker 1: into heaven is sit at the right hand of God

81
00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:03,640
Speaker 1: the Father, you did not leave us as orphans. That

82
00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,679
Speaker 1: even during those seasons when we feel missed or marginalized,

83
00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,760
Speaker 1: your presence is palpable. Thank you that when we look

84
00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,159
Speaker 1: back over our lives we don't see you are back,

85
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:17,920
Speaker 1: that you are present, that you left us your holy Spirit,

86
00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,599
Speaker 1: who even this morning reminds us that we have the

87
00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,000
Speaker 1: right to call the God who breathe the universe into existence. Dad.

88
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,479
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, thank you, and thank you for

89
00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,799
Speaker 1: your word. As Chris said, we need it. Lord. Sometimes

90
00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,440
Speaker 1: we forget it's a love story. We forget that we

91
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,480
Speaker 1: can find ourselves on these paper thin pages, and we

92
00:05:40,520 --> 00:05:42,920
Speaker 1: can find over and over and over and over again

93
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:47,400
Speaker 1: that you're a God who condescends to embrace his people.

94
00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,680
Speaker 1: That you're not a far away, unibrowed librarian. You're an

95
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:57,640
Speaker 1: up close, personal, compassionate savior. Jesus, we ask for more

96
00:05:57,680 --> 00:05:59,400
Speaker 1: of you this morning. We asked that you would give

97
00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 1: us eyes to see more clearly and ears to hear

98
00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 1: louder and hearts that would really believe, really believe that

99
00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:15,240
Speaker 1: you love us, Teach us what it is to know that,

100
00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,800
Speaker 1: to rest in that, to live out of that reality.

101
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,520
Speaker 1: We ask these things Jesus, by the power and authority

102
00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,680
Speaker 1: of your name, and we ask it for your purposes.

103
00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:31,279
Speaker 1: A men and a men. I feel so close to

104
00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:34,520
Speaker 1: y'all and so affectionate with y'all because you have become

105
00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,360
Speaker 1: like a family of cousins for me, Holly has become

106
00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,360
Speaker 1: just a dear, dear friend. I don't like standing next

107
00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:43,320
Speaker 1: to her because her waist is about the size of

108
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,039
Speaker 1: my ankle. But other than not wanting to stand in

109
00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:50,400
Speaker 1: close physical proximity, I love Holly, and so I feel

110
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:53,000
Speaker 1: safe enough to tell y'all a story that I have

111
00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:58,080
Speaker 1: never told before publicly, because it's a story that is, well,

112
00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:00,920
Speaker 1: it's just a little too revelatory. It's about one of

113
00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,960
Speaker 1: my most recent blind dates gone horribly awry. For those

114
00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,560
Speaker 1: of you who've been here before, you might remember that

115
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,720
Speaker 1: I'm old and single. I'm fifty seven, My husband is

116
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,080
Speaker 1: lost and won't stop to ask for directions, and do

117
00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,520
Speaker 1: you have a daughter? By the miraculous kindness of God,

118
00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:21,680
Speaker 1: I got to bring my baby girl home from Haiti

119
00:07:22,120 --> 00:07:24,560
Speaker 1: the year I turned fifty and she was four, so

120
00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:26,560
Speaker 1: I went through menopause and motherhood at the same time.

121
00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,160
Speaker 1: But we don't have a baby daddy, and so I

122
00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:33,080
Speaker 1: actually told her one day. I was teasing with her

123
00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,600
Speaker 1: and we were talking about prayer request, and I said, baby,

124
00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:37,840
Speaker 1: it's okay for us to pray for a baby daddy.

125
00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:39,960
Speaker 1: I said, you know, God brought you to me, but

126
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,120
Speaker 1: it'd be cool if we had a daddy with skin

127
00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,080
Speaker 1: on in our house. And she went right to her

128
00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,880
Speaker 1: little Christian school and gave that as a prayer request,

129
00:07:49,880 --> 00:07:53,320
Speaker 1: got met in the drive through pickup line by the headmaster,

130
00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:55,840
Speaker 1: who was not at all pleased that I told a

131
00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,040
Speaker 1: kindergartener to make her prayer request. I need a baby daddy,

132
00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,240
Speaker 1: so anyway, be careful, be careful who you use that

133
00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:08,800
Speaker 1: terminology with. But I've gotten so content that I really

134
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,120
Speaker 1: have kind of stopped even thinking much about marriage. And

135
00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:14,640
Speaker 1: part of it is I lost all my estrogen after menopause,

136
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,120
Speaker 1: so it's just like life for the most part, is

137
00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:19,840
Speaker 1: really good, except I can't wear pants with zippers anymore.

138
00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 1: And so I was explaining this to a friend recently.

139
00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,080
Speaker 1: I was telling her how excited I was because I've

140
00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,640
Speaker 1: been dreaming about a John Deere tractor for about fifteen years.

141
00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,040
Speaker 1: We live out in the country south of Nashville. I

142
00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:35,840
Speaker 1: got a little tiny farmat five acres, and I've just

143
00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,760
Speaker 1: been jones in for John Deere and I finally found

144
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:41,760
Speaker 1: one that was used on sale, and I was just

145
00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,079
Speaker 1: so fired up about this John Deere tractor. So I'm

146
00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:47,400
Speaker 1: telling this friend of mine, who's much more mature in

147
00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,400
Speaker 1: her walk of faith, of how I just I feel

148
00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,600
Speaker 1: like I'm finally content because I got my John Deere.

149
00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:57,040
Speaker 1: And she said, Lisa, you need help, And she began

150
00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,439
Speaker 1: to lecture me about the fact that I I wasn't

151
00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: praying about marriage again, that that I wasn't praying for

152
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,960
Speaker 1: a husband, And she lectured me so effectively that she

153
00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,840
Speaker 1: finally manipulated me into signing up for a three month

154
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,839
Speaker 1: trial membership with a Christian online dating organization. Please hear me,

155
00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,480
Speaker 1: I'm not dissing them. I've seen the advertisements. I've seen

156
00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,920
Speaker 1: the cute couples gazing adoringly at each other. Maybe some

157
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,400
Speaker 1: of y'all met through online dating, which is a cult,

158
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,080
Speaker 1: but other than that, I know it can work. I

159
00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,200
Speaker 1: know it can work. And so she said the reason

160
00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,760
Speaker 1: that I wouldn't even try it was because of my pride.

161
00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,160
Speaker 1: And I thought, well, you know, my prides got me

162
00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,400
Speaker 1: in trouble before past tim and so I thought, she's

163
00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,920
Speaker 1: probably right. I'll sign up. It was only seventy nine

164
00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:43,240
Speaker 1: dollars for three months, and I thought, that's good. You know,

165
00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:47,000
Speaker 1: it's about Starbucks, you know price, I can do it.

