Meal on the Mountain Tribe 2025-11-09 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. Very exciting. How's everybody doing this morning? Alright. That was a very unenthusiastic great. But I won't ask you again, not to punish you. I'm not gonna ask you again. I'm just good morning. Is everybody doing alright? Oh, I did it. I did it anyways. I went ahead and asked you again anyways. Yes. We're doing great. Wow. Thank you. Just take everybody, put them on your shoulders, and carry the team. Way to go. Speaking that is true. Speaking of carrying the team, didn't we have a great job from Connor last week carrying the team? That was so good. So good. As he talked about the golden calf altar at the base of Mount Sinai. And, Connor, I especially love how you challenged us to consider what is our image of God. Is it an accurate biblical image of God? Anything other than a construct in our mind of God other than what the Bible clearly says he is is an idol. We all think, oh my goodness. How could how could Israel fall into such foolishness by making a cow and worshiping it? But the reality is the story of Israel is our story. And that each and every one of us are susceptible and prone to worshiping a god in our image of convenience and gives us what we want. So thanks for bringing the heat last week. Didn't he do great? This morning, we're gonna talk about Mount Sinai some more. Is that alright if we talk about it a little bit more? Okay. Alright. Alright. Oh. Know I love How about this? How about not Leviticus, but Exodus? Okay. Alright. So you found us. I'm so glad that you found us here at the TMC. In your seat, there is a little connect card. And with that connect card, if you would fill that out, we'd love to have a record of your visit. Also, if you, are a young adult, you're just landing here for the season, welcome. You're a ninety day wonder. So glad that you are here with us for the ski season. We have a vibrant young adult ministry, and so you can check a little box, and that will, we'll make sure, like I think the box says, like, let me know about young adults stuff. So we'll be sure to do that. Also, one other one other unique distinctive about our tribe fam, besides being all squeezed into this cozy large living room, is when we get into God's word together, my desire is that we engage with each other as we engage with the text. And so I want this to be a conversation. Instead of just a sage on the stage just talking, I want this to be a conversation that we have together. And so what that means is if you have a question or a comment or a connection, and what I mean by connection is let's say that we're talking about a verse and we're reading it, and that reminds you of there's a hyperlink in your brain to to some other passage. Oh, oh, oh, that reminds me. Well, what's really cool is that's actually that's actually the lord whispering to your heart. And when you share those connections, it helps the rest of us learn and grow as well. So together, we're all learning and growing. So can we do this together today, y'all? No? Thank goodness for Gretchen. I know. And Nancy, and Nancy. And Nancy. So loose Gretchen's just louder than me. Always. So In a good we also have a we also have a mic in the room because there are a lot of families that when they are traveling or they live out of town, like in the Carbondale area, and they get to be with us here in person today, that that when the people are traveling or out of town, they watch the livestream, and I want them to be able to hear your contribution as well. And so if you have a question, comment, or connection, if you just raise your hand, then Kat has the mic. We'll get the mic to you. And when you make your contribution into the mic, then our livestream family get to hear it. Sound good? Sound good. Alright. Exodus chapter 24, and we're going to look at just a few verses together, verses seven through 11. And so, Kat, would you hand the mic to somebody that wouldn't mind reading those few verses? Oh, Joe is on it, and I've gotta turn there myself. Oh, move some air. Yes, please. That was like a spiritual. I mean, he can't see. Exodus 24, read seven through 11 for us. Okay. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. Again, they all responded. We will do everything in the lord has commanded. We will obey. Then Moses took the blood from the basins and spattered spattered it all over the people declaring, look, this blood confirms the covenant the lord has made with you in giving you these instructions. Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab. Nadab. Abayu. Abayu. And the 70 elders of Israel climbed up above climbed up the mountain. There they saw the god of Israel. Under his feet, they seemed to be there seemed to be a surface, a brilliant blue lapis lizoo lizooli. As clear as the sky itself, and through these nobles of Israel glazed or grazed upon God. He did not Gazed. Oh my gosh. He gazed. You're doing great. You're doing great. He gazed upon God. He did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence. Wow. Okay. One of the things that we like to do here at Tribe is to use our imagination. So the bible says, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. Imagination is part of our mind. I think that historically, people in my spot right here, preachers want so desperately to for you to connect with the genuine and the authentic that either one