Travel Steady Along His Path Week 3 Tribe 2023-01-23 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Sunday. Alright, everyone. Let's go ahead and come on in. Find your seats. Good morning. Good morning. Prepare a place. Are we on on the livestream? Alright. Welcome. If you're joining us on the livestream, thank you for being here with us today. If you're in the room, thank you for being here with us so we can just worship God, our savior. Just give him glory and praise. I've just been going through a season of slowing down lately and trying to slow down and trying to just be peaceful within my soul and within me. And I just hope that we can bring that here today. And so wherever you're at, I just hope that you can just rest your soul, just be at peace. If we could all close our eyes and just prepare to enter into the presence of the Lord, our savior, the almighty, the creator of the universe, this lover of our souls. In the quiet is where he meets with us a lot of times and in the silence and it takes us giving up the hurry of our daily lives and everything we go through through the week. Let's just enter into a place of his presence right here that's soft and slow and patient. And we just wait and we listen for him to speak to us. We're not gonna think about anything else else but him in his presence right now. Feel the warmth of him in this room. Feel the holy spirit in this room right now because he's faithful. What two or more are gathered, he will be there with us and we got that covered. Lord, we have faith and we trust in your presence here today, father. And we sit in your presence in peace. Lord, we put off the week that we had and the week that we're gonna have and we sacrifice our time and everything in us that wants to hurry. The world says hurry, Lord, but we you say slow down. And you say sit with me and be quiet. Your Sabbath is rest for us. You took the Sabbath as rest, Lord. You gave us that as an example. And Lord Jesus, you always pulled away and went alone and sat in peace and rest to recharge and to rejuvenate. We lead by we follow that example, Lord. Prepare ourselves, father. As hard as it may be, we sit in silence at peace. Let that be the cry of your heart today. Just talk to father. Talk to father. We could sing of that love. If anybody has anything to say, a word for all of us from the Lord. Just grab the mic and just let us know. It's in the quiet and the stillness. It's the still small voice in the back of your head that you hear right now. Just listen. We sing of an eternal love. Can you really imagine an eternal love that never forsakes you, never leaves you, never turns from you? It's an eternal love. The Holy Spirit that beckons you to come and release your cares and concerns to the eternal lover. Come, children. Come to me. I am for you, not against you. I am with you, not from you. I am your eternal love. Let's just worship how however you feel right now. Just speak to him right now. This song just has amazing lyrics. Just mean everything you say. I'm pressed in. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your forgiveness for paying our ransom, It's what we deserved. Father, show us our failures. Show us where we go wrong, show us when we hang you on that cross, Lord Jesus. And let us repent, turn from our ways, and run, Father. We know that you still hold on to us and you still love us. You did all of this for us. We're just gonna sing Amazing Grace. It's all together. Lord, we thank you. Let's just Father, we thank you for this opportunity that you've given us for this chance to come together and worship you. Just enter into your presence, father, and to learn of your wisdom, father. Just teach us and guide us today. Father, as Brian speaks, we ask for your spirit to move through him into our hearts and to penetrate us, Deep down inside, let us change and be different as we walk away and out these doors, father God. We have faith that you're gonna move us and we want you to move us right now, Father God. We ask you to speak to us, each of us in different ways no matter what we think, God. We know that you will, we have faith that you will and we embrace that, Father. And we're gonna give up of our pride and selfishness right now in this room. We give it away, Father. It has no place here. No fear is in this room Lord. We can speak of you and speak truths and listen and be vulnerable and be soft. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our savior. Amen. Alright, guys. Well, we're gonna transition into, the message. Go ahead and fill up up your cups of coffee if you need to. Just kind of a housekeeping note, if you go to the restroom, use the one up here, not the one downstairs so we don't disturb any of the young'uns that are down there learning. And that's it. Fill up your coffee and we'll be back in a minute. You like that? Well, before before we get back to the livestream oh, no. I'll save it for the livestream, but we'll practice. We'll practice because we're not quite back to the livestream. How about Jacob and Gretchen leading worship this morning? That's good. That's good. They did so great. That was practice because our live stream wants to like give them some feedback as well. Chilly morning but warm hearts. Great to see everybody here this morning. And I will I'm gonna ask maybe Corey. The mic in the room, this mic sounds a little bit like hot and a little tinny to me. Maybe it's just as simple as the oh, Jacob can get it. I would rather use my projection voice than this big mic. So thank you for that Jacob. Oh, that's so much better. And are we are we back live? So I wanna say good morning to all of our livestream family that's watching, including my wife. She and Kai are visiting colleges on the West Coast today, and they're having a great time together. But didn't Jacob and Gretchen do great this morning? Thank you. That was so good. And, Gretchen, I just this is the second time that you've led worship here at Tribe. Right? Third. Third? And, like, third time you've, like, like, led worship, like, forever is, like, forever. Right? Yes. Correct. Right. And so let me put you on a little