Speaker 1: 0:00

Now, when you hear the word trippy, what do you think? Right, you probably think the hippie movement in the late 60s, early 70s. There's a bunch of young people who are on a quest for love, peace and freedom, to try to find the meaning of life, and in that, in the late 60s, early 70s, young people were searching for this love, they were searching for this freedom and many, surprisingly, turned to Jesus. They turned to Jesus in radical ways, starting what we now call the Jesus People Movement, the Jesus People Movement, where you saw a whole bunch of young people come together to worship God in a real way. Churches like the Vineyard were born out of this movement, believing that God wanted to move in powerful ways. The Vineyard movement started in the late 70s. Hold on, I'm having some headset issues here. All right, there I go. All right, the Vineyard Movement started in the late 70s when people like John Wimber, a former musician, got radically saved and wanted a church that was both for authentic, where the presence of God will authentically move, and the power of God will move in supernatural ways, and they believe that God still moves today, and they believe that God wanted to heal and speak and have people experience his love. So this Easter, this Easter, hold on one second team. My mic is doing some crazy stuff on me. Boom, wait a second, I'm here. All right, here we go, all right.

Speaker 1: 1:56

So, with Easter landing on this 420 this year, it seemed right to talk about this trippy pursuit of Jesus and how lives were changed because of a bunch of hippies back in the 70s, and this mentality they had was a come as you are to church, that you didn't have to be all fixed up in order to step into a building, that you, you could belong before you believe. Come as you are, right where you are. And as a church, as we've been walking through this season of Lent together, we've been doing things like our Monday morning prayer call, we've been doing soap devotionals, we've been fasting as a church and during Lent we've been focusing on three things building spiritual habits, pursuing holiness and learning how to follow the Holy Spirit. And so this message series is going to take us all the way to Easter Sunday as we focus on these three things how can we build spiritual habits, how can we pursue holiness, and what does it mean to depend on the Holy Spirit? Because here's the truth, guys God's love it's trippy man, it's far out. It doesn't make sense, it's not logical, it's unconditional, it's a love that can be described as trippy. So I have a question for you today. Have you ever been lost before, like as a kid, maybe left at the store or went one direction when your parents went the other?

Speaker 1: 3:39

Now, recently, I got home early from a coffee meeting that I had early in the morning, and when I got home, when I got to my house, the house was still surprisingly quiet. No one was awake yet. I was shocked, so I said, ok, I guess I'll get a little work done. And so I sat down, started doing some work, and then, all of a sudden, I could hear this distant cry coming from upstairs and I said is that my daughter? Is that Kingsley? So I go upstairs, I go into her room and, sure enough, kingsley, my daughter, was sitting in her bed with tears streaming down her face. But the second she saw me, she completely lost it. I mean biggest, loudest, full volume meltdown ever. She hops off of her bunk bed, runs up to me and through the sobs, she finally manages to get out.

Speaker 1: 4:30

I thought you were gone, I thought you left me, and so let me explain. What happened was while I was out at my morning coffee meeting, aaron woke up and went into our middle son's room, jameson's room, who woke up early, and she fell asleep in his bed Happens. Then Kingsley woke up my daughter and walked through the whole house except her brother's bedrooms, walked through the whole house, she said. She even went to the backyard, went in the garage, went on the porch and she came to the conclusion that her mom and dad were gone, that she was abandoned, and so she had a whole survival plan, though she ended up telling me. She told me, she told me she was going to wait till the sun came up, she was going to wake up her brothers and then they were going to walk down to Uncle Isaiah's house. So she was ready to lead a full-on expedition down Lux Lane. She was ready for it. But here's the crazy part of the story she was never actually lost. She was never lost. She was never lost. See, my daughter, if she would have just looked in a different room, would have found Aaron there the whole time.

Speaker 1: 5:44

And sometimes in life we can feel like my daughter. We can look around and we don't see God where we expected to see him. We wonder where God is in this situation, or where God could be in this thing, and we wonder what happened and where is he? And we look around and we assume we're lost, we're forgotten or on our own. But what if I told you? What if I told you you were never lost? What if I told you that God is closer to you than you think? What if I told you that, even in the circumstances that you did not foresee coming, when things did not go the way you thought they were going to go, where it did feel as if God was distant and far away, that God is near you? What if I told you that the psalm writer reminds us that God is near the brokenhearted, that he's close to us.

