Podcasts about hey jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 10, 2024 34:46

Hey Jesus - Week 6 - When will you return? by The Summit Church

Hey Jesus - Week 5 - How am I doing so far?

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2024 35:43

Hey Jesus - Week 5 - How am I doing so far? by The Summit Church

Hey Jesus - Week 4 - I have questions about heaven

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 25, 2024 34:44

Hey Jesus - Week 4 - I have questions about heaven by The Summit Church

Hey Jesus - Week 3 - How will my life play out?

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2024 38:20

Hey Jesus - Week 3 - How will my life play out? by The Summit Church

Hey Jesus - Week 2 - Why do bad things happen to good people?

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2024 41:04

Hey Jesus - Week 2 - Why do bad things happen to good people? by The Summit Church

Hey Jesus - Week 1 - What is my purpose in life?

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 4, 2024 36:01

Hey Jesus - Week 1 - What is my purpose in life? by The Summit Church

The Ellen Skrmetti Episode

The Happy Eating Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2023 56:50

We all have our favorite Instagram accounts. You know, the ones where you *never* miss a post. And those most-loved accounts are usually a combination of funny, ever-so-slightly educational, and real with a capital R. Well, one of those accounts for Carolyn and me is comedian Ellen Skrmetti. Also known as @justskrmetti on Instagram. If you haven't seen any of her “Hey Jesus” reels, you have to go check them out. But first, listen to this episode because she's our guest today and she is funny! Follow Ellen on IG @justskrmetti Get tickets for Ellen's shows: Sept 22 in Jackson, MS - https://ticketmaster.com/event/1B005EDED69C8343 Oct 26th in Huntsville, AL - https://huntsville.standuplive.com/shows/230294 Looking for high-quality dietary supplements? Need recommendations for what to take? Check out the Healthy Eating dispensary at Fullscript where you'll find recommendations from Brierley and Carolyn and get 20% off every order. https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/happyeating If you click on the links provided, we may receive a portion of the sales as compensation. Thank you for listening to The Happy Eating Podcast. Tune in weekly on Thursdays for new episodes! For even more Happy Eating, head to our website! https://www.happyeatingpodcast.com Learn More About Our Hosts: Carolyn Williams PhD, RD: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realfoodreallife_rd/ Website: https://www.carolynwilliamsrd.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealFoodRealLifeRD/ Brierley Horton, MS, RD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brierleyhorton/ Got a question or comment for the pod? Please shoot us a message! happyeatingpodcast@gmail.com Produced by Lester Nuby OE Productions

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The Ellen Skrmetti Episode

The Happy Eating Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2023 56:50

We all have our favorite Instagram accounts. You know, the ones where you *never* miss a post. And those most-loved accounts are usually a combination of funny, ever-so-slightly educational, and real with a capital R. Well, one of those accounts for Carolyn and me is comedian Ellen Skrmetti. Also known as @justskrmetti on Instagram. If you haven't seen any of her “Hey Jesus” reels, you have to go check them out. But first, listen to this episode because she's our guest today and she is funny! Follow Ellen on IG @justskrmetti Get tickets for Ellen's shows: Sept 22 in Jackson, MS - https://ticketmaster.com/event/1B005EDED69C8343 Oct 26th in Huntsville, AL - https://huntsville.standuplive.com/shows/230294 Looking for high-quality dietary supplements? Need recommendations for what to take? Check out the Healthy Eating dispensary at Fullscript where you'll find recommendations from Brierley and Carolyn and get 20% off every order. https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/happyeating If you click on the links provided, we may receive a portion of the sales as compensation. Thank you for listening to The Happy Eating Podcast. Tune in weekly on Thursdays for new episodes! For even more Happy Eating, head to our website! https://www.happyeatingpodcast.com Learn More About Our Hosts: Carolyn Williams PhD, RD: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realfoodreallife_rd/ Website: https://www.carolynwilliamsrd.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RealFoodRealLifeRD/ Brierley Horton, MS, RD Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brierleyhorton/ Got a question or comment for the pod? Please shoot us a message! happyeatingpodcast@gmail.com Produced by Lester Nuby OE Productions

ms healthy eating huntsville brierley fullscript hey jesus

227 - Hey Jesus, Hey

Sorry I Ruined That Song for You

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 17, 2023 46:14

Beth covers “One Toke Over the Line” by Brewer & Shipley and Amy covers "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum (both researched by Jr. Researcher, Tim). Listen to the songs first before Amy and Beth ruin them for you.Email us at amyandbetharesorry@gmail.comVisit us on Instagram at https://instagram.com/sorryiruinedthatsong?igshid=1cqqhy050qg8qListen to our Spotify Playlist here:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4TWLMgrKwCQzh24umxIB5R?si=zUmNWqQfRwCBVzvExGLSvACheck us out on TikTok: https://vm.TikTok.com/TTPdMmQJS8/Logo artwork by: http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MollyPukes

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Commit to Finish Well

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2023 48:27

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston,or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Over the last 11 weeks we have been looking at some of just the super essential, practical, non-negotiable commitments that all of us as followers of Jesus need to make in order to grow in our faith, in order to persevere in our faith, in order to experience the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to give us. And if you have your Bibles, open up to Matthew chapter 24. The title of today's sermon as we finish this series is, Commit to Finish Well. And on the surface that might sound a little bit redundant because that that's really what commitment is. The whole purpose of commitment is to see something through to completion. And the whole reason you need to make commitments, it only is necessary when you're attempting to do something that's going to be difficult, that you're going to be tempted to give up on or possibly quit. And Jesus promised to give us abundant life. We looked at that when we began this series, but that doesn't mean that the Christian life is going to be an easy life. That the abundant life that Jesus talks about, yeah, it comes with peace that passes understanding. It comes with joy and contentment and hope, but it comes with its fair share of difficulties as well. The Christian life is we live in this tension of both tribulation and hope that John 16:33, Jesus told his disciples, "I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, for I have overcome the world." This is the tension that we live in as followers of Christ, that in this world we will be faced with tribulations, with temptation, persecution, with many trials. And there will be times when we are tempted to give up. There will be times where all we can do is hold on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and do what he calls us to do, which is to endure, to overcome these tribulations by standing firm, by persevering, by holding fast until he returns so that we may finish well. It's a race that we must run with endurance, but as we're going to see in our text today, it's also a race that could come to an end at any moment. And at the heart of our text today, we're going to be looking at a really large passage of scripture and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that and introduce it here in a little bit. But at the heart of this passage, Matthew chapter 24 is verse 36 through 44 where Jesus says this, he says, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows." And he's talking about his return, "not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away." And he says, "So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the middle, one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known and what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect." And the big idea is that Jesus is coming back. No one knows exactly when, but when he comes, he says it's going to be like some people are asleep. That they're just completely caught off guard unaware by his return. It's going to be like in the days of Noah, people are just going on with their lives, ignoring the warnings coming from the Prophet Noah until that day when the flood comes and just swept them all the way. And he says, "It's going to be like that. When I return some people are going to be caught off guard as if they were asleep. But others," Jesus said, "well, they're going to be wide awake. They're going to be ready, waiting for Jesus' return." And Jesus doesn't tell us exactly when he's going to return, but he does teach us how to be ready for his return. And that's what we're going to be focusing on today. Today as we've said, is Palm Sunday. In the passage that I just read, it comes from a larger passage of scripture that's often referred to as the Olivet Discourse. It's in Matthew chapter 24 through 25. And in Matthew's gospel, this is the sermon that Jesus preached on the Mount of Olives to his disciples sometime after his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, but before his crucifixion on Good Friday. And there's way too much here for us to get through all of it verse by verse today. But we are going to get through most of it section by section. And as we do, we're going to be looking at five lessons, five steps that Jesus gives us that will enable us to be ready for his return, five areas that we need to endure in, in order to run this race and to finish well. And so the outline of today's sermon, Five steps to Finishing Well. The first step is to endure in hope. This is the beginning of Matthew chapter 24. Point two, endure in obedience. That's the end of chapter 24. Third, endure in faith. That's the beginning of chapter 25. Endure in mission. And then finally at the end of his sermon is the call to endure in love. Before we jump into the first point of today's sermon, would you please join me in prayer for our sermon today? Father, we thank you that you are a good and a just God. That you will not tolerate sin and evil forever, that a day is coming when you will judge the world in righteousness, where all sin will be accounted for, either in hell for all of eternity as it deserves, or on the cross by Jesus Christ in our place. Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice. We thank you for taking the punishment, the wrath that our sins deserve so that we can look to your coming, not with the fear of punishment, but with the hope of salvation, of deliverance. That you have saved us, you've justified us, you've saved us from the penalty of our sin, that you right now by the power of your Holy Spirit are saving us, delivering us from the power of sin in our lives. And that you will come again to once and for all time deliver us from the very presence of sin for all of eternity. We long for, we look to that day. And Lord, we pray as we do that you would give us the strength to endure. That by the power of your Holy Spirit we would persevere for the glory of your name. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, point number one today is to endure in hope. And this comes from the beginning, Matthew chapter 24. Beginning in verse one, Matthew sets the context for us. He says that, "Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, 'You see these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.'" And then later, "As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, 'Tell us when these things will be? What will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?' And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All of these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." And so Matthew begins, he sets the context for us. Jesus and his disciples, they're in Jerusalem and he begins to notice that his disciples are, they're starstruck by the impressive buildings, the stones of the temple. And he answers them. In verse three he says, "You see these things?" He says, "Listen to me. Truly, I say to you, there's not going to be one of these stones left on top of another. They're all going to be thrown down." And then his disciples come to in verse three and says, "Well, tell us Jesus, what are you talking about? When are these things going to happen? What are going to be the signs of your coming at the end of the age?" And then Jesus begins to answer their question. And as you read the next two chapters, it becomes clear that Jesus' answer is not so crystal clear. That he doesn't give him a straightforward, "Well, here's the time and here's the date." And actually what you see is that as he answers, he seems to be actually describing multiple different events all at the same time. Events that are distinct, but that are in some ways similar, some ways connected. On the one hand he's predicting the literal fall of Jerusalem. He's predicting the literal destruction of the temple, a prediction that actually came true within the lifetime of his own disciples. That happened, we know this from history. Now, on the other hand, when you look at the larger context of Matthew and especially the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus often compared the destruction of the temple to the destruction of his physical body, that he was foreshadowing his crucifixion and his resurrection. And this is why a few chapters later in Matthew 26, when Jesus is standing trial, well, some of his accusers come and say in Matthew 26:61 that, "This man said he was able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days." Well, we know Jesus actually did say something like that, but he wasn't referring to the literal temple at that time. He was talking about himself. That he was going to be crucified, buried, and that three days later he was going to rise from the death. Now, on the other hand, Jesus is clearly not just talking about himself. He's clearly not just talking about the temple, he's talking about the end of the world. And so he's preparing his disciples for God's judgment. He's preparing his disciples for the judgment of God that was going to be poured out on him later that week on the cross in their place for their sins. And he's also teaching them about the judgment of God that was going to fall on the whole temple system, that this was going to be a sign. That that old temple with its old, it wasn't needed anymore, because Jesus had come to fulfill all of that. Jesus was the true temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And his disciples were as well as the Holy Spirit came to dwell in them and that they didn't need the priests and the sacrifices. Jesus was the high priest. Jesus was the sacrifice. But then thirdly, he's foreshadowing the judgment of God that was going to someday day come on all of creation. There was going to come a day when Jesus is going to return to judge the world in righteousness and to make all things new. And the apostle Peter later on in his life, he wrote in second Peter chapter three, remembering the words of Jesus. He quotes him in II Peter 3:10, "That the day of the Lord will come like a thief." And then he says, "The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and all the works that are done on it will be exposed." Nothing's going to be hidden from the judgment of God. And so verse 11 he says, "Since these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness in godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But what is our hope? Verse 13, "But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." And this should cause the enemies of God to tremble in fear, to humble themselves and repent. But the reason that Jesus is telling his disciples this is because he wants them. He needs them to fix their eyes on this hope, because this hope is going to be the only thing that is going to allow them, enable them to persevere the tribulation that is about to come. And we need the hope of Jesus' return, because as we wait for his return, the truth is, things are going to get pretty bad. That before Jesus returns to rescue his church and lead us to glory, Satan is going to do everything he can to ravage the church and lead us astray. Jesus continues in verse four and he says, and so therefore he says, "See that no one leads you astray. For many are going to come into my name, saying, 'I am the Christ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And all of these are but the beginning of the birth pains. And then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.'" Jesus warns about three tactics that Satan, that the enemy is going to use, three categories of tribulation that he's going to wield against the church in order to lead us astray. In the first category we see. The first category of tribulation we see is that of trials. And what I mean by trials here, as Jesus talks about, there's going to be times of great difficulty. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, disease, that he says, "There's going to be an increase in lawlessness. That it will just become common for people to lie, to cheat, to murder, to steal. And that these trials, they're going to be experienced, they're going to be common to everyone, but that Satan is going to use them in order to lead people astray. To lead people away from God, to lead them to extinguish their love, to grow cold in their love for God and their love for one another." And Jesus refers to these tribulations as birth pains. That they'll come and they'll go. They'll ebb and they'll flow throughout human history. And every time they do it's going to feel like the end of the world. It's going to feel like things couldn't possibly get any worse. And that these cycles of tribulation, they're going to come, they're going to continue until eventually a time of great tribulation, which the church will have to endure. But this will take place immediately before the return of Christ. It'll be painful, they'll be scary, but the hope is that these pains are leading to something glorious. And Jesus doesn't try to sugarcoat it. He says, "It's going to be bad." But he says in verse 13, "But listen, the one who endures to the end will be saved." And so in the trials of life, dear Christian, endure. The second category we see, the second category of tribulation is that of persecution. Verse nine, it says, "They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another." Again, like the pangs of trials, persecutions, they come and go throughout church history and as they do, Jesus says, "They're going to cause some Christians to fall away, to turn against one another, to even hate one another." And I think a lot of people think that Christian persecution, oh, that's just something of the past. That's maybe something the early church experienced under the Roman Empire, but that doesn't happen today. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. It is estimated that since the dawn of the church, 70 million Christians have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ, 70 million. And over half of those took place within the last 100 years. And estimated around a 100,000 Christians are martyred every year, because they bear the name of Christ. And those of us who grew up here in America, we don't think about this often, because the world doesn't want to look at it. The world turns away from it, pretends like it's not happening. And much of it is happening far away on the other side of the world. I think a lot of Christians got a wake-up this week, these demonic evil attack that took place at the Covenant Christian School in Tennessee. It was a young woman who hated God, who hated Christians and targeted her rage at a Christian school. Satanically murdered three adults, three children, and I don't use that word satanic lightly. What is persecution? Persecution is what happens, when Satan tempts a person to love their sin and their perversion so much that they are willing to kill for it, rather than look to the one who loved them so much that he was willing to die for it, to die for them. It's demonic, it's evil, it's satanic and it's heart-wrenching when it hits so close to home. But this is a reality that many Christians throughout history and around the world today face every single day. This is the reality that got Jesus nailed to a cross. This is the reality that led every one of his apostles to a brutal martyr's death. That when the general calamity of the trials of life are not enough to pull us away, well then Satan is not above using specifically targeted evil at the people of God through the form of persecution. And sometimes it's social coercion, sometimes it's economic exclusion, sometimes it's threats and acts of violence. And Jesus warns us, verse nine, "They'll deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another." Again, he doesn't sugar coat it for us, but he does leave us with this hope in verse 13, "That the one who endures to the end will be saved." So endure in trials, endure in persecution. The third category of tribulation we see in this passage is that of temptation. That Satan, look at verse 11, "Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." And then later in verse 24, he says, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and even perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." Obviously, that's not possible, but he's trying to communicate how severe the temptation will be. That Satan doesn't always need to use persecution when sometimes all it takes is a little temptation. Sometimes all he needs to do is raise up a false prophet to tell us what we want to hear. Raise up a false pastor who instead of boldly preaching the truth that we need to hear will cower before the crowds and just tell them what they want to hear. This is, I mean these signs, they're everywhere. We see them all around us in this world today, the pains of labor. And when we feel them and when it feels like they've become too much, there's really two ways we can respond. We can look at this rising hatred of God, of persecution against Christians around the world. We can look at the cult of rampant perversion and sexual immorality that is domineering our culture. We can look at the wars, the rumors of wars, the famines, the disaster of the disease. We can look at the alarming apostacy in churches around us that scoff at the Word of God. We can look at these signs and lose heart. We can get discouraged, we can get angry. We can get bitter. We can allow our love to grow cold. We can believe the lie that these pains are just leading to a meaningless death. Or we can believe the truth, that these pains of labor will someday eventually give birth to eternal life, to new creation. And so dear Christian, endure the pains of this tribulation. Pick up your cross and fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder, the perfector of our faith who promises us Matthew 7:13, "That the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." And then 24:13, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." And finally, Matthew 24:32. Jesus gives us this beautiful illustration of hope, because after hearing all that, we need some hope. And this is what he says. He says, "From the fig tree learns its lesson, as soon as its branches become tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all of these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates." I don't know about you, but I am ready for summer in more ways than one. Outside the front window of our apartment we have these two magnolia trees, and right now they look like death. They're barren. There's no leaves. They've got these ugly, fuzzy, grayish, greenish, brownish buds on the end of their branches. But when we see that ugliness, we get a little bit excited because we know what's about to come. We know it's only a matter of time before these buds start to bloom, before this barren tree begins to explode with color, with new life. And I really think this is just the providence of God. I looked out our window this morning and I can see just a few here there, 10, 11, maybe 12 of these buds beginning to open. The signs of life and color peeking through. Jesus may return in our lifetime, or he may not. We don't know the day or the hour. If he doesn't return soon, we have the promise of scripture that he is going to be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will give us the power and the strength to persevere. And if he does return soon, he will do so in power and great glory to save and glorify his church and to put an end to Satan, sin, and death once and for all. In these last few verses of this first passage in verse 29, Jesus tells us, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and all of the tribes of earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." And so first and foremost, in order to finish, well, we need to endure in this hope. And we see this here in this first section that we've looked at. But now as we look at the rest of Jesus' sermon throughout Matthew through chapter 24 and 25, what we see is that Jesus teaches a series of parables and each one of these shows us another step, another area that we will need to endure in order to finish well. And that we can endure in because of this hope that we have in Jesus Christ. And this really shows us practically what this is going to look like in day-to-day life. Point number one was, endure in hope. Point number two is verses 45 through 51 to endure in obedience. Jesus says in verse 44, "You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." And then he begins to teach this parable. He says, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, at an hour that he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place that will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Parables are a lot like jokes. And I don't say that to say that this parable is funny. It's not. This is a very serious and grave warning that Jesus gives us. But they are in the sense that they're the closest, modern equivalent in the sense that a lot of the details in a parable are really meant to get you to the punchline of the parable. They're usually not meant to be read allegorically. They're meant to communicate one big idea, one big aha moment. As we read these parables, we got to ask, "What is the punchline of this parable?" And the punchline of this one Jesus is teaching us is, don't be like this wasted servant living a wasted life. In other words, you need to live every day as if it were your last because it very well could be so. That there is an urgency to our obedience to Christ. And the reason that there is an urgency to obedience is because we all have this tendency to want to put it off, to get to it later. How many of us have been in that place in life where we tell ourselves, "I want to follow Jesus, but I'll get serious and really give him my full obedience someday, later. I just got some stuff I want to do first." I've been there. I was that stereotypical church kid that went off to college and drifted away. And you know this about me, my first semester I joined a band and on the weekends, I wasn't going to church on the weekends, we were driving all over the Midwest, touring, playing shows. And I remember one spring morning we were on some college campus, we'd been up late playing a show the night before. And I don't know, we got up at the crack of like 10:30 or 11:00 and decided to go out and try to find something to eat. As we were driving through town, I see this woman, she's got a nice dress on, she's got a big fancy hat. She's walking down the street by herself waving a palm branch. I was like, "What on earth is she doing?" And then suddenly it dawned on me it was Sunday, today was Palm Sunday. I'd considered myself a Christian, and yet it had been so long since I thought about God or I thought about church, I didn't even realize the season, that Easter was just a week away. I was oblivious. I was like the hypocrite in this parable. And if you're waiting until later to give your full obedience to Christ, that's a really dangerous game to play. Later may never come. And if it does, you might not have the heart to respond when it does. Hebrews three warns us. Hebrews 3:12. It says, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." And so endure in obedience so that you may not be hardened by deceitfulness of sin. That's point two. Point three is to endure in faith. And this is the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 25:1-13. Jesus tells us another parable. He says, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bride groom. Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. And when the foolish ones took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wises took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose, trimmed their lamps. And the foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. And afterward the other virgins also came saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, 'I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.'" So again, we got, this is not an allegory, it's a parable, so the punchline here is, does Jesus know you? He answers the foolish and he says, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." And this is echoing a statement that he made in the Sermon of the Mount earlier in Matthew chapter seven. He says, "Listen, not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And on that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" When Jesus returns, he's not going to be impressed with our self-righteous list of accomplishments as we stand before his throne in judgment. The question is, does he know you? Do you have faith? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Oftentimes we're tempted to put off our obedience to Christ. Well, oftentimes we're often tempted to put off our relationship with Jesus Christ to say, "I'll get serious about my faith later. I'll spend time in fasting and prayer. I'll start to read my Bible later. Someday when I'm less busy, someday when I have more time." Well, later may never come. And the question is, Jesus wants us to feel an urgency that if he came back today, would it be like you're meeting a stranger, or would it be like you're meeting a friend, somebody that you know, someone you have a relationship with? You need to endure in faith. Point number four is to endure in mission. This is verse 14 through 30, Matthew chapter 25. This is the parable of the talents. And we looked at this last week, so I'm not going to read through the whole thing again for us this week, just to give you the CliffsNotes version, the parable of the talents that there's a wealthy master, a wealthy king. He's entrusted three of his servants with a certain amount of money, with a certain number of talents to invest as he departs and goes on a long journey. And then he comes back to settle accounts with them after a long time. And what we're told is that the wicked servant, he took his master's money, he hid it, he buried it in the ground, and when the master comes back he punishes him. But the good servants, they took their master's talents, they invested them faithfully. And when the master comes back, he says to them in verse 23, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little, I'll set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." And last week when we looked at this parable, we looked at it through the lens of giving and generosity. And that's, I think a good way to look at it. It's one of the ways that you can look at it. But ultimately, Jesus was talking about a lot more than just managing money when he was teaching this parable. He wants us, we need to look at this through the lens of God's mission that Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God. Now, Jesus is the master, right? He's gone on a long journey. He's ascended into heaven. We don't know the day that he's going to return, but we know that when he does return that he will be back. And while he is gone, he has left us with a mission to accomplish. If you remember back in Matthew 24:14, Jesus tells us this, "That this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." We all love this idea of doing evangelism, of making disciples, of answering God's calling for our life, investing our talents for his kingdom. But so often we are not doing those things now, because again, we keep saying, "Oh, well, I'll do those things someday later." And what we're doing in those moments is we're really acting like the foolish, like the wicked servant. Were burying God's talents in the ground. And Matthew 9:57 we're told that as Jesus and his disciples were going along the road, someone came and he said to him, "Hey Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, "Well, foxes have holes in birds of the airs have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Well, Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home." And Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." And obviously Jesus is using a bit of hyperbole here, but the point is clear, that the mission doesn't start tomorrow, the mission starts today. That we cannot put this off. We need to go, proclaim the kingdom of God, keep both hands to the plow and not look back. We need to endure in this mission. And then finally, we're called, at the end of his sermon Jesus calls us to endure in love. That is point number five, Matthew 25:31-46. But first, if you remember back to the beginning of chapter 24, Jesus warned us about this. He said, "That many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." That we need as the church to endure and love. We need to endure in our love for God, we need to endure and our love for our neighbors, for people in general. But at the end of his sermon here, Jesus gives us a parable in which he is calling us specifically to endure in our love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the meaning of the final parable. This is the parable of the sheep and the goats. Matthew 25:31. Jesus says, "When the son of man comes in his glory and all of the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left and then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as stranger and welcome, or you are naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?" And the king will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me." And then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they will also answer saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not minister to you?" Then he'll answer them saying, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." And I think most of us, at least for myself, whenever I've heard this read or preached, it's usually preached in the sense of, this is a call for Christians to do good works. This is a call for Christians to be charitable and compassionate and to care for those are who are in need. And those are certainly all good things that Christians should do. But that's not the point of what Jesus is talking about here. Because again, so the parable, it's not an allegory. And so what it is the punchline of the parable, it's verse 40, "That the king will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of," the least of who? "One of the these, my brothers, you did it for me." And when you read the gospels, when Jesus uses that language of the least of these, when he uses the language of my brothers and sisters, he's referring to his disciples. That as Christians we should love our neighbors as ourselves, that we should be charitable and compassionate to people in general. But the big idea that Jesus is talking about here is that this needs to be especially true for how we love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That as Christians, when we love other Christians, when we care for the body of Christ, it says, "If we are caring for Christ himself." And when we don't, we see the warning there as well. Now, we need to think about this in the context of the sermon that Jesus is preaching. Jesus is preaching to a people who are about to face tribulation. And in just a few days he's going to lead the way by going to the cross himself. And I think part of what's going on here is that Jesus is, he's foreshadowing the reality that a time of difficulty was about to come for himself, that he would be crucified, and that when he was his followers, his disciples, his brothers and sisters would be tempted to desert him, to betray, to deny, to be ashamed to associate with him. And that's exactly what happened. But he's also saying, "That a time of difficulty is coming for you, my church as well. And when it does, you're going to be tempted to do the same, to turn against and to abandon one another." And he's reminding us that in those moments when it becomes the most costly, the most inconvenient to love one another, that is precisely when we need to love one another the most. And we have a very direct example of this in the New Testament. In II Timothy chapter one. The apostle Paul writes in second Timothy 1:15, he says to Timothy, "Listen, you are aware of all of those in Asia who turned away from me, among whom were Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day." And so he says, you remember Phygelus and Hermogenes, right? Phygelus, goat, Hermogenes, goat. They're hypocrites. They claim to be followers of Jesus, but they were fakes, they were frauds. When it came time to prove their faith, they were ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They turned and they abandoned the apostle Paul. Onesiphorus, now there's a sheep, right? He cared for Paul while he was in prison. He wasn't ashamed to go to him and give him help in his time of need. He's the real goat in the modern sense, not to get too confusing. But you see what's going on here. He cared for Paul. And in caring for Paul, it's as if he cared for Christ. And look at what Paul prays for him in verse 18. He says, "May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day." On what day? On the day when Jesus comes to separate the sheep from the goats. That as the church we must endure for love and love for one another always, especially when it's hard, especially when it's costly, especially when the world around us hates us. By doing so, we honor Christ and we prove, we test testify to the world that we truly are his disciples. And Jesus, in John 13:34, he tell his disciples, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." And he says, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one another." And so the five steps to finish well, endure in hope, endure in obedience, endure in faith, endure in mission, endure in love. And Jesus gave this last commandment that we just read. If you remember this, he gave this in the context of the Last Supper, right after having washed his disciples' feet. It says John 13:12. It says, "When he had washed their feet and he put on his outer garment and resumed his place, and he said to them, 'Do you understand what I've done for you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed you if you do them, I'm not speaking of all of you, I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate bread has lifted his heel against me.'" He's talking about Judas who would betray him. "But I'm telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." Today is a special day, today is Palm Sunday. It's the beginning of Holy Week and it's fitting that we look to the return of Christ on the day that he first entered, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Today is also Communion Sunday, we remember the crowd that cried, hosanna, that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as their savior. We also remember that crowd quickly turned into the mob that later that week rejected him as their Lord. And their response, it stands as a warning, as a reminder throughout the ages that our greatest need is not for a savior who is going to come and save us from our circumstances. Our greatest need is for a savior who's going to come and save us from ourselves, save us from our sin, our guilt, our shame from the wrath of God that those things deserve. And communion is a time for us to remember and to give thanks and to celebrate that Jesus Christ came to do just that. Jesus died on the cross to deliver us from the penalty that our sin deserved. That Jesus rose from the grave to deliver us from the power of sin over our lives. And that Jesus is going to come again to judge the living and the dead, and to deliver us from the very presence of sin, a once and for all and for all eternity. God, we thank you for your amazing grace. We thank you that the signs are all around us, that the winter is almost over, that spring and summer are almost here. And that when we see these signs, we know for certain that you are with us. You have promised to be with us always to the very end of the age. And whether that day be soon, or whether that day be long beyond our time here on earth. Lord, I pray that you'd give us the grace and the power to walk faithfully and endure to the end for the sake of your name and glory. That every one of our lives would be used as a witness, as a testimony to your goodness, to your grace, to your power, to your glory. And we thank you for the blood of your son, Jesus Christ that was poured out for us, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be redeemed from our slavery to sin and adopted into your household as sons and daughters. And we come now as your children and just continue to give you thanks and give you our praise. In Jesus' name, amen.

Commit to Finish Well

The Infinite Skrillifiles: OWSLA Confidential

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2023 48:27

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic BostonChurch. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston,or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Over the last 11 weeks we have been looking at some of just the super essential, practical, non-negotiable commitments that all of us as followers of Jesus need to make in order to grow in our faith, in order to persevere in our faith, in order to experience the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to give us. And if you have your Bibles, open up to Matthew chapter 24. The title of today's sermon as we finish this series is, Commit to Finish Well. And on the surface that might sound a little bit redundant because that that's really what commitment is. The whole purpose of commitment is to see something through to completion. And the whole reason you need to make commitments, it only is necessary when you're attempting to do something that's going to be difficult, that you're going to be tempted to give up on or possibly quit. And Jesus promised to give us abundant life. We looked at that when we began this series, but that doesn't mean that the Christian life is going to be an easy life. That the abundant life that Jesus talks about, yeah, it comes with peace that passes understanding. It comes with joy and contentment and hope, but it comes with its fair share of difficulties as well. The Christian life is we live in this tension of both tribulation and hope that John 16:33, Jesus told his disciples, "I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, for I have overcome the world." This is the tension that we live in as followers of Christ, that in this world we will be faced with tribulations, with temptation, persecution, with many trials. And there will be times when we are tempted to give up. There will be times where all we can do is hold on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ and do what he calls us to do, which is to endure, to overcome these tribulations by standing firm, by persevering, by holding fast until he returns so that we may finish well. It's a race that we must run with endurance, but as we're going to see in our text today, it's also a race that could come to an end at any moment. And at the heart of our text today, we're going to be looking at a really large passage of scripture and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that and introduce it here in a little bit. But at the heart of this passage, Matthew chapter 24 is verse 36 through 44 where Jesus says this, he says, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows." And he's talking about his return, "not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away." And he says, "So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the middle, one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known and what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour you do not expect." And the big idea is that Jesus is coming back. No one knows exactly when, but when he comes, he says it's going to be like some people are asleep. That they're just completely caught off guard unaware by his return. It's going to be like in the days of Noah, people are just going on with their lives, ignoring the warnings coming from the Prophet Noah until that day when the flood comes and just swept them all the way. And he says, "It's going to be like that. When I return some people are going to be caught off guard as if they were asleep. But others," Jesus said, "well, they're going to be wide awake. They're going to be ready, waiting for Jesus' return." And Jesus doesn't tell us exactly when he's going to return, but he does teach us how to be ready for his return. And that's what we're going to be focusing on today. Today as we've said, is Palm Sunday. In the passage that I just read, it comes from a larger passage of scripture that's often referred to as the Olivet Discourse. It's in Matthew chapter 24 through 25. And in Matthew's gospel, this is the sermon that Jesus preached on the Mount of Olives to his disciples sometime after his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, but before his crucifixion on Good Friday. And there's way too much here for us to get through all of it verse by verse today. But we are going to get through most of it section by section. And as we do, we're going to be looking at five lessons, five steps that Jesus gives us that will enable us to be ready for his return, five areas that we need to endure in, in order to run this race and to finish well. And so the outline of today's sermon, Five steps to Finishing Well. The first step is to endure in hope. This is the beginning of Matthew chapter 24. Point two, endure in obedience. That's the end of chapter 24. Third, endure in faith. That's the beginning of chapter 25. Endure in mission. And then finally at the end of his sermon is the call to endure in love. Before we jump into the first point of today's sermon, would you please join me in prayer for our sermon today? Father, we thank you that you are a good and a just God. That you will not tolerate sin and evil forever, that a day is coming when you will judge the world in righteousness, where all sin will be accounted for, either in hell for all of eternity as it deserves, or on the cross by Jesus Christ in our place. Jesus, we thank you for your sacrifice. We thank you for taking the punishment, the wrath that our sins deserve so that we can look to your coming, not with the fear of punishment, but with the hope of salvation, of deliverance. That you have saved us, you've justified us, you've saved us from the penalty of our sin, that you right now by the power of your Holy Spirit are saving us, delivering us from the power of sin in our lives. And that you will come again to once and for all time deliver us from the very presence of sin for all of eternity. We long for, we look to that day. And Lord, we pray as we do that you would give us the strength to endure. That by the power of your Holy Spirit we would persevere for the glory of your name. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, point number one today is to endure in hope. And this comes from the beginning, Matthew chapter 24. Beginning in verse one, Matthew sets the context for us. He says that, "Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, 'You see these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.'" And then later, "As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, 'Tell us when these things will be? What will be the sign of your coming at the end of the age?' And Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All of these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." And so Matthew begins, he sets the context for us. Jesus and his disciples, they're in Jerusalem and he begins to notice that his disciples are, they're starstruck by the impressive buildings, the stones of the temple. And he answers them. In verse three he says, "You see these things?" He says, "Listen to me. Truly, I say to you, there's not going to be one of these stones left on top of another. They're all going to be thrown down." And then his disciples come to in verse three and says, "Well, tell us Jesus, what are you talking about? When are these things going to happen? What are going to be the signs of your coming at the end of the age?" And then Jesus begins to answer their question. And as you read the next two chapters, it becomes clear that Jesus' answer is not so crystal clear. That he doesn't give him a straightforward, "Well, here's the time and here's the date." And actually what you see is that as he answers, he seems to be actually describing multiple different events all at the same time. Events that are distinct, but that are in some ways similar, some ways connected. On the one hand he's predicting the literal fall of Jerusalem. He's predicting the literal destruction of the temple, a prediction that actually came true within the lifetime of his own disciples. That happened, we know this from history. Now, on the other hand, when you look at the larger context of Matthew and especially the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus often compared the destruction of the temple to the destruction of his physical body, that he was foreshadowing his crucifixion and his resurrection. And this is why a few chapters later in Matthew 26, when Jesus is standing trial, well, some of his accusers come and say in Matthew 26:61 that, "This man said he was able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days." Well, we know Jesus actually did say something like that, but he wasn't referring to the literal temple at that time. He was talking about himself. That he was going to be crucified, buried, and that three days later he was going to rise from the death. Now, on the other hand, Jesus is clearly not just talking about himself. He's clearly not just talking about the temple, he's talking about the end of the world. And so he's preparing his disciples for God's judgment. He's preparing his disciples for the judgment of God that was going to be poured out on him later that week on the cross in their place for their sins. And he's also teaching them about the judgment of God that was going to fall on the whole temple system, that this was going to be a sign. That that old temple with its old, it wasn't needed anymore, because Jesus had come to fulfill all of that. Jesus was the true temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. And his disciples were as well as the Holy Spirit came to dwell in them and that they didn't need the priests and the sacrifices. Jesus was the high priest. Jesus was the sacrifice. But then thirdly, he's foreshadowing the judgment of God that was going to someday day come on all of creation. There was going to come a day when Jesus is going to return to judge the world in righteousness and to make all things new. And the apostle Peter later on in his life, he wrote in second Peter chapter three, remembering the words of Jesus. He quotes him in II Peter 3:10, "That the day of the Lord will come like a thief." And then he says, "The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved and the earth and all the works that are done on it will be exposed." Nothing's going to be hidden from the judgment of God. And so verse 11 he says, "Since these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness in godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn. But what is our hope? Verse 13, "But according to his promise we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." And this should cause the enemies of God to tremble in fear, to humble themselves and repent. But the reason that Jesus is telling his disciples this is because he wants them. He needs them to fix their eyes on this hope, because this hope is going to be the only thing that is going to allow them, enable them to persevere the tribulation that is about to come. And we need the hope of Jesus' return, because as we wait for his return, the truth is, things are going to get pretty bad. That before Jesus returns to rescue his church and lead us to glory, Satan is going to do everything he can to ravage the church and lead us astray. Jesus continues in verse four and he says, and so therefore he says, "See that no one leads you astray. For many are going to come into my name, saying, 'I am the Christ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. And all of these are but the beginning of the birth pains. And then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.'" Jesus warns about three tactics that Satan, that the enemy is going to use, three categories of tribulation that he's going to wield against the church in order to lead us astray. In the first category we see. The first category of tribulation we see is that of trials. And what I mean by trials here, as Jesus talks about, there's going to be times of great difficulty. Wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence, disease, that he says, "There's going to be an increase in lawlessness. That it will just become common for people to lie, to cheat, to murder, to steal. And that these trials, they're going to be experienced, they're going to be common to everyone, but that Satan is going to use them in order to lead people astray. To lead people away from God, to lead them to extinguish their love, to grow cold in their love for God and their love for one another." And Jesus refers to these tribulations as birth pains. That they'll come and they'll go. They'll ebb and they'll flow throughout human history. And every time they do it's going to feel like the end of the world. It's going to feel like things couldn't possibly get any worse. And that these cycles of tribulation, they're going to come, they're going to continue until eventually a time of great tribulation, which the church will have to endure. But this will take place immediately before the return of Christ. It'll be painful, they'll be scary, but the hope is that these pains are leading to something glorious. And Jesus doesn't try to sugarcoat it. He says, "It's going to be bad." But he says in verse 13, "But listen, the one who endures to the end will be saved." And so in the trials of life, dear Christian, endure. The second category we see, the second category of tribulation is that of persecution. Verse nine, it says, "They will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another." Again, like the pangs of trials, persecutions, they come and go throughout church history and as they do, Jesus says, "They're going to cause some Christians to fall away, to turn against one another, to even hate one another." And I think a lot of people think that Christian persecution, oh, that's just something of the past. That's maybe something the early church experienced under the Roman Empire, but that doesn't happen today. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. It is estimated that since the dawn of the church, 70 million Christians have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ, 70 million. And over half of those took place within the last 100 years. And estimated around a 100,000 Christians are martyred every year, because they bear the name of Christ. And those of us who grew up here in America, we don't think about this often, because the world doesn't want to look at it. The world turns away from it, pretends like it's not happening. And much of it is happening far away on the other side of the world. I think a lot of Christians got a wake-up this week, these demonic evil attack that took place at the Covenant Christian School in Tennessee. It was a young woman who hated God, who hated Christians and targeted her rage at a Christian school. Satanically murdered three adults, three children, and I don't use that word satanic lightly. What is persecution? Persecution is what happens, when Satan tempts a person to love their sin and their perversion so much that they are willing to kill for it, rather than look to the one who loved them so much that he was willing to die for it, to die for them. It's demonic, it's evil, it's satanic and it's heart-wrenching when it hits so close to home. But this is a reality that many Christians throughout history and around the world today face every single day. This is the reality that got Jesus nailed to a cross. This is the reality that led every one of his apostles to a brutal martyr's death. That when the general calamity of the trials of life are not enough to pull us away, well then Satan is not above using specifically targeted evil at the people of God through the form of persecution. And sometimes it's social coercion, sometimes it's economic exclusion, sometimes it's threats and acts of violence. And Jesus warns us, verse nine, "They'll deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another." Again, he doesn't sugar coat it for us, but he does leave us with this hope in verse 13, "That the one who endures to the end will be saved." So endure in trials, endure in persecution. The third category of tribulation we see in this passage is that of temptation. That Satan, look at verse 11, "Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." And then later in verse 24, he says, "For false christs and false prophets will arise and even perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect." Obviously, that's not possible, but he's trying to communicate how severe the temptation will be. That Satan doesn't always need to use persecution when sometimes all it takes is a little temptation. Sometimes all he needs to do is raise up a false prophet to tell us what we want to hear. Raise up a false pastor who instead of boldly preaching the truth that we need to hear will cower before the crowds and just tell them what they want to hear. This is, I mean these signs, they're everywhere. We see them all around us in this world today, the pains of labor. And when we feel them and when it feels like they've become too much, there's really two ways we can respond. We can look at this rising hatred of God, of persecution against Christians around the world. We can look at the cult of rampant perversion and sexual immorality that is domineering our culture. We can look at the wars, the rumors of wars, the famines, the disaster of the disease. We can look at the alarming apostacy in churches around us that scoff at the Word of God. We can look at these signs and lose heart. We can get discouraged, we can get angry. We can get bitter. We can allow our love to grow cold. We can believe the lie that these pains are just leading to a meaningless death. Or we can believe the truth, that these pains of labor will someday eventually give birth to eternal life, to new creation. And so dear Christian, endure the pains of this tribulation. Pick up your cross and fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder, the perfector of our faith who promises us Matthew 7:13, "That the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." And then 24:13, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." And finally, Matthew 24:32. Jesus gives us this beautiful illustration of hope, because after hearing all that, we need some hope. And this is what he says. He says, "From the fig tree learns its lesson, as soon as its branches become tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all of these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates." I don't know about you, but I am ready for summer in more ways than one. Outside the front window of our apartment we have these two magnolia trees, and right now they look like death. They're barren. There's no leaves. They've got these ugly, fuzzy, grayish, greenish, brownish buds on the end of their branches. But when we see that ugliness, we get a little bit excited because we know what's about to come. We know it's only a matter of time before these buds start to bloom, before this barren tree begins to explode with color, with new life. And I really think this is just the providence of God. I looked out our window this morning and I can see just a few here there, 10, 11, maybe 12 of these buds beginning to open. The signs of life and color peeking through. Jesus may return in our lifetime, or he may not. We don't know the day or the hour. If he doesn't return soon, we have the promise of scripture that he is going to be with us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will give us the power and the strength to persevere. And if he does return soon, he will do so in power and great glory to save and glorify his church and to put an end to Satan, sin, and death once and for all. In these last few verses of this first passage in verse 29, Jesus tells us, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the heavens, and the powers of the heaven will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and all of the tribes of earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." And so first and foremost, in order to finish, well, we need to endure in this hope. And we see this here in this first section that we've looked at. But now as we look at the rest of Jesus' sermon throughout Matthew through chapter 24 and 25, what we see is that Jesus teaches a series of parables and each one of these shows us another step, another area that we will need to endure in order to finish well. And that we can endure in because of this hope that we have in Jesus Christ. And this really shows us practically what this is going to look like in day-to-day life. Point number one was, endure in hope. Point number two is verses 45 through 51 to endure in obedience. Jesus says in verse 44, "You must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." And then he begins to teach this parable. He says, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, at an hour that he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place that will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Parables are a lot like jokes. And I don't say that to say that this parable is funny. It's not. This is a very serious and grave warning that Jesus gives us. But they are in the sense that they're the closest, modern equivalent in the sense that a lot of the details in a parable are really meant to get you to the punchline of the parable. They're usually not meant to be read allegorically. They're meant to communicate one big idea, one big aha moment. As we read these parables, we got to ask, "What is the punchline of this parable?" And the punchline of this one Jesus is teaching us is, don't be like this wasted servant living a wasted life. In other words, you need to live every day as if it were your last because it very well could be so. That there is an urgency to our obedience to Christ. And the reason that there is an urgency to obedience is because we all have this tendency to want to put it off, to get to it later. How many of us have been in that place in life where we tell ourselves, "I want to follow Jesus, but I'll get serious and really give him my full obedience someday, later. I just got some stuff I want to do first." I've been there. I was that stereotypical church kid that went off to college and drifted away. And you know this about me, my first semester I joined a band and on the weekends, I wasn't going to church on the weekends, we were driving all over the Midwest, touring, playing shows. And I remember one spring morning we were on some college campus, we'd been up late playing a show the night before. And I don't know, we got up at the crack of like 10:30 or 11:00 and decided to go out and try to find something to eat. As we were driving through town, I see this woman, she's got a nice dress on, she's got a big fancy hat. She's walking down the street by herself waving a palm branch. I was like, "What on earth is she doing?" And then suddenly it dawned on me it was Sunday, today was Palm Sunday. I'd considered myself a Christian, and yet it had been so long since I thought about God or I thought about church, I didn't even realize the season, that Easter was just a week away. I was oblivious. I was like the hypocrite in this parable. And if you're waiting until later to give your full obedience to Christ, that's a really dangerous game to play. Later may never come. And if it does, you might not have the heart to respond when it does. Hebrews three warns us. Hebrews 3:12. It says, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." And so endure in obedience so that you may not be hardened by deceitfulness of sin. That's point two. Point three is to endure in faith. And this is the beginning of the next chapter, chapter 25:1-13. Jesus tells us another parable. He says, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bride groom. Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. And when the foolish ones took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wises took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, 'Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him.' Then all those virgins rose, trimmed their lamps. And the foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered saying, 'Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. And afterward the other virgins also came saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, 'I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.'" So again, we got, this is not an allegory, it's a parable, so the punchline here is, does Jesus know you? He answers the foolish and he says, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." And this is echoing a statement that he made in the Sermon of the Mount earlier in Matthew chapter seven. He says, "Listen, not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. And on that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" When Jesus returns, he's not going to be impressed with our self-righteous list of accomplishments as we stand before his throne in judgment. The question is, does he know you? Do you have faith? Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? Oftentimes we're tempted to put off our obedience to Christ. Well, oftentimes we're often tempted to put off our relationship with Jesus Christ to say, "I'll get serious about my faith later. I'll spend time in fasting and prayer. I'll start to read my Bible later. Someday when I'm less busy, someday when I have more time." Well, later may never come. And the question is, Jesus wants us to feel an urgency that if he came back today, would it be like you're meeting a stranger, or would it be like you're meeting a friend, somebody that you know, someone you have a relationship with? You need to endure in faith. Point number four is to endure in mission. This is verse 14 through 30, Matthew chapter 25. This is the parable of the talents. And we looked at this last week, so I'm not going to read through the whole thing again for us this week, just to give you the CliffsNotes version, the parable of the talents that there's a wealthy master, a wealthy king. He's entrusted three of his servants with a certain amount of money, with a certain number of talents to invest as he departs and goes on a long journey. And then he comes back to settle accounts with them after a long time. And what we're told is that the wicked servant, he took his master's money, he hid it, he buried it in the ground, and when the master comes back he punishes him. But the good servants, they took their master's talents, they invested them faithfully. And when the master comes back, he says to them in verse 23, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little, I'll set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." And last week when we looked at this parable, we looked at it through the lens of giving and generosity. And that's, I think a good way to look at it. It's one of the ways that you can look at it. But ultimately, Jesus was talking about a lot more than just managing money when he was teaching this parable. He wants us, we need to look at this through the lens of God's mission that Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God. Now, Jesus is the master, right? He's gone on a long journey. He's ascended into heaven. We don't know the day that he's going to return, but we know that when he does return that he will be back. And while he is gone, he has left us with a mission to accomplish. If you remember back in Matthew 24:14, Jesus tells us this, "That this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." We all love this idea of doing evangelism, of making disciples, of answering God's calling for our life, investing our talents for his kingdom. But so often we are not doing those things now, because again, we keep saying, "Oh, well, I'll do those things someday later." And what we're doing in those moments is we're really acting like the foolish, like the wicked servant. Were burying God's talents in the ground. And Matthew 9:57 we're told that as Jesus and his disciples were going along the road, someone came and he said to him, "Hey Jesus, I'll follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, "Well, foxes have holes in birds of the airs have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head." And to another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Well, Lord, let me first go and bury my father." And Jesus said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." And yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those at my home." And Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." And obviously Jesus is using a bit of hyperbole here, but the point is clear, that the mission doesn't start tomorrow, the mission starts today. That we cannot put this off. We need to go, proclaim the kingdom of God, keep both hands to the plow and not look back. We need to endure in this mission. And then finally, we're called, at the end of his sermon Jesus calls us to endure in love. That is point number five, Matthew 25:31-46. But first, if you remember back to the beginning of chapter 24, Jesus warned us about this. He said, "That many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." That we need as the church to endure and love. We need to endure in our love for God, we need to endure and our love for our neighbors, for people in general. But at the end of his sermon here, Jesus gives us a parable in which he is calling us specifically to endure in our love for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the meaning of the final parable. This is the parable of the sheep and the goats. Matthew 25:31. Jesus says, "When the son of man comes in his glory and all of the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left and then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as stranger and welcome, or you are naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?" And the king will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me." And then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, I was naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they will also answer saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and not minister to you?" Then he'll answer them saying, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." And I think most of us, at least for myself, whenever I've heard this read or preached, it's usually preached in the sense of, this is a call for Christians to do good works. This is a call for Christians to be charitable and compassionate and to care for those are who are in need. And those are certainly all good things that Christians should do. But that's not the point of what Jesus is talking about here. Because again, so the parable, it's not an allegory. And so what it is the punchline of the parable, it's verse 40, "That the king will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of," the least of who? "One of the these, my brothers, you did it for me." And when you read the gospels, when Jesus uses that language of the least of these, when he uses the language of my brothers and sisters, he's referring to his disciples. That as Christians we should love our neighbors as ourselves, that we should be charitable and compassionate to people in general. But the big idea that Jesus is talking about here is that this needs to be especially true for how we love and care for our brothers and sisters in Christ. That as Christians, when we love other Christians, when we care for the body of Christ, it says, "If we are caring for Christ himself." And when we don't, we see the warning there as well. Now, we need to think about this in the context of the sermon that Jesus is preaching. Jesus is preaching to a people who are about to face tribulation. And in just a few days he's going to lead the way by going to the cross himself. And I think part of what's going on here is that Jesus is, he's foreshadowing the reality that a time of difficulty was about to come for himself, that he would be crucified, and that when he was his followers, his disciples, his brothers and sisters would be tempted to desert him, to betray, to deny, to be ashamed to associate with him. And that's exactly what happened. But he's also saying, "That a time of difficulty is coming for you, my church as well. And when it does, you're going to be tempted to do the same, to turn against and to abandon one another." And he's reminding us that in those moments when it becomes the most costly, the most inconvenient to love one another, that is precisely when we need to love one another the most. And we have a very direct example of this in the New Testament. In II Timothy chapter one. The apostle Paul writes in second Timothy 1:15, he says to Timothy, "Listen, you are aware of all of those in Asia who turned away from me, among whom were Phygelus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day." And so he says, you remember Phygelus and Hermogenes, right? Phygelus, goat, Hermogenes, goat. They're hypocrites. They claim to be followers of Jesus, but they were fakes, they were frauds. When it came time to prove their faith, they were ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They turned and they abandoned the apostle Paul. Onesiphorus, now there's a sheep, right? He cared for Paul while he was in prison. He wasn't ashamed to go to him and give him help in his time of need. He's the real goat in the modern sense, not to get too confusing. But you see what's going on here. He cared for Paul. And in caring for Paul, it's as if he cared for Christ. And look at what Paul prays for him in verse 18. He says, "May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day." On what day? On the day when Jesus comes to separate the sheep from the goats. That as the church we must endure for love and love for one another always, especially when it's hard, especially when it's costly, especially when the world around us hates us. By doing so, we honor Christ and we prove, we test testify to the world that we truly are his disciples. And Jesus, in John 13:34, he tell his disciples, "A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." And he says, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one another." And so the five steps to finish well, endure in hope, endure in obedience, endure in faith, endure in mission, endure in love. And Jesus gave this last commandment that we just read. If you remember this, he gave this in the context of the Last Supper, right after having washed his disciples' feet. It says John 13:12. It says, "When he had washed their feet and he put on his outer garment and resumed his place, and he said to them, 'Do you understand what I've done for you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed you if you do them, I'm not speaking of all of you, I know whom I have chosen, but the scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate bread has lifted his heel against me.'" He's talking about Judas who would betray him. "But I'm telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." Today is a special day, today is Palm Sunday. It's the beginning of Holy Week and it's fitting that we look to the return of Christ on the day that he first entered, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Today is also Communion Sunday, we remember the crowd that cried, hosanna, that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as their savior. We also remember that crowd quickly turned into the mob that later that week rejected him as their Lord. And their response, it stands as a warning, as a reminder throughout the ages that our greatest need is not for a savior who is going to come and save us from our circumstances. Our greatest need is for a savior who's going to come and save us from ourselves, save us from our sin, our guilt, our shame from the wrath of God that those things deserve. And communion is a time for us to remember and to give thanks and to celebrate that Jesus Christ came to do just that. Jesus died on the cross to deliver us from the penalty that our sin deserved. That Jesus rose from the grave to deliver us from the power of sin over our lives. And that Jesus is going to come again to judge the living and the dead, and to deliver us from the very presence of sin, a once and for all and for all eternity. God, we thank you for your amazing grace. We thank you that the signs are all around us, that the winter is almost over, that spring and summer are almost here. And that when we see these signs, we know for certain that you are with us. You have promised to be with us always to the very end of the age. And whether that day be soon, or whether that day be long beyond our time here on earth. Lord, I pray that you'd give us the grace and the power to walk faithfully and endure to the end for the sake of your name and glory. That every one of our lives would be used as a witness, as a testimony to your goodness, to your grace, to your power, to your glory. And we thank you for the blood of your son, Jesus Christ that was poured out for us, so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be redeemed from our slavery to sin and adopted into your household as sons and daughters. And we come now as your children and just continue to give you thanks and give you our praise. In Jesus' name, amen.

