The Four R's | Judah Smith

Recently, I've had a lot of people ask me if if I'm okay. Which face value, that is a wonderful thing to do, right? Um a text, "Hey, you good? Hey, you okay?" The problem is when they add up, I start to wonder. Maybe this has happened to you.

Um wait. Am am I okay? So, Jason and I went to Miami this past weekend. It was a great time. Um and I ran into so many old friends I hadn't seen in a while. And I I was kind of taken aback because uh one person said, "Hey, are you good?

Are you okay?" And I was like, "Yeah, yeah, no, I'm yeah, no, I'm good, yeah." I'm kind of like, "What have you heard? Is there something I'm not aware of?" Then another person, "Hey, man, are you good? Are you okay?" Yeah. Yeah, are you Um should I not be?

Um yeah, no, I'm still married to Chelsea. We're having sex pretty regularly. Um My kids are 20, 18, 16. Am I I don't I don't Yeah. And then another person, "Hey, man, are you good? You've been on my mind." Uh thank you. You ever had that someone's like, "You've been on my mind."

You're like, "I haven't thought about them in years." You don't say that, of course. You're like, "Yeah, me too. I've been It's good to see you." Um but I kind of had that experience in Miami. And lately, there's just been a lot of people checking on me. Now now, part of that is like, "Wow, what a thrill, what an honor, what a privilege."

Now, some of you right now already, I've missed you with this message because you're like, "I wish to God somebody would ask me if I'm okay." But have you ever been asked so many times if you're okay that you started to wonder if you're okay? Like I I don't Am I okay?

You ever checked in with people that you live with? You're like, "Hey, do you Am I Like am I am I okay? Do Do Do you think I'm I'm okay? And And by the way, okay is Well, it's it's okay. But I'd I'd rather be be like good.

Better yet, I'd rather be great than okay. And I'll admit, in Miami recently seeing old friends, I started to say, "No, I'm I'm I'm great." And And then I could hear through my own tone that my response was me also telling them, but also telling me that I'm great.

Here's a simple question. And I don't mean to probe too deeply here, but if I asked you, "Are you okay?" what would be your response? Now, truth be told, if you're here and you say, "I actually know I'm not okay." By the way, that's ironically great. If you know, "Hey, you know, I'm not I'm I'm actually not okay."

And if you have the ability and the community and which is a lot of what we're fostering here where you can say to someone cuz how many know there are like just cordial kind of normal decorum, which is like, "Yeah, I'm good. You good? Yeah, I'm good. Good."

And we don't ever really talk about anything of substance. Right, that's just a normal, natural, average exchange. We're trying to foster community, have been for 15 years where if someone's not okay, in fact, without even being asked, you could offer the news that you're not okay and here's why.

But have you ever You ever been in a place where you started to wonder if you're okay? And then it hits you. How do I know if I'm okay? Like how How does one gather engage? How do I define and understand whether or not I'm okay? And I think in an unsettling, unprecedented era of of life and culture, I watched a video today of a robot that's going to do my house chores for me.

And I'm all the way in. And I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing cuz I've watched movies like you've watched movies where the robots turn on us. But I'm also like, "Guys, for like 17 grand, you can have someone who like does everything in your house?

I'm in." All right, I guess I'm the only one. Not a problem. Some of you looking at me like, "How dare you?" I'm like, "All right, I I don't know if the robots are bad." But we're living in unprecedented days. We We are seeing things like we've never seen before.

I'm 46. Now, what that simply means, by the way, you can know how old you are by how many videos on Instagram you believe are real. I've told you this before, but it's a joke in the Smith household now. I have sent to our family group chat. Uh there was a robotic puppy that came up on my feed.

And I was like, "I have to have it." Uh cuz it'd be the perfect partner for my real puppy. And my kids are like, "Dad, are you serious?" And I'm like, "Yeah, I'm serious. I don't know how much it cost. Look into it. Let me know." Cuz a robotic puppy would be the perfect partner cuz I can have two puppies that poop.

Can't have two. But if I had a robot and they're, "Dad, it's called AI. It's not real." I'm like, "How do you know? It looks so real." Right? So, we live in an unusual time. Uh I've had several calls from my mom. God bless her. I love her so much.

And she's like, "Did you see what so-and-so did with the Pope yesterday?" And I'm like, "Mom, that's not real." Like I knew that one wasn't real. She's like, "It's It's wild, Judah. I'm praying for the Pope." And I'm like, I mean, he's from Chicago. He's tough, you know?

But like these are wild days. So, it would be appropriate for us to be able to decipher, discern, and define, are we okay? Are you okay? Better yet, are you are you good? Are you doing great? And how do you know? Now, if you're like me, I am how should I say?

Uh sensitive like a flower. Which means I can be great. But give me approximately 11 minutes, and the world can be ending. Now, I'm really serious about this. You guys think I'm joking. You think I'd like make this content up. This is real content. I am the classic I am the poster child for people who are okay one minute, and a slight circumstance change can make can make me question every deep belief I've ever held.

Today, I was playing golf in preparation, obviously, to preach. Sometimes I hate you guys. Little quiet tonight. Not a problem. Um but but but I I was playing really good. And then suddenly, I had two holes where I triple bogey. This happened not that long ago. And I'm slamming my club into solid earth.

And suddenly, I am questioning my validity as a human being. Are you okay? Depends on what time of day you speak to me. I call that circumstantial stability. And ironically, that rules a lot of our day-to-day. Circumstantial stability. Now, I got news for you. If circumstances have to be ideal, you might not be as okay as you think you are.

If you need circumstances to be perfect. Now, if you're like me, the older I get, like before I left here, I picked up everything off the floor of my room, and I put it in my closet, and I had to arrange it, and I had to put my my jeans where they go, and I had to clip them on the little clip, and I had to close the closet, and to make the closet cuz I felt like if I picked up my room, I would be better prepared to be on stage.

What is that? That's controlling what you can kind of control so that maybe you can trick your brain to think that maybe you're okay, and life's going to be okay, and it's all going to work out. Circumstantial stability is a real thing. So, perhaps I caught you at the right time.

It's a reasonably air-conditioned theater in Beverly Hills. You got here a bit early. You got one of your favorite seats. So far, so good. You Judah's doing okay. This is a fun. This is enjoyable. I think she looked at me. I think he likes me. We might go to yogurt after.

So far, so good. But then he leaves early. And you thought you had an understanding about yogurt. And now you're wondering, are you not lovable? Are you not likable? Are you not approachable? What was it? Was it my outfit? What was it that Aren't we funny creatures? "Hey, man, are you good?"

Right now, when you're asking me, yes, I am good. But as the wind shifts, so does oftentimes our emotions. What if there was a way to live beyond that? What if there was a place beyond okay? What if there was a a framework for you to begin to decipher how you're really doing.

This is what I've been preoccupied with recently. And I'd like to share something with you that fundamentally, categorically, actually, literally changed my day-to-day life. I call the original home. It goes all the way back to the beginning of a book that I adore. A book that I spend time in every day.

Now, some of you know that book is the Bible. Some of you read three in the old, two in the new, and you're an overachiever, and we worship you. For the rest of us, that was a joke. Everybody relax. For the We only worship God. But for the rest of you, um if if you want to be encouraged, for me, it's a verse a day.

