0:00:00 - 0:00:23 All right. So I'm uh closing out my morning studies here and I'm gonna make a video about some hot, takes some quick thoughts about how the Wizard of Oz uh demonstrates some principles of the gospel. Um So I'm talking about the movie here. I have to confess, I've never read the book. Um, and, uh just 0:00:23 - 0:00:43 to, to note I am wearing one of my infamous $3 t-shirts. I've not yet, uh gone to, I buy t-shirts on, on clearance. I have a whole pile of stuff that I wear when I don't care what I look like and my grandpa sweater. So this is a good test. I haven't prepared for the day yet. Um But I, I this is kind 0:00:43 - 0:01:07 of the only slice of my life where I'll have a chance to talk about this. So this will be a good test of your humility and willing to receive truth from strange places. Uh OK. Yeah. And wiz of Oz. A strange place, right? Truth in strange places. Um, so Dorothy, um, Dorothy is just sort of living according 0:01:07 - 0:01:29 to the song of her heart, right? She has desires and she's going to follow them. And the very first step of this journey, she ends up taking out a, a wicked witch right through no intentional effort. And I've, uh, written a lot about, uh, this, this idea of desire. There are a lot of important ideas 0:01:28 - 0:01:48 written in, through faith about desire. And you should read that if you haven't, it's really important. Uh, one of those, those I won't be able to do justice to those ideas here now. Um, but one of those ideas is that desire is heralded as some considered some bad thing by a lot of people. And unfortunately 0:01:47 - 0:02:12 , I think most Christians, they think that, uh Christianity requires you to suppress your desires, that is absolutely false. Um Desire is a gift from God and we don't go wrong in desiring things. It's, uh, what we attach those desires to that literally is wrong. It's incorrect. Um The feelings we, we 0:02:12 - 0:02:33 have in terms of desire, those all lead to God actually in their fullest sense. Uh, because nothing that is good, nothing that is worth having can be found outside of the path to God and in God himself in a fullness. So anyway, um, it turns out that as we're following these desires, a lot of things can 0:02:33 - 0:02:52 happen and, and uh one place we go wrong is we're dishonest about what we learn along the way and we ignore the evidence that God shows us in this path. He gives us powerful desires to motivate us towards doing what we would not otherwise do and searching harder than we would otherwise search and so 0:02:52 - 0:03:12 on. But we get way laid, not by the desire, but by our own insistence to attach it to things we know it doesn't provide or won't, won't fulfill that desire. Uh or things we learn along the way, will not fulfill that desire. And so it's kind of a one of these inverse traps where the stronger your desire 0:03:11 - 0:03:39 is the, um the, the easier it is to do all the things that would make it. Uh and uh a disadvantage rather than an advantage, right? So for example, if you have an immense desire for whatever, um even if it's something you can't really even describe, it's just a deep feeling you have. Uh you are way more 0:03:39 - 0:04:01 likely to find some random rubbish thing to shove into there to silence, mute or distract or uh lie to yourself and think that it's fulfilled. Um All of those things will take you off the path that leads to what you actually need and want, uh which you won't know from the beginning again. Check out through 0:04:01 - 0:04:23 faith. There's some excellent stuff in there about this. Um I'm not sure you'll hear anywhere else really. Um So she takes out this witch with the house and uh she didn't try to do that, but it was a really good thing and it was right, first step of the path to trying to find what will fulfill this desire 0:04:23 - 0:04:44 that she has this emptiness and, and then uh immediately what happens is, um she's met by these munchkins who, who herald her as a hero. But they give her this really important clue which is follow the yellow brick road, right? I'm not gonna bust out into song and dance here. Uh Good for you. That'd 0:04:44 - 0:05:15 be a punishment for you. But um these um these uh surprisingly valuable assistants she, she finds, she finds very important guidance in an extremely unlikely place, right? And what they provide her is not the way, but it's how to recognize the way in the simplest form. And they point out that there is 0:05:14 - 0:05:38 a path that's extraordinarily clear to follow. And all she has to do is just keep going along that way, right? So what's the path, the path is Jesus Christ. God puts the desire in your heart. It's like a homing signal to draw you to him and then he gives us graciously the way the truth and the life and 0:05:38 - 0:05:57 the way is Jesus Christ, right? So he's the yellow brick road. I'm not saying that anyone intended these symbols to be as I'm