The Festival of Shavuot

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.

To today's conversation. Today's conversation is going to tie a bow on a series of conversations that we've been having about what we're calling walking in the spirit. Now I understand that that could be like sound like a churchy phrase, walking in the spirit. Hey, are you walking in the spirit? I'm walking in the spirit.

Brother, are you walking in the spirit? I've just been walking in the spirit all week. What in the world does that even mean? Okay. Well, we've spent five weeks talking all about it.

And I do use that word conversation intentionally. Here in this video, it feels a little easier to have a conversation because all I need to do is just, like, lean forward and here we are. Right? You lean forward. You're on the worship team this morning.

But I want this to be a conversations to to help you engage with the material and what we're talking about. And I don't want this to just be a monologue, but a dialogue. I wanna hear from you. So if you have questions, comments, connection, it's it's really conducive to be able to to do that, right here in this venue. But even when we're meeting at the Virginia, I want to hear from you.

And so periodically throughout this morning's conversation, I'll check-in with you, and I'd love to hear your contribution. It just makes everyone's time much more rich. And it's going to be hard for me to not kind of handle, who who is David Letterman's, like, sidekick on the keyboard? Or like, you know, like, all, like, the evening talk to the most, like, have somebody. So I'm gonna lead you to be quick on the keys if I Have the The quick point.

Yeah. Listen. Try it, friend. Now a couple of goes the drill. I might might cut it off there.

Oh, Try it now. If I have a bad joke? Don't be no bad jokes. Alright. So we're gonna tie a bow on the conversation that we've been having, and we're we're gonna we're going to braid together several different threads here and then tie them in a bow.

Because not only we're going to wind down this series of conversations that we've been having on walking in the spirit. And if you're just jumping in with us, you can go to Spotify, iTunes, or YouTube to catch up on all the conversations that we've been having. But we're gonna tie that thread together with a family tradition of the Lord that we're going to honor and recognize today. And the third thing that we're going to to tie together is I completely lost my train of thought, but the third thing will come to me. If you have your bible with you this morning, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 16.

I remember the passage that we're going through today ties into a trick a passage that is traditionally read as Jewish people honor this speaks I got it. Deuteronomy chapter 16, and in a moment, we're gonna we're gonna read a few verses together. But this is the week of god's family tradition of Shavuot. Now I I also use that phrase intentional. What you might be familiar with or you've heard of, like like out there is Jewish feasts.

And and the word Shavuot, like that word means nothing to us as Gentiles. But it means a lot to Jewish people and religious Jewish people, the feast of Shavuot. But I use the word family tradition intentionally because that's really what this and seven other major feasts are of the year. They're God's family tradition. Now I don't know about you, but in our family, we have a lot of, like, little sayings that we've picked up from, like, movies throughout the year.

And, like, we throw these we throw these sayings out. They're really only our family understands. And if we spend a lot of time with some other family, like, we pick up your phrases and you picked up our phrases. And so we had this, like, mingling of family phrases and also traditions. One of our family traditions is whenever somebody's coming to visit us, we walk out on the edge of the hill and we wait for them to, like, come, like, driving down the highway and then turn up.

But we wave, wave, wave, enjoy the company while they're here. And then when they're done with their stay, we say goodbye, hugs and kisses and all that. They get in their car, Nana and Papa were just here, and they drive down the driveway. And when

they turn out on the highway where we do Selah, Selah, the climate we should do.

She's in the entrepreneur. We stand on the edge and we wave and all because that's what Nana and Papa did whenever their daughter, Lissa, who's now my wife, like that's what they did in their family. We've just adopted that into our family. And so in a similar way, god reveals himself to mankind as a father and a good father. You don't you aren't a father without a family.

And if you're in a family, every family has family traditions. God established seven major family traditions that he invites all of his kids to participate in every year. And you might have been thinking of them as Jewish feasts for your whole life, and your church might not have ever had anything to do with them, and that's fine. But God invites all of his kids into the seven family traditions. And this the one that we're going to recognize in our today is found and founded in Deuteronomy chapter 16.

