Open Table Conference - Paul Young - "God's Purposes"

it's been a good day thank you for being a part of it thank you for the invitation to allow us to walk around on the holy ground of your stories about two months ago Ashlyn who is in her early 20s mid-20s she walks into a cafe in Dublin she's very Irish and she's very sad her life's a mess and she can't see a way out she doesn't know if it's worth living actually I have so many great sadnesses in her world and they've all piled up on her so she goes she goes into a coffee shop thinking about all of this and while she's there she engages in a conversation with a young man who's there and they start talking and ashleen begins to unload her heart and two hours later the young man turns to her and says you know there's a woman you need to talk to her name is Esther Rhetta cop and she lives in Abbotsford British Columbia and you should contact her and I happen to have her number so Ashlyn calls Esther Rhetta cop from Dublin Ireland she calls Abbotsford British Columbia and Esther who works with a lot of broken women some of whom been trafficked and many who have been severely abused begins to have a conversation with Ashley and at the end of the conversation Ashley and says would there be any possibility that in March this March 2018 I could come to visit you for a week or so néstor looks at her calendar and smiles and says absolutely when she looked at her calendar she noticed something Ashlyn had asked if she could come right smack in the middle of something called the grand embrace now the grand embrace is a very special gathering it's kind of like this but not it's it's the same kind of heart and desire for eyes open to see and the grand embrace exists because of a story that Brad and I share that has to do with Shaq movie and I know a bunch of you have heard this how many have heard this who but not but not that many that's a good thing so let me tell you the backdrop for the Grand embrace and when they decided to make a movie and I gave up the rights to it I gave up all the rights all the creative control and people would say how could you do that what if they made a really bad movie and my response was I used to know as a modern evangelical kid missionary kid preacher's kid I used to know what God was up to and I told everybody but as the world has changed my internal world and God has become closer and more mysterious I don't have a great idea about the particulars of what God is up to most of the time except that it's always about loving someone and so I don't know what purposes of God are I don't even pretend I don't do anything thinking about outcomes it's just not a part of my world anymore I don't write for outcomes I don't create for outcomes I don't even if we're I'm planning to go somewhere I don't think about outcomes I just I just don't worry about outcomes anymore and it used to be that I needed the outcome in order to have a sense of Worth and value and significance and security and meaning and purpose and destiny and community and love but I found all of those in my relationship with the Father Son and Holy Spirit so I don't need them from outcomes and it's given me a huge amount of freedom and and since I don't know what the specific purposes of God are and there's usually not just one right there are usually layers of them and sometimes you get to see two or three of the million and a half in a particular incident I I love the mystery of it and I love the surprise of it and so when people would say what if they made a really bad movie my answer would be well if the purposes of God are better served by a crappy movie I'm in right because I don't know what the purposes of God are I know that sometimes God helps to orchestrate success as the world defines it in our lives in order to get the crap in your life to the surface so he can heal you because frankly success will bring more crap out of people than failure ever would it's a different kind of pressure you know the pressure of abuse and abandonment the pressure of poverty the pressure of war the pressure those things are like taking the bottle and just squeezing the air out of it right it's that kind of crushing pressure notoriety money platform success that's like forcing air into the bottle and blowing it up from the inside and if there is a flaw in the bottle it will blow up right through that flaw see those flaws are hidden by crushing and exposed by success hidden by crushing because you can't see it but you put air into it and it will blow out right there so sometimes success and platform and notarized all that and you watch it don't you you see it in the world of success where when the pressure starts to build it blows why because God loves us it is not willing to stand idly by while anything that is not of loves kind remains in us so be careful what you pray for that's not a warning it's just an observation so I laid down the rights to the movie I laid down the creative control I laid in fact I laid down everything and I have never for a second regretted it it was done in the flow of things that had to be figured out and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the timing was perfect and so I didn't expect to be involved at all at all and I was totally okay with that they had a period of time in order to do the movie and if they didn't do it within that time it would revert back to me and then I could decide if I wanted to do it some some other way and so it was that was kind of the thing so it was we waited for a couple years while people were working on stuff and we'd hear this and we'd hear that Oprah was might be involved in it and then we'd hear that this person might be involved in it and then I get a phone call from Lionsgate and they had secured the rights along with gillnetter who is the executive producer for Life of Pi and Marley and Me and Blind Side and they said would you would you come talk to us in Hollywood so I did and you know my guess my guess is that