BLESS, Part 3: Every Table is an Altar

Welcome to the Lookout Weekly Podcast.

Church of the Lookout is an older Colorado, and our vision is Jesus abiding in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission to transform the world with awe-inspiring love.

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Good morning.

As has been said, happy Father's Day.

He is risen.

We're going to jump into the message here today.

If we haven't met yet, my name is Luke, and I'm excited to share this moment as we open the scripture study.

We've been in this theme, this little series we've been just calling bless.

And the idea is really simple.

One of the original promises, one of the original invitations in Scripture for the people of God, as God was calling us to Himself, was that we were called to be blessed so that we could be a blessing.

And part of this is taking seriously the call to live aware of the blessings we have received in Christ, to live conscious as we wake each day.

And as we receive all of heaven's resources, we extend and project them and unleash them, the blessings back into the world.

This is the life that we're called to live.

And so even if you're someone who would say you've never been blessed or blessed by somebody, and maybe the way that you tell your story is you're still waiting for blessing to happen to you.

Here's the awesome part about coming to Jesus.

When we come into Christ, we move from victim to victor in a world that has left us high and dry.

It's actually possible to enter into the blessings of Christ, not because of our own merit, but because what he decided about us and what he followed through with what he decided by letting himself be nailed to a cross and then taking death into its grave and resurrecting and overcoming death, and not only just overcoming death, but ascending to the right hand of the Father, all of those things mean that the curse has been reversed and we are blessed in Christ Jesus in heavenly places now and for all of time.

And that changes the way that we look at our lives, that changes the way we think, that changes the way we step.

We're not looking for blessing, we are living in blessing, and maybe that's not your story, but it can be today.

I want to invite you into that because that's how much you mean to the heart of Jesus is that He died, He gave His life for you to be blessed, and that's more than a hashtag blessed on Instagram, that's a blessing in unseen places.

And so through the lens of Father's Day, this idea of blessing, it takes on a deeper significance.

We know, every person in here knows the significance of the impact of fathers in the lives of children.

We all know that.

And some of us are even feeling the weight of that in different ways.

Some of us feel that in a positive way today, others feel the pain or the void in that here today.

And uh and it makes sense because in our nation there is what we could call a fatherlessness epidemic.

Um, one of the unique things happening, there's a stat that came out even just this this last year 18.4 million, or about one-fourth of children live without a biological step or adoptive father in their home.

Okay?

About one-fourth of US children live without a biological step or adoptive father in their home.

In 2019, just a few years ago, Pew Research said this.

They did a full study around the globe, 130 countries and they they were looking at what is the highest level of single-parent homes uh globally.

And they they did their studies in third world countries, war-torn nations, developing countries.

The the nation with the highest percentage of single family homes was the United States of America.

Globally.

And there's a lot of reasons for that.

And for some of you, that makes sense of your experience, right?

That makes sense of um of what you've experienced in your own life or what maybe your children are experiencing.

And I don't say all this to kind of drive a stake in.

I'm not trying to exacerbate any wounds here, but but I just to share just the realization that we live in a this is a very real thing.

And in our nation, it's even more real than other nations.

And it's something that we have to, we're invited to look at with a different lens.

Dr.

Frank Pittman, author of Man Enough, writes this.

He says, Life for most boys, and I would include girls, but life for most boys and for many grown men is a frustrating search for the lost father who is not yet offered protection, provision, nurturing, modeling, or especially anointment.

And so the word anointment in this quote is referring to this state of being chosen, approved, blessed.

And that's really the core idea as we've been journeying into this.

In our world, the human heart craves to be blessed.

It is not some blessing is not something that the world can actually offer us.

The world cannot bless you in a way that you need to be blessed.

There is a core part of you.

There is something so deep inside of you that you were made to receive a Father's blessing and the Father's blessing to be affirmed, to be seen, to be known in a way that goes even beyond what your earthly father can offer.

And it's something that we're invited into, and it's it's a reality in Christ.

And then we and then out of that reality is how we begin to extend it.

This is why this work is so important.

Because we crave to be blessed, we need it.

Right?

This last week was a really special week for me, partly because the Nuggets won.

Woo-hoo! Um, but also uh I got to do something special with my son that I've been preparing for for 13 years.

Um my son is 13.

He asked me, I asked his permission to share this story.

Um, but he's 13 and he's kind of at that age where the the young men start the journey from adolescence into manhood, they say.

