Life in the spirit gives us the power to never give up on our faith

Tim: 00:41 I love this place. Hey how are we doing? Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. Hey, how are you guys? All right, hey I'm going to address that real quick but first can we just honor our dads real quick. If you're a dad would you stand up. Let us show you some love real quick. Dads will you, man. Yeah. Don't sit back down man. Stay up for a second. Hold it. Embrace that, that may be all you get. Stay with that for just a second. If your grandpa would you stay up on your feet real quick, if your grandfather. Can we show the grandfathers. Yeah. We've got any? Yeah we do. There we are. Awesome. So good. Any, any great grandfathers, any great grandpas? Couple of great. Yeah. That's why I'm talking about.

Tim: 01:32 Now you could you can see this from out there, but you need to know when I said, "Hey Dad would you stand up?" Almost all the dad sitting with their kids stood up like this. But then when I was like, "Hey Grandpas would you stay standing?" The grandpas, man, their face just lit up. They were so excited. I don't know what happens from being a dad to being a grandpa but i can't wait. So much fun. So glad that you guys are here. Welcome to Mixtape. This, I've got to be honest man, I am so excited about the series and getting to be with you guys for the next couple of weeks and just doing this, this series man mix tape. I remember, I'm an 80's kid. I grew up in the 80's and I remember. Right? Yeah.

Tim: 02:08 Now I wasn't born in the 80's. I was just a kid in the 80s. I remember night, man in the 80's. Couple of things would happen this time of year during summertime. Road trips. Man you would get in your car with your buddies and ya'll would just drive places. And you couldn't go on a road trip without the original MP3. This little dude right here. Ya'll don't understand because you're spoiled right now. Man this thing right here, you had to, you had to sit in front of a radio for hours, like six seven hours, for that song to come on cause you didn't have it and you couldn't buy it anywhere else because you're a cheap or poor like me. So you're sitting there with this thing in the cassette player and as soon as a song came on you hit record and then, if you were like me, it would take four or five times because you would hit the pause button instead of record. You're like, "Nooo." And then it would come back on later and you would have to time it out because you'd have to get them in the right order because you can't. It takes a while to fast forward and rewind when you got a cassette tape. You don't just skip ahead. So you had to get them in just the right order. And then it meant if everything, the stars lined up and the radio DJ loved you and God was on his throne, you got everything done on that mixtape and it was perfect. So what you would do then is you'd get a pocket knife or a screwdriver. And you would knock these little tabs out, which I have no idea how this work still cause it's just a piece of plastic, but by doing that you couldn't record over it. So then if you accidentally hit record it wouldn't erase. It was so crazy how it works.

Tim: 03:24 But you have a mixtape dude to go on the road and you would have, if you were going out with your boys, you'd have some Guns n' Roses on the mixtape cause you're going out with your guys. Dude, you got to get rowdy. So you'd throw in a little G n' R, some AC DC, some Van Halen, some of that really, the good stuff. Man throw that in the mixtape and then if you're gonna go out with your girlfriend or something a little bit later, didn't have no Van Halen or no Guns N Roses on that. No, no, no, no, you had a different mixtape for that one. And that one you probably put a little heart or something on cause you don't want to like put your arm around your girl and then throw in like Highway to Hell or something like that. You've got to be careful with the mixtape tape.

Tim: 03:52 But it was so much fun and such a part of my life growing up. We were thinking about that and we were we were thinking about today and Father's Day and honoring dads and just man mixtape and growing up. I think all of us if you had to mixtape in the 80's you had little Guns N' Roses on it. If we're going to be honest, which we're in church, it was there. I think and because of dads some of the things that we do as dads and let me help some of the newer dads or some of the going to be dads real quick with some old dad wisdom real fast. I don't want to get into this and miss this moment because there's some things I can bestow on you for free and it makes makes it worth your time to be here. So write these down, take notes and feel free to use this at your discretion because at some point in time and dads help me if you've experienced this as well at some point in time. Your kids going to do something just dumb because they're kids. And they're most likely going to fall and break something. You've got a bone coming out the side of their arm right here skin's going to be wide open or something like that. And as a dad you're going to look at him and you're going to say, "You're fine just little of dirt on it." Because as dads that's what we do. And our dad mind that's going to fix the problem. At some point in time as a dad if you've got daughters you're going to have to figure out how to do a ponytail and it's like solving the world energy crisis trying to put a ponytail on a little girl hair. I don't know how you do it ladies. So dads just real quick. You know this is a free DIY moment. Get your shop vac to put the little ponytail holder on the end of the hose suck all that hair up in that slide the ponytail holder. Dude you're done in like three seconds. Plus it's a lot of fun. Shop vac works for that. At some point your kids are going to get hurt and you're going to rub dirt on is still going to bleed through. It's going to get on your car in the carpet and you don't want that. So duct tape always, always works as a bandaid, always carries over if you ever need duct tape or a bandaid. At some point your kids are going to give you unsolicited, unwanted advice. They're going to try to pony in and help you with decision making processes that you really don't need their help in. So when that moment comes up feel free to just look at them and say, "Hey did I put a quarter in you?" Because that'll help get them to understand that you really don't need what they're doing right now. That you're not really buying what they're selling.