of two things happened. Either there is a culture of discouragement of our imaginations, or you don't rely on your own imagination, you rely on the imagination of the person up here to paint a bright vivid picture, and then maybe you get that same picture, maybe you don't. At Tribe, we love to use our imaginations, our sanctified imagination, our God given imagination. And so I would love to hear from you. As you read these verses, seven through 11, there is an incredible story unfolding, and I would love to hear from you what picture comes into your mind's eye as these events unfold. What do you find yourself what picture do you develop in your mind's eye when you read these things? What details stand out to you? Yeah. Lapis Lazuli. What in the world is Lapis Lazuli? A blue stone. So that so, like, what is that? What does it look like? Where is it? Why did they see that? What is going on there? So curiosity is a part of a vibrant imagination and creativity. What else? As you read the text, what other pictures comes into your mind? What do you think about? Yes. Oh, look. And here comes the mic. I I think about doing the laundry and getting the blood out of everybody's clothing. Okay. Okay. I love that. Verse eight, then Moses took the blood from the basins and spattered it over the people. Alright. So Bob's thinking about the practical. Yeah. Yeah. Some laundry that needs to happen. What else what else do you see? Yeah. Yeah. Corey. It says in 10 that they saw the god of Israel. So there were 70 people that physically saw god, and God didn't destroy them? That seems pretty significant to me. Yes. Incredible detail that's given to us here in the Bible. They call it the theophany. That's a really churchy word to see god. Wow. What else? Well, after having seen some of your videos and pictures from when you were at possibly, highly probable Mount Sinai, thinking about 70 people, like, hiking up that together. Like, that's a lot of people. And I'm just thinking about, like, hikes here. Mhmm. You know, like, 70 people on the trail Mhmm. Going up. Mhmm. Yes. Okay. Yes. Now yes. You gotta bring a picnic basket with you. Alright. So I I have a video. Do you wanna see a video? I have to be very careful about, like, these kind of things so that it doesn't turn into, like, dad's slideshow hour. Because I don't want it to be that for you, but I do feel like this is valuable. So there's two videos. So would you play that first video? Yep. That one. Oh, remember back before I got a haircut? Yeah. How about Brian's new haircut, everyone? Mixed reaction. Because some because some still wanted it long. Yeah. Yeah. When's the last time you were at church and you could go up and grab the pastor by the back, which is what Nancy would do most weeks? Alright. Thank you, Joe. Okay, guys. Check this out. So look behind me here. See a large plane out this way. This is believed where the nation of Israel camped at the base of Mount Sinai. Moses came up this path behind me, and let's look at this upper plateau together. And this is where Potentially. Potentially, Moses came with the 70 elders. These are some of the 70 elders you can see here. K. There's one. But check this out, guys. Look. So there is an upper plateau here. Look at this basin. Look at this basin. So according to the story, 70 elders climbed up Mount Sinai and came to this basin here where they ate a covenant meal with the Lord. They ate and drank with him, and then Moses gets called on up to the summit. So look at this flat plateau basin here. Isn't that just amazing? Yes. Yes. Super dry, super arid, very scrubby. If you're taking notes, at the top of your notes this morning, you can write the title of our conversation, Kneel on the Mountain. That's going to be the title of our conversation this morning, Kneel on the Mountain. And to give you an idea of how far people are traveling, so you have a visual of the valley floor there. You could fit a million or so, give or take out in that flat area. The invitation was for Moses to come up on the mountain. Moses comes down from the mountain. He delivers the law, the covenant, the contract, The nation of Israel says we will do and obey everything it says. And if you look closely at the story of the time that Israel spends at Mount Sinai, there is some beautiful, beautiful imagery of that of a courtship and engagement and a wedding that happens in this. And we could we could spend weeks walking through each of these, but I'll let you go back on your own, read this story over and over again, and put on the glasses of a wedding. And how amazing is it that the creator of heaven and earth, the god of the universe, capital g, big g, god, Yahweh, engages with his creation, us, in such an intimate way that the only way that we can describe it is like that of a marriage. That is the heart of Yahweh God for his people. He does not desire he he is not some ethereal atmospheric nonpersonal force out there. He is a person. He has personhood, and the attributes of God are such that he longs to be known. And the way that he chooses to reveal himself in the context of relationship is, oh, how can I describe it? I wanna be married to you. Now he does not say, oh, marriage between a man and woman. That's a good idea. I'll use that. He created marriage. And so when a husband and a wife get married, what they are doing is following the the pattern that god established that we see