What if the God you always imagined isn't the God scripture reveals?

We all carry ideas about who God is.

Ideas shaped by culture, experience, and tradition.

People have tried for centuries to tame scripture.

Every time someone tries to fit him into their existing worldview, he pushes back.

He confronts assumptions, disrupts comfort, and invites us...

to see reality through him.

Encountering the real God doesn't tweak your world view, it flips it upside down.

Hi everybody, welcome to church.

Amen.

Welcome those are watching online.

Luke chapter 15.

That's where we're going to be.

Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 15.

We're going to be looking at the story of the prodigal son in there a little bit.

And I know that some of you or many of you have heard that story, but I need you not to assume where I'm going to be going with this one, okay?

This is very important.

All right.

So there is a YouTuber, a travel influencer guy, his name is Drew Binsky, who travels around the world.

And he visited recently, I don't know why it's recently, but he visited a rat temple.

In North East India.

North West India.

Apparently there's a rat temple there.

It's called in a town called Bikaner.

Where people worship rats.

Okay.

It is dedicated to a Hindu goddess named Kanyimata.

The goddess of power and victory.

In Hinduism.

Okay.

These rats are reincarnation, or they believe they are reincarnation of their families.

The temple is home to over 25,000 rats.

Okay?

That are fed, they're held, prayed to, and worshipped.

People rise up early.

They flocked to the temple to see these rats.

The rats are over all the food.

They go over all the water.

People go next, they feed the rats.

They pick up the milk in which the rats have walked into.

And they drink the milk and put it on their hair like shampoo or conditioner.

And I'm like, what is happening?

What is happening?

Listen, give me a lion to worship.

A rat?

Okay, I don't know.

I don't know why I told you that story, okay?

I just thought that was interesting, okay?

That's all.

There you go.

Luke chapter 15, verse 11, the prodigal son, okay?

So, here we go.

Verse 11.

Are you with me?

All right, here we go.

And he said, that is Jesus, he said, a man had two sons.

The young of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the state that is coming to me.

And so he divided his wealth between them.

Okay?

Then we know, for many of you who know this story, the younger son goes, makes a huge mess of his life.

He loses his whole inheritance.

And then he decides to head back home.

Let's jump to verse 20.

Okay, here we go, verse 20.

So he said the son set out and came to his father.

But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him.

And he ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his slaves, Quickly, bring the best robe and put it on him.

And put a ringer on his finger and sandals and on his feet.

Bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let's eat and celebrate.

For the son of mine was dead and has come to life again.

He was lost and has been found.

And they began to celebrate.

Okay, so what's the background of this story that Jesus is saying?

Okay, there are two groups of people coming to Jesus.

Tax collectors and sinners.

Okay, everyone knows tax collectors were not liked because they took money from the Jewish people and gave it to the Romans.

They were traitors.

According to the Jewish people.

The tax collectors and sinners would include prostitutes and people like that.

The worst of the worst.

So with the tax collectors and sinners coming to Jesus, we also have the Pharisees coming to Jesus.

However, they are upset that Jesus is not with them.

That he is sitting with the worst of the worst.

So in fact, the complaint is, This man...

receives sinners and eats with them.

That's their complaint.

The tax collectors and sinners and also the Pharisees kind of knew that God was out of reach.

Imagine Zacchaeus' face.

Many of you know Zacchaeus, tax collector.

When he's on the sycamore tree, Jesus says, Zacchaeus, come down.

I am going to have dinner with you.

I wonder what Zacchaeus felt.

I am a nobody.

I am a traitor and this man wants to eat with me?

That's crazy.

And the Pharisees are trying to get close to God by...

doing the right things, by works.

They all both thought God was too far out of reach for them.

And so Jesus tells them the story of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son, to give them a picture of who God is.

So today, in this sermon, we're going to focus on the Father in this story, as we start our series, The God You Thought You Knew.

What does this story teach us about God?

I need you to buckle up because this is going to be a bit of a heady sermon.

Okay?

Meet.

So, buckle up.

Stay with me because you might get lost.

Are you with me?

Okay, this is going to be a little heavy.

Okay, so, here we go.

Observation one.

The father is extremely wealthy.

The father is a rich man who seems to own a large estate.

