0:00:00 - 0:00:26 So I was watching a video uh by my friend Jared Eastley this morning and there were just all kinds of birds chirping in this video and they're happy and they were loud and I noticed it because I've lived here, I grew up on the east coast where birds are plentiful and I moved to Montana. It'll be 10 years 0:00:26 - 0:00:53 ago this June next month. Um And when I did this was just sort of a very de desolate place, this place, we moved to this piece of land and I don't know if you can hear, but there are birds chirping and I wasn't sure there would be when I came out today. So that's, um that's interesting, but the change 0:00:52 - 0:01:13 has happened because of the things that we've done here uh to the land. You can kind of see. I've made other videos where I've mentioned this, but um I've radically transformed the few acres we have here. And it's been, it's been an amount of work that I don't think anyone would believe or understand 0:01:12 - 0:01:33 unless, unless they did something like it, it, it, it's almost like it would take as long to explain it as it did to do the work and, and sometimes the richer, the things that you do in life, the, the greater, the meaning, the more that's the case that it becomes more difficult to convey that to another 0:01:32 - 0:01:57 person short of sharing the experience itself. That's certainly the case with the Lord. And he explains quite clearly again and again, that we have to come to know him and that the closer we draw to him, the more he has to show more of himself to us through things that are closer to what he would actually 0:01:57 - 0:02:31 do in our place. And that's, that's actually an extremely important point to understand it. It unlocks a whole lot of things that are otherwise difficult to understand about the gospel and about him and about us when I heard the, the birds singing in Jarrett's video, the spirit said to me, why do birds 0:02:30 - 0:02:50 sing in the morning? Now, I'm not saying it's impossible to find a bird singing during the day, but they, they really sing, they belt it out in the morning and, and comparatively, it's almost non-existent through the rest of the day and they don't sing at night and owls hoot at night, but birds don't 0:02:50 - 0:03:20 really sing at night. So I said, I don't know, I never thought about that before. And so I googled it because I've learned that not always the best path to just respond to God saying, I don't know. And that it's very important to use the resources that you have before you seek more from him or as part 0:03:20 - 0:03:39 of seeking more from him. And then he'll add to it just like anciently, the Israelites took their sacrifices the best that they could produce to the Tabernacle. And that's what the priest took from them. And then the priests added to that sacrifice. They, they washed it, they salted it, they prepared 0:03:39 - 0:04:00 it and then they did more than what the people could do and offering it to God. And so it was amplified. And so I googled it and as I read this little paragraph that came up, it was just a little scientific summary. And in short, they don't know. Right. But there were properties of this and with each 0:04:00 - 0:04:27 of those properties, the Lord just opened my mind um tying it back to all these experiences and things that he's taught me before in many scriptures. And obviously, that's too long to share with you right now. But I thought about the book that is tied for a and really is the same uh as this other book 0:04:27 - 0:04:47 that I'm really excited about. But anyway, that together that that pair of books is uh they are the two ones that I am much more excited about out of the 24. So that I'm working on and have been for quite some time. But there are a lot of books that have to come first. And so as I thought about the one 0:04:47 - 0:05:35 book which is very much includes many of the, the ideas that the Lord pointed out to me. In that moment this morning. I um thought again about this ever present desire to share as much as I can as early as I can about everything I can um which, which all has to do with the Lord, what that there are many 0:05:35 - 0:06:04 kinds of suffering that are possible in this world. And I think if you made a histogram today about the types and the intensity mercifully, the vast majority of it. And I don't want to say that I don't want to discount anything that you've gone through. Um what people are overcome by right now. It's 0:06:04 - 0:06:29 actually almost all of it is on the low end of the scale and that's very merciful that that denotes the mercy of God. Um And, and having said that I know that, that saying things like that, it's, it seems like just about the worst thing you can say to somebody that's suffering, but those kinds of suffering 0:06:28 - 0:06:47 and just bear with me, hear me out for just, just give me five minutes. And if you don't like what I have to say, feel free to turn it off, but just give me five minutes to make this point. I'm not saying there's only gonna be five minutes, I'll try my best though that I'll make the important part five 0:06:47 - 0:07:08 minutes or less to, to to entice you to keep going. That's your threshold when the sun is shining and this isn't the greatest time to make this, this video. It is morning, but the sun's not brightly overhead or it's cloudy. You can't see it shine uh rising above the mountains here that I'm facing the 0:07:08 - 0:00:00 moment. So when the sun's shining at noonday, it's easy to see everything. It's the easiest time of the day to see everything. There's no darkness, nothing has a shadow when the sun is directly overhead, right? So there's a phrase in scripture that goes something like walking in darkness at noonday. 0:00:00 - 0:08:05 One, meaning that you could extract from this or one application of this idea is when you deny what is obvious and you refuse to do what is clearly better right now. I don't care who you are every single day of your life will be full of opportunities for you to choose to do what's obviously better or 0:08:05 - 0:08:25 something else. And I should to be totally clear, say obviously best and anything else, right? Because it's not just a matter of, well, this is a little better and there's still something obviously better than that, right? So what I mean is doing the obvious best or anything else while you're still doing 0:08:24 - 0:08:51 anything less than the obvious best, you're in really bad shape. Ok. Part of the consequences of that is this basket of things that produces the kind of suffering and mentioned, I'm sorry for the win, the kind of suffering that I mentioned, that's actually on the low scale of intensity, but it's overwhelming 0:08:50 - 0:09:26 to the kinds of people that walk at darkness at noonday. If you