Filtering the Future Tribe 2024-04-07 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com. Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com. Would you turn to Matthew chapter 24? Here's something that you need to know about the vibe of tribe and about me personally. And I get this aspect of the culture of our church modeled for us by the Beastie Boys, my favorite band growing up. And here's what's amazing about the Beastie Boys, is that they took their music very, very seriously, but not themselves. And I think we can take that cue from them about how we approach a relationship with God and it's just who I am. I take my faith very seriously. It is the most important thing in the whole wide world to me. But I don't take myself too seriously. And I think that's a pretty good unreligious approach to take to church. And hopefully you've picked up on that vibe here. We can sing a birthday song just after a moment of prayer and encounter with the Lord, and we can be lighthearted, dare I say silly, and then jump right back into the seriousness of God's word. It's when we think that we have to be staunch and proper, I'm not talking about being disrespectful or lacking proper decorum or irreverent, thank you, but I think that we can take our faith in what we're doing here as a community very seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. Can we do that? Mostly because a lot of you know me and you know I ain't perfect, and I know many of you and I know you ain't perfect. So we're not fooling anybody. Let's just be ourselves and love Jesus genuinely and authentically because he loved us genuinely and authentically, and he chose us despite us. We love you. Okay, Matthew. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 24. And if you're familiar with Matthew chapter 24, it's a power packed chapter in God's word titled Jesus Foretells the Future. And we'll put that passage up on the screen, Matthew yeah, we're gonna read Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24 verse 32 through 36. And if you want a paper bible, and we have the mic in the room and I'd like us to take turns reading. And so whoever has the mic can start reading and then just hand it off, we'll take turns reading and we're gonna read Matthew chapter 24. Well, this is just a few verses, so maybe one person, one shot. Oh, I'm hearing a request that Matt Grabowski read it. You gotta give the people what they want, send that mic back. It's going all the way back. Yeah, warm it up. Warm up the pipes. Here it comes. Ugly dogly. Leticia thought we were chanting for the book of Matthew. Matthew twenty four thirty two through 36. Now learn this lesson from the fig tree. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly, I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Oh, I gotta keep going. Sorry. Yeah. Come on. But about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. Okay. Keep your finger there at that passage. If you're taking notes this morning, you can write the title of the conversation that we're gonna have at the top of your notes. The title of the conversation that we're gonna have this morning is called Filtering the Future. Filtering the Future as a title of this morning's conversation. And I'll get to the bottom line right now. We're gonna talk about the eclipse that's gonna sweep across kind of the eastern part of the nation tomorrow. How many of you know that there's gonna be an eclipse tomorrow? Around here in Jackson, it's projected if we have clear skies, that there'll only be about maybe 63% covering of the sun. But I just wanted to tell you the bottom line real quick. Here is the wisdom straight from my mouth to you. Here's the bottom line. Tomorrow, don't stare at the sun. Don't stare at the sun, okay? So I think that about covers it, that's the end. Have a great week, you got this. No, I do wanna have a conversation about that. How many of you know that there's an eclipse tomorrow? Pretty cool. How many of you were here for the eclipse in 2017? How many of you about lost your mind when that happened? Woah, was incredible. How many of you have heard all kinds of spiritual things associated with the eclipse tomorrow? How many of you have wondered, I wonder, like, what do we do with this? So that's what we're going to talk about today. We're gonna wade right into this. And the desire of my heart is twofold with this message. Number one, I want us to be people of wisdom. I want us to be a company of people that walk and speak in wisdom. Number one. Number two, my goal is twofold, to seemingly do two opposite things at once today. If you lean to the side of hogwash and hooey, I wanna pull you more towards, we might wanna pay attention to what's going on. And if you are on the spectrum of, Oh, here we go, this is it. I want to pull you towards the center of let's calm down and take a breath because you also probably freaked out at Y2K and nothing happens. Nothing happened at Y2K. The computers, they just went to zero zero. All that food you stocked up, like my grandmother, that bunker that you had buried in the side of the hill, nothing happened. How many of remember that? I'm not gonna ask you how much food you had stocked up for that. Hey, hey, if something happened, then we would have been the idiots, right? So I personally have two goals