Historically and globally, this is called like a rites of passage.

In our culture, it's it's very few and seldom.

It's just there's just not quite an equivalent.

But whether it's something that's facilitated for a young man or not, it's something that we find ways to be initiated into manhood.

We find ways to pursue power and significance and belonging and all the things.

But we have an opportunity, if we get this right, I believe, for our young people, both young boys and young girls, to begin to call them into a picture of what it looks like to live in righteousness and godliness from a young age, where they don't have to guess what that looks like, but they can enter into it and be invited into it.

And so this last week, um, we've been preparing for a while to to um with my son to just start this process.

It's not a one-time thing, it's just a start of something.

And so uh earlier this week I took him on a uh hike up to the Flat Irons, and uh and we hiked up there together for the first time, and and I was able to talk to him about this journey of who he's becoming and that it really is a journey.

And it's it's there's a lot of ups and downs, there's a lot of ebbs and flows, there's a lot of, you know, it's it's not a one-time thing, it's about staying on this path.

And and as we as we walk this road with God, we come to this place where he gives us his perspective and a higher perspective.

And it was a really beautiful, fun hike up to the foothills here because I wanted to be able to see the flat irons, this mountain that he sees every day, and that he knows that when he sees that, he knows that he was up there with me.

But then also in the moments he knows in life that he needs a new perspective, he can kind of look to the mountain and be reminded that there's a higher altitude, there's a higher elevation, there's a place he can go with the father to see his life from a new perspective.

And so we hiked, but then we came back down and uh invited a bunch of men over to our house and in our backyard, we um we had a fire and we were able to all uh share some words.

Both of his grandfathers were there, his his one of his uncles was there, several other men wrote letters and wrote videos, and they all shared something important for him, both to affirm him and what they see in him, but then also a chance to say, Hey, here's something you need to know as you're kind of starting this journey in into manhood.

And uh, and you can kind of see it there.

We we all shared, and uh you got Gary and Graham there, and some of our other family.

And then we we all got to share and then lay hands on him and bless him.

And it was one of those moments that was really special for me because I was able to all day just tell him, like, listen, Noah, I I guarantee you I am going to mess this up.

Like, I am not a perfect father.

Um there's gonna be some things I get right and some things I get wrong, but I guarantee you your heavenly father will never let you down.

He's not gonna let you down.

And if you hear nothing else, you're gonna hear a lot of wisdom and insights about what it means to be a man, and not just the macho masculine stuff of our culture.

We're not talking about that.

We're not just talking about shooting guns and smoking meat and you know, all of the things.

Um be become being being fully formed as a man is about strength.

It's also about tenderness.

Um, it's about fully seeing the face of God and walking in righteousness and holiness, and then also not pretending to be something that we're not.

So it's not about hiding in shame when we get it wrong and we get it wrong, right?

Right?

And I told him, like, listen, you know, you're gonna be you're gonna be hurt, you're gonna hurt others, you're gonna, you're gonna fail.

Others are gonna fail you.

But if you hear nothing else, you you need to remember this.

You are the beloved son of God, and he's well pleased with you.

He's well pleased with you.

I'm well pleased with you.

And it was a beautiful, beautiful moment.

You know, and obviously, you know, this kind of setting, when you do this kind of thing, it was a little awkward for everybody, right?

Because it's it's not awkward because it's unnatural, awkward because not many, any even in that circle ever did something quite like that at 13.

It's just not something we do often, but I believe that's gonna change because I believe as a church, I believe that we are called.

It is our responsibility, our responsibility before God to make sure our young people are blessed into their identity and and know that they are chosen and they have been set apart to walk in the belovedness of what God has intended for them.

It might be the most important thing we do with our lives is to extend the blessing and the belovedness of God to our children.

It might it might be if I never do anything else again, that might be the most important thing I'll do with my life is to make sure my kids know that they are blessed in Jesus Christ and heavenly places.

And they can never leave that.

Woo! So I I share this story and I'm a little I and I I realize it's it's kind of a sensitive day for some of us because all of our lives we've craved that.

Nobody's been there to do that.

But I just want to speak over you today that you are blessed, you are blessed in the Father.

You are the beloved of God.

You are the beloved of God.

If if you have never had a father, and I my my father was fantastic.

I grew up listening to my parents' worship, and he was loving and affectionate, and I never had to guess that I was loved.

