The Story of God: The Garden LIVE

Hello. Hello. Hello. >> Welcome everybody. You doing all right? So glad you're here tonight. Thank you for taking time out of your life and your schedule to join us at the Sabon Theater. We're endeavoring to go through the story of God. To be to be frank, this space at the Savon Theater going forward is going to be dedicated to the story of God.

So, every single night, and it has, but uh more blatantly and more upfront, we're going to go through every major section, moment, and story in the entire scripture. It's going to take us a couple of years. Tonight, we're going to go back to the beginning. We're going to go to Genesis, and I want to speak a little bit more about the garden.

And tonight, I want to talk about connection. But we are in hopes to put together an entire compilation of poems and firsthand storytelling that essentially will be be 33 chapters and it will be a flyover in a very romantic poetic way of the whole story of God. That is the whole Bible account and what it really its essence is and its meaning.

So I'm really excited about it. We're going to do more of this. We're committing ourselves to it. So tonight is the story of God essentially part one. You're like, "Oh my word, we're we already on part three. Now we're going to go back to part one." Yeah, deal with it.

We're going to be here for years. Okay. But again, news flash, you're living in the story of God. That is the story that is happening to us, through us, around us, upon us. And I hope tonight it will give you some perspective, some scale, and some scope. I want to read a scripture to you from Matthew chapter 27, I think it is, guys.

Or is it? Yes. Matthew 27. It says this. From noon to 3, the whole earth was dark. Around midafter afternoon, Jesus groaned out of the depths, crying loudly, Eli, Eli, llamai, which means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" Tonight it is the story of God part one.

But if I titled a a title to kind of give you a little bit of a framework, it would be the the reconnect. H if you feel disconnected in any way tonight, I'm gonna dedicate this message to you because I think in a matter of the next two and a half, three hours, what we can accomplish together, it's like that joke.

I always say it, don't I? No. For the next 45 minutes, I lied. 60 we're going to um talk about how you and I can be connected. In fact, I would propose to you that life in its essence is almost entirely about connection. I want to pray. I don't always pray um before I talk, but we need prayer. >> We need prayer in this country uh for a lot of reasons.

So, I'm just going to pray. You don't have to pray. Uh I'll pray. You can listen. You can watch. Closing your eyes doesn't make prayer more important or more powerful. It just might help you pray more focused. But um I might not even close my eyes, but I'm going to pray.

God, I thank you for um Beverly Hills. I thank you for Los Angeles. And I thank you for this country. And the truth is, um we need your involvement and activity more than we've ever needed before. And right now in our country, we need your intervention. We need understanding.

We need insight. But most of all, we need your essence and your presence. Be near to your children. I can only imagine in this theater tonight the amount of pain and obstacles and problems and questions people have. I ask that tonight that you would take a very ordinary talk in an ordinary theater and you'd make it extraordinary with your beauty and your majesty and your essence.

I thank you for that after all these years. Lord, you did it again. You answered my prayer about the Seahawks. And may that be proof to everyone in this theater that there's a God who loves me and hears my prayers. Amen. Amen. That last part was really me just talking to you, but it was good.

It was good. Um, you ever floated in the ocean? You ever been in the ocean? Any ocean people? This is a wild city because you don't get too far from the ocean and have you have you met these LA people? I never been to the ocean. You're like, "Bro, wait, what?"

Um, I talked to a guy the other day, three and a half years since he's been to the ocean. And it's like, it's just an odd thing for me. No, no judgment here, except that I am. By the way, anytime you say no judgment, it means you're judging something and someone.

Just because you say no judgment doesn't take away your judgment, by the way. So, I don't judge. Just like, bro, what? Um, but yeah, I like the ocean. I mean, the truth is like I grew up in Washington state and we have an ocean too in Washington. I don't know if you've heard um and it's just so cold and it's really windy and it's really rainy and so when you go to the ocean in Washington state uh you go with a lot of layers of clothes and you kind of go there just to say that you went there and then you find a cafe and get some coffee and enjoy yourself.

But but there's nothing like the beaches of Los Angeles. I love Venice Beach. I love the city of Venice. Those are my people. Okay. I love the beach. Have you ever gotten in in the ocean? That's another interesting conversation. Ask around town. I'm not joking, guys. And ask, "Hey, when's the last time you've been to the beach?"

I go all the time. When's the last time you've been in the ocean? That's another interesting phenomenon. A lot of people go to the beach and never get in the ocean. It's like just for looks, right? So, um I don't mean to brag, but many years ago, I was in the ocean, actually in the ocean.

And um I decided I wanted to float. Still never been to the Dead Sea. I heard like you you float effortlessly. But it was years ago. I wasn't even I wasn't even married. I was dating another woman. No, I'm kidding. I wasn't. I don't know why I say that, but [laughter] I was I was single and I was with my buddies and uh I think we were in a at a California beach and uh I said to the guys, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to head out, you know, the water.

They're like, "All right, cool, bro. Thanks for telling us." And I decided I'm going to try to just float. And um yeah, I took swim lessons growing up, whatever. And so, you know, I'm kind of floating and it's kind of a cool feeling if you ever floated in the ocean.

It's kind of a it's a moment, right? Cuz you're like, well, I'm in like the big blue ocean and I'm just floating. There could be sharks and dolphins and turtles and such. And and so I'm I'm floating and then you know how you do you kind of I was like 19 years old.

