WEBVTT 00:00.115 --> 00:01.278 [SPEAKER_01]: Good morning, everyone. 00:01.299 --> 00:03.585 [SPEAKER_01]: How are we doing? 00:03.625 --> 00:05.010 [SPEAKER_01]: Doing okay? 00:05.371 --> 00:06.715 [SPEAKER_01]: Good to see you. 00:07.918 --> 00:09.984 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about optimization. 00:11.088 --> 00:12.893 [SPEAKER_01]: Your life is optimized. 00:13.379 --> 00:17.365 [SPEAKER_01]: Faster, fitter, healthier, more speedy. 00:17.926 --> 00:19.368 [SPEAKER_01]: Quicker ways to check your emails. 00:19.969 --> 00:24.015 [SPEAKER_01]: Quicker replies, inbox to zero, get it down. 00:24.476 --> 00:26.198 [SPEAKER_01]: Your boss thinks you've gotten a system. 00:26.699 --> 00:29.363 [SPEAKER_01]: You're going fast, you're speeding up. 00:29.383 --> 00:30.365 [SPEAKER_01]: You're eating healthier. 00:30.805 --> 00:32.868 [SPEAKER_01]: You're getting your mornings done quicker. 00:32.908 --> 00:34.611 [SPEAKER_01]: You're up at 4am. 00:34.591 --> 00:40.019 [SPEAKER_01]: You are having your, you're doing your, your devotions at 4 to 4 0 3. 00:40.460 --> 00:42.763 [SPEAKER_01]: And then you're going on to the best part of your day. 00:42.923 --> 00:44.245 [SPEAKER_01]: Meditation seven minutes. 00:44.506 --> 00:48.592 [SPEAKER_01]: You're continuing your life is speedy, fast, optimised. 00:49.032 --> 00:50.094 [SPEAKER_01]: Your life is a machine. 00:54.561 --> 00:56.884 [SPEAKER_01]: Who's done the wardrobe audit? 00:57.485 --> 00:58.827 [SPEAKER_01]: What spark joy? 01:00.275 --> 01:05.712 [SPEAKER_01]: You've asked yourself, does this bring me joy, and you've thrown it out if it hasn't? 01:06.029 --> 01:09.314 [SPEAKER_01]: You've done that, you've gone through and you've ordered it your kitchen pantry. 01:09.334 --> 01:10.957 [SPEAKER_01]: Does that spark me, Joy, no? 01:11.518 --> 01:13.761 [SPEAKER_01]: You've thrown everything out and ordered KFC. 01:14.162 --> 01:15.123 [SPEAKER_01]: But I know what you've done. 01:15.724 --> 01:21.714 [SPEAKER_01]: You've gone through to make everything part of your life optimized, faster, better, quicker. 01:21.934 --> 01:24.518 [SPEAKER_01]: The thing with all these audits are, it's good. 01:24.559 --> 01:27.423 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not bad because we're being intentional. 01:27.623 --> 01:29.887 [SPEAKER_01]: You're paying attention to what's going on in your life. 01:30.388 --> 01:33.673 [SPEAKER_01]: But most of our audits are external. 01:35.172 --> 01:35.893 [SPEAKER_01]: not internal. 01:38.236 --> 01:52.978 [SPEAKER_01]: We can't become very good at curating the visible parts of our lives, the parts that are seen, the parts that are observed from the outside and looked in upon while we neglect the invisible, the soul, the heart, the place of worship. 01:55.507 --> 02:12.541 [SPEAKER_01]: If someone looked at your life, not just on a Sunday morning, but Monday to Saturday, they looked at your schedule, your money, all the things that you would do, the people that you would speak to, the things that you go, the things that you say, what would they say that you worship if your life spoke of a God? 02:14.183 --> 02:18.787 [SPEAKER_01]: What would they say that you give yourself to? 02:20.848 --> 02:25.092 [SPEAKER_01]: Because you can have a perfectly ordered life, 02:25.223 --> 02:28.227 [SPEAKER_01]: and a completely unsurrended heart. 02:30.811 --> 02:38.402 [SPEAKER_01]: You can optimize all of your time and give none of it an offer none of it to God. 02:40.165 --> 02:47.435 [SPEAKER_01]: You can dee clutter your house and yet your home can still be full of idols. 02:50.780 --> 02:52.142 [SPEAKER_01]: And so today, 02:53.843 --> 03:07.684 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about our whole life, our body, our decisions, our habits, and rather than asking what sparks joy, we're going to ask ourselves what is surrendered. 03:12.271 --> 03:15.035 [SPEAKER_01]: The title of this message is no altar, no fire. 03:15.717 --> 03:19.763 [SPEAKER_01]: God's fire doesn't fall and what's curated and beautifully put together. 03:19.863 --> 03:23.950 [SPEAKER_01]: God's fire falls on what's consecrated, what's surrendered. 03:24.370 --> 03:27.476 [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to read one king's 1836 to 39. 03:27.516 --> 03:31.342 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll do a backtrack and figure out the context of what's going on in this passage. 03:31.762 --> 03:36.490 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll make some observations of it and then we'll make some applications to it. 03:36.470 --> 03:37.171 [SPEAKER_01]: as well. 03:37.432 --> 03:47.230 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's read one King's 1836 to 39 at the time of the offering of the Obilation, Elijah the prophet came near. 03:48.232 --> 03:58.731 [SPEAKER_01]: Instead of a Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant. 03:59.082 --> 04:03.467 [SPEAKER_01]: that I've done all things, all these things at your word. 04:03.507 --> 04:12.596 [SPEAKER_01]: Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you've turned their hearts back. 04:14.718 --> 04:22.947 [SPEAKER_01]: Then the fire of the Lord fell, consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. 