EquipHer 2019 | Shane Willard | Session 1

oh it's good to be here with you so good it's an honor and privilege to be here with you with my friend Sam and Cathy Munk and Bruce and Helen and Wayne and Libby you guys are just awesome I love the equip and I can't wait to share this with you tonight and go on this journey for the next for the next 24 hours we're gonna go on a journey I've got three sessions and they all interlock with each other tonight I'm gonna do something very very special and then tomorrow I'm and explore two stories from my favorite character in the Old Testament I think she's the bravest person maybe in the whole Bible but definitely in the Old Testament to me and she just happens to be a woman and I can't wait to share her story with you and hopefully we'll find ourself in it we we don't want to just learn the stories we want to ask what happened and what is happening in me right now and what do we need to do about it we don't just want to believe things we want to allow these things to fundamentally shift the way we see everything that happens after it and so we want these things to be event 'el in nature so I can't wait to take this journey with you one quick thing on our resource table that's out in the entrance foyer there after these sessions and then tomorrow we have CDs DVDs USBs direct downloads every packet now has its own individual USB as well if you're wondering why we carry that stuff around with us it's because we make a lot of money from it okay and the reason we do that is we live with a conviction that we're not simply called to go to heaven when we die we are called to say yes to the infinite possibilities that the risen Christ has for us to say to bring heaven any place we see Hell here so a hundred percent of the profit we make from that we give to the poor and the afflicted we have three orphanages in China that look after children with mental disabilities two in Hanyang one in Changsha we also have a rescue I'm in Cape Town that gets girls out of sex trafficking but we don't just do that we get them off drugs high school educated and job trained so we can break the part cycle poverty and Cape Town flats there's a couple ways to do that one is I could show you very sad pictures and take up an offering which is manipulative and terrible and I hate that right so I won't do that what but the way we run our ministry is I run every all my administrative cost all the plane tickets all salaries all that kind of stuff comes from love offerings and honorariums and what we do is we give away what comes in let me just remove all let me remove all manipulation because I hate manipulation okay on March 1st we gave what we intended to give on April 1st we will give again what we intend to give we have an amount that requires us great faith to believe for and I mean great faith it's not a small amount and we give it on the first of every month because we wouldn't tell orphans in China wait to see if they buy that's ridiculous we give it and then if over the course of the month if we make more than that then we make it up and if we don't then we just eat it it's okay so they're gonna be fine no matter what but you can participate and what we're doing out there and you can you can help us with that all right so I want to talk to you tonight about I want to reclaim the beauty of a particular metal for that we find in Scripture all language about God is metaphorical because it's limited so this is why you find the writers of the Bible using all kinds of different metaphors like in one place he's a lion in another place he's a lamb in one place he's the son of God in another place he's the son of man in one place he's prophet another place he's priest in another place he's King in one place he's a carpenter in another place he's a rabbi and in another place he's a guy that likes fishing now so so we have all of these metaphors that help us connect with that and I want to just talk about one of those metaphors that that might help us with our with our walk with God I want to talk about one of those metaphors that might help us in our relationship with God and that metaphor is is this idea that we are the Bride of Christ I don't want to own a dovetail off of one of the songs that they were saying about how God is so desperately in love with you now this is a metaphor that the social and demographical dynamics of the room because this is a room full of women this is a much easier message to preach that she if I would never go to a Men's Conference and say God wants to make you his bride it's a too abstract men are like I think I'm gonna pass on that I don't I don't think I want that to happen right right but but for women it's like okay yeah the bride that the Bride of Christ and so the way you take something so abstract and give it some feet legs and help us cut it is to put concrete things on it because here's the problem with defining God relationally here's the problem is we tell people what you need is a relationship with God what you need is a relationship with God and then of course people reasonably say well what's God like and if we're not careful depending on who they listen to we describe a mentally ill human being right like we describe someone who keeps track of every mistake you ever made he keeps score he expects you to tell him everything you did wrong before you go to sleep at night and ask sorry for that and then he'll be mad if you don't until you raise your hand and come to an altar then he'll love you again this person is mentally ill right and so and I grew up like that I grew up in a hard sort of situation when it came to God my life was good but but I grew up in the south in an old school itself in America right not Invercargill right I grew up in in the south in America I came up in an old-school Pentecostal Holiness situation I don't even know if that exists here let me define how old-school it was my grandmother died at 92 having never cut her hair in her whole life on her deathbed she told my mom my mom's name is Phyllis she said Phyllis please if they have to rush me into surgery please don't let them cut my hair I don't want to face Jesus with cut hair alright and this is someone this is someone who had a very harsh view like what kind of God judges you for your choice of hairstyle evidently this one all right so my grandmother like my grandmother had that sort of situation going on like she never cut her hair in her life never wore makeup in her life never wore jewelry in her life never wore slacks in her life never went to a movie in her life as a matter of fact if I was going to a movie she would pray the entire time I was in there that Jesus would not return while I was in the movie theater because Jesus would never go into a movie theater to get me out if you looked at a bottle of wine you could burn in hell for all of eternity but you could hate black people that was okay such a weird situation odd and that world every time you send god left every time every time every time you send i remember i was the last single grandchild and so as i moved in with my grandmother because it made her feel safer and she cooks it was a goodie was a win-win she cooked for me I made her feel safe and I used to take her on dates you know so I'd take her out on dates and I and I'd talk it up you know I'd walk into a restaurant and she's like 85 you know like hey everybody look at my hot date you know my granny be like shame be quiet I was messing with her what dive I said it was her 85th birthday now I showed up and I said credit guess what I've got a date plan for you it's a special day we're gonna have a makeover day for your 85th birthday she said what's that I said full-on makeup haircut highlights earrings jewelry the whole lot we're doing it today baby and she said oh no babe I'd hate to send myself to hell maybe someone else - I said granny how would you send anybody else to hell she said well I'd hate to give somebody a lustful thought [Laughter] it's like you're 85 there's a little less fulfilled about you in years I mean I accidentally saw her naked once she looked like a hound dog at a shower cap she coulda wore a bikini to a sex addicts conference he cured him and she's worried about it like nothing was in the right place now here's the thing here's the thing right would you agree with me that that's bondage when an 85 year old woman is scared of Hell for giving a man a lustful thought because her dress might not be long enough that was my world see that was my world and they did they did crazy things to us I'm sure it was psychological abuse right they they tell seven year-olds hey listen listen boys and girls listen you better tonight before you fall asleep you better remember all the bad things you did and you better tell Jesus about it because if you fall asleep without asking Jesus for forgiveness and Jesus comes back he's gonna leave you in the house all alone and take your parents and you're gonna be by yourself no right right am I the only one old enough to remember this right and you go oh man she'd wake up I'm never waking up at 2:00 in the morning scared to death cause by myself you know and I'd say what do you do what do you do you go make sure your parents are still in but it never occurred to me that they were gonna be left to their sinful as well you know I see you you go sneak in your parents room at 2:00 in the morning you know to make sure they're still in bed which led to a few awkward encounters you know mommy and daddy are just wrestling like it's weird you know and so here's what happened here's what happened is you had to get saved every week every week of your life had to get safe this is why these churches had 50 people but at their national conference they reported 5,000 salvations that's how that worked is she just everybody got saved every week I still remember the same little old lady with her head pulled up in a bun come here my chai so I would get saved every Sunday every single Sunday I get saved but I went to an independent fundamental premillennial Baptist school now and an independent fundamental Baptists school you cannot lose your salvation you pray a magic prayer once when you're three and you're good right but you could tick God off and you could do something called rededicate your life so we had chapel in school on Monday Wednesday and Friday say here's what I would do I would get saved every Sunday every Sunday of my life I would get saved and then on Monday I would go up and rededicate my life and then on Wednesday I would rededicate my rededicated self and then on Friday I would rededicate my rededicate itself and then on Sunday I would get resave and just hope Jesus didn't return on Tuesday Thursday or Saturday lesson I'd be tormented and you described these kinds of things and the reason we're all laughing about this is we've all heard that we've all we all have those images but what kind of you would have to be mentally ill to what to have a relationship with someone who would treat you like that you'd have to be absolutely insane yourself and so I want to recapture the beauty of a walk with God I want to recapture the beauty of what this is because the story is much better than that and if that was in any way the story you grew up with like it's one thing to say gods like your father that's fine unless your father was a lunatic and then we need to read we need to reimagine what that might be right and so I want to I want to reimagine this idea of a close relationship with God I want to tell you a more beautiful story I want I want to do it that way in Exodus chapter 20 um this this is the start of something called that we call the ten commandments and this is how it starts it says and God spoke all these words saying I am the Lord your God God spoke all these words saying I am the Lord your God so so the Ten Commandments actually starts with an affirmation not a condition it actually starts with a I love you before any of this I love you before any part of your journey I want to start with the idea that I am who I'm gonna be