August 31, 2025 • 22 mins
What happens when you pair Indiana Jones with spiritual growth? A revelation about intentional faith that might just change your spiritual journey.
Our summer movie series concludes with the ultimate adventure film—Raiders of the Lost Ark—offering surprising spiritual insights about our relationship with God. While Indy pursues the Ark of the Covenant across deserts and oceans, we discover that his determined quest mirrors our own search for deeper connection with the divine.
The biblical Ark's remarkably detailed design specifications weren't arbitrary but purposeful. Like master craftspeople who understand that meticulous attention transforms ordinary materials into something extraordinary, our spiritual lives require similar intention. Whether through careful Bible study, compassionate care for others, or technical ministry support, intentional practice becomes our pathway to knowing God more deeply.
Indiana Jones represents the quintessential American hero—resourceful, principled, and often improvising through challenges. Yet beneath the adventure lies a profound truth: he is becoming who he was meant to be through dedicated pursuit of what matters. Similarly, our spiritual growth rarely happens by accident. Developing understanding of God's peace, justice, and love demands purposeful engagement.
As fall approaches, consider how you might become a hero of faith this year. Will you join a Bible study to engage more deeply with ancient wisdom? Become a shepherd who watches over fellow members? Or perhaps contribute technical skills to extend our ministry reach? Whatever path calls to you, remember that intention is the key that unlocks spiritual transformation.
Take this adventure seriously. Find your unique pathway to a tighter relationship with God—you'll discover yourself blessed while becoming a blessing to others. The greatest adventure isn't found in ancient temples, but in an intentionally cultivated relationship with the divine.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pastor Darren (00:00):
Well, we've been doing this movie series and I
thought today, since we'refinishing it up, I would talk
just a sec about the differencebetween what I would call a
scripture sermon, or maybe alectionary sermon, and a movie
(00:21):
sermon, because there is someuniqueness right.
With a Bible sermon, what youare generally doing is you find
that scripture this is why someof us like lectionary right the
calendar that lists scripturesfor you to do over a three-year
time and so you're handed ascripture and then you just go
(00:42):
into a journey with thisscripture and then what comes
out you pray, is what God washoping the journey would lead to
, and so a lot of people likethat.
I tend to like that a lot.
A movie sermon's different,because you find the movie you
want to talk about or you havesomething to say, and then you
go back into the Bible and youfind some scripture that agrees
(01:05):
with what you want to say, whichisn't necessarily terrible, but
at the same time you do feellike you're in there controlling
it just a touch.
So this last week for thismovie series, picking this movie
and I couldn't find anothersummer movie that I really felt
(01:27):
like motivated to speak aboutand so we're in Genesis class,
which we finally finished 50chapters of Genesis.
Congratulations to the class wegot through.
Somehow, raiders of the LostArk comes up.
Somehow, raiders of the LostArk comes up and I'm thinking,
(01:55):
and I'm thinking well, it ispotentially the greatest film
ever made and it's got the Arkof the Covenant in it.
Maybe I should preach onRaiders of the Lost Ark, Are you
with me?
Good, because that's what'shappening, and if you're not bad
news for you, just a little bitof bad news.
And I appreciate again thateverybody's been up for this
(02:22):
journey.
In fact, I've been reallyenjoyed, pleasantly surprised,
how people enjoyed this kind ofdiversion of talking about some
pop culture things and how thatspeaks into our faith and our
Christianity.
So thank you for appreciatingit as well.
Obvious to those of us who havewatched it is they are really
(02:44):
intentionally trying to createthe great American hero.
Right, this is the greatAmerican hero that is doing all
the things that we Americansreally, really appreciate.
And you can tell when you startcomparing Indiana Jones to
(03:04):
somebody like James Bond, youstart seeing a little bit of
what we value and distinction towhat the English culture values
and in some ways it makes usfeel really really good and in
some ways we're like boy thatIndiana Jones he's really
winging it.
He doesn't always seem to be incontrol and then we realize,
(03:27):
well, isn't that kind ofAmerican anyway?