04:24.445 --> 04:32.299 [SPEAKER_01]: And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, the Lord, He is God. 04:33.702 --> 04:35.826 [SPEAKER_01]: The Lord, He is God. 04:38.931 --> 04:42.758 [SPEAKER_01]: You've got to feel the tension and step into the tension in this moment. 04:43.700 --> 04:45.862 [SPEAKER_01]: All of Israel is in drought. 04:46.783 --> 04:50.187 [SPEAKER_01]: They have not had rain in three years. 04:51.488 --> 04:59.576 [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah is up in this place called Mount Como, which is far in the north of Israel's territory. 04:59.956 --> 05:03.280 [SPEAKER_01]: The kingdom had been split north and south. 05:04.020 --> 05:09.606 [SPEAKER_01]: And the north had taken to worship this God, B.A.A.L. 05:10.160 --> 05:12.844 [SPEAKER_01]: And Baal was the storm God. 05:13.666 --> 05:16.891 [SPEAKER_01]: They were saying that he was the God who was going to bring rain. 05:17.913 --> 05:24.504 [SPEAKER_01]: They worshiped him because they were thinking, well if we worship Baal, it's gonna be an assurance of our crops. 05:25.345 --> 05:30.393 [SPEAKER_01]: It's gonna be assurance that our cattle will not die and that we'll be able to continue on. 05:30.754 --> 05:35.762 [SPEAKER_01]: Baal is our God and yet the skies are preaching. 05:37.784 --> 05:40.408 [SPEAKER_01]: for three years, there's been no rain. 05:42.071 --> 05:43.854 [SPEAKER_01]: So the question is, what's bar up to? 05:45.356 --> 05:48.841 [SPEAKER_01]: What's he doing? 05:48.861 --> 05:54.911 [SPEAKER_01]: The silence of the skies are preaching and into that comes Elijah. 05:56.313 --> 05:58.797 [SPEAKER_01]: And he addresses the whole people. 05:59.047 --> 06:08.104 [SPEAKER_01]: in the north of Israel and says, how long will you go on limping, limping between two different opinions? 06:08.986 --> 06:11.451 [SPEAKER_01]: And I love that it uses that word limping. 06:12.773 --> 06:20.127 [SPEAKER_01]: Because limping says not just, you know, I'm unstable or unsteady. 06:20.242 --> 06:22.366 [SPEAKER_01]: But it also says that I'm undivided. 06:22.406 --> 06:24.170 [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know which direction to go. 06:24.190 --> 06:26.715 [SPEAKER_01]: How long will you be limping between two opinions? 06:27.036 --> 06:30.643 [SPEAKER_01]: And he says, if ball is God, you should worship him. 06:31.925 --> 06:36.715 [SPEAKER_01]: But if the Lord, if your way is God, we should worship him. 06:36.982 --> 06:42.852 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, this is straight out of, in my mind, this is like spaghetti Western stuff. 06:43.072 --> 06:45.316 [SPEAKER_01]: It is a showdown on Mount Kamul. 06:45.637 --> 06:52.689 [SPEAKER_01]: There is two jewelists standing one side of the shot and on the other side of the shot. 06:52.709 --> 07:02.145 [SPEAKER_01]: This kind of thing happens, and they both stand there squaring off eyeing each other off, and they build two altars. 07:03.577 --> 07:10.528 [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah says, the God who answers by fire, let him be God, we'll worship him. 07:11.490 --> 07:14.434 [SPEAKER_01]: And the people say, it is good, we will do that. 07:15.817 --> 07:18.721 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, the showdown begins. 07:19.382 --> 07:25.011 [SPEAKER_01]: There are two visions of worship that happen here, performance or surrender. 07:25.492 --> 07:29.719 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we're going to lean into this contrast. 07:29.851 --> 07:31.133 [SPEAKER_01]: as we begin. 07:31.213 --> 07:34.557 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is all in the verses preceding the passage that we just read. 07:35.359 --> 07:42.448 [SPEAKER_01]: But the prophets of Baal, they set up an altar, and they go to town. 07:42.488 --> 07:52.142 [SPEAKER_01]: They're seeing their chanting, their dancing around, and they get more and more intense as the worship increases. 07:52.742 --> 07:54.385 [SPEAKER_01]: They're trying to make some noise. 07:54.805 --> 07:56.888 [SPEAKER_01]: They're trying to get really 07:56.868 --> 07:57.989 [SPEAKER_01]: active and verbal. 07:58.009 --> 08:05.439 [SPEAKER_01]: They even start harming themselves in the West, in the, in an attempt to try and get ball to notice them. 08:06.340 --> 08:12.869 [SPEAKER_01]: Notice me, we're speaking, we're singing, we're crying out as loud as we possibly can. 08:14.711 --> 08:15.973 [SPEAKER_01]: It's desperate. 08:16.358 --> 08:28.049 [SPEAKER_01]: It's performative that trying to get their gods attention and it's funny, you know, the Bible is funny and there are funny things that happen in Scripture and this is one of them. 08:28.450 --> 08:30.872 [SPEAKER_01]: Because Elijah stands off to the side. 08:32.093 --> 08:33.915 [SPEAKER_01]: This is not church friendly either. 