to you I'm gonna be kind I'm gonna be I'm gonna be loving The probe's is for us to understand this we understand how they got to that point but they were standing at a mountain called Mount Sinai and God was giving this to Moses to come down to explain to these people now these people were slaves they know nothing but slavery their entire life the question is is how did they get there well the way it the way it started was there's this guy named Abraham and Abraham's the Sun worship her from Earth in ancient Sumeria he worshiped the Sun during the day and the moon during the night right a real sort of godly guy right but he was going with what he understood he thought God lived up in the sky and if you walk out during the day and you look up in the sky what is the most powerful thing in the sky the Sun but the Sun sets so the logic was the Sun must be the God of the day and the moon must be the god of the night that was how the logic went so God shows up to Abraham in this context that says hey I am El Shaddai I am God Almighty I love the grace of God with Abraham he doesn't show it with too much he shows up and meets him right where he is Sun Moon stars that's a bunch you got to be wondering who's in charge of all that that's me he introduces himself to Abraham as El Shaddai and Abraham he says oh great at least you're talking what do you expect from me he says well I'd like you to pick up that rock and circumcise yourself which is an odd command like gods first command was pick up a rock swing hard don't miss that is weird Abraham's ninety have you ever seen a 90 year old man like his hand shakes his eyesight's not real good you know it's like hey Betty say a prayer for me sweetheart is gonna be interesting like this is just weird it's just an odd thing Abraham ends up having an encounter with El Shaddai where he realizes you don't have to kill children anymore you can kill animals this was a really good day like when you're the first person to get the idea hey let's stop killing children to please God and start killing animals that is a really good day is that a good idea or a bad idea that's a really good flippin idea is that a word from God you better believe that's the Word of God is that the final Word of God on the topic no the final word of God's the risen Christ but that was a giant leap in the right direction right Abraham Abraham has a son named Isaac who has a son named Jacob who has 12 children and eleven of those children sell their brother into slavery in Egypt only to later need him during a famine and it depends on him to save their life and he does he forgives them and he gives them a piece of land and this family starts procreating and I mean at a hefty level too they start having babies after babies after babies after babies after babies after babies after babies right to the point where they overpopulated Egypt so the Pharaoh puts them in slavery four hundred and thirty years later a guy named Moses comes along and is used by God to liberate them from slavery into freedom by walking through something called the Red Sea and they end up at Mount Sinai now you got to get the picture here this family that has no nothing but slavery for 430 years yet they tell everybody our God is God Almighty can you see the problem with that we serve the most powerful God yeah but you're enslaved bro you might be following the wrong dude right like we Egyptians worship raw and we're in charge of you doesn't that lead you to think that Rawls more powerful like this would have been a big traumatic sort of experience and these sort of people they're their slaves they know nothing and Moses says wait here I'm gonna come down and God's gonna explain what he expects from us to have relationship now what are the possibilities of this lots and some of them are scary what if he goes back to demanding child sacrifice again you don't know what if he demands us to cut ourselves what if all this is happening what is this God gonna be like what's he gonna be what's he gonna be about is it should I be terrified should I be embracing this what's going on they're not they're not really unlike us in the sense that when someone first invites us to have a relationship with God we tend to ask questions like well what's he like what's he expect from us well what is he gonna ask of me how's he gonna treat me when I disappointed because I know I will at some point what's gonna happen there and so I want to show you I want to define this that this thing that gets them there um and I think we're going to find ourself in this let me show you five words these are five words that um yeah there we go here's the five words and these are Hebrew words and I want us to learn them and because these are the five stages of a Hebrew wedding so what I'm going to do is is it is I'm going to share each one of them and then put concrete English examples around it but first I'm going to teach you the words the first word is called lock ah now with some go all blacks gussto okay I want everybody to say this with me ready go lah ah alright it's very very cool and I want you to forget it so let's try that again ready go lock ha all right so that's step one step two is called sagu lah with that same amount of guster let's try that again ready go so goola goola exactly that's very good the step three is called mikvah let's try that ready go mikvah let's try it again mikvah but step four is called ketubah let's try that ready go ketubah and in step five is called foot ba all right so let's try that ready go buh-bah let's try that again just because it's fun haha alright so the five stages of a Hebrew relationship was Lok ha sagoo la mikvah ketubah and hoof ah now let me bring it into today's world let's say I was dating someone and let's say I'll make up a name let's say her name is Susan and Susan and I are dating and we have a lot of chemistry and it's going very well we're very attracted to one another we're at that stage in the relationship where you could talk on the phone for four hours it feels like 