[The Last Episode] - (shit show(s) in description)

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2023 22:44

[The Festival Project Presents: {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} THE LEGEND OF… THE INFINITE SKRILLIFILES GERALD'S WORLD & ASCENSION DEATHWISH LEGENDS THE INSOMNIAC {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} SEASON 6 - ACT II - PART II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downtown Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it. Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. “The Golden Girl” gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Mo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. INT. TRAIN. WHENEVER. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A FIREY PLANE CRASH CUT BACK TO: You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA LABEOUF IS: “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train ride had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's Sunnï Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not SUPACREE. Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh. I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (Leaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN'T What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— UGH. I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest things i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. ASCENSION Rise of Ascencia Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. THE SUITE LIFE OF SUNNÏ BLŪ LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF— [Sunni opens the door.] No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still Linsday Lohan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan”; –She's just over there now. Not “was”. Still is Lindsay Lohan. Presently. How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū. LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper?! SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I gave him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense —A CROSS DIMENSIONAL PARALLEL REALITY. The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Suicide By Cop. Maybe. Idk. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! “LIL' BITZ” I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amphetamine Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachute (PARIS SHOOT) Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this. [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! MEANWHILE, IN HOLLYWOOD Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL ENTER THE MULTIVERSE SEASON 6 - ACT II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downto Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Moo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A firey plane crash CUT BACK TO You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA IS “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train to chugs I had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's sunni Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not supacree Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (eaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN”T. What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of time and space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest thing i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF [Sunni opens the door. No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still lindsay logan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan” –She's just over there now. Not “was” How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper. SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I have him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachutes Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this'd [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! DUFF! What's your name again? …Are you serious? No, I'm kidding. (No, I actually forgot what I named this character) I think it's “Joel” I doubt that. What was it. Idk, moving on. …did you forget? Yeah, I forgot. It's okay! Yeah, I guess. We found you!! Yeah. Sorry we destroyed the planet— —only like half. It's totally destroyed. It was like that before you guys landed. —? Just Trust me. Why does it look like somebody turned you upside down? I was “paralyzed” What's that mean? It happens here. That sounds horrible. This place sucks. It's really far. Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL Always leave things better than you found it. Well, I feel better, Thanks , God. Yep, no problem. Okay. *lays down momentarily* [half beat] Back to Work. [Suddenly Getting Up] OkayZ. Do ya'll remember—the time on the train. “ damn, I shoulda saw that movie with Carmella. This is hilarious. Watch. Agh, God. What is it. Now it's the hard part; I gotta do some technical shit. Mm. Like what: Put it on the net. don't. Uh. Too late, bitch. ::||pause. is this train gonna go. Is it. Innit. K. [train starts moving] Hm. I lost the thought, In awe of it all— The saga I wrote, and The words that would fall, All around me; The words that I saw, And the words that had found me The words that I was, And could not be without being Unh. That'll do. Lol what is up with this train. CONDUCTOR. Yo, it's me. Who the fuxk is this. What is this operation. Lol. Damn, what . 3D has its perks This is way beyond 3D. I know. bitch. **shh, don't cuss. What. It's for the kidsZ No, it isn't. It's for the kiddzzz. What. No. Yes: NoS For thee kids. So I turn 30 and my body keeps reminding me that I'm a baby machines Okay: What. Ew, that's gross. Lol. Only cause she's 30. What. Agism: it's real. EVERYTHING IS REAL. What. Uh. RAIL. —WHAt— —RAIL— Damn. … Zzz … SUPACREEA* is seated on the LOUNGE car in COACH. Don't capitalize coach. YOU're IN COAH. Oh hell yeah. What's in there. Not you. Okay, I'll be SUPACREE A, And you'll be SUPACREE B. Okay. You're not gonna disagree to being ‘B' instead of A, like me? I am you. I don't care. Fine. . . . I want to be SUPACREE B No take backs. SUPACREE A and SUOACREE B are DUPLICATES. DAMN, YOU DUPLICATED? Not on purpose! DAMN. This goes beyond shapeshiftig. I didn't know you could do that. I could do that. Oh. ‘Oh' Ugh I got this feeling in my soul— —I got this stone inside my palm— I got this pulling in my heart— —i feel like you could be the one; But you're gone, now Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone —and when there's no where left to run; —and there's no need to wander off— —and there is no one left to love— I guess I'll see you when you're gone Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone I'm gonna go ahead and take this on. Oh, God, No! —not because I want to; But why, then?! Because I gotta. You came a long way, kid. Where am I now? Oh, you're still nowhere. ITS NO FAIR. Life isn't fair, Amanda. But MoooooOO0000M. NO. BUT MO— NO—no SUPACREE show tonight! But— I told you, clean your room. I don't know what I am. You're a fairy. Pretty scary fairy. It'll do, though. WANDA. NO. COME, ON, WANDA NO. WANDA, COME ON. WAKANDA FOR— No, no black Panther. What, why not? That movie's racist. Wha-?! CUT TO: I didn't want to do it this way, kid. Who are you? The crypt keeper. Oh. Yeah. Am I Dead? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hm. Yep. Can I see your scythe? You wanna see? Yeah, it's nice— *SCYLCE!* Lol. AOh my god AAAAHHHHHJH—Drake BELL. Don't worry, he's an ansolary character. Wat. Kinda. Damn. Season 6 is on FIRE THE HOLLYWOOD PEOLPLE ahem. Hollywood is on fire. SUPACREE WHELP. I'm out. No, don't go. SKRILLEX DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS. SONNY Fuck it, I'm in Korea. Or Thailand, or whatever. Something like that. “Something like that.” Ahem. Where's Dillon Francis. LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYONE FUCK DILLON FRANCIS. Damn. YeH, that. Well, God forbid anything actually happens to that guy. GOD I don't forbid anything. It's a free world. AHAHAHAHHAHA AHAHAHAHAHJAHAHJJA AHAHAHHA STOP. What. Go back. WhT. For. Just. Go back. For what. I thought I saw somethings Something like what. Something. Just. Ugh. JUST REWIND. SUPACREE has replaced the remote with THE SYNETHESIA PANEL MINI *life itself rewinds

united states america god tv jesus christ ceo music american new york spotify california ai hollywood earth master freedom coach las vegas work hell mexico magic running americans living french canadian walk dj girl chinese european green fire rich toronto stars japanese playing spanish cost minnesota write satan open train fashion adventure east strange gods 3d fame heroes cold divine mexican humanity legends mail burn mine television math millions shit cinema eat korea hole mirror gotta lol scream fuck caught diamond senators eleven refugees vine pi pants destination shake bitch excuse polish exploration similar gross metro shut expo wizards toy story copyright lie alt surface get up carpenter presenting flashback whole foods dope latin american tequila cry south park ka illuminati hurry wishes medicaid amish vic plain blonde i love cc fucking mm hocus pocus whoopi goldberg wrapped comcast sussex jimmy fallon diff int rail panther ill pretend dang golden girls footsteps wasting anthology equinox cree lapd stripes conductor lindsay lohan fascists owl hm dip morse whoop burbank hoes suicidal idk auntie ignorant gee sha duff skrillex benz ew impatience fry shit show oh my god aw tribeca caper goddamn chiapas crips alesso spirit airlines confirming open the door sunni fuckin brooklyn bridge jobless scarf ahem my lord specifics it doesn moo duplicate resurrect polished wha dillon francis drake bell ohh hah downtown los angeles aww heh unh rah yeh face down hillary duff uhh innit sunn mmf playbill hot one your majesty eww uhm zzz fuck yeah mowbray fuck it agh bitz raton freehand thet farro pondered liters wht timmy turner hell naw agism liverpool tottenham coelacanth hey jesus edgware mexican spanish amoeba music elf bar deface air marshall traini i can fly aoh only god knows sonny moore linsday lohan

[The Last Episode] - (special episode in description)

[ENTER THE MULTIVERSE]

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2023 22:44

[The Festival Project Presents: {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} THE LEGEND OF… THE INFINITE SKRILLIFILES GERALD'S WORLD & ASCENSION DEATHWISH LEGENDS THE INSOMNIAC {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} SEASON 6 - ACT II - PART II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downtown Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it. Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. “The Golden Girl” gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Mo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. INT. TRAIN. WHENEVER. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A FIREY PLANE CRASH CUT BACK TO: You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA LABEOUF IS: “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train ride had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's Sunnï Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not SUPACREE. Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh. I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (Leaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN'T What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— UGH. I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest things i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. ASCENSION Rise of Ascencia Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. THE SUITE LIFE OF SUNNÏ BLŪ LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF— [Sunni opens the door.] No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still Linsday Lohan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan”; –She's just over there now. Not “was”. Still is Lindsay Lohan. Presently. How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū. LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper?! SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I gave him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense —A CROSS DIMENSIONAL PARALLEL REALITY. The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Suicide By Cop. Maybe. Idk. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! “LIL' BITZ” I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amphetamine Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachute (PARIS SHOOT) Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this. [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! MEANWHILE, IN HOLLYWOOD Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL ENTER THE MULTIVERSE SEASON 6 - ACT II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downto Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Moo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A firey plane crash CUT BACK TO You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA IS “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train to chugs I had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's sunni Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not supacree Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (eaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN”T. What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of time and space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest thing i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF [Sunni opens the door. No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still lindsay logan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan” –She's just over there now. Not “was” How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper. SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I have him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachutes Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this'd [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! DUFF! What's your name again? …Are you serious? No, I'm kidding. (No, I actually forgot what I named this character) I think it's “Joel” I doubt that. What was it. Idk, moving on. …did you forget? Yeah, I forgot. It's okay! Yeah, I guess. We found you!! Yeah. Sorry we destroyed the planet— —only like half. It's totally destroyed. It was like that before you guys landed. —? Just Trust me. Why does it look like somebody turned you upside down? I was “paralyzed” What's that mean? It happens here. That sounds horrible. This place sucks. It's really far. Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL Always leave things better than you found it. Well, I feel better, Thanks , God. Yep, no problem. Okay. *lays down momentarily* [half beat] Back to Work. [Suddenly Getting Up] OkayZ. Do ya'll remember—the time on the train. “ damn, I shoulda saw that movie with Carmella. This is hilarious. Watch. Agh, God. What is it. Now it's the hard part; I gotta do some technical shit. Mm. Like what: Put it on the net. don't. Uh. Too late, bitch. ::||pause. is this train gonna go. Is it. Innit. K. [train starts moving] Hm. I lost the thought, In awe of it all— The saga I wrote, and The words that would fall, All around me; The words that I saw, And the words that had found me The words that I was, And could not be without being Unh. That'll do. Lol what is up with this train. CONDUCTOR. Yo, it's me. Who the fuxk is this. What is this operation. Lol. Damn, what . 3D has its perks This is way beyond 3D. I know. bitch. **shh, don't cuss. What. It's for the kidsZ No, it isn't. It's for the kiddzzz. What. No. Yes: NoS For thee kids. So I turn 30 and my body keeps reminding me that I'm a baby machines Okay: What. Ew, that's gross. Lol. Only cause she's 30. What. Agism: it's real. EVERYTHING IS REAL. What. Uh. RAIL. —WHAt— —RAIL— Damn. … Zzz … SUPACREEA* is seated on the LOUNGE car in COACH. Don't capitalize coach. YOU're IN COAH. Oh hell yeah. What's in there. Not you. Okay, I'll be SUPACREE A, And you'll be SUPACREE B. Okay. You're not gonna disagree to being ‘B' instead of A, like me? I am you. I don't care. Fine. . . . I want to be SUPACREE B No take backs. SUPACREE A and SUOACREE B are DUPLICATES. DAMN, YOU DUPLICATED? Not on purpose! DAMN. This goes beyond shapeshiftig. I didn't know you could do that. I could do that. Oh. ‘Oh' Ugh I got this feeling in my soul— —I got this stone inside my palm— I got this pulling in my heart— —i feel like you could be the one; But you're gone, now Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone —and when there's no where left to run; —and there's no need to wander off— —and there is no one left to love— I guess I'll see you when you're gone Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone I'm gonna go ahead and take this on. Oh, God, No! —not because I want to; But why, then?! Because I gotta. You came a long way, kid. Where am I now? Oh, you're still nowhere. ITS NO FAIR. Life isn't fair, Amanda. But MoooooOO0000M. NO. BUT MO— NO—no SUPACREE show tonight! But— I told you, clean your room. I don't know what I am. You're a fairy. Pretty scary fairy. It'll do, though. WANDA. NO. COME, ON, WANDA NO. WANDA, COME ON. WAKANDA FOR— No, no black Panther. What, why not? That movie's racist. Wha-?! CUT TO: I didn't want to do it this way, kid. Who are you? The crypt keeper. Oh. Yeah. Am I Dead? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hm. Yep. Can I see your scythe? You wanna see? Yeah, it's nice— *SCYLCE!* Lol. AOh my god AAAAHHHHHJH—Drake BELL. Don't worry, he's an ansolary character. Wat. Kinda. Damn. Season 6 is on FIRE THE HOLLYWOOD PEOLPLE ahem. Hollywood is on fire. SUPACREE WHELP. I'm out. No, don't go. SKRILLEX DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS. SONNY Fuck it, I'm in Korea. Or Thailand, or whatever. Something like that. “Something like that.” Ahem. Where's Dillon Francis. LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYONE FUCK DILLON FRANCIS. Damn. YeH, that. Well, God forbid anything actually happens to that guy. GOD I don't forbid anything. It's a free world. AHAHAHAHHAHA AHAHAHAHAHJAHAHJJA AHAHAHHA STOP. What. Go back. WhT. For. Just. Go back. For what. I thought I saw somethings Something like what. Something. Just. Ugh. JUST REWIND. SUPACREE has replaced the remote with THE SYNETHESIA PANEL MINI *life itself rewinds

united states america god tv jesus christ ceo music american new york spotify california ai hollywood earth master freedom coach las vegas work hell mexico magic running americans living french canadian walk dj girl chinese european green fire rich toronto stars japanese playing spanish cost minnesota write satan open train fashion adventure east strange gods 3d fame heroes cold divine mexican humanity legends mail burn mine television math millions shit cinema eat korea hole mirror gotta lol scream fuck caught diamond senators eleven refugees vine pi pants destination shake bitch excuse polish exploration similar gross metro shut expo wizards toy story copyright lie alt surface get up carpenter presenting flashback whole foods dope latin american tequila cry south park ka illuminati hurry wishes medicaid amish vic plain blonde i love cc fucking mm hocus pocus whoopi goldberg wrapped comcast sussex jimmy fallon diff int rail panther ill pretend dang golden girls footsteps wasting anthology equinox cree lapd stripes conductor lindsay lohan fascists owl hm dip morse whoop burbank hoes suicidal idk auntie ignorant gee sha duff skrillex benz ew impatience fry oh my god aw tribeca caper goddamn chiapas crips alesso spirit airlines confirming open the door sunni fuckin brooklyn bridge jobless scarf ahem my lord specifics it doesn moo duplicate resurrect polished wha dillon francis drake bell ohh hah downtown los angeles aww heh unh rah yeh face down hillary duff uhh innit sunn mmf playbill hot one your majesty eww uhm zzz fuck yeah mowbray fuck it agh bitz raton freehand thet farro pondered liters wht timmy turner hell naw agism liverpool tottenham coelacanth hey jesus edgware mexican spanish amoeba music elf bar deface air marshall traini i can fly aoh only god knows sonny moore linsday lohan

[The Last Episode] - (sorry, Dillon Francis)

Gerald’s World.

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2023 22:44

[The Festival Project Presents: {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} THE LEGEND OF… THE INFINITE SKRILLIFILES GERALD'S WORLD & ASCENSION DEATHWISH LEGENDS THE INSOMNIAC {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} SEASON 6 - ACT II - PART II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downtown Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it. Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. “The Golden Girl” gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Mo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. INT. TRAIN. WHENEVER. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A FIREY PLANE CRASH CUT BACK TO: You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA LABEOUF IS: “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train ride had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's Sunnï Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not SUPACREE. Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh. I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (Leaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN'T What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— UGH. I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest things i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. ASCENSION Rise of Ascencia Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. THE SUITE LIFE OF SUNNÏ BLŪ LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF— [Sunni opens the door.] No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still Linsday Lohan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan”; –She's just over there now. Not “was”. Still is Lindsay Lohan. Presently. How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū. LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper?! SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I gave him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense —A CROSS DIMENSIONAL PARALLEL REALITY. The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Suicide By Cop. Maybe. Idk. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! “LIL' BITZ” I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amphetamine Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachute (PARIS SHOOT) Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this. [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! MEANWHILE, IN HOLLYWOOD Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL ENTER THE MULTIVERSE SEASON 6 - ACT II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downto Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Moo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A firey plane crash CUT BACK TO You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA IS “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train to chugs I had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's sunni Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not supacree Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (eaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN”T. What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of time and space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest thing i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF [Sunni opens the door. No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still lindsay logan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan” –She's just over there now. Not “was” How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper. SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I have him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachutes Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this'd [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! DUFF! What's your name again? …Are you serious? No, I'm kidding. (No, I actually forgot what I named this character) I think it's “Joel” I doubt that. What was it. Idk, moving on. …did you forget? Yeah, I forgot. It's okay! Yeah, I guess. We found you!! Yeah. Sorry we destroyed the planet— —only like half. It's totally destroyed. It was like that before you guys landed. —? Just Trust me. Why does it look like somebody turned you upside down? I was “paralyzed” What's that mean? It happens here. That sounds horrible. This place sucks. It's really far. Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL Always leave things better than you found it. Well, I feel better, Thanks , God. Yep, no problem. Okay. *lays down momentarily* [half beat] Back to Work. [Suddenly Getting Up] OkayZ. Do ya'll remember—the time on the train. “ damn, I shoulda saw that movie with Carmella. This is hilarious. Watch. Agh, God. What is it. Now it's the hard part; I gotta do some technical shit. Mm. Like what: Put it on the net. don't. Uh. Too late, bitch. ::||pause. is this train gonna go. Is it. Innit. K. [train starts moving] Hm. I lost the thought, In awe of it all— The saga I wrote, and The words that would fall, All around me; The words that I saw, And the words that had found me The words that I was, And could not be without being Unh. That'll do. Lol what is up with this train. CONDUCTOR. Yo, it's me. Who the fuxk is this. What is this operation. Lol. Damn, what . 3D has its perks This is way beyond 3D. I know. bitch. **shh, don't cuss. What. It's for the kidsZ No, it isn't. It's for the kiddzzz. What. No. Yes: NoS For thee kids. So I turn 30 and my body keeps reminding me that I'm a baby machines Okay: What. Ew, that's gross. Lol. Only cause she's 30. What. Agism: it's real. EVERYTHING IS REAL. What. Uh. RAIL. —WHAt— —RAIL— Damn. … Zzz … SUPACREEA* is seated on the LOUNGE car in COACH. Don't capitalize coach. YOU're IN COAH. Oh hell yeah. What's in there. Not you. Okay, I'll be SUPACREE A, And you'll be SUPACREE B. Okay. You're not gonna disagree to being ‘B' instead of A, like me? I am you. I don't care. Fine. . . . I want to be SUPACREE B No take backs. SUPACREE A and SUOACREE B are DUPLICATES. DAMN, YOU DUPLICATED? Not on purpose! DAMN. This goes beyond shapeshiftig. I didn't know you could do that. I could do that. Oh. ‘Oh' Ugh I got this feeling in my soul— —I got this stone inside my palm— I got this pulling in my heart— —i feel like you could be the one; But you're gone, now Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone —and when there's no where left to run; —and there's no need to wander off— —and there is no one left to love— I guess I'll see you when you're gone Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone I'm gonna go ahead and take this on. Oh, God, No! —not because I want to; But why, then?! Because I gotta. You came a long way, kid. Where am I now? Oh, you're still nowhere. ITS NO FAIR. Life isn't fair, Amanda. But MoooooOO0000M. NO. BUT MO— NO—no SUPACREE show tonight! But— I told you, clean your room. I don't know what I am. You're a fairy. Pretty scary fairy. It'll do, though. WANDA. NO. COME, ON, WANDA NO. WANDA, COME ON. WAKANDA FOR— No, no black Panther. What, why not? That movie's racist. Wha-?! CUT TO: I didn't want to do it this way, kid. Who are you? The crypt keeper. Oh. Yeah. Am I Dead? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hm. Yep. Can I see your scythe? You wanna see? Yeah, it's nice— *SCYLCE!* Lol. AOh my god AAAAHHHHHJH—Drake BELL. Don't worry, he's an ansolary character. Wat. Kinda. Damn. Season 6 is on FIRE THE HOLLYWOOD PEOLPLE ahem. Hollywood is on fire. SUPACREE WHELP. I'm out. No, don't go. SKRILLEX DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS. SONNY Fuck it, I'm in Korea. Or Thailand, or whatever. Something like that. “Something like that.” Ahem. Where's Dillon Francis. LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYONE FUCK DILLON FRANCIS. Damn. YeH, that. Well, God forbid anything actually happens to that guy. GOD I don't forbid anything. It's a free world. AHAHAHAHHAHA AHAHAHAHAHJAHAHJJA AHAHAHHA STOP. What. Go back. WhT. For. Just. Go back. For what. I thought I saw somethings Something like what. Something. Just. Ugh. JUST REWIND. SUPACREE has replaced the remote with THE SYNETHESIA PANEL MINI *life itself rewinds

united states america god tv jesus christ ceo music american new york spotify california ai hollywood earth master freedom coach las vegas work hell mexico magic running americans living french canadian walk dj girl chinese european green fire rich toronto stars japanese playing spanish cost minnesota write satan open train fashion adventure east strange gods 3d fame heroes cold divine mexican humanity legends mail burn mine television math millions shit cinema eat korea hole mirror gotta lol scream fuck caught diamond senators eleven refugees vine pi pants destination shake bitch excuse polish exploration similar gross metro shut expo wizards toy story copyright lie alt surface get up carpenter presenting flashback whole foods dope latin american tequila cry south park ka illuminati hurry wishes medicaid amish vic plain blonde i love cc fucking mm hocus pocus whoopi goldberg wrapped comcast sussex jimmy fallon diff int rail panther ill pretend dang golden girls footsteps wasting anthology equinox cree lapd stripes conductor lindsay lohan fascists owl hm dip morse whoop burbank hoes suicidal idk auntie ignorant gee sha duff skrillex benz ew impatience fry oh my god aw tribeca caper goddamn chiapas crips alesso spirit airlines confirming open the door sunni fuckin brooklyn bridge jobless scarf ahem my lord specifics it doesn moo duplicate resurrect polished wha dillon francis drake bell ohh hah downtown los angeles aww heh unh rah yeh face down hillary duff uhh innit sunn mmf playbill hot one your majesty eww uhm zzz fuck yeah mowbray fuck it agh bitz raton freehand thet farro pondered liters wht timmy turner hell naw agism liverpool tottenham coelacanth hey jesus edgware mexican spanish amoeba music elf bar deface air marshall traini i can fly aoh only god knows sonny moore linsday lohan

[The Last Episode] - read the description

The Legend of S Ū P ∆ C Я E E ™

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 8, 2023 22:44

[The Festival Project Presents: {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} THE LEGEND OF… THE INFINITE SKRILLIFILES GERALD'S WORLD & ASCENSION DEATHWISH LEGENDS THE INSOMNIAC {ENTER THE MULTIVERSE} SEASON 6 - ACT II - PART II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downtown Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it. Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. “The Golden Girl” gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Mo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. INT. TRAIN. WHENEVER. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A FIREY PLANE CRASH CUT BACK TO: You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA LABEOUF IS: “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train ride had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's Sunnï Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not SUPACREE. Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh. I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (Leaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN'T What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— UGH. I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest things i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. ASCENSION Rise of Ascencia Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. THE SUITE LIFE OF SUNNÏ BLŪ LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF— [Sunni opens the door.] No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still Linsday Lohan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan”; –She's just over there now. Not “was”. Still is Lindsay Lohan. Presently. How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū. LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper?! SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I gave him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense —A CROSS DIMENSIONAL PARALLEL REALITY. The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Suicide By Cop. Maybe. Idk. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! “LIL' BITZ” I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amphetamine Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachute (PARIS SHOOT) Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this. [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! MEANWHILE, IN HOLLYWOOD Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL ENTER THE MULTIVERSE SEASON 6 - ACT II I almost left my Elfbar in Raton, But I couldn't let go; It just held on. I had to leave my skateboard back at home , But now I'm gone. Now i'm gone Now I'm sick to my stomach, I didn't want this Now I'm so sick to my stomach; I didn't want it And all the non believers, And all the sinners, saints together on a train, wishing to be rich or famous; Freedom, Plain and simple *very scary music* I warned you; No bloodshed in LA. [A single drop of blood hits the pavement with a splash, in a vivid slow motion close up of the gritty Downto Los Angeles sidewalk] FLASHBACK; Have you ever heard of a blood oath? I knew something was wrong with that girl. It's not just that girl; It's this place. People do a lot of things to get by in LA. What is “get by” You're never gonna make it Well, then; I was never going to anyway–so it really doesn't matter. gal·lant adjective 1.(of a person or their behavior) brave; heroic."she had made gallant efforts to pull herself together" Similar: brave courageous valiant valorous bold plucky daring fearless intrepid heroic lionhearted stouthearted doughty mettlesome great-spirited honorable noble manly manful macho dashing daredevil death-or-glory undaunted unflinching unshrinking unafraid dauntless indomitable gutsy spunky ballsy have-a-go venturous Opposite: cowardly 2.(of a man or his behavior) giving special attention and respect to women; chivalrous."a gallant gentleman came over and kissed my hand" Similar: chivalrous gentlemanly courtly courteous respectful polite attentive gracious considerate thoughtful obliging mannerly gentle Opposite: discourteous rude nounARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ a man who pays special attention to women."he launches himself into a gallant's career of amorous intrigue" Similar: suitor wooer admirer worshipper beau sweetheart lover love beloved boyfriend young man man friend escort swain paramour verbARCHAIC /ɡəˈlant,ɡəˈlänt/ (of a man) flirt with (a woman)."Mowbray was gallanting the Polish lady" Gee' Moo had his hands all over me, which made me uncomfortable—but I had sworn solemnly to myself never to ‘tell' on any man again—and neither would I call them out, or make objections to their actions in any way; the age told story had always been ‘her word against mine ‘, making the woman or victim in question appear weak, and of course, untrustworthy—whatever that meant anyway, and not that any of his attempts were hostile, He knew I was openly celibate, and supposedly respected that—however, I just found it best to wholly keep him in the friend zone and keep the notion to myself, as he still seemed to have some kind of hope for something greater between us—and though I did consider him more than a friend, I considered him more like family than anything, his own blurred lines a shadow that had become too great to perhaps any longer be colegues—at least for now—especially that I was fleeing the US once more in complete secrecy—and though there had been some good work between the two of us, I wasn't equalling to his vibration anymore, his music sounded strange and off, and the words that would come to my mind were less easy than pushed or forced, and repetitive in sound and style. I knew that I was leaving, but had refused to tell anybody, especially Gee', who may have raised questions as to where I was going—something that seemed to be good to keep quiet entirely, as even earlier in the day I had tried to give my tour list to Equinox to see if I could bypass upgrading my membership to Destination by giving them a list of dates and cities I would visit and being given access to the visitors list in each city—I was however persuaded into not doing so and keeping my Desrination Stetus, as after attempting to give my home club my list of cities and dates, even against my own instinct and better judgement, the manager dawned a look in his eye that said “just lay low”, and as low as I could lay, I didn't know how long it would last with the onslaught of things I would have to do on my phone and computer over wifi during the long traveling time. Still, I wanted to travel lightly—and perhaps it was Divine intervention itself in the form of God when my $80 Nike backpack broke, leaving me scurrying for a new one that I could afford simply with the remaining balance on my gift card—luckily, I did find one that presumably fit my needs available for pickup, of course, even less high quality than the oversized “training” bag I had purchased just a few months before, not realizing that 32 Liters would be more than enough space, hard to fit under an airplane seat, and Ill-fitting the more petite I would become, or even as my weight fluctuated, just awkward looking in general—and though it was a very attractive bag, I had always thought it to be a little too ‘loud' and ostentatious, though I had become attracted somehow after being unable to return it as I had thought to when I had first ordered it, receiving the bag just before leaving Las Vegas, which I would return to the following day to retrieve the drum machine I had pawned as a matter of absolute survival. The best part about riding the train is… CUT TO: A firey plane crash CUT BACK TO You can't fall out of the sky. (Ya.) SHIA LA— Fuck it. SHIA IS “THE AIR MARSHALL” Ohh, what's this one about? Oh my God. I wasn't writing, and so I must have been in some way dead-I wasn't feeling even a whisp of inspiration, anymore—only annoyance, and slight suffering. The train to chugs I had gone all too quickly, and though I had started chipping away at some projects, there was nothing finished. Though the inhuman vibration and hostile tone of LA was long behind me, something did linger on a bit, perhaps in the form of love or some other feeling or attachment I had formed during my time there. I was, myself, vibrating differently— waving into a motion of the unknown, and not that it mattered what would happen anymore—I hadn't anything to love, or anything to lose, and so everything just seemed a wash entirely. I had never been so dejected in my life. Now I gotta do some Sunnï Blū shit. —Hurry. Hurry what. We gotta go, Oh. Oh Deng. Oh dang. What happened? No, that's just what planet they're from. Dang. That's tricky. New York— Ehrhm. You look good. Hm. You cleaned up. Ya. Nice. Yeah it is. Nice. I said that.. Stop incepting me. No. Stop this please please. Just stop sleeping. Okay. I wish you would die. I just did. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE. idobntknow. SUNNI BLŪ I DO WHAT I WANT. Fuck, What. That's sunni Blu Okay? She does what she wants. That's not supacree Is it not? No. What happened? S/he chanxed. I'm a “they” –And this is how it all makes sense. What is this fucking place. “East” Ugh. Oh, there's Toronto. That makes sense. Ew. I know right. UGH. LOOK AT ALL THIS POOP. I know, huh. LOOK AT IT. Don't do maps on kx5. Should we “Earth” We should Earth. Ew. What dimension is this? Fucking sick–gross. This isnt Earth. This is Earth! What happened to it. *coughs* It seems some demonic force has taken over. *coughs* Ew. This is fucked up. Should we leave. NO! *coughs* I mean –yeah, but we should at least try to figure out what happened first. *coughs* First?! Or, later–maybe *coughs*coughs*coughs* Yeah, lets leave. FUCK. What, dude, guh I told you no deadmau5 on the train. No you didn't. I should have. I SHOULD HAVE KILLED THAT THING WHEN I SAW IT. How would you do that? THE DEADMAUS Go to sleep. K. Did you guys “Earth” Uh, yeah, but– Was it awesome? Uhm, no. No, dude. Why, what happened? We don't know. It was bad. “Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before.” — Richard Aldington Schenectady Ahahaha Poughkeepsie lol what. All these are places. Yeah, I know. People live in these places . Oh My God. What. Where's Whole Foods? You need Jesus. Where's he at? JESUS CHRIST Timmy, this party is lit. TIMMY TURNER Yeah, thanks bro. JESUS CHRIST I love you. TIMMY TURNER (eaving) K that's weird. IT DOESN”T. What . MAKE ANY SENSE. I simulated this experience, in the construct of time In the confines of time and space—just to have this moment. Uh. Train—-To Deadmau5. [BLŪ Exercises Furiously] Train—To Deadmau5. [BLŪ boards the train hurriedly] SOMETIMES— I'm all wrapped up; Wrapped up in your love –But you never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love Wonder what comes of it You never come for me I'm all wrapped up in your love; A half smile on my face; (l love you) Always thinking of you What else can I do, but To fee stupid Can't get over you, but As the sun comes up, I wander off, Remember us I guess it's a long walk Guess i'll just fall out of it About time… About that– I'm all wrapped up, yeah Wrapped up in your love Sonny Moore had inspired some of the greatest thing i had ever written in my time; and all with just one look–two eyes, and no words at all, began an infinite unravelling of words from God's hands and into my minds eye. Farro. …Your Majesty. I need help. Don't burden me with your woes. I beg your pardon? No, don't beg. LINDSAY LOHAN is sleeping FACE DOWN on the couch in SunnÏ Blū's Studio Lindsay, wake up. Mmfh. [Does not wake up. At all.] Lindsay. Mmf. Tequila. [Suddenly very awake, in fact; she has suddenly perked up with an amazing glow. ] *very serious knocks on the door* Oh shit. [suddenly, more drunk again] –oh shit. *three more knocks* Where's the tequila? SUNNÏ Ah, shit. Is that your lawyer, or your manager? Shit, maybe both. SUNNI. OPEN THE DOOR . –Might even be my agent, too. OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR. (Both, in cheesy unison, tiny rock concert} I CHIMED IN WITH A HAVENT YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF [Sunni opens the door. No, it's “closing the door– not “open the door” “The Goddamn door.” Right, Goddamit. –where's the tequila. Where it is– [Sunni points in a wayward direction; Lindsay stumbles morning-aftery into the booth. Eww–”morning aftery” Not like that. *addendum* [That Is, just to say that this scene takes place in the afterdays haze of a very –Very Holy Shit , God. What. You rule. [Lindsay enters the booth and uncaps a bottle of tequila so effing fancy, it hurts to look at.] So fucking fancy. Was that lindsay lohan? Yeah it is. It's still lindsay logan, Morgen– –It's ‘Morgan” –She's just over there now. Not “was” How are you even friends. FLASHBACK SUNNI BLU sup, Lindsay Lohan! LINDSAY LOHAN sup. Who are you? SUNNI BLU I'm Sunni Blū LINDSAY LOHAN LIKE—the rapper. SUNNI BLU Not “like”. Am. LINDSAY LOHAN tight. SUNNI BLU. Sup. LINDSAY LOHAN Sup. SUNNI BLU I heard you like to party. LINDSAY LOHAN I like to party. SUNNI BLU —and, you DJ. LINDSAY LOHAN Oh yeah, huh! I was a DJ once. SUNNI BLU so was I. CUT BACK TO: SUNNI BLU now we're besties. I might be trapped in this hell, here, I figure But it's over when it's over, I cannot live here, Or anywhere Here's my liver; All he needed was a sliver, the silver lizard But I have him the whole thing The whole thing The whole thing I swallowed the whole world whole, once And now it all happens, Over and over; A simple digestion And I've got no questions left No intuition, either No black characters, No brown eyes; I hate my life I hate my life Blonde is good, And redheads are nice; I hate my life I hate my life ‘Rich white peope are so fucking nasty sometimes' I had the best and the worst of it at Equinox, and while I considered it a miracle that I had even come so far, as to consider luxury fitness a priority and absolute necessity, even forgoing eating what I wanted or other comforts in paying my gym dues, now I had given myself what I thought to be the opportunity of a lifetime—it was on my bucket list, at least last time I checked, to visit Equinox in every city the chain had locations—and having put all my time and every fiber of my being into just ‘staying afloat', my idea of ‘living a little' was to workout as much as possible, while I still could—-as money was well beyond running dry just out or the sheer expense of traveling—or now—“touring”, as I would consider it, using my music as a means of not appearing homeless and destitute, and using my podcast as a medium for its promotion—though, I still didn't know where my listeners or downloads were coming from, and my Spotify, the last I had checked, had “0 monthly listeners” it was beginning again to be clear how much the United States hated black people, for whatever reason— and how privelege and power had overtaken even the best people's better senses. Humanity was slipping away—and so was I; the best I could do was to make my body as comfortable to live in as possible, and for whatever reason, I was drawn to Equinox to do so. Anandar or someone like her had once said, the key to being rich, is to spend money like you're rich, no matter the amount of money you had—knowing that in doing so, your money would multiply tenfold. I had never done so before, but between Equinox and my food stamps being stolen, the amount of money I had been draining myself of did indeed make me feel and look as if I had endless disposable income—and perhaps I did somehow—somewhere in the near future , if I could just convince myself I really was as special as my writing made me seem, or feel, simply reading it myself, or having chosen a carefully select few to read it. I was, indeed, a genius: the problem was, geniuses and writers particularly up to then had been notoriously famous for dying alone, penniless and undiscovered, and very often—by our own hands. Eleven since, I left Hell, and been in Heaven since I'm heaven sent I burn incense The taste of bile filled my mouth and sat on the back of my tongue as I tried to avoid the inevitability of swallowing it; it had all been worth it—the train to Hollywood had not altogether been as horrible as it usually was on The Expo—and as I rode 9 stops exactly into my old stomping grounds, I exited the Hollywood and Vine metro station to a nostalgic and familiar territory; this is where my Hollywood story had started, and had apparently yet to end, as I swept the Walk of Fame in a way I supposed I never had, the shadow of my old self following not behind, but directly overhead; I was, indeed, just a ghost. I ended up at Amoeba Music, hair dripping wet, and, though I had yet to eat in a couple of days, not feeling as if I had quite done a proper workout, rushed in the final hour to Hollywood, as the downtown location had been closed; Fine by me, as I was over and done with the downtown atmosphere altogether, and though I wasn't a particular fan of the new Amoeba Music location, I had felt a close calling to go to Hollywood that day, even before I knew I would have to—and ending up there anyway seemed to be another synchronicity indeed. ‘Spend it on something you love.' The voice had said, perhaps just my own—but not sounding anything at all like my own internal dialogue. No, this voice seemed entirely more divine, and so I took it as such, and was careful not to spend any of the carefully collected and specially marked dollar bills on anything I absolutely didn't love—and though I was terrified of the overall outcome of everything—now jobless, or rather, without secured income—my job having become myself in the process of writing, making music, and improving my physique to its peak performance and physical fitness, I had been careful not to spend any money at all on anything I absolutely didn't need. However, I did need music after all, and loved it more than anything, besides my own son—who did at least ask about me, after all, according to my estranged ex, who I had shielded myself from entirely, changing my name, my number, and my location for my own safety and peace of mind, rather than for aesthetic reasons, as anyone might have thought. But really, no one might have thought at all, as I was careful to leave everyone and everything behind that had come with my birth name, besides my father, my son, and my beloved Auntie, who I still allowed to call me “Cree”, though I had at least hinted at at an aycronym of my new name, giving her my address in case of emergency, or any other reason. But, I hadn't enough money to pay my mailbox, and so even that was irrelevant, as everything was. Look: the tinier you are—the bigger my dick seems. I get it. So be tiny. I like cereal. I like cake. I like cookies. I like shakes. So you know what. What. That's okay. REAPER Give me my scythe, Billie. BILLIE ELLISH It's a miniature scythe. REAPER Yeah—my—miniature scythe. BILLIE ELLISH It's mine now. REAPER No, it's not— BILLIE ELLISH But—you gave it to me. REAPER It came with the job. BILLIE ELLISH The job sucked! REAPER I know that! I'm just mildly concerned that LAPD squad cars are still 1995 crown Vic's. Like: how do you even catch sometime in a mazzerati? The guy who drives a mazzeratti's like: hah. You don't. You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches Okay, from the top Hello? This is Hollywood calling; We want the festival project We just wrote up the contract Come get your deposit: You're nominated for an Oscar Your Star On The Walk looks Awesome it's On Us Yeah? That's what's up I'll come up I'll come up I'll come up Say what's up That's my shite; I'm rep in the festival project Ya'll like “what's that?” I'll tel you all about it,—that's Coming up next Oh yeah, Oh yeah Tune in I'm On Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right Welcome to your Hollywood life The good life Good life Welcome to the Hollywood life That's right That's right They call me young Hollywood, They robbed me good in Santa Monica And I so I got no address yet; But I'm coming up like one direction I just checked my reflection like: Mirror mirror on the wall I gotta go Hollywood's callin And I don't do this often Only when o bless the red carpet Comin in hot, like a chicken wing Call me Toy Story— got a friend in me, You feelin me? On the big screen livin out my dreams, I wrote my scenes, the Hollywood life: I neee I ride by On a tomeline I write, I like My nice things. The life I lead, Is ritghteous, I defy my means Applied IT, I might be AI, Fine my me; Cause all I see Is light I like, And I'm liking my Hollywood life, I think. Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches It's just some Hollywood shit Isn't it fabulous This is some Hollywood shiy Isn't it fabulous Comin in hot, like a chicken wing This ain't Toy Story—got no friend in me, You feelin me? Cold as Minnesota, I'm the ice queen Nice bling— Hollywood should buy this bitch a wedding ring Amohetemime Trick, you're a half, I'm the whole thing Whole Foods market, gotta own me No mink coat, I'm a vegan, Hocus Pocus, I'm three witches You know what it is You know what it is— You know what it is That's the business One door close. Then another door opens So sick flow, go home with a cold then Woah, Hoe—cold like some snow boots Pants so big, I can parachutes Hoes look fake, like a blow up doll Harlem shake, i'm bout to blow up ya'll We think we may have found your home planet. Oh, you think? Look at this'd [DUFF views the distant soarkling object through the telescope lens, squinting.] Is that it?! I don't know… [Suddenly, as DIFF begins to focus on the planet; a high pitched ring only DUFF seems to hear strikes her away from the telescope, writhing in pain.] Woah, what happened?! Are you okay?! Is she okay?! [DUFF falls into a coma] What, no way. WhT is this. It's a show. WhTs it called. Idk. Shut up. You shut up. I'm watching —shhh! Call the doctor! DUFF! What's your name again? …Are you serious? No, I'm kidding. (No, I actually forgot what I named this character) I think it's “Joel” I doubt that. What was it. Idk, moving on. …did you forget? Yeah, I forgot. It's okay! Yeah, I guess. We found you!! Yeah. Sorry we destroyed the planet— —only like half. It's totally destroyed. It was like that before you guys landed. —? Just Trust me. Why does it look like somebody turned you upside down? I was “paralyzed” What's that mean? It happens here. That sounds horrible. This place sucks. It's really far. Girl. Hm. Look at these motherfuckets* Ooh, keep that. Wow. Huh. The entire reason for turning on my phone was to write about that experience. Which experience? I don't know, I've had like ten experiences since I walked into that door—and I wanted to write about all of them. Uh huh. But I lost it. You lost it? Not all of it. Well. Some of it. Which ones did you keep? The Good ones Oh shit, it's almost coming back to me Uh. First of all. —French people in love are cute. What. That shit is literally the cutest thing ever. French people—in love—speaking French. That shit is sexy Did you see his eyes? That's okay, Cree— I ‘That'll be enough. Ugh. Now, class— It's time for a sonnet, or synonym Senators, gentlemen— Get in your rhythm and trip to this; Cause it's about to get lit again: Call me illiterate, ignorant, negligent; Never irrelevant, disheveled or leveled since, This entrance is Heaven sent Evidence of everlasting natural intelligence That'll do. Okay. Let's break fast, I make gas, And bake snacks; I lay facts I slay slacks I'm maybacks You may ask Questions about the lesson, With a raised hand —okay class? . . . Oh— You forgot it was a lesson? Let me reflect and inspect, Resurrect the message just a bit— I'm the profession, If I ask, They answer “Yessir” I guess, er Thet yur just a jester Dunce hat on your ass Last, and rhe past semester, Ask my sweater: Your girl would probably wear it If I let her Oooh. Equinox+ (EP) Love brings me out of my shell; —I could love you, I I could love you, I Could love you, I Could love you, I love you I love you, I This isn't good for my health; If you don't love me,oh well — (I could love you, I) This is just passing the time, Count my dimes and, I'm wealthy, you build me up Shining, I wake you up Diamond of mine, I love you, I Love you I Do what I want most the time, Cause nothing else matters but Making you mine I, so what I want most the time I can't get out Out of my mind, Cause I love you I love you I, Wasting my time, I could love you but Nevermind Drunk, And I'm stumbling up to my apartment for The 30th time this month, My rent's due tomorrow, but I got it, Woah, I've got just enough Just to keep fuxkin up Getting fucked up And filling my cup Like it's something, But it's nothing, Not really Nothing, Not really Be good Work it out Come on Work it odd Be good Shake it off Work it out Come on Be good, Work it off, Work it out— Come on Be good Work it out Shake it off Come on — We all know There's a monster in there And it wants let out; All man, beware— Yeah We all know There's a monster in her— And, Someone will let it go Oh, Someone let it go Oh, no (oh yeah) Oh, no That's no good That's no good Oh no (Oh yeah) Oh no (Oh yeah!) No, no You just had to let it go You just had to let it go Oh, no! — I need time To rationalize my genius I can't write light this Alt right all white nationalists I can fantazize, right? I could die like this It's a damn good life What fucking time is it, anyway? Right? I can't rationalize, this Fascist rats at The Fashion district Bam, I had it— I had to get right, man I had to get God on my Mantras I fucked up tomorrow, I'm off in Toronto with problems And dogma— Who's dog is this Tied up at the Whole Foods market I tried it, I died in the in I can't idolize idols, man Cry, though, Dip my bicoff in Chiapas coffee All pissed off, Woah It's the wrong morning to wallow in Caught me off guard at the offering Sha, there's no mother here, No other one, You're wrong God, I stopped to cross at all of them, I suffered when I swallowed, Rah, What's wrong? I'm feeling solemn on my sodomist Wishes of This centrifugal —‘swimming with the fishes, Get it? Woah, It's a whole open world of Wizards and witches I wish I could ditch this —the center or attention is this city— That's Alex Tribec, for the record Fuck the TriBeCa fest Rest in Los Angeles Rest in peace Barbra Hah— I've got all of em This is an awful lot of mantras, Stars and Stripes. God; I lost it at the Oscar's, Turn me on, or off I'm all of it Or not What was the cost of this? An awful lot of mantras, stars, And crosswalks, To stop dead in the center of “I'm miserable That's Hollywood for you, God, That's Hollywood, That's where we dropped you off — Have you had enough, yet? How was is? Enough! I'm not even fully up yet! Fuck, It was loveless, All up in ashes, I told ya, That “fun is a friend of the devil “ Burn in sense, Just rub out the sense Have my lips on your hips, Just rotate, As the earth did, In difference, she has Impatience is his imperfection “Eventually,” She says, “I'll see him” He tends to agree, Within reason— Winter breezes and freedom, This season Envy leaves, But she's gonna get even Come in threes, And maybe, We'll see then. Come to the surface, Come up— Don't give up yet Give what you've got; Half a lung, And the other is under— Come on, Come up, Come all— Come, you're walking on water! No wonder they call for you On earth — (We've got a Hot One, for you) Have you ever wondered What's wrong with us all? Fuck— Hollywood's calling, I don't have my phone on me Hollywood called, But your voice Mail is full, What? I finally picked up; The message at the tone, Was in Morse code Billy fit the Playbill, I signed it “usnavi” Yo, You look just like me A sacrifice? A sacrifice, I said, I'm red, I'm jealous like I've never been That's right, blue eyes then Next lifetime Fu— They robbed me of all my art As a hobby Worshipped for All I've got Not a god yet, but Gotta be working on something That's all of it, Gotta be knocking it off, Full of gossip and God, I want love But it's not in the cards, huh New Joan Of Ark, Where's the war That you wanted Not enough talk, But I've done enough walking Gosh, Two thumbs up, All applause from the audience That what you wanted? Yeah! “God I want love but it's not in the cards yet” That's what you wanted? Yeah! That's what you wanted 10.60 2.94 7.75 Strange things happen when you change your vibration to Skrillex. It had been a fucking disasterous 24 hours l; not that I hadn't expected it to be, with Vegas in mind as the shithole capitol of the world, or at least the US, which was indeed turning to shit. Street after street filled with bodies, nearly dead but not—and not a care in the world at all by anyone who could help for the working class, nearly succumbed to poverty, or the homeless, by the millions in numbers rather than the mere thousands the false media portrayed as still an absolute crisis and state of emergency, however downplaying the numbers by millions, as they had already learned that the docile American public could be persuaded or made to move with numbers by the “pandemic”, a fear mongering new world order which had proved that almost no Americans could do math, or anything besides scroll and take selfies. GUESS WHAT DAY IT IS. Oh no. Not Skrillex Day, is it—? ITS SKRILLRX DAY, BIIITCH. Ugh. Fuck Yeah, you lil bitch. I'm spaced out, listing to Skrillex on sunset No shuffle I forgot about this one: It makes my lips numb This bitch dumb I'. Just a number! I don't really give a fuck ! If I had a Benz and blunt— I'd prob'ly roll my windows up Sunni with da big butt Come and get ya duck sucked I would say sunni blū But then I'd probably get some Crips up Ignorant indigenous ninjer Bendit like bender remember Send er a message when you get here Mister Fuck, I hate this. RULES OF TRAVEL Always leave things better than you found it. Well, I feel better, Thanks , God. Yep, no problem. Okay. *lays down momentarily* [half beat] Back to Work. [Suddenly Getting Up] OkayZ. Do ya'll remember—the time on the train. “ damn, I shoulda saw that movie with Carmella. This is hilarious. Watch. Agh, God. What is it. Now it's the hard part; I gotta do some technical shit. Mm. Like what: Put it on the net. don't. Uh. Too late, bitch. ::||pause. is this train gonna go. Is it. Innit. K. [train starts moving] Hm. I lost the thought, In awe of it all— The saga I wrote, and The words that would fall, All around me; The words that I saw, And the words that had found me The words that I was, And could not be without being Unh. That'll do. Lol what is up with this train. CONDUCTOR. Yo, it's me. Who the fuxk is this. What is this operation. Lol. Damn, what . 3D has its perks This is way beyond 3D. I know. bitch. **shh, don't cuss. What. It's for the kidsZ No, it isn't. It's for the kiddzzz. What. No. Yes: NoS For thee kids. So I turn 30 and my body keeps reminding me that I'm a baby machines Okay: What. Ew, that's gross. Lol. Only cause she's 30. What. Agism: it's real. EVERYTHING IS REAL. What. Uh. RAIL. —WHAt— —RAIL— Damn. … Zzz … SUPACREEA* is seated on the LOUNGE car in COACH. Don't capitalize coach. YOU're IN COAH. Oh hell yeah. What's in there. Not you. Okay, I'll be SUPACREE A, And you'll be SUPACREE B. Okay. You're not gonna disagree to being ‘B' instead of A, like me? I am you. I don't care. Fine. . . . I want to be SUPACREE B No take backs. SUPACREE A and SUOACREE B are DUPLICATES. DAMN, YOU DUPLICATED? Not on purpose! DAMN. This goes beyond shapeshiftig. I didn't know you could do that. I could do that. Oh. ‘Oh' Ugh I got this feeling in my soul— —I got this stone inside my palm— I got this pulling in my heart— —i feel like you could be the one; But you're gone, now Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone —and when there's no where left to run; —and there's no need to wander off— —and there is no one left to love— I guess I'll see you when you're gone Gone, gone, gone Gone gone, gone Gone, gone, gone Gone, gone, gone I'm gonna go ahead and take this on. Oh, God, No! —not because I want to; But why, then?! Because I gotta. You came a long way, kid. Where am I now? Oh, you're still nowhere. ITS NO FAIR. Life isn't fair, Amanda. But MoooooOO0000M. NO. BUT MO— NO—no SUPACREE show tonight! But— I told you, clean your room. I don't know what I am. You're a fairy. Pretty scary fairy. It'll do, though. WANDA. NO. COME, ON, WANDA NO. WANDA, COME ON. WAKANDA FOR— No, no black Panther. What, why not? That movie's racist. Wha-?! CUT TO: I didn't want to do it this way, kid. Who are you? The crypt keeper. Oh. Yeah. Am I Dead? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Hm. Yep. Can I see your scythe? You wanna see? Yeah, it's nice— *SCYLCE!* Lol. AOh my god AAAAHHHHHJH—Drake BELL. Don't worry, he's an ansolary character. Wat. Kinda. Damn. Season 6 is on FIRE THE HOLLYWOOD PEOLPLE ahem. Hollywood is on fire. SUPACREE WHELP. I'm out. No, don't go. SKRILLEX DONT LEAVE ME LIKE THIS. SONNY Fuck it, I'm in Korea. Or Thailand, or whatever. Something like that. “Something like that.” Ahem. Where's Dillon Francis. LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYONE FUCK DILLON FRANCIS. Damn. YeH, that. Well, God forbid anything actually happens to that guy. GOD I don't forbid anything. It's a free world. AHAHAHAHHAHA AHAHAHAHAHJAHAHJJA AHAHAHHA STOP. What. Go back. WhT. For. Just. Go back. For what. I thought I saw somethings Something like what. Something. Just. Ugh. JUST REWIND. SUPACREE has replaced the remote with THE SYNETHESIA PANEL MINI *life itself rewinds

