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The Resting Place
We are a community of believers coming together to establish a new wineskin of renewal in the Midwest. Come and join us as we adventure into the unknown, with hands open to following the wind of Holy Spirit, and hearts hungry for community and to experience an outpouring of the love of the Father.
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The Resting Place
The Freedom Found in Kingdom Order
What if divine order isn't about restriction but freedom? What if structure is actually the container that holds God's glory? In this episode of The Resting Place Podcast, we dive deep into a fresh understanding of how God's designed order creates space for transformation rather than limitation.
The conversation begins with a profound paradox—sometimes glory follows order, but other times, order must be established to host the glory that God has already released. This counterintuitive truth invites us to loosen our grip on rigid theological frameworks while still honoring the structures God has designed for our good.
Through an examination of Exodus 24, we discover something remarkable. Before giving the Law, God invited Moses and the elders of Israel to see Him face-to-face and share a covenant meal—something supposedly impossible according to religious understanding. This powerful image reveals God's heart: even His most structured systems begin and end with intimate relationship.
The teaching addresses practical applications of divine order in family dynamics, marriage relationships, and church leadership. Rather than viewing these structures as restrictive, we're invited to see them as the framework that enables us to truly hold what God deposits within us. Without this structure, we become like colanders—unable to retain the seeds of life and transformation God plants inside us.
Perhaps most thoughtfully, the episode confronts the challenging reality of enduring through trials and unanswered prayers without creating false doctrines to explain God's ways. There's a beautiful tension between holding firmly to Jesus' promises while acknowledging the mystery of our journey toward Christlikeness.
What would happen if we dismantled the artificial separation between sacred and secular realms that evangelical Christianity has reinforced? God longs to invade every corner of our existence, bringing His glory into our ordinary routines and transforming them into sacred spaces. Join us as we explore the freedom found within divine order and the celebration that naturally flows from it.
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Hi everyone. I'm Ben and I'm Logan and we're the Robins. Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. We're gonna go to Exodus 24 here in just a moment and I think I'm gonna start out in 1 Corinthians 12, and I'm gonna try to, to the best of my ability, kind of keep this. I'm going to try to not belabor the point today because I don't feel the grace to go on for two and a half hours like I do sometimes. I sat last night writing and it took me two hours before I had any words to write down. So there's just one of the Lou. You know what I mean when sometimes it just don't. It just is what it is, and you just have to learn to do your best to lean into the grace when it's there, and when it's not there, you don't try to force it, because what you write down doesn't usually amount to much. So but today what I want to do is I want to frame a conversation or a teaching on order around the idea that order is the Lord's idea and that his glory rests in the center of it, and I'll reference this later on.
Speaker 1:But um pop has this teaching that he has done for years. That, uh, is the. The title of it is glory follows order. Now, when we were in South Carolina, he made another statement that struck me as something that I had never heard before, but I have found to be true through experience, and that is that sometimes glory comes first and then order must be established in order to host that glory. So the Lord, in his goodness, breaks his own rules. He sets up these rules and then he breaks them. It's the most fascinating thing. It's like he's in charge of something. It's like he's got the final say and he can do what he wants. And sometimes he just flat dog does what he wants and that's a redneck term, flat dog and I learned that when I was in the South. So he'll just flat dog, do whatever he wants to at any given moment and expect us to be okay with it. Um, and this is one of the reasons, and that's a little bit tongue in cheek, but also really, um, it's a little bit tongue in cheek, but again, there are enough times in my life that I can point to like, what the heck? All right, whatever, um, and that's kind of the, that's kind of the response.
Speaker 1:At some point it's like Lord, this is outside of my paradigm, why are you? And it's like, as Bill says this he says the Lord never contradicts the Bible, but he'll contradict our understanding of the Bible. He won't contradict his Bible, but he'll contradict our understanding of the Bible. He won't contradict his word, but he's going to contradict our understanding of his word.
Speaker 1:And there are some things in there that as we continue in this journey and as we continue to mature and as we continue to grow into the image of Christ, there are just some things where it becomes more mystery than it does like holding a solid fact in my hand, if that makes sense, and I don't have answers for a lot of it. Most of the time I really don't and I feel like I should have more answers. But the further I go, I had more answers five years ago than I have today. I don't know if anybody else feels that way. I had, spiritually, I had all the answers five years ago. The more you know him, the less you know. And that's such a beautiful, that's such a beautiful thing. It's such a beautiful place to be, but that also leads us to holding things really loosely. Hold beautiful place to be, but that also leads us to holding things really loosely. There are some things that I'm not going to budge on. There are some doctrinal things that I'll always hold firmly to and those become the goalposts that everything else has to pass through. But, man, there are just some things that if I told myself five years ago that, hey, you wouldn't be offended by this quite as much as you are now in five years, I'd think I was crazy. I'd be like wait, no, no, that's not the case. But anyhow, glory follows order and sometimes order is required to follow glory. So when we started to come into the summer, I mentioned that we're going to start to launch into some cultural teachings.
Speaker 1:So what we have done, up to this point at least, what I have tried to do, is lay the foundation for the resting place in such a way that we would be able to understand a couple of things. One, we're dearly loved by the Father. Two, he's not one that loves from a distance. He doesn't love us and leave us. He stays and he cares and he's present with us in our moment of need. He's present with us when we don't understand what's going on, why it's going on, why this is happening, getting us to the point, as a family, that we can stand on our two feet and say things are going well, he's with me, he loves me, I'm his dearly loved son, I'm his dearly loved daughter. His opinion of me or his thoughts towards me never shift, including when my behavior is not living up to what the standard ought to be, including when I sometimes deserve him to change his opinion about me, including when sometimes, man, I really missed the mark and it's a really good thing that I can stand here and say his opinion towards me has never shifted, even when I miss the mark.
Speaker 1:And what that then does is cause the discordant things on the inside of me to come back into alignment alignment. I've heard it said this way before and I think this is really accurate, so I'll share it. We don't approach him with our record. We approach him with Jesus' record, regardless of the storm or regardless of the behavior, regardless of whether it's going well or poorly, regardless of whether I've got the answers today and I feel really good about what's going on, or whether shoot, seven things just happened and I responded well to one of them and the rest of them. I'm kind of really upset. I said a few things I probably shouldn't have said. I've had a conversation with the Lord, that was accusatory. I've had a conversation with the Lord that was accusatory. It was like what in the world are you doing? And that's an editing of the conversation. But we come back to the center of I'm loved with the same love he has for Jesus, and that does not shift.
Speaker 1:And what that then does is allows me to take those moments, take those times when I I don't know, and subject them to my identity, rather than allowing my identity to become those low points. Does that make sense? My identity does not become behavioral, it does not become reactions, it doesn't become those things and in an, in an inferior revelation, and still an instill, a sincere heart. What would happen is if I were to have a moment where I would respond poorly to something, or I'd get out of faith over something, or my bank account had 12 cents in it and I didn't know what I was going to do and I had no preaching invitations, and what am I supposed to do? And my faith is shattered and I'm sitting, know what I was going to do and I had no preaching invitations, and what am I supposed to do? And my faith is shattered and I'm sitting, I'm depressed, I'm anxious, I'm all these things.
Speaker 1:What then begins to happen? In an inferior revelation, with still a sincere heart, I begin to allow my identity to become lack of faith. Anxiety, struggle, anxiety, struggle, depression, those things that start to creep in. And in a superior revelation, you can take times and say, hey, all right, I didn't respond well here. This happened. I don't understand why this is going on in my life. I do not understand why it's going on, but that's not who I am.
Speaker 1:Those things then become subjected to my identity and what happens is they begin to be brought back into alignment so that we become again conformed into the image of Christ. We take those things and they conform them back into more Christ-likeness, and the Lord's even able to take those times and use them for our good. I found that out too. Where he takes those moments where I am the culprit, where I'm the one who's messed up, I've lost my temper, I have messed up, I have said things I should not say, I have been the one to screw this up, and the Lord is even able to take my issues, not even things that happen. I'm not even talking about, like life, throwing things at us. I'm talking about me responding poorly. The Lord's able to take my poor response and turn it and use it for my good.
Speaker 1:Revelation is and when I say that, I mean before beloved identity became my identity, before the teaching and the revelation of beloved identity became the primary foundation of my life. I would allow those things to get me completely off track and I'd be like I guess this is who I am and I'm never going to amount to anything. And what happens is you have the chapter from Isaiah where he says oh gosh, I'm going to have to look it up now. Hold on, hold on. I wasn't intending to go here so I didn't have it queued up, but hold on. Spirit conviction, okay.
Speaker 1:So spirit convicts you. This is my, this is my view. The spirit convicts you, this is my view. The spirit convicts me of the discordant response, behavior, reaction, and says that's not who you are. So the conviction is yeah, that's wrong and you can't behave that way. There's conviction there. There should be.
Speaker 1:Godly sorrow leads to repentance, right, but what does repentance mean? Repentance means to change the way that you think and under an inferior revelation of like, I'd get convicted and I'd be like I just am disqualified, this is who I am, I'm disqualified, and that was very much. The teaching I came up under is you're disqualified by your behavior and there are certain things that you can do behaviorally that will disqualify you. Sure, there are those things, let's be clear, there are those things. But that does not change your identity and it doesn't change the Lord's ability to turn those things and use them for your good.
Speaker 1:So the Spirit comes, he brings conviction to and let's just say gosh. Let's just say I'm pointing the gun at myself. So let's just say I have had an awful day at work. It's been terrible, the kids have been too much and I just, and I'm, I'm in a bad mood and the kids are too much and I just in a bad mood, and the kids are too much and I just am short with them. I don't treat them or Logan, the way that I do, that I endeavor to that, I try, and I just I blow it, I'm unhappy, I lose my temper, all the things. And the spirit will come and convict and say that's not who you're, you're not a man of anger, you're not a man of wrath, you're a dearly loved son and you're a good father. And that's not being a good father. So let's bring that back into alignment and let's adjust our heart and let's get ourselves back into it, and that would be my view of spirit conviction in those moments. Does that answer your question? Yes, and that that would be. That would be my view of spirit conviction in those moments. Does that answer your question? Does that make sense to you? Okay, you sure she's over there smiling like I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:I think in order to be in, I think in order to be on the path that we're on, you would have had to first be invited by the Spirit and be in relationship with the Spirit to begin with. I think that's a prerequisite to live this life. And if now I'll say this if you're not, you're not really on the path to begin with. I mean and that sounds a certain way, but that's just kind of where it's at If you're not in relationship with the Spirit, listening to the Spirit, being led into the light, which is where we are, we're being led into one greater level of light after another greater level of light. Right, if we're not already in relationship with the Spirit, listening to the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to bring conviction and bring us back into what our identification really is, then what it is is, it's a religious exercise and you're not really on the path.
Speaker 1:To begin with, I think, to speak to specifically what you're asking, when you know so, like if you're going through a difficult situation after difficult situation after difficult situation, it's out of your control, right? There's not a lot you can do about it. It seems like it's completely out of your control. There's a couple of things that I use in those scenarios, as for lack of a better term goalposts. One is this, and I don't have a good answer for this is that Jesus promised us a few things. There are a few things that were promised in this life, and one of them is that storms will come, okay, so when the storm comes, is your foundation shaken? And if your foundation is shaken, there's something of building on sand that has gone on, and the Lord is using that shaking to alert you that there are some things, foundationally, that need to be repaired. All right, so this is one of my least favorite passages of the New Testament, to speak to specifically, one of my least favorite.
Speaker 1:All right, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. This is James 1. This is James 1. James 1, verse 2. Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. That is so hard for me to swallow, for you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. That's true. I mean, it's like training for a marathon. You know you're building up the endurance. It's probably miserable. Those two verses and Peter has something to say along these lines as well, and I won't go there for sake of time but these two verses considered an opportunity for great joy when troubles come our way. That is so counter to what I want to do when unfair trouble comes my way and trouble that I'm trying to get out of, and trouble I'm doing my best to avoid. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. And I've heard Bill and I'll lean on him again today, because if I don't quote Bill twice, it's not an official message.
Speaker 1:I suppose there's a couple of things that you have to do if you want it to be a real church service. You have to one read the Bible. You have to read the Bible. You have to read at least one verse and you have to quote Bill Johnson at least twice. That's one, this is number two. So we are crossing the finish line of it being an official service. We're not off the rails, my God.
Speaker 1:Um, so look at, we look at it this way. It's like pushing. It's like your your endurance is being tested in prayer. Your endurance is being being tested by difficult situation after difficult situation after difficult situation. It's like pushing against a 500-pound boulder right, and you push, and you push, and you push, and you push, and then, before you know it, the 500-pound boulder hasn't moved as far as you would have liked it to have moved. But the next time you're confronted with something that you couldn't move before, in prayer, it moves very easily because your endurance has been built to the point that you're able, then, at that point, to move those things through prayer. You're able to move things through faith, and that is something.
