Whom Have I in Heaven But You Tribe 2022-10-17 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, everybody. This feels like family today. Let's stand together for worship this morning. Thank you for your promptness. Welcome if you're joining us on the livestream. Jen Green might get a little crazy in front of the camera today because she's not to make you sound conscious. If you see someone dancing and swirling, it's Jen. Say hi, Jen. It's okay. Say hi the Oh, let's just close our eyes for a minute. Let's just recalibrate our minds and our hearts this morning. Lord, we're here to meet with you today. Let us not just go through the motions, but let us remember what a gift it is to worship the king of kings, the lord of lords. It's a gift to us. It's a privilege that we have to be able to worship you. And that's what we do this morning. We lay aside all of our burdens. We lay aside all our joys, all our worries. We lay aside whether the Vikings are gonna win over the Dolphins today. We just lay all that aside. We just give you all the praise and glory in here today because you are worthy, worthy, worthy. You are a great god and we tell you that this morning. We remind our minds and our hearts Jesus. The going mighty our God. Let's sing that again. Just declare that how great how great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Sing that together. You're the name. For people to see how great you are through us, through your mighty works, that we would be vessels that would just carry your greatness and your power because your spirit lives inside us. We just declare your greatness in this place today. Your ways are higher than our ways, Oh, we'll see how great how great is our God. So we declare how great, Let's just let that ring out. Let's just let that ring out. Sing with me. How great are you god? And all we'll see how great how great are you god are you god? Lord, we just declare your greatness. And when we declare your greatness and we fix our eyes and we shift our focus onto how great you are, your goodness, Lord, we can't help but just ask you to search us. Lord, search us if there's unrepented sin this morning we need to take care of. Lord, we wanna be vessels that carry your spirit, your peace, your power. Remove anything in us, Lord, would keep us from being that for you. For you to move and work freely, that people would meet us and they would just long to know who this God is that we serve, this greatness. I tell you we love you, Jesus. Yes. We're gonna sing a new song this morning. And you probably have heard it, but just about the Lord just creating a new thing in us today. And just we'll just be still before him for a moment and as we just ask the Lord to create new wine in us, he needs to do a work in us because we don't wanna just pour new wine into old wineskins. There's old patterns, old ways of thinking. We'll just make a new wine out of us today through the pressing, through the crushing is what this song says. You are making new wine. Brian, would you read that scripture for us? Sure. Matthew chapter nine says, one day, in verse fourteen, one day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, why don't your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do? Jesus replied, do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them and then they will fast. Besides, who would patch an old clothing? Who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins, for the old wineskins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is poured into new wineskins so that both are preserved. I think there's something part of what Jesus was saying is knowing the season. Being able to do the right thing at the right time. Knowing the times and the seasons. And there's times and seasons when Jesus wants to produce new wine in us. He says, remember how I did this and remember how I did that. And then he says, forget all of that. Behold, I'm about to do a new thing. Do a new thing in us today, Lord. If you're just to be still before him, maybe you feel like you're going through a crushing or a pressing hard time, challenging time, just say, Lord, would you make new wine out of me in this season? You may or may not have brought the crushing. That's for him to reveal to you. Maybe it's just life, maybe it's just work, maybe it's maybe the Lord has brought something into your life as a gift to you to allow new wine. The grapes have to be crushed, they have to be pressed in order for new wine to be produced. It's just the way it's designed. Jesus had to be crushed for there to be new wine poured out from his life. So, Lord, let us not run from the pressing. Let us not run from the crushing, but let us embrace what you are doing in it if we allow you to. Because we can go through crushing and pressing, grumbling, complaining, giving up. It's what a lot of do. It's what we see in the world. Things get hard and they jump off the ship rather than stay on and dig in. So Lord, we just wanna be a people. Our prayer today is we wanna be a people that dig in no matter what season, mountaintop or in a crushing. We wanna be people that run to you and say, Lord, what could you do in me and through me in this time? Make new wine out of me, out of my life. In the crushing and in the pressing, you are making new wine. In the soil, you're alive. Now surrender. You are breaking new ground. Let's sing that again in the crushing. It's in by him. In the crushing, in the pressing, you are making new wine and soil. God, I came here with nothing, but all you have given me. Jesus, bring me wide out of me. Yes, Lord. Just trust you, we tell you. We surrender to you. Make something new out of us today, God. In the crushing, in the crushing, God, I came here with nothing, and all you have given me. Bring new wine out of me. Make me, new wine. Out of me, oh Jesus. Jesus, bring new wine. Of me, yes, Lord. Let's sing this bridge again. I came, I came here with nothing, but all you have given me. Jesus, bring new wine out of me. Jesus, While we're worshiping the Lord's stirring your heart or putting a picture or a word on your heart to share, this is a safe place, a great opportunity to step out and we don't need to make prophetic words something kooky. We can we can just say, just see this picture, I sense this. This could be from the Lord. If this could be for someone, maybe it's just an encouragement, a scripture. Let's encourage you. And we have a livestream and the people that are watching our livestream are all nodding. We talk into that handheld microphone because they want to hear what you have to say and they can't hear if we don't talk in the mic. If the Lord's put something on your heart, just ask him, Lord, would you have me share that? Maybe it's to just lift up his name, maybe it's to encourage someone else. We'll just be still for a moment. We really ask him to be a vessel. It says, we're Lord we're open to whatever you have for us. In the song, second or third statement is something about, if I don't understand, I don't need to worry because you're there. And for me, it's just it was kind of like a slap in the face as a reminder. He's there no matter what, and I need to just let go and give to God. And it's really, really hard to do that and keep that constant statement in your head. He's there. Yeah. Stop worrying. When I trust you, I don't need to understand. Yeah. I love that line too before that. So I yield to you and to your careful hand. It's so good. Thanks, Leah. I'm just gonna pray