166
00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,720
Speaker 1: So I sign up, and for some reason, I'm set

167
00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,679
Speaker 1: up with a lot of men who live in their

168
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,080
Speaker 1: mother's basements and are unemployed. Not that there's a thing

169
00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:59,320
Speaker 1: wrong with that, nothing at all wrong with that, but

170
00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:04,040
Speaker 1: my preference would be preference, just preference would be a

171
00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:06,480
Speaker 1: man who who doesn't live with his mama, because we're

172
00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,720
Speaker 1: in our fifties and and you know, if he had

173
00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:12,840
Speaker 1: a part time job, that would be cool. And so

174
00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,840
Speaker 1: I was really excited that one of the men I

175
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:19,040
Speaker 1: was matched with had had a full time job and

176
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,800
Speaker 1: had a place he lived by himself. So I thought,

177
00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,120
Speaker 1: this is amazing. Well, we start, you know, just communicating

178
00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:27,920
Speaker 1: back and forth on email, and he had sent a picture,

179
00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,120
Speaker 1: but you know, we all lie on our pictures more

180
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:34,480
Speaker 1: over fifty anyway, you should see my filters. Yeah, when

181
00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:36,880
Speaker 1: Colleen takes pictures, I'm like, please stand on a ladder

182
00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,160
Speaker 1: so I can you have So I'm like, you know,

183
00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:41,000
Speaker 1: I don't care if he doesn't have to have hair money,

184
00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,360
Speaker 1: as long as he you know, doesn't live with his mama.

185
00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:47,560
Speaker 1: And so he was super witty, and I was like, oh, man,

186
00:10:47,679 --> 00:10:51,840
Speaker 1: this is awesome because humor is just Humor's it for me?

187
00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,920
Speaker 1: Humor's like wits, like an aphrodisiac. I'm like, man, this

188
00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,760
Speaker 1: is awesome. I like this guy and ladies aim in

189
00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 1: me on this. He could spell. That's amazing. I mean

190
00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,199
Speaker 1: to get a guy and guys, I love men, Please

191
00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,800
Speaker 1: hear me. I'm not trying to throw shade at y'all.

192
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:14,640
Speaker 1: It's just a lot of times on email, guys are

193
00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:17,559
Speaker 1: less than grammatically correct. And so if you get a

194
00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,200
Speaker 1: guy who's witty and he can spell, I'm like, oh,

195
00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,480
Speaker 1: my goodness, is light Romeo with you know, amazing? And

196
00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:26,840
Speaker 1: so I thought, I'm kind of starting to feel myself

197
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,200
Speaker 1: kind of lean toward this fella. And so he sent

198
00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:33,040
Speaker 1: me an email that happens in online dating. That is okay.

199
00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,200
Speaker 1: Let's move to the next step. Let's meet face to face,

200
00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:38,319
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, I would love to you.

201
00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:40,400
Speaker 1: That would be a delight. And then he sent me

202
00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,839
Speaker 1: a disclaimer. It's rather lengthy disclaimer, and I won't tell

203
00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,320
Speaker 1: you everything in his disclaimer, but I will tell you

204
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,040
Speaker 1: he explained. And this part didn't funny, so hear me.

205
00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,760
Speaker 1: He explained that he had extreme social anxiety and so

206
00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,600
Speaker 1: he did not leave his home, that he worked from home,

207
00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,280
Speaker 1: that he had not left his home in years except

208
00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:02,360
Speaker 1: for rare occasion, and that I mean that that's not funny.

209
00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,960
Speaker 1: That kind of broke my heart. And then he said

210
00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: he was also very hesitant to ever leave his home

211
00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,480
Speaker 1: because he really really loved his pets. I love my pets.

212
00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:15,480
Speaker 1: I mean I do. I have two dogs. I don't have,

213
00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:17,560
Speaker 1: you know, a T shirt with air picture on it

214
00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:20,000
Speaker 1: or anything. Don't sleep with him, but I love my dogs.

215
00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:22,160
Speaker 1: I really love my dogs. And so he went on

216
00:12:22,200 --> 00:12:24,680
Speaker 1: to explain he loved his pets Nean thirty eight cats,

217
00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,439
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, you know, I mean, I

218
00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:30,320
Speaker 1: really want to be open. I don't want to be

219
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:35,240
Speaker 1: too picky, but Missy, my little girl is allergic to cats,

220
00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:38,760
Speaker 1: and I'm very much an extrovert, and so I thought

221
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:42,080
Speaker 1: to stay inside all day with that many cats, I

222
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:45,080
Speaker 1: don't think I can do it. I don't think, you know, miss,

223
00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,120
Speaker 1: he'd be sneezing, I'd be bored. I just I don't think.

224
00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:50,600
Speaker 1: Probably this is a match made in heaven. But I

225
00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,160
Speaker 1: wanted to be really careful about telling this guy probably,

226
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,400
Speaker 1: probably this isn't going to go anywhere, because I thought

227
00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,280
Speaker 1: I don't want to be unkind or say anything that

228
00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:00,800
Speaker 1: would be offensive to him. I was thinking about it

229
00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:03,360
Speaker 1: all afternoon. I was really kind of worried as to

230
00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,720
Speaker 1: how to explain to this fella. Because you don't leave

231
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,880
Speaker 1: your home and because you're a catboy, it's we're probably

232
00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:13,120
Speaker 1: not going to connect. And I had to go to

233
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:15,200
Speaker 1: my doctor because I had bronchitis and a double air

234
00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,000
Speaker 1: infection at that time, and my doctor gave me. He

235
00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,480
Speaker 1: gave me some pretty strong steroids, and then he gave

236
00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,720
Speaker 1: me Ambient because he said, Lisa, the steroids are going

237
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,240
Speaker 1: to keep you from sleeping, so you're gonna have to

238
00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:27,520
Speaker 1: take Ambient tonight. And y'all may be able to guess

239
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:31,480
Speaker 1: the rest of the story. I took Ambient. I've only

240
00:13:31,480 --> 00:13:34,000
Speaker 1: taken Ambient a few times. Last time I took ambian.

241
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,439
Speaker 1: I am signed up for a coffee club that I

242
00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,200
Speaker 1: couldn't get out of it. It had an ironclad contract,

243
00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,400
Speaker 1: and I almost bought a condo and cabo because I

244
00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:48,200
Speaker 1: get real liberated when I'm on Ambient, and so I

245
00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,920
Speaker 1: took that ambient and then I forgot what I did next.

246
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:54,360
Speaker 1: So I can kind of I can kind of identify

247
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,520
Speaker 1: with people who party too much, because those few little

248
00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,680
Speaker 1: ambients I've taken in my life have just sent me

249
00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:03,800
Speaker 1: right to the edge of appropriate behavior. I woke up

250
00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,120
Speaker 1: the next morning after this sweet man's missive, and I

251
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,480
Speaker 1: woke up in a panic because my iPad was next

252
00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,600
Speaker 1: to me in my bed and I just had this oh,

253
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: and I thought, I think I messaged him while I

254
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,600
Speaker 1: was ambient Loopy, and so I, just as quick as

255
00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,280
Speaker 1: I could, went to that you know, Christian online dating app,

256
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,880
Speaker 1: and I went to my scent messages, and sure enough

257
00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,680
Speaker 1: I had messaged him the night before when I was

258
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,280
Speaker 1: out of my mind, and I wrote him a dear

259
00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,880
Speaker 1: John letter that was that had bad grammar, and at

260
00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,760
Speaker 1: the end of the note I said, as I was

261
00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:44,680
Speaker 1: basically saying goodbye, I said, maybe someday I'll be able

262
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:49,200
Speaker 1: to sit on your lap, y'all. I meant to write,

263
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:54,000
Speaker 1: maybe someday I'll meet your cats, and I don't know.

