The Lens, The Light, and The Landscape

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.

The book of John is where we're going to be this morning. If you are new, welcome. Yes, we're in a bar. But it kinda fits with who we are. Meaning, we do things a little different.

So glad that you found us this morning. I don't know if you live here in Jackson, and you are looking for a church, or if you're just passing through, or if you thought you were coming to a bar this morning and you're like, wait, what is this? Just stay, just stay. Your love is better than the sweetest of wine, the Bible says. So glad that you're here with us.

My name is Brian, and as we get into God's word today, an additional distinctive or uniqueness about the vibe of tribe is that I really want this to be more of a conversation and a dialogue than just me up here delivering a monologue. What that means for you is I would love to hear from you. I love to hear your questions, your comments, connections, and what I mean by connections is if there's a passage that we're reading, or maybe a comment that someone else is making, and it reminds you of, oh my gosh, that reminds me of this Bible story, or this principle. Like we love to hear it because just imagine the exponential opportunity there is for learning and for connecting with the Lord, when instead of just one person, we get variety of voices. Now we're not going to necessarily like team preach this and I share one thing and then like you want to talk about something completely else.

We do want to keep it on topic, but that's what I'm here for. Like it's not the wheels, even if they get a little bit wobbly, they never fall completely off. This is a safe place for you to learn and to grow, to ask questions, and really ultimately, to encounter the Lord, and for your life to be changed. Okay? With that in mind, we have been in a series of conversations called clarity in complexity.

And as we started 2024, I feel like the Lord put a word on my heart for us as a tribe family, and really for anyone with ears to hear. That I believe in, you don't need to be a prophet or the son of a prophet to imagine what could be coming down the pipe in 2024. I believe that 2024 with the state of world affairs, with the the state of our country and nation on in an election year. Did you know that there are over 40 different countries that will be having presidential elections in 2024? Different countries have, you know, different elections at different levels, obviously at different times, things like that.

But it just so happens to align that over 40 different countries will be having their highest level of of elections same year that we are. I believe that the Lord has whispered to our heart and to anybody with ears to hear that the year of 2024 very well could be the most complex, either globally or nationally, or maybe even personally, that you have thus yet walked through. And doesn't that sound like great news? I get it. But here's the thing with the Lord.

He will never ever ever ever allow us to encounter a complex situation that he doesn't also attach a measure and a level of clarity like only he can provide. So I thought of an analogy and what I just most recently came up with is, you know how sometimes you've maybe you've been given a gift and it's in a gift bag, and in the gift bag there's always two elements or components to the gift bag. What are they? What's one of them? The tissue paper, right?

And then what's the other thing? The gift. Yes. Oh my gosh, you guys are so smart. Alright.

In every gift bag, you got tissue paper and you've got the gift. Which is there usually more of? The tissue paper. Now let's think about this. Imagine you were, you know, somebody from outer space.

And you're not used to like gift bags or anything like that, and you hand this visitor from another planet a gift bag. I wanna get you a gift. And he's normal and rational. Let's think about this for a moment. Isn't it weird that even though we're giving the gift, we always add so much tissue paper.

There's always way more tissue paper than there is present. For us, like, yeah, that's just what you do. But imagine never having received a gift bag before, and maybe the bag is ornate and decorative and you're like, oh wow, thank you. And you're like, no, that's not it. You're gonna look inside the bag.

Oh, you open up the bag and there's this pretty tissue paper, you're not quite sure what it's for, but you're like, wow, thank you so very much for this tissue paper. And then you have to say again, no, you got to dig through the tissue paper, that's not it. And then finally you get to the gift. Oh, wow, this is unique and special. In a similar way, there will never be a gift bag full of lots of tissue paper complexity that God does not place a beautiful present of clarity in there.

Here's what many people do. They receive that gift bag and it's like, it says like life. It says trouble. It says opposition. It says difficulty.

It says hardship. It says there's going to be a rough season. Great, thanks. They open up the bag and all they see is the tissue paper. They just they get bogged down.

