Wanted to come out from a Christmas tree. It's one of my dreams. How are you guys doing this morning? Good? Excellent. I'd love that for those of you who don't know my background, my wife mixes up words a lot and it also permeates my family. And after Thanksgiving, my my dad, we're watching a football game. He's like, wow, starting to fade a little bit. The serotonin's really kicking in. I said, the serotonin's kicking in. I always thought it was tryptophan that did that, but it's the serotonin, evidently. This morning, if you want to have one verse, I encourage you to open to Hebrews chapter 13. And this is kind of a word that I hope really permeates where we are. Quick overview of where we've been, and a little bit of a background is that a friend had recommended a book, wanted me to speak on a part of it called Beautiful Outlaw. And I know that the men's group here has kind of gone through that, but it is guided me to a radical view of who God not only is but wants to be for all of us. And two weeks ago we looked at the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh. And that if we don't see his personality, we miss who he is. If we don't see his amazing generosity and his just pointed honesty, then we miss who God is. Last week we looked at one of my favorite experiences in Scripture is that was Jesus funny? And is God funny? And the bottom line is to ask a simple question. And for those who may have trouble with that concept that it's irreverent to think of God as funny, then I have to ask the question I did last week. Are you, if you're thinking that, are you better than God? And if the answer is obvious, well, of course I'm not better than God, then God is funnier than you will ever be. He is more playful than you will ever be, because that is what he created, and the creator reveals himself in creation. There's some great fun in that. And this morning I want us to hopefully get to the point where we see that God wants us to experience him and what keeps us from that. Hopefully, these last two weeks have convinced us to say, man, I really do want to know God in the fullness of who he is and what he does. And how do I do that? How do I get there? Well, part of it is not only the investment of time, and I can give the illustration of this Thanksgiving was another great experience with my wife. I love my wife more and more every day because I see more of her every day. I love her more intimately. I learned who she is more. And this Thanksgiving let me know her full and complete commitment at a level that I guess I always knew, but I'd never experienced. We went to visit my family, which was a sacrifice on her part because we do split up time, and that's pretty normal. But my sister lives in South Florida, my brother lives in South Georgia, we live here, and we all met in Orlando and we had these little condo things, and uh my family is pretty normal from the standpoint of we're dysfunctional, everybody's dysfunctional, and and we get there and it's kind of divvying out, and and my mom and my sister kind of make these plans up, and the rest of us just kind of go with it. She's the oldest, and it's like, okay, well, sure, if that makes sense to you. And what it kind of filtered down to was there were three bedrooms, and so my mom and dad get the main one. That's very cool, that's theirs, that's awesome. And then it came down to, well, there's four boys. There's my two boys and her two boys, and uh, so they get the room with the two double beds. Well, okay, we got we got that. And then my sister and her husband got the other bedroom, and so my brother sleeps on a couch, and then me and Heather get the living room with a blow-up mattress and a couch. And that's where we slept. I slept on a floor for three days, and my wife slept on a couch, and if that is not sacrifice enough, what really showed me her undying devotion to me is that we went on this trip and we did this, and for the second year in a row, last year we were on a mission trip, and this year, for the second year in a row, she voluntarily gave up Black Friday and just let it go. Did not complain, did not moan, just let it go. And she did remind me that she was giving it up, but did not complain about it. And I'm just like, wow, that is a different level of love right there. And I see her more intimately now through this. And I long. So the other part of this week was I told her on the way home, the kids are in the back, they're asleep, we're driving back from Orlando, and I told her, I said, this was so fun, but I miss you. And she goes, I know. And I said, We've got to just get away. Me and you. I don't care if it's in the city for a night, I don't care. We've just, I want to be with you. And she said, I totally agree. And so we're working on that because I just long to be with her. And if you can take that concept, multiply it, that is the exact feeling that God Himself has for us individually, you and me. He longs to just be with us. He longs to do life together, and he longs for us to experience him being with us in the midst of that. And if there's one concept I could get across is that we would need to decide in our hearts who God really is. If I could just give you a barrage of simple truths, that the word became flesh and dwelled among us. Jesus, God became this. But he says this in John 8, 32. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Unfortunately, that's become religiositized. It said, well, if I just know the word, then the word will set me free. Well, that is true. It is truth, and it is the way God speaks, but it's not this. It's the living and active part of the truth. It says in John 14, 6, where Jesus himself, and Jesus is speaking because it's in red, that's the way we know it, and he says, I am the way and the truth and the life. It's me. This is me, and I'm the truth. And then he says further on in John 10.10, he says, I came that they would have life and have it to the full. The whole reason Jesus came was so that we could have this life to the fullest. I love the way the message translation puts it. He said, I came so that they can have real and eternal life, more and better than they ever dreamed of. That's why Jesus came. That's why we're here today to say, okay, really life more than I can even dream of? Yes, that's it. But see, we get things mixed up. And unfortunately, we've made an unconscious or a passive choice too often to get pieces out of order. Jesus said, I didn't come to abolish the truth, I came to fulfill it. And he did. He says, I'm not here to get rid of the rules and the laws and the precepts. That's from me, God, now in the new form, Jesus, and I want you to see the truth. But here's the reality, you gotta keep it in order. And he said, and I love this, Jesus said, What's the greatest? I'll give you the whole thing wrapped up in two laws. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's it. See, because it's not about the rules, it's about the love and the relationships. And this morning, if if you and I could just realize that it's so easy to slip into the religious side and lose the meaning of how to find this incredible life to the full, we have choices that we're making every day. And usually it happens slowly. We either are moving towards rules or more intimate relationships. And ask yourself the question as I'm doing right now, Lord, please let me see when I'm slipping towards the rules. Because there's something comfortable about rules. They're black and white, and we kind of get in this grade mindset. Well, if I do most of it, then that's an A or a B, and that's passing, and that's good enough. But that's not the point. The point is not having the rules, the point is having the love and the relationship. And I want us to look at the way God views this important decision of the rules that He gave, the laws that He created, but in relation to the relationship with Him. In Matthew 15, 1 and 2, he says, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men. It's become religious. We've taken this incredible living word that Jesus fulfilled and became in the flesh and said, Okay, uh, okay, Jesus, thank you for this. We'll take it from here. We'll just do the rules. And when we do that, we miss it. We miss the whole point. It's like taking the wrong ingredients. I have a good friend, my best friend in high school. His brother was just infatuated with this young lady. Infatuated he was in love, as in love as you can be at 17. And it was her birthday. And he said, I'm making her a birthday cake. Like, dude, you cook? No, I've never cooked in my life. But I'm making her a cake. And his mom said, Hey, well, let me help. He said, No, I'm doing this. I want it to be from me. And so he got all the, he said, Well, here's a recipe. She gave it to him, told him where the stuff was, and he gets it all and he puts it together. And then after he's made the cake, he said, I took a small bite. It just doesn't taste quite right. The texture's a little off, and it doesn't taste like your cakes, mom, but I did it just the way you wrote. I did the recipe just the way you said the recipe, and I did it, and yet it doesn't work just right. And she said, Well, let me see. And she walks through it and goes through it and walks through step by step. I did this, I did this, I grabbed this, I grabbed this, I did the measurements, I did it all right. Except the containers in the cupboard. One was flour, and next to it was cornmeal. Yeah. He made this beautiful cornmeal cake. And it was not good. And the truth is, is if we take this word and we do it on our own and we try to flesh it out, it's just like cornmeal cake. It's gonna look similar and it's gonna be kind of, but when you ingest it and you take it in without Jesus and that relationship, it's just it's empty and it tastes bad and it's not what it was meant to be. We get it out of order. God is not about us following rules as much as He is letting that be an overflow of the relationship. The relationship is the paramount part that we have to take into consideration. I tell my kids, I give my kids rules. I give them rules every day. But it's not out of, hey, this is gonna make your life better. It's to protect them, it's to put them on a path, it's to develop the relationship. I tell them they the one rule they don't understand. I want you to make your bed and clean your room every day. Because I want you to get in the habit of being responsible. I want you to get in that. They don't understand it. I kid with them every day before they leave. They walk out the door. I'm like, hey, be careless, take chances. And they're they're like, what? Because I want them to live free, but I want them to realize that with freedom comes responsibility and that there are rules for a reason. And that reason is because of the love I have, but just take the rules as themselves, and they are empty, and they are demeaning and they are life-taking. But within the relationship, once I get that, and the rules are there, then I can experience God to the full. It's based on that relationship. And if I could put it this way, there's one place, one place in Scripture, one place in the New Testament where Jesus was angry. It uses the word anger in the Greek anger, and