The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Revelation 1John in the Spirit on the Lord's day, vision of Jesus as barefoot priest walking among the lampstands
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9 I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.
13 And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.
16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;
20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.
behold I stand at the door and knock, if you open I will come in and we will enjoy fellowship together
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.
read aloud as the main passage for the sermon, covering descendants known among nations, garments of salvation, robe of righteousness, bridegroom and bride
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
these are the feasts of the Lord, establishing Sukkot as God's family tradition
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts.
3 “‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.
4 “‘These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.
5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Yahweh’s Passover.
6 On the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
7 In the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work.
8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.’”
9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest:
11 and he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh, to be accepted for you. On the next day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
13 The meal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh for a pleasant aroma; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin.
14 You must not eat bread, or roasted grain, or fresh grain, until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
15 “‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed:
16 even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh.
17 You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits to Yahweh.
18 You shall present with the bread seven lambs without defect a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet aroma to Yahweh.
19 You shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering before Yahweh, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.
21 You shall make proclamation on the same day: there shall be a holy convocation to you; you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 “‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not wholly reap into the corners of your field, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor, and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.’”
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25 You shall do no regular work; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.’”
26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
27 “However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
28 You shall do no kind of work in that same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God.
29 For whoever it is who shall not deny himself in that same day; shall be cut off from his people.
30 Whoever it is who does any kind of work in that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
31 You shall do no kind of work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you shall deny yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”
33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
34 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tents for seven days to Yahweh.
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation: you shall do no regular work.
36 Seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. It is a solemn assembly; you shall do no regular work.
37 “‘These are the appointed feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day—
38 besides the Sabbaths of Yahweh, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to Yahweh.
39 “‘So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you shall keep the feast of Yahweh seven days: on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
40 You shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God seven days.
41 You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. You shall keep it in the seventh month.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This was the second of two weeks on Sukkot, the feast of tabernacles. Brian picked up where last week's conversation on rest left off, and turned the focus to what rest makes possible: genuine celebration of what God has done. Isaiah 61:10 was the anchor text.
What was said
Before getting into the prepared message, Brian paused the service. He and Lissa had both sensed something unsettled in the room during worship, and rather than push past it, he named it. He asked the congregation to do a quick inventory of their own hearts, prayed to clear the spiritual atmosphere, and read a prayer texted in by someone watching the livestream. Once that was done, the service visibly shifted and he moved on.
He set up the context for Sukkot by revisiting the three things the feasts of the Lord are meant to do: help God's people remember what he has done, rehearse what is still to come, and recalibrate when life has pulled them off course. He was clear that Sukkot has not yet been fulfilled the way Passover was fulfilled in Jesus, and that celebrating it is a way of rehearsing the return of Christ. The feast lasts seven days, and he encouraged the congregation to lean into it before it closes out mid-week.
The sermon proper turned to Isaiah 61:10, where the speaker says God has dressed him with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, and reaches for the image of a bridegroom and a bejeweled bride to describe what that feels like. Brian read the same verse from The Message translation and let the congregation sit with both versions.
He opened the floor, and several people shared what stood out to them. Two people described dreams and visions they had received around the image of being clothed or given new garments when they returned to God. A third described a stranger handing him money at a bus stop on a morning he had an important meeting and no resources, which he read as God making sure he was prepared and provided for.
Brian pulled together what he saw in the verse. The Hebrew behind "dressed me" carries the idea of being completely surrounded or ensconced, so that what is on the outside is all anyone sees. He made the point that when people drag their past failures back to God, God's response is that what he sees is the outer garment, the righteousness that has been given, not earned. The problem is that people reach past that given garment and put the old one back on instead.
Isaiah's reach for the wedding imagery, Brian said, was the writer searching for the most beautiful picture he knew to describe salvation. One person in the congregation connected that wedding image directly to Sukkot, noting that a wedding brings someone into a family, and that being brought into God's family means getting to participate in his family traditions. Brian affirmed that connection and used it to close the loop: rest from striving to earn God's love is what opens the door to this kind of celebration, and the feast of Sukkot is the annual invitation to practice both.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Build a sukkah this week, even something simple like a blanket fort or stringing paper chains across a backyard structure, and spend some time outside in it before Sukkot ends.
Pick one thing in your life that feels hard or uncertain right now, and deliberately overlay it with God's goodness by thanking him for it out loud rather than rehearsing the worry.
Sit outside one evening this week, look up at the stars or wrap up by a fire, and use that quiet to ask God whether you have drifted from him and need to recalibrate.
If you have been carrying guilt or shame about past failures, take a moment to receive what Brian described as the outer garment of salvation, and stop reaching back into the closet for the old raggedy ones.
If you have never invited Jesus into your life, do what Brian described: fall to your knees, repent, and ask him to be your savior and the leader of your life.
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.
Brian talked about Jesus as the great high priest who walks among his people tending the lamps, making sure each one is burning well. What does it feel like to you to think of Jesus that attentive to your own life right now?
Several people shared dreams and visions that connected to the image in Isaiah 61 of being clothed in salvation and righteousness. Has God ever spoken to you through a dream, a picture, or an experience that made scripture feel personal and real? What happened?
Brian compartió esta mañana la segunda parte de la celebración de Sukkot, la fiesta bíblica de los tabernáculos. Explicó que esta tradición que Dios estableció para su familia tiene tres propósitos: recordar lo que Dios ha hecho, ensayar lo que viene cuando Jesús regrese, y recalibrar el corazón para no caer en la queja o la rutina espiritual. La semana pasada el enfoque fue el descanso, dejar de esforzarse por ganarse el amor de Dios. Esta semana el tema fue la celebración que surge de ese descanso.
El pasaje central fue Isaías 61:10, donde el profeta describe la salvación como ser vestido con ropas de salvación y un manto de justicia, como un novio en su boda o una novia con sus joyas. Brian señaló que con frecuencia seguimos queriendo ponernos las ropas viejas de nuestros errores pasados, cuando Dios ya nos ha cubierto con algo que no pudimos ganar por nosotros mismos. Varios miembros de la congregación compartieron sueños y experiencias personales en las que el Señor les había mostrado exactamente esa imagen de ser vestidos de nuevo.