explaining them. I'm just saying there's so much, there's so much richness, so much information in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we can use symbols with which we're familiar 0:05:56 - 0:06:19 to guide us past blocks in our understanding that we hit when we try to, uh, only study it explicitly. Right. Um, God is in and through all things and he can use all things to teach about himself. And he does, uh, if, if he doesn't, it's just, we're, it's because we're blocking it. If you don't see him 0:06:19 - 0:06:40 in all things and all people, it's because you, you're not allowing yourself to. He's trying, he's trying to get to you any way he can. So, uh, as she goes along this path, it's very interesting because she meets people, the lion, the tin man, the scarecrow, she meets these people and well, they're not 0:06:40 - 0:07:05 people but you know, characters. And um she, the interaction is such that she, she's not necessarily looking for help in her journey. But as she's going along her journey, she's singing to the song in her heart, uh you know, quite literally in a lot of ways. But, but this desire that, that she's, that's 0:07:05 - 0:07:26 pulling her along and she's he heeding, she's yielding to this desire that, you know, God puts in all of us a different uh level of intensity and sometimes very different in content, these desires that draw us to him. And along the way, she's being true to this. And so being Dorothy, being a good person 0:07:26 - 0:07:53 , she, you know, she sees these people in need and even though she's on this path, she sees that the, the, the tin man all rested up the scarecrow game packed the lion. I don't remember what his problem was, but they all need help and it's off the path but it's the same call. It's the same desire. It's 0:07:53 - 0:08:11 a total overlap. And this is interesting when you think about the good Samaritan, um, all these people that passed by this guy that had gotten busted up and robbed on the highway, they were all the people that should have had the greatest reasons to stop and help him. Uh It was a priest, you know, and 0:08:10 - 0:08:29 the priest is like, oh, well, it's much more important for me to get to where I'm going and, and do these duties that if I did this, I'd, I'd be unclean and there'd have to be a time of purification before I could do my job. He didn't get that. This was his job, this was his job more than anything else 0:08:29 - 0:08:50 he was going to do. It's like, um, you know, me as a father, my job, I need to go to work. I need to make some money. I need to pay some bills. I need to fix the stuff that my kids are like this cyclone of destruction, breaking things all the time. Um But when I'm going about my business and uh I see 0:08:50 - 0:09:12 one of my sons whose spirit says you need to pull him aside and you need to talk to him about this or that or, you know, so you gotta do that because that's your job, right? And this is taking AAA an extremely rich uh helpful general principle and making it really specific. And I don't want to derail 0:09:11 - 0:09:35 the many other benefits that you might get out of applying that to whatever situation. But you gotta understand what that voice is and that homing beacon in the, the way is the way. But a lot of times the way has side quests that are really important and that aren't just um they're not just optional 0:09:34 - 0:09:58 additions because would Dorothy have succeeded in her main quest if she didn't have the help of the lion and the Tin man and the, and the uh scarecrow, right? And, and this is the interesting thing she went to help these people, but they became her help. And that's really interesting, but they weren't 0:09:58 - 0:10:20 doing that through altruism. I mean, I'm sure they were appreciative to Dorothy, but they wanted to get what they desired. And it turns out this is a secret in gathering, but I won't get into it too much. But I'm just gonna sow the ground here. Uh It's about a convergence of desire and a convergence 0:10:19 - 0:10:45 of improvement. There's a lot of convergence. Uh It's a confluence and um this is it, you know, what does it mean to be of one of one mind and one heart? It doesn't mean you're the same, externally, not yet. What it means is you have the same desire and it's not a specific desire like I want a Red Corvette 0:10:44 - 0:11:08 or uh dollhouse or something. I don't know, it's that, um, your desire in God and you understand that you don't understand God yet. But uh, and you understand that different people will understand different pieces of Him better. But you converge, there's a confluence and you all say we have a specific 0:11:07 - 0:11:28 idea of what we're after. But the biggest idea is that we don't know what we're after. We just know where to find it. And that's in God. And you walk and you march and you trust Him more and more in every step. And you all grow from each other and um you grow into each other. There's unity. The gospel 0:11:28 - 0:11:48 is beautiful because, well, I won't get into that. It is beautiful. I'll just leave it at that. I won't tell you why I was saying that. Um All right. So, so along the way, they have all these experiences together and they, they build the team and they have these experiences together and prepares them 0:11:47 - 0:12:14 for everything that comes after. Everything with God is incremental and suc success successive. It's, it's um uh what's the word? Um I should really know this uh mind blank anyway, they're right next to each other. Uh One thing after another, no breaks and everything is required and that path that a 0:12:14 - 0:12:31 lot of people get confused about this. And it's like, well, how do you explain the variation of people's experiences with God? It's a convergence and it starts very broad and it gets more and more narrow. And you say like, well, didn't God say that the gate is narrow? Yeah. Compared to the world, it's 0:12:31 - 0:12:49 super narrow, right? But it's nothing in narrowness compared to when you continue on the path, right? If you look at the star of David, um it's, it's, if you look at the bottom part, it's like this. And if you look at the top part, it's like this, it's two triangles overlapping each other. Um And so 0:12:49 - 0:13:11 uh when you start that top triangle, it's, it's at its widest point and it gets more and more narrow as you go. And uh you could use this symbol of Star of David to explain a billion different things. But one thing it explains is your knowledge of how God is. Um it expands and expands as you expand the 0:13:11 - 0:13:48 amount of Him in you. Uh And that's a quantity question, a quality question and a um oh a um not intensity but a conformance question, right? Quality quality, conformance. Um So anyways, how much do you know how much have you become? Um So, so back to the wizard of Oz, um they end up along the way, you 0:13:48 - 0:14:11 know, they just want it to the wizard. It turns out that uh what they really have to do is kill the other witch, right? And um there's just a challenge and uh conquering after cha challenge and conquering and they level up the whole way, they become stronger and stronger and they're learning and they're 0:14:11 - 0:14:27 growing and they're doing and they're helping. Right. They're helping all these people and each other and then they get to the wizard, they think that that's what they're after is the wizard and he's gonna solve all their problems. And this is the interesting thing is that in the end of the movie, uh 0:14:27 - 0:14:50 , the wizard says, actually, I don't have those things to give. But the good news is you've acquired what you're looking for through the quest to come here. And this is a big deal, right? Because so many people think of the gospel as uh I give this insufficient price and then I'm given all this stuff 0:14:50 - 0:15:13 for free and some people leave out the price part totally. And they're just like, well, I push a button and I get a treat. Um And that is not how it works. And um even if there is some truth in how that works, the fullness of what is offered is so much greater than that. And it is that God not only promises 0:15:12 - 0:15:42 to fulfill any desire, you have, remember the desire is not the same as what you think will fulfill it. Um But, but that feeling that that longing, he will fulfill it, he will overflow it. In fact, another way of putting that is there isn't a single person on this earth whose desire is so great that 0:15:42 - 0:16:04 it matches the greatness of what God actually has to offer. We're all, uh, I can't think of, uh, an idiom for this. Um, we're, we're all shooting for a lower goal than, than what actually is. But anyway, the, the good news about that is that no matter what you want and how deeply you want it and how 0:16:03 - 0:16:26 impossible you think it is. Um, again, separating the, the longing from what you think right now fulfills it with your own. We all are um God will overflow that it's not just that he can fill it, he can overflow it. And that's why he can promise things like all who come to me hungry and thirsty and they'll 0:16:26 - 0:16:54 be filled. And uh uh well, I asked him once I said, Lord, I trust you and I know you're right and I know you don't lie. But how can that be? Because you have given me so much and every time you give me something, I come away 10 times hungrier. It's, if you answer one question, I have 10 more, you fulfill 0:16:53 - 0:00:00 what I was looking for. I want 10 times better, right? Not out of like some weird greed or something. But because, you know, every time he shows me that he's better than I thought all I can do is adjust the sites, right? And say like, well, of course, I want more of this. I want more of who you are. 0:00:00 - 0:17:37 There's nothing better. It's just you're crushing, you're crushing the value I have in all other things because you're so much better than everything and everyone anyway. Um, but he does, he does, he will overflow it. So, um, so they, they end up getting to their, what, what they're shooting for along 0:17:36 - 0:17:55 the way. It's the process. They think it's an event and they think this wizard's the person who's gonna give them what they want. And it turns out the wizard's not the person and they got what they want along the way. And they're shown that there's still more, that's a huge topic that I'm absolutely 0:17:55 - 0:18:17 not gonna crack into. But I will say coming back to the, the learning that it's a process, not an event. I don't know what our hang up is. We just try to shove the gospel. We shoehorn it into this very small box about events and labels and all these other things. It is a process. And uh with the wizard 0:18:16 - 0:18:38 , the, the um the, the positive thing that Dorothy and her friends show is that uh they were willing to use that wizard for all he could give them in, in the sense of looking forward to meeting him and thinking that he was gonna be able to. And then that was the very way that the Lord used to not the 0:18:37 - 0:19:07 Lord in the movie, the very way that they encountered the things that they needed along uh to get them closer to the destination they were seeking. And um when we talk about uh ministry, uh especially human ministry, there's a lot of misconceptions and, and uh unwillingness to receive and unwillingness 0:19:06 - 0:19:30 to give. Um And that's unfortunate and hopefully some of the things I'll write will clear that up. But um this wizard was able to do for them what they would not otherwise have. Notwithstanding the fact that in particular, this wizard was kind of a, you know, kind of a fraud. And I don't want to take 0:19:30 - 0:19:56 that too far except to accentuate that, you know, God can use so many things and so many people to flow what he needs to get to you. And um we ought to be more hung up on what we desire and an honest uh reflection of whether our current path, our current models, our current understanding, our current 0:19:56 - 0:20:20 actions, the people in our life, whether all of that aligns with what we want or whether it does not. Um And, and less concerned about the perfection of the paths of people, the everything else. Because if you're gonna put the filter on, I will only receive perfect finished truth through perfect finished 0:20:20 - 0:20:42 means you may as well give up, you may as well give up because I guarantee you looking back, if you honestly reflect on the progress you've made as a person in your life so far, how much of that came through? Perfect means and perfect people and did it yield a perfect person? No, in all cases, no way 0:20:42 - 0:21:08 . So, you know, this is false piety. It's, it's just, it's just a trick and you're being waylaid uh way too easily. You should, you should definitely be able to detect and avoid this one anyway. Um, now all that being said, the power of desire shouldn't make you think that whatever you presently desire 0:21:08 - 0:21:28 , I already made the distinction about, you know, what you think you'll find it in is probably not what you'll find it in. But the desire itself, you also have to be willing to switch that out for something better. So we, we just, we really have to understand how clueless we are from the beginning. We 0:21:27 - 0:00:00 all started zero and we come to this world trailing clouds of glory. We have character traits. We have, uh uh we have various attributes about ourselves that are just the, the current present next step to a path that began, uh, way before. However, um, we come here at zero in many ways and uh, well, 0:00:00 - 0:22:21 we get in a lot of trouble by thinking that uh we understand a lot more than we do and one axiom that I've seen fulfilled many times, including in my own life is if you assume that you're a fool, God will make you wise and if you assume that you're wise, God will make you a fool. And um that is very 0:22:20 - 0:22:53 true. So anyway, these are just some quick reflections on the wizard of Oz. Um So I hope that, that, that causes you to reflect on um things you can change and things that you can do to get on the yellow brick road to uh really listen to that desire deep within you and um to encounter the people along 0:22:52 - 0:23:17 the way that will help you get to your goal um to serve one another. Uh because goals converge between people. If you're with the right people, they'll converge and um to make use of the wizards, but also not make them your idol and uh to develop the character traits because that's really what this life 0:23:16 - 0:23:37 is about. Uh acquiring character traits and then also using them to bless others. Um, but acquire those character traits that will yield what it is that you seek and make you the kind of person that either already has what you seek or has become worthy of it.