on the spot just a little bit. In a mile. Too late. How long has Jesus been the leader of your life? Like three years. She's just a baby. She's a baby. Okay. Was perhaps a little too inside y joked among all of our our friend group. But wow, I just love seeing you grow in maturity in the Lord and how you've allowed the Lord to tenderize your heart and heal your heart and set you free from stuff and things. And so like a a dad for just a moment, I'm just so proud of you and your walk with the Lord and the evidence that comes through in the brightness of your life and in the joy that's in your marriage. All of that translates through the mic for worship, doesn't it, y'all? You've heard me say this before, but it's worth repeating because the tendency is for us to fall into a rut. We tend to measure maturity in terms of years in like experience. A person could say I've been skiing for fifteen years and they get like thirty days every season. Like they're probably like a pretty good skier, decent skier. I'm, you know, 27 years old. I'm just using a random example. 27 years old. Alright. You got twenty seven years of experience and maturity in you. And so we tend to measure maturity just naturally in terms of years or experience. But that is not how maturity is measured in the kingdom. Remind us again of how maturity is measured in the kingdom? Obedience. Obedience. There are some people that have repeated their first year of Christianity for twenty plus years over and over. And they'll stand before the Lord someday, and he will say, Well done, good and faithful one year old servant. They'll be like, God, what up? But what We just have to remind ourselves maturity is measured by obedience. We are God's children, and he loves us right where we are. With your little balled up sweaty fist in everything. He loves you as you are. But he longs to pass on the kingdom to sons and daughters. Sons and daughters, those that are working towards maturity, are the ones that will inherit the kingdom. He loves you right where you are, but sons and daughters of maturity are the ones that will inherit the kingdom of God. Yeah. Kate, with that preamble? Let me just answer this one more thing, just really quickly. How do we grow in maturity through obedience? What does that look like? I think a lot of times people think that maturity happens in these big giant steps that are few and far between. I'll grow in maturity as a Christian if somebody offers me a line of cocaine and I say no. That's pretty obvious. That's a pretty obvious no. Or somebody offers me, hey, these examples are so silly, but I'm trying to illustrate the point. Somebody has just robbed a bank, they're like, hey, you want an extra $50,000 because I can't spend all of this $50,000 so here's a free $50,000 free and you say no to that. Wow, I'm really growing. If you're waiting for these huge opportunities to take steps of obedience, then you're probably more likely to miss the small, little, daily opportunities to step out in obedience. The Bible says, in your anger, don't sin. So being frustrated is not a sin. Feeling emotions come up is not a sin. But when you, like the Bible says in the book of James, when you tame your tongue, behold blessing and cursing is in the power of the tongue. When you do something small, like withhold that word of criticism or anger coming up and out, when you choose instead to bless and not curse, those great small steps of obedience that result in big change over an accumulation of time. Right? Maybe this is for somebody that I'm going off on this rabbit trail, but if you're waiting for those huge opportunities, you'll get them. But those never come without first having had opportunities to practice obedience in the small little things, like maybe setting your alarm fifteen minutes earlier in the morning to get up and spend time with him. Are you all picking up what I'm putting down? Yeah. Yes, sir. Are you going to allow me to move on? Yeah. As if it's your fault. Let's turn to Psalms 37. Psalms 37. We've been here. This is week three of Travel Steadily Along His Path. And today, we're going to cover some great ground. By way of quick review, even though we are on one passage, we've just been going slowly and carefully through this passage, and I have so appreciated all of your thoughts and contributions and questions and connections, and I want that to like like, let let's keep that good thing going. And I have my have my phone here with me. I'm barely able to multitask sometimes if a question or a comment from our livestream family either comes through the livestream or if those of you who have my contact, can get a hold of me directly. I always love it when one of our dearly loved and completely involved Tribe fam member, Dawn, she's like, I'm gonna bypass a live stream and I'm a text PB directly. And so I don't always get to share your question or comment, but I see them all. And I'm so glad that you're part of our tribe fam. Alright. Psalms 37. Would somebody read out loud either from your Bible or from the screen behind you? Verse 34, please. Oh, and we have the mic. It'll go around. There we go. Jay, you just volunt tell somebody to read. Whoever the mic shall bless. Wait for the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will look on when the wicked are cut off. Woah. Read the first sentence again. I like that. Wait for the Lord and keep his way and he will exalt you to inherit the land. Wait for the Lord and keep his way. I love that. And, Leah, if I remember correctly, it was last week or the week before your your first, like, phrase of that from whatever translation you're reading from was poignant, and I would love for you to share that again because it was just so good. Is it, like, the weight or just read it. It's the living bible. Oh. Don't be impatient for the lord to act. Exclamation mark. There that's it. Right there. Don't be impatient for the lord to act. Alright. Let's confess one to another in this room. By show of hands, who has trouble with that command? Both of my hands are up. Wait patiently for the Lord to act. Why is it hard for us I'll just open this up to your thoughts why is it hard for us to wait patiently for the Lord to act, especially if we know things like he's way smarter than us. He can orchestrate things way better than us. And his timing is always perfect. Like in Lord of the Rings when Gandalf shows up, a wizard is neither early nor late, but always arrives precisely when he intends to. Is good. Jay's like, bro. Isaac, Lord of the Rings with a British that was a British Gandalf. But why even even though we know better, I'd love to just hear from you. Why is it so challenging for us to say it one more time. Don't be impatient for the Lord to act. Don't be impatient for the Lord to act. Why is that so hard? What do you got, dude? Because we're impatient. Edward Stuff. Yeah, yeah. I guess that's it. He knows how we're wired. I wanna say it's because we're his children, and and I was baptized when I was 16, so I don't know how old I am if I'm one or if I'm older than one. I would like to think I'm older than one. But, like, yesterday, our roof started leaking. And last week, it was hit after hit after hit. And yesterday, had had enough. And I said, what have I done to deserve this? And so today, it was just kind of like a smack back, like Gibbs on NCIS. It was like a knock back to the head, you know? Like, you know that I have got this. And he loves me. Everything is I was being impatient. And I so I just think it's because we I don't know, that expectation of children, right, that we are going to get what we want at the store because mom and dad love us type of thing. If we're good and we follow, then we should get what we ask for in our time. Yeah, I was used to say rat now. As my grandmother Boo from Texas used to say, rat now, cowboy, you pick up those shoes off the floor. How about this, Brian? I think we're impatient because we're not going to live forever in this place. It's good. I think we're impatient because the world says to be to hurry. The world says, you need it now, and that's what we've been trained our whole life to do. And God's ways are opposite. Yeah. Yes. What you're saying, Bob. Yes. What you're saying. And this idea of, like, we haven't gotten too deep into this yet, but this, let's be honest, this sense of entitlement that the current culture does nothing to dampen or check us. If anything, the culture is driving us towards you are amazing. You deserve to put a small amount of work in and receive an incredible amount of profit and sell your company by '27. You deserve to retire by '32. Now, now, now, now, now. Read it. You don't need the mic. Just say it out loud one more time. Me? Yes, please. Don't be impatient for the Lord to act. Don't be impatient for the Lord to act. Remember, I said that I feel like this is a word for us as a tribe fam for 2023, and quite possibly a word for each and every one of you individually. Let's not as a tribe fam, let's not be impatient for the Lord to act. And as we continue on with that verse, we'll begin to see more detail come out as the psalmist elaborates on that very first phrase. And if you remember some of the ground that we covered last couple of weeks, I've I've modified the keynote so that we can see the first portion highlighted. Put your hope and if you remember, here's what we came up with in this idea of put your hope in in the lord. Do you guys remember? What was the picture that should come to your mind in Hebrew? Yes, like a twisting together of rope. And I was telling friend of mine on the skin track yesterday about how our family celebrates Shabbat on Friday. And I was talking to them about the challah bread. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Put your hope in the Lord. If any of you have made challah, like the idea of twisting and like braiding this bread together and then baking it, like twisting prayers for your family and for those that are gathering with you, Shabbat, as you knead the dough and twist it together like, if you're a good drawer, I think it would be really cool if you drew a little loaf of challah bread next to that portion. Just a suggestion. All right, I see you're going to consider it. Schuler's like, I'm on it. So we've talked about this idea of putting your hope to twist together to intertwine. And then the next, as far as we got last week, we talked about this next phrase, travel steady. Do you remember travel steady? And the Hebrew unpacking of that phrase, travel steady, means to watch, to wait for, to observe, and to be on guard. In the illustration that I gave you, I told you a story of my buddy and I climbing the Grand, and if you have climbed the Grand and you come down the normal route of the Owen Spaulding route, you you do two rappels and you get to the upper saddle. And your journey from the upper saddle down to the lower saddle has, like, eight different options and seven of them kind of peter out into these like gravelly gullies, slabby cliffy things that people have like, oh, this is the way down. And so they kind of make a little path, and then they get cliffed out, and they're like, Then they got to come back out and try to find the right path. But this idea of put your hope in the Lord, travel steady, means to wait, to watch, to observe, to be on guard. There's a reason why the Bible says that the steps of a righteous man are ordered. Because why? What is it about our human nature? We've kind of already touched on this. What is it about our human nature that God gives us one step at a time? What does he know? What are your thoughts? Wander. We wander. There's a great poem. You can look it up. It's fairly long, so not quite worth reading here at Tribe, but you can look it up for some bonus extracurricular study. It's called The Crooked Path. And it's about a little calf that takes this I think that's the title of it. Would you check me real quick so people can look up the poem? But it's very poignant. And the idea is this little cow takes a little windy road, then some other little cows follow him. And then as he grows up, he still takes this little meandering path. And it's about instead of staying on the correct straight and true path, that if you wander too much and it becomes a habit and a routine, that then becomes a rut. And that's why the Hebrew meaning or understanding of this word of travel steady means to be on guard. We have to be on guard to check ourselves so that the little wandering calf doesn't make a path that then turns into a deep rut in our brain and in our life. I think it's called the calf path. Calf path? The cremeable wood, old Calf walked home as the calf should, but made a trail a bit askew. Let me read just like a little bit of that. The calf path. I know that you wanna say it, so go ahead. Path. One day through the primeval wood, a calf walked home as good calves should, but made a trail all bent askew, a crooked trail as all calves do. Since then, three hundred years have fled, and I infer that the calf is dead. But still he left behind his trail and thereby hangs my moral tail. The trail was taken up next day by a lone dog that passed that way, And then a wise bellwether sheep pursued the trail over veil and steep, and drew the flock behind him too. All good bellwethers always do. And from that day over hill and glade, through old woods, a path was made, and so on. I do wanna compliment myself for my timing and pace of just reading that off the cuff. Good job, Brian. Thanks, dude. I like to keep it humble, you know. Great, great little poem to read. Kathy, did you write that down? You should, like ah, she got it. She got it locked in. So we've talked about we've talked about put your hope in the Lord. We've talked about traveling steady, to be on guard. Lord, search my heart. Point out any offensive way of me. Am I making some little calf trails that you need to, like, cut off, that you need to adjust? Lord, search my heart for any meandering calf paths and bring me back into your way. How do we follow the will of the Lord? How do we travel steadily along his path? By continually asking him, Lord, am I making any little calf paths out here? Just show me. Correct me. He's so good, and he is so gentle, and he is so patient, and he is so wise in his foreknowledge. He knows where that little calf path of stinking thinking will lead to someday. We might have covered this one last week as well. The next phrase, instead of a calf path, we should be stalwart and commit in our hearts to following what? His path. That phrase in Hebrew means road or journey, just like we would think, but also in his manner. There's a great verse in, I believe it's Psalms, that says, Israel knew his deeds, but Moses knew his character. Somebody take a crack at what you think that means. It's not necessarily a trick question, I need a team of real time fact checkers. Could somebody find the address for that? Would you look that up, G, please? Israel knew his deeds, but Moses knew his character. Where is that? I think it's Psalms or Proverbs. Psalm one zero three seven. Bam. Psalms one zero three seven. Could you read that? Do I have it right? Alright. And then the mic will come around. What do you what do you what do you think I mean by what do you think the author means by that? Want They see what to see. Okay. It's a thought. It's an idea. What else? Israel knew his deeds, but Moses knew his character. Relationship and intimacy. Let's give the mic to Schuler and tell us a little bit more. Unpack it for us. Help us. So Moses knew God's love for him and his dedication to him. So there was relationship there versus just being on the outside looking in, there was relationship there. They spoke to one another. They met with one another. They spent time. And God revealed his instructions and revealed his heart to Moses. And Moses would share back his heart with God. So there's relationship. There's intimacy. Beautiful. Beautifully said. That that keyword there is relationship and intimacy. Guys, you know that we could be, hopefully none of us would be wasting our time doing this, but we could be sitting in this room worshiping some other god, which is really no other god at all, but all other gods are false gods and can't deliver on any of their promises. But just imagine sitting in a room worshiping a god and talking about a god who wrote a book, that one of his character attributes was that he did not desire relationship with his creation. Imagine worshiping a God that you lived in fear of. I'm not talking about fear as in deep honor and respect. We should fear the lord but a god that you're afraid of. But the god of the Bible, the god who you're hearing about, who perhaps compelled you to come to church today or be a part of the livestream, is a God who desires relationship and intimacy with you. Yeah. In my version, it says, he made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel, which to me that implies, like, it was almost God's intention to show Moses his ways but only his deeds to the people. Oh, I love it. Read that again because there's a little bit of unpacking that that yeah, yeah, come on, come on. It says, he made known his ways to Moses, deeds to the people of Israel. That's great. So here's the idea. If have read and steeped yourself in the story of the Exodus, you will see that there was an invitation for all at one point, at the right time There was an invitation for all to approach the lord. But only Moses responded. There's an invitation. If you study the story carefully because I heard that. Well, I told him not to come up the mountain. Only That's right. The left pew could. That's right. But but that's why that's why I added that clarifying statement of at the right time. Because initially, he set up boundaries and said, don't let anyone or anything cross the boundary. If they do, you gotta shoot them with arrows. So God needed to establish his holiness. You can't approach me willy nilly. There is a right way to approach me, but the keyword is approach. I want you to. Oh, that I would be their God and they would be my people and always have a heart that fears me. But alas, it is only Moses, and yes, a few selected people went up on the mountain. Think of every time that Israel interacts with God, it is transactional. I'm hot, I want shade. I'm thirsty, I want water. I hate this manna, why can't you send us they're just griping and and they're always coming to dad. My knee, please. My knee, please. Right? And Moses is the one who stayed in the tent and who lingered and whose face shone with the glory of God because of dwelling in his presence. Not just when it says his path, not just the road or journey, but also in the manner, taking time to not be transactional. Lord, and I'm not accusing you of this, but the example was already it's already on the table. Lord, why is my roof leaking? Why is it like fix this roof, why is my bank account empty again? Fix this, fix this, fix this, instead of taking the time to lean into the manner in which he exhibits his character. Israel was only cognizant of his deeds, but it was Moses that went deeper in that relationship with the Lord. Here's a little pro tip on how you can go deeper. In your prayer life, when you are facing a difficult or challenging situation, when you think you know what he needs to do, Lord, here's what I want you to do. Oops, Honest confession time. Anybody ever prayed that before? Alright. Rest of you are liars because your hands haven't gone up. You can't lie in church. Here's a great the pro tip. Here's a great prayer to pray. You're in a difficult situation, you can ask him, Lord, what do you want me to know about you in this situation? That's a prayer that's gonna get heaven's ear. Can you say it one more time? What do you want me to know about you in this situation? And then Janet has something. Jay? I think it's really pretty awesome that as the Lord is passing in front of Moses, and I you know, it's in Psalm 103, and again in Exodus, and the Lord says, I am the Lord. I'm compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. And I think if we think about the character of God, all of those things that God is, and I think that gives us a perspective on not just His character, but His eternality. A thousand days is like a day for the Lord. A day is like a thousand. You know, it's the thousand years. The perspective of He is good, compassionate, loving, slow to anger. He's good. Yes. And He's eternal. And our perspective is like that of a little ant. I think just thinking about, as you said, the character of God. I want to say yes and to that statement. Yes and. Let's think back about the story of the Exodus. What happened according to the plot line of the story just before Moses cried out to God, show me your glory. What had just happened? It's savage, brutal. The Lord, through the Levites, had just killed 3,000 Israelites. Right after that, Moses says, Lord, show me your glory. Moses could have been, why you do that? That wasn't fair, you know? This is my little kid, immaturity stance. Could have done that, but Moses was like, show me your glory. Then how did God answer? The previous instance of God revealing himself was in judgment, But when the Lord revealed himself to Moses, and really Moses could only see the tail end, the Lord describes himself as good and merciful, slow to anger, showing love and compassion down through the generations. So this is what I mean by Israel and or us knowing only about the deeds of God. God fix this. God do that. God why did this happen? You can ask those questions. It's great. Big boy, he can handle it, But don't let your questions or your prayers stop there. You know, it's almost like a like a cup with with dirty water in it. You can pour the dirty water out and put some clean water in it. But here's more often what I feel like God likes to do, is to pour more clean water into that. You pour enough clean water into it. At first, what's gonna come out? The dirty water. But as long as when that just keeps flowing and flowing and flowing, what's eventually gonna come out? That clean water. The dirty water gets flushed out. Start with your dirty water prayers. That's alright. But don't stop there. Move into being desirous of knowing his ways through that little pro tip prayer that you could pray. Read the story of what happened with God and Moses and Israel in the story of the Exodus. What brutal judgment fell on the nation of Israel just before God says, I am kind and merciful and compassionate. Moses didn't disagree. How how are we doing? Can't quite tell if you're with me. Matti's like, doing good, PB. Thank you. Are you with are are your wheels turning? Am am I going too slow? Am I losing you? Nobody's saying anything. Yeah. I I just need to do Alright. Amanda, say something, and then we're gonna we're gonna start really getting into some new ground, some great stuff here. I like what I like the beauty, the principle of exchange. I like that it's dialogue. I like that there's intimacy, and it's two sided. And I always think when we talk about this and we talk about God's path and if you know his character, you trust him and you know, like you were saying, Janet, and But I always like to weigh what we're talking about with Psalm one thirty nine twenty four that says, point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Because I feel like 10 out of 10 times perhaps it's me. You know, like, I might be living in intentional sin because my flesh just wants to do what it wants to do. Or I might very well be living in unintentional I might be making poor choices but not really realizing because it's not in my face or no one's calling me out on it. So, I love that prayer like as a daily thing. God, point out anything in me that offends you Because I feel like it's our job to kind of keep the pipes clean, so to speak. Know? Because God might be like, Yeah, baby girl, I'm right here wanting to talk to you. But this big old thing is in the way and you're not letting me You're making this choice or living this lifestyle or doing this thing. That's what I think. I appreciate you being honest and vulnerable with that because probably, perhaps more than any of us would like to admit, we're all guilty and have a propensity towards that. So that was well said. Everybody say thank you, Amanda. Thank you, Amanda. Because she said what is common to all of our experience. Right? So look at this next phrase. He will honor you. He will honor you. When you hear that, any thoughts come to mind? He will honor you. What do you think of? He will honor you. That's relieving. That's all you can say about that. Validation. Oh, validation. Say it again. I said, that's awfully relieving. But don't hand the microwave so quick. Tell me something. I don't know if I can elaborate. I mean, man, yeah. Mean, because you hope and you hope. Yeah, we are impatient, but we try to be patient. Like, for me, this is personal because here I've been waiting for housing, oh my gosh, for, golly, eight, ten years. And I just It's all in his time. It's in his time. So I know that it's eventually going to come, right? So, man, is that ever that's going be like, Yes! Yes, yes, yes, when that happens. So, yeah. So he will honor me and we will be exalted. And, man, that's gonna be amazing. If I could if I could translate what I think you're saying in terms of a a paradigm or picture that I understand, If you've ever been rock climbing outside, like, you know, on a on a real rock or if you've ever been to, like, a climbing gym or something, on the route, some holds are smaller than others. But then every now and then, like if you have a good route designer, just when you're starting to get pumped, the route designer is going to throw on this kind of hold that we would call Jug. A jug. It's so big to just rock grab it. Or sometimes it's called a bucket. Like if you've been crimping along, and then you just get a big jug or a bucket, oh, you can just sink your whole hand in there like a bucket. So what I hear you saying is that portion is like a big bucket, climbing along, being patient. He will honor you. I grab a hold of that. Oh, that's so good, Matt. He will honor you. Any other thoughts? I got the picture of like, at the end of like Star Wars or Narnia when they have like I'm with you. Like the the crowning scene, like when they're getting like their awards and they're like bestowing the medals upon them and they're like receiving that or like being crowned. Mhmm. Like thinking about like him honoring you for whatever accomplishment you made traveling Beautiful. Along his Yeah. Love it. I resonate very strongly with that. So now there should be a small drawing of a loaf of challah bread. Next. And then you should have a picture next to this other portion of either a lightsaber or maybe r two d two or a crown, and it'll just it'll be create it'll be a mnemonic device that'll help you remember. So here's the idea in Hebrew. He will honor you. Here's the idea in Hebrew. To be lifted up, to be set on high, and to grow up. My version says exalted, so that's like the Yeah. Mhmm. To be lifted up, to be set on a high place, and we like both of those. I liked I mean, maybe it didn't happen to everybody here, but maybe it happened once, I don't know, to me when I was a kid, but like everybody likes to be picked first in kickball. Right? That's kind of the picture that comes to my mind. It's like God's like, let's see, let's see. Oh, oh, oh, you. You want me to be on your team? Oh, we got a text coming in. Just read this comment. Somebody it actually is a text. They said, don't be impatient. We need to act every single day in the things we want to become better at, whatever that is. I like that. Don't be impatient, but we need to act every single day in the things we want to be better at. So what I hear you saying is practice. Practice leaning in to him. Practice being obedient in the small things. Practice. We all see have all we've all seen Messi play in the World Cup, and we happen to be fortunate enough to be alive in all the generations of soccer history to see Messi in his prime. But he had to learn to kick a soccer ball just like anybody else. Just takes practice. So here's this idea. To be lifted up, to be set on high, we both like those. But in addition to that is this phrase of to grow up. Now God is not saying, like from an ivory tower looking down at us, lowly worm vermin human that are mired in failure and depravity, grow up. But like a loving dad who wants to bring his children from his little babies into mature sons and daughters of the kingdom. Part of this idea, he will honor you, is a commitment implicit on his part to growing us into maturity so that he can honor us. He will honor you. Now to get a little bit better understanding of this word, let's turn to a different place in the Bible. Boy, we've been in Psalms 37 a lot, but let's take a moment and go to Genesis chapter seven. Genesis chapter seven and would somebody please read in the mic verse seventeen and eighteen. For forty days, the floodwaters grew deep, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth. As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Okay. What's the what's the connection? How can you see the connection perhaps in concept between Psalms 37, he will honor you, and what Colin just read? Please ask that question anytime. Great. What's the what's the connection? How how do you see that idea or principle in Genesis? Well, Noah was obedient and was then risen above the rest of the sin and bad decisions left behind. Alright. So you are you are taking you're taking the the literal text, and you're reading a little deeper meaning into it, and I would add accurately, by the way. But we to just keep it to just, like yes. Joe. Kathy has something. There we go. Alright. That that that that no. Yeah. It's the same word. Hey, Ben. We'll put your chair right over there. So so you'll be good, son. Same word in the Hebrew room to rise up. There you go. There you go. It's the same word. It's the same word in Psalms 37 as in what we just read in Genesis. So yes, you're right, Kathy. And Joe, yes, you are right by seeing that and taking it a little step further. And in Genesis chapter seven, here's what we see. We see what's called the principle of first mention. Does anybody have any idea what the principle of first mention is? It is a literary term when studying the Bible that can be very helpful if you're studying a word. Go back, like let's say you come across a word in first Kings or second Samuel or something, and you're like, oh, this is a good word, and you're chewing on it, you're meditating on it, or maybe it's a phrase or an idea, and then you can additionally go back and look for the very first time that that word is used, and oftentimes it can give you a clue or some insight into God's intended archetype for how that word or phrase is used. Meaning, the Lord can oftentimes define that word or phrase for how you should consider that word in subsequent times that you encounter that word by getting a lot out of the very first time that the word is used. Are you with me? Yeah. So in this instance, Kathy nailed it on the head. It's the same word that is used. And then Joe, we just got it a little backwards, because Joe led out but Joe is on to the idea of this deeper meaning. He will honor you comes with this idea of separate you from. That, according to Genesis, is wicked, is deprived, is debased, is godless. He will honor you. He will cause you to grow up to help separate you from that which is common in ordinary, in normal, and unholy. He loves you so much that he's committed to the separation promise. Thoughts on that? He will honor you. Say that and then some more. I said, he will honor you if you honor him, meaning it's not all up to God. It works two ways. It's a relationship. So relationship is two people plus time. So if you're investing time in God and you're investing time in what God has asked of you, He will honor you for those things. Oh yeah. That's great. That's great. In a relationship, there's two parties and a relationship quickly becomes transactional when there's no desire for communion but just like, hey, can you do this and why haven't you done that? And, you know, it it it can quickly become transactional. There's a picture of time, the component of time. Yeah. That's what you're saying. Time and patience. And patience. Alright. Okay. It's me again. We live in a society of joy gives me this all the time, but it's like being a microwave. Like people want it now, we were talking about earlier, as opposed to like a Dutch oven or a crock pot. You know, you put all this time, all these spices, all this delicious or a shank meat. It's not very desirable. Mhmm. But if you apply heat over time, you're pressing all the junk out of it. Mhmm. And all that you're left with is this delicious meat. So we want we wanna have it right now Mhmm. But we're not willing to take the time, the investment to go through the pain or go through the the sore muscles, the the sweat. I I think it tastes things taste so much better after you've blood you've bled and sweated as opposed to getting something, whatever that is right away. Quick fast and then hurry. I love that. I think it was maybe a a president that once said opportunity is often overlooked by most people because it's disguised in overalls and looks like hard work. Far be it from us and our tribe. The the hard work thing, I think, is part of our culture too. And we're so used to the whole bootstrap theology where we gotta do, do, do, do, do to get to where we were supposed to go. Go. Go. Go. Go. And so I think waiting well is part of the key. We may not ever get a home here, but he will honor us in the end by giving us a home of our own in heaven. We may never have a child here, but we may receive that honor in heaven. And so waiting well is part of the process. I'm I was just looking in, Revelation where there the saints are given glistening white robes as a reward, you know, because they haven't soiled themselves. Mhmm. And I think that's what you were addressing at the beginning of service about growing up. Right? Like, don't soil your robe. You've been given a beautiful robe already. You're seated in the heavenly places already. Don't soil it Mhmm. By your choices. Right? So our reward is waiting well and staying on that path by learning and growing and eventually using wisdom, hopefully, wisdom while we walk along that path. It's attention to manage. Right? The kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and violent men lay hold of it by force. Is to be held in tension with wait patiently for the Lord to act. How am I supposed to grab a hold and wait patiently? That's where that key component of relationship comes in. That tension. Alright. After Isaac's delectable analogy, I've started to hear stomach ringing. That's it's my signal. It's my signal. Let's invite the Lord to just do a little business with us in our hearts this morning. Let's invite the ministry of the person of the Holy Spirit to whisper deep into our hearts. And let's confess even if our actions haven't been so good at showing it. Let's confess the deepest desire of our heart to travel steadily along his path, to put our hope in the Lord. And to trust that in his timing, in his way, he will honor us causing the boat of our relationship with the Lord to rise above the floodwaters and chaos below in this everyday life that we live in. Come Holy Spirit, speak to us. Come Holy Spirit, grow us up. Come Holy Spirit. We love you. We invite your ministry into our life and into our heart. Remember at those big churches where they had like a stage and like an area between the chairs and the stage that we could turn into an altar and people could come forward and like respond to what the Lord might be doing in the heart. Remember those days? Let's pivot and modify. And if the Lord is just like on your heart right now, why don't you turn your chair into an altar? And if you need to just slip out of your chair and turn around and kneel at your chair in response and submission to what the Holy Spirit may be doing in your life in this moment, turn your chair into an altar. Just turn around, kneel down, take care of some business with you. Jesus Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you so much for being good to us. Thank you for being loving us right where we are, but being committed to honoring us. Causing us to to to like oil and water. Seeing those two fluids in clear containers just sitting on a table. You might not be able to tell them apart. But when you mix them, there becomes a clear separation. Thank you for your commitment to raise us up, to separate us, to honor us. As we there's the exchange. Put our hope in you and travel steadily along your path. It's a word for us individually, and it's a word for our tribe family. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Everybody said, me say this before we go into our our last form of worship. At the end of service today, if, like, something was stirring in your heart and you're like, oh, like, I need to maybe, like, some help or I need to, like, take care of a little more business or or or something, I'll just deputize really quick The the Paulson's right here. If there's anything that you need prayer for, stick around after. So just come find and say, would you pray for me? That will be their cue that they'll know maybe there's something for that for you to pray for. Also, Lee and Colleen, like, grab a hold of them if there's, like, anything else that you need prayer for. With that being said, let's transition to our last form of worship, which is just bringing our tithes and offerings before the Lord. I could go on and on and on about how this verse applies beautifully to the principle of bringing our tithes and offerings to the lord. And I know that so many in our tribe fam are faithful to to the lord to bring their tithes and offerings to him but it's just one more way of putting your hope in the lord. To put your treasure where your heart is. That money that's come by the sweat of your brow and the calluses on your hand to give it, surrender it to the Lord as a sacrifice, telling him that you love him, but also that you trust him. He's like, oh, man. Look at that. It's a great way to grow in maturity. And as you know, there couple are of different ways that we give here at Tribe. That little black box that's on the outside, you can, leave your tithe and offering there. A lot of people are generous through the website. If you're watching the livestream, it's pretty easy to go to the website. Upper right hand corner, there's a little button that says give. Many of our tribe family are also generous through their smartphone. You open up a new text to 84321. Type any amount. If it's the first time you're giving, you can enter in your bank card information. After that, it's like Amanda says, it's just as easy as texting a friend. Why don't I pray over the offering and then share a couple of quick announcements and then we will skedaddle. That's a little colloquialism that means we'll be dismissed. Lord Jesus, you're not you are not the distant watchmaker that put the pieces of the universe together, wound it up, and then just turned it loose, y'all on your own. That's not who you are and how you roll. You desire intimacy. You have revealed your deepest heart to us. Your word says in Psalms that that those who fear the Lord, he will share with his covenant or the secrets of his covenant. You're so amazing. So, we rush into that intimacy and by by way demonstration of telling you that we love you and we trust you, we bring a portion of our finances to you. We surrender them into your stewardship. Thank you for trusting us with this thing called money. It's all yours anyway. So, we just give it right back to you and tell you thank you. Father, I ask that you would receive these tithes and offerings. Use them to evoke the beauty of the bride. Here at Tribe, in a that a word you you be give our tribe fam maybe several to months ago. It it came forward from Lee and he he talked about tribe and the members of tribe, you, being carriers of light and hope to be able to release hope into this community. Do you all remember that? Some of us do. It's alright. It's okay. It's okay. Well, we have an opportunity to directly and specifically do that coming up February 14 when we are going to provide a meal for Teton County Search and Rescue. It's gonna be just a meal, but we know it's more than just a meal. Right? Big wink. It's an opportunity when we roll up the little plastic forks and and knives in the nap napkins. We're twisting in and weaving hope forks into every small detail that that comes together for that meal. You can check the fridge for those dates. The serving Teton County search and rescue is happening February 14, but there are other things that are happening. And you can check the fridge for that. And the time TBD, it's somewhere in here, but I can't remember in my brain. Also, if you're a young adult, Jehu helps coordinate our young adult ministry. They have life groups where they go a little bit deeper into the things of the Lord and the life that they're living happens on Friday here at the TMC at what time? Saturday. At 7PM. Can you also remind me of the day and time of Lanisha's bible study for women? PM. Okay. Not this coming Monday, but next Monday, back on track. Bible study with Lanisha. They're looking at the book of John. Many of you have met Lanisha. Some of you haven't. She's really faithful at our Tuesday service and she cooks like a great meal for us young adults. And she she she we'll edit that out, the livestream. But she she cooks up the word as good as she cooks up meals for us. Why don't you stand? Need prayer for, Joe and Kim will make themselves available. Lee and Colleen will make themselves themselves available. Grab a hold of them. They'd love to pray with you will after I pray for you. Alright? Jesus, with the authority that you've given me as a minister of the gospel, and you have appointed me as an under shepherd over this flock. By that authority, I command and release a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam here at the TMC and those watching the livestream. I command a blessing over their finances, over their health, over their relationships, over their relationship with you, Jesus. Honor them. Lift them up. Separate them from the common, the ordinary in this world so that they can be emissaries and ambassadors of light for your grace and truth and love. I pray all of these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said Amen. Amen. I love you guys so much. Lizzie, hurry home. I need you home tonight, baby girl. I want you to have a great week. Get some prayer if you need it and remember, you got this.