Take Your Rightful Place – Part 1

We said last week, can I have the volume down a little?

Because it's echoing out here.

Yeah, last week we said we'd start with this new series

called Take Your Rightful Place.

And so we started that today.

We can't get that TV to work and connect with the iPad,

so you won't see any notes there unless Matt Dirks or Jeremy

fixes it.

So I'll speak kind of slowly and see if we can still

have the notes written down.

But I can't write them and you won't see them.

Yeah, so Take Your Rightful Place

is the series we'll be doing for the next little while.

Let's just pray.

Father, New Year, new series.

Trying to establish where we should stand, not where we stand,

where we should stand.

Take Your Rightful Place.

It's a command.

It's an invitation.

It's both.

On one hand, you're inviting us saying, hey,

come take your rightful place.

On the other hand, you're commanding

because you have the right, because you bought our lives.

If we call you Lord, then you are master.

You're saying, come take your rightful place.

So as we start these series, open our hearts, open our minds,

open our spirits, open my mouth so that I may speak things,

Father, that are from you, and so that we may hear things

that are from your spirit.

We ask for this, Father.

In Jesus' name, amen.

OK, so guys, today we are only going

to talk about taking your rightful place with the Father.

Taking your rightful place with the Father.

How should we position ourselves with the Father?

Taking your rightful place with the Father.

That's what we'll talk about today.

So it isn't enough that we know that God is love.

It isn't enough that we know God is love.

The question is, are you drowning in it,

or are you wading in it?

Wading ankle deep.

Most of us are either ankle deep or knee deep or waist deep

in His love.

And if you're waist deep, you're doing really well.

Almost none of us are drowning in His love.

Because if I was drowning in His love,

my very way would be different, and you would notice it.

So none of us are drowning in His love.

We may at best be wading ankle deep,

or some of us may be wading waist deep, but not drowning.

And if we don't drown in His love,

then we can't show what His love is.

And so to take your rightful place, hey, Daddy Nee-ee.

How are you?

We showed the picture earlier on today of Anna.

So some of us may even hesitate to plunge into God's love.

We've gotten a taste of it when we got saved.

Strangely enough, not everybody here

has experienced first love with God.

We just assume it, that everybody

knows what first love is.

More and more, first love is becoming rarer,

because nowadays people get saved because they say a prayer.

You need so much more than a prayer to experience first love.

Salvation is not a prayer.

Salvation is sickening sorrow about sin,

and then great relief because of someone

who is saving you from it.

It is the same thing that happened to the woman who

comes into Simon's house and begins to weep.

And Jesus' comment is, she has much forgiven.

Therefore, she has been extravagant with the way

she has responded.

That's first love.

So neither should we assume that we know first love.

And it doesn't mean that just because you're older,

you know first love.

Was there sickening sorrow?

And was there great relief?

And if not, at some point in our lives,

we need to feel it again.

Only then can we begin the process

of going from wading ankle deep to wading knee deep

to actually drowning in his love,

taking a plunge recklessly into that love.

That song, Reckless Love, has had so much backlash,

because people don't like the word reckless.

I mean, the stuff we get stuck about, eh?

Revolving in pursuit of your thing in So Will I

and Reckless Love.

People don't like it.

Look at the rest of the song.

The way God loves is reckless.

He has no caution in his love.

He has no caution in his love.

He would be wise to be cautious because of the grief

that we cause him.

But he is reckless.

Don't worry, Betty.

I won't ask you to sing it right now.

But at the end of the service, it's a possibility.

In Song of Songs, there's this.

And so that's what we want to talk about.

Take your rightful place.

And so it's not me saying take your rightful place.

It's God saying, hey, guys, take your rightful place

in my love.

Hey, Emmanuel, you just said earlier on, says God,

that nothing is better than me.

Well then, take your rightful place

and begin to drown in my love.

In Song of Songs, chapter one, verse six,

there's this great shepherd king who falls in love

with a common peasant woman.

That's the story of the Song of Songs.

There's this great shepherd king who falls in love

with a common peasant woman.

And he begins to look at her.

And she's uncomfortable with his gaze.

She's uncomfortable with his gaze.

She's uncomfortable with his gaze.

And she feels unworthy.

At some point during the Song of Songs,

she begins to protest.

And she says, don't gaze at me because I am dark.

That's her statement.

Don't gaze at me because I'm dark.

And his response is, but you are my fair one.

You are beautiful.

And the very idea of the Song of Songs

is the way to us that there'll be so many times in a day

that you think you are not worthy.

And because you think you're not worthy,

you can't stand my gaze.

And you will say stuff like, don't gaze at me

because I'm dark, she says.

And his response, the shepherd's king responses

in chapter one, verse 15 is, but you are my fair one.

You are beautiful.

Our response is, but it's not real.

Others have said that and let me down.

But the thing is, guys, when it comes to God as father,

a damaged or distorted copy does not

and cannot destroy the original.

A damaged or distorted copy cannot

and will not destroy the original.

It's not possible.

We can't superimpose a father, a mother,

a pastor, a parent onto God.

We can impose God on them,

but we can't impose them on God

because the original never is distorted.

And so when you start measuring God by your experience

with your father or your pastor or your spiritual mentor

or your dad or your mom or someone that you trusted,

God's always gonna come out looking ugly

because your pastor, your father, your mother,

your spiritual father or mother is definitely ugly.

So here are some statements God wants to make to us.

And in these statements,

I mean, before we go there,

one of the things we have to ask and please be,

one of the problems with charismatic Christianity

is we have this thing called, I'm a child of God.

Nice, that's good, you are.

But how do you really feel inside?

There are days when you don't feel like I'm a child of God.

Not because you are not, but because nothing feels right.

Times like that, we have to be starkly honest

and not maintain a positional integrity,

but I am a child of God.

No, your statement should be, I am a child of God,

but I just want you to know that I don't feel like that

at all and you are very distant.

It doesn't change the truth,

but it at least expresses how you feel.

There is no decent relationship without honesty.