united states america god tv jesus christ ceo music american new york spotify california ai hollywood earth master freedom coach las vegas work hell mexico magic running americans living french canadian walk dj girl chinese european green fire rich toronto stars japanese playing spanish cost minnesota write satan open train fashion adventure east strange gods 3d fame heroes cold divine mexican humanity legends mail burn mine television math millions shit cinema eat korea hole mirror gotta lol scream fuck caught diamond senators eleven refugees vine pi pants destination shake bitch excuse polish exploration similar gross metro shut expo wizards toy story copyright lie alt surface get up carpenter presenting flashback whole foods dope latin american tequila cry south park ka illuminati hurry wishes medicaid amish vic plain blonde i love cc fucking mm hocus pocus whoopi goldberg wrapped comcast sussex jimmy fallon diff int rail panther ill pretend dang golden girls footsteps wasting anthology equinox cree lapd stripes conductor lindsay lohan fascists owl hm dip morse whoop burbank hoes suicidal idk auntie ignorant gee sha duff skrillex benz ew impatience fry oh my god aw tribeca caper goddamn chiapas crips alesso spirit airlines confirming open the door sunni fuckin brooklyn bridge jobless scarf ahem my lord specifics it doesn moo duplicate resurrect polished wha dillon francis drake bell ohh hah downtown los angeles aww heh unh rah yeh face down hillary duff uhh innit sunn mmf playbill hot one your majesty eww uhm zzz fuck yeah mowbray fuck it agh bitz raton freehand thet farro pondered liters wht timmy turner hell naw agism liverpool tottenham coelacanth hey jesus edgware mexican spanish amoeba music elf bar deface air marshall traini i can fly aoh only god knows sonny moore linsday lohan

Hey Jesus, We Got Questions

Watersprings Church Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 30, 2022 46:03

I cannot remember where I first heard it, but the statement, "There is no such thing as a stupid question," in my experience, is a false statement. The other thing I have heard over the years is, "The only bad question is the one you do not ask." Again how do we know it is good or bad, wise or foolish if we do not ask it? So, without question, see what I did there; our questions can be weighed and found harmful, foolhardy, inappropriate, bating a fight, or just plain wrong." For example, What's one thing you'd never share with anyone? What is the taste of pineapple pizza? Why isn't 2+2 equivalent to 22 if 1+1 = 11? These are lousy questions. However, asking a real honest question is an excellent pattern for learning and is suitable. Genuine inquiry helps us understand things we may have missed in a lecture, need help understanding fully in a conversation or relationship, or simply for deeper clarification on a matter. Asking questions is just good human relational practice. But to learn, we must listen to the answer we get, not look for the one we want. "The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall." (Proverbs 10:8). A prating fool talks too much without value or profit. They use many words or ask questions, maybe even eloquent or sophisticated, but no real or lasting value comes from them. We, the Imago Dei, are created by God as curious and creative creatures. Jesus tells us, Ask, seek, and knock. "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matthew 7:7–8.) So, if we have a Bible question, listen to what the Bible says on the matter and move on, or you may find yourself deceived by men of all sorts. References: Ezra 3:12–13 Matthew 24:3 2 Timothy 3:12–13 ----- Call us: 208.524.4747 prayer@watersprings.net Online Giving: https://watersprings.net/give.php Serve at Watersprings: https://watersprings.churchcenter.com/people/forms/8221 CCLI Streaming License: 20080252 Size E CCLI Copyright License: 1406906 Size F DISCLAIMER: Closed captioning and/or transcription is being provided solely for the convenience of our viewers. Watersprings Church does not review for accuracy any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript. Watersprings Church makes no representations or warranties, and expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability with respect to, any errors or omissions in, or the accuracy, reliability, timeliness or completeness of, any information that appears in a closed caption or transcript.

god jesus christ bible proverbs genuine imago dei got questions hey jesus

Jesus is the Light

First15 Devotional

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2022 9:23

As we learn this week of the light of God, today we'll look to Jesus who is the Light. What does this mean about the Lord? And what does this mean for us personally? May our eyes behold him today, as we search out the source of goodness, beauty and holiness. May our hearts grow in wonder, worship and awe. And may our lives be forever transformed at the sight of him. Our Scripture for today comes from Isaiah 60:20, and today's worship is Hey Jesus by Elyssa Smith (feat. Steffany Gretzinger). -- If you've wrestled with making Bible study a consistent habit of spiritual formation, A Light Unto My Path will inspire and encourage you to drink more deeply from the unending well that is the Bible. A Light Unto My Path will answer these 7 critical questions: Why do we read the Bible? How was the Bible created? Why do we need to interpret the Bible? What is the Bible about? What are the best tools for studying the Bible? What can I learn from others? How can I learn for myself? I love that the goal of this book is not to learn more about the Bible (even though you will), but to better understand the Bible as one of the primary ways God seeks to have a relationship with us today. Get your copy today at supportfirst15.org!

god jesus christ lord bible our scripture steffany gretzinger hey jesus

086 Hey Jesus, Shut Up and Die

Crisis Of Faith With Joe And Drew

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2022 48:58

Drew rethinks his tramp stamp. Joe stops feeling his feelings. And together they explore how evangelicalism loves Jesus, just not anything he has to say. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crisisoffaith/message

jesus christ shut up hey jesus

James' Final Words to Sinners and Saints - Jeremy Sutherland

Sermons - Harvest Church | Arroyo Grande

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2022 75:38

1 (3s): Good morning. Thank you all for coming to church today. We're gonna worship let's stand together. 2 (12s): Let's 0 (12s): Stand 1 (14s): Lord. Thank you for your grace, your mercy toward us. Thank you for just the protection you give each one of us. We ask that you would, that you would be praised and honored here this morning. We ask you to fill this with your spirit. Lord. We just dedicate this time to worship you. 0 (43s): Amen 2 (1m 8s): Breaks. So this is amazing. Grace, 0 (2m 5s): You lay 2 (2m 6s): Down sassy. All that you've done for brings our king king with 0 (3m 18s): That. 2 (3m 39s): Oh, Jesus SA for all that you done for worthy, a king who conquer worthy, worthy a king who Wey the king, who conquer Ayyy, that all that you've done for me for all that you've done for, I see praises to your praises, to, to your name, to your that's so much be lifted. 2 (6m 32s): Lifted, be lifted is to so be yeah. 2 (8m 19s): Be your name is life. 2 (8m 60s): Your name is inside me. Your name is love. That always finds me. Always finds me. 2 (10m 42s): Be lifted up. Be lifted, lifted the, oh, carry the way of the past. 2 (11m 50s): That won't 0 (13m 54s): You 2 (14m 38s): I'll be still that you'll 3 (14m 56s): You love. 3 (16m 20s): I know that you I'm calling God Moses, who I need you now to do the same thing for me, for me, for me, God. Oh God. Oh God, my God. I need you now. 3 (17m 2s): How I need you now? Rock I'm calling on the bottom. 3 (17m 43s): David who made a shepherd boy, courages. I may not face a lion, but I've got my owns, oh 0 (18m 1s): God, my God, you, oh God, my 3 (18m 9s): I, you heard your children. Then you hear your children. Now you are the same God, you are the same. God, you answered prayers back then. 3 (18m 50s): And you will answer. Now you are the same God, you are the same God you are providing that. You are providing, you are the same God, 0 (19m 10s): You 3 (19m 10s): Are the God, you than 0 (19m 17s): God in 3 (19m 19s): Now. 0 (19m 20s): You're the God you, the, you are 3 (19m 32s): Now. 0 (19m 33s): You're God, you, God, you, God, 3 (20m 9s): I'm standing. I 0 (20m 49s): Jesus, 4 (20m 50s): We thank you that we can stand on your faithfulness, Lord. That that is the strongest. You are the you're the rock of the ages. Lord. You're the thing that we can depend on no matter what's happening around us, no matter what's going on in our world, no matter what's happening in our lives, Jesus, you, the rock of the ages, Lord, the one that people have been trusting in for thousands of years, Lord, you are the one that we trust in today. You're the one that makes this church happen. Jesus, you are the one that's always faithful Lord. So I just pray that faith would rise up in our church this morning that we would not be people who are taken by the emotions of our lives, but Lord, that we would stand on the faithfulness of generations, Lord. 4 (21m 38s): And we just ask that no matter what situations are happening in people's lives today, Lord that you would show yourselves yourself, faithful. Now Lord. And we trust that you will. We trust that you will. Jesus. Amen. Amen. All right. Well welcome. Welcome to church. You can sit down if you'd like, thank you all for being here. It's great to have you here. If you are new here, we just want to welcome you and let you know that we've got an info center at the back. They'd be happy to answer any questions that you ha that you have. We've got bathrooms behind us, water there as well and coffee and tea out on the courtyard there. 4 (22m 22s): So feel free to do any of those things. We also coming up, we've got a beach baptism next Sunday. It's gonna be awesome. Are you guys are excited about that? I hope. Yes. It's so good. So I shared this a couple weeks ago, but last time we had a beach baptism, we had a couple hundred people out there. We baptized a bunch of people. We baptized someone who was just walking by. It was a really powerful experience. So please join us for that. We're gonna be at the end of grand it's it's at five o'clock. It's gonna be awesome. It's great time. Such a good time with just fellowship. We're gonna have hot dogs out there, food, all the good stuff. 4 (23m 2s): So join us. And this year we're gonna have mustard. It's pretty exciting. Yeah. Yeah. Last year we ran out of all the mustard really early. And so all we had was mayonnaise left. So if you're a big mayonnaise person on your hot dog, we probably will still have mayonnaise, but it'll, you know, we've got mustard. So I'm a big mustard person. Anyway. That's gonna be really awesome. The highlights baptisms though, Mustard's kind of down here, but anyway. Yeah. So also we've got lifeline pregnancy center banquet going on. It's it's gonna be a great opportunity to bless lifeline. So if you want to be a part of this, they're selling tables to be at the banquet. 4 (23m 47s): So they're tables of 10. And the goal for this is that you'll buy a table, come bring 10 friends that are up for donating towards what Lifeline's doing. They're doing amazing things in our community. They've got some really exciting updates that they're gonna announce at the banquet. And they've got a special guest speaker who's coming in. It's actually Tim Tebow's mom. She's gonna be sharing her some of her story. And she just it's very powerful. So you wanna be there for that? I would go back to the info center and Terry Bruner will be there to answer any of your questions. And then just as a reminder, if you weren't here last week, we just announced a staff update. 4 (24m 32s): That's going on, Ron and Christie are both retiring. So we're gonna be sending them out and blessing them next week and praying over them. So we're excited to do that. Also, if you have youth, they're gonna be in service today because Jeremy, our youth and family pastors preaching this morning, it's gonna be awesome. So with that, get up and meet somebody you've never met before. And yeah, we'll be back in a minute. 5 (25m 24s): And when you prayer and to be 0 (25m 30s): Puring 5 (25m 31s): Heart in your, your 0 (26m 32s): I 6 (27m 18s): All right, good morning, everyone. I just get ignored. It's okay. Ooh, it got quiet in the new, in this new sanctuary. I I've done a few announcements, but I haven't preached in this new sanctuary man. It's it's a lot more eyeballs. It's a little more nerve-wracking. I told you as a kid, if I knew that public speaking was gonna be my career, I would've probably ran away from my life. I, I still get anxious and nervous and timid. So let's pray right now. Pray for God's spirit. Pray for God to use my voice as, as we open up the book of James. 6 (28m 1s): So heavenly father, thank you for this morning. Thank you for the opportunity that you've given me, but Lord, more, more than that. I want to glorify you with these words, Lord, as we open up James and expound on these things that he, he speaks of, Lord, will you bring your understanding your wisdom to us this morning? Your, your wisdom that comes from above Lord, not the earthly central wisdom, but the wisdom that is from above Lord. Thank you Lord for this morning in Jesus. Name me pray. Amen. Well, good morning. My name's Jeremy. I am the I'm the youth and family pastor here at harvest church. So good to be with you. We're gonna be opening up James five today. We're gonna be studying James final words to sinners and saints, to sinners and saints, to get a little context of James. 6 (28m 47s): I just want to remind us of when the book of James was written. James was written actually was the first of the new Testament books to be written. It was written in approximately 45 ad. And so James now is writing to a very Jewish audience. He, he addresses that in James one, he's writing to the brethren that are the 12 tribes that are scattered throughout. You see the Jews Fromm council wasn't for another three years in, in, in which they decided what to do with these Gentiles that are converting to, to Christianity that are coming under the Jewish Messiah. And so it's very much written in a Jewish style that the Jews would understand. It addresses the culture that's around them. 6 (29m 29s): I get to brag a little about our youth group. I, I, I love our youth group. I, I, I have a number of students that want to dig even deeper than what we do on a Wednesday or a Sunday morning. And so we call this group the core group. So every other week we meet with his core group and we study different books. We've gotten, we've gone through toaster's knowledge of the holy, where he takes different attributes of God's and just expands those into who God is. And it's, it was an incredible book and it was incredible to, to see this students discuss this book. They have to come prepared to discuss, they've read the chapters ahead of time. And they come to discuss these different characters and attributes of God. Then we went through a book called a shepherd, looks at Psalm 23, and it was an amazing book. 6 (30m 10s): It was just looking and breaking up what Psalm 23 it is and how that applies to our, our life. It was just an amazing time. Well, currently we're going through a book called the forgotten Jesus it's by Robbie ality. And before that sounds, you know, before you think that I'm a heretic about forgotten Jesus, it's actually how Western Christians should view or follow in Eastern rabbi. And it's bringing out all these things about the he, the Hebrew Bible and how Jews think. And, and, and, and it's making the Bible just open up. There's so many things as Western Christians, that Jesus says that just go way above our head. 6 (30m 51s): But as a, as a Jewish person, would've understood exactly what Jesus was saying. And I'm gonna talk about that as we go through the book of James, but then exciting. I, I, I I'm, I'm wearing a t-shirt, I don't know some churches, you know, you have to wear a very suit and all that stuff. Some shirt are very, the pastor wear, but I'm wearing a t-shirt day because we're, we had announced this week that our youth group is being rebranded. We're calling ourselves the young heirs and I'm pumps. Alright, we have a good friend, a good person. Our church who's helped us rebrand. He listened to Carson, I and our all about our youth group. And he came up with this branding of young heirs and young, because young, but not dumb young, but not reckless young because we, the youth need to know that they have an inheritance youth. 6 (31m 42s): The youth need to know that the, that the better, the best is yet to come. And so we, as, as Romans eight, 17 says, we are children of God. That means we're heir of God. We are co-heirs with Christ. And that is an inheritance that we will get. And if Christ suffered then the, this Romans eight 17, that we must also suffer ourselves. And so I, I, I'm glad that these students are being called up into something because we're not trying to push them down. We're calling them into something greater. We're putting the cookies on the top shelf, making 'em reach from 'em. All right. So young heirs, it's, it's been exciting journey to be a part of the youth group here. As, as, as we watched it grow. 6 (32m 24s): Now let's get into James five. And if you have your Bible open up there, please we're gonna address the sinners and the fat of heart. That's who James addresses first in this section, the sinners and the fatten of heart. Now, once again, I wanna look at, at the context of James as a whole 15 times, James uses the word brethren in this section. He's not gonna use brethren. As we look at verse one, let's read verses one through six, and then we'll break it down. James says, come now rich weep, and how for your miseries that are common upon you, your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth Eden. Your golden, your silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. 6 (33m 9s): You have heaped up treasure in the last days, indeed. The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which kept back, which you kept back by fraud. They cry out in the cries of the Reaper. Reapers have the, have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. You have lived on the earth in a pleasure and luxury. You have fated your hearts. As in a day of slaughter, you have condemned, you have murdered the jest. He does not resist you. Now I wanna say that I don't believe this section applies directly to us, but I'm gonna show you how indirectly it, it, it might see. Now James is addressing, he doesn't use the word brethren in this passage. 6 (33m 52s): And the reason why I prefer the new king James version is because sometimes words are added to help us understand the original language. So in that section, that first verse, it says, come now you rich weep and how the original text does not include the word you, he says, come now rich weep and how. And so I believe west James is writing this. He's not addressing somebody in his church. He's addressing the broader context, those around those rich people that are now oppressing the people in John James congregation, who James is, is writing this letter to. So come now rich weep and Hal for your misery that are coming upon you. 6 (34m 34s): He's gonna talk about their wealth. Their wealth is being stored up, but yet there's misery that's coming upon them. If we look at the context of James and we go back to verse verse three 15, he's talking about this wisdom. He's talking about the different wisdoms, the wisdom that comes from above and the wisdom that comes from below, and this wisdom that comes from below. It says, it's earthly. It's sensual. It's demonic. It's it's, it's, it's its it's bitter envy. And it's, self-seeking that the wisdom that comes from below and that's the wealthy people. They're, they're seeking to fulfill their own pleasures and their own wealth and store it up. So he says, come now you rich weep, and how for misery that are, come upon you, your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth. 6 (35m 17s): Eaten. Wealth was always used with how much wealth you have stored up as well as the clothes that you had. Garments were an important thing. You can think of Joseph and the, the, his coat of many colors. That was in a way showing that this young boy, brother was gonna get a double portion. He was gonna get a larger inheritance than over his, his brothers. He was being put as, almost as if he was the firstborn son and that that coat that he wore was showed to his brothers, that his father valued him more than the others. In verse two, it says your riches are corrupted. And that word, if you dig down into the Greek, that word could also be translated, petrified. 6 (35m 59s): It stinks. So I went to U C S B and every year at U C S B. You always want to seek to live in a better house in a better place. You start out by living in the dorms first year, then you get a, a house, you know, somewhere else. And, and, and you wanna finally end up on, on Delly. That's like the beach party street, and there's a, there's a party side. And then there's like a surfer side. All right. And each year you try to move up in your status. Well, my senior year I had the opportunity to live on Delly and it was at the surf side. It was down by dev, but down by sands beach loved that place. 6 (36m 41s): And in this house, it was, it was a house that had six rooms and there was nine Christian guys that lived in it. And I loved that was one of my best places. I've lived nine Christian guys. We, we were all surfers. We wake up some mornings, look at the surf, outside our window. Do we wanna surf? We wanna go to class. It was always difficult choice, but having nine guys in a house, you don't just use one refrigerator. So we had three refrigerators. And let me tell you the amount of times I found science experiments growing in the back, there was refrigerators. The food was petrifying was not edible because it was not eaten because you took your dinner, your leftovers, you put 'em in the, in one of the fridges, and then you forgot what fridge you put it in. 6 (37m 22s): And then five months later, you open up and you're like, wow, there's a really fuzzy thing in the back of the fridge. And we also only had one trash can, but it was one of those big outdoor trash cans. And the rule was that the last person to put something on it, where it fell off, had to take out the trash. So the trash can, would get full. And then you'd begin to do this, like origami where like, you're not gonna be the guy. So it's you got this big old pile and oh, no, it fell off. So you had to be the guy that took out. But by the time it reached the top, the food at the bottom was stinked. It was petrifying. It was, it had a smell. And that's the riches that these wealthy people had. It was corrupted. It was rotten. And their garments, the sign of their wealth was being Mo eaten. 6 (38m 5s): Verse three says the gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your fleshed. Like fire. That's strange because gold and silver don't rust, they don't corrode. So what is James saying is James inaccurate? No, he's, he's saying that the, the, the gold silver that you've stored up have began to Corro your own heart. You begin to trust in those things and not trust in God in their corrosion or other words, their poison will be a witness against you. It's it's, it's, it's holding up so much wealth that you're hurting others, and you're just sitting on it. 6 (38m 46s): You're just sitting on it as begin to rotten petrify. And it says you have heaped up treasures in the last days. Remember Jesus said where your treasure is there. Your heart will be in Matthew chapter six. And so these wealth, these wealthy, rich people had done these things, but how have they done it? It says, this is how they've done it. They did it by opposing what Jesus had taught. Verse four says, indeed, the wages of the laborers who mode your fields, which you kept back by fraud. They cry out. And the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of harvest. The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields. You kept back by fraud. 6 (39m 28s): So you didn't give. And once again, James is speaking of these rich people, they are accumulating wealth by defrauding and hurting, hurting others. In high school, I had the opportunity for about six months to live in the Philippines with my family. And we had, we rented a house from a woman named CCI and CCI was our landlord and, and CCI paid to have the, the, the, the landscape, you know, kept up. And I remember one day she said, Hey, the, the, the they're gonna come and mow the front grass. I'm like, okay, somebody's gonna bring a push mower. And the grass is pretty small. It was about 10 by 15 feet at little front yard. 6 (40m 10s): And the, the landscaper came and he brought scissors like utility scissors. GCI had filled the house with really nice things. She was so proud of her beautiful cabinets that she had shipped from United States. She, she could tell you all the things and, and that, that she had in the house, but then how she paid her people showed where her heart was. This guy showed up with utility, like what we might cut paper with. And he was out there for hours in the sun. And his wages were very, very low. He was defrauded of what he was earned. And he, I remember just watching, going, like heartbreaking what this guy will never be able to climb any ladder. 6 (40m 52s): I mean, how could you, how could you provide for your family using scissors to cut the grass, to mow the fields? And it says these things, how, which you've kept back by fraud. They cry out. Remember the first time that something's cried out was the blood of able, when he was murdered by his brother, Kane, they cry out in the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. That's important to know because God cares about justice. He cares about those who have been defrauded over and over again in the Bible. You see, don't move the ancient landmark. 6 (41m 32s): Don't defraud others by taking away land, watch out for the widows, watch out for the orphans. You've you've, you've don't harm them because God are heavenly fathers watching, and there will be justice. He says, you're these cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. It says you have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury. And you have fated your hearts. As in the day of slaughter, that's where I got the, their fattening of the hearts. They only cared about how they were doing and not how others, as in the day of slaughter, you have condemned, you have murdered the jest. 6 (42m 14s): He does not resist you. Now we could from a, from a reading of this and, and James two chapter, sorry, chapter two, verse five. We could, we could easily make the assumption that rich means bad. And that poor is good, right? We can, we can kind of see that maybe James is saying that rich is bad, but poor means good, but you need to step back and look at the Bible. And what the Bible, as a whole says about wealth. God uses the wealthy Abraham. Isaac. Jacob were, were the wealthiest in the region. The book of Joe was says that Joe was richer than anyone around him. We have men like Joe of Aramathea who had, who had money and power. And he was able to go and go directly into pilot. 6 (42m 55s): He didn't have to wait in line to visit pilot. He went straight in and asked for the body of Jesus. And then he had a brand new tomb that was hu outta rock with which they, where they laid the body of Jesus. He was a wealthy man. So God uses wealth, but it's the misuse of money that is bad. First, Timothy six, 10 makes it. He says that the love of money is the root of all evil. It's the love of money, not money. Isn't the root of all. It's the love of money. That's the root of all evil. Now it's easy to read this and say, well, richer, everyone else. 6 (43m 36s): We're the, you know, I'm the poorer person. But if you looked at the world's riches and, and where the money goes, Monaco somehow is at number one. And the average salary in Monaco is $186,000 a year. And down at the bottom number 58 is Afghanistan where they make $500 a year. Could you imagine trying to survive on $500 a year? Well, us and that list is about number seven. So there's 60, or there's 51 countries that are under us. As far as the wealth of the world, we have to be careful about the, how we use our money, although we don't. 6 (44m 20s): And this is how I believe this passage applies indirectly to us. We have to be careful with how we use our money. So I don't have People mowing my field, but how am I defrauding others? Well, I don't make my own clothes. So who makes my clothes? Who do I pay to make my clothes? And it's one of those things I begin to look at is where, where do my, where are my money going? Where, what is it supporting? And I look at things like the fast fashion industry, where like companies like H and M have 24 different styles a year that they put out and all that comes at a cost, cheap clothes comes at a, at, at a cost for someone. 6 (45m 3s): And often it's the person who's face. You never see who's working in a factory, whether they want to or not. And it's adult or children that are putting out these things that are, that make it easier for us to go to a, a store and buy a shirt for $12. The cost comes somewhere. And I just wonder how God is hearing the cries of those kids stuck in the factory overseas that are serving us by the things that we purchase and we buy and it's. But it's, I mean, it's really hard. It's really hard to look and figure out like ethical ways to buy clothes and man, an ethical pair of pants that, that, you know, they were paid, right? 6 (45m 43s): There's a cost to it. But I think it's one of those things that we should consider are we defrauding others by how we live. We are a rich nation. And once again, it's not the love of money. That's the root of all yield. It's the misuse of money that de that's bad, that deprives others. It's a way to look at your rich is that hurts or robs others. Like Jesus said where your heart is, where your, where your money is. That's where your heart is, right? 6 (46m 23s): Wealth is a spiritual handicap reread of that. And Luke 18, if you real, if you have your Bible with you turn real quickly to REU 18. In Luke 18, we have Jesus counseling, the rich young ruler. He comes to Jesus and says, Hey Jesus, what do I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus then begins to have a conversation with him and points him back to the, the 10 commandments. And, and the man's like, I I've done all these since my youth. What, what else do I need to do? And Jesus said, well, he, when he heard these things, he said, you still lack one thing, sell all that you have and distribute to the poor. And you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me says when Jesus, when he heard this, he became very sorrowful because he was very rich. 6 (47m 11s): He wasn't willing to let his riches go. He trusted too much in his riches to then to trust in Jesus. And when Jesus saw verse 24, when Jesus saw that he had become very sorrowful, he said, how hard is it for those who have the riches to enter the kingdom of God for it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Then for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And those who heard it said, who then can be saved. They hear these words of Jesus. They're like who who's saved. Then Jesus. He says the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. We have to be careful that we, as the new Testament church are very generous with our giving, that we don't, as we look into the things that are going around on around our world with inflation and cost of things, there's the tendency to hoard. 6 (47m 60s): There's a tendency to keep, keep, keep, well, I don't know what things I'm facing. And so we wanna hold onto it. We want to trust in those wealth. We want to trust in as Jesus put it. The Mamon, Mammon's a funny word, right? From Matthews chapter six. And it's literally, there's no word for it in the English it's Aramaic word that they just took from Aramaic and put straight into our English Bibles Mamon and the thought is wealth personified. It's that which is trusted in. So you trusting in your bank account, are you trusting in the things that you have, your, your gold and silver or we trusting in the living? 6 (48m 43s): God, there's so many things on the horizon that make me terrified. And I think, man, I wish I had a little bit more money in my counter. I wish I had this, or I wish I had that, but we have to realize that it's God who's promised to carry us through this. 8 (48m 59s): Amen. 6 (49m 0s): We trust in a living, God, let's go. The next few verses chapter starting verse seven, James is now gonna address the saints. Now he's gonna bring back the brethren. Now he's gonna address his people. His flock, his church verse seven says therefore, be patient brethren and the coming of the Lord. See he's addressing his audience in light of the oppression. That's happened around them. He's now gonna talk to his people. 6 (49m 41s): So therefore be patient brethren until the coming of the Lord. See how a farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it, for it until it receives the early and later reign he's he's now addressing them because of the oppression that's happened around the injustices. And he's gonna give examples of how to patiently wait, Cuz the patience is you gotta wait for the coming to the Lord. God will bring the justice. That is always the promise. The Bible it's God who, who, who will bring this justice. We look at the world and we think of how can all these injustices be made wrong? You know, Hitler got an easy way out for all the evil that he did in the world. 6 (50m 22s): He just took his life. And that, that ended everything. So where's the justice in, in, in his, for his life of the damage that he caused the hurt. Well, so the Bible says there, the justice will be found. He will have a judgment awaiting for him. So be patient brethren until the coming of Lord, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until he receives the early and later rate. This farmer is amazing. Cuz the farmer simply takes a seed. And this was a time before, you know, drip, irrigation and sprinklers and all that stuff. And a farmer simply took his seed and he placed in the ground as an act of faith, burying that thing and hoping for an increase, hoping that the rains would come in the right time. 6 (51m 6s): The early was the fall rain. And the later rain was the spring rain waiting for the God to send the reign that his crop might grow. And that says Christians, we're supposed to do. We, we send our wealth Ford, right? Our treasures are supposed to be in heaven, not here on the earth. Our seed gets planted where we can't see it. He says, you also be patient establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord. As at hand, what I wanna do really, really quickly is, is to bring us to a little bit of understanding of the Jewish thought Jewish thought. 6 (51m 48s): It was very dynamic. We as westerns, we have a Western way of thinking and the Jews had a Eastern way of thinking. Our way of think is very abstract. Like I said, we read, we read the book of by toes are called knowledge of the holy, where it takes different attributes of God and it separates it. It divides it, it makes a list. And that makes sense to our, our heads. The Jewish way of thinking was it does it's very dynamic. It doesn't, it doesn't do that. An example would be if, if an abstract thinker and a dynamic thinker were, were brought into a room into a science room and they were said, and they were both given a frog and said, Hey, tell me about the frog, explain the frog. 6 (52m 30s): Well, the abstract thinker would, would take this frog and we might measure it and weigh it. And then it might take a scalpel to it. And well, the lungs are this big and this, and, and begin to break it down that way. We want to understand the frog. Well, let's take it apart. Let's figure it out where the dynamic thinker, the, the Jewish mind might look at this frog and say, and take a step back and say, well, what type of environment does this frog wanna live in? What is its mating habits? What does it do? What does it eat? And it begins to look at it in a very different way. What does this frog do? And that's why in the Jewish understanding, and that's why the old Testament, it it's, there's so many examples because the Jewish mind wants to less understand of what God is like. 6 (53m 19s): As far as the attributes, the Jewish mind wants to understand what does God do? And if we understand what God does, then we can example, we can model what God does by doing what he does. It's a very different way of thinking. So that's why James now is gonna give these four examples. He could give the farmer. He gives an example, the farmer of what that culture would know what's happened around him. They would've all seen seeds being planted in the field. They would've all known of the early and the later reins. And now he's gonna give the example of the prophets, Establish your heart For the coming of the Lord is at hand verse eight, verse nine says, do not grumble against one other brethren, unless you be condemned. 6 (54m 6s): And that is something that needs to mark the church that we're not grumbling against each other. Pastor Steve's addressed this very well in the past few weeks is if you have any issue, if there's something that's bothering you, going speak to that person, don't go and talk to everyone else. Go directly to that person. Do not grumble against one another brethren. He's addressing this church less. You be condemned behold. The judge is standing at the door, my brother, and take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. So now James is gonna use the, the Jewish dynamic thought of, of showing us an example of someone who, or people who did that example exactly who waited patiently for the Lord, who had had to establish hearts. 6 (54m 50s): There was the prophets, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience. Verse 11 says, indeed, we count them blessed who endured? You've heard of the perseverance of job and seen the intended by the Lord that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. It's interesting that the best old Testament commentary is found right here in the nude Testament. James is now giving a commentary on what he, his understanding of the book of job was it's very different than ours. 6 (55m 34s): The book, his understanding and the Jewish understanding of the book of job was that God, it says right here that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. If you know anything about the story of job, I don't, I don't read that. That's at least not the way I see it, but he was, God is very compassionate. Merciful. God didn't have to restore job. God didn't have to do all those things. We have outside appearance. Cuz we see, we see everything that happened. And we see the conversation between God and Satan. We see what happened behind the scenes. We see how Satan was allowed to take everything from job. Strange enough. He didn't take job's wife, cuz she told Joe later to, you know, curse God and die. 6 (56m 14s): I think Satan's like, well I don't need to take her out of the scene. She's she's on my side. But yet the end of the story job is restored. And the, the whole point of the story, according to James is that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. God, he didn't have to do that. And this is strange cuz verse 12, look at verse 12. This is, this is an awkward transition, a transition for me. And I've wrestled with this one all week. So he's talking about Joe, the intended by the Lord. And then he gets to verse 12 and he says, but above all my brethren do not swear either by heaven or earth or with any other oath, but let your yes. 6 (56m 57s): Be yes. And your no be no, unless you fall into judgment, like that's, that was a harsh transition for me. He goes from talking about, you know, the example, the farmer, then he talks about the profits. Then he talks about job and all of a sudden he goes, boom, let your yes be yes. And your no, no. Don't swear. So as I started studying, I started gripping with this first we start with the example of the farmer and that was a modern day example. That was what they would've understood. Then we get to the, he mentions the prophets. Then he mentions job. And now he's doing this well, I believe what James is doing is called a Kesher. 6 (57m 39s): It's called a Kesher it's a Hebrew word for connection. So what he's doing is he's providing a hyperlink. You know, hyperlink is when you're on a computer and you, and you see like something that's highlighted in blue, maybe underlined and you, you scroll your mouse over to it and it shows you another link. It shows you somewhere else that you can give you taken. It's a connection. A cashier in the Hebrew is a connection and it what it's doing, it's like it's reminding you of, of other things. So if I were to say towards the night before Christmas and all through the house, amazing, amazing. That's a, Kesier, that's a connection. I can say a few words. 6 (58m 20s): And then you all remember, and you're like, oh, Christmas, Christmas is coming way too soon. That's a, that's a connection. And so the hero mind and, and boys start and boys and girls both started studying the, the Torah from the time there were very, very little, so Jesus or James could say a few words and then their minds would remember all the things that that's connected to. That was very under understanding to them. So what I believe James is doing here is he's actually referencing Jesus reference back in Matthew five, turn there with me real fast. Matthew chapter five, no Bibles. 6 (59m 1s): I love Bible. I, I tell the youth group every, every Wednesday, I love to hear the Bibles. Turn love to hear the Bible's turn. Matthew chapter five versus 33. Jesus says again, you have heard that. It was said of those of old. You shall not swear falsely, but you shall perform your oath of the Lord. But I say to you do not, not swear at all, neither by heaven for his God's throne, nor the earth for his God's footstool, nor by Jerusalem for the, for that is the city of the great king, nor shall you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black or make it grow, but less, but let your yes. Be yes. And your Nobi. 6 (59m 41s): No for whatever is more than these is from the evil word. Sorry for the evil one. So James is referencing Jesus right here. When he says, let your yes. B yes. And your Nobi. No. And Jesus is referencing the third commandment. The third commandment is from the book OFS, which is part of the law. So why am I saying that? Because this is the Jewish old Testament. I don't know why. And I haven't researched exactly why or, or how, but our, our old Testament is very much different than the Hebrew old Testament. The Hebrew old Testament is called The Torah, which is the law, the first five books, the Bible, it's the prophets, the net of him. 6 (1h 0m 29s): And then it's the writings or the KET of him. And so, yeah, they'll be, they'll be kind of scrolling up here. But so what James is doing in this passions as he's addresses this church is he's saying, therefore, be my brethren. I'm gonna give you an example of a farmer of what's happening around you. I'm gonna give you example from the prophets, the, the nevi I'm gonna give you an example from Joe, which is found in the writings and the Kevan. And then I'm gonna give you an abstract or a cashier that connects to the law, the law, the prophets, and the writings. They all point to this of, to how to patiently endure until the day of the Lord, how to live practically the law and the prophets that to knock James was Jewish. 6 (1h 1m 16s): And he addressing that Jewish audience. Does that make sense? All right, let's go to prayer and the needs of others. Verse 13, He says, if is anyone among you suffering? Once again, he's talking to his BN. Any among you, brethren suffering, let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing. Psalms, does anyone sick? Let him call to the elders of the church. And this has an Ecclesiastes feel, right? There's a time and a season for everything. There's some seasons in our life where we may be suffering. Well, God says, if you're suffering, then pray. Is anyone cheerful? Well, let, if he's cheerful, let him sing. Psalms. Maybe to encourage others. 6 (1h 1m 57s): Is anyone among you sick. We'll let him call for the elders of the church. There's seasons for everything. So my dad would always say, he says, as I am now, you will be. And as you are now, I once was, it was always a reminder that I would probably go bald someday when I made fun of his head and it's coming to true, it's coming true. Just season for everything. Is anyone among you? Sick? Let 'em call for the elders of the church. Plural. As in that, not one of the elders might be said to have been the one who prayed the healing, prayer, but elders as in a multitude elders of the church and let them pray over them, anointed them with oil and the name of the Lord And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up as if enough and his hand, if he has committed sins, he'll be forgiven says, confess your fault to your trespass, to one other. 6 (1h 2m 59s): Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much that word Tove speaks of force of strength of power and who is righteous. Well, none is righteous, but the Lord, but we can be by Jesus in right standing before God, because of what Jesus did. And when we have that right standing before God, we can have effective inferent prayer. And once again, and James is now gonna give us an example of what that effective prayer does. 6 (1h 3m 45s): What does prayer do? Well, this is what it does. It says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did not rain in the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. What does prayer do? Prayer can hold back the reign once again, this is a commentary in the old Testament, because it doesn't say in the old Testament, how long the prayer the drought was for it just simply said that Elijah God told Elijah to pray to stop the reign, Elijah prayed and stop the reign. And then He told him to go to Brook chair, where, where he hung out for a while. 6 (1h 4m 26s): Then he went to the widow's house and then he fought against the 400 of the prophets of the all where God sent down fire. And then at the end of that, then he, he was told to pray for prayer, but that was a three spirit period of three and a half years, which is interesting because there also says that in RO revelation 11, there's gonna be two mysterious witnesses that are gonna be given power over to stop the reign. And they'll be, have that power for three and a half years. It's interesting that two men showed up to Jesus on the Mount of trans configuration was Moses Elijah. But Elijah says was a man with a nature like ours. 6 (1h 5m 7s): What does that mean? It means he was just like us. And yet he was able to withhold the reign. He was able to hold drought. It's not the merit of a man, but the grace of God, prayer should always mark the life of believer. And finally, here we come to the, the place of what to do with those who haven't been patient or persevered, What do we do? What do we do? How do we help those? And this is what we do. Verse 19 brethren. If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him let him know that he who turns a sinner back from air of the way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. 6 (1h 5m 49s): Jesus told the parable that the shepherd, the good shepherd that left the 99 to go and seek and save that one, recall to bring back the air don't don't gossip about them. Don't forget them. Keep them in your prayers. Keep reaching out the Lord. We'll save a soul from death. It takes endurance to do that. Takes endurance. To see someone who's fallen behind and to keep going after them and keep encouraging them. Years ago, I had the opportunity to, to climb Mount Shasta with, with a couple friends, Brenton Jayman and, and decided to climb it in January. 6 (1h 6m 39s): I don't know why in the middle of the winter got our ice ax, boots, crampons, all that stuff. We, we camped out at high camp. The first night at 10,000 feet woke up the next morning. Everything's all iced over. Put on our crampons ice ax. We began climbing Mount Shasta all morning. We're looking at what we thought was the summit Sun finally came up. I could start to feel my toes again. That was, that was a glorious feeling. And all morning we kept treking up about, about one o'clock in the afternoon after starting at 4:00 AM we, we, we reached what we thought was the summit came over the rise and only to be so disappointed because there stood before us misery hill and is exactly what it sounds like misery, Hill's only 400 feet in elevation, but somehow the what, what the, the wind had messed with the snow and ice and each step was about 18 inches. 6 (1h 7m 34s): And I was like, there's no way I can do this. But with the encouragement of my two friends, cuz I had just gone from Santa Barbara, which is, you know, elevation zero up to, you know, almost 14,000 feet and not my lungs were burning. I was like, I don't know how we do this. But step by step, we made it up misery hill and I was like, okay, misery, Hill's the top. That's it. We're we're good to go. We'll get up there. We'll be on the summit, take our pictures and come down. We get the top as misery hill and there's about 300 yards. And then another rise to the summit. And I looked at that and I was just gased I was spent, I, I just fell back in the snow and I laid there and Brent and Jamie were like, come on, alright, we gotta get this. We gotta do this. I'm like, no guys, you gotta leave me. 6 (1h 8m 16s): I, I can't do this. I cannot physically do this anymore. And lo and behold, they just kept, come on, Jeremy, you, you, you're gonna, you're gonna regret this. Come on, come on, come on. And they kept encouraged me until finally they pulled me up, stood up when we made the summit, but I would not have made it without the encouragement of those others. Not said, come on, you can do this. I would not made it. And so maybe it's just the endurance that some of us have that we're called in. Be that as encouragers to those around us. Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for your word. Lord. 6 (1h 8m 58s): Think that you're so gracious to give us direction on, on how to use wealth and what to do with what we, what you've entrusted us with. Lord, not to put our trust in the things of this world, Lord, but we put our trust toll in you. God establish our hearts. Lord establish our hearts with the what's what's on the horizon. Lord, what we don't know. But Lord you do. And so Lord, we look to you, Jesus and Lord, if there's some around us who have wandered Lord who have strayed, who've aired, Lord help us to know how to reach out to them. Encourage them. Lord, help us to know how to, to, to lift them up. Lord, look to you this morning, Jesus name we pray. 0 (1h 9m 41s): And 6 (1h 9m 42s): Then let's worship. 0 (1h 10m 23s): I see the stars. I wow. How great thou, how great thou was 3 (1h 11m 13s): Soul. 0 (1h 11m 16s): My 3 (1h 11m 35s): And when I, that God, his son not very sent him to died and sin how great the, how great the sings. 3 (1h 12m 50s): My so then I, how great sings, 9 (1h 15m 10s): How great you are, father, how much you love each one of us here right now, father, may we bless you today? May we bless someone else today? May we listen again in our minds? What we learned today? Wonderful words that Jeremy spoke. May we apply that to our lives and may we be a witness to others? Lord, please bless everyone as we leave. And we do have a prayer group up here for prayer. So everyone says, amen.