You kind of look up at the shore and you see your friends and you're like, "Ah, this is great. This is amazing." But there's nothing like the ocean to remind you how not in control you are like at all. And so you know where this story is going.

Come on. You're experienced Californians. You live near the coast. But um I stopped checking the coastline as often. Got comfortable, cocky, maybe even casual cavalier. [laughter] And I'm trying to get some of you going tonight. Like I'm just looking at your faces like you really want to be here or we just doing this.

So, it's not a problem. Not a problem. Um, so I'm just floating in the ocean and I just for an extended time now, I haven't looked at the coastline. I haven't looked up and I'm just I'm floating kind of proud of myself, you know, that I'm floating. I feel brave that I'm floating in the ocean.

And then I thought, well, I should probably look up, see how the buddies are doing, the bros. And I looked up and I for the life of me I I now cannot see any human that I know. And then it dawns on me I'm not even at the same beach.

Like the landscape has changed. You know what I mean? Like there was a parking lot. There is no parking lot. And uh I'm a very very non-emotional steady consistent human being. Shut up, all of you. No, I'm a mess. I'm an absolute nightmare. And uh lately, I've been on a streak of breaking glasses and mugs in my house.

Has this ever happened to you? I'm dead serious right now. You can ask Zion, my son. He's here tonight. You can ask Grace. Like, I've just been I don't know. It's like and I'll you'll hear me cry out TO GOD. GOD, NO. WHY? LIKE THAT REALLY HAPPENS. And then like there's just shattered glass.

Do you ever do you ever question the reality of God when an accident happens? Like I do it a lot actually and I'm just like God, why? I don't have time to sweep up class. I'm trying to like connect with you, you know? And so yeah, I'm an emotional wreck.

So you can imagine what happens to the 19-year-old version of this guy when suddenly I feel like I was in the Pacific and now I'm in the Atlantic. And I'm like, WHO? HEY, you know, I'm starting to yell only to realize I have drifted so far, not only from where I was, but even proximity to the shore.

The current has well and truly taken me where I did not want to go and has now brought me to a state of legitimate and authentic panic. And then what do you do? What do you do? You start to paddle. You start to dog paddle. And I now now all of a sudden I'm I'm paddling and this is where the panic takes over as you're swimming.

And listen, I am no Michael Phelps, but I can swim. [laughter] Like, wait, what does that even mean, bro? All right, but like I'm a good swimmer. Thanks for asking. Like, not a problem. All right, defend since I was like seven or eight. All right, so I'm like swimming.

I'm doing a pretty sophisticated, efficient breast stroke and and I'm I'm not gaining any ground. In fact, it's occurring to me that I'm the current is overwhelming my ability to swim and I am moving further and further out. Does this ever happen to anyone? >> Oh, two of you.

Great, guys. Great to connect. All right, we'll head out. All right. Um, and you're going to think I'm an exaggerator. You already think I'm an exaggerator, and that's your fault, not mine. But I really thought before God and all of his angels. This is the day I die.

I'm going to die. Now, if you grew up in church, you know what I'm about to say. It just is what it is. And I will admit while in that Pacific Ocean, I know my oceans. Judah, no, you don't. I thought to myself, I'm going to die not having had sex.

[laughter] And if you grew up in church, you get it. You're like, "No, God. No way, bro. I saved myself for this. This is crazy, bro. I'm going to die without knowing the warmth of a woman's body. You want you to relax? You can't [laughter] start like expounding on that.

But I I literally thought I was going to die. True story. I really thought I was going to die. Now I'm yelling. No one can hear me. And it was an overwhelming panic feeling. And um I want to leave the story there just so you don't know. But shout out to surfers everywhere.

Guess who saved me? some calm, cool, collected surfers. You okay, bruh? Bruh, bruh, you good, bro? No, I'm not good. Just get on my board. And so they saved me and they made fun of me, too, by the way. Why do surfers do that? Very territorial creatures. Um, and they thought it was hilarious.

I remember getting to the beach, like just like, ah. And honestly, I was so far down the beach and ended up finding my friends later, but the surfers thought it was the funniest thing. But I thought I was going to die. Here's the thing about life. Life's not entirely unlike what I just described.

Drift happens. Drift happens emotionally, mentally, psychologically. We We drift. What do you mean? Well, there's currents. There's currents. I mean, by the way, actually, literally, there are currents in the air. Actually, literally, there's real energy in the air, even scientifically. But emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, there are currents. There are currents like it's no wonder, right, that like the mentality of a group of friends is usually adapted and do adopted by the whole group.

It becomes a thing. It's a current. And if you're not incredibly aware or if you're just being a human and just kind of living life before you know it, you are wondering, "Wait, where am I?" You ever had one of these moments? How did I get here? This is a really scary one as a human.

How did I become that person I always despised? You ever done that? It's a weird time right now to be alive, right? Particularly in our country because a lot of us, a lot of us, if you're like my age, um we grew up kind of so annoyed with the political pundits and that whole newscast vibe thing if you're my age.

And it was like we'll never be that. And now because it's so pervasive and so intense and so amazing and you have to have something to say, you can literally become the pundit you were annoyed with when you were young. How did I get here? Where am I?

What's going on? And that leads us to the beginning of the whole book. Do you know the very first question ever asked to mankind? In fact, you could argue the first conversation recorded in human history starts with a very interesting question. And God says to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?"