We like that winging it, sortof just getting it figured out
and ingenuity and all of thatstuff.
We know that Indiana Jones ishighly principled.
He is somebody who has thesevalues highly principled.
He is somebody who has thesevalues.
(03:47):
They are largelyarchaeology-based,
culturally-based, wanting tomake sure that parts of the
culture are shared with thecurrent culture, that we can
continue to learn from them andgrow from them, which again part
of why he's a hero.
What's he hunting down?
But his very history, hisheritage as an American, hunting
(04:10):
down the Ten Commandments,which in the Judeo-Christian
faith, leads even onto Christianunderstandings, and our own
great commandments, commandmentsso you're talking about.
He's on the hunt for what'score to American understandings
(04:31):
and values.
And if you're wondering too, ifhe's supposed to be an American
hero, have you ever looked tosee what state is in potentially
the most middle of thecontinental United States?
Because I don't think it'sNebraska.
It just might be Indiana, right, it just might be.
(04:52):
So there's a lot of fun andintention around that and I get
a lot out of it too.
So just to tell you a bit ofthe story, in case you haven't
seen the story.
It opens up with this greatscene of Indiana Jones in the
jungle and he is trying to findthis artifact, an important
artifact of history.
But it's clear also there areothers on the hunt for this.
(05:16):
And what is even more clear isthat these artifacts have been
protected with traps, oftendangerous traps.
So many of you will rememberwhen he puts the stick down and
then the poison dart comes andhits the stick.
Do you remember this?
And the ball that chases himdown the groove and all you know
(05:36):
the whole deal.
And he's all clever with thesandbag replacing it for the
artifact itself, hoping thatwould save everything.
So we learn quickly who he isin this brief scene.
It's really a fun, fun sceneand I really enjoyed it.
But he gets out and as soon ashe gets out, the artifact which
(06:00):
he managed to recover is takenfrom him by his nemesis, belak.
I like saying that.
Like that, belak, because he'sa bad guy and they deserve their
name to be said in a bad way,belak.
He manages to escape Belak andand the natives that Belloq
(06:24):
sends after him in a reallyfunny scene as well, ends up
back at home.
And then he starts the realadventure of the movie.
He is learning that they thinkthey have found where the Ten
Commandments are buried in theArk of the Covenant and that
they are going to go do thisadventure, this quest to go hunt
(06:51):
down again our history here asa Judeo-Christian people.
His first stop he goes to talkto Marian right, you got to have
the?
Would that be a femme fatale?
Hmm, I would say not.
This is a romantic interest,although there's some femme
fatale working there.
Anyway, he needs from her thismedallion that's going to help
them find the Ark of theCovenant.
(07:13):
She ends up joining him on thejourney and then they start
hunting and hunting and they getover into the Holy Land and
they find that the group therethat they are really competing
with is digging in the wrongplace.
They get all excited.
They secretly figure out wherethey're supposed to dig.
(07:34):
They go in and they actuallyfind the Ark of the Covenant.
They recover it, only forBelloc to take it yet again.
Indiana Jones, being who IndianaJones is, manages to get the
Ark of the Covenant back.
Do you remember the truck chasescene and the fights in the
(07:57):
truck Classic.
And the fights in the truckClassic we need to recognize
Steven Spielberg taught us howto make an action movie.
After he did it, everybody went, oh okay, oh, I see how this
works.
So amazing scene.
He finishes They've got the Arkof the Covenant.
They're on a ship back tosafety.
They've got the Ark of theCovenant, they're on a ship back
(08:18):
to safety.
And we think, oh yeah, this iswhen normal movies end, right
here, after the greatest chasescene we've seen in a long, long
time.
Only, no, they find them again.
They find the ship that they'retransporting the Ark of the
(08:39):
Covenant in and they take it.
And we think, oh, he's foiledagain.
Until we see Indiana Jones hasswam from the ship over to the
submarine, is now going to crawlinto the submarine before the
villains Nazis in this case.
We should remember get away.