christmas united states god jesus christ lord english bible soul prayer stand christians christianity heart western pray romans satan psalm jewish greek wealth afghanistan strange jerusalem saints sun jews kingdom of god sick breaks psalms adolf hitler sabbath philippines amen hebrew ecclesiastes gentiles trust in god sinners encourage mount verse like jesus establish torah monaco merciful hal santa barbara testament lifeline bibles tim tebow takes ro mustard lifted reaper in luke sutherland eaten final words oh god hebrew bible mammon cuz garments plural aramaic pastor steve remember jesus cci reapers mount shasta kevan john james gci western christians jewish messiah ket corro mamon ofs ayyy wey reu god moses nobi hey jesus elijah god kesher

Blessed are the Persecuted

Rocky Mountain Christian Church

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2022

I wanna tell you something. I did a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it was a good idea or not, but if, if you have been part of our church for a while, you know, last year I, I got into the, the habits or really a discipline for me of, of running. And I don't know why because I hate running, but I made a personal goal during one of my coaching conversations with Sean, our lead passer was just up here and I think it's, cuz I, I didn't have one in the meeting. And so he was like, you know, what's a personal goal. And I was like running, you know? And so I, last year I did a 5k. Then I did a 10 K and so a couple of weeks ago, guys, it's crazy. A couple weeks ago, I signed up for a half marathon. I'm gonna run this year and don't clap yet cuz you, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. Because the, the farthest I've ever run so far in my running career is 6.1 miles. That's the farthest I've ever run or, or 6.2 miles. And a half marathon is 13.1 miles, 13.1 miles. And so I'm gonna be running of that race in, in October. I'm excited, I'm nervous, but it's a good challenge for me physically. It's a good challenge mentally. It it's a good challenge. But you just know 13.1 is gonna be more difficult than 6.2. And running long distances. You just know it. I mean, it's just tough. It just, you know, running a long distance. Isn't the easiest thing to do. So I'm just curious, both campuses participate here. How many of you have ever run a half marathon? How many? Okay. All right. So at Fred, let's just say there's 20 or 25 of you. That's probably more than what I thought. How many of you have ever run a full marathon? Okay. Wow. Way more than I thought here. Fred. Wow. Good job guys. Okay. Yeah. Well done. You statistically speaking in, in America only about a half percent, a half percent of our country has ever started and finished marathon. And, and the reason why that number is so low is because running 26 miles is tough. It's not easy. And here's one we think about, if I just said to you this morning, guys, I'm gonna be running a half, you know, in October. And I could really use your help. How many of you would be willing to come out and cheer me on at the race? So I'm gonna need some of you at the start line. I'm gonna need some of you like halfway point. And then I want, I'm gonna need some of you like that last half mile. Some of you like me enough. And, and you've got some time, you'd be like, you know what? Yeah, we could do that. You know, and my race is gonna be from Fort Collins to Loveland. So you might be like, you know, okay, we could take 30 minutes, drive up there. We could cheer Matt on for 10 minutes, you know, and then get back in the car and get back with our day. Not, not too crazy, but what if I got up here and I was like, Hey guys, I'm gonna be running this half. And here's what I need from you. I need some of you to run it with me. Now, all of a sudden you don't have free time. You're like, what's the date? And I'm like, October 1st, you're like book something for October 1st. You know, all of a sudden you're not quite as available. And the reason why, and come on, we get this kind of common sense because you know, the level of commitment is different from watching a half to running a half. You know, the pain is different from watching somebody else run a half and you running a half. And here's what I'd argue. And the context of your relationship with Jesus is very similar. Following Jesus is much different than just spectating him. Following him will be much more painful than just watching other people follow him. It's not always easy. I love what Jeff said. You know, the, it's not about the easy life. It's about the meaningful life. Really what we're saying is, you know, if it's not about easy, then it's a little bit more about being harder, more difficult, more strenuous. There's something healthy though in that tension. So if you ever Bible's Matthew chapter five, we're gonna finish up our series. Jesus manifesto. We've been, we've been working through the first eight statements that Jesus teaches. He's in Matthew chapter five. It's just like opening sermons. One of those most famous sermons, Jesus on this hillside. And he's kind of given out like the foundation of what, you know, he's gonna be kind of leaning into and teaching on over the next couple of years. And so he's got these eight statements we call 'em the be attitudes. And these are, are statements that Jesus is saying, look in my kingdom, if you're gonna live in my kingdom, then this is what it looks like. This is what we're gonna be encouraging you to do. And he starts every one of these be attitudes with the word bless. So you're gonna be blessed. You know, if you do this and there's gonna be a reward, if you do this, which is why you're gonna be blessed in all of these statements, they kind of, they bring this tension because they, they kind of push back against kind of our culture in the world. I mean, Jesus, oftentimes he associates the Christian life as like an it's kind of upside down. It's gonna go against the grain of, of what the world would say. And this is kind of the tension that Jesus will lean into. He's always talking about his kingdom. He's, you know, my kingdom, you know, the world does it like this and Jesus goes, but in my kingdom, this is what it looks like. And it always seems to be on the opposite side of, of naturally where we would like to be. And, and today is no is no different. In fact this is gonna be the last be attitude that we're gonna be talking about today. And I think it's the heaviest. I think it's the weightiest, it's the one we, we don't like to talk about it. It's the one that doesn't get much play. And yet it, it very well may be the one that Jesus wanted to lean into the most. And so here's what Jesus says. This is Matthew chapter five, starting in verse 10. Jesus goes, look blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So blessed are those who, who are persecuted. Why? Well, because of their commitment for God, their pursuit of God, it, it, it, it, it provokes a reaction from, from another group of people or somebody else that they don't like your pursuit of righteousness. We talked about righteousness a couple of weeks ago. That's our pursuit to become more like Jesus. And so Jesus says, look blessed are those who are gonna find themselves in some difficult situations because of their pursuit or love for me, he keeps going verse 11, blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad, because great as your reward in heaven for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So Jesus says, look, this is nothing new. This has been going on for a while. But if you pursue me, if you follow me, if you run the race, you just gotta know you're gonna run into some situations where they're gonna be some people that are not going to be happy with you in your pursuit to become more like Christ. Now, two things about this scripture. I wanna give you real quick. That's good for us to, to know, is to kind of build the foundation. As we talk about the topic of persecution, first in Jewish tradition, to say something important, anything, anytime you had to say something important, you, you would say it twice. You would repeat yourself. And that's exactly what Jesus does here in those couple of verses. I just mentioned Jesus. You know, he says, you're blessed when you're persecuted. And then he says, you're blessed when you're persecuted. This is the only double blessed the attitude. It's the only one that gets to, you know, gets repeated. Meaning it's an important one, meaning we should lean in and listen. He said it once we lean in, but then he said it again because there's something there that he doesn't want us to miss. Second. It's important for us to understand what persecution is and what it isn't. Now Jesus gives us some parameters. He says, persecution. The one that he's talking about here, this has caused it because of your pursuit or my pursuit of righteousness. So here would be my working definition. Any hostility experience, as a result of identifying with Jesus, any hostility that you come against because you are following Jesus because you believe Jesus is who he says he is. And you believe Jesus died for your sins. And you believe that Jesus is the source of your salvation. It's persecution due to pursuing Jesus. And, and this is important conversation for us. And it's good for us to lead in here because in the west where we live, I mean, we can easily believe that any suffering or hostility we experience is persecution, but that's not actually true. Check it. If someone is rude to you because your political belief, because of your political beliefs or dismisses you, because you know, if something you believe poli politically, that's not persecution. It's not. If, if you're passed over for a job because someone else is more qualified than you, it's not because of persecution. Okay? I'm a Christian life is so hard. No, you're just not good at your job. Okay? That's not persecution. paying high gas prices is not persecution. I know it feels like it, but it's not being a Christian is so tough. I gotta pay $5 a gallon. Everybody's paying $5 a gallon. All right. It's not persecution. If you get in an argument with someone on social media, not persecution, okay? It's not persecution last week. I . I started the message out hard. In fact, if you didn't see last week, you should go watch it. Because last week we talked about blessed are the peacemaker. It's very interesting in our faith. You know, we, we have one week, we talk about being a peacemaker. And then the next week we talk about blessed are those who are persecuted. You see the tension of our faith. We're called to make things better. And yet in our pursuit to make things better, there's gonna be people that are gonna be upset. But last week I came out strong at the beginning of the message. I talked about people who like to eat hard, boiled eggs, because I think there's two kinds of people in this world. There's Christians. And then people who eat hard, boiled eggs. And I came out hard. Okay. I came out hard and I was making a lot of jokes. And, and I, and I told you, I think, I just think it's extremely disgusting. People who eat hard, boiled eggs, it just there's something about that texture. And then the, just the, and all that kind of stuff going on. It's disgusting. And I've never been persecuted more for my faith than this past week, because several of you, several of you sent me pictures in videos of you eating hard, boiled eggs one lady in our church called it a protein ball. No, no, no, no. Okay. Look, it's not persecution. You wanna know why? Because eating a hard, bold eggs has nothing to do with pursuing Jesus, right? It's not. And here's what we do. A lot of times in the context of all cultural, we'll pick a topic that has nothing to do with your salvation, but you've gotta really, you know, you really believe in it. And so you grab it and all of a sudden now you make it essential for your faith and it's not. And then some people start poking at that thing. And some people start coming at you about that thing and you call it persecution. Well, I, you know, and you kind of find your way to this corner. It's like, oh, you know, I'm being persecuted for your FA you know, my faith. And I'm just telling you, I'm watching you and I'm going, no, you're not hard. Boiled eggs has nothing to do with Jesus. Some of the things that you're kind of getting out there and you're just taking some heat from has nothing to do with you becoming more righteous, has nothing to do with you becoming more like the one who you're following the, those aren't topics that he stood on. Now you might, you might have come to a belief because of your Christian faith and what, and what you believe that Jesus is calling you to do, but you're making those things the most important things and they're not. And so we've gotta be careful that we don't kind of, you know, put ourselves in the corner. Here's the other thing, I see this a lot in the context of Christian culture and persecution. You know, last week we talked about being a peacemaker. We talked about how you, you have beliefs. And I have beliefs. I mean, there are things that I believe are true that I know will cause tension in the culture and in which we live, I get it, but that's not an excuse, right? I mean, we can't be drawing lines and there's people on the other side of our beliefs, what Jesus said last week was you, you are, listen, if you're a follower of him, you have been called to cross those lines and to be close to those people and to lead with love and relationships with those people doesn't mean you have to change your beliefs, but you can't use your beliefs as an excuse, not to be close. You know, what's happened in our culture. There are too many Christians who, who will view persecution like this, a line has been drawn and the sinners are over there. And I'm over here with my people and my beliefs. And I refuse to cross the line and love those people. And then those people get frustrated with the church. Those people go see, this is why I don't like Christians because, and they go through and here's the deal, you know what? They're right. They're rights. And so they start throwing rocks, you know, over at the church and we start getting hit and you're like, oh Jesus, I'm suffering for you. No, you're not. No, you're not. No, no, no. They wouldn't have to throw rocks. If you'd be closer to 'em they just hand 'em to you. You know what I'm saying? And so look, we gotta be careful that we don't start drawing lines and going, I'm not gonna serve people who aren't like me. And I'm not gonna love people who are not. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This is your pursuit of Jesus. If anything, it's because you're so close to people and you're loving people who aren't like you, that if that causes tension, then we can talk about persecution. But until you're there, this is not what Jesus is talking about about us and them. And, well, I believe this. And so I'm just not gonna be close to you or I'm just gonna, every time I get with you, I'm just gonna tell you you're wrong and I'm right. And this, this is not what Jesus called us to. Jesus says, in your pursuit of living like Jesus, you're gonna run into some people who aren't gonna like, aren't gonna like what you're all about. And when it happens, you are blessed. You are blessed. And this is a major theme, a major theme of the new Testament. Even last week, I read this verse verse Matthew chapter five, verse 44. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. I mean, Jesus just leans in. He goes, look, it's gonna happen. Sounds like it's gonna happen. So when it happen, just be ready, be prepared. Even you're gonna pray for those people it's happening today. You know, some of the stats that are going around that, you know, I'm, I'm sure this isn't exactly right, but it's closed. But somewhere around 340 million Christians today are living in places where they experience high level persecution, meaning they can't even do what we're doing this morning. They can't even gather together because it's illegal or because they'll be arrested or because even their life might be on the line. I mean, that's, that's the population of the United States. We're talking about one in eight Christians worldwide. There's Christians all over the world that are living under extreme persecution simply because they believe in Jesus. And yet here's the cool thing about the history of our faith. In times when the church has been persecuted, the most, we've also grown the most Paul writing to Timothy. This is second Timothy chapter three, verse 10. Look what Paul says. Here he goes. You however know all about my teaching teachings, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love endurance. When we like that list, don't we it's a good list, Paul, but he doesn't stop there. Verse 11. You also know Timothy about my persecutions and my sufferings. What kinds of things happened to me in Antioch and econ and Lera and the persecutions I endured yet? The Lord rescued me from all of them. Verse 12. In fact, everyone, everyone means you in me, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted. Aren't you glad you came to church. You know what I'm saying? Everyone, a, everyone who believes that Jesus is the son of God. If you follow him, you will be at some point, it sounds like persecuted for your faith so much. So, I mean, Paul leans in before that he's like Timothy, you remember when I was at that one town, in fact, you know, Lera is, is Timothy's hometown. And when Paul was there in his first min you know, missionary journey, he was preaching the gospel and it was making some other people frustrated. And so these other people kind of showed up in town and got the crowd riled up. And they were like, you know what? You should do. You should kill that guy. And they were like, yeah, let's do that. So they dragged Paul out of the town and they start and they stone him. They started throwing rocks at him and they don't stop until they think he's dead. And then here's what the, the story goes. And then they, the crowd leaves and then disciples show up and, and the Bible is just like, and then it just says, and then Paul stood up then Paul stood up and he went on the next city. In fact, he'll go back and revisit the visit that city on his second missionary journey too. Wouldn't that be something, you know, people there are like, didn't we stone that guy, you know what I mean? And so, and so Paul leans in, he goes to Timothy, you know, you know, my journey, there's faith and there's patience. And Timothy's like, yeah, I got it. He goes, but there's also persecution. Isn't there Timothy. And Timothy's like, yeah. I, I mean, he might have been there. I mean, he is like, yeah, I saw that. Yeah. Hey, you know, they photo rocks at you sometimes Timothy. Tim's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just part of our faith persecution. Suffering's a major theme for the writers of the new Testament. Why? Because they're in the midst of it. They're in the midst of it. And unfortunately though, you know, in the context of where we live, it kind of feels like a lost concept cuz we don't spend a lot of time thinking about or talking about persecution. One, it's not a warm topic to talk about. And two, if we're honest, we just don't deal with it a whole lot. Like other Christians do around the world. But Jesus makes it clear that following him will cost you something. And because of that, people might choose not to follow him. I mean, think about the tension if in, in your faith, for those of you that are here this morning, that if, if we did live in a place where it was illegal to be a Christian or if what we are doing right now could cost you a a night or a week in jail or even worse, maybe your life, how many of you would be here? Think about it. Think about the Christians who around the world that have to make those decisions. I mean, what does it look like for us to be a Christian in the midst of a place where it's illegal to be a Christian and what, what does that look like for the rhythms of pursuing Jesus? What are we gonna do? And what are we not going to do? And the new Testament, I mean, people reacted to Jesus with extreme reactions. They either, you know, wanted to give their life and, and follow him to, to their own death or they wanted to kill him. He just provoked these extreme reactions because if Jesus is who he says, he is, you have to either center your whole life on him. Or if he's not, then he is someone to hate and avoid at all cost. It's almost like no other, you know, response to work either. He's absolutely either Jesus, you know, he's just absolutely crazy. Or he is infinitely wonderful. And the world is full of people who say they believe in Jesus, but if they were honest, it hasn't really like revolutionized their life because Jesus has, you know, he hasn't really got a grasp of their whole life and their whole heart and their whole mind. They're still just kind of on the sideline. Spectating watching others run the race. But there are some who have jumped in, who are running the half marathon in the full marathon of life and they're just in it. And you can just see the struggle and you can see the sweat and there's moments. They almost look like they're about to give up. And yet they keep their eye on the prize. They know it's gonna be worth it. So they keep moving forward and to become a Christian, you're gonna have to, you know, have the courage to do, do something, you know, in the context of following Jesus, that won't always be easy. You're gonna have to choose a way that maybe you wouldn't even choose for yourself. Because if we're just honest, we would usually choose the easy way Bible talks about this Luke chapter nine, verse 23. And then he said to them all, this is Jesus talking. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny. Meaning. There's a way that you'd like to go. And yet it's probably too easy. So you gotta deny yourself. You gotta take up your cross daily. That's not easy to do and then follow Jesus. So there's self denial. I mean, following Jesus means that you're gonna deny yourself, them. Some things that you might otherwise choose to do. And yet if you're gonna follow Jesus, there's gonna be moments. You're gonna have to embrace, you know, inconvenience and discomfort because follower Jesus are not promised a life of comfort and wealth. And yet that's a popular doctrine to teach. Hey, if you follow Jesus, you'll be rich. You'll have no hardships. You know, it's called the prosperity gospel and you just, you just obey. And then Jesus is like a genie. You just ask him whatever you want and he'll do it. You want money? He'll give it to you. You want that car? You'll get it. You wanna live in that house. He'll he'll buy it for you. And yet you read the new Testament and none of these jokers are saying that, you know what they're saying? This is hard. This is to Paul. Is that what Paul just said? Dude, Timothy being a Christian is great. I'm driving in my Lamborghini to the synagogue. No, he goes Timothy. They, they tried to kill me. They stone. They tried to stone me to death. Timothy, if you follow Jesus, Timothy, there's gonna be persecution. There's gonna be suffering in your story. They knew. I'm just telling you. They knew because of the suffering they were experienced. They knew that in tough times it was to their benefit because it would produce grit, passion, and perseverance of doing something for long periods of time. They knew it was gonna take grit to, to be a follower of Jesus. I was up at camp this week and, and I read into this, this verse, I was teaching to these high school kids up at camp by about 70, 80 high school kids up there. And we were really talking about, you know, this idea of grit because in our culture, because we don't experience a lot of persecution, we've gotten a little soft, we've gotten a little soft, you know? And so we were in James and, and we, we were reading this verse. This is James chapter one, starting in verse two. Here's what James says. I mean, he's kind of framing this whole thing up about suffering and persecution. He says this, this is a crazy verse. This is a crazy verse. He says, considerate, pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know, you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. You know that that when you get into tough situations, you listen, you should just consider pure joy. Cuz it's only gonna help you get grittier. It's only gonna help you. You know, when you get into more difficult times, when you get into more suffering and persecution, it's only gonna help you next time to make sure that you keep going and the trouble is. And the problem is, and that's why I said to these high school kids. I said, you have no idea. You have no idea because your world has been sprinkled with magic. And here's what I said to him. I go, you know, I'm just like, Hey kids, , you have no idea, but this is true story. Years and years and years ago, when you would choose to watch TV and you wanted to change the channel. Now I'm old enough still for this. Okay? Cuz I was the remote control before there was remote control cuz my dad would be sitting on the couch way before, you know, way before you were here. You used to, I mean, when you were sitting there and you were thinking about, you know, I'm, I'm watching mash, but maybe I wanna watch rose or something. Right. And you're sitting on the couch, you had to think, do I, is it worth it? Is it worth it for me to get up and walk over there to the TV and actually turn this knob? You know what I mean? What's happened over time. We we've sprinkled a little bit of magic in there. You don't even have to get off to, you know, the couch. Now you can just sit there and you can just take your remote and go boom. And you're done. And, and I was reading this pod or I was listening to this podcast a couple of weeks ago, talking about this idea of gritty. And what it was saying was in our culture, we, we sprinkled so much magic that we've taken out some of the easier reps of grit that build perseverance. I mean, some of you don't even vacuum your house anymore. You've got a robot for that. It's not even, you know, it's like, it's not even a chore for your kids. Hey, you're you're you gotta vacuum the house. And all they do is walk over and hit a button and a vacuum. You know, there's a robot who does it. And what this whole podcast was saying was that that only works for so long because you know this, if you're breathing this morning, at some point, there won't be a robot. That's gonna fix all your problems. You're not always gonna have a remote control that when you don't like what you're watching, you just change the channel one day, you're gonna run into something that you're gonna have to work through. If not in your faith, just in the context of life. And what the whole thing was saying was we, we, we haven't worked out our gritty muscle, our perseverance muscle, and we've just got all this magic around us. And then we just show up and we're going through life. And all of a sudden we hit something hard and we lose our minds. God, this is too hard. Whoa. Life is so hard. I'm telling you, it's destroying a generation. They've not flexed the, the grittiness of life. This is why I, you know, this is why I love this camp I was at because they make it tough for these kids. They're sleeping intense. There's no bathroom facilities. It's a porta potty. They gotta walk to shower. You know, they gotta walk a mile to take a shower. All these high school kids, they're like detoxing from, you know, from their, you know, they don't have their cell phone. They're like playing games. What's that? You know, what are these? It's like, that's a deck of cards, man. You've never seen these before, but What are we doing right now? This is called a conversation in person. I know it's weird, but you know, I like it. That's why I love going on mission trips. I love it, office. You a different perspective. It's not easy. You gotta flex that. Grittiness, that perseverance at endurance. It's good for us. James says that. He says this next verse, let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete. Not lacking anything. It's good for you. It's good for you because we know that man, following Jesus, there will be seasons of life that are more difficult than others. All right. So here's the last thing, John, the Baptist. Now, if you grew up in church, you know the story of John, the Baptist, John, the Baptist, he he's, he, he comes first before Jesus John, the Baptist, his whole job was to prepare the way, you know, for Jesus. He's out there preaching Jesus before Jesus was preaching Jesus. He's just out there going, Hey, there's a new kingdom coming. There's a new guy coming. He's gonna change everything. And you're gonna see, I mean, John, the Baptist, we call him John the Baptist because John baptized Jesus. When Jesus shows up to be baptized, John goes, man, I'm not worthy to baptize you, man. You're Jesus. You're the one I've been talking about. And John's out there, he's repping Jesus and he's confronting people and he's, you know, he's a, he's a crazy dude. He's a weird looking dude. He's just out there living a life of Jesus. And because of that, he lands in jail. The dude who's in charge. Doesn't like him. And John's been saying some things about the marriage that he's in. Wasn't quite right. And John was calling his sinful. And so you know, this guy's wife didn't like that. And so she's obviously got influence with the most important guy cuz they're sleeping together. So anyways, that guy has John thrown in jail. Right? So look, look at this Matthew chapter 11, starting of verse two. I mean this guy, I mean he was all in his whole life has everything to do with Jesus. And when John who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he's in prison. Now hearing stories about Jesus, cuz Jesus has started his ministry, right? He did the sermon on the Mount. He's out there, healing, people, doing all kinds of stuff. Look what John did. John sent his disciples to ask him, now look at this question, verse three, Hey, are you the one who is to come? Or should we expect someone else? This dude's been repping Jesus his whole life. But because he's like, you know, in, in a whole, in the ground because he is in jail, he sends some guys because here's what John's, you know, this is what he's wrestling with. Man. I've given my life to this guy. I've been out repping this guy. I didn't think if I obeyed what he asked me to do, I would be in jail. This is tough. And so then he is sitting there all by himself and he starts thinking, Hmm, I wonder if he's not the guy, because if he was the guy, why does he just come in here and bust me out? Why doesn't he just like pull a Ram move and get in here? I mean, if he's the king, if he's the son of God, if he's in charge of all things, surely he can come in here and get me out. Right? Hey, these circumstances, aren't going the way that I thought they would. And I'm, I'm a follower of Jesus. Well, so where is he? So the disciples go, you know, his John's followers are go find Jesus. And they're like, Hey Jesus, you remember John? He's like, yeah. Hey, so he's in jail. And he's wondering if you're Jesus, Here's what Jesus says. Verse four, Jews replied go back and report to John. What you hear and see the blind receives sight and the lame walk and those who have leprosy are cleansed. The deaf here, the dead are raised. And the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Look at verse six. Again, that word blessed. So blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness and hang tough, John. Hmm. It would seem that Jesus understands. There's a cost of following of following him. Jesus doesn't rush in and bust John outta jail. What he tells John is John, don't give up on your faith. You keep moving forward, John, it's gonna be worth it. It's gonna be worth it. See John questioned, he questioned and you would too. And I wonder how many Christians around the world who heard the story of a guy who changed the world and had the power to change their life. And they jumped in and because of it, their life is more difficult now. And they're sitting there going, man, if he really is who he says, he is, then why am I in this position? Why isn't working out the way that I thought it would. It's what John thought he questioned. He doubted, but here's the cool thing. He never walked away. He kept following. And it's not a, like a kicks and giggles story for John because he never got outta jail. In fact, he'll get beheaded. And I'm sure that when he jumped in and you know, once the guy who's preparing away for Jesus, he didn't think that's how it was gonna work out and friends in our life. It really goes the way that we think it should. What I love about the history of our faith is that there are people who have served Jesus faithfully in the midst of incredible persecution. The original disciples, John is the only one who will die of old age. The rest of them will be martyred for the faith. Several of them will be crucified, just like Jesus. And on the way to their own crucifixion, they ask to be crucified upside down because they consider themselves not to be worthy, to be crucified like their savior. They got it. See if you were there 2000 years ago and you were a follower of the way, that's what they would call it. If you were a follower of Jesus and if you were there and you saw Jesus crucified, You wouldn't be wondering if there would be suffering in your life because you just saw the guy who's in charge of the whole thing, nailed to a Roman cross. You would know if I jump in and if I follow this guy, what just happened to him very well may happen to me. And you know what changed it for them? Cuz that's scary. That's scary to think about, you know, what changed it for them? You know why they thought it was worth it all of a sudden, you know why persecution didn't hold the church back. You know why you're here 2000 years after Jesus was crucified. Because those guys who saw their savior die in one of the most painful ways, also had breakfast with them on the beach three days later. And then he said, oh, so they're suffering in this life, but there's also a life after this life. Wow. We're just not so afraid anymore. So you're telling me you're gonna follow with Jesus and you might die and they're going. Yeah, But so what, Because we just saw something, we can't Forget. It's too exciting. This thing is real. So it's worth it. And so in the context of our humanity, Jesus leans in and goes, don't forget, what's on the other side of this. It's heaven. It's eternity. It's spending the rest of your days, not just in this life, but after with Jesus, for eternity, Paul, I'll read this and then I'll pray. Paul would say like this Romans eight verse 18. He says, I consider man. When we think about it, I consider our present sufferings. They're not worth comparing with the glory. That will be revealed in Us. Paul goes, look, it's worth it, church. It's worth it. Whatever you face, whatever trials and hardships and suffering, whatever, you know, whatever persecution you're gonna face in this life, cuz you're out there repping Jesus and you're following him and you're pursuing righteousness and you're loving people that nobody else is gonna love. And you're standing firm in your beliefs. Paul goes, it's worth it. It's worth it. And when they come at you, when they throw insults at you, Paul goes, it's worth it. When they throw rocks at you it's worth it because they did all of that to Jesus. And three days later that dude came back from the dead and that's the guy he says, blessed are those blessed are those who are gonna be persecuted for their faith, for their pursuit of righteousness. You know what? Their reward is, eternity with him. It's good stuff. Let me pray for you, father. I thank you for the reminder this morning, there will be challenges. There will be pain. There will be suffering in this life as we pursue to live. As you have called us to live. I think about the Christians around the world this morning, who do not have the freedom to do what we're doing to sing and to raise their hands, to openly carry a Bible, to get into the depth of the scriptures, to receive preaching. They, they can't do it. And I pray that you would give 'em the strength and the energy that they wouldn't quit in their pursuit of you. In fact, they would even get to a place in their own faith that you would call us to pray for those who persecute us, that they may see the reward that is to come. And like John they'll have moments where they question, but I pray that also like that John, that they would keep their faith, even though it's not working out how they would choose for it to work out, that we would keep our eyes on the prize and keep our eyes on you, who will greet us at the finish line at the end of our race father. We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for the cross. We thank you that 2000 years ago, he beat death once and for all. So in the midst of hardships and persecution and suffering, we have nothing to be afraid of this morning. We love you. And it's in his name. We pray. Amen.

S5E1: Trey Pearson - Hey Jesus

The Collective Table

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 34:32

Welcome to Season 5 of The Collective Table Podcast, Songs of Summer! Today Chelsea & Talip sit down with Trey Pearson to talk about his faith journey and his song, Hey Jesus. Listen to Hey Jesus here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5im_tBINf80 With his band Everyday Sunday, Trey Pearson has sold hundreds of thousands of records, and amassed millions of streams. He has scored 5 #1 U.S. singles and 20 Top 10 hits. His song “Wake Up! Wake Up!” was the most-played Christian rock song of 2007, and his 2009 album, “Best Night of Our Lives,” broke onto the coveted Billboard 200 chart. Pearson has toured in all 50 states and 20 countries, playing with top Christian musicians such as Toby Mac, Switchfoot, MercyMe, Jeremy Camp, Relient K and others. Recently, Trey Pearson, the founder and owner of Everyday Sunday, has come out of the closet to make national news. His announcement started a national conversation with a television appearance on The View. It has been covered by The New York Times, Billboard Magazine, CNN and more, as he became the most trending topic worldwide on Facebook. Trey was nominated for a 2017 GLAAD Award for his appearance on The View. Trey has been performing at Pride Festivals all around the country, with Kesha and Betty Who. He released his debut solo single, “Silver Horizon”, and premiered the music video on Teen Vogue. Billboard Magazine did a feature on Trey for his new album, premiered the title track for his debut solo album “Love Is Love”, which is now available worldwide. His new album 'Somebody You Knew' comes out July 1! Follow Trey on Instagram @treypearson and learn more about him at treypearson.com. Learn more about The Collective Table at thecollectivetable.org

Hey Jesus girl! Come awaken your Faith with us, I'm Chris (Moss) + I'm Katie (Conway). We are two busy women, like you, with a heart for Jesus and the Church. We take a casual, encouraging approach to understanding and living our Catholic Faith. Every other week, we invite you into our meaningful conversations where we break down the big ideas of our Faith using the B.E.S.T. – our original approach. Visit awakenyourfaith.org to learn more!

jesus christ church girls catholic faith hey jesus

Hey Jesus

J Ra Ku: East Meets West: Rock And Roll

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2022 2:46

Having a trippy conversation with Jesus.

Hey, Jesus is real! Please hear

Experiencing Jesus Daily

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 18, 2022 7:17

Before you take my word or anyones word please take a quick listen to this encounter with the word and believe for yourself the truth!

033. Follow Me

Live Free Love Well

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 2, 2022 15:35

Hey Friends! This weeks verse is in Matthew 16, and it's actually 3 verses! Matthew 16:24-26. The song for the week is Hey Jesus by CAIN. Go listen, read, and Enjoy!!

hey friends hey jesus

Jesus Take My Life (Savings)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 54:34

