Lost In Translation

Hello, and welcome to the Salt Church Podcast. Thank you for tuning in to this week's message. Join us as we explore God's Word providing practical teaching for day-to-day living. The message you are about to hear was recorded live at our Sunday morning worship experience. If you would like to learn more about Salt Church, please visit us at saltchurch.

org. We hope that you are encouraged by today's message. You can just give me like a thumbs up. How many of you guys text message? Everyone should be giving me a thumbs up, right?

I mean, this isn't the 1800s, right? And we all text message, don't we? Okay. Well, that's true. That's true.

Granted. So, we all text message to some degree or another if we have a phone. That is true. Well, have you ever had that experience where you try to text something and then it kind of gets lost in communication? You know, like autocorrect comes in?

You ever had that? I'm sure we got some bad autocorrect stories in here. Some of them may be church appropriate. Some of them maybe not. And that's okay.

But I have a few autocorrect stories. These are the ones that were sent to me. Here's one. Her name, the lady who sent this, her name is Beverly. Okay.

Is it up there? Oh, shoot. I got to be able to read it. It's up there now. Okay.

So, I'll read this. You know what? Let me just read it on my phone. That'll be easier. And so, here's what she said.

She was going to be working in the children's ministry and she had different things that she needed to print out. And so, she sends me this text message and I say, hey, Bev, you know, do you need anything? She said, hi, we'll need copies of Deborah the Leafy. Use the round circle of pictures. Also, I have a Deborah figure to teach with.

Thanks. So, I was like, oh, wow. Okay. That makes no sense to me. There's another one, though, that's even better.

This is my buddy, Mike. All right. He worked with me in church and we were talking about baptism. I sent him a message and here's what he said. You can put that second one on.

He said, if you want to cancel baptism, Burnham Caleb, do plant engine bay lunch. I'll let him know or I can let you know or just let me know what you want to do. I'm especially bathtub birthday. Thanks. Now, if any of you guys can tell me what he meant to say in that text message, I'll give you a million dollars because I have no idea.

And I've saved that literally for years. I will never get rid of that picture. I will always have it. You know, we can get lost in translation, you know, we get lost in translation. Funny thing about a cell phone is that it's super complicated, but then it's simple to use.

Right. We don't really know what's going on in there. All right. But there's some kind of part of this cell phone. There's some part of this cell phone that makes sure that when I press send, that text message gets there.

Right. Or there's some part of the phone that when I'm talking into it, I'm like, no, I didn't say that. I said this. And Siri's like, you know, excuse me. Thank you.

Whatever she says. Right. And it's all she's giving you the wrong directions. There's something in there that's supposed to take what you're saying and translate it. And it's supposed to work.

There's something in there that's supposed to take this phone. When I hit send and a call to call my wife and it's supposed to transfer all these different towers. There's something in this phone that sends out this signal. Right. That's supposed to get there all the way.

Oh, my my wife. And I love modern technology. It's awesome. It's sometimes it can mess up. Right.

We can get drive calls. One of the things that happens, though, is that if my phone is broken, which it recently was, I had to buy a new phone. By the way, I don't know if you know this, but maybe they don't do this here in Virginia Beach, but they did in Richmond. They probably would. If you get an Apple store around here, you can actually get like you can go get an older phone.

It's like half or like, you know, less than half of the price of it was new. You can buy it and they'll deliver it to your house in two hours. I know that because I just did that because my phone broke and it wouldn't have any calls. I'd call someone and it would drop immediately. They cost them, but they call me and it would drop immediately.

Something was broken in the phone. You know, the signal could be completely perfect, you know. There'll be nothing wrong with the signal. But if there's something broken in the phone, something will get lost. The communication becomes impossible.

Something doesn't work. No, it's not just with phones, though. Right. Interpersonal communication. It's like I got something in my mind that I want to tell my wife.

Right. We all know that she's not hearing what I'm saying. You know what I mean? I'm not hearing what she's saying. I'm just hearing like, hey, you forgot to do the hundred things I have on the list for you to do.

And I'm just like, babe, I just need a break. But we're just talking over each other. Right. Or whatever it is. And it's really hard to communicate, isn't it?

It's really hard to get what's going on in your heart and your mind and to clearly actually communicate that to another person. Because they're hearing you. And then they're not only hearing you, but they got different people that they're listening to. And not that we're all schizophrenic. But we have ourselves.

We have the other person talking to us. And then we have what we think that other person thinks of us. You know what I mean? Like, what are they really saying? You know what I'm saying?

Like, they don't really mean that, do they? What are they? What's hidden in there? And then we have what they think we think of them. And then all these different, like, personas and people come into play.

And it's just two people. And all of a sudden, things get mixed and lost in translation. Communication becomes difficult. We can think we communicate so clearly. And yet, we communicate in all these different ways.

Sometimes we don't say what we mean. And sometimes we don't mean what we say, right? And all this communication, it becomes very difficult. And it's super difficult, even person to person. And I think also that it's difficult God to person.

Or person to God. Now, I have a foundational assumption. God's perfect. So if there's a communication issue, it's not on him. Meaning it's not his ability.

Meaning it's not his understanding. Meaning it's not his comprehension of the world. Meaning it's not him lying. He doesn't lie. And meaning it's not him changing his mind.

He doesn't change his mind. Like twini. So, oh yeah, and he died. When I was алikhio in the swooping page. So, that one teacher asked.

It's about time to ask him to give together, The communication is, by nature, a two-way thing. I know we've been talking about here, you guys have been talking about hearing God. Communication is this two-way process that we go in. And honestly, when it comes to hearing God, what I've learned and what I've found in my life is that it's a process. And it's actually a process that starts in your heart.

It starts with relationship. And it's a process that starts with relationship and it ends with obedience. Let me put it a different way. If you want to hear God, which I think we all do, right? If we're honest and we believe that there's a God, and if you don't, you know, welcome, we love you and we love for you to believe that there's a God.

And we can talk to, you know, talk to Justin. He said he was like almost an atheist and he's got great arguments and he can poke holes in yours. So, come talk to him. He'll help you come to know Christ. Come on somebody.

Okay, yeah, he doesn't do that anymore. So, but all of us want to hear God. Why? Because God knows what we need. Because all of us are looking for guidance in some way.

Because we might look like we know what we're doing, but we don't know what we're doing. And if we know what we're doing, that's kind of scary because it means we're delusional, right? If we think we control all the world around us. We need to have this communication with God. And if we want to actually communicate with God, we need to be willing to do what he says.

Because why would we want to hear him if we're not going to do what he says, you know? It's like ignorance is bliss, you know what I mean? Why would you want to hear God if God's going to tell you to sell your house, give away all your money, and go plant a church? That's what he told me. Why would you want to hear?

I mean, a part of me didn't really want to hear that, you know? And if there isn't a part of you that's willing to obey, then honestly, you don't want to hear God. Because then you're accountable to what he's telling you. See, there's this process. And it all starts with relationship.

And here's one of the issues that we all have to face is that we have broken equipment. Just like my phone, where I had to replace it with a new one, we've got broken equipment. And God's got to take those parts of us that are able to hear him with that capacity, and he's got to replace what's there. Because what's there before you know Christ, before you've had a relationship with God, can't hear him. The message gets messed up.

The message gets too much static in it. And there's two things that are really broken, two kind of capacities that we have that are really broken. The first thing is that our knowledge of the world around us is very incomplete. We have an issue of ignorance. So what the Bible says, I mean, Proverbs 14, 12, it says, There is a way that appears right, but what happens?

But in the end, it leads to death. Ouch. So what it's saying is that there's a way you think's right, but you don't have enough information. And in the end, ah, it leads to death. I have a son, his name's Malachi, a daughter, Noel, another daughter, Autumn.

And we have a daughter in heaven. Her name's Bethany. And so, but Malachi and Noel, they love playing together, and they're amazing. But, you know, Malachi, sometimes, you know, he has this way that seems right to him. You know?

But his dad knows it's going to end in death. And potentially death for his sister. You know what I mean? And I don't know if you guys have ever been there, but I was, we were getting some family photos taken. And I'm sitting there, and I'm just talking to my wife, and it's a beautiful day.

And there's this hill over by my dad's house, and this hill goes down pretty steep into these woods, right? And I kind of look over, and I see Malachi and Noel, and they're kind of playing. And then all of a sudden, I look over, and Malachi's at the top of the hill. And Noel was with him, but she's not. And then I look and scan a little bit more, and I see Noel in a stroller, careening down the hill.

Nobody holding the stroller, right? She's just, like, bouncing, like, smiling, and she's so happy. She's moving towards this enormous tree. And I'm, like, have one of those, like, my girl's life is flashing me in one of my eyes kind of moment. I'm like, Malachi!

And then she ends up stopping, and it's fine. But he had a way, you know, that seemed really cool to him. Hey, let's see what happens when I let my sister go down a hill in a stroller. But it could have ended in death, right? And that's kind of a silly, well, maybe not death, but she could have gotten hurt, right?

Maybe that's kind of a silly example. But there are so many times in life where we think we know what we're doing, and we don't. And we're not listening to the Lord. We want to make an investment that there's part of our gut, right? It just doesn't feel right, but it just seems so good.

And we want to make that money, and we want to, ah, but we're kind of struggling with it. And we end up saying, okay, well, you know, I really want to make that money. So I'm kind of going to go against, you know, maybe that deep feeling in my heart. And I haven't really prayed about it. I haven't really talked to God about it.

I'm not really wanting to do that because I don't really want to hear no. So I'm just going to do it. And then bankruptcy. See, there's a way that feels right to us, but the end, it leads to death. But it's not just ignorance.

We're actually just rebellious. We're rebellious. We have it tied up in our hearts, you know. We're just rebellious. God addresses this, Isaiah 39 through 11.

Here's what he says. He says, for these are rebellious people. He's talking about his people, not like atheists and pagans and whatever we are. He's talking about Christians, the Israelites, but now for us, Christians. Deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction.

They say to the seers, see no more visions. And to the prophets, give us no more visions of what is right. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy illusions. Leave this way.

Get off this path and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel. We're rebellious. We're rebellious. You know, it's that part of us that's rebellious. It's the part of us that when someone, you know, when someone tells you what to do, you automatically don't want to do it.

I don't know. You guys experienced that? I'm like, who are you to tell me what to do? I can do better than you. Who made you the expert?

I know you're the boss, but whatever. My way is better. I don't know. I feel it a lot. Someone tells me what to do.

I'm not normally looking like, hey, I wonder if what they're saying is true. I'm more thinking about, well, who are they? What credentials do they have? Where are they at? I'd like to see their degrees.

And it's amazing because we can start to do that with God. See, there is a brokenness in us, is there not? An ignorance, a rebelliousness, part of the equipment that is broken. And see, if we want to hear God, which is so important to your God, I mean, guys, you want to hear God. And if you don't want to hear God, I'm praying and asking and just hoping that something will stick with you today.

So you will want to hear God because there's nothing better than hearing God. And there's nothing more exhilarating than hearing God. And there's nothing scarier than hearing God. Yes, there's nothing. There's no claps on that one.

I get it. There's nothing scarier than hearing God, you know. Talked about last night, we have church on Saturday nights. One of the ladies there is like, I'm just afraid of God's will. I'm like, thank you for being honest.

So am I. I'm afraid of what God's going to ask me to do. I don't want to meet my neighbors, God. What if they hear me yelling at my kid, you know? And then I'm like the pastor and I'm there and I can't escape because I bought the house.

I don't want to tell that person about Jesus. What if they don't like me? We get afraid of God's will. We have this fear. We have this fear, but we want to hear God.

And if we want to hear God, I'm just going to assume everyone wants to hear God. Here's, I believe, kind of a process of how we can really do it. But here, here's kind of where it starts. If you want to hear God, you got to believe that he talks. Is your mind blown?

Yeah. But, but let's just get real simple. If you want to hear God, you have to believe that he's saying something. And not only that he's saying something, but he's saying something to you. If you're ever going to hear God, if you're ever going to do any of that, you got to start by thinking and believing and coming to a place where, yeah, God has something to say.

To me about my life, which means you and I have the capacity to hear God, to read his word, to understand his word, to figure out how it applies to our life. And even, even to hear him give us instruction and guidance. See, if we don't believe that, then what does it really mean to even communicate? I mean, God's always talking. The verb to say, to speak is used of God like thousands and thousands of times in the Bible.

He's talking. He's saying something. It's a two-way thing. And if you're going to hear God, you have to just simply believe that he is saying something. And that he's saying is important that he's saying it to you, not to Pastor Leon.

Well, God talks to him, but not to me. What? No, he wants to talk to you. See, God made you in his image. So it says in Genesis 1, it says, God made you in his image.

It says, then God said, let us make them in our image, mankind in our likeness. So they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds of the sky and the livestock and all the wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his image and the image of God. He created them male and female. He created them.

So that concludes all of us. And being made in God's image means that we are like him in many ways, including being able to hear and understand language. See, God is a God that speaks. He said, let us make mankind. He speaks to Adam in the garden.

He speaks to Moses. He speaks to David. He speaks to Jesus. He speaks to Paul. He speaks to Peter.

He speaks to every one of the apostles. And yet we somehow come to this place where God no longer speaks to me. God is speaking. And until we know God is speaking, we will never go to hear him. So how do you hear him?

Well, you go talk to him. I'm going to just try to get really simple. Matthew 6. What does it say? It says, go to when you pray, when you talk to God, close the door, pray to your father who is unseen.

Then your father who sees what is unseen and what is done in secret will reward you. Why would Jesus ever tell us to go talk to God if God couldn't hear us? Why would he ever tell us to go talk to God and ask God for his will if God didn't have a will? And then why would God have a will if he wasn't going to reveal it? Like, is it just a big cruel joke?

Or maybe, maybe the issue is not with God. Maybe the issue is not with his will that he has it. But maybe the issue is that we're ignorant and we don't like to admit it. And we're rebellious and we struggle to repent of that. And maybe the issue is that we don't actually think God's talking to us.

He talks to Pastor Leon and he talks to that person. They're super spiritual, but he doesn't talk to me. If we actually want to hear God, we got to believe that he's talking. We got to believe that he's saying something. And we got to believe that he's talking to us.

That he has something for your life. And when he has something for your life, that means that we have to kind of become in a place to be willing to obey what he's saying. Because, you know, when God starts talking, it's not like your buddy. I mean, God is our friend, but it's not like your buddy who's giving his opinion. You know what I mean?

It's like when God's talking, it's kind of like one of those things. Yeah, the creator of the universe is speaking and saying something. I probably should listen. I mean, he says this all the time. One of the places he says it in Deuteronomy chapter 5, he says, So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you.

Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the Lord. Your God has commanded you so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess. I don't know about you guys. I like the idea of living.

I like the idea of prospering. I like the idea of fulfilling what God has for me, but it looks like there's a condition there. The condition there is that I'm obeying, but how can I ever obey if I don't believe that God is speaking? Do you see where the process is going? If we don't think that God has something to say, if we don't think he's seeing and saying something, and if you don't think we're speaking to him, then we don't have a chance of hearing him because we've already cut off communication at the very beginning.

If we don't acknowledge ignorance and basically acknowledge our broken condition before God, the only way I'm gonna take my phone in to get fixed is when I acknowledge it's broken, right? If I don't acknowledge it's broken and I don't see it's broken and the pain of that brokenness doesn't drive me to do something. I mean, eventually my wife was like, go get a new phone. I'm really tired of calling you in a dropping. So I'm like, all right, babe, I'm gonna do it.

You know, the pain of staying the same, right? Became more than the pain of changing. So I went and I got the phone, right? We have to get to this place like, yeah, I don't really want to keep doing the same thing I'm doing. And if you're not there, my prayer for you, ooh, you're not, you're not gonna like this.

My prayer for you that God would kind of turn up the dial of pain in your life so that you would come to a place of, I can't do this anymore. I can't do this anymore without him. Because let me tell you guys, the people here that have experienced the love of God the most profoundly are those people that were experiencing pain. They're in a place of deep brokenness and hurt and anger. They got honest about it.

And they realized I can't change myself. If it's on me, it's done. We're toast. Say, but he can change me. He can fix the broken parts.

I can hear him. I mean, guys, imagine that you can hear God, that you can start hearing him talk. And then you can actually start taking steps where, you know, Hey, things might go crazy around me, but I know so much that God has spoken that I'm at total peace. I mean, guys, there's enough garbage in life already in there to not feel peace when you can feel peace. If we don't think God's talking, we're not going to listen.

If we're not willing to obey, why would we, we just, again, I'm going to come harp on this point. We don't want to hear God. Okay. If we're not willing to obey what he's saying. And so God's going to start transforming our heart, right?

He's going to start getting us to a place because he's super patient with us. He loves us. And he wants us like children. He wants us to grow in our ability to communicate and then grow in our ability to understand what he's saying and then grow in our maturity to start obeying him. Right?

I'm not going to Malachi, my son and beating him up because he doesn't understand calculus. Okay. He's only six. I'm going to take it one step at a time. Let's start with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10.

Well, he can count to a hundred. So he's doing pretty good right now, but I'm not going to take into an expectation. So if I'm not going to do that with my son, why would God do that with you? See, one of the things that happens is that we don't obey him, but why would we ever obey God? Why would we ever obey God if we didn't have relationship with him and we didn't trust him and know that he loves us?

If we didn't trust him and know that he loves us, why would we ever obey him? Do you just listen to random straight? Well, I guess you're listening to me kind of. So maybe that's not a good illustration. Like say some weird guy comes up on the street and just tells you to go do some weird random thing.

You're like, no, I'm not going to do that because I don't know you and you're a freak. Maybe you wouldn't say that. You might think that you're not going to go do that. Why? Because you don't trust them.

But if your best friend who would die for you, who's earned your trust and love over time comes, you say, I know, I know, I know, I know this isn't going to make sense, but I need you to go with me. Well, you're going to go. Why? Because you trust them. And what is trust?

Trust, it's believing in the reliability, the power, the faithfulness of that person. How is trust developed? Over time through relationship. Why would it be different with God? He understands that.

He knows when you've lost trust. And some of you guys, frankly, you don't trust God. And I understand. You've been through pain. You've been through hurt.

You simply don't trust them. But here's what he says. First John chapter four says, dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love God does not know God because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live through him. So guys, to bring this all the way full circle, if we don't acknowledge our brokenness, if we don't believe that God actually speaks and we have the ability to hear him and he has something to say to us, if we're not willing to obey, which we'll never be willing to obey if we don't trust God and we will never trust God unless we experience his love. Unless we experience his love. Not unless our wife experiences his love and our husband experiences his love.

Those are great things and those can drive us and be a catalyst and be something that might help us change or that our mom or dads have experienced love or that pastor experienced the love of God. They keep talking about that love of God. If you have not experienced the love of God, you'll never trust God because trust is built through a relationship over time and through experiencing God in the darkest parts of your life. Through experiencing God when you go to the hospital and your wife is there and you lose your daughter at 19 weeks and you have to hold your daughter for the first and last time and you wonder, God, why did you do that? We have thousands of people praying for this girl and yet you took her and in that moment being enveloped by God's peace, not because somebody sent us a gift card and those are great things to do in that practical way is amazing, but because we felt something visceral, something deep, something that you can't manufacture and you can't fake.

We felt the love of God, the same love of God that I felt when I was a 16-year-old screw-up that was a pothead smoking weed every reason. I didn't care about anything. I was going on a really bad path. I wanted to start selling drugs because I wanted to be cool. Okay.

And then all of a sudden I had this experience with God and he comes into my heart and changes me. And then he says this simple word. I just hear it in my mind. I hear it. I can still remember today.

Am I better than drugs? Yes. Then turn and follow me. See, guys, there is a process of experiencing God's love. And see, this isn't just, hey, I experienced God's love when I was sick.

