Good morning.
I have one question for you.
Do you guys realize that you've been changed?
Do you?
Okay, that was the question.
My name is Kenny Barber.
I've been a part of this church.
My journey started 29 years ago.
I've been married 28 years.
And I've been in California 27 years.
So a lot's happened those three years.
I have two daughters.
Uh, one, my oldest daughter is Courtney.
She's here.
Um, A.
K.
A.
Um, Gooders, is what we call her.
And, um, Kelsey, my daughter Kelsey, Uh, she's in Baltimore, but actually
she's listening online here.
Um, and we call her Scooters.
So, they don't like that name, but that's something I've had since
they were like eight years old.
Um, my wife and kids, Keena right now serving, serving the kids.
Uh, so, um, that's our family.
Um, we have someone living with us, Hannah, she's trying to adopt her, but she
lives with us now, she's a campus student.
You know, so she's kind of semi part of the, um, Barbara family as well.
Uh, so we're talking about, we've been going through the upside down blessings.
And, um, what's unique about these blessings is that they
are, um, illogical, right?
You know, we've talked about, actually I missed some of the services, I've
been away, but we've talked about, um, you're blessed if you're born, you know,
you're blessed, um, if you're poor.
And so some of those, like, scriptures, when I read it,
it just doesn't seem logical.
Maybe it's just me.
It doesn't seem logical.
So, I immediately just make that best practice.
You know what I mean by best practice?
That's something good to do, but really, can I really, really be that?
So, I, I categorize that.
Some people categorize that as conviction.
You know, I have conviction for this or that, but you never hear anybody say,
I have conviction for the beatitudes.
I got conviction for the mourning part.
I'm conviction for the poor.
You never hear nobody say conviction about that.
It's something else.
No one has convictions about that part.
And so, you know, you look at that, uh, and it tells me that the
Beatitudes are all about, it's not logical, it's all about spiritual.
Spiritual is not logical.
In the spiritual world, one plus one does not equal two.
And so, God says, I frustrate the wise because that doesn't make sense.
There's no way that this could happen.
You know, in my family, you know, we had, uh, we was going
through a lot of challenges.
Um, something that happened, I told, I talked to my daughter, I
said is it okay if I bring this up?
She says yeah.
Um, that um, you know, she, she has had surgery uh, at John Hopkins University
and the most unique thing happened to her is that when I heard it, um, I was
in the gym and I couldn't hear my wife and she says, hey, a tree fell on Kelsey.
And I was like, what?
I was like, maybe I'm not hearing you right.
You know, so I, you know, got out of the gym and she says, yeah,
a tree fell on your daughter.
And I'm like, my first thought was, you're coming home right now, you're coming home.
You know, but it's, and so this thing is just, something
like this is just illogical.
That does not happen to anyone.
And so as going through these Beatitudes, I'm thinking, you know,
that, um, Hmm, that's something that's unique, that's something illogical.
You know, I think what, I think the spiritual aspect of that is that there's
something unique about this tree and you.
It was meant for you.
And so, and that sounds, to hear it sounds weird, it's like, what?
This tree, and I'm thinking, and I'm not, I'm going deep.
Like, this tree, you are 20 years old, and so this tree was sitting
there, and it was growing through the last, you know, 19 years, growing,
growing, growing, this was your tree.
It's growing, it's growing, that limb is getting loose, it's for you.
You're going, you're living your life here, here, here, here, there, but,
like, okay, here's your time, I'm walking with my, okay, it's ready, that
is yours, boom, that was your tree.
Didn't kill you, blessed, but is it going to make you stronger,
or is it going to tear you apart?
Blessing or curse?
So I say, and so I'm like, that's what the gratitude is about!
I talk to her, and so she's like, Dad, I want to go.
I want to get off the phone.
I don't want to talk to you anymore.
I was like, what?
This is good stuff.
She's like, you are so inconsiderate.
And I was like, okay.
It took me like a day to process that.
I was like, you know, I'm sorry.
I think it was inconsiderate.
You know, so I was like, there's some consideration as
we listen to the gratitude.
It's just, it's practical, but it's just, I had to learn that consideration as well.
So today we're talking about, um, excuse this, right, is Matthew 5, 6.
Blessed are those who hunger, oh, right here, and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.