264
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,680
Speaker 1: To this day, I am like, I am old, have

265
00:14:57,760 --> 00:14:59,920
Speaker 1: not dated him forever. I am not sleazy. I do

266
00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:02,400
Speaker 1: not say some things like that. It was some kind

267
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:07,120
Speaker 1: of horrible, ambient fueled Freudian slip. I meant to say,

268
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,600
Speaker 1: maybe I would meet his cats. And when I saw

269
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,880
Speaker 1: it there blinking on my screen, maybe someday I'll send it,

270
00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,960
Speaker 1: I just went. I just I pinnicked. I got completely

271
00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,360
Speaker 1: out of the dating app. I've never been on one since.

272
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,200
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, this is just so awful, and

273
00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,960
Speaker 1: I had to tell my friend I'm never doing it again.

274
00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,680
Speaker 1: I said, I'm never It was so awkward. Maybe not

275
00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:33,320
Speaker 1: as awkward as you know, renting a plane to fly

276
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:35,320
Speaker 1: a banner one eight hundred and five A eight please

277
00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,360
Speaker 1: call Lisa for a date, but awkward nonetheless. And I

278
00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,240
Speaker 1: said that just doesn't do it for me. I said,

279
00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:45,000
Speaker 1: we were sharing stuff about ourselves, but we were sharing

280
00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:49,000
Speaker 1: it digitally. I said, even if we had sent pictures,

281
00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:51,840
Speaker 1: they would have been filtered. I said, that's not the

282
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:55,200
Speaker 1: kind of relationship that I'm craving. I want to face

283
00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:59,160
Speaker 1: to face relationship. I want a real relationship. I want

284
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,480
Speaker 1: an authentic relationship. I want them to be able to

285
00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,320
Speaker 1: see the spanks poking out of my stretchy pants. I

286
00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,480
Speaker 1: want that kind of Guys, if you don't know what

287
00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,240
Speaker 1: they are, don't google it because you can't unsee it.

288
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:17,600
Speaker 1: But I want intimacy. I want to be known. And

289
00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:21,440
Speaker 1: the older I get, the more I crave that With Jesus,

290
00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,000
Speaker 1: I don't want I don't want a superficial relationship with Jesus.

291
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:30,280
Speaker 1: I don't want to just accrue information about Jesus. I

292
00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,640
Speaker 1: want intimacy with Jesus. If you brought your bibley, you

293
00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,360
Speaker 1: have your phone, turn to Genesis chapter one. You'll know this.

294
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:42,520
Speaker 1: I've actually heard Steven preach on this multiple times. Chapter one,

295
00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,560
Speaker 1: verses twenty six and twenty seven. Then God said, let

296
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,000
Speaker 1: us make man in our image, after our likeness, and

297
00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:51,960
Speaker 1: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

298
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,479
Speaker 1: and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock,

299
00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,080
Speaker 1: and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing

300
00:16:57,080 --> 00:16:59,440
Speaker 1: that creeps on the earth. So God created man in

301
00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,280
Speaker 1: his own image, in the image of God. He created

302
00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:08,040
Speaker 1: him male and female. He created them those verses are

303
00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,360
Speaker 1: what we get the theology Imago Day from Imago Day

304
00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,200
Speaker 1: comes from two Latin words meaning image and God. And

305
00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:20,880
Speaker 1: what this basically means is every single one of us

306
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:27,359
Speaker 1: here in South Carolina, listening online in South Africa, every Epham,

307
00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,920
Speaker 1: everybody outside of the family of God, every single human being,

308
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:38,919
Speaker 1: regardless of ethnicity or gender, or age or status socioeconomically.

309
00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,600
Speaker 1: Everyone was made in God's image. They beare his thumbprint.

310
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:47,600
Speaker 1: That means they are inherently worthy of dignity and respect

311
00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:52,000
Speaker 1: and compassion. It also means we were wired for relationship

312
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,159
Speaker 1: because God makes it clear in Genesis One that he

313
00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 1: fashioned us after himself. He's a trinitarian god. God the Father,

314
00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,119
Speaker 1: got the Son and got the Holy Spirit. Saint Augustine says,

315
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,920
Speaker 1: only the Christian God is a perfect community unto himself,

316
00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 1: and we were made in that image. That means we

317
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:15,919
Speaker 1: were hard wired for relational intimacy. We were hardwired for intimacy.

318
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,240
Speaker 1: We were not hardwired for social media. We were not

319
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:25,520
Speaker 1: hardwired for distance. We were not hardwired for filters. We

320
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:29,520
Speaker 1: were not hardwired to curate who we are so someone

321
00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:33,119
Speaker 1: else will approve. And I'm not dising social media I'm saying,

322
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,600
Speaker 1: I think we've become content with what we were not

323
00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:41,000
Speaker 1: made to crave. I think we call intimacy what is

324
00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:46,399
Speaker 1: really merely information, both about each other and about God. A. W.

325
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,720
Speaker 1: Tozier puts it like this. For millions of Christians, God

326
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,600
Speaker 1: is no more real than he is denied Christians. They

327
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,000
Speaker 1: go through life trying to love an ideal and be

328
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:04,000
Speaker 1: loyal to a mere principle. R. Springsteen says it possibly better.

329
00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:09,760
Speaker 1: He says, everybody has a hungry heart. Everybody has a

330
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:15,359
Speaker 1: hungry heart. Blaze Pascal who have a massive platonic crush

331
00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,000
Speaker 1: on and can't wake to hug in heaven. He was

332
00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:22,600
Speaker 1: a brilliant physicist, philosopher, and theologian in the eighteen sixteen hundreds.

333
00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,800
Speaker 1: He says it best, there is a God shaped vacuum

334
00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,200
Speaker 1: in the heart of each man, which cannot be satisfied

335
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:30,600
Speaker 1: by any created thing, but only by God, the Father

336
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:35,440
Speaker 1: made known through Jesus Christ. I'm in the latter stages

337
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,720
Speaker 1: of a doctorate, and so I have been reading voraciously

338
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 1: because I get graded on that. And I've been reading

339
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,359
Speaker 1: a lot of papers about the spiritual condition of post

340
00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:50,240
Speaker 1: post postmodern society. And one of the things that both theologians,

341
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:55,720
Speaker 1: scholars and sociologists sociologists that's a hard work, socio smart

342
00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:01,959
Speaker 1: people have noted is that there has been an uptick

343
00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:07,120
Speaker 1: in spiritual curiosity, so that in this era, I would say,

344
00:20:07,119 --> 00:20:11,639
Speaker 1: the modern era, there has been an increased curiosity about

345
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,200
Speaker 1: spiritual things. The latest survey, I said, said that has

346
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,600
Speaker 1: been increased dramatically as a result of the pandemic. Because

347
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:24,199
Speaker 1: of the isolation, people are going, I want to have

348
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:30,560
Speaker 1: an encounter with something or someone transcendent. But those exact

349
00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:36,080
Speaker 1: same polls, those exact same PhD papers and dissertations point

350
00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:40,440
Speaker 1: to the fact that contentment is at an all time low,

351
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:47,720
Speaker 1: all time low, that most people feel missed, Most people

352
00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,800
Speaker 1: feel like, no matter how many likes I get on Instagram,

353
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,800
Speaker 1: I still feel like nobody really knows my heart. We

354
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 1: weren't made for that, y'all. We were made for more

355
00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:03,679
Speaker 1: than what most of us are living in. Information about

356
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:09,399
Speaker 1: God is a really, really poor substitute for intimacy with God.

