WEBVTT 00:00:00.629 --> 00:00:03.149 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.849 --> 00:00:08.750 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:11.189 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:14.150 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.449 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in 00:00:16.449 --> 00:00:18.809 the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:22.329 us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.609 --> 00:00:25.030 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:32.159 sermon. God bless. Thank you for your word. God, 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:34.640 thank you for times when we are reminded of your 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.359 great acts, your great salvation, bringing us 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:42.179 from slavery to freedom, from death to life. 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:44.859 Thank you, Lord, for the gathering of your people, 00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:47.560 where we count the cross and the resurrection, 00:00:47.799 --> 00:00:50.840 where we look to your word, or that we might 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:54.500 have direction in this life. And how we confess, 00:00:54.820 --> 00:00:57.140 how often we dump this, we live wayward lives 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:01.200 wandering from you in the wilderness. And so 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.399 God, I pray today that as we sit with your word, 00:01:03.439 --> 00:01:05.959 you'd speak to us again, that our hearts would 00:01:05.959 --> 00:01:08.599 be moved and our lives would be directed by you 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:12.439 and that we would respond in worship to you, 00:01:12.480 --> 00:01:16.319 Lord. Do all these things, God, we pray in your 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:21.819 name for our good, for your glory. Amen. All 00:01:21.819 --> 00:01:27.200 right. Like most of life, moving is filled with 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:30.000 uncertainty. You all have done this, I'm sure. 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:32.719 It's filled with sort of unease. And it's not 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.680 just because it's a mess, though it is, right? 00:01:36.659 --> 00:01:39.560 Stuff everywhere, stuff you're like, what is 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:42.579 this stuff? Stuff you're like, should we keep 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:47.340 that stuff? It's just stuff everywhere. And you're 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:48.959 wondering, of course, if your life is gonna have 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:55.019 a semblance of order ever again. Wondering if 00:01:55.019 --> 00:01:58.079 you will get along with your neighbors, wondering 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.519 who they will be, if they will like you or your 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:02.560 children or your dogs. These are thoughts that 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:05.599 are going on through my mind, of course. I shared 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:08.099 with you, I know at least years ago, I shared 00:02:08.099 --> 00:02:10.780 with you some of the stories of growing up. I'm 00:02:10.780 --> 00:02:12.199 not gonna go into these stories right now, but 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:14.939 we had a neighbor growing up who was schizophrenic 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:17.639 and her visions only were sort of oriented towards 00:02:17.639 --> 00:02:20.300 our family. And so the police knew us well by 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.909 name. Those are stories for another sermon. But 00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:25.729 you can imagine moving brings up uncertainty, 00:02:25.830 --> 00:02:28.270 of course. And many of you know that over the 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:30.210 past week or so, we have been in the process 00:02:30.210 --> 00:02:32.949 of moving. We are actually just moving about 00:02:32.949 --> 00:02:35.409 two blocks from the house that we first lived 00:02:35.409 --> 00:02:38.610 in uptown near Italian Lake. Some of you were 00:02:38.610 --> 00:02:44.810 in that a while back. Some of you have lent a 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:46.150 hand, and I just want to say thank you. That's 00:02:46.150 --> 00:02:49.590 very kind of you. But it's been a bittersweet 00:02:49.590 --> 00:02:51.389 thing, us moving. It's because, of course, we 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:53.629 brought Henry home to this house that we're moving 00:02:53.629 --> 00:02:55.569 from, and we've had many dinners with many of 00:02:55.569 --> 00:02:59.509 you, and sweet memories. But moving is filled 00:02:59.509 --> 00:03:01.169 with this uncertainty, and largely it's filled 00:03:01.169 --> 00:03:03.250 with uncertainty about who will be around us. 00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:04.789 So we've had some opportunity to get to know 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:06.849 some of our neighbors a little bit, even this 00:03:06.849 --> 00:03:10.810 week. And the couple just the house north of 00:03:10.810 --> 00:03:13.830 our house are this older, devout Jewish couple. 00:03:14.569 --> 00:03:17.370 And so Marian, The wife, she actually brought 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:20.849 us over a loaf of challah bread, challah, challah, 00:03:20.849 --> 00:03:24.009 you know, that bread. It's sweet, it's delicious, 00:03:24.270 --> 00:03:26.509 and they have it every Sabbath day. So Friday 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:29.110 night and into Saturday, they put like two to 00:03:29.110 --> 00:03:31.050 four loaves between the two of them, which is 00:03:31.050 --> 00:03:34.689 awesome. They've lived in that house for about 00:03:34.689 --> 00:03:37.030 40 years. They actually got it from the son of 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:39.189 the man who originally built it, who developed 00:03:39.189 --> 00:03:42.689 the whole neighborhood. And we heard that story. 