WEBVTT 00:00:03.719 --> 00:00:06.179 Howdy You know, I think it was like a year or 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:09.339 two ago there was one point where I was I think 00:00:09.339 --> 00:00:11.300 it was early when we started using more of the 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.480 sermon slides and I started bringing up that 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:16.699 I had taught math when I was a teacher for a 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:18.699 while there and I was showing something that 00:00:18.699 --> 00:00:21.760 was up on the slides and Talking about teaching 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.800 math and some of the teachers were like, you 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:25.699 know, that was a really good point that you made 00:00:25.699 --> 00:00:27.859 I'm really glad you did that and everybody else 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:32.840 is don't teach us math Oh my word. So I promise, 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.759 I'm not going to go into too much detail today, 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:38.240 but I have to point out that I did also teach 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:42.460 physics. I know, I know. And you know, one of 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:44.920 the things that was always funny, we would talk 00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:47.719 about stuff like light. Okay, which, you know, 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:50.179 you get to go around with flashlights and get 00:00:50.179 --> 00:00:53.460 to talk about it and show how the light can like 00:00:53.460 --> 00:00:55.840 spread out and everything else. And I'd like 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.820 to, you know, teaching them that show them that 00:00:58.820 --> 00:01:01.579 light gives off this energy in little packets 00:01:01.579 --> 00:01:03.979 called photons. Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew. 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:06.480 Just kind of hitting whatever they shine on. 00:01:06.859 --> 00:01:10.659 It's not just this smooth continuous flow, but 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:13.030 then I also have to tell them. It's not just 00:01:13.030 --> 00:01:16.230 a particle going pew, pew, pew, pew. But instead, 00:01:16.689 --> 00:01:19.129 it's also like a wave, and it spreads out, and 00:01:19.129 --> 00:01:22.069 it actually overlaps at different times. And 00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:25.370 if it were only a particle, you'd never see it 00:01:25.370 --> 00:01:28.730 going around a corner. It would never be able 00:01:28.730 --> 00:01:31.890 to spread out down a dark hallway. So much of 00:01:31.890 --> 00:01:34.590 what we need about light, it's not a particle, 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:38.129 it's not a wave, it's both. And then that's when 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:41.269 their faces would get that look. That mix of 00:01:41.269 --> 00:01:44.730 confusion and kind of quiet rebellion, you know, 00:01:44.750 --> 00:01:47.390 it's like, that doesn't make any sense and I'd 00:01:47.390 --> 00:01:50.370 really like to escape as much as possible, which 00:01:50.370 --> 00:01:52.670 is why I don't teach too much Hebrew during these 00:01:52.670 --> 00:01:57.750 sermons. And they were right, in a way, it doesn't 00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:01.049 make sense, at least not by the categories that 00:02:01.049 --> 00:02:03.650 we're used to. But just because it doesn't make 00:02:03.650 --> 00:02:05.870 sense, it doesn't change that it's still true. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:10.680 It works. Light is both a particle and a wave. 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:15.080 It's not one or the other. It's both. And I remember 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.979 realizing something about that moment. When something 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:22.860 doesn't make sense, most people don't say, if 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:26.560 it's true, I'll try to understand it. Instead, 00:02:26.639 --> 00:02:29.960 they say, I don't understand it, so maybe it's 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:34.599 just not true. You know I saw this again later 00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:36.860 whenever we were talking about the theory of 00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:39.240 relativity the idea that time and space would 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:42.340 change When you get close to the speed of light 00:02:42.340 --> 00:02:45.639 and what I decided to do is you know I gave them 00:02:45.639 --> 00:02:48.020 an assignment, and I said this has been proven 00:02:48.020 --> 00:02:52.340 to be true What do you think do you believe it 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:55.500 and? What was funny is that half of them said 00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:57.879 that even though there was evidence toward it? 