Becoming Wildly Tender | Under the Oaks

Welcome everyone. I don't know if you can see me or not, but I'm up here. And uh they got me on the screens. All right, good, good, good. The camera adds ten pounds and there's six cameras. So I'm a lot thinner than I look. So I uh really honored that you're here. Uh got all the sons here, almost all of the sons that were able to be here drive in from all over. And uh can I can honestly say that I've never

Since we've been here at least, I I don't remember being as stirred as I am about this coming week. This holy week, the most holy week on the liturgical calendar is a time that we've decided to get together and today is considered Holy Tuesday. And that is the day that we commemorate that John laid his head on the breast. of the Christ in the midst of a great betrayal.

And so uh we're just honored that you're here. We get to hug you and meet you and and and all those that we already know, uh hug you once again. But I know on behalf of Tammy and I and all of our leaders. Uh, we're thankful. This is Ty's new wife, Lauren. She's real. We we contemplated using artificial intelligence. CJ and I were planning on it but

Things worked out and a real girl appeared. It's some glory to be to God. So beautiful, amazing young ladies. So thankful to have them back from their honeymoon and put'em put'em right to work here th over the next few days. If you've never been to an Under the Oaks gathering, we called it in Years Gone By Wilderness Society, I will probably this weekend give you a little bit of understanding of where that shift in distinction came.

I uh what we do is we jump in just like this. We sit down at the table and then we just begin to dialogue not dialogue, we be I begin to instruct really from somewhat of an academic standpoint, but But aimed specifically toward leaders.

The joy of that is I don't have to give a lot of backstory to things that I'm explaining because I'm already under the assumption that you've been tracking and walking where we've been walking. And so it'll be a joy just to be able to an honor to pour into your lives. It's one of my favorite things to do. Two my two favorite things to do probably pour in the next generation and pour into leaders.

And so it's an honor to have you here. I'm gonna jump right in and start. We're gonna go to Genesis twenty seven. So if you've got your Bibles. I'm gonna use the New Living Translation because we didn't have the software to put the Passion Translation of Genesis up quite yet, but they're they're very, very similar, especially in Genesis. So uh the Passion Translation obviously gives you a lot of invaluable footnotes.

that you're not gonna get from the new living, but the translation is is very, very similar. I've been living in this particular revelation for uh about ninety days now, and it's been stirring in me, doing some things in my own heart.

As I begin to reminisce on my own journey. And and one of the things about coming into a gathering like this is I'm not Uh, I have to be unapologetic about talking more about me than I want to, because that's my leadership narrative, is what the Lord's done in my own heart, and I'm praying that my story helps give you grace. To infuse you to be able to take a journey that the Lord has been so gracious to take me on. So Genesis 27, I'm gonna start by saying this. I wanted to revisit some things.

in the first few minutes tonight that I've shared in some years back. so as to ensure that our foundation is well established in order that we may allow the Holy Spirit to render into our spirits the fullness that Aba has for us over the course of this holy week. To do that I want to go back to the beginning.

Some ten years ago, the very first Wilderness Society gathering we had in South Carolina, I made this opening statement. The wilderness will never be seen appropriately until it is viewed exclusively through the lens of the Father's jealousy. The wilderness can never be understood appropriately until it is viewed exclusively through the lens of the father's jealousy. What I mean when I say that is

The wilderness, according to Isaiah, was not a place you're supposed to get through until you get to the promised land. The wilderness is a place you're supposed to remain until you convert the wilderness into paradise. The Isaiah thirty five invitation, Isaiah forty invitation, sixty, sixty one, sixty two into Isaiah sixty five is this declaration that the dry and barren wasteland is going to be a place where the waters flow freely.

And so that's you and I, and we become the first witness, the initial witness of that measure of transformation. So the the will when I called it the Wilderness Society, my my faith friends don't like that. When John the Baptist was in the wilderness baptizing people, Yeshua was calling being called deeper into the wilderness by the Spirit.

The reason why is not so he could simply survive that season, but so that he would come out with an authority that was inaccessible had he not gone through a period called the wilderness. And I have determined the more greatness that is expected of your life, the deeper you'll have to go into the wilderness.

John the Baptist may have been okay to go into one level of the wilderness based on what he was assigned to do. However, Yeshua had a far more significant assignment. Therefore, from the wilderness he's called even more deeply into the wilderness. But I stand as a testimony tonight that the wilderness is not a season I look back on with remorse.

It's not a season I look back on with sadness. I understand it now as a necessary process of me being transformed in order that I might become a voice of transformation. And now not only am I blooming and we're blooming, but we're beginning to see the earth respond to the bloom of those who have said yes to the process of enduring the wilderness.

Ten years ago again in the first wilderness society gathering I made this statement The wilderness will never be understood appropriately until it is viewed exclusively through the lens of the father's jealousy. For me, the wilderness is a great, difficult, yet necessary period that we experience as a result of two things. Number one, the Father's utter determination for you and I to share in both the union and likeness of the Trinity.

Say it again. Number one purpose behind the wilderness, the Father's utter determination for you and I to share in both the union and likeness of the Trinity. Number two is the Father's commitment to answering our passionate cry to be utterly and absolutely free, face to face with no trace of darkness.