Speaker 1: 6:44

So, and because of this, though, but what happens is, there's this problem. There's this problem that we have. There's this problem that we face when it comes to our faith. I think all of us deal with it at one point or another or someplace. The first problem is this we think we have to earn our way to God. We think we have to earn our way to God. Hold on real fast. Can I get a handheld mic? Thank you so much, kat. This thing is like driving me nuts. Thank you very much. All right, there I go. Sorry about that, guys. That thing was like yanking on my ear. It made me feel sad. Okay, here you go.

Speaker 1: 7:38

The problem, problem number one, is we think we can earn our way to God if I just do better, if I stop messing up. And here's the thing. This is something that even us who are seasoned believers still deal with. We still are constantly thinking well, I got to do better, I got to try better, I got to earn better, I got to make my way towards God. If we can just get better, then then God will love me, then God will love me. And the crazy part is this even though we try to earn our way to God and think that, oh, if I earn my way, then he will love me, the truth is always this the more I slow down, the more I stop and the more I experience God's love, then from that place I can actually do the thing that God has called me to do. And the problem is because oftentimes we adopt a Western view to a biblical mindset, oftentimes we try to slap on a Western view to a holy God, and so we think in the West the more I do, the better I am, the more I have, the more people will love me. And yet what God is saying actually, it's not about the more you do. It's actually about you slowing down and letting me love on you, and that's hard for us. It's hard for us, and so you probably heard people say things like this God helps those who help themselves. Sounds spiritual, but is it biblical? Nope, not at all, because the truth is we can't work our way to God. We can't work our way to God, which is the second problem. Is this Second problem is that we run into, is I've messed up too much, I'm too far gone.

Speaker 1: 9:18

I can't tell you how many times I invited someone to church and they said Jacob, I'll come, but the moment I walk into that place, I might catch on fire. They're joking, but they're serious at the same time. But it is. There's this thought that, man, if you know what I've done, I can't come to church. If you know what I've done, god wouldn't love me, and this puts a limit on God's love.

Speaker 1: 9:40

And here's the problem with both of these beliefs they create a false image of God. They create a false image of God. They create an image that is a God who's distant, unapproachable, angry, sitting on his throne in the cosmos somewhere waiting to judge and disqualify you. He's more like a mean principal handing out detentions, or like a boss with unreasonable expectations. But here is something that is foundational, fundamental for the life of a Jesus follower, something that we have to have in our hearts, something that we have to have as we make decisions. What is fundamental and foundational for our faith is this is that God made the first move.

Speaker 1: 10:28

Let me say this one more time that God made the first move, that we didn't need to make the first move, that he made the first move. What do you mean by this? See, we even see this. God has not. He didn't sit back and just hope for us to come to him. See, we even see this. God has not. He didn't sit back and just hope for us to come to him. John 3, 16 tells us this For God so loved the world that he gave there's a motion there, there's a pursuit there. He's moving forward towards us that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but what To save the world through him.

Speaker 1: 11:08

And when Jesus comes onto the scene, the religious leaders lost sight of God's heart. And a helpful way to understand how Jesus revolutionized access to God is by looking at this concept of bounded set versus centered set. Now, here you go. A bounded set thinking is this, who's in or who's out? Who's in, who's out? A bounded set is a closed system where the focus is on clear boundaries, either keeping people in the loop or out of the loop.

Speaker 1: 11:39

And when Jesus walks onto the scene, the Pharisees, religious leaders, they operated in this mindset. This was their primary thing. They determined who was in, based on strict rules, following the law, perfectly avoiding sinners, avoiding the unclean, avoiding people who were different from them. But what does Jesus do? Throughout the gospels? He's constantly hanging out with who the sinners, the ones who are unclean, the one from different ethnicities and backgrounds. He's constantly hanging out with different people. And so we see that this rubs up against the Pharisees. And they have this culture, this boundness that people had to meet, the cultural and religious expectations, proving their holiness through behaviors. And it created an insider versus outsider. Look that the poor, the sick, the sinful, the non-Jewish people were seen as out. And the religious leaders? Well, the religious leaders became the gatekeepers, the gatekeepers who can come to God.

Speaker 1: 12:47

And here, here's the truth. Too many churches still operate like this. Too many churches still have this bounded set mentality that those people who vote like that, who think like that, who do that, I don't know if they can come in here. And then what happens on Sunday mornings? Sunday mornings is often the most segregated day of the week. Well, you have black church and white church and this church and that church and all over, where we see unity is the focus of the gospel, bringing people together who don't look like you, talk like you, sing like you, act like you, coming together to worship Jesus. Come on, because the problem is, we think church is about us, but church is about him. Don't get me going up in here. You gave me a handheld mic. Today I preach a little harder, and this is what happens. And there's this boundless set.