Now, if you understand the beginning in the garden, it's fascinating. It's gorgeous. It's stunning. It's beautiful. It's amazing. This Eden, this utopia, this garden was completely connected. I would propose to you and argue to you spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, physically, it was the most connected space. and place in human history.

The birds, the animals, the lions, the tigers, the bears, the rhinos, there was peace. They They were named. They were all pets. The garden seemed to breathe in rhythmic with Adam and Eve. Everything, how should I say, was harmonious. Everything was connected. I know, I know you're going to think I'm weird and I am aging and I am getting older, but today a bird landed very close to me while I was in my garden.

And I swear, even though I'm not allowed to, I'm a man in God. I swear that bird and I had a moment. I looked at that bird and the bird was like, you know how birds do just normally kind of move and then he just kind of looked or she he not sure and looked and I looked at the bird and it's like everything just kind of paused for a minute and I looked at the bird and the bird looked at me and I was like are we are we doing this [laughter] connecting with animals?

Like it's amazing. You ever been around dolphins? I don't mean to brag, you know, but like you feel connected in the garden. Everything was connected. Now, NOW BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER, I WANT YOU TO ASK YOURSELF, WHAT ARE THE MOST SENSATIONAL, EUPHORIC, ecstatic feelings you've ever experienced on planet Earth?

Okay, there's a few. We won't go there. We get it. All right. But but even that what you're feeling is the result of what >> connection >> connection >> YOUR MOST EUPHORIC MOMENTS I WOULD ARGUE TO you in fact I might make the case that every single now when I say moment I MEAN IT'S PRETTY much the ones you remember other than terror and fearer the good moments you remember are almost exclusively, entirely and completely and utterly about I felt connected.

Now you guys, I don't want to bore you, but I did this, you know, this this aquin therapy with horses. And so that's why I named my mi my dog's middle name is Merl after this horse Merurl in Nashville, Tennessee that I I literally I'm I had to do therapy with a horse.

Guys, you caught me five years ago saying I was going to do therapy with a horse, I would be like, "That's offensive. You're offensive and you probably cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs." Like, you know what I mean? Like that's not even my thing. And I get to the horse stall and my buddy Miles who I love who owns the whole thing and he's like, "It's going to be great."

And he's like, "Put your hand on the horse and tell the horse all your fears and all your" And cuz I had been kicked off a horse and bucked off a horse as a child and fell in blackberry bushes. It's a long story and it's traumatic. And so I don't really like horses and I not that I'm against horses, I just want to be around horses and they're big and what if they step on you or, you know, do crazy things to you?

And so would you believe that this horse I put my hand on the horse. I tried to start telling the horse all the things that I was afraid of, but I wasn't really doing it because I don't really believe in it. And I was kind of annoyed and this is ridiculous.

And the horse started to pin me against the fence. Well, now I'm more mad at Merl. And I'm telling Miles, hey, what's the deal? And he's like, he knows you're not being honest. And I'm like, this is ridiculous. And so I said, I mean, I'm here. I'm pinned up against this fence.

I might as well. So I put my hand on the horse and I told that horse everything and the horse stepped aside from the fence and I go with this and he Merl goes like this and I GO MILES WHAT IS HE DOING? He's connected with you. He now is saying he trusts you.

He believes that you're telling the truth. It gets weirder, guys. Have I told you this before? Probably. I stay in a cabin on the same property and every morning I would get up early because I had to, not because I wanted to. And there was a 44 acre pasture APPROXIMATELY SEVEN HORSES or something.

One of them is Merl. AND I WOULD STAND BY THE FENCE two mornings in a row full of fog. AND OUT OF THE FOG, WHO CAME? MERL. [laughter] The last morning Merl was waiting for me there. And I WOULD COME UP TO THE FENCE. THE FIRST MORNING I was like, "Mer, no one's there.

Merl, is that you?" He walks right up. I'm You can't make this up. And the horse is right here. And I'm like, "How's your morning?" Like, I don't know what to say to horses. I'm like, "How are the oats, man? They good? you got any like special lady horses or what's the deal?

And I would just like touch his forehead. And the last morning when he just he met me there, I finally went to Miles. I was like, Miles, you're going to think I'm crazy. He's like, what? I was like, listen, so this this horse, he's like, he's meeting you in the pasture.

I was like, yeah, bro, like he was waiting for me this morning. He's like, yeah, of course. I was like, all right, all right, all right. What? He's like, no, he trusts you. He's connected to you. He's available to you. Now guys, that's a horse. And I'll never forget that because I connected with Merl.

How much more >> when we feel seen, listened to, cared for, and connected with each other. This is more than just you need a good crew. This is deeper than just we roll deep. This is bigger than entourage. This is are we connecting? And so in the beginning, everything in the garden was connected.

Everything, the water, the smells, the oxygen, the birds, the animals. It was it was symmetry. It was poetry. It was rhythm. It was music. It was glorious. It was a beautiful perfect tapestry of orchestration and rhythm and harmony and everything is great. And Adam and Eve are given very few instructions on how to enjoy utopia except essentially for one.

God says, and I quote, "You can have the fruit of all of the trees." How many trees? I think it's safe to say probably thousands. any tree you can eat from except one tree. Do not eat the fruit. Now, God didn't say you couldn't touch the fruit. God didn't say you couldn't smell the fruit.

God didn't say you could enjoy the shade from the tree and the fruit. He just said don't eat it cuz when you eat it, you will die. First time they'd ever heard the term die. Die. Don't eat it. As this connected garden breeze on and days go by, if you know the story, Eve ends up going by the tree.

The tree had a name. The tree was called yada. That was the name of the tree, yada. They could not eat the fruit from yada. Yada is a Hebrew term which means intimate knowledge or deep connection. The one tree they couldn't eat from was the deep connection tree.

It's the one the one tree they couldn't eat from was the tree called connection, the tree called intimacy, the tree called knowledge. You cannot eat from that one tree. And wouldn't you know, the old snake slithered by that tree. Satan himself in a snake form and he says to Eve, he says, "I heard a rumor that God said, you can't even touch the yacht of fruit."

And Eve said, "Yeah." Which is an exaggeration of what God said because that's not what God said. And Eve repeats the exaggeration. She says to the serpent, "Yeah, God said, 'If we touch it, we die. He never said that." And immediately contortion begins to happen. Immediately God's words begin to be twisted.

And you'll notice very quickly once the action is taken, what God said not to, connection is broken. Eve eats the fruit. Adam eats the fruit and the Bible says almost instantaneously they knew they didn't have clothes. Now before they didn't need clothes, everything was in harmony. Everything was beautiful.

I think one of the reasons that when you commit in marriage to someone and you both take all your clothes off and say this is me and this is you and we're together. It is a sacred act of saying between me and you clothes not needed. That's how deep our connection goes.

Now we have turned it into just a sexy little fling. But make no mistake my brothers and sisters, it is a sacred act of giving yourself to someone with no clothes on. Touch me in my most intimate places. I am yours and you are mine. And before the infraction, before crossing the boundary, the one boundary God set that had never known perversion.

It was perfect and it was beautiful. The Bible says they were naked and there was no shame. But immediately they know that they're naked. So they try to cover themselves with leaves. And then the Bible says in the scripture in Genesis chapter 3, it says, "And then God came walking in the cool of the day."

Now the text seems to insinuate to the reader, which is you and me, that this was kind of a normal active thing that God would do with Adam and Eve, which is to say kind of the climactic moment of the day was their afternoon evening walks with God.

OH, TO THINK WHAT THEY TALKED ABOUT. To think what they laughed about. >> TOTAL EUPHORIA. TOTAL UTOPIA, TOTAL PERFECTION. GOD AND HIS ESSENCE AND HIS PRESENCE AND HIS MAJESTY AND HIS GLORY WALKING WITH THE CENTERPIECE of his creation as they meander a garden EVEN BETTER THAN A FRENCH GARDEN, WHICH IS HARD TO BE.

And the animals, some some argue that perhaps the animals spoke back then and they could communicate maybe without words and they were just communicating with the animals and the birds and the grass and the trees and the sky and everything is in harmony. And now the world has been broken and Adam and Eve have broken it.

And so God comes for his evening stroll. And what does he say? He says to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" The most important question I could ever ask you in your whole life is, "Where are you?" THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION YOU COULD EVER ANSWER in your whole life is where are you?

You mean geographically? I don't. And you know that. Where are you? If I ask you that question tonight, where are you? Where are you? It's a tough question. Are you like me? I lie to myself oftentimes in response to that question. Where are you? I'm good. No, I'm good.

I'm good. Yeah. No, it's all it'll be all right. Yeah, I'm good. No, actually I'm mad. Actually, I'm depressed. Actually, I'm despondent. Actually, I'm ashamed. Where are you? Now, here's something we've said before, but I'm going to say it again. It has to be said. When God uses the word where, he is not in need of a location he's unaware of. >> So, the question is not for God.

The question is for you and for me. So, I ask you tonight, where are you? Have you drifted? Have you been looking for the co the coastline of your soul only to realize you can't see your buddies no more? In fact, the whole landscape has changed. Where am I?

What's going on? AND ARE YOU LIKE ME? Have you suddenly gone into an emotional internal panic and you've started to tell yourself, I'M GOING TO PADDLE MY WAY OUT? I'M GOING TO PADDLE MY WAY BACK TO, YOU KNOW, A BETTER PERSON. I'M GOING TO BE A BETTER HUMAN CUZ I'M GOING TO PADDLE.

And so much of our pervasive western world will instruct you to do so. Paddle, paddle, paddle, little buddy. Be better, try harder. Was watching the show last night with Chelsea. She fell asleep, which she always does, and I'm alone watching the show. It's really a charade we do most nights.

Should we turn on our show? Yeah. Click. All right. Good talk. Literally, she just she'll wake up in the morning and she'll catch up. How many episodes did you watch? I'm like, three. It was amazing. We did it today. It happens all the time. But I'm watching a show and one character says to the other character, "How about be better?"

And her friend goes, "I know. I know. I'll try." And there it is. You've changed. You're different. You're mean. You're not nice. You're inconsiderate. You're selfish. Do better. Okay. I know. I know. Oh. Oh. Try paddle. Swim harder. try harder. And have you noticed particularly in the internal you sometimes it only gets worse?

And I say that to say the panic grows because now you're trying and it's not getting better cuz I've had chapters and seasons where I don't try. So, of course, I'm a knucklehead and I'm a selfish little, you know, and but you know, when you're trying to not be that selfish version of you and [clears throat] you feel like you're still not making progress and you feel disconnected, God says to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?"

He knows exactly where they are geographically. He's asking them, "Why are you disconnected?" And that's the question God asks all of us. Are you connected? Are you disconnected? Can I ask you a question? And I don't mean to be the psychologist in your life, but do you feel disconnected?

Do you feel disconnected from yourself? Do you feel disconnected from the dreams you used to have? Do you feel disconnected from your family? Do you feel disconnected from your friends? Do you feel disconnected from your spouse? Do you feel detached from your work and your job? Do you feel detached from your passions and your visions?

Do you feel disconnected? Do you feel uncomfortable in your own skin? Do you feel like you used to like yourself and now you don't? Do you look in the mirror and wish you saw something different and felt something different? Do you not feel you know you know when you are doing something it's like when Chelsea takes me dancing and I'm like man it is hard to be cool when you can't dance and you just feel discombobulated and you're like yeah whoa what is this song this is crazy you know and she's like what are you doing I'm like yo I'm just I'm just feeling it and it's like why do I feel like such an idiot and I'm like this is supposed to be romantic and sexy and lead to something you know this is crazy but you know how in life.

You just like you can't get on beat. You can't feel the rhythm of the room. You can't seem to connect. You ever feel like you're the one person that walks in the room and ruins the whole vibe? Just can't seem to connect. I just don't You ever had this season?

Someone says, "How you doing?" And you're like, "I actually I don't know. I can't even feel anything. You know, I'VE HAD SEASONS WHERE YOU FEEL JUST down in the dumps, but at least YOU FEEL SOMETHING. YOU EVER HAD THOSE CHAPTERS IN YOUR LIFE WHERE NOW YOU DON'T KNOW IF YOU HIGH OR LOW OR SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN?

IT'S LIKE, I I HAVE BECOME NUMB. YOU FEEL DUMB. WHAT IS WRONG with me? You're disconnected. You're disconnected. You're disconnected. >> [snorts] >> All right. Well, how do I get connected? And so, tonight, I've titled this talk the reconnect. I want to soothe your soul because by now, if you're like me and you've heard all the things I've said and you're like, "Hey, bro, no more describing how bad I am.

I get it. Yeah, I'm fully disconnected. Got it. Can you give me some antidotes, some answers, some resolve? The answer is yes. I would like to show you how I haven't given up. I'd like to show you how I haven't quit on life, quit on my marriage, quit on my kids, and quit on my friends.

What I'm about to tell you is essentially the only thing I have left that keeps me connected, that keeps me being who I believe God made me to be. And isn't that the dirty little secret we don't tell? When you feel disconnected, you get that sinking sensation that you're just not who you're supposed to be.

This is not who there are people in this auditorium, in this theater tonight. You are successful, but success has led you to a place where you don't even recognize yourself. You have become so successful, you have lost track of who you once dreamed you would be. You told yourself, "I'll be humble and I'll be hungry."

You know these buzz word buzzwords and cliches we use in I'm going to remain humble and hungry. But now success has brought you to a place where when you listen to yourself talk to other people that you meet in a room you're annoyed by your own cadence and tone and you're like what have I become disconnected?

God says to Adam and Eve where are you? And so I'd like to give you the three things that that question actually means and by doing so to show you how you can be reconnected. First thing is we need to define what lost is and what found is.

In this question laden within this question is actually beautiful cosmic universal eternal truths on what it means to be lost and what it means to be found. Lostness is very simple. It is broken connection. You are by definition according to the story of God the most ancient magical mystical book in human history.

Friends, I just want to say something one last time tonight and then I'm going to say it next time we gather in the Sabon. And that is I'm preaching from a book, not an ordinary book, not a normal book, a book that has no peers. You need to know that there is no other book that comes close to the Bible.

I don't mean by saying that you should believe or worship who I worship. I just mean historically, um, uh, mathematically, scientifically, there's no book like this book. >> That's just a proven fact. So, there is no better record of what possibly could be the source and origin for why we are here.

This book is unlike any other book. And in the beginning of the book, God says, "Where are you?" But he's also saying, "You're lost." But what he's saying is your loss of connection has given you a lost feeling. Some of you have a job, you have an income, you have a savings, and you have a group of friends, but you are lost.

And by saying that, I don't want to insult you. I don't intend to insult you because there could be a rebuttal, of course, that I have a job. I have a car, I have a 401k, I I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not lost. But by definition, the ancient STORY OF GOD TELLS US FROM THE BEGINNING THAT A HUMAN SOUL WHEN disconnected is lost. >> The first conversation in mankind is a search and rescue party, guys.

And the question is, where are you? which is to say, you need to know you're lost because you have lost connection. Some of you feel a lot of loss right now and you can't understand the emotion you feel. You feel as if the more you gain, the more you lose.

You feel like the more success you experience, the more you lose. You feel like you have everything you've ever wanted in life, but you still feel empty and hollow. You have everything you ever wanted in life, but you feel less fulfilled and less satisfied and less content and less happy.

You feel more uh your body buzzes. You you can't sit still. It's hard FOR YOU TO HAVE ORDINARY AVERAGE CONVERSATIONS. It's hard for you to do ordinary average things that other people do. You can barely settle yourself to have a focused 15-minute conversation. You have done everything. You have accumulated everything.

You have won everything. And you are the man. But you are lost connection. And psychologically this holds water as well. By the way, just for those who care, I've done a lot of therapy just like you have. I hope. Problem with therapy and preachers like me who tell you to get therapy is therapy is expensive.