00:03:43.330 --> 00:03:45.409 Melissa and I yesterday walked a little bit on 00:03:45.409 --> 00:03:47.770 our, while we were walking a dog, we talked with 00:03:47.770 --> 00:03:50.289 Bert, the husband. And here's the thing, both 00:03:50.289 --> 00:03:53.370 of the conversations, how they're going to be 00:03:53.370 --> 00:03:57.509 celebrating Sukkot. Sukkot. And what they will 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:01.889 do is they'll take branches, leaves, and they're 00:04:01.889 --> 00:04:04.599 going to build this little you know play fort 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:08.800 like we do and of course the top will be shaded 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:12.159 but you'll allow the rain still to come in and 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:13.400 one of the things that they're going to do is 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:15.539 they invite neighbors over to come have coffee 00:04:15.539 --> 00:04:19.300 in the in the little fort or they have their 00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:22.319 meals in there and they said you know it's a 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:23.899 great time and you can come over and sit and 00:04:23.899 --> 00:04:27.319 chat with us and so that sounds great. Of course 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:29.740 some of you know that Sukkot is actually also 00:04:29.740 --> 00:04:34.449 known as the feast of Booths, the Feast of Booths. 00:04:34.629 --> 00:04:37.709 The Feast of Booths is the celebration of God's 00:04:37.709 --> 00:04:40.029 provision to His people from their wandering 00:04:40.029 --> 00:04:42.129 in the wilderness, how He cared for them, how 00:04:42.129 --> 00:04:44.389 He provided for them, how He brought them out 00:04:44.389 --> 00:04:46.209 in safety. But then also while they were wandering, 00:04:46.350 --> 00:04:48.029 they were living in booths and God was providing 00:04:48.029 --> 00:04:50.250 for them. And how they actually continued that 00:04:50.250 --> 00:04:51.990 celebration once they went into the promised 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:54.230 land. And it was actually the celebration that 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:58.209 happens in the fall. Our text mentioned that 00:04:58.209 --> 00:05:02.189 it's the first month the trumpet is blown and 00:05:02.189 --> 00:05:04.129 that would have been blown to remind people that 00:05:04.129 --> 00:05:05.889 we need to celebrate what God's done. He's brought 00:05:05.889 --> 00:05:07.550 us into this new year and he's provided for us. 00:05:07.709 --> 00:05:11.050 And we have this harvest, this long sort of declaration 00:05:11.050 --> 00:05:13.149 year in year out that in the uncertainty and 00:05:13.149 --> 00:05:16.949 the mess of life, God's provision is good and 00:05:16.949 --> 00:05:19.790 kind to his people. So it's living into this 00:05:19.790 --> 00:05:22.149 story of what God has done. It's also reminding 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:25.470 us through his word, the reading of His Word 00:05:25.470 --> 00:05:27.889 and the study of it, of what He's done and of 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:32.089 His care. It's sort of a pausing in the just 00:05:32.089 --> 00:05:37.149 busy, hectic reality of life to confess God, 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:41.129 to remind one another of who He is, what He's 00:05:41.129 --> 00:05:45.170 done. It's a willingness in the craziness to 00:05:45.170 --> 00:05:47.089 invite others in and to tell them the stories. 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:51.149 So, the first time that the Feast of Booze is 00:05:51.149 --> 00:05:54.759 mentioned is in Leviticus 23. you all no doubt 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:57.540 know that Leviticus 23 is the great chapter about 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:00.660 how the people of God organized their time. Remember 00:06:00.660 --> 00:06:04.959 that? Moses lays out sort of a weekly remembrance, 00:06:05.019 --> 00:06:07.879 but also a yearly remembrance, a calendar. So 00:06:07.879 --> 00:06:10.439 the beginning of that chapter begins with the 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.740 Sabbath, a weekly remembrance of the God of creation 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:16.680 and the God of salvation. But at the end of that 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:19.000 chapter, there's the section on the feast of 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:21.779 booths. And so I'm going to read a little bit 00:06:21.779 --> 00:06:25.639 of it for you, okay? That's verse 39 of Leviticus 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:27.899 23. On the 15th day of the seventh month, when 00:06:27.899 --> 00:06:29.560 you've gathered in the produce of the land, you 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:31.920 shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:34.439 On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:36.600 on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. And 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:39.779 you shall take on the first day the fruit of 00:06:39.779 --> 00:06:43.420 splendid trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:47.459 of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. And 00:06:47.459 --> 00:06:49.439 you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven 00:06:49.439 --> 00:07:16.110 days. So this is a feast of remembrance. a feast 00:07:16.110 --> 00:07:18.589 remembering the provision of God and the uncertainty 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:21.250 of the wilderness, but also kind of a continual 00:07:21.250 --> 00:07:23.850 remembrance that God is with us in the uncertainty 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:27.110 and the crazy and the busy and the wildness of 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:30.170 life. You know, they were asking the question, 00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:32.689 no doubt, will He be with us in those times? 00:07:33.430 --> 00:07:37.310 Is He still present? Will He still provide? Will 00:07:37.310 --> 00:07:39.910 God finish what He started when He brought us 00:07:39.910 --> 00:07:43.230 out from slavery? Will He bring us to the promised 00:07:43.230 --> 00:07:45.949 land? That's a Christian question too, right? 