Speaker 1: 13:58

And yet Jesus, jesus, comes on the scene with this center set thinking, where a center set isn't focused on boundaries, it's focused. It's not think about it this way. It's not a fence, it's like a well in the middle of a desert, it's like a well in the middle of a desert and people can be all the way back here, but they're moving towards the well, they're moving towards Jesus. And there's people who they've been up leaning against that well for years. No, every vacation Bible school song there is, but their hearts are going that way.

Speaker 1: 14:40

This is how Jesus operated. He didn't exclude based on status or race or moral standard. He invited everyone to come Sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, gentiles, the poor, the broken. He didn't say fix yourself first and then come to Sunday service. He said come as you are and let me do the fixing, see. God's love pursues us even when we're lost, see.

Speaker 1: 15:08

And then he says then Jesus started telling these crazy three stories about lost things. And we're going to go over these next stories in the next couple of weeks. And the first one is this he said this Check this out. First one it says this Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all gathered around to hear Jesus. Hold on, I can't open my water when I don't have both my hands. Who was gathered around, jesus? I love the way the Passion Translation puts it Many dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners. You don't want to be on that list. That's Sally, the sinner right there. We know what she be doing. But check out this word, check out this word. Often, often gathered around Jesus, often gathered around him to listen, to listen to him.

Speaker 1: 16:13

Notorious sinners, these people known for their sin, were often than once gathered around Jesus to hear his words. The people with the doubts, the people who were struggling with faith, the people who couldn't do the law correctly, or at least they weren't as good as pretending as the other people, often gather to hear Jesus and what we see. People who weren't like Jesus like to be around Jesus and I just hope, lvc, that people who aren't like Jesus like to be around us and so and so. But check this out, check this out, he says. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered I can't believe they're doing that at church. I can't believe this is happening. This man welcomes sinners Check this part and eats KFC with them. Check this part and eats KFC with them. Jesus is attracting all the wrong people sinners, outcasts, tax collectors. Meanwhile, the Pharisees are frustrated because they think God's love should only be for the good people who are in their center, in their circle.

Speaker 1: 17:28

Then Jesus told this parable suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn't he leave the 99? Doesn't he leave them in the open country? Notice how it doesn't say doesn't he take the 99 to the pasture, where they're all safe, and then find the one? Doesn't he leave them right here and then go after the lost sheep until he finds it? I love it? Doesn't he leave them Like Jesus is asking a question like this was normal procedure, that this was standard operating procedure.

Speaker 1: 18:03

This is not normal behavior. A shepherd wouldn't risk the 99 for the one. That's not responsible shepherding. They would just look at that one that got away and say I got to count my loss. Okay, that's too bad, I still got 99 good investments here. This one didn't go the way I thought Stock market troubling, but I got this one.

Speaker 1: 18:34

But God does go after the one, because God's love is not practical. His love knows no limits. It makes no sense. His love is fierce and his pursuit for you is wild. And his love is trippy, man. It's trippy because if you had $100 and you lost $1, are you flipping over furniture for that $1? Probably not, but God will, because that's exactly what God does, because you aren't just one of the many to God, you are the one.

Speaker 1: 19:10

I want someone to hear this today. You think you're just one of the many. There's a bunch of people out there. God doesn't have time for me. No, no, no, no, no. He has all the time for you. And that's what we learn when we develop spiritual habits, and we're going to hit on that next week that God has so much time for you that actually all God wants to do is waste his time on you, to be with you, and so and so.

Speaker 1: 19:49

Again, this is fundamental to everything we believe that God pursues us first and his pursuit doesn't stop after salvation. No, no, no, no. Because the Psalm writer says deep calls out to deep. By day, the Lord directs his love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. The deepest parts of me are crying out for the deepest parts of God, and that's why your success achievements still don't fill you up. That's why that marriage that you thought was the everything you wanted still leaves you a little not satisfied. That's why, no matter what you achieve in this world, there still feels like there's something thirsty inside of you, because the deepest parts of us cry out for the deepest parts of God, and he and he alone can quench our thirst, and I love it. By day, his love is with me, and at night he sings a song to me.

