Pecky Day

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.

Please volunteer, take the mic, read a few verses, and then hand it off to somebody else, and let's go from verse one through 16. Psalm 78.

Oh, my people, listen to my instructions. Open your ears to what I am saying, for I will speak to you in a parable. I will teach you hidden lessons from our past, stories you have heard and known, stories our ancestors handed down to us. We will not hide these truths from our children. We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders.

For he issued his laws to Jacob, he gave his instructions to Israel, he commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children. Great. Thank you.

And then somebody can pick it up from there.

So the next generation might know them, even the children not yet born, and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands. Then they will not be like their ancestors, stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God. The warriors of Ephesians, though armed with bows, turned their backs and fled on the day of battle. They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his instructions.

They forgot what he had done, the great wonders he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors on the Plain Of Zoan in the land of Egypt. For he divided the sea and led them through, making the water stand up like walls. In the daytime, led them by a cloud, and all night by a pillar of fire. He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them water as from a gushing spring. He made streams pour from the rock, making the water flow down like a river.

Oh. Wow. So good. Yeah. That's good.

That's good response. I know that we've touched on this, and we've touched on this Psalms many times before whenever we come around to pecky day, but I'll give you a quick free sermon before the one that you paid for today, with your entrance ticket. So look at this. Verse nine, the warriors of Ephesians, though armed with bows so there is a an equivalent. They were armed with bows for battle, but they didn't use them.

How do we bring that into our situation today? I mean how many of you brought your bow with you to church? Okay so only one, only one. Huxley brought his bow with him to church. So what is the connection between being armed with bows and then turning back in the day of battle?

What's that connection? Don't look at me. Look at your text. What are your thoughts? Look at look at verse nine and then 11.

So it says in verse nine that they were armed with bows, but they turned back. And then verse 11 gives us the reason why they turned back. They were scared. Why? You got bows.

You're equipped for battle. Go ahead. You got the mic.

Well, I was just thinking we all have bows in our smartphones or sitting on our laps right now.

Yes. Yeah. So so we have the word of god. Yes. You're exactly right.

And, Gretchen, they forgot. Oh, you'd be surprised. Yeah. Yeah. When's the last time you worried?

Was it this morning? Was it last night? Last night. Well, yes. Remember, don't lie in church.

So so look at the connection between being armed with battle, but then being turned back from battle. Why? Because they forgot. When you remember it is a weapon. Say it again.

When you remember it is a weapon. And how quick do we get into a little bit of turbulent waters and we're like chicken little running around the sky is falling, the sky is falling, that's it. The world is ending and how am I gonna make my bills this month? How many months has he been faithful to help you make your bills? So remembering is a weapon.

But that's not really what we're gonna talk about today. Remember that was the free sermon. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Alright.

So now for the paid sermon. If you're taking notes yeah. Me too. If you're taking notes this morning, at the top of your notes and Adam, they were over there, but we still have a few like little notebooks left. Yeah.

Are they are they or are they on our little bookshelf? Oh, yeah. Hey. There they are. There they are.

Alright. Who wants to take notes? This is a good one to take notes on. Not because it comes from me, but it's just such good valuable good stuff. So send it send it around.

Everybody who passes one up either has an incredible memory or has their own or or taking notes in their phone or they're a loser. So the title for today's conversation is water from the rock. That's the title of this morning's conversation, water from the rock, and it'll be based on the text that we just read. If you remember, I just came back Lisa and I just came back from Saudi Arabia where we went scampering around out in the desert. We climbed Mount Sinai, and we went to a few other historical places that are believed to be the fit with the narrative, the story of the Exodus and Israel, and I showed you a couple of these pictures before but it's just really apropos considering the topic that we're gonna discuss today.

So I've got a couple of pictures. There's Lissa and this is believed to be the rock at Horeb. This is in Saudi Arabia within just a few days walking journey of Mount Sinai itself, And while the surrounding terrain is barren and rocky and big rock outcroppings, this stands out as very unique, very different, very striking. And God says to Moses, go to the rock at Horeb. The whole place is rock.

But this rock stands out very, very different than all of the surrounding topography. And I have one more picture of the rocket horror. To give you a little bit better scale, I just wanted to show a picture of my pretty bride. Happy birthday. So we rumble around out in the desert in these Toyota Land Cruisers, which Lisa was like wow look at that mountainside, at that scenery, and then we would pass like a cool Lando, and I was like yeah but look at that Lando going by.

I was into the vehicles as much as I was into like the history, sorry. So this is believed to be the rock at Horeb. And if you remember the story in the book of Exodus, the nation of Israel was camped in a in a barren dry place. They got really thirsty, and they started complaining. And then God told Moses, strike the rock.

And out of the rock came pouring water that would slake the thirst of maybe up to potentially a million people. Now we did not find any water coming out of this rock. We did not find a placard that Moses left that says, this is the rock that I whacked and water poured out. However, it fits the narrative really, really well. And if nothing else, it gives us a visual to help us connect the truth of the narrative that we read in the book of Exodus and is mentioned here in Psalms.

In Psalms 78 with what we just read, look back through what we just read and and find for me and read where god talks about the rock. And then you can when you find it, just read those verse or two out loud. From Psalm 78, what we just read. Where does he talk about that? Okay.

Go ahead. Okay. And then do it one more time with the mic. That was a good practice run.

Verse 15, he split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the

deep. Yes. Wow. And then verse 16, he made streams pour from the rock, making the waters flow down like a river. So if you want to to write this down, when we remember what God has done for us yesterday, it arms us with strength for today's battles.

When we remember what god has done for us yesterday, it arms us with strength for today's battle. Now let's use our sanctified imagination, and let's pretend that we were a part of God's divine council. And we hear the email prayer come into headquarters. The people down there in the Sinai Desert are really thirsty, help please. And God prints off that email, and he hands it to us as part of the divine council, and he's like, guys, alright.

We got a problem down there. How do we solve it? What solutions might you offer? We know what actually played out in the narrative, but let's pretend for a moment that that option wasn't quite yet on the table. How would you help solve that problem?

What might you do? What options could be available to you as a member of God's divine council? His leadership executive leadership team. We'll see if my question is landing. Make them dig a well.

That would be great. Dig a well. Oh, move camp and go find open water. Oh, that's another great option. Get a spanking, stop complaining.

Doesn't solve the water issue. Now

their now their biscuits are sore and they're thirsty. Get a spanking, stop complaining. Almost rolled off of her tongue a little too easy. It's like she's raised boys. What what else?

What what are some other solutions that could be available? Move camp. I love it. Dig a well. I love it.

What else? Yes. Pray. Oh, pray. Okay.

So so tell the answer going back down is tell all the Israelites to pray. Okay? And then maybe dig a well or move camp, but pray. Yes. That's good.

What else? What else? We need to we need to the reason why we're doing this is because we are stuck in the rut of what God actually did. And when we get stuck in the rut of what God actually did, it loses potency. And so we have to for a moment suspend what we know so well in the narrative and think about what if what if that option was unknown to us and we were a part of the divine council like what if the solution came to you?

Now we don't at Tribe we never say like pretend you're a god, but pretend pretend the email came through across your desk and you have to provide a solution and you happen to be able to do miraculous things. Okay. So move camp, dig a well. So those things are really practical, but now let's be a little more creative. Remember, there you go.

You could cause it to rain in the desert. Now now we're getting a little more creative that requires a little bit of extra special sauce. What else could you do? We have to think. And if you've already answered, let somebody else give an answer.

I have made it I have make it rain. Yep. He could do that. There's there's a few more that I'm that that came to my mind, but I wanna hear what comes to your mind. Yeah.

Just hold on to that. Here you go.

Yeah. For me, what I realized is you'd be looking for, constantly like when I was in, not to get totally off subject, but like when I was, for example, in junior high, I wasn't gonna be happy till I got to high school. And when I was in high school, I wasn't gonna be happy until I graduated and became 21, etcetera. Yeah. You know mean?

So, like, in these moments, even though it's really, really hard, you what mean? It's you have to say, what did God already provide me? You know What did God already provide me? Do I need to drink right now? You know mean?

Do I do I need water? You know I mean? And that that's something that I'm working on myself, but I'll probably pray and say, what do I honestly need? Because, you know, I think God can make me not thirsty.

Okay. Okay. How about this? How about this? God could be like, not thirsty anymore.

Yeah. Take away the thirst. Body doesn't need water for 40 okay. Yes. Now we're thinking a little more like divine counsel.

You got a lot of resources. What else could you do? I know. I'm looking for you to get out of your rut of thinking just water from the rock. Okay.

There's like a lot of sand like the water could come up out

of the sand like a hot spring like from the ground.

Okay. A spring. I have that one. Ding ding ding. He could make a spring.

You could make a spring bubble up or instead of just one spring, how how many? One outside of every single tent. Why not? Come on. Okay.

He could do that. What else?

Like at the wedding at Cana, he could just fill their flask.

Hello. Now we're thinking divine counsel. Go jiggle your goat gourd. What? It's full?

The more I drink, the more it fills up. God's like, I got you. That's a good one. Now we're thinking jiggle your Okay. What else could he have done?

Don't get hung up on the goat gourd. What about what about this? Your divine counsel. What have you diverted a river? Made a river rip next to the camp.

If you did nothing else Yes. Okay. So here's here's the idea. If the problem were given to us and we had infinite and creative resources in order to solve the problem, we may think of something like a spring that gushes forth from the ground. We could have given the nation of Israel instructions, dig a well, which is different than dig a tunnel, dig dig dig a tunnel.

We could have told Israel, it's there's no water here. Let's move to where there is water. We could have gone poof and made all of their water reservoirs just perpetually topped off. Now as we go and think of all of those other, I think that we could probably find a scriptural precedent for just about all of those, which means we've seen God do that in some shape, form, or fashion before. We're not like just wildly making it up.

I don't think I heard a single option that was that we couldn't find a biblical precedent for. So here's the question. Why did God use this particular method? Would you go back to that picture of the rock in the the little tent camp thing? That one.

Why did he do that? Ella?

Because if it were the Israelites building a well, or if it was the Israelites moving, it

would be them that found the water. It wouldn't be God. This is the like, one of the only ways that it had to be

God. Yes. Now when we read the text in Exodus or when we read this in Psalms, our brains are so accustomed and familiar with his miraculous provision, we we make that connection almost subconsciously. The reason why we spent five minutes pretending that we were on the divine council, what would you do? What would you do?

All of those options are great and viable and reasonable and even miraculous. But god's like, okay. Those are some great ideas, but hear me out. What if we just had Moses touch the rock with his staff, and we had a fountain of fresh water come pouring out of the rock. And all of us on the divine council go, out of what?

Not out of the ground, not out of spring, not out of their water jugs, not from a river, out of what? A rock. Is that not the most unlikely source for water? How often have you been able to extract water from a rock? Never not once.

And so we as a divine council, god's like, hey. I got an idea. And then we hear it, and we're like, that's that's that's the wildest thing I've ever heard. And then we ask him, what would we ask him? Why why that?

And then he gives the answer that Ella gave, that we so often just quickly, we roll through it. But if we stop to think about the beautiful improbability. It's ludicrous and it's just like God that he would cause water to come from the least likely place imaginable. Why? Yes.

Yes. There's a lot of people to demonstrate that he is their and our ultimate source of provision.

Regardless of which direction they chose to go, regardless of whether they followed directions and did it correctly, Matthew seventeen twenty talks about having the faith of a mustard seed. So they would have had to have great faith to perform and have God answer what they were after, would they not?

I think that they were such baby believers in Yahweh that they had no context and, dare I say, capacity to believe that God could make water come out of a rock. I think that this is pre mustard seed. This is pre mustard seed, god's sovereignty. God just saying, like, you're never you're never gonna get this. Let me show you who I am.

I have I I I whipped the butt of your old boyfriend by drowning him in the Red Sea. I'm strong, and I'm tender and will provide for you by providing for you in the most inhospitable place on the face of the planet. Adam and then Colin.

When it's good, the water sprung up. Do you think everyone recognized that it was from God at that point? Oh. What

do you all think? Right. Moses was like, you think this came from me? I just whacked the rock with a stick. This has to be of the Lord.

Look at what the Lord has done for you. That's I like it. Yeah. Colin. I like that we are considering the text beyond just a superficial layer, and God made water pour from the rock, and then we just move on.

I'm guessing it intimidated and scared surrounding nations as well, knowing it was clearly a miracle. Like, they thought everybody was just gonna probably, you know, not have water and probably die off, but the miracle that God provided was, like, intimidating to the other nations.

Yeah. Well, we know that when they camp just East of the Jordan right here, before they ever crossed the Jordan into the promised land, the surrounding nations, Jericho, AI, the Canaanites, they were quaking in their boots. Here comes Israel, and really here comes the God of Israel. God himself said, I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive out the other nations. The hornet, what a cool name for the pre incarnate Jesus.

Yeah, he does. Yeah, with machine guns on it.

Coincidentally, going back to the pre sermon, it also provides a lasting reminder that God did this. Yeah. I'm sitting here looking at the pecky board, which is our version of the lasting rock.

Yes. Yes. Yes. So when you talk to the Bedouin Arabs in the area, they are migratory herdsmen. As far back as you can take their oral history, they all have said, oh, yeah.

This is this is Moses Rock. This is the rock at Horeb where waters come out, and here we are 2,500 later, thirty three thousand years later still coming back to visit this to look at this.

I would just say kind of to Adam's question, I think that that's why he used the rock, kind of like we were saying earlier, was because nothing no one else could do that. No. There was no other possible way except God. So I think they did give God the glory in that. And it even says they praised him.

As far as faith goes, I think they didn't have the faith, and that was the point is God told Moses the first time to strike the rock. So this happened a couple of

times. Mhmm.

God told him the first time to strike the rock, and he did it. They all gave praise to God, and God was happy with it, and he gave them water. The second time, he struck God told him to speak to the rock, and he struck the rock like he did the first time, and I think that shows a lack of faith in what God was telling him to do, and then God was angry with him for that. Even though he still gave them water, he was angry about them him striking the rock instead of speaking to it like he told them to do.

Okay. Yes. I wanna modify my answer. Faith was God used faith to make water come from the rock, but whose faith? Moses.

Moses' faith. It was not Israel's faith. Moses' faith. And how do we see his faith demonstrated? He did it.

Can you imagine the pressure? Yeah. You want me to what?

Did he sneak up there or anything?

Yeah. Was he like, or was he like, you know, Charlton Heston over his head Braveheart wag. Now we have a biblical so that establishes a biblical precedent. Where do we see that in the New Testament? I'm making a big hyperlink in my brain, and we haven't even got to talk about pecky day.

It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. Bob tried to he lobbed me a softball by mentioning pecky day, and it it went right across the plate because but we're gonna get there. We're gonna get there, but I we have to talk about this.

So the miracle happened for Israel, but was it Israel's faith? No. They had they had none. Whose faith was it? Moses' faith, but the miracle was done for Israel.

Do we have a biblical precedent for that? Think New Testament and Jesus healing. What do you Well, I'm hoping I'm not jumping the I'm

hoping I'm not jumping the gun, but right as you're saying that, of course, I've read more down and it was talking about how it was a rock. And I had just been studying this, right? It's kind of a trip that's hitting right on the head. Angel of the Lord that was in the bush, Is that the same story? Was in the bush.

Later on, the great I am, which just means in Hebrew, I am and will become. Right? And he identifies himself as the I am. And and I was just reading it it right here in first Corinthians. It is this going too far?

Is it jumping on your message?

Well, read it. Okay. And then I'll put the train back right on the track. Okay. But this is good.

First Corinthians ten four says, and they did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and the rock that rock was Christ.

Okay. So so okay. Okay. Okay. It was really good.

This is good for me. So there's a store no. No. There's a story that happens in the New Testament connected to faith, and it's the story of the paralyzed guys on the mat. Whose faith opened the door for the miracle if you look at the text?

The friends.

The friends had the faith, and the paralyzed dude got healed. In a similar way, it wasn't Israel's faith. They had they had no context or framework or idea. It was Moses's faith, and Israel gets the blessing. And now watch this.

And who ultimately is that blessing? Who's the rock? It's Jesus. Now let's talk about pecky day. So in 2007, this will be the abbreviated version because we've been doing really other great stuff.

2007 the Lord invites Lissa and I and our two little kids Selah and Kai to move from Alpine where we had just built a house down to Tulsa Oklahoma for me to go to school. And the house in Alpine was under contract, but all of our cache was locked up in the sale of this house, and so we moved down to Tulsa with like just some change rattling around in our pocket. I started as a 35 year old freshman in college, I was the weird guy on campus like sitting there in like English like 101, and oh I loved it. I loved it. Yeah.

And while we were there as we were getting established in Oklahoma, times were really tough. Maybe somebody in here could relate that there was way more month left at the end of each paycheck. That never like it was never the opposite but we always had a lot of month left at the end of the paycheck and we were living frugally and trusting the Lord and here I was freshman ORU. And one month we were getting towards the end of the month and the piggy bank was just about empty, but we still had $750 worth of financial obligations that we had to meet for that month, and we were like what are we gonna do? I was taking I don't know eighteen, nineteen, or twenty hours at school, I was also like working at a bike shop, I was hanging Christmas lights, like I was doing whatever I could, and Lissa was working at athletic club.

Lissa was working at the athletic club just right around the camp, and it had great childcare so she could like be with our babies, and we still just weren't making it. And the end of the month was coming up. We're $750 short, and we're like, what are we gonna do? We were in a dry place with no apparent water, and we were thirsty. So one day, we're sitting in in our little apartment like the four of us in, like, about this size of a room.

And we are we're sitting there, and all of a sudden we hear this that occurs on the our little like patio, like like just like this, like a little deck on the 2nd Story. We're like, what is that? Somebody threw a tennis ball against the window. And Salem and Kai were like, they got up. I think Kai was maybe still in diapers.

Remember the sound of your little baby in their crunchy diapers? Mhmm. And he looks he looks pulls out the curtain looks outside and he like screams, ah, and he runs away like what is that? I go to the sliding glass door, and there sitting on the porch is a bird about this tall, the brightest tropical blue you have ever seen. He missed a turn and we're like what is that?

We'll look at it and he's looking at us and screen door is is closed and so I'm like okay I'll go outside and I open up the porch door and I go out to the bird, I'm looking down at the bird, the birds looking up at me, and I don't know what to do with this bird or like like you know I'm used to like dogs, like I don't know what you do with or to a bird like sit? I I don't know. So I just think like like I just like hold out my finger like this. What do you think the bird did?

Hopped on my finger.

I'm holding the bird up. I'm outside like like on the boards like I'm literally an animal whisperer. Look at this. I'm showing the kids like the kids eyes were as big as baseball. I'm holding up here, and then what'd the bird do?

Yes. The bird goes hopped up on my shoulder, he's got this big you know like tropical bird beak and it's like right by my face. The bird is now perched on my shoulder and I have now fulfilled my childhood fantasy of being a pirate. I'm now a pirate. I have a tropical bird on my shoulder.

The kids lost their minds. And the kids, both Selah and Kai were screaming what question? Can we keep it? Can we keep this is like, uh-uh. The kids are screaming.

Yeah. The kids are screaming. Can we keep it? Can we keep it? I'm like, well I'm a pirate now so like this is who I am.

I had to get a boat, I'm gonna be going to school, I'm the old guy and going to school with a bird on my shoulder. I'm gonna get an eye patch. And so I walk into the house, into our little apartment with this like tall bright tropical blue bird on my shoulder. I think I'm so cool. This is like get it out of here.

Kids are hopping up and down and screaming and they're like, can we

keep it? Can we keep it? Can we keep it?

And I was like, well, I think this is somebody's bird. I mean, I'm not too up to date on like all of my wildlife identification for birds in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I'm pretty sure this is a non native species. But the kids like, can we keep it? And like Kai's running like into his room to like try to find toys to give it. And, you know, if you have a pet, the first thing you do with the pet is to name it.

So they're like, what are

we gonna name it? What did

they're like jumping up and down screaming? And right about that time, the bird just decides to like go chomp right on my ear and just I mean it wasn't like painful, but it was like frightening right on my ear and they started screaming pecky. Let's name him pecky. And so I'm like well we have a bird he's on my shoulder I've pretty much trained him. He now has a name.

I don't see why we don't keep this bird like this is now a member of our family. But we didn't know what to do with the bird, and so like we got a milk crate that was probably some of our furniture at the time, dumped it out, like like push the bird put the bird in the crate cover it with the towel because that's what you're supposed to do to our bird cage, and we're like this is great we now have a bird and he's sitting in a milk crate on our linoleum floor. And we go to bed that night like just so excited. There's this weird interruption in our family and life. Lissa was telling me all night, tomorrow that bird, and I'm like he has no place to go.

We'll figure it out. So you know like money talks with your spouse when you're in bed at night, those go great, right? And so the next day I was like, we we you know, like I don't know what to do with the bird. I take Selah to school, and on the on the way to school the normal route was like busy with traffic, and so I'm like oh we can take this like Jason Bourne detour through the neighborhood, and it was about three miles from where we were living. And through as we're driving through the neighborhood Selah like screams

like oh my gosh oh my

gosh it's Becky, it's Becky. I thought he had escaped from our like perfect aviary enclosure, but I look over on a telephone pole and it is a missing bird sign with a picture of pecky and a phone number on it. Like have you seen our missing bird? And I'm like that's it that's it that's it. And so so we copy the number down, we call the place, and the the lady's like oh my gosh you've you found our bird.

I'm like I think I found a bird. We found a bird. It's big and blue and does he sit on your shoulder? I'm like, I trained him to do that.

And did you know his name

is Pecky? You you found our Diego. And I'm like, well his name is Pecky. So like that afternoon we set up to reunite the bird with his owner, and the the we we bring Pecky in the crate in the town, the kids are like, you know, still like lobbying trying to get us to keep the bird. Well the birds not ours it belongs to this other family.

We drop, we bring the bird out and you know set it right inside the door and they're so happy that they got their beloved bird back. She takes a towel off, holds out her finger, and the bird hops on her finger and then right up her shoulder, kind of like I trained him. And she's like wow thank you so much for returning Diego, and we're like glad we could help. Like like, enjoy your bird. Can I get some more, please?

And so we walk. We walk back down the driveway. We climb in the truck, we start the truck up, and we're like, well, that was a really exciting, like like, you know, twenty hours or so. And then we start to pull up down the driveway, and she comes running down the drive thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

She comes running down the driveway and says, I almost forgot. I almost forgot. Here. And she we rolled down the window, and she thrusts an envelope into our hands, and then we're like, thank you. Was it like like a gift certificate to Red Lobster or something?

I don't know. Fuddruckers down in Tulsa. And so we drive off, and Lissa opens up the envelope and she bursts into tears. Why? Because there was a reward offered for Diego that I didn't see or know about.

The reward was for $750. Amount. The exact amount that we were short that month. We took that cash. We were able to fulfill all of our financial obligations.

It was just what we needed. Not more, not less. And time goes on, about a year rolls by. We had sold our house in Alpine. We were able to buy a comfortable house in Tulsa, pay for it with cash, pay for all of my school with cash, and we're a very, very different position one year later.

But it was at that one year mark that we were like, just think of where we were this time last year. You know what? We should never ever ever ever forget as a Hunter family what god has done for us in the past. So that as we bump up against new challenges, new difficulties, and new obstacles, we can be armed with strength as we remember what he did in the past for us to win the battles that we fight and face today. And that was the very first year that the Hunter family celebrated what we call Heckey Day.

And as we planted tribe in 2016, we thought well we're all a family here, why not invite our tribe family to celebrate this pecky day? And so what we did as a family is we started a pecky board. And on that pecky board, we would take memorable events where God came through for us and we would put something to trigger our memory up on that board to remind us, to arm us with strength. And here at the TMC, we have a pecky board you can if you wanna take it off or people can visit it later. Oh, yeah.

Here, I'll hold it up. Oh, yeah. So we have we have baptisms, we have marriages, we have reports of healing, we have there's a great picture, a little small picture here of the very first time that we met in the TMC. Do you all remember that? We just absolutely destroyed some other team at kickball, evangelism through domination, and we had just taken possession of the TMC and we had taped out like where we might want to put furniture and things and so we met there.

Pictures of us at the Virginian, pictures of us at Shepherd of the Mountains of Lutheran Church and so Oh, this is a donation receipt one year during in the middle of COVID twenty twenty. Our team felt led by the Lord to call up Lower Valley and ask like, hey, what are some needs that Lower Valley like people might have? And it was during COVID. And he said, we've got a number of people that are past due on their electric bill and are within days away of having their power cut off, and this is like Christmas season 2020, and we said oh well we'd love to like give towards that and help people to pay their bills so that they don't get the power cut off, And we brought it to our tribe family and our tribe you guys you gave towards that, and then we said hey what if we wiped out the outstanding bill of every single person in Teton County? And Lower Valley, you know, lost their minds, and they said, that's gonna be close to $19,000 You guys gave so generously, and we wiped out the the outstanding bill of families in need for Teton County so that they could keep the power on and keep the heat on.

There's so there's so many moments here. Our family has a pecky board. For how many of you that have celebrated pecky day before you have a board and are building it and working on it? Yes. Look at look at all that.

I wanna land the I wanna land the plane with this. Is that would you put up John eleven twenty five up here on the screen? The first one. There we go. God specializes in making life come from things that we think no life can come from.

The precedent was established in the wilderness when God made water pour from the rock. Water is life. Rocks are dead. God said, this is the perfect way for me to display my power, my glory, incredibly brilliant and creative way for me to take care of Israel and by extension us by making something alive come out of something that's dead. Now in the this is the New Living Translation.

But when you look at this in the King James version, it comes out in even more vibrant colors. In the King James version, Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So today is there an area of your life or heart and maybe it's specifically your finances where it seems as though the situation is toast. We're doomed as c three p o would say.

We're doomed. And perhaps you find yourself in a desert feeling very thirsty? Well, did you know you happen to serve a god who specializes in bringing life out of things that would appear as though they are dead. He can make water gush forth from a rock. If he wants to, he can cause a bird to fly into your window that takes care of your financial needs.

That that brain of yours that is like the gears are rusty, and you're like, ugh. Like, I'm at the end of myself. He can drop a creative idea into your brain that you then get to convert into finances that would take care of you. I don't wanna paint just a picture of, like, Lord, help me, and then you run to your mailbox, and there's a check there. He did that for us at pecky day.

Most often, what he'll do is give you creativity so that you can work your your butt off and have your needs met.

We'd be great if we send another bird but

It would be great. Yeah. But I don't want to paint an entirely inaccurate picture of how the Lord most often chooses to work. Oh, I have this need, a financial need this month. And then somebody comes to you and is like, oh my gosh, I'm like, I've got happy news.

I'm being called away to my sister's, you know, delivery of her baby. Will you cover for me? No. I'm waiting for my pecky to fly into a window. So just be open to how he would provide for you.

Okay? What he did for Israel, he will do it again for us. So Lord, we invite you to just Whisper to our hearts Maybe there is right now a in some shape, form, or fashion. Holy Spirit, I know you're faithful to translate this but maybe with somebody's circumstance that they find themselves in, there is a pecky bird on the porch of their life. God, I ask that you would show us what that is.

Your miraculous supernatural provision so that your word would be fulfilled according to your riches and glory that all of our needs are taken care of in the rock, Jesus. Help us, Lord. Show us. Show us. Maybe even right now, the Lord would bring up past battles that you have fought where God has been good and faithful, demonstrated his goodness towards you, that he's saying, I've given you this bow, pick it up, and use it to fight today's battle.

Remember what I did for you last week. Remember what I did for you last doctor's report. Remember what I did for you. Now just come let the holy spirit minister to you and whisper to your Thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your creativity and brilliance.

Thank you. You demonstrate your loving care and compassion in incredible ways. Here we were thinking, oh, you know, make a well. Make a spring come up where you're like, oh, I got something better. So that as Ella said, it will be unmistakable, undeniable.

God moved in this situation. There are members of our tribe fam here that need you to move in their situation. Lord, we remember what you have done for us in the past. The really old churchy word is in Ebenezer. We set up an Ebenezer, a memorial to what you have done for us in the past and that arms us with strength and with hope and with joyfulness.

Oh, I can't wait to see what and how he going to do it this time. Thank you for being so faithful to us. We pray these things in Jesus name and everybody said. So, let's talk about money real quick. It's a very real in our face reality for each and every one of us in this room and it is often for many of us a point where we are confronted with the need for faith.

Right? So, when we remember how he's provided for us financially in the past, it arms us with strength and hope and confidence that he will continue to provide for us. But part of remembering is in this time stepping out in faith. Well, what is more faithful than surrendering to god a portion of the finances that you so desperately need to hold on to. Lord, I trust you.

We say this every week or when Amanda's doing offering and announcements. Lord, I trust you. That's that simple act of faith. Now if you think that tithing or tithes and offerings, financial giving is only for the grown ups, well, then you must not have any needs of the Lord. Tithing is for anyone that has needs from the Lord.

By faith, I am giving. And watch how he gives back. Number one, we also say number two, that when we tithe, it's an expression of I love you. You have provided for me faithfully all these weeks and months. I trust you and I love you.

And so out of love and gratitude we also surrender a portion of our finances. That's the tithe. And then above and beyond our tithe would be what's called an offering. Just as a cherry on top to say I love you, three kisses. I surrender an additional part of my finances as an offering.

Look at the look at the demographics around this room here. We're mostly a young adult church and I'm so very very proud of all of the young adults that have grabbed a hold of this principle your tithes and your offerings enable tribe to continue to walk out its mission of making the name of Jesus famous here in Teton County, the surrounding region, and where? To the uttermost bounds of the earth. I say thank you for your giving, not because you are paying my paycheck. You don't pay my paycheck.

You are not my source or Lissa's source. The Lord is my source, and he takes care of and our family. When you give, you're giving to the local church and surrendering it to the Lord. So let me pray over the offering. Now share a couple of quick ways of you know how we give here at Tribe and then we'll we'll get out of here.

So Lord Jesus thank you for being so good to us. Thank you for your faithfulness demonstrated towards us especially specifically in the area of our finances. Thank you, thank you. Lord we surrender a portion of our finances back to you to tell you that we love you and we trust you. Thank you for providing for all of our needs.

Thank you for giving the gift of faith to people in this room that they would then give as a result of that faith. You're so good. Thank you. We pray these things in Jesus name. Everybody said, so you can you can give with cash or check-in that little brown box as you leave and or there's a lockbox on the outside of the building so that if you're giving cash or check at another time other than service you can just go zoop put that right in there.

You can give through our website tribejh.com. That's how a lot of people are are generous and what I like about that is through the church center app you can like you can like download this app and then you can give that way. You can also get your giving statements that way. We have several dedicated funds that you can give towards specifically and or just general tides. A lot of people are generous with their smartphones and if you send a text to this number, (833) 369-7847 and then type give in the dollar amount.

That's a great way to be generous just with your smartphone. So, whether you're giving right now or at another time, the lord bless your giving. Okay a present for you but for only four of you and consider that we have one more service this morning which is like gonna be coming in the doors as we wind down. But we have four pecky boards left, and so if you haven't started a pecky board, I remember old Chris Bates with hair down to his belly button. Oh, yes.

And and and his little Jesus sandals comes in the door when we're meeting at Shepherd of the Mountains. I mean broke as a joke and living in his land yacht, this big gas guzzling suburban thing. Jesus was wooing him. Jesus grabs a hold of his heart and he's like pecky day, this is great. I'm gonna start a pecky board, but he didn't even have a wall to his name that he could hang stuff so he just made a pecky visor in his little suburban and he would jam little mementos and things like that in there.

And look at him now.

And look at him now.

Three kids.

Three kids, a fourth on the way, or no, Two, four, I don't know.

One is still, one is still cooking.

He's up to his eyeballs and kids and a home, a beautiful wife, and a great job. So thank you Lord for being good to start your pecky board even if it's in the visor of your truck. Alright? What can I pray for you before you get out of here? Stand up and then when we dismiss I'm gonna invite Jacob and Gretchen to just hang out up here.

If there's anything that you specifically need prayer for related to pecky day or something else just come find Jacob and Gretchen wave your hands and they would love to agree with you in prayer. Alright? So Lord Jesus thank you for being good to us. Thank you for one more successful rotation around the son of Nancy. Lord I command a blessing over each and every person here today.

Lord thank you for your goodness to us and we with faith filled hearts look for how you might creatively meet all of our needs according to your riches and glory which are found in Jesus of Nazareth. I command a blessing over each and every person here. We pray these things in Jesus name the strong Son of God and everybody said amen. I love you so very much have a great week enjoy the last of this little window of fall weather, and let it snow. You got this.