00:07:48.870 --> 00:07:51.430 Yearly, just will the harvest come in? Will we 00:07:51.430 --> 00:07:54.269 have what we need in this life? Will we be able 00:07:54.269 --> 00:07:59.230 to eat? Can we sit together, linger over a meal, 00:08:00.310 --> 00:08:03.509 dwell in one another's presence, welcome neighbors 00:08:03.509 --> 00:08:07.769 in through the upheavals of life? And another 00:08:07.769 --> 00:08:10.490 question is, will we sing? But we hear the trumpet 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:14.410 blast that the new season is here, that God's 00:08:14.410 --> 00:08:18.389 promises are secure. Will we celebrate? So why 00:08:18.389 --> 00:08:20.269 I'm going into all this is because Psalm 81, 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:24.410 most believe, is the Psalm of Sukkot, of the 00:08:24.410 --> 00:08:25.870 Feast of Booth. And there's a number of reasons 00:08:25.870 --> 00:08:28.850 to think this. Most specifically, it says, blow 00:08:28.850 --> 00:08:31.029 the trumpet, which is the shofar, that horn, 00:08:31.029 --> 00:08:34.629 you know, horn. Blow it at the new moon and at 00:08:34.629 --> 00:08:36.730 the full moon on our feast day. And that would 00:08:36.730 --> 00:08:39.679 have been the beginning of this season. So this 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:42.419 is a psalm that is happening right around, very 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:44.340 likely it's the one that would have been sung, 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.720 studied, prayed for right around the Feast of 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:50.600 Booths. So there's a number of reasons for this, 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:52.840 but what I want us to see this morning is that 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:55.639 this psalm presents us in some ways with the 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:59.840 same lesson of the Feast of Booths. It's sort 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:01.980 of the same question of what do we do with the 00:09:01.980 --> 00:09:05.480 uncertainty? Do we know the story of God? What 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:09.960 do we confess? That's part of it, the act of 00:09:09.960 --> 00:09:13.279 confession. But it also presents us with a concern, 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:16.799 which is you actually believe the confession, 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:21.399 and then it also presents us with a call. If 00:09:21.399 --> 00:09:26.120 you believe the confession, you kind of press 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:28.899 through the concern, what is the outcome, the 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:30.980 call? Okay, so first the confession. That's going 00:09:30.980 --> 00:09:35.889 to be in the middle of this psalm. And I want 00:09:35.889 --> 00:09:38.009 to just say this confession addresses the uncertainty 00:09:38.009 --> 00:09:43.090 of life with the story of God's salvation and 00:09:43.090 --> 00:09:45.970 also the declaration from his word, okay? So 00:09:45.970 --> 00:09:47.809 if you have your Bible open, look down with me 00:09:47.809 --> 00:09:51.570 at verse six and seven. Okay. I relieved your 00:09:51.570 --> 00:09:55.470 shoulders of the burden. Your hands were freed 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:59.620 from the basket. In distress you called. and 00:09:59.620 --> 00:10:02.159 I delivered you. I answered you in the secret 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.840 place of thunder. I tested you at the waters 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:09.480 of Miraba." So, first I want you to see how this 00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:12.919 psalm in the event of the Feast of Boos was the 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:16.220 occasion for this singing. That's the occasion 00:10:16.220 --> 00:10:17.659 for it, right? That's when they're doing it, 00:10:17.659 --> 00:10:20.659 but it's a confession of what has God done? What 00:10:20.659 --> 00:10:23.840 has He done? What is the story of God's salvation? 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:26.980 Well, Maybe you saw this, right? I relieved your 00:10:26.980 --> 00:10:30.059 shoulders of the burden, shoulder burden, your 00:10:30.059 --> 00:10:33.220 hands freed from the basket. I mean, all that 00:10:33.220 --> 00:10:36.220 shoulder burden, hands basket, all that is the 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:39.039 picture of what was happening under slavery. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:45.100 Heavy laden. Hands were worn. They were burdened. 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:46.460 They were carrying around those things which 00:10:46.460 --> 00:10:51.379 didn't belong to them. They were slaves. They 00:10:51.379 --> 00:10:53.620 had to remember, they had to confess where they 00:10:53.620 --> 00:10:58.929 had come from. Okay, so I thought, I think this 00:10:58.929 --> 00:11:01.049 is a good time to say this, because I think it 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:02.809 makes some sense to the passage. One of the things 00:11:02.809 --> 00:11:04.809 we do every week in this service is we confess 00:11:04.809 --> 00:11:06.450 our sins, right? That's one of these things. 00:11:06.529 --> 00:11:08.230 And sometimes people are like, why do you keep 00:11:08.230 --> 00:11:11.210 doing that? You know, why do we do these same 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:13.750 things every week? And I have a number of answers 00:11:13.750 --> 00:11:16.529 for that. One of the answers is that sin is always 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:19.029 distancing. Sin always distances. We know this 00:11:19.029 --> 00:11:20.870 in our human relationships. We harm somebody 00:11:20.870 --> 00:11:22.759 and you're like... I don't feel like we can be 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.120 very close. Or you can't be very close at least 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.279 until you name it, right? And you own it and 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.100 you confess it and you receive forgiveness and 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:33.759 there's a reconciliation. That's how life works. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.539 And that's how life works with God too. We come 00:11:35.539 --> 00:11:37.679 into a presence of a holy God and we say, Lord, 00:11:37.700 --> 00:11:39.600 we're not worthy because we've erred and strayed 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:41.220 from your ways. Like philosophy, we've ran away 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:43.320 from you. So forgive us so that we can be bound 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:46.919 together again. But part of what we're also doing 00:11:46.919 --> 00:11:51.139 is we're remembering where we were without God. 