Audio Transcript:This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning and welcome to Mosaic. I'm Jan one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. We're so glad that you are with us. A couple things if you're new or even if you're not, I worshiped from the front today, and I did that... I usually worship from the back, because I'm like, I'm distracting and all this. But then Raquel who's on staff here. My girl Raquel, she said, "Do you want to teach the men at the church to worship God, and start worshiping God from the front?" And then she sent me a haka dance. She's like, "That's the way you're supposed to worship God." I'll be doing that once in a while. I'll switch things up.Second thing I want to communicate is my T-shirt. I've been trying to speak from the heart and it's hard. So I'm going to wear what I want to say. I'm going to wear it on my heart, and I'm going to switch this up. If you've got a T-shirt that you're like, "Pastor Jan, this should be on your heart." Just give me that T-shirt. So this one, the Holy Spirit sent me this week. It's an astronaut and he's holding the Earth and it says love. And it's meaningful to me because Elon Musk believes that the world is so broken, that the only way to save humanity is to go to Mars. And I want to call Elon to repentance and to tithe. But repentance in particular because no, if God hasn't given up yet, then we shouldn't either. And there's power to fixing, the power is the love of God poured out through the Holy Spirit.With that said, would you please pray with me. And I wrote up prayer, a pastoral prayer. Heavenly Father we come to you in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that you stir our hearts to love, and stir our hearts for good works. Make us a church that seeks to stir up one another lovingly, but courageously to live lives of absurd generosity. The kingdom of God, the Gospel work in this region of the nation. Lord, I pray that you stir up every member of this church, every Christian attender, every former member, and every former attender, anyone who loves and cares for this church, and for this spiritually dark part of the nation. Lord stir us up to be ridiculously, nonsensically, extravagantly, holistically, generous, and only your Holy Spirit can do this. And Jesus, we look to your sacrifice on our behalf. We see that you sacrificed everything in obedience to the Father to save us, to pay our debts, to give us access to the throne room of God, access to the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints.And we pray turn our theological, our theoretical generosity into true, practical, genuine, real generosity. Where we are ready to cut fat checks, where we are ready to make sizable wire transfers, where we truly go all in. Burn in sin, greed, and covetist, and selfishness, and fear of future out of our hearts, engulf our hearts with the Holy Spirit. God you are a giver. You have everything. And you have given everything to save us because you love us. So make us Godly givers who are ready to give everything to you because everything is yours to begin with. And we pray all this in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen.I've sent out a study guide. It was seven pages. I wrote it from the heart. I wrote my own commentary. I did all the exegesis. Chloe was so kind as to format it and make it look pretty. I also have a 13-page manuscript of all my thoughts and they're coherent. If you'd like the whole thing, I'll send that to you as well. And I'm just going to speak from the heart today. We'll see how it goes. I pray the Holy Spirit stirs your heart as well. My wife told me, Tanya, she came to church today, praise God. We had a little situation because I wore a T-shirt last week. But she liked this T-shirt, she liked the sermon. It was tremendous. And she said to me, "What are you preaching on?" I said, "I'm preaching on money. I'm preaching on..." She said, "Don't preach about money. So you're stirring stuff up already. Why are you preaching on?"I'm like, "It's the next text? I'm just going verse by verse." And she said, "But everyone is going to think that you're trying to get them to give you their money." And I went like this because I go like this when I'm trying to explain something. When I get really sad, and then I'm angry, and then I pray for the Holy Spirit of baptize the anger and turn it into the zeal. And when I explain it, I was like, "Tanya, do you know what opportunity cost is?" Opportunity cost is when you're 23 making 75 grand a year in 2006, and you quit everything because you came up with a crazy idea that God called you, but God called you. And then you're like, "The CIA can't win the battle for hearts and mind, so let's do it. So we are going to do it ourselves."And opportunity cost is like all the income that you give up because you go to seminary, and then you got to pay for the seminar. You got to live while you're in seminary, you can have a baby in seminary, and then you go another seminary, and then you go third seminary. Opportunity cost. The point is, I'm not doing it for the money. It doesn't pay that well. I am doing this to be faithful to the Lord. He called me and He said, "I got a word for you and I will prophesy from this word." Whatever the fallout, I care, but I don't. I care too much about what's best for you, so I don't care about ruffling just some of the feelings because no one has ever hurt your feelings. To tell you the truth I'm here to hurt some feelings. So okay, you get the point.We are in a tremendously... Oh, the other thing I was going to say, I forgot this in the first service. If you don't get anything that I say read the study guide, and read the text, and then re-listen to the sermon because I realized that I make a much better second impression. Sometimes I make a better third impression. So just listen and just hear my heart. That's the first thing. The other thing I told Tanya, I was like, "Hey Jesus, talked more about money than about hell because if you love money more than God you are going to hell." So I'm calling every one of us to repent of greed and covetness. That we're a tremendously filled, Holy Spirit filled sermon series through 2nd Corinthians, if you don't believe me go back and listen to it. It's really tremendous. I've been really blessed by Holy Spirit stirring something in my heart.And so the context of this book is, and we called it prodigal church because St Paul plants this church in court, they get saved. And they get saved miraculously. They live in a very pagan town, sexually immoral, driven by greed and money, money, money, money, money is at the center of everything. These people get saved. St. Paul leaves, and what happens is the church goes prodigal. They were in the Father's house. They were enjoying the Father's riches, His lavish grace, His lavish forgiveness, His lavish generosity. And then they decided to take God's grace, His riches, and then go live a life of sorted sin because they believe, "Well, God forgives me anyway." And they took God's genuine lavish grace, and they made it cheap grace. So St. Paul writes them and he calls them back to repentance. And he is like, "Hey, you don't understand grace. Grace isn't just a get out of hell free card, so you can sin as much as you want, live any way you want. You come back to Jesus whenever you choose."So God allows the prodigal sometimes to end up in a pig stay, to come to his senses, to run back to God. God is waiting, arms wide open. And he welcomes the guy in, His younger son into a party. So that's at the heart of everything St. Paul is saying. So he writes them again in 2nd Corinthians, and he is like, "It's time church that we grow up from being takers." Take, take, take, take, take, mooches, and turn into givers. From being prodigal children taking from the father to prodigal children, the true definition of the word giving. Giving to the work of God. My wife and I, we have four daughters. And anytime we meet anyone who has fewer than four children, we usually hear a comment like this. "Oh, they're going to be so happy when they grow up, because they're going to have each other."And it's true and I try to teach my girls, "Hey, you got to be generous with one another." Bible story last night, before we pray and go to sleep, it was this. God loves a cheerful giver. "Be cheerful givers to one another girls, because there'll be a time that mom and dad are not here. Be generous to one another." Well, the family of God is just like that. So if you are an only child, and you join this church family, we will love you like family, like siblings. You're my brother. You're my sister. You have needs. Let us help. That's what the family of God is. We're a family after all, aren't we? So that's where St. Paul starts. And he starts with the assumption that you've been saved because of Jesus Christ.He though being rich became poor so that you might become rich for his name sake, rich in every way that matters. We're going to walk through the text together verse by verse. 2nd Corinthians chapter nine, verse one. "Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints." Superfluous means redundant, means unnecessary. If you don't know what that word means, go on my Facebook or Instagram. I got a picture where I wear... In 2011 where my neck was really thin, and I used to hide it with a scarf, and they called it, and you wrap it around. They called a superfluous scarf. You don't need that. It's redundant. And he says, "I don't have to write to you about the ministry for the saints. You already know. You already know." This is what I'm trying to communicate to the church, Mosaic, you know so much.And if you're like, "I don't think I know enough." There's 10 years of sermons online where I pour my heart and soul, Pastor Shane, Pastor Andy, we pour our heart and soul into those sermons. You want to know more, go listen. That's why in the newsletter I did that sermon from Nehemiah from 2012. It blessed my heart. I was listening to it, and my daughters Sophia came downstairs and she's like, "Hey, can you put the pastor down because I'm trying to sleep?" I was like, "Sophia. Who is that?" She's like, "Oh no, dad. No. Tell me that's not you." "Yeah, that's me." I talk like this now, because that's what Boston does to you."It's superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints." Ministry is the service. And he's talking about generosity, that's ministry. So if people are like, "Well, you're in ministry, your..." Every single one of us, every member ministry. And he's talking about for the needs of the saints, ministry for the saints. Who is he talking about? He's talking about the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem where it all started. Where the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost poured out his Holy Spirit upon the church, transformed their lives. They started selling real estate. They started selling their land. They started selling everything, and bringing it to the apostle's feet. Because they're like, "It changed my life. The world needs the Gospel. Here you go."And I'm not saying you should sell everything and bring it to the feet of Christ, but I am. Because if every single one of us, we actually sold everything that we have and pulled our money together we'd finally get the church building that we need, with a school. It's a campus now. The vision is growing in my heart. It's a campus. It's like Harvard. We just own the whole thing. And we have housing for every member. If you're a member of the church, this is just my dream, bear with me, where it's free housing for couples, for singles. But if you are a married couple and if you want to live here, well you have to adopt an orphan from the city, and you have to raise them in the Lord, and you have to disciple them, and you have to send them to our school.The MBA, Mosaic Boston Academy. That's what I call it. Where did you go? I got an MBA from MBA. It's in my heart. Imagine if we actually believed that the Gospel changes everything. You know what I was thinking of this week? If everybody became a Christian, we could fix all the problems in the world. And Christian is the only one that can do it. The only one. If you imagine any other world religion. Okay. Everybody is a member of that religion. Is that a world I want to live in? Everyone is a spirit filled Christian. So men are spirit filled, so that dad don't have to worry about you doing something to one of their daughters. My daughter Sophia was telling me about health class. And the teacher, her health teacher was teaching them about date rape drugs. Like, "Hey class, if you ever go to a party and someone gives you a drink, say no thank you, because they might have slipped a drug in it."I was like, "Sophia, get me in the class please. And I'm going to tell, "Girls, how about this? How about we don't go to parties where someone might offer you a drink with a drug to then rape you."" I used to say, I don't believe in litigating morality. I don't believe that anymore. I don't believe that anymore. Because everyone is litigating morality. I believe in litigating morality because God gave us 10 commandments to litigate everyone's morality. They're right there. They're in the Hebrew. Look it up. Exodus. I want everyone to become a Christian. That's what I want. I evangelize to absolutely everyone I meet. Everyone I call them to Jesus. Please.I'm at the point where I've been attending the Brookline town meetings on Zoom. And they were three meetings and I went to two of them. The first one, they let me speak what was on my heart. And they showed everyone in the room and I was just going and everyone is like, yeah, on the screen. So I can see the people are with me. I'm a man of the people. The second one, they blocked all of the screens, so I couldn't get that energy. The third one, they wouldn't let me speak because they can't handle the smoke. So now I'm at the point where it's like, "You know what? I think I'm going to run for the town board. I think I'm going to run for it." Because there's got to be a dad on the board who thinks like a dad and cares for the children of the town. Because the town members do not have children. They don't care about. They're making decisions that are impacting my children.So the point is, the ministry for the saints we should care about. What's the saint? What is he talking about? He's not talking about people who are absolutely holy, but the very second you become a Christian, you are a saint. It's an office. He moves you into that office on the outside door. It says you are saint, and that is your ministry. The saints need help where the Gospel actually got started. Verse two, "For I know your readiness of which I boast you to the people of Macedonia saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them." I know your readiness. The readiness here is a military term. But you are soldiers of God. You know what the mission is. When you live like that, you begin to understand...A lot of people don't even understand Christianity because they think, "All right, I get saved. And now I have a book and I have to learn it, and I just got to be a nerd. And I got to be a scholar, a biblical scholar. That's what a Christian is." Pastor Andy, who I love with my whole heart. He called me today. Was the biggest compliment. It was kind of talking trash, but he loves me, so it was a compliment because when you really love someone, you tell them what you think. He called me a Russian Rhode Island, Guido, nerd, bro.And I used to think of Christianity, yeah, it's very nerdy. You got to be a nerd to be a Christian. You got to study the Greek and the Hebrew, you got to do all this. And then I realized nerds don't change the world. Nerds do not transform the world unless you're Elon Musk. But even he started taking testosterone. What I'm saying is, you really have to believe. For Christianity to makes sense, you really have to believe that the very second you become a Christian you get thrown into the arena as a gladiator and God gives you a sword.You're not thrown into a lecture hall. You're thrown a world where this only makes sense if you were actually doing it, if you're trying to do it and you realize how helpless you are apart from God. So your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonian. St. Paul knew their generosity, they got saved, and they were giving everything away. He goes to Macedonian plants the church there, and he tells them, "Hey, you know what happened in Corinth?" And no one could believe it because Corinth was like Boston. Whenever anyone comes to visit Mosaic from another part of the country, I always tell them, "Hey, when you go home, can you please send greetings from the saints in Boston?" And they always laugh. Because it's absurd to think of Bostonians as saints. You don't think of Bostonians as saints unless they got a gun to your head.Saint Paul is saying, "I went to Macedonia. I told everyone you're saints. I told everyone you're generous, now please make sure that you actually live up to the zeal. Your zeal has stirred up most of them." You know what zeal is. It's a fiery passion for God. You're just on fire for God. Lord I really do want to be used by you. Lord I'm all in. Lord fill me with the spirit. Lord there's no part of my life that I am holding back from you. You take it all, take it. That's zeal. And when people see someone with zeal, you know I have happens? They're like, "Oh, maybe I should actually like care a little bit." You feel the zeal, and you're like...The thing is when you feel zeal, you're not going to stir everyone. And this is fascinating. Your zeal has stirred up most of them. You're not going to stir everyone up. So this is why I say move with the movers and shake with the shakers. Jesus said that you go into a town and people reject the Gospel. He said dust off your boots and go to the next one. Don't let the haters kill your zeal. So zeal, stir each other up. That's what we're trying to do here. But I'm sending the brothers. He sends the men to go on mission, do the most dangerous work. I'm sending the brothers, so that are boasting about you may not prove empty, vain in this matter, so that you may be ready as I said you would be. And he does this in chapter eight where he talks about the brothers. And one of the brothers is Titus. One of the brothers is the brother who was famous for preaching the Gospel.Which is fascinating because St. Paul doesn't name the guy. And I think he doesn't name the guy on purpose. So the guy doesn't get a big head because he's already famous for preaching the Gospel. So he's sending these brothers to go and to pick up the generous gift from the Corinthian church. And he says, "So that it wouldn't prove empty. My boasting about you." Continues that same thought in verse four. "Otherwise if some Macedonians come with me, and find that you are not ready, not military ready, you're not ready for the mission. We would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident."St. Paul thinks about humiliation, not in terms of fear of man. He thinks about humiliation in terms of, you didn't keep your promise. That's how you humiliated yourself. You promised to give and you didn't keep your promise. You broke your promise. And now because you broke your promise, people are going to suffer because you are not a man or a woman of your word. Don't humiliate me. Don't humiliate yourself. It's like when someone fathers a son or a daughter, and doesn't father them. That's humiliating. I heard of a guy who when his wife... This week his wife was pregnant with a fourth child and he just left her. And he left the children. He humiliated himself. And then he came back. He repented of a sin and he came back. St. Paul says, don't humiliate yourself by presenting yourself a facade, a mask of being a Christian when your heart is not in it.What would people think if they found out how much you give? I don't know how much anyone gives here. Would you be humiliated if people found out how much you give to the work of the Lord? That's what he's saying. So I thought at verse five, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers, urge, stir, to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised. The word gift here is blessing, evlogía in the Greek so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. Because before they come, I want you to prepare in your hearts what you're going to give and prepare the gift. Actually set the money aside. So if it's in crypto, if it's in stocks, and if it's in whatever. That's what he's saying. When the time comes, have it ready, so that the presence of these brothers doesn't force you into generosity. Then you won't do it willingly. And it's going to feel like an exaction. And it's going to feel like you're extorting them.St. Paul says, "No, no, prepare it ahead of time." And verse six is the point is this... And I love when pastors get to the point. It took him nine and a half chapters to get to the point. But he is like, finally, I get to the point. Here's the point. This is verse six. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So he talks about, and this is fascinating. He talks about giving, not as losing. And this is so different than how the world talks about giving. You give and then it's lost. No, no. He views giving, giving by faith. He views giving as investing. And the image that he brings in is a farmer with a bag of grain, and he knows the winter is coming. And he can take the bag and eat off of it, eat well for the winter, or he can eat not as well, good enough, get by, and take the excess and invest it into his own future.So he takes the bag of grain and he goes, and it doesn't take a generous farmer, a generous planter does not penny pinch, pinch the seed. He takes a full handful, swinging arm, and just cast it, just lavishly, generously because he knows the more he sows, the more bountiful the harvest will be. Is that how you view giving? Do you view giving as like penny pinching toward God and toward people? Well, Yeshua of Nazareth was not a penny pincher. As the great rapper said, I forgot his name. Who said that Vlad? Huh? That guy. Yeah. So that's what he's saying. He's like, "Do you invest like this into relationships? Do you invest like this into brothers and sisters?" And I'm telling you, I'm trying to grow in this. I'm not naturally like this. I come from an immigrant family. My dad, he's growing in generosity, I'm growing in generosity.Because I'm good at math, and I'm good at numbers. And I'm like, "Yeah, if I give then I can't invest. And this gift of 100 bucks, isn't really 100 bucks, it's also... If I put in Shiba coin, in a year, it could be a lot more." And then I go through all of that, but the Lord is like, "But I give it to you now to give this person and meet this need." And it's not even yours Jan. That's the point. Do you give this generously? Two texts that I was thinking about today. Luke 19 you get the story of Zaccaeus. And I say this because giving doesn't get you saved. A lot of people think that if you come to the church and you cut God a check, you get God off your back. And now you can go and sin and live any way you want. And you think you have atoned for your sin. And doesn't work like that. So if someone brings in the check, and they're like, "This is to atone for my sins." Would I take the check?We'd have to pray about it. I would call the person like, "Hey, this doesn't save you. This doesn't save you. You know what saves you? Repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. God, please forgive me of all my sins." At the very second you submit your life to God, and you believe in him. You trust in Jesus. He died on the cross for your sin. And he didn't penny pinch his blood. He didn't tie this blood. He gave all of his blood to save you. The richness of his blood, of his... He died on a cross for you. Brutal. Was executed for you. Crown of thorns instead of a crown of gold. He did that for you. When you realize that he did that, Jesus died on the cross for my sin to pay all my debts, all of my trespasses, that changes your heart.And then when you read the text, and God tells you to be generous, and you say, "How?" And He says, "As I've been generous to you." Jesus went all in and calls us to do the same. So Luke 19, I was thinking about Zaccaeus. He gets saved and after he gets saved, he was a tax collector. He extorted people, his own people. And he got exorbitantly rich. And then he finally hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus was preaching. He was on a tree. And then he gets saved. He gets radically saved. God elects him sovereign regeneration. Zaccaeus comes down and says, "Lord, whatever I've stolen from anybody I'm going to return fourfold. And then from my wealth, I'm going to give away half."Have you ever considered giving away half to the Lord? I have. I do. You know when? When I'm having fun, when church is fun, when ministry is fun, when life is fun, I'm like, "Yeah. Give it all way. This is so much fun." Because it's more blessed to give than to receive. So like you give and God sends blessing, and you're like, "Oh, this stuff is real. Yeah, it's real." And church has been tremendously fun recently. Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy came over my house two and a half hours. I grill them five steaks ribeye black angus from Maine. I grilled them up. They come down into my man cave, and Pastor Andy brought me a bottle of wine. And the reason why he bought that particular bottle of wine is because it had a cross on it as a sign from God. So what I'm saying is, when you're having fun, you're like, "Yeah. Life is so much more bigger, more enjoyable than just stuff, than just money."Verse seven, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. Generosity is decided in the heart not reluctantly, not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver." You want to give. And God loves when you want to give. Not under compulsion. You're not forced. Not reluctantly, like, "I don't really want to give this." Cheerful giver, because God is a cheerful giver, Jesus Christ is a cheerful giver, for the joy that was set before him, he went to the cross. All right, for God so loved the world that He, what? Let's say it together. He gave. God so loved the world that He gave his begotten son. He gave his son for us. God is loving, generous, giving God, so whosoever believes in him. If you're not a Christian, believe in him.It's just that simple. Just believe in God. He changes your heart, and our sins are forgiven. Your eternity is secure. So why wouldn't we live generously for him? God loves a cheerful giver. Here I want to pause, and I want to talk about your favorite topic, tithing. And if it's not your favorite topic, hopefully it will be after I'm done. Read Matthew 23:23, dear Christian. This is a word for Christians. If you're not a Christian, I'm not talking to you. I mean I kind of are, so you know what you're getting yourself into. But Malachi three, read Malachi three. Read about how God feels when his people do not tithe. What is tithing? He calls it, you're robbing me. You robbed me.God commands that we are to give him 10% of our income. The principle remains. It's like the principle of the Sabbath. We are to give one seventh of our time to the Lord, to devote one seventh of our time to Lord. That's why I'm giving you homework. Because I want you to take a Sabbath where you do homework and you study scripture. And that's why I'm preaching for a lot longer than you perhaps want me to preach. But I have the mic, and unless someone turns it off I'm going to keep going. But my favorite lectures in college were three hours. My favorite lecture in college was a guy named Serge Nikita Khrushchev, Serge Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev's son. And he taught for three hours once a week. And he assumed you did all the reading. He assumed you did all the writing. He assumed you thought.And the lecture was just him speaking from his heart. It changed my life, the way I viewed the world. So yeah, I'm calling you to do that. I'm calling you to give your time. I'm calling you to give your life, and I'm calling you dear church to give your tithes. Why? Because... And I'm speaking to Mosaic, obviously I already expect this. I believe in you. That's why. So I expect things from you. The American church on average gives 2.3% of their income to the Lord. Like how can I talk about generosity when we're not even doing the basics. The basics. Read your Bible, pray, silence, solitude, fasting, share the Gospel, give 10%.Before we talk about generosity. It's 10% of what? 10% of my take home. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The tithe has enough thing to do with Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is a pagan and I call him to repentance. Uncle Sam, I do. I don't trust Uncle Sam with my money. I don't trust Joe Biden with my money. I don't trust he's going to do the right thing with my money. I'd rather give it to the Lord, and see what the Lord does. So I'm saying taxes that's another conversation for another day. I'm talking about the tithe. It's all the Lords before it's FICAs.So it's 10% of what you earn. And also it's 10% of what you earn off of your real estate, off of your stocks, off of your crypto, off of your side hustles, off of your Uber, off of your everything. So if you're going to tithe, you're going to sit down and you're going to say, "Okay, how much did God give me? How much did I earn? I'm going to give 10% of that." Imagine if the whole church, United States, imagine if the whole church tithed, we would change the world, would transform absolutely everything. And imagine if the church repented of not tithing, and said, "Lord, I've been robbing you for years, and now here's everything that I robbed you of with interest and inflation. Here you go, Lord." Is he serious? Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I'm saying it would change the world. And God loves a cheerful giver. He loves cheerful giving to his work, to his ministry. So we talked about tithe.And then it's anything you give above tithe that's generosity. So I know of believers, members of the church who give to foreign missions, which is awesome. Give to foreign missions after you've given to foreign missions here, because this is a foreign mission field. The whole world is sending their children here to get brainwashed, and then we export the brainwashing to the rest of the world. Well, why don't we take Boston, and do it in such a way where we actually do impact the world. But what have you decided to give to the Lord in your heart? That's verse seven. Verse eight, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you." That's fascinating because there's grace that God is withholding from you. There's blessings that God is withholding from you because you're not ready for it.If God blesses you right now and you don't have a generous heart, if God blesses you, and you don't have a generous heart, that blessing is going to turn into a curse. So yeah, God does withhold grace from some of his children who are disobedient. God does withhold some of his power, some of his presence from you because you're not ready for it. God is able to make all the grace abound so that having all sufficiency in all things and all times. Just satisfaction in everything. You may abound in every good work. You have all sufficiency in... Can you say that right now, and dear Christian? Because sufficiency is not a number, sufficiency is a state of heart. Is your heart right now satisfied in the Lord? Is it satisfied with what he has provided to you? And I wrestle with this, because I'm rich, but I'm Boston poor. You know what I'm saying?Where it's like anywhere else I'd live, I'd have the car I want, I'd have a parking spot, I'd have a garage, but I live in Boston. So like I wrestle with the sufficiency part, and the satisfaction part. So this week I've been wrestling with this text, and I realized I am filthy rich. I am so rich. I have two washer dryers. I have two. I have not one fridge, I have two and a half. I have two full fridges. And I always thought, you know you've made it in life when you have a second full fridge. Because I go to my friend's house and they're like, "Yeah. There's a fridge in the kitchen, there's a fridge in the garage." I'm like, "You got a fridge in the garage." "Yeah." And I also have, on top of my two and a fridge, I have a freezer chock-full of black angus meat. I bought a half a cow from Maine. It's my love language. So if I love you, I'm going to give you a pound of ground beef, or whatever is at the top. I'd give you the ribeye.I'm saying this is a sphere of generosity you want to cultivate here. My community group this week, we have a lot of people who don't have family around here. We're going to have a Thanksgiving meal. I hate turkey. I just despise turkey. If you know me, I got stories about turkeys. But it's what you got to do. And I'm like, "Yeah. But there's a reason why they had a Thanksgiving turkey because they couldn't catch anything else. Yeah." We're going to have turkey, but if it were up to me, we'd have steak. What I'm saying is, this is the season to be generous. This is the season to say, "God thank you. God thank you for the people in my life. I want to bless people. I want to be generous with everything that God has given me."Verse nine, "As it is written, He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor. His righteousness endured forever." He's quoting from Psalm 112, which is... It's a song. It's a poem about a Christian philanthropist. About a person who is generous in everything that they do. Generous with their life. Generous with their children, generous with their spouse, generous with their neighbors. I met with a... Long story. I met with a realtor yesterday and she said, "We're looking for some space for a church." Long story. She said, she was talking about the neighbors, and she's like, "Ah, there's a spirit of generosity." She said. "There's a spirit of generosity in this neighborhood." And I was like, "Oh, isn't that something?" Imagine if there was a spirit of generosity in Massachusetts, the spirit of America. Imagine we could change the nation.Verse 10. "And He, God, supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness." God supplies the seed, God supplies the bread. God will, if we're generous, if we're faithful, He will multiply your seeds for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness. I pray about you all week. I pray this all week. I pray, "Lord bless the people of Mosaic. Bless them this week. Bless their souls. Bless their families. Lord provide for all of their... Provide them seed, provide than food. And Lord multiply. Lord God multiply the work of their hands. Lord God, every single bank account of every single person who goes to Mosaic, is a member, Lord multiply. I prophesy that over you. Lord multiply." And you're like, "Is this a name and claim church?" No. It's a biblical church. Come back next week. We're going to talk about church membership and church discipline. But today we're talking about generosity.I pray God blesses your investments. I pray God blesses your crypto coins. I pray God blesses your businesses, your startups, your career, everything so that you can be even more generous to the world. And that changes things. And I love verse 11. This is a promise, friends. Like you can take God up on his promises. Look at this. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. Who doesn't want that? Do you want to be enriched in every single way? I do. Well, God promised, God says, "I want to enrich you in every single way. It starts with the Gospel. It starts with repenting of your sins." Including greed, friends. When is the last time you got on your knees and said, "God, please forgive me for greed, for being greedy, stingy."? For just mooching off of God. We are to repent. That's a sin. That's a sin. We are to repent of it.And I'm calling the church of the United States to repent. I'm calling everybody to repent. That's my job. And myself, I've had to wrestle with this. I've had to repent of all kinds of brokenness in here when it comes to the sin of being greedy, of worrying that God will not provide. And then what happens when I start worrying, I start working more. And I start working now 40, 50, 80. I start working 100 hours because it doesn't look like the Lord is providing, so I'm going to do everything I possibly can with my own efforts. And that's not really helpful. And then things shut down. What I'm saying is the Lord is bringing healing in here, and I pray that he does the same with you, so that with our hearts together we can be generous toward God.Verse 12, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God." This ministry is not just to meet needs, He says, but it's to bring a crescendo of an orchestra of people worshiping God, just overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. That's the point. So when we serve, when we give to God, it's not to get a thank you from people. I ask that you pray, but it's to thank God. "God, thank you." And by the way, I do want to thank you for your generosity. Or those who faithfully give, and for those who faithfully serve, praise God.I don't know how much you give, but I can tell who is giving because they care. Because when you're invested in a place, when you invest in a church, you show up, and you actually want to serve, and you want to do evangelism. You want to do... I had a couple come to me and they're like, "I'm so glad you talk about Thanksgiving dinner because we had Thanksgiving dinner yesterday." And she showed me a picture, and she said, "We had a turk, duck, chicken." It was a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. That blessed my heart. Like it's so absurd. That's how generous it is. So I'm saying, church, thank you for your generosity."By their approval of the service, they will glorify God because of your submission." So the people that you bless glorify God because you submitted your submission. And what does the submission flow from? Flowing from your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for others. They're going to glorify... God is going to get more glory. God is going to get the glory he deserves if you don't just confess Jesus Christ with your mouth, but actually submit your life to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the word of Jesus Christ. And when you submit your life to Jesus Christ, everything changes. People actually glorify God. You know why David went against Goliath. Read the text. 1st Kings, I think 17. Because for 40 days and 40 nights Goliath would get up and defame the name of God. He would just get up and mock, and curse God, just cursed and...And it's like in Boston when people using the name of Jesus Christ, it's usually to curse someone out. And then David finally, he's like, "Enough is enough. I'd rather die than this continue." And with generosity of his life, he put his life on the altar, and like, "God, all right, I got some stones, can you please direct one of them?" And God did it. This is the generosity of heart, where if you have this, if your heart is in the right place, if your heart is in it, everything changes. Verse 14, "While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift."And he ends here and this is fascinating. A sister from the church texted me yesterday and she's like, "Hey, you talked about evlogía, in the study guide it means blessing or gift, and it's used twice. Hey, what about the word at the very end? It says gift. It's a different Greek word. Why does St Paul do this? Is it just a synonym?" Well, the gift here, the blessing that gift means. Focus on the gift. Focus on the gift, don't focus on the giver because where people give God the glory, here's the gift. This one focuses on the giver. It's an inexpressible gift because the gift giver is God Himself, that's why it's inexpressible. And he's talking about the gift of Jesus Christ. He's talking about the gift of God, the Father sending His son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. It's an inexpressible gift.Jesus Christ lived the most generous life that anyone has ever lived. And on top of that, he wasn't just generous in his life, he was generous in his death. Jesus Christ allowed himself to be crucified. He allowed himself to be flogged, scourged. He allowed that crown of thorns. He allowed himself to be put on a Roman cross that he carried. Now they put him on it, and they drove nail. They hammered nails through the most sensitive parts of his hands and his feet. He allowed all of that to happen. His blood poured out, his body broken for us. And then he gets put in a grave, and we think it's all over. And then he comes back from the dead. And the reason why there's Christianity today. And if you don't believe this, I dare you to explain how Christianity grew.Other religions grew by the sword, Christianity grew despite the sword. What would make the early believers go to their death testifying to the Gospel? It's the same thing. What happened? It's the same thing that moved them to sell their real estate. It's the same thing that moved them to sell their land and bring it to the feet of the apostles. What moved them? They saw the resurrected Christ, and they felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It changed absolutely everything. That's why Acts 2 is so important. Acts two says the following, Acts 2:42 through 47. "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." They, the early church after day Pentecost. And the breaking of bread, and the prayers, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together, and had all things in common.And they were selling their possessions and belongings, and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their home. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. We believe in this so much, we sold everything to be together. We sold everything, get the Gospel out. And by the way, this is the craziest stuff ever, so we're having a good time. And when we're having a good time, other people want to have a good time, and that's how people got saved.I'm working on the theology of fun. I'm working on it. So just bear with me, I'm verbal processing right now. Let me know what you think. I'm working on theology of fun because I've never heard anyone write about this. And the theology of fun goes like this. Who is more fun, God or Satan? And that's the battle over your heart. And what I'm here to tell you is, sin isn't fun. It's fun for like three seconds, and then you wake up the next morning. You know what is fun? It's a lot harder, but what is fun is following Jesus. There's nothing like it. There's nothing like the Holy Spirit stirring you, just miracle day after day, after day. There's nothing more fun.So what I'm saying is the Jerusalem church did that so that the Gospel could get out, and the Gospel got where? To Corinth, and now Corinthian believers have finances that the Jerusalem church needs, and Corinth gives back to where the Gospel came from. So this is my appeal to you church, and my appeal to the church of the United States, which I do not understand. I don't understand the church in America. I don't understand the church in America because we're not thinking about the Gospel right. We're not thinking about the kingdom. We're not thinking strategically. We're not. If we were thinking strategically, and this is a global church as a whole, if we were thinking strategically about how to get the Gospel out, and how to fix the world, this is how we'd be thinking. We'd say, "As America goes, so goes the world."How does America go? America goes as Boston goes. Boston is only a decade ahead of everyone else. And the American church sends their children here to get brainwashed and then export demonic ideologies to the churches of the United States. So what I'm saying is, it's time to take the head off the beast. Why doesn't the American church pull their finances together and say, "You know what? We're actually going to take Boston the way that we should have taken Boston. And we're going to send resources, and Pastor Jan is a nut, but he's effective." And so we together, we're going to build that campus. We're going to build Harvard the way it should be with a church in the middle, and a school, and the Mosaic Boston Academy, and an orphanage. And I want a cafeteria to feed absolutely everyone. And you get free meal if you listen to a 15-minute talk by me.And then when you get saved, you start actually joining the church, and joining the community. This is my call to the church. And also, and by the way if you live here, stay here. And I am talking to all the former members of Mosaic. I'm talking to you. I know you guys listen. You text me. I know Drew. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I can call out the name. I'm calling you back. I'm calling all of you back, and I want every single the seat filled so that we're talking about third and fourth services. I'm calling you back. And if you don't come back, at least send your tithes and offerings to the church. But first give tithes to your local church, then be generous here.And then here's what I also want to... All the time when I say Boston, we're going to take this city. And people are like, "Yeah. Real state is too expensive." Don't live in Boston. I'm not talking about Boston proper, I'm talking about Boston the idea. If you ask anyone from Worcester, where are you from? And they go to Texas. Where are you from? They're not going to say Worcester. No one knows what Worcester is. No one knows how to spell it. Everyone says Boston. Where are you from? Rhode Island, Long island? No, no, no. I'm from Boston. Everyone says Boston.So if you're from Boston, New Hampshire, Maine. And Maine's only an hour away. I don't even... Just drive here. If you drive here like taking the T from the north end takes longer to get here than driving from Rhode Island. You know what I'm saying? So if you come here on a Sunday, if you can get here on a Sunday, start a commuting group wherever you at. We're taking the city. That's what I'm saying. And then if you're like, I don't have a fancy degree to live up here. Hey, do you know how to build anything? Because no one up here knows how to do anything with their hands. The only thing they do with their hands is type, that's it. So if you're a builder in the United States or from outside, if you're an immigrant, if you're from Russia, I'm calling all the builders, and we're going to rebuild the city together.I'm going to help you establish your business. I know how. And then we're going to build a family home for the church. Have I said everything on my heart? Yes. 2nd Corinthians 9:15. Oh, by the way, if you're not a Christian today, would you become a Christian? Just repent your sin. Come on. Welcome to the team already. I've been doing this for too long to be like... That's why I'm switching up my style because I realized I don't want any barriers between who I am in my life, and when I get up here. I don't want to be like the different guy. This is how I live my life. I share the Gospel. I love the Lord. I read the word. I love my wife. We get in fights. She came to church today. We forgive each other. I love my daughters. I just want everyone to be a Christian.And if you are a Christian, let's grow up together. That's what I'm saying, and haka dance to the Lord as we worship. 2nd Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift." Amen. Let's pray. Lord God please pour out your holy fire upon the hearts of your people. Burn in our hearts a desire to take the head off the beast like David took Goliath's in Jesus holy name. Amen.

united states america god jesus christ american texas thanksgiving father lord earth bible giving real gospel opportunities zoom christians russia joe biden holy spirit christianity elon musk kings focus girls ministry satan acts psalm mars greek harvard corinthians uber jerusalem mba exodus massachusetts kingdom of god burn crown nerds maine sabbath cia generosity godly pentecost new hampshire amen hebrew goliath bless lords rhode island verse generous nazareth brutal heavenly father savings corinth lord god mosaic vlad god himself flowing macedonia guido st paul worcester uncle sam corinthian yeshua saint paul cheerful achaia macedonian brookline bostonians repenting nikita khrushchev shiba read matthew pastor andy jesus take take my life superfluous pastor shane hey jesus pastor jan audio transcript

Jesus Take My Life (Savings)

jesus christ blank check scripture mark hey jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 21, 2021 54:34

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston Church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston, and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com. Good morning and welcome to Mosaic. I'm Jan one of the pastors here at Mosaic, along with Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy. We're so glad that you are with us. A couple things if you're new or even if you're not, I worshiped from the front today, and I did that... I usually worship from the back, because I'm like, I'm distracting and all this. But then Raquel who's on staff here. My girl Raquel, she said, "Do you want to teach the men at the church to worship God, and start worshiping God from the front?" And then she sent me a haka dance. She's like, "That's the way you're supposed to worship God." I'll be doing that once in a while. I'll switch things up. Second thing I want to communicate is my T-shirt. I've been trying to speak from the heart and it's hard. So I'm going to wear what I want to say. I'm going to wear it on my heart, and I'm going to switch this up. If you've got a T-shirt that you're like, "Pastor Jan, this should be on your heart." Just give me that T-shirt. So this one, the Holy Spirit sent me this week. It's an astronaut and he's holding the Earth and it says love. And it's meaningful to me because Elon Musk believes that the world is so broken, that the only way to save humanity is to go to Mars. And I want to call Elon to repentance and to tithe. But repentance in particular because no, if God hasn't given up yet, then we shouldn't either. And there's power to fixing, the power is the love of God poured out through the Holy Spirit. With that said, would you please pray with me. And I wrote up prayer, a pastoral prayer. Heavenly Father we come to you in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that you stir our hearts to love, and stir our hearts for good works. Make us a church that seeks to stir up one another lovingly, but courageously to live lives of absurd generosity. The kingdom of God, the Gospel work in this region of the nation. Lord, I pray that you stir up every member of this church, every Christian attender, every former member, and every former attender, anyone who loves and cares for this church, and for this spiritually dark part of the nation. Lord stir us up to be ridiculously, nonsensically, extravagantly, holistically, generous, and only your Holy Spirit can do this. And Jesus, we look to your sacrifice on our behalf. We see that you sacrificed everything in obedience to the Father to save us, to pay our debts, to give us access to the throne room of God, access to the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints. And we pray turn our theological, our theoretical generosity into true, practical, genuine, real generosity. Where we are ready to cut fat checks, where we are ready to make sizable wire transfers, where we truly go all in. Burn in sin, greed, and covetist, and selfishness, and fear of future out of our hearts, engulf our hearts with the Holy Spirit. God you are a giver. You have everything. And you have given everything to save us because you love us. So make us Godly givers who are ready to give everything to you because everything is yours to begin with. And we pray all this in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I've sent out a study guide. It was seven pages. I wrote it from the heart. I wrote my own commentary. I did all the exegesis. Chloe was so kind as to format it and make it look pretty. I also have a 13-page manuscript of all my thoughts and they're coherent. If you'd like the whole thing, I'll send that to you as well. And I'm just going to speak from the heart today. We'll see how it goes. I pray the Holy Spirit stirs your heart as well. My wife told me, Tanya, she came to church today, praise God. We had a little situation because I wore a T-shirt last week. But she liked this T-shirt, she liked the sermon. It was tremendous. And she said to me, "What are you preaching on?" I said, "I'm preaching on money. I'm preaching on..." She said, "Don't preach about money. So you're stirring stuff up already. Why are you preaching on?" I'm like, "It's the next text? I'm just going verse by verse." And she said, "But everyone is going to think that you're trying to get them to give you their money." And I went like this because I go like this when I'm trying to explain something. When I get really sad, and then I'm angry, and then I pray for the Holy Spirit of baptize the anger and turn it into the zeal. And when I explain it, I was like, "Tanya, do you know what opportunity cost is?" Opportunity cost is when you're 23 making 75 grand a year in 2006, and you quit everything because you came up with a crazy idea that God called you, but God called you. And then you're like, "The CIA can't win the battle for hearts and mind, so let's do it. So we are going to do it ourselves." And opportunity cost is like all the income that you give up because you go to seminary, and then you got to pay for the seminar. You got to live while you're in seminary, you can have a baby in seminary, and then you go another seminary, and then you go third seminary. Opportunity cost. The point is, I'm not doing it for the money. It doesn't pay that well. I am doing this to be faithful to the Lord. He called me and He said, "I got a word for you and I will prophesy from this word." Whatever the fallout, I care, but I don't. I care too much about what's best for you, so I don't care about ruffling just some of the feelings because no one has ever hurt your feelings. To tell you the truth I'm here to hurt some feelings. So okay, you get the point. We are in a tremendously... Oh, the other thing I was going to say, I forgot this in the first service. If you don't get anything that I say read the study guide, and read the text, and then re-listen to the sermon because I realized that I make a much better second impression. Sometimes I make a better third impression. So just listen and just hear my heart. That's the first thing. The other thing I told Tanya, I was like, "Hey Jesus, talked more about money than about hell because if you love money more than God you are going to hell." So I'm calling every one of us to repent of greed and covetness. That we're a tremendously filled, Holy Spirit filled sermon series through 2nd Corinthians, if you don't believe me go back and listen to it. It's really tremendous. I've been really blessed by Holy Spirit stirring something in my heart. And so the context of this book is, and we called it prodigal church because St Paul plants this church in court, they get saved. And they get saved miraculously. They live in a very pagan town, sexually immoral, driven by greed and money, money, money, money, money is at the center of everything. These people get saved. St. Paul leaves, and what happens is the church goes prodigal. They were in the Father's house. They were enjoying the Father's riches, His lavish grace, His lavish forgiveness, His lavish generosity. And then they decided to take God's grace, His riches, and then go live a life of sorted sin because they believe, "Well, God forgives me anyway." And they took God's genuine lavish grace, and they made it cheap grace. So St. Paul writes them and he calls them back to repentance. And he is like, "Hey, you don't understand grace. Grace isn't just a get out of hell free card, so you can sin as much as you want, live any way you want. You come back to Jesus whenever you choose." So God allows the prodigal sometimes to end up in a pig stay, to come to his senses, to run back to God. God is waiting, arms wide open. And he welcomes the guy in, His younger son into a party. So that's at the heart of everything St. Paul is saying. So he writes them again in 2nd Corinthians, and he is like, "It's time church that we grow up from being takers." Take, take, take, take, take, mooches, and turn into givers. From being prodigal children taking from the father to prodigal children, the true definition of the word giving. Giving to the work of God. My wife and I, we have four daughters. And anytime we meet anyone who has fewer than four children, we usually hear a comment like this. "Oh, they're going to be so happy when they grow up, because they're going to have each other." And it's true and I try to teach my girls, "Hey, you got to be generous with one another." Bible story last night, before we pray and go to sleep, it was this. God loves a cheerful giver. "Be cheerful givers to one another girls, because there'll be a time that mom and dad are not here. Be generous to one another." Well, the family of God is just like that. So if you are an only child, and you join this church family, we will love you like family, like siblings. You're my brother. You're my sister. You have needs. Let us help. That's what the family of God is. We're a family after all, aren't we? So that's where St. Paul starts. And he starts with the assumption that you've been saved because of Jesus Christ. He though being rich became poor so that you might become rich for his name sake, rich in every way that matters. We're going to walk through the text together verse by verse. 2nd Corinthians chapter nine, verse one. "Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints." Superfluous means redundant, means unnecessary. If you don't know what that word means, go on my Facebook or Instagram. I got a picture where I wear... In 2011 where my neck was really thin, and I used to hide it with a scarf, and they called it, and you wrap it around. They called a superfluous scarf. You don't need that. It's redundant. And he says, "I don't have to write to you about the ministry for the saints. You already know. You already know." This is what I'm trying to communicate to the church, Mosaic, you know so much. And if you're like, "I don't think I know enough." There's 10 years of sermons online where I pour my heart and soul, Pastor Shane, Pastor Andy, we pour our heart and soul into those sermons. You want to know more, go listen. That's why in the newsletter I did that sermon from Nehemiah from 2012. It blessed my heart. I was listening to it, and my daughters Sophia came downstairs and she's like, "Hey, can you put the pastor down because I'm trying to sleep?" I was like, "Sophia. Who is that?" She's like, "Oh no, dad. No. Tell me that's not you." "Yeah, that's me." I talk like this now, because that's what Boston does to you. "It's superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints." Ministry is the service. And he's talking about generosity, that's ministry. So if people are like, "Well, you're in ministry, your..." Every single one of us, every member ministry. And he's talking about for the needs of the saints, ministry for the saints. Who is he talking about? He's talking about the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem where it all started. Where the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost poured out his Holy Spirit upon the church, transformed their lives. They started selling real estate. They started selling their land. They started selling everything, and bringing it to the apostle's feet. Because they're like, "It changed my life. The world needs the Gospel. Here you go." And I'm not saying you should sell everything and bring it to the feet of Christ, but I am. Because if every single one of us, we actually sold everything that we have and pulled our money together we'd finally get the church building that we need, with a school. It's a campus now. The vision is growing in my heart. It's a campus. It's like Harvard. We just own the whole thing. And we have housing for every member. If you're a member of the church, this is just my dream, bear with me, where it's free housing for couples, for singles. But if you are a married couple and if you want to live here, well you have to adopt an orphan from the city, and you have to raise them in the Lord, and you have to disciple them, and you have to send them to our school. The MBA, Mosaic Boston Academy. That's what I call it. Where did you go? I got an MBA from MBA. It's in my heart. Imagine if we actually believed that the Gospel changes everything. You know what I was thinking of this week? If everybody became a Christian, we could fix all the problems in the world. And Christian is the only one that can do it. The only one. If you imagine any other world religion. Okay. Everybody is a member of that religion. Is that a world I want to live in? Everyone is a spirit filled Christian. So men are spirit filled, so that dad don't have to worry about you doing something to one of their daughters. My daughter Sophia was telling me about health class. And the teacher, her health teacher was teaching them about date rape drugs. Like, "Hey class, if you ever go to a party and someone gives you a drink, say no thank you, because they might have slipped a drug in it." I was like, "Sophia, get me in the class please. And I'm going to tell, "Girls, how about this? How about we don't go to parties where someone might offer you a drink with a drug to then rape you."" I used to say, I don't believe in litigating morality. I don't believe that anymore. I don't believe that anymore. Because everyone is litigating morality. I believe in litigating morality because God gave us 10 commandments to litigate everyone's morality. They're right there. They're in the Hebrew. Look it up. Exodus. I want everyone to become a Christian. That's what I want. I evangelize to absolutely everyone I meet. Everyone I call them to Jesus. Please. I'm at the point where I've been attending the Brookline town meetings on Zoom. And they were three meetings and I went to two of them. The first one, they let me speak what was on my heart. And they showed everyone in the room and I was just going and everyone is like, yeah, on the screen. So I can see the people are with me. I'm a man of the people. The second one, they blocked all of the screens, so I couldn't get that energy. The third one, they wouldn't let me speak because they can't handle the smoke. So now I'm at the point where it's like, "You know what? I think I'm going to run for the town board. I think I'm going to run for it." Because there's got to be a dad on the board who thinks like a dad and cares for the children of the town. Because the town members do not have children. They don't care about. They're making decisions that are impacting my children. So the point is, the ministry for the saints we should care about. What's the saint? What is he talking about? He's not talking about people who are absolutely holy, but the very second you become a Christian, you are a saint. It's an office. He moves you into that office on the outside door. It says you are saint, and that is your ministry. The saints need help where the Gospel actually got started. Verse two, "For I know your readiness of which I boast you to the people of Macedonia saying that Achaia has been ready since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them." I know your readiness. The readiness here is a military term. But you are soldiers of God. You know what the mission is. When you live like that, you begin to understand... A lot of people don't even understand Christianity because they think, "All right, I get saved. And now I have a book and I have to learn it, and I just got to be a nerd. And I got to be a scholar, a biblical scholar. That's what a Christian is." Pastor Andy, who I love with my whole heart. He called me today. Was the biggest compliment. It was kind of talking trash, but he loves me, so it was a compliment because when you really love someone, you tell them what you think. He called me a Russian Rhode Island, Guido, nerd, bro. And I used to think of Christianity, yeah, it's very nerdy. You got to be a nerd to be a Christian. You got to study the Greek and the Hebrew, you got to do all this. And then I realized nerds don't change the world. Nerds do not transform the world unless you're Elon Musk. But even he started taking testosterone. What I'm saying is, you really have to believe. For Christianity to makes sense, you really have to believe that the very second you become a Christian you get thrown into the arena as a gladiator and God gives you a sword. You're not thrown into a lecture hall. You're thrown a world where this only makes sense if you were actually doing it, if you're trying to do it and you realize how helpless you are apart from God. So your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonian. St. Paul knew their generosity, they got saved, and they were giving everything away. He goes to Macedonian plants the church there, and he tells them, "Hey, you know what happened in Corinth?" And no one could believe it because Corinth was like Boston. Whenever anyone comes to visit Mosaic from another part of the country, I always tell them, "Hey, when you go home, can you please send greetings from the saints in Boston?" And they always laugh. Because it's absurd to think of Bostonians as saints. You don't think of Bostonians as saints unless they got a gun to your head. Saint Paul is saying, "I went to Macedonia. I told everyone you're saints. I told everyone you're generous, now please make sure that you actually live up to the zeal. Your zeal has stirred up most of them." You know what zeal is. It's a fiery passion for God. You're just on fire for God. Lord I really do want to be used by you. Lord I'm all in. Lord fill me with the spirit. Lord there's no part of my life that I am holding back from you. You take it all, take it. That's zeal. And when people see someone with zeal, you know I have happens? They're like, "Oh, maybe I should actually like care a little bit." You feel the zeal, and you're like... The thing is when you feel zeal, you're not going to stir everyone. And this is fascinating. Your zeal has stirred up most of them. You're not going to stir everyone up. So this is why I say move with the movers and shake with the shakers. Jesus said that you go into a town and people reject the Gospel. He said dust off your boots and go to the next one. Don't let the haters kill your zeal. So zeal, stir each other up. That's what we're trying to do here. But I'm sending the brothers. He sends the men to go on mission, do the most dangerous work. I'm sending the brothers, so that are boasting about you may not prove empty, vain in this matter, so that you may be ready as I said you would be. And he does this in chapter eight where he talks about the brothers. And one of the brothers is Titus. One of the brothers is the brother who was famous for preaching the Gospel. Which is fascinating because St. Paul doesn't name the guy. And I think he doesn't name the guy on purpose. So the guy doesn't get a big head because he's already famous for preaching the Gospel. So he's sending these brothers to go and to pick up the generous gift from the Corinthian church. And he says, "So that it wouldn't prove empty. My boasting about you." Continues that same thought in verse four. "Otherwise if some Macedonians come with me, and find that you are not ready, not military ready, you're not ready for the mission. We would be humiliated to say nothing of you for being so confident." St. Paul thinks about humiliation, not in terms of fear of man. He thinks about humiliation in terms of, you didn't keep your promise. That's how you humiliated yourself. You promised to give and you didn't keep your promise. You broke your promise. And now because you broke your promise, people are going to suffer because you are not a man or a woman of your word. Don't humiliate me. Don't humiliate yourself. It's like when someone fathers a son or a daughter, and doesn't father them. That's humiliating. I heard of a guy who when his wife... This week his wife was pregnant with a fourth child and he just left her. And he left the children. He humiliated himself. And then he came back. He repented of a sin and he came back. St. Paul says, don't humiliate yourself by presenting yourself a facade, a mask of being a Christian when your heart is not in it. What would people think if they found out how much you give? I don't know how much anyone gives here. Would you be humiliated if people found out how much you give to the work of the Lord? That's what he's saying. So I thought at verse five, I thought it necessary to urge the brothers, urge, stir, to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised. The word gift here is blessing, evlogía in the Greek so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction. Because before they come, I want you to prepare in your hearts what you're going to give and prepare the gift. Actually set the money aside. So if it's in crypto, if it's in stocks, and if it's in whatever. That's what he's saying. When the time comes, have it ready, so that the presence of these brothers doesn't force you into generosity. Then you won't do it willingly. And it's going to feel like an exaction. And it's going to feel like you're extorting them. St. Paul says, "No, no, prepare it ahead of time." And verse six is the point is this... And I love when pastors get to the point. It took him nine and a half chapters to get to the point. But he is like, finally, I get to the point. Here's the point. This is verse six. The point is this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So he talks about, and this is fascinating. He talks about giving, not as losing. And this is so different than how the world talks about giving. You give and then it's lost. No, no. He views giving, giving by faith. He views giving as investing. And the image that he brings in is a farmer with a bag of grain, and he knows the winter is coming. And he can take the bag and eat off of it, eat well for the winter, or he can eat not as well, good enough, get by, and take the excess and invest it into his own future. So he takes the bag of grain and he goes, and it doesn't take a generous farmer, a generous planter does not penny pinch, pinch the seed. He takes a full handful, swinging arm, and just cast it, just lavishly, generously because he knows the more he sows, the more bountiful the harvest will be. Is that how you view giving? Do you view giving as like penny pinching toward God and toward people? Well, Yeshua of Nazareth was not a penny pincher. As the great rapper said, I forgot his name. Who said that Vlad? Huh? That guy. Yeah. So that's what he's saying. He's like, "Do you invest like this into relationships? Do you invest like this into brothers and sisters?" And I'm telling you, I'm trying to grow in this. I'm not naturally like this. I come from an immigrant family. My dad, he's growing in generosity, I'm growing in generosity. Because I'm good at math, and I'm good at numbers. And I'm like, "Yeah, if I give then I can't invest. And this gift of 100 bucks, isn't really 100 bucks, it's also... If I put in Shiba coin, in a year, it could be a lot more." And then I go through all of that, but the Lord is like, "But I give it to you now to give this person and meet this need." And it's not even yours Jan. That's the point. Do you give this generously? Two texts that I was thinking about today. Luke 19 you get the story of Zaccaeus. And I say this because giving doesn't get you saved. A lot of people think that if you come to the church and you cut God a check, you get God off your back. And now you can go and sin and live any way you want. And you think you have atoned for your sin. And doesn't work like that. So if someone brings in the check, and they're like, "This is to atone for my sins." Would I take the check? We'd have to pray about it. I would call the person like, "Hey, this doesn't save you. This doesn't save you. You know what saves you? Repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ. God, please forgive me of all my sins." At the very second you submit your life to God, and you believe in him. You trust in Jesus. He died on the cross for your sin. And he didn't penny pinch his blood. He didn't tie this blood. He gave all of his blood to save you. The richness of his blood, of his... He died on a cross for you. Brutal. Was executed for you. Crown of thorns instead of a crown of gold. He did that for you. When you realize that he did that, Jesus died on the cross for my sin to pay all my debts, all of my trespasses, that changes your heart. And then when you read the text, and God tells you to be generous, and you say, "How?" And He says, "As I've been generous to you." Jesus went all in and calls us to do the same. So Luke 19, I was thinking about Zaccaeus. He gets saved and after he gets saved, he was a tax collector. He extorted people, his own people. And he got exorbitantly rich. And then he finally hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus was preaching. He was on a tree. And then he gets saved. He gets radically saved. God elects him sovereign regeneration. Zaccaeus comes down and says, "Lord, whatever I've stolen from anybody I'm going to return fourfold. And then from my wealth, I'm going to give away half." Have you ever considered giving away half to the Lord? I have. I do. You know when? When I'm having fun, when church is fun, when ministry is fun, when life is fun, I'm like, "Yeah. Give it all way. This is so much fun." Because it's more blessed to give than to receive. So like you give and God sends blessing, and you're like, "Oh, this stuff is real. Yeah, it's real." And church has been tremendously fun recently. Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy came over my house two and a half hours. I grill them five steaks ribeye black angus from Maine. I grilled them up. They come down into my man cave, and Pastor Andy brought me a bottle of wine. And the reason why he bought that particular bottle of wine is because it had a cross on it as a sign from God. So what I'm saying is, when you're having fun, you're like, "Yeah. Life is so much more bigger, more enjoyable than just stuff, than just money." Verse seven, "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart. Generosity is decided in the heart not reluctantly, not under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver." You want to give. And God loves when you want to give. Not under compulsion. You're not forced. Not reluctantly, like, "I don't really want to give this." Cheerful giver, because God is a cheerful giver, Jesus Christ is a cheerful giver, for the joy that was set before him, he went to the cross. All right, for God so loved the world that He, what? Let's say it together. He gave. God so loved the world that He gave his begotten son. He gave his son for us. God is loving, generous, giving God, so whosoever believes in him. If you're not a Christian, believe in him. It's just that simple. Just believe in God. He changes your heart, and our sins are forgiven. Your eternity is secure. So why wouldn't we live generously for him? God loves a cheerful giver. Here I want to pause, and I want to talk about your favorite topic, tithing. And if it's not your favorite topic, hopefully it will be after I'm done. Read Matthew 23:23, dear Christian. This is a word for Christians. If you're not a Christian, I'm not talking to you. I mean I kind of are, so you know what you're getting yourself into. But Malachi three, read Malachi three. Read about how God feels when his people do not tithe. What is tithing? He calls it, you're robbing me. You robbed me. God commands that we are to give him 10% of our income. The principle remains. It's like the principle of the Sabbath. We are to give one seventh of our time to the Lord, to devote one seventh of our time to Lord. That's why I'm giving you homework. Because I want you to take a Sabbath where you do homework and you study scripture. And that's why I'm preaching for a lot longer than you perhaps want me to preach. But I have the mic, and unless someone turns it off I'm going to keep going. But my favorite lectures in college were three hours. My favorite lecture in college was a guy named Serge Nikita Khrushchev, Serge Khrushchev, Nikita Khrushchev's son. And he taught for three hours once a week. And he assumed you did all the reading. He assumed you did all the writing. He assumed you thought. And the lecture was just him speaking from his heart. It changed my life, the way I viewed the world. So yeah, I'm calling you to do that. I'm calling you to give your time. I'm calling you to give your life, and I'm calling you dear church to give your tithes. Why? Because... And I'm speaking to Mosaic, obviously I already expect this. I believe in you. That's why. So I expect things from you. The American church on average gives 2.3% of their income to the Lord. Like how can I talk about generosity when we're not even doing the basics. The basics. Read your Bible, pray, silence, solitude, fasting, share the Gospel, give 10%. Before we talk about generosity. It's 10% of what? 10% of my take home. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. The tithe has enough thing to do with Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is a pagan and I call him to repentance. Uncle Sam, I do. I don't trust Uncle Sam with my money. I don't trust Joe Biden with my money. I don't trust he's going to do the right thing with my money. I'd rather give it to the Lord, and see what the Lord does. So I'm saying taxes that's another conversation for another day. I'm talking about the tithe. It's all the Lords before it's FICAs. So it's 10% of what you earn. And also it's 10% of what you earn off of your real estate, off of your stocks, off of your crypto, off of your side hustles, off of your Uber, off of your everything. So if you're going to tithe, you're going to sit down and you're going to say, "Okay, how much did God give me? How much did I earn? I'm going to give 10% of that." Imagine if the whole church, United States, imagine if the whole church tithed, we would change the world, would transform absolutely everything. And imagine if the church repented of not tithing, and said, "Lord, I've been robbing you for years, and now here's everything that I robbed you of with interest and inflation. Here you go, Lord." Is he serious? Yeah, maybe, I don't know. I'm saying it would change the world. And God loves a cheerful giver. He loves cheerful giving to his work, to his ministry. So we talked about tithe. And then it's anything you give above tithe that's generosity. So I know of believers, members of the church who give to foreign missions, which is awesome. Give to foreign missions after you've given to foreign missions here, because this is a foreign mission field. The whole world is sending their children here to get brainwashed, and then we export the brainwashing to the rest of the world. Well, why don't we take Boston, and do it in such a way where we actually do impact the world. But what have you decided to give to the Lord in your heart? That's verse seven. Verse eight, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you." That's fascinating because there's grace that God is withholding from you. There's blessings that God is withholding from you because you're not ready for it. If God blesses you right now and you don't have a generous heart, if God blesses you, and you don't have a generous heart, that blessing is going to turn into a curse. So yeah, God does withhold grace from some of his children who are disobedient. God does withhold some of his power, some of his presence from you because you're not ready for it. God is able to make all the grace abound so that having all sufficiency in all things and all times. Just satisfaction in everything. You may abound in every good work. You have all sufficiency in... Can you say that right now, and dear Christian? Because sufficiency is not a number, sufficiency is a state of heart. Is your heart right now satisfied in the Lord? Is it satisfied with what he has provided to you? And I wrestle with this, because I'm rich, but I'm Boston poor. You know what I'm saying? Where it's like anywhere else I'd live, I'd have the car I want, I'd have a parking spot, I'd have a garage, but I live in Boston. So like I wrestle with the sufficiency part, and the satisfaction part. So this week I've been wrestling with this text, and I realized I am filthy rich. I am so rich. I have two washer dryers. I have two. I have not one fridge, I have two and a half. I have two full fridges. And I always thought, you know you've made it in life when you have a second full fridge. Because I go to my friend's house and they're like, "Yeah. There's a fridge in the kitchen, there's a fridge in the garage." I'm like, "You got a fridge in the garage." "Yeah." And I also have, on top of my two and a fridge, I have a freezer chock-full of black angus meat. I bought a half a cow from Maine. It's my love language. So if I love you, I'm going to give you a pound of ground beef, or whatever is at the top. I'd give you the ribeye. I'm saying this is a sphere of generosity you want to cultivate here. My community group this week, we have a lot of people who don't have family around here. We're going to have a Thanksgiving meal. I hate turkey. I just despise turkey. If you know me, I got stories about turkeys. But it's what you got to do. And I'm like, "Yeah. But there's a reason why they had a Thanksgiving turkey because they couldn't catch anything else. Yeah." We're going to have turkey, but if it were up to me, we'd have steak. What I'm saying is, this is the season to be generous. This is the season to say, "God thank you. God thank you for the people in my life. I want to bless people. I want to be generous with everything that God has given me." Verse nine, "As it is written, He has distributed freely, He has given to the poor. His righteousness endured forever." He's quoting from Psalm 112, which is... It's a song. It's a poem about a Christian philanthropist. About a person who is generous in everything that they do. Generous with their life. Generous with their children, generous with their spouse, generous with their neighbors. I met with a... Long story. I met with a realtor yesterday and she said, "We're looking for some space for a church." Long story. She said, she was talking about the neighbors, and she's like, "Ah, there's a spirit of generosity." She said. "There's a spirit of generosity in this neighborhood." And I was like, "Oh, isn't that something?" Imagine if there was a spirit of generosity in Massachusetts, the spirit of America. Imagine we could change the nation. Verse 10. "And He, God, supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness." God supplies the seed, God supplies the bread. God will, if we're generous, if we're faithful, He will multiply your seeds for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness. I pray about you all week. I pray this all week. I pray, "Lord bless the people of Mosaic. Bless them this week. Bless their souls. Bless their families. Lord provide for all of their... Provide them seed, provide than food. And Lord multiply. Lord God multiply the work of their hands. Lord God, every single bank account of every single person who goes to Mosaic, is a member, Lord multiply. I prophesy that over you. Lord multiply." And you're like, "Is this a name and claim church?" No. It's a biblical church. Come back next week. We're going to talk about church membership and church discipline. But today we're talking about generosity. I pray God blesses your investments. I pray God blesses your crypto coins. I pray God blesses your businesses, your startups, your career, everything so that you can be even more generous to the world. And that changes things. And I love verse 11. This is a promise, friends. Like you can take God up on his promises. Look at this. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way. Who doesn't want that? Do you want to be enriched in every single way? I do. Well, God promised, God says, "I want to enrich you in every single way. It starts with the Gospel. It starts with repenting of your sins." Including greed, friends. When is the last time you got on your knees and said, "God, please forgive me for greed, for being greedy, stingy."? For just mooching off of God. We are to repent. That's a sin. That's a sin. We are to repent of it. And I'm calling the church of the United States to repent. I'm calling everybody to repent. That's my job. And myself, I've had to wrestle with this. I've had to repent of all kinds of brokenness in here when it comes to the sin of being greedy, of worrying that God will not provide. And then what happens when I start worrying, I start working more. And I start working now 40, 50, 80. I start working 100 hours because it doesn't look like the Lord is providing, so I'm going to do everything I possibly can with my own efforts. And that's not really helpful. And then things shut down. What I'm saying is the Lord is bringing healing in here, and I pray that he does the same with you, so that with our hearts together we can be generous toward God. Verse 12, "For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God." This ministry is not just to meet needs, He says, but it's to bring a crescendo of an orchestra of people worshiping God, just overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. That's the point. So when we serve, when we give to God, it's not to get a thank you from people. I ask that you pray, but it's to thank God. "God, thank you." And by the way, I do want to thank you for your generosity. Or those who faithfully give, and for those who faithfully serve, praise God. I don't know how much you give, but I can tell who is giving because they care. Because when you're invested in a place, when you invest in a church, you show up, and you actually want to serve, and you want to do evangelism. You want to do... I had a couple come to me and they're like, "I'm so glad you talk about Thanksgiving dinner because we had Thanksgiving dinner yesterday." And she showed me a picture, and she said, "We had a turk, duck, chicken." It was a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. That blessed my heart. Like it's so absurd. That's how generous it is. So I'm saying, church, thank you for your generosity. "By their approval of the service, they will glorify God because of your submission." So the people that you bless glorify God because you submitted your submission. And what does the submission flow from? Flowing from your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for others. They're going to glorify... God is going to get more glory. God is going to get the glory he deserves if you don't just confess Jesus Christ with your mouth, but actually submit your life to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the word of Jesus Christ. And when you submit your life to Jesus Christ, everything changes. People actually glorify God. You know why David went against Goliath. Read the text. 1st Kings, I think 17. Because for 40 days and 40 nights Goliath would get up and defame the name of God. He would just get up and mock, and curse God, just cursed and... And it's like in Boston when people using the name of Jesus Christ, it's usually to curse someone out. And then David finally, he's like, "Enough is enough. I'd rather die than this continue." And with generosity of his life, he put his life on the altar, and like, "God, all right, I got some stones, can you please direct one of them?" And God did it. This is the generosity of heart, where if you have this, if your heart is in the right place, if your heart is in it, everything changes. Verse 14, "While they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift." And he ends here and this is fascinating. A sister from the church texted me yesterday and she's like, "Hey, you talked about evlogía, in the study guide it means blessing or gift, and it's used twice. Hey, what about the word at the very end? It says gift. It's a different Greek word. Why does St Paul do this? Is it just a synonym?" Well, the gift here, the blessing that gift means. Focus on the gift. Focus on the gift, don't focus on the giver because where people give God the glory, here's the gift. This one focuses on the giver. It's an inexpressible gift because the gift giver is God Himself, that's why it's inexpressible. And he's talking about the gift of Jesus Christ. He's talking about the gift of God, the Father sending His son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. It's an inexpressible gift. Jesus Christ lived the most generous life that anyone has ever lived. And on top of that, he wasn't just generous in his life, he was generous in his death. Jesus Christ allowed himself to be crucified. He allowed himself to be flogged, scourged. He allowed that crown of thorns. He allowed himself to be put on a Roman cross that he carried. Now they put him on it, and they drove nail. They hammered nails through the most sensitive parts of his hands and his feet. He allowed all of that to happen. His blood poured out, his body broken for us. And then he gets put in a grave, and we think it's all over. And then he comes back from the dead. And the reason why there's Christianity today. And if you don't believe this, I dare you to explain how Christianity grew. Other religions grew by the sword, Christianity grew despite the sword. What would make the early believers go to their death testifying to the Gospel? It's the same thing. What happened? It's the same thing that moved them to sell their real estate. It's the same thing that moved them to sell their land and bring it to the feet of the apostles. What moved them? They saw the resurrected Christ, and they felt the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It changed absolutely everything. That's why Acts 2 is so important. Acts two says the following, Acts 2:42 through 47. "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching." They, the early church after day Pentecost. And the breaking of bread, and the prayers, and all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together, and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings, and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their home. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved. We believe in this so much, we sold everything to be together. We sold everything, get the Gospel out. And by the way, this is the craziest stuff ever, so we're having a good time. And when we're having a good time, other people want to have a good time, and that's how people got saved. I'm working on the theology of fun. I'm working on it. So just bear with me, I'm verbal processing right now. Let me know what you think. I'm working on theology of fun because I've never heard anyone write about this. And the theology of fun goes like this. Who is more fun, God or Satan? And that's the battle over your heart. And what I'm here to tell you is, sin isn't fun. It's fun for like three seconds, and then you wake up the next morning. You know what is fun? It's a lot harder, but what is fun is following Jesus. There's nothing like it. There's nothing like the Holy Spirit stirring you, just miracle day after day, after day. There's nothing more fun. So what I'm saying is the Jerusalem church did that so that the Gospel could get out, and the Gospel got where? To Corinth, and now Corinthian believers have finances that the Jerusalem church needs, and Corinth gives back to where the Gospel came from. So this is my appeal to you church, and my appeal to the church of the United States, which I do not understand. I don't understand the church in America. I don't understand the church in America because we're not thinking about the Gospel right. We're not thinking about the kingdom. We're not thinking strategically. We're not. If we were thinking strategically, and this is a global church as a whole, if we were thinking strategically about how to get the Gospel out, and how to fix the world, this is how we'd be thinking. We'd say, "As America goes, so goes the world." How does America go? America goes as Boston goes. Boston is only a decade ahead of everyone else. And the American church sends their children here to get brainwashed and then export demonic ideologies to the churches of the United States. So what I'm saying is, it's time to take the head off the beast. Why doesn't the American church pull their finances together and say, "You know what? We're actually going to take Boston the way that we should have taken Boston. And we're going to send resources, and Pastor Jan is a nut, but he's effective." And so we together, we're going to build that campus. We're going to build Harvard the way it should be with a church in the middle, and a school, and the Mosaic Boston Academy, and an orphanage. And I want a cafeteria to feed absolutely everyone. And you get free meal if you listen to a 15-minute talk by me. And then when you get saved, you start actually joining the church, and joining the community. This is my call to the church. And also, and by the way if you live here, stay here. And I am talking to all the former members of Mosaic. I'm talking to you. I know you guys listen. You text me. I know Drew. Yeah. You know. Yeah. I can call out the name. I'm calling you back. I'm calling all of you back, and I want every single the seat filled so that we're talking about third and fourth services. I'm calling you back. And if you don't come back, at least send your tithes and offerings to the church. But first give tithes to your local church, then be generous here. And then here's what I also want to... All the time when I say Boston, we're going to take this city. And people are like, "Yeah. Real state is too expensive." Don't live in Boston. I'm not talking about Boston proper, I'm talking about Boston the idea. If you ask anyone from Worcester, where are you from? And they go to Texas. Where are you from? They're not going to say Worcester. No one knows what Worcester is. No one knows how to spell it. Everyone says Boston. Where are you from? Rhode Island, Long island? No, no, no. I'm from Boston. Everyone says Boston. So if you're from Boston, New Hampshire, Maine. And Maine's only an hour away. I don't even... Just drive here. If you drive here like taking the T from the north end takes longer to get here than driving from Rhode Island. You know what I'm saying? So if you come here on a Sunday, if you can get here on a Sunday, start a commuting group wherever you at. We're taking the city. That's what I'm saying. And then if you're like, I don't have a fancy degree to live up here. Hey, do you know how to build anything? Because no one up here knows how to do anything with their hands. The only thing they do with their hands is type, that's it. So if you're a builder in the United States or from outside, if you're an immigrant, if you're from Russia, I'm calling all the builders, and we're going to rebuild the city together. I'm going to help you establish your business. I know how. And then we're going to build a family home for the church. Have I said everything on my heart? Yes. 2nd Corinthians 9:15. Oh, by the way, if you're not a Christian today, would you become a Christian? Just repent your sin. Come on. Welcome to the team already. I've been doing this for too long to be like... That's why I'm switching up my style because I realized I don't want any barriers between who I am in my life, and when I get up here. I don't want to be like the different guy. This is how I live my life. I share the Gospel. I love the Lord. I read the word. I love my wife. We get in fights. She came to church today. We forgive each other. I love my daughters. I just want everyone to be a Christian. And if you are a Christian, let's grow up together. That's what I'm saying, and haka dance to the Lord as we worship. 2nd Corinthians 9:15, "Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift." Amen. Let's pray. Lord God please pour out your holy fire upon the hearts of your people. Burn in our hearts a desire to take the head off the beast like David took Goliath's in Jesus holy name. Amen.