Brian cerró invitando a quienes aún no han recibido a Jesús a entrar a esa familia y recibir esa cobertura. También compartió fotos y detalles de un viaje reciente a Riverton, Wyoming, donde un equipo de Tribe apoyó un festival comunitario en la Reservación Wind River y llenó la despensa de alimentos de una iglesia local con más de 800 artículos enlatados y cientos de libras de carne, lácteos y verduras.
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Pasajes bíblicos mencionados:
Isaías 61:9-11
Apocalipsis 1 (la visión de Juan de Jesús caminando entre los candelabros)
Deuteronomio y Levítico 23 (las fiestas del Señor)
Cantares de Salomón (la joven descansando a la sombra)
Read the full transcript10,272 words
This is your worship is starting in one minute, so finish your conversation. Let's stand together. This might be a new song for you. It's just a celebration of his love, how he could not love us anymore than he does right now. Right where we are, right in this place, right here, right now.
There's nothing you can do to earn it. There's nothing you can do to deserve his love. He just gives it freely this morning. Amen? Amen, Laura?
Laura's making direct eye contact and being a very active listener. I love it. So Lord Jesus, we welcome you in this place today by your Holy Spirit. Come and change us today as we lift our voices, as we celebrate today, as we celebrate your great love for us. We rejoice in it in Jesus name.
Amen.
Listen to these words. You got a voice in your head, same old guilt and regret. You've heard a thousand times before. After the choices you made, you're waiting for me to say, I couldn't love you anymore. And the enemy is lie.
The enemy is lie to you. But listen to me. Here's the truth. Try that again. Let's try that chorus.
I couldn't love you anymore than I do right now. There's no way I wouldn't go. Get to you my child. Anymore anymore than I do right now anymore anymore. Let's try that chorus.
It's really simple. I couldn't love you anymore than I do right now. There's nowhere I wouldn't go get to you my child. Take a look at the cross. Hey, you know when for sure I couldn't love you.
I couldn't love you anymore, anymore, anymore than I do right now. The past doesn't hold you anymore. The grave doesn't hold you anymore. I'll say your life's worth dying for. Amen.
I couldn't love you anymore. Sing that the past doesn't. The past doesn't hold you anymore. The grave doesn't hold you anymore. I couldn't love you.
I couldn't love you anymore than I do right now. There's nowhere I wouldn't go get to you my child. Take a look at the anymore.
Just let the Lord sing this over you this morning.
I couldn't love you anymore than I do right now. There's nowhere I wouldn't go. Yes, Lord. We just thank you.
Just take a minute and just tell him you love him this morning. Let him just pour out his love on you today.
Yes, sir.
Just let him speak
to you this morning. One more time. Yeah. He loves me. He
me. He
in all of my life I will worship you I'll pray for god worship you I'll will
pray never for forget god and I
will sing I will sing oh you've done I remember how far you carry me from the beginning until the end you are faithful to the and I will sing yeah will sing I'll sit out all you've done I remember how far let me fall in all of my life your love has been true in all of my life I will worship you there I worship you. Oh, you are faithful Lord. I worship you. Just sing that. Because you are faithful God.
I worship you. Oh, lift your song to him this morning. Just tell him he's faithful. Oh, tell him you love him. Yeah.
Left me alone. You've never You are faithful, Lord, and I will sing. And I will sing of all you've done. I'll remember how far you carried me
Good morning. Let's take a moment and get settled in for the rest of this morning. So don't turn around and greet your neighbor just yet. Just stay where you are. But those of you, like, wanting to find seats, come on in.
Find seats. We're gonna do something here. This is your invitation to come on in. Room up front. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. So there is there is a passage in the book of Revelation where John is he's the author of the book of Revelation, and he the Bible starts the book of Revelation with John saying, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. What that exactly looked like historically, I'm not quite sure because he was living in exile on the island of Patmos.
But he saw a picture in his mind's eye. And in that picture, he saw a scene in heaven. And that scene in heaven consisted of a couple of things. These large candelabras, these lamps, and then there was a person that was in the midst of the lamps. And in my imagination, he's walking around and he's tending the lamps.
And that's what priests in the Old Testament would do is they would they would tint the lamps. Now, how do I know that this person in John's vision is an Old Testament a picture of an Old Testament priest? It is because we then get a description of that man. His hair was white as wool. His eyes burned like fire.
We know that that is Jesus, but he is giving John a glimpse of himself in this priestly role because he's barefoot. Old Testament priests wear barefoot. We know that Jesus was barefoot in this scene because John describes his feet looking like burnished bronze. So he's barefoot. He walks in and among the lampstands.
As a faithful priest, he always makes sure that the the wicks are trimmed properly, that each lamp has enough oil in it. He adds a little here. He adds a little there. Trims a little of this. Make sure that each light is burning optimally.
And so that's the picture that I saw in my mind's eye this morning. And what I'd like to do is, I'm not Jesus. But as a shepherd and as a pastor, would it be alright if for just a moment I walked in and among you to just pray over you and to pray for you, and it might look like a touch on the shoulder. It might look like just me passing by, but but it's not really about me. It's about Jesus as the great high priest that just wants to walk in and among you and love on you and invite you into encountering him this morning.
So here's the best way to do that. Let's just take our seats and close our eyes, and I'm going to invite just Lissa to to play. Okay? And you just minister to us through your guitar. Okay?
Oh, Jesus. These are the people of your flock. These are your people, Jesus. These are your sheep. Jesus, you are the good shepherd.
Jesus, you are the great high priest who does his priestly job barefoot. As you walk in and among the lamps, tending them, adding oil where oil needs to be added. You know the condition of every lamp that is in your charge to tend. You know the condition of every single heart in this room. Jesus, will you be a great high priest to us this morning?
Your word says that just like a candle that's barely flickering or a reed that is bent that you won't snuff out the candle, you won't break the reed because you are good. Thank you for your goodness. Oh, we ask for a release and a measure of your goodness into our hearts this morning. We came here to meet with you. Maybe some folks came out of religious obligation, but Jesus, there are hearts here.