here on Mount Sinai unfold. And so and so look for look for the imagery of Yahweh who can be known, wants to be known, must be respected with reverence and holiness because there is a way there is a right way to approach a relationship with the lord. You can't just go scampering up on the mountain, and you can read about this. God says there's a boundary. But at my timing and at my request, come up onto the mountain. So Moses has gone up onto the mountain. He has come back down from the mountain. He reads it, and this is what we just read. All the people agree. It's like the bridegroom saying, I do. And then to to to consummate in a way the marriage, there is an invitation to come up onto the mountain and enjoy a covenant meal together. Because what would a wedding be without food? You gotta have food at a wedding. And so in a similar way, god says, as representatives representatives of all of Israel, the 70 elders come up on the mountain. And Gretchen had a great great insight. Like, as I read this, I think about I mean, that's a that's a long way. So you can see from the video I just showed you that that it was a bit of a haul. And the best way that I can describe what's the vertical elevation gain of, like, Snow King? 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. 15. So from the valley floor to the summit of Mount Sinai would be about two Snow Kings. Okay? So from the valley floor to the summit of Snow King would be about halfway to the summit of Mount Sinai. Are you with me? Alright. So about, we'll just be really simple, about halfway is that large upper basin. 70 dudes hiking to the top of Snow King. And not just with like a a camelback, but like they gotta the bible doesn't say who provided the food. Is God able to provide food and feed people? How do we know that? Where? Where? The manna. People. Feeds five The manna. Jesus turning water into wine. So like so we have a biblical precedent. We're not we're not we're not just making up wild imaginations, but our imagination is fed by understanding of truth in God's word. So we are not told who did all the cooking for 70 people for this wedding banquet, but maybe they brought food up on the mountain with him. The idea was that it was not spontaneous, but there was some forethought and some planning that went into this. And if the elders are bringing the food up on the mountain, then they gotta, like, cook and prepare. Let's be honest. Who is doing the cooking and preparing? That's right. Their wives. I need to take I need to take this up on the mountain, and they're cooking and they're wrapping it up and putting little baskets and sending it up the way with them. So think about this for a moment. The the trek, the arduous trek that was involved in preparing the food and then getting up the mountain to the place. If you were let's just put ourselves in the shoes of the sandals, uh-huh, if you will, of one of those 70 elders. As you were trekking up the mountain, what thought might go through your head? Yeah. Why couldn't we have just done this down at the bottom of the mountain? Like, this is a this could be a pain. I have one more video to show you. So the first video I show showed you was from, like, the top, the entrance of the basin. The next video that I show you, I've crossed the little basin that could easily fit that amount of people, and then I'm on my way towards the summit of Sinai. And so if you bring that volume up, Joe, and then you can see the basin and some of our other 70 elders right there. And I was back in that little low spot. Is it going there it oh, there it goes. Love it. It's like not registering. Yeah. This won't be too bad. Cool. Okay. So we just came from that little notch back behind the lower planes. Just behind me right here is this upper basin where the fifth the this biblical narrative of the 70 elders coming up to this high plateau basin. And behind me here is up towards the summit. Nope. This There we go. We go. That's up towards the summit. We're gonna continue on. Isn't this just amazing? This basin is so cool. Look at that. Onto the top. So this gives you a little bit different perspective to be able to see the topography of the area. Now there have been, since the exodus, since the time of the exodus, there have been a few locations suggested as the location of the real Mount Sinai. The other location that's in top contention contender for the location of Sinai is in the Sinai Peninsula. This is in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. The other one is in the Sinai Peninsula, and it's known as Jabal Musa. This is known by locals as Jabal Al Lawz or the Mountain Of Moses. Jabal Musa in the Sinai Peninsula has no feature like this, an upper basin that you could have 70 people gathering. So that's one interesting thought that lends in my mind credence and more evidence that this is the actual real Mount Sinai. But I want us to think about for just a moment the imagine that you are one of the 70 elders. You have just seen, witnessed the Red Sea Crossing. You've traveled out into the wilderness and desert. You're camped with your with your wife, your immediate family, your extended family, all the way out to a tribe, and then there are 12 tribes, could be up to a million people, all living out here in this plane. You are eating manna that is, the Bible says, fell like dew every morning that had to be harvested. You are being miraculously