And all my therapies have done it for free. There is a God. But in this expensive therapy, I have been taught this disassociation, this detachment, this disconnect. You start literally disassociating, disconnecting with things you do and people you connect with. And have you noticed that trend? It's like it's hard for us to listen.

It's like the Teddy Bridgewwater commercial. You seen that? He's a backup quarterback in the NFL. Remember that? I don't even know what brand it is, but this friend's trying to talk to a friend and she's on her phone and she's like, "I just think he's not he's not there."

And he's not. She's like, "Uh-huh." He's like, "Have you ever needed a backup friend?" And Teddy Bridgewwater comes in and sits at the table and he's like, "Wow, tell me more." Wow. And that commercial's funny because we all are on our phones sometimes and we can't sit still enough to listen to the people we love the most tell us some of the simplest things about their day.

And we have it all, but we all we're not connected. We're not connected. Personally, what I've noticed a trend in my life is when I feel disconnected, I try to fill the disconnection with stuff, things, accomplishments, approval, and the likes. But the problem is I'm not connected. Where are you?

You've lost connection. Now, interesting turn in our story. The one tree, I don't know if you picked that up a few minutes ago, the one tree that they couldn't eat from, the one tree they couldn't reach out, take the fruit, and eat it themselves, was yada, a Hebrew term for intimate connection and knowledge.

[snorts] Baked into the whole setting, my brothers and sisters, is a little clue, a little cue on how connection happens. It is not earned. It is not achieved. It is received. So now if we can define lostness, what is foundness? Not a word, but it should be foundness. Foundness of course is connection.

But being found according to the original story is when yada is gifted, not earned. Why do you say that Judah? because every tree they could eat from, but the one thing they couldn't reach out and take for themselves was yada. The one thing God said you can't just walk up and say, "I'll take that.

Thank you." is intimate connection. You can't take it. Now, I'm not trying to be crude, but even in the act of sex, please hear me. You can't take it. It needs to be given. Why do we know that? It goes back to the beginning. Instinctively as humanoids, we know yada intimate knowledge and connection has to be a gift.

IT IS NOT TO BE TAKEN. WHEN IT'S TAKEN, WE INSTINCTIVELY KNOW. [screaming] WRONG. You can't just know. And so even within OUR OWN CONSTRUCTS, COUNTRIES, CAUGHT IN SOCIETIES, WE'VE SET IN ACTUAL BARRIERS, PHYSICAL BARRIERS TO SAY YOU CAN'T TAKE yada guys, it's all telling us something about yada. Yada is the thing we want most.

When I say yada, yada is is the essence of Yahweh. Yada, we want to be connected with our origin. We want to be connected with our essence. We want to be connected to God. But you can't earn it, read it, AND STUDY ENOUGH FOR IT. It has TO BE GIFTED. >> WHICH IS TO SAY, THE WHOLE WAY WE GOT INTO THIS MESS, if you will, wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, disease, thievery.

I'm in a group email with my neighbors here in Los Angeles. The group email wanted to let me know today that there was a burglary. Why do burglaries? Why do we do what? What's why? What? The whole way we got into this was because the essence of our existence cannot be taken.

It must be received. Where are you? I'm lost. I'm disconnected. But I want to be found. You need yada which is a gift God gives. I believe one of the reasons we get to give intimate knowledge to each other as gift and a committed relationship is to be a little bit of a foretaste and example of what God does for us.

It's a gift never taken. Now God has a conversation with Adam and Eve and they realize they have broken the world. They know that the mirror has been shattered. Things have been compromised and God says, "I'm going to move you out of Eden." And in the process, if you know the story, they covered themselves in fig leaves.

But God does this incredible act where he kills one of the animals. Now, you can imagine how dramatic that would be in that setting to kill an animal. And he uses the clothes of the animal or the skin, I should say, to clothe Adam and Eve. That is a portrait and a picture of how Jesus would reconnect the world once and for all.

And that's where I want to end tonight because my third observation is that the reconnect is what Jesus has already completed for you and for me. Now, I want to prove this to you in two ways. We're going to go back to that that kind of random scripture about darkness and Jesus crying out on the cross.

And then we're going to go to a a psalm that is nearly well, it's thousands of years old. The Bible says when Jesus goes to the cross, something very fascinating happens if you know the story. He's taken to the cross, keep in mind thousands of men and women were crucified in a Roman crucifixion.

Jesus is not the only one. Not by a long shot. But I would like to say that some of the phenomenons, even the natural phenomenons that transpired are only ever been recorded at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. One of which is at the brightest part of the day, noon to 3.

That's the brightest part of the day. But that's doesn't take a lot of research. You can chat GPT that one. Okay. Brightest part of the day is noon to 3 essentially. That's why in Matthew 27 it says from noon to 3, the whole earth was dark. Guys, the lights went off.

This is a moment of profound disconnection and the earth itself is responding because the father and the son are no longer in perfect harmony. This is a cosmic moment that even the earth itself is responding to. Jesus hangs on the cross and from noon to 3, the whole earth was dark and around midafter afternoon Jesus groaned out of his depths.

Listen now. Listen to his cry. GOD, FATHER, [screaming] WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME? Another question. And the answer is SO SWEET. WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME? It was prophesied that there would come a superhero in the garden. God closed Adam and Eve. It is a portrait and a metaphor that there will come a hero who will cover the shame and the nakedness of humanity and that which has disconnected them.

They will be reconnected and once again there will be a foretaste and the beginning of true harmony that we know by definition there will be a return to the beginning. The Bible says there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth. And in that new heaven, in that new earth, friends, if you love earth, you're going to love eternity.

If you love Maui, you're going to love eternity. YOU LIKE ANIMALS, YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE ETERNITY. YOU LIKE PALM TREES, YOU'RE GOING to love eternity. You like good food, you're going to love eternity. This is a foretaste. Everything harmonious AND POETIC AND ROMANTIC AND GORGEOUS AND STUNNING AND BEAUTIFUL IS MERELY A FORETASTE THAT SOMEDAY WE WILL GO HOME. >> And this is not home.

JESUS FULLY GOD BECOMES A MAN AND FOR 33 YEARS HE WALKS AND LIVES AMONGST US BY DOING SO FULFILLS HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF PROPHECIES THAT ARE A MATHEMATICAL IMPOSSIBILITY THAT COULD even happen. THE TORAH ITSELF laden with prophecies that Jesus would fulfill. When he goes to the cross, a natural phenomenon unfolds as if to tell the onlookers and now the the readers thousands of years later.

The son knew that the disconnect had happened. For the first time, the son and the father are not completely connected. And the Bible says Jesus groans. ((music playing)) Evidently, he groans like he had never grown before and the agony that he is ((music playing)) experiencing. It's been said and much has been made of the physical affliction that Jesus endures on the cross and undoubtedly we could speak of the thorns and we could speak of of the nails in his hands and we could speak of the spear in his side and we could speak of the whippings and the lashings and we could speak of the night he spent in human feces and we could go on and on and on.

But oh my friends, my brothers and my sisters, nothing compares to the absolute abandonment that he experienced in his soul. For the first time, he was disconnected from himself, lost, and his soul groans. God, [snorts] what is going on? And yet he knew and the father knew that Jesus would be rejected so you and I could be accepted.

Jesus would stand in the place of our distortion and disconnection and he would absolve and absorb in his body all of the righteous perfect judgment of God the divine. And so it is said that in those hours he hung on the cross, oh the torment. So the last thing Jesus said on the cross, did you know this was why am I so abandoned?

Why am I so disconnected? Look what it says in the in verse 51. At that moment, if you know, you know. I don't have time to go through it all. The temple curtain was ripped in two top to bottom if you understand the confines and constructs of the temple and how it worked.

There was an outer court, there was an inner court, there was a holy place and you had to have everything in order and all your ducks and all your tees crossed and your eyes dotted if you going to get into the holy of holies. People died in the holy of holies cuz they weren't right.

And would you know that after Jesus cried out, "Why am I so abandoned and the dark had grown and and the sky had grown dark, that the temple itself, the the the the the curtain that had kept people alive was torn not from bottom to top but top to bottom as if the father was saying, "And now everyone has access and connection to God."

I don't pretend tonight to be a master of world religions. I'm not a master of nothing. I'm not an expert in anything. But I know enough to know there is only one story like this one. When Jesus says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" If you know your Bible, you'll know that David had pinned that in a song, guys. an actual song he had written more than a thousand years before the crucifixion of Jesus.

Do you know that that song was 1,033 years before Jesus on the cross said it is finished? That's how the song ends. 1,033 is the number 10 and the number 33. That's the Ten Commandments. And Jesus was 33 when he died. Friends, the book goes on and on to tell you the truth of what's happening on the planet.

IT IS FINISHED. WHAT'S FINISHED? THE DISCONNECT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE DISCONNECTED ANYMORE. JESUS HAS GRANTED YOU CONNECTION. BUT HERE'S THE CHALLENGE. YOUR GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR THE DAYS SPENT HERE ON EARTH IS THAT YOUR IMPULSES AND YOUR BODY AND YOUR BRAIN WILL TELL YOU [screaming] PADDLE. PADDLE, FASTER, HARDER, BETTER.

AND SO THE BIBLE SAYS THE RACE IS NOT TO THE FASTEST OR THE SWIFTEST, BUT TIME AND CHANCE HAPPEN TO THEM ALL. WHICH IS TO SAY THAT ONE OF OUR MAIN DOGMAS IN THE WESTERN WORLD IS IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH AND YOU BELIEVE STRONG ENOUGH, ANYTHING'S POSSIBLE.

THAT'S FINE, FRIENDS. I KNOW. I GUESS I KNOW WHAT WE MEAN. BUT I'M HERE TO TELL YOU THERE IS ONE THING YOU CANNOT REACH OUT AND TAKE. AND IT'S THE ONE THING YOU GOT TO HAVE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE. WHEN I'M TALKING ABOUT YADA, I'M NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU KNOW.

I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU'RE KNOWN. >> YOU FEEL KNOWN. YOU FEEL SEEN. YOU FEEL LOVED. YOU FEEL VALUED. YOU FEEL LIKE HIS CHILD. THAT'S WHY BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS SO IMPORTANT BECAUSE IN THE BLOODY HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY, WE MADE GOD'S CHILDREN FEEL LIKE THEY WERE NOT GOD'S CHILDREN.

AND SO WE CELEBRATE ONE ANOTHER NOT BECAUSE OF A PARTY, NOT BECAUSE OF POLICY, BUT BECAUSE OF OUR KING. This is his kingdom and we're all his children. AND YADA IS FOR EVERYONE. But instead of reach out and take it, here's the message. Rest in it and receive it. >> That's it.

Rest in it. The complexity that you endure has so much to do with ascension by action. It continues to complicate the state of your soul as you tell yourself, "I'm going to reach out and take it." And the moment you do, everything you've sought for is spoiled. And now you're lost.

And that's why Jesus said, one of my favorite verses, "What does it profit a man to reach out and get it all, but in the process forfeit his own soul?" which is to say you can reach out and take everything this life has to give but in the process you have no yada you're not known you're not connected and now the best thing you have is a physical act that still even in its beauty falls short of the thing your soul really craves I don't blame people for wanting sex and needing sex and thinking about sex.

That's not weird and bizarre. That's normal. Cuz even your body wants to be connected. And something inside of you yearns that not only would you be known, but you would be known and celebrated and appreciated and valued. That somebody would look at you someday and say, "Aren't you amazing?

Aren't you spectacular? You know, it's a privilege to know you. You know, there's nobody like you. I got to tell you, you're really gifted, but it's who you are that is amazing to me. I love you. I love you. I love you, too. I'm here for you. I'm here for you, too.

I'm going to be here for you. Thank you. Hey, I've been thinking about you. Thank you. Nothing more painful than disconnection. Nothing. It's torment, you know. And some of you just you you you could I just want you to be more gentle with yourself. You're going through a lot right now.

You're going through a lot right now. Some of you, the life that you're in the middle of right now is a lot going on and there's a lot of things pulling you in a lot of directions and you have been so hard on yourself. [snorts] What's wrong with me?

Why can't I get it together? Why can't? Because friend, it's not always easy to stay connected. Why? I've taken it up with God so many times. Cuz sometimes we drift. We drift. I used to think you only drift when you do bad things. Come to find out, I think you can drift trying to do really good things.

Because connection, it's not based on what you do or don't do. Jesus said, um, are you weary? Are you worn out? Are you burned out on religion? Here it is. Come away with me. and I'll show you how to take a real rest, man. Um, I want you to know um that some of you it's not that something's wrong with you.

It's just that without connection, it's hard to stay here. Don't you get it? You're not crazy. You're hurting. And if you're here long enough and you do all the things that our heroes tell us to do and you're ((music playing)) still not connected, it's hard to stay. You know, it's just hard to stay.

I'm not trying to be dramatic. I'm being honest. And I can feel it in my body, in my bones, in my soul. And I just want you to know that you have a father who knows what you feel right now. The scripture says that Jesus knows what we're going through because he felt it all in his body.

It's not foreign to God when you tell him you feel so broken and so alone. He knows exactly how that feels. And I guess ((music playing)) um in my mess as I'm and I'm done. I'm done. Um, as I'm sitting on this stool, man, I just feel ((music playing)) so much of God's love for you and his tenderness towards you.

He's not mad. He misses you. He has everything you need, but it's hard. And he knows it's hard because we drift. Tonight we reconnect. How? By just receiving what Jesus has finished. The reconnect is completed, friends. Do you hear what I'm telling you? Please hear what I'm ((music playing)) telling you.

The reconnect has been completed. Just receive it. He is closer to you than your next breath. He has never left you. He is the truest person to ((music playing)) your soul. When you sense him, your soul knows it's him. You were made for him. He is not foreign. His voice is not odd.

You were made for him. Don't you get it? He was there when you took your first breath. He knows you better than you know yourself. You don't have to be a a religion expert or a Bible preacher. You're a son and daughter of God. And you know his voice and you know his essence and you know his presence.

So where you sit tonight, accept that so that God might grant us the grace every day to live connected because he paid the ultimate price for it. I want to predict. I promise I'm done. I want to predict some people in here. Your days are going to get fuller.

The colors are going to get brighter. There's going to be more meaning. Now, there's going to be some darkness and there's going to be some bleakness and you're going to question whether or not the connection is there. But I'm telling you, it's there. It's smoke and mirrors. And this is exactly what the enemy of your soul will use.

He would try to trick you and tell you that you've lost your gift of righteousness, that you've lost your place with God. But it is a lie, friend. And the truth is Jesus said, "It is finished." He does not lie, nor can he lie or tell a lie.

It is finished. You are right with God. Therefore, you have access. Your inheritance is peace and joy. And the connection has always been available to you. And so, God, I pray for everyone in this theater tonight. You know that we're tired and you know that we're weary and you know that we feel lost.

We feel disconnected. I'm asking you to override everything around us that's telling us what isn't true. I ask for a divine reconnect tonight. Now, every heavy heart, every tormented brain, I speak peace to your soul and peace to your brain and peace to your body. You are God's son.

You are God's daughter. and he is well pleased with you and you are right with him not on your deeds or your knowledge but on his finished work. [snorts] If you don't know the way of Jesus, but you want to walk in the way of Jesus, just say something in your own way, in your own prayer, wherever you sit.

I want to walk with you, Jesus. Receive you, Jesus. And so it begins. A relationship with God that will never end. Bless and keep your children tonight and cause your face to shine upon ((music playing)) them. I am specifically praying for those overcome with grief and shame and pain and isolation and perhaps senses of injustice.

Oh God, you said you are near to the brokenhearted. So let it be [snorts] in Jesus name.