That's my thing. I just I can only think about one verse. I can't think about a whole chapter. I It's too much. It's overwhelming. So, I get one little verse. Oftentimes, the the Bible app will serve up my verse. The Church Home app will serve up my verse.

But I'll think about a verse every day and try to kind of um have fun with it. Think of it from different angles. And what does that mean? And that is my practice. But at the very beginning of this sacred, mystical, magical book, there is an environment. The perfect environment.

It's called Eden. For uh specifically, the Garden of Eden, where in the beginning of the book, God puts the original man and woman and they have the most pets ever. And God doesn't name the pets, which I think is really cool. He lets Adam and Eve name the pets, which is a fascinating thing we could dive into and would make for some great comedy.

But like rhinoceros, how did that come about? But point being in this environment, there is I think four things present. So, the title of my message tonight is the four Rs. It's called alliteration, okay? It's a key to effective communication, okay? All right, it's not a problem. We're going to get you to chuckle one way or another, friend.

All right, that's not a problem. But these four Rs, I want you to see them like walls. Walls that are protective. Walls that are provisional in nature. And walls that can help you define, discern, and dissect, and understand whether or not you are okay. These four Rs serve me on a regular basis.

When enough friends in Miami asked me if I'm okay, it's very easy for me to go through these four Rs and ask myself, how am I doing? Now, rightfully so, before I give you these four Rs tonight and I'll tell you practice in a few minutes that I think will help you.

And quite literally, if you are a pragmatic kind of uh need something to put your hands on and help you every day, then I dedicate this night to you because this is for you. Now, if you are like me and you see life through poetry and music and melody and flow and shapes and and when things there's no schedule, it's the best schedule.

And when there is nothing on for your day, you feel free like a butterfly and a bird. You and me, we are the same. Nonetheless, if you're an abstract random or concrete sequential, I believe these four Rs can serve you. But as we approach the garden, something needs to be established before I go any further.

And that is in this garden, there is as we approach it tonight in Genesis, what we now call Genesis, which is by the way, Genesis means the beginning. So, we're going to go to the beginning of the book, which is called the beginning. All right, not a problem.

I'll be here for the next two hours. So, and we're going to go to chapter two and we're going to come to kind of the the coronation or the completion of the creation process by almighty God. But as we approach the garden, something needs to be established and that is there is no sin.

Sin has not entered into the equation. There is only utopia and there is only perfection. Now, as we sit here tonight, sin is in the equation. And so, as a result, I could share these four Rs with you and you could take these four Rs home and you could work them.

But the reality is the sin problem will devastate, destroy, and compromise all the efforts you will make. I'll say this to say, I think it is noble of us as human beings to latch on to principles, uh concepts, and ideas that enable us, success keys, success ideals, and ideas to help us move through this life.

The scripture even says that that physical exercise is of some gain. So, your morning routine, as much as I make fun of it, is probably a wonderful thing. That cold plunge, anybody cold plunge? I don't want to brag, but I do. My cold plunge today was 51°. That's not a cold plunge, but I like it and I can stay in it as long as I'd like.

Jason Kennedy, my long-time friend of 29 years, his cold plunge is 17° and I think it's evil. We literally cold plunge together and Jason sits by the tub and talks me through as my entire life flashes before my face as I go completely numb and wonder if this is good for my heart.

But I think cold plunging, I think working out, I'm very particular about my diet and what I eat. I like intermittent fasting. All these things are wonderful, but friends, I'm going to be honest with you. There is a selfish nature in all of us. And it produces, amongst a lot of things, drama and trauma.

But it also produces this itty-bitty sadistic evil thing called shame, which will riddle your life and will compromise your best efforts. Shame drives so many people. Shame, shame, shame. And there's this sinking sensation that something is off. There is a selfishness that we are born with. Now, if you're not a parent, let me fill you in.

I have three, 20, 18, and 16. And when our babies came out, one of their first words was never yours. They never said as a kid, "Yours." You know what they said? "Mine." It was one of their first 10 words, guys. All three of them. I don't know how they learned it so fast, but it was mine.

Mine. It was never yours. Yours. They didn't come out gregarious and generous. They came out self-serving and grabbed mine. Right? Cuz that's the way we come out. And we could debate this as long as the day is, but the truth is, we all know that's the facts of our humanity.

What will we do with our tendency? What will we do with our bent? We are bent to serve ourselves, be preoccupied with ourselves, think about ourselves, live within ourselves, get in our head, think about ourselves. And ironically, all the people you actually love and admire, almost all of them have learned this incredible lifestyle of caring for others.

And that's why you're going to go home tonight at some point and there's going to be at least one person, I hope, at church home that you go, "I just love that person." You know why? Probably cuz at some point, maybe in the lobby, maybe it's already happened since I was late to get on stage.

Sue me. No, seriously, don't. I don't need another lawsuit. But the point is, someone's going to look at you right in the eyes and go, "Hey, I've been thinking about you. How's life? Are you okay? You know, and and you're going to go, "You were thinking about me?"

And they're going to go, "Yes. Hey, by the way, it was your birthday last week. I was out of town, but while I was gone, I got you a gift. When can I bring it over?" And you're going to be like, "Oh, ah." "I love that person." Why?

Cuz they're so selfish? Cuz they're so self-serving? Cuz they wait to talk instead of listen? No. Because they live beyond themselves. And so, ironically, though we are plagued with self-centered living, the people we are most attracted to, the people we most want to be around, are selfless, serving people.

What if you could become that kind of person? Well, I think it starts right here. And that is solving the sin problem. Now, if there was another dogma, if there was another doctrine, if there was another ideology on the planet that dealt with the problem of sin, I would preach that.

I have committed myself to preach the story of Jesus because only and completely does the story of Jesus describe what is a sacrificial death so that Jesus in his perfect sinless body could take upon himself all of the selfish, diabolical, deviant acts of all of human mankind. He would absorb it in his body.

And then, of the seven statements he said as he hung six hours on the cross, he said finally, "It is finished." What is finished? All the pain and all the judgment and all the wrath of a perfect, holy God and creator towards our sinful nature is absorbed and absolved in Jesus.

And now, the sin problem is solved. Well, preacher, if the sin problem was solved, why was I doing bad things last night? Well, because we all still struggle every day with sin. But how is the sin problem solved? Well, when Jesus died for your sins and died for mine, he did not die for just your past sins or today's sins, but he died for your future sins.

So, I got news for you. 2027 hadn't happened yet, but every bad thing I do in '27 is already covered. Starts to make me think '26 is going to be pretty good. '27's going to be great. In fact, in '29, I'm probably going to be a nightmare, BUT IT'S ALREADY COVERED.

SO, SUDDENLY, shame gets run OUT OF MY TOWN. SHAME CAN GET RUN OUT OF my head. Shame is now a lying, maniacal, twisted lie in my head. "You're a failure. You're selfish. You're One of your greatest challenges to be in a selfless, serving human is that you have compound selfish interest in your soul that keeps telling you, 'You'll never be like so-and-so who you admire because look at you, you're a joke.