And I'm fortunate for that, but maybe some of us in the room, you were um you never had a father like that, or never one that was able to communicate with any kind of clarity, a sense of love or blessing or safety today.

I just want to remind you that God himself, he made you, he knit you together, that he knows you, he sees you.

And again, even the best father on earth is still a broken father.

I'm still broken.

Your father, and if father's in the room, yeah, you're still broken too.

But the father, the our heavenly father is not, and he calls us into himself.

And as we respond to his voice, that's how we're shaped into the image of the Son Jesus.

So I bless you in that.

Maybe you're here today, maybe you're a single mom here today, and you're feeling this void in a very real way for your for your own kids.

I just want to tell you the Father surrounds you with love.

You are not alone.

You're not alone.

And he wants to surround you with his resources, his heart, his strength.

Maybe you're a single dad here today, and you feel like you just feel like you're making it up as you go.

And yes, some of us feel like we're making it up as we go.

There's nobody sends you an nobody gives you an instruction manual for parenting, right?

And so we don't really have it all figured out, but again, I just I just believe what the Lord would want to remind you, all of us here today, is He's the Holy Spirit's gonna show you exactly what to do.

He's gonna show you exactly what to do.

We're not alone.

So, fathers, I want to invite you in this room before we move on.

If you are a father in the room, I want to invite you to stand.

A biological, a stepfather, an adoptive father, a spiritual father.

I want to invite you to stand across the room.

We want to honor you.

Can we honor the fathers here in this room?

Just stay standing.

Stay standing.

I want to pray a prayer over you.

This is what Paul wrote to the Ephesians.

He says, This.

He says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I pray that over each of you be filled with the fullness of God.

Be filled with the fullness of God.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, take a seat.

Now I will say to you, fathers, on your way out today, we do have a gift for you.

Um it is a uh, you're gonna go out to the table in the back.

We have a jar of nuts for you.

I could go a lot of places with that.

We're nuts about you, dads.

Um, yeah, we have a jar of nuts, so fathers.

Make sure to grab your nuts on the way out.

I couldn't let that go.

Couldn't let that go.

That's it, I'm leaving the church.

Can't believe he'd say that.

Uh, peanuts and pistachios, I believe.

So take your pick.

Take your pick.

So blessings to you, fathers, today.

We are living from the blessing of the Father.

In the last couple weeks, we've talked about blessing with our words.

Our words carry power.

Last week, uh, Pastor Piper talked about listening with compassion.

It's it's part of the way as believers that we live into the kingdom.

Uh, nobody will listen to anything you say unless you have the capacity to listen with compassion and to actually have ears attuned to not just prepare to have something new to say to the people in your life, but have ears to listen.

You got to go back and listen to that message if you haven't.

It's really fantastic.

And so today, kind of to add on to this theme, when we read about restored relationship in the scriptures, be it with our fathers or our mothers or our friendships or family, um, there's one primary image that sums it all up.

When we talk about restored relationship, it appears on the first pages and the last pages of the Bible, and this image, the centerpiece of God's mission on earth.

It's the image of a table.

It's a table.

And if there's one thing, you know, we we know the cross very well, but if there's, I would say, I would argue, if there's one thing that sums up what God is trying to do from beginning to end, where the whole story is going, the whole story is going back to a table.

In Revelation chapter three, is as the Spirit of God, as Jesus is addressing the different churches, he speaks to the church at Laodicea, and after correcting them on a few important issues about kind of acknowledging that they were lukewarm, they were neither hot nor cold, and he was calling them back into relationship with them.

Revelation chapter three, Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me.

And this is a great place to kind of launch from.

This is an invitation from Jesus, not just at the Church of Laodicea.

This is an invitation for all of time to all of us.

He's knocking on the door of our hearts, and what does he want to do once we open that door?

He wants to come in and eat with us, which is really interesting because in in a good Christ, you know, Christian world, we could probably substitute that with a lot of things.

He wants to knock on the door and come in and have a prayer meeting with us, right?

He wants to come in and sing how great thou art on repeat for you know for ages.

He wants to come in and snuggle with us, right?

Um, but he says that he wants to come in and dine with us, he he wants to come in and be at a table with us.

And I guarantee you, if if you think of the most memorable moments of your life, probably most of them involve food in some way.

If you're celebrating Fathers today, day today, chances are food will be involved.

And if there's not food, you probably don't love your father, okay?

That's a good word.

So go in peace.

Um the and so the table, the table of the Lord has everything to do with one, our own experience of the gospel, who God is, what he has done, and what he's doing for all of time.