There is no decent relationship without honesty.

And with God, if we are not honest,

who can we be honest with?

Because he's the only one

who really knows the condition of our hearts.

Pardon?

Not really.

According to Paul, my conscience itself

is not good enough.

Paul says, my conscience may not condemn me,

but it means nothing,

because the only one who knows my heart is me.

The only one who knows my heart is God,

because even my conscience,

if it says I'm clean, doesn't mean I'm clean.

Yeah.

Sometimes even when I think,

this is why in Book of Proverbs, it puts it this way.

Man thinks his ways is right,

but God weighs his ways

and knows whether he's right or wrong.

So if I'm not able to be honest in my relationship

and tell him what I feel,

because he has the ability to take blows.

It's just like you as a parent.

When you as a parent have your child sometimes saying,

no, you don't love me and all this stuff,

it doesn't end your life,

because you're a parent, you know better.

We have to be starkly honest with God.

So one of the questions we have to ask is,

really, how are we functioning?

Am I functioning 40%, 50%, 60% of the day as an orphan,

or am I functioning 40, 50, 60% as a son?

On a daily basis, if I took 12 hours of a day,

how am I really functioning?

Is my identity that of a son or that of an orphan?

Just take 12 hours that you're awake

and compare yourself to Judah or to Emmanuel or to,

it's amazing.

By the time they get to Phoebe and Mia's age,

things begin to change.

It's crazy what's happened to the earth,

because of one man's sin.

By the time they get to Mia and Phoebe's age,

things begin to change.

By the time they get to Phoebe's age,

things begin to change.

But Judah, Emmanuel, they don't know better.

That's what 24-7 son or daughter looks like.

So is my identity that of an orphan or that of a son?

If you could write down how you think,

if God was saying this to you,

if you could write down how you think I think of you,

what would it really sound like?

Past the Christianese, past the cliches.

If you could actually write down

how you think I think of you,

what would you write down?

If we could sing no song,

if we could borrow nothing from Bethel

or Elevation or Hillsong,

if you could use none of their words,

but you wrote down,

and we can't use phrases and cliches like,

I'm a son of God, I'm a child of God.

What do you really feel?

What would you write down?

And it'll be different for different people.

And it'll be different at different times.

That's the other thing.

There'll be times after worship where you're weeping,

and you can say the splendidest things.

And then there are other times where,

like an orphan, I feel abandoned.

I know it's not true,

but the feeling is one of where are you or God?

That's orphanhood.

Abandonment at any moment,

any time of the day in your life

is an identity of an orphan.

Jesus had it on one occasion,

not because he was an orphan,

but because he was cut off.

Where he cries out,

my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Because he actually knew he was cut off.

It wasn't a feeling, it was a knowing

that at this moment he is absent

because I am bearing everything that is sinful.

He became sin that,

he became sin, who knew no sin,

that I might become his righteousness.

I was trying to write this down

at different times in my life.

I write down what I actually think of him.

And then, I've said this before,

try writing Psalms like that, eh?

On days when you're feeling not all that good about God,

start writing a Psalm.

Start off with, oh God, where are you?

I feel like you're very distant.

I feel this, that, and the other.

And then, as you keep writing,

promises begin to come up.

The truth of God begins to come up.

And as you go towards the second half of the Psalm,

already things are rising in your heart like David does.

By the time it gets to the end of the Psalm,

oh God, how foolish of me to think that you were distant.

You are right here.

You are someone who I care for, someone who loves me.

I experience a love.

Just as I experience the feeling of not being there.

Right now, there's nobody else that is closer than you.

I mean, when I think of what David did,

I was reading 1 Samuel recently.

The guy actually is walking around,

and he sees a woman, and he wants her, he takes her.

After he takes her, he then hopes

to get her husband to sleep with her.

I'm in the height of deception.

He gets her husband home from the battlefield,

says, you need to go home.

The guy doesn't go home.

The guy doesn't go home,

because he says, I can't live a life of comfort

when my comrades are fighting on the front.

So he gets him drunk, hoping that if the guy gets drunk,

he'll go home and sleep with his wife.

Ain't happening.

What is David trying to do?

Cover up the fact that he has now gotten

another man's wife pregnant.

So what does he do?

Write a letter.

And what is the letter?

Hey, listen, make sure you station him

right where the arrows are, right up front,

so that he will definitely be killed.

And then when you send me news,

wrap it up in a lot of jargon,

so it looks like, ah, the poor guy died.

This is a height of deception.

Why am I talking about David in these terrible terms?

How does a man like that still be called

a man after God's own heart?

Because there was something deeply honest about David.

Deeply honest about David.

It wasn't that he was someone who,

I mean, how does a guy plan such deception,

enter into a sexual relationship,

have the husband killed?

How does a guy like that get a title like that?

A man after God's own heart.

That's not a title thrown around.

It's only thrown around once in the Bible.

It is because this man had a depth of honesty

that we can't even fathom.

Therefore, God says, he ran after me.

And yet, when it came to building the temple,

God did not allow him.

He said, you're a man of blood.

You've got bloodshed on your hands.

And God wasn't meaning wars,

because Solomon went in war too.

It was a different kind of blood

that he had on his hands.

But a man after God's own heart.

Why labor this point?

Get starkly honest with the father.

And one of the best ways is to talk,

or to write, or to put into words.

He began this practice sitting in the fields with sheep,

and he would write.

Any questions?

So the question is, orphans, if you,

if I was an orphan, can I stop sinking into the quicksand

of I have abandoned you?

We have different phrases for I have abandoned you.

It will be like, I don't know, man,

God hasn't been answering.

I don't know, I prayed nothing is happening.

I don't know, it seems like nothing is working.

All these are different ways of looking at it.

And I think that's why I'm asking you to think,

because I think that's why I'm asking you to think,

because it seems like nothing is working.

All these are different ways

of saying you have abandoned me.

Can we remove that from our way of thinking?

Yes, your feet is hurting.

Yes, your elbow is hurting.