You're a hypocrite.'" I got news for you, we're all hypocrites. And by the way, the people online calling people hypocrites, they hypocrites, too. Ironically. And I kind of enjoy that little twist. But we're all hypocrites. We all say one thing and do another. It's part of life. But I invite you.

I place before you for your own personal consideration. Don't take it on my word. Ask Jesus to show up to you. He wants to absorb and absolve and completely alleviate you from sin. So now I got news for you. Sin is not a major theme of my life.

Did you know that? I hope you're proud of me. I really do. That and my cream vest, but I hope you're proud of me because sin is no longer a major theme of my life. And when it tries to tell me that it is, I say you already been absolved and absorbed and defeated and deflated.

My life is not about sin or no sin. My life is about a savior who's conquered sin, set me free from shame, and now the four Rs. From a place of redemption and restoration. From a place of full and utter forgiveness forever. I can approach these four Rs the same way Adam and Eve did with no sin.

Now, that's already good preaching and that was just an introduction. It was. I appreciate that. It was. Now as we approach now, if you say Judah, I'm not sure about Jesus, that's fine. Give me a couple a couple more hours. I'll do my best. But Jesus wants to, desires to, and is passionate about alleviating you from shame.

I got news for you. There are those of you who have been forgiven for all of your sin, but there is a sin that you keep repeating. And you have thought to yourself that if you try harder and do better and do more, it will alleviate the sin you keep committing.

Now ironically, do you know that the power of sin is shame? And if you can tell shame that you're a mirage and a lie because Jesus has already forgiven me. I'm going to take it a step further. I said it before, I'm going to say it again. This is all by way of introduction.

We'll get to the four Rs before you know it. But I can be in the middle of sinning and I've done it before cuz I'm crazy. And while I'm sinning I tell my soul, but you are already forgiven. Ooh, nobody said amen. Isn't that interesting cuz you're a little uncomfortable with that approach?

Because we are so uh wired for behavior value. And behavior like if you don't want to have shame, stop doing shameful things. Do you know the way of Jesus is totally different? Now I'm not saying there's not going to be consequences here on earth for some of the shameful things you do.

But shame, like a low gray cloud over your soul, can be evaporated with the finished work of Jesus. And now now Jesus will forgive you. It might take your spouse some time, but I'm just telling you. Jesus has forgiven you. So, let me read the Genesis account to you and I don't read this much scripture always, but we're going to have a good time reading this and this will be good because if you haven't got any Bible reading and you like to do that, don't worry about it.

I'm going to do it for you for your listening enjoyment. I would I love audiobooks. Do you like audiobooks? Tomorrow I'm flying to Seattle to record a new book we just wrote called Bad Thoughts and I'm doing the audio of that book and that is a shameless plug.

Of course there's no shame cuz I'm forgiven. So here it is. Gen There it is. Okay. All right. I needed I needed a complex joke to get you to laugh cuz you are intellectual people. I understand. None of this low-hanging fruit. You want a complex joke that's layered and circles back to something I said earlier so that you know that I'm tuned in and turned on.

Okay, Genesis chapter two. Turned on not not like that. Verse one. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all of his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land and there was no man to work the ground. It sounds so poetic. Do you like it?

I like it. I like it. My voice changes when I read the Bible when it's like this cuz it sounds so poetic. And a mist was going up from the land and there was a watering of the whole face of the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Ooh, I like that part.

I like that part. I like that part. Right at the beginning he says, I'm going to make stuff you're going to like to look at and I'm going to make stuff that you like to eat. My kind of God. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden and there it was divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon. Not my favorite name, but that's neither here nor there. Don't say that one a lot of times. What you call me? It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah.

That's a that's a nice name. I had a friend named Havilah when I was a kid. That's a true story and we swam at the same pool. Havilah. She was nice. Where there is gold. And the gold of the land is good. Bdellium and onyx stone are there.

Good to know Bdellium was there. I didn't know Bdellium was there. The name of the second river is Gihon. All right. It's the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush or Kush. If you're in LA. And the name Yo, here we go. I finally won you over.

Had to make a marijuana joke to get you going. Not a problem. Not a problem. What time is it? 8:20. All right. Which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. I heard that one before. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

And the Lord God commanded the man saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, which probably was thousands of trees. But the one you shall not eat is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and you shall not eat it for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

Then the Lord God said, it is not good. This is the first not good in the whole mystical magical story of the Bible. It is not good. Everything's been good to this point, but it's not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him.

Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was only pets and there was not a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. And while he slept he took one of his ribs and he closed it up in its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into woman.

And brought That's a old Christian joke right there and it didn't land and brought her to the man. And the man said, this is at last bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of the man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh.

And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. That's a good verse. We could just do Genesis 2:25 if you guys want to. I got a whole message on they were naked and not ashamed. One of one of these nights, I'm dead serious, we're going to come to the Saban and I'm going to read a whole passage and we're going to vote on which verse I preach on and I'm going to preach on it.

Maybe not cuz no one cares. All right. The four Rs. Once the sin problem is solved, which it has been we can now approach the four Rs. Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to reveal these four Rs in the order they are revealed in the Genesis account.

This is the optimal environment that God puts man. And I believe he puts these four elements for man so that man can flourish. When I say man, I mean mankind, man and woman and each and every one of us that in within the four walls of this providential and generous context you can flourish.

How do you know if you're okay? How do you know if you're good? How do you know if you're great? I think you can be great in the middle of a storm. I think you can be okay even when you're taking Ls. I think you can be really good even after being fired.

I think you can be doing You know what? I think you can be happy even when you're hurting. I think you can be lovely even when things aren't going your way. I really do. In fact, in a way, my hope tonight if I tell you my dirty little secret behind this sermon is that perhaps over a process of the next few moments and it won't be much longer.

If you bought a friend for the first time, you'd tell your friend he's almost done. Which is relative when considering a whole life span. But but my my goal for you is that in the middle of turbulent, difficult, unprecedented, and undoubtedly unpredictable times that you could be one of those people, one of those resilient people, one of those people we all admire, one of those people that when we see them, we wonder to ourselves, how in the world ARE THEY UPRIGHT?

HOW IN THE WORLD are they okay? How in the world do they have a sense of humor? By the way, can we not forget a sense of humor? A sense of humor is really important. Can I say something to Jesus followers? You know, some of you folks that have been following Jesus a long time, if you've been following Jesus a long time, can you stop taking yourself so seriously and your devotional life so seriously and your dedication so seriously and can you laugh a little bit?

Can you get some yogurt or some ice cream or I don't know, man, just get some ice and chew it, but like just relax a little bit and recognize that there is a God and you are not him and IT'S OKAY for you to chuckle to laugh and to have a good time.

He he he made he made he made plants that were fun to look at and he made food that was fun to eat. It's okay to have fun. It's good for you to have fun. A sense of humor often times is one of the indicators that somebody if they can keep their sense of humor in the middle of a storm, I'm telling you there's something about that person I'm attracted to.

There's something about that person I'm attracted to. So, if you've gotten real serious and life is just a successive events of intensity and you came here tonight looking for four keys and principles to be a steady, stable man or woman of God, I want to say that's not how I want to do That's not the spirit I want to deliver these four Rs in.