for our conversation today. Number one, that you would grow in wisdom. Number two, that if you're on one side, far end of one spectrum or the other, I want you to be able to move more towards the center, not being moderate, but holding things in tension. And so we're gonna be talking, our conversation today is gonna be about filtering the future. With that in mind, let's first turn, I guess we've already turned to Matthew, let's next turn to a passage in Daniel, Daniel chapter 12, and you can follow along on the screen and I wanna read this to you, Daniel chapter 12, and we're gonna look at verses one through four. Interestingly enough that in Matthew chapter 24, God is talking about things to come. And in Daniel chapter 12, Daniel has seen a picture and a vision of things to come. And he says this in verse one through four, at that time, and we'll put it up on the screen here, at that time Michael the archangel, who stands guard over your nation will arise, he's speaking of Israel. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since the nations first came into existence. But at that time, every one of your people whose name is written in the book of life will be rescued. Many of those whose body lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace. Verse three, which I have underlined. But those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever. But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret, not hidden away as if you need some type of special understanding to decode and gain this knowledge, but mysterious, Mysterion, the Greek word is Mysterion, not hidden from, but hidden for. Keep these things a secret, seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there and knowledge will increase. So look at verse three. Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky. That is my goal for you. If you call tribe home or really for anybody with ears to hear, I want you to be wise and have understanding so that you will shine bright in the day of confusion and calamity and uncertainty. One other verse, first Chronicles chapter 12 verse 32, we'll throw this up on the screen as well. From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All of these men and women understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. Well, me ask you this, what is the prerequisite for knowing the best course to take for Israel, others, people you're leading and even yourself? What is the prerequisite? Understanding the signs of the times. You don't just get to put your head in the sand and be ignorant and oblivious to the world around you and still get to lead yourself, your family, your coworkers and the world around you. If you are a Christian, if Jesus is the leader of your life, there's an invitation for you to shine bright and to be a leader in this generation. But in order for you to do that, you must accurately interpret the signs of the time. How do you do that? With wisdom. A key principle of wisdom is knowing when to use one of two strategies in life. A key principle to growing in wisdom to help you filter the future is to know when to use one of two primary strategies in life. Here's the first strategy, what I would call a problem to solve strategy. You identify a challenge or a situation in your life and you're like, oh, this is a problem to solve. You attack the problem, you solve the problem and then you move on. The other strategy to take when it comes to navigating life's challenges, obstacles or whatever, is attention to manage. And if this is sounding like, I'm not quite following you, let me give you an example, and then we're gonna take this principle and we're gonna apply it to God's word and to current unfolding events. Okay? So we served at this church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and it was a big church. They actually bought an old abandoned like shopping mall from the 80s and it was really cool, like something like 55,000 square feet of like ministry space. Can you imagine if we had that? We'll be happy with 3,000 Lord. Okay, fine, 2,500 Lord. But it doesn't even matter because a church is a people and not a building, thank you Lord. So they had this huge space and Lissa and I were on staff and I was the children's pastor, so I was responsible for kindergarten through fifth grade. And to give you an idea, we had five full time staff, a team of 200 volunteers that would make this ministry work and almost a thousand little world changers running around in the environment. And we would do regular big events and we would go all out, We would bring, we would import a full petting zoo into our children's ministry area, all the animals that you can think of, turtles and llamas and koalas and zebras and lizards and dolphins, I don't know, like whatever. And we would do this huge petting zoo and we would make a huge mess or we would have like an indoor slip and slide or shaving, we'd bring vehicles into the children's ministry environment and we would do a lot of great ministry and we would make a huge mess. And the facilities manager, his name was Dick McDonald, and he and I, needless to say, we're constantly like this because his job was to keep the facility pristine. And he had a mentality of like church should look like a museum. He loved to honor and please the Lord by keeping the