That are hungry to connect with you. Jesus, we just ask that you would meet with us. Father, as your under shepherd, because you're the great shepherd, I lift up this flock to you. And with the authority that you have given me as a minister of the gospel and as a pastor of this community, with that authority that you've given me, I break off passivity. We reject consumer Christianity that has the mentality of just coming in Well, that worship better be good.
That preacher better preach a word that does something for me. The room is too hot, too cold. Oh my gosh. Lord, we reject. We ask that you would expose any little taproot that would that would like to take find fertile soil in each of our hearts for just wanting to think that this service is about us.
Oh, Lord, deliver us from that. Deliver us from that. Jesus, move in and among your people and get in here and get real just squeeze and just kind of
scooch in here. Thank you, Jesus.
Now you invite the Lord. Because he's here, you just invite him yourself as a personal invitation. It doesn't matter if you've been to church a million times or maybe this is your first Sunday at church or maybe even at tribe. The Bible says, with one glance of your eye, you have overcome my heart, my beautiful one. That means that when the posture of our heart is to just seek him in the best way that we know how, he meets with us.
He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If you will just open the door, I'll come in, And we can enjoy communion together, close intimate fellowship. Man, it's impossible to stay religious when you open the door of your heart and invite him in. So, here's your moment of opportunity for you personally, individually to invite him in this morning. Okay.
How I do that? Here's how you do that. One of the ways. You can open your mouth, contract your diaphragm so that air comes out of your lungs, moves across your vocal cords, and you talk to him, and you sing to him. And we've made it so easy.
We have an amazing worship leader. We've got some TVs even with the words on them. Anybody been a Christian long enough that you did the overhead projector thing? Oh, we've come a long way. So, Jesus, just meet us as we open our mouth.
Listen, will you lead us in one of the songs that we've already sung? And you just open your mouth and sing to him and watch what he does for your heart. Jesus, come and meet with us. Thank you, father. Do what you do best, Lord.
Touch our hearts. Change our lives. Thank you, Jesus. More of you, Lord. More of you.
More of you, Lord. I stand on
your feet
from More of you. Come, Holy Spirit. Just Tell her.
More
of you,
You're never gonna let, never gonna let me down. You're never me you, Jesus.
Just tell him.
Never gonna let me down.
Tell him that he's good.
Lord. We
love you,
Jesus. Thank
you, Holy Spirit.
You are gone all the time, all the time.
Oh, you for
the backstory, Lord. Are gone. Holy Spirit. You go.
The king of my heart be the mountain where I am.
Thank you, Jesus.
The fountain I drink from.
Fire.
Oh, he is mine. Fire. Song. Sing it to him.
The king of my heart be the shadow where I hide. Ransom for
my life, always my song. Sing that again.
Let's stand up and tell
him and
tell him. You're good. Oh,
you are
good. Thank
you, Holy Spirit. Declare of your life.
You are good. You're good.
Come Holy Spirit. Oh, that's so awesome. You are. Just tell him. Tell him about his goodness.
Thank you, Jesus.
You're never gonna let. You're never gonna let me die. You're never gonna let. You're never gonna let me die. Let it be out.
Come on. You're never gonna let. You're never gonna let me down. Do you believe that this morning? Let your faith rise.
Oh, I'm never gonna let. You're never gonna let me down. No. Never. You singing.
You are good good good You got up.
We're gonna stay on this for just one more minute and I just want you to take whatever that thing is, whatever that hurdle is, whatever that stumbling block, whatever that thing that's dogged your heels, whatever that bondage is. And I just want you to just apply these words, apply this worship to that thing. He is good all the time. He is good. Lord, show me your goodness.
Show me what you want me to know about this thing, and then I'll apply your goodness to it. Apply his goodness to whatever situation is before you. Lord, I know that you're gonna make a way. I know that you have a plan in the midst of it, and it is good because you are faithful. You're faithful.
You are faithful.
You are God. You're Oh,
you are God. Just apply it. You're God. Overlay his goodness. You
got all the time. You are good. You're God.
Oh, we thank you for goodness in this place today. Thank you for your goodness. We thank you for who you are. Come. Come and change us today by your presence, by your holy spirit.
We just thank you and we praise you for your goodness. We don't have to have it all figured out. We don't have to know the end result, but we can just overlay your goodness and say, thank you, God. Thank you, God. Just put all your trust and hope in him today, that these wouldn't just be words that you would literally be the wind in our sails, the very thing that makes us move.
That you'd be our anchor in the waves, that we wouldn't look like the world getting tossed around, but we would be steadfast in our faithfulness to you because you are faithful to us. Lord, we pray over the message over your word today. We ask that it would change us, that a spirit of revelation would come in this place today. Thank you again, that we can leave here changed today, that bondages can be broken today in this place because your presence is here. In Jesus' name, amen.
Good worshipers in this house today. Yeah. Give the Lord praise. Turn around and say good morning to someone. Say it's a good day to worship the Lord whether you feel like it or not.
Good morning. I love it.
Good
morning. Yeah, man. I love it.
Yeah. Yeah.
May I don't know. Maybe we, like, bring the worship team back up. One thing real quick. Alright. Alright.
Peak. I'm gonna give you a peek behind the curtain this morning, and I want to be I wanna I wanna give you a peek behind the curtain this morning. Many many Sundays, we come in here. You know, we're setting up. We we have our our prayer team that is here, and they're praying.
The band is getting ready. We're setting up. We're transforming this. We rehang those disco balls every week just for you. We make sure that all the wildlife are properly groomed.
And then we get ready for for friends to arrive. Friends arrive. We're going through worship, and Lissa is busy at the at the mic. But she and I are always talking, you know, throughout the day, our normal workdays. And many times, we're even talking while she's leading worship and or I'm preaching through looks or sometimes through text messages, but she can't she can't, like, send a text while she's leading worship.
But we both were feeling something, I don't know if I wanna say off or amiss, or there was something not quite right. And so as I was sitting up here, I thought I got two choices. I can just jump right into the conversation that I have planned for us today, and I do wanna get to it, and I think we will get to it and still get out on time, and just disregard what I was feeling or just address it. And so I think I'm gonna choose the latter. Yeah.