And you remember when he'swalking on that sub and weren't
(09:00):
you just like, yes, that'sAmerica, right there.
We swim from ships to subs asAmericans.
This is how we do it.
Now, final scene, or finalbiggest scene, the Belloq and
(09:21):
the Nazis have decided they wantto look inside the Ark to see
what they have before they bringit back to Hitler, right?
Hitler made his way into thisSunday mornings here this summer
, didn't he?
I don't know what that's about,anywho, anyway.
So they want to look at itfirst and make sure what the
(09:44):
heck's going on.
Now you might be askingyourself why do the Nazis care
about the Ten Commandments?
They seem to be kind ofanti-faith.
You know there was some certaincooperation with Christianity
in what they did, but for themost part they're not a
religious movement.
Why do they want this?
(10:04):
Well, the understanding was theTen Commandments were going to
be a straight pathway,communication with God.
And who wouldn't want that?
Well, none of y'all, then, Iguess.
No, all right, well, you'veseen the movie?
Oh yeah, you were ahead of me.
You saw what happened with thatdirect pathway to God.
(10:26):
So they set it all up.
They're going to do this ritual, they're going to open up the
Ark of the Covenant.
They do, and what they find isjust sand.
It looks like decomposed TenCommandment tablets just laying.
Like decomposed Ten Commandmenttablets just laying.
It's just sand.
And there's this momentarydisappointment.
(10:47):
And then terror ensues as somestrange power starts to take
over the whole area there andIndiana Jones, recognizing the
problem or potential problemthat may be a direct connection
to God and communication withGod will be too strong for human
(11:07):
beings to be able to deal with.
And so he and Mary and theyclosed their eyes.
What everybody else does notsurvive, because they took all
that God has in and it was morethan a human could take in.
So it was this climactic endwhere we had the classic chase
(11:29):
scene, old school style, andthen technology took over for a
second ending Amazing movie.
I won't tell you about the endbecause it's a little depressing
, but super good movie and Godwas in it.
So it counts for a sermon.
(11:52):
So you might be askingyourselves all right, where are
we going to go with this?
Because it has to count for asermon in some way.
And hopefully it's obvious why Ipicked the passage that I
picked.
It is the description of whatthe Ark of the Covenant was
(12:15):
supposed to be and to look likeand I don't want to read it
through to you and get a littlebit boring, but you were hearing
the explicit way it wasdescribed what they were
supposed to be building and itwas this box that was two cubits
(12:35):
by one cubit by one cubit Acubit generally understood to be
about this distance right here.
It was supposed to be lined inreally, really special ways.
They were little loops at thebottom of the box so you could
put wood in there to make iteasier to carry.
There was a mercy seat on thetop, which is kind of the lid,
(12:58):
and then cherubim on the topthat are protecting that mercy
seat.
I mean, it was really reallyelaborate, this thing that they
were asked to create.
And let's remember we're tounderstand this is Moses
recording God's words, right.
(13:18):
So these aren't just frivolousthings that are being said.
This is straight from God, withthis explicit nature, not
flippancy, right, we're supposedto pay attention to this.
Right, we could have edited itdifferently, right, moses could
have heard all the thing, ormaybe it was even God speaking
(13:41):
this way and God from on highsays all right, I want you to
build a box Better, fancy it upa little bit Going to have the
commandments in it.
So you want to look a littlespecial.
If it's me, I'm going to putloops on the side with some
sticks so it's easy to carry.
(14:01):
But that's you If that works.
I mean, god could have saidthis kind of thing, right and it
could have felt a lot morecasual.
But no, it's very, veryintentional and, as I'm thinking
to myself, this is a pathway toGod that I think only craftsmen
(14:24):
and craftspeople come tounderstand that value of really
thinking something through anddoing each and every little
piece.
If you're a quilter, you knowthe value of being able to do it
just right and having itfinished as a product, that you
(14:46):
put all that intention in.
People who work with wood it'sthe same kind of thing where you
put that craft in and there'ssomething, there's just
something about that processthat becomes sacred, that
becomes holy.
In some ways it's helping youbecome who you are right.
(15:09):
In other ways it's a moment indiscipline of being able to
communicate with larger powerswith God, with larger powers
with God.
I hope I'm connecting on thisbecause this is what I felt I've
heard from these craftspeopleof the value of that sort of
(15:32):
attention.
I think this might be ourlesson for today.
This deep, deep intention is away of coming to know God better
.
It is a way of coming to knowourselves better.
When I think about IndianaJones, he is way more out there
(15:54):
and aggressive.
His craft is adventure, but ishe any less devoted, any less
intentional about what he'strying to do For Indiana Jones.
This is how he is becoming whohe is For Indiana Jones.
This is how he is becoming whoGod created in him.
(16:16):
It's in that intention that wecome to that depth, which is why
I think the Ark of the Covenantis so explicit.
I think we have an invitationthat is being spoken to here
about intention in our own livesand intention in our own faith
(16:41):
Getting deeper with God, comingto know the comfort, the
assurance, coming to have abetter understanding of God's
peace, God's justice.
That generally doesn't happen bycoincidence.
It happens with some intention.
We here at United MethodistChurch of Westlake Village,
(17:05):
we're starting the Fall.
And what happens in the Fall?
Lots of new stuff.
Many of you probably think well, you know, that's what churches
do, that's what pastors do, youknow we put stuff out.
We might be missing the part ofit is.
It's for you, when we've got anew Bible study out, this Bible
(17:31):
study that might help you toenter into Scripture or re-enter
into Scripture, and again insort of a bite-sized format,
that's an opportunity.
In sort of a bite-sized format.
That's an opportunity for youto own that intention, for you
(17:54):
to say.
You know what.
This is the year I'm going toget a better grip of these
stories of faith that haveexisted, some of them 3,000
years or more.
Just ask Stephen, he'll giveyou the date.
I really like teaching withStephen.
We always have fun that way.
He's really good at that detailand I am not, which makes us a
(18:15):
great team.
But you have that opportunitythis year.
Here's another opportunity we'reworking on with membership care
.
We are in a church of peoplewho, many of whom, have been
here 30 to 50 years.
That is a long time, not onlyto be in church but to be family
(18:40):
together.
A long, long time To me.
I don't know how we look in thebig church mirror of life and
not see a group of people whotake care of each other, who
look out for each other For meand I suggested it to the prayer
(19:02):
group.
That's why I kind of slowlystarted changing their name
right from in front of theireyes to a care group, because
that's really what they doalready.
They do it in prayer.
But we're starting to do otherthings.
We're looking for shepherds.
Shepherds who are willing to bepeople who will take on a flock
(19:24):
a flock of people generallywill be sort of in your, where
you live in, that kind ofregionally based.
But you're agreeing to keep aneye out for those people, make
sure you're seeing them inchurch, checking in on them
every now and again whensomething goes bad, as they do.
(19:44):
You would be somebody connectedback to the church so that the
church can be able to be helpfulin whatever ways we can be
helpful.
You might even work within yourflock to put a meal together or
a couple of meals together forsomeone, or maybe you just
haven't seen them in a while andit's important that they get a
(20:06):
call, because God loves them alland if we're the extension of
God's love, then we better bereaching out with that love.
Are you a shepherd?
Is that the place where youmight be able to grow this year
with intention, get closer toGod?
(20:26):
My last one I'll just put out asa general one.
We've got a lot of little bitof layers in this church of
different ministry roles andleadership opportunities.
We're talking about a craftsman.
We have a craftsman back in thetech booth back there.
How many of you know Paulreally well?
(20:46):
You know him well enough.
Yeah, he probably deserves alittle bit of that.
Here's how God cursed Paul.
He can see what would be reallycool for this church to have,
and then he has to do it Right.
(21:11):
He is cursed with that becauseit'll sit and it'll gnaw at him
and be like, well, we're only.
We're just this far away fromthis great thing happening.
Or if only we learned how to dothis then oh, this is why many
of you are getting me oninstagram over and over and over
again blame paul.
(21:31):
There's a lot of me out there,more than I'm comfortable with,
but we think it's reached somepeople out in the community, so
we're doing it.
But but you're talking about,uh, that kind of craftsman role
and ways to know God better.
There's lots of little wayslike that, even within the tech
area, that help us to reach outwith the love God gave us to
(21:54):
share.
Is God calling you to that, tothat intentionality this year?
Is that the growth that Godwants for you?
I'm going to encourage you onthis journey to be the kind of
American hero, a hero of faith,that takes spiritual growth
(22:18):
seriously and intentionally, andfind some way this year that
you are going to be in a tighterrelationship with God and God's
love, god's compassion, god'sjustice, because that will be a
blessing to you and then you'llbe a blessing to others, amen,
(22:44):
amen.
Well, we've been doing this movie series and I
thought today, since we'refinishing it up, I would talk
just a sec about the differencebetween what I would call a
scripture sermon, or maybe alectionary sermon, and a movie
(00:21):
sermon, because there is someuniqueness right.
With a Bible sermon, what youare generally doing is you find
that scripture this is why someof us like lectionary right the
calendar that lists scripturesfor you to do over a three-year
time and so you're handed ascripture and then you just go
(00:42):
into a journey with thisscripture and then what comes
out you pray, is what God washoping the journey would lead to
, and so a lot of people likethat.
I tend to like that a lot.
A movie sermon's different,because you find the movie you
want to talk about or you havesomething to say, and then you
go back into the Bible and youfind some scripture that agrees
(01:05):
with what you want to say, whichisn't necessarily terrible, but
at the same time you do feellike you're in there controlling
it just a touch.
So this last week for thismovie series, picking this movie
and I couldn't find anothersummer movie that I really felt
(01:27):
like motivated to speak aboutand so we're in Genesis class,
which we finally finished 50chapters of Genesis.
Congratulations to the class wegot through.
Somehow, raiders of the LostArk comes up.
Somehow, raiders of the LostArk comes up and I'm thinking,
(01:55):
and I'm thinking well, it ispotentially the greatest film
ever made and it's got the Arkof the Covenant in it.
Maybe I should preach onRaiders of the Lost Ark, Are you
with me?
Good, because that's what'shappening, and if you're not bad
news for you, just a little bitof bad news.
And I appreciate again thateverybody's been up for this
(02:22):
journey.
In fact, I've been reallyenjoyed, pleasantly surprised,
how people enjoyed this kind ofdiversion of talking about some
pop culture things and how thatspeaks into our faith and our
Christianity.
So thank you for appreciatingit as well.
Obvious to those of us who havewatched it is they are really
(02:44):
intentionally trying to createthe great American hero.
Right, this is the greatAmerican hero that is doing all
the things that we Americansreally, really appreciate.
And you can tell when you startcomparing Indiana Jones to
(03:04):
somebody like James Bond, youstart seeing a little bit of
what we value and distinction towhat the English culture values
and in some ways it makes usfeel really really good and in
some ways we're like boy thatIndiana Jones he's really
winging it.
He doesn't always seem to be incontrol and then we realize,
(03:27):
well, isn't that kind ofAmerican anyway?
We like that winging it, sortof just getting it figured out
and ingenuity and all of thatstuff.
We know that Indiana Jones ishighly principled.
He is somebody who has thesevalues highly principled.
He is somebody who has thesevalues.
(03:47):
They are largelyarchaeology-based,
culturally-based, wanting tomake sure that parts of the
culture are shared with thecurrent culture, that we can
continue to learn from them andgrow from them, which again part
of why he's a hero.
What's he hunting down?
But his very history, hisheritage as an American, hunting
(04:10):
down the Ten Commandments,which in the Judeo-Christian
faith, leads even onto Christianunderstandings, and our own
great commandments, commandmentsso you're talking about.
He's on the hunt for what'score to American understandings
(04:31):
and values.
And if you're wondering too, ifhe's supposed to be an American
hero, have you ever looked tosee what state is in potentially
the most middle of thecontinental United States?
Because I don't think it'sNebraska.
It just might be Indiana, right, it just might be.
(04:52):
So there's a lot of fun andintention around that and I get
a lot out of it too.
So just to tell you a bit ofthe story, in case you haven't
seen the story.
It opens up with this greatscene of Indiana Jones in the
jungle and he is trying to findthis artifact, an important
artifact of history.
But it's clear also there areothers on the hunt for this.
(05:16):
And what is even more clear isthat these artifacts have been
protected with traps, oftendangerous traps.
So many of you will rememberwhen he puts the stick down and
then the poison dart comes andhits the stick.
Do you remember this?
And the ball that chases himdown the groove and all you know
(05:36):
the whole deal.
And he's all clever with thesandbag replacing it for the
artifact itself, hoping thatwould save everything.
So we learn quickly who he isin this brief scene.
It's really a fun, fun sceneand I really enjoyed it.
But he gets out and as soon ashe gets out, the artifact which
(06:00):
he managed to recover is takenfrom him by his nemesis, belak.
I like saying that.
Like that, belak, because he'sa bad guy and they deserve their
name to be said in a bad way,belak.
He manages to escape Belak andand the natives that Belloq
(06:24):
sends after him in a reallyfunny scene as well, ends up
back at home.
And then he starts the realadventure of the movie.
He is learning that they thinkthey have found where the Ten
Commandments are buried in theArk of the Covenant and that
they are going to go do thisadventure, this quest to go hunt
(06:51):
down again our history here asa Judeo-Christian people.
His first stop he goes to talkto Marian right, you got to have
the?
Would that be a femme fatale?
Hmm, I would say not.
This is a romantic interest,although there's some femme
fatale working there.
Anyway, he needs from her thismedallion that's going to help
them find the Ark of theCovenant.
(07:13):
She ends up joining him on thejourney and then they start
hunting and hunting and they getover into the Holy Land and
they find that the group therethat they are really competing
with is digging in the wrongplace.
They get all excited.
They secretly figure out wherethey're supposed to dig.
(07:34):
They go in and they actuallyfind the Ark of the Covenant.
They recover it, only forBelloc to take it yet again.
Indiana Jones, being who IndianaJones is, manages to get the
Ark of the Covenant back.
Do you remember the truck chasescene and the fights in the
(07:57):
truck Classic.
And the fights in the truckClassic we need to recognize
Steven Spielberg taught us howto make an action movie.
After he did it, everybody went, oh okay, oh, I see how this
works.
So amazing scene.
He finishes They've got the Arkof the Covenant.
They're on a ship back tosafety.
They've got the Ark of theCovenant, they're on a ship back
(08:18):
to safety.
And we think, oh yeah, this iswhen normal movies end, right
here, after the greatest chasescene we've seen in a long, long
time.
Only, no, they find them again.
They find the ship that they'retransporting the Ark of the
(08:39):
Covenant in and they take it.
And we think, oh, he's foiledagain.
Until we see Indiana Jones hasswam from the ship over to the
submarine, is now going to crawlinto the submarine before the
villains Nazis in this case.
We should remember get away.
And you remember when he'swalking on that sub and weren't
(09:00):
you just like, yes, that'sAmerica, right there.
We swim from ships to subs asAmericans.
This is how we do it.
Now, final scene, or finalbiggest scene, the Belloq and
(09:21):
the Nazis have decided they wantto look inside the Ark to see
what they have before they bringit back to Hitler, right?
Hitler made his way into thisSunday mornings here this summer
, didn't he?
I don't know what that's about,anywho, anyway.
So they want to look at itfirst and make sure what the
(09:44):
heck's going on.
Now you might be askingyourself why do the Nazis care
about the Ten Commandments?
They seem to be kind ofanti-faith.
You know there was some certaincooperation with Christianity
in what they did, but for themost part they're not a
religious movement.
Why do they want this?
(10:04):
Well, the understanding was theTen Commandments were going to
be a straight pathway,communication with God.
And who wouldn't want that?
Well, none of y'all, then, Iguess.
No, all right, well, you'veseen the movie?
Oh yeah, you were ahead of me.
You saw what happened with thatdirect pathway to God.
(10:26):
So they set it all up.
They're going to do this ritual, they're going to open up the
Ark of the Covenant.
They do, and what they find isjust sand.
It looks like decomposed TenCommandment tablets just laying.
Like decomposed Ten Commandmenttablets just laying.
It's just sand.
And there's this momentarydisappointment.
(10:47):
And then terror ensues as somestrange power starts to take
over the whole area there andIndiana Jones, recognizing the
problem or potential problemthat may be a direct connection
to God and communication withGod will be too strong for human
(11:07):
beings to be able to deal with.
And so he and Mary and theyclosed their eyes.
What everybody else does notsurvive, because they took all
that God has in and it was morethan a human could take in.
So it was this climactic endwhere we had the classic chase
(11:29):
scene, old school style, andthen technology took over for a
second ending Amazing movie.
I won't tell you about the endbecause it's a little depressing
, but super good movie and Godwas in it.
So it counts for a sermon.
(11:52):
So you might be askingyourselves all right, where are
we going to go with this?
Because it has to count for asermon in some way.
And hopefully it's obvious why Ipicked the passage that I
picked.
It is the description of whatthe Ark of the Covenant was
(12:15):
supposed to be and to look likeand I don't want to read it
through to you and get a littlebit boring, but you were hearing
the explicit way it wasdescribed what they were
supposed to be building and itwas this box that was two cubits
(12:35):
by one cubit by one cubit Acubit generally understood to be
about this distance right here.
It was supposed to be lined inreally, really special ways.
They were little loops at thebottom of the box so you could
put wood in there to make iteasier to carry.
There was a mercy seat on thetop, which is kind of the lid,
(12:58):
and then cherubim on the topthat are protecting that mercy
seat.
I mean, it was really reallyelaborate, this thing that they
were asked to create.
And let's remember we're tounderstand this is Moses
recording God's words, right.
(13:18):
So these aren't just frivolousthings that are being said.
This is straight from God, withthis explicit nature, not
flippancy, right, we're supposedto pay attention to this.
Right, we could have edited itdifferently, right, moses could
have heard all the thing, ormaybe it was even God speaking
(13:41):
this way and God from on highsays all right, I want you to
build a box Better, fancy it upa little bit Going to have the
commandments in it.
So you want to look a littlespecial.
If it's me, I'm going to putloops on the side with some
sticks so it's easy to carry.
(14:01):
But that's you If that works.
I mean, god could have saidthis kind of thing, right and it
could have felt a lot morecasual.
But no, it's very, veryintentional and, as I'm thinking
to myself, this is a pathway toGod that I think only craftsmen
(14:24):
and craftspeople come tounderstand that value of really
thinking something through anddoing each and every little
piece.
If you're a quilter, you knowthe value of being able to do it
just right and having itfinished as a product, that you
(14:46):
put all that intention in.
People who work with wood it'sthe same kind of thing where you
put that craft in and there'ssomething, there's just
something about that processthat becomes sacred, that
becomes holy.
In some ways it's helping youbecome who you are right.
(15:09):
In other ways it's a moment indiscipline of being able to
communicate with larger powerswith God, with larger powers
with God.
I hope I'm connecting on thisbecause this is what I felt I've
heard from these craftspeopleof the value of that sort of
(15:32):
attention.
I think this might be ourlesson for today.
This deep, deep intention is away of coming to know God better
.
It is a way of coming to knowourselves better.
When I think about IndianaJones, he is way more out there
(15:54):
and aggressive.
His craft is adventure, but ishe any less devoted, any less
intentional about what he'strying to do For Indiana Jones.
This is how he is becoming whohe is For Indiana Jones.
This is how he is becoming whoGod created in him.
(16:16):
It's in that intention that wecome to that depth, which is why
I think the Ark of the Covenantis so explicit.
I think we have an invitationthat is being spoken to here
about intention in our own livesand intention in our own faith
(16:41):
Getting deeper with God, comingto know the comfort, the
assurance, coming to have abetter understanding of God's
peace, God's justice.
That generally doesn't happen bycoincidence.
It happens with some intention.
We here at United MethodistChurch of Westlake Village,
(17:05):
we're starting the Fall.
And what happens in the Fall?
Lots of new stuff.
Many of you probably think well, you know, that's what churches
do, that's what pastors do, youknow we put stuff out.
We might be missing the part ofit is.
It's for you, when we've got anew Bible study out, this Bible
(17:31):
study that might help you toenter into Scripture or re-enter
into Scripture, and again insort of a bite-sized format,
that's an opportunity.
In sort of a bite-sized format.
That's an opportunity for youto own that intention, for you
(17:54):
to say.
You know what.
This is the year I'm going toget a better grip of these
stories of faith that haveexisted, some of them 3,000
years or more.
Just ask Stephen, he'll giveyou the date.
I really like teaching withStephen.
We always have fun that way.
He's really good at that detailand I am not, which makes us a
(18:15):
great team.
But you have that opportunitythis year.
Here's another opportunity we'reworking on with membership care
.
We are in a church of peoplewho, many of whom, have been
here 30 to 50 years.
That is a long time, not onlyto be in church but to be family
(18:40):
together.
A long, long time To me.
I don't know how we look in thebig church mirror of life and
not see a group of people whotake care of each other, who
look out for each other For meand I suggested it to the prayer
(19:02):
group.
That's why I kind of slowlystarted changing their name
right from in front of theireyes to a care group, because
that's really what they doalready.
They do it in prayer.
But we're starting to do otherthings.
We're looking for shepherds.
Shepherds who are willing to bepeople who will take on a flock
(19:24):
a flock of people generallywill be sort of in your, where
you live in, that kind ofregionally based.
But you're agreeing to keep aneye out for those people, make
sure you're seeing them inchurch, checking in on them
every now and again whensomething goes bad, as they do.
(19:44):
You would be somebody connectedback to the church so that the
church can be able to be helpfulin whatever ways we can be
helpful.
You might even work within yourflock to put a meal together or
a couple of meals together forsomeone, or maybe you just
haven't seen them in a while andit's important that they get a
(20:06):
call, because God loves them alland if we're the extension of
God's love, then we better bereaching out with that love.
Are you a shepherd?
Is that the place where youmight be able to grow this year
with intention, get closer toGod?
(20:26):
My last one I'll just put out asa general one.
We've got a lot of little bitof layers in this church of
different ministry roles andleadership opportunities.
We're talking about a craftsman.
We have a craftsman back in thetech booth back there.
How many of you know Paulreally well?
(20:46):
You know him well enough.
Yeah, he probably deserves alittle bit of that.
Here's how God cursed Paul.
He can see what would be reallycool for this church to have,
and then he has to do it Right.
(21:11):
He is cursed with that becauseit'll sit and it'll gnaw at him
and be like, well, we're only.
We're just this far away fromthis great thing happening.
Or if only we learned how to dothis then oh, this is why many
of you are getting me oninstagram over and over and over
again blame paul.
(21:31):
There's a lot of me out there,more than I'm comfortable with,
but we think it's reached somepeople out in the community, so
we're doing it.
But but you're talking about,uh, that kind of craftsman role
and ways to know God better.
There's lots of little wayslike that, even within the tech
area, that help us to reach outwith the love God gave us to
(21:54):
share.
Is God calling you to that, tothat intentionality this year?
Is that the growth that Godwants for you?
I'm going to encourage you onthis journey to be the kind of
American hero, a hero of faith,that takes spiritual growth
(22:18):
seriously and intentionally, andfind some way this year that
you are going to be in a tighterrelationship with God and God's
love, god's compassion, god'sjustice, because that will be a
blessing to you and then you'llbe a blessing to others, amen,
(22:44):
amen.
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