Speaker 1:That is something, guys, I want to tell you is not true. I want to tell you that's not true. I want to tell you that in my experience that's not the case. But I can't do that. I want to tell, I want to tell you that there are specific things that will. We don't have to worry about that. But that's just. It's, there's the there are these laws and it's mysterious to me, in faith, in endurance, in the moving of the Spirit, in the matters of the Spirit, that the Lord perfects us through some of these challenges and I wish we didn't have to face them. Being completely transparent, I wish I did not have to go through most of the things I've had to go through in the last 15 years. There have been a lot of things in 15 years. Bethany can say, no, that's okay, I wish I didn't have to. But there's something of being perfected in the middle of all that, that the Lord takes those things and uses them to perfect us.
Speaker 1:I mean Paul is talking about in Luke's message last week. Paul is talking about being distressed to the point of wishing to not be alive anymore. He said we're under distress. We're under stress, we've despaired of our own lives. Do you know what that means? When he says I despair of my own life, that means I wish I wasn't alive anymore. I wish to live as Christ and to die as gain. When he's saying that the persecution has gotten to the point that he's ready to go on and be with Jesus and he's being and I don't have all the answers for it, but I can tell you this that's the same man that said I've been using this sweat rag all day. Go ahead and lay it on that person who's been in the coma. Laid on that person who's been in the coma. Go ahead and take the articles of my clothing that I have worked in all day and use them as connection points and it'll drive the sickness out of people's body and guys.
Speaker 1:There's just something about endurance in faith that produces something that nothing else can, and I I wish it wasn't like. I wish faith was as just, like I wish it worked that way I do. I wish it was a microwave. I wish it was a microwave and not a wood burning smoker. And there's a couple of reasons that I don't.
Speaker 1:I refuse to create a doctrine around unanswered prayer. Well, let me show you why I refuse to make. Let me show you, I'll just take you there. This is why I won't create a doctrine in my own life. Now, in my own life, I'm not creating a doctrine around unanswered prayer. I won't do it as in. So like a doctrine yeah, so no, no, no, it's okay. So a doctrine. So like a belief system about God would be like a rough understanding of what a doctrine is right. So we create a belief system around unanswered prayer. Let me show you, yeah, so let me show you why I won't. I tell you the truth Anyone who believes in me will do the same works that I have done, and even greater works than these, because I'm going to be with the Father.
Speaker 1:You can ask now, watch this, and this is. I'm about to turn the live stream off. This is a really personal one for me. This particular passage. This is John 14, 12 through 14. This is extremely personal for me and I hold things. So, if you know anything about me, this is almost like turned into a family talk. But that's okay. No, no, no, it's fine, this is fine. I'll get it back on track if I feel like I need to. I hold things really close to my heart that mean a lot to me and I don't share a lot of those things with sharing with Logan and like my apostle and kind of kind of hit and miss if I share it with anybody else, right, um, and this particular passage is probably this, and there's a couple others are probably the most sacred passages in scripture to me, to me. There's a couple others that fit that mold as well.
Speaker 1:But here's one of the reasons I moved to South Carolina, knowing a couple of things. One, I had to get connected to my apostle. Two, I didn't want to move there. I had no desire in my heart to go there. I hated it there. I hated the town, I hated everything about it. I didn't and you guys know that town sucked. It still sucks. Batesburg has gotten a little better.
Speaker 1:Saluta, I guess they got a bojangles, so it's a little better. Um, listen, if you get a bojangles in small town in the south, you, you've. You've come up a little bit. You've got your little chicken biscuit. Um, those, those boberry biscuits are not those, those boberry biscuits are not. Boberry biscuits are not all that bad, y'all, they're not bad. Like in a moment of despair get you a boberry biscuit. Get you a boberry biscuit and a little coffee. Everything's going to be OK, you'll be all right. It's like a slap on the butt from your football coach is going to be OK, son. That's a really good example. I'm proud of myself for that one.
Speaker 1:Um, and I knew I wanted to marry Logan and I had no ability to make that happen. And I was still, at the time, trying to be an itinerant minister and my schedule was so hit and miss that I was able to barely pay rent and keep myself alive, let alone try to provide for a wife, let alone try to buy a ring, let alone try to do all the things. And so I'm like in a real wrestling match, because I feel like I'm in a wrestling match against the Lord at this point because and that's how it felt because he hijacked my life. I was going to go on and live a really good life had he just left me the flip alone. That's how I felt about it.
Speaker 1:I'm going into the military. I'm either going to fly a helicopter, and that's awesome, or we'll do something else and we'll spend a few years in there and then I can write my ticket. Ex-military officer, good, conservative mind, I can get into politics. I can do whatever it is that I want to from there. It's a launching pad into unlimited options for me, and it's going to be amazing. I'm going to live the best life.
Speaker 1:I like to hunt birds. I'll get to hunt birds whenever I want to, and this is going to be amazing. I'll have the best dog. I still don't have a dog, and I'm talking to him about that. We're going to make that happen and I'm going to name it Dennis. We have landed on Dennis. No, it's from the Minecraft movie. It's from the Minecraft. If you all haven't seen the Minecraft movie, it's from the Minecraft. If y'all haven't seen the Minecraft, you got to let your boys watch it. It's amazing. Jack Black. Jack Black is just ridiculous the whole time. Yeah, he's the star, and his beard is huge and his facial expressions are hilarious and he's ridiculous the entire time. It's amazing, and his dog's name is Dennis, and he sings a little song to Dennis, and Lennon has started singing the song along when we sing it. It's the cutest thing. I'll have her do it for everybody when she's here. Uh-huh, she did. It's extraordinarily cute. So Dennis will be my dog's name, and he's going to be the best bird hunting dog there ever was, because I have waited so long for my.
Speaker 1:I sat when I was four years old and told somebody I'm going to get me a dog. I'm still trying to get me a dog. Um, it's going to happen, though, and it's going to be. I'm just racking up interest, um, but I wanted to. I wanted to marry Logan and I had no ability to make that happen. And I'm so broke that it's pathetic.
Speaker 1:And I realized that my life is just not going well, just kind of like on the human level. My life is going as poorly about as it could at this point and it didn't have to be this way. I didn't have to get this call to ministry, I didn't have to move to Alabama. I could have just been left alone and life would have been fine. Life would have probably been better than fine and I would still love the Lord. I would have been a really good giver in a church. I would have given so much money, I would have been the best giver. And these are the conversations I'm having with the Lord.
