Speaker 1: Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.
Speaker 1: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the revised common lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala Florida.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Well, you know what I want to go back, because you said that, ms Carroll.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to the beginning scriptures that we read, because not everybody was here as we were reading those scriptures and they're so good from Acts, chapter two, verse 42 through 47.
Speaker 1: Here's why I say this this is the beginning of the church, and so we should, the church of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: So it's important for us to know what they devoted themselves to, what was important to them, because as we stand here over 2,000 years later, perhaps beloved, we've gotten some things wrong.
Speaker 1: So we go back to the beginning and we're like what is they?
Speaker 1: It is true, it is, and I say that humbly, but perhaps we've gotten a little bit off.
Speaker 2: In 2,000 years we can veer a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of it, yes, but so we're going back to love.
Speaker 1: That's what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're going back to love, and here is what is being taught to us about this new community that was formed around the resurrection and the ascension of Christ, this new community who understood and was offering a new realm, heaven on earth.
Speaker 1: This is what it looks like.
Speaker 1: Maybe not white angels flapping their hands or their arms, or I don't know how angels fly.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's any flapping, I'll go wings.
Speaker 1: Wings, but I don't think that there's anyway.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about angels some other time, but it's.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we get these ideas of heaven that are like Rembrandt pictures or one of those things, and heaven on earth looks like every single person being fed.
Speaker 1: Heaven on earth looks like every person knowing how loved they are and how welcomed they are in the presence of God, every person.
Speaker 1: And I love this vision that Paul gives us, that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Speaker 1: So one day, but until that day, beloved, we can offer the kingdom here, and we do that by enacting the things that we were first told to do.
Speaker 2: I don't know if any of you have ever struggled with depression, but it's overwhelming, almost like a just this blanket of sorrow, and you can't really see any other way.
Speaker 2: And to know that there are people, maybe that are sitting next to you, that are under, that is heartbreaking to me.
Speaker 2: And if we would allow ourselves to see people and I love how I forget who it was that said, but it was so powerful to me that prayer is really just borrowing God's eyes and if we could see people the way he sees them, his love, you know, and they're hurting, and we could lend a smile or we could lend a hand in some way.
Speaker 2: You know that is so life changing to people.
Speaker 2: And so I realized, and I want you to realize, the power that's inside of you of love, and you get to share that.
Speaker 2: And when you come in contact with somebody that is overwhelmed I'm not saying you're going to, your shadow is going to be cast on them and they will be transformed at that moment but I'm convinced, just in that same way, that that when you get in their presence, you affect them in a way that is eternal and it's for good and it has good in its effect and it's and there is a destiny for you and I, and that thrills me, that I don't have to just set hopelessly by as brothers and sisters are in pain, but that there is something.
Speaker 2: Maybe I don't always have the word to say, but I could set with somebody, and sometimes that's better.
Speaker 2: When I first met Heather I, she was at Bible study, crying, and I sat next to her and I said what's going on?
Speaker 2: You're crying, how can I help?
Speaker 2: Do you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost?
Speaker 2: And she goes no, I was filled with the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 2: When I was six.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 2: You need prayer, you know.
Speaker 2: Ask her if she'd saved first.
Speaker 2: Now for us saved.
Speaker 2: Finally she looked at me.
Speaker 2: She goes could you just be quiet and pray?
Speaker 2: And I've been working on that ever since.
Speaker 1: For all of us and all the disciples were devoted to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Speaker 1: This is what the early community looked like.
Speaker 1: These were the things they were devoted to.
Speaker 1: Not to success, not to a forming a new person, Not to a new religion, but this was another way of living devoted to the teachings of the apostles, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
Speaker 1: And a feeling of ah came over everyone as many amazing things and miraculous signs happened through the apostles and all the believers kept meeting together and they shared everything with each other and from time to time they sold their property and possessions and distributed the money to anyone who needed it.
Speaker 1: And the believers had single purpose.
Speaker 1: This is just a little bit of a difference in the way that we express words.
Speaker 1: From the original translation.
Speaker 1: It says they had one heart.
Speaker 1: So sometimes purposes like my purpose was that I would come and do the service and your purpose was something else.
Speaker 1: No, they had one heart, and that beloved is something that we can all do If we understand that we could have love's heart for the world.
Speaker 1: And they went to the temple every day and they were joyful and humble as they ate at each other's homes and shared their food and at the same time, they praised God and had the good will of all the people.
Speaker 1: Every day.
Speaker 1: The Lord saved people and they were added to the group and there's such a hope in that understanding of going.
Speaker 1: This is what we are all called to to be devoted to the teaching.