Don't do that. Relax a little bit, okay? You didn't even choose your birth date. That's kind of funny if you think about it. But boy, are you taking yourself so seriously. You didn't choose what generation you were going to be born in. You didn't choose your heritage or your background or your But here you are, okay?

It wasn't your doing. You are a mystical, magical, supernatural, cosmic surprise. And you're surprised, too, and so am I. And what are the chances we'd be in the same theater in Beverly Hills in 2025? So, an exhale wouldn't be a bad thing. The ability to laugh at yourself wouldn't be a bad thing.

Here's four Rs that I think you can use to help you decipher, discern, and understand whether or not you're doing okay. Furthermore, like Judah, will you ever get to the four Rs? I'm still trying to onboard people. This is what communicators do. I got to get you caring about these four Rs before I give them to you and a couple of you don't look like you care yet.

So, I'm just going to keep onboarding you until you care because the flight is boarding and we're about to take off, but I fear that some of you will be left at the gate. And I want you on the plane and everybody gets first class. By the way, though, when a plane crashes, it's best to be in the back of the plane.

Just learned that. So, shout out to that. Okay. Okay. I love you guys. Trying my best. Um one of the great things about these four Rs is it's also if you're if you feel like you're not doing okay, you I'm going to give you tools so that you can become um okay again.

And that'll be good, okay? So, once the sin problem is solved, which is supernatural and phenomenal and Jesus did that and we're going to sing to him just for that reason, but then he gave us this optimal environment. Here's the four Rs and then I'll go through them.

Rest, responsibility, restriction, and relationship. Rest, responsibility, restriction, and relationship. And here's how these four Rs work in my life. They're like four walls and I imagine that my heart is in the middle of those four walls and I want my heart glowing and beaming and neon and bright and full of life and energy and hope and faith and love.

And I believe when I investigate the rest, the responsibility, the restriction, and the relationships of my life, I can discern and decipher and define how I'm doing and if I'm not okay, where I need to spend some time so that once again I can return to the state of buoyancy in my soul.

Isn't that a good word? It's fun to say, too. Some words sound just like they should. Buoyancy is one of those words. You know what I mean? Like if buoyancy if buoyancy was like I don't know, doldrum, it'd be like if doldrum meant buoyancy, that that would But buoyancy is like buoyancy, like I love it, okay?

So, I want you to be a bouncing ball of buoyancy when you leave here and this is how. Are you still onboarding? Yes. Yes. Yes. Number one, rest. The Genesis account says that God rested. Now, absorb this for a moment. The very first mention of rest in all the Bible can be confusing at face value.

I'll I'll read it to you again if we can in Genesis, on the seventh day, verse two, God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all of his work that he had done. Verse three, so God blessed the seventh day.

He said, "I like this day especially." Cuz it's holy because on it God rested from all of his work that he had done in creation. Now Now Now Now Now, here's where it gets interesting cuz my question would be to you, when do you rest and when do I rest?

Well, typically, the reason I sit on monitors such as these is because you're sitting and I'm standing and I'm up here for like a couple hours. And we rest typically when we get tired. But the rest that God rests is not from being tired for God never tires.

God never gets weary. So, the first time we see rest ever introduced us, it's got Listen. Listen. It's got nothing to do with being weary or tired. I'm telling you this can change somebody's life. I'm really serious. Rest in the Bible is introduced to us and it has it has nothing to do with whether or not you're being tired or whether or not you're weary.

So, what is rest? First, the first time we ever hear about rest in ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY, GOD IS NOT TELLING US, FOR THE BIBLE says when you sleep, he neither slumbers nor sleeps. It's one of the creepiest verses in all the Bible. He says when you sleep, he watches you.

I don't know why I'm standing like New Kids on the Block. He watches you. Bro, relax. He doesn't sleep for he does not need sleep. He doesn't tire or weary or get worn out. He is the everlasting one. So, he rested for a reason. What was the reason?

He rested as an example. He rested so that when we would read that he rested, we would say, "Why did he rested?" And then we would realize he doesn't rest cuz he's tired. He rests as a picture for you and for me that rest is not needed just when you're tired.

There's a practical part of this. Get your 8 hours. I had a friend call me yesterday and said, "We all need our 8 hours." And I was thinking, "Man, I only need six." But some of us are wired different. You ever met some of these people like, "I I only sleep 4 hours."

And I'm like Tiger Woods like, "I sleep 4 hours." And I'm like, "That's why you're Tiger Woods." But But But a lot of us, we need to sleep at night and that's great and that's the way God made us. But But But But rest is more than physically sleeping.

It's a ceasing and a recognizing that it's finished. I hope that landed, but I can't tell cuz the lights are so low. That's why I've been onboarding for 37 minutes. But seriously, so rest is introduced as something you do to acknowledge God's finished. So, rest by definition is worship more than a nap.

Rest is when you shut down and and by the way, rest can be crazy because you can rest when everybody else is restless and you rest and they'll say, "Oh, are you tired?" You say, "No. I'm worshiping." What are you worshiping? That he's he's finished. What's finished? Sin is finished.

My shame is finished. My pain is overwhelmed with the love of God. I'm sitting because I'm resting because I'm trusting because I'm worshiping. Hear me. Sometimes the most powerful, potent thing you can do in your daily schedule is to sit down and do nothing when you have so much to do.

You guys think I'm playing games with you. This is how I live my life. When things get really out of control and I feel overwhelmed, that is always a cue for me to go, give me a few minutes. I'm going to watch a Saved by the Bell episode and then I'll be back.

And I sit down and I join him in the finished work. My life is his. My destiny has been written. My identity finished. I am complete in him. I am not defined by what I do or don't do. And so, in our culture, that is one of the wildest things I could suggest to you.

You know what's wild? You might not be okay because the only time you rest is when you're tired. And that's called napping and sleeping. I'm talking about worshipping. And worshipping is when you rest even when you're not tired. And people are like, you are not doing nothing. You're thinking to yourself, oh, I'm doing everything, sweetie.

I'm doing everything and I'm acknowledging the one who did everything. And so, what's wild is sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go on a 20-minute vacation in your mind. I'm dead serious. If you want to watch birds, go watch birds. If you want to go, I don't know, count count the pebbles in your front lawn.

But go do something where you do nothing. And acknowledge he's enough. He's complete. And my life is his AND IT'S FINISHED. REST is worship. Yeah. Now, sometimes, and I'm not even playing with it, sometimes you can take a nap. Now, you know what's wild is all the research that I was catching up with the ancient mystical magical book of the Bible.

And now we're learning what a nap can do. Now we're learning what meditation can do. Meditation is the art of turning off and doing nothing in a sense. And you just worship. When is the last time you felt great energy, everything, but you sat and did nothing as an act of worship to acknowledge that you serve a God who has finished sin, death, hell, grave, and I'm his.

To me, this may be, in an ever-increasing velocity of life in the 2025s and beyond, this might be one of the biggest demarcations of those who follow the way. The art of resting even when you're not tired. I mean, go, I don't know, go put more lotion on your face.

That's not a bad thing. Get you red-light therapy. Do whatever you need to do. Get another coffee. Sit there and get you your own espresso machine or borrow somebody's cuz they're expensive. And make a little espresso and just think about your espresso and do nothing. Ooh, we live in a world that will tell you, while you're doing nothing, your competitor is grinding.

And they are going to put you out of a job. You know what? Chat GPT already put us all out of a job. So, everybody relax. REST! JESUS SAID, ARE YOU WEARY? Are you worn out? Are you BURNED OUT ON RELIGION? HE WASN'T TALKING ABOUT ARE YOU PHYSICALLY READY TO SLEEP?

HE'S TALKING ABOUT IS YOUR SOUL OVERWHELMED? Is your brain inundated? IS YOUR BODY FINE, BUT YOUR SOUL EXHAUSTED AND FATIGUED? SLOW DOWN! COME TO ME! LISTEN TO WHAT HE SAYS. LISTEN. MATTHEW 11:28, AND I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO TAKE A REAL REST. SO, THERE'S A FAKE REST. WHO KNEW?

I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO TAKE A REAL REST. WHEN'S THE LAST TIME, FRIEND, YOU TOOK A REAL REST? I THINK REST GETS REAL WHEN IT'S NOT JUST REST FOR YOUR BONES AND YOUR SKIN, BUT IT'S REST FOR YOUR SOUL. WHEN ARE YOU RESTING FOR YOUR SOUL? When do you get soul rest?

And don't put it on Instagram cuz they you will not get liked. Now, if you get up at the crack of dawn and put your face in the ice-cold bath and then you do 129 push-ups, we will applaud you. But don't put on the Instagram that you woke up at 10:29 a.m. talking about, hey, everybody.

Nobody's going to be like like like, so inspiring. I'm going to start doing it. I woke up at 10:15 this morning, friends. Sue me. Seriously, don't do that. I have enough of that. But seriously, yeah, who set these rules? Who's telling us you got to grind? Now, some of you are like, well, Judah, I have a job at 9:00.

You you better get up a little earlier then. My job didn't start till 7:30, but I got here at 7:42. But the point is, when are you resting for your soul? Okay, that's rest. That's just one. Okay, now let's go on to the next one. Responsibility. Responsibility. Now, at the end, when I get to these end of these four hours, here's what I'm going to tell you to do.

I'm going to tell you a little a little deliberation that I do. I take the four Rs and I number them one to four. How do I do that? One is where I'm doing the best. Four is where I'm doing the worst. And typically, I've deciphered something very basic.

This isn't going to be revelatory. Number three and number four, as I rank them, that's usually where I take a little time to focus. I have had so many chapters and seasons and iterations in my life where I rest was ranked four. And I told myself, the reason you're not okay, dog, talk to myself like a grown man, is cuz you're not getting soul rest.

So, turn off, turn down, and go watch the birds. Responsibility. Now, this one is interesting because oftentimes people uh uh who espouse the way of Jesus uh talk about work like it's a a curse. Like work is something that God puts on people to burden them. Now, I'm not saying that some days going to work is not a drag because it is.

But notice what it says in Genesis. It says, and and God put man in the garden and and he said, I want you to be a landscaper. He said, I want you to tend and keep it. So, the first job in the history of the world was landscaping a garden.

Now, again, there's no sin. So, this work is not the result of sin. Work is the result of the blessing of God. God gives you responsibility to bless you. God gives you a job to bless you. Ooh, I swear, if if I could be your local church pastor for 5 minutes and we could go to coffee and I was paying and I would put that espresso in front of you or caramel macchiato, that's a lot of sugar, but it would put that in front of you and we sat there.

I tell you, one of the most wonderful gifts I could give people following the way of Jesus who want to talk to me is to tell them that whatever is in your hand is a gift and should be treated as such. What does that mean? That means you don't want to work at the Coffee Bean forever.

You want to work at Warner Brothers. But right now, you work at the Coffee Bean and there's not very many left, but you work at the few that are left. Coffee Bean? What is this, 1997? But but but you work at the one Coffee Bean left on Sunset, and if you know, you know.

And and and and you still work at Coffee Bean. Have you ever driven by Coffee Bean on Sunset and thought, and you're still here. Look at you, little buddy, you know, the little coffee shop that could. BUT YOU WORK AT THE COFFEE BEAN and you want to work at Warner Brothers.

So, we have A TENDENCY TO UNDERPLAY AND UNDERESTIMATE the Coffee Bean and go home mumbling and grumbling ABOUT HOW WE SMELL AT THE COFFEE BEAN TALKING ABOUT, I WANT TO WORK FOR THE WARNER BROTHERS, BOTH BROTHERS. BUT I WORK AT THE BEAN OF THE COFFEE AND THE COFFEE of the bean, the only one left on Sunset.

And so, you berate the coffee your Coffee Bean job and you belittle it. Now, some of you are like, I love the Coffee Bean. Just work with me, okay? It's a metaphor. It's an example. It's very literal though, Judah. Fair. I should have used a fake name of a coffee shop, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun cuz y'all know there is one little coffee bean shop on Sunset.

But anyways, what we fail to recognize is that tending a garden. I love the first job because even the first job seems so arbitrary. Meaning like, what eternal worth could there be in trimming a lawn and trimming the trees and picking the fruit? And yet, God, that's the first job he chose.

He said, hey, this is this whole garden is yours. I have a garden right now and I'm very excited about my garden and there's a flowers blossoming and I feel more spiritual than you because I love my garden. You don't even care about your garden. Kind of a joke, but sometimes I do feel pretty spiritual.

But he he says, "Hey, I want you to take care of the flowers. I want you to pick the fruit. And I want you to keep it nice and clean." And which leads me to believe that any old job you have can have profound purpose. Because it's not about the job.

It's about the heart posture of saying, "God, thank you for giving me something to do." The only way I make it through lines at Disneyland, this is the truth. This is truth. This is truth. The only way I make it, this is a this is a model I adopted probably 15 years ago.

I'm dead serious. Because I discovered that something to do is a gift from God. I'm going to say it again. Something to do is a gift from God. Something to do is a gift from God. You're not defined by what you do, but what you do is a gift and can be treated as such.

And something to do is a gift from God. And I'll be in a line at Disneyland and that's where I literally decided that I had made a mistake by having children. Because if not for my children, I wouldn't be in this line and this is so purposeless and aimless and this is so wrong and I'm paying to be in this line and this is not okay.

And I've been to Magic Mountain and I don't want to go again and I don't care if it's got new music in it. It's still the same ride that I rode when I was This is a racket. I cannot believe they're still selling Magic Mountain. They built it in 1972 and we're still standing in line for 2 and 1/2 hours.

FastPass, gone. And you can ask Chelsea. She's not here tonight. She's struggling with her faith. But I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. She's good She's good. She's taking care of our son. He got tonsil surgery. Relax. It's a joke. Mostly. But I would literally turn to Chelsea and I would say, "It's something to do."

Standing in line at Disneyland, it's something to do. Because it dawned on me years ago. Something to do What a gift. What a gift. Or you could wake up talking about, "Watch out, coffee bean, cuz I'm coming in hot." "Watch out, the last coffee bean in North America.

