WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.480 Well, today I'm talking about sequels. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:10.800 Sequels, one of the best cultural conversations we can have. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.640 What are the best movie sequels? 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:16.480 Right? 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.519 Do we wrestle over this or is that just me? 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:21.600 Name a few. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.760 What's your favorite movie sequel? 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:24.879 Do you got any? 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.160 Godfather 2, the classic. 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:29.519 What else? 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:31.359 Empire Strikes Back. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:32.880 Empire Strikes Back. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:34.159 Amen to that one. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:34.880 Yeah. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:36.079 What say it again? 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:37.280 Jurassic Park. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:38.560 Jurassic Park? 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:42.320 Yeah, they did a pretty good job, although number one was pretty darn good. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.759 Right, right, right. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:44.719 Others? 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:46.960 Shrek? 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.079 Oh my goodness. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:52.960 All right. 00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:54.880 Rotten Tomatoes. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:56.079 They're top three. 00:00:56.159 --> 00:00:57.439 Are you ready for this? 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:05.359 Kind of uh tainted or coated by being a little bit of a newer uh uh um website. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.239 Number one, Toy Story Two. 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:09.359 Not bad. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:10.719 Not right. 00:01:10.959 --> 00:01:16.000 Number two, Wallace and Gromit, Vengeance Most Foul. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:17.760 Yeah? 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.000 All right, we got some fans out there. 00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:26.000 Then uh more of a uh dramatic uh film from France, Three Colors, uh Red. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:26.480 I don't know. 00:01:26.560 --> 00:01:27.840 Have any of you watched that? 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.480 That series of three in the colors of the French flag, blue, white, and red. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.840 Anyway, too artsy for us, I guess. 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.640 Too artsy for me, clearly. 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:47.200 Uh all right, IMDB, a little newer website, kind of a little more in the industry, Godfather 2, right, which we named. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:48.719 Are you ready for this one? 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:50.719 Rocky 2. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:55.680 You know, he wins that one. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:01:58.799 Spoiler alert. 00:01:58.959 --> 00:01:59.280 Yeah. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:01.840 If you haven't seen that, that's on you. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:06.640 All right, here, and here's one I was a little surprised: The Lord of the Rings, the Two Towers. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:08.080 Oh, good one? 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:08.879 Right? 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:09.840 It's sort of weird. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:16.240 When you go look it up on the internet, uh uh you find you you'll be reminded of ones you're like, oh yeah, sure. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:23.360 Uh the only one, uh, Rolling Stone did a little survey and they listed as one of theirs Terminator 2. 00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:25.039 Right? 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.919 We like Arnie as a good guy. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:32.240 Maybe just me. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:36.080 Maybe the rest of y'all are like, let him be the bad guy. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:37.039 All right. 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:39.120 Well, I'm sure he'll be back. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:44.000 There you go. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:51.360 So pretty provocative uh endeavor, the sequel, right? 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:59.280 Because you you've got this built-in audience of people, presumably a movie people liked, or otherwise you wouldn't be making a sequel. 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:01.280 So you got this built-in audience. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:06.319 You think, all right, we make this, we know we're gonna make the money we need to make to be able to make more. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:13.759 On the other hand, you've got very high, or should I say narrow, expectations. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:22.000 It better be this movie right here, or I will shun it publicly. 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:23.199 Am I right? 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:31.919 If it doesn't live up to the first one, we are very, very critical, at least a lot of us are. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:39.280 Uh so I bring this up because the Holy Spirit is kind of a sequel, right? 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:52.240 What we have in John 14 is the promise of the sequel to Jesus' life, which is the presence of God, not as Jesus, but as the Holy Spirit that will arrive. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:52.879 Right? 00:03:53.039 --> 00:04:00.879 Verse 16, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever. 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.039 The advocate, though, that's the Holy Spirit right there. 00:04:05.280 --> 00:04:07.919 This is what we live out in our Christian calendar. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:11.919 Forty days of Lent, not including Sabbath, right? 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:19.439 Lands us on Good Friday, and then as at Easter, 50 days waiting for the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:21.279 That's the season we're in right now. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:27.439 Two more weeks, and then we celebrate Pentecost with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:31.600 But the bottom line is we have a sequel to Jesus. 00:04:31.759 --> 00:04:35.279 We have the Holy Spirit going to be with us. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:39.839 You know, in the Bible study this week, we actually sometimes this happens. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:48.639 We landed on the the same passage as I'm preaching on, and uh, we got into a conversation about the Trinity, right? 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.439 God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and and how that all works. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.120 Have you have you had that conversation slash debate? 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.000 Right? 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.399 Have you wrestled with trying to understand how all of that works? 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:03.360 Right? 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:11.839 The God, the God Jesus thing or the fully human, fully divine thing, that alone is tough, right? 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:18.240 Because being God kind of means not human, right? 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:26.319 Humans, we know mortality, we know limitations, and God doesn't know those things, right? 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:28.959 And so it's just how does that all work? 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:32.959 And now we're talking about the Holy Spirit showing up. 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:34.399 How does that work? 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:39.839 And then are we not monotheistic anymore? 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.160 Now do we have multiple gods? 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:44.079 Have you had this debate before? 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:45.519 Have you wrestled with it? 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:47.839 Or is it just me and Stephen? 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:51.439 Okay. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:53.680 I guess it's you and me, brother. 00:05:53.839 --> 00:05:54.240 That's it. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:57.759 Nobody else is like uh motivated here. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:11.519 No, when uh Christianity first became a nationalized religion, the leaders were tasked with solving this dilemma, I guess, this question of how that all works. 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:14.480 So you know it was a meaningful question to them. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:37.759 Super quick history of it is early Christianity, like first and second century uh CE after after Christ was uh uh um on walking this world, uh, there was talk about how we experienced this active presence of God, but not really distinctly described as a divine person. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:53.279 Then in the third century, uh some some of the uh early church fathers started talking about the Holy Spirit and describing uh having three different entities in this one uh uh God understanding. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:07:12.079 And then the Council of Nicaea, mostly it was about defining Jesus, but it set the stage for the Council of Constantinople in 381, where they solidified this uh divinity of the Holy Spirit, but it was not without its arguments. 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:24.560 It was not without uh a little bit of uh debate and even gnashing of teeth, largely because it comes down to belief. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:27.439 There's this mystery about all of it. 00:07:27.600 --> 00:07:32.560 We can't know a hundred percent how that all works. 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:35.439 That's kind of why we call it faith. 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:49.040 Now, there are some really good metaphors and understandings of all of this that will be helpful to you if you really want to dig in and if that will feed your faith and your journey. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:53.920 But I did think it was worth mentioning a bit of a concern. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:08:02.959 We don't really want to get lost in those questions and in those debates. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:03.920 Right? 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.800 Take a look at the verse right before it. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:11.759 Uh, the right before the verse where he talks about the advocate on his way, it's verse 15. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.360 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:21.759 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:31.759 Maybe you can see how that phrase is important, but also could get lost in the debate of this verse that comes right after it. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:33.200 Right? 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:41.919 We're talking about what we need to do, keep the commandments, but all of a sudden we're arguing, debating, trying to find verse 16. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:52.559 There is room and encouragement to do the work of theology, to try to figure out what the Holy Spirit means to you, especially if it will strengthen your faith. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:09:09.360 But if it comes at the expense of the verse before it, to get lost, right, in in what will always be a bit of a faith mystery, we're in danger of maybe missing the larger point. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:16.879 If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:28.480 In today's words, do the things I've told you to do, bring the comfort, fight for the justice for all of God's children. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:32.000 Share the love you've been given to share. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:44.320 You can enjoy the stretching that comes with wrestling with these questions, but don't get stuck on verse 16 and how it all works at the expense of verse 15. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.399 Look at verse 21 again. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:10:00.399 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.120 Reveal myself to them. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:10.799 I would probably write it a little bit differently than our gospel writer John did. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:19.039 But what we see here is that God's revealing comes to us when we live the life. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:19.919 Right? 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:22.000 That intimacy that we're seeking. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:33.600 I want to know the creator of all that is, I want to know the strength, I want to know the comfort, I want to know that there's something bigger than me that I can live into if we are wanting at that. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:48.799 The revealing comes by living the life, by doing the things that Jesus taught us to do, by being in service to this creation and to the inhabitants. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:58.960 You know, instead of this inner and outer debating on the essence or the authority of the Holy Spirit, we ought to be looking at the role of the Holy Spirit. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:17.360 What is the Holy Spirit doing other than being the presence of God amongst us, letting us know we're not alone as we're trying to bring wholeness and justice and comfort and peace to the world? 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:19.440 We aren't doing that alone. 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:27.360 And then Jesus uses this word advocate for the Holy Spirit. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:30.480 Isn't that good news? 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:33.039 That we have an advocate, right? 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:37.279 Somebody who is arguing for us is on our side. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:51.360 Who doesn't need somebody on their side, especially someone from on high in tap with all the blessings and the joy and the love that is amidst this world? 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:58.320 Who doesn't need a reminder that they're worthy in God's eyes? 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:12.879 Here on Mother's Day, I think of that idyllic image of motherhood, loving our children unconditionally, even when they're a little unlovable. 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:14.639 There I said it. 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:17.759 All right? 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:24.480 Only those of you who've ever been children of someone are allowed to be mad at me on that one. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:29.279 Now keep in mind, we're just human. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:38.240 We've never really mastered this whole loving our even our children unconditionally. 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:43.679 In fact, some mothers and fathers have really struggled with it. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:13:12.480 We are just mere humans, but as Christians, our belief is that the Holy Spirit, being part of God, is fully that affirmation, fully that unconditional love, that guidance, that strength, that peace, that comfort, that love. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:19.600 This is how we understand the Holy Spirit's presence amongst us. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:36.399 We can debate the essence, but let's not confuse the role that the Holy Spirit is playing in our lives, that role of reminding us that we are children of God and worthy of that love. 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:48.639 And the beauty and joy of that is we get to be the ones that are sharing it, sharing that message in our words and in our deeds. 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.759 Maybe we should be recognizing something right now. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:59.440 This the series theme is stories that matter. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:12.159 They matter because they are stories here in the season of Easter that are helping us to understand the resurrection that we celebrate at Easter. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:16.240 Helps us to understand what that resurrection might mean. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:27.519 There's stories of how Jesus was explaining his impending absence, which for us today helps us understand that absence that is uh real for us. 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:36.559 What we should start to recognize is that that story would always have a sequel. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.960 He was always going to be crucified. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:48.879 That sequel that follows Jesus is the Holy Spirit. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:53.600 But isn't it also us? 00:14:56.080 --> 00:14:59.679 Wasn't it always supposed to be us? 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:07.200 The Holy Spirit has the role, the presence of God that we can experience here. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.440 But we should see our role too. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:14.960 To follow the commandments, to love God, to love neighbor. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:19.840 And in doing so, we become the presence of God as well. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:20.960 Do we not? 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.720 We become God's love for other people. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:32.080 When we love others as God loves them, are we not offering that experience of God and God's love? 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.320 We are the sequel. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:45.679 And let's face it, we've uh we've made our world uh a lot to handle. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:50.799 We've given ourselves a lot to wrestle with. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:16:14.399 Our world can use a sequel with our rising cost of living, our increasing isolation through technology, wars for money and control, weird relationships with the truth, lack of action to help our climate. 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:19.600 People really need this sequel. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:22.960 So let's give it to them. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:24.399 Amen. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:26.159 Amen.