Speaker 1 0:03

Yeah , we got some good stuff coming up. I'm excited about that. Hey, today is a weekend of remembrance. And so just to pause for a minute and recognize those who have served, someone who has served that has given their life , um, I recognize you, we honor

Speaker 2 0:20

You , uh , we see you in the midst of this moment. If you're joining us with online,

Speaker 1 0:25

Just even this last year, I've had the honor to go to a couple of different Terry , uh , ceremonies , uh , and lay someone to arrest. And so I know the distinct privilege that is that I've had. And so again, we just see them .

Speaker 3 0:42

Um, we , um, we have

Speaker 1 0:44

A couple of things that I wanted to update you about last week. I made a first announcement about this. I a follow up for any of those that weren't here. I've gotten a lot of questions about, Hey, what is that going to look like at church after June 15th, when regulations change, we've got notification from our local governance and the county and the guidelines, et cetera, that come that Tuesday, June the 15th, that and churches as well. The likelihood of it just kind of going back to what was pre COVID stuff is going to be at the discretion of individual institutions. And so following those guidelines are going to really consistent from the beginning, just to let you know what is going to shift or not going to shift on the father's day weekend when it comes to us is we're going to keep everything on campus right now, pretty much the same. We have some social distancing set up in the rooms and how we're laid out with chairs , uh , and just kind of the common areas. Um, we have collapsed our kids area. And so we can handle that. Well, we're going to keep that going for a couple of months to kind of feel that out. The one thing that will shift just a little bit is we're going to create a mask only, or non-vaccinated section in the middle of our room towards the back. So that's comfortable for those who don't yet feel comfortable, not wearing a mask if they've been vaccinated, et cetera. And so that's going to be something that we're going to stop policing, but for now we're still have masks are still asking people to wear masks the entire time in here, but that's one of those shifts. And I know a lot of people have reached out and that are concerned about this. And the thing is, is that I'm just trying to be consistent with what we've done from the very beginning and care for everyone involved. And so trying to create spaces for us to do that. So those of you who are with us online and wondering, Hey, what's that going to look like in the future? Now, you know, those of you who are in the room, what's it going to look in the future? We're just walking through it together. It's been such a fluid situation. And the important thing is to love each other and to care for each other, through all of this. One of the things that I wanted to let you guys know about is that in a couple of weeks, we have a members meeting on June 13th. We didn't get to do one last year because of COVID restrictions. And so we're going to do an in-person one and an online one. Um , and anyone is actually welcome to that. It's at one o'clock on June 13th in this room online or in San Francisco at the same time, feel free to come to that. If you're a member , highly encourage you guys be a part of that. As we get to look at what God's going to be doing here in the future, just update on some things that are going on and introduce some new board members. So some are really great, but today I get to kick off our summer series. I know I just said it out loud. I know it's the last weekend of may, but this is summer. It's here. It's on, this is what we've been waiting for. And we're starting this series. We're going to do an 11 week conversation through the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah. Wasn't really written chronologically, but we're going to grab some things out of this, specifically, this loss calling exile and king eviction that we're going to see throughout here . And I've brought in some friends they're going to pop in and out over the next coming months through the series that have some expertise in this area. One of those just the highlights is June 27th, Brandon McDonough. He runs an organization called hold fast recovery. He is, if you saw this years ago in the news, back in 2013, he is the sole survivor of the Yarnell fire when 19 other hot shots lost their lives . So he was the one that made it through there. Unfortunately actually knew one of those men. He was in my youth group and did youth ministry with him and him passing away in that fire. And so we had just a different connection when it came to that. He's going to come out here and talk about some of that loss, exile, that difficulty stuff, and how we kind of walk through those things and what his life has looked like since then. So just the highlight, really excited about everybody actually highlight him specifically this weekend or highlight different people as we kind of continue to work our way through this. So Jeremiah , this is really a framework that we're going to use to understand this progression of Jeremiah's life. He's a prophet of God and in his ministry in order to think about the way that this loss calling exile and conviction, speak to our present moment that we're dealing with. And this week I've titled this message you are known, did you know that you are known, but before we hop into that , uh, and what no looks like. I want to do a quick overview of this entire book of Jeremiah for you understand this is the old Testament. So here's a glance at this timeline. Jeremiah is a prophet that came in the backside of Israel's kingship era. And he comes in here and you see it's broken down into some sections that I'm going to highlight when it comes to these chapters. Jeremiah is also actually the longest book in the old Testament. It's a challenging, wonderful read right here in the beginning chapters one through 24, we see right here is a bunch of poems that is put together. And these poems are explaining that Israel people, Israel aren't acting the way that they are supposed to. In fact that they are turning away from God. And you see in chapter a sermon that he gives, he actually shows up at the temple and he sees where they're trying to worship and honor God. And they're doing sacrifices because that's the sacrificial system was around then. And he literally says, this is all a sham. He even uses really intense language. And these poems explain that you are like an adults or that you have cheated on, or you're turning away from God. You're going towards something else and not rely on God, but you're just doing these things to say, Hey, yeah, we're still a part of God, but we're not living a lifestyle that he's asked us to live. And so he calls it out right here and starts to prophesier explain that there's going to be an XL that exists or that there's going to be a nation that comes in. And there's a couple of nations that are surrounding that area of Judea Jerusalem. You can kind of take them right in the middle. And then on the side, once idea of Babylon, the biggest nation, and then the other one, you have Egypt. And so it's this competitive thing right? Between the two as we kind of work our way through when we get around chapter 23, you see right there where he actually starts to talk about, well, there is going to be a hope, although there's going to be a destruction that comes and he talks about in this poem, because there's going to be judgment that comes upon you, that there is going to be this hope because the line of David will