08:33.935 --> 08:36.618 [SPEAKER_01]: This is not what you would expect to kind of a church prophet to do. 08:37.038 --> 08:42.103 [SPEAKER_01]: But he stands on the side and says, oh yeah, sing louder. 08:42.964 --> 08:45.927 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he's, I don't know, maybe he's deaf. 08:46.210 --> 08:47.612 [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, maybe he's on holidays. 08:48.313 --> 08:50.355 [SPEAKER_01]: He says, maybe he's on the toilet. 08:52.998 --> 08:53.479 [SPEAKER_01]: It's in there. 08:56.943 --> 09:15.846 [SPEAKER_01]: The prophets are going to la la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, 09:16.501 --> 09:24.909 [SPEAKER_01]: striving to prove ourselves, curating an image, exhausting ourselves, trying to live loud and proud, but empty. 09:26.490 --> 09:29.092 [SPEAKER_01]: Performance can look passionate, but it leaves you dry. 09:30.213 --> 09:36.039 [SPEAKER_01]: When we don't know if our God is near, we compensate with noise. 09:39.862 --> 09:46.508 [SPEAKER_01]: When we don't trust grace, we escalate our efforts. 09:49.694 --> 09:56.002 [SPEAKER_01]: And when we think it's up to us, we burn ourselves out, trying to get heaven to notice us. 09:56.022 --> 09:57.284 [SPEAKER_01]: God, listen to me. 09:57.324 --> 10:03.131 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm being so loud, or maybe it's not that, but look at listen to me, God. 10:03.752 --> 10:06.476 [SPEAKER_01]: Check out my social media feed. 10:07.297 --> 10:11.082 [SPEAKER_01]: Look at me, listen to me, God, please, my house is so clean. 10:11.122 --> 10:14.266 [SPEAKER_01]: I've sparked so much joy. 10:15.627 --> 10:16.428 [SPEAKER_01]: Are you out there? 10:18.331 --> 10:19.212 [SPEAKER_01]: Are you listening? 10:21.183 --> 10:27.190 [SPEAKER_01]: And then into that moment, the crowd hushes and Elijah steps forward, and there's a drum roll. 10:27.270 --> 10:29.553 [SPEAKER_01]: There's not, but what's going to happen next? 10:30.975 --> 10:32.016 [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah begins. 10:32.937 --> 10:39.986 [SPEAKER_01]: And the first thing he does is the scripture says in verse 30, he re-builds an altar. 10:40.887 --> 10:42.329 [SPEAKER_01]: So he's not doing something new. 10:42.369 --> 10:44.031 [SPEAKER_01]: He's doing something again. 10:44.051 --> 10:49.738 [SPEAKER_01]: And how many stones does he use? 10:50.984 --> 10:54.931 [SPEAKER_01]: and he places each stone around and builds it. 10:54.971 --> 10:56.634 [SPEAKER_01]: Why is he using 12 stones? 11:00.341 --> 11:01.343 [SPEAKER_01]: The kingdom is divided. 11:04.588 --> 11:06.993 [SPEAKER_01]: Elijah is doing something really prophetic here. 11:07.634 --> 11:10.579 [SPEAKER_01]: He's reminding the people, we're still one people. 11:10.998 --> 11:21.037 [SPEAKER_01]: There's 12 stones, remember there's 12 tribes, remember we're gone back, God is reuniting our nation and I'm gonna use every single stone to tell that story. 11:22.319 --> 11:25.084 [SPEAKER_01]: And He rebuilds an altar in that place. 11:26.146 --> 11:29.192 [SPEAKER_01]: It's quiet and it's costly. 11:31.028 --> 11:36.277 [SPEAKER_01]: And he says, this is Abraham, Isaac, and Israel's God. 11:36.979 --> 11:42.529 [SPEAKER_01]: Not a new God trying to prove himself, but the same faithful God that's been calling his people home the entire time. 11:42.849 --> 11:44.332 [SPEAKER_01]: And then it goes into this passage. 11:44.793 --> 11:53.849 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we read about this, the timing of the sacrifice, verse 36, at the time of the offering of the oblation. 11:53.869 --> 11:55.011 [SPEAKER_01]: What's that? 11:55.683 --> 11:57.425 [SPEAKER_01]: What's that timing got to do with? 11:57.445 --> 11:58.186 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, how's this? 11:58.627 --> 12:14.548 [SPEAKER_01]: If they're up in the north, 10 tribes separated, worshiping Baal, that tribes in the south is too left around Jerusalem, they were the ones who were hanging in there, worshiping faithful to Yahweh, and in Jerusalem at that time, they were offering the oblation, which is the evening sacrifice. 12:15.990 --> 12:19.715 [SPEAKER_01]: And Elijah times his sacrifice, times it. 12:21.597 --> 12:22.078 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, 12:23.560 --> 12:28.967 [SPEAKER_01]: Offering of the oblation and does the sacrifice, he syncs up with what's happening in Jerusalem. 12:30.729 --> 12:34.293 [SPEAKER_01]: His timing links back in with what they're doing back at home. 12:35.515 --> 12:43.785 [SPEAKER_01]: He's starting to draw people back into a place of true worship, aligning himself with God's appointed way. 12:44.566 --> 12:46.328 [SPEAKER_01]: Secondly, look at his prayer. 12:47.033 --> 12:50.061 [SPEAKER_01]: O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 12:50.342 --> 12:53.351 [SPEAKER_01]: He anchors everything in God's covenant faithfulness. 