Okay. That was a wow. Y'all give it up for them leading us into worship today. That was crazy cool. I've thought a lot of times, and I just want to say a quick prayer. And you don't, and this is kind of a cool prayer because you don't have to bow your heads. You don't have to close your eyes if you don't want to. I just want to talk to God for a second as we usher in this time. So if I were to talk to God, which I'm going to do right now, sometimes I close my eyes so I can see him. And I don't know if that makes sense to a lot of people, but what I shared last week was just that I can sense God if I if I look in my peripheral just outside there, I can sense he's right here with me because he is and he lives within me. And even this morning when we were doing communion, I thought, Lord, when we take this bread, the bread is the life that gives us strength. When we eat, that gives us power. And wait a minute, that's what you do. You give us power to live. And then the blood, well, without blood, we die. It's the life of who we are. And Lord, you're the life in our life. And how cool is that. So here's my prayer today that God, you would obliterate our misconceptions about you in a new way today. And Lord, that you would just show us a part of your personality that maybe we've never seen before. And I pray that your truth would literally set us free in some ways. And Lord, I know there's some people here even today that maybe have followed you for a long time and they've had in their heart that they wish this was true, and maybe even a place where they never even talk about that that this would be true. And maybe those who have seen and maybe had a bad experience at a church, people in your name that were just not right, that just kind of gave a bad experience. I pray that they would see you past all that today. So Lord, move in that way right now as we look at your cool word that literally sets us free. And uh in the word amen, so be it. So let it be in that way. Thanks. Um I I love that Jesus is not who a lot of religious people make him out to be. And today, what I really hope is that we see him more for who he is. I mean, really is today in life. It's not unlike several years ago there was a silent movies comedian called Charlie Chaplin. He was literally world famous. How many of y'all know who Charlie Chaplin is? Okay, most of you, okay. He had a cool look, had the hat, the mustache, he was in all these silent movies, and he was hysterical. Absolutely hysterical. He was in Europe, actually traveling in Europe, went through a small town, I believe it was in France. I'm not positive it's France or Italy, but they had a, he was so world famous, they literally had a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in this town as he was traveling. And he entered the contest. And he came in third at the Charlie Chaplin Look-alike contest. And I would have to say, I think if Jesus were to show up today at the Jesus Look-alike contest from what we've made him to look like, he wouldn't even place. Because he looks drastically different than we've made him to look. I'll put it this way in modern terms: if we were to take Iron Man and do to Iron Man what we've done to Jesus, that in ten years Iron Man would be aluminum foil guy and he would have no real powers. He would just be a superhero on paper and wouldn't be real. And that's unfortunately what happens to Jesus. Jesus was God in the flesh. He was all God, but he was all man. 100% man. Jesus was not European, believe it or not. He did not have long flowing brown hair with soft metrosexual skin. He didn't. He didn't dress in a bathrobe, and he wasn't some pious, religious, two-dimensional, humanoid void of personality. That is not Jesus. He is not the Jesus of the paintings that we see too often. He did not sit around and meditate and chant and hum and think deep thoughts and then show up and just say really profound things. He was real. And I would even say, from my experience, he is real. And this morning I want to take a serious look at was Jesus funny? Put that together, you'll get it in a second. Because he was. Not only was he all man, he was all God. Is God funny? And it seems almost irreverent to ask that question. Was God funny? Well, I he can't be. He's holy and holy. There's nothing to do with funny and holy, and he can't be. And yet the reality is he is so amazingly, stunningly playful and fun and real. And I would even bid this to take us on this journey this morning, just in a very short time, to say that the creator is revealed in his creation. And let me give you a very simple verse that is kind of the catalyst for this. In John chapter 1, it's one of the gospels of the first, chapter 1, verse 3, it says, okay, get this. This is real deep theology here. Through him all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that was made. Okay? And in case you need this broken down, God made everything. Alright? Can we get to that foundation? I love the way, okay, through him all things were made. In case you missed that, without him, nothing was made that has been made. And it's almost like, let's be as obvious as we can be. Well, if that is true, then God chose to make things the way he did. He chose to make them, and I believe that he has interjected in his creation that which is playful and fun and funny for a specific reason. Because if he is perfect love and perfect creator, then he says, hey, this is a part of my perfection. And if we can't look at his creation and see his humor, then we are either choosing to be blind or we are blind. And I want those scales to fall from our eyes, as it did in Scripture. Can you really look at a platypus and think, that's not funny? Can you look at a porcupine and think, okay, I don't know what you were thinking, but that's amazing. That's what he made. And this is part of his creation. I just want you to catch a glimpse. I found myself watching this with my daughter, and I just thought, and God made that. And so I want you to take a look at this. They're gonna put it on the big screen here, so I'm gonna move out of the way, but just watch this. It's like two minutes. This is what he created and how he created it.

Maybe a new visitor will shake things up a bit. Today is a big game. Mom and dad are introducing Hipspeak to the rest of their ugly clan. Hipspeak says, hello! The only way she knows how. But the greeting doesn't go over so well. Not even Buttermilk is willing to go out of his way to introduce himself. She sure is different. While little Pipsqueak is eager to play, just watching her is enough to exhaust the pups. So for now, she'll have to find ways to amuse herself.

I mean, seriously, how how can we look at that and go, oh, well, that's that's not very spiritual? Well, it's exactly spiritual. Now, what I want us to do is to see that God pulls that together and says, wait a minute, this is how I made it. And that God can create that which is not only just funny, but he can make that so incredibly personal. And has there ever been a time, and I pray that God will bring it to your mind, where he took his creation and had a moment where you have stood and just thought, God, did you just do that for me? Was that for me? And maybe we've never even talked about it before. I remember one instant, I think I shared it with one or two of my friends. I was in Colorado and in uh Colorado Springs. I had a little bit of time before I was doing the thing that night, and I had long jet flights, a jet lag and a long bus ride. I'm like, oh, it's new, I want to go for a run. And I'm not even a run, I hate to run, but I'm like, I'm gonna go for a run. It's beautiful. So I'm going for a run, and I'd heard about this town, Colorado Springs, that they had this moose, I guess, and up in Estes Park, and they said he just kind of wanders around everywhere, and it's kind of like the town moose. And I'm just like, okay, that's kind of weird, but all right. And so I go for this jog, and as I'm going up, I'm starting to breathe real heavy. I'm like, man, the air's really thin up here. And so I'm going for a run, and as I get around this corner, literally a corner, about as far from me to the front row, I get around this corner and I just froze. I'm like, whoa. This moose was on the path. Now, if you've ever seen a moose in a while, literally he went from eating to he stood straight up. The top of his spoons were about 12 feet in the air. Okay, that's how massive these things are. And I'm at that corner, and I and there's just a small path, and he's standing right there, and he just kind of looks at me. He's eating, and he just goes, I was like, I'm like, dude, I'm I'm gonna go this way now. Um, you just go back to eating, and he just kind of did this with his foot, just kind of went, and I was like, Yeah, yeah, um, you this is your world, man. I'm gone. And I just slowly went around the corner, and I just I don't know. I just got this sense in that moment, I could just almost hear God laughing, and just going, I'm gonna do this, and he doesn't know the moose is there, and I'm gonna just let him go around, and I'm just watched this. How cool is that that God would play a practical joke on you? And I just thought, Lord, thank you for that. That your creation just makes an amazing statement that you really are revealed in your creation. And I would even say this that we cannot know God. I shared this last week. We cannot know God without knowing his personality, and he is real, he is all man in the best way possible. And this book, if we read it without his personality, we miss it altogether. I would even be so bold as for too long in my life, God and Christ were not much more than the way I think of Abraham Lincoln. I I know Abraham Lincoln was real, there's history of him. He did a lot of great stuff, and I benefit because of that, and we benefit because of his decisions, but I know about him, I benefit from him, but he was just there. And unfortunately, too often I think that we see Jesus in that same way. Yes, I believe he was real, yes, he did some amazing gifts, took my sin for me, he died on a cross for me, and he did some incredible pieces, and I benefit from that, but that's about where it stops. I'm not experiencing Jesus in the real sense. He's become a two-dimensional painting on a wall. He's the one in the middle of the table of the Last Supper. That's who Jesus is. He is the pasty white skin, and he's become two-dimensional, but that is not Jesus. And the question that I would have for you and I is what is he to you and I today? And just obliterate those. I'm thankful for artists. I know some artists, but what I love is when they show the passion of who they are and we see the passion through a painting. I'm just telling you, the last supper that we see is not the last supper. It wasn't that. It wasn't the perfect. They all sat on one side of the table. That's not real. And the only time that would happen is, and they're one side of the table and everything's just perfect, and Jesus in the middle looking very angelic, and that's just not real. Unless they're at a sports bar and there's a really good game on. Then maybe, maybe they're all on one side of the table. But that's not real. What's real is is living life. What's real is saying, you know what, who is God? Now, here's the question that blew my mind when I was going through this, going, well, God, it's just, it doesn't feel spiritual to think of you as funny. It doesn't feel spiritual to think that you could play a practical joke on me, and it yet it seems unbelievably personal. And then here's the question: if you're struggling with this, if you're thinking, well, okay, I'm uncomfortable with this, I want you to answer this question. Are you greater than God in anything? Are you greater than God? And if we're honest, the quest, the answer is very simple. Well, of course I'm not greater than God. Then is God not funnier than you? Is God not more creative than you? Is God not more playful than you? Can he not use humor to an extreme that we're not even capable of? And I want to give you a wonderful, beautiful example of that because in his creation, he could have done it anyway. He could have ushered in his kingdom any way he wanted to, he could have built his people any way he wanted to, and in Genesis chapter 17, this is how he chose to do it. You can follow along, they're gonna put it on the screens here, but in chapter 17 of Genesis, starting in verse 15, it says, God, he goes to talk personally, one-on-one with Abraham. And so God also said to Abraham, As for Sarai, your wife, you shall no longer call her Sarai, you shall call her Sarah. Which sounds kind of similar, but okay. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of people will come from her. Don't miss 17. Look at this. Abraham fell face down and laughed and said to him, Will a son be born of a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety? And Abraham said to God, If only Ishmael might live under this. And he goes on, and then God says, Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. And the strictest, straightest translation of Isaac is Laughter. Imagine having that name growing up. What's your name? Um, uh Laughter. That's my name. I'm Laughter. Nice to meet you. And then friends would be like, seriously? Now, I love, for those of you who don't know my past, I'm filling in for our lead pastor, Steve, and Steve is incredible. But what I do for a living, I do comedy, and I love to do comedy all over the country, and it's one of my favorite things is to encourage people. One of my favorite audiences, one of my favorite audiences is senior adults. Because they have lived life and they've lost some inhibitions. And yet, even as I see them, they've also they're the physically, I'm starting to feel this way. They just they're they're a hearty laugh for a senior adult is that was good. That's a hearty laugh, okay? And I love it. They come up and tell me stories afterwards, and I love senior adults. I have never seen one fall out of a chair on purpose and just beat the ground laughing. I've never seen it. And that's how funny God is. Because he says, Abraham, you're gonna have a child, and Sarah is gonna have a baby. And he literally, this is how personal and intimate God was with him. He literally falls on the ground and goes, Okay, God, that was the funniest thing I've ever heard. I'm a hundred. My wife is 90. See, um, in case you missed your creation, um menopause and then postmenopause, and then no possible way pause, and that's where we are. I mean, think of God's sense of humor. Where else in history do you see parents and children both in diapers at the same time? It's just that's awesome. That's incredible. And that's the way God did it. He chose to do it that way. Why to make a statement that I am I am more fun and I'm more creative than you can possibly