He has animals, fields, fancy clothes, he has servants, he's a pillar in the community.

In fact, when the son comes home, he says, slaughter the fattened calf.

Why?

He's inviting everyone from the community to celebrate the son coming home.

This is a picture of God for us, who is the creator of all things.

Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and those who live in it.

Psalm 24.

50.

For every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

I know every bird of the mountains and everything that moves in the fields is mine.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine and everything it contains.

So this is a picture of God.

Number two, the father respects the son's free will.

I don't want to stay here too long, but I'm assuming the The son went to the...

Dad said, hey, I want my inheritance.

They have a little, hey, are you sure you want to do this?

Yes, I do.

No, you shouldn't.

I think I'm going to do it.

They go back and forth.

And the father finally says, okay, here is your inheritance.

He doesn't stop the son from going as he leaves the safety of the father.

The father doesn't stop him.

God respects our free will.

God.

respects our free will.

We are not robots.

God has given us the ability to choose him or to follow other things.

And that is very, very clear for all of us human beings.

So I would like to come out at the second part of this story.

And I'm going to be praying right now that you see what I saw as I was preparing for this sermon.

See, the younger son disrespected the father.

And many of you know this.

He disrespected his father by asking for inheritance before the father dies.

He squandered all the inheritance.

And then at his lowest, he decides to return home.

So Luke chapter 15 verse 20 says, So he set out and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way away, someone, if you have your Bible, underline that.

While he was still a long way away, his father saw him and felt compelled.

passion for him and then my favorite is he run towards him and embraced him and kissed him now the father did not give up on waiting for the son it appears the father maybe was doing chores digging or help you know supervising the field and every so often he would look up to the hills to see, is my son coming home?

Is my son coming home?

And I think the father felt that there was something going on.

There was something wrong while the son was away.

How many of you parents have heard a bad feeling when your kids are going through something bad?

Anybody?

Right?

You know.

Like you wake up in the night, you're like, what is going on?

Right?

You felt that.

I think the father was kind of like he knows something is wrong.

So he did not give up waiting.

Number two is the father's reaction was intuitive.

Even before.

Holding and embracing the sun.

He saw the sun from half a mile away.

Made out his shape, even though the son was rugged, not showered, probably skinny.

And he knew that was my son.

And he ran towards his skinny, rugged, tattered son.

He ran, embraced him, and kissed him.

See, for many of us, This would not be significant, but in the African and the Middle East cultures, this is huge.

Running is a shameful act for a man, for an elderly man.

You don't run.

In my culture, you don't support elderly men.

Younger men run for their older man.

You go run over there, go get it.

Older men do not run.

Right, Mike?

We don't.

We don't do that.

Okay?

So...

And I thought, how can I make this American?

You know, I was thinking, okay, let's go to a Hallmark movie.

Ooh, okay.

The girl has lived in a big city for years, hasn't been home.

She's living her best life as a manager of this bougie whatever, okay?

And she left on bad terms with her dad because she was supposed to marry this guy from high school, but he did not.

And then she went to the city, got engaged, but then the engagement broke off.

So now she's sad and she has to drive home very very sad because the engagement has broken off and as she's driving home snow is falling down you know she's driving home and she gets into a small town right and she and everyone is seeing her because it's a small town there's one main street and everybody's on the porch right Everyone's in the porch, right?

And they are just like, she's there, she's here, and she's hiding behind the wheel trying to get home.

And her dad is on the other side of the street, probably in a bathrobe, picking up a newspaper, you know, getting ready with his tea, and then he sees her car.

And he just throws everything in his bathrobe and runs towards her.

That is how I saw that, for you.

Hallmark, produced by Michael.

A man of stature never pranced around in public, ever.

This might explain why Michal, David's wife, condemned David's actions when he danced without his outer robes, when he was dancing in front of the Ark of the Covenant.

This is a huge honor and huge shame culture.

The father knew what would happen if the members of the community saw the son first.

In these communities, they would beat him, send him away publicly, and humiliate him for shaming the family.

The community had nothing but disgust for such a scoundrel.

The father knew this might happen, so he waited patiently.

And when he saw him far away, he ran towards him.

Why?

Yes, he loves him.

Yes, he feels compassion for him.

Yes, it's his son.

And yet there is something I learned this week.

By lifting up his robes and exposing his legs, he was taking, listen carefully church.

Okay, are you with me?

He was exposing, he was taking on the shame, the disgust, the bad attention the son would have received and placing it on himself.

So instead of the villagers going...

Why has this young man returned?

They would be looking at the father, wondering why he's running with his legs, showing his legs.

He took on the shame of the son.

This is brilliant on part of the father.

The father doesn't make some aristocratic gesture to allow the son to come near.

Son, you deliberately disobeyed us and you took all our inheritance now.

Kiss the ring and kiss my feet.

before you come into the house.

He didn't do that.

He lowers himself.

It's a picture of God.

God has been stooping down since the Old Testament and I'm going to show you how.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

Number one, God and Abraham.

In Genesis 18, God comes to Abraham like a man.

Listen to this, he says, Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the ox of memory, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.

When he raised his eyes and looked, behold, three men.

Okay, things you don't look for.

Three men were standing opposite him, and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down to the ground.

So Abraham has a conversation with God about his wife Sarah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and there was a godlike figure and two angels.

Many theologians, okay, I told you this is going to be a little heady.

It's okay.

A lot of theologians believe this is what you call a Christophany.

That is a pre-incarnate Christ.

Before Jesus comes on earth, Christmas time, this is called a Christophany.

But God does not destroy Abraham.

Number two, God and Moses.

In Exodus chapter 33, Moses asks God to show him his full glory.

God responds, But you may not look directly at my face, for no one may see me and live.

The Lord continued, look, stand near me on this rock.

As my glorious presence passes by, I'll hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I've passed by.

Then I'll remove my hand and let you see me from behind.

But my face will not be seen.

This is what we call a theophany.

God the Father father talking to Moses and he says if you see me if you see my face you will die so God kind of like I am gonna hide you I'm gonna reduce myself a little bit so that you can see my back okay you can't really see me God does not destroy Moses God and Joshua Joshua chapter 5 the Israelites were getting ready for battle for the battle of Jericho and then this happened Joshua chapter 5.

Now it came about that when Joshua was by Jericho, again, listen, I don't know if you caught this, he raised his eyes and looked.

Abraham did the same thing.

And behold, a man was standing opposite him with a sword drawn in his hand.

And Joshua went to him and said, Are you for us or for our enemies?

And he said, No, I rather have come now as the captain of the army of the Lord.

And Joshua fell his face to the ground and bowed down and said to him, Why has my Lord, what has my Lord to say to his servant?

And the captain of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.

And Joshua did so.

Now, many of you know this, but some of you may not know.

Anytime a huge being like that tells you take off your sandals, it is not an angel.

This is another Christophany.

Jesus appearing to Joshua.

We used to sing a song in the 80s when I was going to church.

I was like eight years old.

For the captain of the host is Jesus.

We are following in his footsteps.

Long time ago.

Anyway, squirrel.

Diverse.

So here.

So Jesus talks to Joshua.

It's a Christophany.

And Joshua is not destroyed.

I need you to follow me very carefully.

Number four, God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

While in the fiery furnace, King Nebuchadnezzar has turned this thing seven times harder.

The king sees, he threw in three people, he sees a fourth, and he says, that looks like a God.

That's another Christophany.

Jesus is with three men, and they don't get destroyed by him.

Why?

Why is all this happening?

In these instances, we see God's omnipotence, his power, and yet we see God kind of reducing himself to be with us.

It is not one of those attributes you see next to omnipotence and omniscience and omnipresence and holiness.

In fact, I could not find too much writing on this attribute of God.

It is called divine humility.

If you're taking notes, that is your sermon.

Divine humility.

What is divine humility?

Well, I want to take you through what two theologians think.

One of them, C.S.

Lewis, wrote a little bit about it.

And C.S.

Lewis tells us that God made us and he knows that our happiness is best found in him.

And yet, God cannot just leave us on our own because he knows if he leaves us on our own, we will not naturally go and seek him.

And so...

God makes our lives less agreeable.

Things don't work out the way they are supposed to.

Sometimes we have money, sometimes we don't.

Sometimes we are good, sometimes we get sick.

Things don't work out.