Many people get bogged down in complexity, and they're like, what do I what do I not what am I supposed to do with this? There's a lot of complexity here. What I feel like the Lord is trying to say, and what I'm trying to do is to equip you with the mindset of any time life hands you a gift bag, and you see the tissue paper, don't just get stuck and hung up with all the tissue paper. There will be a present from the Lord in that every single time. You just may have to hunt through it and push aside and remove some of the tissue paper.

Is that helpful for anybody? Okay, for Amanda that's helpful. For the rest of you, let's continue on. John chapter 18, and if you're taking notes this morning, you can write at the top of your notes, the lens, the light and the landscape. That's what we're gonna look at today.

The lens, the light and the landscape. We're going to read together John chapter 18 verse one through 14. And so if there Kat, do you have the mic? All right. When it comes to questions, comments or connections, Kat has a mic and we'll hand you, just raise your hand, Kat has the mic, she'll hand you the mic, and you contribute to our conversation.

The reason why we hand you the mic is for two reasons. Number one, so that we can hear your voice amplified in the room just like my voice is in this mic. Also, have a lot of families that watch on the livestream, whether they're at home, or traveling, or wherever they may be, or listening to the podcast later, and when you make your contribution into the mic, then all of our livestream families get to like hear and stay engaged, right? So with that, would somebody please begin reading in John chapter 18 verses one, we're gonna go all the way to 14, you don't have to take us the whole way there, but maybe just get us started with a couple of verses, and then we'll hand the mic off to somebody else. Did Jacob raise his hand?

It.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the ravine Of The Kidron where there was a garden in which he entered with his disciples. Now Judas also, who was betraying him, knew the place, for Jesus had often met there with his disciples. Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus knowing all these things that were coming upon him went forth and said to them, whom do you seek? They answered him, Jesus, the Nazarene.

He said to them, I am he. And Judas also who was betraying him was standing with them. So when he said to them, I am he, they drew back and fell to the ground. Therefore, he again asked them, whom do you seek? And they said, Jesus, the Nazarene.

Whoo. Hold on. I'm in the Eight. Eight. You can keep going.

Jesus replied, I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these men go. He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken. I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me. Then Simon Peter, who was a sword, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his right ear.

Now the slave's name was Malcus. But Jesus said to Peter, put your sword back into its sheath. I am not to drink the cup. Am I not to drink the cup the father had given me? Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officers and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up.

They brought him first to Anas for he was the father-in-law of Caliphas, who was a high priest that year. Now it was Caliphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.

Thank you. Okay. You can answer honestly, and if you want to respond publicly and be brave, that's great, but there's no safer place to respond honestly and publicly. For anybody in here, had was this a brand new story that you have not read or heard before? Fair.

Fair. This is the story of Jesus being arrested in the Garden Of Gethsemane. This is a very kinetic situation that is unfolding. As you've heard us talk about in the past, many times our pastors, our Sunday school teachers, our Bible teachers have done such a good job at distilling the primary principles and what we're supposed to get out of the text, that they take all of the other details and shove them to the periphery so that we just focus on this. But how many of you know that life does not operate that way?

In the midst of our everyday life, there's all kinds of complexities swirling around, and it can be challenging for us to take stories that we read in the Bible and translate them into our circumstances, because the life that we are walking in is swirling with complexity, but the stories that we read are oftentimes so very simple. Part of what I want to do by reading these various passages, as we read them together, is to reintroduce the complexity. And so I want you to look at this passage, those verses that we just read, and picture in your mind's eye if you were in that scene, if you were in that moment, what do you imagine the complexity of that moment being? So I'd like to hear from you. Where do you see complexity in the events of the drama unfolding?

What do you see? Fear. Okay, and where and how do you see fear in this?

Soldiers, weapons, they did unannounced.

Oh yes, a surprise visit from soldiers unannounced, yeah, I can imagine how that would be fearful. Yep.

Can you imagine even today some of that very selfish happening to Christians?