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:01.009 because it didn't make any sense, they were pretty 00:03:01.009 --> 00:03:04.729 sure it wasn't true. And I think we never quite 00:03:04.729 --> 00:03:08.189 grow out of that. We're more comfortable deciding 00:03:08.189 --> 00:03:11.650 whether something feels right than asking whether 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:15.110 it is right. When something about God doesn't 00:03:15.110 --> 00:03:18.370 make sense to us, when He doesn't act the way 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:21.849 we expect or when His plan doesn't fit our categories, 00:03:22.889 --> 00:03:26.849 our first instinct is to stop trusting Him as 00:03:26.849 --> 00:03:30.960 much. We're not looking at saying, well, maybe 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:35.139 I just need to lean in. Instead, maybe we question 00:03:35.139 --> 00:03:38.400 whether or not His plans are real for our life. 00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:41.620 We start questioning whether He has genuinely 00:03:41.620 --> 00:03:47.599 seen us as His children. But God, like light, 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.759 doesn't fit inside the boxes that we make for 00:03:50.759 --> 00:03:54.900 Him. He's not controlled or contained by our 00:03:54.900 --> 00:04:00.229 understanding. He simply is. God acts, He moves, 00:04:00.629 --> 00:04:03.889 He reveals Himself. And just because we can't 00:04:03.889 --> 00:04:06.990 fully explain Him doesn't mean that He isn't 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:09.930 there. It just means that He's greater than what 00:04:09.930 --> 00:04:13.990 our minds can hold. And that's the tension that 00:04:13.990 --> 00:04:19.310 Moses is encountering in Exodus 3. See, you've 00:04:19.310 --> 00:04:23.129 got to remember who Moses was at this time. He's 00:04:23.129 --> 00:04:27.199 not out searching for a miracle. He was just 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:29.959 out there doing his job. He was just an everyday 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:32.839 person, tending sheep, living his life, raising 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:37.240 a family. The excitement of Egypt, the way that 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:40.180 he'd grown up, everything there, that was long 00:04:40.180 --> 00:04:43.699 behind him. Whatever dreams that he once had 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.160 of making a difference for the Hebrew people, 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.899 they were buried underneath the routines of survival, 00:04:50.339 --> 00:04:55.180 just taking care of business every day. And that's 00:04:55.180 --> 00:05:00.500 when God decides to speak to him. Why now? Out 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:02.699 of nowhere, in the middle of an ordinary day, 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.079 the divine just breaks in. And it's important 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.160 to remember that Moses never really fit anywhere. 00:05:09.720 --> 00:05:13.459 He didn't fit in Egypt because he was a Hebrew. 00:05:14.199 --> 00:05:16.639 But he didn't fit among the Hebrews because he 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:20.459 grew up in Pharaoh's palace. And then, after 00:05:20.459 --> 00:05:22.620 killing the Egyptian, he didn't fit anywhere 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.800 at all. because he was a fugitive, a man living 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:30.420 with his regrets. Yet, for whatever reason, that 00:05:30.420 --> 00:05:34.720 is the man that God calls. Not when Moses has 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:38.120 his life together, but rather when he's just 00:05:38.120 --> 00:05:41.879 simply tending someone else's flock out in the 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.680 wilderness. So when Moses hears God's voice, 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.300 he's understandably hesitant. He wants to know 00:05:50.300 --> 00:05:54.649 how this could possibly work. Why anyone would 00:05:54.649 --> 00:05:58.250 listen to him of all people? What if they don't 00:05:58.250 --> 00:06:01.730 believe me? What if they ask who sent me? He's 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:05.269 not just asking for the name of God. He's asking 00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:10.250 for reassurance. For something solid to stand 00:06:10.250 --> 00:06:13.689 on. And what God gives him is not a formula or 00:06:13.689 --> 00:06:19.879 a strategy. It's a name. I am who I am. It's 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:22.000 a name that means both presence and promise. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:25.759 It's as if God is saying, I will be who I will 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:29.779 be. I will do what I will do. My being is not 00:06:29.779 --> 00:06:34.759 dependent on your understanding or your comfort. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.300 For a man who had never quite belonged, it's 00:06:38.300 --> 00:06:43.199 an invitation into something larger than belonging. 00:06:44.120 --> 00:06:47.139 It's participating in the living purpose of God 00:06:47.139 --> 00:06:51.560 Himself. And remember, Moses probably didn't 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:53.959 know the traditions or the stories of Abraham, 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:56.560 Isaac, and Jacob the way that the other Hebrews 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.100 did. When God tells him, I am the God of your 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:05.180 fathers, who? He's not just giving Moses words 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:08.779 to say. He's giving him a connection now to a 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:12.199 history that he never truly felt part of. He's 00:07:12.199 --> 00:07:15.019 being drawn back into the story of his own people 00:07:15.019 --> 00:07:19.089 through revelation. It's no wonder he brought 00:07:19.089 --> 00:07:23.149 together all of the stories of Genesis, not just 00:07:23.149 --> 00:07:26.110 for the rest of the people, but also for himself. 00:07:27.230 --> 00:07:30.670 But here's the turning point. Even after seeing 00:07:30.670 --> 00:07:34.350 the burning bush, even after hearing the voice, 00:07:34.529 --> 00:07:38.629 Moses still has to decide whether to trust it. 00:07:39.589 --> 00:07:42.579 The people will have to do the same. Just like 00:07:42.579 --> 00:07:44.879 those students who had to decide whether to believe 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:48.600 in relativity once it became beyond what made 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:53.199 sense, Moses has to decide whether to trust God 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.899 beyond what felt comfortable. Because in the 00:07:56.899 --> 00:07:59.540 end, faith is not just about what we can explain. 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:04.199 It's about who we trust when the truth is bigger 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:09.199 than what we can grasp. But the same thing, it 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:15.680 continues. in Luke 20. You know those times whenever 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:19.660 somebody is asking a question and you know that 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:22.720 there's something behind it? You're kind of like, 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:26.560 why are you asking me that? It's like instead 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:29.160 of it being just a regular question, you know 00:08:29.160 --> 00:08:31.980 that somehow they're trying to trick you a little 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:35.539 bit. Or whenever somebody says and shows, hey, 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:37.919 we're just having an open debate, but you know 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.299 that they're actually just setting you up to 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:44.559 try to make you look stupid. See, the Sadducees, 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:47.980 they come to Jesus not with an honest question, 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.019 but with a test. They don't believe in the resurrection, 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:55.159 so they come up with this example that's meant 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:58.320 to sound absurd. It's not seven brides for seven 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:00.480 brothers. It's one bride for seven brothers. 00:09:01.129 --> 00:09:03.470 And they tell this story about a woman who marries 00:09:03.470 --> 00:09:05.710 seven brothers one after another because each 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:09.610 of them dies without leaving a child. So Jesus, 00:09:09.750 --> 00:09:13.429 they ask in the resurrection, whose wife will 00:09:13.429 --> 00:09:17.090 she be? And that woman at that moment is like, 00:09:17.190 --> 00:09:20.690 I don't know, she seems kind of scary. But it's 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:24.129 important to realize that their question is not 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:28.610 really about marriage. It's about control. The 00:09:28.610 --> 00:09:31.090 Sadducees are trying to control the conversation, 00:09:32.149 --> 00:09:35.529 to expose what they think is the ridiculousness 00:09:35.529 --> 00:09:39.590 of the resurrection. See, the details of marriage 00:09:39.590 --> 00:09:42.769 and inheritance, those are just props in the 00:09:42.769 --> 00:09:47.690 argument. Those are just attempts at trying to 00:09:47.690 --> 00:09:50.690 bring up something that doesn't make any sense. 