I'm coming in hot. If they let me free in that coffee bean in Sunset, there's going to be a lot more coffee beans because I am coming in hot. Why? Cuz it's something to do." And responsibility is a gift. I'll prove it. Jesus picked up a towel. Got on his knees.

I said God PICKED UP A TOWEL. Got on his knees and washed the feet of his disciples. Now, today that is a weird thing to do and Christians are still washing each other's feet and it's weird. And I and and I mean it's awesome and it's great, but some of us feel weird about it because we have like closed-toe shoes now and socks and stuff.

But back in the day, feet were nasty. Some of you like feet are still nasty except there are people making a lot of money with their feet, but that's beside the point. That one's crazy, bro. I saw the other day this lady had her feet up and it was a nice view and she was taking a photo of her feet with the view in the distance and I was like, "Do your thing, lady.

Do your thing." Something to do. That's a gift. I ain't paying. But that's a gift. Guys, don't distract me. I need to focus. I blame you for these distractions. Feet in antiquity were like all crusty and dirty. It was like a very normal thing to be like to wash someone's feet was like, "I will wash the dirtiest part of your body."

And it was the most like humble thing to do. And Jesus took a towel, a towel, a towel, a towel. A towel. I have a towel. Big deal. Whatever's in your hand is a gift. He got on his knees and he washed the disciples' feet as if to tell us that responsibility can be sacrificial serving and it can be sacred.

Your job is a gift. What if you started treating your job as a gift even though your boss is not a gift? The last time your job felt like a gift was when you were in the interview. Anybody got a job like that? You're like, "Yeah, that is going to be good."

And then they offered you the job and you're like, "Oh, yeah. I didn't know I was going to get it so fast." You ever got a job so fast you're like, "Are you guys okay? I don't Wait a minute. I thought whoa, oh, you're giving me the job.

We're like 10 minutes into the conversation, sir." He's like, "The job is yours." Well, wait, I don't know if I want it now. You know, like Right? But but this is it's a it's a gift. Rest, responsibility Often times people's least favored are restriction. Let me Let me go back very quickly and say sometimes when I'm not doing good, it's because I've lost the joy of finding purpose with with what is in my hand.

I've lost purpose in this. Oh, I got to go preach again. How many sermons? This is This Last week I I think I recorded five sermons and I'm like, "Oh, Jesus, I am so tired. Please, Lord Jesus, send somebody else, God. I don't want to preach anymore. It's the same story anyways.

Don't they get it by now?" You know, whatever. Right? We all have those old But man, when you get when you find purpose and you take what's in your hand even if it's a towel and you say, "I'm going to use this to serve humanity. I'm going to find purpose there."

Restriction. I call this the necessary no. Much has been made theologically about why Jesus put one tree in the garden you couldn't eat. Why would God Why didn't God JUST PUT ALL THE TREES GOOD TREES? And of course, the one bad tree, it says it's the tree of the knowledge of good, but mostly evil.

Cuz it's a bad tree. And God said, "NOW, LISTEN. OF ALL THE TREES IN THE GARDEN." NOW, WATCH THIS. God will always stack it in your favor. This is his grace. This is his character. This is his goodness. He gave you thousands of trees you can have. BUT THAT ONE tree that's a no.

And which tree do you think Adam and Eve got slightly preoccupied with? It's called our nature. We're like, "Man, I love these trees. All these trees are awesome. These trees are crazy. I love all these trees. You're a bad tree, though. You get out of here, bad tree."

And they tried to not think about the leopard tree. But we are who we are, right? Are you like me standing in line at Disneyland? Sir, sir, sir, sir. Please don't stand on the flower bed, sir. Please stay in the line. He walks away and I'm like, "Foo foo."

You know how much I paid to get in here? I'm going to pick these flowers and take them home to my mom, dog. Tell me I can't stand in the flower bed. Been here for 2 and 1/2 days." I'm about Right? It's in our nature. Like, "No. This is a no.

All of THIS IS A YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. NO. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. NO. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. YES. NO. YES. YES. NO. Did you say no?" Yeah, in there somewhere. Yeah, I said no. Which one's the no? And so that's my question.

Why not God not put this tree in there? And I'll say it like this. Cuz God didn't want Pinocchios. Just pulling our strings. He wanted a measure of free will. Because without free will there is no real love. Forced love is what you go to jail for. Yeah.

You need choice. And so God said, "All the trees but no." And they said, "Well, let me just check out this tree. You know what? He better wait to play this soft music cuz I got a few more jokes to tell, but you stay right there, okay? I love you so much, but I just realized you started playing real soft music cuz I know what time it is.

But um I got a couple more jokes. Okay. Thank you. I love you. You know me, I start realizing I'm like, "Wait, well, they're getting emotional. Hold on. I got more jokes." I love you guys. All right. All right. All right. They're going to be fast jokes. Fast jokes.

He says um he says no. Why? Because we need a no. Listen to me. Listen to me. The reason you might not be okay is because you're not using your no. I'm going to tell you something. The older you get, your no becomes more powerful than your yes.

Boundaries are a blessing. Telling somebody no just to stay home and do nothing could be one of the most considerable powerful things you can do this week. You could go out. You could have a good time and you could go buy the coffee bean. But instead, you stay home.

Why? No particular reason. Just because you needed to know. Here's how the freedom of God works. You could but you still say no. Paul said, "All things are not All things are lawful. I've been set free from the law. I'm free in Jesus, but not all things are beneficial."

So, the answer is no. So, even in the beginning of time, God gave a restriction. Cuz we need a no. Are you using your no? Or are you just a a big yes flower in the world? Saying yes to everybody and everything. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. In fact, one of the reason you might not be okay is because you got some friends that are great.

But you can't say no to them. For no particular reason other than you're like me and you're a people pleaser by nature. I got news for you about preachers. Most of us, especially the good ones, were people pleasers. We like people. That's why we got into people business.

We like it when people's faces light up. We like when people connect with the truth and connect with ancient scripture, and we love people. And so, people come asking, "Hey, can I see you? Can I" And it's so difficult cuz you want to say yes to everything, but even the Greeks asked if they could see Jesus and Jesus said, "Not right now."

No. When's the last time Listen, listen. Not Not Not Not No, I can't because I got to go to my mom's house cuz it's Mother's Day. I'm not talking about that no. That's a built-in no, okay? I'm talking about a no that you didn't have to know, but you used no because something inside of you said, "I'm just going to say no."

And I'm going to go home and maybe rest. Maybe just chill. Are you using your no? No is not about limitations in this passage. No is about love shaped by trust. I say no. And I'll say this, the most powerful no you will say is motivated by the yes on the other side of it.

I will say no to you for coffee so I can say yes to my wife of 25 years so we can go on a date. And I'll say no for as long as we live. And that no makes me so attractive to her. Chelsea's one of those people the more no's I say, the more affectionate she becomes with me.

I'm serious. Chelsea's love language is boundaries. I don't even think that's one of the five, but that's hers. I could just make up a boundary. You know, baby, I was thinking about putting my leg out, but I said, "No." She'd be like, "Ooh, I hear you." She loves her some boundaries.

Boundaries It Why? Cuz it communicates restraint. It communicates the control of love. I say no because I'm motivated by this yes. Hey God, this is a frustrating thing that you put in my life because it's really got my curiosity, but in light of all of my yeses, I can live with that no.