they wanted to meet me to see if I was going to be a problem right cuz authors can be problems because they know how to give birth to something but they don't know how to let it grow up right so they've attached their identity to it and now they're scared if it doesn't turn out the way that they need it they will lose their sense of being and so I think that's why I got the invitation so we ended up on this floor with a whole bunch of the executives including the CEO and all we did is told stories and cried a lot because they'd all read it and it had a huge impact the CEO is a Jewish man big guy gives me a big hug he says you know I got to tell you my dad who's rabbi trained loves the shack he loves it in fact we've had some of our best conversations in our life around the concepts in the shack because we recognize that God the goodness of that God there was a woman in high-level position whose son had been with whose son had taken his own life and and she was Catholic and the in that strain of of our community of faith it's a mortal sin in a if I understand historically there was a period of time in history where suicide was so present in the world that they instituted it as a mortal sin in order to stop it to try to stop it through fear of hellfire but it sort of now become entrenched you know a lot of things that you create just try to stop fear then become monsters themselves and when her son had taken his life and given it back to God the response of her faith community was so devastating that she walked away does this sound familiar if God could do something like that to my child then I'm done right that kind of love for our children originates in the Father Son and Holy Spirit that love that would sacrifice your very being would step in front of the bullet right that comes from the Father Son and Holy Spirit and it was the shack that brought her back to relationship with Jesus so we have this great meeting and I'm like that was so cool whenever I say that to the Holy Spirit she always says the same thing whatever it's our joke now you know our joke it's like whatever and I love it and she loves it and she knows that I love it and so she always says it and and it it happens every time every I'm like that was so cool after our time together this I'll say it that was so cool and she'll say whatever it's so great so I leave and I think I was cool whatever and and a couple months later I get a call from gillnetter the producer and he's going like hey Paul would you look at the script for us I'm gonna like you know I don't have any creative control oh yeah we don't have to listen to you but would you give us your feedback on it what do you think about this and then he called up and he said what do you think about this actor or this actor you know and I'm going like oh yeah what do you think about Sam Sam ah well he seems a bit young you know oh but let me think about it I mean stuff like this this was happening like how cool is this so the movie is going to be shot in British Columbia Lower Mainland BC and I get a phone call and it's Lionsgate secular movie house hey Paul would you consider coming on the first days set in and praying a blessing over the entire cast and crew sure that is they'll call whatever [Applause] so I did the first day shoot was in white rock in southern BC and they had taken over this whole neighborhood and when you shoot a movie you don't shoot it in sequence right they don't start from the beginning and shoot it in sequence they shoot it when certain actors are available they'll fly in do their parts and it could be different parts of the movie so you never know what you're gonna see when you go on set or anything else in this case they were shooting scenes of when and it's near the beginning of the movie but it's not right at the beginning but it's where McKenzie is piling the kids into the car to go the wawas for camping and and tim mcgraw comes over you know Willy comes over with his dog and the scene starts with and this is this is one of the scenes of the day the other scene that we shot was in the morning when the kids are going to go to church and stuff and but in this scene tim mcgraw he walks over and his first line in that scene is summers last hurrah like you guys doing the last end of summer you know it's because it before Labor Day and all that going camping and that starts the conversation they're bantering back and forth and Nan is not playing and Missy wants to take her bugs you know that whole scene so they're shooting this and when they shoot a scene they shoot at multiple times over and over and over again and and I I hear gillnetter yell out now I all day this is in the eat this is in the late afternoon now we've been shooting all day and I've been watching and hanging around with the the grips and the and the electrical people and the plant people and you know it's I've been just hugging everybody so so I hear Gail say hey Paul you want to be in a cameo I did not see that coming at all right like a knit it like like in the movie cameo sure he says Paul I've never shot a movie that was based on a book and the author was alive that I didn't put the author in the movie somewhere sure this is so cool whatever right my kids are gonna love this right what do I have to do well all you have to do is when Tim is talking to Sam Willie and Mackenzie in this shot all you have to do is walk through the background you're in the neighborhood you're just walking through well I walked most my life but I don't think about it now I'm thinking about walking and I'm trying to remember how to do it it only took five takes try not to photobomb this time all right slow down you know and there laughing Tim McGraw is such a Tim McGraw when I met him he and I bonded instantly over daddy issues because we both had you know do you know that he's the son of tug mcgraw the baseball player and he didn't know his father was tug mcgraw until he was 12 years old because he was the result of a one-night stand in the minor leagues and and didn't know and he had a difficult relationship with his dad so we he and I bonded right away over dad issues but he laughed he was so kind everybody was unbelievably kind so so we do this shoot and and then I'm done and the evening ends and I spend the night in hotel and they send me back home and I'm going like it was so cool whatever yeah so so I think how cool is that we're done you know all about two months later I get a call from Lionsgate hey Paul we'd love to have a new-onset you know and who knows maybe they're still trying to figure out whether I'm gonna problem or not I don't know you know but it's it's like wide open so and I've made friends with Stuart Hazeldine who is the director I made really good friends with Joseph Nemec on the first day's shoot who did all the set design when you see that coffin he handcrafted it right Joseph Nemec loves Jesus and Joseph Namek had asked God when he read The Shack can i if it's ever made into a movie would you let me be the set designer and and they gave it to someone in New York and so he's like all right God's got other purposes and then the the person in New York bailed out right before this movie started and they turned to Joseph and so he was I mean he's feeding me behind the scenes camera work that he wasn't supposed to and probably shouldn't have that on the film but but I mean sweet sweet man so I'm home I get a call we loved having you on the first set would you would you consider coming back for another day what we want to do is fly you up on Wednesday and then on Thursday you can spend the whole day on set Wednesday night or what when we when you fly up you'll get here around noon but will drive you to Chilliwack note2 Chilliwack yeah because that's where your hotel is and then we'll we'll send you the call sheet now the call sheet when you get it tells you when they're gonna pick you up in the morning and where you're going to go because there's multiple set locations they're shooting in different locations and you don't know what they're shooting that's part of the you know the surprise of the whole thing so we'll send you the call sheet on Wednesday night Thursday you will take you to whoever's whatever site we're going to and then you'll spend the whole day we'll take you back to your hotel Thursday night you can fly out Friday great right I'm sitting in my desk and I get this thought this nudge that's one of my my favorite ways to talk about how the Holy Spirit talks to me nudges are Paul language that's Paul Paul language between me and Holy Spirit it's like I get an idea which normally I usually think just totally came from me and is and then when I start thinking about it it's like boy that came out of the blue right why would I even think about that except I'd been to Abbotsford a number of times which is right next to Chilliwack where I'm gonna be staying like within a few miles and and I met a woman named named Eden juror Zach but her husband was spending time speaking at a seminary as a professor in London and I'd I'd begun a conversation with Eden's husband Brad jurors AK and but I'd never met him I'd met Eden but I hadn't met Brad but I didn't even know Brad was in the continent maybe he's over in Europe I don't know and we'd been corresponding on email Brad and I and I had endorsed his a more christ-like God which I loved and then he had been reading my manuscript for Eve and had been giving me pages of notes which was I loved and I thought the nudge was hey I wonder if Brad is around and I could actually meet him so I I just this is right after I just set this up right so I I sent him an email hey Brad this is what I want to do I'm coming up or are you around he immediately sends an email back to me and it's can I pick you up at the airport yeah so I say yeah so I'm going like let me check so I checked with Transport they're all about it because it's a five hour round trip basically for them and it's like yeah yes we'll send you the information for the hotel Brad says look I'll pick you up the airport we'll have lunch together we'll talk shop theology and then we'll go to supper at our house with Eden and then I'll take you over to the hotel and then you can go about your business great a couple minutes later I get another email from Brad but this time it has a photo attached to it and in the photo is Brad and this tall distinguished looking elderly gentleman and they're in the woods and Brad is saying I want to introduce you my one of my best friends his name is Dwight Dwight Martin Dwight's a business guy married to Lori Martin who is a spiritual formations director and Dwight and Dwight is the first person who told me about the shack and gave me my first copy years ago and they have a little summer cottage up at Lake in the central south part of British Columbia called cultists like and we're up visiting with them for a few days and while you and I were emailing Dwight and I were walking in the woods we had gone for a walk in the woods and look did I sound like bread and look and in the picture is Brad and Dwight and the big is it fluorescent green orange a big orange arrow that says the shack one of the set locations for the shack was two and a half blocks away from Dwight and Laurie's little summer cottage and nobody knew it and as we're emailing they ran into it pretty cool whatever thank you so I'm going like that's great and then Brad sort of drops the bomb I don't know if there's any way while you're up here that you could spend even 10 or 15 minutes with Dwight and Laurie because the book had a massive impact in their life but three years ago the youngest of their five children Adri took her own life and gave it back to God in the middle of the woods in a tree house and they're stuck and Dwight believes that if he could read The Shack again he could get unstuck but he hasn't been able to get past chapter one and Laurie is simply furious she is so upset and so angry at God because her daughter is dead and she just can't move completely stuck Brad at any point if you want to add something please feel free so I'm going we'll figure out a way I don't know what site location we're going to but we'll figure out a way to spend whatever you know and I'm thinking even if it meant staying an extra day or whatever just to have this conversation Brad thinks is important I feel immediately that's um it's important you know somehow I wrote this little book that has ended up in the holy ground of their story and my connection with them in fact that Dwight and Brad are walking in the woods and run into a set you know and this is part of the whole situation so I said we'll figure it out so I fly up Wednesday Brad meets me instant brothers like you know you just there are certain people you meet and it's like where have you been my whole life you know like yeah one of but it's one of those it's one of those circus mirrors that makes you look a lot shorter whatever so we spend we go and eat chicken wings and talk theology I mean in and it's like full-on and then we go over to where Eden is prepared supper and it's fantastic and we just we just have this wonderful beautiful day together and as he's dropping me off at the hotel I just say I'll let you know when I know where I am and we'll figure out what to do about the situation with Dwight Laurie so the next morning or that night 11:30 that night I get the call sheet and it says we're gonna pick you up at 9:30 in the morning and we're gonna take you to the site location at Cultus Lake so now I'm going to the site location which is two and a half blocks away from where Dwight Laurie's summer cabin is where they are and Brad and Eden are going up there so in the morning I get on the set I walk onto the set and and gillnetter and Lonnie netter his wife who co-produced it and Stuart Hazeldine the director are talking together and I'm texting Brad going like I'm here I'm like two and a half blocks away and Brad is letting me know we have food ready just let us know we'll come down the waterfront we'll pick you up even if it's 10 minutes even if it's 15 minutes it would it would be just wonderful so we've got all this going I walk over to the three whenever I say three my mind kind of spins in a different direction but but I walk over to them and I and when I had gotten that original email something had prompted me someone had prompted me I know who prompted me to to turn email around that Brad had sent me and I had sent it to Lonnie and to Stuart and Gill and I all I had said was here is another story about the book that you're making a movie about right this is the kind of impact and holy ground stories are all around this book and then and now I can walk right over to them because I didn't know any of this was going to happen right but I'd sent them the note so I walk over to them and I say hey you know that email that I just sent you my friends are two and a half blocks away would there be any possibility that they could come on set for the day and not only did they say yes they said absolutely and 20 minutes later down the waterfront comes Brad and Eden and Dwight and Laurie and they step into this and part of the reason that they had asked me to come back is this is where they built the shack right when you see it in the movie were there and this is where they built it and and and Octavia is there she wasn't there on the first day shoot but she's there in fact the Father Son and Holy Spirit weren't there on the first day shoot at least in any visible sense right but out there there Osumi is there who plays the holy spirit Octavia Papa God and Aviv Avraham Aviva Lucia from Tel Aviv right a Jew playing Jesus if you could imagine yes I have gotten five emails from my people saying how dare you make Jesus a middle Easterner yeah you gotta love my people they've only seen the movies right Jesus is blonde and blue-eyed and has a British accent of course when somebody when somebody says something like that to you it kind of makes you think twice like wait is he a middle Easterner yeah he's a middle Easterner let me call the consulate to make sure you know so so they're there they walk on the set and I just wrap Lori up in a hug and I don't let her go and she fights it a bit and I don't let her go and tell something breaks and I don't find out till later that initially she didn't want to be there because I kind of now represent a piece of the pain yeah and so she had told her therapist uh she told her therapist about this what do you think and the therapist had said this is beyond coincidental I think you should give it some serious thought and I highly encourage you to take the risk so that's the state of mind right and she's walking on to the set and I hug her well they're shooting outside scenes they're gonna shoot one scene all morning long when they shoot a scene they shoot it from different camera angles different and the actors do it again and again and again so they reset shoot reset shoot reset shoot right so you're gonna see it 10 to 15 times until they until they feel like they've got enough takes and enough right sound that later the editors can put it together to make the scene and so but I still don't know what they're shooting all right none of us do and when you're outside you can't hear them but there's this thing called a video village where the producer and the director sit in front of the monitors huge monitors so that they can see the actual camera shot and they have headphones so they can hear what the microphones are picking up so that you can I mean they're watching and listening to each shot while they had already set up five chairs for us with headphones right in front of the screens so now we're gonna be fully engaged with what we're gonna see and the first scene that we watch filmed is the breakfast scene where McKenzie has spent the night having a nightmare remember he had the flying dream and then plummets to the ground and his feet are mired in the