And hunger and thirst, for us, it's about, filling is meeting needs, right?
We have needs, and we have wants.
Now, as we get older and mature, we gotta figure out what's more important.
Now, in general, what's more important?
Needs or wants, in general?
Not a trick question, huh?
Yeah, sometimes we realize the needs are a little more important than the wants.
And so we have all these, these needs.
Some of the needs are physical, right?
Water, food, we keep our bellies fed.
Um, some of it's, some of it's, uh, emotional needs, right?
Okay, what age you are, you start to realize, I got some emotional needs.
That I have to deal with.
So, that's the part of being filled.
And we all try to fill that in some way we have to.
And sometimes it's temporary, sometimes it's not, you know, sometimes we've got to
be figuring out how to meet these needs.
And we can meet them, and it's temporary sometimes.
But we've got to meet it again.
It's like thirst.
I drink, okay, I get thirsty again.
If I don't keep drinking, hunger as well.
Amen?
So, and so somebody's got to figure out what the needs and the wants.
And so, my wife is really good at that with me.
She always says, okay, I want to, I want to do something.
She says, Kenny, alright.
Oh, she says honey sometimes, depends on what she relates to me.
She says, do you really want to do this?
Think about it, do you really, really want to do this?
I go, man, do I want this?
Maybe, I don't know.
Did you consider all the other options, your opportunity cost?
Ah, I thought about it too much, maybe I don't, you know.
And so, we went on this trip with, um, with Corey to see his family.
Uh, road trip, great trip, more about that later.
We go down the road, and then we see this, we're on the 99,
I believe, and we see this...
It's this bright, shiny object.
It says Ghirardelli chocolate and ice cream.
Out of nowhere, we're in the middle of farmland and we see this store.
It's like bright and shiny.
I was like, guys, we got to do this.
It's vacation, right?
So we roll up in there and we got this like 50 foot um, RV.
It sounded like 50, but it's huge.
You know, try to get in there.
You know, Ghirardelli's ice cream.
And we get in there and I was like, okay, you know, it was great.
And, um, and I see this, um, what do they have?
A banana split.
I haven't had those since I was like 20, right?
And so, I see the banana split and I was like, I gotta have it.
And I was telling, and it was like, I gotta have this banana split.
I haven't had it, it's vacation.
But I hear this voice in my head, Kenny, do you really want this?
And I was telling the guys too, I was like, I can hear my wife saying,
oh yeah, do you, do you really feel like you have to have this right now?
And so I was trying to fizzle out and I was thinking, yes!
I do.
I'm going to have this ice, but I regret it after I had it.
So sometimes we have those conversations about needs and wants.
So that's what it's all about.
It's about being filled, but with the righteousness I was
talking about here, it's like, sometimes we have to make choices.
We have needs and wants, and they've got to prioritize it through life.
This is a more important need and how to meet this.
But this is a common thread that goes underneath all of that,
is what we're talking about.
It's a depth.
of righteousness that it's saying to always pursue.
And so, I want to talk about, we're talking about hunger and thirst,
but from a spiritual perspective.
Okay?
Now, hunger versus thirst.
You have to go, here's the challenge.
Three weeks.
Without.
Would you rather go through this without water, or three weeks without food,
or would you like to shoot me down?
You know, take me out.
So, out of those two, raise your hand.
Would you rather go without water for three weeks?
Raise your hand.
Okay, without food for three weeks?
Raise your hand.
You gotta choose one, Jacob.
Gotta choose one.
Okay.
Right!
So, out of the, out of those two, he's like, I think thirst is a
little more intense than hunger.
But this says, this says those who thirst, who thirst, it doesn't say or hunger.
It says what?
Both.
Combine those two together.
That's what it's talking about.
That's intense.
And so, now we move to the next slide.
Alright, spiritual hunger.
That girl's towing down right now, right there.
Now, we've seen that before in ourselves and someone else.
Spiritual thirst is like, I can't wait for the cup.
Give it to me.
Right?
And so, but first of all, before we decide what this is about, the scripture.
What is thirst?
We all have an idea of that through our normal day to day life.
What is it?
Jesus gives a great example.
Matthew 4, verse 1 5 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
The tempter came to him and said, If you are the Son of God, tell
these stones to become bread.