Speaker 1:And then I'm reading John and I come across this passage. I tell you the truth Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. That all by itself is enough to do something inside of you. If you're not, the old preachers used to say your wood's wet. If that doesn't do anything for you, then he continues that thought process forward. You can ask for anything in my name and I will do it so that the son can bring glory to the father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. I'm going to read to you what that says in the Passion Translation as well, because what it says in the Passion Translation adds a layer to that that I really like. I'm just going to pull it up on my phone here real quick. These phones are so nifty.
Speaker 1:I tell you this timeless truth the person who follows me in faith, believing in me, will do the same mighty miracles that I do, even greater miracles than these, because I go to be with my Father, for I will do whatever you ask me to do when you ask me in my name. And this is how the Son will show what the father is really like, and this is how the son will show what the father is really like and bring glory to him. Ask me anything in my name and I will do it for you. He goes on in John 14 through 17 is my favorite part of the Bible, those three. It's my favorite part. He goes on to at least twice more tell the apostles anything you ask in my name, I'll do it. And then he reiterates it again. Anything you ask in my name, I'll do it. So then we're confronted with this question what happens if this never happens? We have the choice then, gina and this is really what it comes down to is we have a choice I'm going to conform this to my experience or I'm going to refuse to allow my experience to create an excuse that doesn't exist for a holy God. And if this is not true, none of this is true. If that passage, right there, is not real.
Speaker 1:Jesus is telling his disciples this is the context of that teaching he's giving his disciples right before he goes. They're in the garden, he's about to be crucified. He's giving them one last teaching before he goes to the cross. This is the last thing you say, is the most important thing you say, and he's going through and teaching them. And obviously that principle maybe doesn't apply to scripture. There's so many other important things he says, but he's going through and he's teaching them. And then he looks them dead in the eyes and says Philip says, show us the father, it'll be enough. For us, it'll be sufficient. He says I've been with you so long and yet you don't know who I am. He who has seen me has seen the father and then he goes into. I tell you the truth Anyone who believes in me, these works that I have done, greater works will they do because they follow me in faith. Ask me anything in my name and I'll do it. And then he repeats it Ask me anything in my name and I'll do it.
Speaker 1:And there's this principle in Scripture. It's called the second and third infinitive. It has to do with the Greek language where if you repeat something twice, it adds a layer of emphasis to that saying. So it adds emphasis, it adds importance to what he's saying. He does it three times and you can't get higher than the third infinitive. It's as emphasized as it can be in the language of the day and there are at least three times. And go look at it. There are at least three times in John 14 through 17, where he gives you a blank check in prayer and says anything you ask in my name and I'll do it. It doesn't get more emphasized than that.
Speaker 1:So we're left to wrestle with why doesn't every prayer get answered and why doesn't every healing happen and why do we sometimes have to wrestle through this and it doesn't resolve in the way that I'm believing God for it to resolve. There's some mystery there, but we have a choice. We have a choice to create doctrines around unanswered prayer that Jesus doesn't create, and that is the standard that we hold ourselves to. And I don't have all the answers. I don't have. I don't even have good answers to a lot of things. To be honest with you. It's left so much in mystery, but the lack is never on his end. The lack is never on his end, and there's, there are layers of factors that I don't understand, and there are things that go on, and everything has nuance to it, and we're typically bad at handling nuance. Right, I know I am, but I'm not going to create a doctrine around my prayer not getting answered when Jesus didn't give me permission to. You're good, buddy, just don't hit the camera. Um, jesus didn't give me permission to do that, so I'm not gonna.
Speaker 1:Because what that does, then, is it creates room for doubt. It's room for doubt, and what that will do, what doubt will do? Not that having a doubting thought is the problem. That's the faith teaching, the faith teaching the faith teachers. The faith teachers would at some point say you can't have an ounce of doubt in you. That's not true. No, that's not true, because I have experience. Well, exactly right, I have experience. I have experience. I have experienced in my life seeing blind eyes open up when I had more than an ounce of doubt, when I was praying for something in America. Not, I'm not talking about overseas, I'm talking about here in the ghetto, in like poverty. Not in Saluda, not in Saluda. Well, yeah, one time in Saluda.
Speaker 1:But we're left with these questions of why didn't that work? I don't know. I suppose the answer is I've not yet been completely conformed into the image of Christ, but I'm on my way and I'm going to continue down this path and I'm not going to waver. I'm going to continue. There's pain, there's things I don't understand. There's hardship, there's trial. There's unanswered prayer. There's question. There's question. There's trial, there's trial, there's question.
Speaker 1:But we have the choice to create doctrines around things.
Speaker 1:He didn't give us permission to create doctrines around or to hold this thing to the standard that it requires us to hold it to and to hold him. There's something about command ye me, the works of my hands that the old saints got, that we've lost in this generation. There's something about holding God to his word that pleases him. There's a piece of his word is higher than even his own name, and we've got faith in him. But do we have faith in his word as much as we have faith in him and our faith in him is never wavering? Is our faith in his word never wavering, even in the middle of contradiction, even in the middle of trial, even in the middle of I'm despairing of even my own life? And these are the things that then, must be answered in us. And the answer for me is no, but I'm going to get there. Right now, the answer for me is no. I don't have as deep a faith in His Word as I do faith in Him. And that sounds kind of contradictory, right? Do we believe His Word, what he said, as much as we believe, have faith in Him for salvation? Right? I think that ought to be the standard of believing his word. We hold to our salvation. We know that's immovable. We hold to his word. We know that's immovable. Do we do that? And these are the questions that I think have to be answered. And I don't. The answer for me is not always and I don't. The answer for me is not always, but I'm going to get there. I'm going to get there Before this thing's over. I'm going to get there and however things shake out guys, I don't have answers for trials, but I know he's with me in the middle of it and if he can be with me in the middle of it I can find him. So I hope that answers a question that you asked, and I don't know that it's a good answer. He didn't give us permission and he doesn't give us permission to create doctrines around unanswered prayer. And what we'll do if we create doctrines around unanswered prayer is we'll make excuses for him that he never asked us to make. I'm not going to make excuses for him. I'm not. And if that means I have to sit with mystery and sit with contradiction, then I'll sit with mystery and I'll sit with contradiction because I'd rather know him. We don't want to be demon conscious, because that's obviously not the answer.
Speaker 1:Not everything's the devil. There are things that and we don't focus on that. The life throws stuff at you, circumstances throw things at you. Our own choices contribute to things to lead us into difficult circumstances, but there is a point at which it's not something that I have contributed to. It's not like a natural thing life would throw at us. And why is the longevity of this? As long as it is, as hard as it is, what's going on? There's still. There's still the truth that the devil's real guys and the opposition that we face is real and it's not. It's a spiritual battle. It has to be fought on a spiritual level. And just because we do it differently, just because we're seated, just because we're not going into hand-to-hand combat and declaring everything's the demon and you know the devil's under every rock, that's nonsense. It's nonsense, but it doesn't take away from the fact he's defeated, but sometimes he needs reminded that he's defeated. He's defeated, but there's a level of authority that has been given to him by people who will not use their authority. There's, I think.
