WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:03.839 Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Gerlock and Pastor John Anderson. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:06.160 Welcome to the Resurrection Church Podcast. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.560 Each week we bring you Sunday's message from Resurrection Church right here in Racing, Wisconsin. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:22.399 So whether you're listening on a walk, driving to work, holding some laundry, or avoiding folding laundry, we hope this encourages your faith, challenges your perspective, and reminds you that resurrection isn't just something that happened. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.559 It's something God is still doing. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:26.480 Enjoy this week's message. 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.960 Morning, everybody. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:30.559 My name's John. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:34.880 I'm one of the pastors here at Resurrection, if we haven't met, and we're so happy to have you here with us. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:40.399 Um and a big thanks to all the volunteers, always on a Sunday morning, that helped to lead us in worship. 00:00:40.479 --> 00:00:45.520 Um it's just a gift to Pastor Ryan and I to be able to focus on those things that we're called to. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:46.799 And so thank you. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:49.840 Um we are in uh the middle of a series practicing the way. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:55.520 Last week, Pastor Ryan so beautifully reminded us that we are a people who are sent. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:11.519 If you are following Jesus, then that means that you are pursuing others, that you are going out into the world, and we are inviting people into the good news of Jesus Christ and being part of the work of creating disciples while we are also being discipled. 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:14.239 He said that we are a sent people commissioned by God. 00:01:14.319 --> 00:01:27.120 And this week, I believe it is my task to remind you, to teach you, to encourage you, to exhort you, to believe that we are not only a sent people, but we are people of the Spirit. 00:01:28.079 --> 00:01:41.040 And as I'll share near the end of my message today, I I do feel, and I'm hesitant to say things like this outside of uh context that you might understand, but that God gave me a word this weekend. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:44.400 That God gave me a word today in a new way. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:57.680 As I spent time with this text, as I spent time uh with our class this past Wednesday, I was convicted of some things, and uh and God is so good in the way that God leads us to some truth, and so I'm gonna unpack some of that with you today. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:03.760 But I wonder, a question do you ever notice what comes out of you when you are under pressure? 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:08.400 When stress, anxiety, all that stuff is on your shoulders. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:09.520 What comes out of you? 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:22.400 I I've shared this story before, but there was a day I was driving my boys to school, and um it was uh early in my uh first call out in McGuanago, and uh, and it was also literally early in the morning. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:34.240 And I'm driving my children to school, and I was so focused on the day ahead of me and ministry and all the things I had to do and the people I had to talk to, that I drove right by their school with them in the backseat of my car and headed to the church. 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:36.000 And maybe you remember this story. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:44.719 And and I love my boys because two of them, and if you get to know them better, Johnny and Henry, they had their mouths shut the whole time, thinking this is the greatest day. 00:02:44.879 --> 00:02:54.479 Uh and my young son Owen, who is just the third parent in our home sometimes, he just said, Daddy, we missed the school. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:04.240 And now I uh very uh unsafely uh quickly changed lanes to turn around, and in doing so, I cut off this giant red pickup truck. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.319 And as I did, I came to a red light. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:18.240 And this guy pulled up next to me and threw every obscenity I'd ever heard in my entire life at me, along with some new creative ones. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.479 And I rolled my window down, convicted I made the mistake. 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:27.360 And and in rolling my window down, my kids unsolicited rolled their windows down. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:38.240 And this was years ago, so my boys are little, they're in grade school, and and and I and I begin to apologize to this man at this red light in Waterford at the Casey's, if you know Waterford right there. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:45.120 And the guy sees the kids, the guy hears me apologize, and I and I literally saw his whole demeanor change. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:49.759 And across our vehicles at this red light, he begins to apologize for his behavior. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:51.680 And he says something that I'll never forget. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:53.919 He said, I'm just having a really bad day. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.479 In fact, I'm having a really bad week. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:58.400 I'm really sorry. 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:01.199 Then he drove away. 00:04:02.240 --> 00:04:03.919 And I think about that guy sometimes. 00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:05.840 I wish I could have got his name. 00:04:06.319 --> 00:04:10.159 Wish I could have told him who I was and how impactful that moment was for me. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:14.639 A recognition right away that he had overreacted, even though what I had done was unsafe. 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:21.920 You see, what comes out of us under pressure, I believe, often reveals what's growing inside of us. 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:24.319 And I believe that's true of all people. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:26.720 And in fact, it's why I give kids a lot of grace. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:31.279 My mom always said there's no bad kids, there's just kids having really bad days. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:40.000 Or as one pastor put it, nobody wakes up in the morning hoping to lose their patience in aisle seven at target. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:43.120 But sometimes it happens, it just comes out. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.120 And maybe that's the point of today's reading. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:53.839 I'm convinced that the fruit in your life will naturally grow from whatever it is rooted to beneath the surface. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:05:00.000 And I see some people nodding their heads, and I love that you agree with me, but I wonder if we've done the real good work on that. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:06.480 If we really tended to where we are drawing life from, what we're actually rooted to. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:08.079 And so that's what we're going to unpack today. 00:05:08.160 --> 00:05:11.120 And as we do so, I would ask you to pray with me. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:26.079 God help us, help us as we enter into your holy word, to be taught by the Apostle Paul, to be taught by you, O Lord, to be taught by the life, death, resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.240 Help us to learn, O God, what it means to be a people of the Spirit. 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.879 As always, I pray the meditations of my heart and the words that pass through my lips are yours, O God. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:40.480 It's in Christ's name we pray. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:41.839 Amen. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:55.360 So we are in the series, and we're we're we're about to start a new series this summer called Back to the Basics, which we're excited to uh to roll out, and and also introduce some new ideas and and uh and concepts to you in some creative ways. 00:05:55.519 --> 00:05:57.360 But we're we're getting to the end of this series. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.120 Who we are, what is our identity? 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:06.959 And we're in Galatians, and Paul writes to these churches in Galatia, churches that he loved, he had a deep love for this area. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.560 These aren't strangers to him. 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:15.920 We learn uh throughout Acts that these are people that he lived among, people he prayed with, people he suffered literally alongside. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:18.160 He has deep community here. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.720 He introduced them to the freedom and grace of Jesus Christ. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:24.160 He loves these people. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.199 But then, as Paul is wont to do, he leaves. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:30.079 He's called to some new place to share the message. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:38.879 And what happens in these churches is all of a sudden the things that they had clung to, the things that they were so passionate about, they began to be strained. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:49.120 You see, they heard other voices, voices that were telling them that Jesus is good but not good enough, that grace is good, but you still need to prove yourself sometimes. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:57.439 Faith matters, these other voices said, but now here's the list of religious things that you need to do for you to actually be saved. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:11.120 And suddenly that brand new community of believers on fire for Jesus, living into freedom, they start to they start to drive themselves back into this way of striving for God's approval. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.600 As if that's how we earn it. 00:07:13.759 --> 00:07:17.759 The Galatians started with grace but slowly slipped back into performance. 00:07:17.839 --> 00:07:23.040 And Paul's heartbroken by this, and and that's actually a pretty good translation for how he feels in this letter. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:29.920 He doesn't write to them in anger, he writes to them out of deep concern and love. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:37.759 Paul knows that when faith becomes performance, the moment we fall back into that old habit, he knows that joy will disappear. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:43.600 He knows that peace will disappear, freedom will disappear, love will become conditional. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.560 And maybe you're hearing all of that and you think, golly, that's me. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:48.639 You're reading my journal right now? 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.560 How do you know all of that? 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:56.079 Galatians is not primarily a letter about rules, it's a letter about freedom. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:07:58.480 Paul was reminding them that they are indeed free. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:00.959 Your identity must be in Christ. 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:04.319 There's a kind of life that grows, Paul said. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:12.480 When people stop trying to earn God's love and instead choose to live from it, what would it look like to live from a position of unconditional love? 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.920 In that everything about you is loved by your creator. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.439 I bet it would help you love others. 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:22.240 But you must first believe it's true of yourself. 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:26.800 There's these fascinating uh parts of Galatians that I absolutely love. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:30.000 And the language, I'm a big language guy, the language is so important. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:36.480 When Paul says the fruits of the Spirit is, or the fruit of the Spirit is, he's he's talking singular. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:37.519 They're all tied together. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.639 He doesn't say the fruits of the Spirit are, as if one day I'll be really good at joy or another day I'll be really good at peace. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.559 And no, what Paul is saying is that the fruit of the spirit is. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.000 You can't say, God, I'm I'm I'm really rocking this joy part right now, thank you. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.279 But the whole, the whole, the whole patience thing or the self-control. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:56.960 I'm having a hard time with that one. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:03.919 See, what Paul is saying is look, all that means is that on your own, in your own effort, you're you're doing great at joy. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.320 But you're in you, in your way, you're not in the spirit. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:10.960 And that's sometimes a heavy truth for us to hear. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:12.720 Oh God, that I would have more patience. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:15.120 And God says, no, don't pray specifically for patience. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.440 Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide you in all things. 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:18.879 Is that your prayer? 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:26.720 Assent people, people of the Spirit, a people that are supposed to live this out. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:32.720 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:35.519 Not really good at one and struggling with the others. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:43.279 But if we are in the spirit, if we are in the spirit, Paul says, then all of these, all of these naturally will rise up together. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:49.440 I think many of us grew up believing that the Christian life was about being better behaved. 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:54.080 And maybe you won't raise your hand, but I think there's some of us that thought, well, yeah, that's that's a big part of it. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:55.200 It's our behavior. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:01.360 We gotta be nicer, we gotta be calmer, we gotta be more patient, we gotta stop struggling, stop doubting, stop failing. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:04.720 These are the messages we tell ourselves, and maybe we were told by others. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:11.840 But somewhere along the way, I imagine that if that is all you think it's supposed to be about, then you'll be exhausted. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:16.000 Because the world isn't positioned for you to always be nice. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:21.200 And we have so many distractions and temptations that self-control is hard. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:29.440 Trying to manufacture spiritual fruit apart from intimacy with Jesus is always going to leave you exhausted. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:31.759 I can tell you from personal experience. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:41.039 Paul's not giving us some spiritual checklists, he's describing what grows in a life surrendered to the Spirit of God. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:48.799 I remember as a freshman in college, I'm part of campus ministries, and Pastor Ryan's introducing the Bible to me in a new way, and I'm in love with Jesus. 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:59.840 And for years I would I would fall deeper in love with Jesus and we go to these conferences, and it was in college, I didn't I didn't understand that you had to pay back your student loans, and I didn't have a job or any of those worries. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:12.960 And then you leave, and you and you enter back into the reality of what's put upon us, and all of a sudden I began to achieve things in my own effort, and I was exhausted. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:14.960 And I think we do that. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:22.000 It's why in youth ministry it's so much fun to bring kids to camp and to have that camp year because they come back on fire for Jesus. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:26.960 They're talking about their faith in new ways, they're even talking about their faith at school with their friends. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.240 But then they get older, we see them leave the ministry, and all of a sudden life gets real. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.919 And following Jesus gets harder. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:45.919 The tension of Galatians is not it's not try harder to be loving, try harder to be patient. 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:54.879 The tension is what kind of life naturally grows if someone believes they are actually set free in Christ and reliant on the spirit. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:07.200 It's been my experience that free people, like people that really believe that is true and have surrendered those parts of themselves that are hard, those people love differently and they forgive differently. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.600 They stop performing for God because they finally trust that they are truly loved by God. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:16.159 And if they can be fully loved by God, then how could they possibly withhold God's love for others? 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:16.879 How? 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:29.600 It says, Blessed is the one who does not walk and step with the wicked or stand in a way where they are drawn into the group of sinners or mockers. 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:30.320 No, no. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:35.679 Blessed is the one instead whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditates on God day and night. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:43.519 That person, listen, is is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:44.879 Fruit, fruit. 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:52.320 Fruit grows because the tree is planted near the source, not because the tree is striving harder, not because the tree is pretending or panicking. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:56.399 Healthy, healthy fruit will always be connected to healthy roots. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.840 And church, I'll I'll I'll I'll lay it on you today because I was convicted of it. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.360 If there's areas in your life where you say, Well, God, I don't want to deal with that right now. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:06.480 I don't need to be nice to that person. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:08.080 God's saying, yeah, you do. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:10.159 Well, God, I don't want to love that way. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.679 God, I don't want to practice self-control. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:13.200 God, these are hard, God. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.679 God, I can do the love thing, but the peace is hard and patience. 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:17.200 God, have you met my family, God? 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:18.240 Faithfulness, God. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.000 Look at the broken world, we're in gentleness. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:25.360 Everybody else is abrasive, self-control, and God's saying, yes. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:28.799 That's what you're called to. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:31.919 Jesus knew this would be hard. 00:13:32.240 --> 00:13:38.960 Remember that last time that Jesus was with his disciples in the Gospel of John, there's all these incredible passages there, John 13 to John 17. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:43.919 But in John 15, Jesus says this I am the vine, you are the branches. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:50.000 If you remain in me, if you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit. 00:13:50.080 --> 00:13:52.559 But apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:53.919 Remain in me. 00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:56.799 Jesus knew the temptation the world would offer. 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:05.039 And not the temptation that we might think of to go do illicit sins, but the temptation to just muscle through all of these things on our own. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:09.200 To convince ourselves that the only way we can truly please God is to be good at these. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.720 And God says, No, to please me, I just want you to surrender to me. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:14.720 I'll help you with all of this. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.720 But know that I've created you to do all of this. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:23.440 Fruit is not something we duct tape to a tree. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:32.080 Fruit is overflow, it's evidence, it's it's a natural, it's the natural result of connection to a healthy source. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:38.159 And in Christianity, the following the way of Jesus is not about pretending to be spiritually mature. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.159 That will fail. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:54.240 It's about staying close enough to Jesus that his life slowly begins showing up in yours in small moments, in the ways where you're surprised by how much self-control you had, and you have to claim out loud that was the Spirit of God. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:00.480 As the fruit of the Spirit comes out of us, God transforms our life. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:13.120 Not because we are forced into it, but because intimacy with Jesus, wanting to be like Jesus and be around Jesus and be more of Jesus and see a world full of Jesus, that changes us. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:16.639 So let me pause for a moment and just ask you to think about these questions. 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:23.360 Church, what fruit have you been trying to force through effort instead of receiving through surrender? 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:26.720 Maybe even right now you're frustrated with me. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:32.159 Maybe even right now the energy of your heart is self-control, patience, love? 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:35.600 Are you kidding me, Pastor? 00:15:36.559 --> 00:15:38.639 Christ is calling you to surrender. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.440 What naturally comes out of you when you're under pressure? 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:47.120 If me and my boys cut you off on 83 in Waterford, Wisconsin, what would happen? 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:51.840 Where in your life do you feel spiritually exhausted? 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:52.639 A show of hands. 00:15:52.879 --> 00:15:54.159 Anybody feel exhausted? 00:15:54.399 --> 00:15:56.080 You ever feel exhausted? 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.639 And I don't just mean because you've had a long day, but I mean because the world's hard. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.559 What would it look like to stop performing and start abiding? 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.559 I remember Jimmy Connell, who's in my men's group, he's worshipped with us a number of times. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:13.679 Uh he's a beautiful Irish Catholic, uh, much like me, but then I saw the light, obviously, and here I am. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:18.559 But Jimmy's a great leader in this Catholic men's ministry in Liberty Villain. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:21.840 And he was a part of this large ministry meeting one Saturday morning. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.519 There were a number of priests there, and one was this retired priest Joe. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:33.279 And Joe, this is back when you could do this, would sit in the back of this diner puffing his cigar, and he said Joe would observe and occasionally speak. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:38.639 He said, one day the room just seemed full of men complaining, complaining about everything. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:47.519 And he said he'll never forget at one point Father Joe taking the cigar out of his mouth and slamming his hand on the table and saying, Where's the bleeping joy? 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:49.919 Where's the joy? 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.000 We are a people of Christ. 00:16:55.600 --> 00:16:58.159 Joy, biblical joy is a gift to us. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.080 How about how about the resurrection? 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:02.960 We should have a permanent grin on our face every single day. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:08.880 Joy in the spirit is something that I wish I saw more in the world. 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:11.039 I wish I saw it more in the church. 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.599 Biblical joy is not pretending that everything is okay. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:18.640 Joy is not denial, it's not fake positivity. 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:24.880 No, biblical joy is that settled confidence that God is still present even here, even in this moment. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:27.920 Happiness, happiness is just based on circumstances. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:29.599 Trust me, I know all about happiness. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:31.200 I'm a Cubs fan. 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:36.799 Joy, deep joy grows from presence. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:49.359 Some of the most joyful people I know are people who have suffered deeply, who understand and believe and model for us that God never abandoned them, even in moments when the world would shout at them, Where's your God now? 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.799 It's rooted and abiding. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:58.880 Some of you are exhausted trying to be someone that you are not, or just trying to be someone through effort. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.799 Something that can only be formed through surrender is something we have a hard time with. 00:18:04.960 --> 00:18:10.319 You've you spend all these years trying to force fruit onto branches, disconnected from the vine, and nothing's working. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:14.000 And maybe you need to hear right now that Jesus is not disappointed in you. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:18.480 He's inviting you to a surrender, to know that you do not have to do it on your own. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:22.160 And by the way, church, I realize that this is a work in progress. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:25.440 This is discipleship, as Pastor Ryan called us to. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:28.240 It's meeting together like this, but not just this. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.920 It's gathering in small pods. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:30.559 I'm so excited. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:32.240 Our small group ministry is rolled out. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.160 Two more groups are meeting tonight. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:41.839 What a great chance to be intimate with the church and to carry each other's stuff, to be reminded of life in the spirit. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:44.319 Paul wants us to get this. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:48.079 Paul wants us to know this because in Christ you belong before you perform. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:53.440 In Christ, you are loved before you achieve, and in Christ, grace, grace comes before growth. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:54.480 Praise God. 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:55.519 Alleluia. 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:56.400 Amen. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:07.759 What if holiness is not about becoming less human, like putting away all that stuff, but what if it's living into our full humanity as God had created us to be? 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:10.960 God believes that we can create the kingdom of heaven. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:12.960 It's a holy responsibility. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:14.240 You hear me say this often. 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:15.279 Do you believe it? 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:17.200 Do you believe it's true of you? 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:21.279 Maybe love is what we're created for. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:22.960 Maybe peace is what Eden felt like. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:25.039 Maybe gentleness is strength under control. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:25.920 Maybe joy. 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:31.039 Joy is what happens when fear stops driving the soul into decisions. 00:19:32.960 --> 00:19:37.039 We're studying this book of Ephesians here at Resurrection. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:38.559 And uh every Wednesday, 11 a.m. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.000 and 6 p.m., you're all welcome. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:42.079 Uh we are we are studying Ephesians. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:56.400 And this past week, uh I've been carrying some own, some of my own stuff, and I was really just uh dropped to my knees, put to my knees by the Holy Spirit as I entered this study because of a verse here that I've read before, but just experienced a new. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:19:57.759 It's in Ephesians 2, 10. 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.960 And if you know Ephesians chapter 2, there's some very famous verses in there. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:08.079 8 and 9 are summed up like this it is by grace you have been saved through faith, not by works, so that no man can boast. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:09.839 But there is this great verse 10. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.880 And in verse 10, in almost all of your Bibles and your pew Bibles, it says, We are God's workmanship. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:16.640 We are God's masterpiece. 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:18.000 And that feels good, doesn't it? 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:19.440 I hope it would feel good. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.039 Every single one of you is created by God, a workmanship, a masterpiece. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.680 But the actual language in your Greek is poema. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:28.960 Say poema. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:29.920 Poema. 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:31.599 Do you know what that word means? 00:20:33.519 --> 00:20:34.160 Poem. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:40.319 Ephesians 2.10 says that we are God's poem to the world. 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:48.079 Not mass-produced, not accidental, not discarded, but a poem, a beautiful creation of art. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:51.359 You are a poem. 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:55.680 People will read you and they will experience God through your poem. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:04.960 Maybe the fruit of the Spirit is what happens when the Spirit of God begins writing that beautiful poem over and through our lives. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:08.400 Because a world addicted to outrage needs love. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:13.359 A world drowning in anxiety needs peace. 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:19.519 A world fueled by division needs gentleness, and a world obsessed with power needs kindness. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:26.240 A world exhausted by performance needs grace, and a world driven by fear desperately needs joy. 00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:28.640 We are supposed to be set apart. 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:36.799 A world craving authenticity needs faithfulness, and a world marked by harshness needs patience and self-control. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:40.559 And Jesus says, Church, go make disciples. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:52.480 Maybe God wants us to share the beauty of all of this through the through our very lives, through surrender lives, through what I'm gonna start calling our poem lives. 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:56.799 I mentioned that I've been struggling this week. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:58.559 I I've been struggling for a little while, actually. 00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.759 I don't know if your pastor is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.039 Tell you that often they should if they're in a season like this. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:11.200 We've been having such exciting uh ministry opportunities here at resurrection, great faith formation, spiritual growth, mission-focused growth. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:17.359 I mean, this is a tiny, tiny snapshot, but our mission partners are increasing, our awareness of their needs are increasing. 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:19.279 We've had great numerical growth. 00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.200 On Easter, we all saw over 600 people gather and worship. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:28.400 And I told Pastor Ryan, even on Easter Sunday, I don't feel joy. 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:44.160 I'm burnt out, I'm striving, I have all this ministry pressure, I'm I'm parenting exhaustion, trying to hold everything together, trying to perform, though I wouldn't have used that word, to just muscle it all out. 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.400 I've got gifts, I can figure it out. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.039 And I was broken this week. 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:55.200 I was broken and I was reminded that I'm my own church. 00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.519 I'm gonna fail every single one of you. 00:22:58.319 --> 00:23:00.000 I'm gonna fail my staff. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:02.079 I'm gonna fail Pastor Ryan. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:09.519 But in the Spirit of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, I can rise back up. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:15.680 And with me, the gifts of the Spirit will naturally come to the surface if I rely wholly on God. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:26.799 I needed to stop trying to produce fruit for God and instead just focus on being connected to God, stepping back and trusting God with these things that I said I trusted God with, but but God let me lead the way. 00:23:28.799 --> 00:23:30.720 Jesus never said produce. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:32.640 He just said remain. 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:35.519 Remain in me, abide with me. 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:44.000 The fruit of the Spirit is one beautiful spirit-formed life. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:56.880 And in surrendering this week and in having real conversations with Pastor Ryan and people at church, my wife, my kids, I recognize that when we live in a way dependent upon our effort, there's ripples. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.680 It affects people in our circle. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:01.759 And not in a positive way. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.640 But the inverse is true as well, though. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:08.880 If we are a people of the Spirit, it will have ripples. 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:12.079 And it will draw people deeper into the message of Jesus. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.519 I've seen it firsthand. 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:21.200 So, church, maybe the invitation for you today is that you would surrender right now in this moment. 00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:25.680 That thing that you are struggling to just muscle on your own, surrender to God. 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.880 Stay connected, remain slowed down enough to notice God again. 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:34.079 Practice the way of Jesus long enough that his life begins to grow in you naturally. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:36.160 Let us pray. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:40.319 Jesus, we are weary. 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:49.039 We are tired of pretending, tired of striving, tired of performing, tired of tired of trying to manipulate and manufacture what only you can grow through the Holy Spirit. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:50.480 Teach us to remain in you. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:57.599 Help us to surrender, encourage us with the church around us to hold us to account. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:03.920 God, you call us, you call us your poems to the world. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:14.880 Oh God, that we would be beautiful poems, that people in reading the poem of our life would be drawn into you to know you more, that they too would surrender. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:32.319 And God, I pray for those in this room who are struggling right now, who even now struggle to believe what I am saying is true, that they would be released from whatever holds them captive by you, oh God, that they would surrender to you, and that they would grow in the fruit of the Spirit. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:35.759 Thank you for the gift of the Spirit. 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:38.319 It's in Christ's name we pray.