muck and he is trying he's trying to find a way to get to Missy who is being carried off into the distance and it's and and plus this is his first night at the shack and he is like he doesn't understand where he is really and how can this be happening and who really are these people they're saying one thing but I'm not sure and and all of this is going on and he comes out from waking up still in the shack and he walks out and Papa's got breakfast and she's singing only love can break your heart at Neil Young and and she smiles it goes morning Mac you like Neil Young it was supposed to be Bruce Coburn but we couldn't get the rights fast enough because Bruce Coburn is my favorite actually quoted Bruce Coburn illegally a whole bunch of times and we had to sort that out because I had no idea what I was doing you know I had ripped off his intellectual property rights we worked it out easily it was a good one I had some problems with some of the other ones that I illegally ripped off and but but we couldn't get so it was Neil Young who I also like heart of gold is one of my favorite albums ever and so he goes there yeah whatever and and he goes and obviously she wants to feed him he goes and sits down but he doesn't touch anything and they they're having oh and she says how'd you sleep she knows you know sometimes God asks you questions there's obviously God knows it's like come on let's talk like like in the Garden of Eden where are you come on right it's like is this is not a cosmic hide-and-seek right it's not like God lost them and it a question like that is an invitation to relationship right tell me where you are it's incredible good question so how'd you sleep fine and you know he's not fine and he didn't sleep fine but he's fine he's he's religious right you'd think it was Sunday morning and he so he he says fine and she says this dreams are important sometimes they're a way of opening up the window and letting the bad air out that is a Bruce Coburn line so we got Bruce in there right we did get permission to so so he goes and sits down and knees up step and we're watching this right this is right in front of us he sits down and they start talking back and forth and they get to the point in the conversation where Papa says you know McKenzie you know what the the major flaw in your life is he's like you don't believe that I'm good I am and I'm I am good and I am at work in everything you consider to be a mess for your good but until you believe that I am good you're never going to be able to trust me and he says why would I ever trust you my daughter is dead and there's nothing you can do to fix that and he gets up slams the cup off the table and walks away and we're going like and they reset and we watch it again see I didn't even know that piece how can we trust God my daughter is dead and now that is what exactly what Mackenzie says and we watch it again Mackenzie the flaw in your thinking is that you don't believe that I'm good I am but until you believe that I'm good you're never going to be able to trust me why would I ever trust you my daughter is dead and there's nothing you can do about it smash walk away and they reset and we watch it again after the third time Lori gets up and walks out and I follow her out and I just hold on to her while she just absolutely falls apart and then we go back in and watch it another ten times and then we break for lunch and Octavia Spencer comes over and hugs on him and Sumi comes over and hugs on him and I've evil Uche comes over and hugs on him God with skin on and lunch is over and we go back into the video village for the second shot and in the sequence in the movie the second shot happens right after the kitchen scene you know where McKenzie comes in and he's kind of upset and it's the scene where he begins to confront her and the nail scar is in the wrist scene and after that he walks out well when he walks out and sits on the porch that's the next scene that we're there to watch and papa comes out and they're looking at that little bird you know that bird was created to fly Kenzi you were created to live loved in pain has a way of clipping our wings your wings so that you forget you were created to fly McKenzie why why did you bring me here because this is where you got stuck McKenzie this is your flying lesson you know you're looking through that little not all of pain and defining the whole universe the first take we are balling the whole day is like this at the end of the day as were hugging goodbye Laurie says to me you have no idea and I didn't even these pieces right you have no idea and I didn't but and I said that you're right but how precious is this and I'm thinking look at the look at the pieces that had to come together one is that Lionsgate had to decide to even involve me at all and I got to be there but they he decided to call me back oh and I get a nudge to call Brad any it's got to be in London he's actually up in the mountains at Cultus Lake and going for a walk with a friend of his and as were emailing he runs into the set and not only that I end up going to that set and they say yes bring him here and this are the scenes that we're gonna watch and this is exactly where they're stuck this is a God who is good all the time and involved in the details of our lives and so Laurie got unstuck and she decided to have a celebration around this called the Grand embrace and and she named it after the hug that I gave her when she walked on the set [Applause] [Music] nothing happens on sets in the burial scene where that butterfly shows up and lands on Mackenzie's nose and surprises him it's not special effects it happened in the shot and surprised everybody a butterfly showed up out of nowhere and landed on his nose among 40 people that were there on set you only see the Father Son Holy Spirit and Mackenzie but there is a whole community there and this butterfly chooses him to land on and his response is perfect and they kept it right so Lori decides to have a celebration called the grand embrace and asked Brad and I to participate in it and we've had two of them and s peretta Cobb looks at her calendar and ashleen wants to come right when the grand embrace is happening so she calls Lori Martin and says would there be any way because she knew it was filled up already is there any way that my friend Ashlyn who had never actually met face to face can come and Lori Martin says we'll make room cathy Hardy who does the music says we'll make room and so Thursday night Thursday evening when we start this and I walk in I see Esther who's my friend and we'd had some connection before and I give her a big hug and next to her is this attractive 20 mid-20s woman and as soon as she talks I'm in love with her because she has this unbelievable Irish accent right it's so great and I give her a big hug and I know in that hug there's something about hugs where you know things you get to know things when people allow you to step inside and touch them you share things and and I knew that she had a great sadness I knew it so in the grand embrace we do all kinds of things we have all the Stations of the Cross around st. Dunstan's and we have times of silence where we can go to different stations and interact with the Holy Spirit what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us we have times where we break into groups of three and and a lot of it is when the person responds to the particular question we're working on the other two are not allowed to respond at all just to listen and there are so many of us who grew up in the church where nobody just listened it becomes part of healing there are times when in your group of three you get to interact and talk and respond you respond and and so during our one of our times of silence on Friday I was walking around there all these different Stations of the Cross and and suddenly I had a nudge and I walk over towards Esther and Ashley both have their heads down and I don't know until Esther tells me later but right at that moment she is praying please papa God if there's any way would you please have Paul come over and just hug Ashley and she looks up and I'm two feet away on my way to Ashley and I hug her and she breaks apart for like ten minutes she just sobs and sobs and sobs and sobs and I just get to hold her and not let go I don't say anything to her I mean to her like no counsel or anything while I'm hugging her I'm telling her let it out let it out you know I've got you I've got you and so I don't know I don't know about the story in Dublin I don't know any about that nothing next next day on Saturday when we broke up into groups of three you were allowed to give the person who spoke a gift if the Holy Spirit gave you something to give to them might be a thought might be a word might be a picture something right and SN and ashleen is in a group with two other women a different group of three than she been in and when she finished answering a question the woman said to her one of the women said you know I want to give you a verse and it goes like this a bruised Reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not extinguish and that was what she gave her I don't know that so Saturday night we had a big party big music party fantastic and I did found out later that they were supposed to announce that I was speaking at a little church that's meeting in a school actually it's got a fairly good size at the time that they're meeting in the school in town and I was speaking there for Sunday morning service and called Genesis Genesis right and so but they didn't but I didn't know about it so I had nothing to be mad about I got mad after they told me that they were supposed to do it and didn't know I didn't whatever yeah so so so next morning I go to the school to speak at the church and I I didn't know there were two churches that met there and I found my way to the wrong one first did I tell you this oh so I went it said it had a church name on it so I thought oh okay it's not quite what I remember but it must be it cuz it's here I'm at the right place so I followed down into the catacombs underneath the church building and it's way and and it's kind of like you there's this little room and there's this little circle of chairs it turned into it turned out to be reformed Presbyterian Church and as soon as they see me it's like my gosh fresh meat because obviously they know all 10 of each other you know and I'm going like is this Genesis no no I said no I said are you the only church who meets here they go oh no no there's this other one called Genesis oh I think I'm supposed to be there so one of the one of the elders uh they're all old but he says oh I'll take you upstairs cuz it's hard to find your way out once you get down here there's a metaphor and so as we're walking out and he's leading me out he says so do you normally go well obviously I don't normally go to Genesis or I know where it was this is what are you doing there well I'm speaking there this morning oh you're speaking there what are you talking about Oh mostly about a book I wrote oh you wrote a book what did you write well it's called The Shack he almost stops right and he looks at me and he goes I've read that book and a bunch of others it's a good thing to read isn't it yes thank you so much for helping me find my way out so we I leave and I sure enough around the other side of the building is Genesis and I get there and here's what's great two of my friends who are in the band that Kathy Hardy leads had showed up they don't go to Genesis but they showed up as sort of gang biker guys with big protest signs right so I'm I'm in there and they are the people who have you know the leadership of Genesis they're going like Paul there's protestors here right like they think it would bother me right and I go out and and they've got their signs and they're looking mean and one of the signs says can you bring my phone so I can get it right and so you have to understand I have a history with protestors it's so cool I love protestors thank you so let me find I mean I wish I had thought about it I could have put it up on the screen so you could see it because it's kind of a masterpiece and anywhere would I have it might be under travel favorites that's where it is so one of them says ban Paul young-hee he claims God loves everyone this is another one Paul believes nothing can separate us from God's love hogwash if you can see the picture of his face he's just mad and his middle finger is up true Canadian and then they flipped the signs around and they had new signs and this one said don't listen to Paul young God can't be this good and the other one said Paul keeps forgiving people we hate that so I I go in and it's time for me to speak and I stand up and Esther Retta cop and Ashlyn are sitting on the front row on the left hand side here and I say folks you know this doesn't happen to me very often but when it does I pay attention to it I woke up with a scripture verse I haven't thought about in years and it just keeps running over and over and over in my mind and so I'm going to frame everything I say around this scripture verse and it goes like this a bruised Reed he will not break and a smoldering wick he will not extinguish I have no idea that this is the gift that was given to ashlynn the day before in her small group of three and I say you know there's a really interesting thing about that passage I actually learned this from Malcolm Smith when I was in college and the kids used to play down by the rivers and they would pick the reeds because could bore a hole in them and then they use him as flutes and then as soon as the reed got bruised as reeds do you know they bruise they wouldn't make a sound anymore or the sound was no good so they just snap it in half and go get another Reed and then there were the lamps that were flax wicks into oil and when the oil ran out the wicks would begin to smolder and they stunk really bad and I said you know there are times in our lives where we are the bruised Reed and we can't make a sound that's pleasant to anyone and the promises that Jesus doesn't break bruised Reed's he won't just throw us aside and go find another one this is the one who would leave the 99 to go find the one and there are times in our lives where we've run out of oil where we feel like all we are is stink we have no light and our lives smell and Jesus doesn't cut off the wick he doesn't extinguish us and that's a promise that was from Isaiah that was applied to Jesus a bruised Reed he will not break and ashleen tears running down her face because she knows she's the bruised Reed and she's the smoldering wick but aren't we all you know aren't we all the beautiful promise of the kindness of God to weave these kinds of kisses of grace just to let us know you're here in this with me and my life stinks and I don't feel like I have any light and I can't make a sound that anybody thinks is good enough and yet you do not do abandonment you do not forsake and your kindness wraps me up in relentless affection stink and all and holds me and holds me and holds me Brad well just to throw one little more treat into there I think I'm able to share a little bit about the pastor Paul preaches that sermon I can't think it's two weeks later no it's it's the day later the day after that sermon the pastor is caught and exposed exposed and I need to think about what I can share publicly they have a public meeting where it's revealed that he's been in an affair for several years online and he has to step down in humiliation and shame and the church is disbanded if you were that pastor who would you call first and so I get a I get an email from Paul I think yep would you look into this guy and he gets into sex addicts Anonymous and he is working the program and he asks if I would be his sponsor and he's gonna make it yes he's working the program he is surrendering at every point to his life in Christ he's at he's uh he's out on the he's doing landscaping now his wife is walking through their stuff so I I'm just like it's it's and it's the kind of it's the kind of thing when it becomes a public scandal there's this word called schouten freud a-- it's German for pain joy it's the Glee we get when we see somebody exposed and humiliated and like we would never feel like that but you know remember televangelists when they get exposed a little part of you just goes yeah see that's good well that's on this guy and what happens the last sermon he hears in the church he planted is a bruised Reed he will not break a smoldering wick he will not snuff out and God has set him on a path from that day into relationship with Paul and I and I have like nothing but hope because it's a total setup do you have anything to add about that story that yeah in terms of both of them I mean they're apart right and they're working it out and you know if you know my story you know how I fit right and they know my story and and for me to be in that place saying that and I had lunch with the whole staff and we talked about how to be community together we talked about all this stuff that absolutely now applies in a completely different sense because of what was coming so it was a setup right and we have been invited to participate in the holy ground the fire of the burning bush does not burn away anything that is living it only burns away that which is dead and for some of us we end up as ashes and because only the ashes make it through the fire but that's what God builds beauty from his ashes I think let's shift this I wanna so I'm gonna do a quick exercise with Paul okay since you're a movie actor now we've got a double thing going we have a movie actor here but also we've got an expert in trivia where you can answer questions really fast and how much did you win on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire $250,000 this is before the Shaq he was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire so I know he can answer questions quickly story yeah that's another one you guys saw a whole other story book okay you're gonna ask me about it during the panel discussion tomorrow I'll tell you that'd be great [Applause] so what I want to do to wind up the night is is on there's a TV show called Actors Studio and the interview actors and they finish the inter they finished the interview with ten questions but it's like snap questions well this is not airs that's not what I immersed him to do know the tenth question will lead into a closing prayer exercise perfect all right but you got it so snap questions ready yes your favorite word whatever your least favorite word what turns you on Kim what turns you off anybody but Kim [Music] question number five I would include you what's your favorite sound rain what's your least favorite sound scratching on a chalkboard what's your favorite curse word makes this makes the list twice already I know question eight other than what you're doing now what profession would you love to try if you had the time a lawyer what would be the profession you'd most hate to try cleaning you already did that I did that actually I have done that so yeah true story I have done that yes over a quite a period of time too now you got to understand that they asked question ten of every actor that's come through and the answers are unbelievably poignant question ten when you meet god at the pearly gates someday and he welcomes you through those gates and you hear the first words that come out of his mouth what do you hope he'll say you're mine there you go the answers that some of the actors have given is unreal yep I believe that I'll let you look that up but I think that's I want to I want to end with a little exercise we call the pearly gates exercise perfect so I'm gonna ask you that question but I want to just set it up in a moment one day you are going to come to the open gates of heaven and the one who will meet you there is Trinitarian love so I don't know what that will look like for you but we just want to walk through that in a little meditation so first of all as you approach the gates what would the gates of heaven look like in your heart just think about that how wide would the gates be how high would the gates be what would they be made of and as you approach those gates uh you know what are you walking on is it across a grass field are you on a pathway of gold or what like what's the approach to the gates just let that be vivid for a moment in your imagination and then as you come to the gates God is going to meet you and greet you and welcome you take a moment think about what that will be like in fact Lord Jesus Christ son of God would you open the eyes and ears of my friends hearts and minds to see what that welcome will be like in that moment how is God going to greet you and just step into that moment and how he greets you or how she greets you may suggest a response if God runs to you here's an idea run to God if God throws those out arms wide open for a hug here's an idea go give him a hug some of you are like children perhaps he'll pick you up and swing you around and if he does that you know what you should say we and as you as you come to that one who greets you and you look into that face do you see the expression what does what does God's welcoming grace look like in that moment and then I'll ask you what I asked Paul what's the very first thing God will say to you on that day and we don't even have to make it up let's just ask Lord what are you gonna say let's speak out some of what you're hearing first thing my beloved you are mine yep that's that's good yeah what do you hear beloved beloved how many of you heard beloved yeah all across the room others what does he say say again I've been waiting for you yep and what else welcome home mm-hmm yep also welcome home anyone else yep I've always loved you mhm come hearty come out and play dude yeah others yes sir you can now see what's your bin your reality good others I'm so glad you're here well done my son your what your purpose since the net hey hey one of the things we've discovered about God's answer in this exercise is that it does speak to our deepest needs and can even heal our deepest wounds so when you hear your mind you hear the deepest need of a human heart is for belonging when you hear well done you hear the deepest need is affirmation when you hear my beloved the deepest need is just to know that you he really really loves you and so you might ponder the thing that you heard what is the need in you that it's meant to meet and perhaps there's been a wound that it's meant to heal and now I have a an odd thing to tell you he won't say that to you someday he just said it now the kingdom of God is here and the king is here and that was a today word that was a today hug that was a today welcome you don't have to wait to hear it you just did and so we say thank you Lord for welcoming us again for being among us Christ is in our midst and for speaking the very words our hearts need to hear so desperately especially to those here tonight who are bruised wee bruised reeds and smoldering wicks there is a supernatural breath of the Spirit that can blow on the smoldering wick and reignite it rather than extinguishing it and Lord we welcome that breath the breath of your spirit the super naturally tender breath that reignites the most wounded and desperate and we pray it for our friend from Genesis Church you'd react that marriage thank you for reigniting Dwight and Laurie for igniting all of us tonight was good news we sure appreciate it and we pray all these things in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen [Music]

Channel: Open Table Conference

Views: 16,123

Rating: 4.8867927 out of 5

Keywords: Open Table Conference, OTC2018, Paul Young, William Paul Young, The Shack, Trinty, Trinitarian Theology

Id: Ap1SvQMqLGQ

Length: 70min 48sec (4248 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 06 2019