It's too late now. Here we go. Here we go. So during worship, I I was like, not necessarily disturbed in my spirit, but maybe a little. Something was, like, something was something something was going on.
And so I thought, alright, Jesus. Walk in and among your people, like like like, minister to your people. And then I saw that picture in my mind's eye from the book of Revelation about Jesus being barefoot and tending the lamps, and that's great. And I I prayed. I was not I was not, like, waving my Holy Spirit funky monkey detector over that's not what I was doing.
That's not what I was doing. I was, like, just trying to, like I was trying to grab a hold of and take authority over the atmosphere. Now if you aren't if you haven't walked with the Lord for a very long time, if you have come from a church culture where they don't talk about, like like, atmospheres in the spirit, welcome to tribe. So let me ask you just really quick. And and if you don't raise your hand, it doesn't mean that you're not mature in the spirit or anything like that.
You just might have been thinking about tacos or or who know? You might not have sensed it. But did anybody else feel this morning like something something was going on? Okay. Yeah.
Cool. Yeah. Well, I don't quite know what, which is why I'm giving you a peek behind the curtain. Because normally, the, you know, the preacher guy stands up here, and he's like, well, I'll just soldier on through the message. Or he, like like, gets over spiritual and, like, I wanna try to walk in intention and in balance and in wisdom.
I wanna I wanna call it out, and then I wanna just pray it out. And we can all participate in this together. And so I'm gonna be still for just a moment. And you, how about individually search your own heart? Are you coming in with some sort of, like, raging flare up of bitterness in your heart?
Or are you angry? Are you under the influence of drugs or alcohol this morning? Are you practicing, even if you think of it as, like, white magic, good magic? Nope. There's no such thing as good magic.
It all belongs to the occult realm, and it is from the pit of hell. And if you knowingly or unknowingly came in with a mindset I I know most of you in here, but I don't know all of you in here. If you came in trying to block or thwart anything, either knowingly or maybe even unknowingly, through illegitimate access to the supernatural, you should just stop that. You should repent, and you you really should get saved. Because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the name that you're operating in.
And so let's be still for just a moment, and let's do a little bit of inventory of our own heart. And then as you're like, I I think I'm good, you you know, you may need to say, Lord, please forgive me for you know, did whatever. You just name it. Repent. Just come running into his arms.
And then pray over this service, and we will enter into agreement in unity and see how the atmosphere, the spiritual atmosphere of this room might change. Go ahead.
Jesus.
Jesus. May oh, maybe it was something in here the night before. I mean, it is a bar. Jesus. Right now, we grab ahold of the spiritual atmosphere in this room, and we cancel and send back into the dry wasteland any spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ as the messiah, the son of the living God.
We own this place. We own this atmosphere. God, the great I am. Hashem, Adonai, Yahweh, you are a territorial god. Our hearts are your territory.
This room in the Children's ministry area and every place tribe sets its foot this morning is your territory. You, with your great light, chase out any darkness. We invite you, God, chase out any darkness in our hearts. Chase out any darkness that could be lingering from this weekend. Chase out any darkness that could be, in this room, known or even unknown to us.
We command the atmosphere of this room to shift in Jesus' name. Now in your own words, you agree with that prayer, and then we will move on. Help us. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
Come. Move in and among your people. We pray these things with the authority of Jesus. And for somebody that, their family's watching the livestream, and one person texted me, and so I wanna read their prayer out loud. We take authority over any spiritual activity in this place that does not glorify God.
We speak the blood of Jesus to cleanse this space and the people here. We break any word or action that may have opened the door to evil in Jesus' name. That's a good prayer. And all those who agree said, amen. And if you're completely clueless to what was happening the last six minutes or so, just, like, ask the lord.
Like, what what was that about? I didn't I didn't I wasn't picking up nothing. Like, it's okay. You can you can take that before the lord. If you have your bible with you this morning, would you turn to the book of Isaiah?
Isaiah chapter 61, and we're going to read verses nine through 11. And if you're new to tribe, one of the things that we like to do that you've probably already heard me say that may have caused a little, like like, what was that to go off in your head? I did say the word conversation. I would like this to be a conversation that we have together. Meaning, I encourage and invite your participation.
Well, what does that look like? It means that we're gonna do this together as we get into today's content. I would love to hear your questions, your comments, and most importantly, what I love the most are your connections. Something that we're talking about may remind you of something that you just read in the Bible or something that you've been studying recently, and the holy spirit just bubbles it up into your memory, and you go, oh, oh, oh, this reminds me what we're talking about of that that I just read or even maybe a god dream that you had recently, some type of connection. I love to hear those.
And the way that it works is if you have a question, comment, or a connection, if you just raise your hand. Matt Grobowski is running the mic around today, and so he'll hand you the mic. The reason why we use the mic in this room is so that all of the families that are watching the livestream, they'll be able to hear and engage your comments. So with that in mind, could I get somebody to please read Isaiah chapter 61 verses nine through 11? I think Mark is over here ready to read this morning.
Okay. Here we go. 61 verse nine. Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed.
I delight greatly in the Lord for my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. For as soil makes the sprout come up, the garden causes seeds to grow. So the sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.
That's good. So this is week two of two weeks that we are taking time to honor one of seven major family traditions that god has that he invites his family into to participate year after year. If you are Jewish, you would know this as the feast of Sukkot, or sometimes it's called the feast of booths or the feast of tabernacles. And this is one of god's family traditions that he invites really, the whole world has an invitation, but most people think of it as only belonging to Jews. But the bible is super clear.
In Deuteronomy and Leviticus chapter 23, it the Bible says, these are the feasts of who? Feasts of God. These are the feasts of the Lord. And so one of those feasts at the end of the harvest season after all of the harvest has been brought in, god says, I want you to do this. I want you to take seven days, and I want you to rest.
This is a family tradition that I am establishing where you and I go camping together. Now if you live here, chances are probably just about all of you like camping because it feels like you're camping, like, when the summer is really hot and you gotta go from outside to your car. Anybody from the South is like, you don't know anything. In the cold of the winter when you're trumping through the snow, and you've got a shovel, and you got a snow blow, and you got a plow, which is coming, by the way, like like, here in this region, we live kind of like we're camping anyways, but most of us really enjoy camping, getting out and enjoying god's creation. And knowing that, god says, I'm inviting you into one of my family traditions where we go camping every year.
And while we're camping, we deny ourselves the comforts and the conveniences of our of our stove and our house and our warm, soft bed, and we we subject ourselves to a little more austere conditions. And god says, I want you to set up a little shelter or a tabernacle or a booth, a little construct in in Hebrew, they call it a sukkah, and I would like you to spend seven days out in that sukkah. And here's what most people do today. Maybe they'll have breakfast out there. Maybe they'll have their quiet time out there.
They'll gather together with their family and have dinner out there. Families take time to build their sukkah together and to decorate it. And last week, we invited you to take part in this family god's family tradition through this feast. Build a sukkah, decorate it yourself. Some people are like, well, I can hang some paper chains across my kid's tramp.
Great. Fantastic. Maybe make a couch cushion fort in your living room. Fantad we're not getting legalistic here. The idea is to just set aside some time to get out of your normal routine and rhythm and dwell with fellowship with god.
And it reminds us of Israel spending forty years in the wilderness. They lived in tents for forty years, and the Bible says during that time, even though they didn't have, like, climate control condition, they couldn't see what was going on in in like, with all of our modern conveniences, the Bible says that their shoes never wore out, their clothes never got holes in them. God there was not a sick person among them. He took great care of them. And when we celebrate, when we honor god's family traditions, it helps us to do three things, and we talk about these tie we these three things every time we celebrate a feast of the lord.
You can just just tell me one of them. What's one of the things that we are invited to do when we celebrate or honor one of the feast of the Lord? To remember. To remember all that god has done for us. Nothing like sitting outside in this chilly weather to remember that god has provided you, whether you rent, own, or borrow, a nice shelter to live in.
You have a nice bed that you sleep in. You've got a microwave. You have Wi Fi. When we're outside, we remember all of the good things that god has done for us. He has healed you.
He has saved you. He has redeemed you. He has set you free. He has filled you with his holy spirit. There's so much to remember and meditate on his goodness that it causes us to celebrate.
So we remember. That's one of the things that we do. What's another one? To rehearse. We rehearse some of it.
Would you put my little chart up there? Some of the feasts of the lord have been fulfilled already. For example, Passover. Passover was where and Jews still celebrate this meal today called a seder dinner. But Jesus perfectly fulfilled that Passover, not by as the priests would do, by sacrificing bulls and goats and sprinkling sprinkling that blood on the altar and over to the people.
The Bible says that Jesus is the lamb of god that takes away the sins of the world. He fulfilled Passover. Now the feast of Sukkot or Tabernacles or Boots, that feast has not yet been fulfilled. And it is why we celebrate this feast to somebody said it a moment ago, to rehearse, to practice. And when we celebrate this idea of ceasing from our labor, resting in all that God has done, and then celebrating his goodness, what event are we rehearsing?
The cheat sheet is up here. The return of Jesus. So when we celebrate the feast of Sukkot and when you sit outside and you just look up at the stars or wrap yourself in a warm blanket in the morning, maybe you've got a little fire going on your back deck, life just gets really simple and easy and beautiful, doesn't it? That is a foreshadow, and it is an opportunity for us to rehearse what we will physically, actually encounter at the return of Jesus. And then there's one more thing that the feast of the Lord that we that we focus in on.
We remember, we rehearse, and what's the other thing? Recalibrate. Thank you. When we sit outside in our sukkah and in fact, this past week, we got to do it one night, and then we had folks over for dinner. Oh, I didn't I was gonna say maybe we can get a picture of that there and zap it up before the end of service.
I forgot to do that. We went camping this week. We invited our tribe fam. We had a number of young adults come down one one night. It was kinda rainy and a little bit cold, shift in the seasons other nights, but then Friday, we gathered again at our house, and we use the feast of Sukkot, the fam god's family tradition of Sukkot to recalibrate, to take stock, to take inventory.
Like, am I have I just kind of fallen into the rut of being a a big baby that I get grumbly and complainy about, like, the tourist traffic here in the summer? Like, hello? I don't have to live here. I could be living somewhere else, like in Houston or Dallas or Sun and if you're from there, like, lord bless you. But, like, come on.
Like, instead of taking me, like like, eight minutes to get all the way from, like, out of town into the town square, oh, no. It takes me twenty five minutes. Ugh. Like, you use that you use these feasts of the lord to recalibrate. Lord, have I gotten off with you somewhere?
I wanna be in sync with you, and you'll get out of these feasts what you put into them. And if you disregard them, well, that's really putting nothing into them. And if you put nothing in, what are you gonna get out? Yep. You said it.
Right? You get out of it what you put into it. If you seek the lord and not just go through religious motions. But if you use these as opportunities to interact and to engage with him, it's almost like, oh, it's not it's not a thousand percent theologically sound, but here it goes. It's it's as if heaven, the distance between you and heaven, gets a little thinner.
There's a little more transparency. There's a little more that that gets it's a little easier for god to speak to you and for him to transmit the kingdom into your heart as you're sitting outside one evening, as you're looking up at the stars, as you're wrapped in a blanket, and you're reading, as you're using these feasts to to remember, to recalibrate, and to rehearse. So I just want to encourage you to lean into these feasts in the best way that you know how. The feast of Sukkot goes until, I believe, it's Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday of this of this week. And so what we have been doing here at Tribe, we've taken two weeks to talk about this feast of Sukkot, and we split it into two weeks because there are two major themes that are associated with the feast of Sukkot, and it is resting and celebrating.
Last week, we talked about what? Oh, gosh. Where's my coffee so that I can take a sip? Yes. Trinity, please.
This is for you to gather your thoughts. Yes. We talked about resting and celebrating. We talked about one of them last week, and it was Wow. That was so good.
Resting. We cease from striving to earn god's approval. We cease from striving to try hey. There it is. That was on Friday as we were braving the chilly night air and enjoying a feast of the Lord and having a meal together.