orient your whole life to the light, there's no shadow all the time. There's no shadow, right? But something happens for those few that, that believe in God enough to seek Him with all their hearts and their minds and there might something 0:09:25 - 0:09:54 happens. He will lead you into the darkness. Now, what do I mean by darkness? May maybe I should just leave it at that to keep it short. And I'm speaking metaphorically, ok? But all sorrow, suffering, the evil in the hearts of men that you have to suffer from them, unanswered, longing, all this stuff 0:09:54 - 0:10:28 . Ok? Why does he lead you into the darkness? Well, he's the light that shines in the darkness. The darkness does not comprehend Him, but you can't comprehend him fully except in the dark. Why? Because the light that you see at noonday is not actually the brightest light, it's layers lower than the brightest 0:10:27 - 0:10:53 light. And they just try to give the slightest attempt in helping you understand what I mean by this, consider the analogy. That's actually a lot less of an analogy than it seems of someone who thinks love means doing what someone wants you to do versus someone who, who defines love as doing what's best 0:10:52 - 0:11:14 for someone else. And, and hopefully, that causes some things to click anyway. It's just orders of magnitude different scale. It's in a totally, it's at a totally different hierarchical level. So that kind of darkness that can only shine. I'm sorry, that kind of light that can only shine in darkness 0:11:14 - 0:11:48 . Well, it gets brighter and brighter as it gets darker and darker. So there's so many scriptures about this and like I said, in time, I'm, I'm gonna lay them out in a book. But in, in these ideas fully there, this is just the tiniest pinhead of an ocean. But the the Psalmist wrote that even in the depths 0:11:47 - 0:12:08 of hell, the Lord is there, there's no, there's no darkness that can obscure the light. And actually, as we go into that kind of darkness and we have to push into it. This is another whole chunk and I don't wanna get too deep into all this, but it can only occur through consent. And so when you're walking 0:12:07 - 0:12:29 in the darkness at noonday and you're not doing the things that are obviously best Jesus in John three, he said to Nicodemus, you're not believing me as I'm telling you, the things that are are are very obvious just in a worldly perspective. Why would I tell you heavenly things if you can't believe this 0:12:29 - 0:12:59 ? You're not gonna believe that and in like manner, if we can't have faith in the Lord, in the obvious things, how can we have faith in Him in the darkest, dark. So what does this have to do with, with birds and singing the kingdom of God? It's like a mustard tree. And as a seed, it's one of the smallest 0:12:59 - 0:13:24 seeds, but it's as a tree, it's one of the largest trees and it comes from seeming nothingness or you could say total darkness and it grows into the, the biggest thing there is living thing there is or on the order of. And it says Jesus said that when the tree is fully grown, the birds come and they 0:13:24 - 0:13:48 nest in it and birds mean a couple of different things in the scriptures. But I think numerically more than any other meaning they mean angels. Now, I've said before and I don't wanna take the time to make a case for this. So just fork that off if it's an issue for you. But um humans are angels and angels 0:13:47 - 0:14:22 are humans, they're not separate creations. So the kingdom of God has to be established. This message, it's meant to comfort who are going through that darkness, not the darkness. At noonday, you see one thing I've spoken about before is how dif difficult it is to, to be optimized for all things. It's 0:14:21 - 0:14:48 not just difficult. Uh You can be optimized across all things as God is or you can be optimized for specific things as many people are, but you can't be optimized in all things at the same. What do I mean? By that, if you wanna be an excellent, it takes a lot of time to practice. That, doesn't it? And 0:14:48 - 0:15:07 all that time that you spend practicing singing is time. You can't spend doing anything else. Right. So, it's like that and sometimes you, you can spend time doing other things that don't interrupt that. So maybe you can practice tapping your toe while you're singing or something. I don't know. Uh, or 0:15:07 - 0:15:34 making the weird facial expressions the singers make when they sing because that doesn't interfere with what you're doing, right? You see the point. So in like manner, if you want to live the life a life where you gain the ability to console those going through the worst possible suffering in life. And 0:15:34 - 0:16:06 I assure you that it's worse than anyone could imagine without going through it. And that's why we have to go through it in order to actually know Jesus in the greatest depth possible for us to know him. So I have to out walk my cat here because it's coming to meow. So I'm not any good at consoling people 0:16:05 - 0:16:51 who are walking in darkness at noonday. But in the greatest solemnity, I'll tell you that. I know why this bird sing in the morning. If you're going through any shade of that darkness, I promise you that there is a light. Many Christians speak in worshipful phrases about the resurrection of Jesus. And 0:16:51 - 0:17:27 in the Old Testament, we read that the sun will rise with healing in his wings. Wings are something that angels have. Wings are something that birds have and his wings just like when we read about his arms, they are connected to the idea of his servants and the sun of righteousness. Jesus Christ, he 0:17:27 - 0:18:28 is risen. He's alive. I've seen him. He's ministered to me many times. If you trust him, even in the darkest dark, he will lead you to the light. Jesus will teach you how to take any punch that this world can give. And it doesn't mean that you'll be able to stand there and take it. But it does mean that 0:18:28 - 0:18:59 every single time you'll get back up and you might even get pretty good at getting back up really quickly. But he's not done with you when you get to that point cause he'll also teach you how to do it with a smile on your face, which might not be the easiest thing to believe from a guy that's crying 0:18:58 - 0:19:32 , telling, telling you this. But I promise you from my own personal experience of what I know that whatever you're going through, however terrible it is. There's a light at the end of the tunnel and that light is worth so much more than anything that you could possibly go through to get there. That light 0:19:31 - 0:19:51 is the love that God has for us. If you go through the tunnel, he will teach you how to have it for everyone and that's worth anything to learn.