Speaker 1:I think Dad Hagen's book, the Authority of the Believer, ought to be required reading for anyone trying to live this life. The Authority of the Believer is a huge has had a huge impact on my life, and I read it again recently. Um well, the thing is this you have to. You have to, as a believer, take the authority that's been given to you, and one of the things that happens with the authority is that we find out that it's not a tailored suit. It's not. It's not. It's something that it means we grow into it. It means it there's. There's a there's a maturation process in all of that, that, as you begin to come into authority, you fill it out a little bit more. It's it's like it's like giving. It's like giving a 16 year old boy a grown man's coat. You'll'll fill it out, you'll fill it out bud there's. There's. Those things are real.
Speaker 1:There's a spiritual element. There's a spiritual element we need to be able to discern. We need to be able to discern when it's a spiritual thing that's coming against us. We need to be, we need to be able to discern when there's spiritual opposition. Is this life throwing hard things at me that I'm going to endure through? But let me talk to that. Let me speak to that just a little bit. If all life is is enduring one hard thing after another, there's not a lot of joy in that, is there? There's not a lot of joy in that sort of mentality and there's not a lot of joy inside of that kind of living. And as spirit-filled believers, I'm going to make a statement that may, on face level, be a little offensive. We ought to be the most joyful people on earth. We ought to have the highest capacity for celebration, the highest capacity for joy and celebrate things at the drop of a hat.
Speaker 1:Jesus had this beautiful ability. It says that he was acquainted with our sufferings, he was acquainted with our sorrows. He was acquainted with those things. He was a man of many sorrows. He was a man of tears, he was acquainted with weeping, yeah. But it also says he was anointed with the oil of joy more than all of his brethren. It does such a good job. It does such a good job. Yeah, exactly that statement right there. For the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross. Joy was the reward. Joy was the reward for suffering for him. Guys, and that joy, do you know what that was? Do you know what that joy was? It's not even us in maturity, it's not even us in our highest level of being conformed or transfigured into the image of Christ. Whatever language you want to use there, I like the word transfigured. Some people like transformed, whatever. It's the same thing. Not really. Transfigured is a little more infinitive there. But for for more, more or less mine is my term is better, but more or less. It's true, but that's not even the joy that was set before him.
Speaker 1:Reconciling all things back to the Father in seed form. You realize, reconciling all things back to the Father didn't bring all things back to the Father in full maturation. It was the seed. Nt Wright does an incredible job of describing that in his book the Day the Revolution Began. He writes a book about the atonement and the entire thesis of the book is that the atonement was the beginning of the revolution and that the earth is being returned back to its original intent by those that have been reconciled back into right relationship with the Father, with the father. The atonement and the reconciling of all things back to the father, including believers, was the seed form the earth is in seed. New creation. This is the seed form of the new creation. Guys, he's going to come back and deal with the final enemy death. I'm not saying he's not going to come back. He's going to come back and deal with the final enemy death. I'm not saying he's not going to come back. He is going to come back and deal with the final enemy death. But we will have dealt with every single other enemy until it gets to the point that the last enemy is death and there's one person who can deal with him the thought of having reconciled immaturity back to the father was enough of a reward for him to endure the cross. Throw my pen through a wall, through a wall. The thought that he was reconciling all things back to the Father was enough for him to endure that.
Speaker 1:We can hold grief and trial and difficulty in one hand and joy in the other, and we can be people of joy in the middle of extended trial, people of joy in the middle of extended difficulty. I don't know many people happier than Lou, and Lou has been sick for a year and a half, no answers. And I don't know many people that'll laugh quicker than Lou will Maybe me, but I don't know. Lou laughs pretty quick. There's a tension that we're. There's tension in life where you carry the two of them together and what'll happen if we let it? If we let it, if we let it is, we'll allow difficulty to become our master and your trial will become your master. So how do we avoid that piece? How do we avoid that particular outcome in our lives? Because I know people that are of the faith and I know people that have been of the faith for years and years and years and years that never come out of being mastered by their trials. It's always one difficult thing after the next. Everybody's dealing with things. Currently, we're dealing with multiple layers of things and I'm not making light of anybody's scenarios. Y'all are for a small group. We are, I think, absorbing more ridiculous amount of trial than we ought to be at this point. I'm pretty frustrated with it, to be honest with you Not with the Lord, but I'm frustrated with the trial and with the fact that this is going on inside of our covenant family. And how do we avoid being people that are mastered by our trial? Right, I think one of the answers is found right here and I'm going to read just a little bit to you. I'll make a few comments and then we'll take communion.
Speaker 1:Then, moses, this is Exodus 24. Then, moses, aaron Nadab Abihu and the servants and the 70 elders of Israel climbed up the mountain again. So, moses, this is Mount Sinai. Moses is taking Aaron Nadab Abihu. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that appropriately. I'm in verse 9.
Speaker 1:And the 70 elders of Israel up Mount Sinai. The Lord is about to deliver the law to Moses. Law to Moses. The law was the Lord acquiescing to the demands of Israel for there to be distance between them and him because of fear. The Lord says I would that all of you be a nation of priests. And they get to Mount Sinai and Moses says don't be afraid. And the children of Israel are like we're, terrified. You talk to him and you tell us what he said. We don't want to talk to him. So the Lord acquiesces to that level of understanding and creates a system of worship that created distance between them and him. But we can see see even in David's setting up of his tabernacle, that the heart of the Lord was never for there to be distance between him and them. The heart of the Lord was for there to be union between the two of them. But he allowed a system to be created that would bring them into right relationship but keep him just at arm's length, just enough for the children of Israel to go on the journey of discovering him. But he allowed them to do it at their pace. I hope that makes sense, the way that I'm saying that. That's the way that I view the law of Moses.
Speaker 1:The children of Israel were the only nation on the earth that dared take the journey to know Yahweh. And in the middle of that journey they're coming out of Exodus, they're coming out of Egypt and they've known the Egyptian system of worship and they wanted to have a system of worship around their God that would have been familiar to them. That was something that would have looked like the system of worship around the Egyptian gods. And Yahweh, in his goodness, acquiesced to their demand in order that, over time, they would know him. They would know him without the constraints of the law. He spoke for their pace. He spoke to them in the language. The better way to say that would be he spoke to them in the language. The better way to say that would be he spoke to them in the language they understood, and his heart was that they would be a nation of priests, just like his heart was that they would be led by a prophet rather than a king. And he allowed them to have a king because they demanded a king, because they wanted something that looked familiar to them.