12:53.672 --> 12:55.537 [SPEAKER_01]: Let it be know this day that you are God. 12:55.757 --> 12:59.187 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not saying God, O Lord. 12:59.352 --> 13:03.378 [SPEAKER_01]: Prove me right, and please save my blushes in this moment. 13:03.398 --> 13:04.720 [SPEAKER_01]: That would be me, right? 13:04.801 --> 13:05.882 [SPEAKER_01]: You can imagine this moment. 13:05.962 --> 13:06.724 [SPEAKER_01]: It's so tense. 13:07.184 --> 13:15.197 [SPEAKER_01]: One altar here, one altar here, bowled doesn't answer nothing happens, and then it poms the sweaty, right? 13:15.297 --> 13:21.006 [SPEAKER_01]: There's like, I'd be worried that in that moment, what happens if God doesn't? 13:22.100 --> 13:24.322 [SPEAKER_01]: I'd be saying, Lord, can you please help? 13:24.342 --> 13:25.384 [SPEAKER_01]: And just do this for me. 13:26.184 --> 13:27.146 [SPEAKER_01]: Do this for me. 13:27.486 --> 13:28.387 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm so scared. 13:29.728 --> 13:30.950 [SPEAKER_01]: Whatever if you do it. 13:30.970 --> 13:31.310 [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't. 13:31.330 --> 13:39.279 [SPEAKER_01]: He says, Lord, let this fire not be to draw people's well, but let it be a light to lead people home. 13:40.840 --> 13:46.026 [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, you're drawing people's hearts back. 13:46.046 --> 13:51.432 [SPEAKER_01]: And then he does something really weird. 13:52.458 --> 13:55.481 [SPEAKER_01]: and they get water and they drench the altar with it. 13:55.601 --> 13:57.724 [SPEAKER_01]: So the sacrifices there, everything's ready. 13:57.764 --> 13:58.805 [SPEAKER_01]: Everything's ready to burn. 13:58.865 --> 14:00.246 [SPEAKER_01]: Woods there, everything's good to go. 14:02.329 --> 14:03.530 [SPEAKER_01]: Drenchers they didn't water. 14:04.010 --> 14:05.092 [SPEAKER_01]: And they're like, great, and there we go. 14:05.112 --> 14:05.832 [SPEAKER_01]: So now do it again. 14:05.932 --> 14:06.913 [SPEAKER_01]: They go get more water. 14:07.935 --> 14:08.795 [SPEAKER_01]: Drench it again, though. 14:08.836 --> 14:09.236 [SPEAKER_01]: That's enough. 14:09.436 --> 14:10.758 [SPEAKER_01]: You guys know, do it third time. 14:10.798 --> 14:12.139 [SPEAKER_01]: They go again, get water. 14:12.399 --> 14:19.767 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is so much so that the water covers drenchers the altar and then fills up the trench that's around the earth. 14:20.027 --> 14:21.469 [SPEAKER_01]: What's he doing that for? 14:23.710 --> 14:30.021 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, if it's me and it's not me, but if it was, I'd be getting a couple of little jiffy file owners under there. 14:30.121 --> 14:31.423 [SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a little bit of Tinder on top. 14:31.463 --> 14:36.973 [SPEAKER_01]: Just in case, just in case, the Lord doesn't answer. 14:36.993 --> 14:45.027 [SPEAKER_01]: And I can walk past and accidentally click my heels together, it creates a spark which lights the thing and we go, ah, there was the Lord all along. 14:45.007 --> 14:45.227 [SPEAKER_01]: Right? 14:45.247 --> 14:45.988 [SPEAKER_01]: That would be me. 14:46.008 --> 14:53.639 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's not what he's doing here is making sure that there is no chance that this could be anything other than God. 14:54.480 --> 14:57.664 [SPEAKER_01]: They're all watching them pour water, water, water. 14:57.684 --> 15:00.068 [SPEAKER_01]: You'd be standing off to the side and going, that's not going to burn. 15:01.870 --> 15:02.090 [SPEAKER_01]: Right? 15:02.431 --> 15:04.974 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not rocket science to go, that is wet. 15:06.497 --> 15:09.040 [SPEAKER_01]: That is not going to burn. 15:09.425 --> 15:24.778 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet, Elijah is removing every single possibility that it could be anything else other than God if it does go up, and then what happens fourthly, the fire falls down. 15:25.278 --> 15:25.979 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, where does it fall? 15:28.641 --> 15:29.121 [SPEAKER_01]: On the people? 15:31.323 --> 15:32.144 [SPEAKER_01]: That's where it should fall. 15:34.946 --> 15:39.330 [SPEAKER_01]: It should fall on the people, on all the prophets. 15:39.530 --> 15:47.338 [SPEAKER_01]: Laws led them out of Egypt, rescued them from slavery, given them a way to live in relationship, covenant relationship with him. 15:47.358 --> 15:55.065 [SPEAKER_01]: And three years later, a time and time and time and time and time and time and for three years, they've been worshiping bars who's ineffective and even just bringing rain. 15:55.325 --> 15:56.487 [SPEAKER_01]: And they've forgotten about God. 15:56.747 --> 15:58.689 [SPEAKER_01]: If I'm God, I'm going, you guys are gone. 15:58.709 --> 15:59.289 [SPEAKER_01]: I've had enough. 16:00.571 --> 16:01.772 [SPEAKER_01]: You're toast. 16:01.792 --> 16:02.332 [SPEAKER_01]: This is done. 16:02.713 --> 16:03.513 [SPEAKER_01]: But what happens? 