Jesus answered, It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes.
From the mouth of God.
And so, Jesus, he's fasting, he's obviously hungry, and thirsty.
That's our immediate need, right?
I've gotta feel that.
But he says, no.
I don't want to indulge that, because there's something deeper that I need.
It's righteousness.
It's, um, God's word.
It's what I really, really want to pursue right now.
That's gonna help my physical, that's gonna help my physical needs.
Um, that is what I'm going to pursue.
That's the example he has for us.
We have these things, these needs, you know, my, you know,
I have a, I have a house that...
You know, my plumbing broke down, and so there's water coming through the ceiling.
I have my daughter who's having surgery.
We have so many needs, we say there's an underlying thing that
I want you to continue to pursue that will help to fill everything.
Amen?
So moving to spiritual thirst, we've got to understand what does that
mean from a spiritual perspective.
Psalms 42.
1.
2.
It says, As a deer pants for streams of water.
So my soul pants for you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Where can I go meet with God?
Soul panting.
Soul is the deepest part of you.
Soul is a part of your, your, your mind.
It's a part of your heart.
It's the core of who you are.
It's hard to bear your soul.
Some of you guys want to keep it, keep it close, but he says
that part of me Thirst for you.
It thirsts so bad, I can't see you, I can't touch you,
but I want to meet with you.
That's illogical.
How are you going to meet with someone you can't see?
Doesn't make sense.
A spiritual thirst.
Psalm 63 says, You are my God, are my God.
Conceptually, I know that.
Earnestly, I seek you.
There it is again.
I'm trying to find you.
I can't see you, I can't touch you.
But I am going to try to find you.
I thirst for you.
Here's that thirst again.
I thirst.
My whole being, that's my whole soul, longs for this connection.
Thirst.
Hunger.
Isaiah 69, 26, 29.
My soul, here we go again, my deepest part, yearns.
In the night, when I should be sleeping.
In the morning, longs for you.
My spirit, my core, wants you.
Psalm 119 says, Consumed.
How many of you guys have ever been consumed by something?
What does consumed mean?
It means I can't get my, my mind off of you.
Maybe a love interest, maybe a TikTok videos or something.
It's like, I just can't get my mind.
I am so consumed.
Somebody help me.
That's what it is.
You know, so yearning eight four, yearning to the point where I'm crying out my
flesh, I'm crying out for the connection.
That's the definition of, that's what we're talking about.
It's a deep part of it, of ourselves.
Spiritual thirst defines your walk with God.
Simple as that.
If someone says, Hey, how's your walk with God?
Oh, it's great.
Is it defined around thirst really?
I mean, not, not belittling it, but I'm saying you really got to question
yourself, it's like, spiritual, that's my walk with God, my spiritual thirst.
What keeps me coming back, what keeps me coming there, what drives me.
It's not conceptual.
Meaning that, you know, we all walk with God, we all, you know, it's not, it's
not conceptual, it's a personal thing.
That defines your walk with God, is the thirst that you maintain.
Righteousness.
What are we thirsting for?
Is it me, my ice cream?
I mean, it's real thirst.
Ice cream?
When I have this ice cream, I don't know if you guys tried it, it's Haagen Dazs.
Um, it's, um, it's white chocolate raspberry Haagen Dazs.
Have you guys ever had that?
I'm serious, man, when I have that, it's just like, I'm like,
Julie, that, um, I feel like.
That just, it just makes me happy.
I am, I'm serious.
I am, it makes me happy.
I can do that.
I watch a nice TV show.
I have it.
It's magic.
It just makes me happy.
Happy thinking about it.
Happy me eating it.
It's just, that's something for me.
You guys may have something like that for you.
I'm sure it's something that just, it just makes me happy.
But righteousness is like, what is right?
Justice.
The act of doing what is in agreement with God's standard, the state of
being in proper relationship with God.
So we gotta understand, what is it that we're pursuing?
The thirst is.
Really understand that.
This is my perspective of it.
And as we grow in our Christianity, in our spirituality, it's all about perspectives.
There is no, I'm learning there is no right or wrong.
You should do it this way, you should do it that way.
You know, it's about.
God shapes perspectives throughout your life.
This is my perspective.
It may change in another six months, I don't know.
But, thirst and hunger, there's a level of righteousness, right?