dream. I'm out of your your zone, creative and playful, because he used this to teach us. I want to show us also that Jesus had every human experience. He felt everything we feel, and he was tempted in every way we were tempted. And I love that it says he was even suffered, and we'll go into this next week, but he suffered so that he could help us in our weaknesses. We'll go into that. But he also used humor, and he also used situations, and he was also incredibly creative and playful to teach. And I want us to look at a couple of those because Jesus had every human experience, and I want to break down a wall, and this is not gonna be easy for some of you to swallow, but Jesus was human, which means he burped. Okay? You can't tell me he's around a bunch of guys around a fire and they oh, they they never burped. They never burped. I I'm willing to say they had a burping contest at some point, all right? And if he burped, that means he also found other things that were funny. Um, but God made us that way. He created us that way. It's one of the reasons I love babies. I am a baby magnet, I am a baby freak because I love babies, because they have no inhibitions. Have you ever seen a child? This is one of my favorites, and it's totally gross. A baby will just sit and just you go boo and they laugh, and they boo, and they laugh. And here's the coolest part I've ever seen because a baby has an ability to laugh and throw up at the same time. And they never stop laughing, they just keep laughing, and it's just running down them, and they keep, I'm like, that's disgustingly cute. How is that possible? And yet that's the way God made us. And to say, you know what, if he's that way, how does he teach? Well, I want us to look. If you have a Bible, I want you to flip over to Matthew. It's it's in the New Testament. And in Matthew, I want us to see how Jesus is gonna use the situation in humor and intimately use this humor in such a personal way that he taught a lesson that we'll never forget to a man that he's just trying to connect with. Now, see, Peter is following Christ, and Jesus is gonna use a little bit of sarcasm, and he's gonna use a little bit of reality and a little bit of majesty to say, I want you to never forget this. And I can tell Peter, I want you to get to that point. Has there ever been something that you're committed to that maybe not everybody else is? And I'm so committed to it, but then it's tested, and then it's gonna cost me to follow this, and it's gonna cost me maybe my reputation or money or maybe time, and I've got to choose do I really believe this or not? And how sarcasm in this essence is just so real. That's what happens in Matthew chapter 17, verses 24 through 27. After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collector of the two drachma tax came to Peter and asked, uh, doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? And he replies, Well, yes, he does. When Peter came into the house, so he's outside. And get the picture, he's outside, and this tax collector comes by and he goes, Doesn't your teacher do that? And Jesus hears it. And then he says, Peter came inside. Jesus was the first to speak. He comes in and and he can see it like um, Jesus, I mean, uh Okay, I know who you say you are, and but they want us to pay a tax. And I mean, he's trying to think of a way to say the question, so Jesus just speaks first. And he says, uh, what do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth collect duty and taxes? From their own sons or from others? From others, Peter answered. Then the sons are exempt, Jesus said to him. But so that you may not, so that we may not offend them. Here's what I want you to do. Go to the lake, throw in your line, take the first fish you catch, open its mouth, and you'll find four drochma coins. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. Okay. Do you want me to go fishing? Okay, so he goes. I don't know how far the water was, but he's going. And can you can you imagine his thought process as he's going? I'm supposed to fish. I've never caught a fish with money in it. But that's what he said. Throw your line in, and you're gonna catch a fish. And so so Peter, what are you using for bait? Uh a hook? Just a hook. That's all I got. I got a fish. And and then he picks it up, and there's the four coins. Do you think Peter just went, oh, the Lord has shown me? I'm telling you, he laughed. He just went, well, of course there's four dragma in the mouth of a fish randomly biting a hook. What do you think his countenance was walking to church to that tax collector? I'm willing to bet he didn't even clean off the coins. He just went, here's your money. What do I need the fish for? Yeah, just deal with that. That's. I'm sorry, I can't not see God's humor in this. I can't not see that God is playful, that Jesus is going. I want you to remember this. So I'm gonna do something so extraordinarily out of your possibility realm of comprehension that you'll never forget it. And he used humor to do that. And we get this in a small sense. We get it in a small sense. And if you want to, I want you to flip over to Luke 24. But as you're flipping there, we get this concept. I see it. My wife is an incredible teacher. She teaches school and she taught middle school. And one of the greatest gifts you can do as a teacher of middle schoolers is to have a sense of sarcasm. My middle son, who turns 14 today, his favorite teacher at school is this one teacher. And he goes, Man, he's just funny. He's got this deep southern accent. And he says, his form of discipline is to just be extremely sarcastic. He says the middle class, he goes, Now I've told you, now listen, if you don't be quiet, I'm gonna have to knock the teeth out of your head right now. I'm just gonna have to knock the teeth out of your head. Do you understand? I just I can't stand it. I'm I'm coming, I'm I'm coming. I'm gonna knock the teeth out of your head right now. And he said, it's just so stupid. It's funny. And we just go, okay, y'all shut up. That's funny, you know. It's just it's that ability to connect. And then he goes on, and this is again, I we we've got to get into the situation here. Jesus has come to earth. Next week we'll talk about that in depth of why and how and how that connects, but this is the humorous part to me of how unbelievable creative, and I want you to get in Jesus' mindset. He was 100% God, he was 100% man, he came to earth. What was his mission? His mission was to love, example love, take the sins of the world, and to die for that. That was his mission. And he's accomplished that. Imagine for just a second if you knew specifically what your life purpose was, and think about how you and I would feel the day we accomplished that. How would that feel? I think it would be incredibly euphoric to think, I did it. I did it. It worked. And he would be excited. At the end of the football game this year of the national championship, whoever goes, whoever wins, watch them. They don't get to the end and go, oh, that was fantastic. We made it. This was great. Let's go to the locker room and change, get a shower and get out of here. No. It is a party, there's a festival, there is excitement. And individually, it's the fulfillment. That is where Jesus is at this moment. And in that moment, the creator of the universe decides to get creative and playful to teach, to teach another lesson, to let these guys know I know where you are, and I want you to learn at yet another level. In Luke chapter 24, it's the road to Emmaus. And I want to set this up for just a second because here's the deal. The ladies have come back and they said they've moved his body, he's gone. And they've gone down, they're checking. Now they're going for seven miles, seven miles they're walking. How fast can we walk? It's going to take some time to walk. And look what happened starting in verse 13. Now, the same name, the two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus has disguised himself. I don't think it was glasses and a mustache. I don't think that was it. He just creatively is like, I'm going to keep this from him. And think about how hard that would be to just go, you know what, this is, I'm just going to let them know who I am. He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still. They stopped. They stood still and their faces downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked him, Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem that does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And Jesus, look, what things? What are you talking about? They're like, you've got to be kidding me. You don't know what's going on. And then they start in. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied, He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed, before God and all the people, and the chief priest and the other rulers handed him over to the sentence to death, and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but didn't find his body. They came and told us, and they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, and he starts to go. Now check this out. They're talking to this vision, they're like, Are you seriously? You don't know what's going on? Have you been under a rock? I mean, or behind one, or whatever. And then he said to them, How foolish are you? And how slow of heart to believe what the prophets have spoken. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scripture concerning himself. He starts back with Moses and he goes, and now he becomes this traveler who's clueless to their like, but you haven't heard about Jesus. He goes, huh? Wow, that's interesting. Wow, I thought that in the um the writings that we have that, well, let's just start back. Moses and this, and he walks them through. Now remember, seven miles, this is about two hours worth of walking. And in two hours he starts to unfold. Well, I thought that Moses and then then this and then this happened, and he goes through it and he keeps walking through the whole thing, and then by the time they get to the house where they're going, he's like, Yeah, seems like that would be the whole story. It makes sense to me that this all pointed to one man in history. Huh? That would make sense. As they approach the village in verse 28, I love this, which they were going. Jesus acts as if he was going further. I love that. He gets to the end of the story and he goes, hey, okay, hey, bummer about your friend. Take it easy. And then they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! And after two hours, look at verse 29. And they urged him strongly, stay with us, for it's nearly evening and the day is almost over. And so they went and he stayed with them. And this is the cool reveal. And this is where Jesus gets crazy playful. He's let them feel the emotions, all of them. Loss, hope, clarity of history, that Jesus really was it. And they're like, Well, you obviously know a lot of this. Come stay with us, hang with us, tell everybody what you've been telling us. And then they sit down. Now, I don't know how the Last Supper went, but I do believe with all my heart Jesus broke bread a little bit differently, so that it was so personal they knew that this is the way Jesus breaks bread. And in verse 30, when he was at the table with them, and he took the bread and gave thanks and broke it and began to give it to them, their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And he disappeared from their sight. There's no words, but I am convinced at least the possibility is there that he broke the bread and they went, You! And he didn't say it, but the look on his face was, I know, right? Gone. If it was just a vision, it happens in a moment. But he walked with them for two plus hours, explaining everything. They walked, they talked, they saw, they interacted, they connected, and everything was right there. And then the reveal, like the greatest punchline of history. Take the bread. It's you! It's how how did we not see that? And he goes, Yes, it is me. And in this playful, amazing interaction, he just went, I'm insanely personal. Next week we're gonna look at what that means for you and I. This week, my my prayer is simply this that you and I would see that the creator of the universe is fun, he is funny, he's insanely personal, and he wants to show you and I what joy really is. See happy last for a moment. Joy last regardless of circumstances. And we see Jesus' playful spirit and his humor and his joy in every situation he walks through. And that's what these guys were drawn to, that he wasn't some two-dimensional figure. He was real. And he had the ability to laugh, he had the ability to play practical jokes, he had the ability to teach with humor. And once we grab that aspect of his personality, then we can start to see the fullness of what his love really has looked like. My prayer as we close is this: Lord, I pray that we would see you for who you are, how beautiful and outrageous you are, and how personal and intimate you are. This week, Lord, I pray as we just converse with you, that we would sense your humor and that we would sense your presence in a way that radically changes us. Lord, I pray that if there's anybody here that doesn't know you personally, I genuinely ask that you would just show them who you really are. Get rid of the religious fog and the denominational pains and just show them you. And I pray that intimacy that will happen for us. Lord, thank you for Jesus most of all, that without him we have no hope. But with him we have full hope. So today, as we leave here, I and we sing this last song. I pray that you would just spend a moment in a heightened sense of his presence. And maybe even ask him, Lord, would would you show me something fun about you this week? Something amazing about you. I asked him that yesterday, and I said, Lord, I'm prepping for this, and you're incredible. Lord, can I just see something incredible? And I literally, I turned my head and I just went, wow! Because I was on approach and coming into Atlanta and it was sunset, and it was right there and in colors that no artist can duplicate. It went from this glowing almost red to an orange to, I can't even describe it, it's not a gray, but it's not a color, and it's between the blue and the red and the orange, and then it goes into this incredible blue, into this deep blue, into this stunning moon. And I'm like, wow, you really are amazing. Thank you for that. Those moments happen when we let God speak to our hearts. Let him do that with us this week. And I can't wait till next week. We're gonna get insanely personal next week with how personal God wants to be with us if we will let him. And I pray that we knock down the walls that keep us from him. Thanks for letting me share this morning. And uh, y'all go ahead and stand up. We're gonna go ahead and wrap up with a song. Kill it.