Speaker 1:Yahweh acquiesces in order to keep relationship. Say that again Yahweh will acquiesce in order to keep relationship, but it does not necessarily mean it's the highest form of his heart for those individuals. He does it with us all the time. Yahweh acquiesces and speaks to us in the language that we can understand, always knowing. If you'll just come up here, I feel the Holy Ghost on that. If you'll just come up here, I feel the Holy Ghost on that. If you'll just come up here just a little bit higher, there's a higher form of relationship with me that I have for you, but I'm going to acquiesce and speak to you in the language that you understand right now.
Speaker 1:Abraham and my plan was never to kill your son, isaac, but that's the highest form of worship to the gods in Abraham's day was to sacrifice a child. So Yahweh comes and says bring your son, your only son, whom you love, and sacrifice him to me, because this will be the highest pinnacle of proving your devotion to me in the form of worship that you understand. He's acquiescing and speaking to him in a language that he understands. So that's how I view the setting up of the law of the children, of the law of Moses for the children of Israel. Is Yahweh saying okay, you can set up all these regulations and all these guidelines, but there's coming a time when I'm going to, I'm going to be, I'm going to bring the completion of the law and we'll remove all of these boundaries. And that's what my heart really longs for, and I was having a conversation through text with a friend of mine, mark Dugdale.
Speaker 1:He's become a real friend, he's a blessing to me. He lives in Washington and he's been a blessing to me. He asked a question along the lines of acquiescing God, acquiescing to the children of Israel, and I asked this question back to him. I said I wonder how often he acquiesces to us. By acquiescing I mean to acquiesce like a layman's definition. So this is how I understand.
Speaker 1:Acquiescing is to yield to a lower form of understanding. Yeah, accommodate. So an acquiescing would be another way of saying that would be accommodating their need. So I'm saying that he's accommodating their need to have something familiar to wrap their worship around. Does that make sense? They're not. They were not yet prepared to see him face to face the way he desired for them to see him face to face. He met them where they could understand. That makes sense. Does that? Does that help you? No, that's fine, that's fine.
Speaker 1:So, mount Sinai the command was don't let the animals go near it, because if the animals go near it they'll get stoned. They'll have to be stoned because they got too near to the Lord. Don't allow animals to go up the slope of the mountain because if your animals go up the slope of the mountain, you'll have to be stoned because they got too near to the Lord. Don't allow animals to go up the slope of the mountain because if your animals go up the slope of the mountain, you'll have to stone them. Don't allow anyone to come up the mountain because they'll die.
Speaker 1:No one can see the face of God and live, and I want you to see what Yahweh does at the outset of the Old Covenant. I was reading this last night and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Then Moses, aaron, nadab Abihu and the 70 elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. There they saw the God of Israel. It doesn't say they saw something like him. It doesn't say they saw part of him. There they saw God and watch what he does with them. Watch. You're not supposed to be able to see God and live. He says that to Moses Let me see your glory. I pray you. No man may see my glory and live, but I'll let you see my hind parts. As I pass over, I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock and I'll allow you to see what I'll allow you.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that sees his, his hind parts or what is left after he passes in front of him. Well, here they see him, watch what he does there. They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet, there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli. I don't know what that is, but really cool, as clear as the sky itself. Under his feet there seemed to be a clear. There seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.
Speaker 1:And though the nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. It wasn't just Moses who spoke face to face with God, as a man speaks to his friend. It wasn't just Joshua, the son of Nun, who would remain in the tent after Moses had been speaking to the cloud. It wasn't just them that got to see God All 70. These weren't even the leaders of the tribes. There'd be 12 of them. They weren't the most, they weren't the eldest of the tribes of Israel. There were 70 that he took up there. I never read it either, at least I don't remember. And though the nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. Watch this. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence. No man may gaze upon God and live, but the first time the children of Israel at large, represented by the 70 elders, are brought into the very presence of Yahweh, they're not only not destroyed, they eat a covenant meal with him, eating and drinking in his presence. Then the Lord, so. So that's okay. And though the nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence. You're not supposed to be able to see him and live, but he reveals himself. It doesn't give us. So.
Speaker 1:The Old Testament is replete with language that commentators would say. They use this principle, they use the like-as principle because they don't have appropriate language to describe what they're seeing. You'll see this throughout all of the Old Testament. He was like, or it was as, or Yahweh is like this, or the color was like this, or it was as this. They're saying that because what they're seeing is sort of like that, but it's beyond anything they've ever seen before. It's the only comparative in our language or frame of reference that we would have, and you don't get any like as information here. They saw Yahweh. You don't get any of the comparative language in this passage.
Speaker 1:Before the law, he came to them. And when he came to them he said I really would rather just eat a meal with you, man, man, man. Then the Lord said to Moses come up on the mountain, stay there and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people. So Moses and Joshua go up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, and you can see. 40 days and 40 nights, and you can see. I'm going to read just a little bit of the exact instructions Yahweh gives for the construction of the tabernacle. I'm just going to touch just a little bit of it. Exodus 25,.
Speaker 1:The Lord said to Moses Tell the people of Israel to bring me their sacred offerings, accept the contributions from all those whose hearts are moved to offer them. Here's the list of sacred offerings you may accept from them. He's got a list. It's not whatever they felt like giving. He always said these are the things I'll take Gold, silver and bronze, blue, purple and scarlet thread, fine linen and goat hair for cloth, tanned ram skins and fine goat skin, leather, acacia, wood, olive oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, onyx, stones and other gemstones to be set in the ephod and the priest's chest piece. Have the people of Israel, build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them. You must build this tabernacle and its furnishings exactly according to the pattern that I will show you.
Speaker 1:Then I'm going to skip down to verses 17. Verse 17 through 22, he just kind of goes through the holy of holies. He said then make the ark's cover. This is the ark of the covenant. Then make the that would carry Aaron's rod, that budded. It would carry the uh, it would eventually carry manna and it would eventually carry the broken tablets of stone that Moses wings at him because they're fornicating in front of a golden calf After he comes down off the mountain. That's what's happening. He comes down and you imagine he comes out of the presence of Yahweh and the children of Israel are freaking out and they're having illicit relationships with each other in the open in front of the golden calf. That's what was happening in that worship. And Moses wings him. He gets so mad he wings it at him. I think I would have too. I'm going back, I'm going back.