It's split into three.
There's a part of it, it's about God.
It's God's righteousness.
Then there's a part, okay, something that permeates from that, is
about personal righteousness.
And then our part of that is like, the personal righteousness,
it extends outwardly now to the church, to the people around me.
I think that's how God set it up.
Part of the God's righteousness, there's a term, justification.
Justification means that something is given to you.
We have to work for it.
It's like, by default, it's yours.
That's awesome.
I love, I love the giving stuff.
I appreciate even, um, Karina just, um, this announcement about me coming
up, and I was really encouraged to hear that, what she said.
I think you got two out of three right, but, you know, it was like, it was cool
just hearing that, you know, as well, but.
So Matthew 6.
33, this is scriptures that kind of shapes it to what righteousness really is.
We got, we have to understand it before we can even apply it, right?
It can't be conceptual.
Matthew 6.
33 says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
All these things will be given to you.
It's all about His, not mine.
What does He say about it?
Romans 3.
22 says it's right.
It's given through faith in Jesus Christ.
So, there's a point you have right, this, this, this, um,
justification, righteousness.
I see it as, um, 1 Corinthians says, God made Him who had no sin
to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness.
At least I say righteousness is what I have become.
It's who I am.
It's not what I do.
It's who I am, it's given to me, and it's His.
Something He gave to me through Christ.
So the question is, do you want to embrace it?
Or do you leave it as a concept?
Oh yeah, Jesus died for all of everybody, all sins.
So, yeah, or do you embrace it?
It's something that's given.
I see it as, um, you look at, the way I view it is, Matthew 7, 14, I'm
gonna turn there, but it says, um, the road to destruction is broad, right?
It says the road to life is narrow.
The way I see it with the justification is like, is saying, okay, justification
means God says you come, you're saved.
Some of it's like, how justification is.
The thirst is, I want to be saved.
So, there's one side of that.
And so I will thirst to be saved, to, um, um, to seek God with all
my heart, to be saved, that faith.
And then, once you are saved, it's like now I am put on
that narrow road by default.
I want to be on that narrow road, is what you say, what we say.
Because the narrow road leads to where?
Where?
You guys know.
Heaven!
Everybody wants to be there, mostly, right?
So, I want to be on that road.
So by default, that justification, you're on the road.
That feels good to be on that road, doesn't it?
So, that's what it's all about.
But, do you recognize you're on the road?
Do you wake up tomorrow and say, You know what, I am on that road.
Paul refers to it as a race.
Do you realize you're in the race?
I went, I went, I went I was in a marathon a long time ago.
Right, trained, trained a lot.
And, I got this called the San Diego San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon.
And, this was a fabulous event.
Every mile was music.
So, give me something to look forward to.
A different music, different, you know, so, really cool.
It was about, I signed up late, and so it, it's probably about, I remember
like 20, 000 people signed up for this event, so I was like number 18,
000, something like that, and so I had to wait my turn to even get started.
Alright, so, I remember, I trained really well, but I remember like a mile, like
8 or 9, it was, Crazy because everybody was walking and so I had to get around
excuse me excuse me because like that's just crazy It's like so many people
are just walking on this road didn't respect it the marathon is like I just
want to be here because It's fabulous.
It's an event.
It's like see I did it.
It's spectacular people were wearing like crazy outfits and stuff, too
They're running gear like, you know Costumes and all that, but they
were the ones walking on mile five.
I was like, are you taking this seriously?
The road to heaven, that narrow, you're on the road.
Do you embrace it or not?
Justification is, it's placed outside of you.
Puts us there and it feels good, right?
But first of all, we got to realize God has given, placed it there.
So God sees me in a certain way that maybe I don't see myself.
You know, sometimes it's easy to go, like, I'm just the worst sinner.
It's easy to say because Paul said that.
I can say that to you, I'm the worst sinner.
So, I'm always going to fail, I'm always going to struggle.
Accept that.
I ain't Jesus.
I've heard that before.
I ain't Jesus.
That's Jesus.
I ain't Jesus.
So you can't expect all that from me.
But God's view is so important.
It's God's view.
It's like to sit on that and to be on that road for God's
justification is to understand.
God sees me as righteous.
I'm, I'm running.
I got a, I got a shirt.