into that. Lord, it is hard. It's easier said than done. Lord, I trust you and I yield everything into your careful hands, but to actually not pick it back up and continue to worry or continue to go down trying to figure out how to fix it. Lord, help us in those areas. Help us in our unbelief. Help us where we lack trust. Maybe we trust you all day long with our finances and that's an area that we've just trust you. But maybe with our kids, we still think we need to control it or we can't lay that fully down or whatever it is in each of our hearts today. Help us with our trust. I had this picture a few weeks ago during service, and I just can't shake it. And it was it was about it was, like, catching fire. Have you guys seen that movie, the in Hunger Games where Katniss Everdeen is being lifted up into out of the arena after she could, like, gets, like, electrocuted and she's getting like she just got like laying there like being lifted up. And I just had that like it just kinda like spoke to me a little bit and just, you know, that like when we're weary, when we're tired, when we're broken, when we're done, we like, Jesus just is, like, lifting us up. He's, like, lifting us, like, and just is just there for us. And I just, like, I just have this, like, thought where it's not our home here. Like, we're not at home. Like, you know, I feel comfortable in my home. I love my my hubby and my family. And I just love being at home, but it's not our home. And I just I just like that word, catching fire. Like, we're catching fire, catching on fire just to be close to him and just to be with him and just to I'm at home with you, Jesus. And that's when I feel that's when I feel loved and cared for and just that's when you that's when you pour into me. So thank you. So good. About like maybe a year ago, Kim, I woke up with this like picture that looked like it was like like someone had sent me a Pinterest clip or something, you know, a picture. And it was a plaque and it said, and I don't think I've seen this before, but it said, heaven is my home, but until then, I guess Jackson Hole will do. And I was like, that's so weird. Like, is that a business idea, Holy Spirit? But it I woke up and I just thought that, like, you know, we think that, like, I mean, we're so blessed to live in this place. I mean, like, are you kidding me? You know, everyone from around the world comes to see this place. If they get to see this place once in their lifetime, take their family, you know, here. But, you know, it's no different than anything else in the world. Like, you know, Brian preached a message a while ago called Paradise Without Purpose is Prison. And that always stuck with me, it doesn't matter where we live. You're right. This is not our home. If we don't have Jesus, like, we can, I mean, we're living proof? Right? We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. And without him and without knowing where our real home is, it all just fades. It loses its draw. So that's so good, Kim. Lord, we just thank you for that reminder, for scratching for a piece of ours here. It's just it's all gonna be rubble. And not that you don't wanna bless us and you don't give us good gifts, you do. But let us hold them in tension with the fact that you're coming back for your bride. That's what we should be concerned about. Lord, make us ready. Make us ready for you. Anyone else have anything? Yeah. Also with the going in the same direction of trying to grasp for things, during that last song, was just more thinking about just lifting hands and surrendering because in in trying times and, like, pandemics and it just reminds me of the verse of the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It's like shall not try to take it for myself. I shall not want something or try to focus just on my needs. Like, he'll guide me beside the still waters. He'll restore my soul. He'll lead me down the paths of righteousness for his name's sake just for him. So We pray that for miss Diego. Yeah. Thank you, God, for for the kingdom where you're the king and it's what your word matters. So thank you God that we can take your word, Jesus, and that same word that the father gave to you, you have given to us. So thank you God we can take your word and believe you at your word and go all out for you. Thank you Jesus for grace over the church, over each one of us. Grace, faith, and the love of the father and the communion and the holy spirit. Amen. I was thinking of a quote that CS Lewis said, if we find ourselves with the desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world. Jesus bring new wine out of me. Jesus, Jesus bring new wine out of me. One more time, Jesus, Jesus, bring new wine out of me. Oh, Lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you that we get to dig in your word together, worship together, come together, gather together like this. We do not take it lightly what a privilege it is for our brothers and sisters all around the world who do not have this privilege like we have. In one of the most beautiful places on the planet, we get to come and freely sing your praises. Ask that you would be our anchor that would hold us no matter what comes our way. Prepare our hearts for what you have for us in your word today. Make it come alive by your spirit. We tell you we love you, Jesus, and we thank you. And everybody said, amen. Alright. Fill up your coffee, get your bible out, and we'll dig into his word together. What were you gonna say, Liz? What? We're on you. Oh, we're on. Okay. Hi, everybody. Great. Liz, was it just last week that we were in California? Yeah. Yes. So we we weren't able to be with you. Last week, we went to go see our daughter in who's at school in California. And California, man. Ocean Beach. Ocean Beach. Oh, jeez. So we we love it when we get to go to another church because we are, a, we're always at this church, and b, whenever we're at this church, well, we never, like, we're always doing this. And so it's always it's fun for us when we leave town to go to church and to, like, hold hands and be in church together. And we pick a dumb one because we nice it's hard to tonight. I know. I know. Every now and then, we come up with a lemon of a church that we visit. For anybody visiting here today, let's hope the Topo tribe doesn't land in the lemon category for you. But it was was great to be able to see Selah. It was great to be able to visit another church. And I love this church that I go to. I love the church that I go to. I love the I love the vibe that we have here. I love the people that we have here. I love the emphasis that we have. I love the the sense of family. I love our cozy quaintness of our environment right now, and it's it's it's great to see Selena. I miss her terribly, but it's so great to be back with you guys and with our tribe fam. If you have a Bible with you, let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy. It's in the Old Testament, and this is gonna be a wrap up conversation of the last four weeks that we've spent together talking about one of the feasts on God's calendar called Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles or Boots or Dwellings, whatever you wanna say. We've spent a lot of time in this passage in Deuteronomy, and that's where we're going to start again today, but we're gonna go to a couple other places as well. But Deuteronomy chapter 16 is a great place to start. And if you are if you haven't been to Tribe before or if you're new to Tribe, I