Speaker 1:Then the arcs cover the place of atonement, the place of atonement, from pure gold. It must be 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. Then make two cherubim from hammered gold and place them on two ends of the atonement cover. Mold the cherubim on each end of the atonement cover, making it all of one piece of gold. Can you imagine the intricate design that would have had to have gone on here? Make it all of one piece, so you've got an angel and then a covering for the ark and then another angel. All of one piece of gold. It's not set on there, it's all one piece. The engineering would have been really advanced for that time, although I think they were a hair more advanced than we think they were, especially the Egyptians.
Speaker 1:The cherubim will face each other and look down on the atonement cover with their wings spread over it, spread above it and they will protect it. Okay, with their wings spread above it and they will protect it. Okay, with their wings spread above it, they will protect it. Place inside the ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant which I will give to you. Then put the atonement cover on top of the ark. I will meet you there and talk to you From above. The atonement cover between the gold cherubim that hover above the Ark of the Covenant. From there I will give you my commands for the people of Israel. That is known to the people of Israel as the mercy seat. It's where the presence of Yahweh would come down like a cloud and he would speak with Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend.
Speaker 1:And we begin to see, and you can look through the next, through chapter 31,. One, we get specific instructions and specific designs from the Lord for the system of worship that was to be set up. He talks about even the craftsmen that are supposed to do it. I don't want just any craftsmen to do it. I have chosen two of them. They will be the lead craftsmen. I have chosen two of them. They will be the lead craftsmen. Their names were I'm not even going to try, nope, we're not trying. But you can see that in chapter 31. Chapter 31 will tell you their names. He put his spirit on those men to give them wisdom and excellence in their craft. So even the men that were to build the specific things for the tabernacle were to be instructed by Yahweh. He had a specific order and a specific design for everything. But at the center of it, at the heart of it, at the onset of it. What did he do? He revealed himself to them and ate a meal with them.
Speaker 1:I have a couple of thoughts and I'm going to share this, and I've been wanting to teach on order for a little bit, and I'm going to cut this very short. I'm not going to go into much of my writings here. We've already had a pretty extensive conversation. This will help us, as a family, understanding the appointed order of the Lord. Well, brother, that's the old covenant, yeah, and it's in the new covenant too. Hold on, I'll pull it up. 1 Corinthians 12 goes into the order of the new covenant, 1 Corinthians 12, and there are a couple other places we can find the order of the new covenant. He's dealing with primarily the order of the church, but then we can also find that he has appointed orders for families. He has appointed orders for marriage relationships. He has appointed order for the relationships of parents and children.
Speaker 1:Parents, love your children and instruct them in the way they should go. That, then, requires that a parent know his child enough and be involved enough in each individual child that he knows the direction they ought to go. That requires intentionality, wisdom, godly instruction and deep involvement in the heart and life of each of their children and for a parent to endeavor to know their child that way is one of the most self-sacrificial things they could ever do. And you have to then be able to engage with your child, correct your child, understand the appropriate measure of correction to take with your child in order not to crush that child's spirit, because you want them to be pliable but not crushed. And sometimes there has to be a correction to bring pliability. But if you correct too far, you'll crush, and if you crush, you take away from them rather than giving to them. And correction from a parent to a child should always give your child something, not take away something. It should give something, not take away. That is a challenge. I have three very challenging children and it is a challenge for parents that kids that love to sit around and not be active. It's a challenge for active kids. It's a different, it's a challenging thing and you have to be able to do that without condemnation when you mess it up, because you will.
Speaker 1:There's an order to. There's an order to marriage relationships. Husbands love your wife as christ Loved the church and gave himself for her that last piece right there and gave himself for her. And then, wives, submit yourself to your husband. That means, when his leadership diverges from the way that we want to go, we follow his leadership and we empower him to make those. That's the piece that we miss in marriage relationships. We miss the piece that comes when a wife intentionally submits to her husband and empowers him to lead the family. There's an empowerment that takes place inside of the self-giving relationship of a husband and wife who are living in other-centered, self-giving love and other-centered, self-giving love they're giving themselves for one another. And there's an exhaustion that takes place when you bring children into the middle of it. So nerves run short and time runs short, connection can run short and when the rubber meets the road, the designed order of the Lord is you follow that man's leading. That does not mean that the man is to be a dictator and iron fisted. We don't even have to talk about that, because that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the designed order of the Lord for the family is husbands, you lay yourself down on that train track for your wife and you love her like I did. And, wife, you submit to him, you follow his lead. That's really what that means is you follow his lead and husbands. You know what that means. That means we're the priest of our household, whether we want to be or not. That means we're the way that the Lord has ordered it.
Speaker 1:The spiritual atmosphere of the home is allowed or disallowed by the husband. Now the wife will often set the atmosphere of the home. That's kind of how. That's an interesting. That's an interesting play on how that works. The wife off not always, but often will set the atmosphere of the home and the husband is the one who becomes the gatekeeper for the home and he deals with the snake when the snake tries to enter the garden. That's the great failing of Adam in the garden is that snake never should have been there. He should have been the gatekeeper and kept that sucker out of there. Not that he acquiesced to Eve, that that snake was even allowed to have the conversation in the first place In the church.
Speaker 1:First apostles, then prophets, then pastors and teachers, then evangelists, then pastors and teachers, and gifts and tongues and all of the things. That's the order of the church, the order of a spiritual culture. There's order to that. There's order to our lives, and I'm mentioning all these things and I'm going to close up right here. There's order to our lives.
Speaker 1:And what's a really practical way for me to bring order to my life? Where there's chaos, because it's hard, there's a real deep challenge there. And trying to survive, trying to have the appropriate amount of finances in a difficult economy to survive, trying to navigate relationships, trying to deal with stress, add on top of that trial, tribulation, difficult situations, add on top of that X, y and Z, and then all of a sudden we find ourselves holy crap, what do I do? And a really practical way to bring order to all of that is place things in your life by weight of importance what's important, what's not important. And that takes some self-reflection and that takes some intentionality. And what we do is we weight the important things at a higher level than the less important things. And that means there's some days where, in order to get the important things at a higher level than the less important things, and that means there's some days where, in order to get the important things done, those less important things are going to fall by the wayside and we just have to be okay with it. There are some days where the things that are less important in our lives are going to have to go undone in order for us to maintain the appropriate amount of union with our primary relationships and our relationship with Yahweh. If we'll do that as a family, the level of glory man, I feel it right there, y'all feel the Holy Spirit moving in on that the level of glory that'll come to our homes and come to our individual lives will intensify to a degree that we never knew it could. That's the beautiful thing about the order of the Lord.