Speaker 4 7:15

Be used and renewed to bring a Messiah.

Speaker 1 7:18

It doesn't say when, but gives this piece of hope right here, just as it kind of transitions into this next session. This next section right here is all just doom and gloom. Like it is like Babylon specifically is going to come. This is way of God bringing judgment upon you for your actions and the things that you have done. And he's explaining that in detail over and over and over again, it's very gloomy. And you see here in chapter 28, he actually gets challenged by another prophet named Hannah and I and Hannah and Iowa's was saying, Hey, Jeremiah, this isn't going to happen. God promised way back here to Abraham. You know , Hey, we're going to give you blessings for the future. And so God's going to continue to bless us no matter how we act or what we do in Jeremiah is saying, that's just not true. It's just not true that his judgment is going to come. Then we transition after all of this gloom stuff into this period of hope or it's she called the book of hope, these four chapters right here, where he talks about that one day, this will stop like this. Isn't going to be the forever. This isn't, we're not going to constantly be in exile and taken over. He doesn't give a time period of exactly how long they're going to be an exile, but he says that there is going to be hope for a future. And this reflects back into a future cast of the hope of Jesus right here. Then it transitions then to this period of exile, we see for 10 chapters, 11 chapters, just this gruesome story where we've heard about what's going to happen. And now we're actually seeing it take place. And in Jeremiah explaining what it's like for this XL take place king Nebuchadnezzar coming in from Babylon and destroying Jerusalem, the temple, and then taking groups of Israelites out back to Babylon with them. And this is the first exile that you see is where you get Daniel, Daniel, and his buddies. And then in the book of Daniel explained some more, what that looked like the second time he comes, where you get Zeke you'll and you get to understand a little bit more, that looks like as you read through there, but just this really difficult season that is explaining this is what it's looking like, this destruction that we're actually experiencing together. And then what happens finally in the last few chapters is send them talking about the nations and not just Babylon was used as judgment for Jerusalem and the Israelites, but it was that God's actually going to judge Babylon themselves because there are wicked people and there's going to be hope and a future. That's going to be good that God's going to bring his people back into their land, but there's going to be judgment on other nations as

Speaker 2 10:00

Well. So really

Speaker 1 10:03

Intense book, really powerful. A lot of it's really sad, but there is a ton to learn and a grasp of this. And I , I encourage you to read it. It's a challenging read through the poems and stuff, but I think that you will benefit from that. And as we kind of grab pieces out of this, as we walk on this journey, I think we're all going to benefit from this in a really powerful way. So summertime is a place. There's a place that I go to that I've gone to for the last 20 years that has a dear and near place in my heart. And this place is called a nets mono village. And that's motor village is on the upper lake of the twin lakes, just outside of a town called Bridgeport on the backside of the three 95, the three 95 freeway goes in the backside of California. And to get there, you have to go up and take the past . Usually through Tahoe, it's just north of mono lake and just south of Topaz lake. And so it's nestled in on the backside of Yosemite. And I want to tell you that when I go there, I know exactly where I'm going, and I know exactly the best spots to go. If you were to go there and say, Larry, where's the best place to camp. Literally, I could point you to the best three places to go camping and camping specifically, depending on what kind of camping going to do. Are you just going to be a tent? Are you going to be an a trailer? Do you need hookups? Like, what area do you like the water? Do you like the sound of water? Do you want space? Where you just in the trees, you don't need to be close to a restroom or shower. I can lay that down. Exactly. I can tell you exactly where the bears come down and cross the Creek. I know the exact spot. I like camping there because I like to know what they're doing. I like to know where they're up to. I know how to get the bears to shoe and go away. It's really crazy. It's this thing I learned about this area that we have friends. Like we actually know the bears. We go back and we know that bears have gotten bigger and we've seen them and they're like gigantic raccoons. They like to be sneaky, but they don't like to be seen by people. And they're scared. So I can show you exactly where they cross. I know exactly where they usually did not found where they take all your trash. When you leave your trash out and they've gone and grabbed trash. I know the best spot to go fishing. I know exactly where you can walk out on the lake and you can get yourself a hundred yards out into the water and still stand on a sandbar and not go under. When everything around you is about 20 feet deep. I know that exact spot. I know exactly how to take it out there. So you could say standing the whole time, and then it looks like you're standing from here up. I know the exact best place to catch

Speaker 2 12:39

Longer

Speaker 1 12:40

Of a rainbow trout right off of a little Creek and a little Cove. That's my favorite little Cove. I know that exact spot. I know exactly where to put the anchor. I know exactly where to lineup , because I know how the wind pushes you around in the water, moves there towards the dam towards the end. I know exactly where to get anything you need at a nets

Speaker 2 13:01

Mono village. I

Speaker 1 13:03

Know a nets mono village. I have not exhausted the upper twin lake of a nets motor village, meaning that there are things that I'm going to come to know over time. As I continue to go there. And even this summer as I go and spend nine or 10 days there, I will learn even more in some back path and the best way to get around this and the best of you for this and find if there's another angle to get it , see if I can get around the other side of this 300 foot waterfall. I know it I've come to know it. Well, do you have a place like that? Do you have a place like that? That you just know so well that you've visited, whether it's a city

Speaker 2 13:41

Or a sports team that you know everything about or a skill

Speaker 1 13:45

That you have, that you've got that very specific vernacular. And you understand where a lot of us could make a comment like, oh yeah, no, I know about that. But you could do like a deep dive when it comes to that because you've sliced it and diced it and shoot on it and investigated it and come to truly know that thing that you love. This is a concept we're going to pull out and we're going to learn in Jeremiah right off the bat. And one of his first poems, Jeremiah, one five, some of this is familiar to you. It says this before I formed you in the womb. I

Speaker 2 14:22

Knew you

Speaker 1 14:24

Before you were born. I set you apart. I pointed to you as a prophet to the nations. Now, the reason I'm showing you this whole versus a lot of you just see this one before I formed you in the moon womb, I knew you, right? But we don't often read the next part before you were born. I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Now this is very specific. Like most of the Bible is written to very specific people. For specific things. You see this even all throughout the new Testament, the letters that are written to specific people about a specific circumstance that they're dealing with. So in the same sense, God is speaking to Jeremiah and saying, Hey, I've called you in set you aside to be a prophet for me. Now there's things that we can learn about who God is. Wouldn't the things that he says to other people. So this right here, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. So what did we learn about God here?

Speaker 2 15:20

He knows us that he has the ability to know us deeply intimately before we even knew ourselves, that

Speaker 1 15:31

This concept that we are known before we even know, we often spend time collectively anxiously, trying to prove ourselves in life. We're constantly trying to make ourselves known or to find our way in life. And yet here's the beautiful thing that we get to learn about God is that we are already

Speaker 2 15:52

Known and we live out of our own nowness.

Speaker 1 15:58

This friends is an opportunity for us to find peace

Speaker 2 16:03

For others, to find

Speaker 1 16:04

Peace, to stop, trying to make yourself known and to constantly trying to do better and make sure people see you in the weight that that brings on your life. When you're constantly striving, just to be known,

Speaker 2 16:18

But to live , um , to live scene and to live loved.

Speaker 1 16:25

We see this before Jeremiah even had to make difficult decisions about his life. God's speaking to him about how to engage in the realities of this changing world that he was born into before he has to figure out how to stand up for the way of God. When others seem to abandon it, they've put it off to the side before he makes counter cultural decision. He is first hold this,

Speaker 2 16:53

You're known, you're known, and it's out of his newness

Speaker 1 16:59

That he's able to do what he's called to do with Claire when it's needed. And this is a beautiful concept that we get, that we are known and you can dive deeper in all throughout scriptures and see how much God knows you and how he is unveiling. And knowing the things like the hair on your head and the intimate details of how known you are. And just that concept of you were known from the very beginning, just unravels that you can unpack that, but you are known

Speaker 2 17:34

By God, but how much do you know him?

Speaker 1 17:39

I think that it causes us to ask that other question, wow, I am fully

Speaker 2 17:45

Known by God

Speaker 1 17:47

At the, at the smallest, my new levels, the other side, how much do you actually know him? I want to tell you that you can know him about as much as you are willing to know.

Speaker 2 18:01

He's infinite. You can't

Speaker 1 18:03

Ever stop knowing more. You can't ever . There's not an end to this journey that you go on. See, we enter into a story that's begun long before our life's even started. And it's actually going to continue after our life's end to this way that you can live well in this story is to direct your attention, our attention to God, whose story proceeds ours and continues on

Speaker 2 18:29

After ours, whose

Speaker 1 18:30

Story that we're entering into, which is why we can be known.

Speaker 2 18:36

We know. So

Speaker 1 18:40

Can we, and our nowness awakened to the possibility of knowing the almighty, like never before in an intimate specific way. And so some of you might ask, how do we do that? How do I know God and a deeper level and unpack those level layers. I want to tell you, one of those things that you can do is you can hang on to his attributes. So you can look around what are the attributes of God. It's an example that we use lots and you'll see this all throughout scripture. God is love, right? So you can start with, God has love or for God. So loved the world that he gave his only son. And God loves you this way. And he shows his love this way. And you see all throughout the life of Jesus, the way that he lived love as , as a light of love to others. And so, as you hang on, that what you would do is you would sit there and say, what are all the different angles that I can see how God has love? How can I see a situation? How can I read every bit of scripture that points me towards the way that God is loving in circumstances in the which, which he is loving and caring for another person or caring for me? How can I actually see that lived out in the stories of Jesus? How can I see that lived out in the old Testament and the new Testament? How can I see that lived out in my own life, where I can confess and give gratitude to God, because I can see the way that you've loved me. And we can just sit there and continue to turn the heart of God until we see this new angle of love and understand that in a deeper way. I wanna ask you this. How many of you know that we have a professional baseball team in Oakland? You can use your hands. I'm going to, we're going to do like stuff together. Great . So hands . Hi . Do you know how many of you know that we have professional baseball team in Oakland? How many of you know what the name of that?

Speaker 2 20:33

Okay. What is it ?

Speaker 1 20:35

The Oakland. A's great. Excellent. Okay. So we know that there's a professional baseball team in Oakland, the Oakland A's. How many of you know what year the A's were established? Hello ? I lost

Speaker 4 20:48

Everyone there. Oh, I got one. What do you got? 19. Oh one. We'll go close.

Speaker 1 20:56

How many of you know what city? The Oakland A's were first originated in ?

Speaker 2 21:00

What's that? Anybody you got it back there again

Speaker 1 21:05

Has Philadelphia. Well that, and then went to, there you go. We got a couple of people right here in Kansas came to Oakland in 1968. There you go. You guys, you guys are actually on this. We got some fans in here. They have one. How many, know how many rings that they have? One,

Speaker 2 21:23

Couple of people, anybody, nine, 15. Pinots .

Speaker 1 21:29

How many of you know who their current manager is? You raise your hand. There cope . A couple only people were losing lots. We've only got like two that are in tribute right now . Way , moment , life for this. This is good. Bob. Melvin, right now the manager ACE pitcher. How many know the ACE pitcher. Okay. ACE pitcher. When he got

Speaker 5 21:51

Chris?

Speaker 1 21:53

Well , I'm going to go with Chris Bassett right now for this year. We'll do trivia later. This is going to be good. Okay. So crisp acid. So what we can do is we get there's layers, right? Cause everyone in here said, you know, the Oakland A's, you know, they're the Oakland A's. But when we start getting deeper and then it goes into like, who has season tickets, then it goes to like, okay, so how many of you know the players? Oh, I know Chris. How many know how old he is? He's 32. How many of you have ever spent time with him ? I got to spend time with them during COVID. And one of the conversations we had is he was so stoked that COVID was actually happening in a bad way. But for the first time he had a season, cause they were just going to have a little girl where he's going to be around because he travels most of the year. And so he was getting to see his daughter walk for the first time and do things that he never would have been able to do is this family guy that loves the Lord. And he was even telling me, he's like, Hey, I'm not even throwing right now. I'm not even going to throw because I'm so present right now with my family. So how much do you know, how many times have you been on the field for a game? But we all know the Oakland

Speaker 2 23:01

A's right. The same sense we can say. Well, I know God.