Would somebody please read out loud verses nine through 12? There's the address right there on your screen. Deuteronomy 16, would somebody read out loud verses nine through 12?

About seven weeks, but the tidy began to put the sick in two with the sand and grain. Then celebrate the past twelve weeks to a world, dear god, by doing it free will operate. Originating the blessed you call our good goddess you. They rejoice before the world, dear god, and thanks he will choose that before he first made. You, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites and

your child, and the foreigners, the and the widows of Ewogi.

I mean, remember that you were slaves and eat it. Follow care, please, decrees.

So this family tradition, in your Bible, it might say feast. It might say a festival. Think of it as God's family tradition. If you think of it as a Jewish feast, that's only because the Jews happen to be the first ones to be invited in to celebrate that feast. But numerous places in the bible, it says, this is my feast.

This is my family tradition that I'm sharing with you, says the Lord. And so when you read this passage right here, this is the feast or the family tradition of the harvest, otherwise known as Shavuot. So as we read that little passage right there, what are what's maybe a detail that jumps out at you? What do you notice about that? What strikes you as interesting or noteworthy?

Everyone's invited. Now let's take it a little bit deeper. What what do you think God is giving you? Are all of the feast or God's family traditions for everyone? Not all of them, but this one is.

What is he what do you think he could be est? Just taking a at this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Back. Just please. Not worse. Lava granny shot it. Oh.

Showing that he's welcoming the all and furthering thy fellowship among the people and also the discrepancies of holding the high level people in the street. No. God's doing for the immigrant invited the idiot. Yeah. Yeah.

Remember when Ephesians or Scrooge, like, has that, like, turning and, like, he's running up and down the street, like, Merry Christmas, everyone. And he's, like, getting a goose, and he's, like, everybody come. And then Tiny Tim says, That was absolutely perfect. And he right. Like like, god, he god hasn't had a change of heart.

He's been like the Ladin Scrooge all along, magnanimous, generous, and in this particular family feast, he's like, bring everybody. That's a great observation from that passage. What else do you though is? I am trying to steer you towards one thing a person at the first service pointed this out and and it's worth coming back around to it again. By giving in, it's in verse 10.

Anyways,

it's not in every translation either. I won't.

Help us. What is what somebody read your verse 10 out loud. I have the NLT. Does everyone have a verse 10? It's good.

I can't. Take a crack at real alpha.

You are the beast of the weeks. To the lord your god with the tribute of free will, and rubbish her in hand, but you shall live as the lord your god was.

Excellent. Verse 10, then celebrate the feast of the harvest on lord your god. Bring him a voluntary offering heed in proportions of the blessing you have received for him. Now what could somebody unpack that for me? What is interesting or significant about that?

I'm not looking for you to be a bible scholar, but how does that strike you? What is interesting about that to you? Voluntary. It's not 10%. It's not yep.

It's something more. It's more or less. He says it's other to you. We're gonna say something?

Yeah. Just yesterday, we were having a conversation about, like, grace and how there's common grace amongst us that, like, God gives us blessings to the evil to wicked and the good. Right. The the rainfall on everyone. And this is just out of our mission to recognize that God has blessed us with so much and given us so much that it's not just us saying, okay.

I'll buy. I'll give my stuff to you, but it's gone. Alright. You make in proportion to the blessings that

the Lord your God have already given. And we said, how is this just a moment just present that back. Yeah.

What does that do for you when you hear that? Like, hey. Give back to the lord wherever you want. And then there's just a little caveat. Here's here's a here's a here's a little guiding principle in proportion to however the lord blessed you.

But give what you want.

You know what that I think that okay, Lee. What's up? Where where are these blessings? What are they? I have to think about them.

I have to write them down or put them in my mind. And then I think what would happen is I would give proportionately or you know? Because I'm discerning. He's blessed me so much. I I hope that I will want to give up more.