We live in a world right now, America.

Oh, it's the best place on earth, but there's chaos everywhere.

Life is not agreeable to us.

He warns us of an insufficiency that we will discover if we continue to walk without God.

That's what happened to the prodigal son.

He left the Father and found out if I'm out of the Father's presence, things are not going to be good.

Amen?

Are you with me?

And so he, God, will not leave us alone.

He is the hound of heaven.

C.S.

Lewis says this, I call this divine humility.

The stooping down of the highest.

He, God, is not proud.

He will have us even though we have shown we prefer everything.

else to him.

It is hardly complimentary to God that we should choose him as an alternative to hell.

Yet even this he accepts.

Think about people who are on their deathbeds and they realize I'm about to die.

Do you want to receive Jesus?

Yes I do.

God doesn't reject that person even though the whole life you've lived away from him.

Think about the thief on the cross right?

He's on the cross.

God, remember me.

Yeah, tonight you'll be with me in paradise.

Last resort.

He goes to heaven.

In our passage, the father accepts the son, the lost son, even though he knows the father is the last resort.

I have done everything I can.

I'm eating pig food.

I think the only choice I have right now is to go back to my father.

Last resort.

And yet, the father accepts him.

So for Lewis, God is pursuing us even when we refuse him.

Because he knows that our best life is in him.

So God stoops down.

And he keeps showing up to us.

C.S.

Lewis writes that he goes down and comes up again to bring the whole ruined world with him.

Us.

God is within reach.

And then there was this amazing lady.

Her name is Catherine.

I can't pronounce her last name.

Okay.

But she writes really well.

I don't know if the word is going to come there.

Okay, Catherine.

For Catherine Zonderger, humility as an attribute of God originates from the Trinitarian nature of God.

See, in Christianity, three gods, three beings, but one.

Not three gods.

Okay?

Scratch that.

Okay?

One God.

There you go.

Okay?

God is one being.

Three persons.

One what?

Three who's, okay?

That's Sean McDowell says that.

One what?

Three who's, okay?

This is what the Athanasian Creed says.

If you want a good description of the Trinity, here we go.

I told you today is going to be heady, okay?

Are you with me?

Sometimes we got to give you meat.

Here we go.

Here's the Athanasian Creed.

It reads, The Father eternal, the Son eternal, the Holy Spirit eternal, and yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal.

As also there are not three uncreated, but one created.

So likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit almighty, and yet there are not, hello, three almighties, okay?

But, One Almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three, but one.

So likewise, the Father is the Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord, and yet there are not three Lords, but one.

Amen?

But they eternally coexist.

And they have loved each other before time.

And they have this oneness that's founded on love and submission to one another.

And so Matthew Wilcoxon writes, pay attention, it's a lot, but it's good for you.

This predisposition of humility is rooted in God's own being as a divine father begets a divine son, and together with the father and the son, spirit the divine spirit.

Then as a necessity contingent upon this self-giving, the divine humility moves outward in creation and redemption.

What is he saying?

Divine humility is rooted in the Trinity and is extended to God's creation since God is relational.

Are you with me?

Okay, are you following?

This is important.

From the Trinity, God desires to share His presence with you and with me.

With His creation, He freely fills the whole earth with His presence and with His glory.

Psalm 19 verse 1.

The heavens declare the glory of God.

The skies proclaim the works of His hands.

Isaiah 6 verse 3.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of armies.

The whole earth is full of His glory.

God is humble because He's present with His creation.

Relationally.

So divine humility, are you following, is presence, it's proximity.

God is not out of reach.

Catherine says, humility as an attribute of God's eternal existence is absolutely necessary and is the absolute necessity upon which creation and redemption are contingent.

She concludes that there is no possible world, listen carefully, there is no possible world in which God is not humble, Just as there's no possible world in which God does not exist.

So, how is this played out?

That was the hard part.

Okay?

Here we go.

How is this played out?

Number one.

Divine humility is expressed in the incarnation.

Divine humility is expressed in the incarnation.

John chapter 1.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And He was in the beginning with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we saw His glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Then, John writes in 1 John, before he writes the gospel.

Listen to this.

This is awesome.

This is awesome.

I want you to pay attention, okay?