Tim: 05:52 One of the things my dad used to always tell me, and I love this, he used to and I don't know if this is a southern thing, my dad used to always tell me that you can buy a man a fish and he'll you for a day. You can teach a man to fish, couple of you, yeah. You can buy man he'll for a day. You can teach a man to fish. But then you got to go buy that dude like tackle. You got to buy bait. Gotta buy a fishing pole. Going to have to drag that dude back and forth to the lake multiple times. You're eventually going to have to buy him a fishing license. At some point in time it's just easier to buy that fool a fish sandwich and call it a day. You can buy a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. You can teach a man to fish, take a whole lot of work. Or you can show somebody the importance of fishing and they figure it out on their own.

Tim: 06:38 Today as we dive through this man, as we look at Sweet Child of Mine cause I think as dads sometimes we get the, I think we get the short end of the stick sometimes as men. If we're just going to be honest real quick. As dad sometimes we're seen as the discipline man. We're the enforcer. We're the one that wrecks shop and when the kids mess up dude they think they cringe at the sound of our voice and they tremble at the footsteps coming when dad's in the house because man as dads were the enforcer. So sometimes we as dads get a little bit of that thought and I think because we're human and because some of us have dads really that weren't all that great. I think we struggle sometimes with who God is as our dad. And I think sometimes we see God as this enforcer or just inflicting punishment and rules and he's sitting in heaven with like a fistful of lightning bolts and he's waiting for you to mess up going, "Yeah you." And he's just like and he's going to get you. And we lose sight of really who God is cause I think one of the characteristics about God that I really enjoy the most is man he's one of our best encouragers. He's this God in Heaven who's looking down and I don't, I don't know if he has a Sweet Child of Mine on his on his mixtape. I like to think he does. Just because I'm a little bit weird. I like to think that when he looks down from Heaven and he sees me every now and then he's humming Sweet Child of Mine in the background. And Moses and Abraham, some of those guys are maybe coming in with guitars and they're like doing the solo and that's happening and God is looking down going, "That's my Sweet Child of Mine dude, thats sweet child of mine. Check it out that's my boy." And that's what's happening.

Tim: 08:02 I don't know how you view God, but I want to give you something from God today that I think can change. Pray with me. And then we're going to jump in. God thank you for today. Jesus thank you for Grace. Thank you for loving us God. Thank you for this moment. And God I thank you for just the truth that we're going to open up in your words today. God would you let what we read God, would you let the words and what's said in this place today honor you? God be true to who you are and God would you help us to walk out of this place with a little bit better understanding of your great love and God your, just the fact that you're not disappointed with us, but God that you are madly and passionately in love with us. And God that we are man were sweet children of the king of the universe. So God watch over this time. In your name. Amen, amen.

Tim: 08:41 Hey if you've got a Bible jump with me to John, Chapter 16. John, Chapter 16. I want to walk us through one verse and that's all we're going to have time for but it's a powerful verse. I want to walk us through one verse because in this verse Jesus does something extraordinary. So John 16 and why your turn in there, let me set this up for you real quick. You're at the very end of your time. You've had the conversation and doctors whatever they're like, "Hey you just got a couple of days left, couple of hours left." And so you call all your friends, your closest people into a room with you. And you've got one moment, one conversation left to spill that last little nugget of wisdom onto your kids.
Tim: 09:14 What do you tell them? You've got one conversation one moment left to talk to the people who mean the most to you and to give them one last little nugget of wisdom, man, the last little charge that you can give them, the last little bit of hope, the last little bit of your, your wisdom that you have accrued over several years. That last little window. What do you tell them?