357
00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:13,720
Speaker 1: I love this book. I built my life on this

358
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 1: inscriptated revelation. But I'm telling you, if all you know

359
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,280
Speaker 1: is this as a rule book or a textbook or

360
00:21:21,400 --> 00:21:27,439
Speaker 1: an ancient tomb with morality tales. Goodness, gracious, you're not

361
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:29,960
Speaker 1: going to have intimacy at its core. This is a

362
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:33,480
Speaker 1: love story. At its core. This is about the compassion

363
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,119
Speaker 1: of God. Turn to John four. I know you know

364
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:39,159
Speaker 1: this story. You've read it a thousand times. If you

365
00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: were raised half Baptists like me, you have seen it.

366
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:47,080
Speaker 1: Flannel Graft John chapter four. Now when Jesus learned that

367
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,159
Speaker 1: the Pharisees has heard, Now when Jesus learned that the

368
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,879
Speaker 1: Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more

369
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 1: disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but

370
00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,640
Speaker 1: only as disciples. He loved youd and departed again for Galilee.

371
00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 1: And he had to pass. That's actually not a great

372
00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:05,000
Speaker 1: English translation. He didn't have to pass. He chose to

373
00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,840
Speaker 1: pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of

374
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,159
Speaker 1: Samaria called Sikhar, near the field that Jacob given to

375
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 1: his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, weird

376
00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 1: as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well.

377
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,520
Speaker 1: If you are comfortable writing in your bibles, those of

378
00:22:20,520 --> 00:22:23,159
Speaker 1: you have brick and mortar bibles, and those of you

379
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,159
Speaker 1: who don't own a brick and mortar Bible, this is

380
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: because I'm old. But let me bring an old sister

381
00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:34,560
Speaker 1: word to you. If your only Bible, hear me, if

382
00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: your only Bible, because I know most of the times

383
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,680
Speaker 1: we don't bring our Bibles to settings like this. I'm

384
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 1: so happy you have your iPads and your phones. But

385
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,719
Speaker 1: if you don't have a brick and mortar Bible somewhere

386
00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:46,640
Speaker 1: in your home, in your apartment, that's like an old

387
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:51,320
Speaker 1: man in short shorts. That's sad. You need a brick

388
00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,000
Speaker 1: and mortar Bible. And I'm telling you as an older sister,

389
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 1: those of y'all who still have tight skin and high metabolisms,

390
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: there will be seasons in your life when you go

391
00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:03,719
Speaker 1: I got to be close to the promises to remember him.

392
00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 1: I need to go back through the pages of my

393
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:08,959
Speaker 1: Bible and see the notes I made in my Bible

394
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,439
Speaker 1: and go, oh, he was there, he was there, he

395
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 1: saw me. So no shame, no condemnation. If you're new

396
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,000
Speaker 1: to the Family of God, if you don't know Jesus yet,

397
00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,280
Speaker 1: you're still just kind of circling the church wondering if

398
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,960
Speaker 1: this is true. Please talk to somebody in your EPAM,

399
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: somebody here in brick and Mortar Elevation and just say

400
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 1: I'd really love to be hooked up with a Bible,

401
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,280
Speaker 1: because we would love to get you an actual brick

402
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 1: and mortar book to take home with you. But if

403
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 1: you're comfortable writing those underscore underscore that Jesus was sitting

404
00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,520
Speaker 1: by the well, I'll come back to that in just

405
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,440
Speaker 1: a minute. It was about the sixth hour. That means

406
00:23:47,480 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 1: it was blazing hot because it was the middle of

407
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,920
Speaker 1: a Middle Eastern day. There came a woman of Samaria

408
00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:54,639
Speaker 1: to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a

409
00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:57,119
Speaker 1: drink for his disciples. He had gone away to the

410
00:23:57,119 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 1: city to get chick fil a. The Samaritan woman said

411
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:02,199
Speaker 1: to him, how is that that you you asked for

412
00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,680
Speaker 1: a drink from me, a woman from Samaria. I won't

413
00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 1: go into great detail, but most of you know that

414
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:11,800
Speaker 1: Samaritans were considered half breeds in the most goodness, the

415
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:16,520
Speaker 1: most misunderstood, most demeaning way, because they were half jew

416
00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: and half Assyrian. When Israel was defeated and Northern Israel

417
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 1: was carried away by the Assyrians, Assyrian warriors married Jewish

418
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,679
Speaker 1: widows they'd killed their husbands, and they didn't do that

419
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,800
Speaker 1: because they loved them. They did that to further subjugate

420
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,880
Speaker 1: them under water down Jewish lineage. And so a Samaritan

421
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:44,479
Speaker 1: was considered by a jew to be just way way way,

422
00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,439
Speaker 1: way way way down on the social totem pole. And

423
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 1: there was even mishnah. There was even application of Torah

424
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 1: the Jewish Bible that said, if you have a Samaritan

425
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,679
Speaker 1: in your home for a meal, you've heaped coals of

426
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:03,400
Speaker 1: judgment on your family's head. So the persecution of Samaritans

427
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: was like the persecution of some persecuted people groups we've

428
00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:10,560
Speaker 1: seen in our era. So this woman saying, how in

429
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,040
Speaker 1: the world would a guy like you talk to a

430
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,840
Speaker 1: girl like me? And Jesus answered, if you knew the

431
00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 1: gift of God verse ten, and who is it that

432
00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 1: is saying, do you give me a drink? You would

433
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,680
Speaker 1: have asked him and he would have given you living water. Well,

434
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 1: they go on to have this beautiful discussion about theology,

435
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: which again was highly unlikely. This is in the first century.

436
00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,520
Speaker 1: This is the era in history that women were considered

437
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: lower than a second class citizen, whether they're Samaritan or not.

438
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 1: One of the most common rabbinic proverbs during the first

439
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: century was better that tora be burned than read by

440
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 1: a woman. Woman wasn't even allowed to engage with the

441
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: Jewish Bible. Women weren't allowed in the part of synagogue

442
00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 1: where teaching happened. They could go to the other part

443
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: and cross stitch and share recipes, but they couldn't be

444
00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 1: in the part where they were talking about how God

445
00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:09,440
Speaker 1: loves us, how he meets all our needs. Another rabbinic

446
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,880
Speaker 1: proverb was thank the vow Jehovah, who did not make

447
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:19,880
Speaker 1: me a woman. And so it's highly unlikely for you

448
00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:23,560
Speaker 1: to have a conversation with a Samaritan, even more unlikely

449
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,040
Speaker 1: for a rabbi to have a theological conversation with a woman.

450
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,840
Speaker 1: And yet here's Jesus. He always turns culture upside down.

451
00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,800
Speaker 1: Here's Jesus join to someone everyone else would ostracize or

452
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 1: marginalized had it's this conversation with her, and y'all remember

453
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 1: later on in John four he talks to her about worship.

454
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:46,080
Speaker 1: And I know y'all have such amazing musical worship. Here

455
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: Chris could probably he could probably stand up and recite

456
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 1: all of John four it's one of those kind of

457
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:58,600
Speaker 1: orthodox walls about worship. It's foundational. But it's even better

458
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 1: than we read in the Black, White, and Red, because

459
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:05,600
Speaker 1: when Jesus talks to this woman about worship, do y'all

460
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: remember any other facts about her besides the fact that

461
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 1: she's a Samaritan? You'll can talk about exactly she's been

462
00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,439
Speaker 1: married multiple times. Anybody remember exactly how many times? Five times?