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have, everyone say, read it with me, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at, what we have touched with our hands concerning the word of life.

Who is he talking about?

Jesus.

He's like, we saw him, we looked at him, we touched him.

I wonder what Moses would have thought.

Those guys touched Jesus.

He was with them.

Amazing.

This makes me excited.

I don't know.

It doesn't make you excited.

It makes me excited.

Like they touched Jesus.

And yet the disciples were not destroyed.

See, on Christmas, we celebrate that God stooped down to be with sinners and tax collectors.

You and I, we are sinners.

pam pa ram pa pa pa pam Got it.

Divine humility.

Jesus, God in the flesh, he came to reveal himself to us.

In divine humility, God used the incarnation to lift you and I out of our assumed happiness.

Divine humility is God's presence in strength for the sake of his creation.

God became flesh.

And dwelt among us.

That's divine humility.

So divine humility is expressed in the incarnation.

Divine humility is expressed in kenosis.

Self-emptying.

That's what that word means.

Jesus emptied himself by dying the most cruel death ever.

And shameful.

See the cross was the most shameful way to die during the Roman Empire.

It was reserved for the scum.

of society, rebels, slaves, outcasts.

The crucifixion stripped its victims.

Of their clothes as well as their dignity.

Criminals were hung naked along busy Roman roads.

As they taunted and mocked them and as they struggled for breath and then vultures would come down and start eating them.

Okay?

Disgusting.

Remember guys, Jesus does not have to do this.

Jesus doesn't have to die on the cross.

He can choose to wipe us all out and start again.

Then comes Hebrews 12.

Verse 2, looking only, run the race, looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Guys, listen.

Those nice medieval pictures of Jesus in nappies, in the nappy.

He's wearing a nappy, right?

Medieval, those are nice.

Jesus is wearing a nappy.

That's not what the Bible says.

That's not what history says.

I am happy for that.

Jesus was not, he was naked.

There is no possible way he could have taken on our shame.

With a nappy.

Why?

Let's see.

You know, we have these entertainers on WWE, right?

Where they, you know, Hulk Hogan, The Rock.

Look, they're, people are just, you know, when you go for swimming, that's no shame.

They're entertaining us.

And every one of you watches them.

Jumping on all those things.

No.

I am serious about this.

Jesus.

I know you may not like to hear it.

The Bible tells us, history tells us, people who hung on the cross were hung naked.

Jesus bore your shame.

There is no shame without nakedness.

Jesus emptied himself totally.

He gave everything because of the joy.

of set before him which was you and I if we choose to follow him.

This is how Augustine summarizes it by connecting the incarnation and the kenosis.

He says, but the humility of our Lord in undergoing human birth was too little for him to do for us.

So he even went so far as to die.

on a cross.

Jesus did not just become a baby.

He didn't just become a man.

He went all the way to the cross for you and for me.

That's divine humility.

Number three, divine humility reveals bad doctrine.

Matthew Wilcoxon says, humility overthrows superstitions of false religions.

So, we're going to start with one of them.

Here we go.

Momonism!

Ooh!

Some of us have many friends who are Momons.

And there might be somebody here who is Momon today, or ex-Momon.

There are many problems with the Momon religion.

First of all, God the Father is an exalted human being.

That's a problem.

Matter and energy are uncreated.

That's a problem.

That means God is already reduced.

He's inside of time, space, and matter.

So the incarnation really wouldn't make sense in the Mormon religion.

But the Mormon doctrine teaches that Jesus atoned for our sins in the garden and finished it on the cross.

The 13th president, Ezra Taft Benson and Apostle Bruce McConkie and others teach that Jesus bore the weight of our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And forgiveness is available through the sweat of Jesus.

This explains why Mormons use water for communion.

The question that I always have is, why would Joseph Smith, what would he know about Jesus thousands of years later after eyewitness testimony?

That's one question at heart for him.

But the Bible is clear, people.

Atonement for our sins happened on the cross.

Isaiah 53, but he was pierced for our offenses.

He was crushed for our wrongdoings.

The punishment for our well-being was laid upon him and by his wounds we are healed.

That's it.

That's it.

This did not happen in the garden.

The punishment, the shame all happened on the cross.