So if if your picture of walking with God doesn't yet involve a visual image of you being at a feast with him, I would just would suggest to you that that should be a part of your visual imagination of being with Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit, that it's one of sharing a meal and perfect delight with him.

So that's number one, that's first invitation.

But second, the table is how we extend the unreserved hospitality of God to the world that we live in.

It's not just what we're spawning to in God.

I believe that the table is one of the most significant things that we can practice as believers as we live into our world demonstrating what God is doing and what he will do for all of time.

Okay?

So why would Jesus want to eat with us?

Because all of the world's problems started with a meal gone wrong, and it will be restored with a meal that will never end.

Okay.

So let's start at the beginning.

Genesis chapter 1, 29, after God created the whole world, God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

You shall have them for food.

Okay?

So imagine you're standing your first day in a lush forest, you know, potentially picture Hawaii.

Um, you're the yeah, exactly.

You are the only ones on the planet.

You have been blessed into life.

You've been given permission, you never have been given permission to enjoy every single piece of fruit, not just in the garden, but every every piece of fruit on the face of the earth.

That's what we just read.

You are to enjoy everything I've created on the face of the earth.

The world is before you in abundance and beauty.

It was essentially the first ever Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

Just don't chew the gum, or you'll or you're gonna turn into a giant blueberry, right?

And it was like the world, God opened a world before them and said, How about it?

So God designed a humanity to eat and to joy food in his company.

And let's just just just looking at this picture as our origin story that we're that we hold open, this is actually revolutionary.

In most of the surrounding pagan religions, um, the origin story involved gods that created humans as an afterthought simply to serve them food.

Okay, so so in a lot of the other pagan uh um and even Greek philosophies, the human's duty was to cook ambrosia and nectar for the gods and to serve them.

But in Genesis, we get a picture that we get to enjoy food with God.

This is absolutely stunning.

This is God's intention.

But we read in chapter three, we read that the first sin came in in the form of a meal.

How did this happen?

God planted them in the garden and said, You are to enjoy everything, but stay away from this one tree.

It's the tree of the knowledge of the good of good and evil.

And if you eat from this tree, you are going to die.

That is what's going to happen.

And somehow they were deceived into believing that this fruit would get them something that they were uh they were told that they lacked.

And so we read that the first sin came in because they, quote, broke the rules.

That's kind of our kind of our placeholder.

They broke the rules they were disobedient, which is true.

But I think if we peel the layers back, it's it's actually more significant than that.

Because the real violation here was Adam and Eve found a table away from the presence of God and decided to eat alone.

They were given the entire earth to eat from.

And somehow they found a way to eat alone.

In doing so, they violated the very nature of God's design, which is that creation is meant to be enjoyed with God, not apart from Him.

So the Garden of Eden, so many of you know that Eden actually means delight.

The Garden of Delight is it was a it was a garden of food and and uh and and beauty and the food, and God gave them trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.

The Garden of Delight was intended for enjoyment, abundance, provision, and rest.

And yet in a moment, that whole design was broken.

And this is part of our story.

Sin always pulls us, the way it destroys us is because sin pulls us into isolation, convinces us to hide from each other and to hide from God in shame, to remove ourselves from the only presence that can actually heal us and bring us life.

This is why when we get caught in cycles of shame and sin, we we hide, thinking that hiding is and and not being coming to light is going to be the way, the path forward.

And it's never the path forward, it only eats us alive from the inside out.

And so that's why it ends in destruction, because it leaves us, sin always leaves us just doing our best to live a self-sufficient life.

But the problem is we do not have the internal resources to live a self-sufficient life.

We don't have those on our own.

The resources that we're created to live from are the breath, the presence of God.

We are created to live from delight around a table with God, eating food in his presence.

Have you guys ever watched the show alone?

Just me?

Um the show alone, go go, this will be your your your Sunday afternoon assignment, okay?

The show alone is it's basically this con this reality TV show where a dozen people, like survival experts, are dropped off in solitary um uh locations around the world, usually in the Arctic, and they have to survive with just a few items.

And most of them they know exactly what to do, right?

So they have to choose their items.

They have like 10 items they can bring, they have to choose them very carefully, like a saw or a bow and arrow or whatever.

And uh Megan and I decided, uh Megan decided she would bring salt if she was on the show.

I would just bring chocolate, okay?

And I would I would be kicked off the show in three days.