taken care of by the Lord. The lord comes down on Mount Sinai, thick cloud and smoke and fire and thunder and the blast of a shofar. Moses goes up. He comes down. He brings the wedding contract down in essence. The nation of Israel signs by saying, we will agree. And as one of the 70 elders, you're thinking like, okay. Things are going well. This is great. Let Moses go up on the mountain and come down from the mountain. Up the mountain, come down from the mountain. And then the invitation comes from the Lord by mouth of Moses saying, alright. The 70 elders, we're going up the mountain. For just a moment, put yourself in the shoes of one of those 70 elders. I gotta go up there? Maybe some of you hike Snow King regularly. But even if you hike Snow King regularly, the reason why you hike it is because it's not a walk in the park. It's a lot of effort and work. It's inconvenient. If it were convenient and easy, everybody would be hiking, Snow King. Now it's Jackson, and I know relatively speaking, everybody hikes, Snow King. But come on. It's a lot of work to get up there, especially if you're having to bring food. What do you bring? Lawn chairs, or you're you're you're having a meal. You there's there's a lot that needs to happen in order to have a meal on this upper pat in this upper plateau, this upper basin. It's out of the way. It's inconvenient. Yes, Nancy? I'm gonna do this here. Alright. Here it comes. Here it comes. Here it comes. It's gonna be It's fish. It's fish. Okay. You get an invitation and you're going to meet the lord. Okay. The one that has done all these miracles. And there's no description of what they say they saw. A little bit. Not describing him. Oh, yeah. Other than what he's standing on. I mean, don't you think if you went up there and you met the lord, you would come back going, he I mean, this is what he looked like? So according to I like what you're because you're using your imagination. In fact, I'm I'm I don't you know, you don't think about what it's gonna take to get there. You've been invited to be in the presence of the Lord. Mhmm. You know, I mean, are you gonna look at those as obstacles and, you know, I've got sandals on that's sitting in a good time. You're gonna be setting the pace. You're gonna be setting the pace. Like, Moses, come on. Let's go. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Alright. I like just doesn't seem I like that perspective. So Jewish commentary outside of the biblical text that we have says that the 70 elders only saw the feet of God, that the rest of him was was shrouded. No. Just his feet and his feet resting on this ground that Matt said was Lapis Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli. Yeah. Okay. It's a good guide. It's a good guide. Yes. I'm I'm I'm I'm with you. Sorry. My heart's pounding, so I know I have to Okay. But so I'm currently reading The Four Loves by CS Lewis, and one of the things that he says is, like, the Lord will bestow some of his likeness onto us, like, in different ways. You know? It might be kindness. It might whatever it is. You know? Like, some of his likeness, whatever. But we can't stop there. Like, when we see that in ourselves, we can't stop there. We have to, like, we have to then pursue him. Like, actively pursue him. And there's so there's some effort in our part that is required in order to be more like him and to come into his presence. Yeah. Even if it's climbing a mountain. You can't just be like, I'm going to work, I'm just gonna expect him to show up. He does that sometimes, but there is some work that we need to And so I'm thinking about this, and I'm thinking about all the things that you were just saying the Lord is doing at this time. Right? He's providing the manna. He's, you know and I think that we can read these stories and be like, isn't it cool that he did that for them? And make it a past tense thing. But God never changes. He's still the God that can provide manna every day, that can provide miracles. And I bet if we ask people in this room, has anyone I'm gonna show of hands. Oh, here we go. Congratulations. Taking over. Who's seen a miracle from the Lord before? Yes. Yes. So he's still the Lord of miracles. And if we're not seeing that on a daily basis, maybe we need to climb the mountain and put in some effort Let's on our part go. To be into his presence. Here, let me get down. Okay. Just hand it back. Okay. Michelle Sacchemy. Yay. So happy to be here. So so happy. One thing I was thinking of, it says the 70 elders went up, He sprinkled the blood on so but does that mean that there were women elders? Or was it more than 70 people? If it was the elders and their wives. That means there was a lot of people. So the the the story when Moses picks elders, especially after he meets up with Jethro and Jethro says, you're wearing yourself out. Like, pick men. So he does say he does say men to handle these smaller cases and then bring only the most difficult to me. Even though Jewish culture runs through the mom, the a matriarchy, it's clearly a patriarchal driven society. And so I think it would be safe to say that the men were the 70 elders, although maybe they had could you imagine Lanisha not going up and helping serve and prep and and clean up? And so so That's a great point. So that that that's a great point. So let me come back to what Gretchen said, and I'm going to read this from my notes. In the