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:58.000 Burdened, heavy laden, shoulders heavy, hands 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:02.500 worn thin. We're saying outside of you, we are 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:08.500 just slaves. Unless you act, and before you acted 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:11.039 for us, this is how we wander. There's just something 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.500 good in reminding ourselves, what are we without 00:12:13.500 --> 00:12:19.190 God? Where were we without God? So confession 00:12:19.190 --> 00:12:21.950 is a confession of the story of God's redemptive 00:12:21.950 --> 00:12:25.070 acts, his great act of bringing people out from 00:12:25.070 --> 00:12:27.649 slavery to himself, God's deliverance of his 00:12:27.649 --> 00:12:30.730 people. He says in verse seven, in distress, 00:12:30.769 --> 00:12:35.870 you called and I delivered you. And it goes down, 00:12:36.129 --> 00:12:38.610 I am Lord your God in verse 10, who brought you 00:12:38.610 --> 00:12:41.269 out of the land of Egypt, out of the mouth, open 00:12:41.269 --> 00:12:48.360 your mouth wide. I will fill it. So this confession 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:51.000 that's taking place is a recounting of God's 00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:56.059 great salvific acts, his act of salvation, which 00:12:56.059 --> 00:12:58.100 is to say that in the midst of the confusion 00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:01.940 of life, they're to remember God can do that. 00:13:03.240 --> 00:13:06.419 He hears your cry. He delivers you. He brings 00:13:06.419 --> 00:13:08.940 you out from that. And he says, open up your 00:13:08.940 --> 00:13:10.500 mouth wide. I'm going to fill it. I'm going to 00:13:10.500 --> 00:13:17.019 care for you. An interesting thing, of course, 00:13:17.019 --> 00:13:20.200 is that they come out of Egypt and they come 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:23.480 into the wilderness wandering time. And then 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:26.919 it talks about how God tests them at the waters 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:28.779 of Miraba, right? Verse seven, the last part, 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.360 I tested you at the waters of Miraba. Miraba 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:36.539 was the place of God's providing water for His 00:13:36.539 --> 00:13:39.580 people in the wilderness, but it's also a place 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:42.080 of testing. Another thing is mentioned there. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:45.710 It says the secret place of thunder. Most everyone 00:13:45.710 --> 00:13:47.850 believes that that's the place of Sinai, where 00:13:47.850 --> 00:13:51.029 the cloud comes and the loud sounds of thunder 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:54.610 as Moses is up on the mountain. But anyway, so 00:13:54.610 --> 00:13:56.870 this is recounting in some ways this salvation 00:13:56.870 --> 00:14:00.850 story of God. But also, actually, what would 00:14:00.850 --> 00:14:03.009 have happened at the Feast of Booze is not just 00:14:03.009 --> 00:14:05.230 recounting the story of what God has done, but 00:14:05.230 --> 00:14:08.690 also recounting his work, his law. You could 00:14:08.690 --> 00:14:13.960 say miraba, his acts, and Sinai, his words. How 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:16.980 were they to live? Would they continue as they 00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:21.220 did in Egypt? Were the 400 years of the Egyptian 00:14:21.220 --> 00:14:23.840 habits that they had sort of formed, were they 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.279 going to define their lives or were they going 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:29.860 to live according to God's words to them? So 00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:32.240 they'd gather together in these booths as they 00:14:32.240 --> 00:14:35.980 still do today, as we still do in a way each 00:14:35.980 --> 00:14:38.620 Sunday, and they would recount the great works 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:42.279 of God and they would remember His words to them. 00:14:44.750 --> 00:14:47.990 Our Old Testament reading this morning, the Rebekah 00:14:47.990 --> 00:14:50.789 read for us was Deuteronomy 31. And I wonder 00:14:50.789 --> 00:14:52.549 if you heard that because it's all the people 00:14:52.549 --> 00:14:54.230 are gathered together and even says the little 00:14:54.230 --> 00:14:56.549 ones. Everybody needs to gather together and 00:14:56.549 --> 00:14:58.950 it's done so on the Feast of Boos and the law 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:03.350 of God is brought out and all of it's read. Sometimes 00:15:03.350 --> 00:15:05.269 you guys think maybe the scripture readings are 00:15:05.269 --> 00:15:09.710 too long in this church. It's all everybody is 00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:12.330 listening. That's part of what's happening at 00:15:12.330 --> 00:15:15.019 the Feast of Boos. And of course, we kind of 00:15:15.019 --> 00:15:16.700 have a glimpse of that happening here in this 00:15:16.700 --> 00:15:20.059 verse or in this passage too, in this chapter. 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:23.379 Verses four talks about the statutes and the 00:15:23.379 --> 00:15:26.480 rules of God. Verse five talks about the decrees 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:31.419 of God. And then actually, if you go down, there's 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:34.940 actually sort of an echo, if you will, of the 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:37.620 10 commandments, sort of saying, here, the law 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:42.980 of God is put forward. Verses eight and nine. 00:15:43.049 --> 00:15:45.769 And 10, here, O my people, while I admonish you, 00:15:45.830 --> 00:15:47.809 O Israel, if you would but listen to me, there 00:15:47.809 --> 00:15:49.809 shall be no strange gods among you. You shall 00:15:49.809 --> 00:15:52.809 not bow down to a foreign God. And that sounded 00:15:52.809 --> 00:15:55.549 like the Ten Commandments. Verse 10, I am Lord 00:15:55.549 --> 00:15:57.389 your God who brought you up at the end of Egypt. 00:15:58.070 --> 00:16:00.409 Again, like the preface to the Ten Commandments. 