really want this to be less of a soliloquy or sermon and more of a conversation where all of us get to engage with the material that we're talking about. Instead of just me finding something good, cooking it up, putting it in my mouth, chewing it up, and then baby birding it into your mouth where you can just walk away having a meal that's been prepared and and cooked and chewed up and then just dropped in your mouth. Oh, that's nice. I want us to I want this to be more collaborative where together we can ask questions, we can call a time out or a pause, and engage with this material together because when we do that, I think all of us get more out of it, including myself, because the observations and the questions that you guys have, like nine times out of 10 I'm like, wow, that is really cool. Hadn't seen that in here before. That is so great that you pointed that out. And so today's conversation, we're going to wrap up this series of Sukkot. You've turned to Deuteronomy chapter 16, but I want to before we get into that text, I want to do we have some pictures from this last week? So if you remember, this is the end of the week of Sukkot, and our tribe family took some time the last couple of weeks leading up to the week of Sukkot to lean into this, to study this feast. We also took this coming week that we're just finishing up, and there was a little study guide, and we got to do different activities every day and engage in those things. And so I'd love to hear from you guys. As you were doing any one of those things from Sukkot, sleeping outside or whatever it is that you're doing. Oh, there's Renee. I'd love to hear some of the things maybe that came up in your heart or in your mind during Sukkot that kind of got you out of the What'd you think about Sukkot? What'd you think? How'd it go? Oh, yeah. And the microphone will come around to you that Lisa has. I'll start off by just saying it was harder to actually set time aside to do these things than I thought that they would be. It really was like it wasn't just as easy, you know, like your day gets busy and then you're like, oh shoot, we were supposed to build a today. Mhmm. And I had ideas in my mind of what I wanted it to be, but I was just remembering you do have to be really intentional to set time aside for special things. Mhmm. And it was good. Like, I kinda wish we had another week because I was just starting to get in the rhythm. So maybe our family will start from Sunday again and have a redo. Yep. Okay. Good. Other thoughts, observations, or maybe something the Lord whispered to you as you were doing some of these activities? Our family, we have teenagers, and so they're not always, like, so excited to do whatever we want them to do, you know? And, but anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at our family and the conversations that we had. So the guide that made, that Tribe made was so helpful, and we would use that as a launching pad and I was pleasantly surprised at the organic conversation that came from that launching pad. Like, didn't just religiously read it and we're like, we checked, we did Sukkot, check. Like, you know, the Lord was so faithful and and let the conversation with our teenagers flow and it was very beautiful. Appreciated it so much. It was good to rehearse. Awesome. Good. What else? One of the activities was okay. Come on. Here comes Tim. These are his girls. First of all, our place here looked like more of a homeless encampment. We we we see us? We weren't weren't terribly creative. But I think, I feel like in, like, maybe the twenty first century Christian world, like, there aren't a whole lot of opportunities, and maybe I'm just not thinking of things, but where we physically participate and do something like kinda different and funky and weird, you know. And so we were just sitting out there the first night and I was like, well, first, I was very grateful for the amazing weather. Probably Oh. It's gonna be Yeah. We we got off the hook the first year. Yes. We did. Yes. The first year. But then I was just like, well, now what am I gonna do? Am I gonna get out of my chair and just like go back inside and like watch TV? It was just like it was like really convicting. Like, well, how about I read a book? You know, how about I do something a little bit more redeeming? You know, I I don't think like in heaven God's gonna be like, hey, what'd think about that Alabama football game? You know, like, I'm just not I'm just not sure that he's gonna be too concerned about that sort of thing. Know, how could I do something that has some sort of redemptive activity into it on a more regular basis? Because I feel like during the day, we, you know, give the lion's share of our time, you know, to just like working, making money, and hopefully we feel like whatever we're doing has purpose in it, you know. But then we get home, and then it's just like, we just wanna detox. We wanna, you know, chill out, whatever. And I don't know. I I it got me wondering, it felt like such a weirdly a spiritual activity. Yeah. And then just to, like, pivot right back to, like, oh, let's just go waste some time and watch Netflix. Mhmm. You know, it just it was it was so that was that was for me, at least. You know, like, just trying to, like, be more disciplined, be more focused, be more right minded, I guess. I think that would be an ideal use of a disruption. So our normal rhythm and routine part of Sukkot is a disruption to our normal routine when you stay outside in a temporary shelter, a dwelling, a Sukkah, and that disruption creates an opportunity for something divine to just slip in there so that after you've spent your time on the back deck in your homeless encampment, that that you're like, oh, I mean, it's not gonna feel right to just like, go back. Like, let me do something a little different. So, I love that that provoked you. I'm gonna throw Kat under the bus here. We had Kat and Gretchen and the Shelton's over and did communion together. And, I really loved what Kat said about why we rehearse and communion. Do you remember? Tell us about that, Kat. Well, we were having They were actually in an in-depth discussion about communion. And I was talking to Autumn. And she's like, why are you you don't come to church enough, first of all. And I was like, Autumn, what are you talking about? I'm just late. She's like, why are you late? And so today, I had to be early or on time. I was not early. I was just on time. And all their girls first I just had to share that too. I think that's a bit of a confession. But then, after she had told me to get my butt to church, I joined the conversation and had just said, you know what? What if we are so We rehearse because what if we're so caught off guard? I mean, think it's gonna be so simple and like blissful almost, I think sometimes when we talk about it, like communion when we're with him again. Mhmm. Mhmm. And I and I just said, what if what if we what if we don't know what to do? And this is Because it's so chaotic. Mhmm. And we're the only ones, this rehearsal is so it's not Even in the chaos, we know where to move, we know where to go, we know exactly what to do. Mhmm. Because so many people, they go through a fight or flight response. We have to go through a godly response. We can't do fight or flight. Yeah. We have to just do the the godly response. Yeah. So, this for me, I was going, holy cow. This is so important because I don't know if I'd know what to do. I I think I'd still be caught