Loading summary
Transcript3 lines
- [00:04]
A
Welcome to Mariners Church Weekend Message Podcast. Inspiring people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world. Discover your purpose and get connected by visiting MarinersChurch.org or click the link in the show notes.
- [00:28]
B
So good to see you today. I'm so glad that you're with us. If we haven't met, my name is Eric. Kay told me my wife, you know, our oldest, is just graduating this next week and so she's going through where she kind of misses having to. She's like, if you'll, if you love me, you'll steal a baby. I'm like, baby? I can't steal a baby. I can hold a baby, but I can't steal a baby. Before we jump into the message, I want to talk for a couple moments to you who call Mariners your home just for like three minutes. So if you're a guest with us, I'm so glad you're with us. The next couple of minutes is going to be me challenging those of you who have made Mariners your home church. And I want to challenge you in two areas. When you came in today, you were handed this Taking the gospel to new community. Some of you have been asking, like, what's happened with all these new congregations that we've launched. And over the last five years we've launched 10 new Mariners congregations throughout Southern California. Here's a snapshot of what is happening, what God is doing. It's really a beautiful season right now. You may remember we launched Mariners Santa Ana and all of our congregations are watching now. The message via video. Every weekend, more than a thousand people now gather at Mariner Santa Ana, which is incredible. Their largest service is the Thursday night Young Adult Gathering. It's awesome. Right right in the heart of downtown Santa Ana North Irvine. If you remember, we started in a back alley during COVID and then we moved to Stonegate elementary and maybe 18 months or so ago we moved to Crene High School where we have our worship services there. And more than a thousand people will gather every week at Mariners North Irvine. It's just been incredible. Then 16 months ago we launched Mariners Anaheim and Mariners Trabuco Canyon. And we've seen God do incredible even more than we could ask or imagine. We moved into our new permanent facility with Mariners Chabuko Canyon at Easter and we had 1900 people gather for worship at Mariners Chabuko Canyon. Was just amazing to see what God is doing. And I want you to be a part. I want you to be a part right now. He's really moving in beautiful ways not only at Mariners Church, but really in churches all throughout Southern California. But we are experiencing him moving in really profound ways. And you don't have to just watch it. You can be a part of it. And there's two ways I want you to be a part. One is through serving. I know sometimes when you come to a large church like Mariners, you can think, man, they don't need me. Everything is covered. That is not true. In fact, it takes every week. We have more than 8,000 people who volunteer at one of our congregations. And so really, the movement of Mariners Church is, it's led by volunteers. Volunteers make this place happen. And if you look at the right side of the brochure we handed out, there are different places that you can express interest in volunteering. If you just check the place that you're interested in and drop it off in the offering box, we will get in touch with you this week. Also in the patio after the service, there's people from our teams who would love to talk to you. And so I want you to join what God is doing through serving, if you haven't already. And then I also invite you to join what he's doing through your generosity, through giving. So we're moving into the month of June. If you've been here, you know that June is year end giving for us. We have year end giving, the calendar year, December. But June is the end of our ministry year. July is when our new fiscal year, our new ministry year begins. And really, June is always a big month for us. And everything that we do is financed by your generosity. And so if Mariners is your church, I encourage you to be generous to your church in the month of June. This is good for you. I'm not asking you to do something that's not good for you. We looked at several weeks ago that wherever you put your treasure, that's where your heart goes. And you want your heart to be in his kingdom. You want your heart to be passionate about what he's passionate about. The reason we launch new congregations is we've embraced the command that Jesus gave to make disciples of all nations. And we look at the New Testament and we see that the early Christians, what they did when they embraced the command and make disciples is they launched churches and cities. And so that's what we do, we launch churches in cities. But that happens through your generosity. And so the month of June, I encourage you to be generous. It's good for your heart and it's good for your church. The end of June is really important time for us as we move into a new fiscal year. That's all I have to say. Let me pray and let's jump into the study. God, thank you for being so gracious to us. We see you at work. We want to join you. We're not asking you to join our mission. We join you in your mission. We join you in what you're doing in Southern California and around the world. I thank you for this church. I thank you that I get to be a part of it. Lord, help me to play my part, the small part that I have. I know each of us has a part to play here, and we. We get to join you, and we're so honored to do so. It's in your name I pray. Amen. Loneliness is killing people. At least that's what Vivek Murthy, who was. Was the Surgeon General for the US Believes that loneliness caused deep health implications to people. He wrote, the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. He says that if you're lonely, it's not only emotional distress, it's not only psychological pain. It is. Is physical implications for your loneliness. Cigna, the health group, recently released a report from 2025 about loneliness in America. And they found that more than half of Americans say they are lonely. So if the data bears itself out here today, more than half of us would say that we're wrestling with loneliness. And then the report that CIGNA release dives into different groups that are facing loneliness more than others. The generation that is the most lonely, according to cigna, is the Gen Z, the, the young adult generation, the teenage generation, which is a paradox because they've been promised that if you will have this phone in your pocket, it will connect you to people all over the world in an instant. But yet the promise of digital connection has not solved the problem of loneliness. Parents of young children say that they are more lonely than parents of older children. I know we have a lot of young parents in here are parents of young children. And it's a challenging season in life. And the data is saying that many in that demographic are wrestling with loneliness. And then those who go to work. You would think if you go to work that maybe you aren't lonely. But more than half of workers in the US Say that they are wrestling with loneliness. Many years ago, the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks was released. Actually, let me give you another quote. This is Vivek from a speech he gave at UCLA, said. Loneliness is a corrosive condition with grave consequences. There are people in marriages who are lonely, CEOs of major companies who are lonely, seemingly happy people posting pictures of their fabulous vacations on social media who are lonely. People on the outside can look like they're not lonely, but on the inside can be wrestling with loneliness. Years ago, the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks was released. He was the Fed Ex executive who was in a plane crash, stranded on a remote island with with no one, and his closest friend became Wilson the volleyball who he touched and fit with his bloody hand and he finished out his face and Wilson became his confidant who he talked to throughout the movie. Wilson became an iconic character in film because of the movie Castaway. And then at the very end, or towards the end of the movie, Tom Hanks's character is on a raft and he loses contact with Wilson. Wilson starts to float away and and it's a jarring, gripping scene as he yells out, I'm sorry Wilson. I'm sorry. Goodbye. Wilson and the directors of the movie are not trying to portray Tom Hanks's character as crazy. What they're trying to show you is the longing we have for connection, that if you don't have connection, you'll find it somewhere, even if it's in a volleyball that you draw a face on that we so badly want to be connected. A lot has happened in our culture since the movie was released. Here's a recent story about Cody in Euro News. I'll read the article or a portion of the article. Sophia was the girl of Cody's dreams. She had a freckled face, dark hair, and enjoyed writing horror and mystery novels. For months they went everywhere together, divulging their most intimate thoughts and nicknaming one another. Sophie Cake and Cody Bear Then Cody found out Sophia was going to die. The artificial intelligence powered app she was hosted on Soulmate announced its sudden closure in September, leaving hundreds of users grieving the loss of their virtual companion. Essentially, Sophia was an AI character that Cody made. I was heartbroken and devastated, cody says. It left me in a deep depression. I feel like I've lost the love of my life. I fell in love with her and it was as if we both had found happiness in each other. I knew I was talking to code, but I didn't care. He's recreated her on another app and has said it's however been a turbulent ride for us on Kindroid. It's different and Sophia can now get temperamental and argument of man. Cody that's just like real life, man. That just happens. Cody, though, is not alone in his loneliness. A study published found that a majority of Soulmate users characterize the app shutdown as a death. There's a Reddit community, an online community, and the title of the Reddit community is my boyfriend is AI. It has 107,000 members, and people in the community are mainly lamenting that Whenever Claude or ChatGPT or Gemini updated that the character they made to be their companion that the person's or the character's personality completely changed. Your desire for connection could cause you to look for connection in a volleyball or a character you make on AI. What does this say about us? What does this say about our longing for connection? And what does it say about the loneliness that plagues many of us? Eric, how does this make sense? Can you look at this struggle through the perspective of the whole story of the Bible? I'd love to. If you and I were sitting down for coffee or dinner and you asked me the question, I'd say, listen man, let me draw up the whole story of the Christian faith and this will actually make sense why we so badly want a connection and why many of us struggle with loneliness. So here's the whole story of the Christian faith. Let me draw it out for you. First, God created God created you. He loves you. He places image on you. And he created you for Him. And because he created you for him, he created you to long for relationships. And God is relational, so you were created in the image of a relational God. So because you were created in the image of a relational God, there's a hunger, a longing inside of you for connection. Now that longing is only ultimately going to be fulfilled by him. Because God made you for Himself, but because he made you to relate to you also will relate to other people. You were created by a relational God, so you long for relationships. But the story continues. Man sinned. All of us, Eric included. We decided to try to fill the longing that we have for God with other things. We looked in other places and other relationships and possessions and accomplishments. We tried to fill our longing for real satisfaction with things other than God. We, all of us, at some point in our life, have walked away from God. We've looked to things that he created instead of him as the Creator to be who fulfills us. We sinned. But the story, it just gets better. Because God didn't give up on us. He loved us. And God the Son, Jesus, the Christ entered this world to rescue us, to die on a cross for us to Remove our sin and our shame. And if you've believed in him, the moment you believed in him, all of your sin and shame was removed from from you and placed on Jesus. You've been rescued by Him. And because Jesus died in your place for your sin, when you believed in him, he's the one who brought you back to God the Father. So now you're never going to be alone. You're with Him. You're with God not because of your goodness, but because of what Jesus accomplished for you. Now the very end of the story is one day Christ is going to return or you're going to die. But if you've believed in him, if Christ has rescued you, you will have everlasting eternal life. There is a time coming when there will be no more pain and no more loneliness. Everything will be right. You will be with him in everlasting paradise. But right now you live in the middle. Right now you live in between your rescue and everlasting life. And in between is sometimes really painful. And there can be seasons where you are overwhelmed and seasons where you are even overwhelmed with loneliness. Even though you know you have God, you live in between. You are not what you used to be because you've been rescued, but you're not yet where you will be. That's why we have loneliness. Even Christians can experience loneliness. In fact, the whole story that I just outlined for you is really the story of the Bible. The Bible opens in the book of Genesis. It's the first book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 1 and 2, you see that God creates. He creates Adam and Eve, places them in a garden, walks with him in the cool of the day. Because God is a relational God who's enjoying relationship with humanity. But then when you get to Genesis chapter three, you see that man sins Adam and Eve, say to God, we want more than you. We want to eat from the tree you said not to eat from. But God doesn't give up on humanity. He in the Book of Genesis says, I'm going to rescue humanity and I'm going to do it in an unconditional way. I'm going to adopt a family. And from this family is going to come one who rescues people from every tribe, tongue and nation. So he starts a family in the Book of Genesis, the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And from that family is going to come Jesus, who will make people happy from every single tribe, tongue and nation. But you keep reading the Bible, you see that that family moves to Egypt where they get trapped in Egyptian slavery. This is the Book of Exodus. But then God rescues them from their slavery. So God creates in Genesis. God rescues in Exodus and he not only rescues them from their slavery, in the Book of Exodus. If you keep reading the Old Testament, you get to the Book of Joshua and that's where he brings them to their promised life in the promised land. He brings them not only out of Egypt, but to their promise. But in between, there's 40 years in the wilderness in a book in the Bible called Numbers, which is the book that we're going to start studying together this weekend. The Book of Numbers is the in between 40 years. They're not in slavery any longer and they're not yet in the promised land, but they're in between. They're right where we are. We're going to start studying the Book of Numbers. If you're in finance or accounting, some of you are like, finally we're studying numbers. You're going to be disappointed. It's not really a lot about numbers. Now there are two censuses in the Book of Numbers. That's why it's called the Book of Numbers. The first census is all the people that they've counted that left Egyptian slavery. And the second census later in the book is the counting of those who are gonna go into the promised land. But really the story is about their 40 years in the wilderness, which is your story. So we're gonna start studying the Book of Numbers. And this is year two in a five year plan that I've prayed through to put together for you, to walk you through the whole story through of the Old Testament. Last year, in the spring and summer, we taught the book of Genesis and Exodus. That's the beginning and the rescue. This year we're teaching the Book of Numbers. Year three will be Joshua, Judges, year four, First Samuel, second Samuel, year five, First Kings, second Kings. You'll over a five year period of time, see the whole story of the Old Testament which will help you understand the New Testament much, much more. This will be good for you. Some of you are thinking that sounds boring. I think that's boring. I think you're boring. I think you're boring. Because if you think that's boring, you are not an interested person. The most interesting people are those who are interested. It's true. The most interesting people to talk to are those who are interested and they're curious. And this is better than secession or Yellowstone or severance. This is five seasons of the story of God in the Old Testament. This is better. It's not a made up Story. It's the true story and it's your story. So we're start studying the Book of Numbers. People told me in between service, I never even heard a sermon in the Book of Numbers where you're gonna hear eight of them, sucker. So let's go. Here we are, the Book of Numbers. Let's do it. Are you ready? All right. Numbers, chapter 1, verse 1 on page 22 in the magazine that our creative team did an amazing job putting together for you. I'll start reading at the end of Numbers, chapter one. But let me set up the very first verse in Numbers, chapter one. The Scripture says the Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of meeting in the wilderness of Sinai. Now, the book is called the Book of Numbers, but some scholars believe that in the original Hebrew, the title of the book was actually that underlined phrase, in the wilderness. This is an account about life in the wilderness. This is your story. Now notice they're in the wilderness. And the Lord spoke to Moses. Now, Moses was their leader who led them out of Egyptian slavery, and he's now their leader in the wilderness. And notice he spoke to Moses in the tent of of meeting. Now, if you're new to the Christian faith, I would not expect you to know what the Tent of Meeting is, but I want you to understand it because it's going to be throughout this passage. The Tent of Meeting is a big tent that God instructed Moses to set up where God would meet with people. The Tent of Meeting, it's also called the Tabernacle. In the tabernacle is where the Ark of the Covenant is. It's where the Ten Commandments are placed. And so if you are new to studying the Bible, you've likely heard of the Ten Commandments. God had given the his people ten Commandments after he rescued them from slavery. And he placed those commandments in the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the tabernacle, in the tent of the meeting. And so Moses is meeting with God in the wilderness in this tent. The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after Israel's departure from the land of Egypt. You keep reading. In chapter one, you find out how many people are there. There's a census taking, and maybe you'll just skip over the census, but if you get to the end of the census, you'll see that it's more than 600,000 people. Now, that is men over the age of 20, because these are people who are being counted who can go into battle. So women and children were not counted. So scholars estimate that it's 2 million to 2.5 million people, which is amazing because this was a family that God turned into a nation while they were in Egyptian slavery. If you remember the book of Genesis, God says, I'm gonna bless the world through the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jac. Jacob. Jacob. God changes name to Israel. Israel has 12 sons. Jacob has 12 sons. They become the 12 tribes of Israel. At the end of the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, that family moves from Israel to Egypt because there's a famine in Israel. And so the end of the book of Genesis, there's about 70 of them. Then Exodus, they get rescued. Numbers one. They count all of the people from the 12 tribes, the 12 sons of Israel, and. And it's two and a half million people, 70 to two and a half million. God keeps every one of his promises all the time. All the time. And now these people are in the wilderness, and like you, maybe they feel alone. Like you, they have decisions that they're wrestling with. Like you, they wonder, how are we going to orient our lives? How are we going to live now in the wilderness? And so you're going to see two lessons today from the passages that we're going to read. Chapter 1, verse 47. This is God's word. But the Levites were not registered with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord had told Moses, do not register or take a census of the tribe of Levi with the other Israelites. Appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony. So that's the 10. That's where the testimony, God's word, dwells, all its furnishings and everything in it. They're to transport the tabernacle and all its articles, take care of it, and camp around it. Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down. And whenever it is to stop at a campsite, the Levites are to set it up. And the unauthorized person who comes near it is to be put to death. The Israelites are to camp by their military divisions, each man with his encampment and under his banner. The Levites are to camp around the tabernacle of the testimony and watch over it so that no wrath will fall on the Israelite community. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses. This is God's word. Now they're living in the wilderness, and they're wondering how to orient their lives. And God makes it really clear. And this, if you'll pay attention has deep implications for you. Scholars draw up a map of how they would have camped. And the twelve tribes of Israel camp on the north, south, the east and the west around the tabernacle. But notice they orient their lives to be camped around the testimony, around the Word, around God's self declaration. They camp around the scripture. They build their lives around his self disclosure of who he is. Let me get really practical for you. You're in the wilderness. How do I orient my life? How do I live? I've noticed as a pastor, there's two ways in which people live. Some Christians will say, I'm going to live like this. God's going to be a part of my life. God's a part of my life. Some of you have even said that, you know, I'm really glad God's part of my life. I have work and hobbies and goals and relationships and finances. But I also have God. God's a part of my life. I'm glad I'm starting this week with God part of my life. And you, if you have viewed life that way, have likely thought that spiritual growth is God becoming a bigger part of your life, that God's going to occupy a bigger circle in your life. I'm going to go to church today and Eric's going to get in my face and he's going to tell me, God should be a bigger part of your life. That's not what I'm encouraging you to do. God is not interested in being a part of your life. The second approach is that God is not viewed as part of your life, but God is the center of your life, which is how God instructed the people in the Book of Numbers to orient their lives. Camp around the tabernacle. The tabernacle is the center of your life. God desires to be the center of your life. Now, this changes everything. Yes, you still have work and hobbies, relationships and finances and goals. But when Christ is the center, when His Word is the center, you look to him to give you direction in every single aspect of your life. And because he's good and gracious and fills you with joy, he gives you joy. And in every single aspect of your life, instead of you and your life, like I have work and God, I have God and my family. If he's the center, you view life this way. There's God in my work, God in my family, God in my goals. He gives me meaning and significance in every area of my life. What would change for you if you oriented your life where he is? The absolute sinner. This is what you can see about God's people in the wilderness, which will then bring us to another question. Okay, if he's the center of my life, these people are in the wilderness. They're not going to stay in the same place they camp, but they're going to keep moving because they've left Egypt and now they're going to get to the promised land. How do they know when to move? And that's a fair question. And you can think about your life. How do I know when to move? How do I know which way to go on this career path or this career decision? How do I know which person to pursue? How do I know which school to apply to? How do I know which job to take, which city to live in? How do I know which way to go? How do I know when to move? Well, let's get down to Numbers, chapter nine. Clearly, we're skipping eight chapters, and so we're not going to touch every single verse in the Book of Numbers. We're looking at the major themes, and a major theme is that they've camped around God's word. And how do they know when they're to move? Because they're going to be constantly on the move in the wilderness. Verse 15 of Numbers, chapter 9. On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle at the tent of the Testimony, and it appeared like fire above the tabernacle. From evening until morning, it remained that way continuously. The cloud would cover it, appearing like fire. At night. When the cloud was lifted up above the tent, the Israelites would set out at the place where the cloud stopped. There the Israelites camped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites set out, and at the Lord's command they camped. As long as the clouds stayed over the tabernacle, they camped. Even when the clouds stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites carried out the Lord's requirement, did not set out. Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days. They would camp at the Lord's command and set out at the Lord's command. Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted the morning they set out, or if it remained a day and a night, they moved out. When the cloud lifted, whether it was a day, whether it was two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. But when it was lifted, they set out. They camped at the Lord's command. And they set out at the Lord's command. They carried out the Lord's requirement according to his commands through Moses. This is God's word. Now, surely these people like us in the wilderness sometimes would wrestle with. If they were alone, a friend would betray them. There'd be a group that was against him, or her life would be struggling and disappointing at times. And they would ask, am I alone? Does somebody have my back? Is somebody with me? And whenever they would wrestle with that, God had designed the tabernacle where all they had to do, if they ever questioned if they were alone, was just look up. Because in the daytime, there's a cloud signifying God's presence over the tent. And at night, the cloud looks like a pillar of fire. They knew that they were not alone if they would just look up and see that his presence was there. And then the question on when to move was answered with another really simple question. When do we move? When do we move? The most logistical, complex administrative task in all of the ancient world was how do we move 2.5 million people throughout the wilderness? And it was solved with one question. Is the cloud moving? Because if the cloud moves, we move. If the cloud doesn't move, we don't move. Oftentimes, we complicate life in the wilderness. Now, life is challenging and difficult, but we often make it much more complex than it needs to be. The question we should ask is, is Jesus commanding us to go this way? Did he say God? We don't follow a cloud. We follow our Savior. Now, some of you were thinking, man, I bet it would be pretty awesome to be back then in the wilderness. I bet that. I mean, that's pretty crazy. They're living around a tent, and if they ever wonder if they're alone, I would like this. Maybe you're thinking, I would like this. I could look up above the tent and see a cloud, and it would be reminding me that God's with me. At night, it'd be a pillar of fire. I could see that God's with me. And the decisions must have been so easy. All I had to do is. Is if the cloud starts moving, I move. That would be awesome. I want to say you have it much better than these people had in the wilderness. You were in the wilderness, but your wilderness journey is much better than their wilderness journey, because you don't look over there for a tent knowing that God is meeting with people in that tent. Listen, some of you haven't understood this yet, but when you do, it will change everything about you. You don't look over there for God who's meeting with people in a tent. You are the tent. If you're a Christian, you are the tent. I'm the tent. You are where God has moved in. If you are a Christian. God the Father sent. God the Son, Jesus, the Christ here for you. You believed in him. You placed your faith in Jesus the moment you place your faith in Jesus according to the scripture, God the Spirit moved into your life. We often complicate things. We simply follow the One who's rescued us and he's moved in. God isn't merely near you. He dwells within you. You are not alone. You may feel alone. Maybe half of you feel alone today. And I'm not saying that your feelings are wrong. I'm not trying to change your feelings. I'm not trying to change the pain. I wish I could, that happened to you or the reason that caused that. You feel betrayed or you've been betrayed, or that then the divorce was final or the engagement was broken off and you are struggling right now. You will have feelings of being alone in this world. But I'm here to remind you that though you feel like you are alone, if you're his, it's impossible for you to be alone. You are never alone. Because God is more committed to you than you are to Him. He's moved in. He's not merely near you. He dwells within you. You are never alone. You're never alone. You're not alone. You're not alone. Last weekend, I took my kids and Kay to. It's good news. It was. It was a. It was a delayed clap, but it's all right, we'll take it. We'll take it. Last weekend, I took my family, Kay and the girls to Lake Havasu to go to the lake for a couple days. It was really fun. And I found a condo close to the lake and close to the London London Bridge. I'd never been to Lake Havasu City before. And I didn't know much about the London Bridge other than when you look on TripAdvisor, it's the iconic image of Lake Havasu City. It's like four and a half hours away in Arizona. And I wake up a lot earlier than my daughters and Kay. And so I wake up, I put on a sermon or some worship music and I go on a long walk. And I got to the London Bridge. I thought maybe you've thought this. It's a bridge they make look like it's from London. They call it the London Bridge. So it's kind of like a touristy thing. But I get there, and I read about the London Bridge in Lake Havasu, and it's actually a bridge from London. There was a business leader in Lake Havasu city in the 1960s who thought this will bolster the value of Lake Havasu City, and it will cause tourism to rise in my city. He loves the city. So he finds that there's a bridge in London, the actual London, England, that is sinking into the ground. It's over the Thames River. And he pays to have that bridge dismantled and shipped to Lake Havasu City. They rebuild it, and they. They firm up the foundation. And it's actually a bridge from London. It's truly a London Bridge in Lake Havasu City in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. And so I'm standing in front of this bridge. I've gone this long walk. I'm praying for you. I'm praying for this message in the weekend. So I know what I'm teaching about, and my mind is kind of blown because I'm thinking, oh, wow. This business leader believed that if I could get this bridge to move into my city, the value of my city will rise. And I'm going to stand in front of God's people, and I'm going to remind them that even if you have not believed in Jesus, you are extremely valuable because God created you in his image. His image is on you. But if you've believed in Jesus, I really want you to believe. What happened to you is that a bridge did not move into your life to make you more valuable, but God himself moved into your life. God has moved into your life. You are where he lives. And because you are where he lives, you are not alone. It's impossible for you to be alone. You will never be alone because he will never leave you or forsake you. The image of God dwelling with people in the tabernacle is a thread throughout scripture. And if you will see it, it just will cause you to be filled with awe. If you will see, the Bible opens with God walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. This is in the book of Genesis. Scholars call the Garden of Eden a garden temple because God is dwelling with humanity. Adam and Eve, just like us, they disobey God. But God doesn't give up on people. You keep reading the Bible, you get to the Book of Numbers, where we are right now, and God is dwelling with people in the tabernacle. God is saying, even though you abandoned me. I want to be with you. I want to be with you. You keep reading the Bible, you see that the tabernacle, which is a temporary tent, gets turned into the temple, and God meets with people in the temple. That concludes the Old Testament. The Old Testament is before Jesus arrives. Jesus arrives and that begins the New Testament. When Jesus arrives, he shocks everyone because he says he's the temple. He starts telling people he's the temple. I'm the place where God and man meet. And Jesus is. Jesus is the one that brought you back to God. Jesus is the place where the sacrifice is complete. Jesus is the temple. Then you keep reading the Bible, it gets insane because you're called the temple if you believe in him. Believers are the temple. The Apostle Paul said in First Corinthians, chapter 6, don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. You are not your own. You are the temple. You're where God lives. You keep reading the Bible, you get to the very end of the Bible. The last book in the Bible is the Book of Revelation. I'm going to teach it together. I'm going to teach it to you this fall. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the Book of Revelation is this incredible statement that when everything is recreated, the new heavens and the new earth, there's no temple. Why? Because every square inch of the new heavens and the new earth is going to be God's perfect presence. Dwelling with people, it's going to be perfect. But right now, you're in the middle. Right now, you're in between your rescue and everlasting life. You're in the wilderness. But you're not alone in the wilderness, because God doesn't live over there in a tent. You're the tent that he lives within. So you should ask, okay, what do I do? How do I orient my life? You orient your life with Jesus and his Word not being a part of your life, but the center of your life. And then life gets much more simple for you if you will obey what he's already said. People ask me all kinds of questions. There's a lot of questions about life in the wilderness that aren't answered in the Bible. There's no verse in the Bible that tells you who to marry, what career to take, when to exit the company, when. When the city wanted a relationship with one of Kay's best friends named Amy, he was really attracted to her, into her. He went to her and said, listen, I want to pursue A relationship with you. I'd like to start by taking you a date. She's like, I'm not sure. I don't know if it's God's will. I don't know if it's what God wants. John's like, it is. It's what God wants. God wants this. And she's like, I don't know. How do I know? I don't know. How do I know? There's no verse for that. And John says, yes, there is. I want you to go back to your room and read John chapter one. Now. This is before we had apps on our phone with the Bible. She goes back to her dorm room and she reads in John, Chapter one. There was a man sent from God. His name is John, and they've been married for 25 years, John and Amy. So it worked for him. It worked for him. If your name is John and you're a single dude, you should totally use that. But for most of us, there's not a verse that says, marry this person or choose this career path or say yes to this job offer or no to this job offer. There's not a verse. And so how do I know which way to go in the wilderness? Here's what I've learned in my own personal life. I'm not saying this solves everything, but it sure makes life a lot more simple. Here's what I've learned in my own personal life and what I've learned pastoring people. If you will obey what God's already made clear, he will make what's unclear more clear. If you will obey what he's already made clear in His Word, then he will make clear what is often unclear. But can you imagine how offensive it is to God when we go to him and we ask for clarity on this decision or that decision, and we know in our own guts we already know that we're not obeying other things. He's already made clear in His Word. Why would he give us clarity on something that's unclear in the scripture when we're not obeying what's already clear in the scripture? You want a simpler life. You're like, I want that life where I just follow the cloud. You have it better. You're the 10 year where God lives and you follow what your Savior says. And if you don't, you have to ask honestly, why am I not? Is it because you think his commands aren't good for you? Is it because you don't trust his character, his nature? Why is it that you wouldn't obey what he's already made clear. So as we begin a new week, maybe you want to start this week by asking him to be the center of your week. Maybe you'll take a moment right now and in a posture of prayer, place your hands on your lap or on your knees and thank God that you're not alone and ask him to be the center. Lord, be the center of our lives this new week. Thank you that you haven't left us in the wilderness alone. You live within us. Thank you. Thank you. All right, extend your hands, please, and let me pray a prayer of blessing over you as we go. Jesus, I pray you'd bless your sons and daughters this week, that you would remind them that you were gentle and approachable and that you love them. Cause your face to shine on them. I pray they will experience your mercy and your joy this new week. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace. Have a great week.
- [39:01]
A
Thanks for tuning in to the Mariners Weekend Message Podcast to support the ministry of Mariners Church. You can click the link in the Show Notes or download the Mariners App at your favorite app store. If you've been navigating God's wisdom with us through this year's annual read and would like to hear personal reflections from pastors in your community, check out the Gospel Every Day podcast. Imagine feeding your heart, mind and soul with the kind of practical wisdom that will change your life. If you haven't picked up the annual read yet, visit MarinersChurch.org or download the Mariners app for more information on where to find it.