Yes, things haven't happened.

Yes, the job hasn't come through.

Yes, but not abandonment.

It's an evil thing, guys.

Let me put it very plainly.

It is evil.

It is taking and putting God on God, something wicked, something evil,

to begin to think along the lines of,

you are someone who begins to let go, abandon, cannot trust you,

can't depend on you, you've not come through before,

you will not come through again.

These are evil ways of thinking.

This was exactly the method used in the Garden of Eden.

And you saw where it got the first couple,

and it is the same thing happening again.

Every time it comes, know where it comes from.

Imagine being in a garden with a beautiful looking serpent

coming and hissing away at you so that you begin to believe this.

Take your rightful place, God is saying, by abandoning these things.

The second thing orphans do is they are self-reliant.

Orphans are self-reliant.

If you adopt someone and the person has grown up as an orphan,

you will find that for the first little while,

they'll struggle to be anything but self-reliant

because they've survived because of self-reliance.

Orphans are self-reliant, you trust yourself,

you suspect the ones around you,

you suspect that God may not come through

and you try to control the things in your life.

One of the best ways to control things in your life

is to take charge of them and be self-reliant.

Chris Vallotton writes of a child that he adopts,

and he brings the child into his home, treats the child brilliantly,

loves the child like his own.

But for the first few months,

every time they would come and sit at the table,

and there were bread or bun or chicken on the table,

this child would go and grab all of it

and quickly take what is necessary and keep it.

Why? Because the child does not know whether the child will get more.

He hasn't lived that way.

And he would gather it all to himself

because he wanted to make sure that he had taken care of himself.

It took years before he changed.

Because that's the way we grow up.

Which is basically the next point.

Orphans try to make sure of their own provision and security.

Orphans take care of their provision and take care of their security first.

It is critical to them.

They've been through such difficult times before.

That to not take care of one's own needs

and to not protect or secure one's life is unthinkable.

Can you stop being careful?

Can you helplessly become dependent?

Can you stop being careful?

Can you helplessly become dependent?

This is why Jesus got pretty upset

when they started rebuking the children from coming to him.

He calls one of them to his side and says,

unless you become like one of these, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

And you parents know that one of the things about your children

is they are helplessly dependent.

And the kingdom of God is explored and is revealed

to the ones that have that kind of helpless dependence,

both on God and on others.

Take your rightful place.

He's inviting us to this. He's commanding us.

Another thing orphans do is they resist being part of the family.

They resist being part of the family.

And one of the things God wants to say to us is,

hey, this is my family.

Live life openly, be loved and love.

Hey, this is my family.

Live life openly, be loved and love.

Won't work out well always,

because guys like me are in the church.

But this is the family.

And if it is not,

then make it known that this is not your family.

Orphans resist being part of a family.

These are true measures.

This is the actual litmus test of Jacob.

All the other things he says are just fluff

if these things don't measure up.

I struggle with abandonment at times.

When I've done...

I mean, I sometimes sound like some of those guys who write in the Bible saying,

oh God, I did this, this, this, and where were you when it comes to helping me?

Where are you?

Yeah, sometimes feels like that.

That I did this and this, but why is this happening?

Oh God, where are you?

It's okay to ask, oh God, where are you in a psalm?

But if it comes from a place of you have let me down, I cannot trust you,

then it is wicked and evil.

Just because something is honest doesn't mean it is not evil.

Don't confuse honesty with it being pure.

I'm just saying to God, this is how I feel now.

As I write, bring me to another place.

We have to name things evil,

because that might frighten us.

We cannot name it human experience.

Because a lot is swept under that carpet.

Next one, orphans are transactional.

Orphans are transactional.

Transactional relationships have existed since the beginning of time.

In Genesis 4, when Cain was angry with God, why was he angry?

He was okay till God didn't respond the way he felt he deserved,

when he brought his sacrifice.

Strangely enough, Satan is a transactional trader.

Satan is a transactional trader.

What does he go do with Eve?

Hey, if you eat this, you will get this.

What does he do with Jesus?

Thousands of years later, he's doing the same thing with Jesus.

Hey, if you do this, I will give you this.

There is nothing transactional about God.

His blessings are not transactional.

Yes, in the Old Testament, it was a law.

Do this, this, and this will happen.

Don't do this, and this will happen.

Now, it's not transactional.

It is, you are in Christ.

There will be times where I will lovingly disciple you,

like you lovingly disciple your child.

But because you are in Christ,

everything that was transactional in the Old Testament changes.

You can walk away from Christ and miss out on things,

but Christ will not remove himself

so that you miss out on things.

You can walk away from Christ and thereby miss out on things,

but he cannot walk away from you

and cause you to miss out on things.

In transactional relationships, and this is so important, guys,

in transactional relationships, there is a lurking suspicion

that God is withholding or punishing you when things go wrong.

In transactional relationships, there is a lurking suspicion

that God is withholding or punishing you

because you did something wrong.

We are so steeped in it, so steeped in it.

Because sometimes, on certain days, it's the first place I go to.

When things don't work out, first thing,

oh, God must be upset, I must have done something wrong.

It's a terrible way to live.

That shouldn't be the first place I go to.

Because it's not perfect love, there's something wrong there.

Perfect love casts out fear,

that's not the first fear that would come out.

And yet, that's how we think.

Yes, there is seed and harvest, all that is there.

The strange thing about Christianity is it's not either or.

It's held in tension, we've talked about this.

But if the first place I go to when things don't work out is,

oh, shucks, God must be upset, that is not how a child thinks.

Job thought like that.

As soon as things began to go wrong, his first thing was,

I must have done something wrong, let me offer a sacrifice.

You either did something wrong or didn't do something right.

You either did something wrong or didn't do something right.

In transactional relationships, circumstances color God and distort his character.

In transactional relationships, circumstances color God and distort his character.

And I was beginning to look at this last week.

One of the desires I had for myself,

and I pray, God, that it be a desire I have for you and you have for yourself,

is that, oh, God, can I end every minute, second hour

of transactional relationship with you this year?