Speaker 1 23:07

How many of you know God? Right? I know God. Well, let me tell you about them . You would say to me, well , we're talking about attributes. I'll use the one you just used. God is love. It's good job. He is. Yeah. But can we get deeper there? I , um, Valentine's day is one of these really goofy holidays. It's so good. If you got a Valentine, it is not good. If you don't got a Valentine, right? It's like this holiday that we invented and you always have these interactions to understand like about another person as you write these letters, you spend time with them. And then, so I got to talk to , uh , a friend one time and I was like, what are you? What do you like about Alex?

Speaker 2 23:51

She said, well, he smells good. Okay. That's good. I mean, it's better than the opposite.

Speaker 6 23:58

Right?

Speaker 2 23:59

Well, what else? He's so sweet. Okay. That's

Speaker 1 24:04

Good. And so then we write a card, cue the music,

Speaker 5 24:09

Dear . You smell good .

Speaker 6 24:25

It's good. Right?

Speaker 7 24:28

So like, what do we know? Oh, so what do we know? Right. If I was to go to you and be like,

Speaker 1 24:34

You were going to , you were going to say to me, like, what do you love about your Valentine? And you'd be like, whoa , whoa, whoa. You're talking about my lover. I can talk about the love of my life. I mean, how much time

Speaker 2 24:44

Do you have, like how

Speaker 1 24:47

Long of a list can I give you? Do you want to know just about the day ? Do you want to know just about the things that I love from this last week? Do you want to know about the things that I've gotten to learn about this person in the last 20 years, as I've dove in deeper and seeing the way that they love and they care for others and they're patient and they're always thinking of someone else and they're willing to jump in. I mean, come on, let's go. You might even get some tears out of me here in just a minute. Friends. I think the tough part is, is you asked the average, Christian, what do you love about God? And you're not going to get back. How long do you have? How long do you have? And you sit there and you're ready to write this letter. And you're like, okay, well let me write this letter. Well, I love his grace. I got that one down. His grace is good. Number two. Can I do grace twice? Like

Speaker 2 25:42

I like grace a lot. It's really good. And his mercy and his love did I mention grace. Okay.

Speaker 1 25:57

Ah, that one time you helped me when I was in a bind that's it helped me. That's an attribute, right? Friends instead of saying, oh, you're talking about my lover. You're talking about my savior. You're talking about my God. You're talking about my Valentine right now. My one true love. You're talking about my mono village. You're talking about my city or that skill, my specialty. If you got an hour, do you have an hour? I would love to tell you about the love I have, about how much I know my God. I want to say that knowing God in this in-depth way , um, and knowing him all the way in completely is impossible. He's infinite, or this analogies of the AEs is that we use to construct, to go layer by layer, by layer because God is spirit. He's infinite, but it gives us all a picture of knowing something more than just a general sense. I know God is gracious. Let's see , dig in and unpack that and truly understand that. And if there is a God of infinite greatness, and if he is inviting you and I to come and to know him intimately,

Speaker 2 27:22

Then friends, there is nothing more, nothing more valuable in your life. Nothing more rewarding in your life than your full on pursuit of knowing him, friends. God knows you. And he wants to be known by you.

Speaker 1 27:47

So kind of wrap this up and follow up for this week for you to be able to have conversations with , uh, friends or family or on the way you go from here, you can take out your phones. You can take a picture of this. You can write it down in the app.

Speaker 4 27:59

I'll point this out, up on the screen. Here's a couple of questions for you this week. How are you living in your numbness? How are you living in your nowness?

Speaker 1 28:11

Are you living it out? Are you chasing and carrying this weight that others are putting any , just to make sure that you feel known and loved and heard, or are you living

Speaker 4 28:23

In the comfort and the love of being known by the God of the universe? How

Speaker 1 28:30

Are you pursuing the God that knows you? How are you pursuing him back and chasing him down, trying to know him at a deeper level. And finally, what next steps are

Speaker 4 28:44

You going to take to engage in his story? That started long before us. That's going to continue on long after us, but living in

Speaker 1 28:56

This moment and this opportunity of being known

Speaker 4 28:59

By God, how can you continue in that story and going to respond ? This is a good time for us to stand into worship and proclaim what God has spoken

Speaker 1 29:13

Over us to us and through us.