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:53.610 And when Jesus says that in the resurrection 00:09:53.610 --> 00:09:57.029 people neither marry nor are given in marriage, 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.519 The point is not dismissing marriage or saying 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:05.000 that relationships won't matter. It's not as 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.440 if in heaven, in the afterlife, if you ever run 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:11.340 into your spouse, you're supposed to be like, 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.299 stay away, I'm not supposed to have anything 00:10:13.299 --> 00:10:16.700 to do with you anymore. I mean, come on. You 00:10:16.700 --> 00:10:19.700 married them for a reason, right? But what he's 00:10:19.700 --> 00:10:22.500 focusing on is talking about how the systems 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:26.039 of this world, the legal, the social, even the 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:29.950 religious, They don't carry the same meaning 00:10:29.950 --> 00:10:34.750 in the age to come. Marrying, which would be 00:10:34.750 --> 00:10:39.309 in their context the man's initiative, and being 00:10:39.309 --> 00:10:41.570 given in marriage, which from their place was 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:45.549 the woman's legal status, they were both parts 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:48.909 of a world that were defined by property and 00:10:48.909 --> 00:10:52.269 inheritance and what happens when you die. But 00:10:52.269 --> 00:10:55.070 in the resurrection, those old structures, they 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:59.159 don't apply. Because death itself no longer defines 00:10:59.159 --> 00:11:02.240 what's possible. You're not looking to try to 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.620 have kids in order to propagate your inheritance 00:11:04.620 --> 00:11:09.100 because you're not dying ever again anyway. But 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:11.600 what's fascinating though is that even within 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:15.039 the story that the Sadducees tell, their logic 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:18.860 falls apart. If anyone was technically her husband, 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:21.559 it would have been the first one because all 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:23.659 the others were only fulfilling their duty to 00:11:23.659 --> 00:11:27.539 raise up children for him. But notice, Jesus 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:30.139 doesn't even bother untangling their details. 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:34.279 He doesn't care. He moves straight to the heart 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:38.200 of the matter. What's the real issue? He is not 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:41.419 the God of the dead, but of the living. And of 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:44.200 course, Jesus doesn't just say that. He proves 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:48.100 it. His own resurrection does not just blow a 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:51.200 hole in the Sadducees' logic. It blows open the 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.580 limits of what anyone thought was possible. The 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:59.019 resurrection is not just a theological rebuttal. 00:11:59.559 --> 00:12:02.500 It's the living evidence that God is not bound 00:12:02.500 --> 00:12:07.620 by death. Time. The categories we use to make 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:10.500 sense of life. The Sadducees, they wanted to 00:12:10.500 --> 00:12:15.759 keep faith neatly divided into this life or the 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:19.879 next. what we can see or what we can't, human 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:22.940 power or divine promise. Let's stop thinking 00:12:22.940 --> 00:12:26.139 about the afterlife because what we really need 00:12:26.139 --> 00:12:31.019 to focus on is how you live today. But in Jesus, 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:36.080 those false boundaries, they collapse. The resurrection, 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.799 it reveals God is not setting up a choice between 00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.100 caring for this world or caring for the next. 