Will you join me in welcoming church home based in Seattle L.A. and now around the world church home we live from Miami

And we hear with your relatives from Miami Blue Church. I love you church home. Thank you for watching. We're this is part three now of a series that we're doing.

Why is Christianity so difficult or another title could be why your Christianity is too difficult. We are making it so much harder on ourselves than we need to.

Now make a couple of opening statements that I think don't need to be emphasized too much because we are all well aware that we find ourselves right now as we speak quite literally in unprecedented days.

These are unheard of days. We've only watched movies that come close to the days we live in. In fact, those movies have become popularized if you've noticed what's trending because we're all like, is this happening?

I don't mean to make light of this because I have friends in the hospital. I have had loved ones past but I got to be honest with you when somebody told me the Delta variant. I thought it was a new plane in the Delta fleet. I'm not even joking and I was like, man, Delta needs some new planes.

And then they were like, dude, relax. It's actually a new variant variable of COVID and I'm like, oh dear God, have mercy. And so lest you think I know what to do or pastor's rich in DC, know everything to do. Please don't be deceived. We're all in this together and we've never been this far before.

Two things we've never done before but we're doing it together at the same time, trying to live and we're dying. I've never died before but I'm dying with you. I am, I'm dying with you now because I'm past 18 so I'm definitely dying.

Okay, I'm doing stuff to fake you out, make you think I'm not dying but I'm dying. Okay, it got more makeup on that you could possibly imagine right now to make you feel like I'm not dying but we're all dying together and we've never done it before.

We're all trying to live together and we've never done it before. We all have the capabilities and technological possibilities in the palm of our hand. We've never had before. We have omniscience in our hands and we're playing God and it's not going well at all.

You could be in a grocery store getting some elementary breakfast cereal only to hear about 14 tragedies in 14 different countries and you are expected to process those and post on your social media appropriately.

Ladies and gentlemen, that is ridiculous and we cannot, we are not capable of doing this. So I don't know what to do with that. I'm just putting it out there and I'm letting you know that teenagers today are my heroes. I'm raising them. I have a 17, 14 to 12 year old and I tell them perpetually you're my heroes because I cannot imagine going through puberty and also having omniscience in the palm of my hand.

I literally can't imagine the temptation, the urges, the comparison, et cetera, et cetera. These are unprecedented days. I suppose if nothing else, Vue Church, Church Home, you ought to give yourself a little more credit.

You're probably doing pretty stinking good considering. Like you're here wanting to learn more about Jesus, whether you believe in Jesus or not. In fact that you're watching this broadcast or you're here in this auditorium in Miami tells me that you're probably doing better than you think you're doing. This is hard. You hear me? This is hard and this is not easy.

Now to make matters worse, we have taken our belief system. We have taken our faith and whether knowingly or unknowingly, we have turned it into something that it is not entirely.

We have complicated things. Like I said, there's been a collusion with our environment and our surroundings. Don't be shocked by that. Each success of generation has the same temptation we have to make the customs, the perspectives of our respective nation, culture, nationalism, education, heritage, all of these things. We superimpose it, project it on Scripture and we turn it into something that oftentimes it is not.

In a moment we're going to go to John chapter 15. Now John chapter 15 is a very famous passage by Jesus and it's here that he says, I am the vine you are the branches. Now what a lot of people believe is that the metaphor for God and us should be like, I'm the coach and you're the players because that seems to be more consistent with the popularized theology right now.

Which is God is the consummate football coach yelling and screaming at you to do better, try harder and go faster and those who do get in the game and get to be used by God. Those who do not are shamed, sit on the bench and we wait until they work harder and do better to get involved.

And that is nothing of what Christianity is. Christianity is not a do good, get good. It's not a transaction or exchange. It is a love story and a relationship and a romance full of mystery and that which we cannot comprehend or understand.

But today I want to divulge in what is part three now into this study of John chapter 50. Now all we have been doing with the few moments we have in each success of gathering is we're trying to weigh deeper and deeper and deeper into John chapter 15.

We talked about no additives. We talked about the organic nature of our relationship. We talked about how stress and striving are symptoms of separating God from any particular category in space in our life. Now I want to talk to you about how to make Jesus your home.

I'm going to tell you one of the reasons that your Christian faith or if you're here today or watching and you're considering putting your faith in Jesus, this is a wonderful collection of talks that will help you not start your relationship with Jesus like a relationship with a football coach.

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