1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 God, you know the words that are going to be coming out of my mouth shortly. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:13,000 God, keep my mind focused on your word. 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:19,000 Lord, help me not to get distracted with making dumb jokes that are unnecessary. 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:25,000 Lord God, make sure that my heart is focused on you and not on myself. 5 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:33,000 But also God, may the people who are here listen beyond my words and hear what it is that you're saying. 6 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Because God, you're the one who is truly speaking by your spirit. 7 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000 Thank you. Amen. 8 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,000 Howdy. 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Well, as you may have guessed, I'm not Pastor Baddawi. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:55,000 When the storm hit and everything was going through, the decision was made to go ahead and ask Pastor Baddawi, 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 our missionary up in the Dallas area, to come on a different day. 12 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:03,000 So for today, you have post-vacation Pastor Jason. 13 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,000 So it is what it is. 14 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:07,000 So where have I been? 15 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Well, I decided to spend nine days and went up to Alaska. 16 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000 So yes, it's beautiful and cold and beautiful and cold. 17 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:19,000 And it was good. 18 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,000 I went up to Denali. 19 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:26,000 So I took a train that was up to this area where a beautiful lookout. 20 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Turns out the clouds were parted. 21 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,000 It was easy to see the mountain up there the way we needed to. 22 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:34,000 It was great. 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Took a bus down to Seward. 24 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Had a chance to go on this cruise for the day. 25 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,000 And I went off and saw one of the fjord areas that's over there. 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:52,000 They said that they saw more of the ice that was crumbling down off one of the glaciers than they had seen previously. 27 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:56,000 And apparently we saw more animals that day than they had seen. 28 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Apparently hit all these different spots at these really great times. 29 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:08,000 And then went over and saw a friend of mine in Juneau right before he and his family are going to be moving down to San Diego. 30 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:11,000 So in a few months I have a trip planned for San Diego. 31 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Now I'm just kidding. But with it though is having a chance to see them before they took off. 32 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:25,000 But also getting to see some of the local indigenous community and their artwork and more of the culture before coming back. 33 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:30,000 And the whole time it didn't feel real. 34 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:38,000 It felt like I was looking at Alaska somehow through a television screen. 35 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Not because I was actually looking through a television screen. It was right in front of me. 36 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,000 But it felt like it wasn't quite real. 37 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,000 And to be honest why is that the case? 38 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Because to be honest my heart was distracted. 39 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Throughout the trip my heart was distracted. 40 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:03,000 I had my mind. I mean I leave Houston and what happens a tornado decides to swipe through my city. 41 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Apparently I need to warn the city before I go anywhere. 42 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And so there I am worried and I'm like billions of dollars of damage. 43 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,000 What's going to be happening? Let me at least check on people. 44 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:15,000 But also worried about my church. 45 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:25,000 You can't be lead pastor at a church and then you leave for more than a day or two and you're not worried about people. 46 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:31,000 But then on top of it is even just questions about the future. 47 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,000 What am I doing? What's happening next? 48 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000 What are the plans? All these things in my head. 49 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And then the whole time I'm like oh there's a bear. 50 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,000 And you're just kind of shaken. 51 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:49,000 You're literally from here to the lectern over there and you're just like there's a bear. 52 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,000 I'm glad I'm in a car. Okay let's go. 53 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,000 And just kind of doing this thing. 54 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:02,000 And this idea that we could be right there in front of the majesty of God. 55 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:08,000 And somehow our mind and our heart is just not there. 56 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 And in so many ways I feel like that's what we see with Nicodemus. 57 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,000 Nicodemus came to speak with Jesus. 58 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:25,000 But he just keep getting the feeling that he has no idea who he's truly speaking to at that moment. 59 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 He doesn't get who it is that he's actually speaking with. 60 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:34,000 He ends up having this whole thing where he comes up and says 61 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:41,000 Rabbi we know that you're a teacher from God for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. 62 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Talk about minimizing what had been going on. 63 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Healing and hope and proclamation and joy and showing people who God is and forgiveness 64 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:58,000 and people are coming to repentance and what does Nicodemus do? 65 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Well you must be a man of God. 66 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,000 God must be with him. 67 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,000 Talk about not getting it. 68 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:17,000 Because that's the thing is that there is Nicodemus putting Jesus in this box of what he's expecting. 69 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:24,000 But isn't that also where we find ourselves? 70 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:33,000 How often is it that we cannot see what God is doing right in front of us 71 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,000 because we are so distracted with everything else that is around us? 72 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:45,000 How easy is it for us to ignore things that God is doing? 73 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,000 How easy is it for us to see what God could possibly do through us 74 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:56,000 but then we find some reason, some excuse for why we need to cancel. 75 00:05:56,000 --> 00:06:02,000 Why it is that we need to keep going about everything else that we thought was important. 76 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Why is it that we cannot see the world through the eyes that God has given us by faith? 