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:47.279 Instead, he's redeeming both. Life now and life 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:51.360 eternal are not two competing realities, but 00:12:51.360 --> 00:12:54.960 one continuous story held together by the living 00:12:54.960 --> 00:12:59.000 God. When Jesus rose from the grave, He didn't 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:03.039 just conquer death. He connected heaven and earth, 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:05.639 showing that God's power doesn't wait until the 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:09.879 end of time. It begins now, in every act of trust, 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:12.879 every step of faith. Every moment we dare to 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:15.879 believe that what's impossible for us is still 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:19.720 possible for him See the real issue here. It 00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:24.240 was not marriage. It was the mindset The Sadducees 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:27.059 couldn't imagine a world that operated beyond 00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:31.080 their categories of life and death marriage and 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:34.700 inheritance control and power So since they didn't 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:39.080 understand it They mocked it They mocked what 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.110 they couldn't control They rejected what they 00:13:42.110 --> 00:13:44.590 couldn't explain. And we do the same thing all 00:13:44.590 --> 00:13:48.309 the time. We create our own little Sadducee scenarios. 00:13:48.649 --> 00:13:51.409 We come up with extreme examples and ridiculous 00:13:51.409 --> 00:13:55.210 comparisons to make our point or to justify what 00:13:55.210 --> 00:13:58.149 makes us comfortable. I can't talk about this 00:13:58.149 --> 00:14:00.470 with my spouse or it'll be the end of the world 00:14:00.470 --> 00:14:05.049 if I do. I can't tell my child, no, I mean, they're 00:14:05.049 --> 00:14:06.929 just gonna throw a fit and think that I don't 00:14:06.929 --> 00:14:10.700 love them. I can't welcome these people into 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:12.919 my life because someone might think that I approve 00:14:12.919 --> 00:14:16.480 of everything they've done. I better not be nice 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:19.879 to them. We frame our choices in these false 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:23.159 dichotomies, either or, all or nothing, right 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:26.840 or ruin. But when we do that, we're doing exactly 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.799 what the Sadducees did. We're trying to trap 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:32.440 truth inside these boundaries that make us comfortable. 00:14:33.089 --> 00:14:35.929 The resurrection like the burning bush is God's 00:14:35.929 --> 00:14:39.610 declaration that He cannot be trapped. He will 00:14:39.610 --> 00:14:43.370 be who He will be. He will work in His own way 00:14:43.370 --> 00:14:46.570 and in His own time. And our part is not to reduce 00:14:46.570 --> 00:14:49.750 His mystery into what feels safe or sensible, 00:14:50.490 --> 00:14:53.350 but to trust Him enough to take the next faithful 00:14:53.350 --> 00:14:56.950 step, even when we don't quite see the whole 00:14:56.950 --> 00:15:00.629 picture yet. Because when we do, we often discover 00:15:00.629 --> 00:15:05.639 that God's reality It's larger, richer, more 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:09.120 alive than anything we could have imagined. So, 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:12.240 what do we do with all this? Because honestly, 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:15.059 we're not all that different from Moses or from 00:15:15.059 --> 00:15:18.240 the Sadducees. I mean, like Moses, we often feel 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:22.899 inadequate, uncertain, unqualified for what God 00:15:22.899 --> 00:15:26.299 calls us to do. We look around and think, who 00:15:26.299 --> 00:15:29.759 am I to speak? Who am I to lead? Who am I to 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:34.830 believe that God could use Me. And God's response 00:15:34.830 --> 00:15:38.950 is the same when He gave Moses. I will be who 00:15:38.950 --> 00:15:47.570 I will be. Not you will be enough. I will. God's 00:15:47.570 --> 00:15:49.470 promise isn't that you'll have it all figured 00:15:49.470 --> 00:15:52.850 out. It's that He'll be with you even when you 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:58.149 don't. And like the Sadducees, we often let our 00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:01.740 discomfort masquerade as logic. When something 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:05.700 doesn't fit into categories in our mind, we logic 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:09.299 it away as unrealistic or unreasonable. When 00:16:09.299 --> 00:16:12.039 God's ways don't fit our expectations, we treat 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:15.139 them as if they couldn't possibly be true. But 00:16:15.139 --> 00:16:18.379 faith is not about explaining mystery. It's about 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:23.259 walking within it. When we stop chasing the comfort 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:27.200 