Tim: 09:37 That's the moment that we're in right now. So the passage that we're about to read, this is Jesus right now, and he's about to talk to his disciples and this is really about one of the last conversations he has before the cross. So this is one of the last moments where Jesus gets his friends together in one room and he sits down to tell him something and what he tells them is so important. And if we can grab that today I think it's going to be helpful.

Tim: 10:01 So John 16 Verse 33 Jesus says this. He said, 'I told you these things' and we're just going to do a little bit at a time because there's too much in this verse to not. 'I told you these things so I' I just told you who the I is. I is Jesus. So as we're reading this 'I told you these things' that's Jesus. If you're old like me you have a paper Bible so it's red so you know that's Jesus. If you're new and you're in this new hip world, "look at me I've got a iPhone" and you're reading it on there, get off Clash of Clans. Get in the Bible because that's where it's at. Hopefully it's still red and it's still, I is still Jesus. So 'I have told you these things.' The I in that is Jesus. Now just to save some time. Let me let me set up some of the things that he told you. He said I have told you these things. Some of those things that he told you are crazy powerful. Some of them were revolutionary. Some of them people had never heard before on this planet. So some of those things, it was like man love your neighbors the way that you love yourself. That was one of the craziest, revolutionary things that ever said in this time. And Jesus was like, "Man when you go out and you see other people love them the same way that you love you. In fact. Put their needs above your own. Sacrifice you so that they better. Give, give of your stuff for them." Man that's one of the craziest things. And then another one of those things that he told you was as you do that you got to understand man it's going to cause friction because when you start loving people and you start putting their needs in front of yours they're not going to understand. They're going to think that you're trying to get something and it's going to be so counter-culture. They're probably going to push back on you and they're probably going to maybe even hate you. So just a heads up that's coming.

Tim: 11:30 He started telling them so, some of the other things that he told them was, "Hey just so you know I'm going to go away really soon. But don't sweat it because I'm going to prepare a place for you and where I'm going you can't come now. But you're going to get to come and join me later and I'm going to make it ready for you." And he was talking about how he was about to die and be taken off this planet. So as he told them that another one of those things that he said was, "But don't worry. I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to leave you with a part of myself called the Holy Spirit. So when I leave I'm going to give you just a small part of who I am. And it's going to be able to live inside of you. So as you dwell on this planet I'm going to dwell inside of you. And we're going to do this life together." And he said, "Man as I go away that's going to stay with you."

Tim: 12:11 Then he said some things like, "Man I'm the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through me." He said, "Dude it's not about religion. You can't be religious or holy enough to get to Heaven. You can't earn my forgiveness. That's not how it works. You can't help enough old people across the street. You can't run over enough cats to make the world a better place. There's none of those things that you can do to be good enough for heaven. The only way to get to Heaven is through me and that's it." It's straight Jesus and nothing else. And so those are some of those things. And there's more but that's just kind of a highlight. So as Jesus, he's saying I, that's Jesus, 'have told you these things' that some of those things.

Tim: 12:48 And then he goes into why. He says, 'so that in me you may have peace.' Let that word just, just soak on that for just a second. Peace. Parents when was the last time you had peace? Oh man, got kids yelling, screaming at each other. You got a remote control in the fridgerator for some reason. Dogs throwing up on the carpet. You got all this stuff happening. When was the last time you had peace?

Tim: 13:23 Jesus is saying, "Man, I've told you these things so that in me you can have peace." And I love this because of the verbiage that he uses, the words that he used, the way that he describes peace is a word that's active and daily and it means that it never ends. And it's a possession of. So he's promising to give you this gift that, this tangible thing called peace. And it's not just peace for a moment. It's not just peace for a day, it's not just peace for a brief second in time. It's peace that never ends. It's a peace that continually goes with you every day all day. And he says, "Man if you want to know how to find peace I've told you all these things so that in me you can have peace." I can't think of a better thing to have for Father's Day or Christmas or whatever Hanukkah whatever day we're celebrating then peace.