That I will never think like this.

That I will never think along the lines of, why aren't you here?

Why haven't you answered me?

Why haven't you answered me?

That there will never be a time when my first place that I go to will be,

oh, shucks, I've done something wrong.

Oh, God is upset.

No, not the first place I go to.

That will never happen.

Is this something that you don't experience at all?

Am I only preaching to myself?

Or am I just checking because either you're super tired or it doesn't apply to you?

Here's how God really thinks.

Here's how God really thinks.

I can, if he was speaking, he would speak like this.

I can be grieved.

I can be displeased.

I can be exploited.

I can be defied and I can be hurt by you.

But I never condemn you and I never lash out at you.

I can be grieved.

I can be displeased.

I can be hurt by you.

I can be defied by you.

I can be exploited by you.

But Jacob, I will never condemn you.

And I will never lash out at you or do anything in anger.

I can be grieved.

I can be displeased.

I can be hurt by you.

I can be defied by you.

You can exploit me and take advantage of me again and again and you do.

But this, I assure you, Jacob, I will never condemn you.

Never condemn you.

And I will never do anything out of anger to you.

Never.

Here's another one.

When your actions have consequences, I'll be there with a toolkit to repair things.

When your actions have consequences, can we believe this, guys?

Can we believe this?

It's so hard sometimes to believe this.

It's because our relationship with people is a certain way or we have been treated a certain way that we keep superimposing it on God.

Can I actually believe this?

That when I have done things that are wrong and there are consequences,

that he's not waiting there till I get to a place where I'm really, really, really sorry before he helps.

It is not the way of a parent.

And so, when your actions have consequences,

and actions do have consequences,

God is not taking away the reality of the fact that there are consequences

and that he loves disciplining because he's a father,

because he doesn't want children to harm themselves in the future.

Those things are real.

But he wants this part first so that he can do that part without us getting scared of him or us being afraid of him.

When your actions have consequences, I'll be there with a toolkit to fix what is broken.

When your sin makes you feel dirty or guilty, I'll be there with water.

When your sin makes you feel guilty or dirty, I'll be there with water.

When your sin makes you feel guilty or dirty, I'll be there with water.

When you resent me, I'll be there with persistent kindness.

When you resent me, I'll be there with persistent kindness.

When you are dull to my presence, cold, I'll come as blazing light.

I will counter whatever is happening in your life.

I know what is going to happen before it happens,

and I will be there immediately as any mother or father is there.

When a child, regardless of whether it's their fault or not their fault, gets into any kind of trouble,

just as a parent is there, I am already there.

But can you begin to believe this?

If you can believe this, Jacob, you will see things with greater clarity.

If you can't see, you cannot hear.

A child that is afraid of the parent's frown usually does not hear,

because you are scared to look at the parent.

And if you can't see, then you cannot hear.

And it gets more confusing.

And as it gets more confusing, what do we do?

We behave exactly like orphans.

We go into self-reliance, we go into abandonment, we go into control,

we take over and we decide we can fix this.

And then after that, go into a prayer of repentance when everything is done.

I hate prayers of repentance.

I want to love first before I repent.

I want to love before I repent.

I want to be in love when I repent.

I don't want to repent without being in love.

Draw me back to you, O God.

I will cry my eyes out and say, I am so sorry.

What if I am not drawn back?

My repentance is just a prayer.

I am not interested, O God, and neither are you.

Neither are you.

One of the things he wants to convince us, convince us really, not even reassure us,

persuade us, is that this is how I am always.

So don't delay when things are going wrong.

Don't delay.

Get this part right and all the other parts will work out.

Here are a few more lines from him.

I am incapable of hurting you, failing you, rejecting you, ignoring you.

I'm incapable of it.

I, God, am incapable of failing you.

I'm incapable of hurting you.

I'm incapable of rejecting you.

Best of all, I'm incapable of ignoring you.

We can believe that he won't fail.

There are enough songs that say that.

Like Don always says, God hasn't failed him yet.

Not God.

It's like Don always sings, God hasn't failed him yet.

Yeah.

The failing part we know God won't.

Rejecting part we kind of know God won't.

But the thing that we are not sure of is ignoring.

And he wants to reassure us today that I am not capable of ignoring you.

I'm not capable of ignoring you.

You are present before me 24x7.

I'm not capable of ignoring you.

I may be absent in your life, Jacob, for large chunks of time in a day.

But there is not a moment when you are not present before me.

It is not possible for me to ignore you.

So when things are delayed, can you trust that it's not being ignored?

Can you trust that there's no grip?

That you don't have to delve into some mystery of what needs to be known?

If you love, you will find it so much easier to walk to here, to see, to wait.

Waiting gets so much easier when you know you're loved, because it will come.

When you're loved, you know he or she will come.

At the young adults camp, I think it was Jeremy who said,

Oh God, show me your worth.

No, may I see your worth and may I draw my worthiness from your worth?

And he usually comes up with some nice lines like that.

But it is so true.

If you go to Songs 1-6, that's what's happening.

This peasant woman is saying, do not gaze at me because I am dark.

And she feels like she's not worthy.

And what does he go and say?

He says exactly the opposite.

You are my fair one.

You are beautiful.

And the way he says it is absolutely convincing.

That's the great thing about God.

He's the only one who can say things that you will actually believe it.

You can come and tell me, Jacob, you're a lean, mean fighting machine.

And I will laugh at your face.

Oh my God, if he says it, I'll believe it, man.

I'll even go and buy pants that are four inches tighter at the waist.

That's one thing about God, when he says something, you can be sure that you will believe it.

He has that ability.

He made you.

And she believed it.

She believed it because the rest of the chapters are about her running after him.

Behold, you have come over the mountains, upon the hills.

To you I will run, my beloved, you've captured my heart.

The same woman who could not bear to be gazed at is now running over hills and mountains because he has captured her heart.

Next one.

You are the object.

It's so hard to fathom this one.

It doesn't matter how many times I say it.

You are the object of my extravagant love.

I think it was Anna, George Ann, who said that this morning, this evening.

You are the object of my extravagant love.

Very hard for me to believe that.

Very hard for you to believe that.

Extravagant love?

No.

It's very easy to believe in extravagant love.

All you have to do is remove that one thing you are waiting for God to do.

Do you realize that the reason we stop short of believing everything about God splendidly is because of some temporal thing we are praying for that hasn't come to pass?

Remove that and you suddenly begin to believe it.

It's crazy.

And it can be something as small as getting a ticket to a show and something as big as praying for someone who may be dying.

But remove that and suddenly you can believe in his extravagant love.

Because of these little things that keep coming up, you keep getting blinded to his extravagant love.

Always find out what's blocking your vision.

And then do the Tom Cruise thing in Mission Impossible.

Peel it away.

I know you didn't get that mic. It's okay.

You're the object of my extravagant delight or love.

You're the target of my reckless delight.

Target of my delight.

That I target you.

With my delight.

I said this last year.

A year ago I said this.

You inhabit what you think.

Can you think that you are the target of his delight?

And that you are the focus of his laughter-filled favor?

That you're the focus of his laughter-filled favor?

I'm not the parent of any of the children in this church.

Oh my God, I sometimes delight in them.

And if I can, then surely he can.

The focus of his laughter-filled favor.

The target of his reckless love.

The object of his extravagant delight.

Each of those words is so hard to actually believe in.

And if I lived like this, you would notice.

It would change me.

It would change me.

I wouldn't be this way.

It would change me.

And it would change you.

Next one.

I placed in you the Abba cry.

So you can instinctively have the privilege of intimacy.

I placed in you the Abba cry.

So that you can instinctively have the privilege of intimacy.

Instinctively.

Meaning, hey, it is impossible for me to ignore the Abba cry.

I put it in you.

I put it in you so that Jacob, when you're in trouble,

when you have sinned, when you're in the middle of fear,

when you're anxious, when you're joyful, when you're scared,

when you don't know how to escape out of the pit that you have dug,

when you've been thrown into a pit by others,

listen, there's something that I've put in you

that gives you the privilege of intimacy.

And it is instinctive.

It is the first thing that comes out.

Do not let the world, do not let your circumstances,

do not let theology, do not let religion,

crowd out that cry.

It is a cry I always respond to.

Cry it out.

If the only thing you said in worship is,

Abba, Abba, Abba, it is the most pleasing sound in heaven.

Because at the end of the day,

the one thing he came to restore was fatherhood.

So why would that not be the first word you spoke,

just like a child says, Papa, or nowadays Mama?

Next one.

I may be absent in your daily life,

but you're always present before me.

And you're super loved.

I may be absent in your daily life,

but you are always present before me.

You're always present before me.

Don't go through the Psalm 100,

enter his quotes with thanksgiving and praise.

All that is Old Testament.

Don't go there.

There is no protocol for you.

You're always present before me.

Don't come hesitantly.

Did you read Hebrews 10, Throne of Grace?

Freshly slain blood pathway into my presence.

You're always present before me.

Turn.

You don't even have to turn actually,

because I'm always in your face.

I'm a face-to-face God.

Don't even go into repentance.

First go Abba.

And your heart which runs after me will melt and you will repent.

Don't wait.

Don't wait.

Don't jump through hoops you've created for yourself.

Oh, I'll have to first confess all my sins.

And then I'll have to really convince him that I'm really sorry for it.

Like really demean myself and so he might think better of me.

And then go through, oh Jesus, your blood.

Wash this, wash that, wash that.

My God, man.

Brilliant.

1 John 1, 9 says, if you confess your sins,

I'm faithful and just to forgive.

Do not mess with that.

Confess your sins.

Confess your sins, but confess your sins because you're sorry for them.

Don't confess your sins to get a clean slate.

That is the difference between loving and not loving.

I, let this church end a desire to have a clean slate.

Let this church greatly desire a repaired, wholesome, thriving relationship.

Because here's a fact.

The slate is already clean because his blood has paid for all my sins.

Our confession is not so that we inform him.

Our confession is an admission that there is broken relationship.

The strange thing is in the story of the prodigal son,

he does not even give his son time to confess.

The guy is planning his confession prayer.

And he's coming from a distance and he's got the whole thing in his head.

But unfortunately, he doesn't get a say because his father sees him at a distance.

And as his father comes running to him, what do you think is happening to the son's heart?

Oh my God, he must be weeping buckets saying, shoot, I can't even remember the words, but this is overwhelming.

And out of that will come a song for his dad that will show repentance.

One of the things Jesus said to his disciples was, hey, I give you the right to forgive sins.

If you don't retain them, I will not retain them.

And one of the things he says in the letters and in the gospel is, try and see it at a distance.

Try and see someone repentant at a distance.

Sometimes one doesn't have to go through a repenting prayer.

You can see it.

It's not that we have to suddenly become like the Catholic Church and forgive people and do a confessional and a few Hail Marys.

That's not what I'm saying.

I'm saying that sometimes repentance is a condition of the…

Not sometimes. It's always a condition of the heart.

Let the words come from the heart, not the words. Inform the heart.

The heart must inform the words.

Next one.

Don't jump through hoops that you have constructed for yourself.

My love is already yours. My love is already yours.

Run. Run. Run into my arms. Find relief.

Don't jump through hoops.

My love is already yours. Run. Run into my arms.

In the safety of my arms, begin to speak.

In the safety of my arms, go to 1 John 1.9.

In the safety of my arms, tell me your frustrations.

In the safety of my arms, tell me your sin.

In the safety of my arms, tell me that you find it impossible to escape sin.

Tell me that you know that even if you ask for forgiveness, tomorrow you will again go and watch something on TV or on internet you shouldn't.

That you will again go and drink.

That you will again go and this, do this or that.

Tell me in my arms.

You tell me that in my arms and I will bring you into a place of freedom that you can never get through Christian Hoopla.

One of the coolest things is when children can run into the arms of their parents and then begin to tell them what's wrong instead of running away.

Children do that.

Despite what you think, I don't stand by silently when bad things happen to you.

It's so natural for me to work on your behalf.

It's so natural for me to work on your behalf.

I don't stand by silently.

Stop thinking like that.

When things are going really bad, you think to yourself, where is me?

As in where is God?

He's saying to us, can you first get this through your head and heart that I'm very different from what you superimpose on me.

Once you get that, you'll be able to hear clearly.

God put Christ into me and me into Christ.

It says so in John 14.20.

In John 14.20, it says God put Christ into me and put me into Christ so that his presence was no longer dependent on me.

So that his presence was no longer dependent on me.

His presence is no longer dependent on me.

He put me in Christ and he put Christ in me.

His presence is no longer dependent on me.

This is why Psalm 100 is no longer applicable.

I don't have to enter his presence a certain way.

I don't have to do anything in this church for him to enter.

When I say church, I'm not meaning building.

Don't have to do anything.

He put himself in me and he put me in himself.

So that presence is no longer an issue.

It's no longer dependent on me.

As a son or a daughter, you draw my presence.

You don't have to grovel for it.

You don't have to perform for it.

I will not repel you.

As a son or daughter, you now draw my presence.

You draw my presence.

One of the ways we know that we have drawn his presence is sometimes our ways of worshiping.

If you need to warm up before worship becomes something that really touches you,

know that there is a distance.

You should be able to connect with his presence instantly because he draws you.

You're not drawing him.

May not a song be sung in this church to draw him.

May every song be sung because he draws you.

Our experience of God's nearness or God's distance is not an actual description of proximity.

It's just our experience of intimacy with him.

When we feel he's distant or when we feel he's close,

it's not a definition or description of his proximity.

It's just an experience of intimacy.

May you always therefore be able to say,

Ah shucks, he's here.

And sometimes may you see more.

And may it not be during times of worship.

May it be at times when you read scripture, like the peasant woman.

May it be at times when you're driving and you begin to shout and cry and sing loudly.

May it be with a friend at a restaurant where you cannot escape the urge to now ask the waiter for some bread and break bread openly.

May it be in times of deep distress where suddenly he begins to tent in your infirmity

and 2 Corinthians 12 comes to pass.

That my grace is more evident in your weakness.

How many of us have actually experienced that on a monthly basis?

The sad truth is not so.

In the deepest distress, how did guys like Paul immediately know how to not pray but know presence?

They just knew.

Therefore, he says, I now boast in my weaknesses and my infirmity.

Because whenever I'm weak, then I'm super strong.

Where was the fourth man? Always in the fire.

That's another thing I desire for us.

That every time things go wrong, we immediately get more intimate.

How crazy would that be?

That'd be so nuts.

Every time things go wrong, every time things are beginning to unravel, in the unraveling, there he is.

And then, what do you do, man?

That situation becomes so overcomeable.

Practice this, guys. It won't happen overnight.

These are not miracles that'll happen.

These are learned things.

A miracle will happen and it'll help you once, but it doesn't teach you.

Miracles supplies a solution.

It doesn't teach you.

If it taught you, then the ten lepons are going to be your enemies.

If it taught you, then the ten lepons would have all come back.

I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the Father.

I was created to enjoy what Jesus has with the Father.

What does Jesus have with the Father?

What does Jesus have with the Holy Spirit?

A certain kind of oneness and intimacy and affection, a trust that is ridiculous.

In Christ, I'm included in the Trinity.

Take it and if you want to think that's bad theology, that's fine.

I'm just trying to tell you what it looks like.

In Christ, I'm now included in the same relationship Jesus has with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

It is a strange oneness.

It's deep intimacy.

It's heartfelt affection.

It's deep trust.

And he's saying, hey, I want you to enjoy this too.

I'll go over it line by line with you.

Jesus says that.

In Matthew 11, he says, this is a unique father-son operation that comes out of unique father-son intimacies.

Can I therefore go over it line by line with you so that you can partake in what I have?

Matthew 11.

Matthew 11.

We must show the world how to live out this intimacy with the Father.

We must, hey, remember, Jesus came, why did Jesus come?

Yes, we say he came to die for our sins.

But what's the fundamental reason Jesus came?

Jesus came to show us the Father.

Jesus Christ came to show us the Father.

We must show people our intimacy with the Father.

It makes them...

which basically means hungry after the same thing.

In every man is a desire to know God.

In every man.

That's why there are religions.

Religions wouldn't fly if man didn't need something.

We've got to show them what it is to be intimate with the Father.

Make this one of your chief aims, eh?

You know what the theme was for the Young Adults Retreat?

It was, it is our assignment to make known publicly here,

openly displayed, the will of heaven on earth and the ways of heaven on earth.

And to achieve that, there's a process of wisdom, of prayer and of radical obedience

that has to be learned so that we can show that.

Where are the Enoch's that walk with God in such intimacy that they disappear?

You got a question?

Can I just ask a question on this topic of growing in the Christian?

I know you mentioned how David was raised by the Holy Spirit.

Are you able to elaborate on the practice of growing in the Christian?

I was thinking David's story, I think, is a little bit more of a...

I was thinking David's Psalms is an example.

I think the point I was trying to make was that stark honesty is a requisite for intimacy.

Without honesty, there is no intimacy.

And it is so hard to be honest either because I want to hide something

or because I don't want to enter into that kind of a relationship.

We think with God it should be easy and surprisingly for some strange reason it's not.

I am sure there is but...

The strange thing about intimacy, guys, it's never method.

It's not method.

Intimacy is not achieved through methods.

It's not achieved through methods.

Spiritual disciplines are different.

Methods are different.

Intimacy is different.

Spiritual disciplines teach you the ways of Christ.

Methods teach you religion.

Intimacy is different.

It neither uses spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines can help intimacy grow.

But intimacy is something that comes from one place.

Yeah.

When Paul is talking about it, he is saying,

Can I bring you into a maturity, George and Anne, where you are conformed to the stature of Christ?

So if you want to be conformed to the stature of Christ,

one of the things you'll have to become is someone deeply in love with the Father.

For that intimacy is required.

To grow in intimacy, I must know what I'm getting intimate with.

Worship is absolutely pointless in a church if teaching is not done.

You cannot worship what you do not know.

When churches think worship is the main thing they should do,

I'm saying to you, it's unbiblical because you cannot worship what you do not know.

You have to teach the truth and then worship in spirit and in truth.

And therefore, to become mature, I must be one who loves the Father like Christ loved the Father.

And to do that, sometimes I have to sit at his feet and ask him to tell me what he's written,

ask him to tell me about himself till he himself gets so fed up and says,

I'll never take this portion from you but, Kenan, you leave me alone for a while.

He won't say that. But that's what we're talking about.

That woman was intimate.

Intimacy frees you to do things in public that you would never do.

When one is intimate with somebody, they are not afraid of expressing their intimacy publicly.

I want to say to you that it doesn't matter which country you come from,

which background or ethnicity you come from,

this thing is true that when one is deeply in love, one is not afraid of public display.

It doesn't mean we'll all display it all the same,

but it does mean that there will be public display because intimacy is never hidden.

It was so not hidden that Jesus would talk about his dad as if he was present there

and by the same token, the dad would loudly announce in the presence of people

that this kid is mine and he's beloved. Listen to him.

When I first became mature, I was a little bit scared.

When I first became a believer, the old-timers here know this.

When I first became... I think that's what we'll call the... No, no, forget it.

No, no, no. I'm moving on.

When I first became a believer, I used to go to this church that was run by the US Navy.

And there was a pastor there. I met him just once. His name was Sid Spain.

I've Googled him, trying to find him. I haven't been able to find him.

If you arrived for the service early, you would hear him having conversations

and you would look for the other person here and you wouldn't find him. Why?

Because he was having conversations with God and it was crazy.

And I would hunger for it, saying,

Gosh, I wish I could talk like this with someone invisible.

Intimacy is public. Intimacy doesn't care about being foolish.

Okay, so what do we do about this?

Here is voice and you will hear his heart. Every morning, hear his voice and you'll hear his heart.

Hear his voice. His compassion is new every morning.

His compassion is new every morning.

Hear his voice and you will hear his heart.

Let his words frame your day. Let his words frame your day.

Hear his voice, you will hear his heart.

His compassion is new every morning. It won't be the same thing.

Let his words frame your day. Let his words frame your day.

Please, I beg you and if you don't, then find it another time.

And if you fail, don't shy away.

Go running into his arms saying, I failed. I didn't have time for you.

You were like a pigeon in the park that I threw scraps to.

I did not have time for you.

But here I come running because I will sit in your arms and tell you that I failed.

But I refuse to stand at a distance.

Won't be at a distance.

Won't be at a distance.

Sorry.

What did you say? Okay.

So, hear his voice and you'll hear his heart.

It'll change your life. I assure you it'll change your life.

Carve out time.

Again, we say, let his words frame your day.

Carve out time.

Again, we said this as a younger adult.

If you begin to carve out time, all I'm asking of you, all I'm asking of you as a pastor, as your pastor, is carve out 16 minutes.

16 minutes of your time.

Why 16? Because it's more than 15.

No other reason.

Carve out 16 minutes early.

Don't be a night person saying I'm a night.

No, God has made me a night person.

Exactly. You usually fall asleep when you start praying then.

So, carve out time.

Just take 16 minutes because daily bread can be finished in 15 minutes.

Take a little more.

And if you start at 16 minutes, I assure you, as this begins to happen, the 16 will become 18, will become 25, will become 30,

until sometimes you will become an addict and you will have withdrawal symptoms when you do not do this for a day or two.

It'll unravel your life.

It'll be like nothing is working because I haven't had my.

Forgive me for repeating this, but hear his voice and you'll hear his heart.

It's hard to practice, but his compassion is new every morning.

Let his words frame your day.

He'll be different every day.

One day it'll be because you're hiding.

He'll say, Adam, where are you?

Another day you'll be sad that you haven't been able to connect with him.

And he'll say, Mary, who are you looking for?

And she'll turn around and she'll say, Rabbanai, is it you?

Another day it'll be you kind of disappointed that yesterday things didn't work out.

And he'll be by the beach and he'll have a fire going.

And he'll say to you, boys, do you have some fish?

Another day it'll be changing the name of Rachel's second born Benoni to Benjamin.

You know what Benjamin means?

It says in Deuteronomy 33 verse 2 that Benjamin is the one who sits between God's shoulders.

Deuteronomy 33:2

Do you know what it is to start the day like that?

Imagine Matt carrying Shiloh on his shoulders.

Imagine Sheldon.

You don't have to imagine.

He actually does it.

Imagine carrying Phoebe on his shoulders.

Imagine, what's his name, carrying Cowboy on his shoulders.

Sorry, what's his name is Vivek.

The Cowboy is Emmanuel.

He has that little scarf and he walks around like a Cowboy who's just gotten off his horse and isn't familiar with the ground.

Sit between his shoulders.

You should read it.

Deuteronomy 33.

Deuteronomy 33.

I'm so excited.

I'm full of life suddenly.

Deuteronomy 33.

Verse 12.

Deuteronomy 33, 12.

About Benjamin he said, Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long.

And the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

In other words, in that carried between his shoulders, it puts you up here, man.

What if you could start your day like that?

16 minutes.

Kill it, man.

I'm not talking about reading your Bible during that time.

Just 16 minutes of getting his words into your heart.

And don't worry if every day it is, I love you, I love you, I love you for the first 16 days.

It's okay.

You'll get the hang of it.

Those words are life changing.

Do not fear.

I love you.

Again, these are things old timers know.

At the worst time in my life, which was shortly before 2001, because everything in my life was broken.

I go with Pastor Mike to Seattle and I enter a house where there's a prayer meeting.

And there's a guy called Ira sitting there, hasn't seen me.

And I go in and the word he's asking me is, what's your name?

Jacob.

And he says, Jacob, you are special to the Lord.

I cried for the rest of the meeting.

Like on any other day, if you tell me I'm special, I'll either say, yeah, I know, or I'll say, sorry, totally arrogant.

On any other day, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

But that day, it just ripped my heart out of, man.

You're special to the Lord.

You're special to the Lord.

Suddenly, all the pain of seven, eight months of everything being broken in my life began to get repaired.

Do not think that words like I love you or you are special to the Lord.

When God speaks it, it will do what it needs to.

16 minutes every day.

Last couple of sentences and then we're done.

Hey, can you, Sere, can you get your guitar?

What you think about him and who you perceive him to be towards you affects your personality, your identity, your self-awareness, your interactions every day.

What you think about him and how and who you perceive him to be towards you.

What you think about him, how you think he thinks about you, who you perceive him to be towards you affects your personality, your self-awareness, your identity, your interactions every day.

What you think about him.

Many times we don't think anything about him, nothing bad, nothing good.

We think he's neutral.

What you think about him.

How you think he thinks of you.

And who you perceive him to be towards you affects your identity, your personality, your self-awareness and your interactions.

But hearing him is so difficult, his sight is blurred.

God is saying, go wash your face in the word.

Intimacy is by faith, emotions are secondary.

Never reverse that, never flip it.

Intimacy is by faith, emotions are secondary.

They do kick in, but intimacy is by faith.

Emotions are secondary.

Do not reverse the order.

Do not flip it around.

It will come together, but intimacy is by faith.

Emotions are secondary.

Every day, find his presence.

Find his face, find his face.

The word presence comes from a Hebrew word called panim.

Panim means face.

Every day, find his face, find his presence.

16 minutes.

I feel like I'm promoting a book.

Find his presence every day and you will find his heart towards you.

Find his presence, find his face every day and you will find his heart towards you.

Find his face every day and you will find his heart towards you.

And if you will practice it, here is God's guarantee.

Here is God's guarantee.

Jacob, how can you guarantee something on behalf of God?

Because he says so, because he said so to me, and because the word says so.

Three things.

Here's what he says.

Find my face every day, Jacob, and you will find my heart.

And if you practice this, I guarantee you, Psalm 16, verse 11.

Psalms 16:11

I guarantee you, Psalm 16, verse 11.

Psalms 16:11

I guarantee you, Psalm 16, verse 11.

Psalms 16:11

These are guarantees at the beginning of the year.

Take your rightful place.

Come, take your rightful place.

Be loved, then love him, then love others.

Did he bring the guitar?

Ah.

Can you put that song up?

What's your name sitting behind, next to what's your name?

Oh, sorry.

Hey, Jane, do you have the pic anywhere here?

This is a song we used to sing long ago.

But it's a cool song to conclude with.

Any questions?

Before we sing.

Do you want to play?

Okay.

Don't need a difference, not necessary.

Okay, if you don't know this song, it's easy.

You are my father, you are my father.

We'll wait for the words to come up behind.

Hey, you'll go and practice all these things, no?

Be super helpful, man.

Really affect the way you are.

It'll change you. We'll see it.

You'll see it in me, I'll see it in you.

Make sure the pews are stacked up on the side before we leave, yeah?

This piano is as old as Mike.

It was here when he was here.

Older?

Oh.

You are my father, you are my father.

You hold my future and destiny.

You are my father, you are my father.

In you I find my identity.

You are my father, you are my father.

You hold my future and destiny.

You are my father, you are my father.

In you I find my identity.

Lay your hands on me.

Tell me who I am.

I can do all things.

If you say I can.

Show me I am free.

Free to accomplish your plans for me.

You are my father, you are my father.

You hold my future, my destiny.

You are my father, you are my father.

In you I find my identity.

Lay your hands.

You've laid your hands on me.

You've told me who I am.

I am a covenant son.

Your will is my command.

One more time, you've laid.

You've laid your hands on me.

You've told me who I am.

I am a covenant son.

Your will is my command.

One last time, you've laid your hands.

You've laid your hands on me.

You tell me who I am.

I am a covenant son.

Your will is my command.

You have set me free.

Free to accomplish your plans for me.

You are my father, you are my father.

You hold my future, my destiny.

You are my father, you are my father.

In you I find my identity.

In you I find my identity.

Father, as we go from here,

may there be no gap between what we heard and what we practice.

Spirit of God, I know you've done this in our lives before.

Can you do it again, where at some point tomorrow morning

you lay an urgency, a demand on my heart, on every heart here,

saying, hey, 16 minutes.

Regardless of how sleepy we are, we'll somehow scramble up.

Why?

Because there's someone coming over the mountains, coming over the hills

who has captured my heart.

I cannot go back into my PJs, put on my socks, and not answer the door.

Please come knocking.

I'm asking for the entire church.

It's pointless for just a few of us to do this.

I want all of us, Father.

Behold, you have come over the hills, upon the mountains.

To you I will run, my beloved.

You've captured my heart.

Please, Jesus, tomorrow, come knocking.

And then if some of us fail because it's been a tiring weekend,

when we wake up instead of feeling guilty,

just go looking for you and run into your arms and say, shh, feeling really guilty.

Allow us to start this year from a place inside your arms,

between your shoulders.

Please, Lord, grant this.

It's a hunger and a thirst.

Please grant it.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Hey, there'll be people to pray for you here on this side.

So feel free, oh, not on this side, on this side.

Feel free to come up and they'll pray with you.

And this is a decent place, right?

I took a photograph so that we can fill it.

I wish we had taken a photograph of the young adults from 2018.

There were about 15 or 16 of us.

When I looked, there were like too many men.

So, pardon?

Betty. It all depends on Betty.

She's disappeared. She knew I would call her up for reckless love.

Alrighty, let's go home.

Oh no, she didn't disappear. She was sitting, but too late.

Pardon?