I can live with that no. You know the craziest little thing is I preached all of this whole time to end here in the next few minutes to tell you one of the reasons you're starting to wonder if you're okay and you're starting to feel maybe you're not okay is because you're not using your necessary no.

Nope. That's what my kids used to say. Nope. I just like it just pops. Nope. When's the last time you just said, "Nope." and someone said, "Why?" and you said, "Nope." Like you got to explain to everybody why you say no. Yeah, you don't. Did you know that?

You can just say, "Nope." Well, well, well, what then what are you going to do? This isn't the tree of the knowledge of good and evil anymore. It's my stool. Relax. But what are you going to do? Well, um uh the thing is um my cat I got to go home and feed and then I take to the vet and then Really?

We're going to be We're going to be hanging out till 11:00. You're going to go home, feed your cat, and still be feeding your cat at like 11:00? Yep. Yep. No, the cat requires that I stay there all night and watch it feed. Are you like me? I feel like explaining my no all the time and I get exhausted from explaining my no.

I become okay and not okay because I'm explaining my no. Use your necessary no. It is needed. And it's rooted in love and trust. I know I can't, but I just said no. Restraint is way sexier than anyone has told you to date. Some of you want to meet that special someone and the no might be the key to attraction.

I'm serious. And it might even be when he or she finally asks you to go to coffee and you say, "You know, I can't tonight." Now, if you keep saying that, it might get awkward, but I'm done. I'm done. Relationship. Rest, responsibility, restriction, and relationship. Rank these four tonight.

Maybe on your way home in your mind, whatever. And then ask the creator of heaven and earth to help you so that these four walls can give you an optimal environment where you can be buoyant. And what I've learned is that this framework that God has so generously supplied helps me be buoyant even when the waves are high and the wind is crazy.

The first not good in the Bible comes right here. And it's relationship. You can start playing now. I'll get incredibly emotional about relationship. It'll be great. I'm done. I'm done. And then we're going to sing together. It's going to be great. I'm going to get a haircut tonight.

I'm very excited. I am. I'm getting a late-night haircut. All right. The first not good in the whole story is it's not good that Adam just has pets. He needs a soulmate. He needs connection. The irony is I have dedicated my life. People say all the time, "What do you do?"

And I am a preacher by trade, but I'm really a community facilitator. That's where my heart is. To foster and facilitate connections between humans cuz I know it's not good when we're alone. And so, tonight I speak for an hour once a month. We sing for a few minutes once a month.

But every day on an app, which we built for millions of dollars and we're still pouring money into it because buildings were hard to get to sometimes for people when they were alone. Events were hard to attend sometimes for people when they're alone. But I figured if we could meet them in the palm of their hand in their phone, maybe we could limit how alone people are in the world. 50% of people in this country will never go to a theater like this and to a worship service. 50% of Americans will never come to a building.

So, I've decided, "Give me a shot at that 50%." Build an app. It's all free. And in nearly every moment that app is alive, there's a plain thing called Pastor Chad. Where we got people who want to serve others available for you to talk to in the middle of the night around the world.

Who will connect with you. Pray with you. Why? Cuz I'm exhausted with how lonely people are. Instagram pulled up a a video for me of Billy Graham on the Johnny Carson show. That's a whole show that some of you never heard of. Billy Graham is an old preacher that some of you never heard of.

It was rare to have a preacher on Johnny Carson show and Dr. Graham was sitting there and Johnny Carson said, "Billy, what what's the biggest problem you see in the world today?" Billy had gone on record to say in the past that racism might quite literally be the biggest problem in the earth and I don't disagree.

He said, "You know, Johnny, the thing I keep coming up against is loneliness." This is like late '70s. I thought, "Um Dr. Graham, you have no idea how lonely it's going to get out there." Just wait as this thing elevates and escalates and accelerates. Like it's going to get surrounded by people, but all alone.

You go to the beginning of the community of faith, the church as we call it. And the very first followers of the way, it says they were involved in confession, communion, and they had a shared calling to serve each other and serve the city and serve the human beings around them.

We live in a hyper-individualized culture and it's You know what it's given us? Isolation. Get yours. Get your money. Whiten your teeth. Get your skin right. Get your 401k right. Get your retirement right. When are we going to ask for for what? For what? You think I'M 46 FOR NOTHING?

You know how many preachers I'VE RETIRED ON MY STAFF? WHO SPENT THEIR WHOLE LIFE? YOU KNOW HOW MANY MEN AND WOMEN I'VE SAT WITH WHO ARE MOVING INTO RETIREMENT, empty nest, their kids are raised? You know how many KIDS I'VE SEEN BORN AND RAISED AND NOW MARRIED? This is what happens when you do my job FOR A LONG TIME.

AND NOW SOME OF MY FRIENDS ARE LOOKING AT RETIREMENT. I'M LOOKING AT THE EMPTY NEST SEASON AND YOU START TO ASK YOURSELF, WHY DID WE SAVE THE MONEY? WHY DID WE PUT ON THE SKIN CARE? FOR WHAT? WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? SO YOU CAN TRAVEL and you can retire and you can HAVE MONEY.

FOR WHAT? SO you can ENJOY IT. FOR WHAT? YOURSELF. For what? Well, with your friends. What's that? You know, you can share it with your with your friends. Oh, I I don't have very many of those. I was busy building my career. I had to get home early.

I couldn't go out with anyone because of my skin care routine and I was whitening my teeth and I was busy prepping my ice bath in the morning. I didn't have time to connect and as a result I'm extremely successful and you should see my retirement and and and and and I'm alone.

Isn't it weird we don't talk about this? All those videos that the algorithm serves up to me. They don't seem to ever let us know like in the end of your life, do you know what will matter? Let me tell you. People. People. A deep soul connection with people.

That's called wealth, friends. We're busy running after paper bills and coins that are electronic and we forgot to make the most valuable investment. People. Now now now now if you're like me, I hear preachers like me tell me that I'm alone because I haven't invested in people and if you're like me, you say I've invested in people but they've let me down.

But if collectively we all kept putting ourselves out there and investing we would make deep connections that would last a lifetime. Yeah, come on come on come on come on. I got to stop. I got to stop. YOU YOU THINK I'M PREACHING JUST CUZ I LIKE THE SOUND OF MY VOICE?

I DO SOMETIMES BUT THAT IS NOT THE PRIMARY REASON. YOU KNOW WHY I CAME TO LOS ANGELES? CUZ MY FRIEND JASON KENNEDY SAID HE HAD SEVEN FRIENDS WHO NEEDED TO HEAR THE STORY OF JESUS SO THEY COULD HAVE SOME HOPE AT HIS WORKPLACE. I SHOWED UP IN HIS LIVING ROOM.

I TOLD SEVEN PEOPLE THAT JESUS LOVES THEM AND FORGIVES THEM AND A MONTH LATER JASON SAID, CAN YOU COME THROUGH LA AGAIN? AND INITIALLY I SAID NO BECAUSE I'M FROM SEATTLE AND WE'RE THE OPPOSITE OF LOS ANGELES. Our billionaires drive Priuses. And LAX was the worst place on earth for me.