16:04.574 --> 16:09.199 [SPEAKER_01]: Where does the fire fall? 16:13.533 --> 16:42.460 [SPEAKER_01]: The offering is consumed, the judgment lands there, which means that even before the cross, we're seeing a pattern, which is that a sacrifice receives what the people deserve. 16:44.853 --> 16:58.068 [SPEAKER_01]: And so this is not just ancient history, there is a mirror here, because some of us, sometimes, are tempted to kind of dress our bowel worship in Christian clothing. 16:59.450 --> 17:06.038 [SPEAKER_01]: We sing the songs, we show up at underneath, at still performance, still trying to earn God's approval, still trying to prove something. 17:06.238 --> 17:12.345 [SPEAKER_01]: We're exhausted, we're allowed on the outside, but we're dry on the inside, and we're wondering why there's no fire. 17:13.422 --> 17:17.307 [SPEAKER_01]: We're asking God to light something that we haven't laid down. 17:19.550 --> 17:26.179 [SPEAKER_01]: God bring you fire, bring your power, but he's got nothing to bring it to because our lives aren't laid down. 17:26.219 --> 17:27.581 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no sacrifice. 17:27.601 --> 17:28.382 [SPEAKER_01]: There's no altar. 17:30.404 --> 17:34.290 [SPEAKER_01]: We won't go to move, but on our terms, we don't pour water on the sacrifice. 17:34.330 --> 17:37.113 [SPEAKER_01]: We keep it dry just in case we need an escape plan. 17:38.235 --> 17:40.678 [SPEAKER_01]: We need something we can quickly light something up. 17:42.616 --> 17:45.179 [SPEAKER_01]: But if the fire falls, it's going to be unmistakably him. 17:45.619 --> 17:47.281 [SPEAKER_01]: Acts too, let's jump across there. 17:47.381 --> 17:49.803 [SPEAKER_01]: Another time where fire comes on a group of people. 17:50.124 --> 17:53.747 [SPEAKER_01]: When the day of Pentecost arrived, they're all together in one place. 17:53.827 --> 17:59.753 [SPEAKER_01]: Suddenly, there came a sound from heaven, a sound like a mighty rushing wind, filled the entire house where they were sitting. 18:00.154 --> 18:05.319 [SPEAKER_01]: It divided tongues as a fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 18:05.799 --> 18:10.564 [SPEAKER_01]: They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 18:10.544 --> 18:19.857 [SPEAKER_01]: So, in the Old Testament, the fire falls on a place, a temple, an altar on a mountain, but in the New Testament, the fire falls on people. 18:21.179 --> 18:23.102 [SPEAKER_01]: God has not done away with the temple. 18:23.142 --> 18:27.488 [SPEAKER_01]: He's actually recreated the temple, and guess what? 18:29.030 --> 18:30.392 [SPEAKER_01]: It's you and me. 18:30.659 --> 18:31.301 [SPEAKER_01]: We're it. 18:31.984 --> 18:33.590 [SPEAKER_01]: We are now the place. 18:33.691 --> 18:37.084 [SPEAKER_01]: The church is now the place where God's fire falls. 18:37.144 --> 18:40.838 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a place like a building with roof and a floor. 18:40.878 --> 18:42.103 [SPEAKER_01]: That's not what's holy. 18:42.758 --> 18:44.500 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not the songs that are holy. 18:45.401 --> 18:47.504 [SPEAKER_01]: It's not the activity that's holy. 18:47.544 --> 18:51.268 [SPEAKER_01]: It's the people where God comes and He meets with them there. 18:51.308 --> 18:57.215 [SPEAKER_01]: They're sitting down, which is means that every single person here is right for it, because we're all sitting down too. 18:57.536 --> 19:04.564 [SPEAKER_01]: And what they're doing in that moment is divided tongues of fire come, fill the church because they were laid down. 19:04.544 --> 19:06.426 [SPEAKER_01]: There was an altar that was created. 19:06.466 --> 19:14.453 [SPEAKER_01]: That is now the place God has not done away with the temple He's fulfilled it through His Son Jesus, who's given it to His church. 19:16.875 --> 19:17.996 [SPEAKER_01]: So now we're the place. 19:18.016 --> 19:25.483 [SPEAKER_01]: He's not leaving creation defined, but behind He's coming to dwell with in it. 19:27.364 --> 19:29.186 [SPEAKER_01]: And we think, oh, they spoke in other tongues. 19:29.847 --> 19:30.347 [SPEAKER_01]: That's weird. 19:31.788 --> 19:33.690 [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, except that every 19:33.907 --> 19:41.017 [SPEAKER_01]: One of those gathered nations who were there and is in Jerusalem at the time heard the wonders of God being spoken in their own language. 19:41.878 --> 19:44.843 [SPEAKER_01]: What was the fruit of the fire was mission. 19:46.084 --> 19:53.535 [SPEAKER_01]: It was sending, it was evangelism, it was witness, it was testimony, it was story, 19:56.165 --> 19:58.630 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where worship becomes a way of life. 19:58.650 --> 20:10.674 [SPEAKER_01]: Romans 12, 1 and 2, I appeal to you therefore, sisters and brothers by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 20:10.694 --> 20:16.907 [SPEAKER_01]: Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, 20:17.377 --> 20:22.645 [SPEAKER_01]: You may discern what is the will of God, which is good, acceptable, and perfect. 