77 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:17,000 In it, it speaks about this phrase to be born again. 78 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:25,000 And I'm going to throw out there the idea that I don't think that any of us actually get what born again means anymore 79 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:29,000 because we've heard it so many times. 80 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:34,000 We have these preconceived notions about what faith is and we keep hearing it time and time again 81 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:39,000 and after a while we just tune out. 82 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,000 We even have the passage today with John 3.16. 83 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:52,000 And I'm afraid of focusing on that verse because does it even mean anything to us anymore? 84 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:56,000 Or is it just a placard that we see at a baseball game 85 00:06:56,000 --> 00:07:01,000 and we're just glad that somebody must be a Christian in the crowd? 86 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Have we gotten to a point that baptized by God and being claimed by His Spirit 87 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:15,000 that somehow we've learned how to just tune it out? 88 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:21,000 Is that you are here today in the presence of God 89 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:29,000 and I can't help but wonder how many of you even see God at this moment? 90 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:36,000 See, we had Nicodemus coming to Jesus and he is an educated man. 91 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:41,000 He is a man who is there with all this background and he is ready to go back and forth 92 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:46,000 and to debate and to try to learn something from this man Jesus 93 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 but he's ready for all the argumentation and everything. 94 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:57,000 But is he actually there to be with God? 95 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:03,000 Because that's the thing is that oftentimes that's what we're looking for when we're at church. 96 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:07,000 We're waiting for the pastor to say something new or different that we've never heard before. 97 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,000 We're like the Gnostics. 98 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 Is that we need some new knowledge, something that fascinates us, 99 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:17,000 something that we're just like, hey, this will be fun to know now. 100 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:20,000 And we completely missed the point. 101 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:29,000 Is that there in the presence of God is that God is there to change us. 102 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:36,000 And we are oftentimes spending so much time just trying to make sure that we added something new 103 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:42,000 that we're not asking the question of whether we're willing to change. 104 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:50,000 When I came back from Alaska and someone sends me a message and says, 105 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:54,000 hey, I'd really like to go dancing tonight. Does anybody want to go? 106 00:08:54,000 --> 00:09:03,000 Now, you know me. I like dancing. I like karaoke. I like chocolate chip cookies. 107 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:08,000 And what was my automatic response in my head? 108 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:16,000 My automatic answer was no. That was my first response. Why? 109 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Well, I wasn't expecting this. It's the same day. 110 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 I can't change my plans in the same day. How can you expect that of me? 111 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,000 What's wrong with you? 112 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,000 And then pause and realize, no, I've got the time. 113 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:34,000 I've been sitting on a train. I've got the energy to be up and moving around. 114 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:40,000 I'd like to go have some fun and these are my friends. Why not? 115 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:50,000 But that is so often what we end up doing is that we have so many assumptions already about ourselves and about life. 116 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:55,000 And we're not willing to ask any further questions. 117 00:09:55,000 --> 00:10:06,000 I get really tired of whenever I ask someone a question and I automatically know what the talking heads have already told them they're supposed to answer. 118 00:10:06,000 --> 00:10:18,000 I already know how many times is that we have been preconditioned to respond to things just because we already know certain trigger words or catchphrases. 119 00:10:18,000 --> 00:10:22,000 But the same thing ends up happening at church too. 120 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:27,000 I've been here for about five years. Yes, it's only been about five years. 121 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,000 I know you feel like it's been longer, but it's only been five years. 122 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:41,000 But in being here, there have been a number of times when I've seen that something has either been fumbled or canceled. 123 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Because people can't see outside of what they've been looking for all the time. 124 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:55,000 How many ways can God be saying, I need you to see things with a new pair of eyes. 125 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 I need you to see things the way I'm showing you. 126 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:03,000 But we're afraid. 127 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:07,000 We don't want to commit to things because we've never done it before. 128 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:15,000 We don't want to be open to the idea that maybe we need to make an effort beyond something that we're not used to. 129 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:22,000 Maybe we're afraid of putting our heart out there and saying maybe there's more to this. 130 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:28,000 Or even more so, how often are we willing to say I'm sorry? 131 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:33,000 And I don't mean the kind of sorry that we usually give. 132 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,000 I don't mean the yes, I know I'm a terrible person. 133 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:38,000 I know I mess up. 134 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:39,000 Come on, let's be honest. 135 00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:43,000 How many times do we make apologies that are meant to just be blanket statements? 136 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,000 Just because we know we're supposed to apologize. 137 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:50,000 But we're kind of like, now please tell me that I'm really not that bad. 138 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:54,000 Because I don't want anybody to really make me feel like I'm that bad. 139 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,000 How many times we apologize because we're just waiting for the other person to say, no, it's okay. 140 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:00,000 Don't worry, you're really not that bad. 141 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Okay, good. 142 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:02,000 Thanks. 143 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:03,000 I apologize. 144 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,000 I don't want to really have to change. 145 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Because the thing is, is that the presence of God is not just about trying to be more knowledgeable. 146 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,000 It's about seeing why the serpent has been lifted up. 147 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:21,000 Have you ever wondered about that part? 148 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:27,000 You know, like we hear John 3.16, but we never go back one or two verses to see the context. 149 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:31,000 Why was there a serpent lifted up in the wilderness? 