of our tidy answers, then something begins to 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:31.529 shift in us. We start to notice how much of our 00:16:31.529 --> 00:16:35.730 decision -making is so shaped by what's convenient, 00:16:36.490 --> 00:16:40.230 rather than what's always faithful. How many 00:16:40.230 --> 00:16:43.970 of our decisions that we've made were just the 00:16:43.970 --> 00:16:48.029 things that seemed normal or safe, instead of 00:16:48.029 --> 00:16:50.450 asking, is this really what God wants me to do? 00:16:51.429 --> 00:16:54.149 We begin to see how easily we settle for what 00:16:54.149 --> 00:16:58.769 other people tell us is reasonable. instead of 00:16:58.769 --> 00:17:02.049 asking what God is actually saying. Sometimes 00:17:02.049 --> 00:17:05.529 waiting on God means stepping back from the quick 00:17:05.529 --> 00:17:07.730 answers or the quick fixes or the ready -made 00:17:07.730 --> 00:17:11.349 plans that someone else promised as certainty, 00:17:12.430 --> 00:17:16.190 but drain our faith. It might mean refusing to 00:17:16.190 --> 00:17:20.109 rush into the next opportunity just because it 00:17:20.109 --> 00:17:23.829 looks certain and secure. It might mean pausing 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:26.569 before you send that message, before you sign 00:17:26.569 --> 00:17:30.950 that paper. before you take that job and asking 00:17:30.950 --> 00:17:35.970 God, where are you in this? Because waiting on 00:17:35.970 --> 00:17:39.529 God, it doesn't mean you're doing nothing. It 00:17:39.529 --> 00:17:43.470 means doing the slow, deliberate work of listening. 00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:46.930 The kind of listening that makes room for God's 00:17:46.930 --> 00:17:50.069 timing instead of forcing our own. It means learning 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:54.990 to sit in the tension between the promise and 00:17:54.990 --> 00:17:58.269 the fulfillment. without trying to fill that 00:17:58.269 --> 00:18:03.170 silence with our own noise. And often that's 00:18:03.170 --> 00:18:08.130 where God begins to move. In the waiting, He 00:18:08.130 --> 00:18:11.829 reshapes what we desire. In the waiting, He reshapes 00:18:11.829 --> 00:18:15.589 us. He teaches us to trust Him, not only for 00:18:15.589 --> 00:18:19.170 outcomes, but for direction. He teaches us to 00:18:19.170 --> 00:18:23.130 trust Him because He exposes where we've been 00:18:23.130 --> 00:18:27.779 relying on approval, control. comparison, and 00:18:27.779 --> 00:18:31.640 he replaces those things with something far sturdier, 00:18:32.500 --> 00:18:36.200 his presence. Because when you stop taking what 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.740 the world offers as good enough, you make space 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:44.140 for what is truly good, the presence of the I 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:48.539 Am, who does not need your timeline or your plan 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:51.339 to keep his promises. And in that stillness, 00:18:51.660 --> 00:18:55.319 When you stop trying to force God into your categories 00:18:55.319 --> 00:19:00.660 and instead wait on Him to reveal Himself, you 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:05.180 begin to see glimpses of His nature. Mysterious, 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:13.180 steady, radiant light itself. Because you can't 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:17.299 fully describe what light may be as a wave or 00:19:17.299 --> 00:19:20.019 a particle or both. Because the moment you try 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:22.559 to fit it into a box, it means you stop understanding 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:26.039 what it really is. But in much the same way, 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:28.240 we try to force God into what makes sense to 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.900 us. And we stop seeing who He really is. Because 00:19:32.900 --> 00:19:36.519 God does not need to be simple in order to be 00:19:36.519 --> 00:19:41.339 good. He doesn't need to fit our plans in order 00:19:41.339 --> 00:19:46.460 to be faithful. He just is. So the invitation 00:19:46.460 --> 00:19:51.190 to you today is this. Trust the I Am more than 00:19:51.190 --> 00:19:55.109 your I understand. Let go of the need to have 00:19:55.109 --> 00:19:57.569 it all make sense before you just say yes to 00:19:57.569 --> 00:20:01.049 Him. Let God reveal in His own way and time what 00:20:01.049 --> 00:20:05.369 you cannot yet see. Because when you do, you'll 00:20:05.369 --> 00:20:09.329 start to notice something. The bush still burns, 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:13.910 the voice still calls, and the resurrection still 00:20:13.910 --> 00:20:19.880 happens. Because we see it. in what Christ Jesus 00:20:19.880 --> 00:20:26.700 has done himself for us. And when it does, real 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:30.880 life begins again. Thanks be to God.