If Jesus died before reaching the cross, as most people did, there would have been no eternal once for all death for all people.

Jesus would not have taken your shame and my shame.

Number two, Islam.

The Quran teaches, That one cannot know God personally or intimately.

He remains behind this veil and speaks through angels and prophets only.

Which makes sense that the Quran denies the divinity of Jesus in chapter 4.

Therefore, In Islam, you have this God who's aloof from the world.

He's a proud deity who keeps humanity at bay.

And therefore, we cannot know God personally.

One can only know Allah's commands and has to submit to them.

So the Quran denies that Jesus was crucified.

In fact, chapter 4 of the Quran, verse 157 says, In fact, they did not kill him.

Nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them as if he did.

I don't know what that means.

Okay?

Nabil Qureshi, who was a Muslim-turned-amazing guy.

Read his books.

Amazing.

A former Muslim-turned-Christian apologist.

In his book, No God But One, says, It is their Muslims' belief that Jesus' face was placed on someone else's, like Simon of Cyrene, the guy who carried Jesus' cross.

And that God saved Jesus from the cross.

So, the God dresses Simon's head, put it on someone else's body, I don't know, whatever that means.

It's too complicated.

So, the problem with that is the Quran was written 600 years after events.

Problem two, if Jesus is not God and did not die for our sins, then the Christian view that God is personal goes out the window.

Both Mormonism and Islam are the same.

undermine what Jesus did on the cross for you and for me.

And that's a problem.

And Paul writes, but even if we or an angel from heaven, okay, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we've preached to you, let them be under God's curse.

Oh.

So we're going to read this verse together.

Everyone, Ephesians chapter 2, verse 49, I want us to read it together.

Are you with me?

Here we go.

This is the power right here.

Okay?

One, two, three, let's read.

But because of His great love for us, God, who reached in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions.

It is by grace you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ.

and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not of yourselves.

It is a gift of God, not by works, so no one can boast.

Woo!

Amen!

Yeah, I'm giving you a lot today.

It's okay.

Humility is true greatness because it lifts others up.

And that's what Jesus did for you and for me.

Do you know why you're seated spiritually?

You're seated on the right hand of God with Jesus.

Woo!

Amen?

That's where you are.

I can't imagine that scene in John chapter 8 where Jesus, that woman is thrown, that adulterous woman is thrown at just his feet.

And he doesn't just stand away from her.

He goes down to her.

He stoops down to this woman.

Stoops down.

That's what God does for us.

There is a gentle personal invitation to everyone here today.

The hound of heaven.

is stooping down to lift you up.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart.

Jesus is humble.

So what do we learn from this?

What's our application today?

Are you still with me?

Okay, good.

Number one.

Divine humility implies God is relentlessly pursuing you.

For anyone here today who is not a Christian, this is for you.

God keeps reaching out to you daily.

Today is one of those days.

Get out of your assumed happiness.

You know you're frustrated.

Stop pretending.

You're not happy.

You're not happy.

True happiness is only found in God.

And even though you keep running, He keeps pursuing you.

You keep running, He keeps pursuing you.

Because He's humble and He loves you.

It is through a friend.

It's through a circumstance.

It's through a verse.

It's through creation.

It's through frustration.

It's through goodness.

It's through emptiness.

I don't know what God is doing for you.

But wherever you are, whatever you've done, come surrender your life to Jesus today.

Today, God comes down even when he knows that you keep rejecting him.

You know, when Adam and Eve sinned, this is amazing.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they covered themselves because they were full of shame.

Do you know what God does?

Does he stay in heaven?

He comes.

He comes.

Come on church, he comes.

Down.

Then he calls to the man and said, where are you?

Even though he knows what they've done.

And God is asking some of you, where are you?

Where are you?

I see you.

I got you.

You can't do works for this one.

You've got to accept grace.

Number two, divine humility implies your shame is gone.

Your shame is gone.

Jeremy Treat writes that shame often comes from our hearts.

It is defined as the fear, pain, or state of being unworthy of acceptance in social relationships.

It focuses on a person's worth.

So if you are If you are a victim of abuse and say, it's my fault.

If you hurt someone or people in your life real bad and think, nobody will accept me.

If you are a child whose parents are divorcing and asking, is there something wrong with me?