same way that God invited the 70 elders to a meal on the mountain, God does the same for us today, but maybe not in the way that you would think. So I wanna show you this. Let's look at, another verse in the book of Psalms. Psalms 23. My my grandmother would quote all of Psalms 23 every day out loud as she would take me to school. And I would I would ride in the cab of the pickup. My grandmother had a 1957 Chevy Stepside pickup with a three on the tree transmission, and I would stand next to her tucked behind her shoulder, and the seat belt was her elbow. And every morning, she would quote all of Psalms 23, from, like, the New King James version. And so anytime I read Psalms 23, it's just special because it reminds me of my boo, And she is in heaven, and you'll get to meet her someday. And you'll be like, ah, thank you, boo, for For anything good. Anything good in your in your in her grandson. She would do this thing where I would mess with the knobs on the console, the front of the truck. That was actually like the heater in the vent, but the truck didn't have a radio. And so I would, like, mess with the knobs, and she would pretend to sing, and then change the radio station and sing. So here's August in Texas, and, like, I would have the heat blasted, but she'd be singing away. So Psalms 23 verse five. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil, and my cup overflows with blessing. What a beautiful promise that is written to Israel but for us today. You prepare a feast for me. So when I was reading the story in Exodus and as I was going through the basin on Jabal Alaaz, I was thinking about this verse. You prepare a feast for me. And here's here's what I want you to put in your heart. God invites us into encounter sometimes in the midst of chaos. Life was good down at the base of the mountain. They're being provided for. It's convenient. It's relatively flat. All of the 70 elders, their needs were being taken care of. And then almost out of nowhere, there's this invitation to hike up the mountain to leave the comfort and convenience of their camp and their tent, and everything that is familiar everything that is familiar. And if there's nothing else that you hear today, here would be the the bottom line of what I feel like the Lord would have for you today, that I want you to look for the invitation in the midst of disruption. Look for the invitation in the midst of disruption. The 70 elders, their lives were disrupted. Is this not what Gretchen was just saying? This is what I love about the collaborative effort of the format of our services like this, is we get contributions, and there's a really cool holy spirit thread of what he's doing. Go back to Psalms 23 verse five, and then, I wanna I wanna highlight this first part. You prepare a feast for me. How many of you would like the Lord to prepare a feast for you? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look at this last part. You honor me by anointing my head with oil, and my cup overflows with blessing. Who wants their cup to overflow with blessings? Yay. What am I leaving out? In the presence of my enemies. This is something that you need to understand about the nature and character of the lord. We all want the meal on the mountain. We all want to see his feet. We all want to be able to come back and tell stories of what Matt Grabowski? Lapis Lazuli. We all want the Lapis Lazuli. But who would be willing to endure the hike? The arduous hike and climb up the mountain. We all want the feast prepared for us. We want our heads anointed with oil, which is the favor of God that rests on us so that anything we set our hand to, it's blessed and it prospers. We all want our cup, especially our bank account cup. Overflowing with blessing. But who among this is a rhetorical question just for your consideration. But who among us would be willing to endure fear, difficulty, the opposition of having those things in the midst and in the context of the presence of our enemies. At Tribe, I want you to grow in maturity. Now every parent loves a little baby. They coo, and you can kiss them, and they smell still like heaven, I think. Right? But when that baby is 13 years old and still drooling and expects to be fed and is messing their diaper. Like, we got a problem. So God loves you in immaturity right where you are today, now, in this moment. But his desire is for you to grow in maturity. Immaturity says, oh, prepare a feast for me. Hallelujah. Oh, anoint my head. Whoo. My cup overflows with blessing. Whoo. Whoo. Whoo. And that's great in in maturity. The invitation and if you know anything about my flavor at Tribe is I want you to grow towards maturity. And growing towards maturity says, alright. I understand that the cup overflowing with blessing and the feast before me very well may come in the midst of something that is uncomfortable for me, in the midst of something that I don't like, in the midst of something I didn't ask for, in the midst of opposition, in the midst of hardship, in the midst of difficulty so that instead of looking at just the superficial circumstances of, oh, this is awful and terrible, we think of this as an opportunity to encounter the Lord and walk on pavement of I want you to look for the invitation in the midst of disruption. Today, maybe some of you find yourself in a season of disruption. Uncertainty of your housing for the fall. Uncertainty of your