20:22.685 --> 20:26.891 [SPEAKER_01]: So the apostle Paul here in this passage takes everything that we've seen. 20:26.951 --> 20:37.848 [SPEAKER_01]: The fire, the altar, the sacrifice, the presentation, the worship, and he puts it and he says, guess where all that happens, that happens on a Monday morning. 20:39.911 --> 20:43.096 [SPEAKER_01]: Present your bodies as a living suck. 20:43.116 --> 20:46.000 [SPEAKER_01]: Living sacrifice is a strange ride. 20:47.853 --> 20:49.415 [SPEAKER_01]: Because sacrifices don't live. 20:49.455 --> 20:56.082 [SPEAKER_01]: The whole point of us, a defining characteristic of a sacrifice is that it's dead. 20:58.164 --> 21:00.426 [SPEAKER_01]: And yet, Paul says, present yourself as a living one. 21:01.888 --> 21:05.351 [SPEAKER_01]: And our problem is we keep on crawling off the altar the whole time. 21:05.511 --> 21:08.975 [SPEAKER_01]: Going back up there, crawling off, climb back up there, crawling back up there. 21:09.235 --> 21:11.818 [SPEAKER_01]: If you want the fire, you've got to stay on the altar. 21:15.798 --> 21:18.142 [SPEAKER_01]: present your bodies as a living sacrifice. 21:18.182 --> 21:23.872 [SPEAKER_01]: The Old Testament sacrifices a killed once, but in the New Testament, the sacrifice lives and keeps living and keeps surrendering. 21:24.232 --> 21:28.760 [SPEAKER_01]: Worship is no longer a place you go or a thing you do. 21:28.780 --> 21:37.534 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a posture that you carry where all of my life now is surrendered and is an offering to the Lord. 21:39.177 --> 21:40.860 [SPEAKER_01]: This is the quiet miracle of it. 21:42.106 --> 21:43.447 [SPEAKER_01]: worship isn't the loss of your life. 21:43.467 --> 21:48.173 [SPEAKER_01]: If you think God, if I'm a sacrifice, that means I become, I lose my life. 21:50.215 --> 21:59.585 [SPEAKER_01]: The way that God has worked is that you actually become the more you sacrifice and give yourself to the Lord, the more like you, you actually become. 22:01.987 --> 22:02.468 [SPEAKER_01]: From C.S. 22:02.508 --> 22:09.936 [SPEAKER_01]: Lewis, all the way back to Augustine, it would say exactly this, the more we give ourselves to God, the more ourselves we become. 22:11.772 --> 22:15.057 [SPEAKER_01]: So, where does surrender actually happen? 22:15.939 --> 22:29.300 [SPEAKER_01]: I've seen about this, it can be quite kind of obscure, and it can be a little bit, it can just feel a little bit strange or oblique to think about, oh yeah, live in the living sacrifice. 22:29.340 --> 22:30.422 [SPEAKER_01]: What does that mean? 22:31.330 --> 22:33.173 [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to, I could think of five things. 22:33.273 --> 22:38.763 [SPEAKER_01]: I know this probably more, but I can think of five at least that would mean that we could live into this. 22:38.823 --> 22:41.327 [SPEAKER_01]: The first one is in my decisions. 22:41.367 --> 22:42.870 [SPEAKER_01]: Have I invited God into this? 22:43.531 --> 22:47.097 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, I don't mean overthink or overanalyze or over everything. 22:47.357 --> 22:53.608 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not like wake up in the morning, open the pantry and go, God, is it conflict or weak, because I'm not saying that level. 22:53.588 --> 23:02.927 [SPEAKER_01]: I'm saying, like, just in your email, how I respond, how I relate to my kids, how I treat my friends or the decisions that I have to make. 23:02.947 --> 23:12.407 [SPEAKER_01]: You have to make thousands of decisions a day, and it's not obviously not every single one of them, but there's a presence that you can have that's like, Lord, what do you think about this? 23:12.792 --> 23:15.077 [SPEAKER_01]: Is this a girl or is this a no? 23:15.859 --> 23:17.824 [SPEAKER_01]: Is this an open door or is this a closed door? 23:18.265 --> 23:20.009 [SPEAKER_01]: Is this a green light or is this a red light? 23:20.049 --> 23:21.031 [SPEAKER_01]: Or is this an ambalight? 23:21.051 --> 23:22.294 [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you're just telling me to be careful. 23:22.835 --> 23:25.862 [SPEAKER_01]: In my decisions, am I inviting God into those? 23:26.163 --> 23:28.067 [SPEAKER_01]: Not just the big ones. 23:28.250 --> 23:30.853 [SPEAKER_01]: Like, where am I going to live on planet Earth? 23:30.973 --> 23:36.318 [SPEAKER_01]: Not huge ones, like a big, not just those, of course those. 23:36.578 --> 23:39.822 [SPEAKER_01]: But like, God, you're not just my savior, you're my Lord. 23:39.842 --> 23:43.165 [SPEAKER_01]: So you get a voice in all decisions. 23:44.466 --> 23:46.148 [SPEAKER_01]: Does God have a voice in your decisions? 23:47.169 --> 23:50.593 [SPEAKER_01]: Secondly, in your reactions, what is this revealing in me? 23:50.673 --> 23:58.020 [SPEAKER_01]: So when something rises quickly like anger or jealousy or rage, 23:58.928 --> 24:03.795 [SPEAKER_01]: on it, you know, or suppressing it, pushing it down and just be nice. 24:04.736 --> 24:05.517 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a third way. 24:06.038 --> 24:10.585 [SPEAKER_01]: And the third way is, huh, now I just got super mad at that. 24:11.286 --> 24:11.546 [SPEAKER_01]: Why? 24:12.708 --> 24:13.609 [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on there? 