Um but they they have to go into a solitary location and survive as long as they possibly can.

It's a fascinating show.

They have to find food, they have to forage berries, they gotta go find animals, the whole deal.

And um, but the amazing thing is on this show, if you've watched the show before, most people drop out in a few weeks.

Not uh a lot of them, it's not because they don't know how to survive or even if they don't have food.

A lot of them, it's because the isolation catches up with them and they don't know how to handle what's going on in their heads and their hearts.

They realize that for survival, they need more than food.

They actually need connection.

And it's it's actually true because that's how we're made.

We're made not to just survive, we're made to live out of a relational overflow with God.

So God, in the in Genesis, He plants a garden full of food, not just to feed us, but to be one with us.

The table is always about oneness.

And from that moment on, God has been on a quest to bring us back to his table, both spiritually and physically, and all throughout scripture, I could go example by example.

David saw it in the Psalms, he prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.

In Isaiah, as Isaiah was prophesying about the future, Isaiah 25, uh, six, he says, on the mountain of the Lord of hosts, he will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, a rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined, and he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

He will swallow up death forever.

I love this because he provides food.

He not only provides food, but he himself is going to eat up death.

He is going to swallow death at the great meal.

God eats death for breakfast.

I love that.

When we fast forward to the life of Jesus, if you didn't catch it, eating was so essential to the life of Jesus that he was actually accused of being a glutton and a drunkard.

Many of his miracles had to do with either the production of wine or the production of bread.

He was accused of who he would have dinner with.

He could be accused for a lot of things.

A lot of it was that he shared meals with people that didn't, quote, deserve it, people on the margins that nobody else wanted to be with.

He made tables, he made spaces for tables.

His final act, the final act of Jesus before going to the cross was to share a meal with his closest friends.

And in that meal, the meal transformed from a physical reality into the central image of the new covenant.

He could have asked us to remember his covenant and his love in any particular way.

He said, I want you to do it through bread and a cup.

This is how you're going to do it.

And this is how believers are going to do it for all of time.

I want you to remember that what I am doing is preparing a table and inviting you back to the table.

This is what the early believers became known for.

It was meal sharing.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It was a devotion.

It wasn't just, hey, maybe bring the snacks to tonight's Bible study.

It was they gathered as a central element, attending the temple together.

Verse 46, it says, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received food with glad and generous hearts.

There was something as they received food that was restorative to them.

It was always a signpost of another reality.

In Revelation, just to drive this home, in Revelation, all of Scripture ends with a wedding feast.

We call it the marriage supper of the Lamb.

And it's a giant wedding feast.

And so this beginning of the scripture starts with a meal gone wrong.

The end of scripture starts ends with a meal that can never that can never end.

And in between is where we are.

And in between, as we both respond to the invitation of God and we move out, I believe one of the things that in the in in our day, in our time, recovering, oops, uh recovering an idea, recovering the practice of seeing the table as not just a functional reality, but as a sacrament to God and a sacrament with each other is going to be central to the days we're moving in.

Why?

Because the table is a place of intimacy where we are seen and known by name.

The table is a place of belonging where there is a seat for everyone, sinners and saints, male, female, young and old, every tribe, tongue, and nation.

The table is a place of being where we slow down to be with each other.

The table is a place of humility where we all come as we are.

It's a level playing field.

The table is a place of laughter where we all tell bathroom jokes that we're not supposed to, and we embellish stories and we make things up and we make fun of each other and we do it with a playful heart because we get to, and it's kind of fun, and you're all a little bit funny, and we're all a little bit funny, and there's something funny to be said about each of us.

The table is a place of discovery where we tell stories and learn new things, and the table is a place of honor where we speak truth into each other's lives.

It's a place of gratitude where we see provision with glad and sincere hearts.

And it's a place of remembrance where we remind ourselves of who God is and what He's done.

And so the reason all this matters is, as you guys know, we're kind of in a really interesting time.

We are uh uh um about a year out from another big election, which I know we're all excited about.

Um we are in the middle of culture wars, we're in the middle of hot debates over important topics.

Um polarization has been a reality for some years, it seems to be getting worse.

The bottom, the middle is dropping out, and it's becoming harder and harder to have conversations with people with whom we disagree.

Anybody here?

Okay, and all of this is coming while we're already living in a somewhat lonely world.

The world is more populated than it's ever been, it's more the connected than it's ever been, but all stats would point to that it's more lonely than it's ever been.