Hey. Good work, Trinity. We talked about we talked about resting from trying to earn God's love. So many of us get trapped into this rut of earning God's love, and we don't really feel it when when we are being when our behavior is good. What really becomes a challenge is if we've messed up, if we've blown it, if we've fallen down, if we've fallen back into a rut.
And then there's that voice of the enemy that says, well, you gotta do this, this, and this, or God ain't gonna love you no more. Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross on Calvary, it has removed the dividing wall of hostility and that wall of striving, trying to be a good person, or thinking that it has anything to do with you, but simply resting in the finished work of the cross. Oh, I love it. In the book of Song of Solomon, the young woman is is seen pictured resting in the shade of a tree, and she says, feed me your fruit as she speaks to the young man, the lover of her soul. She's resting in the shade of the cross, the finished work of Jesus, that nothing else needs to be done except to for you to receive it.
And so when we rest from from striving, from trying to earn our salvation, from trying to be a good person, from trying to earn god's love, when we rest from those things, god says, ah, finally. The Bible says he resists the proud but gives grace to the who? The humble. When we quit trying to do this on our own, but we simply as the the famous altar call ministry song from the Billy Graham crusades was, here I come without a plea. Something something, it's just me, just as I am.
I come to the cross. And I know the Baptists are trading jokes with each other because you probably sing it all the time, and I messed it up. Sorry. When we rest, that's when he's like, Okay, you've given me something to work with. And that's when we enter that place of encounter.
And when we encounter, we get to talk about the next part, the celebrating part. So if you're taking notes, you can write the title of our conversation this morning. Sukkot twenty twenty four, rest and celebrate. This is week two, celebrate. So let's look zoom in on verse 10 of Isaiah 61.
We'll put it up on the screen here. Verse 10 says this, I am overwhelmed with joy in the lord, my god, for he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. And I am like a bridegroom for his wedding or a bride with her jewels. So beautiful. This is not on the screen, but I love how the message translation says this.
So just close your eyes for a second, and let me read this over you so you can hear the words coming out of my mouth. Oh, those stiff necked people only closed one eye. I saw you. Jesus still loves you. From the message.
I will sing for joy in god, explode in praise from deep within my soul. He dressed me up in a suit of salvation. He outfitted me in a robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara. For as the earth bursts with spring flowers, wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms, so the master, god, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations.
So cool. Okay. Let's look at this verse. This is a NLT. I read from the NLT.
Lot of of our tribe family reads from the NLT translation. As you look at sixty one ten, I would like to check-in with you. What observations do you see about this passage that particularly stand out to you? You don't need to dive into some sort of super great spiritual detail, but I would love to see I would love to hear what you see about that verse. Matt's got the mic.
Lanisha's coming forward. Mehdi g, right here. I love it. Oh, he's on it. Oh oh, who did you whoever you saw first, go for it.
I love it. Matty g's running the microphone around. Best best lamb chops in the room. He's sporting his Beastie Boys t shirt. He's got some triple trouble on the microphone today.
Whoo.
I appreciate the hustle. I think what stands out to me is dressed me with clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. Maybe that just speaks to me specifically just because when I came back to the Lord, I had two dreams, and I didn't understand them at the time until I dived into his word. But one of the dreams, was in a bath, and in the corner was a washer and a dryer. It looked like my clothes were getting clean.
In the second dream, I remember getting to a destination. And somebody came by and dropped off a bunch of clothes. And then I changed. And I looked down. And I was like, man, I look really good.
And I was in a white shirt. But as soon as I walked through the building, they were telling me I didn't belong there. And I saw somebody who I cared very much about unclothed. And I had to just move on because that place wasn't for me. So Oh.
I I just think about being dressed in clothing of salvation and draped in a robe of righteousness when I came back to the Lord and began to follow him because he imparted his righteousness to
me. Wow.
So good.
Mine's actually in the exact same boat. So Okay. Here we go. Stressed me with clothing with the clothing of salvation. It reminded me of a vision that I had during college.
I was in my college apartment, this fly. I was in this college apartment at the time, and I was going through just a real big time of darkness and depression and hatred of self. And I was like, god, this cannot be what you have for me. There's obviously more out there. And I just felt called to go lay down in my bed.
So I'm laying there, no blanket, just head on the
called you to a nap? Mhmm.
Holy Spirit. Oh, yeah. I love god. But the thing is, I wasn't asleep. It was a beautiful vision.
I closed my eyes. And while the tears were streaming down during the vision was these beautiful, fluffy rose petals that are not of this earth at all just flowing over me. And with each petal hitting me, it was just straight in his love and his joy for me. And at the end of the vision of the rose petals falling all over me, I had just a new body, new garments, and a new joy and hope that was truly just from him. Wow.
And now to this day, whenever I'm going through, I could just remember that my clothing is from him, not from me.
Here's one of the many things that I love about Jesus. He ain't just a book of, like, hey. Like, try to live your life this way. And it's and it's detached and, like, well, Jesus is is dead or gone or he's up in heaven, and, like, this is, like, just some sort of kind of, like, we'll try your best. But Jesus is alive, and he is experiential.
And when you encounter him, when you experience him through a dream, a picture, a vision, when you encounter him, our lives are changed, and it it smashes religious religiosity and brings us into relationship. And that's my striving goal for us as a tribe fam, that we would actually encounter the real living Jesus of Nazareth.
You know, to me, it's kind of interesting because, like, when there's something out there that's actually meant for us, the Lord would do anything to make sure that we are prepared for it. So within my life so there's this one time where, it was, like, 5AM in the morning. You know, I was at the bathrooms, you know, just waiting for the bus, ready to go to the village.
Oh, oh, you weren't in the bathroom. You were out at Stilson?
I think so. I was just going, you know, the bathrooms were, like
Yeah. Yeah. To catch the bus. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Was there. Alright.
Here we And so, like, I had no money on me. But that day, I had, like, a really important meeting to go to. And so I've been looking like a whole mess. And so this person walks into the bathroom. He greets me like, hey.
Good morning, etcetera. And, like, he just asked, like, hey. How's your money situation going? I'm just like I was so confused because I was like because, like, to me, I'm dead broke, like nothing. So I was like, I don't know to be honest or like be truthful, but I was like, yeah, we're living, you know, we can't really complain, but like, you know, but he just handed me money, and I'm like, woah, that is God right handed me money so I can look good for that very important thing I had to do that day.