Speaker 1: 20:53

And you see this, you see this picture. He's like a mother who sings over their son who can't fall asleep, and she sings the lullabies of love while rubbing his back until he finally falls asleep. Do you see it, church? Do you see it? That God is not just trying to prevent you from going to hell, that God is not just trying to get you to act morally correct, that God is not just trying to dictate and determine your life, but that God wants to be intimate with you? God wants to be intimate with you. And this intimacy, this intimacy that God has for us, it only comes if God pursues and we consent and we say have your way, have your way with us, have your way with me. So Jesus is telling this story about a shepherd who leaves the 99 and the Pharisees. They couldn't handle it. They were the gatekeepers. They spent their whole lives building a system that made it clear who was in and who was out. And then here comes Jesus dismantling their system. Check this out not by argument, not by condemnation, but by sitting at a table with the very people they wanted to keep back.

Speaker 1: 22:15

He pursues us when we are lost. Maybe today you feel lost in your purpose. You feel lost in a direction your life is supposed to go. You maybe feel lost in your purpose. You feel lost in the direction your life is supposed to go. You maybe feel lost in a marriage. You feel lost as a parent because you've got some teenage kids. You feel lost. And in your lostness God still pursues. He still keeps coming after you, coming towards you. But why? Why would a perfect God pursue us? God pursues you because you are valuable to him.

Speaker 1: 23:04

Let me say that one more time God pursues you because you are valuable to him. Your life matters. Maybe you haven't heard that in a while. Maybe you haven't heard that in a while. Maybe you haven't felt that in a while. Maybe you've been questioning that. So I say come, holy Spirit, holy Spirit, speak your love of value to every person, receive it, receive it, receive it.

Speaker 1: 23:45

God's love isn't passive, it doesn't hesitate, it's not waiting on you to be good enough. His love is personal and when he sees you lost, he doesn't sit back and say, well, I hope they figure it out, he runs after you, he searches for you, he pursues you with the love so intense and so overwhelming that when he finds you, he doesn't tell you how much you messed up. He lifts you up and he carries you home. And that's the love of God, check this out. Jesus says this. And when he finds it, he joyfully come on. It doesn't say when he finds the sheep, he lets the sheep know how disappointed he is. He doesn't say hey, you made me leave those other ones to get you. He doesn't take his rod. That's how some people preach this verse that the shepherd takes a rod and hits the sheep, and that reminds them that God's discipline is God's love.

Speaker 1: 24:59

I don't know what does Scripture say? He finds him, he lifts him up and joyfully, joyfully. There's another time when Jesus had to choose joy. Scripture tells us that it was for the joy set before him he endured the cross. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You're telling me that Jesus finds his joy through sacrificial living, that he finds his joy when he displays his unconditional love to his people. So he joyfully picks up the sheep Bah, puts them on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and say rejoice with me. I have found my lost sheep. Do you see the heart of God in this friend? He carries the sheep, he lifts up the sheep, he bears the weight of the sheep on his shoulder because that sheep is valuable to him.

Speaker 1: 26:06

The sheep doesn't walk himself home, it's carried because value determines pursuit, and there's some of us in here today that our pursuits don't match our values. You're making decisions and you're choosing certain things, and if you step back and said, is that a value to me? You would say no. Yet you still find yourself pursuing those things that you don't want. Truthfully, is this your passion? Is in your pursuit, and whatever you're passionate about, you pursue it. So you may say I'm passionate about my kids, but work gets 60 hours a week. Maybe it's a time to realign. You may say I'm passionate about my marriage, but working out and hanging out with the buds Well, that goes front and center over regular date nights.

Speaker 1: 26:55

Your passion is your pursuit. Whatever you are pursuing the most is what are you most passionate about? And, like the prophetess Tina Turner once said, what's love got to do with it? You may love someone, or love something with all your heart, but if your pursuit isn't going for it. Well, love is good. But yeah, here you go. God's love means nothing unless he demonstrated it by pursuit.

Speaker 1: 27:28

God's love is just a theory out there, unless he demonstrated it by going after us. And he went after us. He went after us so much that it got him to a cross and that he took a death that he didn't deserve. But three days later his pursuit got him out of that grave to get us close to him. Come on, that's some good gospel preaching, because that's how good his pursuit is. He finds us, he lifts us, and pursuit is he finds us, he lifts us and with joy, he carries us.