Tim: 14:09 I don't know about you but I've noticed in my life the places that I don't have peace are the places that I'm not looking to Jesus to provide peace. Cause if we're just going to be honest there's areas of my life right now that aren't peaceful. There's areas in my life right now that I'm in this tug of war with God and I'm like, "God really what's going on?" And it's not that God is fighting me it's just that I'm not going to find peace cause I'm not looking in the right place. And you can't find peace in relationships. You can't find peace in people. You can't find peace in a spouse. You can't find peace in kids.

Tim: 14:39 The only place that you can find peace is in Jesus. The only provider of peace and this peace that goes for longer than just a moment, just a second time, the only place that you can gather peace that's tangible, that you can hold onto that can carry you every second of every day for the rest of your life is found in Jesus and no other place. And God, one of the last things he's telling his friends, and again think about the timing on this, this is moments before he's about to be carried away and be crucified.I feel like that would be a pretty good moment to have peace.

Tim: 15:11 His disciples who gave up their jobs, who left families, who walked miles all over the place, who slept on rocks, who gave up meals, who were beaten, who were ridiculed, who were made fun of, who were chased out of cities, that as their disciples who are about to watch him be crucified. And they're going to have a moment where they're like, "Oh my goodness. What just happened? Like that's not what I thought where this was going. Jesus what's happening?" It would be good for them to know where to get peace. I've told you these things so that in me you'll have peace. I guarantee you if there's a spot in your life that's not peaceful it's because you're looking for something other than Jesus to give you peace because the only place that's found is in Christ. And you're not going to find it anywhere else.

Tim: 15:55 He says, "I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace." And then because, and this is, dude Jesus keeps it real, he's like, "In this world you'll have trouble." And I love this because I think Jesus is alluding to something to help us understand a few things cause I think one of the things that we have done on this planet is we've misunderstood what this world is. And we expect this world to be like the next world. And when I think why Jesus is really specific here and he says, "In this world you'll have trouble" is cause he doesn't want us to confuse this world with the next. Because, and let me straighten this for you, some of you are confused on that. There is a world coming where sin has never entered in. There's a place in existence right now that sin has never walked into. There's no death. There's no cancer. There's no sickness. There's no divorce. There's no disappointment. There's no hate. There's no evil because sin has never entered into it and it's the only place in existence that's fully surrounded with love, acceptance and the true beauty of who Jesus is is everywhere. That's called heaven. That's not here. And Jesus is very clear on this. He's like, "Man in this world, don't confuse it with Heaven because Heaven is this place where we're not going to have terrorist attack and we're not going to have people who act stupid because that's heaven. And that's not there. But in this world you're going to have trouble."

Tim: 17:14 I don't know how people read the Bible and they're like, "Man, just accept Jesus and everything is easy." I don't find that anywhere. And Jesus in fact there's a direct opposite. Man, in this world you're going to have trouble. And you need to understand what he means by trouble because this isn't like, "Oh I had a flat tire" or "Who ate the last piece of cake" or "Why don't I have clean underwear?" I'm talking like trouble, trouble. I'm talking like trouble like when my brother called and was like, "Hey Tim, I have cancer. You should probably go get checked out." I'm talking those moments of trouble. I'm talking like a few years after that when my dad called he was like, "Hey Tim, your mom has Parkinson's man. It's going to change some stuff. Can you come home and help." I'm talking trouble. I'm talking like when my mom called me it was like, "Hey it's him your brother just passed. Man he fought it hard but he couldn't take it anymore. Is any way you can get home?" And I remember driving from Arkansas back to Texas to try to get home to be with my family because I just really, I just lost my oldest brother to cancer thinking that trouble. That, that's what I'm talking about. I remembered doctors telling me about my son saying, "Hey he's not going to live past birth. He's got a 2 percent chance to make it longer than four days. He only has half a heart. It's not going to work."

