The Burning Bush
Tribe
2024-03-10

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our Tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Welcome to Tribe's podcast. Hey, we just wanna say thank you for making this message a part of your week. Our prayer is that these messages will inspire you to make the name of Jesus famous in your life and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. If you're ever in Jackson Hole, we'd love for you to visit our tribe fam in person. To learn more about us, you can find us online or at Facebook by searching tribejh.com.

Here's what we're going to have a conversation about today. If you've been with us for any length of time, as we've started 2024, I feel like the Lord put a word on my heart to to share with not only our tribe fam, but to anybody with ears to hear. That as we head into 2024, that I feel like the Lord would would whisper to our hearts that we can expect days of increasing complexity and just make that statement doesn't require any type of like, you know, being able to like read the tea leaves or like, you know, see see into a crystal ball. I mean, I would I would think that it's safe to say that every year seems to be a little more complex than the last. However, I think that this year, we are going to cross in 2024 a Rubicon, a line of demarcation of which there is no going back.

By way of example, COVID was a Rubicon line that changed the landscape of the world around us, and might have even directly impacted you or your family, and it certainly impacted every at least one person we all know of. Right? Before that, 09/11 was another Rubicon moment, where there was this shift of the hands of time made this click that after that moment, there was no going back. And I think that for those of you who remember nine eleven, how many of you were How many of you don't really remember nine eleven? Okay, yeah, yeah, alright, alright, yep.

It would make sense. The rest of us, we remember nine eleven, we remember where we were. And as it unfolded, I think that there was this personal and collective across the country unfolding waves of revelation that wow, things have shifted and we wanted them to go back, but after maybe several months or even several years we realized there's really no going back ever to the way aspects of life and what we thought of ourselves as a country will ever be able to go back the way that it was. I would suggest to you that in 2024, I'm not saying that of any one like cataclysmic event, I'm not foretelling that. But I have a strong sense that in 2024, whether it's one event or series of events, will unfold on the world stage, it may be somewhere else in the world, it could be here in The United States, one or a series of events that will unfold, that will be very similar to what we have collectively experienced going through COVID, and what those of us who remember nine eleven experience, or you could go even further back to the assassination of JFK.

Or how many of you remember the the space shuttle challenger blowing up? I was at home on a snow day that day we were watching the news. And you just couldn't believe what you were seeing on the news because and it was especially impactful because one of our teachers had gone up into space, Christa McAuliffe. If you remember that, she was like the first civilian and school teacher to go up into space. And when the space shuttle challenger had that tragedy and never made it into orbit, it was was a big deal.

And so I feel like the Lord would whisper to my heart to tell us and anyone with ears to hear that in 2024, we're going to encounter great complexity. But here's the good news. And if you don't know this about Jesus, he always is all about the good news. Within the experience of great complexity, we can look for and be sure to find clarion clarity. That in the midst of complexity, God is going to, for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, be able to have come to the surface or come to the light great clarity.

We've been talking about it for a while now. And I can imagine that some of you might be thinking like, yeah, yeah, yeah, clarity in complexity, we get it. My response to you is, we'll see. I mean this in a really loving way, we'll see how you handle complexity. What unfolds?

Will you will you run around like a chicken with your head cut off? Will you tap out and just say, I don't even know, I'm not gonna try to sort through this and just and just retreat to amusement. Will you numb yourself or will you press in and and and think to yourself, in the midst of this complexity, God has placed some kernel of crystal clarity. And it's for me to grab a hold of if I'm willing to put the work in to sort through the cacophony of complexity to grab a hold of that clarity. And that clarity, it could be for you personally, it could be for your business, it could be a new dimension and aspect of the nature and character of God that's been there all along, but it took these circumstances for you to see it and have that revelation penetrate your heart.

It could be a breakthrough for you, but in some way, shape, form or fashion, as we march into 2024, in the days ahead, I just want you to be on your toes looking for that clarity as things become increasingly complex. With that in mind, today we're going to wind down this series of conversations with this very last little nugget of what I'd like to share with you today. And at the top of your notes, if you're taking notes this morning, you can write the burning bush, clarity in complexity. If you're new to tribe, an aspect that you've probably already noticed is, yep, we are meeting in a bar, it's a little different than what you might be used to going to church. But another aspect of what's nuanced and different about us at Tribe is I would like us to have a conversation.