Sure, Christians being barged in on, they're more of, yes, yes. I was gonna go off on a rabbit trail, but I caught myself. How else do you see complexity in these moments unfolding? I think when Simon or Simon Peter. Simon Peter drew his sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus.

Malchus. And then Jesus put his ear right back on. Yeah. Can we talk about that complexity for a moment? I imagine, I imagine Malchus for the rest of his life walked around like that.

Now, we don't have this actual detail, but I don't think it's too far off because Jesus bent down and picked it up that himself was like, oh dang, that's my ear. Like he It is probably reasonable to believe that he saw his own ear on the ground, and whenever he put his hand to it, there was just nothing but a bloody nub. And then for Jesus to do that? Woah. What surprised me was that Simon Peter had a sword at all.

He's a fisherman. What's he doing with a weapon? Now, we we we can know from some previous context of the story that that that there was some anticipation of an encounter, which is why Peter might have had his sword, but he's not a soldier. Definitely hasn't been trained on how to use it.

You also have someone there who's supposed to be a friend who's leading the soldiers to you. That's some complexity.

Oh, betrayal by a friend. I mean, cuts worse and is deeper than betrayal from a friend? And how it how does that moment actually play out? With a kiss.

Say there was some pretty significant complexity in that this was a catalytic event that led him to the cross, so it was something that had to happen, but they were resisting it happening.

Oh, so so you're drawing our attention kind of to some cosmic complexity. Like there were bigger events unfolding than just lopping an ear off and and soldiers coming to arrest what they thought of as a criminal. Alright. That is that's a great segue to us examining the three words or three concepts or three principles in this verse, and I've already telegraphed them to you in the title of our conversation today. So what I want to do first is look at the lens of this situation.

We have three, for lack of a for in general's sake, and to use broad brush strokes, there are three characters in this particular scene of the movie. Tell me one. Jesus. And everybody else was like, oh, I I was gonna pick that one. That was the low hanging fruit.

Yes, you got it. Jesus is one of the main characters in this scene. Who's another main character? Okay, all right, yeah, Judas. All right, we're gonna lump him in with the disciples, and then the other big broad category of people, the soldiers.

Okay. The soldiers came to arrest what they believed was a rebel rousing criminal. They did not have the proper lens through which to view the complexity of the dynamics unfolding. They heard stories about Jesus because if you look in the story leading up to these events, the Bible says that all of Jerusalem was talking about this man, Jesus. And Jesus himself said, hey, I've been in the temple preaching this whole week, the Passover week.

Why didn't you come arrest me then? What crime am I guilty of? But the soldiers did not have the proper lens with which to see the clarity of the events that were unfolding. They were caught up in the swirl of the drama of the moment. How often is it that we as people, when situations get complex, we lose the lens to be able to see properly the clarity in the midst of complexity, and we just get lost in the tissue paper.

All right. Who else did not have the right lens with which to see the situation? The disciples, including Judas and including Peter. The disciples were shaking in their britches. Peter himself reads the situation wrong, pulls out his sword and starts swinging.

How many of us would also take that reaction that whenever we experience complexities of situation, our reaction is to get aggressive and fight. Or to get, like to go to go on the attack. The best defense is a really strong offense. And our tendency, if we don't have the proper lens, is to either blame, or attack, or make excuses, or like we just, ah. Certainly no one here, right?

But we all maybe know somebody that's done that, and they just haven't been able to see with clarity what's really going on in the midst of complexity, and it's because they don't have the right lens. All right. Third character. Let's talk about his lens. Who's that third character?

Jesus. Tell me about his lens. Opportunity for me to check-in with you. What do you see about what kind of lens he had in this situation? Schuler, up here.

It's the phrase I am he.

Oh, that's not where I was gonna go, but I like it. Come on.

As soon as I learn that phrase, I am he is found in Isaiah, a couple times actually. So it's really in Isaiah speaking, I'm coming out of here of Isaiah 43 verses 10, and this is God speaking. You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, there was no God formed, nor there nor shall there be after me. I, even I am the Lord, and besides me, there is no savior.

