Jeff Gelineau – Beyond the Book – Class 3 – Outside the Box

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Thank you to the 18 people who
responded yesterday to my

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questions and comments.
I appreciate the all the input

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Had a had a aha moment on my
own.

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I’ll share with you.
John came over to defend his

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fellow college students and, and
said that, you know, it’s not

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necessarily higher education
that takes you away from God,

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but it’s the pride that often
follows knowledge that that

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makes it hard.
So that was an interesting

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point.
We kind of enjoyed that comment.

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And then someone else came up
and said that doubt and humility

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are connected.
And I and I put those two

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comments together and I have to
explore this a little bit

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further.
But there’s definitely a

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connection between certainty and
pride and doubt and humility.

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And I think it’s something for
us to spend a little time

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thinking about, but not today.
Today we’re going to head down a

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different path.
We’re going to talk about

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outside the box.
Now, certainly outside the box

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is a metaphor, unless your name
is Jack.

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And, and we’re going to apply
that in, in a couple of

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different ways.
So you’re going to get a little

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confused.
It’s not that I’m I’m getting

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confused, just that you’re
getting a little confused.

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We’re going to talk not just
about thinking outside the box,

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but about about seeing outside
the box and about living outside

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the box.
And I want to start by looking

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back to the good old days when
we were young.

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So for 17 of you doesn’t really
apply, but for the rest of us,

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it applies.
Might I say I’ll go ahead and

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say it.
I feel like Ken Somerville when

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I say this, but young, dumb and
happy, That’s what Ken used to

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say all the time.
You may start out happy, but the

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fact that we want to talk about
is the more you become aware of

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life’s complexities and life’s
injustices and life’s

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uncertainties and hardships, the
harder it is to be happy as you

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get older.
That’s why we tend to look back

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on our youth with such fondness.
The 21 year old Jeff didn’t know

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as many things that I know about
now that haunt my brain when I

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can’t sleep at night.
Things were easier when you were

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young.
In so many ways.

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They were easier when you were
young.

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Things were more black and
white.

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You weren’t tormented by all the
subtle nuances of life.

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Maybe you looked at a situation,
looked at a problem, looked at

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something.
You just say, well, yeah, this

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is the answer.
You didn’t say, well, yeah, but

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there’s this and there’s this
and and you know, all those, all

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those things that make it hard.
So in that sense, I think young

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people are dumb.
They’re not, they’re not yet

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aware of, of life’s
complications, of all the, all

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the particles that make up the
whole, they, they think inside

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the box, everything is very
clear.

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There’s, there’s right and
there’s wrong.

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And it’s always clear which one
is which, or more importantly,

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who, who was, who was right, who
was wrong.

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As you get older, you start to
be able to think a little bit

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outside that box.
And that’s good, that’s healthy.

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I think it’s very important that
we we do that.

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We have to mature to get to that
point.

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The part they don’t tell you
though, is that it’s going to

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really ruin your day.
You know, it’s really going to

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when you start to, when you
start to see outside the box as

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well.
You’re no longer entirely

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consumed with your own being and
you start to look at those

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around you and you start to be
concerned for those around you.

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You start to worry for those
around you.

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The the welfare of others
becomes your concern.

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I just love how Paul describes
his life.

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He says, oh, that’s what we’re
talking about today.

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Next slide Paul describes his
life.

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Five times I received at the
hands of the Jews the 40 lashes.

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Less. 1/3 times I was beaten
with rods.

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Once I was stoned.
Three times I was shipwrecked a

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day and a night I was adrift at
sea on frequent journeys and

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dangers from rivers, Dangers
from robbers, danger from my own

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people, danger from gentiles,
danger in the city, danger in

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the wilderness, danger at sea,
danger from false brothers, and

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toil and hardship through many a
sleepless nights, and hunger and

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thirst, often without food and
cold and exposure.

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I, I, I can’t think of 1 of
those things that have happened

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to me.
And he, he’s had, you know, so

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all of them, it sounds like it’s
always makes me laugh when I

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read that because it makes me
think of one of those terrible

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Bible mission presentations at
Bible school, you know, become a

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Bible missionary.
Have terrible, uncomfortable

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things happen to you in faraway
countries.

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You know, if they, they come
back like, you know, I was, I

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was a Bible mission.
And this is, you know, I got

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some dysentery, you know, and
it’s like, I don’t really want

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to hear about this.
But the point I’m making,

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though, is Paul thought all of
that was nothing compared to

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that.
Apart from all these other

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things, there’s the daily
pressure on me of my anxiety for

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all the churches.
Whipped five times, beaten 3

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times, Stone once, shipwrecked
not once, not twice, three

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times.
He needs a new travel agent, you

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know, 24 hours adrift at the
sea, dangers everywhere he went

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in the city, in the country,
enemies, friends, sleepless

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nights, hunger, thirst, exposed
to the cold.

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But worse and all those things
is the daily burden of my

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concern for the ecclesias.
The 21 year old Jeff had none of

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that.
The 61 year old Jeff lays awake

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at night thinking about that
sister and what we can do to fix

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that, help that solve that.
When you really become aware of

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everyone around you, you start
to see the pain.

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Everybody hurts.
It’s this, it’s this thing that

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Kelly and I say all the time and
and it’s just so true.

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Like, you know, and you didn’t
know it, you didn’t know it.

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Everything was going really
good.

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And then the police arrest him
and put him in jail.

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And she tells you, yeah, it’s
been going on for three years.

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And I didn’t he, you know, he
told me if I told anybody, he

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would beat me.
And and I haven’t told anybody.

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And and you just didn’t know the
pain that she was in.

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Everyone is struggling with
something.

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Those who are not aware of what
others are caring don’t feel

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that same burden.
You show up at church,

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everyone’s dressed real nice.
Everyone smiles.

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You have a couple of nice
visits.

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You talk about the score of the
game last night, you hear a good

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talk.
You go home.

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You mow the lawn, you play some
pickleball.

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You enjoy another episode of
Longmire and you crawl into bed

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and it’s just lather, rinse,
repeat.

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It’s it’s the same way for
someone who’s ignorant or or

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makes the deliberate choice to
overlook certain truths, certain

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realities.
But life is not simple.

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Life is complicated and and it’s
nuanced.

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Things are never nice and clean.
It’s not about right and wrong.