united states america god jesus christ american texas thanksgiving father lord earth bible giving real gospel opportunities zoom christians russia joe biden holy spirit christianity elon musk kings focus girls ministry satan acts psalm mars greek harvard corinthians uber jerusalem mba exodus massachusetts kingdom of god burn crown nerds maine sabbath cia generosity godly pentecost new hampshire amen hebrew goliath bless lords rhode island verse generous nazareth brutal heavenly father savings corinth lord god mosaic vlad god himself flowing macedonia guido st paul worcester uncle sam corinthian yeshua saint paul cheerful achaia macedonian brookline bostonians repenting nikita khrushchev shiba read matthew pastor andy jesus take take my life superfluous pastor shane hey jesus pastor jan

A Sermon for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

Living Words

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2021

A Sermon for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity St. Matthew 18:21-35 by William Klock “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my brother when he sins against me?” asks Peter in our Gospel. “Is seven times enough?” I imagine Peter lying awake in the middle of the night ruminating on something Jesus had said that day and realising that it changes everything. But he's wondering exactly how it changes everything—more specifically, how much it changes everything. Someone had repeatedly done Peter some wrong. It's not hard to imagine impetuous Peter, always ready for a fight, taking revenge. He probably wasn't a guy you wanted to make angry. But Jesus changes all of that. Perhaps as they made their way around Galilee with Jesus, Peter ran into some old fishing rival—a guy who in the past, day after day, had done something that made Peter angry—maybe that had brought them to blows. And last week while they were passing by that little beach where the fishermen would hang out, that guy—Peter gets steamed just thinking about it!—that guy had done it again. The old Peter would have thrown a punch, but something Jesus had said made him stop and instead he forgave. But then today it happened again, that old nemesis just egging him on, trying to provoke him into another fight. And again—even though it took every ounce of self-control he had, his face red, the veins in his temples throbbing, the muscles in his neck straining and his fists clenching—Peter held back. And now he's lying there thinking: “I know it's going to happen again—and again. How many times do I have to forgive?” And so, first thing in the morning, he brings his question to Jesus. But think of the implications. Old Peter wouldn't have forgiven at all or maybe, if it was a friend, he'd forgive once. After that all bets were off what he might do in return. But he knows that Jesus is teaching grace. Jesus is offering forgiveness—and often to the sorts of people that most people thought didn't deserve to be forgiven. Peter wants to be like Jesus. He had faith that in Jesus the Messiah God's kingdom is finally breaking into the world and he so longs to be a part of that kingdom. So he asks Jesus what he would do. “Lord, is seven times enough?” But think about that. If seven times is enough, what happens after that? Imagine Jesus saying, “Yes, Peter, seven times is enough. If your brother sins against you seven times, forgive him. But if he sins against you an eighth time, Buddy, you just turn around and pop him one right on the nose. If he sins against you an eighth time, teach him a good lesson and make sure he never does it again. But Peter, self-control is a good thing, so consider that maybe if he sins against you an eighth time, don't knock his teeth out like you would have in the old day, just avoid him, hold a grudge, be angry, and get really bitter about it. If he sins against you an eighth time, don't sock him one, but do cut that guy out of your life, Peter; you don't need that kind of negativity.” Can you picture Jesus saying that? Neither can I. And yet this is how we often think. Often it's the “common sense” advice our culture gives these days. Be gracious at first, but if it keeps happening you've got to deal with it. Don't let them push you around. Teach them a lesson. Stand up for yourself. Maybe we know better than to throw a punch or get revenge so we just cut the offender out of our lives. But Jesus tells him: “No, Peter. I wouldn't say seven times. How about you forgive him seventy-seven times? You see, here's the difference. Peter's wanting to know where grace ends and Jesus is telling him, “Peter, grace doesn't end. That's the whole point. That's what makes grace grace. You forgive and you forgive and you forgive—as many times as your brother or your sister sins against you, you forgive. That's grace.” And that's a hard thing for us to swallow. It's nice to talk about forgiveness, but at some point, we think, we have to protect our rights. I have a right not to be sinned against, we think. And we're right, but that's just the point—that's what makes sin sin and it's this forgoing of our rights that makes grace grace. And this is foolishness—at least it's foolishness to anyone who hasn't grasped what God had done for us in Jesus. We can cut Peter a little slack for not getting the point. The Cross was still in his future. He didn't yet grasp the full extent of what God was going to do for him in Jesus. But this is the point of the story Jesus tells him: Imagine a king. He's overspent and his treasury is running low, so he brings in the royal accountant to advise him. The accountant, of course, advises that it would be a good idea if he were to economise and stop spending so much, but he also points out that the king might be able to pay the bills if he called in some old loans. The accountant points out one man in particular. The king had loaned him ten thousand talents. That's a lot of money. It's the First Century Jewish equivalent of a gazillion dollars. It's a crazy and unreasonable amount—kind of like the national debt—so it's no wonder the king's treasury is empty. The king calls this man to court and insists he pay back the gazillion dollars, but this man doesn't have the means to pay it back any more than our government has the means to pay back its debt. But the king's got his own bills to pay. He needs something from this man, so he orders him to be arrested along with his wife and children and sold as slaves. He won't get his gazillion dollars back, but at least he'll have something. But the man falls at the king's feet in tears and he begs. He begs for mercy. “Please don't sell me into slavery. I'll pay back every penny,” he cries. “Somehow I'll pay it all back, just don't sell me into slavery.” It's a pathetic scene. There was no way he could pay it back, but the king decides to have mercy on him. He knows he'll never see his money. What he'd get by selling the man as a slave wouldn't pay his debts anyway, so he graciously decides to forgive this man's debt. Imagine the relief of the debtor as he left the king's palace. It had been bad enough to have that huge debt hanging over his head, but then to be threatened with slavery—and now it's all gone. He should have been the happiest man in the world that day. But he wasn't. He's been humbled and he's a prideful man. So, instead of going home to tell his wife the good news he remembers a guy to whom he'd loaned money himself—some of that gazillion dollar loan that he'd spread around. This man owned him a hundred denarii. A hundred denarii isn't anything to sniff at. It's a lot of money. A hundred days' wages for a working man. But it's nothing like the gazillion dollars the first man owed the king. It's your new car versus the national debt. But having been forgiven this huge and unpayable debt, the man leaves the palace to find the man who owes him money. When he finds him he grabs him by the throat, throttles him, and demands full payment. And just as the first man had fallen on his knees before the king and begged for mercy, this second man falls on his knees and does the same. He too promises to pay back every penny—just not today. But that's not good enough. The first man has him thrown into prison until he can make good on the debt. But that's not the end of it, Jesus says. Word gets around and eventually the king hears what happened. We can imagine how angry he would be. He calls the first man back to the palace. “You wicked servant! You scoundrel! You good for nothing!” the king shouts at him. You begged to be forgiven and in my mercy I forgave your entire debt. Shouldn't you have shown mercy to your friend the way I showed mercy to you? And so the king in his anger had him sent to prison, just as he had sent his friend to prison. Jesus says he was handed over to the jailers or the King James reads “tormentors”. The sense of the word Jesus uses is that the folks into whose “care” this man has been entrusted will extract from him everything they possibly can by any possible means. It's an ominous ending to the story. And Jesus adds one short but equally ominous explanation: This is what my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart. We say, “Wait. What did you just say Jesus?” And he says, you heard me, “This is what my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother form your heart.” Think about it. The lesser loan for a hundred denarii had to come out of the ten thousand talents the king had loaned the first man. With that loan forgiven, there was absolutely no need to collect on the second, lesser loan. It would cost the forgiven man nothing—aboslutely nothing—to show grace to his friend. Consider that when God forgives our sins against him, we've been freed from our debt. We have no reason to go after our fellow sinners for the debts they owe to us. We do, however, have good reason to forgive them. Each time we forgive, we share a little bit of the forgiveness God has given us. It helps, too, to remember sin from God's perspective. We have a tendency to think of ourselves as just ordinary, run-of-the-mill sinners—good people who mess up a little bit now and then—but then we look at others—especially the people who have sinned against us, the people against whom we hold grudges, the people we don't like—and we think of them as being really big sinners. But, Brothers and Sisters, from the perspective of God's perfect holiness, the difference between my sin and your sin or even the sins of the most awful people we can imagine is like the distance between Courtenay and Victoria when you look at a map of the whole world. From our perspective on the ground it seems like a long way. It takes a couple of hours to drive. But then you look at a map of the world or you look at a globe and you can't even put your finger on Victoria without covering up the whole Island. From that perspective the difference is nothing. From the perspective of God's infinite and perfect holiness there's simply no significant difference between your sinfulness and my sinfulness or your neighbour's sinfulness. Now, that said, Jesus' point is not that we just pretend the offense or the sin didn't happen. Forgiveness isn't the same thing as ignoring the offense. Just before this in Chapter 18 Jesus tells the disciples that what we're after is reconciliation. If your brother sins against you, Jesus says in verse 15, go and talk to him about it one on one. Our tendency when someone offends us is to get angry. We retaliate. We yell or we throw a punch. We call the cops. Or we just shut that person out of our life. But that's not what Christians are called to do. Go and talk to the person about it. He may apologise and you can be friends again. It may be that he didn't even realise he'd done something wrong. It might be that you misinterpreted the incident. So go and talk about it between the two of you, sort it out, apologise and forgive as the situation requires, and be restored. But, Jesus says, if he won't listen to you, don't just write him off. Go back with one or two others and try again. Again, the goal is reconciliation and restoration. If that still doesn't work, then Jesus says to “tell it to the church”—let the presbyters or the bishop go to this person and talk to him about it. If that doesn't work, then that person is to be treated, Jesus says, like a tax collector or a Gentile—like an outsider. The “churchy” term for this is excommunication. An unrepentant sinner is to be treated like a non-Christian. But excommunication isn't meant to be revenge or retaliation. It's a warning from his fellow Christians: If you're not going to bear the fruit Christians are supposed to bear—especially repentance—then you're no longer welcome at the Lord's Table. This is a place for people who have repented and committed to following Jesus and you're doing just the opposite. And, as Paul points out later in the New Testament, our hope and prayer is that this person will snap out of it and repent and start being the Christian he's claimed to be—that he'll be restored and really start living the life the Spirit has given him. Unrepentant sin really does need to be addressed. Forgiveness doesn't set it aside. Sometimes, for example, there are unavoidable civil consequences for some sins. But forgiveness seeks to bring to bear the sacrifice Jesus has made at the cross on our human conflicts. It seeks to restore an unrepentant believer and it seeks to show God's grace and mercy to unbelievers. But that doesn't fully answer why Jesus says so solemnly that those who refuse to forgive will themselves be refused forgiveness. Some people try to explain away the plain meaning of what Jesus says here. I was once talking with one man who had been holding a grudge for so long that it had consumed everything. The grudge had become his reason for living. I pointed him to Jesus' parable here and this ominous warning and his response was that it couldn't mean what it looks like at face value because if it did then Jesus would be saying that we're saved by our works. “God's forgiveness covers everything,” he told me, “even our unforgiveness.” And yet this is the whole point of the parable. The king's mercy forgave the first man's debt—but not when he refused to forgive his friend's debt. And Jesus really does say, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” And it's not just Jesus who makes this point. We come back to this throughout the New Testament. The loving grace of God is the defining truth of the kingdom and we experience it radically when we repent and turn to Jesus in faith. Our sins are forgiven. The small sins, the big sins, the monstrous sins. The blood of Jesus washes us clean. And we who were alienated from God are not only welcomed back into his presence., we're actually made his temple as he pours his Spirit into us. God in us. Because of the cross. Because of grace. And, Brothers and Sisters, if we've truly experienced God's grace in that way—and by that made his people—we demonstrate it by sharing it with others. By forgiving—not once, not twice, not seven times, not even seventy-seven times, but as often as we are sinned against. To refuse to be gracious with others, as the man in the parable, is not only to offend the one who has first shown us grace beyond measure, but is ultimately to reject that grace. And that's why Jesus gives Peter the warning he gives. His people—the people who have known God's grace—the grace John Newton wrote about that “saves a wretch like me”—will, in turn, be marked out by that grace in their own lives. Today is Reformation Day and I can't let that pass without the reminder that we are saved by grace through faith. That was the rallying cry of the Reformation. But it's just as true that real faith that has known the grace of God in turn inevitably manifests itself in transformation—by the renewal of the mind, by the regeneration of the heart by word and Spirit. God's people are known, marked out by the grace they then show to others. And so Jesus warns, if your life isn't marked by a desire to share God's forgiveness, well, you are not mine. You're not part of the true Israel. And that's not where you want to be—against he's speaking to Peter and the other disciples—that's not where you want to be when judgement comes on Jerusalem. Unbelieving Israel will be handed over to the tormentors until she has paid her debt. Or, as Jesus puts it in Luke 21, “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Our eschatological horizon has shifted, but the warning is as true today as it was then. Grace is always the hallmark of the people of God. I know, it's easy to say. It's not so easy to practise. I think Jesus gets at the key at the beginning of the chapter. The disciples came to him and asked who the greatest in the kingdom would be. “Hey Jesus, which one of us is your favourite?” But instead of giving the answer they wanted to hear, Jesus picked up a child and said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. You've got to become humble, like this child, then you will be great in the kingdom of heaven.” Why do we struggle to forgive? Because we think we're something, because we demand our rights, because our pride has been hurt. Because we've thought of ourselves more highly than we ought. Someone sins against me and my first thought is for my rights. My pride keeps me from seeking reconciliation with the jerk who sinned against me—with that loser who doesn't know Jesus, with that jerk who needs God's judgement. Pride keeps us from forgiving. It was pride that drove the man in the parable to have his friend thrown into prison. He should have been joyful that the king forgave his debt, but instead he was angry and resentful for having been humbled before the king. And so, because of his pride, he went looking for someone lower than himself, someone over whom he had power—someone he could kick around so that he could recover his lost dignity and feeling of superiority. And it's the same with us when we kneel before God and receive his forgiveness and then go out to assert our rights or lord our power over another by refusing to forgive. It makes our show of humility before God just that: a show, a sham. This is why we can't receive God's forgiveness unless we're willing to be forgiving ourselves. If we truly are humble before God we will be humble before others too. These past few weeks we've heard Paul in our Epistles urging us to live the life the Spirit has given. That includes loving each other, showing mercy to each other, patiently bearing with each other—showing forgiveness to each other. As you come to the Lord's Table this morning, think of the fact that in Jesus, God humbled himself for our sake. St. Paul writes in Philippians: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:3-7) Have this mind among yourselves. If you're counting the times you've forgiven someone, you don't have the mind of Christ. If you're holding a grudge you don't have the mind of Christ. Brothers and Sisters, Jesus gave his life for ours. Jesus humbled himself for our sake. It takes humility to open our hearts, to admit our sin and to repent. It takes humility to receive the grace offered by a beaten man hanging on a bloody cross. But if we are humble enough to open our hearts to such grace, our hearts will inevitably be humble and open to others, ready to share God's grace with the worst of sinners that they, too, can know the reconciling love of God in Jesus. Let us pray: Gracious Father, we pray as Jesus taught us: forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. May those be more than words we say. Forgiving is so often hard to do. Break our pride. Make us truly humble. And teach us to share your grace with others, that as you have forgiven us, we will forgive others—not grudgingly, but each time with greater and greater joy—joy to spread your grace around us, joy to see others experience the love of Jesus. We ask this in his name. Amen.

Blank Check

Prince of Peace

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2021 17:07

(Chad Brekke) James and John often had ring-side seats. They rarely had to ask the people in front of them what Jesus was saying because no one was ever in front of them. They spent so much time close to Jesus that they figured they could make an outlandish request. Hey Jesus, they said one day, if you don't mind, scribble out a blank check and we'll fill it in later. What Jesus says next should ring in our ears too. We better listen carefully. Scripture: Mark 10:35-45 Song: Olympos by Ooyy Support our podcast here Watch the Livestream Follow us on Instagram Visit our Website

The Disciples Prayer: Practical

Sermons - Harvest Church | Arroyo Grande

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 27, 2021 63:09

0 (0s): Good morning, harvest church. Welcome. We're so glad that you're here this morning. Let's pray as we go into worship, dear God, thank you that we get to gather here in your name and help us to focus on you as we worship and listen to Jeremy's message today, help us to take it throughout the week and not forget or lose sight of what you have for us. God, help us not get distracted by what's in the world. Just really help us to focus on what your plans for us are. Thank you. Amen. You guys can stand 4 (11m 51s): At this time we invite Jeremy up and have a sermon 5 (11m 60s): Much. Was that not powerful? I love youth led Sunday. It's awesome. It's awesome to see them stepping up and into things that there'll be taken over soon. Pastor Steve is in Oklahoma. He's at an influencer's national conference there, so you get, you get me for a second week in a row. If you weren't here last week, I, I started with maybe notice the Lord's prayer, the disciple's prayer, the model prayer found in Luke chapter 11 and Matthew chapter six and last week was very much the kind of ethereal portion where this week is going to be a little more practical. 5 (12m 46s): So I'm looking forward to that. But with that said, why don't we all just stand up and we'll, we're going to pray the prayer together and we'll go from there. I'll be from Luke chapter 11, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our sins. As we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, lead us, not in temptation temptation, but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you may be seated. 5 (13m 29s): So last week was fun. I got to, to teach really on like this prayer that Jesus had his, you know, his disciples came to him and said, Hey Jesus, we see the most powerful thing that you do is this, this thing called prayer. This thing of talking to your father. So Lord teach us to pray as well, not teach us necessarily how to pray, but teach us to pray. They saw something important in the life of Jesus and they wanted that for themselves. And so the first part of that prayer, that Jesus then teaches them is really, if you're a CEO, if you, if you've ever started a business, you start with the mission statement and then you give a vision and then you give the core values like how the company does these things. So I see this, that in this prayer as well, see the mission is our father in heaven. 5 (14m 11s): How it'd be your name, that's what we want to do. We want to set God apart from any other. And that's the mission of, of, of Jesus and what he came to do. And then he gives us vision of your kingdom. Come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And now he's going to give really practical steps of the core values of how we practically do that in our day-to-day life. So that's why I'm excited to, to lead us into today. Last week we addressed, you know, when we come to God to pray, it's how we address God. We talked to him as the father. We talked to the father first about the father, and then we talk to the father about his kingdom. And then we talked to the father about his will for his kingdom, in a sense we want to let God be, God, let God be God. 5 (14m 58s): So that's the way we start the prayer. How do we continue that? How do we show that to others? How do we live this out? So we do that by one that we show others. We model others, that we have a heavenly who father, who cares about us and that we set apart our heavenly father, because we know he's, he's, he's, he's earned that he, oh, he has owned that. Then we do that by seeking out our lived out lives to bring his heavenly reign here to earth, by showing that by modeling that in our own lives. And then we live that out in our daily lives. A number of years ago, I got to go to Ethiopia to go visit some missionary friends that were, that were living there at the time. And part of the trip we've, you know, flew into ADIs. 5 (15m 39s): And that was like the main capital. And then we got, we got to go to the, do this trip of going out to these villages that were about a hundred miles from the Sudan border, like way out there. So like I think three days down a dirt road in a land cruiser, this is like my kind of adventure. So we're going down these dirt dusty roads, and we get to this, this kind of tribal region and think grass huts, Serengeti. It was just a phenomenal place to go visit. And there was a Canadian family that was living amongst these Ethiopian tribes and bringing them the gospel. And it was just funny to see the contrast of really these dark skinned Ethiopian people mixed with these white Canadian blonde haired kids and blonde hair parents running around. 5 (16m 28s): And they, and they were just doing an awesome job of bringing the gospel to these, these people. And in the midst of our stay, a few of the guys kind of emerged out of the Bush and there they were, they're carrying their bows narrows with him and he got to meet these four, these four guys. And, and those are bows that they'd handmade themselves. They'd taken spoons and made their own like tips for the arrows. I mean, they'd done everything and I don't know how it happened, but our tree contest popped up. And it was us as white boys against these, these, these guys. And, and of course they just annihilated us there. They hit the mark every time we, we, we tried, but that makes sense, right? 5 (17m 11s): Because their reality is that on the way to come visit us here at that missionary compound, they might see dinner running by and they might need to actually use those bows and arrows and get their food, their meal for their family on the way to, you know, on the way to visiting us or maybe on the way home that living out day by day, that hunting provide for their knees. And that's really been the story of most of humanity over the centuries. Most of humanity is relied on that day to day daily bread. That day-to-day needs. Sometimes when things like the Texas freeze happens, we realized just how susceptible our modern way of living. 5 (17m 52s): We haven't always had water in our, in our houses. We always haven't had a reliable source of electricity for our needs, but that day-to-day living it out. And the question, I guess, that we asked her that I asked scriptures, does God care about our physical frame or physical need? Does God care about that? And I believe from scripture, the resounding answer is yes, you see Jesus says in, in, in this prayer, he said, give us day by day, our daily bread. It's a request based on the character, the name of God, our father. And just prior to that, Jesus had said, Hey, if anybody among you lacks, if one, if one of your kids and you've been a father, they need some food. 5 (18m 38s): You don't give them a scorpion or you don't give them what they don't need. If they ask for food, you're going to give them food. Like that's requests based on the character of the father. And so we have a heavenly father who cares about us as well. Some have sought to like, just spiritualize this then saying, oh no, God doesn't care about our physical needs. He just cares about our spiritual needs. But I don't see that. I don't see that being the truth. God cares about our spiritual needs. And we'll get into that. But also God just cares about our day to day physical needs, da Carson wrote this. He said, it's a prayer for our daily bread, not a warehouse of bread. The prayers for our needs, not our agreed it's a one day at a time reflect, reflecting on the precarious lifestyle of many first century workers who were paid one day at a time. 5 (19m 27s): And for whom a few days, illness could spell tragedy, give us our daily bread. And do you notice how he says, Jesus, same, give us our daily bread. There's the us now that we're not solitary. We're not meant to be individuals. We're meant to be a community. Lived in community, lived as a big family, a big church family and a big family as, as under the, the having to heaven, the father and God knows that we have needs and often, and especially for me, and maybe it's something for us, men is that we see our needs as a weakness. I don't want to let other people know about our needs. We, we kind of try to shy away from that. We hate our needs because it communicates a weakness in them, in us. 5 (20m 10s): And we say, well, I don't want to let my needs hinder us from praying as though our weakness somehow stains that purity of prayer, do we bring our daily needs before our heavenly father? And what's amazing about scripture is that God knows our needs before we even asked them that didn't make sense. When you think of the sovereignty of God and all knowing God, he knows everything. But if we just saw our daily needs as something that God already knew about and he's going to provide for them, how do we walk? How do we walk that out and live in faith? Matthew six verse eight says, therefore, do not be like them as he's teaching his disciples to pray for your father knows the things that you have before you even ask of them for even ask him. 5 (20m 57s): He knows what we need. It was that way in the garden of Eden too, with Adam, you know, there he is. He's with God. He's, he's like, well, this is, this is pretty awesome. I I'm, I'm here with God. I've got a garden. This is awesome. But God knew that Adam was alone and he said, that's not good. And so God then gives Adam this job of naming the animals. And so the animals are paraded before Adam. He begins to name the animals. And at some point after the, I don't know how many Mr. Messes he named. He realizes, Hey, wait a second. Where's my misses. And that's where God allows him to put him, puts him to sleep and then creates his, that need for him. 5 (21m 37s): God knew Adam's need before he even knew it. And it speaks to our soul spiritual needs as well. In John chapter six, we find Jesus's first I am statement. John has six or seven. I am statements that he, that he, that he quotes of Jesus. And in the first I am statement was just that on the daily bread. And he read Jesus related back to the manner you see, what had just happened was the 5,000 people had just been fed that great multitude. God had multiple Jesus had multiplied the fish and the bread and he'd fed everybody. 5 (22m 19s): And now they're coming to Jesus saying, Hey, show us a sign. Jesus, show us a sign for just having fed them, show us a sign. And so he's he? He said, well, they said, sorry, Jesus, that Moses gave our fathers the bread in the wilderness. So what are you going to give to us? Give us a sign. And this is what Jesus said in John chapter six, verse 32. And Jesus said to them, most assured the, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but from my father who gives you the true bread from heaven for the bread of God, is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread. 5 (22m 58s): Always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. Are you eating of me? So the physical needs that we have very much speak to our spiritual needs and that's what Jesus is going to address next in his model, prayer, he says, and forgive us, our sins, forgive us. Our sins. Sin is what Adam did in the garden. And we've been really doing ever since the Greek word, sin is, is a translation from the Greek word and it's biblical usage throughout scripture is to miss the mark or a feeling to miss the target and to archery turn right. 5 (23m 44s): Or it's also being used to air or be mistaken to miss or wander from the path of her brightness and to honor and to do or go wrong. It's it's all a missing of the mark. And it's linked. Jesus has links this and forgive us our sins back to the, give us our day-to-day bread. It's a day to day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. So it's linked to that. That it's a request for our physical needs to be met every day, but also our spiritual needs and our, our need to, once again, confess our sins to our heavenly father, something over the years I've worked into my morning, devotions is I've, I've worked. 5 (24m 31s): First thing is to just my morning, confessions of art I've, as I can think clearly. And it's in the quietness of the day. I can think clearly about yesterday and the times that I air the times that I missed your mark. And I begin to work those into my daily confessions in the morning. And then that rolls into then eating of the bread, eating the word of God and, and, and my time in the scripture and the forgiven us our daily, since that this speaks of two things. One that we have sinned, Romans 3 23, says for all, have sinned and come short of the glory of God all have sinned. 5 (25m 17s): So we have to first recognize that we have sinned. And then we bring that to the need, to the Lord. And we say, Lord, forgive us our sins. And if we can ask, if Jesus said, ask us to be forgiving of sins. It means that our sins are forgiven. When we confess our sins, they are forgiven. That's amazing. Our greatest need, our greatest thing that separates from God a will be washed away, Romans 5, 28 or five verse eight says, but God demonstrated and own his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. I have a quote that, that it was not sure exactly who it's attributed to, but all I'll say the quote, and then I'll give you the name. 5 (26m 7s): It says this, it says, sin will take you farther than you want to go keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you wanted to pay. Lot. A lot of people will say that rabbi Zacharias, he quoted that if you know his story, you know, the tragedy that unfolded after his death, I'll say that once again, sin will take you farther than you wanted to go keep you longer than you wanted to stay and cost you more than you wanted to pay. I knew a gal at our old church in Santa who, who had been dating her high school boyfriend for seven or eight years. 5 (26m 49s): And this guy ended up passing away in a car accident. And upon that, all these details started to emerge from his life. The fact that he'd been having an affair since they started dating in high school with her best friend, some drug stuff came out, all this stuff that she had no idea of, of the guy that she was dating came out after he passed away. And she just, it just wrecked her. There's so much grief, grief, and trauma, and just anger. That was just like, where did this come from? It's those secret things that we begin to hide away that will cost us more than we wanted to pay As this week, as I was planning for the, the the message. 5 (27m 38s): And it was just realizing, man, is there any sin that I need to confess? And, and Lord like, yes. And then, and then new Lord's like, and then you need to do in front of everybody. You need to confess the sin. And, and that I had to of course confess it to my wife as well. But I, I, we have a joint account with my wife and I have my own personal credit card. And I began to use that personal credit card to buy a few purchases that I didn't let my wife know about. And this week I'd planned on purchasing a few hundred dollar thing that it was going to kind of sneak through and not let my wife know. And the Lord is like, you can't do that. That's stealing from your family, stealing from your wife. 5 (28m 21s): So first say, okay, you want me to do this in front of everybody, Lord. And you want to confess you on me. I'll confess it before you learned that was sin to plan to do this thing. And then I had to go to my wife and be like, honey, this is what I was planning on doing. Here's the credit card. I'm sorry. And confess that in front of her. I don't want upon my death for all this stuff to creep out, to find out that somebody that I was hiding, something that I wasn't living the life of integrity that I want to live when Billy Graham passed away or sorry. When Billy Graham was alive, he had this whole entourage of men that would go into every hotel room to make sure that there was nothing scandalous in there that nothing could distract him from the ministry. 5 (29m 3s): He never allowed himself to ride in a car with another woman alone. He had all these kind of gateways to protect himself and upon Billy Graham's death, guess what? There was no drama. There was no hidden sin. Same with Dwight moody. No, no, there was no drama. He said this. He says, the Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from the Bible on my death. I don't want any drama to come out. I don't want anything to be found under, under my mattress or hidden bookmarks on my computer. You see sin weighs us down and we can't effectively run with the, that God desires us to can't enjoy the course. 5 (29m 44s): Like our cross-country runner lays aside everything. That's going to ensnare them, everything that's going to like set them back and they want to run the race. They want to have the everything focused on running the race and running it. Well, this last, this a few months ago, I had a chance to go backpacking with some of our seniors in the youth group. And we took them up into the Sierras. It's an amazing time. It was just a small group of us. And, and one of them is a little bit of a jokester. Love him. And he started telling us about how his dad's a firefighter and how his dad would joke around with the other firefighters. And he would take these rocks and he'd get a Sharpie. 5 (30m 24s): And he'd write on the Sharky, sheriff on the rock with the Sharpie, thanks for the ride. And then he'd put these rocks in his fellow back back, firefighters backpacks. And I saw him and he put a few rocks on, on other backpacks of the other guys. And I thought that was pretty funny. They fell off. I was like, oh yeah, you're a prankster. That's hilarious. Well, at a certain point, the trail got really, really steep. And it was kind of like the last final push to get up and over. And then down into this like Alpine lake. And one of the students began to really struggle so much that like his legs were cramping up about every five steps. He could not carry the backpack up this hill. 5 (31m 5s): So I said, okay, look, we're going to get you over this hill. Let me just take your backpack. We'll put it on me. We'll get it. We'll get you up and over. Okay. And then everything's going to be good. So I took it backpack haired up and over, made it up. He almost killed my legs and we get into camp and like, oh, this is good. Okay. We made it. We're all good. And I began to unpack, we get to set up tents. And I realized, man, my, this is a really lightweight backpack, but it's really heavy. What? And I started taking things out and then I realized there's a rock. There's a rock. And I looked at this person might be in this room. He might've done announcements. And I began to Chuck the rocks at this person. 5 (31m 50s): How are we, how many rocks, how long have I carried these rocks from the Trailhead? I'd been carrying these extra rocks from the trail. And there was, yeah, there, there were some hindrance, but it's okay. I got rid of them. Throw them at him. Love him, love the jokes. But Hebrews 12 says this. It says, therefore, since we are so surrounded by so great, a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin, which so easily ensnares us, let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 5 (32m 33s): So we need to do in our life, the daily confession, the daily of reminding God, I've sinned, I've messed up. Lord, forgive me, is that laying aside of the weights and the things that ensnare us and sin is first and foremost against God. When I was desiring to use that credit card for purchases to hide from my wife, that was first and foremost against God, but then also against others. And I think that's the, the hard part is that we have a tendency to, to judge our sin against other people. Well, I'm not as bad as that person. I'm not doing as bad as what they are. And we begin to point to others and comparing that. 5 (33m 17s): And I think that was one of my faults from growing up in the church. I began to look at my life and say, man, I got it all together. They don't have it all together. Wow. I'm doing so much better than others. And that is sin. And the Lord really confronted me on that. A number of years ago, see our church had gone to the year after hurricane Katrina happened, there was still a number of houses and churches that were still in disarray, still completely washed out by hurricane Katrina. And so our church sent a group, including myself and a few and a number of others. And we began to help rebuild houses and a few churches. And I was working there in a, in a church, sanctuary a small church down in Louisiana. 5 (33m 58s): And there's this guy that was working with me. His name was Mike Skiles and big guy like my height, maybe an inch taller than me, 70 pounds of muscle. More than me. He was had tattoos all over him. He was like, one of those guys that was just like, you would see him. And you're like, Ooh, I shouldn't be in this alleyway alone with him. And like, go the other way. Like you just had this. He was a, he lived life, a little rougher than I had. And I was just totally judging him by his outward appearance. And then he, I was like, Hey Mike, how'd you come to the Lord? What, what brought you to the Lord? He began to tell me his story. And his story was like, he'd been raised since seven or eight on the streets by himself. Both of his parents had been druggies. 5 (34m 39s): They both abandoned him. He'd he basically been raised by a biker gang, was jail in and out of jails in and out of prison, drugs, alcohol, you just name it? He'd he'd done it. I remember him tell me that. And in my head I'm like, Aw, man, he really needed Jesus. He, he really needed Jesus. And I was pointing the finger at him in my mind saying he really needed Jesus. And it was one of those times, the few times in my life where I felt like the Lord really spoke, speak to me in my head. And he's like, Jeremy, you as a little child needed me just as much as he needed. My sin is just as greatest as him and I at that moment, man, in my head, I just, Lord, I repent and dust Nash as I am sorry for those thoughts for judging my sin against him, because Jesus is going to leak. 5 (35m 33s): Now, forgive us, our sins with, for we also everyone who is indebted to us, it's a hard, right? It's a command. Forgive everyone who is indebted to us, but yet it's a command, but it's a call to action. It's how we effectively live out the gospel. If we're saying, if we're living out the gospel saying I've been forgiven of my sin, but I can't forgive you of your sin. Then that means the truth is not in us. The truth that we have been forgiven, Matthew 18 gives us an amazing parable. That constantly comes to my head. 5 (36m 13s): Peter asked Jesus. He said, Hey Jesus, how many times should I forgive my brother? How many times should I forget my brother? And, and now Peter says like seven times, right? Seven. That's pretty good. If I get my brother, forgive my brother seven times, that's good. Right? And Jesus is like, no, no, no. 70 times seven as in 490 times, like, I don't think Jesus meant exactly four nine, but just like you can't keep track, keep forgiving. And Jesus then gives a parable which speaks into that. He says Matthew 18 verse 23. It says, therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 5 (36m 53s): And the first servant came and, and he owed a debt. The king said, Hey, you need to come pay this debt. And it was a T a debt of 10,000 talents. And the man says, oh, please, please forgive me. I'll pay it back. Whatever I can do. The king said, you know what? I'm, I'm going to go ahead and forgive you that complete debt, 10,000 talents wiped off your record. And so that, that first serving then leaves the presence of the king having just been forgiven. And he goes out and he finds another servant, a certain, this servant owed him a hundred denari. And that man, that man said, the first servant says, Hey, you need to pay me. And the guy's like, I can't, I'll pay you back. Just give me time. Oh no, no, no. You're going to get thrown into prison. 5 (37m 34s): And he just throws him into prison. Well, the king finds out and this is what he says. When the king found out how the first servant had dealt with a second, he said, then his master, after he hit F he called him and said to him, you wicked servant you forgave. I sorry, you WCA, sir. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you. Some of this is lost in translation because we don't understand what a talent is. We don't understand what a Dinara is. So let me break it down. 10,000 talents. One talent is equal to 6,000 deniera. 5 (38m 14s): That was about the rate of conversion. A Dinair. I was a day's labor. So what Jesus was saying was this in this parable is this, this first servant owed six 60 million days of labor, roughly 200,000 years worth of labor. You owe me. So on the conservative side at $15 an hour, 8, 8, 8 hours a day, that's $120 per day on the conservative side. That's $7.2 billion at the first servant had been, had been forgiven enough, $7.2 billion. I mean, what's he doing building towers in New York, some $0.2 billion. 5 (38m 58s): How did he even rack that? We don't know, but Jesus is speaking of this insurmountable debt that this first servant owes and what is the second servant O to the F to that first about $12,000 debt, but 7.2 billion compared with 12, not even close Jesus, isn't minimizing the debt that others do. When we, when we sin against others, he's not minimized, not he's not sweeping under the rug. He's just comparing it to the debt that we have been forgiven. Our sin against God is always greater and holding onto the sins of others against us and forgiven our debt that has been forgiven. 5 (39m 41s): It's the evidence of our faith of living out the gospel. When we forgive others, we're living out the gospel. We're saying, Jesus deal with me. As I have dealt with others and lead us, not into temptation, it's a stranger requests. You know, why, why ask Lord not lead us into temptation. God doesn't want us to sin. So why would we pray for protection from that? Well, maybe we could say it this way. Keep me from sin and its power. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness after 40 days. And he was 40 days of fasting. 5 (40m 22s): 40 days of not eating. And Satan came with him and said, Hey, turn this stone into bread. You can do that. You have the power, but yet Jesus responds with scripture. He said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, Psalm one 19 would say your word. I've hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against. You. See, God knows our frame that we're made of, but dust, he knows our weaknesses. Jesus, as the high priest was tempted in all things yet remained righteous. First Corinthians 10 verse 13 says this, no temptation has overtaken you, except that is common to man. 5 (41m 3s): But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you need be able to bear. It. There's a man who was watching TV and he lived in the south as well. And he was watching the TV. And you saw on the news that there was a hurricane approaching. It was kind of aimed right at him. And he sees this hurricane on the TVs like, Ooh, this is scary. He's like, okay, Lord, I'm going to pray, Lord, please save me from this hurricane. Well, here's honk outside of the door. And he opens the door and his friends and in his pickup and he said, Hey, there's a hurricane coming. Get in the truck. We're going to go, you know, go up north. And the guy's like, no, no, no. 5 (41m 44s): It's okay. G God's going to save me. Guy drives off. Later on. As the water begins to rise, his house is surrounded by water. The storms kind of come in through a guy that comes up in a boat motors in a little motorboat. He comes up to the guy's porch and said, Hey, get in, get in. I'll I'll save you. The guy's like, no, no, no, God, God's going to save me. It's okay. Find the water rose. So high that he's on top of the roof. And he's up there on top of the roof, just surrounded by water. And a helicopter comes, hovering by and the guy says, can we help you? Can we save you? He's like, no, no God's gonna save me. It's okay. 5 (42m 25s): Well, the guy dies, right? The water kept rising. The guy dies and he goes to heaven. He says, God, why didn't you save me? God's like, I sent you a pickup truck. I sent you a boat and a helicopter. God is in the business of rescue his kid. I love it. How often when we were attempted by sin, a thought, a call from your aunt Thelma that you haven't heard from in a years, an alert on your phone, a Bible verse that pops in your head. There's always these little things. He's a little out to the God provides to walk away from these temptations and to deliver us from the evil, but deliver us from the evil one. 5 (43m 6s): For, we have an enemy in the Bible as the power and God has the power to deliver us. First, Peter five says this, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon him for, he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that those same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. What it would have been like what the world would have been like if Adam and Eve had simply hearing the temptation of the serpent had just cried out to Lord, Lord help us. 5 (43m 49s): Is this true Lord? What, how different would the world be? Or now they hadn't eaten of that, that tree that they shouldn't have consequences of sin have rectal world. So deliver us from the evil one. Well, in a fusion six, we're told to put on the full armor of God. And these there's, there's a number of different things that we're told to put on. Don't just put on the partial arm of God, put on the full armor of God. And how do we do that? Well, we do that by walking those things out for the belt of truth, that's GERD around our waist. When we walk in truth, then the truth of the belt of truth is put on us. 5 (44m 31s): The full of God begins to put on us. Or what about going into the full promises of what God has for us? I liken it to this. There was as, as the nation of Israel was crossing over the Jordan and going to go into now, the promised land that God had been had had set aside for them. Moses had passed away. Josh was turned to lead the nation. Now over the Jordan and into the promised land, there was battles to be fought. There. There was things that were going to have to happen, but yet God was calling them into that. And there was two and a half tribes that decided to stay out the Reuben GAD in the half trapper tribe of Manasseh. They looked at the land on the east of the Jordan. 5 (45m 11s): They said, no, this is okay. This is a good place for us to lay. We there's a lot of good land for a cattle. We'll be okay. We don't need to cross over. And that was offensive to everyone else. I mean, they wanted to like wipe those tribes out in a minute instantly, but they said this, that this was what they decided, what they came up with. Okay. You guys can have that land on the east side of the Jordan. But what we need you to do is we need to send your, your, your soldiers across to fight the battles. We want you to continue coming to the feast once a year, because you're part of our tribe. You're part of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is the called nation. They did that. They kept their peace, but they stayed there on the, on the east side of the Jordan. And you know what? 5 (45m 52s): They were the first to fall into pagan worship. And they were eventually the first tribes of Israel to be captured by the Syrian army. They didn't enter into the fullness of what God had called them into. And they were picked off for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. See the kingdom, the power and the glory all belongs to the Lord, not to us. And I like this one when my old pastor said, Ricky Ryan said in the ministry, there's three things you don't touch. And he was talking to a few of us, pastors, three things, you don't touch, you don't touch the gold. You don't touch the gals and you don't touch the glory. 5 (46m 34s): Those don't belong to you in the ministry. And God is saying in my kingdom, we have to remember that this is God's kingdom. It's his power and his glory. We just get to join with him in our prayers, fewer to go win an R. If you were to go in an archery contest and you were to win that contest and you were to be one of the people to stand up on the podium and there would appraise you. It wouldn't be the bow and arrow that was on the, on the podium. It would be the Archer, the bow and arrow are the tools by which they won the contest. But the Archer is the one who did the work. And that's what I want to be. I want to be a tool in the hand of a living. 5 (47m 15s): God, I want him to bring about through me, his will and his purpose in his kingdom. So before we have our communion time, I'm going to have Tyler come up and give his, but nine times in these verses, it's our us in a, we it's the collective it's we as a body of Christ, we live and we grow in community and connection with the body of Christ. So Tyler's gonna come up and he's gonna talk about his time at youth group. 8 (47m 53s): Good morning. It's still morning. Okay. So I'm Tyler. , I've been coming to harvest since I was in like kindergarten and I'm a senior now. So been here a little bit, but I joined the youth group back in 2015. So I've been in youth group for like six years and it's changed my life dramatically. It's one of the most essential parts of, I'd say my spiritual growth and a big part of that is, is the fellowship. And I love that my friends will hold me accountable for things. One of my good friends came up after first service and he goes, you did great, good job. 8 (48m 33s): You said I'm 39 times. So I am going to try and say less. Don't know if that's going to be possible. Gregor's holding up. I've already said it twice. I had it again. But yeah, the, the community of, of our youth group is amazing. And throughout my youth group experience, I've had a lot of friends come in and unfortunately walk away from the faith because they didn't. Yes. Again, they didn't grow in that community. And they started hanging out with the wrong people who had the wrong influences and now looking at where they are in their lives. 8 (49m 16s): It's, it's really sad and hard for me to see the pain and the struggles that they're going through, just because they didn't bond with their friends. They didn't have that value for, for the community that our youth group has made. So fundamental. So with that, our youth group, now we meet every Wednesday. It's amazing people live paycheck to paycheck. I live Wednesday night to Wednesday night, like, okay, I just got to make it to Wednesday. If I can make it to Wednesday, I'm going to be good. And it's amazing. It's such a good spiritual recharge. It's you're seeing your friends. You're worshiping together. You're checking in on each other. 8 (49m 56s): The staff is amazing. The volunteers, they just, they love us so much. They care about us. They are always willing to pray for me with whatever I'm need prayer for. If things are going wrong, they're always willing to talk. It's amazing. It's really a helpful, if you are having just a rough day, I've called Jeremy multiple times with just random things. And he's always willing to talk. He's always there for me. And just knowing that I've got people to back me up as, as I walked through, this is amazing. So one of the things that kind of struggle with is pride. 8 (50m 40s): I've got a big ego and this, this fellowship as our youth group has grown and grown. We started with 15 and now some we've got, had like 70 plus kids a night. I've been praying like God helped me with my pride, helped me, you know, realize I'm not the best. What happens when you get 70 kids in a room that all have different skills is you're not the best at anything. Really. Nathan Thomas, one of my best buds, I used to be a cross country runner. I, there's no way I can run as fast as him. He can do a 5k in under 17 minutes and the worship team. I don't have any musical talents. 8 (51m 21s): I can't do what they do. And so there's all these little things that are just so humbling and so great for me to grow spiritually. Okay. How, how can I get better, Lord? What, what do you want, what are you calling me to do? I can't do what they wanted they'd can do. I kind of want to do that cause that's really cool. Can you help me to do that? Okay. That's not for me again. What do you want me to do? And just kind of finding who I am in him and walking with him the entire time is just, it's amazing. And the, like I said, the staff, the fellowship of the other, the other youth kids has just really blessed me and shaped me into who I am today. 8 (52m 4s): And I plan on staying on that path as long as I can till I die. Hopefully. But yeah. Thank you for letting me stand up here and talk about my experience with youth group. If you guys are looking for youth group or, you know, someone who needs to join youth group, send them to harvest. It's amazing. It'll it'll change their lives. It surely changed mine. So handing it back off to Jeremy. 5 (52m 37s): So, so within that living and growing and community, we're going to take our community. Now we'll take out our cuffs. We're what we're going to do yet. Before we open it fully is, is, is we're gonna actually have a time of worship. And during this time of worship, what I'm asking us to do is examine our hearts and our minds. It's a time where Jesus was examined before he died for his perfect atoning death. And, and it's time for us to look at before we take of communion to look at our own lives and look, look inward. So I'll read this from Corinthians and then the band will come up and do a worship song. 5 (53m 17s): First Corinthians 11 verse 27 says this, therefore, whoever eats of this bread and drinks of this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, but let a man examine himself. And so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup for you, eats and drinks in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body for this reason. Many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. Let's take time, Lord, this song to confess and maybe release forgiveness to others as well. I'll pray or thank you for this time. For this morning, Lord, I pray that we would be able to do business with you and maybe release the debt of others in our own hearts, Lord, that we might be free to just run the full res for the two you have set before us, Lord, we thank you for what you did on the cross you're sinless life for our sinful lives, or because you were died and rose again, we know that we can walk in that life as well. 5 (54m 24s): We can have victory over these things. Lord, thank you for this time. Lord, just help us to examine, bring anything to the surface that needs to be, be given up Lord in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. 4 (54m 43s): Thank you, Jenny. We're going to invite you guys to stand up with us and worship 5 (58m 29s): First received from the Lord. That which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus and the same night in which he was betrayed, he took the bread, which he had given. He gave thanks and he broke it. He said, take this. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let's eat the bread together, The same manner. He also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this. As often as you drink in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat of the bread and drink of this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes partake together. 5 (59m 23s): You close with me with a prayer. Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom, come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread and forgive us our sins. As we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us, lead us, not into temptation temptation, but deliver us from the evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you. Service

