1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,000 Well, first of all, y'all look good. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Just gotta slow down to make sure I see it. 3 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:09,000 But it's so fun, like the holiday is so fun 4 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,000 to see people back in town. 5 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:13,000 And so if you're back in town, welcome to you. 6 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:14,000 We're glad you're here. 7 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,000 And even if it's just for a quick, I'm here. 8 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,000 I'm celebrating Thanksgiving and I'm out again. 9 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:21,000 Welcome to you. 10 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,000 And then those of you online, welcome. 11 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,000 Alongside us, Mark King. 12 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,000 So you guys saw Mark up here. 13 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Mark is online today down in Phoenix. 14 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 And so Mark, welcome to you. 15 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:33,000 We love you. 16 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:34,000 We're praying for you. 17 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,000 And all of the adventure God's got you on, 18 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:38,000 but we're praying for you. 19 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,000 And then somebody, they go by the tag of CIS. 20 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Not sure who that is, but CIS in Arkansas. 21 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:45,000 You're there. 22 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,000 So welcome to you and your family. 23 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:48,000 And glad you're along with us. 24 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,000 Baghdad, welcome, welcome. 25 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Paulden, welcome to you. 26 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 Hope that you might not have breakfast. 27 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,000 They might still be full from Thanksgiving. 28 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,000 I didn't think about that. 29 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:00,000 So whatever you're doing, welcome to you. 30 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:01,000 We're glad we get to do this together. 31 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,000 And so speaking of Thanksgiving, 32 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:04,000 how was your Thanksgiving? 33 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:05,000 It was good? 34 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Come. 35 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,000 I got good news for you. 36 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000 We're not gonna talk about football 37 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,000 other than one thing. 38 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 You ready? 39 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,000 The Chiefs are the luckiest team in football. 40 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 Okay? 41 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000 Like other teams are figuring out ways to lose 42 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:22,000 so you can win. 43 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:24,000 Like, anyways, we're done. 44 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,000 Football, we're moving on from football. 45 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,000 We'll leave it where it is. 46 00:01:27,000 --> 00:01:30,000 So hopefully you had an amazing Thanksgiving. 47 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,000 And what comes then naturally is obviously now, 48 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,000 depending on Cameron was leading out at Prescott Valley 49 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,000 last night and Cameron's like, okay, 50 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 you have to get past Thanksgiving 51 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,000 before you can do anything Christmas. 52 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,000 So whatever your family's like, 53 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,000 whether you've already fully done Christmas 54 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:49,000 and it's decorated and you've been going 55 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,000 for a couple of months, you know, 56 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 and leading in or you're doing it now. 57 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,000 But here's the thing, like Christmas coming 58 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,000 in the church world, it puts us into this season 59 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:02,000 that we call Advent. 60 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:06,000 And what Advent is, the wording is the anticipation 61 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:10,000 of the arrival of, and so we're anticipating 62 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:12,000 December the 25th coming. 63 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,000 And December the 25th, obviously the birth of Jesus 64 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,000 is what we're really leaning into. 65 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,000 And so kind of design in the church calendar 66 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,000 is that these four weeks as we get towards Christmas 67 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:26,000 would really prepare us, would center us 68 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,000 as the people of Jesus so that, 69 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,000 I don't know how your Thanksgiving was, 70 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,000 but mine felt like it came and went, right? 71 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:34,000 Like it was here and it was gone. 72 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,000 And I don't, for Christmas, 73 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,000 Christmas isn't supposed to be that 74 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 for followers of Jesus. 75 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:42,000 That the actual celebration of Christmas, 76 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,000 yes, we have family, yes, we have good food, 77 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,000 yes, we have presents, yes, we do all the things, right? 78 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,000 But the actual celebration for us as followers of Jesus 79 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,000 is that Jesus was born, right? 80 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 Like that's what's supposed to, on that day, 81 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 we're so ready to go, yes, we are fully present 82 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,000 in the fact that this day is about Him being born 83 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,000 and the rest is all trimmings to that. 84 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,000 And so these four weeks are really just 85 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 to prepare us for that. 86 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,000 That's what we lean into. 87 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,000 And as we kind of go this year, 88 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:17,000 we're rallying around this idea of happy to be, okay? 89 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:20,000 So this is the big concept of Advent. 90 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,000 God is happy to be with you. 91 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,000 He is happy to be with you. 92 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 Here's what I mean. 93 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Matthew chapter one, the announcement of Jesus, right? 94 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:39,000 What's being told to Mary, 95 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,000 or actually I think this is, I just said that wrong. 96 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,000 This is Joseph, so there you go. 97 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:47,000 1-23, the Virgin will conceive. 