00:16:01.370 --> 00:16:04.909 Which is to say that this is not just a recounting 00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:07.309 of what God has done in his acts of salvation, 00:16:07.350 --> 00:16:09.870 but this is also a declaration that we need the 00:16:09.870 --> 00:16:13.639 words of God in our lives. We need direction 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:19.860 from God's words. There's some obvious questions 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:23.600 for us. What do you do in uncertainty? Where 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:27.940 do you go when mess feels too great? When the 00:16:27.940 --> 00:16:31.799 burden feels like it's too much? What do we do 00:16:31.799 --> 00:16:36.039 in our wilderness experiences? What do we do 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:37.940 when we're reminded again that we are not in 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:42.919 the promised land yet? What do you do when you're 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.740 wondering about your children's health or will 00:16:45.740 --> 00:16:53.860 you get a job that you need? Sometimes it's hard, 00:16:53.860 --> 00:16:57.639 right? Sometimes it's hard. Life can be incredibly 00:16:57.639 --> 00:17:00.080 challenging and incredibly uncertain. And part 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:04.940 of what this text is saying is be reminded that 00:17:04.940 --> 00:17:07.799 the Lord is strong, that He can take you out 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:10.940 from slavery. He can bring you to Himself. that 00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:13.400 He gives you His words for direction in your 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:18.539 life, tell the story of God, recount His deeds, 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:23.140 listen to His words for direction. And think 00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:25.359 about this, this happened for a week straight. 00:17:27.579 --> 00:17:31.039 I mean, that sounds hard to do, doesn't it? Like, 00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:36.339 we have a hard time sometimes just making weekly 00:17:36.339 --> 00:17:39.819 worship a habit, though it was our Lord's habit. 00:17:40.289 --> 00:17:42.269 And then they're saying a whole week, gather 00:17:42.269 --> 00:17:45.170 together and do this. Even that feels like such 00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:47.329 an uncertain thing. How would you plan for that? 00:17:47.750 --> 00:17:49.309 How would you prepare for that? How would you 00:17:49.309 --> 00:17:51.190 do food for that? A lot of people are traveling 00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:54.069 to Jerusalem like Jesus did in John 7. For that, 00:17:54.069 --> 00:17:57.410 that sounds like such a mess, such a crazy time. 00:18:00.869 --> 00:18:03.789 But God's saying, do this because this will settle 00:18:03.789 --> 00:18:07.690 you in the midst of uncertainty. Some of you 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:10.589 are familiar hopefully with Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. 00:18:10.609 --> 00:18:14.009 He was the chief rabbi over the UK. He passed 00:18:14.009 --> 00:18:16.109 away a little while ago. He was also a member 00:18:16.109 --> 00:18:19.789 of the House of Lords. He wrote this, if I were 00:18:19.789 --> 00:18:22.829 to summarize the message of Sukkot, I'd say it's 00:18:22.829 --> 00:18:26.750 a tutorial in how to live with insecurity and 00:18:26.750 --> 00:18:31.690 still celebrate life. How do you live with the 00:18:31.690 --> 00:18:34.109 uncertainty that our life presents us with time 00:18:34.109 --> 00:18:38.769 and again and still celebrate? Life, he continues 00:18:38.769 --> 00:18:41.650 on, life can be full of risk and yet still a 00:18:41.650 --> 00:18:44.009 blessing. Faith doesn't mean living with certainty. 00:18:44.170 --> 00:18:46.849 Faith is the courage to live with uncertainty 00:18:46.849 --> 00:18:50.470 knowing that God is with us on that tough but 00:18:50.470 --> 00:18:53.529 necessary journey to a world that honors life 00:18:53.529 --> 00:18:57.910 and treasures peace. How do we do this? How do 00:18:57.910 --> 00:19:00.549 we live faithfully in uncertainty? Well, I think 00:19:00.549 --> 00:19:02.430 part of what this text is telling us is that 00:19:02.430 --> 00:19:07.529 we recount collectively. the great acts of God's 00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:10.789 salvation. And we give ourselves to His word 00:19:10.789 --> 00:19:13.990 for our direction. So that's kind of the first 00:19:13.990 --> 00:19:16.430 thing is I think there's a confession here that 00:19:16.430 --> 00:19:19.309 this is what we need. And this is what God has 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:21.170 given us. He's given us salvation. He's given 00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:24.990 us His word. But there's also a big concern in 00:19:24.990 --> 00:19:28.390 this psalm. There's a big concern because as 00:19:28.390 --> 00:19:31.009 much as it is an invitation to this midst of 00:19:31.009 --> 00:19:33.410 uncertainty and this invitation of this confession, 00:19:34.409 --> 00:19:38.970 This is a Psalm with a deep concern. Did you 00:19:38.970 --> 00:19:41.309 notice, this was brought up in our staff meeting 00:19:41.309 --> 00:19:43.630 this week when we looked at, did you notice how 00:19:43.630 --> 00:19:46.150 dramatically different the beginning of this 00:19:46.150 --> 00:19:50.069 Psalm is than the end? It kind of starts really 00:19:50.069 --> 00:19:53.490 high and then it goes pretty low. And it does 00:19:53.490 --> 00:19:56.690 that because the concern is, will you listen? 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:03.099 Will you listen? Because so often people of God 00:20:03.099 --> 00:20:05.880 actually just don't listen. We'd rather hear 00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:08.920 other voices. We'd rather listen to our stomach 00:20:08.920 --> 00:20:12.480 and our sort of carnal urges. We'd rather listen 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:19.920 to our neighbors, what they're saying. Think 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.259 about this. I think actually some of these are 00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:24.700 mentioned here in this text. It mentions Miraba 00:20:24.700 --> 00:20:27.500 here, and there's two events of Miraba in the 00:20:27.500 --> 00:20:29.079 Wilderness Wandering. There's one at the beginning. 00:20:29.390 --> 00:20:31.710 There's one at the end, and most people think 00:20:31.710 --> 00:20:32.910 they're different places. They have different 00:20:32.910 --> 00:20:36.970 names. The first one is Exodus 17. Exodus 17, 00:20:37.109 --> 00:20:39.210 the people are quarreling with Moses. Remember, 00:20:39.250 --> 00:20:43.369 just two chapters earlier, they're letting Miriam, 00:20:43.730 --> 00:20:47.190 the sister of Moses, lead them in singing. Two 00:20:47.190 --> 00:20:50.130 chapters later, they're saying, oh, I wish we 00:20:50.130 --> 00:20:53.750 were in Egypt again. They're quarreling. They're 00:20:53.750 --> 00:20:56.190 testing the Lord. They say, why do you bring 00:20:56.190 --> 00:20:59.609 us to this place only to kill us? And it's actually 00:20:59.609 --> 00:21:01.490 because of this quarreling and because of this 00:21:01.490 --> 00:21:04.690 testing of the Lord that that Meribah is called 00:21:04.690 --> 00:21:08.369 Meribah Massach, which means literally quarrel 00:21:08.369 --> 00:21:12.630 testing. So this mentions Meribah and you're 00:21:12.630 --> 00:21:16.109 supposed to go, oh, so you can actually know 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:19.789 the story of salvation. You can receive God's 00:21:19.789 --> 00:21:22.509 word and you can just quarrel and say, Lord, 00:21:22.809 --> 00:21:25.980 I don't really believe it. I don't believe you're 00:21:25.980 --> 00:21:28.099 gonna care for me in the midst of all of this 00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:31.279 uncertainty of the wilderness. The second mirabai 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.180 can be found in numbers 20. And there again, 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:36.980 we kind of have the same thing. There's a little 00:21:36.980 --> 00:21:38.720 detail that's kind of interesting though, because 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.960 there they're saying, you're gonna let our cattle 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.759 die out here in the wilderness. Which say their 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:45.400 uncertainty wasn't just about their own welfare, 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:49.339 but their stuff. I've got all this uncertainty 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:53.099 around my stuff, Lord. Are you gonna care for 00:21:53.099 --> 00:21:59.289 us? Does God care? Of course, my guess is that 00:21:59.289 --> 00:22:02.630 all of us know that question. Do you care for 00:22:02.630 --> 00:22:05.410 us in the wilderness? And if you know those stories, 00:22:05.450 --> 00:22:06.990 they're both really interesting stories because 00:22:06.990 --> 00:22:09.130 they're both stories of judgment and stories 00:22:09.130 --> 00:22:13.349 of grace. The second one, Moses and Aaron are, 00:22:13.450 --> 00:22:16.769 you know, Moses isn't allowed to go into the 00:22:16.769 --> 00:22:18.750 promised land because he strikes the rock with 00:22:18.750 --> 00:22:21.529 his staff. You know that story. The people of 00:22:21.529 --> 00:22:23.329 God are judged at the first one. There's judgment, 00:22:23.410 --> 00:22:25.170 but there's also grace because God doesn't provide 00:22:25.170 --> 00:22:31.069 for them. Which is to say all of this mention 00:22:31.069 --> 00:22:33.269 of Mirabah here in this passage is to say that 00:22:33.269 --> 00:22:36.390 Mirabah is a place of uncertainty where their 00:22:36.390 --> 00:22:38.690 stomachs wanted to be satisfied and so they quarreled 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:40.710 not believing that God would actually care for 00:22:40.710 --> 00:22:45.069 them in the midst of that uncertainty. So they 00:22:45.069 --> 00:22:49.240 test God. What about the place of thunder that's 00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:53.539 mentioned here? I said that that was Sinai. Think 00:22:53.539 --> 00:22:56.579 about this. This is the time when they're not 00:22:56.579 --> 00:22:58.380 just listening to their stomachs instead of trusting 00:22:58.380 --> 00:22:59.579 the Lord, they're listening to their neighbors. 00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:02.140 And so they're waiting on Moses to come down 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:04.440 from the place of thunder, right? The mountain 00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:06.440 Sinai. And they're like, this is taking too long. 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:09.960 Aaron, why don't you listen to us and let's thank 00:23:09.960 --> 00:23:14.940 a God of gold. They're saying, I don't think 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:17.240 this God's gonna provide for us. His timing is 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:19.200 not what we desire, what we thought it would 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.859 be. And so let's do each other and make a different 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:26.740 plan. And they reject God. They reject his worship. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:31.559 They reject his timing. Of course, there's all 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:33.240 kinds of times when we think we know better than 00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.700 God. If you only would do this at this time. 00:23:37.059 --> 00:23:39.299 There's times where we think, oh man, we had 00:23:39.299 --> 00:23:45.269 it so much better back then. But the concern 00:23:45.269 --> 00:23:48.890 of this passage is not that they don't just know 00:23:48.890 --> 00:23:50.950 the story and they haven't received God's word, 00:23:50.950 --> 00:23:53.430 but that they really aren't listening. Instead, 00:23:53.430 --> 00:23:55.230 they're listening to their bodies, or they listen 00:23:55.230 --> 00:23:57.430 to their neighbors, or they're listening to that 00:23:57.430 --> 00:24:04.269 which is not the Lord. So, verse 11, but my people 00:24:04.269 --> 00:24:09.950 did not listen to my voice. Verse 13, oh, that 00:24:09.950 --> 00:24:15.829 my people would listen to me. Verse eight again, 00:24:15.970 --> 00:24:21.069 hear, O my people, while I admonish you, O Israel, 00:24:21.430 --> 00:24:27.630 if you would but listen to me. So here's the 00:24:27.630 --> 00:24:32.029 concern, they won't listen. I mean, it's this 00:24:32.029 --> 00:24:34.089 act of gathering together, of recounting the 00:24:34.089 --> 00:24:36.849 deeds of God, of hearing His word, but they're 00:24:36.849 --> 00:24:44.940 just going through the motions. Here, I mean, 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:48.259 they know this stuff, but they're not really 00:24:48.259 --> 00:24:54.059 listening. And how common is that for us? I mean, 00:24:54.059 --> 00:24:55.680 how common is that in the life of the church? 00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:00.000 Yeah, I know that. I know that story. I've heard 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:03.500 that story so many times. One thing, again, that 00:25:03.500 --> 00:25:04.839 was mentioned this week in our staff meeting 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:08.519 is how often the Bible tells the same story itself 00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:12.930 again. How I brought you out from slavery to 00:25:12.930 --> 00:25:19.190 myself. They're hard at hearing. And they're 00:25:19.190 --> 00:25:22.970 hard at hearing because they lack faith, because 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:27.329 listening is an act of faith. Listening is an 00:25:27.329 --> 00:25:31.329 act of saying, I might not know it all. I might 00:25:31.329 --> 00:25:34.930 need someone outside of me to direct me, to teach 00:25:34.930 --> 00:25:39.069 me, to train me. To not listen is to say, I know 00:25:39.069 --> 00:25:43.809 best. I can do it. They wouldn't listen to God. 00:25:44.750 --> 00:25:47.130 Here, okay, this is one of the meditation quotes 00:25:47.130 --> 00:25:48.849 inside of your bulletin, but hear this quote 00:25:48.849 --> 00:25:50.829 from Henry Nowen from his book, Bread for the 00:25:50.829 --> 00:25:57.029 Journey. To listen is very hard because it asks 00:25:57.029 --> 00:26:00.569 of us so much interior stability that we no longer 00:26:00.569 --> 00:26:03.150 need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, 00:26:03.450 --> 00:26:07.230 statements, declarations. True listeners no longer 00:26:07.230 --> 00:26:09.950 have an inner need to make their presence known. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:15.079 They're free to receive, to welcome, to accept. 00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:18.119 Listening is much more than allowing another 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:20.940 to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.039 I've done that plenty of times as I'm sure you 00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:29.799 have. Listening is paying full attention to others 00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:33.299 and welcoming them into our very being. The beauty 00:26:33.299 --> 00:26:35.740 of listening is that those who are listened to 00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:38.160 start feeling accepted, start taking their words 00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:40.599 more seriously and discover their own true selves. 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:43.680 Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:46.920 by which you invite strangers become friends 00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:49.019 to get to know their inner selves more fully 00:26:49.019 --> 00:26:52.859 and even to dare to be silent with you. And this 00:26:52.859 --> 00:26:55.960 past is saying that the Lord Himself is saying, 00:26:56.019 --> 00:27:02.720 would you listen to me? Would you listen as an 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:08.019 act of faith? Not having to be defensive. What 00:27:08.019 --> 00:27:09.880 are all the other things? Not having to think 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:11.660 through your own arguments or your statements, 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:16.740 your own declarations, but listen to me. So there's 00:27:16.740 --> 00:27:18.740 this confession, right? About what God's done. 00:27:18.940 --> 00:27:22.660 It's great acts of salvation. There's this confession 00:27:22.660 --> 00:27:24.839 about His word and how we need direction from 00:27:24.839 --> 00:27:27.559 it. And then there's this concern because people 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:29.819 are like, We don't really want to listen. That's 00:27:29.819 --> 00:27:32.099 the pattern. We don't really care to listen. 00:27:35.059 --> 00:27:39.779 Now the song begins with a call. So we're going 00:27:39.779 --> 00:27:45.279 to end at the beginning. Okay. So sing aloud 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:48.380 to God our strength. Shout for joy to the God 00:27:48.380 --> 00:27:53.559 of Jacob. So let me get back to Sukkot. Feast 00:27:53.559 --> 00:28:01.670 of booze. One practice of observant Jews is to 00:28:01.670 --> 00:28:04.470 take three different branches, often to bind 00:28:04.470 --> 00:28:07.269 them together, and then to take a fruit. Normally 00:28:07.269 --> 00:28:11.230 it's a citron, like a large sweet lemon, when 00:28:11.230 --> 00:28:13.970 you go into the booth to celebrate it. It's part 00:28:13.970 --> 00:28:16.109 of celebrating the Feast of Booths. And actually, 00:28:16.109 --> 00:28:19.230 if you heard, this is mentioned really specifically 00:28:19.230 --> 00:28:22.349 in Leviticus 23. I read it earlier, but it said 00:28:22.349 --> 00:28:27.250 this in verse 40. the fruit of splendid trees, 00:28:27.450 --> 00:28:30.609 branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, 00:28:30.849 --> 00:28:32.950 and willows of the brook. So there's like three 00:28:32.950 --> 00:28:35.269 different branches. There are specific ones and 00:28:35.269 --> 00:28:39.190 then a fruit. Okay. And the names that Jews give 00:28:39.190 --> 00:28:42.750 these things are the lulav, the hadas, the areva, 00:28:42.890 --> 00:28:47.490 and the etrog. So here's something that I read 00:28:47.490 --> 00:28:49.630 that was really interesting is that all of these 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:53.220 different species are There's no one place in 00:28:53.220 --> 00:28:55.839 Israel where all of these species can be found. 00:28:57.740 --> 00:29:01.299 The etrog comes from the plains, the lulav near 00:29:01.299 --> 00:29:05.059 the springs in the valley, the chadas in the 00:29:05.059 --> 00:29:08.799 mountains, the areva near the wadis and the major 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:12.380 rivers. So to worship this would mean that all 00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:14.519 of God's people from all of these different corners 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:17.779 had to come together. They had to come together 00:29:17.779 --> 00:29:25.259 to feast. to celebrate, to sing. And when they 00:29:25.259 --> 00:29:28.779 came together, they were making a collective 00:29:28.779 --> 00:29:32.980 statement. Here's one thing I read. Because there's 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:34.640 different thoughts about what's going on with 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:36.259 these branches. I mean, there's different thoughts 00:29:36.259 --> 00:29:38.519 historically in terms of commentaries and also 00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:40.119 even just different thoughts now that I found. 00:29:40.420 --> 00:29:42.759 But this is one thing I found. The lulav has 00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:49.299 taste but no smell. So you can study the word, 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.720 meaning you can kind of know it a little bit, 00:29:51.859 --> 00:29:59.480 but you don't live it, right? The haras has some 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:02.119 smell, but no taste, which is to say you live 00:30:02.119 --> 00:30:05.420 part of it, but you don't really know it. The 00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:09.099 hadas has no smell and no taste. And so you can 00:30:09.099 --> 00:30:11.259 not know it and not live it just like it, just 00:30:11.259 --> 00:30:14.910 reject all of it completely. And then the etroch, 00:30:14.910 --> 00:30:17.829 which is the fruit, has both taste and smell. 00:30:18.670 --> 00:30:20.730 And there's an invitation in all this, right? 00:30:21.250 --> 00:30:23.769 In that symbolism, there's this invitation. What 00:30:23.769 --> 00:30:27.730 are you going to be? Are you going to know it 00:30:27.730 --> 00:30:30.309 and live it? Are you going to know the story 00:30:30.309 --> 00:30:32.650 of salvation and delight in the direction of 00:30:32.650 --> 00:30:36.130 God's Word? Are you going to hold them together 00:30:36.130 --> 00:30:40.930 as something lovely and tasty? And this is how 00:30:40.930 --> 00:30:43.089 this song begins. Let me read verse one again. 00:30:56.789 --> 00:31:00.089 Which is to say that this confession and this 00:31:00.089 --> 00:31:03.890 concern, sort of the answer in a way to whether 00:31:03.890 --> 00:31:07.849 or not you've really heard is, do you worship? 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:15.859 Do you desire to sing? Are any of you wondering? 00:31:16.180 --> 00:31:18.299 And the answer is yes. Are there more tambourines 00:31:18.299 --> 00:31:22.480 up here to shake? I actually mean that because 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:30.220 what do we do when our team wins the game? We 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:37.740 don't sit still. We celebrate. And if you know 00:31:37.740 --> 00:31:39.960 God's great acts of salvation, if you know His 00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:45.000 word for you, you can either reject it or you 00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:48.420 can come to the feast. Those are the options. 00:31:50.099 --> 00:31:52.599 Reject the idea that He will actually provide 00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:55.440 for you the midst of uncertainty or show up and 00:31:55.440 --> 00:32:02.079 sing loud. It's a call to worship. This is a 00:32:02.079 --> 00:32:06.150 psalm for a feast. And the question was, will 00:32:06.150 --> 00:32:10.250 you feast? Will you celebrate what God has done? 00:32:10.869 --> 00:32:14.890 Will you come to worship? Will you come to declare 00:32:14.890 --> 00:32:18.450 the God who meets us in our need, who saves us 00:32:18.450 --> 00:32:21.710 from our slavery? And think about this. This 00:32:21.710 --> 00:32:24.049 was a call to the people of Israel, right, who 00:32:24.049 --> 00:32:27.230 had been brought out from slavery in Egypt. But 00:32:27.230 --> 00:32:30.430 how much more is this a call to us? who confess 00:32:30.430 --> 00:32:34.089 that God Himself takes on flesh for us. God Himself 00:32:34.089 --> 00:32:37.150 goes to a cross for us. He pays for our sins 00:32:37.150 --> 00:32:38.769 for us. He gives us His righteousness, as we 00:32:38.769 --> 00:32:41.650 heard from 2 Corinthians 5, right? You might 00:32:41.650 --> 00:32:44.829 become the very righteousness of God. If you 00:32:44.829 --> 00:32:48.769 know that, frankly, actually let me say, a test 00:32:48.769 --> 00:32:51.130 of whether or not you know that is will you feast? 00:32:51.230 --> 00:32:55.369 Will you sing? Do you find worship to be life 00:32:55.369 --> 00:33:01.720 in the midst of a dry land? joy that can exist 00:33:01.720 --> 00:33:07.160 in the midst of uncertainty and of sorrow. How 00:33:07.160 --> 00:33:12.700 do you face the fact of uncertainty? That's part 00:33:12.700 --> 00:33:16.319 of the question of this. And the invitation is 00:33:16.319 --> 00:33:20.500 to this God who does act for His people, who 00:33:20.500 --> 00:33:24.420 does speak to His people. And the invitation 00:33:24.420 --> 00:33:32.339 is, come and worship the Lord. Sukkot was a test 00:33:32.339 --> 00:33:36.279 for the people of God, and worship in a way is 00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:41.140 a test for us. We lay aside the uncertainties, 00:33:41.140 --> 00:33:44.299 lay them at the foot of the cross, and trust 00:33:44.299 --> 00:33:48.140 that if God gave us His very Son, how much more 00:33:48.140 --> 00:33:51.420 will He not give us all things necessary for 00:33:51.420 --> 00:33:58.349 life and for faith? And so right now, I just 00:33:58.349 --> 00:34:00.789 want to say, if you are living in the mess, the 00:34:00.789 --> 00:34:02.950 busyness, the craziness, the uncertainty of life, 00:34:03.150 --> 00:34:06.190 which I'm sure many of you are, come and worship. 00:34:07.329 --> 00:34:12.730 Come and feast. When you do so, do not give up 00:34:12.730 --> 00:34:19.230 the habit. Go to the feast. I think our Lord 00:34:19.230 --> 00:34:22.860 Himself does this in John chapter 7. He's like, 00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:24.599 ah, they might find out who I am and get all 00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:26.820 mad. And so he gets all disguised and he still 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:29.380 goes to the feast to declare what God has done, 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:35.239 to hear the words, to celebrate. Those sisters, 00:34:35.260 --> 00:34:37.599 I think this is the great answer to our uncertainty, 00:34:38.699 --> 00:34:41.340 living into the life of God, living into the 00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:43.760 story of God, hearing the words of God and celebrating. 00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:50.239 Let me pray. Lord, I pray that we would learn 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:58.019 how to at a table in a way as you Lord God have 00:34:58.019 --> 00:35:00.980 done as we read Psalm 23 in the presence of our 00:35:00.980 --> 00:35:05.840 enemies in the midst uncertainty and the chaos 00:35:05.840 --> 00:35:09.719 of life that would be those who are able to still 00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:13.199 celebrate what you have done to take time and 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:20.519 remember and and to listen to find life in the 00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:24.000 midst of chaos. God, I pray that you would be 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:26.820 at work in us, that you give us listening ears, 00:35:27.300 --> 00:35:31.039 not just hearing, but really listening to you, 00:35:31.380 --> 00:35:34.340 learning from you, being reminded of your great 00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:36.880 acts for us, and that you transform us through 00:35:36.880 --> 00:35:40.119 this, we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening 00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:42.900 to Second City Sermons podcast. We hope this 00:35:42.900 --> 00:35:44.880 sermon has encouraged you to worship God and 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.760 to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please consider 00:35:47.760 --> 00:35:50.139 subscribing to this podcast and joining us in 00:35:50.139 --> 00:35:53.320 person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us 00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:56.639 online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram, 00:35:56.820 --> 00:35:59.360 Facebook and YouTube. Thanks again for listening. 00:35:59.659 --> 00:36:00.280 God bless.