I got a shirt that says rice on the back on this road.
I'm just righteous because I'm on the road.
I am salt.
Who likes salt in their food?
Food without salt is what?
It's just like, man, yeah.
Healthy, yeah.
But God said, he sees You and I, we are the salt.
Do you see yourself through God's perspective?
Light of the world.
It's dark out here, but when I come around, that light's shining.
When I'm around, the light shines.
When you're around, the light shines.
I'm different.
I'm set apart.
I'm different.
In a good way.
Precious.
That's probably hard to touch, but precious.
Can you sit on that?
Can you sit on God delighting?
That his eyes are on you?
All the time.
It's easy to say, oh man, he's disappointed in me because I'm
doing, messing up, messing up.
How could he?
I did this last night.
Or could you reflect that he's smiling at me.
He's delighting.
Even when I mess up, he's delighting.
That's the God we serve.
In order to stay here, there's justification.
You gotta look at God's perspective.
What God's given to me.
Do I embrace it?
Sometimes you gotta go back.
You gotta go back and remember it and remember it and then move out.
On that, if you start forgetting it, go back, touch it, touch it,
touch it, and then move out again.
Does that make sense?
Can I go on?
You guys good?
Now, it's, God's righteousness is the thirst to, first of all, if you're
not saved, the thirst to be saved.
Or, it's to experience Christ.
Um, to embrace God as he sees you.
And so, you gotta, it's to examine your desires.
It's like, to be honest, I don't have this thirst.
I don't.
Be honest with yourself.
I don't have this thirst for that.
Other things.
And to, and so now you gotta ask yourself, why don't I?
I'm, I'm, in my, um, my profession, I'm in IT, and we're always
trying to make processes better.
And we have this process, it's called, um, the five whys.
Anybody know what the five whys is?
Okay, cool.
Yeah, yeah.
It's five whys.
And so it's, it's, it's concept of root cause analysis.
And so, to get to the root cause.
And I love it because it's so spiritual.
It's like getting, that gets to the heart.
So ask yourself, why don't I want to stay on this road?
Why don't I want to come to church?
Why don't I want to pray?
Why don't I, I don't have my quiet time?
Why don't I want to have quiet time?
And so it's like, ask yourself that five times.
Why don't I have quiet times?
Because I don't have time.
Why don't you have time?
Because, you know, I get up too late.
Why do you get up so late?
You know?
So you keep asking until you get to the root cause.
That's how you get to the heart.
You realize, okay, that's the reason why I don't have quiet times, to be honest.
I don't want to, because something in the past affected me or whatever.
So it's like, examine it to get back on the road.
The second part is personal righteousness, and that's sanctification, right?
He says in Titus 2, where it gets to the last part, it says, it teaches, it
teaches us to say no to ungodliness, to worldly passion, to live self controlled.
and upright and godly lives.
So, 1 Peter says, pretty much, be holy because I'm holy.
So, the way I see this is that God's righteousness puts you
on the road, and then personal righteousness is like, now walk.
Or, you get in a race, Paul says, now run!
Or you're playing basketball, you're on the bench.
You know, it's like, I want you to want, put me in the game, coach.
Get in the game, play.
That's personal righteousness.
Uh, very, it's very clear.
And it's something that happens inside of us.
It's something I have to do personally.
Paul talks about it, you know, it's like working out your
salvation with fear and trembling.
It's the working out.
Spending the rest of your life working out.
It's easy to say, you know what, today I ain't going to run.
You know what, I don't even want to be in a race this month.
I don't got time for no race.
To be honest with ourselves, I don't want this spiritual perspective.
I don't have time for that.
Obedience is a part of this.
It's like, do I have a thirst to obey, or am I thirsty to just do it on my own way?
But directly, the scripture says, if you love me, you will do what?
Obey me.
Point blank.
We can say, you know what?
I love God.
Oh, I love God.
I feel it.
I sing.
The guy's like, do you obey what I say?
Do you do it?
I don't, what?
It's like, that's it, black and white.
Sink the fake Christian righteousness is a statement of love.
It could be all about faith, and no, you're not supposed to do
anything when you're a Christian.
You know, it's, it's all about, not about works.
He's like, surely you love me.
I love it when Paul, when, when, when, um, when he questioned
Peter after Peter denied himself.