Normally, the guy up here is doing all the talking and your job is to just sit there and just listen quietly. What I am inviting you to do is to engage with me and with us in a conversation. So what does that mean? That means that I would love to hear your questions, your comments, and it really is especially your connection. Something that we talk about, if it reminds you of something that you've recently read somewhere else in the bible and you're like, oh my gosh, that's making me think of, ah, ah, I want to hear it, we want to hear it.

We have a microphone that is run around by Ella today, and the reason why we use a mic is so that we can hear your voice in the room, and also so that all of our families that are watching a livestream that are at home or traveling around get to participate and they get to hear your comments. So with that in mind, shall we dig into the word today? Alright. Let's do it. If you have your bible, would you turn to the book of Exodus?

And we're gonna read several verses from Exodus chapter three. Exodus chapter three. Would somebody mind reading verses one through six, please? And you just wiggle your little hand and Ella will get you the mic. Or if you even make eye contact with her, she might hand you the mic.

Okay. There's some good names in this one, but I'll try. One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mideon. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of god. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire.

From the middle of a bush, Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush, though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up. This is amazing. Moses said to himself, why isn't that bush burning up? I must go see it.

When the lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, god called to him from the middle of the bush. Moses, Moses, here I am, Moses replied. Do not come any closer, the lord warned. Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. I am the god of your father, the god of Abraham, the god of Isaac, and the god of Jacob.

When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at god.

Okay. Maybe for somebody in here, that's a brand new story from the bible that you've never heard. Probably for many of us, it's a story that we are well familiar with. The danger with the story that we are well familiar with is we tend to rush through it or just gallop right over it instead of allowing ourselves to become immersed in the text. And so one of the things that we love to do here at Tribe is activate our sanctified imagination.

What if you were Moses, A shepherd, all alone with a herd of sheep in the middle of the wilderness. Imagine like South Of Daniel Wyoming, Daniel Pinedale area, except take away all the sagebrush. It's just flat and dusty and arid. And there you are, Moses. I was thinking about this, what did he eat?

Did he like have to eat the sheep, like the goat sometimes? I don't know, did he kill one like, well, he hasn't been listening very well lately, and I'm hungry. Did he have like curd or like like cheese that he had made? I don't know. So picture yourself in that scene, in that moment, wandering through the desert.

A shepherd all by yourself tending sheep, and then you see an amazing sight. Was it in the middle of the night? Was it in the middle of the day? In your in your imagination, if you were to see something like that, what would be the first thing that would go through your mind? Let's look at the text, just six verses, and I'd love to hear from you.

What could you see as being complex about that situation, either physically or what's going on with Moses during that time? Where do you see complexity in this situation? If you just raise your hand, Ella will get you.

Nobody else is gonna say it, I'll say it.

Okay. Most

desert bushes have a high oil content, and they burn in seconds. They just they blow up and they're gone. So when I see the complexity, I'm assuming it didn't just blow up and disappear. Moses looked at it and he goes, woah. I can see the fire, I can see the limbs, and this thing is not disintegrating.

Yeah. So so we have some we have some complexity of just physics or chemistry. A combustible material that is not being consumed. Yes. Complexity.

I feel like if I was in the wilderness by myself and saw a bush on fire that wasn't disintegrating, I probably wouldn't go closer to take a look.

So that for me is like, he went closer. I probably would be like, nope. Yes. That's such a great point. Nope, I'm now gonna go home.

Right. What do you think was going through Moses's mind? I mean, we we do get a little bit of insight into what he's thinking because he either says it out loud or his thoughts are recorded. What is this? Verse three, this is amazing.

Moses said, why isn't the bush burning up? Have you any of you ever bumped into a circumstance that you just that you just knew should be working out a certain way, and it's just not? Why isn't this working out? My tendency is to get frustrated. Do you think Moses was was pissed at that bush?

Hello, you're on fire, you should be consumed. When things don't work out the way that I want them to, or the way that I would expect them to, my tendency is to get a little frustrated. Moses says, this is amazing.

I was going to say in verse two it says, there the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. So, did he have a sense that there was something important there? Did he have that sense of the angel of the lord? When it says the the angel of the lord appeared to him. I was just wondering if he was staring at amazement in amazement over them.