Hey Jesus! Who Do You Think You Are?

FBC Benicia

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2021 37:50

Big Idea: Jesus is the unique son of his Father, foreseen by Abraham, and God himself. Title: Hey Jesus! Who Do You Think You Are? Purpose: To help us see from John 8 who Jesus claimed to be.

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Jesus is the Light

First15 Devotional

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2021 9:35

As we learn this week of the light of God, today we'll look to Jesus who is the Light. What does this mean about the Lord? And what does this mean for us personally? May our eyes behold him today, as we search out the source of goodness, beauty and holiness. May our hearts grow in wonder, worship and awe. And may our lives be forever transformed at the sight of him. Our Scripture for today comes from Isaiah 60:20, and today's worship is Hey Jesus by Elyssa Smith (feat. Steffany Gretzinger). Check out our Worship for the Weekday playlist on Spotify! ______ Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out? Something needs to change! So, we're launching the First15 Digital Retreat to help address the challenges we face in connecting with God in this frenetic cultural moment. When we look to Jesus, we see this exciting, life-giving invitation: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.” –Matthew 11:28 MSG Through the First15 Digital Retreat, you will make space to come, rest, and recover. Join us and speakers like Craig Denison, Aaron Niequist, Strahan Coleman, Charaia Callabrass, Ashley Abercrombie, and several more, as well like worship by First15 Worship artists like Nikki Moltz and Rachel Denison. Register today for this digital First15 Retreat at www.first15retreat.org, and get your tickets today!

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Ep. 126 - Trey Pearson "Love Is Love"

The Deconstructionists

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2021 64:59

Guest Info/Bio:This week I welcome a long overdue guest, Trey Pearson! Trey is best known as the lead singer of the popular band Everyday Sunday and current solo artist. We talk about Trey's experience with coming out publicly in 2016, the pressure of being known as a “Christian” artist, the church's treatment of the LGBTQ+ community, and much more. Guest Links:www.treypearson.com Twitter: @treypearson Facebook: @treypearsonInstagram: @treypearson Special guest music on this episode provide by: Trey Pearson Enjoy the music?Songs heard on this episode were the singles, “Love is Love, The Good Grief, & Hey Jesus” from the album, Love Is Love and the new single, “Don't Dance 2.1” You can find Trey's music on iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, or anywhere good music is found!This episode of the Deconstructionists Podcast was edited by John Williamson and mixed and produced by Nicholas Rowe at National Audio Preservation Society: A full service recording studio and creative habitat, located in Heath, Ohio. Find them on Facebook and Twitter or visit their website for more information: www.nationalaudiopreservationsociety.weebly.com Stay on top of all of the latest at www.thedeconstructionists.com Go there to check out our blog, snag a t-shirt, or follow us on social mediaJoin our Patreon family here: www.patreon.com/deconstructionists Website by Ryan BattlesAll photos by Jared HevronLogos designed by Joseph Ernst & Stephen PfluigT-shirt designs by Joseph Ernst, Chad Flannigan, Colin Rigsby, and Jason Turner. Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-deconstructionists/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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Fronleichnam - Theologin: Hey, Jesus ist mitten in unserem Leben

Hielscher oder Haase - Deutschlandfunk Nova

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2021 5:16

Halb Deutschland feiert irgendwas mit Jesus. Was genau und wie erklärt die katholische Theologin Jacqueline Straub.

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4-18-21 Sermon, Pastor Kellie Whitlock

RGPC Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2021 21:57

Full service video: https://youtu.be/Bm5RPn1t7co The third Sunday of Easter where we ask the question, "Hey Jesus! Easter's Over - Now What?" Bulletin: https://www.dropbox.com/s/y6hfitb248ieofb/April%2018%20Bulletin.pdf?dl=0

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Easter 2021 - "Hey, Jesus..."

Motion Church

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2021 43:45

To help us better understand what Easter is all about, we ask and answer some questions surrounding it.

Next Gen Prophets with Craig and Colette Toach

The 4 Phases of Intercession - Build an Indestructible Prayer Wall (Ep. 33)

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2021 20:01

What is the difference between prayer and intercession? Technically, when you say “Hey Jesus!”, that's prayer! Yet, if you really want to get your hands dirty, and work side by side next to Him building the kingdom of heaven together, you are going to need to know these 4 phases of intercession. Begin construction today, in this episode, with Apostle Colette Toach. Get Connected With Apostles Craig and Colette Toach Follow Us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ToachMinistries/ Visit Our Website. Learn More About TMI: ToachMinistries.com Join the Ranks of NextGen Prophets in Training: Prophetic-School.com

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The 4 Phases of Intercession - Build an Indestructible Prayer Wall (Ep. 33)

Next Gen Prophets with Craig and Colette Toach

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2021 20:01

What is the difference between prayer and intercession? Technically, when you say “Hey Jesus!”, that's prayer! Yet, if you really want to get your hands dirty, and work side by side next to Him building the kingdom of heaven together, you are going to need to know these 4 phases of intercession. Begin construction today, in this episode, with Apostle Colette Toach. Get Connected with Apostles Craig and Colette Toach Follow Us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/ToachMinistries/ Visit Our Website. Learn More about TMI: ToachMinistries.com Join the Ranks of Next Gen Prophets in Training! Prophetic-School.com

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Where Our Strength Comes From

My Morning Devotional

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 5, 2021 6:20

Join me, Alison Elizabeth as we read out of Colossians 1:11 which says " being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience""This verse today solidifies a truth that I talk about in the book. The source of our strength is God himself. Our strength gives us endurance and patience. It's what allows us to become disciplined. It allows us to keep going when we don't want to. Why? Well because the habits we are trying to form, they start with our identity and our identity is in Christ.If he is the source of our strength, we know we have a never ending supply of strength. God doesn't get tired. He doesn't take a break. He is always there. He isn't emotional, or moody. He doesn't feel like supplying us with strength on January 1st and then runs out of strength on January 18th. The best part of this verse is that we are being strength according to him, so that you may have great endurance. Meaning when we get tired, all we have to say is “Hey Jesus, I need more strength to get through this mental block, to get though this relational block, to get through this physical block, to get through this spiritual block. When we realize our strength comes from him, we can walk into a life where our endurance is on his doing, not on our doing. This could truly be your year, when you understand that he is the source of our strength meaning we don't have to do this alone."

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Answer Me!

Daily Reflections of a Beloved Son

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2020 2:04

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary TimeHow do you pray? When I begin to pray, I usually start with “Hey Jesus. How are you?” Then I thank Him and ask Him for the graces and things I need. However, sometimes my prayer can seem to formal. When facing the followers of a foreign god, Elijah wanted to show them that there is only One God, and so he asked them to ask their god to send down fire for the offering. No matter how much they called and asked, no fire came. And so Elijah turned to heaven and asked the Lord to send down fire so that those present would come to know and believe in the One True God. Elijah prayed and said “Answer me, Lord!” And guess what? God sent down fire. Click here for today's readings.

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Hey, Jesus, You're breathing on me (Apr. 19, 2020)

DaySpring Community Church

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2020 43:09

From the DaySpring Community Church, pastor Matt Friedeman preaches today’s sermon from John 20, as part of the Counting up to Pentecost sermon series.

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Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Corona of Thorns

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2020 14:39

"Hey Jesus, come and cure my son." ... "Trust me, I got this!" --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/peter-zwaans/message

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Hey, Jesus #3: Lucas y la puerta fantasma.

Iglesia Red TLX

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 16, 2020 29:01

Solo existen 4 libros que nos describen la obra de Jesús, que incluyen toda la historia, milagros y agenda teológica del The One. Fueron escritos por 4 hombres, únicos, cercanos, que vivieron la revolución del reino desde adentro. El mejor cuarteto que ha existido, sus composiciones, su lucha social sigue resonando en la iglesia alrededor del mundo.

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Hey, Jesus #1: Marcos y el reino contraataca.

Iglesia Red TLX

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 2, 2020 29:56

Solo existen 4 libros que nos describen la obra de Jesús, que incluyen toda la historia, milagros y agenda teológica del The One. Fueron escritos por 4 hombres, únicos, cercanos, que vivieron la revolución del reino desde adentro. El mejor cuarteto que ha existido, sus composiciones, su lucha social sigue resonando en la iglesia alrededor del mundo.

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January 15, 2020 | Hey, Jesus! | Pastor Alex Wilson

New Life Kingman

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 5, 2020 40:34

Wednesday Evening Service

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16-12-2019 Hey Jesus, show us your ID! - 10 Minutes with Jesus

10 Minutes with Jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 15, 2019 9:59

#10MinuteswithJesus** Put yourself in the presence of God. Try talking to Him.** 10 minutes are 10 minutes even if you can get distracted, reach the end.** Be constant. The Holy Spirit acts "on low heat" and requires perseverance.10-Minute audios, to help you pray.Daily sparks to ignite prayer: a passage from the gospel, an idea, an anecdote and a priest who speaks with you and with the Lord inviting you to share your intimacy with God.Find your moment, consider you are in His presence and click play.All the information is on our website: www.10minuteswithjesus.orgTo receive your meditation every day, click here:WhatsApp: http://dozz.es/j3wnlApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/10-minutes-whith-jesus/id1477350613?l=enTelegram: https://t.me/tenminuteswithjesusiVoox: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-10-minutes-with-jesus_sq_f1744292_1.htmlYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsZttEgez26FgDqCO_s3tmqeKq7Pmlkr

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16-12-2019 Hey Jesus, show us your ID! - 10 Minutes with Jesus

10 Minutes with Jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 15, 2019 9:59

#10MinuteswithJesus** Put yourself in the presence of God. Try talking to Him.** 10 minutes are 10 minutes even if you can get distracted, reach the end.** Be constant. The Holy Spirit acts "on low heat" and requires perseverance.10-Minute audios, to help you pray.Daily sparks to ignite prayer: a passage from the gospel, an idea, an anecdote and a priest who speaks with you and with the Lord inviting you to share your intimacy with God.Find your moment, consider you are in His presence and click play.All the information is on our website: www.10minuteswithjesus.orgTo receive your meditation every day, click here:WhatsApp: http://dozz.es/j3wnlApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/10-minutes-whith-jesus/id1477350613?l=enTelegram: https://t.me/tenminuteswithjesusiVoox: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-10-minutes-with-jesus_sq_f1744292_1.htmlYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsZttEgez26FgDqCO_s3tmqeKq7Pmlkr

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Hey Jesus, what about vengeance?

Central Church Messages

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2019

jesus christ vengeance hey jesus

Hey Jesus, what about vengeance?

Central Church Messages

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 20, 2019 47:19

jesus christ vengeance hey jesus

Hey Jesus, what do you think of people with different sexualities and lifestyles?

Providence City Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2019 31:04

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Hey Jesus, why do you tell me to pray, but then don't answer my prayers?

Providence City Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 14, 2019 29:48

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Hey Jesus, if God made the world and loves it, why is there evil and suffering?

Providence City Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 7, 2019 28:04

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LLP111: Busy Mom’s Guide to Fitting In Fitness with Dr. Slyvia Bollie

Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2019 63:48

Fitting In Fitness & Healthy Eating... On this week's episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry we have a return guest from episode 93, Dr. Slyvia Gonsahn-Bollie. She is America's Favorite Obesity Doctor and she comes back for a second time to help our busy women especially moms in the Lunch and Learn Community just how to fit health and fitness into their busy schedule. This episode should serve as the busy mom's guide to get over the hump of losing weight and staying on their fitness journey. The conversation follows the trend of our initial one where we focus on many of the obstacles that these busy women face when dealing with trying to juggle working, taking care of families and having little time to actually take care of themselves. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and share the episode with a friend or family member. Listen on Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, iHeartRadio, Spotify Sponsors: Lunch and Learn Community Online Store (code Empower10) Pierre Medical Consulting (If you are looking to expand your social reach and make your process automated then Pierre Medical Consulting is for you) Dr. Pierre's Resources - These are some of the tools I use to become successful using social media Links/Resources: Official website – www.drsylviagbollie.com Twitter – www.twitter.com/fittmd Facebook – www.facebook.com/fittmd Instagram – www.instagram.com/fittmd Social Links: Join the lunch and learn community – https://www.drberrypierre.com/joinlunchlearnpod Follow the podcast on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/lunchlearnpod Follow the podcast on twitter – http://www.twitter.com/lunchlearnpod – use the hashtag #LunchLearnPod if you have any questions, comments or requests for the podcast For More Episodes of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry Podcasts https://www.drberrypierre.com/lunchlearnpodcast/ If you are looking to help the show out Leave a Five Star Review on Apple Podcast because your ratings and reviews are what is going to make this show so much better Share a screenshot of the podcast episode on all of your favorite social media outlets & tag me or add the hashtag.#lunchlearnpod Download Episode 111 Transcript Episode 111 Transcript.. Introduction Dr. Berry: And welcome to another episode of the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. I’m your host, Dr. Berry Pierre, your favorite Board Certified Internist. Founder of drberrypierre.com, as well as the host of Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. Bring you another amazing episode with Dr. Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie who is, if you remember that name is actually a repeat guest of ours. I was very fortunate enough to get her back on a second time because I know she's crazy busy, but I was able to get it back because I had a lot of feedback from her previous episode, which was episode 93. If you're unfamiliar or if you just a new subscriber since the last time she was on. And she talked about obesity, obesity-related medicine, and gave us a lot of tips on how to kind of get us and keep us on our new year's resolutions, especially because a lot of them tend to fall under the wanting to lose weight category. So we got her back and again, I got a question from Lunch and Learn community. Well, Dr. Berry, I'm a busy mom. I work, I take care of the kids, I take care of my family. I really don't have the time to be healthy. Like what can I do? And that's where, you know what I said, I could've given her some tips, right? I could have given her some tips. They probably wouldn't have been the best. But I say good. If I'm going to talk about weight loss tips and especially for my busy moms out there, why not bring America's obesity specialist to talk to us, to educate us, to really get us on the right path. So this episode is going to be for the busy moms out there who have way too many responsibilities, way too many things to do and unfortunately that happens, right? And we all know is that the health tends to fall by the wayside, right? Like usually you have to take care of everyone's personal wellbeing and housing and work and everything else tend to happen. And unfortunately our health usually suffers, right? Usually is the case in this standpoint here. So we have Dr. Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie to really educate our busy moms and gives tips on how to stay on our weight journey. Right? And we're going to talk about weight journey a lot because I think, and I loved it because a lot of times we think about weight loss at this point A to point B type of thing. But really what she talks about, she says, no, this is a lifestyle change that you have to like go for the rest of your life, right? So even when you get to that goal weight, you have to understand like you have to keep on going. That’s just the second part, right? We broke it down in parts. Just a second part, just getting to the weight. So quick little bio again, if you had not checked out episode 93 please go back and check out episode 93, so drberrypierre.com/llp093 because it was an amazing guest, especially it was an amazing topic. And again, we're hitting home today with the busy moms. So Dr. Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie to just to kind of give a little quick bio from her. She's a board-certified internal medicine physician. She's an obesity medicine specialist who helps inspire optimal health through honesty and hope. She lost 40 pounds, overcoming emotional eating and physical inactivity. Now she has both personal as well as professional expertise in weight loss as well as weight maintenance. As a working mom herself, a wife and self-professed foodie. She keenly understands the limitations that prevent busy people from achieving their health goals. Dr. Bollie is passionate about helping busy people, especially working women, obtain and maintain a happy and healthy weight. At the end we're going to give you her links to follow her cause she's pretty much on all social media is just like I am. Even in the show notes, you'll have a chance to find where she's at because again, this is a person that you need to follow. She does actually weekly teachings on health and weight loss and again absolutely amazing person. Like I said, I was very fortunate enough to get here a second time around. So again, if you have not had a chance, remember, subscribe to the podcast, leave a five-star review and let her know how great she did on the podcast. Because I tell you, she blew it out of the water. You guys have a great day. Episode Dr. Berry: Alright, Lunch and Learn community, we have a repeat guest on today's episode and definitely one that was, you know, really requested that you guys love for an episode. You know, Dr. Bollie and you know, she's come back, right. You know, I was able to get her to come back for at least one more time. We haven't annoyed it too much and she really going to be talking about the busy mom. Right? And I know I have a lot of Lunch and Learn community listeners who ran into that issue of having to balance their health, their kids' well-being, they spouse well-being and everything, job, everything else. And unfortunately, that health tends to fall at the wayside. So ladies and gentlemen, please again a quick little introduction again and thank you for Dr. Bollie for coming back to the Lunch and Learn with Dr. Berry. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Oh, thank you so much, Dr. Berry. You know, I love being here. You're so wonderful. So thank you for having the back and forth. And I love the lunch and learn community and just the fact that you're spreading this information because it's so important and the diversity and the topics that you're sharing also. So thank you for having me back. Dr. Berry: So for those who, maybe, someone, you know, got a lot of listeners since the last time we talked, right? So just give them a little bit of introduction of who you are. You know, why you're so important and you know why, you know, I was again, fortunate enough to kind of get you for a second time around? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Oh, awesome. Okay. Well, so I am Dr. Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie. I'm board certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine, but I probably should back because you know, we all have this program spill that we do. But I am a wife. I'm a mom, I'm a doctor, I'm a runner, I'm a foodie. So I have many hats and, and, but I'm passionate about helping busy people, especially work for women, obtain and maintain our happy, healthy weight through practical lifestyle interventions. And this for me all kind of started with my own weight loss journey, which began in 2014 late 2014 but I count 2015 as my actual start. That was when I did my first 10 K at trained up to and did it. So I've just sold it five years on my fitness and weight loss journey and I don't even like calling it a weight loss journey and we'll talk about that my weight journey. So I have personal and professional experience with it. I am. When I started this journey, it was about a year and a half after having my first child, my son. For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook or on social media, I have a second child now. I'm five months postpartum. But with my first child, that was when this, what I'm going to talk about today, really hit home for me. You know, I was getting used to being a new mom. I was just finishing up my residency. I was a chief resident of transitioning. So chief resident, which for us is an extra fourth year. And also I'm an attending, so becoming like stepping into my new, into my career. And then I was also just getting used to everything. And so I put everything ahead of me and my health and my weight, even though I was preaching health to other people. Right? So I was 40 pounds overweight at the time my son was one and I kind of held onto that for about a year and a half. So finally it started to impact the way I was counseling patients. I would be like what did you eat for lunch? And then I would hear in my own head, what did you eat for lunch? So exercise, like I would ask the patient, did you exercise it here? I hear the voice, did you exercise? And so I started to feel very convicted about what I was doing. So this, for that reason I started to focus on my own health and prioritize in it. And I started by training for that race of which is the monument, 10k, a popular race here in Richmond, Virginia where I live. And then from then just kept building and building and growing. But it's not easy, you know. So because of that, I know, as I said, it's hard to fit in fitness. It's challenging to make those healthy food choices, especially when you're stress, especially when you're busy. So I know that the journey has to be individualized in some ways. Like we can share in a community in terms of encouraging each other. And there are some general things that theme to it that we can do, but you really have to address your own individual journey to try to be able to fit this in. Dr. Berry: Interesting. We should definitely touch on a few parts. One, I want to highlight that she said this, this is one of her first 10 k's which means she's run multiple, which is absolutely amazing. And you talk about the weight journey. I take care of a lot of patients and now I do inpatient medicine. So I tend to see a lot of the end state stuff when I did inpatient medicine, outpatient medicine, you know. It was always that start right where I used to see a lot of at the beginning. And I think they were mentally at the point where they're saying doc like I'm ready to lose some weight, but I didn't necessarily know how. And I think a lot of times it was that population of those moms, those women who were busy lifting. Like again, it is not like they weren't doing anything. Life was just happening all around them and whether it be work, whether it be school or whether taking care of kids, whether be taken care of their family. Unfortunately, the health guy left on the back burner. So when you talk about your personal weight journey, was it like, were those patients the big like kind of step that's a, you know what I gotta do something because I like how can I keep looking at my patients over and over and over again and tell them exactly what they need to do to lose weight, but I'm not personally following it myself. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Definitely. I mean, because, you know, as I've mentioned, I think in the last podcast. There’s a study out there that shows that physicians who are overweight or have obesity are less likely to counsel their patients on it. And I think for me personally, I started to feel that I understand that because I almost felt like a hypocrite, you know, talking to people about what they were doing and I was not doing it and live in it. So once I noticed that it was starting to, it had gotten to the point that I felt it was starting to impact the way I was able to deliver care, especially to a set population of patients that really needed the care. Then I said, okay, it's time for me to reevaluate it. And I think for me personally, how and why it was helpful, it really improved by empathy, right? Because there's something different. And we all know this, we were both parents. So you know, there's different from book learning. Like there's these we would say by the book, but as a parent, but once you have your own child, you're like, and you see the nuances, oh, maybe I can't do that. Maybe an extra 30 minutes of screen time is okay today. Yeah, that's it. That's just what it boils down to. So that's what I think happened. And so what I realized that I had to do was to number one, stop just telling people what to do and think about why and so, and think about what I was doing in that let me be able to help to empathize and to better help people. So the first step really was as stop beating myself up and being very negative because you know, I was sending these lots of the goals that weren't really attainable for a person who had eight then a 16-month-old child and also had a busy professional husband and had a lot and was working full time. So maybe really saying that I need to work out 30 minutes every day, wasn't going to happen initially in the beginning or saying that I should eat, you know, go from drinking soda to drink and water every day. That was going to be challenging because you've got to get acclimated to that decrease in and that's on many levels, not just psychologically, but also physiologically. Your body just used to a certain level of sweetness and you got to tone it down so you're able to tolerate the regular water - clean water. I get used to drinking water. Dr. Berry: I get used to, sometimes I look at juice now and it looks so good. Get Back. (Yeah.) Now the goals were, were there goals that you know we're kind of placed upon you? Like people thought like, well, you should be able to do 30 minutes every day. You should just cold turkey drink juice. Was those like just kind of like outside goals, kind of waited upon you? Where those kinds of like internalized in yourself and then you kind of realize this is not a successful route if I continue to try to go this way? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Yeah, well I think, you know, we have guidelines right? As, as physicians and a dietician’s health community, so their guidelines set, right? So the American Heart Association recommends that we get 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week. So that's two and a half hours of exercise per week and moderate being that you can move without sinking. So like while you're jogging, while you're walking, you're moving fast enough that you're not sinking or an hour and a half of vigorous exercise, which is moving fast and if we can't talk while you exercise. So that's the American heart association guidelines. So that, of course, is what I would strive for because that's when I'm counseling my patients on it. Now the dietary guidelines are controversial for people. There are people you know who don't believe in me, don't believe in dairy, things like that. Personally, I feel like the literature really supports more of a Mediterranean diet and as close to the plant-based as you can be, which is hard because I do love my chicken. I love chicken. So unapologetically I'll try it. So, but you know, so my goal was to really minimize, I don't eat red meat or pork since I was since age 15 so that wasn't hard for me. But kind of back on like chicken, fried foods, things like that, and trying to eat as clean as possible, which is minimizing process foods. So those were my goals based on all the data and all the things that I've seen about eating a healthy diet. So that, and for me, the big one was sugar like and is still cutting down on sugar because when I'm stressed I tend to eat a lot of sugar. And that's again very physiological thing because those high levels of cortisol make you want to eat more sugar. Dr. Berry: No stress like a mom. No, no, no. No stress. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: So that's where I feel a lot of pressure came from because I knew the guidelines, I know what I'm supposed to do, but you know, there's a gap between what I'm doing and what I need to do. Dr. Berry: So when you were making the mental transition even before you made the leap, like physically as far as stopping doing things and you know, working out more, what was the support system like? Because I feel when I talked to the moms out there, a lot of times they feel like it's on their own. And they feel because it's on their own, that's what makes it more difficult than not to even start and if they do start to continue. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Exactly. Well, I'm glad you talked about it. So let me characterize this. What would I call the person then? Then we'll get the "not answer that question because I do want to talk about what I called this busy woman syndrome". That's what I call it syndrome. Or for those people who are in the church also known as Martha Syndrome. So people who are familiar with the Bible and things like that. So if you are not familiar with the Bible, I'll tell you real quick. So it's a story about two sisters, Mary and Martha and Jesus comes to visit and this is paraphrased of course. Jesus comes to visit their house and you know, Martha is all busy. She's in the kitchen, she's cooking, she's cleaning up their house, she's just all over the place busy. Really what I would be doing. Mary meanwhile is the chill sister. She's chilling, seat by the Jesus at his feet, just like enjoying the moment. And Martha comes out. It just like I could see myself doing it. It's like, Hey Jesus, like tell Mary to get some business about herself. Tell her to come and help me. Let's get ready. Do something. And instead of reprimanding Mary as you would expect, Jesus actually says, Martha, you are concerned about many things. Meaning you got way too much going on. Mary has chosen the most important thing, which is to just be present at the moment, to enjoy the moment and to spend time meaningfully with people she loves. So I think this is a perfect picture of kind of how we are. We put a lot on ourselves and some of it, yes it's true, we must do it. I mean we have to work, have to cook, like all these things. But there's a time and a place where we can actually, where we feel like we need to be doing something where we can take a break and sit down and be present in the moment. And I think when it comes to health, we have to carve out those moments where we can sit and be present and say, I'm going to prioritize my health. Whether that moment is eating something healthy or making a healthier choice or is actually going out and exercising and doing something for a few minutes for ourselves. Dr. Berry: More than Mary, less than Martha. I love it. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: So now, you asked the question on what was the support system like? So that's why I kind of bring out too. For me, I'm a person of faith. So I think a lot of times when we think about like our health journey or weight journey in general, and again getting back to this concept of weight be, and we can talk about Dr. Berry at the end, may be about, it'll be in a weight journey and not just a weight loss journey because too often we focus on that weight loss. And once we get to that weight loss is like, Oh, I lost the weight and let me go back to eat and what I eat and you know, and you regain all the weight and you're back on another weight loss journey. So I really want to shift our mindset to it being a weight journey where that includes the weight loss, the weight maintenance and everything where we're doing it. So for the weight journey, it's so important not to do it in a vacuum. For me, I followed the philosophy of faith, family, friends, fitness, and food. So I like alliteration. So all those F's. So, but faith is the basis of thinking about it. You know, really for me Biblically, what does the Bible say about health and taking care of our bodies and being able to stay healthy and using that as a support in that some people who are a part of a faith community, maybe your church or synagogue or your mosque, it has some resources that you can use to build into that. So if faith is important to you, don't exclude that from the journey of your fitness journey. So that's one of the things. So it's creating support with what we already have versus looking at it. Now, and that's, you know, probably more of the touchy-feely time. For me on my fitness journey, I would say friends were important. I have a very good friend and she to me was the key to unlocking my weight loss journey. And to be perfectly honest, because I am such a perfectionist, I can be very hard on myself. So you know, I'm like, oh, I didn't make that 30 minutes. I didn't get two and a half hours, this and this and that. And so one day I was talking to her about how frustrated I was about losing weight and my fitness journey and she just stopped me and she was like, be nice to Sylvia. I like her about her saying that just like it hit me. I'm like, yeah be nice. Because when you're kind to yourself, you're not holding or nice to yourself or to anyone. Be nice. Because most women were very caring and will help people. We're not going to be, you know, a kid comes to you and like, you know, mom, I didn't, I wasn't able to get a hundred on my test this week. You're going to be like, that's okay. You got an 89 and it's all right. You'll try harder next time. Let's figure out what we can do to get those grades up or to see why you miss those points. So that same kind of kindness that we would extend to other people, we have to extend to ourselves. So, okay, this week I wasn't able to make it in two and a half hours, but let me look back and realistically think why that was, oh my goodness. You know, it was close to the month. I had to get all those charts and I had to submit on my work at work. There was a lot going on, that was an obstacle. It's not an excuse. It's an obstacle to me getting this work done. So it took me getting that workout in, all right, but now that identified the obstacles, what could I have possibly done to do and instead to get that workout in instead, or what? How could I have set myself up to make better food choices? Okay. I know that it was a week that was filled with PTA meetings, soccer practices, football practices, dance practice, whatever. And so realistically me thinking that I was going to cook dinner every night, didn't it make sense? But maybe instead of us rolling up to a fast food place, I could've just like meal prep and make like chicken. It used some big chicken or some enough food for a day or it could have gone to a healthy place and gotten a family meal pack that we could have actually had two days of leftovers from. So those are the kinds of choices when you're being kind to yourself. So I talked about faith, I talked about family, talked about friends first and then family. So the family is a tricky one, right? (Let’s talk about, yes.) Because sometimes family can actually, it can help or hinder on the weight loss, on the weight journey. Because let's say, and especially for moms, they're like, I hear this all the time, my kids don't like eating that or my husband does not like eating that. And then, and that's true, there's data to support that, right? Actually, for married couples, that data was an in married couples and I'm probably could work for common law couples too, but for married couples that you're more likely to adhere to your diet plan or your healthy eating plan if your spouse is involved with you. And also in the first year, an interesting fact in the first year of marriage, you more likely to gain 50 pounds. So there's a newlywed 50 too for women. Because we start heated up to that. So you know, so having that your partner, your spouse involved with you is so key because it will help. But what do you do if they're not involved? Like for me, I love my husband. He supports me as much as he can, but he has been blessed with a great metabolism. He got a six pack from drinking a six pack of coke. Like he just gets, it just comes naturally. He doesn't have to work out. So he can't really be on this journey with me because he can't get it. So he just eats what he wants to be. Right. I'll ask him, I'm like, can you go get me some fruit bars and then wanting, the one time I asked him for that and then he came back with like a box of Gelato and I'm like, ah, the nutritional content of this is very different like you're not helping me at all. He was like, oh, it's just ice cream. Yeah. Dr. Berry: That's usually what I get. I usually get like, well, my kids don't eat that way. My family members don’t eat that way. Maybe I don't have time to cook two different meals for two different groups of people. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Exactly. Well, what I'll say is don't make it hard for yourself. And that's what I did. So number one, I shifted my mindset rather than say, you know, oh, I don't have them and he's not helping me, or my kids don't want this. I said, okay, well this is another form of mommy me time. I get to eat, mommy gets to eat what she wants to eat, they can eat whatever they want, but this is my me time. This is something I'm doing just for me. I'm going to eat this salad for me. I'm going to eat this kale for me. And that's how it's for me. You know, I'm buying my own personal grocery. Actually, now that are kind of territorial. They're like actually had guests recently and they were eating me, I'm special low carb bread and I was. (The guest bread is over there.) Why are you eating my bread? So yes it does. But that's how I changed my mindset about it. To make it easy on myself, I keep the protein the same, but I kept the carb so we can eat the same protein. So be it chicken, be it turkey, be it fish, I eating it. That's me. You know what I mean? They're not even that. But I keep the protein the same for the most part. And then I keep the vegetables the same. I'm lucky to do, especially my son loves all vegetables, so I keep the vegetables same, but I cut the carb or switch to the carb about. So I’m in a family of big rice eaters, they like a lot of rice. Try to get them to eat brown rice is hard. They like white rice. Dr. Berry: The brown rice talk over here. It doesn't even, I know exactly what that white rice. Family is life. I know that life is life. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: So they're not trying to have that. Sometimes if I get the right brand, like Uncle Ben's friend of brown rice. I can interchange it out, but it has to be the first day, you know, its very thing. So anyway, that being said, I've changed the carb about, so I just do a half a plate of vegetables for myself or I might do cauliflower rice for myself and then they can eat that. And that makes it very easy because then I, or I've put a salad, you know, then that way I'm not fixing to different meals. We're sharing the same protein. We're sharing the same vegetable is only a quick, simple thing that I have to do for myself. Dr. Berry: I love how you talked about having to make them the mindset shift first before the action occurred. Whatever that action is. Cause I think that you know, really slows a lot of moms down. They may know, they may read all that they needed to read and they see all the videos needed to do. And they have that first step really doesn't happen and nothing subsequently is successful. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Well, I have been, you know, practicing now in the past five years. I've seen, I've had what, 15,000 plus patient encounters and I started obesity. Yeah, I know, right? They check this data and I'm a nerd, y'all know, I know this data. So, and then I, you know, and then I started weight loss doing, you know, 40% weight loss exclusively in 2017 and late 2016. So I've seen lots of patients, right. And one of them, and so I can, but I will say when it comes to weight loss, weight management, 90% of it is the mind. It's the mind. Because when you, you know, the old song says free your mind and the rest will follow. Once you make that mind shift, then these things that seemed hard, that seems like it's that were quote-unquote excuses your obstacles, you find a way around them. You find a solution for them but it, so I really, I’m a big proponent, a big advocate of the mind. I recently was working with someone and they wanted me to just like, give them formula. Just give me some exercises, just give me some things and it realistically you don't need me to do that. There are billions of exercises you just go on YouTube. I love to search for it and find new people to do that. There are billions of diets and the data supports the best diet for you is the one that works right? The one that you can stick to. So it really comes down to me helping you change your mindset. And I don't do it alone. So when we talk about the team, the other part of your team is figuring out what those mindsets are. For a lot of my patients that they will end up going to see a therapist or a psychologist because there is deeper than the weight. I always say weight is not just a number, it's a story. There's a story behind what got that person to that weight. And once you unlock that story and figure it out, then both as the physician, both as the clinician but also as them for themselves, then we can figure it out. So sometimes we, they end up needing a psychologist on the team and not just the provider, a physician on their team to help because there's a lot of comorbidities like depression, anxiety, trauma, PTSD. A lot of that is tied into weight as well. Dr. Berry: I know you said you were taking out they were comorbidities that are there. (I know.) Obesity-related. Because I remember the bill. Nope, that was it. So now that you have a team, right? You have your mindset has shifted, right? I'm a busy mom. Right? Like I have mentally made that leap. Right. Then I'm ready. Right. What do I do next? How do I start? And I guess is that, would you say that's the start of their weight journey? Like when does that actually begin? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Yeah, I would say your weight journey starts, once you decide and you make that change that you're ready to do it. No one can force you. No one can talk to you about it. You know, it's almost, I think last time we talked about I make it analogous for those who are in medicine or in healthcare to smoking cessation. Like when you stop smoking, quitting smoking, right? If you've ever been with this smoke grip, to get them to actually quit smoking as a matter what you put on the cigarette pet, where you put on the team, it doesn't matter. So we rate it. We say you're either pre contemplated, meaning you're not even thinking about it. So don't even talk to you, contemplating, you're thinking about it. Got some idea, but you're not ready for action yet. Grant action based and then you're in maintenance and then relapse. And so I treat obesity just like that, which is model for change. That's the formal name of it. So, so when you now are conscious that you've really wanted to change and you're ready to, so you're in the contemplation stage, that's step two. So now you're ready for action and to make the change. So I think yes, the mind shift changes number one, and then ready for action. So I think number one, I tell people to identify, and I can send this to you, the link, I put it on my website, I made a little graph or sheet that kind of follows my weight loss journey. So you'll be able to go directly to her site. Download that. Yes. Dr. Berry: This will be on the show note for Lunch and Learn community so you'll be able to go directly to her site. Download that, mentally. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: So now that you're ready for it and you can write down, you need to write down like acknowledge what are your barriers, what are the obstacles that you face, be it time, be it an unsupportive family. So yeah. So getting started, what I tell you to do is, so address your obstacles and create opportunities. So what I recommend that you do is write down everything that you identify as the obstacle. The common term for it is excuses. People say it's just an excuse. But again, that mindset shift, right? Excuses is a very defeating term. It makes, it puts blame on you. Like I'm not doing something, I'm supposed to do it, but I could be doing it. So I shift it from saying it's not an excuse, it's your life. It's a barrier to what you're trying to do and what you're trying to accomplish it. So instead it's an obstacle. And once you recognize as the obstacle, but that obstacles as opportunities. So now you have an opportunity to change what you're doing. So what I'll do, so like lack of time, for instance, what opportunities can you create for a time in your schedule and give yourself some options. Give yourself A, B, C, even D, E, F. So like for me, when I started back in late 2014, my obstacle time was a huge obstacle because at that time my husband was commuting about two hours a day back and forth. So that when I got home I had to take care of the baby, my little toddler. And that made it hard for me to go to the gym and exercise. Right. So what opportunities can I do? All right, well let me exercise in the morning instead. And how much time, I'm more of a morning person anyway. Let me try to get up earlier and exercise in the morning. Maybe I can get a baby stroller, like a jogging stroller. So I actually got one of those offline. Maybe I can find a gym that has childcare in with it. So I would join the gym with childcare in it. Okay, well sometimes I can't get to the gym. What can I do? Let me do some. I started actually with a rockin' body, so I started with that because actually one of my first obstacles was I didn't like exercising. At least I thought I did exercising. Dr. Berry: Very telling because I think a lot of people don't realize like that's actually alike. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: You have to like it. And that's why when you don't like doing something, you'll find any reason not to do it. So, of course, I don't have time because I don't like it. And what I realized in that, so that's actually a huge, not just a mindset shift, but also a barrier or obstacle. So what I realized is I was trying to force myself to do things I didn't like to do. So when I started with rocky and body, which was just like dancing and I am not a good dancer, but it made me feel like I was so things like do it that way. So I like doing that. It made me feel good, you know, and it has short workouts so it has some as short as 10 minutes and some as long as 45 minutes. Then I started the running, which one of my colleagues that I work with, he's like, oh he actually just turned 60 yeah, we celebrate the 60 but he's 60 years old, but he's been running for years. And he said, yeah, so 30 plus years he's done a Boston marathon, lots of things. So seeing him and just his consistency with it really inspired me. And so that's how it started. A trend for the first 10K that then I did. And because he was doing it and you know, he really motivated me to do it. And then I found I liked running, you know? And so I kept going, kept adding it, have added distance at a distance, did a marathon in 2016 and it kept doing the 10K and did my fifth monuments 10K. This year was my fifth one, four months postpartum. (Congratulation.) Thank you. So, but you don't know what you like to do until you try, you know? Whereas then I have other friends, I have colleagues, they like doing CrossFit, they like doing Hit, they liked doing weightlifting. I don't like doing that stuff. I recognize the value of it. But I know for myself I don't like it. I have to do it because it's good for the strength and aspect of it. So I say figure out what you like cause you may say I hate exercise, I don't like exercise. But really you just haven't found what you like to do. So challenge yourself to find the activity and think about activities you don't consider exercise that you do enjoy doing. Like do you enjoy dancing? Do you enjoy being outdoors? Do you enjoy, because then maybe you can find, uh, some form of exercise, quote-unquote that you enjoy doing too. Dr. Berry: What I love about what you just said, especially cause it's kind of eye-opening, is that a lot of us when we'd say, well, I don't have the time to exercise. Where we're really saying is I don't like that exercise that y'all want me to find time for us. So I'm not going to find time to do it. But once you find something you like, whatever that something is from an exercise standpoint, all of a sudden you'll wake up early in the morning and you'll stay up late at night, you'll squeeze it in during lunch. You'll do things for stuff you like which makes sense. Right? Again, when we got to the food we like, we'll do whatever we got to do for that food. We like, right, when you have an activity we like, we'll do it. We ever have to do. And I think once we hold up that same appraise with an exercise, whatever that exercise is for you, you'll find the time, right? Yeah. Some kids got to go to sleep, right. You know, family guy, you're taking it, you do that time to kind of be by yourself. And I liked that you said maybe you don't have time to go somewhere. Right. Maybe there's some stuff you can do even in your own house to kind of maximize the free time that you do have. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Exactly. And that was another, you brought up a good one. Another barrier, right? Healthy food doesn't taste good to me. Like that was probably, you know, is it, like I said, it's been five years. I forget where I started. Right. We want to front and act as we've been there. I've always been healthy. I've always been on this witness. No, I did not like healthy food when I first started. So that was my first month to set shift for me. It was just like, okay, well how I actually worked around this because I'm a foodie? Both of my parents owned a restaurant when I was a kid. I grew up like just immersed in food. Culture food is a big part of my life, but what I challenged myself with was how can it, rather than saying I don't like, maybe again, I'm not liking the healthy food I'm choosing. Or I'm choosing tasteless food. I'm not applying the same principles of Buddhism to my food, my healthy food. So what I will do is challenged myself to make my healthy food as delicious as possible, but still healthy and to find healthy options when I go out to eat. Because you know, again, being busy, I do have to eat out a lot. I do sometimes some weeks of his very busy. I may not have the time to cook the way I want to, but let me challenge myself to find those restaurants that have healthy options and let me challenge myself when I cooked to make it delicious, healthy, and delicious. Not just something dry or blend because I say I'd want to eat healthy. Don't punish yourself, enjoy what you're eating, but just try to stay within the parameters of making it healthy. Because to me, if you're a good cook, if you're a true foodie, then you can find deliciousness and make deliciousness with anything. Anyone can make it delicious. If you get to put a whole stick of butter in it and half a cup of sugar, but it takes real skill to make, you know, some quinoa delicious or it seemed to make this tofu delicious. So that's what I've been, what I challenged myself to do. And that's kind of how I worked around the barrier of not really finding healthy food at that time appealing. Dr. Berry: When we talk about healthy food, right? Because this is personally, I always run into the issue right? I'm a very visual person with the food and some of the foods that they called healthy I got to ask that question, it's not even a secondary question. Some of the food that they called healthy really don't look good. Like Hey, I haven't even like tasted it yet. But sometimes that mental barrier, they even taste food that's healthier for me it's difficult because I'm, "oh that food doesn't even my...what is that?" And I that's, that's sometimes I get, what am I looking at right here at the hospital and they do this, they always have like a vegetarian section. This thing that it looks like meatballs, but I know for a fact is not a meatball. And then it's almost like hard like a rock. Like it's just like, okay. And that's what always gets me like, and I know that's probably going to get a lot of moms out there, right? Like the food don't look good to us. It's difficult for us to even put it in our mouth to eat. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Exactly. So what I would challenge you to, what I would say to that is you're right then don't eat what does it look good to you? Like personally for me and, and that's again about knowing yourself and that mindset shift. I don't like big food and I shouldn't call it big, but I don't like to look for light foods. Big chicken. I told you I like chicken. Finally, I found one brand that actually does taste like chicken and it's made from, but when I read the ingredients like you when I know what do I really want to eat this, like wheat, soy and some kind of fungus, but it really tastes like chicken. But before that, I don't like those like big meatballs. I don't like big things like that because you're right, psychologically I'm expecting the taste, the texture of a meatball that I'm used to. And then when I get this and my brain is like automatically going to think it tastes gross because you know, it's not the meatball that I'm used to. So I would say focus on what you do like. So if you like vegetables, so initially within, you know, I know that I like vegetables so a lot of my things is stir fry. If he even looks on my Instagram page and stuff like that. There are a lot of stir fries because I can eat vegetables. There's a lot of eggplants. I like, eggplant is hardy. There is a Portobello mushroom, it's hardy. So more of the more vegetables which you know the plant-based community or argued that it's healthier for you anyway and cleaner for you than eating something that's processed to look like me in the first place. And so I would say if you identify that, then don't eat it because already if you don't think it looks good and you're right, most of the food is person visual and not only visual but also smelled too. So if you have that perception before you even put it in your mouth, it is not going to taste it. Once it hits the cognitive part of your brain, you know, it's missing all those functions. It’s missing the texture, it’s missing the taste that you're expecting and no one would like that. So don't eat it, don't eat it. Find something else that is appealing to you. Like maybe make the list of it. Now it is more challenging for those people who say, I don't like vegetables, which I do run into people like that or I only buy fruit. That again adds into your team, which is the second part. So you asked how do you get started? So address your obstacles and create opportunities to is assemble your team. Like we talked about your support system and your structure. I use the principle of fitness inspire through teamwork. That's my handle or whatever, FITT. So we need a team, right? So who's on your team? So maybe you need a Dietitian on your team professionally because you don't like a lot of foods. Or you have health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, prediabetes, insulin resistance. You have conditions that do require special attention to come up with a specialized or individualized food plan. And I'd tell people all the time, why haven't a physician? So if you can find an obesity medicine physician in your area, you can go on the OMA website, which would come put in the show notes also. They can help you get started. But when it comes to nutrition counseling, I'm the type of person, I like to acknowledge my limitations and my training and it helped my patients get to where they need to go. So I said doctors, we do drive-thru nutrition counseling. That's for many reasons like you know what I mean? Like you go drive-thru, we tell you a couple of days. Don’t eat carbs, don't eat sugar. But when you go to a nutritionist, they give you like a full four course meal and nutrition counseling because they can go through in detail, they have the time, go through detail and to see what it works for you, what doesn't work, and look at everything like that and come up with a very detailed plan. So I always recommend if you have a lot of barriers to things you like, dislike health condition. He should see, it starts with your physician. But definitely seeing nutritionists to help you on your team. And the team that I use, you know, as I said, I use my F so you know, faith, family, friends, if a physician or primary care provider, psychologist, dietician, you know, so a comprehensive team is important to help you with your weight journey. Dr. Berry: That's beautiful. Okay, I'm a busy mom. Right? I made the mental switch, I got my team together. I’m starting to identify what things, I will make time for it, right? Because we know the time is there, right? We've already, the mentorship has already said, but you know, time is there. So we already know what the time is there and now we're starting to identify this is, I like this exercise. I don't like this exercise. I'm going to lean towards this way over here and now we're even starting to like even say, you know what? Maybe I can eat healthy right now and I'm asking it as a little bit later as far as, especially when we talk about eating out because I always get that excuse, I am eating healthy and I'm doing everything like well how come I haven't lost my 20 pounds yet? I think that's the part of the journey that I feel like people would hit the stop sign and breaks and that's when they kind of get off. Right? Because, they, for some and again, and maybe kind of going back to having more realistic goals. Right? But they don't, right? But they don't, right? They say I haven't lost my 20 pounds and now they're back to see you because they say, Hey I did all these things and the weight's not coming off. Right? Like what do I do? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Alright. So going back to the steps, let me just reiterate one more time. So getting started. So I address obstacles and create opportunities, assemble your support team. And then the third thing is to act daily. Do something daily towards those goals that you have set. So even if you can't get your 30 minutes in one day, okay, do one minute. Because I find when it comes to mindset comes to momentum. You just got to keep going. I don't allow myself to go more than 48 hours without exercise. And because I find that that third day that's when the inertia or the laziness, that's it. And it gets harder for me to get back on my routine. I mean, unless of course, I'm sick or something like that. There've been times when I've been sick and I had to go for a week. But since it started, so that third day come hill come high water, I'm going to do some. And where there's just one minute of a plank. I view my time bank of fitness as a bank account, right. Rather than viewing it like I have to do 30 minutes each day. No, I have to get in two and a half hours this weekend. However, I get that two and a half hours is fine. So if I just do 10 minutes today, but over the weekend I can do an hour, then it's all working towards the same goal rather than see a very rigid that you have to do 30 minutes every day or something like that. So break it up how it works for you. So just something every day, maybe today I'm going to, instead of having that chocolate chip cookie at 3:00 PM, I'm going to have, make a choice and choose to just have an apple at 3:00 PM instead. So that's what it means to do it by acting daily. Now when you talk about it, and I wanted to make sure we clarify that before we shift into the weight because the weight loss part of it, because you're right, the struggle is real. So this is the way that I talked about this, which I mentioned in the first podcast, was just that, number one, we've got to think about a couple of things from evolution or hysterical, whatever you believe in and point of view. We were not made to lose weight, right? Weight has an advantage, excess weight. The reason why we have this adipose or this fat tissue is to protect this and to serve as storage for energy, to serve as the storage for food, for times of scarcity. Right? And so I always tell my patients who have obesity and they left. I hope you will too, that if we were in like caveman times or they would be queen and the king of the jungle and I would be eating like this is real, right? You have a protective advantage of where you are. But unfortunately, as we have now moved into food positive times where we don't need this extra adipose or this extra tissue to hang out as we did before, now the body is not used to getting rid of it and certainly not used to getting rid of it as quickly as possible. So we know from a lot of studies that have been done like this showed the biggest loser study came out and it showed that most of those people who lost all that weight so quickly to a very intensive process with a lot of team of people. For those people, they gain most of the weight back. And part of that, when they looked at the biology of it, their body set into motion a whole process for them to regain their weight. Like their metabolic rate slowed down. There was a release of hormones that made them hungrier, that made them not process the fat in sugar as well. So there was a lot going on for it because of the fact that they lost the weight so rapidly and how much of the weight was lost. So we know that you know, we have physiology fighting against this in many ways. And then also psychologically as you're alluding to, is just the fact that, oh, I'm not losing weight, how I feel or would the as quickly as I feel. And so then we do other things and we'd go back into old habits as well that too. So when we talk about weight loss is they're complicated, but then from a more practical perspective, so that was how the nerdy science kind of stuff and the psychological stuff. But let's be real. It took you 50 years to gain that weight. Why do you think you should lose it all on 50 days? Common guys, give us some time. (I love it.) That rapid weight loss is very traumatic for the body. It is. It is. So the body's going to say, pola, pola, pola, pola. We starving. Why are we losing so much weight? Let me slow down this process a little bit. Let me give myself time to get used to all these changes. And so you may experience what is called a weight loss plateau. Now there's controversy. Some people don't believe in it, this and that. I believe in it. I've seen it and I think the science does support it and it makes sense like your body needs time to get used to the changes that are being made. So I think during those times when you feel like the weight is not coming off as quickly as it should, that is definitely the time if you don't already have a good support system to seek it out. And again, I mean no shade to any of their specialty or profession, but I know the training that I got as I transitioned from internal medicine, so obesity medicine, I learned a lot about what to do during those times and to really about treating obesity as a disease. So that would be a great time if you are, do have access to an obesity specialist or clinician in your area to try to seek one out, to see if they can help you lose weight. Now in terms of what you should look for in one, I think that probably should be a whole another set very, because I could go on for a long time. But you do need to seek help to help you through the weight loss plateau. So that help, just in short may include dietary changes. It may include behavioral changes and it actually should include a lot of those. And then sometimes if you already optimized on all those things, especially, I'm sorry, a key one for working moms, I should say sleep. You need seven to nine hours of sleep at night to lose weight. That is because all of our natural weight burnings, that burning hormones are weight loss hormones. They are reset when we sleep and when we get into the right circadian rhythm, and that takes about seven to nine hours at night. And then also stress, you need your stress level to below. So stress management is a key part of it because people who rate their stress levels as moderate to high, on average, we weigh about 11% more than people who rate their stress levels as low. So you need to really make sure that those are in place. And then if all those things are in place, then this is when a physician or clinician may say, maybe we should do weight loss medication and there are several on the market that had been approved to help treat the disease of obesity and to help with weight loss. So that's when, and that's what we may need to almost quote unquote trick the body out of this kind of Plateau state or non-weight burning state. Dr. Berry: I love it. So after an action, what's our next of a plan or action? So we've got action, we're doing it at least a minute. I love that at least a minute because I think sometimes the moms do feel guilty. They do feel guilty, (We do.) Just couldn't get it, I wanted to and so and so happened. I know I'd be working out like I tried to work out in the mornings, but usually, my twins usually toward that, right? They wake up early, someone's got to be with the other along the way. And it's usually me. Right? So I know there are always obstacles that are in a way. So I do love that we give them an opportunity to say no, you know, it's okay. Just put it in the bank. It's not a race. We just need you to get there. We just need you to get there. Had to be the first. We just got to get you to that point every single week. And I love when I stay up. When they get to point in there the action and they're losing weight and now they're feeling good about themselves. Right? Like what? Like what do you do? How do you counsel them to stay on it, right? Because again, I love the fact that we really call it a journey, right? Because this is something that as a lifelong thing that they need to like handle it. What are some of the things that you've seen that's caused people to maybe backslide a little bit? And what are some of the tips that you have to say like to keep on going? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: So the next stage in the stages of changes is maintenance, right? So you guys what, we're in action, now we just need to maintain it. You've already addressed some things. So lack of results is a key thing like you mentioned. So people who may lose that initial five to 10 pounds and get it off very quickly because it's more water weight and people in the body was ready to give that. But then you get to a place where maybe raw now five to 10% of your body weight and then your body kinda plateau or as not losing as quickly. So people get discouraged and the negativity sets in. I think it's very important then to again, tap into your team and figure out what's going on. That's the time to make their appointment with someone that's to talk to your friends who are on the journey with you. Those people who are going to support you, your family, your faith, those things to keep you on the journey. And that's the glue that's kind of keeping you going during those times when you may feel discouraged on your own. Because everybody will feel that way. I think number one, again, a mindset shift is just knowing that this plateau or this lack of results as part of the journey. Number two, knowing that it's a constant journey. So you mentioned something very common, like yeah, I have the five months old now. She often wakes up, but if you follow my Instagram stories, you'll see her in that video with me. Right? So that means maybe I have plans to go out for a run that morning, but she woke up. So now we may be doing a carry fit or like a baby carrier exercise instead. And I'm just lifting weights with her or, you know if she won't let me put her down or I'll put her in a thing and exercise in the swinger or something. So you know, knowing that it's going to be constantly something. Something will always be there. That's the other mindset struggles. Not just because, okay, I've declared this thing and I'm going to do it. That is going to be quote-unquote easy. It's not going to be easy. There were always been some barrier there, but you get better at figuring out how can I navigate around that? So that's why I say mindset is so important because that's what's going to help you to maintain and continue the weight journey. So now that you've lost the weight or a year in the process of losing the weight continuance to go, and so that's how I know in the office and in the clinical setting how I support my patients. So number one, showing up, right? Sometimes you have a tendency to hide when you haven't reached the goal or the goal is not going the way you want. Don't hide, still, show up. Come to your appointment. Call your friend, call your trainer and I'm so sorry my fitness trainer friends are going to be so mad at me. Yes, fitness trainers, they're been important. You know, I'm more like individual because my exercise is more of my me time. But definitely if you struggle with being alone or working out alone, get a trainer, get someone to help you. And I'm actually going to get a trainer later on this year too because they can help you get to that next level of fitness that you want to get to or you need to get to. So yes tapping into the resources you need, show up using your team and still continually reevaluating what is working, what isn't working and knowing that you needed, you're going to need to change. Like I can't tell you how many times I would come to feel like I was finally in a group with especially fitness and I focused on fitness. But the food, of course, is the number one thing for weight loss. But fitness helps them so much. So I would get my fitness schedule down and then my husband's work schedule would change and I'd be like dad, waking up baby. And so, you know, it's always going to be something. I think that's what I've learned and that's life, right? There's always going to be something. But your ability to adapt, which probably it could still see as we talk. It helps out so much. Right. I just added a fourth A so I had a sense and assemble. I had act now I have, did I just already forget it? This is the sleep deprivation can get but no, but yeah, I just added a fourth A to it though. So you have assessed, you have, so you acknowledging those barriers. You had to assemble your team, you have acting daily and then assess. So constantly reassessing what needs to change, what you need help with that so important. Dr. Berry: I love it. Before we get you out of here, again amazing teaching education and I know obviously we talked about the moms, of course, busy dads. I know y'all out there clearly, but we got to talk about the moms because you know, we know how hard they work. Before we let you get out of here. Right? Like what I need you to tell everyone, like again, we've talked about before, how can they get in touch with you, teach you, learn from you. What is out there that they can kind of consume cause I think, uh, you know, they're going to listen to this and then go back and listen to episode 93 and then be like, wow, this is the person that I need to follow. How can they follow and learn and continue to kind of even follow your journey that you're still on as we speak. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Yeah. Well definitely through social media. I have a website that is drsylviagbollie.com. I also am very active on Facebook. I do weekly live postings where I teach on different topics and I'm committed to trying to do those weekly now. I also post regularly on Twitter, on Instagram, just to keep us all motivated on our fitness journey. And that's my main goal, just showing real-life examples of trying to fit into in fitness and fit in healthy eating and so busy lifestyles, especially as a working mom. So there's social media is the best way. Dr. Berry: Okay. So I ask all my guests on the podcast, how is what you do helping to empower busy moms across the world empowered themselves for better health? Dr. Slyvia Bollie: I think what I'm doing is helping busy moms across the world because I'm empowering us to just be ourselves and work within those confines would be in ourselves. Work within that rather than trying to fit any mold, fit any model and putting yourself on there. Like you mentioned a lot of guilt, a lot of pressure. Like I, my goal and how I hope to help all of us is to just help us realize that number one, it's possible to fit in fitness. It’s possible to fit in healthy eating. And it doesn't have to be the way that anyone else does it, but in a way that works best for you. Dr. Berry: Love it, love it. Again, Lunch and Learn community, I want to thank that Dr. Bollie for coming on the second time and dropping even more gems. And she did the first time and you know, blessing us, educating us, and really getting this right and together, especially for the busy moms out there. I know a lot of them are. I know a lot of them in the Lunch and Learn community who are starving freedom. So I like this. So again, thank you for joining the show today. Dr. Slyvia Bollie: Thanks. Bye. Download the MP3 Audio file, listen to the episode however you like.