And I'm like, woah. Because like that day, I looked fresh. Had to wanted to get a haircut, wanted to get a real quick outfit and some shoes. And I was like, okay.
So it's
kind of really interesting to me.
I love it. What's that verse about the the lilies are, like, clothed with splendor, and he loves us so much that he knows all of our needs. And if he needs to set us up with some fresh drip, then he's gonna do what he's gotta do. I love how the how that story resonates with you and how the lord met with you. That is just that's beautiful.
I wanna, couple of observations that I wanna share with you just really quickly as I'm looking at this passage that already many of you are are are touching on. So as we look at this verse, the question the the last question that I will ask you is how does this verse connect with Sukkot? How does this verse connect with Sukkot? So be looking at that verse as I I just share with you just a couple of quick observations. So in that passage, you will see, he says, I am overwhelmed with joy.
And the idea comes with it as we would think of, like a kid running down the stairs Christmas morning to see all of the presents left under the tree. How they're, like, with their little footy jammies hopping up and down and so excited for Christmas morning. That's the idea. I am overwhelmed with joy. Or when you come home from work, whether you've been gone for, like, eight hours or eight minutes, you come back in the door, and your dog is so excited to see you.
Overwhelmed with joy. It also has with it this idea of jumping, leaping, or springing forward, that even if you wanted to be reserved, calm, subdued, you just can't help it. I am overwhelmed with joy. And this word, you're you guys were already touching on it. He has dressed me.
It means exactly what you would think it means in Hebrew, to to provide arraignment for, clothing for, to drape, to ensconce, to completely surround. So that from the outside, all you can see is what you're draped in with. Like, when it's chilly in the morning, and you wake up, and you get your jammies on, but you're a little chilly, so you, like, take a big fleece blanket or something, wrap it around you as you go into the kitchen. What people would see is that big fleece blanket wrapped around you. They wouldn't see your jammies underneath.
In a similar way, we try to remind the Lord of our past failures, mistakes, mess ups, blow up. We seem to always bring those back to him, and he's like, I don't see that. That has been dealt with. He doesn't sweep it under the carpet, but it's been dealt with so that what he sees is that outer garment that we have been given that we could not earn that marks us and identifies us as his own. You have dressed me with the clothing of salvation.
How many times do we look in our our metaphysical closet, and we're like, that's too nice to wear today. I'm gonna put on the old raggedy garments of my past. I mean, that is where I've been living. Oh, it's church. I better pull out the the fake garment of salvation that looks good, but, like, squeaks when you walk because it's cheap imitation.
Like, when you see that costume on Amazon, you're like, that's gonna be so awesome. I'm gonna be, like, the best Batman ever. And you get it and you open it up, and it's, like, plastic, and the ears are all bent, and you're like, great. I look like a joke, not Batman. Or when we were kids, we had these, like, plastic masks with, like, a little tight band around, and you could, like and that was, like, your costume, and you couldn't breathe out of it, and you couldn't see out of the eye holes.
Is he talking about Halloween at church? And then the author, Isaiah, who's seeing this picture, he says, how can I describe it? He's like, like like, how how can I oh, he's just said all of these amazing things? And he's like, it's like it's like it's like it's like it's like and he's thinking of the most beautifully or the most beautifully the most beautiful scene he can think of. And he's like, it's like, like a bridegroom.
It suddenly comes to him. Can you see that thought in his mind right there? He's like, between the period and the I, he's thinking. He's thinking. He's thinking.
What is it like? How can I describe this further to you? How can I add some more color, some more detail? And then it it hits him. I'm like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding or a bride, not just a bride, not just a bride on her wedding day, not just in her dress, but the finest of accoutrement, the bride's jewels.
This is how Isaiah pictures his salvation with the Lord. This is the invitation for us today to to grab a hold of and to imagine what God has done for us. And so remember I told you there's there's one more question for you. So let me check back in with you as we start to land the plane this morning. How do you see that you could put that verse back up, t, one more time.
Sorry. How do you see Sukkot connecting to that verse? And it's specifically about the second part of what we're talking about today. Last week was resting. What do you see?
Oh, I love it because you're thinking. You're thinking. You're considering. You're engaging with the text. Yes.
When I see this when he says he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation, we're talking about him, like, providing for us and, like, say like, preparing us for salvation and for this wedding. I feel like he's inviting us into his family. A wedding is uniting two people and like making a family bigger. So when I read this I think of him as inviting us into his family. And when you're part of that family, you get to do all the fun family traditions.
Yes. That's great. I love it. I love it. I love it.
There are a few more hands, but Maddie g, let me just say say say this. This is part of yeah. We'll just hold hold on so we can land a plane. You're so awesome. Just come tell me afterwards.
This is what gives us cause to celebrate. Last week, we ceased from striving, from trying to earn. This week, we get to celebrate the fact that we have been invited into his family and that we get to experience joy unspeakable. That's what that's one of the things that makes you Christians so weird, is that despite the circumstances that are going on at your job and in your life and in your health and with your family and with your finances, we have overwhelming joy because we've ceased from trying to earn it on our own, and we get to celebrate that God has clothed us in salvation. And if you haven't invited Jesus into your heart and you've not been invited into his family, the invitation is open.
Fall to your knees. Repent of your sin. Invite Jesus to be your savior, to be the leader of your life. The Bible says that he'll come and take residence within your heart. He'll remove your heart of stone and give you a brand new soft heart, and then that's what gives you cause and reason to celebrate.
And so we're gonna wind down this part of the service. We're gonna worship the Lord in in one more way when we're done with this, but let's do this. Set your little bibles down. Let's stand up, and let's practice celebrating the Lord by telling him thank you and by singing together about his goodness and what he's done in your heart and in your life. Okay?
Just thank him for this truth.
One more time, and I'm gonna invite you to do two things. Number one, just close your eyes so that is only you in the room. Number two, maybe you do this all the time, maybe this is a little bit of a stretch for you, but I'm gonna invite you to raise your hands over your head in celebration and in surrender, in adoration of the king, and just pour your heart out to him in worship. Come on, everybody. Let's raise our hands.