Appearance of the angel or if it was kind of a combination of that and I don't know. The awareness.

I like it. Phil is like, me too. Activate imagination by scratching of the chin. Bob and then Phil, did you have something?

I'm gonna back it up a little bit. Okay. He's got them grazing in the desert. Seems like an odd choice of a place to graze your flock.

Yeah, how about lush pastures? How about lush pastures? Is Moses running from something? Is Moses hiding? Is Moses trying not to deal with something from his past by immersing himself in wandering about in the desert?

Yeah. So this is just a connection that I've had just now, is that as he's leading this flock, he's entering further into the wilderness and he's coming to Sinai or Horeb, the mountain of God. Now I don't know if that's a past understanding of what Horeb was because everything that happened on Sinai which will eventually happen and kind of bring Moses full circle but I find it interesting that as he approaches the mountain of god, this place of god, he receives a sign and as he approaches closer to that sign, he starts to hear the voice of god and so I'm automatically drawing a connection to like my life where if we enter and we draw nearer to god, he might bring us signs and then as we approach those and grow closer to him there, then, we'll start to hear the voice of god in our lives. Just like Moses saw the voice of God through the burning bush and through that sign. I don't know if I just destroyed or entered into your whole sermon, but that's like connection.

Three words, that will preach, brother. Wow. So good. So good. And what you just said reminds me of of a hyperlink about Jesus walking on the water in one of the gospels, I think it's in Mark, it says that Jesus was walking on the water and he intended to what?

Walk right on by them. But it was Peter that was like, ah. He turned aside and noticed and and remarked, what if what if there is something unfolding in your life? Let's go all the way back. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Hold Just really quick. Yes.

In chapter two, Moses had just killed an Egyptian. So he's like fleeing, he's shameful, he's on the run kind of. And so like seeing the burning bush, I feel like he must have immediately been like filled with shame and fear and it

says he's afraid and Oh, so so you're you're using your imagination to make the connection. What if when he saw the burning bush, he was like, oh, that's God and it's judgment and it's coming for me. Like my past has finally caught up with me. Is that maybe what you're Yeah. Oh, I hadn't thought of that.

But imagine imagine if that's what's playing out in his emotions, and I really love that you brought in the detail, the fact that forty years prior, Moses had committed murder by killing an Egyptian. And now we see him on the backside of the desert as a shepherd, he once was a prince of Egypt, now he's a lowly solitary shepherd in his eighties. He was he grew up in the palace until he was 40. He committed the murder at about 40, and now he's been in the wilderness for forty years. So he's 80 years old now.

He sees the burning bush, and maybe it's an Egyptian god, maybe it's the Hebrew god, but judgment has finally found me, that's it, I'm doomed, but yet he still goes towards the bush. Interesting, fascinating.

Well, what I saw is that just a sense that he knew it was the presence of the Lord, not, you know, that he knew that it was God because he was drawn closer to it, to what to the presence. And I'm just wondering if part of what he's drawn towards is just in chapter two, he's finally at that place of just expressing and experiencing compassion for the Hebrews. And so overcome by how they're forced to work and all of that is in his heart. And I'm just wondering if there's a curiosity maybe in that experience that is part of the desire to draw close is to talk to the Lord about that. The things that are on his heart that have been stirring while he's been in the wilderness.

So we see that Moses was born with and destined for leadership and compassion. Unredeemed in his flesh, it comes out as murder. Oops. But through through through this transformative encounter inaugurated by the burning bush, the Lord transforms and renews and is like, okay, you have the gift of leadership, you see and you have compassion for your people, you did it your way and look what it look where it got you. Now.

Yeah. Come to the burning bush, be transformed, and when we do it my way, we'll have a completely different result.

And I just wanna add one thing is that many theologians believe that the angel of the Lord is a pre incarnate Jesus. Sure. And I believe that. So it isn't like there's a difference between angels showing up to Mary, which is a crazy powerful experience. Now you're talking about Jesus.

Yeah. The Lord himself showing up to Moses in this incredible encounter.

And on a very practical level, the sheep were alive. His father-in-law is entrusting with the sheep. Moses was doing what he was supposed to be doing, and we can presume he was doing it pretty well. Obviously, he would have been sacked. So that's a lesson to us just to get on and do what we're supposed to be doing, where we're supposed to be doing it.

