His algorithm contained a constant: .504162; he was using it to do wind patterns, in order to greater predict meteorological phenomena. So he'd type in that constant, and then let the computer run for a while, to see what would happen. One day he was in a hurry, and accidently, he just typed in: .504 (...and left off the 162).
Two hours later he came back; and the effects of leaving off those last three digits caused catastrophic weather events 150 miles away, and it was just a mistake. So on the computer model, he left off 162 hundred-thousandths of a percentage point, and it caused catastrophic effects 150 miles away.
They asked him: what’s the equivalent of that, in wind? He said: the puff of air that is caused by a butterfly's wing. So he said: theoretically, if a butterfly flutters in the wrong direction, at the wrong time - it can cause catastrophic events 150 miles away; so he coined the phrase in the scientific community the ‘Butterfly Effect’.
You say: Shane, what in the world are you talking about? God is so big, that He has His head around every puff of air that comes out of a butterfly's wing 100 miles from here - in order to protect you. God is huge!
We just need to come to the place of humility, a big place of humility, which just says: I am not God; and any attempt by me, to put my ‘box of God’ around people - just is not right.
One other thing, before we get into the Ten Commandments itself - I want to speak to you about the Humility factor. One of the tests of ministry, in the First Century, was something called the ‘Disposition of the Messiah’.
In English we write like this: A + B + C = D. So D is our main point; and we make three statements to end up at D.
Hebrew people don't write that way - they're not allowed to. They say: A + B + C = D = C + B + A. It's called ‘Reverse Concentric Symmetry’. When a Hebrew person writes, they write connecting points at the end, and it backs up into a middle point.
That looks like a Menorah! The theology of the menorah comes from Isaiah 11:2 – “the spirit of the Lord will rest on me - the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord”. A later writer said: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.
These are (to use our term) the ‘anointings’ that can come on somebody, from the Lord. There are six; but the centre one, which is the main point - the rest of this does not light without the centre one. The centre candle is called ‘The Servant’. Every anointing you'll ever get from the Lord, does not light up properly, unless it's done from the Heart of Humility - the Heart of a Servant.
As much as we learn this week, we're wrong. It's not in the ‘being right’ or ‘being wrong’; it's the questions that it puts in our lives, to make us change our lives, to be more godly. It's about the fruit that it might bear. If you just gain a bunch of knowledge - that is helpful, but it misses the point.
Will the girl at KFC know that you're saved, even when she messes up your order?
When you're on your way home from work, and you stop by the grocery store to pick up three things, and someone jumps in front of you in line, with 50 things - are you saved then? When you end up in the line with the slowest cashier in the entire store - are you saved then? Wives: does your husband know you're saved - even when he leaves his underwear on the floor? Husbands: do your wives know you're saved - even when they make a decision that disappoints you?
What are we doing to: live the Life of a Servant; to extract the Anointings of the Lord; in order to live it in such a way, that we are in fact a servant - that Jesus is the centre point of our whole life? Now with that being said, let's look at Exodus 20...
IntroductionI need to introduce the Ten Commandments, before we actually start talking about them, to put it in proper context. Exodus 20 starts something like this: “And the Lord spoke all of these words, saying: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, to be your God. Have no other gods before me”.