If you are at the receiving end of breakups.

And you think, nobody wants to be with me.

If you did something that destroyed your family and you're asking, how could I do this to my family?

Or maybe people have called you names and you've started to believe them and you think you are a failure.

You say, I'm a failure.

I am nobody.

I can never be anything.

Maybe you've been body shamed or shammed.

And now you believe it.

Maybe you've done drugs and destroyed your life.

Maybe you've slept with so many people and you don't know what to do with yourself.

Listen, on the cross, there was an exchange.

Jesus took your shame and he gives you honor.

You can be seated at the right hand of the Father.

And some of you are holding on to shame instead of...

giving it over to Jesus.

Give it over to Jesus.

You've got to let go.

So today when the prayer team comes up here, I want you to come up and tell them, I am carrying this burden.

Give it to them.

Let there be this exchange that Jesus did for you.

And take the honor that Christ gave you.

Number three, divine humility implies an incarnational church.

Okay, just like divine humility is defined as presence in creation, which ultimately leads to incarnation with a capital I, the church must be incarnational with a lowercase i.

Incarnation was God's central way of teaching, of reaching all of us.

Listen, we cannot share the gospel, we cannot love others and serve them from a distance.

We can't.

Mormons, Hindus, Muslims, they think God is too far.

Many atheists don't believe God exists or that he's out of touch.

This is where you come in.

That is where the church comes in.

The church is God's representative on the earth.

It's God's presence on the earth.

So, for your one life, is there someone wondering if God is out of reach?

and created for good works.

that is made by our awesome pastor Leah, okay, that some of you are doing.

She writes this.

Where has God already placed you?

Your first mission field is often woven into your daily life, friends, co-workers, neighbors, classmates, people you regularly see.

So in which of these areas can you enter into greater proximity so God can use you?

Community groups.

If you're in a community group, How can God use you in the community that you're in?

This season of 10 weeks that you guys have started, I would like to encourage all community groups on our campuses.

I would like to see community groups flood our community with love.

Just pick one week where you can go out and take care of a single mom or pick up trash in your neighborhood.

I don't know, help some homeless people, the elderly.

Do something.

Become incarnational.

You know when our community group goes as our last I think it was last last December went to Casa Bonita there and there were people there and these patients they can't move and as we sung Christmas carols they were crying they can't sing they can't move they just make noises and they were crying as they heard us sing and they're there alone And there's 6,000 people at one church.

Or 7,000.

Something like that.

I don't know.

Globally.

Are there people groups who think God is out of reach?

Think about Ukraine.

Kids having a hard time there.

Kids in the garbage heaps in India.

The young adults in Europe.

Listen guys.

We have 81 people who signed up for trips in a church of 7,000 people.

We have 81 people who signed up for global trips out of 7,000 people who call one home church.

Listen, many of you know my story, but I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Pastor Gary Skinner.

He came to Uganda during war.

I wouldn't be here.

I wouldn't have met my wife.

I would not be here.

If there was a missionary who decided, I don't care what's going to happen to me.

He had a gun pulled on his face two times.

And he stayed in Uganda.

Incarnational.

Incarnational ministry.

So ask yourself, am I experiencing the incarnational presence of God?

Am I emptying myself for God's redemptive purposes?

Are you pursuing sinners like Jesus did?

Are you running towards those who are broken, those who are hurting?

Imagine if 6,000 people shared God's love in our communities, what would happen?

I want to repeat that question.

Imagine if 6,000 people shared the gospel every week, what do you think would happen?

So, go to oneholderchurch.com.

I would like to see more people going for mission trips.

500.

That's my hope.

As we end, do you think that God is out of reach?

No, He's not.

In Christ...

God has effected his self-disclosure.

We can experience God's unconditional love because God is humble.

He doesn't leave us alone.

He comes down, he stoops down to pick us up.

That, my friends, is an attribute of God called divine humility.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus.

We're so grateful for your word that is true.

And I know this was hard, but hopefully, God, that you spoke to someone here today.

If there's something I've said that's not of you, God, throw it to the west side.

But God, if there's truth, I pray that God today lives will be healed.

That maybe someone here who is far from you today will come near to you.

In Jesus' name we pray and everybody said, Amen.