150 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:37,000 Because the people had been complaining so much that there were serpents that were stinging them, 151 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:39,000 that were biting them. 152 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:50,000 And when they looked up at it, they had to remember that it was their doing that caused them to need to come back to God. 153 00:12:50,000 --> 00:13:00,000 And that's why it is that Jesus being on the cross is so convicting because of the reason why he had to be there. 154 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:09,000 You see, there is Nicodemus thinking, I'm going to come here and be all smart and knowledgeable, 155 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:14,000 and we're going to debate back and forth between prophets and everything else. 156 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,000 And yet, the woman at the well, she didn't need some educational background. 157 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:27,000 She sees her Messiah and her whole life has changed. 158 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:31,000 And Nicodemus couldn't see it yet. 159 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:36,000 There's reason to think that he does later. 160 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:43,000 But how often is it that we, who are baptized in Christ, who have already been washed with water, 161 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:56,000 the water that connects us to what God has done, and yet we can't take the time to ask what God's Spirit is showing us today? 162 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:07,000 See, that's the thing about the reality that's around us, is that Jesus is trying to say, we speak of what we know. 163 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:11,000 We're bearing witness to what we've seen. 164 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:15,000 And yet you can't understand why. 165 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,000 The signs that you do, God must be with him. 166 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,000 Really? 167 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,000 Is that all? 168 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,000 Is that really all that this comes down to? 169 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,000 You must be a godly person. 170 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:40,000 Because that's the thing with this, is that being washed to wipe away the old and to bring new life to us now, 171 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,000 is the question is, are you willing to see it from a different set of eyes? 172 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,000 Because I don't know that you do. 173 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:50,000 I don't know your hearts. 174 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:51,000 I don't know your minds. 175 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,000 I can't predict everything. 176 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,000 I can't see all. 177 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:59,000 I barely see well enough as it is. 178 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:09,000 But at the same time, you, with God right now, is he the one determining how you see things? 179 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:17,000 See, that's the thing about being up in Alaska, is that I did end up realizing something though. 180 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Is that the whole time I'm trying to think, did I not plan a good enough trip? 181 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,000 Am I not going to all the best places? 182 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:28,000 Am I not spending enough time out here? 183 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:34,000 And then realize, no, it was me. 184 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,000 I was limiting myself. 185 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:42,000 I was putting a box around what God could be doing in my life right there. 186 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:53,000 I'm experiencing what God has done, and I had limited my mind and my head and my heart. 187 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:59,000 See, the thing is, is that I was spending my time asking, what am I supposed to do, 188 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:05,000 instead of letting God say, who am I called to be? 189 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,000 See, that's the thing about where God's spirit is working, 190 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:14,000 is that it's very easy to try to spend the time thinking, 191 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,000 what can I do right here and right now to make this better? 192 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:24,000 How am I somehow going to make everything fit? 193 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:30,000 And we realize that we've put a box around what God is doing, 194 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:36,000 because somehow we think that it comes back down to where we're at. 195 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:45,000 The thing is, is that, honestly, I haven't been as open to what God could be doing. 196 00:16:45,000 --> 00:16:54,000 But I also can't help but wondering, is that also where you're starting with today? 197 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:59,000 Are you at a place right now where you're feeling frustrated with something 198 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,000 and you're constantly trying to make the same decisions, 199 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:09,000 or the same arguments, or the same choices, and you can't see any change, 200 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:14,000 and at what point have you paused and said, God, I'm here in your presence, 201 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,000 what are you doing? 202 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:21,000 What do you want in my life? 203 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:26,000 Because that's the thing that Jesus ends up bringing us down to, 204 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:32,000 is he ends up saying that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, 205 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:37,000 that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. 206 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 207 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:44,000 but that the world through him might be saved. 208 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:52,000 Nicodemus came expecting this great teacher, and what does Jesus bring him to? 209 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:59,000 God sent his only Son, I'm here, 210 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,000 and I'm ready to bring you life. 211 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:09,000 So today, as we're looking at Trinity Sunday, 212 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:15,000 we're not just looking at a God who has made an amazing world around us 213 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,000 that keeps struggling time and time again. 214 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:23,000 And we're not just looking at there being some really, really great guy 215 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:28,000 who just happened to die, but rather the Son of God, 216 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:35,000 that every time we see him, marked by baptism and seeing it through his eyes, 217 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:38,000 that we know that he is our hope. 218 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:43,000 But now is to ask, what does this mean? 219 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:50,000 Because his spirit is leading you and guiding you, 220 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:55,000 but are you willing to see beyond what you've seen before? 221 00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:01,000 And to ask how is it that being born again means you have a chance to see something 222 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,000 from a new set of eyes. 223 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:09,000 May God's view continue to change and to shape us 224 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:15,000 and everything that we see in our lives and in the world around us today. 225 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:25,000 Thanks be to God.