I have declared and I have saved and I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign God among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God. Indeed, before the day was, I am he. And there is no one who can deliver out of my hand, I work, and who will reverse it. So this phrase, I am he, saying that before the day even was, he was there.

God alone is your savior. He, there is no other foreign God. He is God. So when Jesus saying, all everything that's going on, I am he, those who knew Isaiah would would they're linking Isaiah, and this is like, I am God.

Jesus makes a powerful statement based upon his understanding of his identity. And what was prophesied for

him to say, because he said it's fulfilled. Okay,

read to us or tell us one more time the address so that all of us who are diligently taking notes for us to go back and unpack Absolutely. And Tell us those addresses again.

We'll go back and study. I mean, of Isaiah 43, but where I'm where I'm coming in on is from verses 10 through 13. And there's a theme there in these chunks here in Isaiah. There's another one, if you want to take a look another one, it's in Isaiah 46 verses three through four. One more time, just succinctly tell us those addresses.

Isaiah forty three ten through 13. Okay. And then I would also take a look at Isaiah forty six three through four. There you'll find that I am he again.

Woah. So this is an example. Let's go to Phil right here. This is a great example what what Schuler just shared of what I was talking about at the beginning of service. I love to hear your questions, your comments, and your connections.

So Schuller is reading this and doesn't matter if the footnote, if you got that from a footnote in John or if it just came out of the fountain of scripture, you've poured in, fantastic. But I love to see these hyperlinks, So that you read something and there's a little hyperlink that's triggered in your brain that connects you to another passage. That's what the Lord wants, is for us to be making these hyperlink connections, whether it's from one verse to another, or a situation that we find ourselves in. Oh, what I'm dealing with right now in this moment reminds me of a verse that I yes. Hyperlinks.

The original hyperlink right here in God's word. What do you got, Phil? Talk

to So I'm just seeing like one quick snippet I want to add on to that because that's that's huge that he didn't just say like, yes, it's me. It's Jesus. I'm here. But he uses that specific phrase, I am who I am. Like, I am he.

I am the lord. And there's different iterations here that my my version that I'm reading gives little notes on saying, like, I am the lord. And when we look at this account, we could see, like, the potential fear and bewilderment and confusion going all around with the soldiers and the disciples and everything. Because when he says that, when he says, I am he, what happens? Verse six says, they all drew back and fell to the ground.

Uh-oh. Like, all these soldiers are going to arrest Jesus, and all of a sudden, they're, like, falling on the ground. What's up with that?

What's up? They thought he

was just some criminal, and all of a sudden, there's something supernatural going on. I feel like when I'm reading that and he says, I am he, it's kinda like the roar of a lion. Like, he's like kinda like that transfiguration moment where the disciples are like, woah. What's this is this is something big. This is something powerful.

And yet, the soldiers still gotta do what they gotta do. They gotta do their jobs, and they gotta arrest him. But I'm thinking about kinda what those soldiers are thinking at that moment. When they get back up off the ground, they're like, why was I on the ground? What's happening?

Who is the man? Where I think

kind of like the the not the Roman soldiers, but the the person after Jesus was crucified and then all the people were raised back to life.

They

had this lens opened open eye moment where they're like, who was this man? Who is this person?

Yes.

Jesus. Yes. Just a question So I good. Beautiful contribution, Phil. Thank you.

Look at verse four in what we just read. Jesus fully realized. Someday maybe I'll do a series of comparing and contrasting moments in Jesus's life, because you this is a great word study to do. Look up all the instances of realized, and you'll see Jesus is always realizing what's going on in the moment, and the disciples and other people didn't realize what was going on. But in this moment, in the midst of complexity, Jesus had the right lens and could realize what was unfolding.

So not only if we are going to look for clarity in the midst of complexity, not only do we need to have the right lens, we need to have the right light. Let's go back to the text and look at verse three. The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and temple guards to accompany him. Uh-oh, I got I feel a little mini sermon coming on. Here it comes.