off guard in that moment to some point. Yeah. So I just brought that up and we had a really good conversation about that. Wonderful. Wow. It's a good I did a wedding this weekend, yesterday, and we had we had a rehearsal on Friday. And I'm really glad that we at least, like, tried it out a couple of times on Friday. The wedding rehearsal was not at the wedding venue, but when we got to the wedding venue, even though the bridal party, we had never like, that combination of people had never been in that location before. I had been there at Diamond Cross, but it was it was unique. But, because we had rehearsed on Friday, once I took my spot, everybody was like, oh, yeah. Okay. They knew how to orient themselves because we had rehearsed. Other thoughts? Maybe something that you were reading or one of the questions or bible verses. I spent one night outside and I involuntarily did the additional challenge of no sleeping pad because I used Lissa's sleeping pad and it had a hole in it. That's what you get. You're not asking her anything. I know. So I'm glad that I found that out because next time we use it and I haven't patched it, I would get in trouble. So I'm glad I found that out. I involuntarily slept on the ground outside without a sleeping pad. But, one of my thoughts was how grateful I was. If you've ever camped out in the backyard, all you have to There's that certain time where you're like, okay, I've made it through the night. And then you run inside and go hop in your own bed. And then you can go back to sleep for two hours, right? So I hopped in my own bed after having survived the night. And I was just thinking about how comfortable and cozy and how to be wrapped in warmth. And I was rehearsing in my mind this idea of dwelling with Jesus, being in a place of comfort where the Bible says there's no more tears, there's there's no more pain, there's no more sorrow, and what that state will actually exist and be like, I think there's some discovering that we have to do. But to be able to go from, I wasn't cold, it was uncomfortable on the ground, into inside my own warm bed, just makes you think. Yeah. We talked a lot about something similar with Tribe Kids and then with our own family. Just just this idea of when we're comfortable, our awareness of our need for God lowers dramatically. Yeah. Like if we've got a roof over our head and it heats up in that room when it's cold outside and we can take a car through the snow or the wind or the rain or whatever to get to our next location and we've got food on the table every meal and the fridge is full, it's really hard to remember how much we need God because we feel like, I've got it covered pretty well. Yeah. But the constant exercise of being outside and doing something a little bit more uncomfortable not only reminds us of our need for God, but I think it creates in us a stronger sense of gratitude for what we do have. We had somebody on Tuesday night, I can't remember his name, but he's been riding on his bike for weeks and living out of tents. And what he shared really stuck with me because for him, this was such a beautiful of tying of a bow on his experience because he literally hasn't had a bed to sleep on for a long time. And he hasn't had a table to sit at and eat meals. And he hasn't had a lot of those things. And so his appreciation now of getting a home or an apartment and a job and having a car to drive, like that, it's just ramped up so much higher and he can be so much more grateful for things that we can come into church and just take for granted. That there's drinks in the fridge and there's a seat for us to sit on and there's Mhmm. You know, heat or cool air if we need it. Mhmm. So that's one of our big takeaways. So good. Do you something in your notes here? Sure. It was definitely harder than I thought to get the family altogether. I mean, we did it on last Sunday. We were all together, and then the rest of the week happened. And Yeah. Nobody was home at the same time, and it was just hard to, figure out when to go through the the the list of stuff to do. And but I think it was just I mean, anytime you're intentional about seeking God, he honors that. And so even if it's just for a few minutes, just if we were able to get outside and sit in the sukkah for a couple minutes and take a breath from the busyness of life. 3PM is the best time. So hot and sunny. Yes. The warm afternoon sun on your back deck. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Wow. That's awesome. It's good. That's good. And I I didn't say it. Tim said it. But this year, we got off easy with the weather with the clear direct implication that the Lord Tim wants us to do it again next year. So let's let's see what happens next year. Why don't we as we continue this discussion, let's read God's specific instructions for us for this feast. Deuteronomy 16. Would somebody read verse 13 through 15? 16 versus 13 through 15. Do I have there it is. And you can read it from the screen if you'd like. You must observe the festival of shelters for seven days at the end of the harvest season after the grain has been threshed and the grapes have been pressed. This festival will be a happy time of celebrating with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows from your towns. For seven days, you must celebrate this festival to honor the Lord your God at the place he chooses, for it is he who blesses you with the bountiful harvests and gives you success in all your work. This festival will be a time of great joy for all. So let's take a moment and play the other side of the reasoning for not celebrating this feast. Did anybody celebrate this feast or did anybody talk about the last four weeks with somebody that's not a part of our tribe fam and they were kinda like, scrunched up their face. Like, why are you doing why are you taking four weeks leading up to this? And then the week of Sukkot, why did you make a sukkah? Why did you make a little a little pavilion in your backyard? Why are you going over like, why are you doing this? For just this for just a moment, let's play the other side of the conversation and talk about why some people might say that this is foolish. Like, you don't need to do this. What's the other side of the coin? What are your thoughts? You know what I'm asking? Let's see if you know what I'm asking. Well, so when I was working at Whole Foods, I was on the line, and he had some challah bread. I'm like, oh, are you celebrating Sukkot? And he goes, you know Sukkot? And I'm like, well, yeah, our church has been studying it for the last four weeks, and we're going to be practicing it next week. And he said, are you Jewish? I'm like, no, I'm not Jewish. And he goes, okay, then why are you guys doing that? This is great. Yes, exactly. Why are you doing this? And I said, well, you know, we're still Christians, and we wanna prepare for when he comes and we want to remember where everybody came from and that they were banished to the unforsaken place from It's just a way to remember. And he was just like, So I was I was like, have a great day. So Was this guy Jewish? Yes. Or you could assume he was Jewish? Yeah. He was. And so he was celebrating it because, like, he's probably grown up celebrating it in in Jewish faith, like, that's what they do. And he was just thrown off guard, like, why are you doing it? Yeah. That's awesome. Like, that's our thing. Yeah. Right. He didn't he didn't say that. That wasn't the But maybe he was a little bit like, hey, that's