You're faithful with the Because to to

to go chasing after that sort of experience and not be doing what you're supposed to be doing, you might never have that experience. Moses, you know, he had to be at that point in in submission to his circumstances and obedient doing what his boss was telling him to do. I wasn't maybe that wouldn't have happened, you know. He wouldn't have been in the right place at the right time.

And the hyperlink that is being formed in all of our brains is in the New Testament where Jesus says, where if you're faithful with little, you can be entrusted with much. Colleen had something up here and then we'll go back there. And then we're gonna talk about that bush. Let's get back to that, there's something about that bush.

I'm thinking in terms of time, Forty years and then forty years. Don't give up. Keep pushing into Jesus.

I remember a chapel speaker at the college university that I went to And they were like, like, if it still feels like you're on the runway, that just means that God has destined a bigger plane for you. The longer the runway, the bigger the plane. I was like, I'll I'll take it.

I'm seeing a thread. Okay. And so Mount Sinai was where Moses first met with the lord and then he went back and he climbed Mount Sinai where he was even more like even more enraptured in the presence of the lord and from Mount Sinai, all these things came to be. The 10 commandments, how are we supposed to worship? What's it supposed to look like?

What's it look like? How do we get close to lord? How do we get the clarity in the chaos? And the lord laid it out for everybody and they kept going back to Mount Sinai because that's what they knew and several weeks ago, when we started this series, I had opened my eyes after worship and my eyes were blurry and it was really bizarre And I'm like, what is going on, Lord? And I reached in my bag and I got some clear eyes.

And I put them in my eyes. I'm like, what is the clear eyes? Holy Spirit, what's clear eyes in this situation? Little eye drops, you

mean? Yeah. Okay.

But like as an analogy, what's clear eyes? How do we get clarity when our eyes are blurry? Which led to, well, you know, the celebration of the disciplines, We have all these disciplines that we know we are supposed to do as believers. Forty years of faithfulness, taking care of the sheep, right? We know what we're supposed to do in order to draw close to god.

In order to get to Mount Sinai but perhaps and I noticed in Deuteronomy, the lord says, alright, you spent enough time at this mountain. Now, it's time to go. So, later on, he sends them away from that usual to experience something new and I'm wondering if in 2024, once we cross that Rubicon, we are going to be learning and exploring new ways to draw near to him besides just the disciplines.

Would you do me a favor? Yes. Would you send that to me in an email? Sure. And it can just, you don't even, if you want to include the the blurry eyes and the clear eyes, you can.

But just as we cross that Rubicon in 2024 that he could be say it again. This is why I need to send in an email.

Growing and exploring new ways in which we encounter his presence. In which we encounter his presence.

And you can even form that email to me in the form of a question. It doesn't need to be definitive. It can be I have a I wonder if statement. Let's talk about this bush. Colleen, did you have something?

Okay. Let's talk about this bush. Now in your English Bible, it just says, though the bush was engulfed in flames, it did not burn up. And as Lee, he kind of primed the pump, opening up the conversation by saying, well, the the big obvious complexity is what's up with this bush? If you look at that word in Hebrew, the original language in which it was rent, you will find that there are three different Hebrew words for the word bush.

Three different words. You don't need to know what each one of the Hebrew words means, but the way that those three different words are used is actually quite important, and going to lead us into a what I will suggest to you is a beautiful way to, although perhaps not very desirable way to encounter clarity. The first word for bush is what's used to describe what we would know of as just generic general shrubbery. And I know that when I say that word, how do you hear it pronounced in your mind? Shrubbery.

Thank you. All of my Monty Python fans are with me. The word shrubbery as a normal bush, and it's used in the book of Genesis to describe all kinds of plants that were made in creation. Just your average run of the mill normal shrubbery. The next word, the next Hebrew word for bush would be what we would consider maybe like a, in Hebrew it's used to describe a twisted cluster of brush.

Now can you think where in your bible memory recall can you recall a story about brush? I'll give you a hint, it's to the left of where we were just reading. Not not shrubbery, but thick brush that you might throw your hand up when it comes to you, that you might get entangled in. Yes. You're exactly right.

