The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Matthew 12:1-14the series text about the disciples eating grain on the Sabbath and the healing of the man with the crippled hand, used throughout as the foundation for the wineskin discussion
1 At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
2 But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him;
4 how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests?
5 Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless?
6 But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 He departed there, and went into their synagogue.
10 And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him.
11 He said to them, “What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out?
12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”
13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.
14 But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.
read aloud by the congregation to illustrate new wineskin capacity through Jehoshaphat facing the Moabite and Ammonite armies
1 After this, the children of Moab, the children of Ammon, and with them some of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.
2 Then some came who told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea from Syria. Behold, they are in Hazazon Tamar” (that is, En Gedi).
3 Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
4 Judah gathered themselves together to seek help from Yahweh. They came out of all the cities of Judah to seek Yahweh.
5 Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in Yahweh’s house, before the new court;
6 and he said, “Yahweh, the God of our fathers, aren’t you God in heaven? Aren’t you ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in your hand, so that no one is able to withstand you.
7 Didn’t you, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it to the offspring of Abraham your friend forever?
8 They lived in it, and have built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,
9 ‘If evil comes on us—the sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this house, and before you (for your name is in this house), and cry to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’
10 Now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned away from them, and didn’t destroy them;
11 behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit.
12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
13 All Judah stood before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
14 Then Yahweh’s Spirit came on Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the middle of the assembly;
15 and he said, “Listen, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, king Jehoshaphat. Yahweh says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, and don’t be dismayed because of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
16 Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 You will not need to fight this battle. Set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed. Go out against them tomorrow, for Yahweh is with you.’”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground; and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh.
19 The Levites, of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites, stood up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with an exceeding loud voice.
20 They rose early in the morning, and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, so you will be established! Believe his prophets, so you will prosper.”
21 When he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to Yahweh, and give praise in holy array, as they go out before the army, and say, “Give thanks to Yahweh; for his loving kindness endures forever.”
22 When they began to sing and to praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were struck.
23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them: and when they had finished the inhabitants of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another.
24 When Judah came to the place overlooking the wilderness, they looked at the multitude; and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped.
the parable of the talents, used to argue that even a small pocket of time given to God is honored by him
1 “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!’
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’
10 While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
11 Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
12 But he answered, ‘Most certainly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
14 “For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey.
16 Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.
17 In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two.
18 But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and reconciled accounts with them.
20 He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents besides them.’
21 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
22 “He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents besides them.’
23 “His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’
24 “He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.
25 I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours.’
26 “But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter.
27 You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest.
28 Take away therefore the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away.
30 Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
33 He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;
35 for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.
36 I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink?
38 When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you?
39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
40 “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41 Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
42 for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’
45 “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’
46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
mentioned briefly in reference to the Nephilim while discussing discernment of outside teachings
1 When men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them,
2 God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives.
3 Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”
4 The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God’s sons came in to men’s daughters and had children with them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil.
6 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.
7 Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”
8 But Noah found favor in Yahweh’s eyes.
9 This is the history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.
10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 God said to Noah, “I will bring an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them and the earth.
14 Make a ship of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ship, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch.
15 This is how you shall make it. The length of the ship shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.
16 You shall make a roof in the ship, and you shall finish it to a cubit upward. You shall set the door of the ship in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third levels.
17 I, even I, do bring the flood of waters on this earth, to destroy all flesh having the breath of life from under the sky. Everything that is in the earth will die.
18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ship, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
19 Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ship, to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female.
20 Of the birds after their kind, of the livestock after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you, to keep them alive.
21 Take with you some of all food that is eaten, and gather it to yourself; and it will be for food for you, and for them.”
22 Thus Noah did. He did all that God commanded him.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Joy Bhatt brought this message as part of the Wineskins series, picking up the thread Pastor Brian has been developing from Matthew 12. The central idea is simple: being with Jesus is what gives a person the capacity to recognize and receive a new work of God, and without that time logged in relationship with him, we end up looking more like the Pharisees than the disciples.
What was said
The series has been working through two Sabbath stories in Matthew 12, where the disciples eat grain in a field and Jesus heals a man's hand in the temple. The Pharisees jump on both moments as violations of the law. Joy used these stories to revisit the terms the series has built up: new wine is any new way God is moving, old wine is the weight of law and religious rule-keeping, and a wineskin is a person's capacity to receive and adapt to what the Holy Spirit is doing.
The disciples and the Pharisees had the same knowledge of the Torah. The difference was proximity. The disciples had been with Jesus, watching him, eating with him, following him day by day. That time together is what gave them the capacity to sense that something new was happening and trust it rather than attack it. Joy drew on the loss of her best friend Rachel to describe how intimacy in any relationship is simply the product of time accumulated, and that the same is true of our relationship with Jesus.
Joy moved to 2 Chronicles 20, where Jehoshaphat faces an overwhelming coalition of armies. The passage was read aloud in sections by people in the room. What stood out was the shape of Jehoshaphat's response: he calls a fast immediately, gathers everyone including wives and children, and stands before God in prayer that is full of remembered history, recounting what God had done for Israel before and holding him to those promises. The new wine in the story was God's instruction that Judah would not fight at all, and that the worship team should lead the army out.
Jehoshaphat obeyed. The singers went first. And the enemies destroyed each other before Israel raised a weapon. Joy noted that the Hebrew word shema, translated as "listen," actually means listen and obey together, two sides of the same coin. You cannot claim to have heard if you have not acted.
Joy pressed on what it actually takes to develop that kind of responsiveness. She named the spiritual disciplines, reading scripture, prayer, fasting, silence and solitude, remembering God's faithfulness, and generous giving, not as boxes to check but as practices that build spiritual muscle memory. She borrowed a definition from Andy Crouch for silence and solitude as "zero inputs," and suggested that adding movement, like walking, makes it easier to hear. The point throughout was that Sunday morning, at under one percent of the hours in a week, cannot carry the whole weight of a person's relationship with God.
She also named two ditches to avoid. One is assuming that because life is busy, there is no time, and Joy pushed back on that by way of the parable of the talents, arguing that even one talent of time, faithfully given, is honored by God. The other ditch is becoming so rigid in personal practice that you cannot receive anything new, which is just the Pharisee problem in a different costume. The test of a healthy wineskin, she said, is not how much time you spend in spiritual activity but whether, when something new and strange comes along, you have enough familiarity with Jesus to recognize his voice in it, or to recognize that it is not his voice at all.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Identify one small pocket of time in your daily routine, even five or ten minutes, and give it to God this week by putting your phone down and opening your Bible or sitting in silence with him.
Write down two or three specific things God has done for you in the past and put them somewhere you will see them, so you can remember his faithfulness when the current hard thing feels hopeless.
Try a short walk this week with no podcast, no music, and no inputs, just you and God, and see what surfaces when you give him that silence.