The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers. So Judas was leading, the Roman soldiers were following. You gotta be really careful of who you follow. Because under Judas' leadership, we know the events that unfolded with Jesus and his arrest and mock trial, but the soldiers had individual autonomy and responsibility that they could have chosen an alternate course of action, but under Judas' leadership they were led to do what they did. Be careful who you follow.

The temple guards to accompany him. Now, look at this, with blazing torches and lanterns. If we are going to, I won't just say look for, because looking for implies that there's the possibility of maybe not finding it. But I'll say this, if we're going to grab ahold of, all you Texans, you're welcome, clarity, in the midst of complexity, we have to be very careful what light we are using to illuminate the situation. The soldiers here had torches and lanterns.

In a similar way, many people, when they find themselves in the midst of a complex situation, will use the wrong source to try to find illumination in their way through the situation. Does that make any sense? Let me unpack this. Apart from the light of Jesus, all of your wisdom, your understanding, your experience, your self help, your whatever it is you're looking to as a source to provide illumination that is outside of Jesus is all vain and worthless and bankrupt and corrupt. And I love you enough to tell you that truth.

Now, have you heard that expression, even a broke clock is right twice a day? Any success that you have experienced apart from your life being surrendered to the leadership of Jesus is a 100% pure luck and the good graciousness of God. I know that your mom told you that you were a handsome boy. I know that your grandma has your picture on her refrigerator and thinks that you are so pretty, and you are. But when it comes to looking for clarity, and you are looking within your own self, your own resources, if you haven't scraped the bottom of the barrel yet, that's God's goodness and kindness because this is just the way life is.

A situation is right around the corner that will arise that is beyond the capacities of your resources in your own wisdom, strength, capacity and intellect to handle. Look at John, write this down, but you don't need to turn there. John chapter six verse forty four and forty seven. Jesus is speaking and he says this, for no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws them to me. And at the last day I will raise them up.

And then in verse 47, Jesus says, I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me has eternal life. So here's the idea, no one can come to the father except he who sent me draws him. The idea is that even when it comes to a saving relationship with Jesus, we have to be wooed and invited and drawn by the God of the Bible, and the reality is is that he is constantly inviting us and wooing us. He is not the author of bad things or evil, or harm, or sickness, that is not what he does ever. But in his wisdom, when you experience a gift bag of and it's full of tissue paper of complexity, God will always place in there a beautiful present, a revelation of his nature and character, his wisdom, the resources, not just to barely make it through, but to thrive.

This is the nature and character of the God that many of us in this room serve. And when you find yourself in a complex situation at the end of your resources and limits and knowledge and learning and job titles, your light becomes very dim. I'll never forget, years ago, Selah and I, a few years ago, Selah and I went on, we were on a climbing trip in Red Rocks, Las Vegas and we started a multi pitch route like late in the afternoon, and of course in typical Bryan fashion we bit off more than we could chew. It was a three pitch route, we got to the top of just the first pitch, and the sun was going down, it was getting cold, we gotta bail off of this route. And I don't know, maybe this always happens at Red Rocks, but in the evening, just maybe like heat moving from somewhere to somewhere else, like the winds really whip up.

And so we climbed up to the top of this first pitch, we had two ropes so we could make a double rope, a twin rope rappel down off of the first pitch, just nod your head as if you know what I'm talking about. We throw our ropes in the ropes like they're getting snagged, they're getting hung up. The rappel off of this route took us way longer than we thought, leading to a walkout in the dark. Now, I had told Selah like, well we're starting this route late in the afternoon, like let's pack our headlamps just so we'll have some headlamp light to get out with. Great, great.

We get to the bottom of the rappels, we pull our ropes, after some choice words, the ropes are freed, we coil our ropes, we put them in our pack, we're like, alright, we're ready to head out. Probably need our headlamps for this walkout. Selah puts on her headlamp, casts a big bright shiny beam, and then there's Brian. Click and the light comes on and for like thirty seconds I was like, it was great, and then like it starts to flash, and then the headlamp just gets so dim, and it was maybe a forty five minute walkout. Selah was walking with this bright illumination of the headlamp that I had probably replaced the battery.