Isaac and Abraham. Abram. They go up on the mountain, God says, sacrifice your son to prove your fidelity and loyalty to me. Just before Abram takes the flint knife and plunges it into the heart of his son, God says, wait. And then he shows him his eyes were opened to see a ram, interesting that it was not a lamb, that's a whole another sermon, caught in some brush, thick brush.

So we have what's the first one? You can say it with your British accent. Strawberry. You're welcome, Ian. The second one is like thick brush.

Now there's a third type of word for bush that is used in the old testament in Hebrew, and it's that that word bush that describes a spiny bush of sharp thorns. Now, one of those three words were used in the story that we just read. My question to you is, you have a 33% chance of getting it right statistically, but which of the three do you think were used to describe the burning bush that Moses saw? We'll do a poll the audience. How many of you think it was the spiny bush of sharp thorns?

Raise your hand. Sharp thorns, raise your hand. Okay. How many of you think it was the tight brush? And then how many of you think it was the shrubbery?

And how many of you didn't vote? Bear, I appreciate that. Okay. Pat your legs, give me a drum roll, and I'll tell you what it was. The Hebrew word that was used in this particular story is Well, before I tell you the answer.

Before before I tell you the answer, we're going to Okay, no, I'll tell I'll tell you, I'll tell you. It is the Hebrew word that is used to describe the sharp, spiny, thorn type of bush. Interestingly enough of he could have said shrubbery, he could have said brush, but he used the author chose to use that word specifically, and when we dig a little bit more, we will uncover some beautiful clarity that has been in God's word for us all along, that is covered, surrounded, shrouded in the complexity of this single word bush. Verse two through five, we've already read this, there the angel of the Lord showed himself to Moses in a burning fire from inside a bush. You can underline that word and you can put out in your margins, the thorny kind.

Moses looked and saw that the bush was burning with fire, but it was not being burned up. So Moses said, I must step aside and see this great thing, why the bush is not being burned up. Here's a little tip for you in reading the Bible. If you want to know what does God want me to get out of this particular passage, do a word count. Is there a word or more than one word that is repeated more than once?

Look for it, that should stand out to you. Notice in this passage, I mean, once you've said the word bush, do you really need to go back to it? But the word is used over and over and again, that is a biblical literary device intentionally put in there to draw our attention. Something about that bush. Verse three, Moses said, I must step aside and see this great thing, why the bush is not being burned up.

The Lord saw him step aside and God called to him from inside the bush. How many times have we seen the word so far? What are we up to? Three or four saying Moses. And when he says Moses, Moses, it is believed that if you were there watching the events unfold, God said his name only once, but it was like Moses.

But you can't really convey that in the text, so it says Moses, Moses. Similarly, in Isaiah, what is it 61, where the beings around the throne, they're crying what? Three times. But but if you were there watching that event fold out, it would just be one massive holy. But holy holy holy also preaches.

Moses. Moses answered, here I am. God said, do not come near, take off the shoes from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. If we will, as Phil said, turn aside from this potential inconvenience that we are experiencing in our life, this anomaly in our everyday normal routine life, this disturbance, there's a very good chance that we could meet with the Lord and stand on holy ground, and have a holy encounter with him right in the midst of the mundane and ordinary and things that don't fit our schedule, if we would just turn aside. Aside from this passage, that word for bush is used, the thorny, spiky, prick your finger kind is used in only one other place in all of the Old Testament.

And before we turn there, make a note in the margin of your bible so that you can have a a an analog hyperlink to it. But right next to that part in Exodus chapter three, write this address, Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 13 through 16. We'll put it up on the screen here. Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 13 through 16, and then let's read it. You can follow on the screen as I read it.

About Joseph, he said, so Isaac is blessing the 12 children of Israel. About Joseph, he said, may the Lord bring good to his land with the best gifts from heaven above, with water on the grass in the early morning, that's like dew on the grass, and from the deep waters below with the best things from the sun and the best foods of the months. May the Lord bring good to his land with the best things from the old mountains, the best things from the hills that last forever, with the best things of the earth and all that is in it, and the favor of him who lived in the bush. Let these gifts come upon the head of Joseph, upon the crown of the head of the one who is the ruler among his brothers. Now we're not gonna take a long time, but I want us to think about what sort of hyperlinks in your brain appear as you read this passage, and let's go a little bit by little bit.