church clean. I kind of had a completely different strategy, and mindset, but Dick had, he had a strategy of a problem to solve. What's the, don't point at me like that. I'm attention to manage, a problem to solve. So Dick approached, his strategy was this is a problem to solve. The problem is the children's ministry is wrecked. Smudges and ice cream and whipped cream and goat droppings and all of the things. The problem, And how does he solve the problem? The problem to solve it would just be no kids, no ministry in that wing of the church. And he would solve the problem. The floors would be clean, the bathrooms would be clean, there would be no graham crackers ground into the carpet, there would be no smudges on the wall and there would also be no what? People or ministry. I, for a while, adopted the same problem to solve strategy. And the problem was Dick's my enemy and he is getting in the way of effective ministry and he needs to go. Because he was always coming after me and I was like, hey, we gotta like do the work of the Lord here and that means getting our hands in the floors dirty. And I had the same but opposite strategy, both of us were wrong. It took our senior pastor, Alex, to sit us both down and be like, listen, you're both wrong. This is not a problem to solve. This is a tension to manage. Dick, you need to understand that in order for effective ministry to happen, the walls are gonna get smudgy, the carpet's gonna get dirty and praise the Lord, let's increase Brian's ministry budget so that every two years we can completely replace the carpet. If that means that dozens and dozens and dozens of children are getting to hear the good news of Jesus and growing deep roots into the things of God and being equipped with wings to sprout and to fly and to flourish in their relationship with Jesus. And Brian, Dick's job is to keep this gigantic facility clean. You need to give him a heads up. You need to ask him, you need to partner with him. Hey, we want to bring a monster truck into the school gymnasium for a big event that we're doing. Ask him, how can we do that and keep the facility as clean as possible? We both shook hands and hugged and we had like a pretty good relationship after that. It was attention to manage. I'm really trying to prove. So wisdom is knowing which of the two strategies to use in life. For how many of you, the example that I just gave is making sense, like, okay, I can see that. For how many of you, maybe even now you're realizing, there's a situation maybe that happened recently or a long time ago, I was approaching that situation with a problem to solve mentality and actually that might not have been the best approach, but maybe I should have used attention to manage strategy. Yeah, okay. And we're also gonna talk about having attention to manage strategy when really there just needs to be some decisive action and it actually is a problem to solve. And what you did is prolong your time in that situation because you were trying to manage tensions instead of being decisive and make a decision. I would suggest to you that people who operate in the greatest level of wisdom have figured out the best time and place to use either a problem to solve strategy or attention to manage strategy. Wisdom is knowing which approach to use in any given situation. Now let's talk about the principle and let me check-in with you, I'd love to hear your thoughts on these two strategies. And then we're going to, so you can't apply that to my situation with Dick. You can think of it and put yourself in my shoes, okay? But we're all about to be in a situation and before we get to that situation, I thought we would use the situation of the coming eclipse tomorrow or really fill in the blank with any number of world events that are unfolding right now, that potentially could have some very serious ripple effects and consequences. Before those things play out, let's use it as an example. So with that in mind, let's talk about the principle first between these two different strategies. Do you have any questions or thoughts I'd like to hear from you? Just raise your hand and the mic will come around to you in the room. Maybe you're in absorption mode. Okay. Tomorrow, I think around 11:30 ish, don't quote me because I don't want you to take your break from work and go out at 11:30 and it was actually 01:30, I don't know what time, I think 11:30. As the eclipse goes across kind of the Eastern part of America, here in Wyoming, if we have some decent cloud cover, I mean clear skies, we might be able to see something, but there's a lot of people along the East Coast that are gonna get to be in the zone of totality, and there are gonna be a lot of people that think either this is attention to manage situation or it's a problem to solve. And by problem to solve, they may disregard it completely. Meh, doesn't mean anything. Or the other side of the spectrum is that's it, sky is falling, this is the end. So how do we operate in wisdom? Well, I'd like to suggest to you, and this is gonna go up on the screen here, that there are three filters, if you're gonna look with your Oh, these are dirty. John's got a cleaning cloth probably in his pocket. Here, Gretchen, come deal with these. Could you see it from here? Like, we got a problem to solve here. Thank you for