JUL 9 2017 | The Giant Series S1E11 | 1 Samuel 10

Sea Change Church · The Giant Series S1E11 · "1 Samuel 10" · Joe Brandi · July 9, 2017
1 Samuel 10
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

In today's text, as we look at the life of King Saul, the beginnings of his ministry, this is a guy with everything going for him, but he's scared to death. Sometimes that's us. Lord, even in the best preparation, how we need your touch and your courage and your guidance. So, Lord, thank you that you hear our prayer as we gather together and as brothers and sisters in Christ.

We come and we prepare to hear your word. Thank you. Speak to us a word for us. In Jesus' name. Amen. Let's be seated together, shall we? We're continuing in 1 Samuel and the story of the engagement with giants, giant situations, giant momentous decisions. And we're in 1 Samuel chapter 10. Samuel, the prophet, summoned the people to the Lord at Mitzpah, and he said to the Israelites, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says.

I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you've rejected your God who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions. You said to him, you must set a king over us. Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and clans. And Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected.

And then he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward by its clans, and the Maitrite clan was selected. And finally, Saul, the son of Kish, was selected as king. When they searched for him, however, they could not find him. They again inquired of the Lord, has the man come here yet? And the Lord replied, there he is, hidden among the supplies. They ran and got him from there.

And when he stood among the people, he stood a head taller than anyone else. And Samuel said to all the people, do you see the one the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among the entire population. And all the people shouted, long live the king. Samuel proclaimed to the people the rights of kingship. He wrote them on a scroll, which he placed in the presence of the Lord.

And then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his home. And Samuel also went to his home in Gibeah. And brave men whose heart God had touched went with him. But some wicked men said, how can this guy save us? They despised him. Did not bring him a gift. And Saul said, nothing. This is God's true word to us this morning. We give him thanks. Lord, please bless Pastor Joe as he comes and ministers this word.

He is gifted. And may those gifts come alive by your spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. All right. This is happening. I'm Joe Brandy. And I am missions pastor here at the church. If you have any questions about missions, if you ever want to go to visit some orphans in Mexico, talk to me. That's not what this message is about.

But I want to ask you this question. Is God a giant in your life or are you a giant? God is a giant who constantly gives graciously. God is a giant God who constantly gives graciously. Exodus 34, 6 says, as God passed by Moses, Moses wanted to have God reveal himself to him. And he puts him in his cleft of the rock. And he says, proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Do you believe that in your core of core about God? That's good. I don't. I mean, I do, but I don't, if you know what I'm saying. Because sometimes we're raised by certain father figures or coaches or whatever. And when conflict comes, we're used to people being angry. And it's all performance based. So some of us have to work extra hard to believe by faith this default that God is a gracious, compassionate God.

God is a gracious, compassionate God. And yet we are constantly in want and many times are not satisfied and we want something else. And we want someone else. We're going to have a cue in the background. And we're going to read a story that's like a picture of how God is giant in graciousness and how we're a giant self. Man, I hope I don't cry.

Does anybody remember this story when you're kids? How many people don't know about this story? It's okay. Great. This is called The Giving Tree by, what's his name? Shal Sel. Thank you. All right. Let's read it. The Giving Tree. Once there is a tree. Sorry about that. All right. Getting a little emotional. Yeah. Once there is a tree and she loved the little boy.

And every day the boy would come and would gather her leaves and make into them crowns and play king of the forest. He'd climb up her trunk, swing from her branches, eat the apples. And they would play hide and go seek. And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade. And the boy loved the tree very much. And the tree was happy. But time went by.

And the boy grew older. And the tree was often alone. And then one day the boy came to the tree. And the tree said, come boy. Climb up my trunk, sweep from my branches, eat my apples and play in my shade and be happy. I'm too big to climb and play, said the boy. I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. I'm sorry, said the tree, but I have no money.

I have only leaves and apples. Take my apples, boy. Sell them in the city. Then you'll have money. You'll be happy. Oh, good. Let's all do this together. That's good. I love it. And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away. And the tree was happy. But the boy stayed away for a long time. And the tree was sad. And then one day the boy came back.

And the tree shook with joy. And she said, come boy. Climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy. I am too busy to climb trees, said the boy. I want a house to keep me warm, he said. I want a wife and I want children. And so I need a house. Can you give me a house? I have no house, said the tree. The forest is my house. But you may cut off my branches and build a house.

Then you will be happy. And so the boy cut off her branches and carried them away to build his house. And the tree was happy. But the boy stayed away for a long time. And when he came back, the tree was so happy she could hardly speak. Come, boy, she whispered. Come and play. I am too old and sad to play, said the boy. I want a boat that will take me far away from here.

Can you give me a boat? Cut down my trunk and make a boat, said the tree. Then you can sail away and be happy. And so the boy cut down her trunk and made a boat and sailed away. And the tree was happy, but not really. And after a long time, the boy came back again. I'm sorry, boy, said the tree. But I have nothing left to give you. My apples are gone.

My teeth are too weak for apples, said the boy. My branches are gone, said the tree. You cannot swing on them. I'm too old to swing on branches, said the boy. My trunk is gone, said the tree. You cannot climb. I'm too tired to climb, said the boy. I'm sorry, sighed the tree. I wish that I could give you something. But I have nothing left. I'm just an old stump.

I am sorry. I don't need very much now, said the boy. Just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired. Well, said the tree. Straighten herself up as much as she could. Well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, boy, sit down. Sit down and rest. And the boy did, and the tree was happy. Isn't that deep? That is the gospel of a gracious God that never gives up, never gives up on us, and continues to give and give and give from his sustenance, from his essence, and who he is.

And so many times we take and we take and we go far away. And notice he never, I don't think he ever said thank you to the tree. Some of your kids maybe have done that to you. This is the story of God. Good father. Thank you so much. Give it up for yourselves. Let's change the emotion a little bit in here. All right. So, story of God constantly giving out of his core.

You know, I was thinking, one of my friends was talking to her about this sermon. She said, don't shame the people. I'm not trying to shame the people. But, you know, sometimes you say something that can kind of hook a wound and you feel shamed. And I was realizing, you know, people who are in Christ that love Jesus, we do say thank you. Not perfectly, but we say thank you.

People that don't love Jesus yet, they really don't say thank you to God. So, I was just thinking about that. Historical setting of this text is God made a people. And over a thousand years, he raised up different people. Abraham, Noah. My chronology might be wrong. It's all these theologians. Abraham, all the forefathers. Joshua, Joshua, raises up some judges.

That was a hard time. And then he raises up a prophet named Samuel to lead the people. And God was the king. God was the invisible, mysterious king. But the king wanted, the people wanted a king on their own terms. And to fully, there's a little bit of reading in this and then I'll do more explanation. To fully understand what we're going to talk about today, I have to read this.

So, Samuel, who Pastor Adam's been talking about, this prophet had gotten old. And he appointed judges for his people, but this wasn't good enough. So, in 1 Samuel chapter 8, leading up to that text that we read. Samuel, he grew old. He appointed his sons as judge for Israel. He goes under their names. But the sons did not walk in his ways. And they turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

So, all the elders of Israel gathered together. And they came to Samuel at Ramah. And they said to him, you're old. Your sons don't walk in your ways. Now, appoint a king to lead us, such as the other nations have. But they said, when they said, give us a king to lead us, this displeased Samuel. So, he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him, listen to all the people, what they're saying.

It's not you they've rejected, but they've rejected me as their king. As they've done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaken me, serving other gods. So, they're doing to you. Now, listen to them. But warn them solemnly. And let them know what the king who will reign over them will do to us. Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who was asking for a king.

He said, this is what the king, and he's talking about Saul, will do. He's going to reign over you. He's going to take your sons and make them serve his chariots and his horses. And they'll run in front of his chariots. Some he'll assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties. And others, they'll plow the ground, reap his harvest.

Still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He'll take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He'll take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He'll take a tenth of your grain of your vintage and give it to his officials in attendance. Your men's servants, maid's servants, the best of your cattle and donkeys, he will take for his own use.

He will take a tenth of your flocks and yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will cry out to relief from the king you have chosen. And the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to listen to Samuel. They said, no, we want a king over us. Then we'll be like all the other nations with a king to lead us and to go out before and fight our battles.

That's again the word of the Lord. Why do we want a king? I think the first core motivation is we have fear. Fear is the little mind death that brings total obliteration. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Have you ever experienced that? The fear just cuts even deeper than swords. We reject God as a king maybe because of fear. God is invisible God. And it's hard to trust in somebody that you can't always see who doesn't maybe speak directly to you the way you want him to.

And you lose perspective. And you get robbed of the blessed life that he wants for you. Esau in the Old Testament is so hungry that he gives us his birthright for some soup. Because he loses perspective. Peter who had been with Jesus, the king of kings, God in flesh, gives in to fear. He's afraid of this little girl like at a campfire and afraid of this and that.

And loses perspective. And lets other people be king. Could go on and on. The Israelites lost perspective. They want another king. And I think we can lose perspective that God is the king. And be robbed from kind of a type of blessing. Be robbed from an experience of God and who he really is. I was just in Nicaragua. I flew back on Friday. And there was a family I was with.

And the wife was so afraid of jellyfishes she would not go in the ocean. I've been there like at least 15 times. Yes, I got waves. If you're wondering. Okay. So I had to assure her over and over there were no jellyfishes in Nicaragua. I think there might have been some. But I've never seen them and I've never got hit. And if she would have given in to her fear, she would have been robbed from that experience of the beach and the ocean and God.

And that is a lot of times what we do. We give in to these little fears and make them into giants. And then we substitute another king or something else in place of God. And we also reject God because we fear of not being strong and powerful. It says in the text that Saul was a foot taller. His head was way above all the other Israelites. He looked strong.

He looked good. But we read in the text what would happen when he would become king. But we love things that look good and leaders that seem strong and we substitute them for God. We want to be big so we go to the gym. We may go to the gym and take creatine to get even bigger. I've never done it. I swear. We love strong things and hate to be weak.

How many people love superheroes? Anybody love superheroes? Come on. Wolverine, Superman, Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman. You've got to see that film. Five stars if you're wondering. It's very clean too. We want to be strong. Why do people join a gang? They feel weak. They want to be part of something strong. How many of us really, we see a sports team that's horrible.

We want, I love that sports team. They're horrible. No, we want to be part of loving a team that's strong. We want to be part of a company that's strong. Rather than letting the invisible, mysterious God be giant and powerful. And work in his mysterious, patient ways. That's me. We also reject God as king because of exasperation. It's said in the text that after Samuel was getting old, he wanted to appoint his sons.

But they didn't walk in his ways. Many times we get tired of mediocrity with our boss. With the people we're in relationship with. Like maybe our wife or our husband. And we want something else. We want someone else. And even though God might have put them there. And there's something you need to learn through that situation. We don't. And we say, God, we don't want you to be king.

And we want you to replace somebody else with that because we're tired of this mediocrity. We're tired of we lose our patience in waiting for God. There's many reasons we reject God. We're able to scapegoat. Somebody we can physically touch and see and kind of judge and bring down. We reject God because we want to fit in. They said they want to be like all the other nations.

It must have been really hard for a thousand years to not have a king with chariots and an army. And all the other nations had it. And that's kind of like we are too. Like I'm sure you've met people here that love Jesus and God. And you meet somebody on a plane or you meet somebody in a coffee shop. And there's those moments where they ask you about who you love and who you believe.

And I know with me, I used to be really bold when I was in college. Now I'm like, not as bold. But because God's invisible, like I go to say stuff sheepishly. And they'll say like in the series, the Vikings who worship Odin, where's your God? He's invisible. He's hanging on a cross. That's your God. He's weak. We know that he rose. And he's much stronger than that.

We want somebody that's tactile, that's physical, that we can see. And then I was thinking, how does God feel when we reject him? And there's this theologian that said, when we kind of reject God, it's like a little kid sitting on the lap of his father and slapping him in the face. The father could like do anything he wants. And the father loves him.

So he's not going to. But it's kind of like that. And then Lance Armstrong, not the greatest hero of. That's a great documentary, by the way. If you've seen Lance Armstrong, wow. Lance Armstrong said, what does rejection sound and feel like? And he says, a boo is a lot louder than a cheer. A boo is a lot louder than a cheer. And secondly, why we reject God and why I'm going to spend a lot of time in this.

It's like 60% is on the first point is because we need to face our issues. I didn't, Pastor Adam Adam, he asked me to preach a couple of weeks ago. I was like, okay. But, you know, when you prepare for a message like this, you have to face some of your issues. And it's like, dang it. I'd rather just sit here, you know, and listen. Let Pastor Adam preach.

It's kind of convicting, but it's good. And it's cathartic and stuff like that. But we reject God because we want it our way. We know what's best. We have a smart mind. God may say something in his word and we do the opposite or we may feel something that doesn't align with his word. And God, does he really mean that? And as the music's cued up, I'm going to, we're going to sing a song together.

And we might have a slide in the background. It's the last part of how we reject him. We like to do it our way. All right. So how many of you guys know Frank Sinatra? Can you hear the music? Can you hear the music? All right. All right. I want to really sing this, but I'm not going to. But it starts like this. And now the end is near. And so I face the final curtain.

My friend, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case of which I'm certain. I've lived a life that's full. I've traveled each and every highway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way. Let's keep going. But we don't have to all sing. Regrets. I've had a few. But then again, too few to mention. I did what I had to do. And I saw it through without exemption.

I plan each charted course, each careful step along the byway. And more, much more than this, I did it my way. I'm just going to read through this. What's this? Okay. Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew, when I bit off more than I could chew. But through it all, when there was a doubt, I ate it up and I spit it out. I faced it all and I stood tall and I did it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed, and I've cried, and I've had my fill, my share of losing. And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing. To think I did all that. And may I say, not in a shy way. Oh, no. Oh, no. Not me. I did it my way. For what is man? What has he got? If not himself, then he has not. To say the things he truly feels and not the words of the one who kneels.

The record shows I took the blows and I did it my way. That's probably enough. Yes, it was my way. Give it up for yourselves, please. All right, Carol. You know, Carol, you get a chance for us to sing. That's great. I think I, I think us as a corporate one, we reject God and substitute. God is king, a father king, because of fear in multiple dimensions.

Whether it's financial, whether it's, we don't want to be weak. And then the other stuff I mentioned then too, we just are so stubborn. We're so prideful. Some more than others, you know, I'm not pointing to anybody. But in the gospel, praise God, is that Jesus the king dies for us, for sinners, so we convince saints, sons, and daughters. And then comes in our soul and our minds and reigns and rules with us as king and softens us towards himself.

And that's part of the gospel inside of us. So, even though we reject our giant God, God calls people to speak to us. God uses his giant voice to speak to us. He wants to reason with us. He wants to warn us. He wants to woo us. And that's the second point. Because God is a giant God. He has a giant word. And he wants to speak to us. Are you open to hearing his voice?

Pastor Adam says, God speaks through that, dude. You know, there's certain people that have extra gifts. And he has the gift of preaching and teaching. Not that you need to have that information, but I just thought I'd tell that. And it's going to be recorded. So, all right. And one thing he says over and over is people will come to him for counseling.

They want to know God's will. And he says, is there anything God's telling you not to do over and over and over? And you say yes. That's probably where you want to start. Because God's speaking to you with his voice. How does God speak to us? He spoke in the past through prophets. Now I believe he speaks through his word. And he speaks through especially pastors that are ordained to preach in the corporate setting.

And he speaks in the great assembly. There's so many times in the Old Testament when Samuel gathered. He said he gathered all of Israel, the great assembly. And then the Hebrew word I think is kahal, which means assembly. And then later in the Greek it's called ekklesia, which is translated church. And there's something special about when we're gathered together on Sunday to hear God's word.

And hear the worship and the fellowship of the saints. And God gets through the nooks and crannies sometimes of like maybe those walls. And he gets in there and he speaks to you. And how many of you have been more encouraged after you left Sunday than when you entered in? Can I get a witness? Is that what I'm saying? Never said that before. God speaks corporately to each other through the corporate church.

And many people, I know you've heard this say, I have a relationship with God. I don't need to go to church. That's true partially. St. Augustine said that God needs to be our father and the church needs to be our mother. And we're not saying come to this church and, you know, we're going to take attendance. But universally, God has a church. It's his bride.

It's his house. And I ask you to open yourself up to get more involved or keep coming and receiving because God will speak to you. Sometimes there's when the pastor is preaching, your mind goes somewhere else and the spirit's working on you in some other area. It's so trippy. Has that ever happened to you? But that's God's voice working because he has his ordained minister preaching and we've worshipped the word.

God speaks through also the saints. Are you in each other's lives in a small group or do you have accountability partners, if they call it? And when they actually have the courage to say something to you, do you listen to them? It's so hard. Are you like a force field, you know, deflect? Do, do, do, do, do, do. God, do you have the sound effects?

Do you receive God's word through other people or do you constantly harden your heart? And then sometimes you're, we're so, I'll just admit this because I don't get to preach that often, which is fine. I, I like to preach. I like to teach, but I'm so rooted in my identity because I was raised by coaches since I was five and I played competitive baseball even into college.

And it's all about performance. And you do anything wrong and you're yelled at and ridiculed and potentially benched. And I smuggle that. I'm a master divinity. I've walked with God for 20 years. They call me a pastor now. I've been a pastor other places and I've tried to walk away and now I'm back, I guess. But I smuggle that jacked up perspective of God into my relationship with the true God.

Do any of you do that? I know I do that. So God gives us reality checks of grace through each other. I love meeting with Kai. Hopefully we're going to meet this week. I don't meet that often with him, but when I do, God speaks to you how the grace of God through you. I love that. May we be gracious towards one another to realign ourselves that God is a gracious, fatherly God that constantly wants to give to us.

God in his giant voice speaks to us even after we might reject him. And God speaks to us about his great giant redemption. It says to the people through Samuel, I brought you out of Egypt. I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. Jesus, when he came on the scene, says, I will save you from all your enemies.

It may not be the way you like it, but I will deliver you. And ultimately from the spiritual darknesses, he defeated the devil and the spiritual dominions by dying on the cross, living perfectly where Israel and Adam failed and we failed, attaining the righteousness of the law. Dies, defeats death, rises and ascends, pours out his spirit. Spirit comes to live in us.

Church is going all over the world. The kingdom is advancing. God has a great giant redemption. There's so many stories, especially, I don't read anymore. I was a literature major and now I just watch movies. And, you know, God can speak through movies. And there's this one scene in Gladiator. It is a violent movie. I don't know how old it is, 10 years old.

Gladiator is a story of, I don't even know the name, Marcus Aurelius or something. He's a Spaniard. Captain Crunch. I don't know what his name is. I forget. I don't laugh. I'm serious. It's just names. So, he's a Spaniard leading the Roman army in Germania or something. And he destroys everything. And then somebody gets jealous. He gets taken away to slavery.

He's forced to fight in the Gladiator arena for money. And there's all these other people that are forced and they're not warriors. And there's this scene. It's beautiful and glorious. Oh, man. Why do I? I don't even cry. And then I get ready to cry. So, they have to face all these gnarly dudes at the arena. And there's like 20 dudes standing there.

And they're like, you know, what's he called? Spaniard. They call him the Spaniard. And he just walks out all alone with his sword. Goes out to the arena and kills all the bad dudes for the people. That is what God has done for us. Unilaterally through his son. As he has killed all the enemies. Physical, spiritual, inside us. For his glory. He is our champion.

And he gives us also. He's a giant, gracious God. We've made ourselves giant. Rejected him. He gives us his giant word about his giant deliverance. And he gives us a giant gospel. He gives us a giant gospel. I was thinking about myself. I was thinking about myself. Imagine that. And before I came to Jesus for salvation and faith, I was forced in a certain type of church.

But I didn't like it at all. And God seemed very far away. And I thought, this is the God that they presented me. And this God doesn't seem alive. He seems very far away. And I'm very bored. And it's all rules. And I feel horrible about myself after church. And everybody has bad breath. Nobody here has bad breath, you know, by the way. Just I remember a kid.

They just always, like, breathe on me. It was just really bad. Okay. And I kicked God out. I saw this movie called The Mission. When I was, I don't know what year in high school. And it kind of wrestles with the problem of evil with these missionaries. And remember Jeremy Irons at the end. There's these tribal Indians. And the Spaniards are coming.

It's all about Spain. The Spaniards are coming to kill and take over this indigenous area. And he's holding the Bible. He goes, God, if you don't save me, I don't believe in you. And I remember that moment. I was confronted with the problem of evil. And I kicked God totally out of my life. And I became so empty. And I started filling it with everything.

And I was so sad. I was so empty because I had no spirit. I didn't know my history because I'm like, if this is the church in God, there must be something else. And I went to the drugs, you know, and I went to everything else. I'm like, this is not my past, but I feel empty. I had no hope for the future because I didn't know what lied beyond the grave.

I had no gospel. Gospel means good news. Gospel needs good news. But then God in his providence sends messengers, sends friends to speak to me and invite me to church to hear. And when I walked into church at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, 1994, I think. I had long curly hair. I had an Indian choker. I didn't take off for a year because I was into California Indian stuff.