jobs. Uncertainty of your relationship status, your situationship, or whatever you call it. Maybe you find yourself in a disruption of mental or emotional instability. In that disruption, God will always place an invitation to encounter him. And I want to show you this in more places than than just what we read. We'll we'll race through these. I'll give you three, and then I'd love to hear if you think of others. How about in Daniel chapter three with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Was it not a disruption to have them bound hand and foot and thrown into a blazing furnace? I would say that would count as a disruption. Not cool. But what happened in the fire? There was a fourth man in the fire. We all want Jesus to show up, but how many of us would be willing to be bound hand and foot and and thrown into a perilous situation where in all likelihood, we will lose our life? In fact, how many lives did it cost to throw them in there? The the the lives of what? At least two of the dudes shoving them in there. There's a great sermon about the fourth man in the fire. Song. How Also a about how about in the New Testament, there's this incredible story of Jesus doing ministry with his leadership team, 12 disciples, and then he tells them, get in the boat, cross back on the other side. I'll see you after a while. They cross they're crossing the Sea Of Galilee, the Sea Of Galilee, and that body of water is notorious for storms whipping up out of nowhere. They cross blue sky. All of a sudden, a storm comes rolling in. The wind and the waves are threatening to swamp the boat, and then one of them looks out over the bow of the boat and sees a figure walking on the water. They lose their minds. It's a spirit. It's a specter. It's a ghost. And then one of them says, I could be Jesus. We all want the encounter of Jesus, but very few of us have ears to hear the invitation of Jesus when he says, come out of the boat and walk on the water with me. It has been my experience anyway in life and my observation that this is the norm, not the exception. And so, yes, there's periods in life of rest, and yes, there's times where you should fill your tank so you can come from a place of overflowing. But I think that we would, as believers, level up in maturity, the more comfortable we are being uncomfortable. And sometimes the only thing that'll make you draw near to God and keep you away from sin is suffering. And so it's have a choice in that place where you're, like, on your knees, on your face before the Lord, choosing him instead of the easy road, which is coping, which is substance, you know, whatever. Like, you can go you can spiral. So to me, not that you not that we're Debbie Downers Downers, and we're like, yeah. Life is gonna just gonna be hard. Wah wah. You know? But, again, we go to John sixteen thirty three. Jesus himself says, there will be trouble in this life, but take heart. I've overcome the world. So I think just to mature as a Christian and what Paul talks about when he talks about going from milk to meat, expect don't expect trouble like Debbie Downer, but just be comfortable being uncomfortable because you are anchored in the word, because you are anchored in the Lord. We're I'm always having feasts in the presence of my enemies. Like, it's nice when I'm not. You know what I mean? And so just being comfortable being uncomfortable because of God, Not because of our strength. Not because we get stronger. Not because we can pull ourselves up with our bootstraps, but because God and God alone is the one who keeps us anchored in all of life's disruption disruptions, because it's pretty constant. It's constant. Has been my experience. It's pretty constant. The greater the the greater to this the greater the disruption, the greater the opportunity for encounter. Bethany, did you have something? And then we're gonna and then we're gonna land the plane here. You're getting your comment in just before we land the plane. Bethany so if Bethany ever raises her hand, just know that I'm, like, about to close it because that's when you like to make your contribution. But I love it and I appreciate it, because you've been thinking, and you're considering, and so I look forward to all of your contributions. Yeah, so I was just thinking as we are looking to seek the ability to do this, I'm thinking about in verse seven of Exodus 24, when the people say, We will do everything the Lord has said, we will obey. When we first read it, I noticed they say it twice, like they say basically the same thing twice. Like we will do everything Lord has said, we will obey. So it's like when things are said twice, like that's important. And just like thinking about the posture with which we approach life in situations that would allow us to take this invitation, that it's like starts with this posture of obedience and surrender. And so like when we are approaching God and life with that posture, like, I feel that's an essential component of being able to access, like, this invitation and being open to taking that invitation. I do love that. Peter had the context of relationship with Jesus that there was some amount of trust there that when when Peter said, Lord, if that's you, bid me to step out of the boat and come to you. And in the Texas translation, Jesus said, y'all come. And and that con the the context of trust and obedience came out of time spent in relationship. That's a really good key component. How about the example last example, and then I wanna show you one more thing up here. In Acts chapter 27, Paul is on his way to stand trial in Rome. And what's really cool once again about the Bible is that it is geographically accurate. When you read the story of Paul's journey, going as he is arrested and he's on his way to stand trial in Rome, he runs into a a really violent storm out on the Mediterranean Sea, and they're being blown and tossed. They haven't eaten. They're trying all of these different things. They've even passed ropes underneath the ship to try to keep it together from being torn apart. And then in in the midst of that, Paul has an angelic visitation. Now I don't know. Most of you are probably really good traditional Protestant Christians that don't seek angelic visitations. But how cool would it be if an angel of God visited you? I'm ready. I can get blurry. And so an angel appears to Paul and gives him a prophetic word. I mean, who wouldn't want that? But how many of us would say, I'll skip the storm at sea? And so I just wanted to and I'm sure that you could come up with a bunch of other examples of in the midst of disruption, that there is an invitation to encounter the Lord in a way that we would not be able to grab a hold of if it weren't within the context of that disruption. Remember what the book of James says, consider it pure joy, brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. This is an invitation into maturity. And so we would think that encountering the Lord would most often happen within the context of like like like a church like this, maybe. But I want to share with you one last example of of something that happened to me last week, a story of a person coming up for prayer, receiving prayer for for a specific thing, and them encountering the Lord and actually being healed. And it didn't happen at church. You'll never guess where this happened. It was in Tennessee. It was in Nashville, Tennessee. And, last week while while Connor was preaching, I was, taking part. I was emceeing a a conference called BlurryCon. And if you're familiar with blurry creatures, okay. Cool. If you're not, check them out and use discernment. Right? Be wise. Be wise. Eat the meat. Spit out the bones. So I was at BlurryCon last week, and I was a emcee. And part of the time, I was a character. So the the the theme of the entire podcast, it's two guys, Nate and Luke, and they love the eighties. So it's kind of eighties theme. They're always bouncing back and forth between the eighties stuff. And so this year's conference was themed after the movie Goonies, which was which was really cool. And as the emcee, I was also sometimes like a character. I was like a pirate. So pastor, pirate, Brian. And, after one of the speakers, they dismissed for lunch, but the speaker said something unusual for a blurry con conference. I mean, they talk about, you know, kind of they talk about all kinds of things. But, when this guy got done, he's like, hey. If anybody, like like, would like prayer, I'll I'll stick around after this session and and pray for you. The venue held, almost a thousand people, and, the session got done. I dismissed everyone to lunch, and I was really surprised. There was a line of almost a 100 people wanting prayer, and it was the speaker, and he had, like, a couple of, like, little buddies with him to help him pray. And I was like, oh, I could go to lunch. Or, man, I didn't come here to be a pirate, came here to, like, love on people. And and so I was like, I'll skip lunch, and I'll I'll pray for people. And I prayed for a bunch of people and, like, okay. Cool. Then I found some lunch, and then we went on. A few days later, I got a text from one of the hosts of the podcast. His name was Luke Rogers, and he says, like, you'll never believe this really cool email that I got from after the conference. And I wanna put the email up here, And it's from this woman, Olivia Missler. And if you can read it, great. If not, I'll read it for you. I was miraculously healed by Jesus at your BlurryCon conference this weekend. And I wanted to get in touch with the people that prayed over me to say thank you. I was healed of a chronic health issue that has affected me the past year and a half, visibly healed. Unreal. If you could put me in touch with pirate MC Brian, and there was also a husband and wife that prayed over me, I wanted to let you know how cool they are. Love you guys. Thanks for changing my life. So So how cool is that? And this is not an email, and I know that you're not clapping, like, for me or about me. This is about Jesus showing up in in an unlikely place, in the midst of disruption. You would think that for a testimony like this to happen, you need to have it be in church, and you need the worship team, and you need the lights down low, and you need a compelling altar call, and you need, you know, all of the bells and whistles. This had this did not happen at church. This happened at a conference where they like to talk about, like, giants and Nephilim and Sasquatch. And so if something like this can happen to this woman, would you put that bottom line back up? Today, I wanna leave you with this idea of look for the invitation in the midst of disruption. So perhaps today you find yourself in a situation of disruption. Your status quo, your homeostasis is being interrupted with something is going on with you. Instead of wallowing in the midst of your circumstances, today, my pastor's heart wants to try to lift your chin out of your that. To be We're Spirit, will you just come and to speak do to us? We invite your presence, Holy Spirit. You are supreme. You are the beginning. You are the end. You are big g god, and all other little g gods must bow before your supremacy. Wonderful, precious spirit of God, would you move in and among your people today? And with just the few moments that we have left, would you just talk to him from your heart? If you if you know the lord, he's never not faithful. He's never not faithful. I was having my own moment back there, so I'll try to recalibrate it down there. When we come to tribe every week, we worship him in so many ways, and church is just a place where we get together as people. Right? It is definitely should not be the only Jesus you have all week. We call it, like, the biggest slice of the pie, the Christian pie. It's just when we can get together in fellowship as a family. Right? But every week when we're together, we worship him through song, through the honoring of his word, through our conversation. We also honor him by bringing our tithe and our offering. And it's it's a thing that we do for the local church, but it's multipurpose. First and foremost, it is to say, God, it's all yours anyway, and this is an act of surrender. We give a portion of our hard earned finances. Sometimes it feels really hard, but we do it by faith because we trust you, God, is what we say. Lord, it's all yours. We surrender a portion of this. Do what you want with it. And then secondly, it does the work of the local ministry. That's the practical piece. You know, when we go to Wind River, when we fill their food pantry, when we love on people at the mission, it takes money, other stuff too, time, talent, and treasure, we say, but that's what it does when we bring our tithes. So we're gonna pray together and bring our tithe and above and beyond that our offering to him today. Whether you're doing it now or another time before I pray, just practically speaking, if you give by cash or check, we have a black lock box downstairs you can give or right at the exit right up here. There's a little tribe box you can give on our website, tribejh.com. There's a giving link and then more most practical on your smartphone. You can see on the screen, you just text a number to (833) 369-7847. Type the word give at the dollar sign and the amount you wanna give. And you just pray over that as you do. So let's pray as a tribe family. Heavenly father, thank you so much for who you are and your faithfulness. You are so faithful to us in everything you do. It might not look how we expect or want, but, man, we trust your sovereignty. Just meaning your ways are higher. Your thoughts are higher than and we just trust that. You have proven like this song that we just sang says. You have proven that again and again and again. You've never not proven it. You're a 100% on your shots. We thank you for that. Lord, as we bring our money that we've earned, blood, sweat, and tears hard for it, Lord, we just say we surrender to you. This is an act that keeps us calibrated with your heart. We say, father, it is yours. Thank you that every penny that is brought into tribe and every local church here in the valley will just go to do the work of the ministry, to love on people, not with a secret agenda, but just to truly love on them the way that Jesus does and would if he was here. And so we thank you that we get to be your hands and your feet and your mouthpiece. Just an honor to be in this family. We love you and trust you in Jesus name. Amen. Announcements is the refrigerator. Take a peek on your way out. Yes. Thank you, Vanna White. We have some serving opportunities. We have a prayer group. You can always sign up constantly until Jesus returns for Sunday goodies like the donuts because that's what we do and Tuesday night meals for young adults and so you can connect with one of us after service. Like, what does that mean? You can just provide a meal for the young adults. Anything else? Let's talk about it while we're up here. Yeah. I don't know. What do you wanna talk about? Yeah. Let's well, you know, let's start a podcast right now. Pastor Brian, would you come? Before we actually do. As we dismiss, if there's anything that you need prayer for, I'd be happy to pray for you. And so just come find me after service. Thanks for being here today. Would that be alright if I prayed for you before you get out of here today? Okay. Stand up. Next week, our tribe family celebrates pecky day. So if you don't know what pecky day is, it's a great tribe family tradition. So make sure to be here at either nine or eleven. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for being good to us. Thank you so much that you never ever ever ever let us walk through a situation where we would be surrounded by our enemies without also providing an opportunity for us to be seated at a banquet table with you. Thank you for your goodness. I command a blessing over each and every person here. Give us a great week, Lord. And for those of us that are still hunting, help us to get the brown down and fill our freezers. We love you too, Jesus. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you so much. Have a great week. And remember, Paul, you got this.