When something unusual or unconventional comes across your path this week, resist the reflex to immediately dismiss it or immediately accept it, and instead spend a few minutes asking God whether it carries familiar notes of his character.
If you are in a season where even one talent of time feels like all you have, commit to showing up with that one talent consistently this week rather than waiting until life is less busy.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Joy described the difference between the disciples and the Pharisees as coming down to time spent with Jesus. What does that kind of closeness actually look like in your own life right now, and where do you sense the gaps?
Joy used her friendship with Rachel to illustrate how intimacy is built through accumulated time and shared history. Who or what has shaped your understanding of what a close relationship with God could look like, and what has made that hard to sustain?
Joy Bhatt compartio una ensenanza centrada en una frase que Brian ha estado repitiendo durante esta serie: estar con Jesus nos libera de las limitaciones de un viejo odre religioso. Usando el contexto de Mateo 12, donde los discipulos y los fariseos observaban las mismas escenas pero reaccionaban de manera completamente distinta, Joy explico que la diferencia no era el conocimiento de la ley, sino el tiempo que los discipulos habian pasado con Jesus. Esa cercania les daba la capacidad de reconocer cuando Dios se estaba moviendo de una manera nueva y de seguirlo con confianza, en lugar de resistirlo como hacian los fariseos.
La mayor parte de la ensenanza fue una invitacion practica a examinar como usamos nuestro tiempo. Joy senalo que asistir a la iglesia una hora y media a la semana representa menos del uno por ciento de nuestro tiempo, y que eso solo no es suficiente para desarrollar una relacion intima con Dios. Hablo de las disciplinas espirituales, como leer la Escritura, orar, ayunar, y practicar el silencio y la soledad, no como una lista de obligaciones sino como entrenamientos que desarrollan memoria muscular espiritual. La meta es llegar a conocer la voz de Dios tan bien que cuando el pida algo poco convencional, uno pueda reconocerlo y obedecer.
El segundo texto fue el relato de Josafat en 2 Cronicas 20, donde un ejercito enorme amenazaba a Israel y Dios le dijo al pueblo que no peleara, sino que adorara. El pueblo ayuno, oro recordando las obras pasadas de Dios, y envio al coro adelante del ejercito. El resultado fue que los enemigos se destruyeron entre si sin que Israel levantara una sola arma. Joy uso esta historia para ilustrar que un odre nuevo, formado por el tiempo pasado con Dios, nos capacita para obedecer instrucciones que parecen illogicas y ver resultados que solo Dios puede producir.
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Pasajes biblicos usados
Mateo 12:1-14
2 Cronicas 20:1-24
Mateo 25 (parabola de los talentos, mencionada brevemente)
Read the full transcript11,752 words
Welcome. If you're new, this is our living room. Sure. Glad to have you.
You. We do need you desperately. And it is a desperate cry because without you, we're so broken with you. Lord, we're healed
and we're whole. So we just say,
Come on in. This whole front row is free. Just take a minute and just talk to him from your heartless heart. He already knows every intricate detail. You.
Need you. Would you teach us through your word today? Teach us through your word today. As joy comes and shares what you've put on our heart today, Lord, would you let it
go from our thinker down
to our knower today? Change us by your spirit today. We tell you we love you in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen. Amen.
Well, turn around and say good morning. Greet somebody.
There's not a lot of room to move around.
You have to give tight hugs.
And then get your bibles out.
She's gonna bring us the word today.
I'm gonna work on this
little box here, but see if I can find it.
Okay. Hello? Good morning. And for those of you who don't know me, my name is Joy Bhatt, and I am on the board here at Tribe, which is a huge honor. I have taught here before, but it's been a second.
I have had a year. I don't know how many of you guys had crazy 2024. From the looks of my social media, everybody had a crazy 2024. We were all ready for that year to be done. But I lost my dad unexpectedly back in March 2024, and that it's been a it's been a journey of grief and just kind of healing and recovering from that and haven't been in the space to teach for a little bit, but I'm back.
And I'm thankful to have that opportunity, and it's always an honor. Brian asked me to to teach with you. So today, we're gonna continue on in the conversation about I don't know if he's titled it Wineskins. That's a weird title. Something along those lines.
But before we get started, let's pray. Lord God, thank you so much for this opportunity to be here and just invite your Holy Spirit to come and speak through me. That only your words and your ways would would permeate to our hearts today in the service, and anything that is not of you would just fall off. We thank you, father, that you are good. You are so good.
Pray that you just continue to open the eyes of all of our understanding as we continue this conversation. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. It is a conversation, as Brian would say. So for any of you that are new, if you have something to share what are we doing mic wise?
Are we just
We have a mic
for the livestream, but if you wanna Okay. Or I can repeat a bit. Does it feel warm in here? Is everyone alright? Are we doing okay?
Little warm. I'm trying to get some air moving. It's drug one. Anyway, so if you have something that you wanted to share, just go ahead and raise your hand. I do have a couple of interactive questions for you.
But, yeah, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I believe that this isn't necessarily a a message that is going to revolutionize your life. Maybe. Maybe. But it is going to convict you to little bits of better, as my eviction counselor says to me.
We're looking for little bits of better. And so I would love for you guys to be just listening to your spirit as you're listening to this message and recognize what are those little bits of better that the holy spirit is nudging me on or that are bubbling up that I can that I can apply to my life. Okay. So today we're talking about being with Jesus, and the message is based around the the phrase that Brian's been saying, which is on the next slide, that being with Jesus sets us free from the constraints of an old religious wineskin. Got it real tiny down there.
And I thought it would be important to kind of talk about or review some of the terms that we've been talking about because just starting with wine skin series just sounds weird. So we're gonna kinda review so you guys can all get on the same page. We've been in Matthew twelve one through 14. I am going to refer to it, but I'm not gonna have us read it again because we have been reading it for a while. But for those of you who have not been here and reading it with us, there's two different stories that take place on the Sabbath.
The disciples are hungry. They're walking through fields of grain. They grab some heads of grain and eat them on the Sabbath. The Pharisees who are the religious leaders of the time have eagle eyes looking for something to accuse Jesus of and they jump on this opportunity and they're like, look at what your disciples are doing. They are violating the Sabbath because they are doing work.
And Jesus has a response to them that the Pharisees do not like. And he calls out their pride, and he calls out, and he basically offers them a new way of looking at the side. The second part of that is when they are in the temple, the Pharisees, they tell us the Bible tells us are actually looking for a question to trap Jesus, and they ask him if it's lawful to heal a man who has a crippled hand on the Sabbath. And he basically says, yes. You can do good on the Sabbath.
And has the man reach out, yeah. There's my point. Howard had the I just had all these flashbacks to, like, the teen youth conferences that I went to, and, like, he would have he would have, like, power statement and then like flames would come off the stage in the background and there'd be like loud music and everything so that was my power movement. Okay. Anyways, so he also addressed the Sabbath.
And so really what we're seeing here is Jesus and then let's go back on some terms so that we can kinda understand. He's pouring out new wine. I've been reading slowly through Matthew all throughout January and it's just full of the of Jesus pouring out new wine. So what's new wine so that we can remember? You can put that up.
New wine is just any new way that God is moving. And I think it's important to recognize that it's not something that's going to be different from what the bible says. He's not gonna violate his word. He's not going to say something that that puts any of this in jeopardy. So he is he is one with the word, but there are new methods.
There are new ways that God can be moving. So in the example from Matthew 12, we have picking, praying to eat on the Sabbath and healing somebody on the Sabbath. And the Pharisee or the Pharisees are like, no. No. No.
We have laws. We have rules. This is not what we're supposed to do. And God and Jesus is like, nope. There's a new way, actually.
There's a new way. I'm giving you some new wine here for how you can how the Sabbath is supposed to be honored and observed, which means that on the flip side, old wine is just things like the law, tradition, legalism, religion. And when I say religion, I don't mean relationship. When I say religion, I'm talking about in the sense of, like, the pharisees reviewing religion as a big list of do's and don'ts. Right?
All the rules that you're supposed to follow in order to be able to honor the Sabbath. And if you've studied the Sabbath at all, you know that they added the Pharisees added hundreds, literally hundreds of rules onto the Sabbath to be able to honor it in a way that they thought or their interpretation was. And Jesus came in with new wine, a new way of observing the Sabbath that they did not understand. And then finally, wineskin. When we say wineskin, we're talking about a person's capacity to receive and adapt to a new work of the holy spirit in their life.
In the example in Matthew 12, because you're hungry or healing somebody, that we can see that the disciples had a a new wineskin or a good wineskin because they had capacity they knew just as much as the Pharisees knew. Oh. That is a violation of the rules. That is a violation of the law. They knew what the Pharisees were thinking.
The disciples saw it just the same way that the Pharisees had seen it. But the Pharisees are example of an old wineskin where they didn't have any capacity to be able to accept this new wine, this new way of God moving. Whereas the disciples had a new wine skin as such because they had that capacity to hear and to see the new wine that Jesus was pouring out, this new teaching about the Sabbath and they could receive that and they could apply it to their life. From what you remember of the story, how what evidence do we have that the disciples had a new wineskin? They had the capacity to be able to see to receive this new teaching from Jesus.
You can just shout it out. You guys remember anything? What was their how did we know that they had that capacity?
Were curious.
They were curious? Good. And they weren't questioning Jesus like the Pharisees. Right? The Pharisees immediately jumped down Jesus' throat.
Oh, No. No. No. You can't do that. Or can you do that?
Because we're gonna get you. And the disciples were not even though they had the same knowledge as the Pharisees, they were not the ones jumping on their throat. Anyone else think of anything? They trusted Jesus. They trusted Jesus.
We used our sanctified imaginations to imagine that maybe Jesus grabbed the grains of wheat first and ate it, and then the disciples ate it. But regardless of whether Jesus did it first or the disciples did it first, they ate the heads of grain. Right? They were able to understand that they're they knew, this is a violation of the rules, but we are able to do this. There is something different.
There is a new way that God is moving now, and they were able to act on that. Let's see. Why do you guys think the disciples had a better capacity or new wineskin to be able to receive these new things? Because I love I keep thinking back to The Chosen. I love the depiction of all of these things in The Chosen because it really under underscores how much the disciples knew of the law and the traditions and the things that they were in the in the Torah and they had memorized it and they had all gone, you know, to the temple and and worshiped in the temple.
They all knew all of these different things and yet they were able to follow Jesus and and and receive and follow in the new way that he is he he was introducing to them. What do you think the difference was between when the how the disciples were able to receive that versus the Pharisees? Same knowledge. Yep.
When the Pharisees saw it, that was the first time for them to experience it.
Okay. When the oh, go ahead.
So when the Pharisees saw it, that was basically in in for most cases, their first time. With the disciples, they were spending every moment with so they were mimicking what they were they were seeing Jesus do and through their beliefs that he was who he was Mhmm. They were able to to step out.
Exactly. The answer is exactly what he said, and it's in our phrase. Being with Jesus sets us free from the constraints of an old religious wineskin. They were being with Jesus. We can't just take those three words and and remove it from the equation and just hope that we won't be like the pharisees, we'll be like the disciples.
And when something new is happening, God is moving in a new way, that we'll be able to receive it. If we do not spend time with Jesus, then we won't be able to recognize that either. Just like the pharisees, the pharisees and the disciples had the same knowledge of the law, but the difference was the disciples spent time with Jesus all the time. They followed him and did everything that he did, and the Pharisees did not. And that's where the disconnect happened in the in the Pharisees' life.
You know, I think about how in our own relationships that we can think of, whether it is a special someone or a spouse or a family member or your very best friend, all of those relationships that are your closest, most intimate are all based on the amount of time that you spent with that person. Speaking of grief, this last week was also my best friend's birthday, and this is our fourth year without her here. She passed away back in 2021, and her name is Rachel. And one of the things that in my grief journey that I have been contemplating and honestly just overwhelmed with is this idea of another finding being able to find another best friend because one of the components that made Rachel so special is that we had known each other since we were 13 years old. So the amount of time that we spent, she knew all my friends from high school.
She knew my friends from college. She met Isaac who I eventually married. She knew my family. She knew the stories that I had gone through, the high highs of my life and the low lows of my life. We were long distance, but we would always, like, talk or back in the day write letters.
That was back in the day. Before the Internet. That makes me sound really old. Anyways, but there was so much time that we spent together. And so and it's only because of time that she was able to know all the names of these people and know the stories, know the nuances, and know the things that had happened so that when we got to the you know, as an as adults, we are if I called her up and I was like, listen to what this person did.
I don't have to fill in a backlog of, okay, remember the history like this person had done this before with this other person and this person was also involved and then like my family dynamic comes in this way and da da da. Like she already had all of that filled in because we had spent so much time together. There was such an intimacy in our relationship and it was only available because of time and that same idea is when I try to think of like, god, who do you have for me as as another best friend? I just get overwhelmed because I don't have anybody else that has that much time logged with me. I think that time is such a huge component.
I do believe that God can work, and I do believe he can provide. I'm not trying to discount that, but I am trying to underscore how valuable that time spent together is because it's something that you just can't quickly make up. Right? It's not something that you can just, like, show up every once in a while and hope that that is just we're just gonna be, you know, close intimate friends. Same thing with our spouses.
Same thing with our family. Like, all the time that you have logged, that is the component of the relationship that makes it intimate. So being with Jesus, our relationship with Jesus is the exact same. Our capacity to be able to receive, our capacity to be able to recognize when he's moving even if he's pouring out new wine, if he's moving in a new way is all dependent on the amount of time that we spend developing that relationship with him. I believe that time spent with Jesus improves the using the terms that pastor Brian's been using, improves the the quality of our wineskin.
So that when something different comes along, maybe something new, a new way, a new teaching, or a new revelation of things that are happening around us, we can recognize the familiarity of our god. How many of you guys have with your, like, your best friend or your spouse or whoever that intimate relationship is that you're thinking of right now? How many of you can either be watching that person in, like, a conversation and they just, like, twitch their eyebrows certain way and you're like, oh, that person's gonna get it because little do they know that my best friend, you just pushed a button you should not have pushed. Or you can, you know, maybe, like, your best friend or whoever it is can speak and tell you some sort of story and you immediately know, oh, I know what's coming next. I know exactly how you how you reacted to this.
Right? How you responded to this. Because there is that familiarity that is already there. And so when we talk about things like, you know, pastor Brian brought out a list of books that are really going to or books and podcasts that are going to what did how did he term it? Like, stretch your wineskin or, like, kinda test the quality of your wineskin.
One of them on there is is Blurry Creatures and which is a podcast that primarily talks about Bigfoot and aliens and then spiritual beings. And when you're listening to a podcast that is talking about how the Nephilim that are mentioned in Genesis six may still have a bloodline that is alive and well here today and maybe behind the roots of the Federal Reserve. You oh, you're just like, woah. Like, talk about new teaching that's coming in.
You had me on, Nepaline.
But if you have spent the time with Jesus getting to know him and getting to know his word, you can recognize immediately, like, oh, that's not my father god or, oh, that actually has some familiar notes in it. Actually, I know what know what Jesus said about these things. And hey, that actually that actually resonates. We have that capacity to be able to recognize when it is God pouring in new wine and when it is old wine that you're supposed to go, ugh. No.
That is not from my father God. And the ability to be able to discern that or to discern whether or it's from God is only found in spending time with Jesus. Because there are some things flying at us right now in the world today that are pretty stinking crazy. And we have got to know. We've got to start logging time so that we know when those things come.
As pastor Brian would say, oh, this is that that it talks about here in the bible. Or nope. This is actually not of God, and this is something that's dangerous, and I need to stay far away from it. And in the example that I gave, you guys can discern for yourself and pick out which parts came from God and which parts did not. But there is an opportunity always there to be able to to be able to discern that.
And, again, I want to emphasize because I know a lot of you in here some of you I don't know, but a lot of you in here, you're like, do I spend time with Jesus. And I don't want to I don't want this to be like a a a blind a blind challenge to be like, everybody needs to spend time with Jesus because none of you are spending time with Jesus. I'm not saying that. K? I know a lot of you are spending time with Jesus.
Like I said at the beginning, what are the the little bits of better that we can look for as we go over our time? As we go over the things that we spend our time on every day because we recognize that our time is so important to being able to have a capacity to receive the new wine, the new way that God is moving. Where is our time going? Because I think all of us, myself included, have an opportunity for little bits of better. What are those little pockets of time that are in my life that I could be spending that with Jesus as opposed to spending it, you fill in the blank.
I think this is why the spiritual disciplines are so important because all of them require the third through line for all of them is they require time with God. It's an intentional setting aside your time to be with Jesus. So I have listed up here how can we be with Jesus. We can spend time reading his word. Reading scripture is super important.
We can spend time praying, praying just you and God, praying with corporately with other people. We can spend time fasting. We can spend time in silence and solitude, which I think is really more important than what we have recent in recent church history than what we have emphasized. Because the whole bible is all about loving God and loving people and God says, how do you love me? You obey what I command.
Well, how do you obey if you haven't listened to know what you're supposed to be obeying? And that's where silence and solitude comes in because you're taking time to listen. Andy Crouch defines silence and solitude as zero inputs, which means because I would consider would have considered before silence and solitude like, I'm gonna go and put my headphones on, put some good worship music on, get my journal out, write in my journal. But that journaling is an input. The music is an input where he's just like no inputs.
You and God listening to what he has for you. I would recommend if you're like well, first of all, that terrifies me because I'm in that category. And second of all, the the noise in my head is so loud it's really hard to hear. Add a component of moving movement to that. Just on a practical note, silence and solitude while walking makes a huge difference in your ability to hear from God.
Okay. And then I also put on there remembering we talk about this every peck pecky day, but the importance of remembering the good things that God has done so that you your hope is fueled for the difficult situation that you are facing now is key to spend time in that. Because when you hit difficult situations, if you haven't spent time remembering how God has been faithful before, then you're just gonna get clouded with the difficulty of the situation and it feels discouraging, it feels scary, it feels hopeless because we are not remembering what God has done before means he can do it again. He will do it again. And when we spend time remembering and we keep our mind calibrated on Jesus and calibrated on the goodness of God knowing that he is trustworthy so that we can have that hope to face whatever it is that we're facing right now.
I would strongly recommend you take some time to sit down and remember his goodness. That's what our pecky board is all about. Right? It's to be able to have that visual reminder in front of us. Oh, yeah.
Remember this? Remember when God did this? Remember when God provided this? Remember when God healed this? Remember when God brought this person into my life that I just did not think that there were any people left that would be able to fulfill that need in my life when God brought that person in?
Okay. This is not a hopeless situation that I am dealing with right now. I still serve a trustworthy god that if he could do it before, he will do it again, and it gets your your focus and your and your wineskin in a better capacity to be able to receive from him. Isn't it interesting that the wineskin is made from an organ? I think about like, I do a lot of my thinking and reacting from my gut, and our wineskin is or wineskins literally come from guts.
And this idea of it being where our capacity is measured and what we can receive and not receive. I just thought that was really interesting. I also have on here giving generously. We talk about how you can give up your time, your talent, and your treasure. There's So that time component again.
When we choose to give in obedience to the ways that God has called us to give, whether it's giving your time serving here at church or it's giving of your time feeding the hungry or helping the widows or the orphans or whatever the case may be. When you are giving of that, giving of your time to do those things, again, you're recalibrating your heart and focusing you're spending time doing what Jesus has asked you to do, and you're learning his heart, and you're getting more intimate in him with him in your relationship, and you're starting to see things the way that he sees them so that when more new wine comes in, you can immediately recognize, oh, this is from Jesus. I can tell. I can tell this is from you. This is crazy, but this is from Jesus.
And so I'm going to keep my eyes fixed on God and I'm gonna follow in that way. Alright. I'm gonna step on some toes right now. I did not bring my, as pastor Brian likes to say, kitten fur lined gloves to to give you a point that is a little bit harder to swallow. And I changed the words a little bit from what I have up on my up on my slide.
But your capacity to recognize and receive from the holy spirit is not measured by if you come to church each week. I wrote down on there how many times you come, but it's not measured by if you come to church each week. Because we get into this mindset that if I can check that off my box or check that off my list, then I have capacity to hear from Jesus. And when I get into a difficult situation, I'll know whether or not it's God. An hour and a half versus I looked it up.
I can't remember exactly. Like, a hundred and sixty eight hours in a week, I think it is. It's less than 1% of your time in that week. That is not enough time to develop an intimate relationship with God. There is a responsibility that I am putting on you to increase that amount of time past just showing up at church and thinking, okay.
I've done enough now. I think church is great. You need to come to church. Okay? Not telling you not to come to church.
I but I believe that if you are putting all of your eggs in the church basket, here you go. I've done my part. Now when I get into a tough situation, I will know exactly what to do and I will be able to discern if you're telling me one way or the other. The answer is that's not gonna be enough. That's not gonna be enough.
You have to invest your time personally outside of church and and looking at your, you know, all the different things that you have going on, you need to invest that time in that relationship with Jesus. So I also wrote your capacity to recognize and receive from the Holy Spirit is directly proportional to how much time you spend with Jesus. It's like I said, I know I know you guys are spending time with Jesus, and I believe that Jesus is calling us the little bits of better. I think there's more. I think he has more.
And I think there's because of the time in this history that we live in, we need a a lot more time with Jesus because there's a lot more discerning that we have to do. And we have to have that relationship, that foundation, that intimacy with, excuse me, with him already established. Okay. Two notes. Number one, if you got two if you're in a busy season I am in a busy season, and I have been in even busier seasons.
Newborn season, toddler season, that's, like, the busiest of all busy seasons, but there are plenty of other busy seasons that I've been in, whether it's been with school or work is is requiring lots of hours or there's different, you know, things going on with the family or whatever the case may be. Even in those busy seasons, I believe that all of us have little pockets of time that we can give back to Jesus. And I was reading this morning in Matthew 25 and it was the parable of the three of the talents. I think that's it's called. Anyways, the the the owner of the land gives talents, 10 talents to one guy or sorry.
Five talents to one guy, two talents to one guy, and one talent to another guy. And he says, go. I'm gonna go and do what you want to do with this with this money that I've given you. And it's the guy that has just one talent and doesn't even invest it that is really, really called out in that scenario. And I think that that emphasizes to us that even if you're like, god, I don't have five talents worth of time right now.
I don't even have two talents worth of time. I might have one talent worth of time right now. God says,
yeah. You can
be faithful on that. He is going to bless and he is going to honor even if it's just one talent. So all of that to say, there is no too small amount of time to just get out of this. Mhmm. There is at least that one talent.
That that that guy in the story had the exact same amount of responsibility as the guy with the five talents that had more resources to work with and he was he was judged by the same standard. And so if you're like, well, I'm in a really busy season right now. I just don't one talent. That's always asking. Find that one talent.
Find that one pocket of space that you can add and you can give back to God. On the flip side, I would also like to say, please don't be weird. We also maybe know or have had a moment in our own lives where we spend all of our time reading the bible and praying and fasting and starving our bodies and going to church every time the door is open and volunteering and everything. All of those are wonderful things. And when it comes at the the sake of forsaking your responsibilities that God has also given you, whether it's your family, your relationships, your church, and your community, your job, when it comes at that expense, that's not bad either.
Okay? So I'm not asking you to be weird. I'm not asking you to just become this, like, recluse. A recluse is a pretty good indication actually that this is not God involved because God has designed us to thrive in community. If we have been pulled away, then that means that the enemy is winning, if we're being really honest.
Because we can't thrive alone. We need each other. But when you are looking at your pockets of time, I'm also not asking you to be weird. There's some people that I think that if you that they spend so much time with God for taking some of their responsibilities. But also you can see it's an indication of an old wineskin when somebody calls them out and asks them and addresses it, and they're like, oh, no.
No. Like, no. I can't I can't change that. Like, I need my three hours a day reading the bible or whatever the case may be. But what if God is moving in a new way?
What if there is new wine? That is how we are able to recognize if we are, like, the Pharisees stuck in the law, stuck in the tradition, stuck in the rules, or if we are, like, the disciples where a new suggestion can come along and we can recognize, oh, man, this goes against everything that we've been taught, but I feel Jesus in this. I know Jesus. I know he can be trusted. I'm gonna go with that instead.
That capacity is always is can always be judged by how you receive that new wine. Okay. I would like you to turn in your Bibles to second Chronicles 20 verses one through 24. I gotta be real honest. Whenever pastor Brian puts a scripture passage on the screen, and I'm like, 24 verses, I smell like immediately rubbed.
Rubbed. Oh my gosh. We're gonna be here for another hour. We're not gonna be here for another hour. Mhmm.
Thank you. You're insane. Pastor Ryan is safe too. Sorry. Didn't mean that.
Okay. Second Chronicles 20 verses one through 24. I would love the faster faster you you guys guys volunteer volunteer to to read, read, the the faster faster we we get out of here. I'm just saying. As we are reading, I would like you guys to look for indications of people who have new wineskins, which means they have a capacity to hear something new that God is doing.
I want you to be looking for markers or signs of how did they get that new wineskin. How do we know that they have spent time with Jesus? Also, want you to recognize the the results of being able to operate in this new way that God is pouring out. And and this is in the Old Testament, so we don't have the Holy Spirit here, but but we do have God speaking to the people through the words of a prophet, and we can see the exact same kind of kind of blind skin situation playing out. Okay.
Who wants to get us started? Second Chronicles 20. Thank you. Grab the mic. Grab the mic.
Yeah.
Get the size of what I mess up. After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and with them, some of the Midianites came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat a great multitude is coming against you from Eden Eden, from beyond the sea, and behold, they are in
I can't pronounce that. Go or Then So you
you you got it. Yep. Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and and set his face to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast a fast throughout all Judea. And Judea assembled to seek help from the Lord. From all the cities of Judea, they came to seek the Lord or Judah.
Excuse me.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in front of the new courtyard and said, Lord, the god of our ancestors, are you not the god who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people, Israel, and give it to forever give and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham, your friend?
Pause. We're remembering right now. K? So they're taking time right now to remember and remind even God of what he's already done in
the past and what he's promised. Okay. Keep going. They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your name saying, if calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.
And now behold the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seer, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy. Behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.
Meanwhile, all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehoshaphat, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jael, son of yeah. Levi sons of Asaph in the midst of the assembly. And he said, listen. All Judah and and inhabitants of Jerusalem and king Jehoshaphat, thus says the word to you, do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde for the battle is not yours but God's.
Just keeps getting better. Who wants to keep going? Verse 16.
Tomorrow, march out against them. You will find them coming up through the ascent of Ziz at the end of the valley that opens into the wilderness of Jeruel. But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions and stand still and watch the Lord's victory. He is with you, o people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow for the Lord is with you. Then king Jehoshaphat bowed low with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem did the same, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites from the clans of Coat and Korah stood and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud shout. Early the next morning, the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa.
On the way, Jehoshaphat stopped and said, listen to me, all of you people of Judah and Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.
Verse 29. Almost there. After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang. Give thanks to the Lord.
His faithful love endures forever. At the very moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting against themselves. The armies of Moab and Ammon turned against their allies from Mount Seir and killed every one of them. After they had destroyed the army of Seir, they began attacking each other. So when the army of Judah arrived at the lookout point in the wilderness, all they saw were dead bodies lying on the ground as far as they could see.
Not a single one of the enemy had escaped. Oh, underline that. Not a single one of the enemies had escaped. Okay. So for for the children of Israel and King Jehoshaphat, what are some evidences of their having a new wine skin?
Or what was the new wine that God was pouring out? The new way that he was moving and then their capacity to have received it.
Go ahead. Well, previously, they had conquered previously, they had conquered the land through battles. And this time, the Lord took the battle and told them, we're gonna do it differently this time. And I need you to trust me. And in order for you to have victory, you're not gonna fight.
Yeah. The new wine was, you're gonna go to battle and you're not going to fight. Now, again, if you're thinking new way that God is moving, what is the capacity of your wineskin? Your capacity to be able to receive and follow after what God has told you to do when all of your head knowledge says, I think we should take some weapons with us. I think we should prepare and do some practicing with our sword fighting skills.
And God says, no. I'm moving in a new way. None of you are gonna fight. This battle is completely mine. And then what does Jehoshaphat do?
Who does he send out first in obedience to this new wine? The worship team. He puts the worship team out in front. He puts the worship team out in front because what God said was, the battle is not yours, it's mine. Focus on me.
And so Jehoshaphat is like, we've gotta focus on God. We're not gonna focus on our weapons and how many people we have and if we're ready and what position we are in this land. All of that, he puts all of that aside and he obeys what the new wine that god says, which is focus on him. And he says, okay. Then we need to put the worship team out in front so they can help us remember to focus.
So that they are leading us in songs so that our bodies are getting involved, not just our minds or our hearts, but our bodies are getting involved in singing and shouting. Most of it says shouting. Shouting that the Lord is faithful. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love endures forever.
All of that is he is it is all new wine. And their capacity of whether or not to receive it, we can tell that they had good good wine skins new wine wineskins because they were able to receive that and put the worship team out front. How do we know that they that their wineskins what is their evidence of them we're gonna say being with Jesus even though we're in the old testament, but of them understanding and spending time with God and getting to know and be familiar with him. What are some of the things that we see them doing that gives you evidence that they were able to hear from God and had a relationship with him? Think of your spiritual disciplines list.
What were they doing?
Fasting.
Yep. They were fasting immediately. He recognized I need we have a difficult situation and army coming towards us. We're gonna spend more time with God. And everybody did it.
There wasn't complaining. There wasn't like, oh, now's not a good time. I mean, I gotta do a run tomorrow, and I really need that money that those calories in my body right now, so I'm just gonna sit this one out. I'll fast at the next one. The whole moms, kids, everybody.
Everybody was involved. Everybody was able to immediately set aside time to listen and to view Jesus. Anything else? I pointed one out as we were reading. Remembering.
Yes. So in their prayers, they were remembering. They were looking back at the goodness of God and they had already they were able to remember that because they were constantly keeping that in front of them. That was something that they had purposely woven into. And then all throughout the bible, again, listen and obey.
Right? We hear listen over and over and over again, which in the hold on. The Hebrew I was gonna say Greek, but that's wrong. In the Hebrew, the word listen is translated as the word shema, s h e m a, and it means listen and obey. It's like two sides of the same coin.
You can't just listen the one side of the coin and not obey. It doesn't count. There is not a word in Hebrew that means just listen. Like, sound waves hit my eardrums and I understand what you're saying. Listen and obey.
It has to go together. And that's what they're saying here. Listen. Listen. Here's what the Lord is saying.
Listen. And then they not only hear the words but then they go out and they do them. That is an indication of what happens when we have a a new wine skin. A wine skin that has spent so much time being with Jesus that we go, oh, I recognize that word. I know that that is really important to God.
That has been around since the very beginning of our history that I can that I have learned by memorizing the Torah and by being a part of the children of Israel. And so they can recognize that. Focus on God when he says, God alone. Focus on God. Yep.
Love God. That that goes all the way back to the the 10 commandments that Moses brought for us down from Mount Sinai. All of these things are familiar notes in their relationship with God that they can go, yep. This is God moving. This isn't something that we are supposed to because again we there's so many opportunities in our life where we hear something that is so unconventional and so bizarre and we can immediately go because that sounds strange and I don't really understand it, I'm just going to dismiss it.
And we are living in a time now where you cannot get away with that reasoning and just dismiss the things that are coming at you too. You have got to spend time in a relationship with God and develop that intimacy so that when those bizarre things come, you can discern. You need the discernment guys. I feel this like burning right now inside of me. You need that discernment.
There are crafty tricky ways of the enemy that are coming at you from all angles right now. And you need to have that relationship with Jesus logged and that time spent with him so that when he asks you to step out in a way that you're like, gosh that feels really weird. You go and do it because look at the results. Look at the results here in second chronicles. The not a single enemy was able to survive.
They all were defeated. And the children of Israel didn't raise a finger except to worship God. They obeyed. If I I'd like to think that if I were in this living in this time period that I would have gone without weapons and hands raised and glory to God and honor to God. But maybe I would've stuck a little knife in my belt.
Maybe. Because that just seems like the smart thing to do. Right? But God is calling us to say, like, stop sticking the extra knives in our belts. Stop getting your backup plans.
Stop stop using your logic to talk you out of doing something that is unconventional. Get to know me and my voice. Spend time with me because when I ask you to do something, I can defeat every single enemy, every single thing that you are facing. I am victorious over that. If you will just trust me, his faithful love endures forever.
It didn't stop in 2024. It didn't stop in 2025. His faithful love endures forever in a crazy political climate, in a crazy time when wars are breaking out all around. We have news of hostages and we have all these different things going on and our money is not even real. Like, there's so much going on right now.
It's not bad for anything. We need now more than ever to be able to completely focus our eyes on God and say your faithful love endures forever. I don't my pockets are empty. I don't have any backup plans, God. I don't have any ways that I'm gonna logic myself out.
I don't have an exit escape route. I have my eyes fixed on you. I'm spending time with you and when you say listen, I will obey. When you tell me what to do, I will do it. When I hear something that sounds strange and bizarre and illogical, I'm gonna look for notes of familiarity.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's my best friend talking or that's my savior talking and or I'm gonna go, oh, that is not God at all. That is not God at all.
He's asking me to do something that is is in violation of his word, in violation of his character. I'm not doing that. That and sometimes those voices sound very logical Mhmm. And sound very right. And you have to have that time lock with that to be able to recognize and go, oh.
I mean, that sounds good, but that is not Jesus. That is not my savior, not the Jesus that I spend time with every day. He would not lead me to do that. Okay. Before we finish up, are there any anybody you wanna share anything that is bubbling up inside or any connections or questions that you're making?
Yeah. Go ahead.
Don't always expect if you hear the voice and you obey that you something dramatic will happen because often that's just a training. Do you know my voice?
Yeah. Yeah.
We always want to press a button and get a result. Yep. But oftentimes, it's just a discipline to train and to grow.
Mhmm. Yeah. That's good. That's great. And the more time that you spend with him, the more opportunities you have to see that and then not panic when you do something and you're like, oh, I haven't seen results.
Like, oh, shoot. Did I mess up? Oh, actually, nope. That doesn't work on my timeline. K.
I know. I still know that was that was the voice of my father god. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep on going whether you can see the results or not. You know, we're in a season right now of winter. And to our physical eyes, it looks like nothing is happening or there's just a lot of death as far as looking at nature.
The trees are bare. They barely look alive. We there's not green anywhere except for maybe some of the evergreen trees, but everywhere else, like, the lakes are frozen over. There's snow everywhere, and it doesn't look like much is happening. And number one, I think it's it's good to remember to embrace this season of rest because as all of us know from our science classes in high school and college, there's a lot going on right now.
Mhmm. It's all just happening under the surface. And just because we can't see it doesn't mean things aren't changing, things aren't growing because watch God show off in the spring. Watch nature show off in the spring when the green starts to come and the grass is covering everything and the animals are out in abundance and we see all of these things and the baby little baby cows start being born,
and we can see them
on the side. Baby. I know. Of that was happening in the winter too, but we just couldn't see it. And so even if you're in a season of winter right now where you're like, god, it looks just like death and destruction prevail.
I don't see anything. I don't see you moving. God says, just wait. Spring is coming. Spring is coming.
That doesn't mean you stop spending time with me. That doesn't mean you walk away from this relationship. Give me time. Give me time. Anybody else have anything to share?
And we'll go back to my what I always fall back on with the sports analogy. Mhmm. In my years is playing variety of sports and practice. You would do it over and over and over again. Technology to the point where you're just like, coach, I know this.
Mhmm. We don't need to do this again. You can go line up, run it again. Mhmm. And the idea behind it was to slow the game down, to be able to not have to think to do.
Mhmm. Step up. And that's what I'm going through right now is, you know, I think if you look at the world and the tragedies that are going on, I look in the mirror and blame myself. Men who do not step up and do what they are called to do, and that's that's where I am. I'm trying very hard.
I was not a very good student, and I'm trying to spend time, quality time, going over things multiple times when I really probably don't like to, probably don't have the motivation to, do it again this bible study probably starting in April. And it scares me to death. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna step up. I'm gonna learn.
Nothing else coming out of that bible study will be Clay stepping up to the plate Mhmm. And at least taking his swings at hit at at hitting the ball. It's good. It may be three whiffs. Maybe one knocked out of the park, and maybe look like a butt.
But it nevertheless, I'm gonna give that the shot, and I'm trying every day to prepare myself to be a better man. Yeah. To do to know God in such a way that I have never imagined ever. Mhmm. So I challenge all the men in the room, all the young men, older men, didn't matter.
Step up. Take take your take your swings. Don't don't step out of the batter's box forever. You know, sometimes you have to step back in the batter's box and take the swings. Sometimes it's pretty.
Sometimes it's not. Mhmm. But, you know, I'm I'm trying to do what I know needs to be done, and I'm challenging every man in this room today to do the same.
Got it. Yep. Give your time. Right? Give your time.
I'm gonna piggyback off of that real quick, and then I'll get to you, Chris. Also, in line with the sports analogy, you're going to practice every day because what are you doing? You're developing muscle memory. Right? So that your muscles will do the things that need to be done when you are in the game and you're on, you know, on the on the offensive line and and there's you've gotta get across that goal line to be able I almost couldn't remember any football terms.
It took me a second to start. You
know you have to get across you can't just kick a field goal. You've got to get a touchdown in order to win. Yeah. Your muscle memory is only developed from practicing and doing it over and over and over again, spending time.
They say in the Navy, you default to your lowest level of training. There you go.
You default to your lowest level of training, which is why I brought the spiritual disciplines and put them up on here for you because I believe that the spiritual disciplines are exercises or another some people call them spiritual practices, which I think is more applicable when you're considering like, discipline sounds like, I don't know, spanky. Like, girls are ugh. But spiritual practices is like that practice on the football team where you go over the play over and over and over and over again, and you're developing spiritual muscle memory, fasting, taking time for Sabbath, where you are where you are fasting, maybe you're coming to the end of yourself because you physically don't have the fuel in your body anymore where you have to rely on God and get that spiritual fuel. Or stopping, not working, not doing, and celebrating God. Because there's gonna come a time when you have to stop.
When there everything is so out of control, you can't do anything more. And if you've got that spiritual muscle memory built up, you can go, oh, this is familiar familiar. I know that when I stop, the world keeps spinning, and God does not fall off of his throne. Mhmm. He's still in control.
I've done this before. Before. Okay. I can do it again. It's developing that muscle memory so that when you're hitting those hard times, you are able to continue to trust God regardless of what
the circumstances look like around you. Chris? Yeah. The one verse in the passage in chronicles that we read that stood out to me was verse 13. It says, as stood before the Lord with their loved ones, wives, and children.
And that's you mentioned seasons of nature, and we're in the kitchen now in a new season of raising children. So that one stood out
to me as a You know, tiny one. Little. Little.
Standing before the Lord with your wife and children just kinda stood out because it it seems intentional and simple, but I know them standing was more than just physically orienting themselves towards the Lord. It was getting their whole family's emotions and their spiritual lives aligned in this very crucial time of what seemed like their population being decimated. So that was a really first as far as getting your whole family oriented towards the Lord. Love that. Good.
K. I'm gonna close some word of prayer, but I wanna take a minute, first of all, to just listen. And I want for you guys to identify pockets of time that the Holy Spirit is having bubbled up right or nudge you or maybe you feel it in your gut, in your wineskin, whatever it may be, however the lord speaks to you. But I want you to start to identify what are those, like, five minute pockets, ten minute pockets, maybe a thirty minute pocket. But, you know, like, with the idea of developing a life rhythm that you're going to continually keep going back to God, it's gotta start small.
You can't start with a three hour window. It's that's not sustainable. But, God, like I said, what what's the one talent, though, that he's given you? What's that one little pocket of time that he's given you that he's like, hey. You know what?
During this time, I want you to put your phone down. During this time, I want you to turn the podcast off. During this time, I want you to pick up your bible. During this time, I want you to stop eating, not eat the meal, and just be with me. What is that pocket of time that God is the Holy Spirit is convicting you of right now?
I want us to just take some time, and we're not gonna sing. We're just going to be still and listen and hear what God has to say. And whatever pops up, I don't want you to question that and go, oh, that was just me, or or I just made that up. I want you to trust it. I trust that God can speak, and the Holy Spirit is speaking to every single one of you.
And no matter how ridiculous it is, even as ridiculous as let's put the worship team in front and go face the enemy, I want you to be I want you to hear it and go, okay. Is that you, bud? Okay. I'll give you that time no matter how crazy it is. Okay?
So let's just be still for a moment. I stand as a representative of everyone in here who has put their yes on the table. I just feel that decision right now that that is not just something that happens upstairs at the TMC, and then they go back their lives and completely forget about it. But that is that decision and commitment is sealed in our hearts right now. That you, Holy Spirit, we invite you to remind us to poke us, to to whatever bring up circumstances or different things, whatever it needs to be, a word from somebody, anything to remind us of what of that commitment that we have made.
Because we wanna not just listen and hear the word that you have brought for us today, but we wanna obey God. So help us to remember and help us have the courage to do it. Help us to know and be reminded that you are trustworthy. Your faithful love endures forever, which includes now. No matter how crazy the circumstances and how difficult our life is right now, your faithful love endures forever.
We can trust you with that time. And whether we see results right away or it's a winter season or we don't see it right now, we can still trust you. We love you, and thank you, father. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
Have Amanda I'm come up. Great. Lord.
Write down what it is the Lord saved. Yes. Yeah. Put it in your phone as a reminder so
that you don't just let it slip. Hello, friends. So
as we stay in this attitude of worship just a few moments longer, then we'll get you guys out of here. We always love to worship the Lord in one additional way while we're here corporately together as a tribe family, and that's bringing our tithe and our offering to the Lord. And just like we talked about today, the tithe and offering, which is above and beyond your tithe, is a great way to stretch you in an act of obedience to what the Lord is asking. And it's such a personal thing between you and him. What is he asking you to give?
Because he is the only one, even more than you, that knows the condition of your heart. And, boy, money, whether you're saved or not, money really has an ability to have a grip on us, right, no matter how much or little we have. So Jesus is the only one that knows our heart. So when he is prompting you to give generously or whatever amount, whatever it is, that is so between you and him. And just like we talked about today, listen to that.
Listen to that. Not because the church needs your money. The money does go to do the work of the ministry, and that's a win. But, man, this is so between you and the Lord. Bringing our tithe and our offering is so personal to you.
So I encourage you as we do that today. Practically speaking, we don't pass buckets because this is our living room, guys. Welcome home. But there is a a secure, locked black box right outside the door downstairs. You'll see it right outside the front door.
If give cash or check, you can give that way. And then our website, tribejh.com, of course, you can always give on the tab there, and then the easiest way is to give on your smartphone. Can you see those instructions on the screen? Like, you're opening a new text to a new friend, and you just type 84321, and then put the amount in. And that can be recurring or as you see fit.
However, you'd
like to do that.
It's really convenient. So let's bow our heads and pray just specifically over this type and offering today, whether you're giving in this moment or whether whether it'll be another time Mhmm. We're joining our faith together. So heavenly father, we just say we love you. We trust you.
Like we've been talking about, you are so trustworthy. Circumstances lie. People can let us down, but you, father, you and you alone are faithful and trustworthy, period. And so what an honor it is to practice something. It's an act of worship.
Sometimes feels like a sacrifice, but what an opportunity to obey you when we bring our tithe and our offering. So, Lord, just speak to our hearts in the way that you see fit. Thank you that you meet us right where we are, and you're gentle and loving and firm and kind, all of those things at once. We just thank you, father. And, Lord, we ask in a practical way that every single penny brought in through this local church called tribe will just be stewarded well and go and meet the needs of people who are searching for you, who are hurting, who are longing for you, Lord.
Let the practical work of the ministry be bring restoration to people. Lord, we just pray for the people not only in our community that we can love on and be your hands and your feet, but this tithe and this offering goes not only to our local community, but as we say to the ends of the earth. There's different missions and there's different places that you've called us to give. And, Lord, what an honor it is to partner with you. Such Such a natural thing like money that you make from a job when you put your super on that and make it a supernatural thing.
Thank you, Lord, in advance that people will come to know you, and their lives will be healed and restored. And we get to be a part of that today because of our giving. Help us to keep our hearts right before you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
A couple quick things. As you see, we're back home. We're back in our living room. We were talk Joy was talking about seasons and changes, and the season we had at the Virginian was fantastic, and it served its purpose well. And in case you're wondering Brian's not in charge of this church, who is?
Jesus. Jesus. See, you're whenever you don't know the answer, just say Jesus, then you're probably get it. Jesus is in charge, and we do try our best in our humanness to practice what we preach and listen and obey, like Joy said today. And this is where he's leading us to be at home in this season, this home.
So we will continue to have a service stuff happens all throughout the week, but the tribe church service was will be on Sunday morning at both nine and eleven, and we'll probably do that until the summer once we come. One more thing, there is a community worship night, which if you haven't been, it's really there's all worship is special, but there's something special about different bodies of, you know, different body parts of the body of Christ coming together and worshiping. And so it's this month, February 26, the last Wednesday of the month, and it's gonna be at Gateway Church just over here in Raptor Jay. And so, Alyssa and I will be there, and we play with the pastor of First Bee and their associate pastor and, like, some other it's just it's amazing. So there's gonna be multiple churches on stage together praising and worshiping the lord, and there's something really special about it.
And so there's plenty of seats there. You guys come February 26 at 06:30. It's a Wednesday? It's a Wednesday. We'll do a community community worship night together.
K. We just prayed, but I'll do a quick dismissal prayer.
Yeah. Power nugget. If you ever wanna bring
these and be a part of the family that way, there's
a sign up sheet right down by the donuts. Mhmm.
Put your name on there. Grab a box of donuts in the morning. It's a cool way to serve. Yeah.
It is. Or if you like the baby,
That's just one way to say it now. So let's pray, and we'll let you guys out of here. Father, thank you for everybody here. Thank you for the families we represent. Lord, whether we're here in this room, whether they're or traveling, whether they're far living far away, whatever's going on, Lord, we just thank you for every family represented in this room.
And thank you that we get to be a part of your family. God, we're so grateful and so thankful that you are just trustworthy. Let the words today that were Joy's mouth, but from your holy spirit, just find a lodging place in the soft soil of our heart. Let it be like a seed that is watered as we do those things, as we spend time with you, as we seek you, as we listen, as we fast forward, let that be the water that is so nourishing to the seeds that are planted in our heart today. Lord, we thank you for your word.
Thank you that it never returns void, scripture says, and it does what it sets out to do and accomplish. Accomplish. Lord, we just give you all the praise and the glory for who you are. Thank you for a wonderful week where we listen and we obey and have the courage to do what the Holy Spirit's asking us. Thank you for that.
In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you guys for coming today. We'll see you next Sunday. Brian would say, you got this.