Tim: 18:24 I'm talking trouble. In this world you're going to have trouble. And I get that maybe some of you troubles different than that. Trouble may just be that you're angry all the time and that's trouble. Maybe trouble is you have no patience and you're struggling with that. Maybe trouble in your house as you've moved the couch 14 times and now it's back where you started and you're still moving it. Trouble is is different for all of us. I just know this. I know that there's a point in time, and Jesus is really clear on it, that trouble is going to come and it's going to find you. And it's not prejudiced. It doesn't care your height, your weight, your social class or your skin color. Trouble is going to find you. And when it does it's going to rattle you to the core. I'm talking trouble that makes you look to God and just say, "God are you real? I mean seriously God, this is it? Like I'm praying hard." I don't know if you've had those moments where you're screaming out to God and you're like, "God I'm praying hard right now and nothing is changing. I don't know if there's a Tim filter right now on the roof. That when I pray like it gets to that and it just stops. You're not hearing me. I mean I said Amen. That's like the Christian hang up right. That's what I do. Where are you? God are you real?" I feel like if and when trouble hits because it's going to, it would be really good to know where to find peace. And not just peace that's good for a moment but peace that's tangible that you can grab hold of that can mean you can carry you when this world has trouble.

Tim: 19:47 Then the next part of this verse comes in. This is my favorite part. 'I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you'll have trouble.' And in this next sentence, when you read the Bible, please read punctuation. It's so important. This next sentence is huge. Jesus says, "But take heart!" And there's an exclamation point at the end. He says,"But take heart!" And this is this is huge right here. This is the God of the universe. Now again some of us have these really horrible misconceptions of what Jesus looks like. And when we hear about God we think Christmas Jesus right? Six pounds seven ounce, fleece diapers, laying in a manger, cooing, little spit bubbles coming around and he looks, oh he's so cute. And he's got swaddling clothes and he's cool and you want a tickle him and pinch his big fat cheeks because he's just a little Jesus. And that little Jesus doesn't do squat when trouble comes into my world. That's not the Jesus I really want to think about in that moment. I'm talking the Jesus who's speaking right here who says, "But take heart!" I'm talking Jesus who's rolling on the scene and his shirts off and he looks like that dude from 300. He's jacked and he's rolling. He's probably got a big sword on his back that's like 30 feet long and he's just rolling in going, "Take heart. Hold on". And he's standing there. I'm talking the commander of Heaven's armies. The king of the universe. The God with enough power to speak things into existence. A God who loves us more than we can ever comprehend or understand. The God of everything standing on his throne. He's the dad in the stands yelling at his kids as they're coming up to bat saying "Sweet child of mine do whatever you do. Take heart. Hold on. Don't you dare give up and don't you dare let go. Hold on. Take heart."

Tim: 21:21 Every time I read this I think of Braveheart. I don't know if you've all seen Braveheart? If you haven't get better friends because you should have seen it by now. But shave out like 8 hours because it's stupid long. It's a crazy, long movie but it's so good. There's a scene in Braveheart where you've got the Scottish people coming in. They're about to battle the English and the English army is huge and the Scottish army is not. And there's a scene where the English army is coming down, Scottish armies there and sees the vastness of the English army and they're like, "No forget this." And so they start to turn and they run away. But then on this horse with this blue face, which I don't know why it's blue, but it's crazy intimidating. William Wallace comes riding in. And he's got this sword that's like 50 feet long and it cuts off everybody's head. It's so cool. And he's wearing a kilt which you don't never ever want to fight nobody in a kilt. And he's coming in on this horse. And he's looking at his and his, his kinsmen. He's looking at the Scottish people and the best pep talk ever he's yelling them, "Man. Don't you dare give up. Fight for Freedom." And he's William Wallace it up. And the Scottish army gets their courage back. And they had this huge battle and the Scots win. And this is a beautiful moment. That's who I think of when I read this. 'But take heart!' I picture God in Heaven looking down battle worn, tested and true screaming at me, man knuckles white, because he's just gripping his fists tight saying, "Don't you dare let go. Don't you dare give up. Don't you dare even think about quitting. Take heart and hold on."

Tim: 22:44 I was good with all of that until I started thinking about me. Because take heart is good for you. Cause I know some of ya'll. You all your good people man. Take heart. Jesus loves you. I get that, that's easy. Take heart. Hold on. I could see God looking at you going, "Dude you're a great guy. You're a great guy. Hold on. Take heart. Don't give up."