your gift. How do we grow in wisdom? I would like to equip you with three filters that we as Christians should view the world around us to help us walk in wisdom. Three filters that every situation you might find yourself in personally, or at work, or with family, or when things are happening in the skies above. When we look at the world with these three filters, it can help us walk and operate in wisdom. And I'm gonna put them all up on the screen at once. Three filters. When we examine events around us or in our own heart or in our own life, through these three filters, it can help us walk in wisdom. When we use God's word, when we allow the voice of the Holy Spirit to speak to us, to lead us and to guide us, and to use the sound, rational mind that you have been given. When we operate in these three things, thank you. I can see clearly now when the rain is gone. Okay, getting some real time data fed to me. Begins 11:31 here in Wyoming, maximum occlusion at 12:42, and then it ends around one fifty five. We'll get about 62% coverage here in Wyoming. Okay, thank you. So I wanna talk about these three filters, God's word, God's holy spirit, a sound mind, and then what I wanna do just really quickly is run, use the Eclipse, but you can fill in the blanks with anything through these three filters to help you to operate in wisdom. God's word, in Proverbs it says, Your word is a light to my path and a lamp unto my feet. This book is alive and it will guide and instruct you. I will also warn you that these three things must be used in conjunction with one another, because how many of you know that if apart from the living inspiration of scripture breathed into your heart, if you just take this as a religious text, this is a great tool to start a cult with and get off into the weeds with, because you can make this book say anything you want. You can deceive millions of people without the breathed inspiration of the scripture, but just take the words from this. Right? And so God's word is important and it's alive, but it also, and it's a light into your path and a lamp into your feet, but it also must be used in conjunction with God's holy spirit. The Bible says in Ephesians, don't worry about anything, but instead pray about how much? Everything. Everything, that is what it says. And then God's peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The Bible in the book of Romans says that God's holy spirit speaks deep to our hearts and the message that is spoken deep into our hearts by God's Holy Spirit is you belong to me, says the Lord, you're my child and I'll not leave you or forsake you. I'm not gonna leave you out in the cold and surprised by events that unfold. The book of Jeremiah, God is speaking, he says, who has stepped into the counsel of the Lord? Who has inquired of the Lord? And the idea implicit in that verse is there is an invitation for you to come dig into God's word about what you see in the world around you and ask God's holy spirit to illuminate his word and speak to your heart about these things. Are you allowing the voices of the world around you to speak to your heart about them? Fox News, CNN, Joe Rogan, fill in the blank, whoever, your crazy aunt Carol, love you aunt Carol. Or are you digging into God's word, but then also inviting the person of the Holy Spirit to speak to you about what you're reading in conjunction with the world around you. And then finally, the sound mind that you have been given. We have not been given a spirit of fear and worry and running around like Chicken Little with our head cut off, but we have been given a spirit of power and love and of what? A mind. Chicken Little with his head cut off. Oh yeah. You know, it's like rocket surgery, it's easy. Those three things, when used in conjunction, act as a great filter to help us navigate circumstances in life and help us respond with wisdom. Now let's set the eclipse. So now you know the, like think about it as a teacher in school, you explain the principles, the concept, and then you say, all right, let's do some problems, let's put this into, let's work some equations here. Let's use an example, the eclipse tomorrow. Is this a problem to solve or attention to manage? If it's a problem to solve, we either completely dismiss it or we go crazy like Chicken Little with their head cut off. Or maybe it's attention to manage. So let's use the eclipse as our laboratory. None of us have been to the future to know what unfolds tomorrow. Okay, no time travelers here. So the events that unfold tomorrow are gonna be new to all of us, they're not new to the Lord, but we can preload our response by using these three filters to help us walk in wisdom. Does that make sense? All right, so in regards to the eclipse tomorrow, let me ask you, what does God's word have to say? Okay, that is great. Kate said, God has given us signs in the heavens. Now let's talk a little bit more about that. Either you elaborate or somebody else elaborate. God has given us signs in the heavens. Don't be fearful. Oh, but don't be Oh, that sounds like a tension to manage. Don't be fearful, but there will be signs. Attention to manage. Let's talk a little bit more about these signs. What are the signs for? Why did God put them there? And you can elaborate or somebody else can jump in if you're like, End times. Okay, say it. End times. For end times. So God is pretty clear in scripture throughout scripture, the Old Testament and the New Testament, that we can know the return of Jesus is approaching by signs in the heavens. And there are many verses that would confirm that. Is that the only thing that signs are given to us for according to God's word. They can mark, I'll give you a little hint, they can mark the time of the end, they can mark what? Seasons. What kind of seasons? Earthly, natural seasons. We know that when, and the reason why I'm repeating you, we can pretty much hear your voice in this room, but for all of our families that are watching on the livestream, we can know seasons by constellations that we just see in the sky and there ain't nothing mystical about it. The stars and the planets in the heaven are like a calendar or an analog watch. It just, you can rewind it forward and know when full moons are, you can rewind it backwards and see last time the comet came through or last time Jupiter was at this place in heavens. So we use signs for times and seasons. It could be the end, but it could just be. It could be fulfilling prophecy. It could be for, oh, next week we'll see Jupiter come up. Oh, and there's Jupiter. Cool. Or, oh, it's gonna be a full moon. Could be more animals on the road this evening as I drive home. What else are signs for according to God's word? There we go, thank you. That's what I'm looking for. A spiritual season. There could be signs in the heaven for spiritual seasons that mark and indicate the beginning or the end of a spiritual season. Something very spiritual and insignificant could happen in association or in conjunction with a sign in the heaven. Now, can anybody think of a biblical precedent for a sign in the heaven that was a clear direct indication of something big supernatural unfolding on earth? The star of Bethlehem. One of the signs of the first advent of Jesus coming to planet earth was a star. And the Bible says that astrologers, people who were scientifically smart and kept their glasses clean, somehow, someway saw a unique astrological event, cross referenced that with the Bible says their texts and references, did Daniel give that to him while he was in Babylon? Yay. And said they made the connection between an occurrence happening in the heavens and something very significantly profound happening in conjunction with prophecy. The The wise men coming. Now, keep your hand up, this, almost said comma, is this eclipse an indication of something spiritually profound happening in America or around the world? Perfect answer. That is a perfect answer, maybe. What that tells me is, and you probably are already mature, but you're holding this event in tension. I did not hear you say, oh yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, a 100%. I also did not hear you say, no. Remember my goal is to bring both of you, if you fall on either one of those sides into tension so that you would say, maybe there needs to be some other conditions and some other things, but maybe, let's go over here to Ella if we haven't already run past your comment. It was just a thought when you were asking about what star heaven signs have happened with something very important happening down here. And in Luke 23, when it's talking about the crucifixion of Jesus, it says, by this time it was about noon and the darkness fell across the whole land until 03:00. The light from the sun was gone and suddenly the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn down the middle. Mean, the glimpses are kind of important. It's very good. So in the book of Genesis, we'll send the mic over here. In the book of Genesis, not from our own thinking and ideas, but right from the very get go, you can go back to Genesis chapter one and you will see from God's own mouth the reason for why he put the greater light in the sky to govern the day and the lesser light in the sky to govern the night, which one is the greater light? The sun. The yellow one is the sun. And then the lesser light, the moon, to govern, and it also says that they are for what? To mark signs and seasons from God's own mouth. Things that happen in the stars and in the sky above is for signs and seasons. There was a very good idea that she mentioned and I kept thinking about the rainbow as a sign. And maybe the I'm not sure if it happened before Jesus died, but maybe the solar eclipse is actually also a sign to remind you what happened then. One of the things that I felt for reading articles and watching videos and stuff, it was that on the path there would be a lot of towns or cities that will be called Jonah or Nineveh or something like that. And then they made the relation the the connection with when Jesus said what happened in the days of Jonah, happened in the the end days. And while you were preaching, I don't we're talking. I was doing a little bit of research on, I didn't find any tongues Maybe I'm wrong, if somebody knows that. Salem. Okay, so I'm picking up what you're putting down, all of those videos have come across my newsfeed as well. So how should we as Christians interpret and what should we think about all the videos that we've seen? Is there a direct spiritual correlation for us that we need to pay attention to? The answer is maybe. Yes, yes, yes, we should pay attention. Yes, we should pay attention. Okay, I tricked you with my own question. Yes, we should pay attention. But then is there significance to it? Maybe. Maybe. Let's all practice saying that word together, maybe. Maybe. There could be. But it is to be noted. It is certainly to be noted. Why? God said that he put the lights in the sky to mark the signs and seasons in special times, not Kronos time, but in addition, Kairos time, special events. And we've already, we could go through example after example of atmospheric phenomenon occurring simultaneously with events that have great strong spiritual significance unfolding on planet earth. So I know that we're gonna go quickly through the last two thirds of these filters because I'm aware of the time as well, like Brian, the eclipse will be done before we get there. But Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 24, one of the ways that we can know, we were just here in Matthew chapter 24, that birth pains, birth pains and then tribulation and then great tribulation before the day of the Lord's return, within that generation, we can expect to see all kinds of things getting wobbly, not just world governments and within the church, but also signs and things in the heavens, an increase of atmospheric phenomenon as one indication that we are getting closer to the generation of the Lord's return. But then Jesus says, he also says this in Matthew chapter 24, don't be fooled, don't be fooled. Many will come in my name claiming to be me, Don't be fooled. Jesus is trying to equip us and wants us to operate with wisdom. You hear the voice of a prophet out in the desert, is that Jesus? Has Jesus come back? Maybe. I gotta look at God's word, I gotta invite, I have to have that relationship cultivated with the Holy Spirit. And then I need to use my sound mind, meaning my own faculties. I can look with my eyes, Jesus saying, many will come in my name. And if you hear reports of there he is out in the desert or there he is hiding, he goes, don't listen to that. Okay, well, I'm not gonna listen to that. But there are other things that I need to pay attention to. And then I just got a text message. What about wise counsel? Oh, that's good, that's part of sound mind, we're gonna get to that. God's holy spirit, as we use that as a filter. Now here's something interesting, and Jonathan, you kind of touched on this, is that as we allow events and circumstances around us to, as we use these three filters to operate in wisdom, we've run it through God's word. Yep, he does use atmospheric phenomenon to get a hold of a world, a generation or an individual. And then I filter it through God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit may say, I want you to pay attention, Jonathan. For example, every time you see a rainbow in the sky, the rest of the world may be like, oh, a rainbow. But God's Holy Spirit speaks to you, Jonathan, and says, remember my covenant. And so tomorrow when the eclipse happens, God's Holy Spirit may be speaking to you specifically to remind you of the time when Jesus was crucified and darkness fell across from twelve to like three, and it will be super duper impactful to you. The trick is to not take what God's holy spirit said to you and force the rest of us under the same revelation. And that's tricky because it could be very, very important and potent to you, but it may only just be for you. Walking in wisdom means something that is pertinent to you, and it's good, right, and true, and found in his word, may not have the same meaning and application to me. And I think that sometimes, especially in prophetic ministry, we try to take something very personal and powerful to ourselves and force it on other people. And then it just doesn't fit well, kind of like David wearing Saul's armor, I mean, it's good, right and true, whereas do It's just not quite fit, and then it could give you a bad taste in your mouth for other prophetic ministry. Now there is time when it's for you and the Holy Spirit would say, and if you keep this shut, it's gonna be like a fire closed up in your bones, this needs to be shared. There's a time for that. Is this word for just me or is it for anybody with ears to hear? Depends. This is why walking in wisdom is so important. And speaking about a time for that, each of us, we are here for a time such as this. Jesus could have come back anytime previously or whatever, but should should something happen, each one of us, we are living in this time for a purpose, and he knew who's supposed to be when and where. And there will be people there are people that are fearful when they hear all this stuff on the news. We are here to give them hope, to let them know who's in control that, yes, these things are right, but, you know, maybe you need to get right with the one who's in control of all of this. But we're here for this very purpose at this time of this life. Absolutely. Imagine being here at this time during this pivotal season in human history and being oblivious. That's why I want us to be people of wisdom. Like it says in first Chronicle, they understood, they could read the signs and they knew how to lead themselves, their family and the nation of Israel. I want us to be people of wisdom that shine bright, to know how to accurately navigate the days ahead. What has the Lord whispered to my heart to share with our tribe family and anybody with ears to hear about 2024? That we can expect to see days of increasing complexity, but at the same time, God is going to release increasing clarity. God's like, give me your glasses, might help you out. Finally, the sound mind. In light of what I read in God's word, in light of what I see going on around the world around me, in light of what I hear God's Holy Spirit whispering to my heart about these things. And as Clay mentioned, in light of considering things with wise counsel, when we use our sound mind. And here's what Lisa always says. Okay, yeah, like an eclipse is happening, when's the last one? And when was the one before that? And when was the one before that? And are reasonable there historical events that can be overlaid with those occurrences that I could look at in retrospect to help give me some insight into what potentially could unfold? Are you seeing what I'm saying? Like, that's brilliant. That's using your sound mind and talking to wise counsel. And boy, you guys are just chanting all kinds of things in. I just fact checked the eclipse during Jesus' crucifixion, theoretically on April third, thirty three AD, and NASA has recorded one to happen in Jerusalem on that day. Everybody go. Thoughts or questions and then up comes the band. I can apply this to a college class that I had MSU where I was studying two things, a PhD in skiing, which was the easy part. The bachelor's in mathematics was brutal and I wish I'd known Diane Gilmore as a tutor and Josh Gilmore as a friend at the time, but I didn't. But what got me through and I had God's word, which I think at that time was my textbook, which helped particularly hard classes. And then I had a sound mind, which was my growing up and taking grade school and junior high school. That was all part of it. But but what really I told Kate just this morning, what really got me through my degree was going to every office hour I could and plead and and just to say, will you help me? And my professors, two in particular, would always give me guidance and they would always help me pass the test. And they were it was about relationship that got me through. Same thing happens with the with the lord. And so with this eclipse, yes, if nothing else, if it does nothing but draw you into his office. I am so glad that twenty four seven, despite being as busy as you are, you have open office hours. And if the only thing that happens as a result of atmospheric phenomenon tomorrow is that we poke our head in your office, it will have all been worth it. Speak to us. Help us. Help us. You don't look over the top of your glasses in a condescending manner. I've already covered this in class. Your office is not empty. You are imminently available if we would just knock on your door and ask, hey, do you have a moment? He sets everything aside and says, come on in. Come on in. He comes around from his desk, invites you to seat in a big old leather chair across from him, knee to knee. And then he says, what's on your mind? And then he bounces the ball into your court to open up your heart and to open up your mind to him. Pour out your heart to him. And more than likely, it's completely un eclipse related. Right? That was just our example. What's weighing on your mind and on your heart today? He's not only a wise professor, but he's a physician, He is a counselor. He is a miracle worker. He is a provider. What do you need from him today? Assurance, peace, clarity? Help us, Lord. God, I ask that you would help us to operate, to live our lives in wisdom. That in this particular example, this is not a problem to solve. This is this is it. Nor is it for something does for us to ignore, but this is attention to manage. We wanna operate in wisdom. But give us discernment so that we know what strategy to employ in what situation. Give us these filters with which to see the future. Take a look at me just real quick. We're gonna worship the Lord in one other way, but I would say applying the three filters that we've been talking about, there are some very dynamic events unfolding here in The United States and really around the world that that could have a traumatic impact on us, especially within this coming week. And I'm not gonna tell you what they are, how we should think of them, or even what to do, because I feel like that's overstepping my bounds and not the best use of this position right here. There may come a time when the Lord's like, use this position right here to say this, and pray for me that I would have the strength and courage to do that. But what I am telling you from this position is spend a little less time, and I'm this is not an accusation. Spend a little less time, Brian, on TikTok and YouTube and a little more time in my throne room. That's gonna do the best to set you up for success for these days ahead so that we can operate with brightness. With that in mind, why don't I just roll into the next way that we worship the Lord, alright? We worship the Lord by opening our mouths, to him what a beautiful time of worship we had. Let's worship the Lord in one other way before we get out of here this morning with our tithes and our offerings in the same way that you open your mouth, whether you got a pretty voice or a voice like mine, it don't matter. We worship the Lord with song. We worship the Lord by honoring the word that's preached, and we worship the Lord with a portion of our finances. You really think that you earn that money that's in your account? Who got you that job? Who equipped you with those skills and passion? Who gave you that favor at work to be able to earn that paycheck? It's all the Lord's anyways. He's inviting you to give back to him. And if you have if you're having challenges with your finances, like too much month left at the end of that paycheck, come on, that's all of us. It's Jackson. And we're asking the Lord to bless our finances or to come through for us financially, how can he how can he do that if we don't give him something to work with, a portion of our finances? So when we give, we tell him we love you. Jesus, we tell him we trust you. And that's the heart at which we give. And when we give here at Tribe, we don't pass buckets, but we have a little there's a little box in the back. You can jam it full of your tip money. You can give on our website, tribejh.com. Most people give through their smartphones, and I love how Amanda says it, it's like texting a friend. You just open up a new text message to 84, It's been so it's been so long since I've done it. I'm rusty. 84321. I've gotta check the screen out. I'm a little rusty. You type in an amount. It's the first time you're giving. They'll ask you to enter your bank card information. After that, it's easy as texting a friend and so, I'm gonna pray over the offering. We'll share just a few quick announcements and then we'll get out of here. Okay? Lord, you're so good to us. Even if we were like Chris Bates when we first moved to this valley and we're living out of our land yacht in the big old gas guzzling suburban, you're good to us because here we are. Thank you. We tell you that that we trust you and that we love you. And as a demonstration of that, we surrender a portion of our finances to you, Lord. God, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings, you would use them to make your name famous right here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region, and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Everybody said, amen. As a result of a portion of your giving, we get to do things like Facebook ad campaigns. We get to put a big banner up at Albertsons. We get to specially rent the space that we used last week for Easter. And I just wanna tell you that because of your giving and the space that we're renting and all that went into it, didn't we have an amazing Easter service last week? Thank you. Thank you for volunteering leading up to the event. Thank you for all the setup that went into Saturday. Thank you for the day of helping to make Easter like like such a great time. I was so happy to like go to church on Easter, not like like I say this all the time. I love being a part of Tribe even if I weren't the pastor. Somebody else, you come be the pastor and and if I like you, I'll still come like come to church on Sunday. I I love this church and I love like like like what you guys pulled off last week on Sunday. Eight public professions for Jesus. In this valley, to take a stand for Jesus in this valley. I mean, if you've done that here, you know the cost that had to be paid for a person to just stand up in that room yesterday. Food, or last Sunday, the food was awesome. Thank you for giving. So one more time, thank you Jesus. The donuts, are you kidding me? The donut wall? If you're new or visiting, there's a little connect card in your seat. We'd love to have a record of your visit and or there's an opportunity to write out a quick prayer request. Would you take a moment, fill that out if there's anything that we can pray for you for, or if you'd like to be added to our text blast that we do so that you can find out and stay in touch with all that's going on with our tribe fam here. Either leave it in your seat or you can also put it in that box or put it in a staff member's hands. I think I've covered all the important announcements for this week. Would you stand up and can I pray for you? Before I pray, I wanna let you know that there will be prayer in the back. We'll just commandeer that last booth over there. Lanisha, the Micas family, anybody else that she's recruited for prayer today. If there's anything that you need prayer for, just get over there and look like you need prayer. This is kind of the universal symbol for I need prayer. Hands up like that. They'll get the idea. And why don't we all hold our hands like this? Because I know you all need prayer, and I'm gonna pray for you right now. Lord Jesus, I command a blessing over our tribe family. God, I ask that you would give a special grace of wisdom, clarity, sobriety, and vibrancy for these days ahead. For every single person under the sound of my voice, I command a blessing over them. God, help them to have a great week. Give them favor with their children, with their parents, with their bosses, with their family members, and help them to shine bright like the stars in the heavens. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you guys so very much. Don't forget to give prayer. Don't stare at the sun. You'll go blind. Have a great week. And remember, Steven, you got this.