We're more connected to, but we're more lonely.

It's a bizarre place to live in.

And listen, I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer up here, all right?

You guys feel these things, you know these things.

What I believe in this time, in this moment, as we are living, living to be faithful followers of Jesus in our world, living into our world, being faithful with what he called us to do.

I believe that God's solution to a divided, lonely world are open tables marked by the hospitality of Jesus.

Open tables marked by the hospitality of Jesus.

I believe personally that Christians should be the best table setters, meal makers, and party throwers.

Anyone else?

I believe when we do, we're inviting others not to just have their physical needs filled, but it's a prophetic picture of where we're headed and where we're going.

Christians ought to throw the best parties.

Christians ought to make more food than they need so they can share it with others.

We should be the ones lining up to make meals and to invite meals.

It's part of, I honestly believe that that simple practice is both spiritual and it's real.

But to do that, it requires that we recover the sacredness of the table, that it's not peripheral, that sharing a meal together, it's not peripheral to other spiritual things like prayer and Bible study.

It's a central part of it, again, which is why Jesus marked his new covenant through a meal.

And so that means that we have to be we have to continue to remind ourselves that food is not just functional.

I don't just eat between meetings, even though sometimes I do.

I shouldn't just eat between meetings just to fill my belly.

I get to eat as a recipient of the grace of God.

It's functional, but it could it can be sacred.

Rather than hurried around the table, we can slow down around the table, and we can put our devices away, and we can be present with each other.

We can minimize distracted and be grounded in presence, right?

Because that's what God is doing with us, and that's what He's gonna do for all of time.

The beauty of being in relationship with God.

And so what is that what does that actually look like?

I just want to throw a few things out around uh for us here today.

Every single one of us eats roughly 21 meals a week.

21 meals a week, about three times a day, seven days a week.

Now, if you're intermittent fasting and you're better than the rest of us, it's probably two meals, all right?

If you have some modified diet, maybe you'd eat six meals a day.

I don't know.

Some of you are too cool for school, all right?

Um, but roughly, let's just say three meals a day.

It's 21 meals a week.

What does it look like to transform one of those meals or two of those meals to surround your table with people that are in the heart of God and to share a meal with others in a profound way, or a coffee, or something else that you can share with them?

What does it look like to take one thing that you're already doing and surround your table?

What does it look like in this room?

In this room, you've seen some of you have been around for a while and you've kind of seen people around, you've met some people at Ladies' Night or Guys' Nights over the last several months, but but but there's there's still an opportunity to go in for a deeper relationship.

What does it look like over the course of the summer?

And this will be more important as we get to the fall and we all get back from the summer.

But even in the summer, while everyone's disengaging, what if uh what if you actually engage further and found somebody else in the room and said, I want to have you over for dinner?

Or pull a Jesus card, I'm inviting myself over for dinner.

Zacchaeus, I'm coming to your house tonight, better rumble the bell.

They'll probably say no, but just try it and see what happens.

Okay?

Jesus invited himself over to people's houses for meals.

It just takes a question, it takes an invitation.

But there's something about, there's something about the simple act of enjoying a meal.

Men, you heard it already.

Tomorrow night we're doing the a tailgate night on the back side of the parking lot.

We do want to invite you to RSVP so we know how much food to get.

Um you can do that at the lookout.church slash connect.

Some of you men, you haven't connected yet with any of the other men.

You need to do that.

Tomorrow night's the time to do it.

6 30, it's gonna be it's gonna be awesome.

Um there's gonna be tons of food, there's gonna be conversation, there's gonna be some fun stuff that we're doing.

But I'm telling you what, every single one of these things, just like the uh testimony that Gwen shared, every single one of these things that we've done, there's stories that open up, there's opportunities that open up that go beyond what we can do on a Sunday morning, and it allows us to connect with the actual story God is writing in the hearts of people.

And from these places, we can say, listen, I want you to come over and we're gonna share a meal together, and we're gonna practice being together and blessing each other, being blessed in the presence of God and extending blessing to each other because that's what God has done for us.

Yeah?

Does it sound like an opportunity?

I also want to I also want to lob this at you.

Out in the info hub, out on the table, we have these flyers, and the title at the top of the title it says, How to throw a summer block party.

This might be one of the more significant things you do this summer.

We did we did this last year.