1. And, and now it's been a 20 year process. And no, it's a cycle. Because each step that God takes us on, we're going to have to experience his love again. And as we experience his love and life, and as we experience his faithfulness, and as we get that sense of what he's doing in our heart, and he changes, as we do that, we learn to trust him.

And as we learn to trust him through experience and through time and relationship with him, then we learn learn to obey him. And as we obey him and we take concrete steps of faith, it doesn't start by selling your stuff and going and planning a church. It starts by praying. Starts by reading a verse every day. It starts by reaching out to that person at work that's hurting.

It starts by going and getting counseling because his addiction just won't let go. It starts with simple steps as you experience God's love. And as you know that he wants you to start obeying. And here's what I'm going to say. What is that one thing you know right now that if you had to say, here's what God's saying, what is it?

And whatever just came to your mind, guys, would you please write it down and then do it? Would you make the phone call, write the letter, send the text, set up the meeting, have the conversation? Would you give the money? Whatever it is, whatever is going on, that obedience is so important. Guys, you know why we can do this.

The only reason that we can walk in obedience is because of what Christ did. Most famous verse in the Bible, John 3, 16, right? For God so loved the world, me, you, all of us. He loved the world, sinful, hateful, angry world, rejected him. He loved that world so much that he sent his only son that whoever believes in him won't perish, but will have eternal life, right?

Jesus came to this earth. Jesus had to learn obedience through suffering. Jesus had to get into a relationship with his father that grew over time. Jesus had to experience the love of God. He had to experience.

Did you know that before he did any ministry, God came to him and said, you are my beloved son? He hadn't healed. He hadn't gone out and preached. He hadn't done anything for God. And God was saying, I love you just because you're mine.

We try to go out in ministry without getting filled with God's love. We are, we are just waiting to crash. We try to hear God before experiencing his love and just knowing right now that he loves you. And some of you just need to hear and experience. And I pray right now that as you're sitting here, you would get that sense that God loves you guys.

Don't be afraid of this sensation. Don't be afraid of the emotion. Don't be afraid of the things going on your mind. Where else would God interact with you? What else would he do except enter into your heart, your very conscience and meet you there?

There is no other place. He wants you to experience his love just like Jesus did. And as Jesus walked in obedience, he heard and more clearly and more clearly what God wanted him to do. It was a progression that happened over time until eventually Jesus could come on the scene filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, understanding the father's love for him and he could complete his mission for God, which was to save every single one of us. And he has given us a model.

He has given us a process that we can begin with God's love and we can move from God's love to trust in him, knowing that he is going to be faithful and that it can only happen to experience over time. And as we experience him over time, we learn to obey and we learn to obey more quickly. And we learn to understand what he's saying and our hearts become poised to obey our father because we don't we don't distrust him anymore. We know when he's telling us something that we should do it because that's good for us and it's good for everyone around us. And it's going to accomplish his purpose.

And then as we do that, we begin to know, yeah, God is a God who speaks. He is a God who is there. And our ability to hear and understand God increases, increases, increases, increases and becomes more efficient and becomes more effective. And all of that is available to every single one of us here today. So I'm going to pray a prayer.

And then I'm going to get off the stage. But my hope, my hope is that you get a thirst. I hope it's kind of been like salt today. Salt Church. I didn't even mean to do that.

That was good. Salt. It creates thirst. Well, man, I want to know God. I want to experience that love and I want to hear what he has to say.

Father, thank you. Thank you that you talk, that you speak. God, help us get back to the simplicity of faith that you love us, that you talk to us, that you're good, that we want to hear what you have to say. God, we can't obey on our own. We need you.

We need your spirit. We need your power. God, I pray whatever act of obedience you have put in everyone's heart, whether it's the simplest thing of I just need to know more. God, I pray that you would grow that and that you would inspire them and help them to take the next steps. Help this church to come around them in the leadership, to have that discipleship process.

God, that brings them closer to you. We thank you for your goodness and your son, Jesus Christ, who paved the way before us. We just ask that you'd help us to obey it in your power, relying on you and your precious Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen.

God bless you guys. Thank you.