Tim: 23:03 I just don't see that sometimes with me. Mainly because I'm an idiot. I mean I do stupid stuff all the time not to be funny but there's things that I do that I don't want to do. And I'm like man what am I doing? Why am I thinking this? What am I doing? And that's not what I'm, and then I run back to who God is and I'm like, "God I'm so sorry." And then I go back. And then there's moments where like, "Man I want peace in my life so bad. Hey God I got this." I want peace in my life so bad and I'm just struggling because there is no peace in my life. And I'm yelling at God because there's no peace in my life and it's not his fault cause I'm not even asking him for peace and I'm fighting it. Why would God look at me and say, "Tim. Don't give up. Hold on."? Why wouldn't you look at me and just go, "Dude you're an idiot. I'm just going to leave you there for like 30 years until you figure this out because you're a moron. The least time I spend with you right now the least frustrated I'm going to be."

Tim: 24:07 I struggle with take heart from me. Have you ever been in so love? So love like S O love. I know we're all in love and there's different types love. There's like oh I love ice cream. I love puppies. I love tacos. I know there's that type of love. I'm talking so love. You know the difference between loving tacos and so love. Let me see. So love. I've got a daughter. We were teaching her how to play basketball. She was playing upward basketball which is a great system. I mean they teach them Jesus and basketball. But they don't keep score and it's all participation. And its is a horrible idea. So I'm the dad in the stands going, "It's 14 to 7." And I'm yelling that to my kid because I want her to know if she's winning or not. And I'm yelling at her, "She's fouling, double dribble." She's like 4. "That's a double dribble. It's a carry." And I'm that dead in the stands. I'm that dad that when we got home, I'm working with her and I'm like, "Baby you got to rebound like a shark in the water. You're piranha on blood. When that ball comes off the rim your butts out, your elbows are out, you're going and you're, man you're mean, and it's your ball and nobody, nobody gets near you." And I'm the dude in the stands that when my daughter's next game comes up for the ball she knocks down like three of her players. She comes down with the ball elbows flaring out and she's got this look like she's about to kill somebody on her face and I'm in the stands going, "That's my baby." Yeah and I'm screaming for. And because that's my daughter we worked this thing out when I would yell out or she would, we call it roll the deuce, she would look back at me and go. And that was I don't know what it means still to this day but I thought it was really cool.

Tim: 25:34 I would coach them in soccer. Dude, I don't know anything about soccer. I played baseball growing up. I have no idea any of the rules for soccer. I have, I know you kick it in a goal but I don't. That's it. I'm running up and down the sidelines yelling, "Kick him. Hit him in the head." I don't know. I watch wrestling and UFC. I'm like, "Clothesline, arm bar." I'm yelling. I'm that dad and Heaven forbid you make a goal because then I got my shirt off and I'm running around going, "GOAL" swinging it over my head because I'm that dad. Why would anybody do that? Sober? Why would anybody do that? Seriously?

Tim: 26:20 So love. Dude, I so love my kids. Oh love my kids. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my kids. I'll look like a complete idiot man. I'll run around. I don't know if it's a court or a field. I don't know what you play soccer on but I'm going to run around that dude with my shirt off of one of them scores a goal. I could care less because I so love my kids. They mean the world to me. I love them more than anything I can even tangibly say. So love them.

Tim: 26:44 That's why God is looking at you saying, "Don't you dare give up." In spite of all the stupid things you've done because you can't out sin his grace. You can't sin his love. You can't out sin his forgiveness. You can't out sin. You can't, the stupid things we do will never disqualify you from his call or his plan for your life. You can't out sin the reach of his love. Because he so loves you. It's our hallmark verse. It's another one of those things that Jesus told his friends. It's John 3:16. 'For God so loved the world.' So loves you.

Tim: 27:20 I wanted to make sure that I was in that so I looked up the Greek word for the world, where Jesus said God so loved the world. You know what the world in Greek translates to? You ready? The World. That's deep huh. The Greek word for God so loved the world. It really means the world. You know who's in that? You. And you, and you, and you, and you. So loved the world.

Tim: 27:58 You can't out sin in his grace. You can't out sin his love. You can't out sin his mercy. He so who loves you. And then he ends it with this. He's like, "Man I told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." And I love that he throws this little clause in, "that I've overcome the world."