98 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:52,000 So Mary will conceive and give birth to a son who is Jesus 99 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:56,000 and they will call him Emmanuel, 100 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:01,000 which means God with us. 101 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,000 I am kind of stunning that right out of the gate, 102 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,000 the first thing we kind of get in regards to this, 103 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,000 this Christmas narrative is that what's being told to us 104 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 is this is God with who? 105 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,000 Us, with you. 106 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 This is God with you. 107 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,000 And it's one thing to go, okay, God with us, 108 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,000 and we understand that on a large scale, 109 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,000 God becoming human and being alongside us, 110 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,000 but we don't actually understand 111 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:41,000 or we struggle with the idea that God is happy to be with you. 112 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:44,000 He is happy to be with you. 113 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,000 And over the next weeks, we'll kind of unpack this. 114 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:51,000 You ever have a moment where maybe you've been around little kids, 115 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,000 maybe you got little kids, 116 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,000 but you come into wherever those kids are 117 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,000 and you kind of, maybe it's after a long day for me, 118 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,000 it was my own kiddos, right? 119 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,000 Like I would come home after being at work, 120 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 they would hear the garage, they would hear the car pulling in, 121 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,000 and they're already on their way, you know what I mean? 122 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,000 And they're so excited to see you. 123 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,000 You've only been apart for eight hours, 124 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,000 and they're so excited that you are home and you are here 125 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,000 and their faces light up, right? 126 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And maybe you've been around little kids that do that to you. 127 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,000 They see you and they just come across a room towards you. 128 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,000 You have that experience, maybe it's friends for you. 129 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,000 Maybe you've got a friend that you see, 130 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,000 and when you see that friend, it's like, 131 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:34,000 I'm just so excited to see you. 132 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,000 You're my friend, right? 133 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,000 And so you move towards them. 134 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,000 Maybe you embrace, or maybe for some of you, 135 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,000 it's a meaningful relationship. 136 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:45,000 You go on a trip, for me, it was my spouse. 137 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000 I would go and come back to Cindy, 138 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,000 and just that initial like walking into the house, 139 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:54,000 having not seen each other, or she would be away and come home, 140 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,000 that there's this moment where it's like, 141 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:00,000 oh, it just feels so good to have you in my presence. 142 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:03,000 You ever had that feeling? 143 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,000 Hold on to it, 144 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,000 because we're going to explain what that feeling is 145 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:11,000 and why that feeling is so important. 146 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Because your brain and my brain and our brains 147 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,000 were designed by God, 148 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,000 and your brain is designed to run on joy. 149 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,000 It is the fuel for you. 150 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,000 It is the fuel that your brain runs on. 151 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,000 And so this idea of joy, right? 152 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:35,000 Like, let's take a definition that we're going to work with 153 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,000 over today and over this collection of talks. 154 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:43,000 And the idea is this, that the joy in God's context 155 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:47,000 is the declaration of He is happy to be with me. 156 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,000 Right? So God is happy to be with me. 157 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,000 That feeling you get that you're happy to be with me 158 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,000 is what He's talking about here, that He goes, God, with us. 159 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,000 That God gets to be with you. 160 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,000 And so you think about the person of Jesus, right? 161 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Like, Jesus is on the earth and He goes, 162 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:11,000 hey, I'm here to show you what God is like. 163 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,000 I'm here in human form so that you get a physical view 164 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 of what Jesus is like. 165 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 And then we have all these moments from His life 166 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,000 where we get to see what Jesus is like. 167 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,000 And Luke, Luke chapter 8, 168 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:28,000 and verse 43, it says this, 169 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,000 a woman was there, so Jesus is on His way somewhere, 170 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding 171 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 for 12 years, but no one could heal her. 172 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,000 She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, 173 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000 and immediately her bleeding stopped. 174 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,000 Who touched me? Jesus asked. 175 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:47,000 When they all denied it, Peter said, 176 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,000 Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you. 177 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,000 But Jesus said, someone touch me. 178 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 I know that power has gone out from me. 179 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,000 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, 180 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,000 came trembling and fell at His feet. 181 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:04,000 In the presence of all the people, 182 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 she told why she had touched Him 183 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 and how she had been instantly healed. 184 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Then He said to her, daughter, 185 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:14,000 your faith has healed you. 186 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,000 Go in peace. 187 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 And so you have this moment from Jesus' life 188 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 Jesus is showing us what God is like, right? 