Speaker 1: What is the teaching Beloved?
Speaker 1: That love is the way, that love is the answer, that God is love and that love has come for us.
Speaker 1: And Jesus shows us what love looks like when we follow Jesus and we are invited into this hope.
Speaker 1: That Jesus shows us what it looks like to thrive in our humanity, what it looks like for the thriving of the whole world, for us to allow the spirit that Jesus gave us to lead us and to bring us into this promise of heaven here on the earth.
Speaker 2: And sometimes it gets confusing about what we should do as Christians, and to follow God can be very ambiguous, and so I love that this gives us a very clear path.
Speaker 2: It's no uncertain terms.
Speaker 2: It says that we're to be devoted to the teaching, to the fellowship and to prayer, and it really can be that simple, and I think that when you get doctrine heaped on you, it gets more and more confusing.
Speaker 2: Well, you got to do this, you got to remember to confess it this way.
Speaker 2: I remember one time in Bible school a guy got out of dry erase board a great big old thing and he's talking about how faith works, and so the little guy's mouth was there and the words went out of the mouth and went way up into heaven and it went into God's ear and then it came.
Speaker 2: I figured how it came out maybe his fingers, I can't remember what happened.
Speaker 2: Then it went back into the whatever and it was.
Speaker 2: It was a big diagram and you had to do it this way.
Speaker 2: And I looked at Heather and I was just only safe for a couple years and I said, well, if I got to remember all this, heather, I don't think I'm gonna be able to be a good Christian because I smoked a lot of cannabis back before they all give my life to Jesus day and so there's too many neurons were clogged up with THC for me to remember which way the boys went and the thing came down and all this and I had to remember it all and I'd never forget it.
Speaker 2: Right in the middle of Bible school I'm telling her we gotta go cause I don't know.
Speaker 2: And she's like she grabbed my hand, just like she did right there a minute ago.
Speaker 2: She does that to quiet me down sometime.
Speaker 2: She gave me like this she goes, honey.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that we have to have faith like a child.
Speaker 2: Do you think any child you've ever met is gonna understand that?
Speaker 2: Up there and I said, no, she goes, you're fine, I go, thank you.
Speaker 1: Sometimes our role as believers is just to encourage each other.
Speaker 1: It's simple, beloved love is simple.
Speaker 1: Let's not over complicate that.
Speaker 1: Let's allow God's love to transform us.
Speaker 1: But sometimes it seems like we wanna work for things and God is reminding us.
Speaker 1: It's simple love.
Speaker 1: And then, if you don't know how it love looks like, it looks like Jesus.
Speaker 1: Paul, the apostle, is reminding the church at Corinth of this.
Speaker 1: In 2 Corinthians, you must each decide in your heart how much to give, and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully, and God will generously provide all that you need, and you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
Speaker 1: As the scripture said, they shared freely, they gave generously to the poor.
Speaker 1: Their good deeds will be remembered forever, for God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and bread to eat.
Speaker 1: In the same way, he will provide, he will increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
Speaker 1: Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous, and when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.
Speaker 1: So two good things will result from the ministry of giving, the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met and they will joyfully express their thanks to God and, as a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God, for your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the good news of Christ and they will pray with you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace that God has given you, this practice of generosity, that we begin to allow love to form us.
Speaker 1: I wanna remind you of this, beloved, that love is not selfish, love is not stingy, love is not full of fear.
Speaker 1: So the practices that we are given to help form us in generosity is so that we can remember that every good and perfect thing that we have is from God.
Speaker 1: Our next breath is a gift, the world around us full of abundance, and these practices that we have are reminding this community of Jesus' followers that generosity is marked in our love for each other, in the way that we care for our neighbors, and I'm so grateful today to be able to be here gathered together with fellow believers, and that we're gonna look at the sacred text.
Speaker 1: Allow the scriptures to be the lens for us by which we understand Jesus, and then, how we understand and interact with ourselves and the world around us.
Speaker 2: You know, when we talk about giving, a lot of times people just like oh, this is the part of the church where they're trying to raise some money and do understand that our church functions on the support and the giving of the congregation.
Speaker 2: So we thank you for your support.
Speaker 2: But really, what I want this time to be is a reminder that it doesn't end with us walking past the offering boxes and giving or people online can go to the giving section or give them, whatever platform they're watching.
Speaker 2: But what our hope would be that it would remind you to be generous on a regular basis.
Speaker 2: Certainly here, but not to end here.
Speaker 2: Maybe to begin that.
Speaker 2: You know, when you're at a restaurant eating, do you ever think to yourself I wonder whose meal I should pay for?
Speaker 2: Look around in this room, god.
Speaker 2: Is there any you know?
Speaker 2: Do we do that?
Speaker 2: Or how about when we're driving on the road?
Speaker 2: When we see that person on the side of the road asking for money, do we turn up the radio ladder or look away?
Speaker 2: Look away, can it make eye contact?
Speaker 2: Or do we maybe keep some extra cash in the glove box so that we could maybe distribute that to the needs of the poor People?
Speaker 2: I even seen something recently on the news do not give to those people on the side of the road.
Speaker 2: They're all using it on drugs and it's a scam.
Speaker 2: You know, that may very well be, but I'm gonna tell you something right now.
Speaker 2: I promise you that when I look that person in the eye and give them that money, I give them that God's grace and His presence is there, and I believe that power is greater than the power of addiction and it's greater than any kind of deception.
Speaker 2: And that moment in contact of love and dignity that you can give to someone, when you call them brother or sister and give them a gift of love, can break any stronghold.
Speaker 2: And so how about, instead of us making excuses, why we shouldn't we look for those opportunities to really make an effect in people's lives?
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 2: So giving is a practice, and we want you to practice, we want you to get good at it, and so practice all the time.
Speaker 1: But I love what you asked us to do is not to stop here with the giving but to be such generous people, because we know God loves us and we know that God is gonna give us, continue to give us things so that we can continue to be generous, but that it includes people that are outside of maybe what we believe or how we would choose to live.
Speaker 1: It is this practice that opens our eyes to the humanity, to our brothers and sisters all around us.
Speaker 1: When we go to the text today, I'm excited because we've been in the book of Romans and there's a beautiful discourse.
Speaker 1: In the next few weeks too, I mean, I've loved what we've been talking about, about love, and in this particular chapter there's something really important because Paul is giving us a view of a community that is not maybe like the communities that we have experienced.
Speaker 1: And something that's a little disheartening for me is we've been trying this for 2,000 years and we still don't have it.
Speaker 1: But good news, there's more time to practice.
Speaker 1: I think that's the hope of it.
Speaker 1: Anything that we haven't done yet, that's okay.
Speaker 1: We just need more practice.
Speaker 1: We need to maybe bring in some coaches, maybe some special training on how to do this, but in the book of Romans.
Speaker 1: This is, for us, an incredible gift.
Speaker 1: Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is convenient for us.
Speaker 1: Strength is for service, not status.
Speaker 1: Each one of us needs to look after the good of people around us, asking ourselves how can I help?
Speaker 1: That's exactly what Jesus did.
Speaker 1: He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding other people's troubles, but he waited right in and helped out.
Speaker 1: I took on the troubles of the troubled is the way the scripture puts it.
Speaker 1: Even if it was written in scripture long ago, you can be sure it's written for us.
Speaker 1: God wants the combination of his steady, consistent calling and his warm personal counsel in scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next.
Speaker 1: May our dependability, steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so you will get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all, I know.
Speaker 1: Thank you, ms Carroll, because here's the hope for all of us.
Speaker 1: May the dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so you'll get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all.
Speaker 1: Isn't that a beautiful hope for us.
Speaker 1: This is how it's going to look, beloved, when we can get along with each other the way that Jesus gets along with us.
Speaker 1: I think that's a little bit unfair, I do.
Speaker 1: I think the bar is really high, and it is.
Speaker 1: And God is not asking us to do it by himself, but through the power of spirit.
Speaker 1: Then we'll be a choir, not our voices only, but our very lives, singing in harmony with a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master, jesus.
Speaker 1: So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory.
Speaker 1: Jesus did it, now you do it.
Speaker 1: This is from the Message Translation.
Speaker 1: What a beautiful invitation for all of us.
Speaker 1: This is the verses that we're talking about.
Speaker 1: We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this, and we must not just please ourselves.
Speaker 1: I loved that in that first translation, he reminded us this truth Strength is just for service, and that is the part of this community that God is changing us, saying this any strength that you have, it's so that you can help someone else.
Speaker 1: It's not so that you could be a bully, so you could intimidate people, so you can get what you want.
Speaker 1: Any strength is for the common good.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't know about you, but I think somebody snuck into our Bible's research team and wrote this in it, because this wasn't in here before it was.
Speaker 1: I promise it's been in here the whole time.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, this is the first time hearing of this.
Speaker 2: I have not seen this demonstrated in my local church very often I've always seen the strength of people to bully and to get their way, you know, and in a male-dominated hierarchy.
Speaker 2: That's how it is.
Speaker 2: If I'm stronger than you, I will inflict my will upon you and Christ is coming and he in 2000 years ago.
Speaker 2: He's given an alternative message that maybe we still are not fully embracing.
Speaker 2: And the problem is, while we're trying to get this, the weak among us are being punished, are being neglected, are doing without, are bearing the burden and the brunt of our ignorance as a society, as leaders.
Speaker 2: You know, and this doesn't mean just a man in his strength or people economically that are stronger than other people.
Speaker 2: There are people culturally at advantages, or maybe just the luck of the jaw, the jobs that you've gotten, the things that you've been able to do have got you to the place where you can do more.
Speaker 2: And I've never really heard that message that I'm to take this and return this and that's the way I can honor God amen.
Speaker 2: Yeah and thank you, we're going to let you get all that stuff you want after church.
Speaker 2: Right now you're going to have to come sit down, buddy.
Speaker 1: In just a minute we're going to see that he's talking to us here about the glory of God, and what you offer is this the glory looks different than maybe we thought it would.
Speaker 1: Maybe we thought it was going to be all bright and shiny, but here's what the glory looks like.
Speaker 1: The glory looks like love among us.
Speaker 1: The glory looks like the weak being handled.
Speaker 1: The glory looks like grace for everyone.
Speaker 1: We who are strong must consider those who are sensitive about things like this, and you can go back and read what particular things they're sensitive about.
Speaker 1: It's about the fact that sometimes people don't worship the same way you do, that in this particular congregation there were people who didn't eat meat that was sacrificed to idols and there were other people who did, and it was causing division, and Paul is reminding people listen.
Speaker 1: The Church of Jesus Christ is about what we can agree on.
Speaker 1: That love is the way that Jesus is the way.
Speaker 1: You don't have to make our disagreements a thing that divide us.
Speaker 1: We can find common unity in the love of Christ that unites us.
Speaker 1: We should help each other do what is right and build them up in the Lord.
Speaker 1: This verse does not say you should judge each other for not doing the way that you think it should be done.
Speaker 1: That is one variation, but that's not what the original text says.
Speaker 1: We should help each other do what is right.
Speaker 1: What is right to love our neighbor as ourself.
Speaker 1: What is right to love God the way that God lives us.
Speaker 1: And then again, in the verses that are translated by the message, he said, to get along with people the way that Jesus does.
Speaker 1: That feels like I have a lot of work to do because I don't always get along with people the way that Jesus does.
Speaker 2: Let's look at that for a second, because there were times where he stood up, fashioned a whip and drove animals out of the sanctuary.
Speaker 2: A lot of people give that as a just to see.
Speaker 2: Jesus was ticked.
Speaker 2: I get ticked too.
Speaker 2: Jesus was calm enough to sit down and fashion a whip.
Speaker 2: How long do you think it takes to build a whip?
Speaker 2: When is the last time you built a whip?
Speaker 2: I don't know if Jesus was a professional whip builder.
Speaker 1: He may have been an unsung skill.
Speaker 2: But he is Jesus in all.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he made a good one and he was able to do it pretty quickly, but I don't think he did that.
Speaker 2: I'm so angry right now I'm going to make this whip that there was a very controlled authority that he took, and how else are you going to get animals out of there?
Speaker 2: It doesn't say he whipped people, he drove the animals out of there.
Speaker 2: Of course, you're going to need a whip to do that.
Speaker 2: So there's the appropriate level that we would need to approach something, and there's times where he stood up and he called people a pit of snakes.
Speaker 1: Those were not people that were outside.
Speaker 1: Those were people who professed to know God.
Speaker 2: And so imagine exactly, he wasn't just picking up oh you don't come to this church, you pile of snakes.
Speaker 2: He was talking to the people within there.
Speaker 2: So in saying that idea that we'd get along with one another, Jesus, doesn't mean that we're pacifists to the point that anything goes.
Speaker 2: There has to be a great inner strength in us to say look, here's where the boundaries are, but in love, doing that, where we don't cross that line into anger or into meanness and all of that, but that we still are able to do that.
Speaker 2: But there is probably for most of us, there's going to be a call to say a lot less than you think about saying Come on me.
Speaker 2: And Carol said amen.
Speaker 2: It's funny because just the other day someone said to me I can't believe the stuff you say, and I said no, what you shouldn't be able to believe is the stuff I didn't say.
Speaker 2: Because of all the stuff you think I said, there was so much I could have said and this filter did all that before you heard that stuff.
Speaker 2: And so God's working us all, but you know what, as much as he's working on Carol and I to tone it down, I think some of you he's working on you to go.
Speaker 2: It's time to speak on behalf of what the Lord would have you say Amen.
Speaker 2: And so look at that.
Speaker 2: What would it mean to have a relationship like Jesus?
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be cutting in my remarks, it's just passive, aggressive thing.
Speaker 2: Jesus was not passive aggressive and he was loving and he was a servant.
Speaker 2: And if I would approach my relationships in that place of service, amen.
Speaker 1: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
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Speaker 1: You mentioned the temple, and now I have to talk about that story.
Speaker 1: It wasn't on the.
Speaker 2: That's how you get the notes the things we're going to talk about.
Speaker 1: It's not in the notes, but it's really important that we say this because you did mention it and it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: But Jesus was so upset with the fact that people were being kept out of the temple.
Speaker 1: In fact, as he's doing this, what he's saying is my father's house will be a house of prayer for all nations, not just people who are like us.
Speaker 1: And you won't be able just to come to my father's house and buy the right animals for sacrifice.
Speaker 1: Jesus was like no, all of that out.
Speaker 1: What is allowed here is prayer.
Speaker 1: What is allowed here is communion.
Speaker 1: What is allowed here is a conversation with all people.
Speaker 1: And so Jesus is reasoning behind this demonstration that he does and it says and then he sat down and taught the people.
Speaker 1: After the animals are driven out, jesus sits down and teaches the people.
Speaker 1: And so there is for us, an understanding that this is a theatrical, beautiful reminder for us that the way that the temple was happening is not the way that God had intended it.
Speaker 1: And Jesus was there saying let me tell you how it really is my father's house will be a house of prayer for all nations.
Speaker 2: I can speak with great authority on bursting out in anger and then feeling stupid.
Speaker 2: As an expert, I can tell you there's no way you would burst out in an anger, wrath and then be comfortable to sit and teach people, because when you do it, after you do it, you feel stupid and you want to go hide.
Speaker 2: It would have said Jesus went away for a little while because he felt dumb about whipping out everybody.
Speaker 2: There's not a burst of anger here.
Speaker 2: There's a great theatrical demonstration and scholars really believe that what he was doing was he was saying the entire system of rule and government I am doing away with and I'm presenting a new way.
Speaker 2: And for 2,000 years he is presenting to us a new way and we keep wanting to go to the old way.
Speaker 2: We want the king, we want the ruler.
Speaker 2: Even now, christians are gathering together.
Speaker 2: Who are we going to vote for?
Speaker 2: Because we want our guy in there.
Speaker 2: And Jesus said back then because they were saying to him Jesus, well, you know, you're going to run, you're going to run, I want to be in the cabinet, I want to be there.
Speaker 2: And he's like you.
Speaker 2: Don't miss, you're missing the point.
Speaker 1: It's not a kingdom of this world.
Speaker 2: Let me grab a basin and towels and let me show you one more time what we're to do.
Speaker 2: You want to overturn a government?
Speaker 2: You do it with a towel and a basin.
Speaker 2: You don't do it with trying to put your guy in place Now.
Speaker 2: I'm not against you voting.
Speaker 2: You're conscious in your heart, but I'm telling you it's never going to produce what you want it to, because it's still a system that is broken.
Speaker 2: And Jesus, when he went into there, he was demonstrating that I want to bring a new way and I believe it's still possible on this earth.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 2: A lot of people say, oh, that's metaphorically for heaven and nothing's going to change.
Speaker 2: Listen, no, listen.
Speaker 2: There is already such changes.
Speaker 2: Slavery was common in the Bible days and now it's appalling.
Speaker 2: There were things that were accepted that now we're, as a species, we're recognizing it's wrong.
Speaker 2: One day, you know, maybe one day in the church people will actually recognize women as preachers.
Speaker 2: Imagine that.
Speaker 1: That could be.
Speaker 1: I could see it coming.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: I can see it on the horizon we're being tested.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: And I believe that Jesus has come to set us free for, and not least of which would be a complete new system, in a way that the weak are honored and cared for and the strength of those that have it are given and distributed in a way that serves and honors and reflects who our God is.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: And even Christ did not live to please himself, as the scriptures say.
Speaker 1: The insults of those who insult you, oh God, have fallen on me.
Speaker 1: Such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled.
Speaker 1: May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you to live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus Beloved.
Speaker 1: Division is not fitting for those who are followers of Christ Jesus, unity is a mark of love and there is this hope in all of us understanding this beautiful prayer.
Speaker 1: May God give us patience and encouragement, and may we live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: What is this glory that we're giving?
Speaker 1: The glory that we're giving is unity.
Speaker 1: The glory that we're giving is tending to the weak.
Speaker 1: The glory that we're giving is living differently, and this beautiful picture is there is measurable steps that we can make.
Speaker 1: I think sometimes, when we consider our spirituality, sometimes people give us ideas but it doesn't feel like how can I actually make that work in my life?
Speaker 1: How will it matter to my neighbors Beloved?
Speaker 1: This is the way Love is, the way, the love that comes from within, when we know that we're ones loved by God, that changes the way that we see our neighbors and that the very fact we do see our neighbors.
Speaker 1: Have you paid attention to your neighbors, to the people around you, to those that are suffering, or have we practiced our privilege in looking away?
Speaker 1: And this is what the scripture is telling us Listen when we're all one, when there's unity.
Speaker 2: This is the voice that gives glory to God, the Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, you know, and it even says right there, with one voice, and it's communicating that idea of unity, and unity is something that we should strive for and it gives such glory to God.
Speaker 2: The Bible says that unity is where he commands a blessing, you know.
Speaker 2: And for unity, I don't think that we value it in our relationships, in our communities and in the things we do for the power that it provides.
Speaker 2: Heather and I stumbled on something, just by reading books and maybe me working at the treatment center or something like that, but it was, I remember, when I worked at the treatment center with those troubled youth and it was, and they said that don't let those kids split the staff.
Speaker 2: And what that would mean would be, you know, if one staff member said, no, you can't take the food in the room, then go to another staff and he says, well, you know, she said you split the staff.
Speaker 2: And so Heather and I kind of approached our parenting don't split the staff.
Speaker 2: If Heather and I disagreed about something, we decided we'd go off privately and talk about that, but we would present to our children a unified front.
Speaker 2: And what we didn't realize is that we'd stumbled on to, in one fragment of our life, that we would have unity at all costs, and there was times where we would have heated discussions for hours or days together until we could arrive at a place of unity but for the peace that it provided for our homes.
Speaker 2: And why have that just in one area when you can have?
Speaker 2: But there's things in us that have to die our rebellion, our ego, our pride, you know.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we just decide, hey, that's the way everybody else is doing it.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do that for unity's sake, not to compromise, not to give up who I am as an individual, but to recognize.
Speaker 2: A very, very dear friend of mine came to this church and gave his heart to the Lord, but his family practiced in the Muslim faith and when his father passed away, he asked that what?
Speaker 2: I would come to the funeral, and I'd never been to anything like that.
Speaker 2: I didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 2: And all of a sudden we're outside it.
Speaker 2: Next thing, you know, all the men lined up and I was in the back, thankfully, because I didn't know the moves.
Speaker 2: I'm like the guy the first time at the place when they started doing line dancing.
Speaker 2: I'm not a country and Western guy.
Speaker 2: What now?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 2: And they were praying and they had it in unison, you know, and I could have stood there and said this is not my faith, this is not.
Speaker 2: I'm a Christian.
Speaker 2: You know Whatever?
Speaker 2: And you know what I said I'm gonna honor them.
Speaker 2: And you know what?
Speaker 2: I didn't.
Speaker 2: No Muslim got on me.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: I didn't all of a sudden lose my faith.
Speaker 2: I got in unity and that man came up to me and he said thank you for honoring my father, and he wept and I held him and you know there was a place of unity.
Speaker 2: That happened there and it's not compromise, it's just us willing to all.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm gonna go along with how we're doing things around here, you know, I'm gonna go ahead and submit that and it does something supernatural in your life and in your marriage and in your church and in your community.
Speaker 2: And imagine what that could do in all areas of your life where you might look wow, you know what I lack, that I don't allow that to happen at work, or maybe with my resources, or maybe, you know, with whatever raising children, you know, and so let's look at that and how that brings glory and honor to God.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: Therefore, accept each other, just as Christ has accepted you, so that God will be given the glory.
Speaker 1: This is the hope for all of us that we would accept the other just as Jesus accepted us, which was unconditionally, which was an incredible hope for the whole world, jesus coming and saying you know, even the week I had one of my.
Speaker 1: At some point in my life, in the parenting time, all of my children have been shorter than me.
Speaker 1: It's short lived.
Speaker 1: Silas is gonna pass me up by next year, but for a while my children were very, very small, as most children are.
Speaker 2: But I had one protein.
Speaker 2: Well, dave, never was Dave never was, but for Nathaniel.
Speaker 1: Nathaniel was tiny for a while and he insisted on walking everywhere.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you've ever walked with a very, very small person, but it just takes forever.
Speaker 1: I mean, it really does.
Speaker 1: You just pick him up and you could just go, get to where you're going.
Speaker 1: But he was insistent that he was gonna practice this walking and even though he was tiny, we were like it's gonna take 12 minutes, we're gonna get there.
Speaker 1: And Nathaniel's walking by himself.
Speaker 1: You know, like this idea of either we drag someone along so that we can go fast or we go, this is what he wants.
Speaker 1: Now I will tell you today he's an accomplished walker and it is fantastic and he walks very quickly, doesn't slow down anyone.
Speaker 1: But there is a hope for us in families that we would learn these things.
Speaker 1: Sometimes somebody wants to take it slow.
Speaker 1: Let them take it slow, beloved.
Speaker 1: Let them learn, let them practice.
Speaker 1: We don't all have to be rushing to the finish line.
Speaker 1: Unless we understand, the finish line is this that when we get there, that Jesus would say well done, good and faithful servant, because service is where it's all at for all of us.
Speaker 1: What strength do we have?
Speaker 1: One of the strengths that we can work on is our acceptance of others the same way that Jesus accepted them.
Speaker 1: Not accept them necessarily the way that you want to even be accepted.
Speaker 1: How did Jesus do it?
Speaker 1: Jesus said a feast, said a big table, and said everybody could come.
Speaker 1: Jesus said everyone can come home to the Father.
Speaker 1: I have a good Father, I would like for you to meet the Father.
Speaker 1: And Jesus said everybody gets to come to the feast that he has set for us.
Speaker 1: And so these practices in our own lives can look like.
Speaker 1: What does it look like for us to practice radical acceptance?
Speaker 1: What does it look like to practice radical, compassionate acceptance of yourself and say I am one deeply loved by God, not when I get it together, not when I've done all the things.
Speaker 1: Right now I am loved by God and allow that radical acceptance, the way that we accept ourselves to be the radical acceptance of neighbor.
Speaker 1: And what does it look like for us to say how would Jesus live my life if Jesus were here on the earth right now?
Speaker 2: When I went to Bible school I got together to this other kid and we put together this band it was kind of a hard rock band, you imagine that called Salt Shakers and me and him was following after God and these other kids weren't.
Speaker 2: So we finally got.
Speaker 2: We wanted to get the other guys in the band to come to church.
Speaker 2: So they came to church and we were so happy we plopped them down the front row because that's the only seats that were available.
Speaker 2: So we get them there and the pastor proceeds to do about 10 or 20 minutes on why it's a shame for a man to have long hair.
Speaker 2: And so my friends sheepishly got up and said well, they're never going back to church again and everybody has their line.
Speaker 2: That pastor was loving and is accepting.
Speaker 2: Unless you were a man with long hair, then you're all going to hell.
Speaker 2: And here I was in Bible school with hair.
Speaker 2: I'd keep it up.
Speaker 2: So we all have our lines.
Speaker 2: And so when you think about that, what did Jesus say to you?
Speaker 2: Well, you can come to me, but you've got to get all that stuff fixed.
Speaker 2: Or did you come as you were and he just accepts you?
Speaker 2: Right, but we have a struggle with that we're like well, and we all have.
Speaker 2: Before you condemn that pastor, let's think who is your line, what behavior, what thing or whatever?
Speaker 2: And then I want you to begin to see yourself accepting the way Jesus would See yourself being that pastor and all of a sudden getting a revelation that maybe that's not as big a deal to Jesus and Jesus will worry about barber stuff.
Speaker 2: Let him handle that.
Speaker 2: And so apply that to whatever it is that might be your line and that's the way he accepted you, and so why don't we mirror that in the way that we accept people?
Speaker 2: And if you think there's something they need to work out, well, then let him do that.
Speaker 2: He's a big God and he's been doing it for quite some time now.
Speaker 2: He's highly skilled in Godness and he can handle that.
Speaker 2: Amen, we don't need to help him with that.
Speaker 2: We just get the privilege, if we'll allow it, to just be ambassadors inviting.
Speaker 1: You tell that part of the story, and I am reminded that Jesus invited all these people to a table and they were going to eat together and one of the rules of their culture was you don't come to the table with dirty feet, because we're sitting next to each other.
Speaker 1: Here's the invitation come.
Speaker 1: And some of them had dirty feet and Jesus didn't then say to them I'm sorry, you can't come with dirty feet.
Speaker 1: You know, culturally we can't do that.
Speaker 1: You know what Jesus did Got a basin and a towel and removed the very thing from them that prevented them from coming.
Speaker 1: And so what does it look like for us to practice that?
Speaker 1: What does it look like for us to say is anybody not welcome, because I'm going to make sure they are.
Speaker 1: I'm going to make sure they know there's a table that has been set by the Christ, but there are chairs next to me.
Speaker 1: What does it look like for us to say this is the practice of radical love, of inclusion, not just of the whole world and not of you.
Speaker 1: You, beloved, are also included as you are.
Speaker 1: And this is the practice for us, this self-emptying, co-suffering love that Jesus shows us, that we can acknowledge that for ourselves, that there is hope for us in this posture of service, in this posture of saying this is what will bring glory to God, not you getting it right and beloved.
Speaker 1: For those of us who want to get it right, I'm sorry that just is not going to work.
Speaker 1: We have to get it right in loving the world and in loving each other, and right is love.
Speaker 1: When love happens like it's supposed to, like Jesus shows us, the world changes.
Speaker 1: And this is hope for us.
Speaker 1: This is where we can anchor ourselves, because we all watch the news or we even look around at our city and we're like, oh feels like it's getting worse.
Speaker 1: Beloved, anchor yourself and your hope in love, that love wins.
Speaker 1: And when we, as the people of God, are fully immersed in love and we begin to practice the love that Jesus showed in the towel and basin, in giving himself, in bringing in, even bringing, emptying his own divinity and fully allowing himself to be human so he can experience this world, and then giving us the spirit Because, beloved, you're not asked to do any of this without God's own spirit.
Speaker 1: The life of Christ, that same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you, that ignition of resurrection and ascended life that's available and love is the way we practice listening to spirit.
Speaker 2: You know, yesterday Silas and I were driving through the forest to go over to Barrick's house and Silas just looked at this place and he goes whoo, that place is sketch.
Speaker 2: He goes something like yeah, I just get bad vibes from that place.
Speaker 2: And I looked at it and he was right.
Speaker 2: It was right for him to be skeptical of that establishment and I think about the gift, the discernment that he operates in as a young person to just know I don't want to go in that area.
Speaker 2: He said there was places in the forest that were beautiful but there was some stuff there and there's a gift for us that maybe we lose some of us and some of us are strong in it.
Speaker 2: But that sense of you know I can surround myself with this and I tell you, this week I had the misfortune of being somewhere where hours and hours they were playing the political radio and I got to tell you, no matter which side you stand on this, on all of the topics, I highly recommend do not listen to hours and hours of hate speech of any kind.
Speaker 2: Even if it backs up, it has an energy.
Speaker 2: Am I wrong, nathaniel?
Speaker 2: He just testified, brother, and what it was was like I don't care if you're right or wrong, it's not about.
Speaker 2: It's like there was such judgment in all the words, such sarcasm, such self-righteousness.
Speaker 2: I mean I'm just I'm talking about the energy, and so we ought to have the sense that Silas has that tend to go that sketch.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be around that.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 2: I'm going to allow my spirit to go places where it is elevated into what God has for me and not that negative.
Speaker 2: And so sometimes you get around people and I've heard it said now we're the minister to all people, but who you bring around in your circle?
Speaker 2: I've heard this said and I think it's true there's people that are adders, subtractors, multipliers and dividers, and they're all kinds of people and you love them all.
Speaker 2: But you know what you want to bring people in your inner circle that are adders and multipliers, the subtractors and dividers.
Speaker 2: They're our projects and they're our prayer focuses, amen.
Speaker 2: We love them, but you don't date them, you don't marry them, you don't.
Speaker 2: You know, come on, I'm preaching better than you're, amen.
Speaker 2: Help us, lord, to not allow ourselves to get drugged down.
Speaker 2: It's so much easier to be pulled down than it is to lift up.
Speaker 2: Just gravity, folks.
Speaker 1: But that's what love does for us, allows us the energy and the practice.
Speaker 1: This is what we're to do lift our neighbors up that all of us are to look at this and go.
Speaker 1: What does it look like for love to change the way that I view the world?
Speaker 1: Where can I find agreement?
Speaker 1: What can I believe with someone?
Speaker 1: For what can?
Speaker 1: Even if there's somebody who doesn't agree with you, you can both agree that change needs to happen.
Speaker 1: You can find agreement, brother.
Speaker 1: I've tried it.
Speaker 1: You can find agreement, even if it's we don't agree.
Speaker 1: I agree with you that we don't agree.
Speaker 1: There's agreement.
Speaker 2: there you can find it.
Speaker 1: And you can focus on those kind of things.
Speaker 1: But this is the practice of communion table, where we get to come together and we get to practice God's invitation to oneness.
Speaker 1: We get to practice God's invitation that we also would be like the early church, who had one heart, one love for each other.
Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
Speaker 1: If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg.