Let me ask you a question about asking a question. If you could sit down with Jesus for lunch, what would you ask him? I had that opportunity and it blew my mind. And I'm going to get into the very specific details of that this morning. It's not just a tease. It was a reality totally different than what I expected. If you were not here last week, I shared about a trip that my family took. We went as a family to Costa Rico to stay with some friends of ours who cashed out of our society and decided to go be missionaries for an undetermined amount of time in Costa Rica. And we spent some time down there and it was incredible. Last week I shared about one of the life-changing focal points that God hit me with that if I really want to experience this life to the full, there were three decisions I had to make. And it really was during my time down in Costa Rica that we came across these verses. And it was James chapter 4, verses 7 through 10. And I have to submit, submit to seek him, and I have to draw near to God, and that I have to humble myself. Well, today what I want to really talk about is how do we seek those answers to the questions we would ask Jesus if we got to sit down with him at lunch? What does it mean to physically draw near to God and Jesus? And can we physically draw near to Jesus? And in that same sense, I'm convinced now more than ever, it is through humility and saying, God, it's all yours. To lead up to there, let me draw a little picture of what we were experiencing to lead up to that moment, that time of lunch. We were in Costa Rica, an unbelievably naturally beautiful country. We were in the rainforest. Costa Rica is a huge part of it, is the rainforest, and we were staying in the rainforest. Up one of the steepest, muddiest hills. It was a mile up. You had to have four-wheel drive just to get to where we were staying. But it was on the side of the mountain, and you could sit, and I did every day, and I would just look over, and you looked over the rainforest, and there were clouds above sometimes, and clouds below sometimes. It was stunning. And about a mile plus in the distance, you could see the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful. The rainforest is amazing. And the country. A mile walk down the hill, and we were at a waterfall that was about 30 feet high, and the pool of water and a rope swing off of a tree, and me and my boys just spent about an hour and a half there just having a blast. It was beautiful. The human side of it, though, in the reality is that as great as the view was, the roads were inversely horrible. They have pavement in some places, but no lines and no real rules for driving. So it leaves for a little bit of interesting moving around. On top of that, it's the rainforest, so it's always kind of damp everywhere. It's the rainforest. Go figure. But then there was the day where after we had spent some time with our friends and after we had kind of figured out what the week's going to look like, we had gone over to kind of serve in some orphanages, and those details didn't work out the way we thought. But Donald Christie said, you know what? We're hooked up with a lady named Beth, and she does a ministry to this group of people in San Isidro. And we're thinking about being a part of that on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. And the first opportunity is going to be today. Do you want to go? We're like, yes, we want to go. What does it entail? I said, well, there's some down-and-out people that she just takes lunch to. So we meet, we drive up this unbelievably windy road, one of those roads that you see in the movies where you're looking over and there's a thousand-foot drop and there's no guardrail, and I'm white-knuckled driving on this road, and it's like, oh, we finally get over the hill and we go to their version of a grocery store, which is not like our version of a grocery store. But we met them. And I've discovered the idea of serving is oftentimes a lot more exciting than actually serving. And I discovered that at a new level. One of our core beliefs at his hands is that we serve because it's part of what God made us to do, but it's where we see Jesus. And I'll go into more detail in a second. But we we get to the grocery store, and I was excited because I'm like, you know what? Let's, what do we do? And she goes, Well, we're just going to make some sandwiches. And I said, Well, let's get sandwiched stuff. So we bought ham and turkey and lettuce and cheese and bread, and we got a table, and we put it out there in this little parking lot. And there were two dogs over fighting, waiting for us to throw something. And we're we're gathered around this table, about 12 of us, making sandwiches. And it was like, we're making sandwiches. This is awesome. And we pack them up and we put them in a cooler and we get the drinks and we get some cups and we get some napkins and we head off. We head off to feed the people. And I gotta describe the people in the place. She told us as we're making the sandwiches, yeah, they've kicked them out a few times, but I'm pretty sure they're back at their home. And we're like, well, where's their home? They live in the landfill. Huh? They live in the dump. And this is an emerging country, a third world previous country, now emerging, doing better, but it's the landfill. And now, as we're driving there, I'm trying to prepare my boys and my daughter and my wife. I said, now it's a landfill, it's a dump. How do you think that's going to smell? They're like, bad? Very good. I agree. I think it's going to smell bad. Now, the reality is, here's what I want you to do. I want you to engage for just a second. Think of the three worst smells you've ever smelled. Put them together. Multiply them by ten. Driving in with the windows up, it made us nauseous. You can imagine. As we pull up, it was funny because we're in three cars, a truck and two cars, and they were SUVs. But the lady who kind of organized it, she's in the first car, and there's a gentleman of this little hut at the mud road that goes into the dump, and he's saying, No, no, no, no. And he he she rolls down the window and he's explaining in Spanish. I couldn't hear it, but I could see his face. He's explaining, no, you you've taken a wrong turn. This is a dump. This is the dump. And then you could tell that she was explaining, no. We have lunch. Somebody ordered lunch here, and we're bringing lunch. And he's looking and he and he's like, No, it's the dump. And she goes, No, my friends live here. And I'm here to bring lunch. And he kind of did this, okay. And she said, the two cars behind me are with me. And he looked and he was like, okay. And he led us past and as we went by. He had this look on his face like, you people are out of your mind. And we drove by and we drove into the landfill. It was immediate mounds of garbage. Go figure, this is where they take their garbage, and there were vultures everywhere. The stench was unbelievable, and it hit us hard. And as we pulled up, it's Costa Rica. It's the rainforest. During the rainy season, we pull up into the middle where we could stop to set up a table. And as I opened my door, the reality really hit. There is mud about that deep. And my mind just started to evaluate. How do I get out? And then how do I get back in? And what do we do? And as we got out and began to walk and smell and experience, we realized that this was not just mud, this was a special mud. It's in the dump with oozingness into the mud and stuff. We affectionately named it moop. Partly because the sound it made, but partly because the smell it emitted, and it was it was shocking. And we're standing in moop and trying to figure out where do we put a table and how do we do this? And the and the people in lean twos on the on the mountain of garbage looking at us like you people are out of your mind. What are you doing? What what are you what is happening here? Nobody comes to the dump that doesn't dump dump. Why are you here? And then we started setting out the sandwiches, and a few came up out of curiosity, and we're like, hello. And they're they're like, hola, and we're like, Buenos días. They're like And we're like, would you like a sandwich? And we had one or two people who spoke some Spanish. They said, Would you like a sandwich? Like, yes. We're like, they're free, here it is. Would you like a drink? And and we started to feed them, and more and more would start to come. There's about 30 or 40 people spread out. Let me describe the people that lived in the landfill. None of them were pretty. They were not pretty, they were not well dressed. Nothing about them from a physical sense made me desire to be around them or to be them from a physical sense. Nothing. Imagine them. This is a choice or the result of a bunch of choices. The neighborhoods leading up to the dump despise these people because they live in a dump and they make their houses, which are near the dump, even worse. These people are literally, I I don't know what all they're suffering from. Again, I didn't get into the details of the decisions or why they were there, we never asked. But they're living in a landfill. They're suffering. These these are people who an entire community, an emerging world, pretends don't exist. We asked, what happened what happens if something happens to them? And they're like, the pe the police will not even respond. Nobody will respond. They pretend they don't exist. And these are the people who live there. And we brought them lunch. And we had lunch with these folks. We didn't eat, but they ate, and we got to speak with them, we got to give them some pieces, and I if I could sit down with Jesus, I would have asked a few questions. Am I doing life right? Am I where I'm supposed to be? What do I need to change? What would you want me to do? Give me perspective of of this life of that you've given me. Give me what you want me to do. And I I didn't realize it at the time. As I was having lunch and serving lunch that Jesus would show me later, I was there. I was right there. Look at this prophecy. Not look, listen to this prophecy of who how Jesus is described. You can write the reference down, and if you want to open your Bibles, I want you to open to Matthew chapter 25, because we're going to look at some verses in just a second. But look at how God describes his physical son Jesus. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by man, a man of sorrow, familiar, well familiar with suffering. Like one whom made men hid their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. I saw Jesus. I didn't realize it, but I did. And I realized as I saw this particular prophecy about Jesus, I said, Well, figuratively, Lord, I get it. I saw you in them. I get that. But then God nailed me between the eyes, and he's like, Ken, you're missing it. And this is unfolded as I've processed this. We left the dump that day, and you can tell there was a lot of processing. What did we just see? What did we just do? I told my boys, you will never forget this day. Ever. And I said, let God speak to your heart over the next weeks with what we just went through. And there's some amazing pieces that came out of it. But before we get there, I want you to look with me in Matthew chapter 25, verses 35 through 40. Because this is where God really got real with me and is teaching me through this. In chapter 25, verse 35, he says, This is Jesus. Now you have to have some theological training to know that this is Jesus speaking, or just realize it's in red. So Jesus is speaking and he said, For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came and visited me. And then the righteous will answer him. Lord, what when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in? Or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick and in prison and go visit you? Jesus, we've seen the pictures in Sunday school. You got brown hair, blue eyes. We know what you look like. You wear a bathrobe all the time. We haven't figured it out, but we know what you look like. You look like a middle class Protestant, Anglo-Saxon, Republican. That's what you look like. We get it. And and we didn't see you. And look what he says. He says, the king will reply, I tell you the truth. Whatever you did to one of the least of these brothers of mine, underline these last four words. You did for me. Not did for those like me. You did for me. Now here's the astounding part. As I saw these two verses, Isaiah 53, 3 and Matthew 25, and they began to come together, as I began to process this, I realized that was Jesus. That was Jesus. He didn't look like I expected. He didn't smell like I expected. He didn't act like I expected. I can tell you this: those who were there, some of these people, for whatever their condition, whatever their sorrow, here is a table full of food. Many of them we have been told eat five, six times a week. We put it out with freedom, and here it is. It is yours as much as you want. They would not walk 10 feet off of a trash pile to come get a sandwich. I don't know what that issue is. But they wouldn't do it. There were those who began to yell us at the end: move, get out of the way. Another dump truck is coming in. Move, get out of the way. We need some more trash to dig through. And that was the attitude. It wasn't the attitude I expected. But here's the stunning part that I got from this meeting with Jesus for lunch. If I had the opportunity to sit down and ask Jesus a set of questions, and he were to answer me verbally, it would not have been as clear as what I walked away with. Because I walked away with a perspective and a clarity about my life that I have never had. Of going, God, I see. I see my life. And as I processed this over the last week and a half, I saw where I needed to change and where I was doing really well. And I had the answers. And it blew my mind and continues to blow my mind today. I'm convinced after that experience that I am not the answer to their problems. Neither is America. Neither is capitalism. Jesus is the answer to their problems. Jesus is the answer to my problems. I realized a depth of God's love that I had never seen before. I'm standing there with these people at the state and condition they are, the lowest of the low I've ever personally met, and realized that Jesus died for them and loves them as much as he loves me. Not less, not more. That's a perspective I wouldn't have had. I had these realizations. And then I also realized some amazing wonders that we're involved with. That the core part of what we do here is part of Jesus. That in serving is when we will hear and see Jesus. It's not just an idea, it's not something we ask everybody to please find a place to serve because we need it. It's where we see Jesus. It's where we experience Jesus. It's where we get our answers and clarity from. It's also an amazing, a side effect I never expected. We finished up, we got the table together, we wrapped up the two amazing parts as we're sitting there at the end. The sandwiches are gone. We've handed out some of the stuff, and and we realized, wait a minute, where do we put the trash? And and we thought, do we and it was one of those mental weirdnesses, because we do do we put it in the in the truck to take it to a trash can to get it in, to bring it back here? Or do we just throw it down? Wow. And it was a confusion for a minute, and then it was like, wow, and then we then we got to the reality. Like, how do we get back in the cars? We got moop all over our shoes. And I'm in a rental, and I don't know how to explain that smell to the rental car company. And how do we do this? And it was such an incredible moment because my friend Donald says, You know what? I got a pickup truck. I said, Donald, can we take the shoes and just throw them in the back of your truck? And he said, Absolutely. And then we'll rinse them off when we get to a gas station or back home. And I'm like, that's great. He said, but how are we going to do that? We got to get in the cars. And through a beautiful moment of submission and humility, he says, You know what? Why don't all of you get in your doors? Let me take off your shoes. I'll carry them to the truck. And that way you don't have to have it. And I'm sitting there going, Yeah. And even with that, there was a little bit of moop left on us. And it was one of we're driving back. We're driving back, and and I look in the rearview mirror, and there's my son Graham and my wife in the back of the car, and they're just kind of laughing. And I'm like, do tell, what are you laughing at? And he said, you know, I just I'm still processing, but I got some moop on me. And he said, I just couldn't help but think of the song Moop. There it is. Moop, there it is. And we laughed. Oh my goodness. I can tell you that I began to have some realizations. I realized that when I get home, and I got home that my circumstances were the exact same as when I left. But my worry and my view of them changed dramatically. I got home with a level of thankfulness that no Thanksgiving before has ever provided. I experienced a genuine thankfulness, not a guilt. God, you've given me here, and I'm still processing some. I look at two little boys. I have a picture on my iPhone of these two boys. We gave them some silly bands, and they were playful, and they were happy. They live in a landfill. And they were just boys. And to this day, I'm like, God, I don't know why you let me be born here. But you did. I'm thankful for it. I'm not gonna feel guilty for what you've given me. But Lord, I pray for those two little boys who were born in a country, the parents who live in a landfill. What did they do wrong? Nothing. They did nothing wrong. God, I get it. Their only hope is you. Their only hope. And dare I say that in our country we are so distracted that we miss the fact that our only hope is Him. God thank you. That you can draw their eyes to that. That's one. And it I'm convinced more than ever that it is in giving and in serving where we will encounter Jesus literally. We will hear his voice, we will see with his clarity, and we will experience God when we humble and submit to serve and give. That's where it is. That's why it is a core value of what we do here. And it's not always going to look the way we expect it to look. And we won't always hear it and see it when we expect to see it, but that perspective is over time. I want to give you one other big picture that I experienced that was amazing to me. The next day, I look back and it was life in one day. It was Thanksgiving. I will never forget that Thanksgiving day. We decided that we would go for a hike. And I'd seen waterfall pictures in Costa Rica, and we went to Nayaka. And you pull up, and there's a little place you can pay to either spend $60 to ride a horse for six kilometers up and down these hills and mountains to get to the waterfall. Or you can pay $3 and hike it. And we thought, six kilometers? I've run 10Ks. We can do this. We don't need no stinking horse. Let's just hike it. And so we all got our $3, our one and a half, $1,500 colognes, and we paid it and we pulled in as far as we could get because the roads were very steep and then got narrow and then you couldn't pass, so we parked, and we're going to walk the four kilometers. Did I mention it was in the rainforest? Have I mentioned the concept that it rains in the rainforest? The trails were mud. Thick mud. Uphill, down, uphill, down, down, uphill, up and down. Mud. And we had defined the least muddy place for four kilometers, sliding and gushing, and you just resolve, I'm gonna be wet, I'm gonna be muddy, and we're just gonna get through it. And we start. And then you realize horses have gone before you to muddy it up even more. I don't know what they fed these horses, but they were very regular. More moop. And so you got to dodge this and get up, and and it's frustrating. And then it's together. And the boys ran up ahead with Kennedy, and the kids ran, and I'm with Heather, and we're walking, and we're like, okay, over here. I think this way, I think