189 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:27,000 And so in this moment, you see proximity given. 190 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Okay, one of the key components of joy 191 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:32,000 is that joy is relational. 192 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,000 So if you are going to experience joy in your life, 193 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:39,000 it's relational, not head knowledge. 194 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,000 Okay, on top of that, joy, because it's relational, 195 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,000 comes through proximity. 196 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:46,000 You have to be close. 197 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,000 So God with us is God moving in proximity towards us. 198 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:54,000 In this context now, you have Jesus in the midst of a story 199 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,000 and the verse before it talks about 200 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 they were crowding around and pressing Him, right? 201 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,000 And she comes through the crowd. 202 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:03,000 Now, little context to help us. 203 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,000 For her being in that culture at that time, 204 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,000 the fact that she is bleeding means that she is unclean. 205 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,000 The fact that it's been going for 12 years, 206 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:15,000 it means that for 12 years she has been suffering. 207 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:17,000 The fact that she was unclean 208 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:20,000 means that she could not be in a setting like this. 209 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:22,000 She couldn't be this close to people. 210 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,000 You couldn't have proximity. 211 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:26,000 And so what would happen is, 212 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,000 is in between her moments of bleeding, 213 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,000 she would go do things that she needed to do. 214 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:35,000 But if anyone found out, she would be punished. 215 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 She would be ostracized. 216 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,000 And so now you have this moment 217 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:42,000 where you see the full Advent picture, right? 218 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,000 Advent being hope, love, joy, and peace. 219 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:49,000 You see the full picture of Advent in this story. 220 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,000 That out of hope, she moves towards Jesus. 221 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,000 What is her hope? 222 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:58,000 That if I can just touch the tassels on His robe, 223 00:09:58,000 --> 00:09:59,000 I'll be healed, right? 224 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,000 There was a belief that the Messiah would come 225 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 with healing in His wings. 226 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 And so the belief that the tassels were like 227 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:06,000 the wings of the Messiah, 228 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:10,000 that if you just touched the hem of His garment, 229 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,000 you could be healed. 230 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:14,000 And so this lady out of hope moves towards and she touches. 231 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:15,000 And what happens? 232 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:16,000 She's completely healed. 233 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,000 No one else could heal her. 234 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,000 She's completely healed. 235 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 And then the story unfolds that Jesus goes, 236 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 hey, I felt power leave me. 237 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:29,000 And He kind of stops the parade, so to speak. 238 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:31,000 And in the midst of stopping the parade, 239 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,000 He basically makes it to a point where she comes forward. 240 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:39,000 You got to understand, she thinks she's in trouble. 241 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,000 She's got the thoughts that some of you have today. 242 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:48,000 I don't belong here if you only knew who I was. 243 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,000 I shouldn't be here. 244 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,000 I'm not like the rest of you. 245 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,000 You don't know where I was last night, 246 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,000 let alone what I did at Thanksgiving 247 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,000 when I said that to them, because it's always them, right? 248 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 Like, you know, that whole thing. 249 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:05,000 And you can come into this space and all of a sudden 250 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,000 you feel like you don't belong and you shouldn't be here. 251 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,000 And yet what do we see in the story that the lady goes 252 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,000 through all of that, she comes in, she goes, 253 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:14,000 hey, here's why I touched you, 254 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,000 and here's what happened, I was healed. 255 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:21,000 She experiences joy in His presence. 256 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:26,000 And we'll talk more about that concept of joy and what happens. 257 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:30,000 But you know what He says to her? 258 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,000 Daughter. 259 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:36,000 I don't think it was daughter. 260 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,000 I think it was a term of endearment. 261 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 And you can't say daughter is a term of endearment and not smile. 262 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Your countenance cannot be favorable. 263 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:50,000 It has to be favorable. 264 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:53,000 And so He says daughter, she experiences love through His words 265 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,000 and through His actions. 266 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,000 And the last thing He says to her is go in peace. 267 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,000 And you have all of Advent tied up in one story, 268 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 but there's a moment that only one of the authors 269 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:10,000 that capture this story captures for us. 270 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:15,000 And it's so pivotal to what it means to experience joy. 271 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:24,000 In Matthew, Matthew chapter 9 and verse 22, 272 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000 inside of this story where Jesus is now like, 273 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,000 wait a minute, who touched me? 274 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,000 And she comes forward. 275 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,000 Jesus turned, Jesus turned, and you got to get this. 276 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,000 You got to get this. 277 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000 It's so important to joy. 278 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,000 And what? 279 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,000 Okay, I just told you, you got to get this. 280 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,000 Jesus turned and what? 281 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:49,000 Saw her. 282 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,000 Okay, I don't know how online is doing. 283 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,000 I don't know how Baghdad and Palden, you guys are doing, 284 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:55,000 but in here we're struggling a little bit. 285 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:01,000 So Jesus turned and saw her. 286 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:04,000 Okay, take heart, daughter, He said. 287 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Your faith has healed you and the woman was healed at that moment. 288 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,000 Jesus, Jesus, right? 289 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,000 It says that He was going this way 290 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,000 and she came from somewhere over here and He what? 291 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:18,000 He turns. 292 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,000 That takes effort to turn. 293 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,000 And it says that He saw her, 294 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,000 which means that He looked directly at her. 295 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:29,000 Why is this so important? 296 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Because God made your face 297 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:37,000 where you receive and transmit joy. 298 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,000 It's in your face that God has wired your body. 299 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:44,000 God made your brain, right? 300 00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:49,000 And He made it with two sides, a left side and a right side. 301 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:55,000 As He made you, He made the right side of your brain 302 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,000 for attachment. 303 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,000 I came across a book recently 304 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,000 and it's transforming the way I'm understanding some stuff. 305 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:06,000 One of them is this, that joy is not knowledge. 306 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:08,000 Joy is experience. 307 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,000 Joy is felt. 308 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:10,000 Joy is emotion. 309 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:15,000 And joy happens on the right side of your brain. 310 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,000 You know what we do in church world? 311 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,000 We're analytical, right? 312 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,000 So we run everything through information. 313 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,000 Let me tell you all the facts. 314 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,000 But you know what facts don't do? 315 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:27,000 Give you attachment. 316 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:29,000 I'm more convinced than ever, you guys. 317 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,000 You ever have that person in your life and you're like, 318 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:32,000 they're such a strong believer. 319 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,000 They know all the answers to everything. 320 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,000 And then something happens in their life and they're gone. 321 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,000 They're done with faith. 322 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:38,000 They're done with church. 323 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,000 You ever come across somebody like that? 324 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Because they didn't have an answer? 325 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,000 That's because everything in their world is analytical. 326 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,000 Everything is on the left side of the brain. 327 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,000 But God created you with two sides of your brain. 328 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:55,000 And on the right side of your brain is where you feel, 329 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:58,000 where you experience, where you attach. 330 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,000 Joy is an attachment. 331 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,000 Remember, your brain is wired to run on it. 332 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,000 And only in proximity can you experience joy. 333 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,000 And so what happens is, joy is something that you have to take in 334 00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:15,000 through the right side of your brain. 335 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,000 And you know how you experience joy? 336 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,000 Through the face. 337 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:24,000 You remember the feeling you got when you come into the presence 338 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:25,000 of little kids? 339 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:26,000 Why? 340 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,000 Because you're looking at what? 341 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,000 Their face. 342 00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,000 And what exudes in you is joy. 343 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,000 When you come into contact with somebody, 344 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,000 why is the door holder? 345 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:41,000 If you were a door holder at Heights, you are so important. 346 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:42,000 Why? 347 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:44,000 Because as somebody is walking up, 348 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:46,000 guess what their brain is doing? 349 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,000 You remember your brain is hardwired to scan, right? 350 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,000 For what? 351 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,000 For joy. 352 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,000 How do you find joy? 353 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,000 You find it in the face of somebody who is saying, 354 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:56,000 I am happy to be with you. 355 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,000 What does the door holder do? 356 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,000 You're the first face. 357 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:03,000 And you're going, I'm so happy you're here. 358 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Right? 359 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:05,000 You're looking at them. 360 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,000 I tried this out on my kids, by the way, last week. 361 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:08,000 They came home. 362 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,000 I heard the garage door open. 363 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:10,000 I opened the door. 364 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:14,000 And I'm literally standing there as they're driving in. 365 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000 And then they came to the door. 366 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:19,000 And I'm like, I'm so glad you're here. 367 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:23,000 And my little one's like, OK. 368 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000 And my older one goes, this is weird. 369 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,000 You never do this. 370 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,000 But that's the whole point is in the face. 371 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000 God made you to receive and transmit joy. 372 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:39,000 That as somebody walks up to the door of a foreign building 373 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,000 that they've never been to, that your face is what transmits, 374 00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,000 I am happy to be with you. 375 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000 Your brain's work is when you walk in a room, 376 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:51,000 you know what you do? 377 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:52,000 You scan the room. 378 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000 Who do I know? 379 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,000 They're happy to be with me. 380 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Right? 381 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000 And they're doing the exact same thing. 382 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:00,000 Who do I know? 383 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Where are they? 384 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,000 They're happy to be with me. 385 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,000 Because joy is what we run on. 386 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:07,000 Right? 387 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:09,000 And so God created the face. 388 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,000 And so God in the story, right? 389 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000 Jesus in the story, what does he do? 390 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:14,000 He turns. 391 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,000 Don't miss as he turns. 392 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:16,000 And what does he do? 393 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000 He looks at her. 394 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:19,000 What is her countenance? 395 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,000 I don't belong. 396 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,000 I shouldn't be here. 397 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,000 I've done something terrible. 398 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,000 I've gone outside of the cultural code. 399 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:31,000 I'm not, in our terms, in our day, I'm not a good Christian. 400 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,000 And what does Jesus do? 401 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:34,000 I don't care. 402 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:40,000 I am happy to be with you. 403 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,000 This is the same message for you that you discover. 404 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:44,000 What does God say? 405 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 God with us. 406 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:49,000 And how did he prove it? 407 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,000 He became a man. 408 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:53,000 Walked among us. 409 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,000 And what did he do while he walked among us? 410 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,000 He looked at people. 411 00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:58,000 He sat and had meals. 412 00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,000 You ever wonder? 413 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,000 I tried this at the Thanksgiving meal this year. 414 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:04,000 Nobody knew I was doing it, just me. 415 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:08,000 I'm going to make as much facial contact as I can. 416 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:12,000 Because I'm happy to be with the people I was around that table with. 417 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:13,000 Right? 418 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:14,000 That's how this works. 419 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:15,000 That's why a meal is so important. 420 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:16,000 That's why Jesus shared so many meals. 421 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,000 Why? 422 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:18,000 Because when you sit in a meal, what do you do? 423 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:23,000 When you go on a date with your wife, hopefully you don't sit side by side. 424 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:25,000 If you do, not judging. 425 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:28,000 But why do you sit across the table? 426 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,000 Because then you are what? 427 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,000 Face to face. 428 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:32,000 And where does attachment happen? 429 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,000 Where is joy felt? 430 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:34,000 Face to face. 431 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:35,000 Why? 432 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Because God made you that way. 433 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:41,000 I mean, you guys, this concept is all over the Bible. 434 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,000 This is not just a concept of one story. 435 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:44,000 Listen to this. 436 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:45,000 Numbers. 437 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,000 Numbers chapter 6. 438 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,000 So in Numbers chapter 6, it's the priestly blessing. 439 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,000 Right? 440 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:53,000 So the priest would say this over all the people. 441 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000 Right? 442 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:58,000 So over the nation of Israel, here is the blessing from God to you. 443 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Okay? 444 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,000 Verse 24. 445 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,000 The Lord bless you and keep you. 446 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,000 The Lord make his what? 447 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:11,000 Face shine on you and be gracious to you. 448 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,000 You know what the concept was in the Old Testament, the Israelites had of God? 449 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:20,000 That his face shining on you was the blessing and favor of God. 450 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000 That God was on your side. 451 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,000 When his face was towards you, it was a sign of blessing. 452 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,000 But they doubled down. 453 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:27,000 Look at the next verse. 454 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:33,000 And the Lord and the Lord turn his face towards you and give you what? 455 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,000 Peace is an outcome of the Lord's face, what? 456 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:37,000 Being towards you. 457 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Think about the story with the lady. 458 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000 We see this blessing lived out. 459 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,000 What happens? 460 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:43,000 God's face turns towards her. 461 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:44,000 Jesus turns towards her. 462 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,000 And what's the outcome? 463 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Daughter, go in peace. 464 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:55,000 Joy is pivotal to you experiencing peace because it's connected to the very face of God. 465 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:56,000 Think about it for a second. 466 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,000 We always talk about joy and we throw out this, and there's nothing wrong with it. 467 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:00,000 It's good theology. 468 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:05,000 We throw out the line, hey, no matter your circumstances, you can still have joy. 469 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000 You know why that's true? 470 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:12,000 Because even in your worst circumstances, God is still happy to be with you. 471 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:20,000 Even in the worst, no matter what it is, God is happy to be with you in that muck and mire that you're walking through. 472 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:23,000 God is happy to be with you in the pain. 473 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:31,000 In the knowledge of God being happy to be with me, that the presence of God is with me, that his face is toward me. 474 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,000 You know what that does? 475 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:42,000 That allows me to sit in that moment and feel something and be attached to him as creator instead of running the analytical side of my brain that goes, wait, why did this happen? 476 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,000 I thought God was good. 477 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:49,000 If God is good, then, you know, and we go through the analytical thing and then people go, I'm out. 478 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:53,000 Well, I think it's because you've never built the attachment. 479 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,000 You realize you were called into a love relationship. 480 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:01,000 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might, with all your strength. 481 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,000 It's a love relationship. 482 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,000 What fuels love is joy. 483 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:07,000 Right? 484 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,000 There's this idea of joy being something that builds attachment. 485 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,000 The more I build attachment, the more I'm connected. 486 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:18,000 The more I'm connected, the more I feel love, not just know it intellectually. 487 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:21,000 I mean, this is all over. 488 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:28,000 I'm turned to Psalm, Psalm 89, verse 15. 489 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:33,000 Blessed are those who have learned. 490 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 So that's that idea of blessing is that God's on the side of right. 491 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,000 God is for God's favor. 492 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,000 Right. 493 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,000 Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk, who walk. 494 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,000 So live their life. 495 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:47,000 Right. 496 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000 So the point of this talk is that you do all of life where? 497 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:53,000 In the light of your presence, Lord. 498 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000 Now, some of you are like, hold on, John, we're talking about the face. 499 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000 That says presence. 500 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:02,000 If you go to Hebrew and you look at the literal interpretation of the word presence, guess what you get? 501 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,000 Face. 502 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,000 So let me reread it for you. 503 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:15,000 Who live their life, the ones that are blessed, who live their life in light of your face, Lord. 504 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,000 In the light of your face. 505 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Okay. 506 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 Jump back in Psalms, Psalm 16, verse 11. 507 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,000 You make known to me the path of life. 508 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,000 You will fill me. 509 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000 Right. 510 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,000 So full to overflowing with what? 511 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:29,000 With joy. 512 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Where? 513 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:31,000 In your presence. 514 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,000 Guess what the word for presence is? 515 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:35,000 Face. 516 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:36,000 Right. 517 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:37,000 So in your presence. 518 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:40,000 So if I want to experience joy, it's in his what? 519 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,000 In his face. 520 00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,000 In a good way. 521 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,000 In his face. 522 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,000 Right. 523 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,000 In your face, God. 524 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Is where I'm filled with joy. 525 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000 Another one. 526 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:57,000 Psalm 21, verse six. 527 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,000 Surely you have granted him an ending blessing. 528 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaking of a king, right? 529 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,000 The king, surely the king has the favor of God and made him glad. 530 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Made him glad. 531 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,000 How is he glad? 532 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,000 Glad being a word for happy. 533 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,000 How is he happy? 534 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,000 With the joy, with the joy. 535 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000 So separating the words of happy and joy. 536 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,000 With the joy, what? 537 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,000 Of your presence. 538 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,000 Guess what presence is? 539 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,000 Face. 540 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:25,000 In proximity. 541 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:26,000 Why? 542 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,000 Because joy is relational. 543 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,000 Joy comes through a person. 544 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:33,000 I mean, it's all over the Bible. 545 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,000 If you were here last week, you get all the way to the end of the book. 546 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,000 And what is the exclamation of God? 547 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,000 He goes, finally. 548 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,000 The new heavens and the new earth are there. 549 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,000 And what does he say? 550 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:47,000 Finally, I can be with them. 551 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:49,000 I can make my home with them. 552 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,000 I can be with them and they can be my people. 553 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,000 He's going, finally, I'm what? 554 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:56,000 Face to face. 555 00:23:56,000 --> 00:24:01,000 So much so that in the next chapter, after he says, hey, the curse is gone, he then goes to this side. 556 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:02,000 He goes, you know what? 557 00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:08,000 And they will see my face. 558 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:09,000 Why? 559 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,000 Because joy is experienced in the face. 560 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,000 You were created for it. 561 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:29,000 This idea of joy that you are happy to be with me, we see it in Hebrews chapter 12, verse two, where it says fixing our eyes, fixing our eyes. 562 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,000 So we are fixing our eyes on Jesus. 563 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:32,000 Right. 564 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:37,000 The idea behind this is that if you were to fix your eyes on something, it's mutual. 565 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,000 Right. 566 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:44,000 God's face can be towards you and you not experience joy in any way, shape or form today because you have not turned your face towards him. 567 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,000 It's mutual. 568 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:52,000 You ever have a conversation with somebody when you're walking side by side and you never look at each other? 569 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,000 Some of us are walking with God that way. 570 00:24:55,000 --> 00:25:03,000 The way God intended it is that we would have this mutual face to face that I would turn my eyes because he's already turned his. 571 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:25,000 And it says fixing our eyes on him, on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith for the joy, for the joy, use our working definition for the happy to be with me set before him because he was so happy to be with you, to be with me, to be with us, to be with humanity, to be with his people. 572 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:30,000 Because he was so happy to be with us. 573 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,000 He set before him. 574 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:40,000 He endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 575 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:41,000 You know what that says? 576 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:47,000 That because he was so happy to be with you that he knew there was shame in the cross. 577 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:56,000 And instead of instead of running away from the shame, he despised it, meaning he counted it as no consequence. 578 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:02,000 Everything that was in the cross that was shameful, he counted it no consequence. 579 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,000 Why? 580 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,000 Because being with you was worth it. 581 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:11,000 He's happy to be with you. 582 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:16,000 He's happy to be with you. 583 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,000 I don't think it was a mistake. 584 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:26,000 That the word remember shows up in such a pivotal moment. 585 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:31,000 That when Jesus sat with his friends, right? 586 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,000 He talks about remembering, but you know, it's interesting. 587 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:36,000 It's interesting. 588 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:40,000 Is it in church world? 589 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,000 And I'm not saying this is wrong. 590 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:46,000 Please don't mishear me and misquote me somewhere. 591 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:51,000 I think having right theology is extremely important. 592 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:55,000 How you think of God is extremely important. 593 00:26:55,000 --> 00:27:01,000 Don't mishear me that there is an intellectual side to faith that matters. 594 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:09,000 But isn't it interesting that a moment around the table that was relational with his friends, we have taken the word remember. 595 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,000 And we have made it intellectual. 596 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,000 And so you need to sit here often in reflection. 597 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:19,000 What we'll do is we'll sit here and often in reflection. 598 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:31,000 What we'll do is we go into this analytical process and we begin to analyze all the things that I've done since last time I took communion. 599 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,000 Or all the things I've done since the last time I had confession. 600 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:40,000 And we use this moment to make give God a list of all the things that can you forgive me for this? 601 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:41,000 Can you forgive me for this? 602 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:43,000 Can you forgive me for this? 603 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:49,000 Or and don't mishear me, confession is important. 604 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:53,000 Or we make it about the facts of crucifixion. 605 00:27:53,000 --> 00:28:00,000 We talk about what happened to Jesus and we talk about, OK, now sit and ponder that. 606 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:01,000 But here's what's interesting. 607 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,000 God made you whole brained. 608 00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,000 He didn't make you half brained. 609 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:20,000 And what I mean by that is that the word remember also is important for the right side of the brain. 610 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:35,000 And what I mean by that is you can actually build into your life nutrients to help you attach to God. 611 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:47,000 And what that looks like is that I go back to moments where I know that I know that I know that God's face was toward me. 612 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,000 What I mean by that is he was happy to be with me. 613 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000 I go back to moments in my life where I've experienced the closeness of God. 614 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:03,000 And you can't even explain it to people that inside I just felt this thing that I have. 615 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,000 It's the most beautiful thing and I don't want to leave. 616 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:12,000 And then I had to tell a whole bunch of people about it. 617 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:25,000 You just felt in that moment you knew without a doubt that God was present and he was for you and he was happy to be there with you. 618 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,000 And so I think remembering is going back. 619 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:38,000 I think remembering is sitting in the right brain as well as the left brain. 620 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,000 What does that look like? 621 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,000 Well, it's moments. 622 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,000 You get to pick what those moments look like. 623 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:55,000 For me, an example of one would be when I first met Jesus, where I know without a doubt I was 19 years old. 624 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,000 Oh, I could tell you, by the way. 625 00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,000 I could tell you the intellectual side. 626 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,000 What do I mean by that? 627 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:05,000 I had all the facts because I grew up in a Christian home. 628 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:10,000 Sixteen years old, I sat drunk on a bench and told my best friend the gospel, drunk. 629 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:13,000 I had the facts. 630 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:16,000 But at 19, something hit different. 631 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:24,000 Where I was on my knees and I knew without a doubt that God was happy to be with me. 632 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:30,000 That I was loved exactly as I was. 633 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,000 That God was the God of second chances. 634 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,000 That we just knew, I can't explain it to you. 635 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:44,000 I just knew inside of me that there was this presence that I had never felt where I was attached to Jesus. 636 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:49,000 And it's never looked like since that day, never gone back. 637 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:53,000 But I can tell you about another moment sitting in my Devo time in the morning. 638 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:57,000 Sitting with the Lord and going through just spending time with Him. 639 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:04,000 And I don't know why it's this way, but there are moments where I can tell you that I felt the exact same thing in those moments. 640 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:11,000 It's almost like time stood still because He was so present and so real. 641 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:17,000 I can tell you other times of holding my kids for the first time. 642 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:24,000 I can tell you other times of sitting with people in pain and God having this moment where I just knew. 643 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,000 I just knew He was there. 644 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:33,000 And what I felt was overwhelming. 645 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:36,000 And so here's what we're going to do. 646 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,000 We're going to reflect with the right side of our brain this morning. 647 00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:44,000 What do I mean by that? 648 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:55,000 What is a moment for you where you experienced God is happy to be with me? 649 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,000 He is face to face. He is present. 650 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,000 And He is smiling. 651 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,000 That He is with me. 652 00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,000 And then here's what you're going to do is you remember. 653 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:17,000 Don't put words to it because that's the left side of your brain trying to rob the moment. 654 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:24,000 But instead, sit in the memory like you're experiencing it again for the first time. 655 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:35,000 Feel it and sit in the feelings of what it was like to know that God is happy to be with me. 656 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:42,000 The moment is yours and then we'll take it all together. 657 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:09,000 God is happy to be with you. 658 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:38,000 God is happy to be with you. 659 00:33:38,000 --> 00:34:05,000 Can you imagine if we could have one of the disciples, Jesus's friends, and have him here this morning? 660 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:16,000 And go, Hey, Peter, would you tell us a moment you knew that you knew that you knew that Jesus was just happy to be with you? 661 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:22,000 I wonder if Peter would take us to a moment on the beach. 662 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:31,000 Jesus has died, rose again, but Peter thinks he's not worthy to be around Jesus. 663 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:36,000 And Jesus makes breakfast. He makes a meal. 664 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:38,000 And he has a conversation with Peter. 665 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:46,000 Can you imagine? I think Peter would take us back to that moment where he goes, he just looked at me. 666 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:51,000 And it said everything I needed to know that he was happy to be with me. 667 00:34:51,000 --> 00:34:53,000 I wonder if John, right? 668 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:57,000 That John had all the moments around the table of the one reclining on Jesus. 669 00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:05,000 They were that close, right? Like they were physically close, but they were also, he would declare, I'm the one he loved. 670 00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,000 But I wonder if John would take us to the cross when Jesus is hanging on the cross. 671 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:14,000 And it says that he looked down. He looked down and he saw John. What was John doing? 672 00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,000 He was looking up. And what did we quickly do? What did he say? 673 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:19,000 Because we go to the analytical side, right? 674 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:25,000 But I wonder if John would take us and freezes in that moment and go, even in the midst of suffering, 675 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,000 he was happy to be with me. 676 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,000 I don't think it's by chance 677 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:44,000 that when they sat around the table, can you imagine them going, hey, I need you to remember that I was physically here. 678 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:50,000 I think they're like, I'll remember that forever. How could I forget? Right? 679 00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:56,000 But I think what he was getting them to get at is remember how close, proximity, remember, is where joy is experienced 680 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,000 because it's relational, how close Jesus was that they were faced. 681 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:05,000 I think he was saying, don't forget that my face is towards you 682 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,000 because I'm happy to be with you. 683 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:15,000 And so Jesus took bread that represented his body, that reminded them that he came and died. 684 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:22,000 And he broke it and he gave it to them and said, this is my body given for you. 685 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,000 Do this in remembrance of me. 686 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,000 He took a glass of wine 687 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:37,000 and he began to talk about how everything would change 688 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:45,000 because in his blood, all the things that have been against you, all of your worst things, Jesus goes, they're gone. 689 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000 I'm going to pay for them. 690 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:50,000 There will be nothing that the enemy can use to separate us ever again. 691 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:56,000 Nothing can separate. Why? Because proximity is important because it's in proximity that you experience joy. 692 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,000 Why? Because you can see the very face of God. 693 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:03,000 And in that moment, he's not talking about just that moment. 694 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:08,000 He's talking about all of eternity because of his blood, because your sins are forgiven, 695 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:14,000 that you, you and me get to see the very face of God. 696 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:21,000 And so he took wine and he gave it to them and he said, take drink, do this in remembrance of me. 697 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:27,000 God, we thank you today. 698 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:31,000 We thank you first and foremost for being our God. 699 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:41,000 We thank you that you are the God who, God, you have given everything that we can be in proximity to you. 700 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:49,000 God, we thank you that today you are declaring by proximity that you are happy to be with us. 701 00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:55,000 God, that feeling, that emotion, that joy, would it just overwhelm us today? 702 00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:59,000 Would it overflow from us today? No matter where we go, what we do, would it be on our face? 703 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:08,000 Would our countenance be that we are joyful because we've experienced the very face of God being towards us? 704 00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:15,000 That God, no matter what we carried in here, you are happy to be in the presence of God. 705 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:21,000 That God, no matter what we carried in here, you are happy to be in that with us today. 706 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:30,000 God, as we take these next moments and we declare joy that has come for the entire world, 707 00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:38,000 for every person, that we declare joy to you and we declare why we have joy. 708 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:49,000 God, would you take us to moments and remind us of what it means for you to be happy to be with us today, here and now. 709 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:57,000 Thank you for loving us and thank you for being the God that is with us. 710 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:07,000 We are grateful and everybody said, Amen.