Sure. More than proportion. Do

you think the Lord is not for the sake of of anything mean, but do you think that the Lord has or keeps a record of all that he has done for you? A 100%. She knows all the needs. She knows Yeah. Fitness gift.

Mhmm. It's fitness gift. It really puts the responsibility on our shoulders. Yep. It looked like you said, bring a tent.

Okay? Or other times, bring the very best. Okay. Well, here's my 10% very best. Okay.

I'll bring that down. This is a different offering that the Lord invites Israel and us to to bring to him. Whatever you want in proportion to how I bless you. Oh. You know that our parents were training on the training us on this since we were little kids.

Right? Whether you grew up in a Christian home or not. Your parents trained you in this very principle. Okay. Let's let me let me take you back to your childhood.

Mom's in the kitchen and she bakes up fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies. And the whole house is filled with the smell of chocolate chip cookies. And as a kid, you're just like, I can't wait. You finished watching Dudes of Hazard. You're about to go outside, play all day, drink from the hose, but first, you need a chocolate chip cookie.

Right? So chocolate chip cookie cookies come off the plate no. Off the off the cookie sheet and onto a big pile. You ask, mom, can I have a chocolate chip cookie? And she goes, sure.

Would you bring me one? And so you go, you get two cookies, and you come back to mom with two cookies. What's the dilemma? You gotta give one of them to mom. But what's the dilemma?

The big one or the small one?

Right. The big the Rich, cookie and dim to mom. Does every child intuitively know the correct answer to that question? Do you intuitively know? What is the correct answer to the question?

Big one to mom. The big one goes to mom. You does that detailed in your heart. But what's the dilemma? You want the big one.

You want the big You want the big one. Why do you want the big one? Because you're selfish. Parents, did you have to teach your child to be selfish? No.

No. Did you have to teach your child to lie? No. No. Do you have to teach your child to be bratty?

No. That's just already in them. Mom is training you. Would you bring me one too? She's up to something.

Well, mean, Monday, you need so you come back to mom with two cookies and mom hasn't said, bring me one too, but I'll take the bigger one. She doesn't say that. She just says, bring me one too. She's giving you an opportunity. Number one, to test to see what's in your heart.

Number two, to give you an opportunity to to train you in being what? Generalist. Generalist. How many of you remember that dilemma? Maybe it was like last week, Eagles.

When it's like I'm like, man, maybe I'll go for a full of ice cream. And Lucy's like, I'll take one too. I was an only child. You know how hard that is for me even at my age? I come back with one bowl of ice cream, and she's like, you didn't offer me one.

And I was like, oh, I forgot. We go, okay, do two cookies there. Which cookie are you gonna give? This is a principle of good parenting. The Lord says, bring me an offer of volunteer.

What whatever word to your translation was, a voluntary offering. Whatever you want. But he's training us to be generous. And this is just one of of many principles that that a good parent and our great parent, our heavenly father is always training us in. And in fact, seven times a year, there are seven different family traditions that he invites us to be a part of.

And each one of these family traditions all has three components to it. I'll I'll put it into bread up here on the screen all at once. He invites us. Oh, yeah. The chart.

Let's go to that chart real quick. No. No. No. We're gonna go to the three things.

Okay. Sorry. And then we'll go to the chart. We are at the feast. There are three three purposes every time.

To remember remember all that he's done for us. Remember the journey that we have been on. He invites us to utilize the feast to help us recalibrate. Man, kind of like I'd like been drifting over here towards the guardrail, then often have ditch. But but when we celebrate the feast of Shavuot, god invites us to bring a free will offering to him.

However, the lord has blessed you. It causes us to remember and want to recalibrate. Man, I've been living like a selfish little brat. Need to recalibrate. And then finally, the last one is to rehearse.

Why why that last word? To rehearse. Why is part of each one of God's family tradition? Why is the purpose to invite us into rehearse? First of all, what does rehearse mean?

To practice something that supposed to call out. Is to come or will happen in the future. Why? Do we do why does God have a family tradition for something that hasn't happened yet?

Weekend of this Monday, we all know how to feast.