463
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:22,959
Speaker 1: And what's her current living conditions living with a man

464
00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,320
Speaker 1: who won't do her the dignity of marriage. Perhaps had cats,

465
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:31,200
Speaker 1: we don't know for sure, but she's living with a man.

466
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,320
Speaker 1: She's living with a man who won't marry her. Now,

467
00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:38,359
Speaker 1: I've heard from my earliest memories in church, I started

468
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,200
Speaker 1: going to church when I was in utero. My mom

469
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: was there every time the doors were open, and so

470
00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 1: from my earliest memories, I remember this story, and I

471
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: remember this woman always being castigated, not for being Samaritan,

472
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 1: but for being sleazy, because goodness gracious, I mean, it's

473
00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:55,639
Speaker 1: like she got marriage mixed up with Cinco demayo im

474
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,960
Speaker 1: and she just gets married over and over and over again.

475
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:02,440
Speaker 1: And so she's castigated, even in modern evangelical culture, as

476
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 1: being a woman of loose morals, y'all, we've gotten it wrong.

477
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: If you study Judeo Christian history and culture in the

478
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:16,080
Speaker 1: first century, it's highly unlikely for a woman to be

479
00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:20,399
Speaker 1: married twice because once a man gave a woman a

480
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:24,119
Speaker 1: certificate of divorce, it was also a label of shame.

481
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: Rabbi Hellel, who preceded Jesus. He died I think five

482
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,920
Speaker 1: years after Jesus was born, but one of the most

483
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: authoritative rabbis in Jewish history. Rabbi Hellel had such a

484
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,960
Speaker 1: disregard for women that he taught Jewish men it is okay,

485
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 1: it is okay with God for you to divorce your

486
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: wife if you don't like the way she cooks. That's

487
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: in Mishnah. They get to divorce their wives. And once

488
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 1: they divorce her, what that man has said to his

489
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 1: community is she's not worth it. Pick somebody else. She's

490
00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: not worth it. She's been married and divorced five times.

491
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 1: No Jewish man is going to marry a woman who's

492
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 1: been divorced rarely once, but two times three times. There's

493
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: no way. That just flies in the face of first

494
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: century Jewish protocol. What modern conservative theologians assert is that

495
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: not only did she not have loose morals, it's much

496
00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: more likely that she was beautiful with a tremendous character.

497
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:34,440
Speaker 1: That's the only thing that would justify men being willing

498
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,360
Speaker 1: to take the unnecessary risk, because they could have slept

499
00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:39,960
Speaker 1: with her but not given her a certificate of marriage.

500
00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: And yet five guys said, she's worth it to me.

501
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:48,280
Speaker 1: She's worth it to me. So stop and think she's castigated.

502
00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,239
Speaker 1: One of my favorite theologians believes we can't prove this

503
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:55,760
Speaker 1: until we get to Gloria met her, but believe she

504
00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 1: probably struggled with infertility because that was also a reason

505
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: to divorce a woman. So stop and think she's been

506
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: taken for test drives over and over and over again.

507
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,240
Speaker 1: Can you imagine at twelve when she got married the

508
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: first time, which was common in their culture, and so

509
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: for the first time in front of her friends and family,

510
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: she says, I do. There's no way she would think

511
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: at thirty, I'm going to have been married five times

512
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to be living on the outskirts

513
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 1: of men with a guy who drinks and beats me,

514
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 1: because otherwise I would starve or else be sold as

515
00:30:35,120 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: a slave. There's no way she considered that her lot

516
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:43,560
Speaker 1: in life. It's so interesting how other people's assumptions often

517
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 1: cause us to step back from not only intimacy with

518
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: each other, but intimacy with God. This woe is completely

519
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: completely ostracized. She's at the well heat of the day.

520
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,239
Speaker 1: We know all those parts of the story. We just

521
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,720
Speaker 1: didn't know that she may be innocent of the gossip

522
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 1: that has milinded her. Jesus engages with her. He has

523
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: an intimate conversation with her. He doesn't give her a

524
00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: meme that's, you know, inspirational. He doesn't give her a

525
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: WWJD bracelet. They have an intimate conversation and he talks

526
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: with her about worship. Y'all, there are ten words in

527
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 1: the Greek translated into the word worship. Ten words in

528
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: the Greek Jesus, Jesus one. It's pross cnuo, so often

529
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 1: translated in Bibles as to bow down, But it's better

530
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 1: than that. Pross in Greek means to move toward anybody.

531
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: Guess what qunua means means to kiss, means to kiss.

532
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 1: Stop and think about her story. She's been married five times.

533
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:03,600
Speaker 1: Every time she hopes, maybe he'll see beyond my flaws.

534
00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:07,960
Speaker 1: Maybe even if I can't have a baby this time,

535
00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:12,600
Speaker 1: he'll still say I belong to him. He'll still love me.

536
00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: Maybe if I burn his burrito, he won't kick me

537
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,760
Speaker 1: to the curb. Maybe, just maybe this love will last.

538
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,080
Speaker 1: And it never does. And she finds herself dried up

539
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 1: in her thirties on the outskirts of town, and she

540
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 1: meets this man named Yashua, and he looks into her eyes.

541
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: He doesn't ignore, he's not condescending to her, and then

542
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:42,200
Speaker 1: he essentially says, if you'll move toward me with your kisses,

543
00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:47,640
Speaker 1: you won't be thirsty for affection anymore. So intimate. It's

544
00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: so intimate we tend to read scripture as punitive. God

545
00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 1: is holy, perfectly holy. He gives us parameters for holy lives.

546
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 1: I give Missy parameters. When I first brought her home

547
00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,440
Speaker 1: from Haiti, I told her that she had to hold

548
00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,479
Speaker 1: my hand when we're in the target parking lot. And

549
00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:11,560
Speaker 1: I said, baby, you have to hold my hand because

550
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: you're little, and so when other cars drive past, they

551
00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: can't see you, and so if you're not holding my hand,

552
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: they could run over you accidentally, and you would be

553
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 1: a pancake. And she said, oh, what a pancake, mama.

554
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 1: And so I took her home that night and I

555
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,600
Speaker 1: made pancakes for dinner and I flipped a pancake under

556
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: her plate. She's like her mama. She loves her some carbs.

557
00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:39,760
Speaker 1: And as she was eating that pancake, I said, baby,

558
00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:44,479
Speaker 1: that is a pancake. And that's what you'll look like

559
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:49,160
Speaker 1: if you don't hold my hand. Walking into target, I said,

560
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:51,720
Speaker 1: you'll get flat and she said I'll get flat and

561
00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:53,440
Speaker 1: I said you will and she said, well, I get

562
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 1: dead and I said you will. Was that being a hateful,

563
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,480
Speaker 1: cruel mama? No, I love that kid than I can

564
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 1: wrap words around. I love her more than I knew

565
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,920
Speaker 1: I had the capacity love. God changed the topography of

566
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,560
Speaker 1: my heart through becoming her mama. I adore this child,

567
00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:15,359
Speaker 1: but I am determined to keep her safe. I'm going

568
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,240
Speaker 1: to protect her. I want her to live her best life.

569
00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:22,719
Speaker 1: We are not created by a unibrow librarian who's just

570
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:25,239
Speaker 1: waiting to step out of heaven and smack us over

571
00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:28,399
Speaker 1: the head with a Bible. We were created by an

572
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:35,360
Speaker 1: up close, personal redeemer who longs for real relationship with us.

573
00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 1: You know, when John explains that she's the first, the

574
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:44,759
Speaker 1: very first evangelists to instigate a citywide revival. That's in

575
00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,920
Speaker 1: verse thirty nine. Many Samaritans from that town believed in

576
00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:52,440
Speaker 1: him because of the woman's testimony, So the whole town

577
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 1: is changed by her testimony. And then John says that

578
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,960
Speaker 1: she says, he told me everything I ever did. Do

579
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 1: you think she said that with her head bowed in shame.

580
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:08,640
Speaker 1: It was amazing because he knew what I knew. That's

581
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:12,560
Speaker 1: how we tend to think God relates to us. That

582
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: he goes Lisa, I know sometimes in your singleness, you've

583
00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,080
Speaker 1: had naughty thoughts and you're tempted to watch sex in

584
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:23,600
Speaker 1: the city. That's not how he relates to me. That's

585
00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:30,239
Speaker 1: not at all. He is holy, and he even disciplines

586
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,279
Speaker 1: me because I need it, But he does it with

587
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:37,160
Speaker 1: such kindness. He puts his hands on the side of

588
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 1: my face and he says, look at me, I what

589
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 1: you crave. You think that guy on some social media

590
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,760
Speaker 1: site if he said I'm okay, you're a little fluffy

591
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,879
Speaker 1: and you're old, but I'll marry you and i'll love

592
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,400
Speaker 1: your daughter, you think that would satisfy you. Honey, It

593
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,879
Speaker 1: won't because you were made for more than that. If

594
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: he has a husband for me, hallelujah. If y'all have

595
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:08,439
Speaker 1: older brothers who are employed, hallelujah. But you know that's

596
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:11,919
Speaker 1: not my hope anymore. That's not my hope. My hope

597
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,600
Speaker 1: is intimacy with Jesus. I want to be able to say,

598
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:21,239
Speaker 1: like this woman, he knows everything about me, and he

599
00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:26,680
Speaker 1: loves me unconditionally. When you reveal your sin to Jesus,

600
00:36:26,719 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: it's not because he doesn't already know it. It's for

601
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:34,120
Speaker 1: our good. It's for our healing. When we reveal our

602
00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 1: sin to him and he goes, I know, honey, I know.

603
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:41,720
Speaker 1: We go Oh, he still loves me, and he knows

604
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,520
Speaker 1: that Jesus knows us completely and yet still loves us unconditionally.

605
00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,840
Speaker 1: Turned to the end of the book to John chapter

606
00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:55,080
Speaker 1: twenty one to bring you up to speed those of

607
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 1: you who haven't heard this story. Peter, who is one

608
00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: of the original twelve Disciples. He's the one I identify

609
00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:04,520
Speaker 1: with the most because he's always stepping in it, always

610
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 1: make mistakes, always doing stuff before he prays about it.

611
00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:11,919
Speaker 1: He is just like caffeinated ad d and this close

612
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:13,920
Speaker 1: to being a prodigal. Every day of his life just

613
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:18,720
Speaker 1: a stinker for Jesus. And I love that the stories

614
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,200
Speaker 1: we read, y'all, these are not perfect paleo kind of

615
00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,560
Speaker 1: spiritual people. I mean, there are people who eat too

616
00:37:24,600 --> 00:37:27,080
Speaker 1: much sugar and who struggle and sometimes say bad words

617
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: in traffic. And I'm not justifying sin. Sin separates us

618
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,520
Speaker 1: from God. If sin was no big deal, Jesus could

619
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,160
Speaker 1: have just done attention. Sin is a big deal, But

620
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 1: his grace is greater still. He's a kind God, He's

621
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:43,480
Speaker 1: a good God. Y'all remember the story. You remember the story.

622
00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:46,319
Speaker 1: You remember that Peter throws Jesus under the bus at

623
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:50,799
Speaker 1: the point of Jesus' most urgent, poignant need. It's just

624
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:54,920
Speaker 1: prior to the cross. And first Pete falls asleep outside

625
00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,120
Speaker 1: the garden of Guessimone, and then Peter denies that he

626
00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 1: even knows Jesus. He's afraid he's going to get caught

627
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: up in the uproar and maybe he's going to be

628
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 1: martyred as well. And he panics and he goes, no,

629
00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:08,319
Speaker 1: I don't know the man. I don't know the man

630
00:38:08,360 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: three times, and then he throws in expletives to convince

631
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 1: the crowd. Y'all know this well, the next time he

632
00:38:16,200 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: meets Jesus after throwing Jesus under the bus. Basically, it's

633
00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 1: the coolest story because the first time Peter meets Jesus,

634
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,319
Speaker 1: he's fishing, doesn't catch any fish. It's repeated, it's it's

635
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:31,840
Speaker 1: the exact daja vous moment. It's so sweet. He's fishing

636
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:35,120
Speaker 1: same light. John calls it Sea of Tiberius for political reasons.

637
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:37,920
Speaker 1: It's the Sea of Galilee Lake. Gonna see it. Pete's

638
00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:40,840
Speaker 1: back out on a boat. He's fishing, hasn't caught anything.

639
00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,759
Speaker 1: A stranger appears on the shore and says, have you

640
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: caught any fish? And he says, nope, not a one.

641
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:49,400
Speaker 1: He says, throw your nets to the right side of

642
00:38:49,400 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: the boat. Same exact thing as Luke five. They throw

643
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:54,560
Speaker 1: the nuts the right side of the boat. Fish begin

644
00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,239
Speaker 1: a catapult into the net. I mean, Pete, even as

645
00:38:57,280 --> 00:39:00,520
Speaker 1: slow as he was, you know, Pete went. This feels familiar.

646
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:05,839
Speaker 1: Something about this feels familiar. And then he recognizes it's Jesus. Now,

647
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:09,640
Speaker 1: remember the context, Remember the context. Last time he saw

648
00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:16,239
Speaker 1: his savior, he has betrayed him horrifically. This is the

649
00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:18,000
Speaker 1: next time. It's a week and a half later, only

650
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,319
Speaker 1: a week and a half. You'd think that Pete would go,

651
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,160
Speaker 1: I need to back the bus up. I need to

652
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:26,080
Speaker 1: get in a twelve step program. I need to go

653
00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: to John mac twell conference. I mean, I need to

654
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:33,440
Speaker 1: get myself to gether before I engage again with Jesus.

655
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 1: That's not what he does. Instead, he dives out of

656
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,560
Speaker 1: the boat. Scholars tell us they're only about one hundred

657
00:39:40,600 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 1: yards from shore. I mean, he could have waited two

658
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:45,799
Speaker 1: or three minutes, but he doesn't. He can't wait to

659
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:49,920
Speaker 1: get up close to Jesus, even though he's carrying horrific betrayal.

660
00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:52,239
Speaker 1: But he knows what he'll find with the fee of Jesus.

661
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:54,880
Speaker 1: He knows he'll find mercy because he's spent three years

662
00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:57,640
Speaker 1: with Jesus, even though he totally messed up. He knows

663
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: he'll find mercy he gets to Jesus. You remember the story,

664
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:03,840
Speaker 1: Jesus eats a fish to show it really is me.

665
00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 1: I'm not a mirage. And then they have a conversation.

666
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:08,880
Speaker 1: Do you remember the last conversation, Pete, how with Jesus.

667
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:14,400
Speaker 1: It's when I was real familiar conversations in church, Jesus

668
00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:18,799
Speaker 1: says to Peter John twenty one, He says to him

669
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,239
Speaker 1: when they had finished breakfast, Simon's son of John, do

670
00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:25,919
Speaker 1: you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord,

671
00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:28,279
Speaker 1: you know that I love you. He said to him,

672
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,200
Speaker 1: Feed my lambs, he said to him. Second time, Simon,

673
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 1: son of John, do you love me? Said to him, yes, Lord,

674
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:37,440
Speaker 1: you know that I love you. He said, feed my sheep.

675
00:40:37,480 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 1: He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John,

676
00:40:40,800 --> 00:40:43,279
Speaker 1: do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said

677
00:40:43,280 --> 00:40:45,280
Speaker 1: it the third time? Do you love me? And he said, Lord,

678
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 1: you know everything, You know that I love you. Now

679
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:55,840
Speaker 1: y'all have heard why Jesus posed the question three times?

680
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 1: Why have y'all heard Jesus pose that question three times?

681
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:06,280
Speaker 1: Talk about louder exactly because he denied him three times.

682
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,000
Speaker 1: We're almost always taught that it's kind of a biblical

683
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,319
Speaker 1: quid pro quo that because Pete denied him three times,

684
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: Jesus kind of resets Peter's faith by asking the quote, Oh, y'all,

685
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:20,480
Speaker 1: it's so much better than that. We cried at Superico

686
00:41:20,640 --> 00:41:22,680
Speaker 1: last night talking about the love of Christ over this

687
00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,920
Speaker 1: one passage that we tend to miss so often. We

688
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: miss the compassion in God's word. The first time, Jesus

689
00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:33,799
Speaker 1: asked Peter the question on the heels of one of

690
00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:36,759
Speaker 1: the world's biggest betrayals. He says, Simon, son of John

691
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:41,680
Speaker 1: and Pete, do you aga payo me? Three words in

692
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:44,360
Speaker 1: the Greek for love. Aga payoh means sacrificial love. You

693
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,080
Speaker 1: love him more than anything? Fialao is a brotherly kind

694
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: of facebook friend kind of love. And then eiros is

695
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,680
Speaker 1: what I never get to experience. That's a frisky kind

696
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:58,680
Speaker 1: of love. And so Jesus says to Peter, Peter, do

697
00:41:58,760 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 1: you aga payem? We just translate them all love. It's

698
00:42:01,880 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 1: so much better, It's so much more intimate. Do you

699
00:42:04,520 --> 00:42:06,680
Speaker 1: I could pay me? Do you love me more than anything?

700
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: Pete says, Lord, you know me? You know I just

701
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: threw you under the bus. You know I totally blew it.

702
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:17,680
Speaker 1: You know I fail you. You know I love you

703
00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:21,879
Speaker 1: like a friend on my best day. That's all I've got.

704
00:42:22,480 --> 00:42:26,160
Speaker 1: Second time, Jesus says Peter, do you I could pay me?

705
00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:28,799
Speaker 1: Do you love me more than anything? Do you love

706
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,239
Speaker 1: me with a sacrificial love? Have you laid it all down?

707
00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:37,239
Speaker 1: Are you living what you sing every Sunday at elevation, No, sir, no, sir.

708
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:41,279
Speaker 1: You know me, Jesus. A week and a half ago,

709
00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 1: while I was flinging the fort and telling people I

710
00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:47,360
Speaker 1: had never seen you in my life. You know me, Jesus.

711
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 1: You know how fickle my faith is. You know how

712
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:52,960
Speaker 1: many times I've messed up. You know me, Jesus. You

713
00:42:53,040 --> 00:42:55,719
Speaker 1: know I flail you on my best day. All of

714
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:59,200
Speaker 1: God is a brotherly kind of love. Third time, our Savior.

715
00:42:59,239 --> 00:43:02,359
Speaker 1: Don't you imagine Pete now, just kind of staring at

716
00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:06,880
Speaker 1: his feet, you know, probably wearing chocko's and that Middle

717
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:11,080
Speaker 1: Eastern sand. He's hot, he's grimy, just staring at his feet,

718
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:16,239
Speaker 1: thinking I am the worst of the worst. And I

719
00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: imagine Jesus. I don't know for sure, but I always

720
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:22,880
Speaker 1: get pictures in my head when I read these true stories,

721
00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:28,320
Speaker 1: and I imagine Jesus grinning, and I imagine him taking

722
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:32,000
Speaker 1: his hands that have recently had spikes driven through the wrist,

723
00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:35,160
Speaker 1: and I imagine him just taking that rough fisherman by

724
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:40,920
Speaker 1: the face and tilting his attention up toward him, looking

725
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:44,920
Speaker 1: deep into his eyes, those eyes that at that point thought,

726
00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:48,480
Speaker 1: no one's ever gonna look into my soul again, because

727
00:43:48,520 --> 00:43:53,719
Speaker 1: all they'll find his failure and Jesus saying, Pete, do

728
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:58,080
Speaker 1: you filail me? Peter goes Lord you you know me,

729
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 1: and jesusays no, I know you and Peter right now,

730
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:09,080
Speaker 1: that's enough. I'm not kicking you off the team. I'm

731
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,920
Speaker 1: naming you team captain. I'm going to build a new

732
00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: Testament Church on your shoulders. Peter, I know you, and

733
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:23,919
Speaker 1: I love you. I love everything about you. Y'all, we've

734
00:44:23,960 --> 00:44:31,240
Speaker 1: been deluded into thinking that our performance activates and accelerates

735
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:37,640
Speaker 1: intimacy with Jesus, and it doesn't. Intimacy with Jesus is

736
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: not accelerated. It's not activated by our performance, by our

737
00:44:43,200 --> 00:44:49,320
Speaker 1: deservedness or lack thereof. It's his kindness. He closes the gap,

738
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:53,799
Speaker 1: He pursues us. Most of what it takes to have

739
00:44:53,880 --> 00:44:59,120
Speaker 1: intimacy with Jesus is just recognizing you can't make it

740
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:03,000
Speaker 1: by yourself. One of the reasons I love Peter so

741
00:45:03,120 --> 00:45:07,720
Speaker 1: much is my faith has been solidified in failure. Twelve

742
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,279
Speaker 1: years ago, I lost everything that mattered to me two

743
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:15,280
Speaker 1: primary relationships, one to death, and I was diagnosed with cancer,

744
00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:18,680
Speaker 1: which at first looked very serious, all in the same week,

745
00:45:19,880 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: and I've always been one of those girls who preaches grace,

746
00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 1: but I don't really believe it. For myself, it's been

747
00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:26,759
Speaker 1: like what soap. It's been hard for me to hang

748
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: on too, and so I talk about it. I can

749
00:45:29,640 --> 00:45:31,560
Speaker 1: thrown across the cup about it. I can even give

750
00:45:31,560 --> 00:45:35,319
Speaker 1: you the Greek about it. But I am in the

751
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:39,120
Speaker 1: corner of my heart thought that I definitely wasn't good

752
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:41,759
Speaker 1: enough for God, and I actually wondered if God was

753
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,240
Speaker 1: enough for me. I thought, if I don't have somebody

754
00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:47,880
Speaker 1: with skin on, I'm not really sure I can make it.

755
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:51,560
Speaker 1: And I lost hope and I got to a point

756
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:56,520
Speaker 1: of such deep desperation disappointment. I lived in a little

757
00:45:56,560 --> 00:46:00,279
Speaker 1: cottage south of Nashville by myself that I remember waking

758
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:04,600
Speaker 1: up one morning and thinking, I've got Ambien from a

759
00:46:04,680 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: time I was sick. I'm going to take to Mbian.

760
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:10,560
Speaker 1: Not because I want to die. I was too afraid

761
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,520
Speaker 1: of the mess I'd leave behind for people. But I

762
00:46:12,680 --> 00:46:16,879
Speaker 1: just can't be conscious. I just don't. I just want

763
00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,160
Speaker 1: don't want to wake up and remember that I don't

764
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,960
Speaker 1: feel like anybody really knows me, and I don't feel

765
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: like if they did, they'd really love me much less Jesus,

766
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:31,040
Speaker 1: and he spoke to me during that season more clearly

767
00:46:31,080 --> 00:46:34,239
Speaker 1: than he has ever spoken to me. I don't know

768
00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:36,719
Speaker 1: if it was an audible voice. I would by myself

769
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:41,319
Speaker 1: it certainly felt audible. But he said, Lisa, you've been

770
00:46:41,400 --> 00:46:46,320
Speaker 1: running your whole life. You've been running scared your whole life.

771
00:46:47,960 --> 00:46:50,680
Speaker 1: So I'm going to take you to the basement and

772
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:52,760
Speaker 1: I'm going to sit there with you in the dark

773
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:58,040
Speaker 1: until fear doesn't own you anymore. I had already been

774
00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:02,880
Speaker 1: to seminary the first go around. I could pose that

775
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 1: I had intimacy with Jesus, but most of the time

776
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:10,480
Speaker 1: that's all it was. I was running scared, and I

777
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:15,520
Speaker 1: had a lot of information about God, intimacy with God

778
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 1: I just couldn't hang on to. And it was there

779
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:23,920
Speaker 1: in the dark. It was there, this smack dab in

780
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:30,120
Speaker 1: the middle of my failure, my ineptitude, that Jesus held me,

781
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:34,640
Speaker 1: and I learned how to be held. I learned to

782
00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:39,920
Speaker 1: lean against his breath breast and quit trying to perform

783
00:47:40,040 --> 00:47:44,880
Speaker 1: for his affection. Nine weeks ago, I was hospitalized with

784
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:49,799
Speaker 1: COVID and I had a very very severe pneumonia, and

785
00:47:49,920 --> 00:47:53,440
Speaker 1: the first night I overheard too medical personnel. They didn't

786
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:56,360
Speaker 1: know I could hear. They thought I was unconscious. I

787
00:47:56,440 --> 00:47:59,160
Speaker 1: just had my eyes closed because I was so so tired.

788
00:48:00,040 --> 00:48:03,320
Speaker 1: And I overheard them lamenting the fact that they didn't

789
00:48:03,320 --> 00:48:06,160
Speaker 1: think they could stabilize me. And I knew I was

790
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:08,600
Speaker 1: in trouble based on the numbers. I knew that I

791
00:48:08,640 --> 00:48:11,240
Speaker 1: couldn't breathe. I didn't realize how close I was to death,

792
00:48:12,280 --> 00:48:20,200
Speaker 1: and I thought, oh goodness, gracious, I'm about to die.

793
00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:22,400
Speaker 1: And I'm fifty seven and I have an eleven year

794
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 1: old daughter, and I certainly didn't want to die. But

795
00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:33,960
Speaker 1: y'all the presence of Christ in my hospital room. He

796
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: was palpable, and he held me again, and I wasn't

797
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:47,240
Speaker 1: afraid because leaning into him is who I am now.

798
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:51,560
Speaker 1: He's my hope, he's my breath, he's my joy, he's

799
00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:58,600
Speaker 1: my love. He's the reason I get up in the morning.

800
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:05,040
Speaker 1: I've been long winded. Some people wish I didn't get

801
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:09,680
Speaker 1: my breath back after that pneumonia, and I apologize for

802
00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:12,439
Speaker 1: going a little over, But I want to actually end

803
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:18,000
Speaker 1: with a question. The last thing you say was I

804
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:24,880
Speaker 1: shall not want. In Mark chapter ten, Jesus encounters a

805
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:29,960
Speaker 1: man who's been totally missed. He doesn't have intimate relationships.

806
00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:35,880
Speaker 1: He's blind, he's ostracized. He's alone in the dark, and

807
00:49:36,040 --> 00:49:40,920
Speaker 1: Jesus puts Easter on pause. He's walking to Easter and

808
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:45,439
Speaker 1: he stops and he says, bring him to me. He's

809
00:49:45,480 --> 00:49:50,120
Speaker 1: that kind. He is that kind. He would pause everything

810
00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:55,560
Speaker 1: for you. It's not a corporate grace that you're experiencing.

811
00:49:55,880 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: At elevation. He sees you, he knows you, he loves you.

812
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:05,799
Speaker 1: He sings to you in the dark. You may not

813
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:10,040
Speaker 1: feel it, but he is closer than your next breath.

814
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:16,759
Speaker 1: And he says to Bartimaeus, what do you need? I

815
00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:21,520
Speaker 1: shall not want. Some of are gonna sing that I

816
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,480
Speaker 1: am gonna walk out of service this morning, and you're

817
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:28,000
Speaker 1: gonna get in your car and you're gonna feel overwhelmed

818
00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:31,520
Speaker 1: by disappointment and loneliness. You're gonna go back to your

819
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 1: condos and your apartments, and you're gonna say, I'd love

820
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,640
Speaker 1: to be with a guy with cats. I'd love to

821
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:41,359
Speaker 1: have somebody who pursues me. I'm tired of carrying the

822
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:45,279
Speaker 1: weight of my life by myself. Now ask God to

823
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:47,560
Speaker 1: bow your heads and close your eyes again. If you're

824
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:53,359
Speaker 1: driving listening to this, obviously, stay alert, but I would

825
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 1: ask you the same question, what do you need from Jesus?

826
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:11,160
Speaker 1: What do you need from Jesus? A veneer of relationship

827
00:51:11,239 --> 00:51:18,359
Speaker 1: with Jesus is not going to satisfy your soul, our

828
00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:25,480
Speaker 1: soul's crave intimacy. He created us that way. He created

829
00:51:25,560 --> 00:51:30,439
Speaker 1: us to long to be held, to long to be

830
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:37,960
Speaker 1: seen by him, to have ongoing conversation with him every day,

831
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:46,440
Speaker 1: to walk with him. What do you need from Jesus?

832
00:51:51,239 --> 00:51:53,799
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us special thanks to those of

833
00:51:53,840 --> 00:51:56,839
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of

834
00:51:56,880 --> 00:51:59,719
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the

835
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:03,520
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now or visit Elevationchurch

836
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:06,960
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you

837
00:52:07,040 --> 00:52:10,279
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it

838
00:52:10,320 --> 00:52:12,600
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take

839
00:52:12,640 --> 00:52:15,000
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and

840
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,879
Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God

841
00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:18,319
Speaker 1: bless you