Again, number one, number one, the father's utter determination for you and I to share in both the union and likeness of the Trinity. Number two, the Father's commitment and I could say utter commitment. to answering our passionate cry to be utterly and absolutely free, face to face with no trace of darkness.

So tonight, by way of the help of the Holy Spirit, I want to talk to you about becoming wildly tender. Wildly tender. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. For the convergence of many paths in this room tonight. And the faithfulness you have shown along the way. That we no longer look at what we had to walk through to get here and despise it. Uh huh.

But we rejoice knowing not one step was wasted and not one misstep was wasted. Not one success was wasted and not one failure was wasted. So we stand here today. Committed. To receiving the next piece of revelation that's necessary for us to be the free face-to-face, uninhibited. Lovers of God that we were designed to become. We open our hearts to a measure of beloved identity that we know will root us and seed us in the revelation of just how significant you feel we are.

The earth is groaning for you to unveil us. And we are standing face to face today saying, Yes, sir, you may remove the veil. In Yeshua's awesome name. And you say yes. I'll repeat a lot if you've not been in one of these because I'm doing this in more of a little bit more of an academic from a little bit more of an academic lens. And I I don't ever, you know, uh I'm I feel like, you know, I never want to fail to put you in remembrance.

And so we're gonna do a lot of that. Genesis twelve, let's I mean sorry, Genesis twenty seven, let's start in verse one. I'm already over here in Isaiah, so getting ahead of myself already. Genesis twenty one I'm gonna read about the first ten verses. Well ultimately I think read through about the first twenty seven verses, Genesis twenty seven, one through twenty seven. But I'm gonna give you first of all, maybe out of the new living, the first ten verses.

One day when Isaac was old and turning blind, he called for Esau, his older son, and said, My son, yes, father. Esau replied, I'm an old man now, Isaac said, and I don't know when I may die. Take your bow, a quiverful of arrows, and go out into the open country to hunt some wild game for me. Wild game for me. Prepare my favorite dish and bring it here for me to eat. Then I'll pronounce the blessing that belongs to you my firstborn son before I die.

But Rebecca overheard what Isaac had said to his son Esau, so when Esau left to hunt for the wild gang. She said to her son, Jacob, listen, I overheard your father say to Esau, Bring me some wild game. Prepare me a delicious meal, then I'll bless you in the Lord's presence before I die. Now my son, listen to me. Do exactly as I tell you. Again, this is Rebecca talking to Jacob. Listen to me and do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats.

I'll use them to prepare your father's favorite dish. Then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. Now I've shared some of this before, but again this is foundational for some different directions that we're gonna go in uh in in the in the next hour or so together.

So to start with, we have to look at the principle of representation and see in the story that Isaac is clearly the father in this narrative and therefore represents Yahweh the Father. This is to say that the Father craves. something wild. The father's appetite is for something undomesticated. Let's define wild. Wild, by definition, is an animal or a plant living in the natural environment, not domesticated.

An animal or plant living in the natural environment, not domesticated. The father has an appetite for something that has not been domesticated. Domestication, by definition, is a process that takes place in one of two ways. Number one, an animal is born in captivity by way of the previous generations having been domesticated. and possibly several generations.

of domestication. Number two, the animal was once free and was taken captive and kept in confinement for such a period of time that all that was wild about the animal begins to atrophy. And what was wild and free becomes tame and confined.

Domestication by definition. means to be tamed by way of being kept in containment. to be tamed by way of being kept in containment. The father craves something wild. And the Passion Translation of Genesis twenty seven says that when Isaac the Father tastes something wild, he will bless from his innermost being. Not only is he saying, If you bring me wild game, I'll bless you, he said, I'll bless you from my innermost being.

This is to say that there's a measure of blessing that the m domesticated ones will never have access to. After all, why waste an endowment of wisdom, power, authority, and glory on a group that will do nothing more than use the blessing to decorate their cages and invite others to join them in their confinement?

I fear that the rapidly expanding church growth model is doing little more than decorating and multiplying the places of confinement that trumpet the message of conformity over and above the message of connection, unity, and burning fellowship. Misery does indeed love company. But the more the merrier certainly doesn't hold to be true inside of our cages. If you overfill the confined spaces,

The animals will turn on one another, and this certainly stands true with our current religious system of confinement. I'm gonna read that whole thing again. The father craves something wild. And when he tastes it, he will bless from his innermost being. That is to say that there's a measure of blessing that the domesticated ones will never have access to.

After all, why waste an endowment of wisdom, power, authority, and glory on a group that will do nothing more than use the blessing to decorate their cages and invite others to join them in their confinement? I fear that the rapidly expanding church growth model is doing little more than decorating and multiplying the places of confinement that trumpet the message of conformity over and above the message of connection, unity, and burning fellowship.

Misery does indeed love company, but the more the merrier doesn't hold to be true inside of our cages. If you overfill the confined spaces, the animals will turn on one another, and this certainly stands true within our current religious systems of confinement.

Back to the text. Let's go back to verse 8. Read a little while longer. Now my son, listen to me, do exactly as I tell you. Go out to the flocks and bring me two fine young goats. I'll use them to prepare your father's favorite dish, then take the food to your father so he can eat it and bless you before he dies. Verse eleven, but look, Jacob replied to Jacob, My brother Esau is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He'll see. Mm-hmm.

Maybe that's why so many of us Distance ourselves from the touch and settle for the doctrines because if the Father touches us, we know He'll see. He'll see that I'm trying to trick him, then he'll curse me instead of blessing me. But his mother replied, Then let the curse fall on me, my son. Just do what I tell you. Go out and get the goats for me.

So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebecca took them and prepared a delicious meal just the way Isaac liked it. Then she took Esau's favorite clothes. Which were there in the house, and gave them to her youngest son Jacob. She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goat. Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread. So Jacob took the food to his father, my father, he said.

Yes, my son, Isaac answered, Who are you, Esau or Jacob? Jacob replied, It's Esau, your firstborn son. I've done as you told me. Here's the wild game, now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing. Isaac asked, How did you find it so quickly, my son? The Lord your God put it in my path. Jacob replied. You may have success through manipulation, but don't ever blame it on God.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau. So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. The voice is Jacob's, but the hands are Esau's, Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob's hands felt hairy, just like Esau's. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. But are you really my son, Esau? he asked. Yes, I am, Jacob replied. Then Isaac said, Now my son, bring me the wild game.

Let me eat it, and then I'll give you my blessing. So Jacob took the food to his father, and Isaac ate it. He also drank the wine that Jacob served him. Then Isaac said to Jacob, Please come a little closer and kiss me, my son. So Jacob went over and kissed him, and was finally convinced, and he blessed his son. He said, Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of the outdoors, which the Lord has blessed.

Rebecca, whose name means ensnarer, comes from a manipulative family, and therefore she is leading through manipulation. I believe that the Holy Spirit has shown me the root of manipulation in this family. And to order to uncover that, let's go back to Genesis 24. The root of the spirit of manipulation that operated in Rebecca is something she inherited from her family. After all, her brother is Laban, who would be a pain in Jacob's rear end. All of his life.

Let's look at Genesis 24, uh verse 24, actually. Twenty four twenty four. I am the daughter. This is let me give give you a little backstory. This is a wife being found for Isaac. If you remember, um whene whenever Abraham is wanting a wife for Isaac, he sends his eldest servant out to go back to their homeland. That's where we talked about this in Ty and Lauren's wedding, actually. That's where we get the story of

uh the young girl who comes and not only offers me water but offers to water the camels also she'll be the bride uh that will be ready for my son Isaac. So we're in that story now. He's already uh he's already met Rebecca And now he is back back home, back to their home, and the this is the eldest servant of Abraham having a dialogue with the family of Rebecca.

And verse 24, this is Rebecca. She says, I am the daughter of Bethuel, she replied. My grandparents are Nehor and Milka. Yes, we have plenty of straw and feed for the camels, and we have room for the guests. The man bowed low, this is the eldest servant of Abraham, and worship the Lord. Praise the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, he said. The Lord has shown me unfailing love and faithfulness to my master, for he has led me straight to my master's relatives.

The young woman ran home to tell her family everything that had happened. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban Who ran out to meet the man at the spring, for he had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's wrist. And he heard Rebekah tell what the man had said. So he rushed out to the spring, where the man was still standing beside the camels. Laban said to him, Come and stay with us.

You are blessed by the Lord. Why are you standing here outside the town when I have room all ready for you and a place prepared for the camels? So the man went home with Laban, and Laban unloaded the camels, gave him straw for their bedding for them, and provided water for the man and the camels.

And the camel drivers to wash their feet. The food was served, but Abraham's servant said, I don't want to eat until I have told you while I've come. All right. Laban said, Tell us. Now if you go back to verse 24, you'll find that there's a father named Bethuel. But Laban is running the house as a brother instead of Bethuel running the house as a father. This is important.

All right, Laban said, Tell us, then we let's go along a little further in the vi dialogue. Let's pick up about verse forty seven. Can we do that? Get to about verse forty seven. There we go. Then I asked, Whose daughter are you? she replied, I'm the daughter of Bethuel.

My grandparents are Nohor and Milka, so I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrist, and I bowed low and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord. This is Abraham's servant speaking, God of my master Abraham because he had led me straight to my master's niece to be his son's wife. So tell me, will you or won't you show unfailing love and faithfulness to my master? Please tell me yes or no, and then I'll know what to do next. Then Laban and Bethuel replied, Why?

I don't remember asking Tammy's brother. If I could marry her. But I want you to see this. This doesn't stop. This just keeps going. So here here we go. And the Lord uh then Laban Ambithule said, The Lord has obviously brought you here, so there's nothing we can say. Here is Rebecca, take her and go. Yes, let her be the wife of your master's son as the Lord has directed.

When Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed down to the ground and worshipped the Lord. Then he brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and presents. Clothing and presented them to Rebecca. He also gave expensive presents to her brother and mother.

Then they ate their meal, and the servant and the men with him stayed there overnight, but early the next morning Abraham's servant said, Send me back to my master, but we want Rebecca to stay with us at least ten days, her brother and mother said. Where you at, Dad? Then she can go. But he said, Don't delay. The Lord has made my mission successful. Now send me back so I can return to my master. Well they said

We'll call Rebecca and ask her what she thinks. So they called Rebecca, Are you willing to go with this man? They asked her, and she replied, Yes, I will go. So they said goodbye to Rebecca, sent her away with Abraham's servant and his men. The woman who had been Rebecca's childhood nurse went along with her. They gave her this blessing as she parted. Our sister may you become. The mother of many millions, not my daughter.

It's not Bethuel pronouncing the blessing. It's Laban playing the role of the Father. May your ascendants be strong and conquer the cities of enemies. Rebecca whose name means ensnarer. comes from a ni manipulative family, and therefore she is leading through manipulation. I believe that the Holy Spirit has shown me the root of the dip manipulation in this family, and the root of the manipulation is Bethuel.

Here you have a manipulative brother usurping the position and authority that should have belonged to the father. Hello, Absalom. When fathers abdicate their authority, then manipulation will run rampant for generations. Rebekah was confident in her ability to trick Isaac. After all, she had named her son Supplanter. Heel grabber, trickster. Be very careful who you choose to align yourself with. After all, even wicked seed reproduces after its own kind. Yeah.

Salah. Verse 11 again of Genesis 27. This is a real pivotal part of this for me. But look, Jacob replied to Rebecca, My brother Esau is a hairy man, and my skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He'll see. My skin is smooth. What if my father touches me? He'll see. Verse 15. Then she took Esau's favorite clothes, which were there in the house, gave them to her younger son Jacob. She covered his arms. And the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats.

Manipulative leadership will cut us off from the rest that is to be a natural secondary consequence of functioning in our true identity. Our true identity, the beloved of the Father. The manipulative leader will always, and yes I mean always, convince you that you have to dress up like your brother to get your father to bless you. And right there the imposter is born.

It's quite likely that Rebecca could justify her evil by claiming that her motives and manipulation were in to ensure the fulfillment of the promise of the of Genesis twenty five twenty three that your older son will serve your younger son. And obviously Yahweh took Rebecca's evil and turned it for good. However, when we try to make things come to pass in our own way and in our own timing, we actually lead in such a way

as to look at people as a tool to accomplish our vision. And in this type of culture, the sons, both Jacob and Esau, become nothing more than collateral damage. As a result, Jacob's tenderness is no longer seen as a strength. And the result for you and I is that our tenderness is sacrificed on the altar of production and achievement. Isaac wants to know, how'd you find it so quickly?

I mentioned this a moment ago. Let me say it again. Success through illegitimate and manipulative means should no longer be called God's doings. Something's big enough we don't care what we did to get it there, we'll say God did it. Tender does not equal tamed any more than coarse equals free. Tinder does not equal tame. Any more than coarse equals free. The wild, undomesticated ones are the ones so secure in their beloved identity that they have been liberated from image projection.

And their interior world has grown so gloriously quiet and still that they no longer feel inclined to stuff their inward emotions in order to project an outward strength. Projections are not realities, but rather an announcement that the false self is still running the show. While the real you is in hiding, convinced the Father cannot and will not bless you unless you dress up like someone else.

The Pharisee's mask is serving as a witness that he finds his true face unacceptable and even unlovable. I'm going to read that part again too. Tender does not equal tame.

any more than coarse equals free. The wild undomesticated ones are the ones so secure in their beloved identity that they have been liberated from image projection And their interior world has grown so gloriously quiet and still that they no longer feel inclined to stuff their inward emotions in order to project an outward strength.

Projections are not realities, but rather projections are an announcement that the false self is still running the show while the real you is in hiding, convinced the father cannot and will not bless you unless you dress up like someone else. The Pharisees mask is serving as a witness that he finds his face unacceptable and even unlovable.

The way of unreserved trust is a movement towards the face of Abba. And only in this presence are we liberated and empowered to drop the mask and abandon the projections. The grace to drop the mask and end the projections won't come because you came to this meeting. I hope it gets provoked because you came to this meeting. This stuff only happens face to face with the Father. Yeah. The way of unreserved trust is a movement towards the face of Aba.

And only in this presence are we liberated and empowered to drop the mask and abandon the projections. Only here, in face-to-face, do we begin the journey of becoming truly ourselves. Isaac may have dimming vision, but Alba does not. Let me say again, Isaac may have dimming vision, but Abba does not, and he will only ever genuinely and deeply bless the real you.

The mask may bring production, but there's a massive chasm between production and Abba's blessing. Love restrains the blessing from the false self. If Abba blessed you while you were in that mode, it's likely you would remain there. Let me say this. So if the enemy can force you to believe that what you're receiving is a blessing, you also will remain there. So you and I will be forced to inherit a new definition of success.

And you're going to have to ask not what's going on around me, but what's going on in me. And if this is not being filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory and peace that surpasses all understanding, a thousand listen to me, I've been there, a thousand more people won't make it feel better. And ten thousand more people won't make it feel better. And a new building and another location and some more likes and some more followers and some more thumbs up will never get it done for you.

It's only the real you that Abba will bless. And he will in love and goodness withhold from you things he promised you until you become the actual version of yourself you were designed to be. But I will say to you, from there the floodgates open. And it doesn't show up first in the pulpit. It shows up first right here. That's right. Oh, yeah. Shows up first right over here. That's right. Shows up first right here.

And you've got to be extremely cautious, leaders hear me, extremely cautious what you're using to measure success. I've met some people I wouldn't mind having their church facilities, but I've never met anybody I'd trade marriages with. Thank you, Lord. I'm gonna read this again. The way of unreserved trust is a movement towards the face of Aba. And only in his presence are we liberated and empowered to drop the mask and abandon the projections. Only here

In face to face, do we begin the journey of becoming truly ourselves? Isaac may have dimming vision, but Abba does not. And he will only ever genuinely and deeply bless the real youth. The mask may bring production, but there's a massive chasm between production and Abba's blessing. Love restrains the blessing from being given to the false self.

I never aimed at becoming tender. I surrendered to beloved identity, and my long forsaken tenderness was recovered. Many of us, especially men, were raised to see tenderness as weakness. We were raised to see tenderness as weakness. So I went years without being able to shed a tear. And now I can't make it through one day. And I would not trade who I was then for who I am now for anything it projected to anybody else. One of the things I'm most proud of in my teenager boys is their tender.

That when God moves they have an interior radar that locks in and they begin to melt in the goodness of the love of Almighty God. I never aimed at becoming tender. I surrendered to beloved identity and my long-forsaken tenderness was recovered. When I think in terms of tenderness, I now see that the tenderness of Yeshua is the benchmark of authentic manhood. As well as the benchmark of authentic leadership.

To become a childlike one again, filled with wonder and tenderness is an irreplaceable posture if we are going to indeed inherit the kingdom of God. This relentless recovery of tenderness is not in order that we might remain as we are, but rather tenderness. Is an es is essential if we're going to inherit the grace to surrender to being molded and shaped into the image bearers of Christ that we have been designed to become. You cannot be pliable without being tender.

And when we reject the invitation into tenderness, it's always an issue of trust. Because this is a movement toward getting on the wheel and being shaped again by the hands of the potter. The word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, get thee down to the potter's house, for there's some things that I must show you there. Said as I saw the vessel being wrought upon the wheel, the vessel was marred in the hands of the potter. You talk about tenderness. I'll let you unmake me.

Every vessel wants to be filled, but the trusting vessel is willing to be marred. In the Bible. Doesn't end with the vessel being marred. It says, And he made it again, another vessel, as seemeth good to the potter to make. It's a profound translation in Hebrew. He made it again, another vessel. Did he make it again or did he make another? He made it again another. Same substance. but yielded to tenderness.

That same substance that was not ready to hold the glory of God is now able to hold the glory of God because it was willing to trust. that even if you take me back down from a place of success, I'll trust you that you're remaking me into something that can hold the legitimate authentic glory of God.

I preached about Zacchaeus for years. Preached about Zacchaeus being short of stature and being in a large crowd of people, Luke nineteen, following Jesus, and then Zacchaeus. breaks off running to get ahead of everybody and he climbs up into a tree and the way I've preached that for years was

applauding him that he was able to not run with the crowd, but he was willing to leave people behind in order to get ahead of people and he w he wasn't gonna stay on the level he was on. He was willing to climb up into a tree to be seen, but I Found something out on a recent trip to the beach as I was reading through like Luke nineteen and it says, And Jesus said to Zacchaeus, Come down. Scripture says and when he came down he was face to face with Jesus.

And he said, Today I must abide at your house. And the Lord said, It will not be until you've abandoned the heights you got to on your own strength that you and I will ever be face to face. You may be in a high place, but I'm only coming home with the man who's willing to come down from the heights of that that he got to based on his own efforts. Thank you, Lord. And I know this in my own life, I could've stayed up there.

People would have seen me and I would have seen people, but I've never been face to face with him. And he loves us enough to call us away from the successful heights of our own effort. So that we can live in the most glorious posture, which is not high up in the trees, but face to face with the Lamb of God. Thank you. The relentless recovery of tenderness is not in order that we might remain as we are, but rather tenderness is essential if we're going to inherit the grace.

To surrender, to being molded and shaped into the image bearers of Christ that we have been designed to become.

Shift in the topic now. Let's look at the life of David as an example. Hard to do a leadership gathering without talking about David. He's probably the example most of us have used most of the time over the years. Let's go to 1 Samuel 17. Super familiar, especially to a group of leaders, so I won't have to spend a lot of time familiarizing you with the text, but First Samuel seventeen. Verse thirty seven.

The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine. Saul finally consented, all right, go ahead, he said, and may the Lord be with you. Then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. I can't go in these, he protested to Saul. I'm not used to them.

So David took them off again, he picked up five smooth stones from a stream, put them into his shepherd's bag, then armed only with a shepherd's staff and a sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine. You should look at verse five. I didn't give them this, so you guys don't have to put that up there. I'll read it. Verse five of chapter 17, describing Goliath, says he wore a bronze helmet.

Yeah, and a bronze coat of mail. Go back to verse thirty eight and see what Saul was trying to get David to wear a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. When you let the fear-ridden generation that went before you dress you like themselves, you end up indistinguishable from your enemy. We have come to believe in order to defeat our Goliaths, we'll have to look like Goliaths. And the opposite is actually true. If you want to take down the giants, you'll have to surrender to being your real self.

And you'll have to trust in a way that you don't let systems protect you. You don't stay where you are because there's security there. Let me talk a little while. You don't stay with that denomination because you know you'll have a check and when this church runs you off they'll find you another one. Come on, leaders. You don't stay in a job because that's your source of security. You don't stay in a city because that's your source of security.

You don't stay in a home because that's your source of security. You don't stay in a role you're in because that's your source of identity. You get identified by the Father and then you get liberated to go down into that valley with nothing but your staff and your sling. Your homemade weapon a rag and a rock and one little Unusual thing you got there with you, David. A staff.

I know what you're feasting to do with the sling. I've got the rest of the story. But why in the world would you take your staff? Because Hebraic tradition says that those shepherds would carve their testimonies onto that staff.

So when David went down there to fight that Goliath, he had a story carved in there of where a lion had been defeated, and where a bear had been defeated, and where when he was a forgotten son, not invited to even see his brothers get anointed, that God had selected him and highlighted him and when he was the bastard son that none of the other brothers wanted anything to do with God had selected him and so he had history with God and he took his history with God alone.

Saul in fear is trying to dress David, who is not afraid, by the way, in his own armor. Some have speculated that the reason Saul wanted to dress David in his own armor is just in case David prevailed, people might think it was Saul. Or even if David did not prevail, at least they would think Saul was brave enough to go down in the valley if David wore his armor. Sounds a lot like Saul, doesn't it?

My point of emphasis tonight is that when you let those who were once leading with the anointing, but have now settled for positions and titles to clothe you, you will lose your identity and end up wearing something that does not fit you. What happens when you and I put something on that's not our true identity? It rubs. And it rubs. And it rubs.

Can anybody testify? And it rubs. And it rubs and it rubs. And that rub creates a wound. And that wound creates a callus. And the callous becomes the enemy to tender. I'm talking to the people tonight that have allowed something to be put on you that doesn't fit. Religion will dress you in armor, but fathers will always put you in robes. We need armor, brother. What about the Ephesians declaration that we're to put on the armor of God? We're to put on the armor of God.

Not the armor of a Roman soldier. God is not wearing a helmet. God is not wearing a breastplate. God does not have a shield. It's called the armor of God, and it's the armor of God that does for you what the armor of a Roman soldier would never be able to do. The armor of God is actually a robe of righteousness.

Again, religion will put you in armor, but fathers will put you in robes. If you are going to lead, then I'll tell you from deep experience that wounds are inevitable, and the vast majority of the knives will go into your back. I bless you with that revelation. If you don't have it yet, you've been leading for less than five minutes.

I'm going to tell you that if you're gonna lead, then I know from deep experience wounds are inevitable. And the v vast majority of those knives will go into your back. You too, Brutus And although wounds are inevitable, I have come to understand that calluses are a choice. I did not want to do this first tonight. My message for tomorrow night is one of the most important things God's ever shown me in my life. The Lord said, if you try,

to bring them into the place that I have for them tomorrow night without getting them restored back to a place of tenderness and presence. They'll never be pliable enough to become what I'm designing them to be. Although wounds are inevitable, I've come to understand that calluses are choices. What do I mean by calluses or choices?

Again, we as leaders will be wounded time and again. However, the calluses serve as a witness that we did not allow the penetrating, healing light and energy of perfect love, full enough access to those wounds. And therefore the bomb of Gilead was not able to do its perfect work of restoring the wound back to its intended state of tenderness. You will know that true love has healed the wound when the wounded place becomes such a place of tenderness that it becomes a fountain of healing to us.

You don't waste your wounds. You redeem them. And they become a fountain of healing for others. What do I mean by calluses are a choice? Again, we as leaders will be wounded time and time again. However, the calluses serve as a witness that we did not allow the penetrating healing light and energy of perfect love. full enough access to those wounds, and therefore the bomb of Gilead was not able to do its perfect work of restoring the wound back to its intended state of tenderness.

You will know that true love has healed the wound when the wounded place becomes such a place of tenderness that it becomes a fountain of healing to others. Pain can either make you become hardened or pain can make you grow tender. The differentiating factor is exposure to the presence of Yeshua as he pours in the oil and the wine. I am discovering that you can become so rooted in beloved identity that betrayal can be converted into compassion.

The key for me has been to drag my betrayal into the presence of the one whose own wounds remind me, all is well and all will be worked by him for my ultimate good. You may just be here this week to drop off some baggage so you can move forward. Pain can either make you become hardened or pain can cause you to grow more tender.

The differentiating factor is exposure to the presence of Yeshua as he pours in the oil and the wine. I'm discovering that you can become so rooted in beloved identity that betrayal can be converted into compassion. The key for me has been to drag my betrayal into the presence of the one whose own wounds remind me that all is well and all will be worked by him for my ultimate good. Leadership without an appropriate measure of exposure to the oil and wine of presence is a recipe for disaster.

Leadership without an appropriate measure of exposure to the oil and wine of presence is a recipe for disaster. you will inevitably come to justify being calloused and develop a sense of entitlement that treats others as a means to your own end. It is not the way that we are treated that was intended to determine our way of being in this life.

But rather our way of being should be being determined by our exposure to the presence of the one who exposes us to the healing and restorative tonic of the oil and the wine. That exposure to the one who holds the tonic of the oil and the wine should be happening in the midst of mistreatment, betrayal, and wounding. Turning the other cheek is a message that is only relevant to a people who are being swung at.

Yeshua makes his treatment of others the benchmark of how we are intended to handle people. And we must come to grow in the sacred space of assurance that Abba is indeed working all things together for our good. This revelation of all being used to bring to pass ultimate good will eventually yet certainly provoke the cry, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do in the face of any attack. This is us surrendering our hunger for retribution.

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do in the face of any attack. I want to talk again for a little while about being wildly tender. I'm almost done.

Although I like it a little better in the passion again we'll be able to put it on the screen if we use the new living. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1. Wildly tender. Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot. Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot. A new branch bearing fruit from the old root.

And the spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge in the fear of the Lord. He will delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by appearance, nor make a decision based on hearsay.

He'll give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word. The breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. And then that day, the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, will live together. The leopard will lie down with the baby gut. and the calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion.

And a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear. The cub and the calf will lie down together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra. Yes, a little child will put its hand into a nest of deadly snakes without harm. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

That's the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Back up to verse six, and I want to tell you about what The day we're moving into is going to look like. In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together. The leopard will lie down with the baby goat.

The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all. The cow will graze near the bear, the cub and calf will lie down together, and the lion will eat hay like a cow. This is a carnivore becoming an herbivore.

The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra, yes a little child will put its hand into a nest of deadly snakes without harm nothing will hurt or destroy and all my holy mountain for as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord. Wolf and Lamb live together. Leopard will lie down with baby goat, the calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, the cub and the calf will lie down together, and the lion will eat hay like a cow.

Now let's go to Isaiah 65. It's been stirring and me, man. I'm beginning to get about a thirty thousand foot view of where I think we're headed, and I think we're closer than we even know we are. Isaiah 65, we're gonna start in verse 17. Isaiah 65. Starting in verse seven. Look I am creating new heavens and a new earth. And no one will even think about the old ones anymore. Be glad, rejoice forever in my creation, and look, I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.

Her people will be a source of joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and delight in my people, and the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in it no more. No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred. Only the cursed will die that young. A hundred.

In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards. Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses and confiscate their vineyards. For my people will live as long as trees. Hello under the oaks. You wanna know how old that is? Drive around mobile.

My people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard won gains. They will not work in vain, and their children will not be doomed to misfortune. And their children will not be doomed to misfortune. And their children will not be doomed to misfortune, for they are people blessed by the Lord, and their children too will be

Blessed. I'll answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I'll go ahead and answer their prayers. The wolf and lamb will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. But snakes will eat dust. And in those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain. I the Lord have spoken. Reason I didn't just read Isaiah 11 is not just because Isaiah 65 is a confirmation, but because Isaiah 65 clarifies that this will happen on earth.

While people are still dying. Which is not in the ultimate reign of Christ, because in the ultimate reign of Christ, in the final end, there'll be no death. But this will be people still dying, but if it happens to you at a hundred, you'll have been considered young. And you'll live as old as trees. And before you ask a prayer, it'll be answered.

Right? And your children will not fall into dismay and they'll be the blessed of the Lord. When is this supposed to happen? When you and I recognize that we are to be living in a new heavens and a new earth, and we're to be living there now. The reason we're not in the full manifestation of this is because the new heavens and new earth do not yet have sons rooted enough in the revelation of how their fathers. about them to rule effectively inside of time.

So we've put these promises off for a dimension in which we have no responsibility. And they are waiting on us to become responsible sons and daughters that can rule well to the glory of Almighty Yahweh.

The wolf and the lamb, verse 25, will feed together. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The lion will eat hay like a cow. The lion Does not become any more domesticated than the lamb. But in order for the lion and the lamb to lay down together, the lion will have to become tender. If those two things lie down together, only one of them's nature has changed. And it's not the Lamb.

In order for the lion and lay lamb to lay down together, the lion will have to become tender. This happens by a change of appetite. A cornivore becomes an herbivore. No longer bloodthirsty. The lion is now wildly tender. Still has the claws, still has the teeth, still has the roar, still has the speed, but has learned to lay down and become like the lamb. The lion is wildly tender. The justified beastlike nature is no longer permitted in the new heavens and the new earth. Let me read that again.

The justified beast-like nature is no longer permitted in the new heavens and new earth. We don't call it beast-like nature now. We call it militants. And it's a thousand times easier to be militant than it is to be tender. I don't have to change one degree to be violent, but I have to change 180 to become tender. What about the scripture? The Bible says the kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

Bible also says unless you become like a little child, you cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So maybe what we need to learn to do is become violent about becoming childlike. Or we will continue to try to change the world with our pseudo masculinity. We are inheriting a new and intended definition of strength. I contend that in the beginning in the garden this was the nature of the lion. Yeah, yeah.

But the cursed caused a necessary but unfortunate evolution. The same is true for the calloused leader. What were you like when you started? And what have you been forced to become? Because who you have been forced to become may not be who you actually are.

And Abba is revealing our original blueprints. Wildly tender. Not by might. Nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Although I'm quite certain that Yeshua spent a great deal of time laughing and smiling, the gospel writers did not feel the need to include this. Although John and Luke, as well as the writer of Hebrews, all mention Jesus' weeping. His wild, tender freedom inside of his glorious relationship with the Father gave him full permission to be a man of compassionate tenderness.

Let me read that again. His wild, tender freedom inside of his glorious relationship with the Father gave him full permission to be a man of compassionate tenderness, to actually be like Jesus. Will require us to surrender our anxiousness once and for all to the secret revealed to us by the Christ. What is the secret you may ask? The secret that causes us to feel safe inside of tenderness? The secret is this, that the Abba of Jesus is indeed our Abba.

And that he loves each of us with the exact same nature and measure of love that he has for his beloved son Yeshua. From here, listen to this, from here, we start to breathe differently. Maybe even catch our breath again. 아멘 And the franticness of the need to accomplish bows its knee to the truth of our belovedness. If I tonight brought you up to my office and wrote you a check for every dream and every vision you have.

It would not be nearly as important to you or the kingdom of God as you feeling safe to open your heart to perfect love.

And it'll force us to redefine what it really means to be blessed. Jacob lived a tormented, godless existence for many, many years with an incredible financial blessing. And it was not until the love of God brought him into a wrestling match. That he got his tenderness back. And when Esau saw tenderness in the eyes of Jacob, he said, That's not the same man that stole my blessing from me.

You'd be amazed the restoration that you and I could walk into if we could move into a place of tenderness that when our former enemies looked in our eyes, they said, That's not the man he used to be. Yes. To actually be like Jesus will require us to surrender our anxiousness once and for all to the secret revealed to us by the Christ. What is the secret that causes us to feel safe inside of tenderness? Let me say this. It's a secret.

That David knew that gave him the ability to feel absolutely protected while not wearing things that were causing him to develop calluses. This is big. David knew something Saul did not. David came to know something in the fields with the sheep, harp in hand. If you remember the last wilderness society that we did, we talked about David. Where'd you leave your harp? I know you've become a mighty man of war. Conquered nations. I know you now rule over kingdoms, but where did you hang your heart?

And we can't build what Yahweh is asking leaders to build. And one of the reasons why is because it's going to take another generation who knew how to put their swords down to be able to build. peaceful kingdom that Yahweh actually wanted all along. And if David could have put his sword down and picked his heart back up, there's no telling what he and Solomon could have built together. Yeah, Dilamor Ramafsone Didikia. Mondana na sabrama. You don't have to defend yourself.

You don't have to conquer the city. Listen to me. Just glow. Just glow with the light of perfect love. They'll find you. There's enough darkness.

That if you have a real fire burning in your eyes, they'll find you. It may be one or two here, one or two there, and others that are not interested in that light in your eyes, yes, they may have to go. But your trust is so sealed and established in your relationship with the He's poured the oil and the wine into the wounds, and you would not even trade the betrayals because they helped you to become the companion.

tender person that you are today. And those wounds have indeed become fountains of life for others. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I believe tonight is an invitation for you and I to come to trust in our beloved identity so deeply. That we come out of our heads. And we feel a wild freedom that enables us to recline our head on his breast. You talk about Here we go.

I get a some of you musicians to come, whoever you feel like is necessary. I just feel like saying to you, do you remember when you were so tender? The band screaming behind you and somebody beating the fool out of the drums and playing the hottest top ten hit on the worship charts. Look at me. They're just going to get their instruments. Rain in your ADHD for just a minute. Just the thought of mercy.

I believe the Father is asking a group of leaders to be remolded and ultimately redefined what it looks like to be a man and woman of God in the earth. But it's gonna require a tenderness. Life can make you hard. And if you're a leader, your life can really make you harden. Oh, but when we get back to the place. Where you show us mercy.

Abba's care and love revealed in the person of Yeshua begins to deal with the wounds We get to a place that we can all almost become more tender where we've been wounded than we were before. That's how Yahweh redeems the past. Tonight is an invitation for you and I to trust deeply enough to come out of our head. that this is the posture in which I'm most alive. Let's paint the scene. Mm-hmm. It's Holy Tuesday. It's Holy Tuesday. This is what the Orthodox Church is commemorating today.

John laying his head on the breast. Thirteen men in a room. They're not at a table. They don't eat at tables. They're lounging. around a cushion covered with food. That they would have leaned on one elbow or the other, maybe while eating sit up in the middle of the way. but it's a super, Casual, intimate meal, very unlike our tables. Use the word table, but that's not what they meant for table. Here's Peter the Rock. Fisherman with his brother Andrew, the fisherman, James and John.

Here's Judas already contemplating the betrayal. Three year old. At supper. And here's a choice. Your old John Crawling in his direction. masculinity down. in the breast of the one who loved him. To the brothers in the room. Extreme tenderness for him to be able to Crawls across the room. Doesn't put his arm around him. Curls up. and lace his head. Oh it's just jump You know J. I wanna... Look at how things ended for J. Might want to look at what we have in this book.

Book of Revelation. Because John was one of them. Let the gospel... It's available to us. John was just willing to be John. What are you and I not hearing? I wasn't born. I was born for So you can be able to do that. In your place of dwelling. I'll just read it for you in John chapter twenty one. at his breast at the supper. You're the one! Who laid your head on his breast at the supper? I'm having to read into the Got right there. Yeah. On the breast in the here and now.

care about having a bigger church. The Lord knows. Peter and John. 20 year old. And over again. While he was in Ephesus. doctrine. Trust your heart. to you. Lion Label. The lion to roar for me when I had no idea. Lying in the beginning. The lion to be in the end. hardened. What a feel.