our thing. And so that's part of what I want. I want to play the other side of the coin for just a minute and be like, why are we doing this? That's their thing. Or that's not a thing that we do. So I want to talk about that for just a moment. Were were you nodding your head? Like, did you have any you were just nodding and just in agreement. Okay. Why not celebrate Sukkot or what were you gonna say, Colin? I was gonna say from a Christian perspective, it seems very legalistic. Legalistic? Okay. Great. Yep. Having to go do this every day, sit in this for the week, whatever, it, like, why? Right. Okay. So that's good. Like, why are we doing this? Isn't that their thing? Let's not be legalistic. Somebody Take it a little a step or two further. Well, I'm not gonna take it a step further, but Yeah. I think, well, you know, as Joy said, Kat and I went over there to the Abbads and we had like a really nice Sukkot Shabbat and we came back to my place and Kat got a phone call from someone he was like, oh, were you up to tonight? And so she told him and I could hear through and he was like, he's Christian, right? Yeah. Well, but he goes he goes, why? And she and she's like, oh, you know, and she like started trying to She's like, but that's a Jewish thing. Here we go. And she was like, well, yeah. And I'm like whispering, was like, yeah, but I was like, Jesus was a Jew. He was like, wait, but so are you becoming Jewish now? I thought you went to a non denominational Christian church. And and so like, and I keep like feeding her stuff to say and she's like, well, know, and Jesus was a Jew. He's like, yeah, but the Jews killed Jesus. And I was like, well, technically the Romans killed Jesus. And then when I celebrate because I always love to celebrate Passover too and whenever I do that and I post anything online, people always message me about that too. Like, why are you doing that? Aren't you Christian? Like, I thought Mhmm. Whatever. And so there I think that there is just a lot of confusion around like why and like Yeah. Trying to explain, yeah, it is good because I think that it gives you the opportunity to say like, oh, it's for remembering, it's for rehearsal, it's for you know? That's good, that's good, that's good. There's all of these things, this is exactly why I posed this question because perhaps you came across questions or maybe even bubbled up in your own heart like, why are we doing this? But there's I want let's take it just one or two steps further, and I'm waiting for somebody to say the thing about why we shouldn't or don't need to celebrate that feast or any of the other feasts. Is the answer because in Jesus we have a new covenant and we don't have to do this? Yeah. Mhmm. Okay. Did did he say that or but that's what you're thinking. Or is anybody else nodding their head? Like, this where is this found? This verse? Old Testament. Old covenant. We're under the new covenant. Now why are we doing old covenant stuff? Like, didn't Jesus come to establish a new covenant? So is it possible is it possible that there Is it possible that we shouldn't celebrate this feast? Is it possible that the Lord's like, I don't want you to celebrate this feast? No way. That was a quick answer. Were you gonna? Me? Just So I want us gonna continue on, but I just wanted to make that brief little pull out and talk about that for just a moment because maybe you thought that. Certainly, if you're sharing or if you were posting about what you were doing this week or what are churches doing, you probably quickly would bump up against that reason or that argument. Why? Isn't it a Jewish thing? And and aren't you guys Christians? And why would your church spend so much time doing this? And and aren't we under the new covenant? And and there's a whiff of, like, like, legalism to this, and and so so I want you to be able to wrestle with these things because as you wrestle with them, either you think of them yourself or you're having conversation with somebody that's saying like like, why are you doing this? It helps you as you consider the reasons why we did what we did for the weeks leading up to it and concluding today. Why the why helps you develop a strong why. I think the chosen is done a job. That was just putting a period there. It I think The Chosen has done a really beautiful job at reminding us that Jesus was Jewish. Yeah. And that he celebrated all these things. And if it you know, Jesus did it and he's our savior, like, we don't do it because we have to for salvation. We don't do it because we have to check off some list. But, like, wow. Like, Jesus, our savior, celebrated all these, what, these festivals. Like, what would that look like? And Mhmm. You know, just remembering how important it was in God's calendar. You know? God's calendar still applies to us now. Mhmm. And I think that the festivals just help recalibrate, get us back into, like, God's rhythm and timing. Absolutely. Absolutely. New thing for me was just thinking about. Mhmm. I hope you don't have too many notes to read. I love it. I also love the aspect of God is this master storyteller. And so, another thing that we talked about in Tribe Kids a lot is just that the seven feasts are all different parts of his master plan that he is putting into effect. And for us, to learn that plan, we get to physically involve our five senses by eating and sitting outside and feeling the cold air and feeling the warmth of the fire and you know, different things like that where we get a sensory experience which helps us remember it and rehearse in a sense so that we can recognize, like Kat said, oh, this is this is what we've been practicing for. This is this here it comes. Something new that I just put together just before church today when I was explaining to somebody else is that this is considered the the Jewish calendar new year. And so once all the harvest has been brought in and you've celebrated and you've had this time to prepare for the season, you kinda you get rid of the day of atonement just before this, you get you get rid of all the grievances and all the things from before, and you start a new year fresh. Looking at our season, the new year begins in the winter, which starts with So we start with rest. We start with This really is a picture of we of of Sabbath as well. We begin from a place of rest. So we've gotten everything taken care of. We've wrapped up the year. We've wrapped up all of the feasts. And now we're going into a season, the new year. And that new year, just like in Genesis when God created the days, like Lissa was talking about the calendar, there was evening and morning on the first day. There was evening and morning on the second day. His day begins in the evening. His day begins with rest. And we operate from a place of rest. And so even the even the calendar now with the feast is giving us a sensory experience of that. We've taken care of all the harvest and all those things, and now we begin the new year in a time of winter when there's no work to do and we rest. And then, Passover begins in the spring when all the work begins again. I maybe it's Daniel. But there there's a verse that talks about how knowledge will multiply and increase, and people will rush about running hither and thither all over. And we see that with our schedules and our just our normal lives. Our kids are in sports and four h and this and that, and we're just being pulled in so many different directions. Imagine being known as a person of rest. Even