24:14.730 --> 24:15.812 [SPEAKER_01]: What's happening in me? 24:16.874 --> 24:18.436 [SPEAKER_01]: Lord, can you help with this? 24:19.117 --> 24:24.244 [SPEAKER_01]: Because I just wanted to head 24:25.237 --> 24:29.466 [SPEAKER_01]: But I also just don't want to like, fake a smile to my face falls off. 24:29.807 --> 24:30.669 [SPEAKER_01]: What's going on? 24:32.693 --> 24:34.336 [SPEAKER_01]: What's happening in me? 24:34.958 --> 24:36.100 [SPEAKER_01]: Where's that coming from? 24:37.042 --> 24:42.233 [SPEAKER_01]: Because all of those big feelings, my friends, are their tentacles that lead back to the head somewhere. 24:47.343 --> 24:50.066 [SPEAKER_01]: Thirdly, in my joy, have I turned this into worship? 24:50.086 --> 24:51.767 [SPEAKER_01]: We're very good at bringing our pain. 24:51.787 --> 24:54.570 [SPEAKER_01]: To God, God, I'm upset, God, I'm angry, God, I'm in pain. 24:55.030 --> 24:58.193 [SPEAKER_01]: But I think we're the less good at bringing our joy to Him. 24:59.294 --> 25:00.776 [SPEAKER_01]: Every time, man, there's a sunset. 25:00.796 --> 25:05.380 [SPEAKER_01]: I just want to stop and go, Lord, thank you that you did that. 25:06.681 --> 25:07.242 [SPEAKER_01]: You're the best. 25:08.223 --> 25:13.768 [SPEAKER_01]: Every time I see a rainbow, I want to stop and be like, Lord, thank you for that. 25:14.889 --> 25:15.730 [SPEAKER_01]: What a blessing. 25:16.638 --> 25:21.445 [SPEAKER_01]: Every time, you know, I'm not weak, because all conflicts, I'm two eggs on one piece of toast, right? 25:21.745 --> 25:22.526 [SPEAKER_01]: That's my breckey. 25:23.347 --> 25:26.712 [SPEAKER_01]: And I tell you what, I get to start every single day. 25:28.194 --> 25:35.304 [SPEAKER_01]: Just at the table with the Lord going, this is the most elite breakfast anyone's ever eaten in the human, in the history of humanity. 25:35.604 --> 25:37.547 [SPEAKER_01]: It won't be beaten, at least for me. 25:38.769 --> 25:45.598 [SPEAKER_01]: I sit there, two eggs, one piece of toast, I get one piece of bread and cut it down the middle, and one egg goes on each, like half a slice. 25:46.287 --> 25:46.668 [SPEAKER_01]: Perfect. 25:47.328 --> 25:48.650 [SPEAKER_01]: I'll get to have this every day. 25:49.311 --> 25:49.892 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Lord. 25:50.833 --> 25:51.414 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, Jesus. 25:53.036 --> 25:53.677 [SPEAKER_01]: But it's pretty good. 25:54.498 --> 25:59.124 [SPEAKER_01]: But we can turn those every day, small moments into worship. 26:00.466 --> 26:01.968 [SPEAKER_01]: We'll just get to say thanks. 26:03.309 --> 26:05.292 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for your coffee this week. 26:05.677 --> 26:06.558 [SPEAKER_01]: Just thank him for it. 26:07.279 --> 26:08.321 [SPEAKER_01]: It's a blessing to the Lord. 26:09.082 --> 26:12.146 [SPEAKER_01]: In my relationships, am I loving or just interacting? 26:12.206 --> 26:14.689 [SPEAKER_01]: We can get super efficient with our relationships. 26:14.930 --> 26:16.652 [SPEAKER_01]: Get me what I need, give me what I need. 26:17.413 --> 26:22.160 [SPEAKER_01]: Tell me, let's transaction, transaction, transaction, transaction, and slowing down. 26:22.981 --> 26:29.710 [SPEAKER_01]: And every day, like crawling back onto the altar, and being a living sacrifice says, I'm gonna love here, not just interact. 26:31.512 --> 26:37.240 [SPEAKER_01]: It's easy to be efficient, get through the conversation move on, but living sacrifice slows down. 26:37.300 --> 26:43.449 [SPEAKER_01]: Am I seeing this person as an image-bearer, or as an obstacle? 26:43.489 --> 26:50.058 [SPEAKER_01]: And things change when we see people as image-bearers of the living God. 26:51.640 --> 26:53.002 [SPEAKER_01]: Fithly and finally in my habits. 26:53.843 --> 26:57.368 [SPEAKER_01]: Sacrifice is not just about moments, but it's about patterns. 26:57.787 --> 27:02.553 [SPEAKER_01]: watching what you repeatedly give you time to return into where I kind of we become a sum of our habits. 27:02.893 --> 27:05.836 [SPEAKER_01]: And this is not in the performance world of all that's optimized. 27:06.197 --> 27:09.361 [SPEAKER_01]: But this is just where do I form, what's forming me over time? 27:10.662 --> 27:12.624 [SPEAKER_01]: What are the rhythms, the disciplines? 27:14.787 --> 27:19.052 [SPEAKER_01]: J. Smith says that we're formed by our litigies. 27:19.437 --> 27:28.845 [SPEAKER_01]: Now, litigies are kind of a religious word for daily practices, things that you do every day that have a shaping effect on your character. 27:32.649 --> 27:36.092 [SPEAKER_01]: We're shaped by a litigies, the repeated practices of our life. 27:36.152 --> 27:40.136 [SPEAKER_01]: So is my life forming me toward God or away from Him? 27:41.517 --> 27:49.444 [SPEAKER_01]: And my friends, this is not about getting everything right overnight. 