10 minutes you know it's really cool it's really cool of course once you get past that stage and you're married for ten years a four hour conversation sounds like hell but right now a four hour conversation sounds like heaven you can't wait you might even get off where it could drive eight hours just to see her it's that right and one thing leads to another right and we start crossing certain conversations and certain things aren't so awkward and we go through one step after another that finally we sit down and have this conversation and we're like hey is this going somewhere like like is this is this actually heading somewhere meaningful or is this something we should cut off now or is this something that we're both feeling it's a sort of a weird sort of conversation like like somebody in this conversation is taking all the risk by saying I love you first right because whoever says I love you first is taking all the risk right like whoever the first person to do that why cuz you're putting everything in their response like whoever says like what did you say I love you and they go I know oh that's nice is it that's something you know what what right right so some point we cross all those lines well once we decide it's going somewhere Susan is going to be longing to hear one word from me and that word is Locke so we go out on a date and we go to the Bombay bliss Indian Palace we're I just made that up gotta go we're sitting there and she orders lamb vindaloo extra spicy and I'm thinking any woman that eat spicy vindaloo I want to spend the rest of my life with her this is my kind of woman you know and so I take her back home and I'm a gentleman you know so I walk her to her front door and I hold her by head the hands and I say Susan Locke well she could barely contain herself she's trying to control herself but she can't cuz how do you keep your hands off all of this right right because if you sleep in and drink coke you too one day can have a body like this and she's trying her best and she goes into her house she calls all of her friends or three or four best friends that she's like he said Licata me he said la cata me [Music] oh yeah he said like out of me Facebook status change he said Locka Locka means please be my own please be my own I want to make you my own would you would you be mine would you be my own let me show you this next slide this is Exodus chapter 6 group of slaves wonder what he wants with us here's what it says and I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with the net stretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment and I will take you as my the word is laka and once again these are ancient Hebrew people you didn't have to explain all that stuff I just had to explain that's wedding language this is absurd this is revolutionary stuff a God is using intimate talk see see in their world God's lived in certain temples at certain places at certain times at certain moments and if you did the right ritual at the right time in the right posture in the right place he might act on your behalf but this God is using something fundamentally different he's using wedding talk like to the slaves they would have been like we're slaves we have a lot of baggage are you talking about is God wanting to marry us are we hearing this right Moses ha ha look my own really like this book of Exodus is introducing a thought about God that had never been considered before and that is a God would want to be with you outside of ritual or temple this had never been considered ever some would call that good news this was revolutionary stuff and by the way this is an exodus so let's go back to Susan once I say lock ha to her if you could bring those five words back up for me once I say lock offer to her what word would she be longing to hear me say now so cool ah yes yes you're right you're with me because here's the thing right how long after I say lock ah does that wear off not long it wouldn't be three weeks and her friends would be like this he said ps-aguié yet does he have a commitment problem and you'd be defending me you'd be like shut up he'll say Sabula when he wants you know but deep in your heart you'd be wondering does he want to say Sabula is he having second thoughts you know so we go out on a date we go out over there by the by the port you know the Queen's Wharf or whatever it's called over there you know and we go to white and Wong's right there's just something there's just something about the way this woman carries herself and I'm thinking Susan we gotta go forward here so I take her home now hold her by the hands and I say Susan Sabula whoa she can barely contain herself she's trying not to be too excited cuz you don't wanna play all your cards at once but she can barely keep her hands off me because let's just be honest how could you possibly because if you sleep in a drink coke you too can have a body like this she runs inside she calls her four best friends and she's like he said Saguna me he said to me oh yeah he sent the girl to me facebook status change he said so cool Saguna means treasured possession now now let me and it's very positive I know in today's world what you think you own me no no it wasn't that think of it as um think of it as um special treasure it was it was like it was a positive thing it was Lockhart to like laka was would you please be my own treasured possession was a commitment from the man to the woman that not only will you be mine you'll be the most important person to my whole world but my most special prized was possession I hate to use that word now but it's it's it's in the original language but that's not what they meant by that it was more romantic than that it was more would you be my special treasure what would you do that the exes Chapter six I will make you my luck ha same group of people they're just wandering around they don't know where they're even going there's walking around the desert this is what God says to them this is Exodus 19 verse 5 now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession the word is Sabula now once again you didn't have to explain to these people they had heard Loch Awe and now he's saying Sabula god is serious and these slaves who know nothing but slavery or go is he serious is he is his gut is God using wedding talk with us this there would have been no file folder for this ever for a god now for a God to go come to my temple and kill something cut something up in the right way in the right posture and then maybe my presence will visit with one person amongst you that was normal but for a god to go lock ah so good wedding talk no no no no this they wouldn't know what to do with this it's like this is exciting and scary and terrifying and and and magnanimous all at the same time now if you could bring those five words back up laka su gula now what word would Susan be longing to hear from me again that word would be mikvah yes now I have been asked to preach this all over the world in women's conferences everywhere probably the biggest one I ever did was probably I don't know 2,700 women or something right and I've done smaller ones than that as well right so I've done some 40 people once right but doesn't matter where I'm at when I explain this and I go ha ha that means be mine the whole room is like Oh true no matter what happened in here [Laughter] when I go Sagawa means be my special treasure like it's not just be mind be the most important person to me ever right the whole room goes nell mikvah mikvah is far less romantic when I got her to her door and I said Susan mikvah she would be just as excited but it's not nearly as romantic mikvah means go wash girl you need a bath your breath is stinky Lord mm mikvah mikvah was a three-day notice mikvah was washed for three days because in three days I'm gonna ask you to marry me right I'll be taking a bath right it wasn't today in today's world the idea of you know when people get serious they're like do you think tonight's the night you think tonight's the night you see gonna pop the question tonight and and because of social media proposals have gotten to the world of the absurd like people spend deposits on houses on their proposal night that's stupid don't do that right and then there's all this one-upsmanship you know and of course the girls sort of figures it out when she shows up at a nice restaurant and a photographer is already there you know sort of odd but but but but in in Hebrew culture there was no secret - when the proposal was coming it was when I said mikvah it's three days three days sir now I'm gonna ask you to marry me so please wash it was literally this I want you to be clean so when I ask you to marry me I can touch him because in their world it was all about clean and unclean right so it was it was a III I want to be able to touch you when I asked you to marry me so please wash for three days like be ready three days is happening okay so should be ready the most extreme example in this in Scripture is the book of Esther where it says she bathed in perfume for a year before she went into her husband's chambers which I think we can all agree is a bit overkill right like it's so amazing for fume for a year walks in your president like oh girl that's a bit strong now what's you HOT you know you be there me all kinds of questions going on now Exodus chapter six latke extra chapter 19 verse 5 so gula same group of people check this out XS 19 verse 10 and the Lord said to Moses go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and have them wash their clothes mikvah and be ready by the third day what mix is God serious now this is where it would have got really scary because if someone's gonna ask me to marry them and I don't know what they're like what are they gonna expect what's happening and if you if you could if you could stretch your Bible knowledge for a second okay exits night chain verse 10 three days from now I'm gonna ask you to marry me what happens three days after X is 19 Exodus 20 it's easier than you think yep and what's the next it is 20 the 10 you know you know in Jewish culture they don't call it 10 commandments and I don't care that we do I do but they call it something I think more beautiful and profound than 10 commandments they call it a 10 word ketubah a 10 word marriage proposal yeah that's way better it's a proposal of intimate relationship if you could bring those five words back up you got la casa gula mikvah and I'm gonna take a second I'm explaining the last two in in tandem and then I'll look at it in Scripture so three days after mikvah we would get together and the proposal would happen and this is how it would happen I would sit at a table and she would sit at a table and our fathers would stand behind us for two reasons witness and wisdom because two young people don't know what marriage is they think that it'll be some certain way and you got old people standing behind you going it's actually not gonna be that right it's so because we were fixing to write a binding contraire a ketubah is a marriage contract it's a prenup it is our basic agreement of what is gonna define the rules how are we gonna treat each other how do we do this how do we do that when it went out when I worked in the counseling offices and I had to do all the premarital counseling from this megachurch one I had every premiered a couple I ever dealt with right at ketubah let's put it in writing what do you expect here what are you looking to get out of this what's acceptable what's unacceptable let's talk through it all like what are you doing especially now like in Jesus's day they died at 32 til death do us part was a bit more doable now you've got to live with them to 84 be more careful it's so here's what what happened I could put anything in the ketubah I wanted and she could put anything in the ketubah she wanted so long as we both agreed because how could two walk together unless they'd be agreed and the fathers would be there going yet that'll work yet no no no no no no so the females father is defending her against later