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When you open your eyes a bit
and you start looking outside

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the box, you’re able to see
things so differently.

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And there’s a tension, I think,
that naturally exists in our

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walk in Christ.
This tension exists because

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human beings are complex and
things are hardly ever black and

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white.
But we want to see things in

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terms of either walking with God
or not walking with God.

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And the reality of the situation
is much more confusing.

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There are people in the world
who have chosen not to walk with

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God and yet do good things.
And likewise, we’re probably all

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too familiar with people like
ourselves who choosing to live a

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life of service to God and yet
occasionally find ourselves not

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even coming close to living up
to that column.

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I was getting the mail once and
we have a community mailbox.

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So I walk up the street and I
get the mail and outcomes a

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neighbor who I know to be
Christian.

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And she just says a few things
to me and I pick up my mail and

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I walk home thinking she’s such
a better Christian than I am.

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And that’s, that’s so it’s so
disheartening and and troubling

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and confusing when you’re
brought up Chris at Elephants

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and you know you have the truth
and she doesn’t.

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I have the truth.
I was brought up in the truth.

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The truth will make you free.
And she and she talks about

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these things that are so far
above my mind.

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And I think there’s a there’s a
law that exists in our bodies,

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right?
We commit our lives to serve the

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Lord in our minds, but our
bodies are prone to sin.

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We dedicate our lives to walk
with God, yet sometimes our

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bodies don’t walk with us, even
though our inward man and our

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our fleshly members do not
always walk in the same

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direction.
That doesn’t mean you have to

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abandon your calling to serve
the Lord.

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Even though you feel like you’re
not living up to what you should

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be living up to, or that others
are doing a better job than you,

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it doesn’t mean you should give
up.

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It’s easy to see this principle
working in your life, but it’s

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it’s harder to extend that same
understanding to those around

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you because you fully understand
the complexities that go into

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each of your decisions.
But we’re often not able to

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extend that same kind of grace
to other people’s conclusions.

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None of us really knows what’s
going on in the lives of those

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around us.
When you see them walking in the

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meeting 11 minutes late and you
think, oh man, you think you

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know what’s going on.
And that’s the problem.

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We think we’re really good at
reading people.

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We look at a few external
indicators and we think we have

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them all figured out, but we’re
wrong every time.

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I want to consider a letter that
I have read from a brother, and

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I want to see how well you are
at judging his heart.

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You don’t.
You’ve never met him, you’ve

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never seen him.
But this is a letter he wrote

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pouring, pouring his heart out.
And let’s see how well you are

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judging his heart.
God, you’re my last chance.

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I spent the night on my knees
before you.

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I’ve had my fill of trouble.
I’m written off as a lost cause.

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One more statistic, A hopeless
case.

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Abandoned is already dead.
One more body in a stack of

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corpses, but not so much as a
gravestone.

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You’ve dropped me into a
bottomless pit.

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I’m battered senseless by your
rage, relentlessly pounded by

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your waves of anger.
You turn my friends against me.

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I’m caught in a maze, and I
can’t find my way out.

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Blinded by tears of pain and
frustration, I plead for help.

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Are the dead Alive audience for
your miracles?

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Do ghosts ever join the choirs
that praise you?

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Does your love make any
difference in a graveyard?

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Is your faithful presence
noticed in the corridors of

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hell?
Are your marvelous wonders ever

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seen in the dark?
I’m standing my ground, God

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shouting for help.
Why, God, do you turn a deaf,

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deaf ear?
Why do you make yourself scarce?

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For as long as I can remember,
I’ve been hurting.

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I’ve taken the worst you can
hand out, and I’ve had it.

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Your wildfire fire has blazed
through my life.

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I’m bleeding black and blue.
You’ve attacked me from every

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side, raining down blows on me
until I’m nearly dead.

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The only friend I have left is
Darkness.

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The only friend I have left is
Darkness.

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I lied to you.
You know this, brother, That’s

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Psalm 88.
Now, if I were to write a letter

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like this to you, I don’t think
you would have asked me to come

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speak at your Bible school.
I imagined you would think I’m

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having a crisis of my faith.
If I gave an excitation like

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this, I’d be the subject of an
announcement in the next

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newsletter.
Please pray for Brother Jeff as

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he struggles.
David was honestly struggling

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00:14:00,200 –> 00:14:05,600
with his feelings about God.
It’s not wrong and it’s not

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00:14:05,600 –> 00:14:09,160
unique to David.
It’s not unique in the life of a

218
00:14:09,160 –> 00:14:12,480
believer.
Now would you?

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00:14:12,720 –> 00:14:14,720
Next time you see David, are you
going to tell him he needs to

220
00:14:14,720 –> 00:14:16,840
study the Bible more so he can
get over this?

221
00:14:17,360 –> 00:14:19,520
He needs to do the readings more
regularly.

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00:14:19,880 –> 00:14:24,960
Go to a class, maybe listen to
some podcasts you can recommend.

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00:14:26,640 –> 00:14:29,960
Would you really want him
teaching your Sunday school?

224
00:14:31,600 –> 00:14:34,760
Would you really want him
talking to the kids in your CYC?

225
00:14:38,840 –> 00:14:42,880
You see, feeling like God is far
away or or disinterested in you

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00:14:43,240 –> 00:14:47,360
is part of our Bible.
No matter how offensive it may

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00:14:47,360 –> 00:14:51,640
seem, it’s never been shamed or
or criticized by God.

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00:14:53,840 –> 00:14:57,920
Acting unjustly towards others
or worshipping other gods?

229
00:14:57,920 –> 00:15:03,080
That gets criticized in almost
every chapter, but not honest.

230
00:15:03,080 –> 00:15:06,200
Talk about feeling abandoned by
God.

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00:15:06,680 –> 00:15:10,240
These expressions of abandonment
aren’t evidence that something’s

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00:15:10,240 –> 00:15:13,760
wrong and needs to be fixed.
They signal not only what can

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00:15:13,760 –> 00:15:17,760
happen in a life of faith, but
what does happen, frankly, what

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00:15:17,760 –> 00:15:23,160
we should expect to happen, what
we should be looking for and

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00:15:23,160 –> 00:15:28,120
expecting and not not deluding
ourselves into thinking that

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00:15:28,120 –> 00:15:32,080
everything’s fine.
In my ecclesia in New England,

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00:15:32,400 –> 00:15:34,400
that was the one word I hated
the most.

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00:15:35,160 –> 00:15:40,120
Fine because in New England they
give you one word answers.

239
00:15:40,840 –> 00:15:44,000
How are you fine?
How are things going?

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00:15:44,280 –> 00:15:46,480
Fine.
How’s the family?

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00:15:46,880 –> 00:15:50,320
Fine, then why does your
daughter have black and Blues on

242
00:15:50,880 –> 00:15:59,570
her left eye?
Psalm 88 just leaves you there

243
00:15:59,570 –> 00:16:03,370
at the end.
You notice that only friend I

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00:16:03,370 –> 00:16:10,530
have left is darkness.
Have you ever felt that your

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00:16:10,530 –> 00:16:16,610
life is just a deep pit of blah
where you’re all alone?

246
00:16:16,650 –> 00:16:18,010
That’s what that’s how David
felt.

247
00:16:18,570 –> 00:16:24,840
Those times where you thought
you knew what what you thought

248
00:16:24,840 –> 00:16:28,200
you could be certain of and
count on turns out to be not so

249
00:16:28,200 –> 00:16:31,720
certain at all.
We have to learn to embrace the

250
00:16:31,720 –> 00:16:34,600
fact that faith looks like this
sometimes.

251
00:16:35,280 –> 00:16:38,680
And you’re not alone.
You’ve got David in your camp.

252
00:16:39,840 –> 00:16:42,840
We all have thoughts like that.
That’s why that’s why Psalm 88

253
00:16:42,840 –> 00:16:45,840
is included in the Bible.
And just wait till you get to

254
00:16:45,840 –> 00:16:51,400
Psalm 89.
No matter how well we think we

255
00:16:51,400 –> 00:16:55,080
know what God’s next move is
going to be, things often don’t

256
00:16:55,080 –> 00:16:59,400
turn out that way.
David thought He felt certain

257
00:16:59,400 –> 00:17:03,000
about what God’s plan was, and
yet things turned out quite

258
00:17:03,000 –> 00:17:07,119
differently for him.
With his own son trying to kill

259
00:17:07,119 –> 00:17:11,680
him, we shouldn’t be surprised
when we find ourselves in a

260
00:17:11,680 –> 00:17:14,160
similar spot.
In fact, I’m starting to believe

261
00:17:14,160 –> 00:17:19,200
that God doesn’t do anything the
way that I think it should be

262
00:17:19,200 –> 00:17:23,280
done as I read through the the
Bible, especially the Old

263
00:17:23,280 –> 00:17:25,720
Testament.
Not one of those stories is the

264
00:17:25,720 –> 00:17:30,800
way I would have written it.
That’s part of the idea.

265
00:17:31,640 –> 00:17:34,360
God isn’t beholden to to our
thinking.

266
00:17:34,440 –> 00:17:38,240
God doesn’t act according to our
certainty, even if we have a

267
00:17:38,240 –> 00:17:43,600
Bible verse to back it up.
It’s not about God acting in in

268
00:17:43,640 –> 00:17:46,520
our time frame.
We don’t control God.

269
00:17:47,080 –> 00:17:50,400
Even if we read verses that make
us think that God has to do

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00:17:50,400 –> 00:17:53,720
things in a certain way.
God controls God.

271
00:17:54,400 –> 00:17:57,920
You don’t control God.
You have to trust God.

272
00:17:58,600 –> 00:18:01,800
And David learned that trust
grows best when things are

273
00:18:01,800 –> 00:18:03,920
falling apart.
He’s not the only one who got

274
00:18:03,920 –> 00:18:07,120
that memo.
Muscles grow when they’re being

275
00:18:07,120 –> 00:18:11,040
stressed.
Muscles don’t grow on the bark

276
00:18:11,040 –> 00:18:13,920
lounger.
They don’t grow on the come in

277
00:18:13,920 –> 00:18:18,560
the comfortable seats.
They grow where when pain and

278
00:18:18,800 –> 00:18:27,160
and and soreness happens, trust
God in the same way trust in

279
00:18:27,160 –> 00:18:29,840
God.
It is the same way it it grows

280
00:18:29,920 –> 00:18:34,440
in times of stress.
Your faith grows because it’s

281
00:18:34,440 –> 00:18:38,680
stretched, because it’s worked,
because it’s pushed, because

282
00:18:38,680 –> 00:18:42,800
it’s bent and and torn, and it
builds itself back together

283
00:18:42,800 –> 00:18:49,040
stronger.
If your faith in God makes zero

284
00:18:49,040 –> 00:18:52,920
sense to you, and your reasons
for trusting God have fallen off

285
00:18:52,920 –> 00:18:56,480
a Cliff, you’ve got a friend in
Ecclesiastes.

286
00:18:58,040 –> 00:19:01,400
Ecclesiastes looks at life
through the eyes of humans, not

287
00:19:01,400 –> 00:19:05,400
the godly perspective, and life
plays out as one cruel joke

288
00:19:05,400 –> 00:19:07,680
after another.
And then you die.

289
00:19:09,840 –> 00:19:12,680
It’s an unhappy business that
God has given the children of

290
00:19:12,680 –> 00:19:16,280
men to be busy with.
I’ve seen everything that’s done

291
00:19:16,280 –> 00:19:20,240
under the sun and behold,
everything is vanity and a

292
00:19:20,240 –> 00:19:23,560
striving after wind.
From a human standpoint, our

293
00:19:23,560 –> 00:19:27,440
lives are full of unhappy
business that God has given us,

294
00:19:28,800 –> 00:19:33,400
and that is depressing.
It’s a faith crisis at its best.

295
00:19:34,200 –> 00:19:37,000
Everything is youth useless.
It’s all it’s just a bunch of

296
00:19:37,000 –> 00:19:40,480
nothing.
The thing that drives the

297
00:19:40,480 –> 00:19:43,480
preacher crazy is that you can
spend years of your life

298
00:19:43,480 –> 00:19:47,000
accomplishing great things, and
when you die, it’s all

299
00:19:47,000 –> 00:19:51,280
worthless.
There’s no remembrance of former

300
00:19:51,280 –> 00:19:55,040
things, nor would be any
remnants of later things yet to

301
00:19:55,040 –> 00:19:58,800
be among those who come after.
I had a good friend who ran a a

302
00:20:00,200 –> 00:20:06,400
huge nonprofit and you know,
these staff were.

303
00:20:06,920 –> 00:20:11,600
Bending down and helping the the
poorest and the, you know, be

304
00:20:11,600 –> 00:20:13,760
trod in the, the deaf, the
blind.

305
00:20:13,760 –> 00:20:15,360
They were, they were doing great
work.

306
00:20:15,800 –> 00:20:19,560
And if you ask someone to donate
to pay their salary, it’d be

307
00:20:19,560 –> 00:20:24,480
like, but if you ask someone to
donate to buy a new building

308
00:20:24,600 –> 00:20:28,760
where we can put your name on
the wall, you’d get millions of

309
00:20:28,760 –> 00:20:34,040
dollars because you know, we
want our name to, to continue,

310
00:20:35,080 –> 00:20:37,560
right?
We don’t want all this work I’ve

311
00:20:37,560 –> 00:20:41,120
done to be useless.
We want all that money I’ve

312
00:20:41,120 –> 00:20:43,240
generated to, to have some
meaning.

313
00:20:44,240 –> 00:20:47,400
And the preacher goes on for 12
chapters looking at the

314
00:20:47,400 –> 00:20:50,480
uselessness of our existence
through a human perspective.

315
00:20:50,600 –> 00:20:54,160
And when it comes to the end, he
isn’t criticized by God for his

316
00:20:54,160 –> 00:20:57,280
honesty.
He’s actually commended for

317
00:20:57,280 –> 00:20:59,320
talking about things that are
hard to hear.

318
00:21:00,280 –> 00:21:02,440
And the end, it says the
preacher sought to find words of

319
00:21:02,440 –> 00:21:04,880
delight, and uprightly he wrote
words of truth.

320
00:21:06,000 –> 00:21:09,800
The words of the wise are like
goads and like nails.

321
00:21:09,800 –> 00:21:14,000
Firmly fixed are the collected
sayings they’re given by the

322
00:21:14,000 –> 00:21:17,760
shepherd.
What I should have here is a

323
00:21:17,760 –> 00:21:21,680
gnarly, nasty slide of some
goads.

324
00:21:22,160 –> 00:21:25,320
You know, that’s a weird word we
don’t connect with, but it’s not

325
00:21:25,320 –> 00:21:30,680
pretty and it’s painful.
Nails can come a little closer

326
00:21:30,680 –> 00:21:33,440
to to our minds, right?
Nails firmly fixed.

327
00:21:35,760 –> 00:21:38,120
He tried to say nice things, he
wanted to say nice things, but

328
00:21:38,120 –> 00:21:41,640
in the end he just had to speak
the truth and his words hurt and

329
00:21:41,640 –> 00:21:43,760
they’re supposed to.
And I love the conclusion

330
00:21:43,760 –> 00:21:45,840
though, right, of making many
books.

331
00:21:45,840 –> 00:21:49,320
There is no end and much study
is awareness of the flesh.

332
00:21:50,360 –> 00:21:52,000
The end of the matter.
All has been heard.

333
00:21:52,000 –> 00:21:54,080
Fear God and keep his
commandments.

334
00:21:54,600 –> 00:21:57,240
This is the whole duty of man.
He isn’t saying to stop reading

335
00:21:57,240 –> 00:21:59,560
books.
I think that what he is saying

336
00:21:59,560 –> 00:22:03,120
though is to stop obsessing on
studying and trying to work it

337
00:22:03,120 –> 00:22:05,440
all out in your head and have it
all make sense to you.

338
00:22:05,960 –> 00:22:09,520
It’s spiritually and emotionally
exhausting to try to understand

339
00:22:09,520 –> 00:22:12,680
enough for it to make sense,
because it doesn’t.

340
00:22:14,360 –> 00:22:18,200
It’s all nothing.
It’s all vanity.

341
00:22:20,920 –> 00:22:23,920
Just trust.
Just trust in God.

342
00:22:24,160 –> 00:22:26,920
Believe that God is good and he
has your best in mind.

343
00:22:27,440 –> 00:22:29,240
Fear God and keep his
commandments.

344
00:22:29,680 –> 00:22:33,120
Ecclesiastes doesn’t try to hide
the human point of view of the

345
00:22:33,120 –> 00:22:37,240
reality of it that life is.
It doesn’t.

346
00:22:38,080 –> 00:22:40,800
But it doesn’t let that that
human reality have the final

347
00:22:40,800 –> 00:22:42,920
word, right?
Yes, you’re right.

348
00:22:43,000 –> 00:22:45,120
Life doesn’t make any sense.
It really is vanity.

349
00:22:45,120 –> 00:22:48,120
Life really is useless.
But fear God anyway.

350
00:22:49,680 –> 00:22:56,920
But obey God anyway.
But trust God anyway, we tend to

351
00:22:56,920 –> 00:22:59,360
want, I think we want to look at
in a scientific manner and say,

352
00:22:59,360 –> 00:23:03,160
well, you know, I’ve been
observing life, God’s creation

353
00:23:03,160 –> 00:23:07,280
and it doesn’t make any sense.
Therefore, and that’s not the

354
00:23:07,280 –> 00:23:10,960
connection we’re to make.
Yes, this doesn’t make sense and

355
00:23:10,960 –> 00:23:13,480
God has something better planned
for us.

356
00:23:15,520 –> 00:23:19,160
And I realize that’s that’s
hard, hard to do.

357
00:23:19,160 –> 00:23:22,240
It’s hard to keep trusting in
God when you see no possible

358
00:23:22,240 –> 00:23:25,720
reason to around you.
That’s what faith is, though.

359
00:23:26,480 –> 00:23:31,280
Faith is continuing on.
When you don’t see why you can’t

360
00:23:31,280 –> 00:23:34,640
understand the reason, no matter
how deep your disillusion is.

361
00:23:36,040 –> 00:23:39,160
Move toward God instead of away
from God.

362
00:23:40,840 –> 00:23:43,840
When we reach that point where
things simply make no sense.

363
00:23:44,080 –> 00:23:47,120
When our thinking about God and
life no longer line up.

364
00:23:47,440 –> 00:23:49,200
When any sense of certainty is
gone.

365
00:23:49,280 –> 00:23:53,280
When we can find no reason to
trust God but we still do.

366
00:23:55,120 –> 00:24:00,200
That’s what trust is.
Ecclesiastes isn’t a story of a

367
00:24:00,200 –> 00:24:03,280
man who loses his faith.
Ecclesiastes is a story of what

368
00:24:03,280 –> 00:24:06,080
faith looks like when all you
thought you knew about God and

369
00:24:06,080 –> 00:24:11,040
how the world works is ripped
apart, when certainty just

370
00:24:11,040 –> 00:24:15,240
vanishes like a vapor and you
still trust God.

371
00:24:17,320 –> 00:24:20,440
Ecclesiastes never says you
don’t have to know what to

372
00:24:20,440 –> 00:24:25,640
believe, but it says trust God
even when you don’t know what to

373
00:24:25,640 –> 00:24:30,720
believe.
And then there’s Job.

374
00:24:34,160 –> 00:24:38,280
Job’s a great example of God not
acting like you would expect him

375
00:24:38,280 –> 00:24:42,560
to.
Now, it’s a basic biblical

376
00:24:42,560 –> 00:24:45,560
concept, right?
Actions have consequences.

377
00:24:46,160 –> 00:24:47,880
It’s all through the the Old
Testament.

378
00:24:48,040 –> 00:24:51,840
Proverbs 3 is a great example.
The Lord Lord’s curse is on the

379
00:24:51,840 –> 00:24:53,800
House of the wicked.
He blesses the dwelling of the

380
00:24:53,800 –> 00:25:00,640
righteous.
So if you didn’t read the first

381
00:25:00,640 –> 00:25:06,320
chapter of Job, then your
responses to Job would be the

382
00:25:06,320 –> 00:25:11,760
exact same as his friends did.
It’s perfectly normal biblical

383
00:25:11,760 –> 00:25:13,520
idea.
Actions have consequences, and

384
00:25:13,520 –> 00:25:17,120
based on the consequences you’re
currently facing, must be you’ve

385
00:25:17,120 –> 00:25:18,840
done some pretty terrible
actions.

386
00:25:20,600 –> 00:25:25,400
Something very wrong.
By the looks, by the external

387
00:25:25,560 –> 00:25:28,720
look of what’s going on in your
life, I can tell that

388
00:25:28,720 –> 00:25:30,320
something’s very wrong with your
life.

389
00:25:30,320 –> 00:25:32,240
You’re obviously doing something
very wrong.

390
00:25:34,040 –> 00:25:36,440
God wouldn’t just punish you for
no reason.

391
00:25:37,080 –> 00:25:42,320
And it goes on and on and on for
34 chapters.

392
00:25:43,640 –> 00:25:47,720
Why so much on that subject?
Why so many friends?

393
00:25:47,720 –> 00:25:54,000
With so many opinions and so
much to say, I think God really

394
00:25:54,000 –> 00:25:56,680
wants to drill into our heads
and make us come to grips with a

395
00:25:56,680 –> 00:26:00,600
very real idea.
What we think we know about God

396
00:26:01,240 –> 00:26:06,160
might not be so certain.
No matter how certain we think

397
00:26:06,160 –> 00:26:09,000
we are, we might not have it
right.

398
00:26:10,760 –> 00:26:13,880
One of my favorite phrases I’ve
just learned recently is the

399
00:26:13,880 –> 00:26:17,200
Bible isn’t an owner’s manual to
God.

400
00:26:19,480 –> 00:26:21,400
It’s not intended to be
something you can just open up

401
00:26:21,400 –> 00:26:23,400
and read and figure out.
Oh yeah, that’s what God is.

402
00:26:24,760 –> 00:26:31,120
God is beyond our mental reach,
and that’s what Job is told by

403
00:26:31,120 –> 00:26:32,920
God.
In the last four or five

404
00:26:32,920 –> 00:26:35,640
chapters.
God makes it clear that he and

405
00:26:35,640 –> 00:26:40,120
only he is the Creator and he,
and we’re in no position to

406
00:26:40,120 –> 00:26:43,840
question him.
Where were you when I laid the

407
00:26:43,840 –> 00:26:50,160
foundations of the earth?
Is it by your understanding that

408
00:26:50,160 –> 00:26:54,400
the hawk soars through the sky?
And then Job says his last

409
00:26:54,400 –> 00:26:56,960
words.
I know that you can do all

410
00:26:56,960 –> 00:26:59,480
things and that no purpose of
yours can be thwarted.

411
00:27:00,120 –> 00:27:04,080
Therefore I despise myself and I
repent in dust and ashes.

412
00:27:04,960 –> 00:27:09,720
It’s after this that God says
his final words as well and it’s

413
00:27:09,720 –> 00:27:11,640
a bit of surprise.
It was to me, right?

414
00:27:11,880 –> 00:27:15,280
Don’t forget God has done that
whole 5 chapter long section

415
00:27:15,280 –> 00:27:17,880
about don’t question me because
I’m God.

416
00:27:18,520 –> 00:27:21,920
And now he says and Lord has
spoken these words to Job.

417
00:27:21,920 –> 00:27:26,080
The Lord said to LFS, the team
the night my anger burns against

418
00:27:26,080 –> 00:27:28,440
you and against your two friends
for you have not spoken to me.

419
00:27:28,440 –> 00:27:30,760
What is right as my servant Job
has.

420
00:27:31,760 –> 00:27:34,880
Job is right, his friends are
wrong.

421
00:27:37,000 –> 00:27:39,920
I forget the percentage John
Launchbury said it, but it’s

422
00:27:39,920 –> 00:27:43,040
kind of like high eighties. 89%
of Job is wrong.

423
00:27:44,120 –> 00:27:47,840
Yeah, if you say, well, it’s in
the Bible, it must be right, you

424
00:27:47,840 –> 00:27:53,200
know, no, it’s not 89% of the of
the what’s recorded and and Job

425
00:27:53,200 –> 00:27:59,280
is guys who got it wrong.
His friends are wrong.

426
00:27:59,440 –> 00:28:03,000
Job’s friends were technically
right if you’re going by the

427
00:28:03,000 –> 00:28:05,720
book.
But when you get beyond the

428
00:28:05,720 –> 00:28:09,720
book, when you step outside the
box and stop thinking inside the

429
00:28:09,720 –> 00:28:14,400
box the way that everyone else
would would think, you realize

430
00:28:14,520 –> 00:28:17,680
they’re wrong.
They had every reason to feel

431
00:28:17,680 –> 00:28:19,640
certain about what they were
saying.

432
00:28:19,920 –> 00:28:22,000
They weren’t punking him.
They weren’t being mean.

433
00:28:22,440 –> 00:28:24,960
They didn’t say, hey, Job’s
having a bad week, let’s go bash

434
00:28:24,960 –> 00:28:28,280
on him.
No, these were these were better

435
00:28:28,280 –> 00:28:33,360
friends than you’ve ever had.
They sat with him seven days.

436
00:28:34,080 –> 00:28:44,160
Just sat there for seven days.
But they’re wrong.

437
00:28:45,400 –> 00:28:47,440
Job and his friends were all
operating under the same

438
00:28:47,440 –> 00:28:51,160
assumption that God wants all
humans to know what God expects

439
00:28:51,160 –> 00:28:53,840
from us and the basic rules of
living right.

440
00:28:54,160 –> 00:28:55,760
And we should be able to
understand this.

441
00:28:56,240 –> 00:29:00,080
You know you’ve got bad sores.
Must be you said something

442
00:29:00,080 –> 00:29:04,400
wrong.
Job doesn’t deny this way of

443
00:29:04,400 –> 00:29:06,240
thinking.
That’s why Job is in such

444
00:29:06,240 –> 00:29:10,720
distress because he can’t square
his suffering with his biblical

445
00:29:10,720 –> 00:29:15,200
view of how God works.
This is this is my my paradigm.

446
00:29:15,200 –> 00:29:17,360
This is my understanding of how
God works.

447
00:29:17,360 –> 00:29:19,920
And yet I know I didn’t do
anything and yet this has

448
00:29:19,920 –> 00:29:26,400
happened to me.
So I think the message from Job

449
00:29:26,400 –> 00:29:31,320
that I want to get is let go of
this whole need to know

450
00:29:31,640 –> 00:29:36,240
mentality, let go of this whole
I need to figure this out kind

451
00:29:36,240 –> 00:29:41,800
of thinking and just trust in
God.

452
00:29:44,840 –> 00:29:48,720
I’m going to go so far as to say
let go of the expectation that

453
00:29:48,720 –> 00:29:52,560
you can.
You can even know the workings

454
00:29:52,560 –> 00:29:56,200
of God.
No matter how much we think we

455
00:29:56,200 –> 00:30:03,560
understand God, I don’t think we
do when we find ourselves in Job

456
00:30:03,560 –> 00:30:06,880
like moments.
The way forward isn’t to expect

457
00:30:06,880 –> 00:30:09,600
God to give us some additional
information to make everything

458
00:30:09,800 –> 00:30:13,720
all click and fall into place.
The way forward is just to trust

459
00:30:13,720 –> 00:30:17,880
in God.
God exposes the limitations of

460
00:30:17,880 –> 00:30:22,280
our thinking and job and and in
Ecclesiastes and that should

461
00:30:22,280 –> 00:30:25,800
help us to see the need for us
to just let go of this need to

462
00:30:25,800 –> 00:30:28,720
know and just trust in God.
Anyways.

463
00:30:30,520 –> 00:30:34,640
Trusting in God is often
illogical.

464
00:30:36,760 –> 00:30:39,360
Now for those logical people out
there, going to hurt to say

465
00:30:39,360 –> 00:30:42,280
that, but I think trusting in
God is sometimes against all

466
00:30:42,280 –> 00:30:44,920
reason.
It doesn’t make sense and when

467
00:30:44,920 –> 00:30:47,520
you explain it does.
You know your buddy at work or

468
00:30:47,520 –> 00:30:50,360
your golf buddy and they say
that’s just crazy, what are you

469
00:30:50,360 –> 00:30:52,880
thinking?
I think that’s precisely the

470
00:30:52,880 –> 00:30:55,920
point though.
Trust doesn’t work because we

471
00:30:55,920 –> 00:31:00,160
figured it all out in our mind.
Trust works because at the end

472
00:31:00,160 –> 00:31:02,800
of day, we literally can’t
figure it out.

473
00:31:04,320 –> 00:31:06,880
Our little minds can’t grasp
what’s going on.

474
00:31:06,960 –> 00:31:09,480
We have to get outside of the
box.

475
00:31:10,120 –> 00:31:12,400
We have to look at things the
way God looks at things.

476
00:31:13,160 –> 00:31:17,080
Now, this life outside the box
is very different than when you

477
00:31:17,080 –> 00:31:20,120
remain cocooned in this warm,
safe place, right?

478
00:31:20,280 –> 00:31:23,600
It’s not neat and tidy outside
the box.

479
00:31:24,320 –> 00:31:26,920
So if you haven’t got outside
the box yet, I’m going to warn

480
00:31:26,920 –> 00:31:30,560
you, you know, put your galoshes
on before you get out, OK?

481
00:31:31,520 –> 00:31:35,120
It’s often not very comfortable
outside the box.

482
00:31:35,400 –> 00:31:40,040
You bump into reality and you
get it all over your nice clean

483
00:31:40,040 –> 00:31:44,360
dress.
But I would contend if you

484
00:31:44,360 –> 00:31:48,040
really want to grow spiritually,
you have to be prepared to step

485
00:31:48,040 –> 00:31:50,840
outside that box.
You have to be willing to get

486
00:31:50,840 –> 00:31:58,600
outside of your comfort zone.
Do you know how to enlarge your

487
00:31:58,600 –> 00:32:04,680
comfort zone?
You stand at the edge.

488
00:32:07,640 –> 00:32:10,640
If you stand at the in the
center of your comfort zone is

489
00:32:10,640 –> 00:32:13,720
never going to grow.
You’ve got to be willing to

490
00:32:13,840 –> 00:32:19,760
stand at the edge to reach out
to people and the circumstances

491
00:32:19,760 –> 00:32:24,280
and things that are beyond, just
beyond, and bring them in.

492
00:32:24,960 –> 00:32:28,040
And now your comfort zone
enlarges, and you can again

493
00:32:28,120 –> 00:32:34,200
stand at the edge.
If you say, stay safely inside

494
00:32:34,200 –> 00:32:37,760
your comfort zone, you’re not
going to grow and your comfort

495
00:32:37,760 –> 00:32:43,280
zone is not going to grow.
God is much, much larger than

496
00:32:43,280 –> 00:32:45,320
any picture of him you’ve ever
visualized.

497
00:32:47,880 –> 00:32:53,000
The God you worship is much,
much larger than the God that

498
00:32:53,000 –> 00:33:02,520
you think you do.
God loves you more than you can

499
00:33:02,840 –> 00:33:09,520
understand.
God wants more joy for you than

500
00:33:09,520 –> 00:33:14,800
you’ve ever imagined.
And God wants you to be like

501
00:33:14,800 –> 00:33:18,440
Him.
He wants you to be that way, to

502
00:33:18,440 –> 00:33:23,120
be welcoming, to be open, to be
inviting, to be caring, to be

503
00:33:23,120 –> 00:33:27,280
accepting, to be loving.
That’s all that He wants.

504
00:33:33,280 –> 00:33:35,280
God doesn’t even know what
you’re talking about.

505
00:33:35,600 –> 00:33:43,440
When you focus on restricting.
God’s not restricting God is

506
00:33:43,440 –> 00:33:46,960
liberating.
God’s not trying to keep people

507
00:33:46,960 –> 00:33:49,200
in a box.
God wants to set them free.

508
00:33:50,160 –> 00:33:52,160
Why am I trying to put everybody
in a box?

509
00:33:52,320 –> 00:33:55,480
Why am I trying to classify the
nerds and the geeks and the

510
00:33:55,480 –> 00:33:58,440
weirdos and, and put everybody
in these, in these boxes and

511
00:33:58,440 –> 00:34:01,200
say, you know, he’s a Shiite
Christadelphian and this guy

512
00:34:01,200 –> 00:34:02,960
over here is, you know, too
liberal.

513
00:34:03,160 –> 00:34:07,400
And this one here does this.
God doesn’t do that.

514
00:34:09,400 –> 00:34:12,760
Get outside that box.
Think outside that box.

515
00:34:14,840 –> 00:34:20,480
In the Bible, a Sinner is often
cast in the role of an outcast.

516
00:34:22,800 –> 00:34:25,880
These were groups of people that
felt unacceptable.

517
00:34:26,400 –> 00:34:30,239
They weren’t part of the crowd,
they didn’t feel comfortable

518
00:34:30,639 –> 00:34:33,840
around you.
They were disgraceful and

519
00:34:33,840 –> 00:34:37,920
shameful.
And Jesus strategy was simple.

520
00:34:45,770 –> 00:34:50,489
He sat beside him, he hugged
him, he laughed with him, and he

521
00:34:50,489 –> 00:34:57,520
literally broke bread with them.
Over and over in the New

522
00:34:57,520 –> 00:35:00,600
Testament, a simple statement
about Jesus keeps coming up and

523
00:35:00,600 –> 00:35:04,720
up and up.
He had compassion on them.

524
00:35:06,760 –> 00:35:09,880
Compassion isn’t just about
feeling the pain of others.

525
00:35:10,360 –> 00:35:12,600
It’s about bringing them toward
yourself.

526
00:35:13,040 –> 00:35:17,120
It’s about drawing close to
them, befriending them, hugging

527
00:35:17,120 –> 00:35:20,040
them, eating with them, sharing
with them.

528
00:35:23,440 –> 00:35:28,360
It’s not easy.
Does that sound comfortable to

529
00:35:28,360 –> 00:35:30,040
you?
Is that inside your comfort

530
00:35:30,160 –> 00:35:33,400
comfort zone?
You see, society has cast them

531
00:35:33,400 –> 00:35:36,480
out for a reason.
People aren’t just randomly

532
00:35:36,480 –> 00:35:40,440
selected to be rejected.
Something about them makes them

533
00:35:40,440 –> 00:35:44,560
hard to be around.
You know, they, they got some

534
00:35:44,560 –> 00:35:49,000
weird thing or they smell, you
know, or they got that stupid

535
00:35:49,000 –> 00:35:51,760
thing they’re always saying, you
know, or, or they got this hobby

536
00:35:51,760 –> 00:35:53,960
horse they want to talk about
all the time.

537
00:35:55,960 –> 00:35:59,040
They’re briskly, they’re hard,
they’re noisy, they’re

538
00:35:59,040 –> 00:36:02,640
uncomfortable.
And if you’re thinking like

539
00:36:02,640 –> 00:36:06,400
everyone else thinks in the box,
you don’t want to spend any time

540
00:36:06,400 –> 00:36:11,640
with them.
And eventually they’ll probably

541
00:36:11,640 –> 00:36:13,400
just stop coming to meeting
after all, so you don’t have to

542
00:36:13,400 –> 00:36:20,760
spend time with them.
You have to think outside the

543
00:36:20,760 –> 00:36:22,800
box to be loving to those
outside.

544
00:36:24,520 –> 00:36:29,080
If we love what God loves, then
in compassion we’re going to in

545
00:36:29,080 –> 00:36:32,680
lower enlarge our borders and
love more people.

546
00:36:33,400 –> 00:36:37,440
Margins get erased.
Our circle grows.

547
00:36:39,840 –> 00:36:42,840
I got some questions for you
some I’d love to hear some of

548
00:36:42,840 –> 00:36:46,880
your thoughts.
It’s been super helpful for me

549
00:36:46,880 –> 00:36:49,160
and and will be will continue to
be.

550
00:36:49,520 –> 00:36:53,400
So here’s five other questions
for you to to think about.

551
00:36:56,280 –> 00:37:00,520
I’ll read it to tonight in bed
and last night I had a little

552
00:37:00,520 –> 00:37:04,280
cry and fell asleep.
It was nice.

553
00:37:13,190 –> 00:37:15,510
Kelly and I love to visit
France.

554
00:37:17,910 –> 00:37:24,960
We’ve been several times and
when I tell that to Americans, a

555
00:37:24,960 –> 00:37:27,880
lot of them will tell me that
they visit France and they found

556
00:37:27,880 –> 00:37:31,480
the French very rude and off
putting.

557
00:37:35,640 –> 00:37:38,200
For those of you who’ve been to
France and been sitting in a

558
00:37:38,600 –> 00:37:43,720
beautiful cafe having some foie
gras, oh gosh, no.

559
00:37:43,720 –> 00:37:45,840
Having, you know, just some
lemonade.

560
00:37:48,920 –> 00:37:54,080
Read that wine, right?
Have you ever seen an American

561
00:37:54,360 –> 00:37:57,560
in France?
I mean, even I don’t like them

562
00:37:59,720 –> 00:38:04,200
and I’m one of them.
If you think that nothing is as

563
00:38:04,200 –> 00:38:08,200
good as it is in America, the
French people are going to be

564
00:38:08,200 –> 00:38:15,600
rude.
But if you love France and you

565
00:38:15,600 –> 00:38:21,640
find their culture so developed
and and intelligent and cultural

566
00:38:21,640 –> 00:38:27,960
and refined and better than
yours, and you look forward to

567
00:38:27,960 –> 00:38:31,600
talking to the people, you’re
going to find them very

568
00:38:31,600 –> 00:38:35,120
friendly.
Isn’t that strange?

569
00:38:40,770 –> 00:38:46,530
Meeting the world with love in
your heart will determine what

570
00:38:46,530 –> 00:38:54,520
you find in the world.
I knew a brother who worked 40

571
00:38:54,520 –> 00:39:00,320
years and never had anyone nice
that he worked with.

572
00:39:01,320 –> 00:39:04,840
Everybody was terrible.
He didn’t like them all and none

573
00:39:04,840 –> 00:39:08,320
of them liked him.
And I knew a brother who worked

574
00:39:08,320 –> 00:39:12,840
40 years and had the best people
he’d ever worked with, and they

575
00:39:12,840 –> 00:39:14,920
were all nice and they all liked
him.

576
00:39:17,080 –> 00:39:24,200
They worked at the same place.
Les Miserables says it the best.

577
00:39:24,760 –> 00:39:28,120
To love another person is to see
the face of God.

578
00:39:29,160 –> 00:39:32,000
We all have a circle.
We all have this circle of

579
00:39:32,000 –> 00:39:35,280
compassion.
How far does your circle extend?

580
00:39:36,400 –> 00:39:40,920
Terrible people find only
themselves inside that circle.

581
00:39:42,440 –> 00:39:46,160
Many people find maybe their
immediate family members are in

582
00:39:46,160 –> 00:39:49,960
the circle.
A few have added some trusted

583
00:39:49,960 –> 00:39:54,560
longtime friends.
But how blessed we are to have

584
00:39:54,560 –> 00:39:57,920
members of our cliche we can add
to our circle of compassion.

585
00:39:58,880 –> 00:40:02,280
That’s great.
How much further can you extend

586
00:40:02,280 –> 00:40:05,120
it?
How much further beyond that?

587
00:40:06,040 –> 00:40:07,760
It’s not going to feel
comfortable.

588
00:40:08,880 –> 00:40:14,520
It’s going to be darn right
scary and the committee in the

589
00:40:14,520 –> 00:40:23,680
center is not going to like it.
Can you bring in even more?

590
00:40:25,680 –> 00:40:29,840
Go out to the highways and the
hedges and compel people to come

591
00:40:29,840 –> 00:40:34,480
in that my house may be filled?
Sure, it’s easy to include your

592
00:40:34,480 –> 00:40:37,320
family, your friends, and even
some members of your ecclesia.

593
00:40:37,320 –> 00:40:40,800
But look what Jesus says when
you give a dinner or a banquet.

594
00:40:41,000 –> 00:40:44,840
Don’t invite your friends or
your brothers or your relatives

595
00:40:45,040 –> 00:40:48,840
or your rich neighbors.
Leslie also invite you in return

596
00:40:49,200 –> 00:40:53,800
and you be repaid.
For many years, my brother and I

597
00:40:54,040 –> 00:40:58,280
would send each other Christmas
cards every year and he would

598
00:40:58,280 –> 00:41:01,840
include $100 check in his and I
would include $100 check in

599
00:41:01,840 –> 00:41:06,760
mine.
And one year I called him and

600
00:41:06,760 –> 00:41:10,120
said, hey Mick, let’s do
$1,000,000 checks this year.

601
00:41:12,720 –> 00:41:16,320
And we realized how stupid it
was that we were doing.

602
00:41:16,880 –> 00:41:19,520
I was inviting him to my house
for dinner, and he was inviting

603
00:41:19,520 –> 00:41:21,520
me to his house for dinner.
I was inviting him to my house

604
00:41:21,520 –> 00:41:23,240
for dinner.
He was inviting me to his house

605
00:41:23,240 –> 00:41:30,580
for dinner.
Pretty boring.

606
00:41:33,180 –> 00:41:39,180
But when you give a feast,
invite the poor, the crippled,

607
00:41:39,540 –> 00:41:43,700
the lame, the blind, and you
will be blessed because they

608
00:41:43,700 –> 00:41:49,020
cannot repay you, for you will
be repaid at the resurrection of

609
00:41:49,020 –> 00:41:52,720
the just.
How about the ones that are on

610
00:41:52,720 –> 00:41:56,000
the margins?
How about the outcast, the ones

611
00:41:56,000 –> 00:41:59,440
you don’t feel connected to?
Reach outside the box.

612
00:41:59,760 –> 00:42:03,600
Go outside your comfort zone.
Bring in that person who isn’t

613
00:42:03,600 –> 00:42:06,720
feeling their worth and make
them feel wanted.

614
00:42:06,720 –> 00:42:09,320
Make them feel loved.
Make them feel needed.

615
00:42:09,440 –> 00:42:11,520
Make them feel like they’re a
part of something.

616
00:42:12,720 –> 00:42:21,400
Make them feel God’s love.
I know it’s hard, but it’s right

617
00:42:21,800 –> 00:42:26,520
and you know it’s right.
I also know that you’re going to

618
00:42:26,520 –> 00:42:28,800
succeed sometimes and you’re
going to fail sometimes.

619
00:42:29,280 –> 00:42:32,680
That’s life.
It’s just the way things are.

620
00:42:32,680 –> 00:42:36,800
There’s ups and there’s downs
and there’s hills and there’s

621
00:42:36,800 –> 00:42:38,800
valleys and that’s tomorrow’s
class.