You're so right. One of the that has been told to us in this book but hasn't happened yet is the wedding supper of the lamb, where Jesus sits down with the bride of Christ, which is us, and we have the most incredible wedding celebration and party and dinner the universe has ever known. And she wants us to prepare for that with a rehearsal. Was somebody gonna say something else? Well, Sonic will just until that point.

Like, it

led me to somebody that's been like, if you're gay in the world, they'll lose your soul. And I felt like this bit, like, helping out practice for at

least a, you know, what we wanna be selfish with. What does it profit a man to gain the entire world and forfeit his soul? And he's like, practice now denying yourself, laying down your life. But if he gives his life away, he'll get that and so much more in return. He's he's inviting us to practice these things.

Okay. Now go to my chart. I don't know why this resolution is so bad. Just squint your eyes and it clears up. Sorry.

But these are the seven different feasts that the Lord invites us to, seven different family traditions that the Lord invites us to on a yearly basis. Now tell me, what's that big red line across the chart for? Future. What is it? Future.

Future. Four of these feasts have already played out a healing ministry. Three, we're still running a rehearsal on. So that when we see these events play out in human history, and I believe that they very well could be all three within our lifetime in in quick succinct

order.

Just like Peter said on the day of Pentecost when he stood up and he addressed the crowded Jerusalem, he said, this that you're seeing is that that the prophet Joel spoke about. Peter remembered. His heart was correctly calibrated. He had been rehearsing. Jews have been rehearsing these events for thousands of years so that he could connect the dots when he saw it play out.

The rest of the world, when these future prophetic events unfold on planet literally, the stuffing is gonna come out of the brains of so many people around the world. They're gonna lose their marbles. Not us. We'll be like Peter. We'll be able to say this that you're seeing and this will that this is that.

And that's exactly what he said as he was quoting Joel chapter two. These men are about drunk as you suppose. It's only ten in the morning. But the prophet Joel said that that I'm going to pour out my spirit upon all flesh and that's what you're seeing. So this feast, the feast of Shavuot has a a Gentile Christian counterpart.

What do we know this feast as? What do what do Christians in the church know this feast as? You can go either forward or backward, but months later. Maybe backwards. There we go.

What do Christians celebrate? It's a churchy word. Chris you said Christianist? Okay. So so that's a great idea.

You're you're all through it, not Easter. What is it? Yeah. Yeah. Especially those happy clappy churches.

How about that? Yeah. Business. Oh, yeah. That's funny.

You're at a happy clappy church, by the way. We just didn't have room for the banners and the runners. Another company. Right. The flags.

Love the hey, pre knows. Lenitian. So so Gentile, the Gentile Church, that's that's us, celebrates an equivalent. It's a bummer that the Christian church has tried to really separate itself from God's family feasts and many wonderful and amazing God's traditions that that carry right through the filter right through the cross. But but we think of Shavuot like we've never even talked about it.

Probably if the church that you've come from. But what we talk about is Pentecost. The the when Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to the church in acts chapter two to the disciples who were gathered in the upper room. But what we're going to look at today, we started in Deuteronomy chapter 16. What we're going to look at, and if you want to write the title of today's conversation at the top of your notes is following the holy spirit.

With this coming week of Shabbat, we're going to read a passage from a story that's pulled in the old testament that a lot of Jews read during this speech. So the next place that we're going to turn in our bibles is the book of Ruth. The b grew. Ruth. I'll give you a little bit of background.

So Rue is this woman from the region of Moab, not Utah, but region of yeah. The the the the the the the And then Ruth the is a Moabite. She's from this region in in in Moab out in, like like, Mesopotamia. And she married a guy who end of the story, like a unfortunate sand country western song, he dies. But his dad has already passed away and his brother's passed away.

Poor Ruth. She's having a hard time. So the the matriarch of the family, the mom of this family is this woman named Nayong. Her husband dies and then her daughter-in-law is widowed because Ruth's husband dies. Are you with me?

No. That that's not too complicated genealogically. Right? So we're gonna pick up this story where not only Ruth, but there's another woman who married one of these brothers and the sad part is that brother of Dame. Poor Naomi, she's had it.

She's had it brought. So let's pick up the story in chapter one and we're going to read verses one through 22. Read just a few verses and then and then hand it off and somebody else can keep reading, and we'll get all the way from verse one to 22. Do you think he's he an apple to me at all? Yes.

And it was in the days of running a judge's rule, there was a bandit in the land. So a man met Muhammad Judah, he had his wife and two sons, once lived for a while in the country. The man's name was Elazelet. His wife's name

was Raeom, and an aid with his two sons were Raeom and Ephesians. They

were Ephesians. You're so brave for, like, being the first one to read Paul.

Steve, we're cheering for you. This is a time.

Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and went there. Then Bolanalek died, and now it was left with her two selves. The two sons married a Moabite married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orfa, and the other woman came through.

But about ten years later, both Balan and Kilean died. This left the family all alone without her two sons, Gorbarrausen. Then Naomi, Eri, and Moab that awarded the plus to his people, and he was, giving them good crops. So Naomi and her daughters who log, Erijs, and beat Moab, and made her choice their home. With her two daughters in law, she set out, feigned the place where she had been living, and they took the rose that would bring them back to leave.

And I would then to over two daughters in law. Go for church, you should remove yourself. Lord, they'll kindly with you as you have dealt with the dead and lift me. Lord, grant you that we may find rest, each of you of the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice and run.

And they said up to him, surely we will return the end to the dead people. And now they said, turn again my daughters. Why will you go with me? Are there death any more sons in my womb? Are they baby your husband?

Cheered again, my daughters. Go away. For I am too old to have affect them. Man, if I should stay at a pool,

and if I should have

a husband also to men, to also bear sods, would she tarry for them so they would grow? Would you stay for them? I'll have a husband. Not my daughter. For a pretty king much for your sake.

At the kingdom of lord, it's gone out again.

And, Oprah, what the? It's true, mother-in-law, Big Mike, that Ruth Kluntgern. Look, said Neil. Your sister-in-law is going back to her heagle in your nines. Go back with her.

A brief reply. I urge Daisy Lee to turn that. Where you go, I will go. The way you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people in Morgaon, Glencone.

Where you die, I will die, and therein will be buried. May the Lord deal with thee, be it ever so severely. If he then debts upright to you. And Eoey realized that Marie was determined to go with her. She stopped urging.

So the two women went on to Lydian to bite at him. When they arrived in Van Blien, a little town lister, Hezbo, Nielbrim explained to them as to Naomi. Don't call me Naomi, she told them. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has saved my life very better. And when I'm a fool that the Lord has brought me back into him, why call me Naomi?

Good Lord, I said between the Almighty is not misfortune. So Naomi returned Kamala the healthy five roots in the mouth like super daughter, mom, in the writing of that as them far they harvest the skin.

Hun, the reason why god established this and Jews celebrate it is because it coincides with the agrarian calendar. There's all kinds of calendars that we interface with on our normal life. And if we talk about Jews for just a second, they have a religious calendar. They have, an agrarian calendar, and they all, like, interface work. And their calendar is essentially based off of lunar cycles.

We follow the Gregorian calendar, which is based off of solar cycles, like years that we have to have leap years. But but similarly, we also interface with a lot of other calendars. Like, what's an example of another calendar we interact and interface with? Wait a minute. J.

J. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

Yeah. Ski zing all things at all. He seems like, yes. Yes. You're exactly right.

I was looking at you. Cool. My god. We love a new calendar, but the school calendar, like, they're all they're kind of, like, they're measuring and and and fitting in together with one another. And so so it's not it may sound like a difficult or foreign concept to understand, but but we're always interacting with multiple calendars that we have spun up in our in our light rhythm.

And so this feast is celebrated because the text and Ruth is often read because it says, this happens. They arrived in Bethlehem in late spring at the beginning of the barley harvest. Two other quick broad observations is is that that I saw our first service I wanna share with you at this service is number one, look at the intimacy between Naomi and her two daughter in laws. May she love those girls. Not family by blood, but she must have done something really wonderful and nurturing that that look at the language that's used like I'm gonna go with you.

They were weeping. They're hugging. They're kissing. Now nobody is caring. She's like, if I could just bear you children, right now I would, but let's just not be easy for them.

So look at that relationship and and see the tender care of the lord for you in how Naomi cares for her two widowed daughter in laws. There's just so much girly affection in there. Right? When guys when girls see each other like, oh, Nick, hush her. Hang in here.

Look at that. Can you wasp late? Oh. And guys see each other and they're like, Second thing that I want to show you here is is this, is verse 20. She's like Debbie Downer.

Don't call me. Call me. And yes, she has gone through a lot of grief. But I love what verse 22 says. So what does the author of the book of Bruce call Mara?

What does what is what do they call her? Naomi. The scriptures were inspired by the holy spirit. The lord is like, I'm only ever going to call you by the name that I have for you. What name have you tried to put on yourself that is stillness?

Damaged goods, failure, whatever. Don't call me by the name that the Lord has for me. Just call me messed up, lonely, dropped the ball again, failed. God's like, uh-oh. My name for you is nigh on.

He sees you. Well, he sees the potential in Yes. He sees your shortcomings and your failures because nothing escapes his sight, but that is not the way he chooses to relate to you on the basis of your merit. He chooses to relate to you based upon his nature and character. And so why would you call yourself any painless than what God has to say about you?

Well, I don't know what God has to say about me. Well, you gotta you gotta pick this up. I love what you cook up to make me lift up. He said I could kick your brain if I just pick your book up. And ever since the day you and I have hooked up, wife has been superflower like Jimmy Stooker.

Now in the same way that Ruth followed not only, we are invited to follow the holy spirit. Three different occasion in the book of Ruth. This is the big being that comes up out of the book of Ruth. How Ruth follows. She follows man rearing.

She follows Boaz. Let's look at the Ephesians. I'll put them up on the screen here. In chapter one verse 16, but Ruth replied, don't ask me to leave you and turn back. You hear this sometimes quoted at ways.

Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Jewish scholars say that this is often say that this is the first Gentile convert to Jesus. Ruth follows Naomi.

Look at this. You can write this address down. Chapter two verse eight and nine.

So

Foaz, he is he ends up spying over marrying Ruth and being a great husband to her. Foaz went over to Ruth. Ruth is super poor. She is she is destitute and homeless. And she is going behind people that are harvesting the spring harvest.

And there is a law in in Jewish law that says don't pick your crop to the very end. Don't be so greedy, but leave some of your crops on the fringe of your fields as as a system of welfare. Notice this. If you're in need of welfare, you still gotta go out and work and hard to stick yourself. But we're gonna help you.

And so that's what you see playing out here what Boaz does in chapter two verse eight and nine. Boaz went over and said to Ruth, listen, Madar, stay right here with us when you gather grain. Don't go to any other field. Stay right behind the young women working in my field. See which part of the field they are harvesting.

And then what? Follow them. I have warned the young men not to treat you roughly. And when you are thirsty, help yourself to the water they have drawn from the web. Follow.

So in chapter one, we see Ruth committing to Naomi. I will follow. In chapter two, we see Boaz saying, follow my servants that are harvesting the field. And then additionally in chapter three, look at verse five. Naomi is giving Ruth some instructions.

And Ruth says this, I will do everything you say, Ruth replied. So she went down to the threshing floor that night and what? Oh, the instructions of her mother. So when we read the story of Ruth during the season of this family tradition of Shavuot, we can see that Ruth followed Naomi, Ruth followed Phoaz, and we in a similar fashion are invited to follow the holy spirit. But watch this.

In the same way that Ruth followed Naomi and Boaz. Jesus followed the holy spirit too. I'll put it up on the screen here. Then Jesus, full of the holy spirit returned from the Jordan River and he was led by the spirit into the book. Quick side note on following the holy spirit.

There's a big difference between following your own, even best intentions, but coming originating from yourself, your own passions, pursuits, even if you're good at it, even if you happen to make a lot money at it, whatever it is. There's a difference between following your path and following the leadership of the holy spirit. And oftentimes, I have seen in the bible, in my own life, and in lives of people that I shepherd and pastor, the holy the the person will say, I'm following you, holy spirit. I'm following you, holy spirit. And the holy spirit's like, okay.

Let's try this. Brink. And it's a right turn. Sometimes a heart right turn. Sometimes it's a u-turn.

Why does he why does he why does he when we say, I'll follow you anywhere, holy spirit, why does he sometimes take a u-turn and go the opposite direction? To see if we committed. To see if we're committed, but does he already know? Yes. Yes.

Why? Because he's omniscient. He knows everything. So, yes, he does it for that reason, but why else does he do it?

We learn

from We learn from it. But it really what does it show us?

He has a better plan. It shows us that he has a better plan, but it living reveals what's dead Albert Owen Harkel read rehab.

I don't have yet.

Okay. I'll show you. Not I'm sorry. Heart should spread. I'll show you.

Okay. I'll show Now you say, Brian, I will follow you anywhere. Brian will follow you anywhere. Okay. But the desire of your heart is to go in that direction.

Right? That that's what what you're gonna do. Say it again. There's doubt. Now, sting the body of real ethics to your heart.

Right. I shall follow you anyway. Oh, great and joyful. Fabulous. And they okay, Huxley, follow me.

Okay. Follow me. And then I go this way. And then he goes off that, is he following me? No.

No. Because that's the direction alright. Come back. That's the direction that he wanted to go. Now what if Uggs were standing here, stayed there, and Uggs said, I shall all of you anywhere.

And I go, that is so awesome. That is great. Fantastic. I believe you. And then I never go anywhere.

I never see what's going on with him and he has never tested to really know what's in his home. This is a huge, huge, huge principle in following the leadership of the holy spirit. You can say, I'll follow you, holy spirit, all you want. You can get bumper sticker. You can even get it permanently marked on your body, and then you can even show people with your little thin script of your, like, trimmedy millennial tattoo.

Pump pump, not too much. Ian, should I follow you anywhere? Holy spirit, yeah, said Peter. But the proof is in the pudding, and the holy spirit will often take a a a course contrary to what you think, anticipate, or even want to test you. He doesn't he doesn't like like he's not trying to fake you out.

That would be cool. Like, if I said, oh, just follow me, and then I just like, I just took off and we're gone. That's cool. That's not fair. That's not what he does.

But she oftentimes takes a divergent path that what he thought anticipated or even want to show you what's in your heart. How how really how really really are you to following him?

So go ahead. I'm still straddle. Okay. So how am I going to at what point do I know that I've missed the holy spirit? I'm following.

Something's got The holy spirit's gonna come back and say, hey. He screwed up. We are something. Otherwise, I wouldn't know. That's great.

And that makes sense? The bible of

the book of Romans says that our own conscience bears witness with us. It either condemns us or it it congratulates us. And so what that verse meaning is every single human, whether you follow Jesus or not. The bible says in Ecclesiastes, three eleven goddess, I need eternity in the human heart. What that means is every single human throughout all of history has a compass in their heart.

That if you had a real compass, it points towards magnetic north. But there was a compass in your heart that's red needle is always pointing towards the throne of God by way of the cross of Jesus. And whenever you do think or say anything, it will either light up with that bearing and your conscience will say, great job. You're taking a step towards God. You're following for walking in the spirit.

We're following the leadership of the Lord. Or a divergent pal, the Holy Spirit does not keep condemnation, but he says, hey, you're falling worse.

So something about my peace has been the Easter or there is no Easter. So so circumstances can be

a poor indication of whether or not you are following the leadership of the holy spirit. And most beginner christians get hung up on that. They run into hard times, they run into trouble, and they're like, well, I guess it's not the will of the lord because this is hard. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the Inland China Mission, the first missionary to China, described the work of the lord in three phases. Anybody remember that quote?