it's only used once. And as I began to read this and think, okay, angry, it had to be when he turned over the tables in the temple and beat him out and did all that, but it wasn't. That wasn't the place where he was angry. The word anger was used one place, and it was in Mark chapter 3. And wouldn't it be important to us to know whatever makes God angry, we should probably know that and maybe avoid that part. And it made Jesus angry. Listen to what made him angry. Another time he went into the synagogue, a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Their rule, the Sabbath. They had taken it from this great rule of rest and connecting with God, and then they'd piled on all these rules to it, one of which was you can't heal on the Sabbath. And Jesus said to the man with his troubled hand, stand up in front of everyone. Jesus asked them, Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill? And don't miss this next part. But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. When rules go over the relationship and the love of God, it makes God angry. And when you and I, if we are so passive and look at what happened here, they remain silent. They did nothing. For us to just sit back and take the truth and sit, okay, I agree with that. Yep, I agree with that. For us to do nothing with that truth, if it doesn't enhance the relationship with God, then we miss what he meant by the instruction. Without that instruction, we miss God's best. I would just ask you and I to consider, wait a minute. Is God real? Does he really want to relate to me personally? Individually today? Is that what he wants? Then I have to continually ask myself, am I looking for more rules to be the trick to get what I want? Or am I letting it become an overflow of the relationship? The relationship is first, Lord, and then show me what you want to teach me through your truth. You wrote it, you lived it. Which leads me to the second decision we have to make. Do I want religion or do I want what is real? And that's the real definitive. And there's something comfortable about religion. It's what we've always grown up with. Some, but then there's something that says, you know what, it's empty because there's this fog. Men take it and kind of add their own to it, and then it becomes something. And I guarantee you, no, I can't guarantee this, but I would say this. Most of us have had some experience with religion that was heaped and imposed on us and showed us where we were not good enough, we were not right enough, we did the wrong thing, we wore the right thing, we said the wrong thing, we did the wrong thing, and because of that, God was not happy with us. And it was just vain made by man. But that's not God. This fog creeps in. It's a glaze, if you will. And and and we know the truth is out there, we know what is real, but it's a fog, and and I don't want the fog, I want what's real. But something happens, and I see it in our culture, and John Eldritch did a wonderful job in his book. He says it's as if we decide to live in a house and never leave. We have everything that's there, we're comfortable, and the only interaction we have is through the back window, and we look out that window every now and then. The rest of the shades are drawn, and we look out the window, and people will come by, and we can even talk to people and we converse with them, but we stay in the house, and that is our view of the world is through this one window. Well, it's ludicrous to think for you and I because we've been outside the house. We see there's this huge world out there. But if you will for just a moment take to the reality that some people, and and I think some of us even at some point have decided, okay, well, this is the way God works. It's in this box. And and and I see God moving. Yes, that that's God, yes, that's Him, but we never get outside the door. We never see this explosion of experience of how stunning God is and how personal God is. And and we're safe in the house. We're safe, but we're not free. And Jesus came to set us free. You'll know the truth, Jesus, and the truth will set you free. I want that freedom. I want the freedom to say, okay, I don't have this all figured out. I want the freedom to know that God really is a best friend. If I could put it this way in Hebrews, and I did blow by this one, Hebrews 13, 8, it says this, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Really? Really? He will interact with me the way he did to the disciples? I would say, I'm gonna make this leap, he was their best friend. Because Jesus, he knew. He knew their favorites, he knew their weaknesses, their potential, their dreams, their hopes, their regrets. He knew them all. And he said, I want you to, I want you to fulfill a potential you can't even imagine, but you gotta come out of the house, out of the religious house, into the relationship with me. I know it's gonna feel unsafe, but I'm with you, and I've been out here, I created it, and I'm gonna be with you. Step outside the religious door into the realness that Jesus longs for us to have. Could it be that that's why God came? Christmas is around the corner. And if you can remember two verses, Isaiah 7.14 and Matthew 1.23, the whole reason Jesus came. And it says, You will have a son, he will be born of a virgin, you will call him Emmanuel. God with us. That's who he is. He is God with us. God became a man, and then Jesus died, and he says, I'm sending the comforter. I will come and I will be with you right where you are. God gave me a glimpse of this the other day. We stopped on our way back and stopped at one of the outlet malls on Saturday, and it was an outlet mall during shopping season. And we kind of split up in different groups. My oldest son Graham went with me. And I noticed this about my son. When he is in a crowd, he wants to be that near that which he knows the best. And we had been crammed together in a room, and I mean he was right here, right behind me. It's like my shadow was stuck to me in physical. And after a few, after four or five stars, I'm like, dude, you've got to stand with me. You can't just stay right here the whole time. I can hear you breathing, and that's it's just I'm tired. Be with me. Not here, here. Be with me. And that is exactly what God is wanting for us to experience. Him right here. Literally, right here with us. To the point where we say, Okay, God, you're with me, right with me. Well, what does it mean to be real? Let me give you an example of what it means to be real. The decision to make to say, you know what? God, I want to be real with you about you. Last week, my my wife was here with us. We were about to head out, and she said, You know what? I I really appreciate what you said, but I could never tell when you were speaking and praying. I didn't know. Is he are we praying? Are we speaking? No, it's praying. What are we supposed to do? I couldn't tell when you were speaking or praying, and I said, Thank you. She goes, What do you mean? I said, That means I'm doing it right. Because I want it to be real, not a show, not piety, just real. God, thanks for being here. I want to treat God as if he's here because he is. That's what that's the way I want to get. I want to be treating him like that, to the point where this is so freed me up to realize I want to lose the religious. I want to get real. I want to say, God, I don't measure up and I want to get honest. Why did you say be holy? For I am holy. Why'd you say that? You know I can't do that. You know we can't do that. We can't be perfect. Can't be holy. Why would you tell me to do that? And then I listen. And then he says, Because you can't do that without me. I have to be in you for you to be holy. I have to be with you to be holy. You have to rely on me to be with you to be that. That's why I told you that. Oh. And then I get to that temptation, and then to be able to be real and just be honest with God. And I don't know if any of you can relate to this. And I hope you get to, but here's a divide between that which is religious and that which is real. To know the truth and to realize that I am drawn to that which is not true. And to be able to say, God, I okay, I'm going to be honest. I'm tempted. Right now, tempted. And I'm not going to lie. This would feel good. And I desire that. So help. There you go. I'm just being honest. And then to experience God's power and his provision. And for him to go, I'll carry you through this. And then to realize on the other side of it, Lord, okay, what a coincidence these things happened and it didn't come to fruition and I didn't fulfill that temptation. Okay. Thanks. Thanks for getting me through that. And Lord, give me the clarity here. And then to after the relationship, after the relationship, to realize God's drawing me through this, going, okay, Ken, here's why I said that. It's not because I don't want you to have pleasure. I want you to have pleasure to the full. I realize you're tempted, but the reason why I put these parameters in is so that you can experience to the full. I see it now. See, because Ken, if you do it and you give in to the temptation, then it is a moment of pleasure. It is. I created that and it's pleasurable. But if you do it outside of my will, then it becomes this emptiness, and it becomes more empty and more empty, and you keep trying, and it becomes more and more empty to the point where it is a black hole and it destroys you. And then the verse comes to my mind the thief comes to steal, rob, and destroy. But I came that you would have life to the full and can. The reason I say don't give in to that, and I will guide and give you the power through it, is so that you can have the fullest possible beyond what you can think or dream. That's why I gave that to you. Now I get it. Lord, thank you. But I can tell you this, Lord, tomorrow I'm gonna be tempted again. Please remind me of that. Don't leave me. Remind me of that. Because I need you. I need you every step. And then here's the bottom line: the the greatest choice of all, if we really do want to experience life to the full beyond what we can imagine, which he desires for us, we have to make a choice. If you're here today, and it appears like most of you are, if you're one who is maybe seeking and maybe had that bad religious experience, and you're like, gee, okay, Jesus like real, like literally here, yes. How does that happen? The same way as it happens for those of us who have known him for years, even decades, and yet we we fade into this fog of religiosity. We have to come to him the way he came to us. Humble. That's the decision. We have to humble ourselves and say, okay, Lord, how do I tap into this power? How do I get this perspective? Well, you you have to come to me the way I came to you. See, the God who controlled everything relinquished his power to be totally dependent. And he became a child. Helpless, all powerful, completely helpless. He chose that. The God who never tires decided to become a human and need sleep every day. He chose that. The God who can be everywhere chose to be one place. The one who could ride on the wings of the wind decided, I'm gonna walk everywhere. He chose that. He chose to humble himself. I love the way he puts it in Philippians chapter 2. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privilege. And he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. He chose to be human, God with us. And in Hebrews 2.18, this is one of the most, two of the most powerful verses. I'm sorry, Hebrews 4.15. We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet was without sin. And then if you go back two chapters to 2.18, because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. In other words, when we tap into that relationship, he goes, I suffered. I know not only know what you're going through, I've suffered for it so that I can help you in the midst of this. That's the God I want. Jesus has the best life possible for us and wants us to experience it fully, and it comes only from knowing him personally, living honestly, and begins by connecting to him humbly. Are we willing to do that? I want to leave this morning with two people, and I hope we realize we have a choice which one we're going to be. Jesus interacted with a group of twelve guys. In those twelves, he knew their biggest fears, their regrets, their failures, their hopes, their dreams, their weaknesses. He knew them all. And he literally spoke into them. He says, I know, I know who you are. To one, he said, I'm going to fall to the hands of sinful men, and I'm going to be crucified. And Peter stood up and he goes, No, uh, not on my watch. And Jesus said, Okay, you don't get it. I have to do this. He's like, but but no, I I'll I'm gonna do it with you then. And he says, Peter, you're not only not gonna do it. You're gonna deny you even knew me. He's like, and then we know the story. He denied that he knew him three times before the cock crowed. He failed. He denied Jesus. He failed. We all fail. But then there was another man in that 12, and they're all sitting around, and he says, one of you is going to betray me, and they're all like, not me, not me. And he looks at Jesus and he goes, Yeah, you. You're the one. You've already done it. You got the bag, money. There it is. You've already done it. You failed me. But look at the response. One went the religious route. The religious route, well, I'm gonna go back to the synagogue. I'm gonna go back to the Pharisees. Tell me the rules. Tell me I did the right thing. And they're like, your blood's on your own hands. There is no rule that will help you with your failure. There's only a relationship. And look at Peter and his failure. Look at his response. Judas realizing the religion did nothing for him. And it left that such a cavernous emptiness. He tried to throw the money back, he tried to do everything religious, go back and hit rewind, and it doesn't work to the point where he couldn't stand it anymore. The only out was to kill himself. But then there's Peter. Equal failure. Denied him three times, not just once. But see, his hope was in the relationship. His only hope was in the relationship. Look at this goofy dude. He went back to fishing and they caught nothing. And Jesus is on the shore and he says, Hey, throw the nets on the other side. And he realizes the moment he realizes it's Jesus, what does he do? With all his clothes, he jumps in the water and he swims to shore. And he comes out and he's like, can you imagine the emotion of knowing he's failed him? But he's there and just, you're my only hope. Really? And what does Jesus say? He doesn't say, Loser.

Wow.

He left me hanging, literally hanging. You left me. That's not what he said. He said, Peter, you get it. Come eat breakfast. Let's hang out. I've already made you breakfast. He says, Peter, I know you love me. I know you love me, and I know I've got a plan beyond what you can think or dream. You don't even have a clue what you're going to accomplish. Because now you get it. You know that it's me. And it's going to be me living through you. That's it. Here's my question to us this morning. Which am I going to leave? Am I going to choose to continue to look at this amazing truth and hope that I can do enough of it? Or am I going to say, Jesus, I need you. You. The person of Jesus. I need you to live through me. You've suffered through it to walk with me. And God, when I fail, you're right there. I'm not condemned by my sin, nor am I condemned to sin, because you, it's you. It's all you. I do want to close in a word of prayer. And if you want to close your eyes, you can. If you want to leave them open and look, that's fine. Sometimes I close my eyes so I can see them better. So pray with me. Lord, I thank you for your amazing truth. But I thank you even more that you are the truth. And that you are the way and that you are life. And that I cannot experience that through trying to be good enough and read your word enough. The two-dimensional amazing book is nothing compared to the four, five-dimensional, amazing reality of you. Jesus, be real to me. Give me strength where I need it. Go before me. Whatever you see, you do that. God, I want whatever life it is you have for me because that's where the greatest is going to be. Thank you for these last three weeks. Thank you that you love me. And I certainly don't deserve it. And yet you have this amazing plan for us. So, Lord, even as we sing this celebration song at the end, let it just be one where we can sing as if you're the only one here and we're the only one singing. And Lord, I pray that we would experience your reality. And it is only through the gift that you gave us on the cross, but it is in the power of your spirit that indwells those who choose you that we pray. Amen. God bless you guys. Thanks for letting me share.