Eating magic mushrooms, living off the land. I used to wear overalls, all that type of stuff. It worked for me, though, I think. And all the ways I had searched. I've taken philosophy classes and asked questions and done everything and traveled all over. And it was the corporate worship of the saints that God got through. And there was these saints.

It was just a church like this, multigenerational grace church. And there was a bag of cookies. Bag of cookies? I'm going to cry. Woo! Okay. There was a bag of cookies waiting for visitors. And I'm like, nobody's been that nice to me ever. They don't even know me. And they're bag of cookies. And somebody gave me a Bible. I'd never read the Bible ever.

Because it's all fairy tales, right? And I started reading the Bible. And I started going to Bible studies. And God revealed himself to me. He revealed that all the things I'd done, he'd still chosen me before the foundation of the world. To be holy and blameless in him. That's, we can't even create that on our own. Therefore, it must come from a God outside of our system that steps in and gives us that message and blows our minds up.

Because, like, I wouldn't have thought of that. Like, even no matter what I did, if I have faith in your son that died and rose, all my sins are not counted against me. And I'm actually loved by you forever. Quote, a best friend is the only one that walks into your life when the world has walked out. I'd walked out on myself. I'd walked away from my parents.

I'd quit baseball. I'd started to give myself totally over to the flesh realm of the drugs. And I was selling it. But I was so empty. And then I came into church. And I felt the love of Christ. And I heard the word of God. And people were so kind to me. And God started to get through. And God wants to get through to you right now. And has gotten through.

And wants to continue to get through. The gospel affects your past. The gospel affects the present. And to you write, those whom the spirit comes to live are now God's new temple. They are individually and corporately places where heaven and earth meet. Do you realize that? That is beyond, you know, Transformers says, more than meets the eye. What happens at church with y'all is more than meets the eye.

It's where heaven and earth meet and touch in a special way. Thank you for participating in this. And then there's future hope of the future gospel and the good news. The resurrection completes the inauguration of God's kingdom. It is the decisive event demonstrating God's kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven. And then finally, with N.T. Wright, Jesus' resurrection is the beginning of God's new project.

Not to snatch people away from earth to heaven. But to colonize earth with the life of heaven. And Pastor talks about the four corners of the earth. The corner of your heart. The corner where you live. The corner of the church. The corner of the ends of the earth. And we're trying to make places where heaven meets the earth. And we're helping participate in changing this world.

Maybe you've already experienced that. And maybe you're going to be part of that. And lastly, last story. As I end. And I know I'm not going to use the thing of coming in for landing because I butchered that. But is, you know, walking with God, I realize I've put so much in my identity. It's been 20 years in what I do for him. I started out just a messy sinner going, oh my gosh, grace, yeah, faith, yeah.

And then the more you do ministry or the more you realize what you're supposed to do and you kind of just, you're not able to do it perfectly. Sometimes you totally disobey. And I start putting my identity in what I do. But our identity is to be in what Jesus did. And we receive by faith. And then he calls us to those good works. And then we're on that cycle again.

Because we're going to fall again. And we need to, even when we sin against one another, if that person's repentant, be gracious. Be the face of a gracious God to each other. In Nicaragua, there's a family. It's hot. This little girl had her little glasses on. And it was time to go. And she didn't want to go. So she stops. And the family goes to leave.

Come, come. Starts screaming. They go, we're leaving. Anyway, she would not leave. And the father comes. Doesn't slap the kid. Doesn't spank the kid. Doesn't yell at the kid. Picks her up. Looks in her eyes. Puts her on his shoulder. And they walk out to go home and eat. And that's what God does for us and will continue to do for us whether you know it or not.

If you're in Christ and you have faith in him, he is constantly going to pick you up, give you a hug, put you on the shoulder. And just like the giving tree is going to constantly give. Let's pray. Father, Son and Spirit, forgive me. Forgive us for rejecting you with little types of substitutes and kings and things that rob you of your glory. Forgive us for not being patient in your invisibility and your mysteriousness of how you work.

Help us be, walk that fine line of being truthful and gracious at the same time. And help our identity be so rooted in how you love your son. We are in the son and he is in us. And we're peculiar people. We're heaven and earth do meet. Thank you for these people. May our hearts be encouraged. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen.