Where Are You? | Judah Smith

Here's what we're going to do. I'm going to talk from the Bible. Now, the reason I talk from the Bible, you might think as well, you're a preacher. You're one of those Christians or Jesus followers. But I want to before I jump into the Bible, I want to make a case very quickly.

There is unquestionably, undoubtedly, categorically, emphatically, historically, geographically, scientifically, no book like it. There is no book like the Bible. No book even comes close. Um, its preservation alone is unprecedented. So, the reason I'm going to the Bible is because it stands alone. There is no other book by it.

Now, it should be noted, those of you that are smart, no book has ever been more construed, misused, and um used as a textbook to uh abuse fellow humans. So if you know your stuff, you also know that a lot of people who talk from the Bible, teach from the Bible, lead from the Bible, or build whole societies around the Bible have also done some very deplorable uh and unmentionable things.

So that should be noted. But yet, I digress. There's nothing like the Bible. Nothing like the Bible. Now, for those that don't know, I am persuaded that the Bible is not an end in and of itself. It is a means to an end. that the Bible exists in its own mystical, magical, scientific, mathematical.

You ever you ever read online or go to chat GPT or whatever and find out the mathematical equations of the Bible? It's wild. I'm not even good at math and I find it fascinating. It is amazing. Even mathematically, it's a phenomenon. But the Bible exists to point you to the author.

Now, you might argue, Judah, I believe there is 44 different authors. You would be right. I believe there's 66 different books. You would be right. I believe it was written over 1500 years. You also would be right. And yet in the process of 44 authors, 66 different books and 1500 years of a writing period, they all essentially came together to say the same thing about God.

Ultimately, it was authored by a divine being. That being has revealed himself fully in the person of Jesus. He is my hero. I am in love with him. I have not turned off my brain to fall in love with him. I actually have engaged my brain. And the Bible itself, for those of you that are concrete, sequential, you're cerebral, you're brilliant, and you're bright.

I applaud you. I wish I was you. I clearly am not. But the Bible and its statistics are astounding. But I urge us tonight as we sit here that we don't just make a mental ascent. My job, my assignment, my passion, my desire is not to merely persuade you with statistics or details or my Bible knowledge, but is to actually create an environment where perhaps you could encounter the author because I believe and am persuaded that when you encounter the author of the book, your trajectory as a human being can radically and dramatically change.

Now I cannot guarantee that your bank account will increase or that your popularity will jump but I can tell you whatever you go through peaks, valleys, highs and lows, there will be a steadiness about you. There will be a peace about you and there'll be an enduring joy about you and that I believe is a part of truly living.

So I'm very very excited. I consider it an honor and a privilege to be a Seahawk fan and to be telling you about Jesus tonight. It's also weird to be 10 years older than the head coach. That's a weird feeling. And that's something I'm having to face right now.

Like I'm I'm not just older than players anymore. I'm older than coaches. And that sucks is what that does. It's just like, wait, this guy's too young to be a head coach. So says old people everywhere. >> Any animal lovers in the room? Yeah, how about grow up and be an animal lover, by the way, okay?

Like this is God's creation. I love animals. Now, if you know my journey, I started preaching in LA many, many moons ago, and I wasn't a big animal lover because I was an underdeveloped human. I was No, seriously, I was. And and I've grown since then, and now I'm in love with animals.

If I saw you on the street with your animal, I would greet your animal before you. Now, I know that's disproportionate. That's out of whack, out of order. But that's kind of like I see people with their dog and I'm like, I got to meet them, the dog, and then say hi to the person.

And that has become who I've become. Always love birds. My dad was a big bird watcher. So, I love birds. I kind of know all the different species, I guess, just by default because my dad, whether I liked it or not, would tell me about birds. Several years ago, approximately four and a half years ago, we got a multi poo.

Now, many of you fear that I'm going to talk about my multi poooo again because I've done it incessantly and I'm going to do it again because I recently was gone from Louis Merl Smith I had our reunion. Now, every time I walk into the room for my little multioo again, he's four and a half years old.

There's a routine we have. We never talked about it. We never discussed it. We never agreed upon it. It just happened instinctively. He runs around. He barks, barks, barks, barks, barks. The moment I walk in the door, frankly, the moment he hears me at the front gate, I can hear him starting to bark because he senses me near.

Why? Because I him is alpha. Like, Judah, relax. Um, but I think I am. And it's like, at least I'm somebody's. You know, Chelsea's in charge. All right. The point is, the point is, um, I get into the house and he starts barking and and he'll run into particularly the living room where we have a couch.

He jumps on the couch. I know the routine. He knows the routine. He doesn't speak English, but we know. He rolls over, shows his belly, and he lays there and he looks out the side of his little eyes and I scratch his belly and I ask him a bunch of questions he can't respond to.

Now, it would make sense if he did that after every long trip I was away from. But the truth is, every time I leave the room and come back, it's the same routine. So, it does get old. I'll admit he is the sweetest little dog. He's just not the smartest little dog, okay?

And and we're a lot alike that way. Okay? So, every time I come back into the room, it's like I've been gone for weeks, but not a problem. So, we do the same routine. We had to do it five, six, seven times just today. And now the kids, they'll be like, "Oh my gosh, Louis, Dad, this is ridiculous."

And I'll be like, "He he's affectionate. Like he want By the way, an article came out today. I read this when I was taking a bath that when your dog licks you, it's not kisses." What a dumb article. That journalist should be fined. Like, how about robly at once?

It actually instinctively is a dog, you know, marking its territory. I'm like, "No, it's kisses. All right, leave me alone." But I always tell the Smith kids, Louie just wants to connect. He needs connection. He wants to connect. And I need to connect and we need to connect.

And that leads me to the big word tonight. The big theme tonight, the big idea tonight is connection. We are far more connected than we'd like to admit. Connection, I would argue, is so much of the essence of life. In fact, let's do a little let's do a little uh exercise.

If you're here tonight and you have an unsettling feeling, for whatever reason, you have an unsettling feeling, I would argue that it is very likely that that unsettled feeling or that anxious feeling or that worried feeling or that fearful feeling could have something to do with a disconnect of some kind.

You feel disconnected. You feel disconnected. Marriage, I've been married 25 years. I believe that makes me an expert. And uh Oh, thanks for your encouragement. Not a problem. All right. You know, I was like someone's I was hoping a couple people would be like, "Yeah, you know, but you've been dating four different people."

But anyways, all right, everybody relax. Excuse me for being proud, Judah. We don't need any more arrogance. But being disconnected with Chelsea creates all kinds of um frustrations in my life that have nothing to do with directly that disconnect. But when you feel disconnected, it's amazing. You ever done anything athletic and you just feel disconnected to your body and you're like, why?

I just can't. Now, I'm not going to point fingers to like a friend of mine that might be on the front row who played pro sports, but we were doing cornhole one time and and he's just not good at cornhole and he made a living athletically making money.

And I had the most enjoyable time watching his body not connect with how to throw a bean bag during cornhole. It was literally the best part of my Fourth of July. We were playing cornhole and I was like, "Look at the NFL player who can't throw a bean bag.

Come on, boys and girls. Everybody gather around. Let's watch him." It was It was unbelievable. But you ever had those experiences where you just don't feel connected to your to your body? Anybody ever say, "What were you doing?" You ever give one of these? I don't know. You ever been bowling?

That's rare, right? Remember when we used to go bowling? and you're like you're determined. Like I mean I don't know bowling's probably super complex and there's probably like a bunch of really important things but it's like it's like a ball that you roll down a lane that's pretty good size and you just kind of got to roll it down there to hit some pins and you ever had like a gutter ball and then another gutter ball and you're just like what is wrong?

Why can't I roll the ball? like it like wants to go down the lane and there just seems to be a a disconnect. You ever had a really meaningful relationship and for some reason you can't connect and it's frustrating? Um loneliness. In fact, someone argued recently in in a show I was watching that loneliness is quite possibly the greatest thing plaguing society today.

They argued, of course, in our technological boom, and our tech age that we are isolated, that we are alone, and we're connecting digitally. We're connecting on computers and through our phones, but we're not connecting physically and literally and in person. And as a result, loneliness is on the rise.

And there was all these stats behind it that I can never remember. And it was like, whoa, this is compelling. We are in a lonely era. Well, what is that? Lonely is another word for disconnected. Disconnected. You were made for connection. A connection first of all that you feel connected to yourself, your worth, your identity, your meaning, perhaps your background, your culture.

Why is it grandma and grandpa? Have you had the privilege of knowing your grandma and grandpa or you meet a relative? What is it about a relative? Isn't it strange when you're like you find out? Has that ever happened to you? Like you find out you're related to someone, you're like, "Wait, we're related?

No, that's Bro, you're my cousin? This is crazy." And it's like it's meaningful. Doesn't change anything. Still breathing the same air. Still got the same appointments you got to go to. Still got to go to the dentist. Still got to sleep 6 7 8 hours. Not in LA.

But that's not the point. You But you feel, well, we're we're connected. One of the things you need most in this life is connection. Now, you know where I'm going with this. I think the most important connection you can ever make is to get connected to your origin.

And here's what I mean. connected to if in fact there is an intelligent being behind the world in which we are in the realm in which we exist. Well, it only is logical that if we were to connect with that intelligent being that divinely inspired and designed this albeit beautiful yet broken world we live in.

How significant, imperative, and important would that be? Perhaps the whole reason you came tonight is because you instinctively know that if there is a God, I need to be connected to God. It never ceases to amaze me how when people find out I'm a priest or a pastor or a preacher or whatever kind of their history, their tradition, their background, they call me different things.

Priest, minister, holy man. No one ever calls me holy man. But anyways, I just wanted to throw it out there because it seemed cool. Holy man. I wish you guys would call me that, but that's maybe it's because I'm not. But people come to me and be like, "Hey, can you pray for me?"

And it'll it befuddles me. How many people believe because I do what I do, if I'll talk to God, I have like a special connection that they definitely don't have or can't have. And so if I'll talk to God, it'll Now I admit when I pray, things happen.

It is what it is. It's a good thing. And I and I I was telling my friend the other day, he was asking for prayer and I was like, "Bro, I'm going to pray for this and you watch this thing is going to happen." And he hasn't gotten back to me.

But the point is this guys, come on. Let's focus. People want connection with God. Why do we feel disconnected? How do we feel disconnected? How do we get reconnected? I think the peace you find, you seek, I think the joy you crave. I think the fulfillment you have an insatiable appetite for.

You want to be satisfied. You want to be content. You want to be fulfilled. I think it has everything to do with the sensation of connection. And when you connect with God, it is like going to a chiropractor. Someone argued the other day, chiropractors are fake. I'm like, I don't that's mean, but I don't know.

I just know when the when your vertebrae gets aligned, your body, your system behaves better. You're at peak health. I think when you get align alignment with God, connected with God, you begin to thrive in life. Take inventory right now. I'm just curious. Do you feel disconnected tonight?

In what way do you feel disconnected with? Who do you feel disconnected? You ever felt disconnected from purpose? What am I doing? You ever gone to work, come home and thought, is this it? Are you? Now, for some of us, because we haven't made multiplied millions, we still think like, "All right, so if I can make a little bit more money, but there are people in here, and I know some of them who've made so much money, they got a whole different kind of disconnect.

Suddenly, it's dawned on them. The connection they were told they would have when their bank account got full never came. In fact, some of the connect with their families changed because the family's now connecting not just to connect but to cash a check and life persists. Do you feel disconnected?

What are you going to do? Where do we go from here? What does the Bible have to say about it? Well, that brings us to the beginning of the whole book. So, the first book in all the Bible is called Genesis. That word literally means beginning, which I think that's a helpful first name to the first chapter or the first book.

The book is called the beginning. Very good. That'll help. Okay. Now, you go to the beginning of the beginning, the Genesis chapters 1, 2, and three. And you can go there on your own time if you would like. There's a story. Now, much has been made of this story, but I want to explain and expound on this story a little bit.

And then we're going to end in a little letter that Paul wrote to a group of Jesus followers in a place called Galatia. And that's where we will land the plane. But before I go any further, I want to say something. My goal tonight in the next two and a half hours of this presentation, I love you guys.

It is so hot in here. It's outrageous. Okay? I mean, hot hot. Okay? And I'm not going to This is This jacket's thin, but I'm not going to I'm not in a flannel. You relax over there. You I see you in your vest. So, I'm going to go about 35 minutes.

Lord Jesus, help me because I don't think I can make it much longer. Lord, please help me. It is really, really hot in this. Do you remember the Sabon ever being this hot? Or is it just me? It is hot. Well, it's good. Good for us to sweat.

It's like a sauna. Okay, you don't need a sauna tonight. We're in a sauna together. Holy Lord. But my goal over the next few minutes is that you actually could leave this building. I really mean this. Feeling more connected. In fact, more than feeling more connected that in fact you would be more connected.

I'm going to say it plainly. You connecting with God could give you the things you crave and desire. That connection with God. Last night, my cousin was at my house and we were talking about money and stuff and things. And no matter what you ever achieve or what you ever acquire or what you ever earn in life, remember you still got to live with you.

Do you know what I mean? Like like like I I would spend a million dollars on a car if that car floated and if it fixed my spine and my skin and my golf swing and like but like you can get the biggest house, the nicest car and you can be the man on Instagram, but you still got to live with you.

You still got to wake up in the morning and look at you in the mirror and you still got to explore this idea. Am I a connected being? Am I connected to God, to myself, to people I love? There's something I noticed in my life recently and I'm going to get to Genesis and that is uh sometimes it's hard to focus on people that I love when they're talking to me and it bothers me because I say these are the people I love the most but I'm so busy thinking about what I want to do, where I'm going to go, what I'm going to eat, how it's going to I don't even have time to listen to the people I say I love the most.

I feel disconnected because I say one thing but I do another. That's called disconnected. You swear you're going to be there, but you're not there. Disconnected. Do you struggle with saying one thing and not doing it? You know what that's called? Disconnected. Disconnected. So tonight, if we can experience a real connection, things can change.

And possibly per chance, we could live the life we crave. Da da da da. That brings us to the beginning of time. Can you imagine actors come out the garden, Eve, Adam naked? You was like, wait, what just happened? It's this new dramatic thing he's doing, bro. It's crazy.

Are they naked? That would be wild. I got more. I got to stop. We got to keep going. It's a sauna in here, everybody. Everyone pray that I go fast and accurate tonight. Um, so God makes the planet. In fact, the the whole book opens this supernatural, magical, mystical, incredible book.

It it opens with in the beginning, God, which of course makes it very apparent to the reader that God was before the beginning. So, we're to know immediately that God will begin the beginning. This is not his beginning. This is our beginning. God began the beginning. So, he's before the beginning.

He doesn't have a beginning. Doesn't have an end. He is eternal. He is the giver of all life. He is the source of everything. He is God. He makes a garden. In this garden, there is everything you would ever want. The Bible is actually relatively descriptive. It's only three chapters, but it will tell you there are rivers, there's fruit, there's pets, there is uh gold.

One of the rivers just has a bunch of gold in it. Not that there's really anything to do with the gold or purchase, but there's there's gold, there's natural sugars, there is nowhere in sight is there high fructose corn syrup, there's no hydrogenated oils, there's no red 40 or blue two or none of that stuff that's killing you and me. like Jud, what just happened to the sermon?

Um, it is it is it is the garden. The other day it was like a it was like a pop-tart that had no sugar and it was and it and I looked at it and it said blue 40 or whatever red 40 and I was like don't do it.

Don't do it. And I was like just a little bit won't hurt and I did it. So if I drop dead somebody sue whoever made blue 40. The garden is utopia. It's perfect. There Adam is made. God puts him into a sleep and from his rib he makes Eve.

There is absolutely nothing out of place, nothing wrong, no disconnect. I imagine tonight if we could have Adam and Eve come out on stage, they'd have clothes on by now. Just so you know, we have them on stage and what they would tell us about what it was like in the beginning.

Think about connectedness. Think about connectedness. Um, the pets didn't hunt each other. They were all together. I can imagine in my mind Adam saying, uh, there was a lion, for instance. We would meet most mornings and the lion would come and he would lay his heavy head on me and I would pet the lion and I could feel him breathing and it was as if we all breathed in the same rhythm in the garden.

The garden seemed to breathe with us. There was no shadows. There was no darkness. There was no variation. It was pristine brilliant light. There was no need for sleep. We didn't sleep. We had total and complete energy. No need for energy drinks or Celsius or Red Bull. Somebody pray for my Celsius addiction.

We're moving on. That's a true fact. I keep saying I'm going to quit, but I did it again today so that I could be at my best for you. So like if I could put a word to the garden, it would be connected. Imagine it in its most intense dramatic form.

Everything is connected. There is no such thing as shame, guilt, fear, insecurity. It's total perfect, unbridled, unbroken connection. Unbelievable. Can you imagine that? Every day, day after day. And the highlight of the day evidently from best we can tell is when the father visited the garden. Now his presence and his essence permeated everything from the grass to the sky vegetation.

Can you imagine how brilliant? Can you imagine the smells? Can you imagine the tastes? Can you imagine the euphoria? But it says in Genesis that evidently at the cool of the day, which I think is like golden hour if I'm not mistaken, God would come. And can you imagine Adam and Eve trying to describe to you when they knew he was coming for his daily appointed walk with them?

Can you imagine how they would describe the air? The air would shift. It's hard to even describe, but you could feel the expectancy in the grass. You could feel it in the insects. You could feel it in the pets. You could feel it in the animals. You could feel it in the air.

Everything seemed to orient towards the father, the maker, the creator. He was there. It was like a grand entrance. It was like a parade. It was a celebration. Everything came to life. The daisies and the liies and the tulips. Everything stood up on end. And here he comes and he's in the garden and its perfection and its essence and its euphoria and its beauty.

And we walk with him and we talk about silly things. We talk about how wonderful his creation in his garden is. We talk about the monkeys and why they chatter so much. and we talk about the rhinos and why they got that big pointy thing on their head and you know we talk about and we just have this incredible experience.

Now I think if you're like me um I do think like yeah but there was no football you know but there was no sense of missing out there was no sense of loss. There was no sense of insufficiency. Whatever it was it happened. It was provided for. It was perfect.

Now some would argue before we go any further that the whole book promotes this idea that from the beginning of the Bible you get the first three chapters and the whole rest of the book is a restoring of that environment. Now there is one boundary in the garden and only one only one boundary.

We're talking about connection and the one boundary that God the father, father the creator, the creator father, Aba, he says there is one tree in the garden and that tree is the tree of knowledge. Knowledge. Now you've heard possibly that its full title is a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

But but that that's a that's an elongated title. The tree had a name and its name was yada in Hebrew. Yada is the word for intimate knowledge. Yada is the word for intimate connection. There is one tree in this garden. It's the tree called yada. That is the one tree God says that's a no.

That's a no. Now, if this is your first time hearing this story, that's exciting. I'm happy to introduce it to you. But maybe already you've asked yourself, why would he do that? That's crazy. That You know what? You lost me now, man. You lost me. That's ridiculous. You You mean I think I know where this story's going.

They eat from yada. And because they eat from yada, that's why we're in this mess. Then leave yada. Yada tree. Leave the yata tree out so we can all go back to. And yet God in his perfectness understood that there has to be a measure of free will or choice for us to be the beings that he desires.

Now remember all of this is unto him and for him and through him and sustained by him. We are here for him. >> The reason when you worship religions all over the world, the reason when you worship, the reason we are drawn to worship, worship of all kinds, by the way, is because there's something in us that wants to connect with what got us here.

But choice in that is essential. In other words, God the Father designed this idea of love. What's more important than love? What's more important than love? But love without choice, forced love, we know down here people go to jail for that. That's a violation. You can't force somebody to love you.

It has to be their choice. Yada has to be a choice. Intimate knowledge, somebody can't be forced into that. That has to be a choice. So bear with me. God makes a garden. He makes us, or at least our ancestors, a bunch of pets, a bunch of gold, a bunch of waterfront property, a bunch of natural sugars, bunch of great stuff.

By the way, shout out to vegans and vegetarians everywhere. Our original state. Okay. All right, Judah, relax. And he says, "There's one tree you can't eat of." Now, let's stop here for a moment because I want to remind you of the character of the father. The odds are always stacked in your favor.

You may not believe this from where you sit right now in 2025, end of August, but the odds, please hear me, are always stacked in your favor. How many trees were a yes? >> Oh, we don't know. Was it two? It had to be more than two. Was it 10?

Had to be more than 10. Was it 100? Had to be more than 100. I would argue thousands of trees are not a problem. Enjoy one. No. Much has been made of God over the millennia. Much has been made about God through the thousands of years of human history.

And so often God is reflected as a high school football coach. So often God is reflected as a militant father who gives us a 50/50 choice our whole life. Which is to say he's kind of like you better choose right. You bet. No. No. He's going to make the choice obvious.

This is part of his character. He's going to stack the odds in your favor. God is not against you. He's for you. His desire for you is that you would know righteousness, peace, and joy. His desire for you is that you would be fulfilled. His desire for you, you would have peace and contentment and ease and direction and purpose and clarity and identity and meaning and value.

This is and he and we see this in the beginning of it all. He says all of this is for you. We'll say the leopard stool is yada. But but no to the yada tree. The odds are in your favor. Don't you forget that. What I just shared with you is a world view that I live through.

Did you know that? >> I believe this to be the character of my father. So I believe for me in my house and my family, the odds are always in my favor. Did you know that? >> Like I live this way. I live believing it's going to work out.

I got to tell you, it always works out for me. Now, some people are like, "It never works out for me." Well, I mean, that's certainly not helping the cause. The more you say that, at the very least, scientifically, we know that you'll believe that. So, I'm always saying like, "It'll work out.

Money, not a problem. It always works out for me." Well, you know, this could Yeah, I know. It'll work out. >> Even if we die, we go on to eternity. It'll work out. No matter what we win, it's all good. Odds are in my favor. Like, it's it's a world view, guys.

What I just shared with you is a whole way for you to see yourself, how you got here, the one who made you, the one who created you and designed you, and how life can be for you. The odds are in my favor. May the odds ever be in your favor.

Isn't that from a movie or something? >> I can't remember which movie, but it just came to me. Hund Hunger Game. That was weird. All right, that's not my favorite. So, I did not know that was from Hunger Games. No, I mean, it's great, and I'm I I hope everyone's career did great on that.

Okay. May the odds ever be in your favor. But I really believe this about my life. Insert human condition. The one no piqus our curiosity. The one no is like that's weird. Why? Like I mean seems like pretty normal tree. I don't know. Like you got thousands of yeses, but the one no, thousands of people who love you, but one person on the internet that doesn't.

Like Judah, that is not the message tonight. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I get distracted. And we just obsess. It's just it's the way we are. God knows that. It's okay. It's we just obsess. We Now remember though, there has to be a boundary. There has to be a no because that that protects a thing called free will.

Free will. And that's important for real love. So God says one no one little yacht tree that you got to walk by and go no thank you thinking about no no thank you not today. And as the story goes Eve one day is walking by the yacht tree and out of the tree comes the serpent.

Now, at that point, for those who care, I believe the serpent stood up on its end and could talk. And so, the serpent starts talking and his voice is smooth like like a polish stone. And she's kind of pulled in. And now listen to the conversation because what we're going to uncover together is how the disconnect first happened and how it still happens.

Listen. The serpent says to Eve, "You ever heard of a strip club?" "No, that's not what he said. That's not what he said. That's not what he said. That's not what he said. That's not what he said. It's hot in here. I need to get people's attention. It's hot in here."

Some of you are like, "Wait, wait, wait. You're back. It's good to see you. Haven't seen your eyes in a few minutes." All right. Not a problem. Tell me how Ben Shelton's doing at the prime time US Open. Okay. But he says, "Um, so so I heard you you can't eat from this tree."

He said, "Yeah, we we can't." He said, "Uh, the father Aba, he said, um, he said, "This is the one we can't we can't eat." And the server said, "That's strange. I wonder why he said that." Cuz you know, this is the this is the knowledge tree. If you if you eat this tree, you'll have the same knowledge he has.

To be honest, he doesn't want you to be on his level. Because if you reach out and take this fruit and you eat this fruit, you'll have yada just like him. And for the first time, we wondered if God was holding out on us for the first time.

This is the first time, is he? Oh, so he's playing a game up there. Oh, so this is the hunger games. Okay, this is a game. This is sadistic. He's deviant. This is the key to yada of good and evil. And so he says really he says why why don't you he so he said you can't touch it.

And by the way the serpent will exaggerate all of the boundaries. Just just hold the fruit. Maybe Eve takes the fruit and it it feels nice, cold to the touch, and the skin has a nice texture to it, and she's thinking to herself, "It don't look that bad.

Maybe God, maybe the father is kind of just serving himself. Maybe I um" And so, as the story plays out, Eve and Adam bite the fruit and everything fractures almost instantly. Apparently, the Bible says when they ate the fruit for the very first time, they felt embarrassed. They looked down and they saw some of their body parts and they were like, "These are private parts.

We got to cover these things up." Like, "This is not good." Like, oh. And immediately they're embarrassed. They're ashamed. Insert God's daily appointment. The tulips stand up. The grass gets tall. The rhinos bow. The giraffes look around the corner. And here comes the father. And all of Eden seems to stand in attention as the father arrives again at the garden.

It's like a ticker tape parade, but this time is different. There's something eerie in the air. There's like a dread in the air for the very first time. And the Bible gives us the first question we ever hear in the text. God calls out, "Where are you?" Which is to say, you're not here.

We're not connected. Where are you? Now, we've said this a bunch of times, and I know you know this, but God doesn't have a geographical challenge on his hand. God has not lost Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve have lost Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve have lost where they are, who they are, their purpose for being there, where are you? which stands to be one of the most provocative questions thousands of years later for human beings today.

Imagine imagine I'm outside tonight before you walked in and you got through the, you know, the obstacle course and you got through whatever that is all out there and you you went in the subway, out the subway around the fences and you got in here and I put a microphone in your stand and I said, "Hey, where are you?"

There's a Beverly Hills. No, no, no. I mean emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Where are you? You you'd be like, "First of all, Judah, what are you doing?" And I'd be like, "I'm doing a little interview. You know, I'm taking to the streets. Where are you?" That's not the easiest question, is it?

Happy, sad, glad, mad. What do you Where you ever not had an answer to that question? Maybe you don't tonight. Where are you? I'm 46. Okay. So, you're late 40s. Where are you? Oh, my kids are getting old. They're going off to college. Where are you? Married 25 years.

H happily married. I love her. She loves me. Where are you? Uh, I love God. I love the city I'm in. I kind of live in a couple cities and I got some friends and some friends that have left, some friends that have stayed. Where are you? I'm um a preacher.

I'm Where are you? I'm uh happy. Where are you? I'm uh fulfilled. Where are you expectant about the future? Where are you? Boy, that's a complex question, isn't it? Where are you? Where are you emotionally, spiritually? Where are you? Are you like me? My text message g like life is weird.

Have you ever text one friend I'm doing so good while texting another friend that you're frustrated? I have caught myself. Somebody looking at me like you never done that. So, forgive me, okay? But I've caught myself telling one friend, I don't even know why. I don't even know why.

One friend, man, so good. How are you? I'm texting another friend, man, I'm a little discouraged. And I'm like, wait a minute. Which am I? Cuz when that friend texts me, I felt great. But when this friend texts me, I felt like I really wanted to share that I'm not or in the morning, I'll text everybody I'm doing great, but by 300 p.m.

I need somebody to pray for me. Where are you? All over the place is where I am. Connection. Only thing I can tell you is that when I experience him, when I sense him, the father, the same father of the garden, when I sense him, and I can only tell you how I experience it, when I just I feel him in the room.

Sometimes I don't, sometimes I do. I can't explain it. The sound that my body and soul makes is this. And it's like everything just goes. And suddenly I know where I am. I'm loved. I'm forgiven. I'm his. He made me. I'm here for a reason. Not totally sure what that is all the time, but I feel real connected to it. and I feel in love with my fellow man.

And I feel like I can forgive Chelsea again. That's my wife. Um, I feel like I don't want to kill my kids. And all of a sudden, I I know where I am. It's hard to describe, but that's what happens to me. Like on a loop. Hours will go by and I'll be like, "Where are you?"

Like I wish I wish it lasted. I wish the could sustain me for weeks, but it rarely does. It'll go hours or a day and then I'll be like, "Oh man, God, what what's going on?" And then I'll have that encounter. Where are you? You tell me. Where are you?

Here's where I tell you how you lose connection. And you're going to be shocked. You're going to be shocked. Most guys and gals who do what I do without knowing it, and I do this too, and I've done it to you, and I've done it from this stage in this room to you.

Exactly. To you, me and you. We've done this before. Without knowing it, I have led you to believe that the big bad ugly wrong things in your life are breaking your connection with that if you would stop going to the strip club. See, it came back. So, preachers like me without knowing it, we do this.

I do this. I know this cuz I do this. We tell you and I'll I'll ingest. says some silly things, but we tell you cussing and smoking and lying and cheating and bo we should actually preach against bo more. But we some like we smelling it in here.

We lead you to believe cuz sometimes I believe it that it's the big bad ugly wrong things in my life that caused the cosmos and God himself to say where are you and you're like don't come now I'm at the wrong club where are you living a lie where are you don't look now right where so what you watch late at night on the internet broke connection broke connection.

I did it again. And God's like, and this is what we tell people. That's how connections lost. And God is over here. You're over here. Yada is not in this metaphor. Okay? And you're over here. That's you looking at stuff on the internet. Okay? And and that got me.

All right. And God's over here and you're over there, remember? And he's like, "See this right here? It's called internet porn." I knew when are you going to stop? I don't know. >> I really want to. And then later in the day, I don't super sorry. And I'm gonna really try.

Hold on. Stay right there. I'm going to delete all the sites and I'm going to unplug my computer. Can we be friends? And without knowing it, we tell everybody in settings like this that if you could just try a little harder, do a little more, pray a little more, give a little more, love a little more.

Like I keep doing all these like these are all just coming to me in real time. Judah, we can tell. And you serve, worship, obey, love, forgive, mercy, justice, empathy, kindness, compassion. Hey, God. He's like, finally. And you're like, I love you. You're like, I love you, too.

What is this? This is a church conference. This is once a month at the Sabon. And so then you drive home and he's like in your car with you and you're like, "This is awesome. So glad I worked my way back to you. This is the best." And then you get a little tired and worn out and life's hard and Wednesday becomes Thursday and Friday is Saturday night and you got to plug in your computer.

You know, you got to do some work. You got to send some emails and before you know it, I'm tired. I'm just a guy. And then you come back to church and the pastor seems to be so connected and so you listen like, "We got to pray." That's right.

That's right. Right. We got to serve our community. I'm going to serve. We got to love our neighbor. I'm not going to love our neighbor. Stop cussing. And we work our way back. And this is kind of um Oh, I think this is called the Christian journey. And um I'm exhausted like from doing that on stage.

But um no, I'm something's got to give here, church. This can't be what it is. So let's go back. When did the disconnect happen? When was there a fracture in the relationship with the father? When did it happen? Please hear me. So God has one tree in the garden and it's called yada.

Yada is intimate knowledge. He says do not take that fruit in your own hands and eat it yourself. The message is clear. Please hear me. The father is telling us you have to trust me for yada. You cannot take it for yourself. It will be granted to you in a loving relationship built on trust, not works.

Do you know when the disconnect first happened? When mankind took it into their own hands and tried to do it on their own. You keep telling yourself the internet is killing you and your smoking is killing you physically. Baby, I hear you. But do you know what causes the disconnect?

Doing things in your own strength. Yeah. Isn't that crazy? This whole time you and I thought it was a strip club. Yeah. But you know what's causing the lack of trying hard. I'mma I'mma figure this out, man. I'mma do this. I'mma do this. I'm going pray more. I'm I recommend it.

That's good. I'm I'm I'm not going to go to the places I used to go. Great. But that's not how you got connected and it's not how you stay connected. For it is by grace. It is a gift. It is a choice of God, not yours. See, I'm under the persuasion that the fact that you're in this room, the evidence is already clear.

God has already had it out for you. You didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it. He chose you. He wants connection. >> So, he's going to make the connect. Your greatest challenge in life will be resting in that >> and walking by every day of your life, there will be a yada tree.

And that yada tree in your life will say, "Why don't you reach out and take this on your own?" Yeah. Yeah. Read enough books, do enough good deeds, then you'll feel more connected. Oh, you definitely feel smarter, but I cannot guarantee you will feel more connected to yourself and to your creator.

It's by gift. It's by gift. And so this word starts to appear in the room. Wait for it. One of the most misunderstood topics in all of Christian tradition. Rest. And with it comes another word that we all think weakness. Lazy. No, no, no, no. Rest may be the last purest form of worship on this planet. >> Some of you feel so disconnected and your instincts tell you, "I got to do something.

I got to fix it. I got to work it. I gotta make it. I gotta do it. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to And what you need to do is something like this. This is no longer yada the church. Okay. Father, here I am. I need you.

Connect me. Connect me. Here I am. But that if you write a book about that, people won't buy that book these days. They won't buy that book. Tell me what to do, preacher. And so I will. Here's what you need to do. Nothing. The more you could do nothing, the better your life will get.

I said it. I said it. Somebody quote me. I dare you. nothing. All the something you're doing is really getting in the way of this um this thing called life that he made. But I but I'm serious. I'm serious. If there's anybody in this room that chose your birth date, come take this mic right now and we'll listen to you.

No, sir. Is there anybody in here you chose your eye color? I don't mean contacts. Come take this mic. If there's anybody in this room or watching on the internet, I don't even think we're on the internet, but you know, anybody who chose your background, your culture, your ethnicity, come on and take this mic.

We'll listen to you. Is there anybody here? You chose the year. You You wanted the late 70s and you chose that. Come take the mic. We'll listen to you. See in the garden everything new he made, chose, designed, orchestrated. It is all for him, by him, through him, unto him.

I did not come up with this. I did not choose my birthday. I didn't choose my body. Have you ever put your hand on your heartbeat when you're my age? You think to yourself, "I hope you keep beating, little buddy. I don't know how you work, but they tell me Celsius is not helping you, but I need Celsius, so keep going, little buddy."

The heart that beats in my chest, I know next to nothing about. I am a conundrum of the most extraordinary kind. For I tell myself in my arrogance that I am the captain and I am the leader, that I know what I'm doing, that I got this whole thing figured out, that I'm going to take care of my family, and I'm going to figure this out.

And so the culture persists and they tell us to fix us. What? Yeah, that's what they tell us. And yet our origins alone tell us that can't be true. How can you fix you when you didn't come up with you? >> You barely know you. Where are you?

I don't know. All right. All right. All right. Now we're getting somewhere. So what are we going to do? You know what I say we do? I say we blame the one who got us here and we tell him. Here we are. Here we are. Connect us. So, and I'm done.

And I'm done cuz it's hot. Judah, you went way longer than 35 minutes. That is your fault because you wouldn't pay attention. So, I had to say strip club. I don't have time to go through all this, but you got to hear this because thousands of years later, there's a leader in the Christian tradition and movement.

His name is Paul. He has this radical connection with God. God saves him out of a life of killing people. He's a bad man. His name is Saul. He turns Paul. He be He starts helping like Jude and Sierra. They're going to plant a community in Santa Barbara.

This was a community of people worshiping God and following Jesus in a ancient city called Galatia. And Paul had heard rumors that in Galatia, people in the church were starting to say basically God helps those who help themselves. In Galatia, they were starting to tell each other, you know, we got to keep the rules and we got to try harder and we got to do better and we, you know, if we going to really do this and we we're in charge and we've got to take control and we got to do better and we got to try harder.

And Paul hears about it and he says, "Oh no." And he writes a letter and listen what he says because it sounds a lot like where are you? He says he put you crazy Galatians. Did somebody put a spell on you? Have you taken leave of your senses?

Something crazy must have happened for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. But Paul, relax a little bit. His sacrifice on the cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. You know how this Let me put this question to you.

How did your Lord help me? How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what God has be what was begun by God.

If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it? Do you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? It is not yet a total loss, but certainly will be if you keep this up. What what's when he says keep this up, what does he mean?

He means thinking that you and your efforts and your deeds and your moralism is what's going to connect you to God and each other. It's a gift. And he says the thing that's getting in the way isn't the big bad ugly sins or your late night gambling. It's that you think you can do it on your own.

Answer this question. Does the God who lavishly provide you with his own presence, his Holy Spirit, working things in your life, could you never that you could never do for yourselves? Does Wait a minute. Does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust or because you trust him to do them in you?