27:49.930 --> 27:55.218 [SPEAKER_01]: This is about direction, a life that just keeps coming back to the altar. 27:56.360 --> 27:58.423 [SPEAKER_01]: Just keeps coming back, here I am again. 27:59.144 --> 28:01.888 [SPEAKER_01]: Even a small surrender, I messed up, I'm back again. 28:02.589 --> 28:06.895 [SPEAKER_01]: Even a small crawling back up again, I'm here again, Lord. 28:08.177 --> 28:09.339 [SPEAKER_01]: It draws a presence of God. 28:11.142 --> 28:13.545 [SPEAKER_01]: So, right now we're going to come around. 28:13.565 --> 28:18.773 [SPEAKER_01]: There's a new altar that we've been given in the New Testament and that altar's in the shape of a table. 28:18.972 --> 28:24.399 [SPEAKER_01]: So I'd like you to take those elements, the community elements, the bread and the cup. 28:25.421 --> 28:27.303 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to share around the new altar together. 28:27.824 --> 28:31.449 [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't have those elements, please put your hand up nice and high. 28:31.489 --> 28:34.853 [SPEAKER_01]: Not to embarrass you, but so our hosts can see you. 28:34.913 --> 28:36.476 [SPEAKER_01]: That would be great. 28:37.677 --> 28:38.178 [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you, sir. 28:38.879 --> 28:39.460 [SPEAKER_01]: Appreciate that. 28:40.701 --> 28:41.482 [SPEAKER_01]: Come on up, team. 28:42.984 --> 28:48.692 [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to eat and drink together around the table. 28:57.194 --> 29:06.145 [SPEAKER_01]: My friends, it's time to start performing and start surrendering and rebuild the altar in our lives. 29:12.793 --> 29:26.931 [SPEAKER_01]: Because you know this, a couple of thousand years ago, there was another fire that fell, 29:28.447 --> 29:35.377 [SPEAKER_01]: In that moment, on that good Friday, the sacrifice received what the people deserved. 29:35.417 --> 29:46.492 [SPEAKER_01]: And the fire fell, but this time it wasn't consuming just any sacrifice, but it was consuming the sun. 29:48.736 --> 29:56.226 [SPEAKER_01]: The judgment of it, the weight of it, the sin of it, all of it. 29:56.746 --> 30:00.350 [SPEAKER_01]: so that now the fire does not fall in judgment. 30:02.072 --> 30:06.758 [SPEAKER_01]: But like we read in Acts 2, the fire rests on us in Presence. 30:06.778 --> 30:07.378 [SPEAKER_01]: In holiness. 30:09.701 --> 30:13.385 [SPEAKER_01]: Because we've been clean, made righteous. 30:15.928 --> 30:21.555 [SPEAKER_01]: And so we can offer our lives freely now, note out of compulsion, but offer our lives freely. 30:22.700 --> 30:26.765 [SPEAKER_01]: because God first gave His life for us. 30:31.029 --> 30:37.957 [SPEAKER_01]: And so, as we offer our lives again, we calibrate our lives again. 30:38.978 --> 30:42.082 [SPEAKER_01]: We climb back up onto the altar as a living sacrifice. 30:44.805 --> 30:51.272 [SPEAKER_01]: We say, fire, fall on us, in presence, in holiness, in power. 30:52.619 --> 31:00.268 [SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus, we thank you because we thank you because the sacrifice receive what the people deserve. 31:02.091 --> 31:04.093 [SPEAKER_01]: And we can live in communion with you. 31:04.133 --> 31:06.075 [SPEAKER_01]: Let's eat and drink together church. 31:18.971 --> 31:19.572 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, Lord. 31:23.163 --> 31:37.037 [SPEAKER_01]: We take the cup as well, which reminds us of the blood that was shed for a new covenant, a new relationship, a new walk in Jesus' name. 31:54.112 --> 32:10.703 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stand together. 32:10.723 --> 32:17.976 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's stand. 32:27.220 --> 32:31.305 [SPEAKER_01]: In this moment, we come and worship is a daily act. 32:31.845 --> 32:33.887 [SPEAKER_01]: It's Monday morning more than Sunday morning. 32:35.129 --> 32:44.620 [SPEAKER_01]: But while we're here, we use these times where we gather together to remind us of what's important, and to allow ourselves to come again. 32:44.640 --> 32:55.692 [SPEAKER_01]: And realign ourselves with who God is and what He's done and what He's doing. 32:57.106 --> 33:00.111 [SPEAKER_01]: So Jesus right now, church, let's just do that together. 33:01.192 --> 33:05.840 [SPEAKER_01]: Close our eyes, we're just going to open our hearts up and allow the Lord to speak to us. 33:08.083 --> 33:11.028 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of us have held back, some of us are holding on to things. 33:11.909 --> 33:14.994 [SPEAKER_01]: Still trying to perform and it's getting your tire, your exhausted. 33:17.838 --> 33:22.886 [SPEAKER_01]: Some of you are worried that if I hand that specific thing over to the Lord, what's he going to do with it? 33:22.946 --> 33:25.290 [SPEAKER_01]: Is he asking me going to, is he going to take it away? 33:25.675 --> 33:42.891 [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to resurrect it, what's going to happen, who you love is more important than what you love those things, and so offer them to him now.