The work of the lord comes in three phases. Impossible, difficult and done. Right? And so so circumstances can be a can be a very poor indicator of walking in the spirit. But you just said it, the peace of the holy spirit that surpasses all understanding is a great guide.

His word is a great guide. Uyghur, the context and and community and fellowship of a local church, the prophetic gift that speaking words of direction and encouragement and exhortation can be a great guide. His word, I love what you could tell, to make me rich on. So the tree, get real, and I just can't. His wearage.

Hicks dab. Robot. Naomi. Naomi

thought God had come against her with the loss of her husband and her son. She called herself and she wanted to rename herself. But in fact, she was in god's plan with Ruth. Yeah. That in the blessing period, the end of her life.

Yeah. So she walked a lot of years saying, god, have you left? So

the death of a close member

of the family can be thought of as being gods per se and me.

There's so many things in our life that we that happen as a result of living in a fallen world that we attribute or blame or accuse God for. He said,

I didn't do that. Read the Mhmm.

Recognizing that we split from the Holy Spirit's path for us following or following our own path, I think, also provokes us to humility,

which I think is so vital. Here's what's

you were to show it. Here's what's really interesting. So so we've gone on this path, but we haven't followed the leadership of the holy spirit. When we come to that point, even if we have success, even if it looks like it's all working out to us, that we pick our head up from the pig slop. We come to our senses.

We come back by the conviction of the holy spirit. We come back under his leadership and guidance. And he said, now, let's try it again under my leadership. The exact same thing. Now is there a biblical precedent for that?

You tried it in your own strength and you just messed it all up. It is what god's called you to do but you were doing in your own strength. You you you come back to the lord and he's like, let's try it again, but under my leadership. That's not the one that I was thinking of, but that's so good. He was zealously pursuing the lord, but legalistically.

Yeah. Oh, that's a good one. I'm thinking of an old testament example. Yeah. Paul.

Sorry. Paul is a great example. I'm thinking of an old testament example. Moses. What?

Who said that? Moses. And how did he what was he called to do? What was he called to do by God? To be a deliverer of the people.

But he did it wrong the first time. How? Killing an Egyptian, committing murder. Well, you'd have to kill on the wight of Egyptians. He said, liberate a million Jews from pharaoh.

So she was doing what god Colton called him to do, but not under submission being partnered up with the holy spirit. God took a, let's go take your time now. And it happened to be a forty year time now. And then after forty years, so he was 40 years old, committed murder, ran away, spent another forty years getting these programmed from the Egyptians at 80 years old. Remember, it's never too late to get synced up with the plan of the holy spirit.

God's god's like, alright. Let's try it again. This hut won't do a pi pi? Moses like, okay. God's like, I'm gonna equip you.

Here's a stick. You got all you need help. And a Shabbat man's Jesus, full of the holy spirit at about 30 years old, knowing that he was the Messiah, savior of the world. Where you want me to go to Rome, kick down the door of Caesar's palace? You want me to go right into Jerusalem, kick out the Roman garrison?

What are we gonna do? Should I start abandoning? Like, here we go. And the holy spirit was like, come on. Let's go.

Alright. And takes it right where? Little the wolf into the wolf. The book of Hebrews says that Jesus learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Some suffering that you experience is a result of your own sin.

Like when you step on a rake and it snaps you in the face. You did that, bro. Other suffering is that that that fight, that conflict. Stand up. Let me pray, Maria.

Hey, if you don't take away anything else from this morning while you're here in Jackson, literally and spiritually, don't get horn by a bucket. Let me pray for you. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for inviting us into your family tradition. Help us to walk in the spirit and be submissive to your great and wonderful leadership. I command a blessing over each and every person here today.

Help us to have a great week. We love you so very much. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of God. And everybody said. Amen.

Amen. Thanks for joining us here at the TRNC. We'll see you at the Christian next week. Have a great weekend with Networking. You got this.