How He Shows Up

Good morning, my friend. I hope you're doing well.

Dr. Lee Warren here with you, and I am so excited to be bringing you another brand new

Tuesdays with Tata episode.

Tata and I sat down on Sunday afternoon on an incredibly beautiful day and had a wonderful conversation.

As always, we went deep into his wisdom and insight into Scripture, and we learned some

lessons about how God tends to show up. We all want to think that God's going to show up in a storm, in a big boom, in a thunder,

It's gonna be super obvious.

But if you look at scripture for a while, he's much more of a gentleman than that.

And sometimes he shows up in the most surprising ways. And we had a great conversation.

If you're hurting, if you're reeling from something, if you're on a journey from a place of massive trauma

or tragedy or something else that's happened in your life, and you're looking for some hope,

today we're gonna give you some insight into a new way to make sure that you're on the lookout

because that's right when God tends to show up as the great physician, the great counselor,

the great helper who wants to come alongside and be with us in our struggles.

So it's a great encouraging conversation with Tata. I learned a lot from him as always,

and I think it's gonna benefit you. And that leaves us really with just one question.

Hey, are you ready to change your life? If the answer is yes, there's only one rule.

You have to change your mind first.

And my friend, there's a place where the neuroscience of how your mind works smashes together with faith,

and everything starts to make sense. Are you ready to change your life?

Well, this is the place, Self-Brain Surgery School.

I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and this is where we go deep into how we're wired, take control of our thinking and find real hope.

This is where we learn to become healthier, feel better and be happier.

This is where we leave the past behind and transform our minds.

This is where we start today. Are you ready?

This is your podcast. This is your place. This is your time, my friend. Let's get after it.

Hello my friend, we're back on a beautiful Sunday afternoon looking out at the incredibly

blue sky and the cool air of fall, and I'm here with my main man Dennis McDonnell.

How are you? I'm really well, and since it's Sunday, it must be Tuesdays with Tata.

It sounds like it is.

It must be. How are you doing today, Dad? I'm well.

How are you? Good. We had an incredible worship service this morning, and just still thinking about what

the preacher said. Yeah, yeah. I can't think about anything, much of anything else.

Amazing. Talking about the Holy Spirit.

Well, what do you have for us today, Tata? Well, first of all, I'll let you know

that I'm in Mark chapter six to begin with, beginning where Jesus walks on water.

But what prompted me to do that, was to look at that, was because we just finished

talking about Abraham, talking to the Lord, and negotiating with the Lord about Sodom and Gomorrah.

And I'm sure that in that case, he was worried about Lot and his family.

But, and then we saw another case with Elijah.

Where the Lord appeared to him, and Elijah had just given up,

but the Lord appeared to him, came to him, talked to him, came to him in a still, small voice.

And then other cases were people negotiated with the Lord and made deals about what they should be doing.

Even after the Lord had said to them, I have chosen you.

Isn't that something? That is stunning to me, that the Lord said, I have chosen you.

Wow. You will be the old man of valor.

Yeah.

And so all of that prompted me to look at how Jesus would respond, because we know that Jesus,

is an exact image of God himself. He does nothing of his own accord unless the Father tells him to.

That's correct. He thinks the same way. He sees things the same way. But here again, some of these things,

And I'm trying to understand how God works with us and how he walks with us and how we walk with him.

And to set what Mark is describing here, they had just, Jesus had just fed the,

and it was 5,000 men, so the math, simple math would tell you that's probably

about 20 or 25,000 people, because they had to have families Yeah.

With five loaves of bread and two fish.

Yeah.

Fed them. Amazing. And then they picked up 12 baskets full of remnants. That's right.

But after that was over with, the Lord said to the disciples, get in the boat,

go across the shore to the other shore, and I will meet you there. Yeah.

Not one comment about how are you going to get there.

That's right. No, they didn't even bother to ask. Maybe they didn't think about that. Maybe.

I don't know, but anyway, and the Lord, but he said to them that he was gonna dismiss the crowd,

and he did, and then he went up on a mountain to pray.

But an interesting thing is in the record here that is so stunning to me.

And in verse 48, and he saw that they were making headway painfully for the wind was against them.

Yeah. A storm came up on the lake, on the sea, and they were fighting to get across because the

wind was contrary, blowing from the wrong direction for them.

So they're having to row the boat, no doubt.

And because the sails would have been no value going into the into this and these were men that were fishermen,

Yeah, and so they were acquainted with what that life was like. They knew what to do in the storm,

But jesus saw them And jesus was still on the land. Yeah, he was on the mountain,

He saw them that they were having trouble. Yeah,

He saw that they were having trouble. That's amazing thought because and then about the fourth watch and I'm thinking that's probably about

three o'clock in the morning something like that so what does that say how long

did the Lord pray because evening time came and that's when he sent him across

the sea yeah and he went up to the mountain he prayed all night but he still saw them and then he went to them walking on the water yeah and when they

saw him, they were startled. They thought it was a ghost. But think with me just a minute.

We're just imagining right now. They're in a boat that's in a storm, and I don't know

how big the boat was. It had to be big enough for the 12 of them to be on.

So, but here's a storm and they were frightened because they saw someone walking on the water.

Now, what would you do if you saw somebody walking on the water and you were in the middle of a

storm? I'd say, get in the boat, help us row. But he, and he did. And what happened when he got in

the boat? But the interesting thing that Jesus said, and that's what caught my attention,

he meant to pass them by. He wasn't going to stop because he meant to pass them by.

But he did not. He heard their cry for help and he got in the boat and the storm stopped.

The wind ceased blowing. The sea was not against them anymore. That's right. But the point that

that here that gets me is he meant to pass them by.

So what, because I don't know, there's another point that they did not even understand

about the feeding of the crowd,

because their hearts were hardened or they couldn't understand,

they were blinded to that miracle.

All of those people being fed with so small amount of food, four or five loaves of bread and two fish,

And they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.

And it went right over their head. It did. They didn't get it.

And they didn't get it when they saw Jesus walking on the water either.

But when they did get it, was when Jesus got in the boat.

Yeah.

There's a lot of lessons here, but the point that gets me, the comment that gets me, I guess, is he meant to pass them by.

He was just gonna keep on going. Yeah.

So what does that say about them and their relationship to the Lord?

And what does it say about us in our relationship to the Lord.

We need to ask. It may have to do with this whole idea. We talked about on the podcast this weekend

about how the Lord is a gentleman. He doesn't force himself on us.

He waits to be invited. He stands at the door gently knocking, as he says,

in the gospel, in Matthew.

And Pete Greig talked about this, this and several other times when he was gonna pass people

by like on the road to Emmaus. He walked with them but didn't identify himself, right?

So it may be that he wants us to invite him.

He doesn't want to force himself on us. He's gentle and lowly.

He's humble. That's right.

But at the same time, he knows our heart. Because think of that.

He was on a mountain, on the land, on the shore, and he saw them in the sea,

and they were having difficulty.

He could have rescued them then.

But nowhere in this record is there any note made of them asking for help. No.

They didn't get it. Even though they knew he could do all these things,

they still didn't ask for help.

And they knew, and they saw the miracles. They saw six people healed.

They had seen dead people raised back, brought back to life. Yeah.

But what they did witness was overwhelming to me. Think about feeding that many people

with five loaves of bread and two fish.

So what does that say about our heart and our mind and how we perceive who God is?

He said, ask. Jesus said, ask and you'll receive. That's right.

I think there's always a double edge to this kind of thought process.

We say, well, gosh, we would have noticed him. We would have invited him in.

That's right. But at the same time, we beat those guys up in retrospect.

But John says it plainly, John 1 10, though the world was made through him,

the world did not recognize him.

So if the whole world didn't recognize him and his own disciples didn't recognize him,

maybe we wouldn't either in some ways. So we should give them some grace.

But the other side of it is maybe it was so big they couldn't mentally process it. Yeah.

Him walking on the water, stopping the storm. That's when they worshiped Him, when they saw that.

So what does that say about us? Do we want to have something big?

We want to see something big. We want to see something astounding.

We want to see a big flash of light in the sky.

And this is why he came. Or it's not how he comes usually. We talked about that last week.

He comes in a quiet voice.

He comes with a gentle knocking and with the intent to pass us by if we don't notice him.

That's right. That's right.

And so there's a lot more to be learned and trying to understand.

And that's one of the things that I try to do when I read the passage of scripture like that.

What would I do if I was there?

And I try to dismiss the idea that, well, they didn't get it, but I would get it. No, I wouldn't.

Because I would have been just like them. I am just like them.

And we're the same way.

But these men were experienced at what they were doing. They had knowledge.

They had been in these kind of situations before, no doubt.

Caught in the middle of a storm. Because as I understand it, storms occur on the Sea of Galilee without warning.

And think about this, those guys didn't have any Google weather or the National Weather Channel. Yeah. The only maps they may have had or only record

they've had ever had made is where they caught some fish.

Let's try it.

So they were looking, they were looking down, and they were looking, they had tunnel vision.

Yeah. They could not understand, even if they were made to. That's right. And they were made to

when Jesus got in the boat. That's right. They didn't have a choice. He saved them, yes, from

the storm. But the point that gets me is he meant to pass them by. He was just going to keep on

Yeah, and meet him on the shore.

Because that's what he had told him that he would do.

It's amazing how we look at Jesus as the creator of the universe and with the unlimited power that he had,

and he comes to us meekly and gently and then we look at human rulers and they come with power and pomp and circumstance

and demanding. We seem to want that. So that's what the people wanted then too, they wanted a Messiah on a white horse to rescue them from Roman

oppression. And they couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that the real Messiah

was right in their midst. And maybe that's our problem too. Pete Greig says,

this, all this is so far from our experience of human power that we struggle to equate it with any kind of God, and yet it is simultaneously

precisely our actual experience of God every day.

Looking back on our lives we can see pretty clearly where He was even if we hardly realized it at the time.

He's always there. He's always with us.

This is just what you said, Pete Greig. By the way, Pete Greig is going to be on the podcast in December.

I'm excited about that. He writes this in his book, How to Hear God.

Of course we want him to be unmissable and unmistakable like you said. We expect him to flash all around his all-access

pass to kick down the door of our lives, but instead he waits for us to him into our boat, or our house, or our heart. That's right, because why do we sin?

We decide to. The sin is out there.

Waiting for us to pick it. That's right That's right. And the Lord is out there waiting on us,

To choose him. Could it perhaps be friend if you're in the midst of your massive thing you,

Stroke, there's so much on the prayer wall right now. I thought that was so much happening. Can you imagine though?

Perhaps In our vulnerable state in the midst of our massive thing when we're shattered and wrecked,

If he did show up with that kind of thundering power, it might overwhelm us.

I think that's correct. Maybe what we need is him to be gentle and lowly in that moment and say,

Hey, I'm here for you.

Yeah. He knows that we can't process it beyond where we are. That's right.

And at the end of the day, we have a choice. We have a choice right now.

Yeah. Choose him or choose to live the way we want to. That's right.

Now, how do we want to live? How whatever we want to do.

And that's what's happening in our culture today. If it feels good, do it. I think we.

I think we ought to recognize that there's wisdom. This is one of the reasons that studying the Bible is so important.

We need to recognize how God shows up and how He has a tendency to just be there waiting,

to even be almost unnoticeable and passing by if we're not paying attention.

And maybe the posture should be, especially in the midst of our storms,

especially in the midst of our grief, like the two guys on the road to Emmaus

who were devastated at his death.

Maybe our posture should be to be aware that God tends to show up quietly in those moments.

And maybe that suggests, too, taking our eyes off of ourself. That's right.

And look to Him who has already told us that He will provide. Yep.

And He's already, Jesus has already warned us. He told us in this world, you will have trouble.

But I have come. That's right.

So that you may have peace. That's right.

And so, but as I said, the whole point is that it's still a choice.

We get to make the choice.

That's right. And I, we've said it before and we've talked about it before, but because, and I've heard

people say it, well, how can a good God send people to hell?

He doesn't. That's right. He does not. We make a choice to go there.

We're all on that road. We've all been on that road to destruction,

all of our lives. Yeah.

But then we decided to get off of that road.

Well, the fact is it would be cruel of God to make you spend eternity with him

if you spent your whole life telling him you didn't want to. That's right.

That's right. That's right, it's just like, that's like a cartoon that I saw.

Why did God let the shooting take place in the school?

Well, we took him out of the school a long time ago. We didn't want him there. Wow.

That's devastating to think about. See, it's still a decision.

We get to decide. You try.

And so the next part, next piece that I looked at is recorded in Luke, and it's in Luke chapter 24,

and it's after the resurrection of Jesus.

And we see, we catch up with two people that are walking to a village from Jerusalem,

to a village named Omaeus.

And so, there's all kinds of depictions of who those people are.

I don't know who they are. Nobody, we don't have any introduction to them.

That's right. We don't know if it's a husband and wife, but we know that they are knowledgeable,

that they have been witness to it.

They saw it.

And they were walking along discussing the things that happened in Jerusalem.

And all of a sudden, Jesus joins them in their walk. And Jesus knew, but he still asked them,

What are you talking about?

And their comment to him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem

that doesn't know all of these things?

And he said, what things?

And they told him that when they were talking about Jesus, who was a prophet from God, and he was anointed by God,

and he was doing marvelous things, and they said, our rulers and our priests

handed him over to be condemned and crucified.

Yeah. So they knew. But then they could, and so Jesus started talking to him then,

after he rebuked them, he said, how foolish you are to not know. And he told them,

from beginning with Moses, all of the scriptures that related to him.

Yeah. And all the Psalms and all the prophecies about Jesus Christ.

Fascinating. And then also, what is so amazing to me here is, in verse 29, when they got close to where

they were going, he acted as if he were going further.

He kept on going.

And they said, don't go. They strongly urged him to stop with them because it was evening time, it was getting,

night. And so Jesus went in, they invited him in.

And they didn't even know his name. I don't think that they were getting, I think they felt something because they talked about

later when they were talking to themselves about the burning that they were in their

hearts as he talked about himself.

And that's when Jesus introduced himself to them.

He blessed the bread and broke it, and then it disappeared.

That's powerful. Amen. And so he left them, but look what they did.

They went back to Jerusalem.

After they had already convinced him to stay with them because it was already night.

So they traveled back to, they walked another seven miles.

Yeah. But the point that I'm making here is that as they were walking along and Jesus was telling

them about himself, he acted like he was going on further, going on farther down the road.

He acted like, and I don't know what that says, I don't know what that means. Did he

say to them, I'm going on down the road? I don't know. I don't know what he said. But,

he acted like he was going farther. And so that got their attention too. But then they

And they knew, and they went back to Jerusalem.

And they found the 11, the disciples who were in the upper room, or wherever they were.

They were meeting, and there were other people there.

And they told them what happened. Yeah.

And also, they recounted some things to Jesus that they'd heard that some of the women

had been to the tomb, and they had visions of angels.

Yeah.

They didn't talk about marriage. I saw him, I talked to him.

Because she wasn't told by the disciples.

But he acted like he was going further from them. So here again, in my thinking,

is it's another place where after Jesus even told them who he was,

he was just gonna go on.

And they had to ask him, stay with me, stay with us.

Now what happened after the, when the prayer, when Jesus offered a prayer and broke the bread

and offered it to them, he disappeared.

They didn't have any more conversation with him. But they knew who he was.

And maybe that's the whole point.

Even though he was acting like he was gonna go further from down the road that they were on,

Maybe the point is that they invited him in.

And they invited him in for a conversation, they thought.

Something in them wanted to know more. They wanted to know, who is this?

And when he vanished from them, it was self-evident.

Then they knew, yeah. So he demonstrated his mighty power in their presence without disturbing them totally.

He took them through a process.

And maybe that's the whole point, too. too, that what God does with us helps us understand what it means to be frail, and what it helps

us understand what it means to be where we cannot comprehend totally.

Yeah.

Paul said it very clearly when he talked about that one, no eye has seen, no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived what it's going to be like.

That's right.

I think you're right. I think they're in this vulnerable state

where the guy that they thought was the Messiah

has been killed and they think it's over.

And Luke does say they're two disciples. He even names them Simon and Cleopas.

And then as they're walking along, they're mourning the loss of their Savior.

And maybe the point here is, or maybe one of the points is,

being aware that you have a friend in Jesus who wants to show up when you're hurting,

doesn't force himself on you,

doesn't show up with flash and bang ever, essentially ever, until he comes back with this trumpet.

But he shows up in our moments of weakness in a way that we can take some time

to understand that he's there.

And he wants us to invite him into our suffering. Because I think when we're hurting, he knows.

He suffered the same as we do. He was tempted in every way that we were tempted.

That's right. He was human. He was God, but he was human. And sometimes we forget that, that he knows.

He knows what it means to be hungry. He knows what it means to not have sleep. He knows what

it means to be afraid. And he knows what it means to experience loss.

That's right. Because what did he say on the cross?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's right.

He felt lost. And so when we encounter, when we reach the end of our own rope, so to speak,

where we come to a point where there's nothing else that we can do, that's when we need to cry out to Jesus.

Help me. That's right. That's all you have to say.

Help me. I can't do this myself. That's right.

And in the midst of our grief, sometimes we, all we can think about is what's happening to us.

And that's when we need to stop and say, okay. That's right.

But none of us, none of us have suffered like our Lord did. That's right.

None of us have suffered to the shedding of our own blood.

Now, do we have pain? Do we have struggles? Are those legitimate?

And I'm not trying to minimize those at all because they are.

And is grief sometimes overwhelming? Yes.

Is grief sometimes all you can ever think about? Yes.

And is loss sometimes all you can ever think about? Yes.

Yeah. And all you can, when you come to the conclusion that you just say, I'm hurting, help me.

I'm hurting, I can't do this.

And that's what he wants. That's what God wants. He wants us to be willing to come to him. Yeah.

He has paid, He has done everything He can do to make a way for us.

And that's where we should be thankful. That's right.

And so in the midst of our struggles, and in the midst of our pain,

when we can't see any other way, then we have to hand it off to Him.

That's right. Just turn it over to Jesus.

That's right. Turn it over to God and say, help me.

That's why he says, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Cast your cares upon him.

I was just reading that yesterday, that several places where we're told

that this metaphor of casting, like throwing our cares upon him.

And I read, I can't remember who said this, but it was this metaphor of we're

casting our cares in the river, casting them in the ocean.

And then God has to come along and put a sign up that says no fishing, because we come along

and we go try to catch him again. Reel him back in. Like really let him have him.

Like recognize that he's your friend and he's walking along the road beside you.

He's walking in the water next to you.

He comes alongside you in the storm, but he doesn't force himself upon you.

And all he ever waits for is an invitation.

That's right. Open the door. That's all he ever waits for. We've talked about this before too.

Somewhere I have a picture of Jesus knocking on the door, and there's no door handle on the outside.

Yeah, you have to let him in. Wow.

You know, Dad, talking of devastation, speaking of people who are in the midst of a situation,

that probably feels impossible and very out of their control,

we ought to bring up Israel right now and what's happening there.

We just found out this morning, our friend Katrina Henderson is there in Tel Aviv.

She's a former pastor at Hillsong Israel. He lives in Australia,

endorsed Hope is the first dose for me.

And she's there, she's visiting friends in Israel right now and in danger.

And so I think it would be appropriate for you to pray for Katrina and for the people of Israel

and all the devastation that's happening there and for peace and safety and restoration and rescue.

Those are some people who are in the midst of flash and bang and devastation and they need some ministering,

they need some help.

And so can we pray for Israel right now? Thank you. Thank you.

Father, we give you thanks for the day that you've made and we rejoice in it and we come into your presence

and all we can say is thank you, Father.

Thank you. Thank you for all of our blessings. Thank you for our food, clothing, and shelter.

You've blessed us in abundance. We have more than we need. We're blessed and highly favored.

We're blessed beyond measure. Amen.

Thank you for being mindful of us, watching over us, protecting us from harm, especially

Only the little ones, Father.

Father, on our heart and on our mind are the people in Israel, and the devastation there

So thank you.

Is incomprehensible to me.

I cannot understand the kidnappings, the murder, and the slaughter that is taking place there,

and it escapes me about the retribution that will be taken and is being planned right now.

But Father, we pray that you will bless that area, that you bless them with peace,

that you bless them with comfort and understanding, Father.

So Father, and we know people that are there, and we know that there are people that are missing,

and that we believe that Americans have been kidnapped, and we believe that Americans have been killed.

So Father, we just ask that you would intervene in that process and that you would end that struggle.

Stop the bloodshed, Father. No.

Stop the war that's taking place and protect those people that are there.

And there's so much misinformation right now. It's not very clear totally what's happening right now,

but we know that war is underway.

They're people shooting at each other.

And so, Father, we ask you to take control of that situation, just overwhelm it.

And I know what you said to Abraham, Father. You said you would bless those people that

blessed him and that you would curse those people that cursed him. And we know that God,

when he makes a covenant and he makes promises that are irrevocable, God doesn't change his.

We know that you don't change your mind. We know that you're unchangeable.

And we also know that our thoughts are not even, they don't even matter.

They fall so short of what you think and what your wisdom is.

Our wisdom is nothing compared to yours.

So Father, we understand that you know, and it's a very complex situation.

But Father, we need you. We need your help. We need you to demonstrate your mighty power,

in our presence in that situation.

Yes, Father.

Help us understand.

And Father, we also pray for people that are affected by what's happening there,

that they have friends and loved ones that are there, that they don't know what's happened to them,

and it may be days before they ever know.

So Father, we pray that you would bless them and their grief and their misunderstanding of an old situation.

I thought we also ask you to be mindful of us and be mindful of all of those people

that we know are struggling.

Some are facing situations that are just beyond my understanding. Yes.

And I feel very sad in some situations when I read the prayers that are on the prayer wall,

that people are just struggling.

And they're overcome by things that are just torturing them.

But help us remember where a lot of times that where all that pain and suffering comes from.

Comes from the evil one. We know that he's at work.

And we know that he's at work in the Middle East. And he has been there at work in the Middle East.

And Father, we just ask you in Jesus' name that you would come and that you would show us,

all of that, how to get out of that situation.

But we would ask you to take control and stop it.

How, Father, we wait on you, we trust you, we have confidence in you, but we need you, Father.

And we need you in our own community, and we need you right where we are.

And if revival is taking place, our prayer is that it begins with us and that we don't wait for it.

Father we wait on you and we ask it all in sweet and precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior your son and our Redeemer,

Amen, amen. Thank you, Tata you know if If people are struggling,

And they're going through hard times are devastated with the massive thing. They're on the road marked with suffering as Matt Redmond would say.

They're in the storm of their lives It's a good reminder today, what you brought us,

a good reminder to be on the lookout because God is close to the brokenhearted.

It's a promise. Psalm 34, 18, he promises you that he's close to the brokenhearted.

Isaiah 30, 18, he says, the Lord longs to be gracious to you.

He rises to show you compassion. So be aware, friend, that God is looking to help you

when you are suffering, but he comes in a still, small voice.

That's right. He comes walking on the water and he will pass by if not invited in.

He's a gentleman. He doesn't force himself upon us.

And so just like our friend John Swanson always says, when you're hurting, the best thing somebody can do for you

is to show up and shut up. That's almost like what Jesus does.

He shows up, but he waits for you to say, help me.

That's right. Help me. That's right. And so if we're gonna change our posture

from looking for the big bang and looking for the God to show up in the thunder

and the earthquake to learning that he really shows up in the still small voice and the figure walking by,

that we could miss if we're not asking for him to come in.

When should we start?

We start today. We start today. We start today.

Music.

We start today.

Hey, thanks for listening. The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast is brought to you

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helping people in all 50 states and 60 plus countries around the world.

I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and I'll talk to you soon. Remember, friend, you can't change your life,

until you change your mind. And the good news is, you can start today.

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