Speaker 1:The order of the Lord is never restriction, it's freedom. But, brother, he's restricting me. From what are you? What are you? You got to put God rails on? Yeah, I am, because the ultimate aim of the incarnation is that the Father, son and spirit wanted to share their life with us, and the most appropriate way, the only way for him to truly share his life with us is inside of that prescribed order, because otherwise we'll become sieves, we'll become colanders that water goes in and comes out the bottom of and we'll be able to hold nothing that he deposits inside of us. And Yahweh's a farmer, he plants seeds. Yahweh's a farmer, he plants seeds, and if we're a colander that can't hold anything, he'll plant the seed and water the seed and the water will come out the bottom because there's no appropriate structure to hold the thing he's trying to give us and what will happen is the seed will die. It's never restriction, it's freedom. The order of the Lord is always freedom, never restriction.
Speaker 1:And he underscores the importance of order even in speaking to the children of Israel, in a way that he didn't choose to by setting up the law of Moses. He underscores it by saying, guys, this thing's all going to end with a meal. This thing's going to begin with a meal and it's going to end with a meal. You're going to be with me and we're going to share union with one another. And if you'll do a search in your scriptures, do a search in your scriptures and look at how many times the Lord says and the Lord will be their God and he will be their people. Just look that up. Look that up. It's throughout the old covenant and then again in Revelation, the sound, the. Revelation 20, I believe it's 21,. Revelation 21 and the and the Jesus and the trumpet sounded and the call went out the tabernacle of God is with men and he will be their God and they will be his people. The ultimate dream of the heart of Yahweh is for us to share his life with him, for him to share with us and for us to share with him in it, to be a symbiotic relationship of sharing. But he sets up order for us to be able to do it. He sets up order for us to be able to do it. He sets up order for us to be able to.
Speaker 1:The churches that I know of the spiritual families that I know of, that are experiencing the highest degree of an outpouring of the spirit, have a really high degree of order. The families that I know that live in the joy of the Lord does not mean they don't face really hard things and have really hard days. It doesn't mean that mom sometimes gets mad at the kids and blesses them out and dad sometimes has to whip somebody because sometimes a butt needs whipped. It does. Sometimes a butt needs whipped. I talk to Samuel about that. Sometimes, son, sometimes a butt needs whipped, and yours is today. Let's go. That's right, that's right. That's right, that's right, that's right, that's right, that's right. It doesn't mean that those things won't be, because that's life, guys, but his glory will be at the center of it. Last thought, and then we'll take communion.
Speaker 1:The most damaging thing evangelical christianity taught us was an imaginary line that separated sacred from secular. The most damaging thing that evangelical, and it has done a lot of damaging things. There's a lot of things that I would like to burn down right now, but the most damaging thing is it created distance between us and him where there is no distance, and caused us to compartmentalize our lives when he wants to invade all of it. We took the worst idea from Catholicism and propagated it in evangelicalism and made it more widespread than Catholicism even did. Evangelicalism and made it more widespread than Catholicism even did. It's the idea of setting up communities for monastic people to do things that ordinary Christians can't do and give their life and service to God. They set up communities where super Christians could do super Christian things and do the super holy things that the rest of us weren't capable of doing, and they created a hierarchy.
Speaker 1:And I have a deep appreciation for monastic writing because it comes from a really deep well of relationship. But, guys, that deep well is available to all of us and it's not just available to those that live in a secluded place where they have nothing to do but study God, yahweh, jesus. Yahweh desires to have that deep well with all of us, and it's available to me in the middle of my job as much as it's available to the monk in the middle of meditation, and all we have to do is find it. You build a floor at the time yeah, because it's the weight. Build a floor at the time, pour the foundation deep. You pour the foundation no, that's exactly right, jenny you pour the foundation really, really, really deep and then you start laying beams into that foundation I'm talking about. We ought to celebrate, because celebration is kingdom. Yahweh celebrates and so we should. We should be full of joy and celebration.
Speaker 1:Jesus was called a winebibber, a drunkard. He was called a glutton. You know why? Because he was celebrating all the time at parties. I'm talking about things like this. I'll use I'll use this as a practical example. I'll give some practical examples. Samuel took survival swim class when he was, let's see, three. He was seven now, so that would have been four years ago, and so he's three, he's three years old, he's taking survival swim class and he gets through the end of his survival swim class. It's great, it's fun, it's awesome, and I was at work the day that he finished it and I I went out of my way, several minutes out of my way and got him something from the store and took it home for him and made it a big deal and made it a big deal. Those are the kinds of things that I'm talking about. We ought to celebrate. Celebrating is kingdom. It's a kingdom. I hold that value pretty high. I hope I do it well. Celebrating is a kingdom value to me. Life throws enough hard things at you. You ought to celebrate when things go well. Life's going to throw enough curveballs. Life's going to throw enough difficulty, not to mention the opposition we're against. We have reason to celebrate. We've been reconciled back to the Father. We've been filled with the Holy Spirit. We've been brought into union with the Father, son and Spirit. We're seated in heavenly places, high above all. Principality, power, might and dominion. Principality, power, might and dominion. We're here reminding creation that she has been brought back in to relationship with the Father. Your time of suffering is over because the sons are here and we've been given the joyous responsibility of letting the earth know and letting humans know. Hey, jesus paid for you to have right relationship with the Father. Guys, there's enough to celebrate, let alone everything else. So when I say celebration, I'm talking about be really practical. Something goes well. Have you a little celebration? Make a big deal out of it. Make a big deal out of other people too. Go ahead, lucy. Gratitude, that's a good way to say that. I think gratitude is a really, that's a really good way to say that, and that would lead to celebration. I think that would. Gratitude, would be the value that would lead to that. It becomes a self-fulfilling loop. It becomes a self-fulfilling loop, exactly right. The center of order is his glory. The center of order is his glory. Heaven center of order is his glory. Heaven looks chaotic, but to him it looks like order Seven winged creatures with eyes everywhere, 24 elders, sea of glass with people sitting on it and apparently there's people under the sea of glass, according to Revelation, so they're praying and the cloud of witnesses and all of the things going on. But it's his prescribed order. Living our lives according to the prescribed order of Yahweh will cause symbiosis to come to our relationships. It'll cause safety to come to our homes. It'll cause levels of encounter and glory to increase and, more importantly, even than all of that, it'll take all those holes that we have in our foundation and patch them. Foundation and patch them, patch, patch, patch, and we'll be people that he can plant a seed, in water it and receive a harvest.