this, oh, I'm gonna beat you there. And we're walking on the sides, and we're dirty, and we're sweaty, and we're hot, and we're wet. And halfway through, we're like, if there's a horse that comes by, I'll knock the guy off. You steal the horse, and we're gonna go the rest of the way off. And we made it. And we made it up, and we caught up with the kids, and I saw something that touched my heart. My son, who is about to turn 14, has his eight-year-old sister on his back, and he'd been carrying her through the mud up the mountain, and I just went, oh, wow. They fight like dogs and they love each other deeply, and then we get there, and then we get to the waterfall. And here's the place. We're up and down through the mud over an hour and a half, closer to two hours, to get to this waterfall, and then we walk down over a hundred feet. There's a waterfall into a pool, and then to another 40 to 50 feet into another pool of the purest water I've ever seen. It's rain off of leaves, over rocks, over a waterfall. I've been in lakes, I've been in the ocean, I've been in pools, I've been in streams, I've been in rivers, I have never been in water where you get in. Now we were we were filthy, sweaty, but we get in, and it was just the cleanest water ever. I went from feeling groaty and muddy and gross to the cleanest I've ever felt in my life. And it was amazing because there were rocks next to the waterfalls you could climb up on and you could jump into the base of the waterfall. And then it would, the current was so strong it would just push you. You didn't even have to swim, push you to the other side of the pool where it was shallow. And we did that three or four times, and we're swimming across, and you forget about everything to get there. It was amazing. And as I processed that trip, I'm like, God, this is incredible. Don't let me miss the importance of this. As I got back, there was a verse that came to my mind over and over. It was John 16, 33. I have told you these things, so that in me, this is Jesus speaking, you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. Hear that verse, I want you to think about this. Underline the word will. In this world you will have trouble. You will have it. It's coming. It's there. There's moop. You're gonna walk uphill. You're in the rainforest. It's gonna rain. There's gonna be trouble. It rains on the righteous and the unrighteous. It happens. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Not that I'm gonna remove the world from you, but I'm gonna remove you from the world. I'm gonna let you see with my perspective. I'm gonna give you my strength. I'm gonna walk with you beside you through this. And not just the expected, but the unexpected. And I'm gonna deal with this because in God's economy, I've said it before, I believe it with all my heart. In God's economy, there is never pain without a purpose. Never. And at the end of it all, there's the waterfall. The purest, the most mind-blowing that we cannot imagine, especially when we're in the mud, going up and down the hills of life. And it makes everything else go away. The piece I remember about that is our kids ran ahead. Heather and Kennedy had to go to the little restroom they had. I won't even describe that. But then we all ended up together on the rock by the waterfall. And I just thought, that's life. We're together some, we're together, her and I, most of the time, but the kids are in front and behind. But don't miss coming together. Don't miss it. Because this life, this life is really to be endured and to learn how to connect with God and how to listen to Him. But there's something much bigger and better than this world, and it's called eternity. Don't miss it. Don't miss it. And it is our choice for that perspective and our choice to accept it. And if you're here this morning and you haven't accepted that free gift, you're just walking through the mud aimless. Don't miss the waterfall. Don't miss eternity. And don't walk this path alone. It wasn't meant to be walked alone. My prayer for us is that we would truly realize that Jesus is real. And he will let us see him physically when we serve. If you want a very real way to do that, I want to encourage you. Next Sunday, plan on staying an hour, hour and a half late. Deliver some toys, deliver some wishes. It will change your life. Let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you that you made it so clear that you were despised and you were not beautiful. And you chose that. You were rejected and you understand suffering. For anyone here this morning, God, that feels that, let them realize that's you. And you want to walk and you want to forgive and you want to empower and cleanse. And it's simply saying, Jesus, please come in. I need you. For those of us who know you, Lord, help us to just refresh anew and say, God, fill me, cleanse me. Walk with me. Thank you that you never leave us. And it is in the precious name of Jesus we pray and the power of your spirit that you give us that we have hope. Amen.