1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,800 Howdy. Well, I had a chance to spend a few days in Phoenix. I was there Thursday 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:13,120 through Saturday through yesterday and had a chance to learn from some 3 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:17,400 different speakers. I had a chance to talk on Saturday morning about community 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:22,080 development being used for outreach. It was a great time. Had a really good 5 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:27,320 time with it. But one of the things about it was that people were learning 6 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:32,480 different things and sharing ideas with each other. And one of the ideas that 7 00:00:32,480 --> 00:00:40,400 came up was that every congregation has a parallel metaphor that you can see in 8 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:46,400 movies and TV shows. Or what is it that you can say that whenever you see a show 9 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:51,000 and it reminds you of the people at your church and one of the people there 10 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:58,480 said my church is like the island of misfit toys. Do y'all remember that like 11 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,760 okay it was like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer? I don't know were they still 12 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:05,800 showing it whenever you were growing up? Was it still a thing? Okay, got it. Do 13 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,560 they do they show Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer when y'all were? Yeah, okay, okay, 14 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:14,160 good. All right, good. It wasn't just because it was good. Yeah, it was there. 15 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:19,480 Okay, good. Yeah, CBS I think it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And with it was that 16 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:24,880 Rudolph, you know, he had this glowing nose, right? And as he was doing that, 17 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,040 it's like Santa was really, really annoyed at him. I'm like man Santa's a 18 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:34,080 jerk. What in the world? And then with it is that Rudolph, he feels like a misfit. 19 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,480 He doesn't fit. So he's running away and eventually there's like a 20 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,040 bum noble snowman in there somewhere, but he ends up on this island with all 21 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,600 these toys that are all misfits. They don't fit quite right. And there were 22 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:50,600 a bunch of them that I remember especially. There was the Charlie in the box. 23 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,840 Okay, everything, you know, the same as normal, except his name was Charlie 24 00:01:54,840 --> 00:02:00,240 instead of Jack, you know. Or there was a cowboy riding an ostrich, you know, not 25 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:06,240 a horse. I mean granted my dad had some ostriches and so at one point. So 26 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:11,440 apparently a cowboy can ride an ostrich. It's just not recommended. But the train 27 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:17,840 had square wheels or even the water gun. It had jelly instead of water inside of 28 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:22,320 it or a bird that would swim, a boat that couldn't stay afloat and a plane 29 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:29,000 that could not fly. And all of these were on that island of misfit toys. And 30 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:35,480 this, and as I knew the people at the church that was being described, I 31 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,480 was like, yeah, I can definitely see that. So yeah, absolutely. Sometimes I feel like 32 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:44,880 the misfit pastor, but I think that's okay. You know, this idea though of the 33 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:50,280 misfits, that's often what we start with when we look at the beatitudes and we 34 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,560 look at all these blessings, you know, blessed are the poor, the hungry, the sad, 35 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,040 the ones who were hated. And so we like it when we first look at it because 36 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:03,800 we're saying, you know what, even if you're a misfit, you don't fit. God still 37 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:08,760 loves you and you're still blessed. And that's what we look at. And we just 38 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:14,280 kind of stopped there because that's a good feeling. We like knowing that even 39 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:21,000 the ones who are rejected that they still have a place in God's kingdom. But 40 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:25,440 you know, there's a lot more to it than that. There's a lot more that we need to 41 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,560 realize. Like for example, why didn't the Charlie in the box just tell everybody 42 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:33,920 that his name was Jack? You didn't need to tell everybody, well, my name's 43 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:38,720 Charlie. Just pretend like you're a Jack in the box. Everybody else will believe 44 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:43,440 it. It's not a big deal. Or the water gun. You know what, just take what's 45 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,240 inside of you out and just put some water in. It shouldn't be that big of a deal. 46 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:56,800 But the idea that hiding who you are or avoiding what's on the inside is kind of 47 00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:04,320 a big part of what we need to see in our Beatitudes today. But I do want to point 48 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:09,040 out something. We do have two different Beatitudes in the Gospels. And one of 49 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,320 them is from Luke and the other one is from Matthew. And we can't help but 50 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:20,840 wondering, is it Luke just repeating the same things that Matthew has said? Well, 51 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:26,800 in seeing that, there are these two passages that are there and they both 52 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:33,200 sound similar. But you see, for Luke, it says, blessed are the poor. But for Matthew, 53 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:38,840 it says, blessed are the poor in spirit. Or for Luke, it says, blessed are those 54 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:45,400 who hunger and thirst for righteousness. And Luke is saying, blessed are those 55 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:51,960 who are hungry. See, we don't like the Luke version as much. We like the Matthew 56 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:57,320 one. I am happy to be poor in spirit because I don't really want to be poor. 57 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:01,440 But I'm okay with being poor in spirit. That's just sort of on the inside. I'm 58 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:07,000 okay with that feeling. I mean, it happens. But this whole like hunger thing, I'm 59 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,040 okay with hungry and thirsting for righteousness. Just right after I finished 60 00:05:11,040 --> 00:05:17,040 my fried chicken. You know, the thing with these two, though, is that they may not 61 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:22,480 actually be the same sermon. If you look and you see the two of them, there's a 62 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:28,680 lot that's actually different about Matthew's sermon from Luke. And the thing 63 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:32,960 about these sermons is that they could very well be two different times. Notice 64 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:37,520 one of them is up on a mountain and the other one is out on a plane. Now, some 65 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,000 people might say, well, but if you go up on the mountain, maybe it goes, gets 66 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,760 flat afterwards. And so it's both. It's on a mountain and it's on a plane at the 67 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:50,320 same time. And it's like, but you know, preachers, they sometimes have different 68 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:55,000 sermons, but maybe a little piece of it might be the same. I'm sure that over the 69 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,680 course of the last several years, you've heard me preach more than one time 70 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:03,720 about a cartoon I had watched. I'm sure you've heard me preach more than one time 71 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:08,600 about Gilmore Girls or Golden Girls or whatever sitcom I was enjoying at the 72 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:14,560 time. I'm sure that it has come up, but the sermons though, we're making 73 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:21,280 different points, just using a similar example. But the thing here is that 74 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:28,920 Jesus also has to make different points because in today's, we don't want to 75 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:34,480 just talk about the spiritual. We do need to talk about the physical and even 76 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:42,640 more than that, it is so uncomfortable as we hear woe to those who are rich. What 77 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:48,040 is he talking about? Why in the world would we condemn in some way the people 78 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:52,880 who are wealthy? Because clearly they're successful. That's a good thing. Why is 79 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:58,440 it that you have to make such a big deal out of wealth, Jesus? Or being full. I 80 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,200 just had a really great meal. Are you telling me that I shouldn't have food on 81 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:07,760 my table, Jesus? What am I missing here? Why is it that you have to include these 82 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:13,760 woes for things that sound like a good thing? I'm glad that I can laugh. Is it 83 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:18,800 laughter a good thing? Or even more than that, why is it that if someone says 84 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:25,680 something good about you, why would that bring a woe, Jesus? But part of this is 85 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:34,320 also a question of what we're afraid of. Because we are afraid of taking these 86 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:43,040 beatitudes in Luke at face value. We're afraid of what Jesus may actually be 87 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:48,200 trying to say. So what I want to do, I want to put the blessings and the woes 88 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:52,040 next to each other. All right. Want us to see them next to each other so we can 89 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:57,400 have a better idea of what it is that Jesus is trying to get across. It's the 90 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:03,880 idea that, bless it or the poor and woe to the rich. Because I want you to think 91 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:12,560 about this for a moment. Have you known what it is to not always be sure how the 92 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:19,000 future will turn out? Have you not always known for sure that you'd be able to pay 93 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:26,200 the mortgage or the rent? Have you ever been at a time where you couldn't pay for 94 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:31,320 whatever vacation you wanted to take or that you couldn't buy every present that 95 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:36,640 you thought the family needed? Where there are times where you realize that you 96 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:42,960 did not have something that you thought you wanted? Because with this is to pause 97 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:49,840 and realize that wealth, it's something that we almost assume or we assume that 98 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:55,800 we're meant to have that we deserve. Working hard must automatically mean that 99 00:08:55,800 --> 00:09:03,080 we get everything that we would want. I know it's uncomfortable as we're talking 100 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:07,760 about this because this is America, right? We're supposed to be the place where 101 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,640 you can walk down the road and get whatever it is you want. I want fried 102 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:18,440 chicken, I want a cheeseburger, I want a salad, who really wants a salad? But you 103 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:24,520 should be able to get whatever it is that you're looking for. But when we do, when 104 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:32,920 do we realize our need for God? At what point are we able to slow down and say, 105 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:39,240 maybe something isn't what I'm going to get because I got it for myself. But 106 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:44,520 instead slowing down enough to say, what does God actually want me to have? Or 107 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:50,320 even to say, maybe God doesn't want me to have it right now. Or even more than 108 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:55,240 that, doesn't it speak to the fact that maybe we haven't even learned how to 109 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,880 share with the people who are actually in need? We've been making sure we've 110 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:05,000 satisfied all these things we wanted when we know that a person right next to us 111 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:10,560 has genuinely needed something. Or even beyond that, thinking about the world 112 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:16,600 around us, how many things that we can buy for maybe a fraction of the price of 113 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:21,280 what we know it's worth? Because we know that in some place, somewhere in the 114 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:29,480 world, people had things taken from them without being justly compensated. Or they 115 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:37,280 had to work for what was maybe pennies on the dollar. But that's okay because we 116 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:41,120 can tell ourselves that we're self-sufficient. And we can tell ourselves 117 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:47,240 that we don't have any part in what happens in the rest of the world. Or even 118 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,200 more than that, whenever we have our own business and we're so glad at the profit 119 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:56,200 that we've made, but we haven't justified in our minds why we shared that with 120 00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:02,320 everybody else that worked with us. There are so many times or ways in which 121 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:08,920 having everything that we wanted can sometimes sabotage what God is trying to 122 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:15,480 speak to us. Or even trying to show us we don't actually need those things to find 123 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:21,000 joy or peace in God's kingdom. Or even more than that, what it is to be hungry 124 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:27,240 now rather than to be satisfied. Over this conference, the conference 125 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,960 itself was free. You pay for your hotel and your travel, but the conference 126 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:36,640 was free. And all these donations were made that they had tons of food everywhere. 127 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,360 Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, get as much as you wanted. You'd be wandering 128 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,080 around. There was coffee everywhere, donuts everywhere, danishes everywhere. You 129 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:50,160 could go and get a soda from a little ice bin pretty much the entire day. 130 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:55,200 And teenagers were walking around tossing out ice cream sandwiches the whole 131 00:11:55,200 --> 00:12:01,560 day. It was ridiculous. And they had these little kebab skewers. And you could go up 132 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:06,640 to the donut holes and you just skewer yourself four little donut holes. And 133 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,840 you're walking along for place to place, eating your donut holes on your kebab. 134 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:17,400 And I went ahead and got a kebab full of donut holes. And then later on, got 135 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:22,520 another kebab of donut holes. And then realized I was about to go and stab 136 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:29,600 another kebab and then realized, wait a minute. Because number one, sometimes 137 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:36,280 we've actually been triggered into doing things without realizing that if you 138 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,640 see something that you can eat, that you don't normally get to have, you 139 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:46,520 automatically want to eat it even if you're not hungry. Or sometimes if there's 140 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,920 something you've never tried before and you're like, wait a minute, I have to try 141 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:56,080 this, even if it's something that you may not necessarily want. But even more 142 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:59,360 than that, I had a thought in my head that said, if I eat too many donuts this 143 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:04,160 week and I come back to church on Sunday, I might not want any Barbara's donuts. 144 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:11,880 And I am not going to offend Barbara Marchand and not eat her donuts. That's 145 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:16,320 the thing with it though, is our body is supposed to have times of full and times 146 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:20,720 of hunger. There are supposed to be times of the day where we aren't completely 147 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:25,640 full. There are times where our body is supposed to rest from not processing 148 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:32,720 food all the time, but also when we spend all of our time eating, then we become 149 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:40,640 lazy, tired, sluggish. But also even the point where our body is just spending the 150 00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:46,360 whole time saying, what else can I have? And then we aren't even enjoying the 151 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:51,920 things that we're eating at all. Because whenever you haven't been full all the 152 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:57,520 time, aren't you more likely to appreciate what you can have? And more than 153 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:02,960 that, your body is actually able to tell you what it needs when it's not always 154 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:09,920 full, instead of just stuffing it with whatever you have in front of it. But the 155 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:16,280 same thing with what God is giving us to satisfy is that when we pause enough to 156 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:21,840 realize that not everything in this world will satisfy us, that we can turn to God 157 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:28,000 and realize that there is something that he can give us that no one else can. But 158 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:34,160 then the part of, blessed are those who weep now, and then woe to those who laugh. 