Speaker 1: 28:03

And you say, jacob, that sounds good. But if you knew the mistakes I've made, if you knew the decisions I've made, or maybe you felt like you had to prove your value your whole life, look at me, what I've done. Look at me. Look what I've done. Look at the money I made. Look at the things, look at the success. Look, the Apostle Paul says it like this but God, anytime you see in the Bible where there's a but God, you need to listen. But God demonstrated his own love for us that, while we figured everything out, that when we finally got all the answers. No, no, no. While we were still sinners, christ died for us, not after we got it all together. No, no, no. He came to us. God pursues. Just let yourself be found, just let yourself be found. Say here I am Lord, take me as found.

Speaker 1: 29:22

Since the beginning, humankind has a way of hiding In the garden. Adam and Eve they hid after they disobeyed. Yet in the garden we see the same theme that Jesus shows us. Check this out. Genesis 3 says Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was check this out, walking in the garden. Walking Meaning he was pursuing, meaning he was going after them In the cool of the day, god walking towards them. And they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. They hid.

Speaker 1: 30:05

And can we be honest today? Don't we hide? Some of us, we're expert hiders In our shame, in the heaviness of our wounds, in our regrets. We hide in our outside public appearances, making us look great, but on the inside we have wounded hearts. Yes, scripture says it again. But the Lord, but the Lord God called to the man where are you? Where are you? You don't have to hide. And Jesus. And Jesus said we don't have to hide.

Speaker 1: 30:47

And interesting is because Adam and Eve they thought if they would have been found by God, it would have led to shame and embarrassment, and many of us still feel the same. But Jesus says no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not how it is. Jesus says when you're found by God, there isn't shame, but there is rejoicing, there is celebration, there is a party being happened.

Speaker 1: 31:11

When we're found, it's our shame that keeps us hidden. It's our shame that keeps us isolated. It's our shame that tells us we don't need to go to small group and actually talk about the stuff going on in our lives. It's our shame that does that. But when we're found, when we're found by the one who knows us, the one who knows everything about us, even the things that we try to keep from everyone else, when we're found by the one who knows us through and through and yet loves us despite knowing everything about us, when we're found by him, then he rejoices and he celebrates. And Jesus says this in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent, and we discover that God is full of love and that his love covers a multitude of sin. And his love man, his love is far out, it's trippy, it doesn't make sense. I must be going crazy.

Speaker 1: 32:15

So before, before you try to do more, before you try to earn, before you try to work harder, just be found. You may say Jacob. But how? How? It's simple, it's simple. Give Jesus your yes. Yes, I don't have it all figured out. Give Jesus your yes. Yes, I don't have it all figured out, I don't even know what my next step is. But yes, jesus, I trust you, I lean into you because you're the one that keeps coming after me, because deep calls out to deep Question, question and application.

Speaker 1: 33:14

What is one area of your life where you've been resisting God's pursuit? Maybe it's control over your future, a past mistake or a struggle you're trying to fix on your own? Second question how can you create a space to let God carry you this week, instead of trying harder, maybe this week you just sit in the silence, you worship, you pray and you commit to God. Let's pray God, jesus, holy Spirit, we say find us, find us right where we are. We are not in a rush. Come, holy Spirit, you are valuable to God. It's like the Holy Spirit saying that to someone right now, not just as a general word, but as something very specific you are valuable. I even just hear this word.

Speaker 1: 35:19

Doubt keeps coming in. Come, holy Spirit. I actually just hear the Holy Spirit saying God appreciates your doubt because you're talking to him now. Come, holy Spirit. Wounded heart be healed in Jesus name. Someone here. You just are having terrible sleep that night, just terrible, terrible sleep. You feel anxious, worried. That's for the Holy Spirit saying he wants to give you peace in that storm, and also for the Holy Spirit saying he wants to give you rest that is truly restful. Come, holy Spirit. Maybe you're like Jacob. This sounds good, but I don't personally know this Jesus you're talking about. I didn't know he came for me.

Speaker 1: 37:10

If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life, I just want to pray for you, right where you are. What I'm going to do, I'm just going to count to three and on three you can just toss your hand up in the air, just so I can see who I'm praying for. If you want to make a decision to trust Jesus with your life, on three, just toss your hand up in the air. One, two, three, amen, amen, amen. Just where you are, you can say this simple prayer. You can say it out loud or say it in your heart. Just say Jesus, forgive me for my sins, make me new. Today I trust you in my life. Today I trust you, lord. Today I follow you In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.