White Hot Week 1 Discussion - Am I burning within because of what Jesus did for me?

Join the discussion as we recap Good Friday's night of worship, prayer and remembrance as well as Easter Sunday. We discuss on this episode what Easter really should mean for as we continue to go about our daily lives! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Welcome to Navigate, a podcast discussion from Tower Life Center, where we talk about how to navigate life, living as a follower of Jesus in a fallen and ever-changing world. Let's join the discussion.

SPEAKER_06 0:31

Hello. How are we today? Welcome, beautiful people. What a wonderful weekend.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Feeling great.

SPEAKER_05 0:39

Feeling tired. Easter Monday, though. Easter Monday, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 0:45

The tomb is empty. It's still empty. It's still empty. He is risen. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

He is risen again.

SPEAKER_06 0:51

I'm here. And the Holy Spirit's here with us. Yes. As we dive in to reflect over this weekend a little bit. Kind of dive a little deeper into Good Friday of what. Welcome back though, Brad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:03

Two weeks. We haven't had Brad for a minute. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:05

Not for me, so. Two weeks. Feels good.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Two weeks? Zach's back?

SPEAKER_05 1:11

Because Zach was gone. Zach was gone last week, so we can't even have the podcast without Zach. Legitimately. I don't know about that. No, we legitimately can't.

SPEAKER_06 1:20

We don't know what buttons to hit.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

That is very true.

SPEAKER_06 1:22

Buttons, buttons, we've got the buttons. Zach's got the buttons.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Yeah. So the family is back together. We're excited.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

And that's about all we know. I don't think we know where the rest of this episode is going.

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:34

We're going to just talk about this weekend and see.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

We're going to break down.

SPEAKER_05 1:37

Dive on in.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

Take us to Good Friday.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:40

Yeah. I thought Good Friday uh for those who for those who came. Um I thought Good Friday was a really cool experience for the church. Uh extended worship, communion, prayer, uh shorter message. I talked more than I thought I was going to, surprise.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

Shocker.

SPEAKER_05 2:01

Listen. Zach, your job's to hit buttons, my mom. Um and so yeah, no, I th I thought it was good. We just uh spent a lot of time talking about the the phrase that Jesus would have said, do this in remembrance of me. So talking about the the fact that even as Christians and believers, you know, we're commanded to reflect on the price that Jesus paid. And not just like, hey, let's say that and gloss over it and let's check a box. Check a box, yeah. But it's like, hey, let's really think about like what did he do for let's understand the weight of of that.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah. The weight of the cross. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_05 2:41

Yeah, and like what what what did he go through for me? What did he like? I think it's easy to say, well, yeah, he died in my place. And but like understanding that.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Yeah, walking through the mocking and the t torturing and all of that.

SPEAKER_05 2:59

Yeah. And so we just were like, let's give people time. Let's give people time to respond. I mean, I think we we had people sit for about 21 minutes and take communion on their own after we walk through what it means and because I think there's a thing that also it's easier to miss uh in communion where Paul instructs us on how to take communion and making sure that we have our hearts right, that we bring all of our sin to like to the table. And say, hey, if I'm gonna remember this, I'm also going to bring my sin and confess and make sure that my heart's in the right space. That relationally I'm as good as as I can be with with those around me.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Like I'm not taking it while I have bitterness or anger in my heart or unforgiveness or Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:48

Or I you know, I'm excuse me, I'm at odds with that person. Or man, I've really ticked off at them, or uh I'm really angry or bitter or whatever towards specific people. He would say, Hey, let's do what we can to make that right. Yeah. And I get that in those moments, like if Friday night, it's not like you can leave and go call your grandma or your co-worker or your boss or your mom or whoever it is. Right. It's like so so then it's acknowledging it, probably confessing that to the Lord, yeah. Making sure that that we're clear on that, and then saying, Hey God, I'm am I gonna I'm gonna go back and when I get to work on Monday or when I see them at Easter, whatever, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Like And asking the Holy Spirit to lead you through making it right with those people.

SPEAKER_05 4:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:37

Cause we we want you know, communion to be this thing that's really just like, let's only think about what Jesus did. But how do we separate this act, this this holy week, Easter weekend, right? We we get really good at separating that from like the life that we're living and pursuing the ways of Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

Yeah, they're in two different buckets.

SPEAKER_05 5:00

Right. But we don't want it to be that way, or it's not supposed to be that way. And so we take this time of remembrance to kind of m mesh it together.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

And I think it's nice too in the culture that we live in to be able to provide space where we can actually sit without interruption, without distraction for 21 minutes.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Because it would be neat to take a poll from everybody that was here and ask, like, hey, when's the last time you were able to do something like this? Or you were able to just sit and reflect and to think back because we do live in such a busy world. And um, you know, we we have to make time for that. So it would be neat to see how many people um are actually able to do that or are doing that right now.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

I think and it doesn't even at the end of the day, I mean twenty minutes seems like a long time sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't seem like it's long enough. Right. But five minutes would not be long enough. Right. Because it takes a minute to like turn it on, settle down and like calm down.

SPEAKER_05 6:00

Yeah. To like it's like you're fading down the voices of the world.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 6:06

And as much as we want to like just be like, boom, you can't hear anything, like you gotta turn off the phone, you gotta put it away from you so you can't feel the vibration, you gotta stop thinking about that thing that especially on a Friday night, right? Like you had all week long- You gotta wipe out your to-do list. Yeah. Yeah, you had all that stuff all week long, and so we just wanted to give people the space. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Um to well, we talked about for whatever reason, there's always attack this week.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 6:34

And feel it. Yeah, and it's neat too because in those moments, like naturally, our our human mind just like goes, what's the like boom, boom, boom, all these things. I heard someone say it one time though, like when that happens, say like you get distracted 17 times in that 21 minutes. That's 17 times to refocus your brain back on God. Right, right, you know, and we can see that as a frustration sometimes, but the more I think that we train our mind to do that, yeah, the more we're gonna do that even when we're not in those 21 minutes. Yeah. Maybe it's the right 17-minute car ride to to work, maybe it's the other stuff throughout the day. But it's building that muscle, yeah, building the muscle for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:17

So that's cool. An opportunity to refocus on God and that. Um when it comes to communion too, though, I think it's so cool that like we have that space um to reflect, especially on Good Friday, of the price that was um paid for us. But then, like, too, just having the opportunity to man, you don't have to be at church to take communion. That's what I was just gonna say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can no, that's great.

SPEAKER_05 7:43

I was just gonna say, like, I hope that this time, right? Like, first take communion out. We'll reinsert communion in just a second, but take communion out, right? The fact that you sat for 21 minutes if you were there or if you weren't there, right? Like, the fact that we can just take that time, connect with the Lord, reflect on all he's done, celebrate all he's doing, bring our request to him, all of that. Like, you don't just have to be at church to do that. And I think that that's more widely accepted.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Right.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

That that we would obviously, Kyle, I would do prayer time. Like, on my own. But to Brad's point now, let's re-insert communion. The Bible never says that we have to be at church to do communion.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:28

Now it talks I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know what's going on with my voice. And I don't have water.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Well, he used it a lot this weekend, so there's that.

SPEAKER_05 8:40

Can somebody mute me for just a second? Give a little mute. Mute all of us. We're having a midlife crisis. Here we go. Are we back on? We're back on. Come on, buddy. Listen, this is this is live production. Okay, listen, so here's the deal. Amanda, you're fine. My voice is as strong as ever now. Um and so what I want you to hear though is that we would the Bible's clear that communion is not something that can only happen like when they were at the temple.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:15

Right? Like, even when you look at Acts, it says they shared in the Lord's Supper and when they met, right? And so when they met wasn't just at the temple, they did it when they met in houses. And so you can do it with your family. Brad, you were just talking before we got on air about how you did it with your at your family Easter.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah, tell us about that.

SPEAKER_06 9:35

Yeah, I mean, I think too, and that's why I kind of brought this up a little bit, is I think um I grew up in kind of uh more legalism type upbringing in some regards. And um so I wanted to make sure, like when we were doing this, like I thought, man, this could be some school exposure for my kids to just um see why we take communion, uh kind of their heart behind it. But with my upbringing, I was kind of like, man, is this bad? Like my kids haven't been baptized. You were wrestling with that in your head, and but I'm like, man, I think the fact that we're just remembering the his body that was broken and his blood that was poured out, like okay, let's just sit around. Yeah, as with my um my wife, we had our nine-year-old kind of partake and my our five-year-old, and just kind of talk to him about like, hey, this is representing the blood that was shed for our sin. Yeah. So sit with this cup, yeah, and as you think about that, take a sip, yeah, and take and pass it around. But yeah, I think it's like something that we also can get caught up in, like just with our upbringing, and on also too, like sure, the the traditions that maybe at one point you hated because oh man, this is how I was raised, but like, but then then you come back and be like, oh, this is how grandma used to do it. Why don't we do this at our church? Yeah, you know, yeah, so like making that just a part of um maybe a a little rhythm of your life, whether like you said it's with your small group, maybe uh a couple times a month it's before dinner, like and it doesn't have to just take a look at the awesome part is at first it might be a little awkward. Yeah, grace the like your your kids have maybe never done that before around the dinner table. Right, yeah. Cool. What a great time to start. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

I just think about um, you know, God looking down at us when we are doing something like this, and when we are teaching our children, and when we are showing them and giving them the exposure, um, you just think about how happy that makes his heart. He's just looking down like, oh, you're teaching them to commune with me. You're teaching them what it looks like, you're walking that out, you are being a living example.

SPEAKER_05 11:54

I mean, the one thing I can we can say from scripture is Jesus was consistent in saying, Hey, let the little children come. So the disciples were constantly like, Well, I don't know that and it wasn't communion, but if it were today in your context, Brad, they would have been saying, Well, I don't know that they should take communion. Yeah. Yeah. And Jesus was saying, Hey, let the little children come. Because communion is about communion, not just like the sacrament, but communion with our Heavenly Father.

SPEAKER_06 12:19

Yeah. I would offer you some tea, but I don't know if you're not going to be able to do it. I don't want your tea. I don't want your tea.

SPEAKER_05 12:22

I don't want something someone else drank out of. I just want my voice to be normal. Okay. And it's not. I already have coffee over here, and I think that's commun uh contributing to the problem.

SPEAKER_04 12:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:33

And so you goggle some coffee. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

You have iced coffee, that's different.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

I told I literally told you guys at the beginning of this episode we have no idea where it's going. And we are I feel so bad for every person who's listening, they're just in their car trying to clear their throat for me.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Yes, hopefully Zach can edit out some of the clearings of the throat.

SPEAKER_05 12:53

Zach can edit, he's not a magician. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 12:56

Um no, but so I just like I think it's beautiful that you did that. I think that like if communion is more than a sacrament, meaning a religious practice that we're gonna do, right? Then and it truly is communing with our Father through the gift of his son Jesus, then why would we not invite our children into that from the standpoint of like helping them have that relationship? Yeah, helping them learn about it.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

Well, helping them see it. And I said this earlier with Brad, like our children will mature over time, and when they get to the point of getting it, and when it clicks, they're able to look back at all the times that mom and dad did walk me through these things, and all the times I watched mom and dad do X, Y, and Z.

SPEAKER_04 13:37

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

And they're going to be like, Oh, that's why. And like I had faithful parents. That's also faithfulness. Like you're displaying faithfulness to your children, and I think that's such a sweet gift that we can give to them too.

SPEAKER_05 13:50

Yeah. And I think that like just to bring it back to Friday night, like I think that the the space that was created, not by like while we did also, just literally any space creates space for the Holy Spirit. Yeah. And um I think by doing that we we saw so much fruit and even the hearts of people over time, right? Like, so we did some songs up front, we created this 21 minutes where where we did communion on our own, we prayed on our own. We also left space for people to come up and receive prayer. And um I feel like that was a really cool time for you and I, Amanda, for people to come up. I saw Brad, I know you were praying with people. I think there were other people who were praying with each other out in the seats.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Which was beautiful to see.

SPEAKER_05 14:35

Oh, love that. And then what I thought was so cool is is the whole night was kind of built to a place of remembrance and reflection, but also then worship from that space. Yeah. And so of all of like the least spiritual things that were my favorite that night, because if I say this was my favorite more than communion or prayer, people will have an opinion. So this would be outside of like the super spiritual things was was Brad at the beginning said something to the effect of we tonight let's worship like we've been saved. Right? And like I think we saw that heart of worship that night, which I think is super cool.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah. Yeah. Worship, he's I think he said worship like we already know the outcome. Yeah. Like we already know. Yeah. We're not going into this doom and gloom. Like we already know what happened.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Or worshiping from this dance of victory. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

I wasn't here, but I was listening and we were limping through without. He missed you. Oh, you didn't limp through, it was fine.

SPEAKER_06 15:32

Someone was like, Brad, why is your like shoulder wet? I was like, I was crying earlier because that was good.

SPEAKER_05 15:39

So yeah, so I thought Friday night was was really sweet and a great setup. And when I say a great setup, I'm not like, wow. Uh round of applause for us. No. I'm just like, I think that what God did in the lives of people prepared their hearts for Sunday. For Sunday morning. Yeah. And so we can talk about Sunday and the discussion we had on Sunday. And now that we're 14 minutes and 83 million coughs into this thing, we can get the episode started as as per normal.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

Yeah. Let's dive into Resurrection Sunday, guys.

SPEAKER_05 16:12

So so Sunday, right? Like Easter Sunday, and we'll talk about Easter and and all that God did throughout this, I'm sure. But we kicked off our brand new series called White Hot. And um it was the least Eastery graphic, the least Eastery theme, the least Eastery thing we've probably ever done on Easter.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

From like an aesthetic standpoint, I think is what he's doing.

SPEAKER_05 16:35

Yeah, and even and even the first ninety percent of the message, probably. Um but to me, I think it truly does encapsulate what we've been called to as people who are recipients of the the events that happened on Good Friday and Easter. Right. Like and so the the idea behind White Hot, real fast, and we won't go through all the colors and temperatures and everything, but White Hot is the hottest anything can be heated up to, still maintaining its um its state. So it's like if you were to heat up uh steel with flame or you apply heat to it, right? Like once it gets to white hot, so past red, orange, yellow, all of that, once it gets to white hot, it still maintains the the state that it would be in as a solid, but it is fully formable and fully transformable by the one who's applying the heat. So if I were a welder or I knew how to work with any of that type of stuff, listen, I wanted to have for those of you listening, I tried every avenue possible to have somebody come weld and burn something white hot on Sunday during service.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

We were told that would not be a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 17:46

Everybody I asked said don't do that. You will blind people or severely burn or kill them. So I said no.

SPEAKER_04 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:54

Uh we won't. Begrudgingly, I said no.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 17:56

Um But the the point and where we're going in this whole series is that as followers of Jesus, we should be burning white hot, which means that we are obviously maintaining the state that we're in, which is humans here present in this world.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

But we are fully formable by the one who has applied the heat. So then the question is who has applied the heat? Well, the heat, the flame, would be applied by God because through scripture we see that God is fire. Hebrews says he's a consuming fire or a devouring fire. We see multiple times in the Old Testament where God is fire. He wasn't like fire, he is fire. In the burning bush, as he spoke through the burning bush to Moses, he is the flame that's inside the bush. He's not like a flame in a bush. Right? And what we're gonna find out this coming week, and we'll talk more about next week on this episode, is that when he came to the believers in the form of the Holy Spirit, he came as fire. And so the whole premise of the message was that we have fire in us, and what are we going to do with it? But it was birthed out of an interaction that happened post-resurrection, just hours after the resurrection, two men, Cleopus and an unnamed man, on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem. So so this would have been like I don't know the exact time, but we're just gonna say like Sunday afternoon, about the time y'all were having your lunch with your family. Okay, on the about Sunday afternoon, the tomb was empty. The women would have already found Jesus, or would have found the empty tomb. Jesus left the cloth in the tomb, right? All of that. Then they go back and tell everyone, and then that's verses one through twelve of Luke chapter twenty-four, they're like, guys. He's not there. There were angels. They said he's risen.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:54

Um they go back, and then verse 13 just starts a new account of what happened later that day, and it says later that day there were two men walking on a seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Jesus appeared to the men, but the Bible says that, and I don't have it in front of me, so I'm paraphrasing, but that God kept these two guys from recognizing that it was Jesus. So Jesus walks the journey with them and is like, hey, what's going on? Because it said sadness was written across their face. So Jesus' like, why are you guys like, why are you so sad? And they're like, Well, you're probably the only person who hasn't heard what's happened here the last couple days. And so then they basically go and present the gospel, the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus, yeah, over seven miles, although they presented it as not good news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Right?

SPEAKER_05 20:44

But for the first time they're walking through, hey, this is what happened. And Jesus then, without revealing himself to them, is like, how how do you find it so hard to believe what was written in the Old Testament about what would happen to the Messiah? And then he outlines for I don't know how many of the seven miles, it probably felt like 700 miles for these guys as they're getting not ringed, but they're getting they're getting put in place, right? Like, how do you not believe? And then he goes through all of the scriptures. So cool. Which not that's not just a couple. I mean, that's all of the scriptures that would have um said what was going to happen, all the prophecies, all the scriptures, yeah. Everything that would have said, hey, you know what you just said was happening that was bad news the last couple days?

SPEAKER_04 21:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

This was all clearly predicted.

SPEAKER_04 21:32

Right.

SPEAKER_05 21:33

So then I love it, and I don't even know that it has really any revel uh relevance to our discussion, but I love that the scripture says Jesus acted as if he was gonna go on, as if he had no intention to go on, but he just acted to get them to be like, No, no, no, stay. Just pause. Have you guys ever done something where you're like, well, I'm just gonna act like it, and then I'll make them be like, hey, you should stay, and then they don't, and then you're like, Well, where am I going? Right? Like, what if they wouldn't have been like, Jesus? No, no, no, stay.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Where was he gonna go? The Midwest. Goodbye.

SPEAKER_05 22:02

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Yeah, exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_05 22:04

And so he stays and he breaks the bread just like he would have done, you know, three nights, four nights before at the Last Supper. And um he breaks the bread, and at that moment, as he gives it to them and prays for it, they recognize him. Say, Oh, it's Jesus, and then he disappears.

SPEAKER_04 22:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 22:23

Okay. And so they have this encounter, which is so cool. And we can pick apart any of this after I get done with the synopsis. So feel free to take it back as far as you want. But they they have this like, whoa. And why did he leave and where'd he go? And all of that. But then what was so interesting, and I think it's in verse uh 32, I think. I've got to find it here, but I think it's verse 32 of Luke chapter 24, where they said to each other, after kind of like figuring out how did this happen? Like, what just like what just happened?

SPEAKER_04 23:00

What is going on?

SPEAKER_05 23:01

They said, Didn't our hearts burn within us as we talked, as he talked with us on the road, and as he explained the scriptures to us, and within the hour, they were on their way back to Jerusalem.

SPEAKER_04 23:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:13

Like, think about that. Like, all of a sudden they're like, wow, that totally just transformed. And so within the hour, they're on their way back to Jerusalem, and then they found the other eleven disciples, the ones who the ladies already would have told earlier that day, or maybe the next day, like the day before, because by that point, seven miles, walking seven miles isn't easy after you've already walked seven. You know, so they just walk seven back.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

It was easier for them back then because that's all they did.

SPEAKER_05 23:38

And they said, the Lord has really risen.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:41

And so we took this little place of the Easter story where they had an interaction with Jesus post-resurrection, and it said, Man, our hearts burned within us. And the heart would not have been like we said, like the four-chambered organ. It wasn't like they ate some Mexican food, they ate something spicy, they ate something bad, and I've got acid reflex. They're like, no, like the core of who I am burned because of because of the conversation I had with that man, which was Jesus. The core of who I am is like lit on fire because he explained scriptures to me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:15

So it probably didn't feel like 700 miles at the point. Right. It felt like 0.7 because they're like, yo, 100%. I'm this is starting to make sense from what I learned back in Jewish school days as a schoolboy. And clicking. Okay. It wasn't just, you know, something I had to do, but now I'm experiencing it firsthand and um from not knowing it's Jesus, but like, man, I've never heard it broken down so like simple before. Oh, you're right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Right.

SPEAKER_06 24:44

Hey, come over. Like, let's continue this thing.

SPEAKER_05 24:47

Right. 100%. And so the the way we left it with people was essentially this question of what will you do with what God has already lit inside? Because the truth of following Jesus and saying, hey, I'm a believer, as we'll find out next week, is we've been given the flame. That fire has already been lit inside us. It's not ours to light. We can't light it. There's not enough logs we can throw on it to light it on our own. It's been lit, but now what are we going to do with what God has lit inside? And so the preliminary question to answering that would be are you, and listener, I would ask you to evaluate for yourself, are you burning on the inside because of what Jesus did for you? Because that's what those guys had just experienced. Man, that's Jesus. What he just did for me, now because I have a full understanding of the price that he paid and what the empty grave truly does mean, he's the Messiah. He's the Son of God, He's the one who died for me, and because of that, man, I'm on fire. So the question is twofold. One, are you burning?

SPEAKER_00 25:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:58

Because of what Jesus did, and two, now what are you going to do with that? And so that's where we're going with the series. But that that was um yeah, that was the Easter message in ten minutes. And I bet you there are people yesterday who are like, should have done it in ten minutes yesterday. That would have been nice.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

I think those two questions are a great thing to take into Easter week now that we're entering into the week and you're you're learning what it looks like to to really sit down and create space for the Holy Spirit to sit and ponder on those two questions. Have those conversations with your family. Asking them like, hey, are we burning for the Lord right now? Do we understand what this means? How exciting this is. And if so, like how are we how are we doing it? What does this look like for our family unit? What does this look like in our local church? What does this look like in my business? What does this look like going out to the community? Um I think it's just a really neat couple of questions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:55

And I would say too, like on the other side of it, maybe you're listening in and you're like, man, I I'm not. Like, why am I not burning? Am I not, do I not like understand truly what is taking place? Well, maybe. Yeah. But then also you just might have to ask the question, why am I not more just like is it because of distraction? Is it because like work overload? Is it because yeah, unconfessed sin or having that like perspective on that question because I think we can um think sometimes like well, I'm just maybe maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe like maybe I feel like um God just doesn't hear me.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah, it's great for them, but for me I'm just you know he's not listening.

SPEAKER_06 27:52

Yeah, but recognizing that that was for all the people.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

Right. I think it was evident to me listening to it, the that I never really thought about their discussion on that seven-mile walk was the people that struggle with disbelief. Yeah. Like these people, these guys lived with him. Yeah, they would have been followers. Followers, right? Months, days, yeah, years, whatever. Yeah. And he still had to explain, like, yeah, you idiots. Yeah. He was so much kinder than you. I told you what was gonna happen. Yeah. You still I'm walking with you, you don't even recognize me. Yeah, I'm walking with you. Yes, yeah, like for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:38

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_05 28:40

And you well think about it, like, there's something that that stuck out to me, and I didn't get to spend as much time on as I want to, and I don't was there was two things that made their heart burn. Yeah. Number one was they spent time in Jesus. Number two was they understood the scriptures.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yeah, the word of God came alive.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

And I think that, yes, and I think that there's this for many of us, there's either we can be like, man, like I just love my coffee and cuddling up in the corner of the couch and prayer time. And that's great. Yeah. It's the it's you had your experience of Jesus.

SPEAKER_04 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 29:20

But I d I just can't get really into like understanding like the word, you know, like it's really tough and it wasn't written in like it's not like the books that I read, and I don't really have the time and the attention. What we have our excuse, right?

SPEAKER_04 29:32

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 29:33

Then there's others of us who are like, Man, like I just love a good Bible study. But prayer time, man, like I can't sit still and like you like talk to him for that long, and he never talks back. It's like, well, when did you give him time to talk back? You know, but either way, it's like some of us can find one of those two things as like, man, like I love that, but the other one's so hard. But in the moment when, to your point, the word of God became alive to them, because we know through scripture that the word of God is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting to the like cutting to the soul through joint and marrow, right? Which is what happened there. Like, that doesn't sound comfortable to say cutting into the soul through joint and marrow, like sharper than two-edged sword. That doesn't sound comfy. Well, it probably didn't feel comfy, although to your point they enjoyed it, but it didn't feel comfy whenever he was like, How do you guys not know?

SPEAKER_01 30:25

He's like, Let me flip your perspective, let me help you on that road.

SPEAKER_05 30:30

Right. And so then through the word of God becoming alive and through an experience with God through his son Jesus, right? But like through the Son of God and experience and the Word of God, all of a sudden now I am on fire.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

Didn't our hearts burn within us?

SPEAKER_00 30:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:48

And so there's something you said, Brad, or maybe it was you, I don't know. Amanda, one of you two were talking about this concept of like, well, if I'm not burning, you know, like why not? And I think the best way to find clarity, once you have the answer, like, man, maybe I'm not burning as bright as I want to. Number one, I want to be clear that you might not feel like your heart's burning, but you can't extinguish the Holy Spirit in you if you're a believer. It might just not be as hot as you'd like it to be, or as God would want it to be. You know, like, but so if I'm not burning, I'm doing air quotes around burning, right? Like and I say no. Brad made a good point. Well, okay, why not?

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Right?

SPEAKER_05 31:26

Like the best way to get clarity on an answer is to continue to ask questions.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

And yeah, enter into reflection with God.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

Yeah. So what is the thing like the one question I would ask is everybody's burning for something. So what are you burning for? Are you burning for your favorite team? Are you burning for your work? Are you burning for your kids' sports schedule? Are you burning for um Are you burning for self? Self, right, like for your fleshly desires, are you burning for uh whatever it is, right? Like you're bur something is burning inside you.

SPEAKER_03 31:55

Right?

SPEAKER_05 31:55

Like you're passionate about something.

SPEAKER_03 31:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:57

What's the thing you're passionate about?

SPEAKER_03 31:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:59

Like keep drilling deep, and then because you might I think Amanda, you said it's well as an unconfessed sin. Okay, so yeah, man, I'm burning for this thing that is un I love, I'm trying to think of a good example. Okay, so uh I'm burning for my new girlfriend, and we we slipped and we started to have some premarital sex, and I know we shouldn't, and we tried not to, and now we're engaged, whatever, right? And we're still doing it, and so now I'm burning in lust and in just desire for this person who maybe I've created an idol to be. And so now that can look like what you called unconfessed sin. So now, in order to say, Man, God, I I don't want what this world has, not that I'm breaking up with her, but I mean I want to have a relationship with my fiance or my girlfriend or my now wife, right? That's God honoring and biblical. So now, God, I want to repent for the way that I idolized my wife or my girlfriend or fiance. I want to repent for the times that we crossed a line we never should have crossed, and that we took the context of sex and put it in a place that it's not meant to be. Yeah. And so allow me to burn for you. Yeah. Because man, God, I'm gonna confess that and I I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna repent and ask for forgiveness. Right? And like just drill deep and don't be afraid of the answers.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

Yeah. I think it's just asking God, like, what are the things in my life that are taking your place? Like, what are things that I am putting all of my attention, focus, adoration, yeah, affection, compassion, affection. What am I what am I placing that in? Um, and then help me to shift that back to you.

SPEAKER_05 33:42

Sure. Yeah, a hundred percent. And there's a lot of answers that don't feel as uncomfortable to listen to as me talking about sex premarital, right? But like under like okay, it's work. Well, I mean, I've just been I can't even engage with my kids or my spouse because I'm just so worried about my email and I gotta make sure I respond to that. And what happens when that comes through and the phone's ringing off the hook and whatever. Right?

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Or being a mom, it can be keeping a tidy house and you've got little ones that need your attention and focus and need you to teach them and love them and nurture them, and you're so focused on cleaning the house that we're missing little things like that, or we're missing you know, time with the Lord, or just it could be a health journey, it could be a fitness journey, it could be so many different things.

SPEAKER_05 34:27

A million different things. Yeah. And so the question then is is if I'm not burning within, what am I burning for? So that we can begin to repent for it, confess, all of that. Then if I can say, Man, okay, God, now I am burning, or I want to be burning, so what do I do with what you've lit now? Yeah, and that's that's where we're gonna go for the next four weeks is this concept of like, okay, now what am I gonna do with that? Um and that was that was a cool thing yesterday, is we saw a bunch of people respond um through whether they were taking communion, right, and remembering and reflecting and allowing the Lord to like ignite something in them. I mean, I think you and I have have received a handful of text messages from people who would have said, Hey, that that was impactful, hey, that was um really encouraging, hey.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

That's spurring me forward in my walk with him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:22

We saw we saw 17 people get water baptized. Um when we asked people to pray the prayer of salvation who have never prayed that prayer, um, I saw at least five hands in a dark room go up.

SPEAKER_04 35:34

That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 35:35

Um so yeah, so I think that there's a lot of there's a lot of cool steps that are being taken. And so now it's our responsibility as a church organization, it's our responsibility as a church, the body of Christ, and it's our responsibility as individuals who are following Jesus to now tend the flame we've been given. It's not our responsibility to ignite the flame, it is our responsibility to tend it.

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:04

And that was kind of the the path of Sunday.

SPEAKER_06 36:08

And I think you saying that reminds like makes me think of like Jesus when he um first encounters these gentlemen walking, like he knows their scenario. Yeah, he knows exactly like what they're talking about already. Yeah, but his his question is just to start dialogue. Hey, what are you guys discussing so intently as you walk along? Yeah, he knows, but it's just like this like, hey, get get them thinking a little bit. Yeah. And then they're like, so they stop, sadness on their face, and then one of them says, Man, like he kind of like, you must be an idiot. Like, if you have you never about like, you must be the only are you living under a rock? Yeah, you must be the only person that doesn't know, but obviously, he doesn't, and then Jesus is just like, Nachal, what things? Yeah. So then they go on to describe, and as I'm reading this, I'm thinking, like, so then there's a lot of words that aren't in red right now, and then it says, Jesus said to them, You foolish people, like we just mentioned earlier. Like, have you not seen what you know the prophets wrote and all the scriptures? But then as it goes down and says Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and explained the scriptures to them, I'm sure he continued to ask questions. Hey, tell me what Deuteronomy whatever says. Yeah. He listened. Okay, why do you think it says I bet you that was a lot of his teaching? It wasn't just like hitting him over the head, like you idiot, you idiot. He probably just asked questions continued about what they already knew. Yeah. And they're like, oh, yeah. You know? Like, so like, what things? What's this scripture say? Right. What do you think that means? Yeah. Oh, but because that's how he approaches a lot of his like conversation, I feel like. It's not like he's just kind of like, you idiot, slamming the Bible, or like these scrolls over their head. Yeah. But it's like, no, this is stuff that they knew, so let's let's peel back a little bit of what they know and ask questions regarding what they know.

SPEAKER_04 38:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:12

But even at that point, they're like, you don't even know that their hearts were burning until after they had the dinner. They they kind of revealed that. Um just interesting.

SPEAKER_05 38:23

Like, well, I don't even know that they knew their hearts were burning. Because when you go back to verse 32, they say, Well, didn't our hearts burn within us? For sure. They didn't know it at the time. Yeah. And that's the part that I think is like fascinating, is they're doing self-discovery afterwards, like through the work of Jesus, through the scripture, they're doing self-discovery, say, Hey, didn't our hearts burn within us? Which I think is so cool. And I want to encourage you, like the listener, if you're just not like, man, maybe my heart is burning. Awesome. Praise God, because as the church, Easter isn't the finish line.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Right.

SPEAKER_05 39:01

Like, for so many of us who like, whether we're preaching, we're leading worship, we're doing all of the ministries that lead up to it, it's like we get to Easter and we're like, oh my goodness, I'm exhausted. And it's like, well, exhausted is the worst place to be at the beginning starting line. And that's where that's where we can get to. We can be, oh man, I'm exhausted. I'm at like, but really, the resurrection is the starting line for the local church. It's the starting line for evangelism. It's the starting line for all that God is now calling us to do in partnership with him. Yeah. Because Jesus carried the weight of ministry for so long and had 12 guys helping him. He had the ladies in the background helping him with things, right? The more you read like post-resurrection, you're like, oh, like, like he had freaking Peter being an idiot a lot. Then he's got Mary being faithful. And he's got Joanna being faithful. And he's got Mary Magdalene being faithful. And it's like, oh, that's probably he had some faithful people around the 12, but really Jesus carried so much of the weight of ministry until he resurrected. Then it's like, no, no, no, now it's all on you. You've been lit. Now what are you going to do with it? And we see that these guys who are like, you're right, I have been lit. So within the hour, for whatever reason and purpose, I was walking to Emmaus, forget that noise. I'm back. We're going the other direction. We're telling everybody what just happened. And our life is now forever changed.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

And it's not like a have to, it's a get-to. It's like, how can I not? This is burning inside of me. It has to come out. Like, how can I not share this?

SPEAKER_05 40:42

That's what I was gonna say. It is a have to, but not a legalistic have to. Right, right. It's like, I've gotta.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

How can I not?

SPEAKER_05 40:49

Yeah, it's it's not a have to, it's a gotta.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:52

It's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 40:55

I don't know. I just I I think that like that's where I want us to be going as a church, to be going as a podcast, is like Easter wasn't just this moment in time that we get to celebrate and go take our pictures and go open our Easter baskets and do none of which are bad. We had a photo booth, so obviously I don't think pictures are bad. Oakland got got Easter baskets galore yesterday. Fine. But my point is if now we wake up today and it's life as usual, then we've missed an opportunity as followers of Jesus to say, hey, this is a marking day. Let's all regather, let's all recenter, and let's all push forward.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

It's a movement of transformation.

SPEAKER_05 41:37

Yes. Yes. Like oftentimes we celebrate at the end of something. Yeah. But I'm saying let's let's let Easter be a celebration at the beginning. Yeah. Yeah. Or a continuation celebration, right? Yeah. We're just going to continue to push through.

SPEAKER_04 41:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

I think too something that's really neat is we look at the disciples and we look at like Joanna and Mary, um, both Marys, and you look at the faithfulness of belief with Joanna and Mary, Magdalene and Mary. Um, and then you look at them going to tell the disciples, and then you look at like they had that opportunity to have that same faithfulness and belief. And I think we can see ourselves in both of those camps a lot of times throughout our faith journey. Where it's like I yeah, I say I believe with my mouth, but how am I faithfully walking out that I truly do believe that he is who he is, that he can do what he says he can do. Yeah. That he every promise is yes and amen. Like, how am I faithfully believing that?

SPEAKER_05 42:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

I don't know. I just thought that was really neat.

SPEAKER_05 42:46

Well, that's yeah, I mean, I think that was a little bit of what you touched on what Zach was talking about, this concept of like, oh, there's a little bit of disbelief. Yes. There's a little bit of lack of faith, there's a little bit of questions.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:58

So now I'm on fire, but I don't have all the answers.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:01

So now I've got to I mean, doggone, I gotta go forward without all the answers. Like Jesus never told them go back.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 43:12

Yet their hearts burned, and so within the hour, well, once again, like, we don't know this to be scriptural, so I have to be very clear. But part of me almost wonders, did they get a glimpse of the fire being placed in them through the Holy Spirit before it ever actually happened? I'm not saying that it did. I'm just like in that moment, their hearts burned, and then they were given direction. Something made something compelled them to go back within the hour. Something compelled them to go tell other people about what Jesus did.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Well, it almost makes me think or ask like that piece of them remembering like what it felt like walking with Jesus, where that was like reignited, and it's like, oh, this is him. Right. Like we have confirmation in our hearts that this is him, so now we are going. To go.

SPEAKER_05 44:00

A hundred percent. And that's why I'm not saying that they did get the Holy Spirit before. I'm just saying when you look at every other like action that a person who had an encounter with God and who had an encounter with the scriptures did. They encountered, they remembered, they were burning, they took action, and the rest of those happened from Acts 2 on, once they had the Holy Spirit. This is that same thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:26

Well, yeah. I mean, they had Jesus in physical form. And then they're feeling what it feels like to have Jesus in Holy Spirit form, where it's like, oh, this is really neat.

SPEAKER_06 44:35

Yeah. And that's kind of how like this chapter ends in Luke 24. It says, So then Jesus was, you know, here for was it 40 days? He was here on earth before he ascended. And it says, then Jesus led them to Bethany, and lifting his hands to heaven, he blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up to heaven. So they worshipped him and they returned to Jerusalem, filled with great joy. So it's like no matter like they had the hope of heaven. Now like, man, we've seen, we we don't know when he's gonna return. Yes. But and then it ends the last verse of the chapter, um, or the the book of Luke says, and then they spent all their time praising God. So just like what they seen, they spent all their time just like lifting him up.

SPEAKER_05 45:17

Which is what you would see in Acts chapter 2. Yeah, between when Jesus ascended before the Holy Spirit descended for 10 days. Yeah. Yeah. So Jesus would have been on earth for 40, ten more days gets us until day 50 when the Holy Spirit would have come.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:31

Right? And so in Acts 2, what you what you're seeing at the end of Luke 24, what Brad just read is what would have happened in Acts chapter 1 and 2, where I think it's like verse 9 of chapter 1 of Acts, where Jesus ascends. Yeah. And he had already given them instruction. Now go back to Jerusalem and wait. Don't do nothing. Yeah. Because you don't have this Holy Spirit yet.

SPEAKER_04 45:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 45:54

So they went and they prayed.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:55

And so it's cool that you see the overlap of that. And we get the benefit of not having to wait ten days or any seconds.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

Just so cool how you see their surrendered hearts and their obedience in that.

SPEAKER_06 46:07

Yeah. But yeah, still like remaining, like just enjoy. Yes. Like waiting, like just eager. It kind of reminds me of when we were waiting for the bus this morning. Uh we don't like wait in the car very often, but we did this morning and drove Isle out there, waited, and the song that was on was the Toby Mack, like, uh, I got heaven on my mind. No. And there's a a line in that song I love, it says, Life ain't bad down here, but I got heaven. It's just a reminder, like, there's things that we truly enjoy here. Yeah. But compared to that, like, you know, like he's experienced the loss of a child. He has, you know, uh a child who has some physical disabilities, but it's like, man, life's not bad down here, but I've got heaven on my mind. And I think those people like are living proof that like when we can just have that joy, yes, like that knowing, like, hey, we're gonna be with him physically one day, yeah, it changes our perspective while we're changing everything.

SPEAKER_01 47:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:01

That's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

So good.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

So good. So we got heaven on our minds, guys.

SPEAKER_05 47:08

What will you do with what God has already lit? Hopefully, you'll come back to church for week two. Yeah. Right? As we begin this, because I did give the the challenge to the church. I said, hey, man, I would love for all y'all to commit to April. Like commit to showing up, commit to being here, commit to to being invested in that. So what will you do? There's things beyond church attendance, but what will you do? Are you burning? What will you do? Man, we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to answer questions on that. We gotta get going. Uh let me pray. If nobody else has anything. Okay. Let me pray and then we can uh get out of here. Father, we love you. So grateful for you and your kindness and your goodness and your faithfulness. So grateful that you sent your son to die in our place. You didn't have to, but you chose to. Thank you for choosing us for all eternity. God, thank you that there are people this weekend, whether they're listening here or were in attendance on Sunday, who made the decision to choose back. To say, God, I believe my heart, I confess with my mouth that you are savior of my soul and Lord of my life. God, I thank you for the listeners who are listening to all of this episode, whether it's nonsense in some areas, and Father, there's fun and laughter and joy, but man, God, I pray that, Holy Spirit, you would be able to piece through all of the human conversation and prod the hearts of the listener. That in the soft areas of their hearts you would plant seeds. God, that the question, what will we do with what you've lit, isn't just a question that sounds interesting, but God, I pray that it's a question that, Holy Spirit, you would speak to all of us, even us in this room through. How will we tend the flame? God, I pray for the next four weeks of this series, I pray for these conversations on the podcast, that it would go to give you the glory to grow us closer to you and to be good for all of the people who we encounter, Father, that as we grow and as we give you glory, Father, that all of the circles of influence that each person who's listening and in this room has, God, that we would begin to mark our conversations, we'd begin to mark our relationships, we'd begin to mark our communities, our school systems, our jobs, everybody and everything we come into contact with, we'd be marked for you because we're white hot, fully transformable by the one who first set us on fire. Thank you for these moments, thank you for these conversations. God, thank you for the other three people here in the room who um can help bring so much of this to life and bring the application uh to all of us. So grateful for you, Holy Spirit, grateful for how you convict us, teach us, guide us. Thank you for how you do that in the lives of the listeners. We love you in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. All right, y'all. We love you guys. We will see you next week discussing part two of White Hot.

SPEAKER_04 50:29

See you Sunday.