Some of you guys took us up on it, but basically, one of in in a lonely disconnected world, one of the best things we can do is be conduits of connection, and we do it as unto the Lord, and we find people and neighbors that are not connecting, and we make, we create an opportunity to host a time of food and connection for for the deepening of networks and relationships.

It's awesome.

Last year, I uh Kevin and Heather did this in their neighborhood, and he was sharing a story a couple weeks ago with me about how it was a great time of connecting with neighbors, deepening of friendships, and just slowing down time.

You're not just waving at each other while you're pulling into the garage just to shut the garage for the night.

You're actually creating a space to be around not just your metaphorical neighbors, but your actual neighbors.

To know the names of your actual neighbors and the names of their kids and the names of their pets, right?

And the names of whatever else needs to be named in their life.

We learn the names of all the names.

And uh and we create the connections because it's what we do as an act of service unto the Lord because that's what He's done for us.

Amen.

So I'm gonna invite the team to come up, and here's how we're gonna end today.

Um I just want to end with a time of reflection.

Um, Jesus invites us to a meal.

He invites us to a meal with him, he invites us to a meal with each other.

And these guys are gonna lead us in a song.

Here's what I want to invite you to do.

Um I I want you just across the room and just close our eyes together.

And I want you to picture being at a table with Jesus.

Picture the Father.

Picture the Holy Spirit.

Picture what's on the table?

How much food is on the table?

Is it a lot or is it little?

Is it colorful?

Picture the faces of those around the table.

Who else is at the table with you?

It could be the face of your family, it could be the face of somebody that you've been estranged from, that goddess wanting to reconcile.

It could be the faces of those who have passed in your life that you've lost.

You're wondering how you can be at a table with them.

I just believe that God is surrounding you with the blessings of heaven, he's surrounding you with a reality that supersedes everything you've walked through, and he's inviting you to get a to taste and see that he's good, an actual tasting and seeing that he is good.

There's something more true that he is inviting you to experience in him.

Some of you have never received the blessing of your family tree, but again, in Christ, what happens when we when we experience the abundance and the blessing and the provision of God, the meal that he set before us, and it fills us from the inside out.

Even if we never receive something from our family tree, when we blessed in Christ, we can send the blessing back up the tree.

Doesn't matter where you're at in the tree, you can send it straight back up that tree.

And you can bless those who have never blessed you.

This is how it is in Christ.

This is what he's doing.

So as the worship team sings, I just want to invite some of you, it's gonna be appropriate to come to the tables in the front and actually receive communion and come back to your chair to do it.

Others just sit quietly reflecting and see in your life, God, who do you want to be around my table?

And then together, let's just respond to the Lord and then we'll end our time together.

Every breath is a gift from you.

Every moment is trying to every day is a kiss from you.

So let our hearts be away.

Let our hearts feel away.

So let our hearts be away.

Let our hearts be away.

Break the bread pour the wine.

Let our hearts calm alive.

In your present, in your present, let our fear fall away.

Let our faith rise today.

In your present, in your present, Jesus.

Every story's being told by you.

We're all children on a journey.

So let our hearts be away.

Let our hearts be away.

Let our heart be away.

Let our heart be away.

Let our hearts come alive.

Your past.

Let our hearts come awake, God.

Come awake to you.

We thank you for what you've done for us.

We thank you for what you're doing, God.

May we do the same thing, Jesus.

Surround us with your love, your goodness, and your blessing.

Jesus' name.

Let's stand together across the room.

And I want to invite our prayer team.

We have some people who are ready and willing to pray for you.

They're going to be up front.

We're going to have some on the sides of the room as well.

And listen, I believe there's an invitation here this morning.

If you are contending for some broken relationships in your life, and you've been holding maybe it's an estranged son or daughter, maybe it's parents that you've been that you've been either cut off or they've been cut off from you.

Maybe it's people that you struggle to forgive.

I believe that today God wants to bring some breakthrough into your life.

And uh and I just want to invite you after we end the service to come up to any of the people standing around the room around the walls and just to receive prayer.

They will pray with you, they will keep it confidential.

But listen, guys, I believe that God wants to continue to leave a blessing.

Amen.

So uh let me pray for you guys as we go and as we end.

I just want to encourage you to go get your kids before you get into a bunch of conversations.

Go get your kids and bring them back up and grab your nuts in the back and your jars of nuts, and uh it's gonna be awesome.

Jesus, we thank you today.

Lord bless you and make his face to shine upon you, make it be courageous to you and give you rest.