problems the male's father is is it's helping him see wisdom in the thing and so by the time it's over the marriage proposal is is this clearly written out ketubah that was a basic agreement and by the way after you were married if you broke your ketubah in an unrepentant pattern that was called marital unfaithfulness okay so it was it was this kind of thing now once the ketubah was agreed upon and signed I would stand and she would stand tell me what you've heard this before I would face her and I would say I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be also and she would say well when are you going to come back to receive me under yourself and I would say I do not know the day or the hour but when my father approves the chamber I'll come back to receive you so be watchful and ready will you marry me right does that sound familiar right but like what Jesus is saying stuff like this people listening that what la is is God still wanting to marry us is he still interested is this what's going on singers Oh heaven I would then leave and I would prepare place for her but this is not as extravagant as you might think I've been in these places like ancient homes were seriously from here to the end of the stage wide and they were long right and so the family that all the family nobody had their own house it was a family compound and so the family storefront would be on the front street whatever your trade was and then and then the older people lived in the bedrooms up front and there would be a bedroom on each side like in my father's house are many rooms right so you got you got rooms on each side and then and then I would build an extra room on the end of the family compound for me and my new wife this is that would go and then as people died so the people up here when they died they just got moved out the door right and then you and then you would get promoted uh-huh like it's sort of like well the closer you get into the front of the house we'll sweetheart you and your day is almost done right it's this right and so I would build this room on the end of the house and then my father would approve it like oh yeah yeah no no that's what that's good that's good then I would come back and I would receive her I would say it's time it's time and we would go to the place I had prepared for the final part which is called Hopa yeah and it's sort of what you're thinking sort of so at a Hebrew wedding there was two hoop ins the first two PO was in public the second Hoopa was in private so the public Kupa never know what a hoop is it's a marriage altar like it's a like a archway or you know something you would stand on there and the extravagance of it is based on how rich your family is but but in the most rustic sense in the ancient days a prayer oopah was a prayer shawl if you if you were at Shout and and i talked about the tassels right is one of those things and what they would do is they would take four stakes it was this primitive they took four stakes and put it on the ground and they would take the four tassels of the prayer shawl and tie it and so it would create a canopy and if you remember it if you remember Scheldt not that I expect you to but the prayer shawl was called a tallit and it meant the presence of God it meant to be covered in the presence of God so what would happen is is me and my new wife would stand underneath the Hupa in the presence of God and we would do something called the salt ceremony the salt ceremony was a reading of the ketubah our promises to one another that we had already talked out and in what let me just be simple with it I would have a bag of salt she would have a bag of salt and the priest would have an empty bag and he would take her salt and my salt and mix it in the bag and then he would say this what God has joined together let no man tear asunder and what they said was was that even though sometimes divorces are necessary and they are sometimes but no matter if it's right or wrong a divorce always fills the altar with tears because you can't ever totally separate all the salt it's problem and then they would take the mixed salt and they would sprinkle it on our hands right after this I would then take her to the second Hoopa the second Hoopa what they thought this is all they did they took four stakes and put it around the marriage bed and they put the prayer shawl over the top of the marriage bed so I would take my new wife to the door of the marriage chamber and I would pick her up right like do you guys do that in New Zealand where you come it's called um taking them through the carrying through the threshold right so you you it's a good idea for something I'm for others I wouldn't recommend it he's like huh girl I'll give you a piggyback I don't know I'll try right so I would go to the door the wedding chamber and I would pick my bride up but by the way that's where we get the word rapture from the idea is to pick your bride up it's not about going somewhere else it's about being caught up into the presence of somebody like I was raptured by there but it's that it's all good okay so so I would pick her up or I would rapture her and then we would go into the wedding chamber they would shut the door and we would consummate the marriage under the Hupa while everybody waited outside they were way less ashamed of their sexuality we are and they had to be they all lived in these family compounds what like you could be real private right so they would just wait outside for us to be done and of course we're too young teenagers right so like 16 seconds later here we come out well alright there yeah it's so we would consummate the marriage under the presence of God in like like because an agreement is not agreements not legal unless there's a witness but but that's not a great spectators for it so so what they did right that what they did is they said the presence of God was the witness of the consummate it was done in a holy Hoopa that was done in a holy sort of way now these these slaves be slaves laka sagu la mikvah three days later here comes the ketubah watch this next slide and God spoke Oh these words saying I am the Lord your God interesting the 10 commandments starts out as an affirmation of love it's almost like the kindness of God is what leads us to repentance not the threat of punishment I would even go so far to say is if you're doing right things and the only reason you're doing right things is an expectation of reward or if you're not doing wrong things and the only reason you're not doing wrong things is to avoid punishment I would say there's a far more profound way to live like like wait a minute no no I am the Lord your God so you see what if what if we read the Ten Commandments as a marriage proposal because that's what it is instead of 10 rules to get God to love you what if it's 10 proofs he already does right right hey don't have any other gods before me in other words if we're gonna be married I'd like to be the only one is that okay like I'd like to be good um don't have idols in other words if we're gonna be married I'd like you to put your pictures of your old boyfriends away because to keep them as sort hurts my feelings like hey hey don't use my name in vain and by the way that's not a language issue like saying oh my god right that's probably a little distasteful we probably shouldn't do it but that's not what taking God's name in vain is actually it's not a language issue at all the word is not saw which is don't carry it it literally in Hebrew says don't carry my name in a way that disappoints the hope that rest upon it that's so much better like light in other words let me be very practical don't identify with me and then let's say this way if we're married you'll have access to our bank account don't sign cheques I wouldn't sign right oh okay let's be real practical um don't use the word God to simply be an exclamation point on your dumb idea to give an emphasis don't say God said just to make people believe you when it doesn't make any sense at all oh oh don't don't point your middle finger at the sky when someone cuts you off in traffic and then recut them off and there's your fish on your car with a bumper sticker follow me to equip [Applause] don't do that don't do that oh oh you're gonna identify with Christ Oh think about that think about that when you think about how do you treat your husband when he leaves his underwear on the floor for the 18,000 time but think about think about that before but before you treat some way and see our tendency is to go yeah but they deserve but see the gospel is this is that God does not treat people how they deserve God affirms their worth and that is different that's different be careful with people that only close the verses that tell us what we deserve cuz the whole story is is that God doesn't treat people how they deserve God treats people how they're worth Jesus says look at the flowers and birds they do nothing to deserve it but God feeds them and close them because they're worth it Christianity is not an exercise in deeming what people deserve and then executing it Christianity is an exercise of calling people out for what they're worth despite what they do deserve that's different oh oh um hey um can we have can we have one day a week where it's just us right like think about who's hearing that what was their job slaves when was their last day off minimum and this group of slaves one of the commands they hear coming down in this ketubah is hey in our new world you're commanded to take a day off no one's going oh no it's the law what no they'd be like what what we get a day off in our we have never had a day off this got this is beautiful oh oh don't kill each other think about if you're a slave how many judicial rights that they have in Egypt none that's zero the Egyptians if they wanted to kill them they killed them oh so they'd be like Oh in our new world in our new world the biggest strongest people can't kill us this is amazing we've never heard of eating like this oh don't steal from one another what what in our new world the biggest strongest people can't take our stuff I have never been so free in my life oh oh oh don't sleep with someone else's spouse really good idea right but think about it from their perspective hang on the Egyptians just raped our women anytime they wanted they just raped our women you saw in our new world the biggest strongest people can't just sleep with my wife that's forbidden this is this would be amazing a world where my life my wife and my stuff is protected this is fundamentally awesome so God speaks all these words saying I if you could bring that I am the Lord your God one backup so the three words there is an Okie Jehovah and Elohim that's the first three words of God's ketubah Aniki Jehovah Elohim now if you know anything about Hebrew you know you can say I am the Lord your God with two words jehovah elohim so that first word anarchy is not necessary it's just added it's not even it serves no function which lets us know it's important now ancient Hebrew is written in pictures not letters so every Hebrew letters a picture so every Hebrew words a comic-strip let me show you the letters Aniki okay the a is an ox head going into a yoke that's the picture ox head going into it means the authority to carry something the end is fish multiplying one it looks like a crescendo and music the CH is a hedge or a fence and the Y is an upraised hand it means to praise or submit so you've got an ox head going into a yoke you've got fish multiplying you've got a head your offense and an upraised hand so when the ancient Hebrew people heard the word an Okie here's what they heard next like your authority is multiplying inside the hedge of praise and submission God's commitment to this group of slaves was I am here to make you bigger whatever thought you might have of me making you smaller or forcing you to be a servant for no reason huh no no no no no I am committed my commitment in the ketubah to you is one word anarchy I am here to make you bigger I am here to increase your life I am here to increase your influence I am here to increase your effectiveness all of Christianity is a response to one word anarchy God has said anarchy what are we gonna do about it what are you gonna do with that what are you gonna do with God's commitment to make you bigger men this thing ends it says thou shalt not covet remember I love the way the rabbi's teaching the rabbi's say there's not Ten Commandments there's nine and then there's one reward thou shalt not covet was a reward in other words if you live by the first nine you'll never want for anything you won't have black I love that but watch what what's the what's the last what's the last word it's ketubah and then Hoopa watch what happens next time this is Exodus chapter 20 verse 18 this is the next sentence when the people saw the Thunder and the lightning awed they saw thunder and lightning and they heard the trumpet and saw the mountain and smoke they trembled with fear that is such a weird sentence how do you see thunder and it's not like he didn't know how to use the word heard it says he saw thunder and lightning heard a trumpet and saw smoke but it should say we saw lightning and smoke and we heard thunder and in trumpets but that's not what it says it says we saw thunder that is weird if you go look up that word thunder in Hebrew the word is kolay they saw coal a which everywhere else is translated voices or languages it's the same word for Moses saw the voice out of the burning bush coal a lightning there is the word glorified fire same word from Moses Singh the voice out of the burning bush the fire so here's what I have the ketubah has just happened and it says the mountain covered them in smoke Hoopa they're standing under the presence of God and they look up and they see languages inside fire what would the languages have been saying will you marry me the Talmud says that on this day in history God proposed proposed God proposed to all of creation by using 70,000 tongues of fire 1798 in Rangoon Burma an English sociologist was studying the Karen people no electricity no telephone no totally isolated group of people 1798 up a mountain in Rangoon Burma and he said who is your God and they said we serve a god named Yahveh who proposed to us thousands of years ago with tongues of fire from the sky can read more about that and Don Richardson's book eternity in their hearts amazing it's like God's always been reaching out to the whole world before anybody tried to complicate it so you married books every year on your anniversary do you celebrate it a hope today you can sort of remember at least how you used to feel right right from one day today you celebrate yourself right it's good so that's what happened here so God instituted a command he said every year on this day you've got to come together do no regular work and celebrate your anniversary and that day was called Pentecost you read about in Leviticus 16 Leviticus 23 here's the thing Pentecost is where everybody would come together to celebrate their marriage proposal and here's the thing about it right Pentecost is the only place in the whole Bible where they're commanded to bring bread made with yeast everywhere else it's no yeast but not on Pentecost it's bring leavened loaves and the priests would break the leavened loaf and then he would take oil and he would fill the leavened loaves and when he filled the leaven loafs he would say now the day of Pentecost has fully come see Pentecostals for years have said you better get an eleven out of your life for God you better get an eleven out of your life for God you better get in the Lebanon and yes get the leaven out of your life it's for the best life break it off your life but the whole point of Pentecost is oil flows through leaven God wants to inhabit you leaven and all he wants to use you leaven and all he wants to love you leaven and all issues and all flaws and all problems and all darkness and all God wants to love you leaven and all so thousands of years later it says they're all together in one Accord why because it was the day of Pentecost that's what you did they're all together in one Accord and it says when the day of Pentecost had fully come says they were standing together and the whole room covered them in smoke Hoopa and they heard the sound of a trumpet is this sounding familiar and it says they looked up and they saw languages inside fire sitting over the top of their head so the same exact thing it's happening on the same exact day just years later the only difference is this time they spoke back which is the birth of the church which is the Bride of Christ the question is this how should we then live let me just show you this one last thought it's just one less slide here and it'll be behind my friend here but you'll see it it says on that same day you're to proclaim a sacred assembly this is Pentecost it's to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come oh and when you reap the harvest of your field don't reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest leave them for the poor in a foreigner from the Lord your God in other words the only appropriate response to a God that wants to touch us is to treat people who can do nothing in return for us with graciousness dignity generosity think about Acts chapter 2 when this happened what was their first response they sold all they could make a vit to the poor why because that's what Pentecostals do Pentecostals should be the most generous people in the city not the meanest people not the weirdest people Pentecostals should be the ones so profoundly connected with a gracious God who touches us issues in all that we can't help but help someone who can do nothing in return from us because that's what God did for us that is Pentecost

Channel: Equippers Church

Views: 7,093

Rating: 4.6989245 out of 5

Keywords: Shane Willard, EquipHer, Equipher conference, Auckland, equipher 2019, Bruce Mason

Id: w5KTG1MT43U

Length: 55min 44sec (3344 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 19 2019