WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 All right, everybody. Hey, my name is Greg, one 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.559 of the pastors here at the house. Sometimes I 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:07.259 always say my name in the context of a sermon, 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:10.980 probably down this side of the house. But I also 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.000 say my name because I know that my name is not 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.960 actually legible on this name tag. That's because 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:19.199 I'm the one that wrote it. And if we've never 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.079 met, I would love to meet you. I'd love to actually 00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:23.320 maybe buy you a coffee or a soda or something 00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:25.460 like that, hear your story. And if you would 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:28.679 like to, I'd love to talk about Jesus. Really, 00:00:28.839 --> 00:00:31.980 really. I like talking about Jesus. Happy birthday. 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:36.600 Thanks, Scott. Scott was like, I'm going to start 00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:42.579 the slow clap. Who's with me? Thank you. And 00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:44.700 to David Korczak, we have the same birthday. 00:00:44.899 --> 00:00:47.259 Where's David? Raise your hand, David. All right. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:55.560 He's in. Oh, and Renee. Very cool. So my joke 00:00:55.560 --> 00:01:05.609 with what? 70. There you go. The joke that I 00:01:05.609 --> 00:01:08.010 have with David is that David's from Canada. 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:11.170 We not only have the same birthday, we were the 00:01:11.170 --> 00:01:15.049 same age. So we were both 48. We both have our 00:01:15.049 --> 00:01:18.430 oldest son is named Brennan. And so I joke that 00:01:18.430 --> 00:01:19.790 like we're in the Matrix and we're just from 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:22.250 different servers. He's from the Canadian server 00:01:22.250 --> 00:01:29.180 and I'm from the U .S. one. Anyhow. We are in 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.659 the second week of a series that we are calling 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:34.420 The Wilderness. I don't know how you've been 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:36.939 feeling lately, but a pastor that I know posted 00:01:36.939 --> 00:01:39.680 online this last week, he said, the first nine 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.420 days of 2026 have been the longest three years 00:01:42.420 --> 00:01:49.340 ever. Maybe that is how you feel so far. Maybe 00:01:49.340 --> 00:01:53.420 you really are three years into what feels like 00:01:53.420 --> 00:01:57.719 a very real wilderness experience of... And I 00:01:57.719 --> 00:02:01.099 hope that this series has something for you. 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:05.700 Because God has not lost track of you. You are 00:02:05.700 --> 00:02:12.780 not invisible. God is the one who sees. And I 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:16.860 hope that you feel seen. So let's go ahead. We're 00:02:16.860 --> 00:02:19.080 going to jump right into the message for the 00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:21.500 day by jumping into the scriptures. So grab a 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:23.580 Bible that's close to you or open up a Bible 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:25.770 on your phone. If you don't have a Bible... Take 00:02:25.770 --> 00:02:27.349 one of those blue ones home or there's some blue 00:02:27.349 --> 00:02:29.969 ones on the bookshelf in the lobby. Those are 00:02:29.969 --> 00:02:32.349 free. We're going to be in the book of Exodus. 00:02:33.389 --> 00:02:36.169 Exodus is at the beginning of the Bible. It goes 00:02:36.169 --> 00:02:38.610 Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. So if you see any 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:39.889 of those three, you know you're in the right 00:02:39.889 --> 00:02:42.289 neighborhood. We're going to be in Exodus chapter 00:02:42.289 --> 00:02:46.969 3. Now, we have a tradition here at the house 00:02:46.969 --> 00:02:49.090 in the context when the scripture is being read 00:02:49.090 --> 00:02:51.669 in the context of a sermon. We give it our full 00:02:51.669 --> 00:02:54.330 attention. And one of the ways we do that is 00:02:54.330 --> 00:02:56.610 by standing together. But only stand as you are 00:02:56.610 --> 00:02:59.090 able. Otherwise, just give this your attention 00:02:59.090 --> 00:03:02.629 as we read the scriptures. Exodus 3. It's going 00:03:02.629 --> 00:03:07.449 to be long passes, starting in verse 1. Moses 00:03:07.449 --> 00:03:10.229 was keeping the flock of his father -in -law 00:03:10.229 --> 00:03:13.729 Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led his flock 00:03:13.729 --> 00:03:16.050 beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, 00:03:16.210 --> 00:03:19.569 the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord 00:03:19.569 --> 00:03:22.530 appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush. 