You guys I don't I don't I can't speak for all the other dogmas doctrines and religions of the world but let me make something real clear. When it comes to the way of Jesus, this is literally the whole thing can be in its summation this we stand still and say okay Jesus do what you do in us and if you don't we're doomed.

Save me. Set me free. I'm being so serious. There are some of you in here and listen, I got all the therapists and the people and we provide that and we're for that. But there are some of you in here the stuff that you're going through eventually you got to put your foot down and say enough is enough.

God, you got to set me free, man. I can't do this on my own. There are some of you in here, you are so tormented by desires you can't stop. When are we going to be honest about what we believe? God, you either change these desires or this is not going to stop in my life.

You said you would do it. Listen to what Paul says. Do don't these things happen among you just as they happened with Abraham. Abraham. Abraham. He believed God and the act of belief was turned into a life that was right with God. Oo. If I had time, is isn't it obvious to you that persons who put their trust in Christ, not persons who put their trust in the law, are like Abraham, children of faith.

It was all laid out before in scripture that God would set things right with non-Jews by faith. Scripture anticipated this in the promise say all nations will be blessed in you. It'll always work out. So those now so so those now who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham who lived by faith.

There is this is no new doctrine. And that means that anyone who tries to live by his own effort his own effort independent of God is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up utterly curses everyone who puts their person who fails to carry out every detail written in the book of the law.

In other words, you can't keep all the rules. the obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program. I promise I'm almost done. If you're picking up what I'm laying down, it'll it'll change your whole life. Moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way.

No one can sustain a relationship with God that way. No one can sustain a relationship with God that way. No one can sustain a relationship with God that way. No one can sustain a relationship with God that way. No one can sustain a relationship with God that way.

The person who lives in a right relationship with God does it by embracing what God arranges for him. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering in to what God does for you. Well, how you like them apples? I'm done. I'm done. The band, everybody come out because I'm done.

And I literally have sweat pounds of my life away. I told God, I'll preach and it's my privilege to do it, but I'm not going to play games with this. We will build a church that unless you show up, it fails. Period. Period. cuz I'm not smart enough, sharp enough, or wise enough to put some sort of program or system together that would wow everybody.

I said, God, you either show up and change people's lives, or we'll wrap it up and we'll go make money selling cornhole to people that can throw it. And so, here we find ourselves again. Do you feel disconnected? Do you have questions about God? The only thing I can tell you is perhaps tonight in the next few minutes we could stop doing everything and try for a minutes to do nothing.

You know when when all of a sudden doing nothing is the new like everything. Lord, help me clear my mind. the pain, the fear, the anxiety, the worry, the to-do list, the career, the pending interview, the relationship, the date you have later, the hang out later. Who am I going to meet?

Hey, what if we just I don't know where I am. I need to be connected. Meet me here. And maybe, just maybe, ((music playing)) could happen to you. He has a name. His name is Jesus. He hung on a cross 2,000 years ago and he said, "It is finished." What is finished? that all that the requirements of the law were fulfilled and all of God's just wrath and perfection was poured out in the body of his son.

So now God has no wrath left for man for Jesus has absorbed it in his body. And so now by simply believing, not doing, earning or achieving, but by believing in Jesus, you can have a connection with God. So what I do for those that don't believe in Jesus yet, I believe in Jesus.

So I will tell God, I'm connected to you legally cuz Jesus was the sacrifice for my air and my wrong. I'm yours. You can't leave me. I'm your guy. You got to meet me here for 15, 16 years. We've been in this city. And God knows it's come down to this.

And I I go side room before I walk out on the stage every used to be every week. Then I got tired, but every month. And I say, "God, you don't show up. That's on you. cuz we are your children and you are our father and we can't find ourselves let alone find you but here we are.

Connect us again. Connect us again. Don't find it strange if your priorities change almost in an instant and you'll leave here and suddenly things you cared a ton about, you'll just kind of you you won't even be worked up about it. I'm telling you, this will happen. It's like an adjustment.

It's like and things will just Don't Don't think it's strange when you forgive somebody. You'll walk out of here and you'll you'll suddenly have forgiveness in your heart towards someone you hadn't been able to forgive for years. I'm being serious. It'll just you like, I forgive them. I forget.

It's okay. I'm I'm all right. God's with me. I'm going to make it. It's going to be all right. I'm telling you, this can happen for you. you can be connected to the father, to yourself, to your purpose, to your life, to the rest of your days as you live here.

God, I thank you. Um I thank you for the book which points us to you, the person. We love you. And we never met anybody like you. We love you. We need the connection that only you can give. Not going to make it without it. Cannot make it without it.

So, here we sit again. It's the same song. It's the same story. It's the same situation. We're lost without you. Broken without you. hurt without you, selfish without you. But with you, everything changes. So meet your children here in the Sabon Theater in Beverly Hills right now. Meet us here.

Connect us again to your unending love, your unending forgiveness, your reckless care and compassion and provision, providence. It's you we crave and it's you we need and we thank you for that. If you're here tonight and you would like to receive the forgiveness that Jesus personally paid for on a cross 2,000 years ago so all of humanity can stand and live in forgiveness forever and can anticipate and expect a connection with the father forever.

If you believe that, you want to receive that, just say, "I do." Wherever you are, you can say it quietly. Say, "I do. I do. I do." You hear us, God. You know our hearts. Meet us here.