I said, no I can't. And then I felt compelled. Do you think we're doing this to fill a building to have events? If events were going to save the world, they would have by now. If talking heads was going to save the world, it would have by now.

If content was king, actually king and it could save people, it would have by now. We live in the content super age. YOU KNOW WHAT WE NEED? EACH OTHER. THAT'S WHAT WE NEED. BUT WE GET FURTHER AND FURTHER APART AS THE ALGORITHM SERVES UP EVERYBODY'S SIDE. AND WE PEDAL AND PERPETUATE DIVISION AND HATE AND JEALOUSY AND ENVY AND STRIFE AND THE PEOPLE WE NEED get further away.

And they tell us who TO VOTE FOR AS IF THAT'S WHAT WILL FULFILL US. THEY TELL US THE POLICY MAKERS WILL CHANGE OUR LIFE. My brothers and sisters, I am not 46 for nothing. I AM HERE TO ANNOUNCE OFFICIALLY ON THIS STAGE THAT THE POLICIES WILL NOT SAVE YOU.

Jesus is king. AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HIS PLAN WAS TO SAVE THE WORLD? It was his work ON THE CROSS. WAIT FOR IT. AND THEN HE SAID, MY SPIRIT form will come AND WILL LIVE AMONGST YOU SO THAT YOU CAN CONNECT. What What do you think this is about?

This is about you connecting with God which fosters care and love for what he cares and loves and that's people. People. People are your prize. And you thought they were disposable. People are the prize and you thought they were just vehicles to get what you want to go on the vacation you need and when you get there Let me say it like this and when we get there God forbid we're alone.

No, man. Wealth? Don't get it twisted. Don't get tricked. Don't get baited. Don't get fooled. Don't get bamboozled. Wealth is not what you think it is. Wealth is the depth of connection you have with the prize of the planet and that's people. That's people. People are the most precious thing we have on this planet.

And his presence fosters a deep love and care for each other and so Dr. Graham isn't wrong. Racism rages against the essence for which we exist. We make our adversaries people. When I need you and you need me and I'm not okay because I'm so far from you.

If I can't talk to my mom and I despise my neighbor and now I hate my cousin because of who they voted for and who they posted about and now I am all alone in my home and I'm the only one in my life that's right. But I'm a Christian.

It says daily they were going to each other's houses and they were sharing meals. I'm exhausted, y'all. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted. I'm exhausted. I pastored a church with 25,000 people. We had so many locations. I was preaching 11 times a week and I woke up one day so tired because I wasn't connecting.

Jesus didn't die for buildings and events. He died so humans could connect to him and then as a result connect so deeply with each other that we serve each other. We go out of our way to take care of each other. And we live in a town where if your friend turns on you they go to the press.

We got to let forgiveness flow through the streets like rivers. We got to start forgiving each other and look at each other in eye and say I love you and you know what, man? I need you. That's the irony. I need you. We move further and further away.

I've had Christians tell me I got to get out of here and I'm like, well we I can't leave. I want to leave. This city needs people who care about people. Maybe you're not okay because you forgot what the prize was. And the very individuals that have so frustrated your life might be the individuals you're called to.

What if we I'm done. I'm done. Guys, this isn't count. It's only once a month. What do you expect from me? Okay, but Here's what I've Here's what I learned. Often times what frustrates you the most is what you're called to. I'm done. I'm ending with this. I'm done.

And I know I'm talking to a lot of Christians tonight so bear with me but here's what I have determined. Here's what I've determined. We keep talking about what we're called to. I'm called to to make movies. I'm I'm called to to make fashion. I'm I'm I'm called to to build a business.

I'm called and I I can't No, you're not. YOU'RE NOT THOUGH. YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE CALLED TO? PEOPLE. It's the only thing you're called to and it's the only thing I'm called to. It's people. And if it's fashion and if it's cars and if it's computers and if it's music and if it's beverages, I don't care what it is.

Do you know what your calling is? It's each other. Do you understand that called to you? I would have moved out of here, but I'm called to you. That's why I'm on this stage cuz I'm called to you, cuz I'm called to serve you. And so I dream of a community where we feel like we're called to each other.

Where I feel a draw and a pull to you, to serve you, to care for you, to have communion with you, to share meals with you. I don't just want to see you in a building. I WANT TO SHARE MY HOUSE WITH YOU. I want TO SHARE MY STUFF WITH YOU.

That's what I'm called to and I can't shake that. I can't get past that. And so I think I think I think one of the reasons we're not okay is we feel called to businesses when we're called to people. So if you make movies, make them for people.

Do you know what I mean by that? So if you make cars, make the cars with people, for the people, about the people. Cuz cars don't matter when they sit in a lot. They only matter when they're full of people on their way somewhere fun to enjoy each other.

Get out of here. We've quite lost the plot, haven't we? It was always me and you. Me and you. I need you. Don't you understand that? I need you. Perhaps you need me. Perhaps we're living in the same generation for a reason. This ain't a gig for me, man.

This is not a thing for me. This is a calling for me. Perhaps it could be one for you, too. So Jesus, we um we dedicate Church Home again to you and the people you made. Um we already know that you forgave us. And so I want to thank you for forgiving us, for making it about something it's not.

It's always been about people, but we made it about popularity and we made it about appearances and it's always ever been about people. No. I am asking in this room tonight that you would soften the hearts that have grown hard and callous and insulated because of pain. I promise I'm not I didn't plan all this.

I didn't plan all this, so bear with me, but um if you could just close your eyes just for a moment of respect and and privacy. I'm not trying to embarrass anybody. This is about people and their God. Um there are some people here tonight under the sound of my voice.

You came in here and you know you're not okay. And I felt like God told me to tell you he wants you to come back to your calling. And he um he called you to people. And he called me to people. And so if you're like me, you forget that sometimes.

And I think God in his goodness, in his grace, in his presence, in his essence is in this room and he's reminding us take care of my children, my sons and my daughters. You know that them, take care of them. Those people over there, those are your people.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come and your will be done in Los Angeles as it is in heaven. Thank you for forgiving us when we forget that it's about people. We are our brother's keeper. And we need this connection and we need each other.

Soften our hearts, open our lives, open our minds, open our perspective and renew again that love for humanity, renew again our love for our neighbor, the centerpiece of your creation, your sons and your daughters. Do a work in us that only you can do, oh great, gracious heavenly Father.

Here are our lives and they ARE YOURS. THEY ARE NOT OUR OWN, for we did not choose our birthday. We did not choose our background. That was of your doing and that was of your choosing. So your KINGDOM COME, NOT MY KINGDOM COME. YOUR WILL BE DONE, NOT MY WILL BE DONE.

FOR YOURS IS THE kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. If you're here and you say, "Judah, I would like to accept and absorb the forgiveness that only Jesus provides for my sin and selfishness and my shame. I would like that solved once and for all."

If that's you, on the count of three, you can lift up your hand. 1 2 3. If that's you, I want that forgiveness. I want my sin, my shame, everything past, present, future. I want that solved. I want that solved. I want that solved. And it's done, friend.

In one moment of receptivity and faith, it's done in Jesus' name. And so this new life begins. Bless your people tonight, Lord. Bless your people.