Do any hyperlinks come to your mind when you read verse 13, specifically with the best gifts from heaven above with the water on the grass in early morning. Does that create a hyperlink in your brain? That specifically. It did mine, so I wrote it in my notes and I'm gonna tell you.

Can I just rewind to a previous hyperlink just before we went to this passage? Oh, yes. I felt it was revealed to me that it had to be the thorn bush because of the crown of thorns. That's where the crown came from.

Stay with the group. I need you buddy to stay with the group because that's my big surprise ending. Everybody's already making this connection. You're texting hyperlinks? So it's a locked it's a locked hyperlink that only you two have access to, you little rascal.

Okay. Yes, we're gonna get there, we're gonna get there, we are going to get there. So it said, Joseph is is or Isaac is pronouncing this blessing over the family of Joseph, that you would have the very best things from the hills, the very best things from the sun, the very best foods of the months, may the Lord bring good to the land, and I've already Oh, sorry, no, back up. Verse 13, may the Lord bring good to this land with the best gifts from heaven above, with the water on the grass in the early morning. There is, so from now on whenever you read in it will be mostly in the Old Testament, but there's one occasion in the New Testament as well, but it's not mentioned directly.

The dew of the morning, The dew on the hair in the morning. Anybody? Okay. Okay. You can write this out in in your margin, Song of Solomon.

We're not gonna turn there, but I'll just read it to you. Song of Solomon chapter five verse two. I slept, but my heart was awake. When I heard my lover knocking and calling, this is the young woman, and she's And the young man says, open to me my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one, my head is drenched with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night. The young man has spent the night thinking about his beloved, and he longs to be with her, and he comes knocking on the door of her heart, and his hair is drenched with dew of the night.

Now what hyperlink does that create for you in the New Testament? Jesus praying in the Garden Of Gethsemane. After they celebrated Passover, the Bible says that they left Jerusalem, they crossed the Kidron Valley, and went up to the Garden Of Gethsemane, where Jesus went and prayed. He was praying for you, he was praying for me. And in the text, it does in the New Testament text, it does not tell us that his hair was drenched with dew.

So let's be honest to the New Testament text. But there is a beautiful, what I would suggest to you as an intended romantic hyperlink that is spoken of here in Song of Solomon for us to make that connection in the New Testament. Carla's like, a slow nod, a slow consideration nod. And that passage from Song of Solomon should should create a hyperlink for us all the way to Deuteronomy chapter 33. That there's this blessing pronounced that you would be drenched with the dew.

We've gone from thorny bushes and look at this passage in 33, it says that in verse 16, it is the favor of him who lived in the bush. That word is the specific same word that is used that we saw in the passage earlier a moment ago in Exodus chapter 33, but what is mentioned several times in Deuteronomy chapter 33? What body part? The head, that's right guys, good job. The head.

It's daylight savings, okay, we'll give you a little break. Man, remember when you used to have to like send out reminders about daylight savings times and people would still miss it, but now like even my watch, like I didn't even need to change my watch, it just did it. So that hyper, that thinking about a person's head being drenched with dew, and now we're getting to thorny bushes, what is the big mega hyperlink that we should be thinking about from the New Testament, Ian? The crown of thorns. Yes.

What was intended to mock actually glorified. Let's turn in our Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. Let's turn there. And click on verse 27, I'll read it for us. Then the soldiers of Pilate took Jesus into a large room.

A big group of soldiers gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a purple coat on him. They put a crown of thorns on his head, and they put a stick in his right hand. They got on their knees before him and made fun of him, and they said, hello, king of the Jews, and they spit on him. They took a stick and hit him on the head.

After they had made fun of him, they took the coat off and put his own clothes on him, and they led him away to be nailed to a cross. Okay. This is the point in the conversation where we connect the two big dots. What does What is the message of the burning bush? The message of the burning bush is that God often places clarity right in the midst of great pain.

God places great clarity in the midst of great pain. All of us would love to encounter God in a burning bush. Wouldn't that be great in a stark desert? The contrast of the burning bush, ah, there it is. For you single girls, like when he like skis up on his skis, and there's this glowing halo around him, and you're like, oh, okay, that's the one I'm supposed to marry, wouldn't that be great?