Tim: 28:14 If you're a parent man roll with me real quick. Or maybe if you're not a parent and you're just old enough that you lived through childhood, think, think with me for just a second. Remember junior high? Most of us try to block that out because it's got to be the worst time ever invented. I've yet to meet somebody who is like, "I love junior high." Nobody loves junior high. Horrible time in life. Junior high so hard. It's so difficult in junior high. And I remember my kids in this moment with, man thinking the world was going to end because of what was going on in junior high. And I remember them looking at me going, "Dad we're going to wind up on Oprah because this is all horrible and it's gonna be a talk show." And they're just crying and this is junior high. And I know as a dad I remember looking at him thinking dude I remember that, dude junior high is tough but you know what? There's life after junior high. It may seem like the end of the world here but you gotta understand something. I've been there I understand that and if you can just get to here, oh dude, here so good.

Tim: 29:08 You get that that's what God just did. "But take heart! Hold on. Don't you dare give up. I've overcome the world." And think for, man just for a second, who just overcame the world. This is a God who understands what it's like to be sold out by your friends. That this is a God who walked and thought that he had a really close group of guys with him, thought he had some really good friends and got to one of the darkest moments of his life where he really needed people beside him, and he stopped and he turned around and he was all alone. And friends who said, "Man I'll be with you to the end" cursed his name and ran away.

Tim: 29:44 This is a God who moments after he says this is going to, he's going to carry the weight and the guilt and the shame of every sin that you've ever done. Every thought, everything that you've done up to this moment in life, he's going to put those on his back and he's going to carry it. And that's not enough. He's going to carry all this sin all the stuff that you haven't done yet just because you haven't had time. He's going to carry all of that on his back and he's going to walk through a town and be beaten. He's going to be yelled at. He's going to be made fun of. He's going to be stripped naked and punched. They're going to throw a blanket over his head and they're going to hit him in the face and say, "Prophesied if you're the king." Who just hits you. And they're going to carry him up to a piece of wood and they're going to lay him down broken and bleeding and they're going to put nails in his wrist and nails in his feet. And he's going to sacrifice who he is as the perfect offering for the guilt, for the shame, for all the dumb stuff that we do. And when death, the very worst thing that this world has to throw at him, hits him with it he's going to take a nap for about three days rest up and then he's going to walk out and be like, "I'm back."

Tim: 30:43 And he's here. And it's real. And it's tangible. And his sacrifice frees you from everything. And he's saying, "Dude, take heart. Don't you dare give up. I've overcome this world. Everything that this world has, the darkest, the deepest, the hardest. Everything that this world is going to throw at you, I've walked through it. I've walked into a city where people praised me and they thought I was a great person and I had nine million Facebook friends. And then later that day same city I roll in and everybody hates me and they're yelling kill me, crucify me."

Tim: 31:16 He's walked through everything that we'll experience. Shame. He's walked through pain. He's walked through death. He's walked through sickness. He's walked through everything that this world had to throw at him. Even death. And he's saying, "Take heart and hold on. Don't you dare give up because I beat all of that and I know it looks morbid and horrible here, but you got to understand that there's a better day coming because pain is guaranteed but peace is promised. Take heart and hold on."

Tim: 31:56 I wanted to leave you with something today that I was trying to think of something crazy, powerful. How do we walk out of this today with something that you can take in and maybe encourage you to to not give up? Other than me just saying it 30 times. Maybe to just encourage you to keep fighting to not quit. Maybe to encourage you if you're looking for peace in other areas of your life to maybe acknowledge that right now. To stop and to start chasing the only true giver of peace which is Jesus. Maybe you've thought you've out sinned his grace and you take heart for everybody else. Maybe today you understand that that's for you as well. I try to figure out a way to end that and so I've called in a favor. I kind of called in the big guns. I thought what if we had somebody crazy, powerful come in and just pray over you guys and how cool of a moment would that be? So I asked my son I was like, "Hey Jay would you pray over the people in the church for me this Sunday." And he was like, "Yeah for sure."
Tim: 32:46 Hey Jay, Would you come out bud and would you close us out in prayer and pray for our friends. Would you, would you just pray for us do that we won't give up we won't quit and that we would just just keep pushing?

Jay: 33:06 Pray with me. Dear God, I just want to pray over these people that you just show them that you're just encouraging them and just help them to realize that they need never give up. And God please help them to know that they can never out sin or out run your love. In your name I pray. Amen.



Recorded in Chandler, Arizona.