in the midst of shuttling kids and dropping off and picking up and doing this, that that as chaos, just of this life and of this world, like, picks up in magnitude that we have rehearsed this ability to rest. I'm not talking about not working. I'm not talking about having Buddhist monks and shaved head and and, like, walking around burning incense all the time. Like, we can be we can have very full schedules and still be people of rest. And that's what one of the things that God is trying to build into us now. This ability to find that place of rest in the midst of whatever it is that we're doing. Isaac was gonna say something but then Joy I just wanna add on to what you're saying. Then to Isaac. Not just that we're people who find rest but like it was difficult for us to find time to do the different practices each day. We have to prepare for it and we have to be intentional to make time for it. And then we rest and then we operate from a place of rest. But there's there's preparation, it doesn't just magically happen. Because I think that it's easy to work, work, work, work, I'll rest when I'm done. But God's like, uh-uh, uh-uh. You start with the rest, you prioritize the rest, then you do your work. Mhmm. And that's what we're starting to see with this calendar. It's good. Yeah. Give you permission. No. To piggyback off what Joy was saying about like the five senses. I was listening to this podcast where they're talking about balance, how balance is so important for people that if you don't have good balance, I mean, it throws everything out of whack. I mean, you're on your back for eight hours. And And so when you wake up in the morning, you're kinda off balance and you're trying to get your footing again. So I kinda I feel like, whether it's Shabbat or Sukkot that it's it brings balance into your life because you're having to say no to things and prioritize things. And so, God just brings balance into your life. Mhmm. It's such it's a it's a principle of the kingdom. Rest and dwelling is a principle of the kingdom that will be one of the hallmarks of Jesus' leadership when he returns. And will we be familiar with it, or will we chafe under this idea of resting? How can you work hard and rest? Like, it's a both and and not even attention to manage, but you can't work hard without being in a state of rest. Sorry, not to get us more down the rabbit hole, but Joy just reminded me of a question that I've been wondering. But why we Why do we practice Sukkot and not like Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur? So several years ago when the Lord said, I want you to get synced up with my rhythm and calendar. I want you to be on my day planner because things happen according to my day planner, surprisingly not your day planner, Brian. And and part of that of reorienting our family's life and rhythm according to God's calendar, he said, I want you to celebrate these seven major feasts. So the seven major feasts that are spoken of in the Old Testament, we primarily focus on. There are lots of other Jewish feasts and days in like the Jewish religious calendar that actually don't have any scriptural basis but may have some historical significance. Like So we're trying to keep it confined to the seven major feasts that God laid out in scripture. So what are they? Let's all go downstairs and look at that really cool timeline that Joy made for us. I'm learning, guys. I don't imagine it's because we have to ease our trifem into it. We just pick one a year Oh. To really go for. Yeah. Yeah. One a year to really go for. So And then you got he didn't say practice the seven piece. Yeah. He said acknowledge and learn. He his instructions for for me were I want you to acknowledge these feasts. So so we're we're not going to like we go like off the the off the deep end. And if you're new to Tribe, you're like, you guys are already so like, had to walk past like, creek diorama and like, I'm hearing all of like, you throwing out your little words and things. But the idea is I want you to the Lord whispered to my heart. I want you to acknowledge these feasts. So that's what we're trying to do. I'll say this. We're right on time. We're right on time. I will say this. Admittedly, admittedly, we see the feasts throughout all of the Old Testament. We see in the Gospels Jesus doing different things at the feasts. So he goes to Jerusalem, we can see the feasts in the Gospels. After the Gospels, we see a dramatic decrease in mention of the feasts. For example, the letters to the different churches that Paul writes or that Peter writes or that John writes. You have to have an understanding of the feasts in the Old Testament to be able to see when Paul is talking about gathering together for a meal or celebrating this or that. You're like, Ah, okay. He's indirectly referencing one of the feasts. And Paul uses the feast as just a launching point to talk about something more important. So admittedly, the feasts are are we see a decreasing mention of them, but we have to be careful that that is not equated to a decreasing significance of the feasts. So number one, that's why other Christians or anybody that's not Jewish would be like, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? Number one, in the text, in the narrative, we see less instances or occurrences until we get to the Book of Revelation, and then the feasts, like, explode again, all over again. The second thing that I would suggest to you that we could spend weeks on this is a demonic strategy by the enemy to wipe out anything to to to to clear, to wipe away, to be smudge, to create distance between God and his rhythm and his time and and his people who he's called to celebrate those things and what would be like the church that we are all a part of today, the modern church. Throughout history throughout history, there has been a demonic assignment to try to to separate God's timing and rhythm from from anything else that's going on in human activity. And by just a a way of touching for just barely briefly, there are throughout the church history for the last two thousand years, there have been a number of early church fathers, early church writers who have actually written great antisemitic diatribes against Israel. It was the Jews that killed Jesus, they say, so why should we have anything to do with anything Jewish? And their writings have have influenced us and the church today way more than we are even really aware of. For example, Martin Luther, an esteemed venerated man who helped separate the Protestant church from the Catholic church, he was a raging anti Semitic writer. He loathed the Jews and couldn't stand anything Jewish. And so throughout history, there has been a strong effort to remove anything Jewish from the Christian church including, like we Christmas, Easter, these are these are they're not God's holidays at all. Now we celebrate the birth of Jesus and at Easter we we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. But okay. Brian, pump the brakes. Let me just let me just say this, and then we'll continue on with our conversation this morning. That that being aware of the church of Sia Estoluego Diego. Ramp crew. Gotta get it done. I'll I'll just say this. Like like, in the days ahead, there are there's going to be a coming together again of all of God's people, whether they are Jews or Christian. They will he is right now the Lord is right now sovereignly orchestrating events and stirring hearts of people to come back into sync with His rhythm and with His timing according to His calendar. And it just so happens to be the kind of calendar that Jews have been on for for a couple thousand years. The church is coming back. The church is coming back into to rhythm, and and we're just playing one small little part. With that in mind, there were, by way of review, there are two purposes that serves. The purpose of Sukkot is to remind, like we've been talking about, the purpose of Sukkot is to rehearse, to remind ourselves of God's great goodness. In the same way that he took care of Israel in the desert, he does and will take care of us. And sometimes we need to fast just like Tim was saying, like, just not gonna I'm gonna fast from my normal rhythm and routine. Fasting is uncomfortable. You gotta you gotta be deliberate if you're going to fast. You have to find time, even if it's at three in the afternoon for ten minutes in the backyard. But it helps to remind us of all the good things that God continually brings into our lives. The purpose of Sukkot is also to rehearse. That days of great difficulty, as laid out in the Bible, lay ahead of us and days of great victory. Sukkot forces us to embrace uncomfortability to toughen us up a little bit. We also learned about the uncomfortability that is laid out in scripture that Israel will face in the days ahead, that Israel will live in tents again in the wilderness. And we learned about the coming rescue mission of Messiah. And to just land the plane on Sukkot, Sukkot lifts our gaze to the horizon to anticipate three things. This is why we celebrate Sukkot. Sukkot lifts our gaze to the horizon to anticipate three things. Number one, the return of Jesus to rescue Israel, the resurrection of the dead, and the resting or reunion and resting with Jesus in the kingdom of God when the kingdom of God is established on earth. We have touched on the return of Jesus to rescue Israel. We have to tie a bow on Sukkot because my team doesn't like it when I take a series longer than five weeks. I'm going to stay on this thread, but I'll trick them by saying that we're done with this series and we're going to start a new set of conversations. You can't trick us. But we're going to spend a couple of weeks talking about something I mean, how basic is the resurrection of the dead? But how profound and how I mean, when's the, like, last time you heard a lot of conversation and talk about the resurrection of the dead? Like, I mean, that's a a core tenet of our faith, but, like, what does that even mean? What is that gonna look like? What is that what so we're gonna spend a little bit of time talking about the resurrection of the dead, and we will talk some more about this idea of reunion and resting with Jesus, where Jesus will dwell with us on earth. What does that dwelling with Jesus look like? What is that gonna feel like? What does that mean for us? So we're gonna we're gonna spend some time talking about these cup these couple of ideas. I want to end with one last verse. Psalm 73. I think we have that one in the keynote. Right? There we go. This is such a great verse to to set as a capstone verse for Sukkot and this idea of tabernacling as a verb. You know, dwelling, that can be a verb or a noun. Dwelling can be a noun. You can go into a dwelling, but it can also be a verb. Dwelling, the present progressive conjugation of I'm looking at my teachers back here, to to that that you are dwelling the active state of dwelling with or in something. That Jesus, we will get to dwell with Jesus forever. This is a beautiful capstone verse that I wanna end with. Psalm 73, whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart, and he is mine forever. Like Kim said earlier, you said I remember King said just something. Remember the the picture. Yes. Our home is not here. Whom have I in heaven but you? Mhmm. With the idea being, like, you could take everything away from me. But if I have you, I really have all that I need. And when we see these disruptions, it causes us to reevaluate what is our desire. The psalmist says, I desire you more than anything on earth. Let's just take a moment and let that verse create like a like a dwelling over us, a Sukkah over us. Let this verse construct a tent, a shelter over our hearts for just a few moments this morning. Lord, whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart. Three sixteen and seventeen says, Paul is speaking and he says, I pray that from his glorious unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit. Then Christ will make his home. There's that idea of dwelling in your hearts as you trust in him. And what is the result? Your roots will grow down into God's love, keeping you strong those days. Out of me. Bring new wine out of me. There will be a coming day do anything. Not We're to going We're community, wherever we go. We're we're going like a city on a hill. And I don't wanna ever diminish the kingdom reality of Jesus dwelling with us right now presently by abiding in him and he in us. But I also want us to be prepared and rehearse for a coming reality. Revelation 21 verse three and four says this, I heard a loud shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. There's that idea of dwelling in Sukkah. He will live, dwell with him, and they will all be his people. God himself will be with him, and he will wipe away every tear from their eye. There be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All of these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I am making Lord, we long for you to make your dwelling with us. We yearn for it. This place is not our home. Our home is with you in your presence. Again today, we invite you afresh to dwell in our hearts. Mark us as a peculiar people. We would be known for having we'd be changed, we'd be different as a result of you dwelling with us. Any prayers or thoughts about that? As we stay in this attitude of worship just a few minutes longer, I would encourage you to just make sure when we bring our tithe and our offering to the Lord that you don't check out spiritually or mentally, that you don't check out. Stay with it because it is an opportunity every week, not just together corporately, but for us to say as a family, God, we love and we trust you. And there are thousands, if not, there's infinite ways that we can tell the Lord that we love and that we trust him. And then there's infinite ways that he is so good. But there's two things that I have seen again and again and again in my own life and in ministry. Two things if you quickly ask me about the character of the Lord, I would tell you that he's faithful and I would tell you that he honors obedience. I have just seen that time and time again. And so when we bring our tithe, our gifts, our offering to him, it's not just a checking off the church box, and I know most of you feel that way. But it's an opportunity to give that we have all the time, but letting the Lord put his super on our natural act. We give all the time. We give time to our job, effort to our job. We give words to people we love, right, and acts of service. We give we even give food to our pets. We give all the time. And so that shouldn't there should be no problem carrying that over into the spiritual realm if you have surrendered your life to the Lord. It should be so natural to want to give to him, not because you have to, but because we get to. Because he that's being obedient and he honors that. You might see it, it, you might see the fruit of it, and you might not. And that's okay because we trust the Lord so much. We know that he does what I said, he puts his super on our natural. Oh, it's such a beautiful picture of who God is. Bringing our tithe and our offering blesses the Lord. It blesses us because we've been obedient. And then in the natural, it goes out and does it allows people to do ministry. It allows God's kingdom to grow because we get to love on people. Not everything takes finances. You can love on people without money, but you can sure do a lot with money too. Right? Resources, that's just the way the world works. God will honor you bringing your tithe and your offering. He'll also honor you bringing your time, talent, your treasure. But as we pray for our offering today, I would just encourage you if you don't give if you call tribe home, and if you don't give regularly, start giving regularly. Even if it's $5, that amount is between you and the Lord. And this is not a time where we where we're like, time to get out your money, tribe needs it. No. Please hear our heart. This is an opportunity to tell the Lord we love and we trust him, and he says the local church is a good avenue to do that in. So as we obey scripture, we encourage you as a family, let's all just give it a try. So let's pray whether you're giving now or another time. And the easiest way to give, you know, is to start a text to 84321. You can see those instructions on your screen, and just type in the amount you want to give. Let that so be a tender moment between you and the Lord. God, I don't whether I want to give, I don't wanna give, I feel like I can, I don't feel like I can, the numbers in your bank account are inconsequential to how the Lord sees your heart? You could have millions and give millions, and your heart could still be wrong with it. So I'll before we started on the second sermon, let's close our eyes. It's so important though. Let's close our eyes and pray as a tribe family. Heavenly Father, we just say we love you and we posture our hearts and become and be in rhythm with you, not just with the calendar and the things we're talking about today, but just the way that you work and move in human hearts. We just ask as we be obedient through the bringing of our tithe and our offering and through everything else we hear the Holy Spirit whisper to our heart. As we remain obedient, God, thank you that that's a calibration with your heart and with your passion, with your desires. And you love people, and we get to love people. Be your hands and your feet as scripture says. So, father, I just pray with these tithes and offerings and the giving that people do, whether it's today or in their own rhythm, timing rhythm, Lord, I just thank you for blessing that because you're so good. Thank you that it will do the kingdom work that you want it to do, but thank you that you're also doing a work in our hearts when we give. Whether we're trying it today for the first time or we've done it as long as we can remember, you are doing a work in our heart every time we give. Even if we don't see it or feel it, we know that you are because you're so faithful and you're so good. So Lord, we love you and as a family we all say, amen. So if you attend Tuesday night, probably not because you're here today, or you want to bring a meal to Tuesday night service, I would encourage you to just sign up on the fridge. That's one way that you can serve here. If you don't if you hate bringing food and you hate when we ask you to bring food, there are other ways to serve here at Tribe. Please just come see me after service. If you say If you hate food. If you hate food, you're forced to eat it three times a day. If you hate the ask, because we always ask for Tuesday meals, it's part of our Tuesday night service rhythm. Share a meal together at six and stir service starts at 06:30. You don't even have to come to Tuesday night. You can just drop off the meal. But if you're like, stop always asking, there are other ways to serve here. So see me after service if you're interested in that. And Ryan, would you please come pray us out today? Yes. I just felt like while Amanda was praying, and I'll keep this really short, I don't know if anyone's watching Rings of Power, Lord of the Rings like little shoot off, but there was this episode where there was this giant dead tree and it was like the tree that gave life and it was dying and what they didn't see, like what the hobbits didn't see was that there was one tiny little new flower coming out of the backside of the tree where they hadn't looked yet. And I'm not spoiling anything if you haven't seen this episode yet. I know Kim's covered. Look at the pulses. But I just saw that picture and it was just it was like all this what looked like death, but then there was life coming forth from it. And it was it was small, but it but it was life. And I won't spoil it, but what comes forth from that one piece of new life is was life changing. And so I just saw that picture, I just felt like the Lord had a word if this is for someone in here. But in your life, the best I can describe it is there's a rut. There's a rut that you feel like you're never gonna get out of. And I just really sense that it's like not something really tangible. It's more like a mindset, like a way of thinking, and then an avenue or a rut that you turn to. Maybe it's speaking harshly or using words you don't wanna use or and then you just beat yourself up and there's shame because you're like, oh, here I am again. And it's happened so many times over and over that you just think that there's just like death there. Like, that part of me is never gonna change. And just while we were singing this song, I just I don't know. Maybe prophetically, if you would just surrender it today, I just felt like the Lord just literally wanted to make that rut new, that you don't have to go back to that same old pattern, that he can literally make it new today, right now. So if that's you, take one more minute in this place and just ask him. He already knows your heart. He already knows your failures. He already knows where you've fallen short even this morning or this week. Just ask him, Lord, would you make it new? Change me. Have them give you a picture like that flower coming out of that dead place. So that when you your flesh wants to run back to that old rut, nope. There's new life there. There's a new path. Alright. Let's stand up. After we dismiss, if there's anything that you need prayer for, I'm gonna ask Kim to stick around. Kim, wave your hand. If there's anything that you need prayer for, she'd love to pray with you, agree with you. And also, I'm seeing high school students in here. I wanna remind you, Thursdays, 06:30 right here at the TMC, there is a combined united youth ministry that's happening here. A lot of great momentum. It's at tribe, but people from first b are jumping in. Fresh Life, other churches in the valley, and it's great for high school students. So if you're a high school student, get out of practice at 06:30 or as soon as you're done with practice, just come on over. They'll feed you. Have a great time. Lord Jesus, I pray for each and every member of our tribe fam here today. God, that we would experience an encounter dwelling with you. You are our kazooka. I command a blessing over each and every member of our tribe fam. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you guys so much here at the TMC and on the livestream. Have a great week and remember, you got this.