That was so good. Thank you.
You. Okay.
Have a seat for just a moment longer. That was the shift that we were looking for. For. Yes. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord. We're gonna worship the Lord in one more way just really quickly. We worship the Lord through song earlier and just now. We worship the Lord by honoring the word that's preached. We don't just judge it critically as a consumer like we're leaving some sort of review on Yelp at a restaurant, but we engage and we interact, which we did.
Oh, I love it. I love it. So we worship we we worship the Lord through song. We worship the Lord by honoring the word that's preached. We're going to worship the Lord in one other way through our tithes and offering.
You know how to give here at Tribe. We don't pass buckets, but there's a little box right back by the swinging saloon doors that you can drop cash or check. Most people are generous with their tithes and offerings through their smartphone. And if you open up a new text to 84321 and press any amount, press send. If it's the first time you're giving, you can enter your bank card information.
After that, it's as easy as texting a friend. And one of the things I love about Tribe is I don't pay close attention to to the who or the amount. Although as an administrator, I need to know those things. But I love it when I get when I check my email on Mondays, and it shows me one, two, three, or four, five, like, new people giving. And so, like, the Lord is a thousand times more excited than I ever would be.
If you think, well, I don't tithe because I don't have enough to, like, give. Like, he doesn't care about that. It's the posture of your heart. And whether you give now or you give later or you're visiting us and you tithe to your local church back home wherever you're visiting from, The Lord bless your giving. God, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings and use them to make your name famous here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding regions, and to the uttermost bounds of the earth.
Thank you for taking care of our needs even if we're in the bathroom, at the bus stop, waiting to go out to the village. Thank you for being so good to us. It is an honor and it is a joy for us to give back to you. And, Lord, may our tithes and our offerings be an expression of our love towards you and how much we trust you. We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. The Lord bless your giving this morning. Couple of announcements. Every week you hear me say, Lord, use these funds to make your name famous here at Tribe in Jackson Hole. What's the next one?
The uttermost bounds of the earth. Surrounding region.
The surrounding region.
We skipped one.
Let me tell you about where some of your tithes are going to the surrounding region just really quickly. Last week, we sent a team over to Riverton, Wyoming. Here we are in Teton County in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the wealthiest county in all of Wyoming and perhaps in the entire nation and certainly in the world. And right next door is Lincoln County, the poorest county in all of Wyoming. Fremont.
Fremont County. What did I say?
Lincoln is Star Valley. Oh, yeah. Star Valley is not the poorest.
I caught myself. Fremont. And I didn't make a joke about Star Valley. We used to live there. We love it.
So we went to Riverton, Wyoming, and there's a church and a ministry there that we partner with called Foundations for Nations, and they do a fall harvest festival outreach to the community and to the Wind River Reservation. We brought a a team from Tribe over there where they have carnivals and games and candies and children from the community come, and they bring their parents, and it's an outreach. And Sarah and Jason, they they deliver from the back of a a little trailer talking about Jesus and the gospel. You'll see here this team linger on this picture for a moment. We've got folks from Tribe.
We've got folks from Gateway. We've got folks from First Bee that joined us on this trip. And so it was a really great time of us being the big c church, loving on the big c church there in Fremont County in Riverton, Wyoming.
So And as not pictured here were a couple of our team who got the sickies one day. Yeah. Yeah. We won't point it out, but there were more on our team.
Look for the ones with the palette color in their face. So not only did we go and help with this fall festival party outreach, but this is us in the tribe bus in front of their food pantry. They do a food distribution program, and your generous generous tithes and offerings went to stocking all of the shelves in their food pantry. They're a part of a Wyoming distribution food network that brings a semi through, lots of food that is expired or that grocery stores don't want. It gets loaded up on a semi, and it makes its way around the state.
And Riverton, Wyoming is one of the last stops. So they get, like, kidney beans and lentils. Like, that that's kind of what what they get. But they work this they operate this food pantry, so when we go over there, we're like, hey. What do you need?
And we stocked them with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of food, over 800 variety different of canned goods, hundreds of pounds of fresh meat and dairy and produce and frozen vegetables that they can use in their distribution program. And so we literally filled their pantry, And that's because of your generous tithes and offerings. So let's give the Lord a hand for that. And not only did we go to Riverton recently, but just last week after service, we went down to the Snake River where we two people followed the Lord's command to be water baptized. I don't know that he gave a temperature.
So this is Adam who's outside running greeting and security. He got baptized in the Snake River last week. And then also so did there where's Adam?
Straight ahead.
Hey. There he is. There's that glow Still recovering from hypothermia in the Snake River and also Ella, who is a student here. She got baptized in water last week. So let's celebrate and and thank the Lord for outreach to oh, and then, was that it or did I have anything else?
That's it, I think.
Okay. I thought there was one more picture. I thought maybe there was one more. Oh, yeah. In the cross in the cross family, the recently new cross family made their first addition to their family with a little kitty.
So let's stand up.
Next, we've got the 10¢. Yeah. Nine and eleven.
We have so much to celebrate because Jesus lives in our heart. And it doesn't matter where else we live. We live in a tent or in a nice home or in an RV or on somebody's couch. We have so much to celebrate because God is so good to us. Would that be alright if I prayed a prayer of blessing over you?
Okay. Before I start to pray, I wanna let you know if there's anything else that you need prayer for. Lanisha, remember, and members of her prayer team would love to pray with you and for you back here right underneath this moose. That is so great. Underneath the moose, you can receive prayer for anything that you need.
And next week, we're gonna be at the TMC. If you get the tribe text blast, you'll know where that is. We'll send you more information about that. We'll do two services so we can squeeze us all into the TMC. Lord Jesus, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I send my spirit out to walk in and among your tribe fam right now to touch them on the shoulders one more time, Lord, to impart and to command a blessing over their life.
Thank you, Lord, for being so good to us. We love you. We love you. We love you, Jesus. I command a blessing over my tribe fam.
God, give them a great week of encountering you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you. Lord, help us to fill our freezers full of meat this fall.
Have a great week and remember, you got this, Aaron.