I get some credit in this story, right? No, I don't get any credit. But I was the one with the really dull batteries in the headlamp, and she just cruised right along, and I was the one left kind of like, groping around in this really dim light. And I feel like as I was preparing this message, this little memory popped into my mind because I would suggest to you that maybe one or more people in this room find themselves right in the midst of a situation, whether it's in their life, or in their work, or relationship somewhere, where they're trying desperately to grab a hold of clarity, but the only illumination they have is insufficient and dim. One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that all you ever have to do is just ask him.

Would you bring illumination into my life and into my heart regarding this situation? And it's like brand new batteries. You're walking around with a 200 lumen headlight, headlamp with dull batteries and he's got like this 10,000 lumen like cube beam that will like make the sun squint. What light is illuminating your path? I can figure this out on my own.

I've done pretty good so far. Another verse, you can write this address down, and then we're gonna look at one last aspect. Write this verse down, first Corinthians chapter three verse 18 through 20. Stop deceiving yourselves. This is what Paul says.

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world's standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the scripture says, he traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, and he knows that they are worthless.

I won't ask you to raise your hand, but have you ever found yourself in the midst of a situation where you're like, uh-oh, like in that movie, Oh Brother, We're Out There, we're a tight spot. You find yourself in a tight spot, we're in a real tight spot, but to the best of your own resources and intellect, you cannot find your way out. And hopefully in that moment you cried out to God, and now here you are today. You made it because of God's grace and his goodness and his wisdom. All of your wisdom, all of your own strength and energy.

Number one, it is a gift from God. But when you try to leverage that to as to to eliminate God from his wisdom and his resources, he just stands back and says, okay, man, good luck with that. But when you walk in his light, oh, everything changes. That address was first Corinthians chapter three verse 18 through 20. I see a theme with Brian's mind today.

Yeah. Write it down, don't look at that. Let Let me give you another one. Let see if I got this one right. First Corinthians chapter one eighteen through 31.

I'm not gonna read the whole passage, but look at verse 18. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are headed for destruction. But we who are being saved know that it's the very power of God. In John chapter 18 verse 12, he said this, Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness because you will have the light that leads to life.

What a beautiful verse. Now here's the last aspect. We'll get through this quickly. And Phil, you already had touched on this. Not only in the midst of complexity do we need the right lens with which to see the situation, we need the right light, which is not the light of the world that the soldiers brought, but we need the light of the world, Jesus himself, in our life that provides the proper illumination.

But beyond that we need the right footing in the landscape of the situation that we're walking through. The landscape, the footing underneath the soldiers completely eroded. When as Phil pointed out, Jesus said, I am, and as Schuller has referenced. And as Corey had mentioned earlier, there were cosmic events that were playing out that the soldiers had no clue. And when that collision of the supernatural reality of the verbalization of Jesus as the great I am, in that supernatural moment colliding with the reality of the ground that the soldiers were standing on, the soldiers lost their footing.

Has anybody in here, you don't need to raise your hand, but has anybody in here ever felt like they have walked through a situation that has been so either uncomfortable, or so foreign, or so hurtful, or so new, or so complex that it feels as though you've just lost your footing? As if the ground underneath you has given way and you can't even keep or find your balance? Yeah, we've all felt like that. In that moment, we need to have the right landscape. Our feet need to place be placed firmly on the rock and in the life on the life of Jesus, who he is.

He didn't fall down. He wasn't shaken. Oh, let me read a little excerpt to you, not from God's word, but from a very famous sermon delivered here in America called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. And this is just an excerpt from a sermon written like back in the days of the circuit riders and the founding of our country. So, man, this guy had some fiery words to say.

They that were always exposed to destruction, as one that stands or walks in slippery places, is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destructions coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. That the reason they were not fallen already and don't fall now is only that God's appointed time has not yet come. For it is said that when that due time or the appointed time comes by their own weight, God won't hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but he will let them go. And then at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction.