And you know he's not gonna be on a snowboard. Stop. Whatever it is, wouldn't it be great if we would get the direction from the Lord by a burning bush? We all want the burning bush, but few of us, and I would suggest most of us, would like to skip the pain part. Now I'm not let me let me just say what I'm not saying.

What I'm not saying is that God causes or is the author or the inflictor of pain just so that he can give us clarity. That's not who he is, nor is that how he rolls. He don't do that. But in his sovereignty and in his foreknowledge of of the unfolding of events in the universe all the way down to your life specifically, knowing how many hairs are on your head, knowing your thoughts before they ever come out of your mouth. In his foreknowledge, he knows what's going to unfold in your life and in our life collectively.

And he knows that that at times we will all because we're a part of a fallen world, we were born into this fallen world, that we will all experience pain. Maybe it's the pain of loss. Maybe it's the pain of disappointment. It could be the pain of betrayal. It could be the pain of loneliness.

It could be physical pain. It could be the pain of living with a mistake. We all experience pain, but God in his goodness always attaches clarity that we can access or grab a hold of in the midst of pain. Am I saying that that in 2024, we could experience collectively some measure of pain? I'm not gonna go so far as to say that because I the the Lord ain't showing me nothing about what's gonna unfold other than increased complexity.

Complexity might manifest itself in your life this year in the form of pain, having to process through that, walk through that. But it's in the pain of that spiny, prickly bush that you can look for and grab ahold of great clarity. It was very complex as Jesus was going through those moments. Even his disciples deserted him and we're like, I I don't know what's this is not how it's supposed to play out. I'm out of here.

But the Bible says Jesus fully realizing. He knows. He knows. He embraced that pain to bring us clarity, which revealed the salvation of the world and for every human heart. What we've talked about maybe has just set right here in your thinker.

Let's take a moment and invite the Holy Spirit to help it sink down into our knower. If it just stays in our thinker, it really does us no good. But if it sinks down into our knower, that's where transformation can happen. Holy Spirit, help us make that 18 inch drop. Let the Lord just speak to you for a moment, would you?

Jesus, help us Jesus. Maybe take a moment and if you find yourself in the midst of pain somehow, someway, at some level, would you just confess that pain to him? This hurts so bad. Just tell him. This is a beautiful, distinctive of Christianity.

If you're a follower of Jesus, we're not looking for pain, but we don't run from it. Like the book of Job says, though you slay me and you may feel like you're dying inside from pain or maybe aren't personally, but there's somebody near you that's in walking through some amount of pain. Job says, though you slay me, yet will I praise you. How great thou art. How great thou art.

Now ask him the last part. You've you've you've told him your pain. Now this just this last part. Ask him to reveal his greatness to you in the midst of that pain. That's clarity.

Just ask him. How great thou art. Thank you, Jesus. Let me pray for you, and then I'm gonna invite Jay up to lead us in one last type of worship, and we'll scoot out of here. And while I pray for you, could it be just a moment between just you, me, and the Holy Spirit, and the way that that will provide everybody a measure of privacy is if we just all close our eyes.

So just right where you are, close your eyes, and I'd like to know specifically who I will be praying for in this room this morning. If this if today's message just really like brang, hit a nerve with you, hit the bull's eye, would you raise your hand so I can know specifically who to pray for? And just hold it up as a little act of surrender. Just keep it up there. Father, those hands that are raised in acknowledgment and also in surrender, will you, in a supernatural way right now, reveal your beauty to them.

As the young man said, I've been in the garden all night drenched with the dew of the evening, and I've been thinking about you. Would you reveal your tender affections towards those people who have their hands raised and release clarity into their hearts in the midst of the pain that they are experiencing. It could be physical and you you know their pain. You can put your little hands down. And you just take just a moment and talk to him from your heart.

Lord Jesus, thank you so much that you never ever ever ever ever allow us to walk through anything painful that a, your son hasn't walked through first and come through on the other side. B, that we have a beautiful example in your son, Jesus, and that he is faithful. And number three, that you don't always, right in the midst of any pain that we may experience or walk through, that you don't put a clarion beacon, a bright and shining burning bush of clarity. I pray for clarity over each and every one of our tribe fam here today this week. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God.

And everybody said Amen. Amen. I love you guys so much. I want you to have a great week. And remember, Emma