Sheep, Goats, Heaven and Hell

Vessel Orlando

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2019 40:48

What about heaven, hell and is God really that angry? In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a series of stories in response to a question posed by the disciples. Their question was essentially, "Hey Jesus... when is the 'end' coming?" I'm not sure they meant what we mean today by that question but regardless, Jesus answers with a bunch of stories. He describes bridesmaids waiting with lamps, servants being given money and sheep and goats being separated by the King. If they were looking for a straight, simple, easy answer well...they didn't get it. Instead they got a series of short image rich stories each highlighting different aspects of Jesus' answer. The piece we'll be exploring today is the section about God separating the sheep and goats (aka people) and then sending some to what we might call heaven and others to hell (Jesus uses neither of those terms). The problem for many with these words is this: How can a good loving God knowingly send people to eternal suffering? Is that God? Is that our God? Images of God gleefully smiting sinners is an image that has caused many problems and much pain throughout history and yet, we have scriptures like these which seem to say, "Yeah, it isn't pretty, but that is what God is going to do." So what do we do with this? Is God really this angry king eager to dish out divine torment or could there be more to this story than meets the eye? We're so glad you're here today to help us wrestle with this last scripture in our Vice Verses series. We hope your time here draws you closer to God and closer to others for the glory of God and the sake of the world.

god jesus christ in matthew heaven and hell sheep goats hey jesus vice verses

What is your spot?

Daily Christian Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 19, 2019 3:56

Hey Jesus, can you do us a favor? What is it? Can you save spots of honor by you in heaven? One on your left and the other on your right? ------------------------- The life you live now matters www.dailychristianpodcast.com

spot hey jesus

56. Hey Jesus... | Week 1

The Rise Church Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 11, 2019 33:22

The Rise Church, February 10, 2019

jesus christ hey jesus rise church

"Hey Jesus! When is the World Going to End?" Part 2

Hope Fellowship Sermon Audio

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 17, 2018 50:19

Jesus' closest followers asked him how the world was going to end. In this teaching Pastor Kyle guides us through Jesus' response as it is found in Mark 13:24-37.

jesus christ pastor kyle hey jesus

"Hey Jesus! When is the World Going to End?" Part 1

Hope Fellowship Sermon Audio

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 11, 2018 38:37

Three days before Jesus died on the cross He told his closest followers that the temple was going to be destroyed. They wanted to know when it was going to happen and they assumed that it would be the end of the world. In this message brother Chuck Hewitt dives deep into Jesus' teaching on this topic in Mark 13:1-27.

The Bible For Normal People

Episode 68: Trey Pearson - Hey Jesus

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 18, 2018 49:04

In this episode, Pete & Jared speak with Trey Pearson, former lead singer of the popular Christian band Everyday Sunday. Two years ago, Trey came out publicly and lost the support of his record label, church and many friends. He shares openly about the isolation and heartbreak that he endured being ostracized from his faith community. But he found hope and joy in accepting who God made him to be. And has a renewed love for the Bible and for God through new ways of reading and thinking about scripture. http://www.thebiblefornormalpeople.com https://peteenns.com https://www.patreon.com/thebiblefornormalpeople

god jesus christ bible hey jesus trey pearson

Fearless Service: A Sermon shared by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, October 21, 2018

Foundry UMC

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2018 32:14

Fearless Service A sermon shared by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, October 21, 2018, the twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost. “Fearless Generosity” series. Text: Mark 10:35-45 What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? I don’t remember the first time I heard that question, but it has stayed with me for years. It’s a powerful question for me—because one of my biggest fears is failure. Maybe some of you will relate. The fear of failure can keep me—or any of us—from stepping out and trying something or doing the thing that we really want to do. I realized at one point that my ability to even name what I really want had atrophied as a side effect of this fear. I’ve always been in awe of folks who knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to ask for it—demand it even—those folks who would just go for it. James and John are those kind of folks. Hey Jesus, give us cabinet positions in your administration! Jesus—who had just for the third time said that he was going to be arrested, humiliated, killed, and rise again (Mk 10:32-34)—would have had cause to simply respond with a face palm. Really dudes? This is your response to my impending suffering, death, and resurrection? Maybe James and John just heard the “after three days rise again” part—kinda like lots of us do during Holy Week, thinking that we get to Easter without traveling the road that takes us to and through the tomb… But Jesus forgoes the facepalm and tries to bring the disciples along. Even when the others get their backs up over the audacity of their colleagues, Jesus simply reminds all of them what they signed up for: “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:43-45) To be clear, there is “glory” in following Jesus, the glory of new life and eternal joy and liberating love—but first comes the agony of defeat, of suffering, of death, of failure. You don’t get to “greatness” in the Kin-dom of God except by serving others, by humbling yourself, by experiencing loss and emptiness. I wonder if part of the teaching is that the power of self-giving love is the real power. And self-giving love will intentionally assume a posture of service and of solidarity with those who suffer. Taking such a posture will mean vulnerability; it will invite ridicule from those who don’t understand such a stance, those who believe the only way to get by in this life is to manipulate, overpower, control, or intimidate others. But the power of self-giving love is the kind of power that works in mysterious ways, making hard hearts tender at least around the edges and chipping away at crusty prejudices and seemingly intractable injustice. It occurs to me that, living as we do on the other side of the first Easter morning, we might begin to understand that the question to ask is not what we would do if we knew we couldn’t fail, but what failure we’re willing to risk for the cause of love and justice. Jesus faced into the very worst of the world—took on the full weight of empire’s fury—evidently knowing he would have to lay down his life, in order to bring liberation and new life to all God’s children. Jesus risked absolute failure for the sake of love for the world. This the one we’ve thrown our lot in with. Our call is to embody the same kind of fearless service as Jesus. I often get push back on this, hearing some version of, “Jesus had that whole ‘being God’ thing going for him and I’m just me.” But here’s the thing: we know there are people in the world down through the centuries who reflect the self-giving love of Christ and who remind us that fearless service is not just a nice idea, but is really possible through the love and grace of God. Last Sunday, we officially named three spaces in our physical plant that honor folks who are part of the fabric of Foundry Church and whose fearless service has impacted the life and witness not only of Foundry but of our denomination and larger world. Norman and Frances Prince, Arthur and Bernice Flemming, and Bill and Vivian Kirk. I’ve been particularly thinking about Dr. William Astor Kirk over these past months as the United Methodist Church ramps up to the special called General Conference of 2019 that will impact not only the future of the denomination’s stance related to LGBTQ persons, but also the future of the UMC as a whole. Dr. Kirk is one I wish were still around for me to talk with and to receive counsel from about these weighty matters. Dr. Kirk is a breathtaking example of our topic today—the kind of self-giving love and fearless service to which we are all called to aspire. Over a lifetime of fighting for justice, he must have risked failure after failure and yet he persevered. I encourage you to look him up and see what I’m talking about. Some highlights of his fearless service: “Upon completing his Master's degree in Government from Howard University in 1974, Dr. Kirk and wife Vivian relocated to Austin, Texas where he assumed the position of professor of Government and Economics at Huston-Tillotson College. Dr. Kirk, active in Austin civic life was an organizer in the local chapter of the NAACP and arranged peaceful protests that led to desegregation of the Austin Public Library and many other public facilities. Dr. Kirk's work against discrimination also focused on the University of Texas where he applied and was admitted to a PhD Program. Dr. Kirk's refusal to study in segregated classes prompted a lawsuit by the Austin chapter of the NAACP. Subsequently Kirk, in 1958…became the first African American to earn and receive a Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Texas.”[i] Dr. Kirk was the sustaining force in the long but ultimately successful effort to end the “separate but equal” Central Jurisdiction and integrate the United Methodist Church. He was first Secretary and later Chair of the Committee of Five that set out in 1960 to dissolve the Central Jurisdiction and end the apartheid-like structure of The Methodist Church. “Kirk was chosen as an alternate delegate to represent the church body at the 1964 General Conference of the Methodist Church. At this national meeting, the Church Union Commission voted to maintain its policy of segregation. Kirk was aghast. In his own words he found himself ‘completely dumbfounded. My emotions ranged from deep anger to almost uncontrollable outrage to profound sorrow.’ Kirk responded by passionately and eloquently arguing against this decision. Hours of debate ensued, and finally ‘The Kirk Amendment’ was passed. This amendment established a denominational ‘commitment to end institutional segregation’ within the church. When Southern church leaders challenged this at the 1965 judicial council claiming local autonomy, Kirk argued that the denomination did have the authority to end segregation. His arguments were so effective that the council’s 1965 Judicial Decision No. 232 canonized ‘the creation of a racially inclusive church.’”[ii] Dr. Kirk’s commitment to civil rights in church and society (he served five presidential administrations) extended to all who are marginalized and oppressed. During Foundry’s “Summer of Great Discernment” around Marriage Equality in 2010, I was told that Bill Kirk is singlehandedly responsible for the inclusion of one of the most important lines in our marriage equality statement. After the first draft was painstakingly prepared and proudly presented to the leadership, Dr. Kirk offered a critical piece of feedback. Here’s what I was told by one of the principle authors of the final statement: “Bill Kirk pointed out that we were focused on the negative parts of The Book of Discipline and had neglected to include the more positive—and controlling—language from the Constitution [of the UMC]. As soon as he said it, I was like “Of course!” It was immediately satisfying not just [to all the legal minds involved] but all the way around. Because there was a tremendous amount of anxiety at the time about what would happen if we thumbed our nose at the denomination so pointedly. It transformed the document into a more affirmative rather than confrontational message. It gave a lot of folks some confidence that we were actually on firm ground. And I still believe that this argument is the one that may lead us home—that the language of the Discipline if not actually ‘unconstitutional’ is essentially so. But it took a wise and courageous old veteran of prior UMC equality struggles to point out what our strongest point was—what a whole bunch of us, supposedly smart, people had completely missed. I will always be grateful. And humbled.” As I understand it from my predecessor the Rev. Dean Snyder, Dr. Kirk—from his hospital room in 2011—was working on the presentation he’d been invited to make at the 2012 General Conference entitled, “Ending Discrimination in the UMC: How Can the Past Inform the Future?” Sadly, he was unable to make that presentation due to his death in August of 2011. To a person, all who knew Dr. Kirk attest to the fact that he was unassuming and simply presented himself as a fellow member of Foundry. This humble stance in day to day relations and his courageous, “all in” commitment to justice and equality for all people amidst great challenges and entrenched prejudice and bigotry are a powerful testimony to the Christ-like, fearless service in which we can all participate. Dr. Kirk’s witness is an example of the kind of commitment that so many people bring to our shared life here at Foundry. I am daily humbled to learn of what y’all are out there doing in the world—of the places you go and people whose lives you impact for good and the challenges you face and the sacrifices you make for the sake of doing the right and just and brave thing. And together as a congregation, we continue to do all we can to offer spiritual sustenance and support for each one of you wherever you serve—whether that is in the classroom, boardroom, bandroom, courtroom, newsroom, studio, backyard, kitchen or street. Dr. Kirk also embodies our calling as a congregation. Together, as we bring all our experiences, skills, resources, and insights and humbly offer them to God—we are empowered by grace to Love God, love others, and change the world. Our commitment to social justice and fearless service is a hallmark of Foundry Church and it takes shape in everything from our Great Days of Service to our members and clergy demanding sanctuary for immigrant neighbors, proclaiming Black Lives Matter, promoting common sense gun legislation and climate justice, to feeding hungry people, offering free English as a Second Language classes, tracking down vital documents for unhoused neighbors and decorating the Baltimore-Washington Conference Center with rainbows in protest of unjust treatment of LGBTQ persons. Fearless service is at the heart of our witness as Foundry church. Our gifts are what fuel this witness of bold service and solidarity. It’s why I am so proud to tithe—that is give 10% of my income—to Foundry. I’m currently tithing a number between my net and my gross pay with a personal commitment to keep growing the number until, when able, I not only tithe the full amount but surpass it. People from across the connection look to us to support and raise up voices like Bill Kirk and to show up in force wherever there is injustice to advocate for love, mercy, and justice in the manner of Jesus. This is our calling and our commitment and it is only possible to live into this high calling through the generous financial contributions of each one of us. // I’ve been sitting with the thought that trying to increase our budget for 2019 by hundreds of thousands of dollars might be foolish. But then I think about the calling that we share and the consequences if Foundry Church falters and of the flame that Spirit is igniting among us that I can feel itching to catch fire in ways as yet unknown. I think about the resources I know we need to keep momentum going and to fuel the growth that will sustain this great institution called Foundry into the next century and I ask myself, “What failure am I willing to risk as a leader for the sake of love and justice?” What are we willing to risk? Will we try? Are we able to serve as Jesus serves? To love as Jesus loves? To give as Jesus gives? The good news is that we can try—without any fear—because even when we fail miserably or experience setbacks as we seek to serve and love and give, God will always hang in there with us and help us not only move through any loss or suffering, but God will take us all the way to glory, all the way to new life. [i] https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2011-09-15/html/CREC-2011-09-15-pt1-PgE1638-4.htm [ii] https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fki73

ENCORE: Crazy Incredible Redemption of Horrific Things with Amber Newberry

The Struggle Well Project

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2018 59:19

Some of us are able to tell stories eloquently. Some of our stories have rough places that can seem too dark to overcome. My friend Amber's story is both; incredibly difficult AND beautifully told. She is a gifted storyteller with a story of forgiveness and grace that will knock your socks off. Or, since it's summer, maybe just knock your flip-flops across the room. What We Chat About: What it's like when no one believes your story Grieving abortion Practically taking thoughts captive Amber's 5 minute "Hey Jesus" time-out sessions Links Mentioned: Save the Storks Amber's Save the Storks Video Scripture Doodle Connect with Amber: shop // instagram // facebook // twitter Episode Sponsors: BioClarity: 50% off your first month + free shipping with code MSW Zip Recruiter: try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com/MSW RX Bar: 25% off your first order using the link with code MSW Prep Dish: get 2 weeks free by visiting PrepDish.com/msw Ways to support the show: Patreon Amazon Share the Struggle! Find me on Instagram because I want to hear YOUR thoughts! If you've been encouraged, share the episode with another mom. The struggle is real. We might as well do this together!

struggle redemption incredible grieving horrific ziprecruiter prepdish hey jesus amber newberry

Trey Pearson

Exvangelical

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2018 79:50

Hey everyone and welcome to Exvangelical. My guest this week is the musician Trey Pearson, and the track you’re hearing right now is from his first solo album, Love is Love. Trey was the lead singer of the popular Christian rock band Everyday Sunday, and two years ago he came out publicly as gay. We talk about his experiences on the Christian rock circuit, and he speaks at length about how he wrestled with his sexuality for years, and how it impacted his marriage and, well, his entire life. As always, it’s best to let him tell the story. He’s poured a lot of these experiences into his newest album, and he is currently on the road. You can find his upcoming tour dates online at treypearson.com, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @treypearson. You can find his album, Love is Love, on Spotify and anywhere else you stream or purchase music. As always you can follow me on Twitter @brchastain, follow the show @exvangelicalpod, and join the #Exvangelical facebook group. You can support the show via Patreon at patreon.com/exvangelicalpod. You can also support the show by rating and reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts. All music in today's episode is from Trey's album, Love is Love. Intro/Outro: "Dont' Dance" Interlude 1: "Hey Jesus" Interlude 2: " Silver Horizon"

love spotify interlude exvangelical hey jesus trey pearson

Even When the World Tells Us Not To - Audio

Father Snort

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2018 11:55

Brad Sullivan Easter Sunday April 1, 2018 Emmanuel, Houston John 20:1-18 Even When the World Tells Us Not To Happy Easter y’all, as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, his victory over death, and the fullness of his great love for us. I love that God joined with us even in death, and then in Jesus’ resurrection, God has shown us the full measure of his grace towards us. We get to share in his eternal life and love, forgiveness and reconciliation. That’s the nuts and bolts of our faith, we get to share in God’s eternal life and love, forgiveness and reconciliation. I absolutely love our faith, our faith in Jesus and in his resurrection, and I also keep hearing more and more folks who nowadays think we’re kinda nuts for believing in Jesus, or even for believing in a God at all, and that’s fine. To be fair, I don’t know if our faith is true; I can’t prove it, but I love it, and I choose to believe. We choose to believe that there is a God who made us and loves us, frees us and redeems us. We choose to believe that despite our brokenness, God will never quit on us. That is what Jesus’ resurrection means. God will never quit on us, and yet believing that, we still tend to quit on each other with a fair amount of regularity. I know Lent is over y’all, but such is our condition, our lot in life, that we tend to quit on each other, which is why we need Jesus’ grace and resurrection life in the first place. We start off liking one another and then, we often end up stopping our relationships or letting them slip away. Sometimes it feels like we’re supposed to quit each other for various reasons, such as the insurmountable problems and irreconcilable differences that we face like how we voted in any one single election, our beliefs about those whom we think God may or may not be pleased, how we choose to spend our money, raise our kids, or even how we dress. These are some of the insurmountable barriers that we raise and differences that we face for which we end up quitting each other. Some in the world may say that division over these differences is ok, but Jesus not so much. We’ve always had differences, reasons why we choose to erect barriers between ourselves and others, but God shows in Jesus’ resurrection that he loves us for who we are, and he wants us to love each other for who we are. Republican. Democrat. Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Atheist. Muslim. Jew. Christian. Fundamentalist. Conservative. Liberal. Radical. Black. White. Latino. Asian. Legal. Illegal. Tree hugging, gun loving, gluten free, home-school, hippie. We have so many labels now, we have a hard time even coming up with enough words to accurately label everyone we see. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that will force us to love each other based on grace and Jesus’ love and resurrection, rather than just by seeming similar enough with some folks to kinda like each other ok. Jesus was raised from the dead to reconcile us to God and each other. His final commandment to his disciples was to love one another, regardless of our stripes, our skin, our labels, our ethnicity, sexuality, beliefs, or legal status. Middle class, high class, low class, no class? “Love one another,” Jesus said. People are starving for love, even for an ounce of love. People are going to go where they are loved and accepted. Jesus’ resurrection says, “you are loved and accepted,” and yet people often don’t feel loved and accepted in the church, and so they go elsewhere for love and acceptance. We’ve seen this happening as people are leaving the church in droves. Ideologies? Beliefs? Various social activities? Folks can adapt pretty well to many different beliefs, so long as they are loved, and people will stay where they are loved. I’ve often heard adults say they are no longer sure about the faith, but they love the people and community of their church and so they stay. I think Jesus is ok with that. Lack of faith? Unsure about Jesus and his resurrection? No problem. A loving community can hold a person through doubts and lack of faith. Hopelessness? We can hold a hopeless person in love, and their hope can be restored. That’s why above all else, Jesus commanded us to love each other. That is why Paul wrote that love is greater even than faith and hope, why John wrote that we cannot claim to love God if we do not love each other. Jesus commanded that we love one another as he loved us, as he loved his disciples. He loved them so much that the first thing he did once he was raised from the dead was to talk to Mary, assure her that he was alive, and to have her spread the good news to the rest of his disciples. Jesus loved his disciples and loves us to the end, and that is the gospel news for us - however messed up we are, Jesus keeps on loving us, and it’s really not because we’re perfect or even good enough. Think about how often Jesus could have and maybe even should have chosen to quit his disciples, get rid of them, and start over with some better ones. Jesus was transfigured before them, and Peter pipes up, “Hey Jesus - let’s make some booths!” “Seriously Pete, that’s your response? Yeah, ok, we’re done, just um, you stay here, build a transfiguration theme park, something like that. I’m outta here.” Then there was the time James and John said, “Um, Jesus, we know you’re busy with this whole upcoming death thing, whatever that is, but we want to sit at your right and left hand when you’re all powerful and glorious in majesty. We kinda think we deserve it.” “Oh, so you’ve been listening intently to all that I’ve been saying and teaching over the years. You’ve really taken none of it in at all. Great. Tell you what, go to the next town over, about 4 miles away. Get a couple of chairs so you can sit on either side of me, and we’ll wait right here. No, don’t dawdle, just go and do not look back.” What about everyone else, the sex workers and thieves, the refuse of society with whom Jesus so often hung out? “Yeah, you guys are really disgusting and foul, I think I’m just going to leave.” Jesus didn’t do that. He stuck with them. Just like God keeps staying with us and choosing to love us. Despite our continued brokenness, God sticks with us. That’s the resurrection life, which Jesus invites us to share. Do the hard work of continuing to choose to stay together, and do the hard work of continuing to die daily to self so that you can share in his resurrection, not because people are perfect or even good enough, but just because people are, and just because you can choose to love one another. In Jesus’ resurrection, he shows us that we can love and forgive each other; it’s ok. We’re allowed to, and we need to. We need love. That’s what Jesus resurrection is ultimately all about, God’s unwavering love for us. God is love, and love how Jesus wants us to be with each other. That’s the resurrection life. We are Jesus’ beloved, the one’s for whom he sent Mary to say, “Jesus is raised from the dead,” and so we get to keep loving each other as he loves us. Even the weirdoes and the uber conservatives. Even the crazy hippie liberals and straight laced conformists. Even the sex workers and thieves. It is ok for us to love those whom others may feel are unlovable. It is ok for us to love each other despite how messed up we all are. It is ok for us to believe in Jesus and find hope in his resurrection. We get to do that despite what others may say. Who cares if people think we’re nuts? Our faith tells us to love each other. Jesus sticks with us and wants us to stick with each other, to share in the joy and the love of his resurrection. We have his permission to do so, even if the world tells us not to.

Even When the World Tells Us Not To - Audio

Father Snort

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 3, 2018 11:55

Brad Sullivan Easter Sunday April 1, 2018 Emmanuel, Houston John 20:1-18 Even When the World Tells Us Not To Happy Easter y’all, as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, his victory over death, and the fullness of his great love for us. I love that God joined with us even in death, and then in Jesus’ resurrection, God has shown us the full measure of his grace towards us. We get to share in his eternal life and love, forgiveness and reconciliation. That’s the nuts and bolts of our faith, we get to share in God’s eternal life and love, forgiveness and reconciliation. I absolutely love our faith, our faith in Jesus and in his resurrection, and I also keep hearing more and more folks who nowadays think we’re kinda nuts for believing in Jesus, or even for believing in a God at all, and that’s fine. To be fair, I don’t know if our faith is true; I can’t prove it, but I love it, and I choose to believe. We choose to believe that there is a God who made us and loves us, frees us and redeems us. We choose to believe that despite our brokenness, God will never quit on us. That is what Jesus’ resurrection means. God will never quit on us, and yet believing that, we still tend to quit on each other with a fair amount of regularity. I know Lent is over y’all, but such is our condition, our lot in life, that we tend to quit on each other, which is why we need Jesus’ grace and resurrection life in the first place. We start off liking one another and then, we often end up stopping our relationships or letting them slip away. Sometimes it feels like we’re supposed to quit each other for various reasons, such as the insurmountable problems and irreconcilable differences that we face like how we voted in any one single election, our beliefs about those whom we think God may or may not be pleased, how we choose to spend our money, raise our kids, or even how we dress. These are some of the insurmountable barriers that we raise and differences that we face for which we end up quitting each other. Some in the world may say that division over these differences is ok, but Jesus not so much. We’ve always had differences, reasons why we choose to erect barriers between ourselves and others, but God shows in Jesus’ resurrection that he loves us for who we are, and he wants us to love each other for who we are. Republican. Democrat. Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Atheist. Muslim. Jew. Christian. Fundamentalist. Conservative. Liberal. Radical. Black. White. Latino. Asian. Legal. Illegal. Tree hugging, gun loving, gluten free, home-school, hippie. We have so many labels now, we have a hard time even coming up with enough words to accurately label everyone we see. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe that will force us to love each other based on grace and Jesus’ love and resurrection, rather than just by seeming similar enough with some folks to kinda like each other ok. Jesus was raised from the dead to reconcile us to God and each other. His final commandment to his disciples was to love one another, regardless of our stripes, our skin, our labels, our ethnicity, sexuality, beliefs, or legal status. Middle class, high class, low class, no class? “Love one another,” Jesus said. People are starving for love, even for an ounce of love. People are going to go where they are loved and accepted. Jesus’ resurrection says, “you are loved and accepted,” and yet people often don’t feel loved and accepted in the church, and so they go elsewhere for love and acceptance. We’ve seen this happening as people are leaving the church in droves. Ideologies? Beliefs? Various social activities? Folks can adapt pretty well to many different beliefs, so long as they are loved, and people will stay where they are loved. I’ve often heard adults say they are no longer sure about the faith, but they love the people and community of their church and so they stay. I think Jesus is ok with that. Lack of faith? Unsure about Jesus and his resurrection? No problem. A loving community can hold a person through doubts and lack of faith. Hopelessness? We can hold a hopeless person in love, and their hope can be restored. That’s why above all else, Jesus commanded us to love each other. That is why Paul wrote that love is greater even than faith and hope, why John wrote that we cannot claim to love God if we do not love each other. Jesus commanded that we love one another as he loved us, as he loved his disciples. He loved them so much that the first thing he did once he was raised from the dead was to talk to Mary, assure her that he was alive, and to have her spread the good news to the rest of his disciples. Jesus loved his disciples and loves us to the end, and that is the gospel news for us - however messed up we are, Jesus keeps on loving us, and it’s really not because we’re perfect or even good enough. Think about how often Jesus could have and maybe even should have chosen to quit his disciples, get rid of them, and start over with some better ones. Jesus was transfigured before them, and Peter pipes up, “Hey Jesus - let’s make some booths!” “Seriously Pete, that’s your response? Yeah, ok, we’re done, just um, you stay here, build a transfiguration theme park, something like that. I’m outta here.” Then there was the time James and John said, “Um, Jesus, we know you’re busy with this whole upcoming death thing, whatever that is, but we want to sit at your right and left hand when you’re all powerful and glorious in majesty. We kinda think we deserve it.” “Oh, so you’ve been listening intently to all that I’ve been saying and teaching over the years. You’ve really taken none of it in at all. Great. Tell you what, go to the next town over, about 4 miles away. Get a couple of chairs so you can sit on either side of me, and we’ll wait right here. No, don’t dawdle, just go and do not look back.” What about everyone else, the sex workers and thieves, the refuse of society with whom Jesus so often hung out? “Yeah, you guys are really disgusting and foul, I think I’m just going to leave.” Jesus didn’t do that. He stuck with them. Just like God keeps staying with us and choosing to love us. Despite our continued brokenness, God sticks with us. That’s the resurrection life, which Jesus invites us to share. Do the hard work of continuing to choose to stay together, and do the hard work of continuing to die daily to self so that you can share in his resurrection, not because people are perfect or even good enough, but just because people are, and just because you can choose to love one another. In Jesus’ resurrection, he shows us that we can love and forgive each other; it’s ok. We’re allowed to, and we need to. We need love. That’s what Jesus resurrection is ultimately all about, God’s unwavering love for us. God is love, and love how Jesus wants us to be with each other. That’s the resurrection life. We are Jesus’ beloved, the one’s for whom he sent Mary to say, “Jesus is raised from the dead,” and so we get to keep loving each other as he loves us. Even the weirdoes and the uber conservatives. Even the crazy hippie liberals and straight laced conformists. Even the sex workers and thieves. It is ok for us to love those whom others may feel are unlovable. It is ok for us to love each other despite how messed up we all are. It is ok for us to believe in Jesus and find hope in his resurrection. We get to do that despite what others may say. Who cares if people think we’re nuts? Our faith tells us to love each other. Jesus sticks with us and wants us to stick with each other, to share in the joy and the love of his resurrection. We have his permission to do so, even if the world tells us not to.

18-0304 Hey Jesus - Is It Time To Overturn The Tables

Colville United Church of Christ Sermons

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2018 24:19

There is Soft Christianity and Hard Christianity. Soft Christianity begins with gentle baby Jesus. It has expectations of his followers that they be kind, gentle, compassionate and offer service to those in need. Then thee is Hard Christianity that teaches that we must fight for what is right and yes, event upset the applecart at times to square things back on track as God intended. Today's Gospel is about Hard Christianity so let;s dive in. Sacred Texts: Exodus 20:1-17, John 2:13-22

god jesus christ tables overturn hey jesus today's gospel

"Hey Jesus..." James 1:19-27

The Hill Baptist Church - Augusta, Georgia

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 21, 2018 22:17

jesus christ obedience james 1 doers hearers hey jesus

Hey Jesus, I Didn't Hear You Come In

Lakeside Church

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2017 44:09

When Heaven Sneaks Up On YouSupport the show (https://www.lakesidechurch.com/give1/)