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:24.930 He looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:28.469 not consumed. Then Moses said, I must turn aside 00:03:28.469 --> 00:03:31.530 and look at this great sight and see why the 00:03:31.530 --> 00:03:35.650 bush is not burned up. Verse 4. When the Lord 00:03:35.650 --> 00:03:38.650 saw that he had turned aside to see, God called 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:41.050 to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. And he 00:03:41.050 --> 00:03:44.020 said, Here I am. Then he said, Come no closer. 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:47.080 Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:50.180 in which you are standing is holy ground. He 00:03:50.180 --> 00:03:53.639 said further, I am the Lord, I am the God of 00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:56.479 your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:59.039 and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:01.740 for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:04.120 said, I have observed the misery of my people 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:07.120 who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:11.020 of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:13.580 And I have come down to deliver them from the 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:16.160 Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:19.259 to a good and spacious land, to land flowing 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:21.680 with milk and honey to the country of the Canaanites, 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:24.540 the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:28.199 Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites 00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:31.959 has now come to me. I have also seen how the 00:04:31.959 --> 00:04:35.800 Egyptians oppress them. Now go, I am sending 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.120 you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, 00:04:38.199 --> 00:04:42.310 out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I 00:04:42.310 --> 00:04:45.129 that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites 00:04:45.129 --> 00:04:49.990 out of Egypt? He said, I will be with you, and 00:04:49.990 --> 00:04:52.629 this shall be the sign for you that it is I who 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:55.490 sent you. When you have brought the people out 00:04:55.490 --> 00:04:58.470 of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:02.029 But Moses said to God, If I come to the Israelites 00:05:02.029 --> 00:05:04.509 and say to them, The God of your ancestors has 00:05:04.509 --> 00:05:07.230 sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:10.329 name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses, 00:05:11.050 --> 00:05:16.449 I am who I am. Let us pray. God of every tribe, 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:20.089 every tongue, every color, every nation, we thank 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:22.910 you for your scriptures. We thank you that they 00:05:22.910 --> 00:05:24.850 have persisted throughout the millennia, that 00:05:24.850 --> 00:05:27.269 we still have them to read and to consider. And 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:29.889 I pray that whatever you have to teach us today, 00:05:29.949 --> 00:05:33.449 that it would stick, that it would become a part 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:37.089 of the framework of our faith, as our faith becomes 00:05:37.089 --> 00:05:39.350 stronger, as we become more like your son, Jesus. 