159 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:41,480 Now, I am pretty sure it is okay to laugh in general. You have to. I'm the one 160 00:14:41,480 --> 00:14:47,200 making the bad jokes. But when we realize that there are some who are always 161 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:54,480 avoiding the pain that is happening around them, what it may be where you have 162 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:59,880 a friend that is next to you who's going through a hard time. Are you able to 163 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:07,400 empathize and to feel the hurt along with them? Are you so afraid of feeling what 164 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:12,000 they're feeling that you will mask it with every video that you can find in 165 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:18,920 your Instagram or every single YouTube profile that you can come up with or make 166 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,720 sure that there is something that distracts you long enough for you not to 167 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:28,680 face what's even happening in your own life? How many times that we see 168 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,040 relationship struggle because when people are going through the hard times, 169 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,920 they're not willing to go through it together. Blessed are those who weep 170 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:47,920 because they're willing to walk alongside the people who need their love the most. 171 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:54,360 But even beyond that, blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, 172 00:15:54,360 --> 00:16:00,120 and revalue you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man and 173 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:08,280 woe to those when people speak well of you. The world around us, the world around 174 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:14,320 us is not always looking for what is good and true. There are many times where 175 00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:20,280 even the majority will come up with ideas or will push for things that are 176 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:27,400 hurtful and wrong. There are times whenever we will see that the crowd wants 177 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:35,640 the things that hurt and belittle and destroy. I've known the times whenever 178 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:41,880 just even not even disagreeing outright with somebody, even just saying, I think 179 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:47,280 we could be nicer about this. I think we could be kind of maybe we just slow down. 180 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:54,720 Maybe we just try to find a better way to do it. When even the Christians are 181 00:16:54,720 --> 00:17:03,880 sometimes so angry that someone disagreed. We are not meant to always say what 182 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:09,920 people want to hear. And whenever we are always being told that what we have to 183 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:15,920 say is great, doesn't that mean that maybe we should be concerned? There was a 184 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:20,000 pastor that was speaking. I've known him for a number of years and he was speaking 185 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:26,200 at the conference and when we were there he was sharing that at the beginning of 186 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:32,480 his ministry everything was going really really well. He said all of my sermons, 187 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,480 people were saying they were the best things ever and he was saying every 188 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:41,840 single thing ministry we tried to start it turned into gold. There was nothing we 189 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:47,000 couldn't start and he said anytime I asked for money that we could always find 190 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:51,240 it and people were always willing to give and at that moment I'm like I really 191 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:58,520 hate you. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. He's a great guy. But to be able to look into 192 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:06,600 say in his life people were just telling him the thing that he wanted to hear 193 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:10,600 because I'm sorry but if you listen to any public speaker at any point in time 194 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:16,120 not every single thing that they're going to say is perfect but even more than 195 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:21,880 that is every ministry it's not going to turn to gold because of one person. It's 196 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:26,840 going to succeed because of all the people that are part of it and so what 197 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,640 it was really revealing is where his heart was at and that that was the time 198 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:38,280 when he felt the most empty and that's the thing with what we're seeing that 199 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:45,360 Jesus is trying to get across to us is that without him without Jesus without 200 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:49,240 coming back to him by satisfying ourselves with what we think we want all 201 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:55,200 around us it's never going to allow us to draw closer to the one that we truly 202 00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:04,920 need and being willing to say and ask what does Jesus want for us because if 203 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:10,560 we're not willing to stop long enough to say what does Jesus want for us then all 204 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:16,400 we're going to do is to continue to fill the void inside of ourselves with what 205 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:23,760 we think we're supposed to have but if we say what does Jesus want for us then 206 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:32,240 we might say love and mercy for our enemies if we have everything that we 207 00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:42,680 want and our enemies are jealous or hurt or desperate then how will we ever 208 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:48,680 empathize and think that they deserve anything but condemnation and punishment 209 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:54,760 if we do not understand that we were shown love and mercy if we did not take 210 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:59,880 the time to separate from everything we could be given and to say God what do you 211 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:06,400 want for me and God says I want for you to know that these are blessings to you 212 00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:11,720 because I've loved you if we don't do that then how will we know that God wants 213 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:19,000 blessings for the ones that revile us and that let's be honest we kind of 214 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:26,640 revile ourselves or how would we get to a point of knowing forgiveness how many 215 00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:33,200 places how many times is it that we think about those who are oh everything 216 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:38,760 goes well for them seems like oh I can't believe that that person everything has 217 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:43,440 gone swimmingly and we remember how they hurt us we remember how they were 218 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:49,280 offensive we know what it was that they did and then to realize that that doesn't 219 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:55,440 mean that they're actually doing well because deep down inside only God knows 220 00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:01,880 what is happening in their heart and so to realize that we ourselves need that 221 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:06,800 forgiveness is the only way that we can truly find a way to forgive the others 222 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:15,320 around us or maybe even to ask about the good fruit instead of the bad whenever 223 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:21,280 we see a tree that is continuing to blossom into bloom or certain bushes or 224 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:26,680 certain plants not all of them but many of them what we end up seeing is that 225 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:32,080 there are times when we have to cut back we have to trim back the branches 226 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:38,640 because if they keep growing without anything slowing them down then not 227 00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:43,720 only one they're too big to be fed and watered by the nutrients that they have 228 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:50,120 but the fruits that are on them will never be able to grow and mature they'll 229 00:21:50,120 --> 00:21:55,160 never truly ripen to be able to see that sometimes they have to be trimmed back 230 00:21:55,160 --> 00:22:01,000 in order that what comes out of them is worth it or even more than that if the 231 00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:08,240 fruit stays on too long and doesn't fall off at the right time will they end up 232 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:15,400 being gorged and rotted before they have the opportunity to be consumed because 233 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,760 that's a thing for us too is that there are times where God has to allow us to 234 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,480 be humbled it's not because he doesn't love us it's not because he's saying oh 235 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:28,280 I don't want you to have good things so he's saying if you got what you wanted 236 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:35,680 exactly when you wanted it might actually hurt you because God wants more 237 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:40,480 than anything for us to grow in spirit and in truth and the only way we can do 238 00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:45,920 that is when we're willing to come to Jesus and if we've never known what it 239 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:52,600 is to be in need then how would we ever know that we need a Savior when we have 240 00:22:52,600 --> 00:23:00,480 what we want all the time without question then would we ever truly want 241 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:14,840 Jesus because who is Jesus for us this is who Jesus is for us Jesus has been 242 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:21,840 poor he's been hungry he has been sad and he has been hated did Jesus as the son 243 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:26,480 of God the Word of God who existed since the beginning of all creation went 244 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:34,320 before he became a human being was he ever poor was he ever hungry did he have 245 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:41,280 to endure sadness did he have to let people hate him and hurt him but the 246 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:45,880 only way that he could love us was to come and be subjected to it all the 247 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:51,680 only way to truly fulfill the love that he had for us was to walk alongside us 248 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:57,960 but are we so afraid of these things that we're afraid of where they might 249 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:04,760 take us are we afraid to meet the people who are truly in need because maybe 250 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:11,000 maybe we may not get a chance to live out everything we want maybe we go 251 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,280 to a shelter where people are having to eat beans and rice and we're saying oof 252 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:21,600 if only could just add a little salsa to that that'd be perfect but to realize 253 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:27,440 that this is their life and that maybe by spending some time with them you get 254 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,360 to know them and understand them and maybe they could actually trust you 255 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:36,400 when you're sharing with them the grace of God or even more than that is to be 256 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:42,480 able to say that hey instead of making sure that I was able to upgrade my flight 257 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:48,280 is instead I know that that extra money could be used by the person who can't 258 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:56,960 even get the stove lit or to know that at the times whenever we have to say what 259 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:02,160 needs to be said we're willing to because even if they're not willing to 260 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:07,800 listen we just hope and pray that the Spirit will eventually convict and 261 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:16,560 change them are we so afraid of where poor hungry sad and hated places may take 262 00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:23,960 us but then we realize that that's where Jesus is and that by realigning our 263 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:31,000 view of what we pursue to seek after Jesus if we're willing to let go of 264 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:38,600 what we think we want then maybe we have room for what Jesus has to give so today 265 00:25:38,600 --> 00:25:45,520 I ask you what are the things that keep satisfying you to the point that it lets 266 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:50,400 you block out what Jesus is trying to bring you what is it that keeps filling 267 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:56,600 in the gaps that you feel before you get a chance to fill them with Jesus 268 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:02,760 because my hope and prayer for you today is that you would not be afraid not just 269 00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:09,480 of being a misfit but of the times when you may feel poor and hungry and sad and 270 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:17,560 hated because at those times may very well be when Jesus can be seen the most 271 00:26:17,560 --> 00:26:26,080 clearly to you and through you thanks be to God