Says three times.
Do you love me?
You know, of course, I love you.
I've been around you feelings.
Feed my sheep.
You know, I said three times.
Can you obey me?
Show me.
You guys aren't showing me.
I don't got to show you guys.
He's like, you show me.
Why don't you want to obey me?
So ask this question.
Why?
Sanctification is like, you obey me, things happen automatically.
You start changing.
You start to look like me.
You don't gotta decide that.
You obey me, all of a sudden, things happen.
You light your salt, these things just start boom, boom, boom.
That's how God works.
Cause you're my child.
You can put a stop to it all.
I ain't gonna change.
I don't got time for this.
There's fruit because of that.
It's surrendering.
So it's like longing to, um, first of all, like the longing for personal
righteousness is Sometimes it's really, we look into my Bible family
group, we're learning this together.
It's like putting it into the first person.
When you read the Bible, have God speak to you directly.
So when you read, it's like, okay, God wants all of us.
God wants me to do what?
Do what?
See what he wants you to do from the Word of God.
It's repentance and victories.
I want to change, I want to see the victories.
Change and victories.
That's how change happens.
Both sides.
It's, perspective is like, I gotta see God, he's good in everything.
So when I read his word, there's goodness there.
It's not doom and destruction.
Every scripture, there's some good that's being produced.
It's all good.
Um, watch, pray, and fight.
Some of it's like, do the things you did at first.
What did I do at first when I was on the road, fired up?
Do what you did at first.
Carrying the cross, uh, moving on.
The other part is about, for the personal righteousness, um, you're
walking the road, you're, um, you're on a race, then you look
around, there's people around you.
I remember I was running a marathon, had a lot of, um, physical issues along the
way, but, you know, finally got along, you know, once I got rid of my, my cramps
and stuff, I had some major cramps.
Um, that's another story.
It's got to go ahead by now.
I'll tell you later.
And so I had some cramps, and then um, and I had some people, and I
finally, when I got, you know, kind of a good rhythm, I saw people around me.
And so, and I can start to encourage them, encourage me, and so, it's about that.
It's like, you look around, you got people all around you on this road.
And so, I don't necessarily, my personal righteousness is important, but now, I
care about the community righteousness.
I care about my brothers and sisters righteousness now.
It works that way.
It can't do the other way around.
It's hard to say, I care about the community, but my social
righteousness is like, crazy.
But I can help.
It's like, it doesn't work that way.
It's confusing, it's like, it's like, it can't.
It's, um, and so, it's like, Mark 3 5 16, Let's shine, the
light shine before others.
I have the light, and now I'm going to include other people.
Along, help them along the road, because this road is just not easy.
This sanctification is easy, right?
So you guys still with me?
Okay.
Uh, St.
Corinthians 5.
20 it says, um, God Christ's ambassador because God was
making His appeal through us.
Ezra on the road, God is making His appeal through us.
Because the righteousness is in us.
And so, um, you know collectively, in the, um, in the community, in
the church, that's our perspective.
So it's righteous, this is the righteousness in others.
So the first one is righteousness in God, the second one is
righteousness in ourselves, this is righteousness in other people.
Learn, uh, the longing to help others in the church grow, too.
Longing for the community.
Now we went out, um, in the community before, before, um, we, we met
here, and that's something I had to really pray for as well is that not
so much, you know, going door to door could be a little weird, right?
And so I got to fight.
Not Jehovah Witness is a bad term, but you know, I just, the feeling of
being like a Jehovah Witness and um, you know, people like don't want to
open their doors and all that stuff.
And so I'll put on a suit on purpose.
I'm kidding.
Yeah.
And so, but the feeling, but I had to realize that helped me to long to
just want the community field, right?
That's what drives me, relationships and all that.
So, um, and so this demonstrates our love for other people.
through our righteousness.
And moving on to, um, and that's, it's a picture here.
This is Cory and his family.
And why I brought this up is, you know, we went on this road trip
and, um, the road trip was to, um, where did we go, Cory, again?
Um, yeah, um, so we went to Berry Creek area, um, and Oroville, which I
had no idea where that was on the map.
Um, actually I didn't.
And so, what, what amazes me is that, uh, Cory brought it up months ago, that
he, he hadn't seen his family in a while.
And so, Tuan says, Hey, where would you want to go on vacation?
He says, Uh, if I was the one who would have said Hawaii,
somebody would have said Orville.
Then Tuan says, Okay, we'll go there.
And, and he's like, Okay.
And then he said, Want to come, Kenny?
I was like, Sure.
So this trip was about to encourage Cory to connect with his family, who
hasn't seen him in, I think, 19 years.
And so, what I brought this up is that this was such an
incredible trip to see his family.
Reconnect with him and the fears that I had going up I had expressed with his
family is that okay Three of us are going, you know, I am a tall black man Twan is
a medium sized for Asian Asian And then, and then Tuan, I mean, and then um, Corey.
So we're all coming up, and I'm like, what are they going to see, first of all?
And then we're in the backwoods of, I don't know where, Northern California, so.
And then, yeah, so that was like, I'll have some, I was kind of
anxious about that, so that's going to be weird, you know, too.
And they had the same views of us as well, so.
So, we got there, they pulled us in, we met so many of his aunts and uncles
and cousins, and it was amazing, this connection, it was amazing
to see the love of their family.
And they pulled us in as family immediately.
And we were leaving, we dropped Cory off, and then Tom was like, you know
what, I so needed this, to see this love, you know, from this community.
I was like, you know what, me too.
I didn't know, I need that, but I need to see that, I need to feel that.
That genuine love.
So it's about the community, uh, is so important.
So this is my own thoughts here.
So, you know, um, I work with a lot of presentations, so sorry if it's
a little complex, but we have this, so it's a hunger and thirst for
righteousness, but then see how this plays into his greatest command.
Right?
He says, this is the greatest command.
Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
And you can see that loving yourself is a part of the equation, too.
I gotta love me.
I can't do this without loving me.
Right?
But I can love me through Christ.
How he sees me helps me to love me.
So, that's the God's part.
I gotta see how God sees me first.
And it says, love the Lord with all your heart.
Personal sanctification is like, you obey me, you love me.
That's the love part.
Then it goes to the community part.
It's like, and then you love your neighbor.
As yourself.
It all, Christ just fits into his commandments.
Says how important.
And critical, righteousness is, but there's a thirst behind it.
Develop it, why it's not there, cultivate it, um, as well.
So the promise is like field.
Um, the last scripture, Ephesians 3, 17, it says, I pray that out of his glory
and riches, that he may strengthen you with his power through the spirit in
your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you being rooted and established in love.
May have power together with all God's Holy Spirit people to
grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
And you know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to
the measure of all the fullness of God.
Being filled means strengthened.
Being filled means power.
Being filled means purpose and root.
Being filled means I understand and I can touch this love of Christ.
Being filled means I can be full.
Uh, as I mentioned here, security, uh, wisdom comes from this as well.
Um, uh, and it's fulfilling his greatest commandment.
So some action steps is just to write down some things, uh, some areas in
your life that God has changed you.
How has God sanctified me?
We all are evidence of that.
Think about that and write it down.
How has God changed me?
And so those areas, how, how did I show my thirst for those areas?
Maybe I, you know, I had some McQuin talk Quiet times, hasn't
McQuin talks about people.
I had to wrestle here.
And that changed.
How did you've, you've demonstrated that, if not now, in parts of your
life, looking at that and touching it, and I wanna recreate that.
And so as this time, we're gonna take communion and I really wanna focus on
the first aspect of the righteousness.
God's righteousness, what's been given to us.
And we can look at the cross.
And as we close our eyes and reflect on Christ, just think about, um, and,
and so I know a lot of times we, we focus on where I went wrong and, you
know, where, you know, how I want to change, but we can really look
at the fact of like how good He is.
Uh, what is the, um, how does He see me?
You know, what's the opportunities I'll have once I open up my eyes
again after I see the cross?
What opportunities do I have?
What good can I produce?
Amen?
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, God, thank you for just allowing us to come together,
to be here, to worship you.
Father, you are our focus.
Father, you are our desire.
Father, we're open to learn from you, to be taught from you.
Father, thank you for the cross, thank you for Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice.
Thank you for just putting us on the road to heaven.
Uh, father, we thank you for the way that you, you call us higher,
uh, to thank you for family.
Uh, God.