As he that stands in such slippery declining ground on the edge of a pit that he can't stand alone, when he has let go, he immediately falls and is lost. By the mere pleasure of God, and I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hinders by no manner of difficulty, any more than that if nothing else but God's mere hand or at least degree in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of the wicked men in one moment. You may think that you are standing on sheer footing right now. I can handle this. I got this.

But the reality is, for all of us, we stand on slippery ground. And God has but to just for even the slightest moment to remove his hand. You got this tough guy? Okay. That we slip and fall.

It is by god's grace and his mercy and his love that you haven't really, really, really messed up. Turn to him, look to him with your other free hand instead of trying to swap the hand of the Lord away from you, I got this, and rejecting him. Take your other hand and grab on, and you will find his love, his acceptance, his wisdom. I love this I love this quote. Make me a captive, and then I shall be free.

Force me to render up my sword, and then conqueror shall I be. I sink in life's alarms when by myself I stand. Imprison me within thine arms and strong shall be my hand. Clarity is not found in the lens, the light, or the landscape of this world, but only in a saving relationship with Jesus. This is last this is the last thing that I'm gonna read.

It's lyrics from an old hymn. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is what?

Sinking sand. Sinking sand. When darkness fails his lovely face, I'll rest on his unchanging grace. In every high and stormy day, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand. His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood when all around my soul gives way. He then is my he then is all my hope and stay. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then be in him found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before his throne. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Lord, whisper to our hearts today. Speak to us. Through what lens are we looking?

By what light are we walking? On what ground and landscape are we standing? Lord, may it be said of us on Christ, the solid rock I stand, and that we would see, maybe even for the very first time today, that everything else is nothing but sinking sand. Now, let the lord just speak to you in this moment. Grew up going to church but it, for me, it was about having to sit still and wear itchy socks.

I'd always sneak GI Joe guys into my pocket. And during church, I'd look at them, and then I'd put quick kick back in my pocket. A quick kick. Maybe I had storm shadow. I don't know.

And I lived my life as a dirtbag climber, ski bum, chasing mountains and girls, and, like, had it pretty good. Had it pretty good Until I realized the vastly superior life that Jesus had to offer and made that exchange. You can make the exchange today just like like right where you are. Where you gonna make a big deal out of it. You just give them your life and say, I want your life.

Best way I know, forgive me of my sin. Best way I know how to commit my life to following you. Ease in the hardest thing. For how many of you in this room today, do you remember that moment of exchange? Jesus, we love you.

Would you stand up? Can I pray for you really quick? Now I'm gonna ask you to do something, one last thing. Just just just do it, please. But and nobody's gonna see you do it because we're all gonna close our eyes in just a moment.

But I'm gonna ask you to close your eyes, and if you would hold your hands out just at your waist as if you are receiving something. My wife, that's so good. And I wanna pray that the Lord would place in your hands the right lens with which to see with clarity in the midst of the complexity as just a gift. I pray that the Lord would place in your hands the right light, his light with which to walk by and to see this situation, that you would receive supernatural wisdom and brilliance so that when you're sitting there, like, at a staff meeting and and a project is due and you're like, hey. What about this idea?

People are gonna be like, that was literally the most brilliant idea that has ever come out. And you're gonna know that that's the light of the Lord. That's just his gift of how much he loves you. And finally, the gift of sure footing, of being having your feet placed on the landscape of the rock of Jesus Christ. God, I ask that you would impart those three gifts to our tribe fam here today.

And with their hands out, they're receiving it. They'll take all that they can give. You can drop your hands. I command a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam that's here in the saloon today and watching the livestream, that you would bless them with clarity in the midst of complexity. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God.

And everybody said, amen. I love you so very much. You don't have to clean up. You can just hang out, enjoy each other's company. But you can't entrust kids.

I love you. Have a great week. And remember, Chip Crawley, you got this.