00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.930 Amen? Amen. You can all have a seat. Thank you, 00:05:42.949 --> 00:05:51.250 everyone. The first thing we ask here is, why 00:05:51.250 --> 00:05:57.250 was Moses there? Why was Moses where he was? 00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:00.290 It says literally that he was tending to the 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:03.250 flocks of his father -in -law, Jethro. But I 00:06:03.250 --> 00:06:08.509 want to go back further. Moses was actually someone 00:06:08.509 --> 00:06:11.769 that had grown up. In Egypt, in the house of 00:06:11.769 --> 00:06:13.949 the Pharaoh. Before he was born, the scriptures 00:06:13.949 --> 00:06:17.009 say that Pharaoh was so intimidated and afraid 00:06:17.009 --> 00:06:21.069 of the growing Hebrew population that he ordered 00:06:21.069 --> 00:06:24.430 every Hebrew boy to be killed at birth. But Moses' 00:06:24.610 --> 00:06:29.569 mother was successful in hiding him for the first 00:06:29.569 --> 00:06:32.550 few months of his life. And then she placed him 00:06:32.550 --> 00:06:36.269 in a basket, in the reeds, at the edge of the 00:06:36.269 --> 00:06:40.560 river where she knew that he could be... found. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:42.980 And so when the Pharaoh's daughter came down 00:06:42.980 --> 00:06:46.939 to the river to bathe, she found him there. It 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:50.759 says that Moses's sister stepped in and asked, 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:53.699 do you want me to go find a Hebrew woman to nurse 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.980 this baby that you have found? And Pharaoh's 00:06:56.980 --> 00:07:00.980 daughter said yes. And so she went and got Moses's 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:05.279 own mother. While the movies like to make it 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:08.800 sound like Moses had no idea that he was a Hebrew 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.620 until he was 40, the reality is that he knew 00:07:11.620 --> 00:07:15.939 the entire time. He carried the weight of being 00:07:15.939 --> 00:07:18.959 Hebrew and living in the house of the Pharaoh 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:22.500 that was oppressing the Hebrew people. And so 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:25.279 when he was around 40 years old and he saw an 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:30.139 Egyptian beating a Hebrew, it says that he stepped 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:32.870 in. He struck the Egyptian. The Egyptian died 00:07:32.870 --> 00:07:36.569 and he buried him. And when it became obvious 00:07:36.569 --> 00:07:40.389 that his secret would not stay buried, he ran. 00:07:40.949 --> 00:07:45.750 Because even though he was the adopted son of 00:07:45.750 --> 00:07:48.509 the Pharaoh's daughter, the Pharaoh was not going 00:07:48.509 --> 00:07:55.250 to let this slide. That is why Moses is in the 00:07:55.250 --> 00:08:01.579 wilderness. Because he ran. But now, another 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:06.680 40 years has gone by, and the wilderness for 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:12.319 Moses wasn't exactly barren. He got married. 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:17.660 He started a family. He had kids. Life was stable. 00:08:17.779 --> 00:08:21.500 He had a good job, at least part of which was 00:08:21.500 --> 00:08:24.379 tending to the flocks of his father -in -law. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.120 And the passage says, Moses led his father -in 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:31.459 -law's flock beyond. the wilderness to the mountain 00:08:31.459 --> 00:08:35.179 of God. And this is an intentional foreshadowing 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:41.059 by the author about Moses' future. His father 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:46.039 -in -law is a priest. And so Moses led the holy 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:50.700 man's flocks through the wilderness to the mountain 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:54.559 of God. where God met him there. Now he will 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:58.120 lead God's people through and beyond the wilderness 00:08:58.120 --> 00:09:03.179 to that same mountain so that they will see that 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:08.899 God still cares. It makes me think that just 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:11.279 because you moved beyond your wilderness doesn't 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.860 mean you won't need to go through one again to 00:09:14.860 --> 00:09:19.090 help someone else. Just because you have gone 00:09:19.090 --> 00:09:22.509 through or beyond your wilderness does not mean 00:09:22.509 --> 00:09:24.350 that you will not need to go through one again, 00:09:24.490 --> 00:09:30.169 especially to help someone else. This story also 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:32.129 makes me think about how important curiosity 00:09:32.129 --> 00:09:37.009 is when it comes to following God. Scripture 00:09:37.009 --> 00:09:39.070 tells us that his father -in -law was the priest 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:42.230 of Midian. His name was Jethro. And Jethro was 00:09:42.230 --> 00:09:45.830 a polytheistic priest. Polytheistic just means 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:48.850 it's a religion that worships many gods. The 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:51.350 most obvious one modern day to look at would 00:09:51.350 --> 00:09:54.110 be Hinduism. There's many gods to look at. They 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:59.029 worship for many different reasons. Because in 00:09:59.029 --> 00:10:01.909 many polytheistic religions, everything has its 00:10:01.909 --> 00:10:07.970 own god. The weather has a God. The waters has 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:10.929 a God. The moon, the sun, the stars, they all 00:10:10.929 --> 00:10:13.230 have separate gods. They all have their own. 00:10:13.289 --> 00:10:19.830 And so fire would have had its own God. Moses 00:10:19.830 --> 00:10:23.409 almost surely does not approach this bush just 00:10:23.409 --> 00:10:28.370 because it's an odd experience. That's possible. 00:10:29.169 --> 00:10:32.039 But I think it's more probable. or more likely 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:35.539 that Moses has a spiritual curiosity that has 00:10:35.539 --> 00:10:38.639 been instilled by his religious surroundings. 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:42.179 I think that Moses is wondering, is something 00:10:42.179 --> 00:10:46.720 spiritual happening over there? Why else would 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.399 it look like a bush was burning, but there's 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:55.279 no smoke and it's not being consumed? You also 00:10:55.279 --> 00:10:58.259 have to remember that in those days, anything 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:00.179 out of the ordinary must have been the gods. 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:05.220 And then remember that the first 40 years of 00:11:05.220 --> 00:11:08.519 Moses' life, he watched as the God of his ethnic 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:14.159 ancestors essentially did nothing. He's probably 00:11:14.159 --> 00:11:17.639 not approaching this bush looking for the God 00:11:17.639 --> 00:11:21.759 of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When he says, I 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.860 am the God, he says that he hides his face. Because 00:11:24.860 --> 00:11:26.740 that's not who he was approaching thinking might 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:30.620 be there. If he's looking for something spiritual, 00:11:30.740 --> 00:11:32.950 it's more likely... Because of the spiritual 00:11:32.950 --> 00:11:37.330 curiosity that he has seen in his new father, 00:11:37.450 --> 00:11:40.450 Jethro. He's been taught that there could be 00:11:40.450 --> 00:11:43.610 a God involved in any or every element of life. 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:45.950 Now listen, Christians, we're meant to do this 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:49.129 too. To believe that God is active in the world, 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:52.149 present in every moment. But we've also become 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:56.210 so afraid of being tricked that we say things 00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:58.450 like, well, I didn't see that healing happen 00:11:58.450 --> 00:12:01.720 with my eyes. So I'm not sure that it happened. 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:05.740 God didn't heal the thing that I asked for, so 00:12:05.740 --> 00:12:10.879 maybe he doesn't do that anymore. As if my own 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:14.080 personal experiences are enough in totality to 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:16.860 determine the existence of an infinite being. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:23.110 Slowly but surely, we leave. spiritual curiosity 00:12:23.110 --> 00:12:25.909 to every other part of the world, to every other 00:12:25.909 --> 00:12:28.710 religion, to every other form of spirituality, 00:12:28.809 --> 00:12:30.929 and eventually we're just inviting people to 00:12:30.929 --> 00:12:33.629 a religion of rules, a religion of singing songs, 00:12:33.929 --> 00:12:38.909 just singing, just singing, nothing more than 00:12:38.909 --> 00:12:43.450 that, a religion of lectures and limits. Instead 00:12:43.450 --> 00:12:48.909 of to a God of the miraculous, to a God that 00:12:48.909 --> 00:12:53.529 sees. To a God that can make it look like a bush 00:12:53.529 --> 00:12:56.929 is burning but not being consumed. And I wonder 00:12:56.929 --> 00:13:00.350 how many burning bushes we have seen but we have 00:13:00.350 --> 00:13:04.129 kept walking because we're not looking with spiritually 00:13:04.129 --> 00:13:11.029 curious eyes anymore. Let's be honest. If you 00:13:11.029 --> 00:13:14.309 saw, if I put it on the screen right now, a picture 00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:17.190 of a bush that was burning but not being consumed, 00:13:17.529 --> 00:13:23.600 you would all say it was AI. You'd say, oh, that's 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:29.159 CGI. Oh, what app did you use to make that? I 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.139 had a friend in Colorado, or rather, I had a 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:35.559 boss that became my friend, and he could not 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:43.460 be to a meeting that he set on time. He'd be 00:13:43.460 --> 00:13:49.019 15 minutes late, always, always. And he'd come 00:13:49.019 --> 00:13:54.529 in saying, DEI. D -E -I, divine interventions 00:13:54.529 --> 00:13:59.590 every day. Oh, D -I -E, D -I -E, divine interventions 00:13:59.590 --> 00:14:02.190 every day. It did not matter. He's the one that 00:14:02.190 --> 00:14:03.529 set the meeting, and then he'd just come in, 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:07.269 D -I -E, you guys got to die every day. Divine 00:14:07.269 --> 00:14:11.009 interventions every day. It drove me nuts because 00:14:11.009 --> 00:14:14.289 I'm an on -time person, and I like a meeting 00:14:14.289 --> 00:14:17.190 to start on time, especially if I'm the one that 00:14:17.190 --> 00:14:18.529 planned it and especially if there's a meeting 00:14:18.529 --> 00:14:22.570 that might be coming after it. I think it's true 00:14:22.570 --> 00:14:27.350 that we all need a little more D .I .E. We need 00:14:27.350 --> 00:14:34.289 more curiosity to make space for the divine to 00:14:34.289 --> 00:14:39.389 intervene every day. My pastor back in Colorado 00:14:39.389 --> 00:14:43.690 used to say, if you're coming to church without 00:14:43.690 --> 00:14:45.610 expecting God to do anything, why are you coming? 00:14:53.580 --> 00:14:55.720 I wonder about our ability to have curiosity 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:58.759 in our spirituality, especially when I see what's 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:02.460 happening with the unhoused in our city. When 00:15:02.460 --> 00:15:05.620 I see what's happening with immigrants in America 00:15:05.620 --> 00:15:10.519 living in fear. And I wonder how often the presence 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:13.259 of God gets ignored because we've lost our curiosity 00:15:13.259 --> 00:15:20.879 to see Jesus in them. Hebrews reminds us that... 00:15:21.149 --> 00:15:23.629 At any moment, we could be entertaining an angel 00:15:23.629 --> 00:15:31.230 unaware. And I think that there's something about 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:33.850 this curiosity that also leads us into holy moments. 00:15:35.789 --> 00:15:39.370 As Moses approaches the burning bush, I think 00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:42.610 because of a curiosity, it says that God tells 00:15:42.610 --> 00:15:44.649 him to take off his sandals, to put his skin 00:15:44.649 --> 00:15:53.379 on the ground. I think that if you read the scripture, 00:15:53.460 --> 00:15:56.320 it does say, come no closer, take off your sandals 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.440 for this is holy ground. So we might look at 00:15:58.440 --> 00:16:00.000 that and go, well, God doesn't want to be close 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.100 to us. Well, then why would he ask him to take 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:04.620 off his sandals so that his skin could touch 00:16:04.620 --> 00:16:08.039 the ground that he had called holy? And if you 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:11.220 look at the whole arc of the relationship that 00:16:11.220 --> 00:16:15.620 Moses had with... It says that while this is 00:16:15.620 --> 00:16:17.639 where it starts in Exodus 3, by the time you 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:20.600 get to Exodus 33, he's having to wear veils in 00:16:20.600 --> 00:16:22.720 front of people because his face is shining for 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:28.379 being in the presence of God. 20 years ago, there 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:32.000 was a movement called See You at the Pole. Anybody? 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.639 Raise your hand if you ever went to See You at 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:37.159 the Pole. Okay. I think it still happens. I'm 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:38.840 pretty sure that it still happens. But 20 years 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:42.269 ago, it was a big deal. Like, they made a big 00:16:42.269 --> 00:16:45.789 deal out of it. What it was was it was student 00:16:45.789 --> 00:16:50.190 -led, and one morning a year in September, students 00:16:50.190 --> 00:16:52.049 would get together around the flagpole at their 00:16:52.049 --> 00:16:54.529 school, and they would pray for spiritual awakening 00:16:54.529 --> 00:16:58.110 in their schools. And here in the Quad Cities, 00:16:58.350 --> 00:17:00.309 youth pastors started going, okay, hey, you know 00:17:00.309 --> 00:17:02.190 what? We don't want to just encourage our kids 00:17:02.190 --> 00:17:04.450 to do that. Why don't we try and get all the 00:17:04.450 --> 00:17:06.829 students from all the different churches that 00:17:06.829 --> 00:17:08.950 encourage people to do that, all the kids that 00:17:08.950 --> 00:17:11.589 gather together and pray. together around their 00:17:11.589 --> 00:17:13.490 flagpole. Let's get them all together for one 00:17:13.490 --> 00:17:17.170 night of worship, one event together that night. 00:17:17.309 --> 00:17:20.190 And 20 years ago, they called it, are you ready 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:23.069 for this? They called it the After the Pole Rally. 00:17:23.769 --> 00:17:27.450 So original, right? They had a whole marketing 00:17:27.450 --> 00:17:35.849 team on that one. And I was really lucky to have 00:17:35.849 --> 00:17:40.089 been asked to lead worship for that event. We 00:17:40.089 --> 00:17:43.309 had a thousand kids, junior high through high 00:17:43.309 --> 00:17:45.170 school, from all over the Quad Cities in one 00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:48.690 room. And I asked them all to take off their 00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:59.609 shoes. Yes, it smelled. I said, this is holy 00:17:59.609 --> 00:18:07.390 ground. God wants to meet us here. Those were 00:18:07.390 --> 00:18:10.839 the days. Dave can attest because somehow Dave 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.740 held on to this. Dave still wears sandals as 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:17.240 long as he possibly can year -round. Those were 00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:19.380 the days where I always wore sandals, and before 00:18:19.380 --> 00:18:21.819 I would lead worship, I would take my shoes off. 00:18:22.920 --> 00:18:25.500 It didn't matter whether I was on stage at Heritage 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:27.900 Church in front of a couple thousand people or 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:34.660 if I was in a small room with 12. My feet were 00:18:34.660 --> 00:18:40.549 going to be on the ground. Theologically speaking, 00:18:40.690 --> 00:18:43.210 there's nothing between us, between us and God. 00:18:44.329 --> 00:18:48.049 Our sins are forgiven. There's nothing that any 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:51.470 longer would divide us or separate us or keep 00:18:51.470 --> 00:18:55.650 us apart. But God also knows that we are a visual 00:18:55.650 --> 00:19:00.269 people and that a physical action, a metaphor, 00:19:00.349 --> 00:19:04.549 something that we can do to remove a layer between 00:19:04.549 --> 00:19:07.490 our feet and the ground can teach us a spiritual 00:19:07.490 --> 00:19:13.119 reality. Curiosity leads us to holy moments. 00:19:15.819 --> 00:19:20.240 Curiosity leads us to see Jesus and people that 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.680 we might otherwise walk past. And I wonder if 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:27.440 y 'all walked up to a burning bush later today 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:32.079 and God said, this is holy ground, I wonder if 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:38.220 you might say, put down your phones. Last thing 00:19:38.220 --> 00:19:41.440 I want to point out is... I don't think that 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:43.779 we can read this passage without acknowledging 00:19:43.779 --> 00:19:47.700 that God, the creator of the universe, is asking 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:52.539 human beings to be a part of the solution. People 00:19:52.539 --> 00:19:56.079 ask, if God is real, then why doesn't he just 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:01.839 fix this and fix that? Why does he... Whether 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:04.279 it's the stories about Jesus or whether it's 00:20:04.279 --> 00:20:07.259 the prophets or if it's this story about Moses, 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:10.130 so often... Throughout the scriptures, God is 00:20:10.130 --> 00:20:15.069 asking us to be a part of the solution. Notice 00:20:15.069 --> 00:20:17.730 God didn't just speak to Pharaoh from the sky. 00:20:19.150 --> 00:20:23.630 God spoke to the Pharaoh through a person. And 00:20:23.630 --> 00:20:27.329 more than that, God expected that person to lead 00:20:27.329 --> 00:20:30.210 his people through and beyond the wilderness 00:20:30.210 --> 00:20:36.450 to the mountain of God. The Bible isn't really 00:20:36.450 --> 00:20:40.990 a book that just shows what God did. The Bible 00:20:40.990 --> 00:20:43.130 is the book that shows how God moved through 00:20:43.130 --> 00:20:51.130 humans. This past week, I was meeting with a 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:55.269 local organization that serves the unhoused and 00:20:55.269 --> 00:20:59.150 the poor in Rock Island. And they have a daytime 00:20:59.150 --> 00:21:02.869 drop -in shelter, but they've essentially run 00:21:02.869 --> 00:21:12.609 out of room. And I met them here. I met them 00:21:12.609 --> 00:21:15.049 here so that I could show them our lobby and 00:21:15.049 --> 00:21:20.930 even our sanctuary. And to say, I wonder if maybe 00:21:20.930 --> 00:21:28.950 you could meet here instead. You could use our 00:21:28.950 --> 00:21:32.319 building during the day. We can do some stuff 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:37.019 at night, be here on the weekends. Because we 00:21:37.019 --> 00:21:39.880 have, just the lobby is almost twice the space 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:52.900 that they have. They asked, what will your church 00:21:52.900 --> 00:21:58.460 people think if, let's say, if some of those 00:21:58.759 --> 00:22:01.440 people that we serve show up on Sundays or what 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:05.900 happens if they, not when, not if, but when they 00:22:05.900 --> 00:22:13.740 break things. Or what if the building smells 00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:21.660 like them when you get here? And I had it in 00:22:21.660 --> 00:22:23.059 my notes and I took it out, but I'm going to 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:28.880 tell you the truth. I said I don't care. I said, 00:22:28.900 --> 00:22:33.359 I don't think I care. Because while this might 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.720 not, who knows, we're just offering it. We're 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:39.640 just offering the idea. God knows whether it 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:41.759 will happen or not. But I said, I don't think 00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:43.920 that we're meant to have this big, warm building 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:46.140 just to make people feel good for one hour on 00:22:46.140 --> 00:22:52.099 a Sunday. And I said, I don't, if this isn't 00:22:52.099 --> 00:22:54.180 the kind of thing that God has been leading us 00:22:54.180 --> 00:22:56.440 to for the last 12 years, then I'm not sure what 00:22:56.440 --> 00:23:00.529 is. It's a happy 12 -year anniversary, everybody. 00:23:02.410 --> 00:23:09.809 And I said I don't want to be naive, and I don't 00:23:09.809 --> 00:23:11.490 want to be naive in front of you either, because 00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:13.569 I know it's an if. It's a big if. If they do 00:23:13.569 --> 00:23:16.410 want to eventually move here and maybe even end 00:23:16.410 --> 00:23:18.430 up renovating the other end of the building, 00:23:18.509 --> 00:23:21.809 and that would just be a temporary solution for 00:23:21.809 --> 00:23:27.119 them, we would need to be prepared. When I got 00:23:27.119 --> 00:23:29.160 here this morning, there was a guy pacing around 00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:31.900 in the parking lot, rapping to himself with a 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:34.359 lot of obscenities, and I knew that he was someone 00:23:34.359 --> 00:23:37.759 that was unhoused. He was far enough away. The 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:40.480 general rule is don't approach and bother someone 00:23:40.480 --> 00:23:44.279 that isn't asking to be bothered. So I just watched 00:23:44.279 --> 00:23:47.940 him as he paced back and forth, frenetically, 00:23:48.099 --> 00:23:52.920 just rapping off the top of his head with a lot 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:57.720 of curse words. And I thought, He could be at 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:06.079 church today. And I hope we'll be ready. We'd 00:24:06.079 --> 00:24:09.920 also need to be ready to repair things on a regular 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.779 basis. There's a reason that a lot of times you 00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:14.359 go into hospitals and shelters and things like 00:24:14.359 --> 00:24:17.940 that. They don't have yellow walls, y 'all. Because 00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:21.400 walls get dirty. And there's certain colors that 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:23.700 just show the dirt a little bit better than others. 00:24:24.619 --> 00:24:27.140 We'd have to be ready to repair things, to repaint 00:24:27.140 --> 00:24:30.519 things, to fix things, to pay for some things 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.539 that we're used to not having to pay for right 00:24:33.539 --> 00:24:41.579 now. But I don't want this church, not just this 00:24:41.579 --> 00:24:43.220 building. I'm not talking about this building. 00:24:43.940 --> 00:24:47.559 I'm talking about you. I don't want this church 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:52.220 to see a burning bush and just walk on by. I 00:24:52.220 --> 00:24:55.250 don't want this church. to say we've gone beyond 00:24:55.250 --> 00:24:58.869 our wilderness, they will be fine. I don't want 00:24:58.869 --> 00:25:01.410 this church to see the presence of God freezing 00:25:01.410 --> 00:25:07.349 on the street and assume they'll be okay. If 00:25:07.349 --> 00:25:10.609 you really want to know what I think, I need 00:25:10.609 --> 00:25:12.569 you to find us half a million dollars so we can 00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:16.789 buy this building. And I'm really not joking. 00:25:19.289 --> 00:25:23.019 Because this building sits... two -thirds empty 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:27.259 just to get to the other end of the building 00:25:27.259 --> 00:25:32.079 up to code without bathrooms in it 60 grand up 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.259 to code with bathrooms in it 100 grand to buy 00:25:35.259 --> 00:25:42.799 the building 335 000 to do anything with the 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:45.980 upstairs to turn that into a long -term housing 00:25:45.980 --> 00:25:50.640 facility for single women or a shelter for the 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.359 unhoused, there's 17 ,000 square feet upstairs. 00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:00.759 17 ,000 square feet upstairs. And it would cost 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:03.440 millions to renovate up to the level that would 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:11.880 be needed. If you want to know the truth, we 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:14.940 need some money. Because there's some things 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:21.950 that probably need to happen here. Things that 00:26:21.950 --> 00:26:27.109 I'm afraid to say out loud because then I don't 00:26:27.109 --> 00:26:29.369 want anyone to feel disappointed when it doesn't 00:26:29.369 --> 00:26:35.970 happen. Because even I am tempted to become a 00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:38.309 part of a religion that's just singing songs 00:26:38.309 --> 00:26:44.950 and offering lectures instead of being a spiritual 00:26:44.950 --> 00:26:50.109 man that believes in a God of miracles. But I'm 00:26:50.109 --> 00:26:53.970 going to be curious. And I hope that you will 00:26:53.970 --> 00:26:55.950 be curious too whether you are in the middle 00:26:55.950 --> 00:26:58.569 of your wilderness, whether you have already 00:26:58.569 --> 00:27:06.769 walked past and beyond your wilderness. You are 00:27:06.769 --> 00:27:10.289 not done with the concept of wilderness because 00:27:10.289 --> 00:27:16.849 people are stuck in them and need help. People 00:27:16.849 --> 00:27:23.289 are stuck. And they need our help. So will you 00:27:23.289 --> 00:27:26.549 be curious with me? Will you let the Holy Spirit 00:27:26.549 --> 00:27:33.809 swell up this feeling of, it's okay to be a little 00:27:33.809 --> 00:27:38.109 afraid about it. It's okay to be a little afraid 00:27:38.109 --> 00:27:42.890 about it. But I just think that there is more 00:27:42.890 --> 00:27:54.250 for us. as a body of Christ. Amen? Let's pray. 00:27:58.910 --> 00:28:01.289 God, I thank you for every wilderness that every 00:28:01.289 --> 00:28:08.990 person has walked through in this room. I thank 00:28:08.990 --> 00:28:13.569 you for every challenge, every moment of suffering 00:28:13.569 --> 00:28:15.710 that we have learned from, that we would count 00:28:15.710 --> 00:28:20.000 it all joy. Because of the purpose that you create 00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:22.519 from it. Not that it should have happened, but 00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:27.720 it did happen. So now what? Now what is that 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:33.240 we look to you? We hear you say, go, be my mouthpiece. 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:40.059 We trust you with the outcomes. Help us be curious. 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:48.250 Help us see you. bushes that are burning but 00:28:48.250 --> 00:28:58.130 not being consumed. Help us be willing to go. 00:28:59.630 --> 00:29:00.230 Amen.