WEBVTT 00:00:01.179 --> 00:00:03.483 Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast. 00:00:03.483 --> 00:00:11.175 This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala Florida. 00:00:11.840 --> 00:00:12.583 Here's my mom and dad. 00:00:12.583 --> 00:00:13.387 Everybody, Goodbye. 00:00:14.381 --> 00:00:15.426 Bless, bless, bless. 00:00:15.426 --> 00:00:19.768 If you need to wrestle this morning, this is the place. 00:00:19.768 --> 00:00:20.471 I suspect. 00:00:20.471 --> 00:00:23.509 Who taught you how to wrestle with God? 00:00:23.509 --> 00:00:32.521 I think there needs to be a place this is more like a dojo than it is like a theater or a classroom where you do get to wrestle it out. 00:00:32.521 --> 00:00:39.003 But I want to remind you that your wrestling is not with someone who is angry with you, who is upset with you. 00:00:39.003 --> 00:00:41.869 Your wrestling comes like the wrestling of love. 00:00:42.271 --> 00:00:46.540 To be able to say this is what it looks like for love to be in this place. 00:00:46.540 --> 00:00:51.411 You are loved by God, completely and dearly as you are right now. 00:00:51.411 --> 00:01:01.604 The love of God does not change and so, as you remind yourselves this morning, as you come into the house of the Lord, you are loved and you are cherished. 00:01:01.604 --> 00:01:12.326 And may the potter craft us all into what we really are meant to be the true belongings, and may we be vessels of light and vessels of love. 00:01:12.326 --> 00:01:16.325 We're excited to be with you this week, the second week of Pentecost. 00:01:16.325 --> 00:01:18.789 I'm glad Pentecost isn't just only one week. 00:01:18.789 --> 00:01:21.909 Thank you, david, for ministering last week in Pentecost. 00:01:21.909 --> 00:01:35.924 I'm so grateful for that, and it is a joy to be able to have children who are growing up in the faith and turning into or they are already men and women full of grace and full of God. 00:01:36.344 --> 00:01:43.146 I'm one of the times as First Love Church is 25 years old, so when we began this church, our children were littles. 00:01:43.146 --> 00:01:57.069 And one of the times we came into church and there's always a lot of stuff for us to do beforehand and we noticed David had a stack of business cards that said First Love Church and then had the address, and this was before the web. 00:01:57.069 --> 00:01:57.891 The website wasn't on there. 00:01:57.891 --> 00:02:07.963 There was a telephone number and it said Pastor Dennis Drake, and David had taken his little pen and had crossed out Dennis Drake and wrote David Drake in all these little cards. 00:02:08.686 --> 00:02:38.544 And so how sweet, right, how beautiful to be able to say where's my place in the church, and so it was such a joy to be able to have him minister the word, and I was thinking, oh, as a little kid, when you came in, and on a regular basis we had to re-clothe him because he would be unclothed all the time, and so there was a joy for all of us when there's a certain point of maturity in someone who keeps their clothes on, and for you, you're welcomed in whatever state of immaturity you are, and we're gonna, together, remind you that there's a place to grow and to breathe. 00:02:38.544 --> 00:02:52.265 And so again, in this particular season in the Christian calendar, and in reminding ourselves what we're doing, we're listening to, we're learning how, and we're receiving the gift of God's own spirit, the Holy Spirit, with us. 00:02:53.128 --> 00:02:57.943 He went around handing those cards out to people and saying I'm Pastor David, if you need any help, just let me know. 00:02:57.943 --> 00:03:03.269 And I think that you know sometimes we wink at that. 00:03:03.269 --> 00:03:14.693 But from the time he was little he figured where could he find his spot and he trusted that if he offered it would be useful. 00:03:14.693 --> 00:03:19.070 And I remember one time there was a couple that ran our greeting. 00:03:19.070 --> 00:03:36.943 We used to have greeters back there and the couple was there every week greeting uh, until the the week that, uh, the husband johnny died and uh, we went through the funeral that week and then come sunday, uh, joan was standing in her spot. 00:03:36.943 --> 00:03:42.741 But it was very obvious, it's, that uh, it wasn't right, and so everybody kind of looked around. 00:03:42.741 --> 00:03:44.826 We're gonna tell her she didn't have to greet. 00:03:44.826 --> 00:03:46.230 Are we going to say something? 00:03:46.230 --> 00:03:46.951 What are we going to do? 00:03:46.951 --> 00:03:57.350 And before we knew it, a six-year-old David just walked up to her and said hey, I think I'm going to stand here and greet with you today, and so for the rest of the morning he did that. 00:04:00.927 --> 00:04:20.273 And there's something about us being able to just kind of be innocent and be open in our hearts to how God would use us, because it's not all about getting into the pulpit, it's about all those little things that you would do to kind of prepare you to be the kind of person that we would want to hear from you. 00:04:20.273 --> 00:04:29.072 Follow me, you can just be good at speaking or have something to say, but it doesn't mean that we want to or need to hear it. 00:04:29.072 --> 00:04:42.331 It's really from that place of service, and so I am grateful for my sons and my daughter and their contribution to the church and to all of you that make it happen when we're here and when we're not here. 00:04:42.331 --> 00:04:45.750 But it's nice to be able to go away and know that things are handled well. 00:04:45.750 --> 00:04:56.613 We preached at Pastor Wade's church and Julie's church in Claremont and spent the weekend with them and just kind of loved on them and encouraged them. 00:04:56.613 --> 00:04:59.829 That was their 15th anniversary of the church. 00:05:01.841 --> 00:05:05.488 And in November we'll be celebrating our 25th. 00:05:06.411 --> 00:05:07.271 Yeah, that's exciting. 00:05:07.271 --> 00:05:08.514 That's a real gift. 00:05:08.514 --> 00:05:12.744 Again, we are grateful for your presence here with us and for those of you who are online. 00:05:12.744 --> 00:05:43.992 We're grateful for that as well, for everyone who brings their gifts, for Amy, who brings us beautiful flowers every week, and I do hope that during the week because this is something that Pastor Dennis and I pray for you, as we do pray for you all the week, because this is something that Pastor Dennis and I pray for you, as we do pray for you all the time is that nature would testify to you of the goodness of your God, of your place in the creation story, of the frequency of God's love and how it is all around us, and the invitation to breathe into the peace, to breathe into the grace. 00:05:43.992 --> 00:05:52.651 This Pentecost season we started last week with Pentecost and this will be a time where we will listen to each other's stories. 00:05:52.651 --> 00:06:03.367 We'll listen to the stories in scripture and we'll practice learning how to listen to the Holy Spirit, to be with each other and to be attuned into God's Holy Spirit. 00:06:03.367 --> 00:06:10.488 What is it like for someone to help you to hear the Spirit for yourself, for you to hear the grace for yourself? 00:06:10.970 --> 00:06:27.747 It was more than 30 years ago that I was in the hospital in Tulsa, oklahoma, giving birth to Thomas, and I was in such exquisite pain that I forgot how to breathe and I mean, breathing is something you don't usually use your brain for. 00:06:27.747 --> 00:06:39.249 But in my pain, I began to hold my breath and in that pain, in in that breath holding, I began to not be able to breathe, something that my body could actually do. 00:06:39.249 --> 00:06:46.031 I became in my anxiety to be unable to do something that I was actually made to do. 00:06:46.031 --> 00:06:48.867 And people were panicking around me. 00:06:48.867 --> 00:06:52.649 Someone was shouting, saying get her some oxygen, and there was all these things. 00:06:52.649 --> 00:06:53.771 And a nurse walked in. 00:06:53.771 --> 00:07:00.947 She wasn't my nurse and she looked at me in that exquisite pain and in my inability to breathe and in everyone else's chaos. 00:07:00.947 --> 00:07:09.966 And she came right over to me and she put her hand right here at the side of my jaw and she said you and me, we're breathing together, breathe now. 00:07:09.966 --> 00:07:16.464 And when I couldn't think to breathe, she helped me breathe and so I began. 00:07:16.464 --> 00:07:23.245 She put her hand right here so I wouldn't be distracted with the crazy that was happening around, with the pain that was in me. 00:07:23.245 --> 00:07:26.406 She said we're going to breathe together, breathe now, breathe now. 00:07:26.406 --> 00:07:27.964 And I began to calm. 00:07:27.964 --> 00:07:29.264 Even the pain didn't leave. 00:07:29.264 --> 00:07:34.848 In fact, the baby was being born, the pain was essential, and so we didn't want that to happen. 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:49.189 But sometimes, as humans, we are in such exquisite pain that we forget the nearness of God, and what I needed was some woman's presence to come here and say together, we're going to do this, together, you can do this. 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:54.408 She did not breathe for me, but she gave me a remembrance, an ancient knowing. 00:07:54.408 --> 00:08:06.105 My body was made to be able to breathe, and this is what we see Jesus doing when he sees the disciples in rooms, locked doors, panicked that the same thing that happened to their friend was going to happen to them. 00:08:06.105 --> 00:08:07.884 In their exquisite fear. 00:08:07.884 --> 00:08:19.963 Jesus comes in and he says peace and he breathes on them and he says receive the Holy Spirit For each of us. 00:08:20.043 --> 00:08:42.836 This morning, whatever pain you are in, I want you to hear me say with me breathe, breathe in the Holy Spirit, breathe in the love, breathe in the goodness, because sometimes, when the world around us is chaotic, we forget to take that big breath of God. 00:08:42.836 --> 00:08:57.288 This is how we're made, this is the very beginning of us, this is the remembrance of us when God made woman, when he made man when he made mankind and he said he breathed into them, received God's own spirit. 00:08:57.288 --> 00:09:07.687 And so, during this season of Pentecost, together we remember that ancient breath, that beauty in saying we are not alone. 00:09:07.687 --> 00:09:21.125 Even in our pain we are not alone, we are together, the breath and the power and the creativity of god with us always who is that nurse for you? 00:09:22.730 --> 00:09:30.765 it can be, uh, pastors, it can be the church, it can be spiritual leaders and people that you have, and it's probably not going to be some book or some TV show you watch. 00:09:30.765 --> 00:09:36.287 It's going to be someone that knows you and can say to you, can really look you in the face. 00:09:36.287 --> 00:09:40.408 But I want that for you and I believe that's what our church really is. 00:09:40.408 --> 00:10:06.062 I think one of the greatest things happened to me not so much Heather and the kids I'm sorry that they had to experience it with me but I was let go from a church after six years of working at a church and it was probably one of the greatest things that happened to me because I was in the church world and you kind of get this idea that, boy, if you work at the church, that's going to be heavenly, you know, know, get away from the, the people, the world, just be with christians, and. 00:10:06.062 --> 00:10:17.883 But I tell you what, when I was let go from those, uh, those claws and knives that were in my back, it was actually a pretty good day, but uh, but I tell you, I went and I worked at at a. 00:10:17.883 --> 00:10:20.148 I started selling pianos, among other things. 00:10:20.148 --> 00:10:27.808 I did a bunch of jobs in that meantime, but I was selling pianos and I thought, well, you know, I'm I'm at the church anymore Now I'm among the heathens. 00:10:29.410 --> 00:10:41.335 And as I was among the heathens, I began to see the spirit in these people in a way that was stronger than many Christians I knew. 00:10:41.335 --> 00:10:49.029 And I thought well, that's funny, because I was always under the impression that the church gave these people the spirit. 00:10:49.029 --> 00:10:54.272 But it turns out they all already have the spirit. 00:10:54.272 --> 00:11:07.105 God gives us the spirit, and so when you decide to come in relationship with God, he fills you with his spirit, he gives you spirit. 00:11:07.105 --> 00:11:32.134 And so I began to realize that if we started church and that's what we did instead of us thinking that we're going to give the spirit, why don't we help the people that have the spirit, stir it, or come to know it and look at their faces and remind them, breathe in the Holy Spirit? 00:11:32.134 --> 00:11:50.854 You understand what I'm saying, you understand where I'm going with this, and I wonder if maybe you have thought the church is supposed to give you that spirit and then, consequently, you're the one who's very disappointed with church, because those leaders failed you, they broke your heart, they betrayed you. 00:11:50.854 --> 00:12:00.964 In some cases they, they weren't less than than honorable, uh, but maybe we put them in a place and asked them to do something they were never called to do. 00:12:00.964 --> 00:12:09.049 God's the one who gives the spirit, and but we all can be that nurse and come alongside and say remember to breathe. 00:12:09.049 --> 00:12:11.138 That nurse didn't breathe for Heather. 00:12:11.138 --> 00:12:13.845 That nurse didn't put the breath in her lungs. 00:12:13.845 --> 00:12:19.822 The nurse didn't provide any miracles other than remind her of the gift you know. 00:12:20.183 --> 00:12:56.847 And so I would really like and hope that as a church, we would help you come into that, and I believe that those people that I was calling heathens were living outside of the best that God had for them, but there was still a spark inside of them and that spark could be fanned into flames if we encourage them with the love of god and with the promises of god and not hand them dogma and and doctrines and that are cumbersome and burdensome and and and try to lace them with the religious things that hold us all back. 00:12:56.847 --> 00:13:02.405 But if we were encouraging them, and that's what I believe pentecost reminds us and when we celebrate it every year. 00:13:02.405 --> 00:13:08.645 So remember, wait a minute we're not people of knowledge, we're people of spirit. 00:13:08.645 --> 00:13:11.287 Now I've seen people with spirit and no knowledge. 00:13:11.287 --> 00:13:11.889 They're a nightmare. 00:13:14.563 --> 00:13:35.120 But I come to the church and I find most people so filled with knowledge and zero spirit and they're in many cases a nightmare, because it's the, the spirit that that we experience god and we follow god and we respond. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:59.110 You know, uh, and, and so I, I would challenge you that, while it's good to get understanding, I think as a church of jesus christ in general certainly in america, where I'm very familiar we have exalted knowledge and almost diminished experience, and god really has asked, uh, those things to walk hand in hand. 00:13:59.110 --> 00:14:07.003 They're, they're both pillars that the church is built on and so both are needful. 00:14:07.003 --> 00:14:25.955 And I've heard people say you know you can't base your spirituality on your experiences, and I believe that, but in that they have diminished experience to be something that we've maybe fallen asleep on expecting or looking for. 00:14:25.955 --> 00:14:28.235 And I tell you that is the spice. 00:14:28.876 --> 00:14:41.501 I mean, I have a marriage license but I really enjoy experiencing my marriage with Heather On days when we're pleasant with each other. 00:14:41.501 --> 00:14:45.547 There are other days when we remember that there are good days. 00:14:45.668 --> 00:14:46.248 She enjoyed that. 00:14:46.248 --> 00:14:50.333 Yesterday I apologized to her by saying I wasn't pleasant with you and she goes. 00:14:50.333 --> 00:14:51.095 That's what you call it. 00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:57.301 That's cute. 00:14:57.301 --> 00:14:58.083 That's a cute little word. 00:14:58.083 --> 00:15:02.780 Wasn't Bless for all of us in all of the ways we are unpleasant with the world, in all of the ways that we forgot who we were or we forgot to be able to breathe? 00:15:02.780 --> 00:15:04.563 This is the season of Pentecost. 00:15:04.563 --> 00:15:08.471 It is our joy to be with you here and to remind you of these things. 00:15:08.471 --> 00:15:09.472 I'm going to go. 00:15:09.472 --> 00:15:21.705 If we could talk about all the scripture that reminds us of what the spirit is, we would not have the time, and so I am going to give you a little bit, and then you are going to listen to the spirit who is going to speak to you Because one of the things that Jesus said. 00:15:21.705 --> 00:15:23.870 I'm going to go back and forth, back and forth here. 00:15:23.870 --> 00:15:24.691 We're going to go to John. 00:15:24.691 --> 00:15:28.067 For this reason, in fact, it's best for you that I go away. 00:15:28.067 --> 00:15:30.187 I would have stopped Jesus right there. 00:15:32.321 --> 00:15:32.884 I think, it's not. 00:15:33.125 --> 00:15:33.647 I think it's not. 00:15:33.647 --> 00:15:38.586 I know you think that it is, or someone told you that it was, but I would like to keep you here with me always. 00:15:40.010 --> 00:15:40.312 Right. 00:15:45.059 --> 00:15:45.923 But if I don't go, the advocate won't come. 00:15:45.923 --> 00:15:55.791 So if I do go away, then I will send him to you and when he comes he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. 00:15:55.791 --> 00:16:00.147 Side note on this we have the Holy Spirit. 00:16:00.147 --> 00:16:02.508 We have God's own spirit. 00:16:02.508 --> 00:16:06.451 We have the spirit that is capable of raising Jesus from the dead. 00:16:06.451 --> 00:16:17.653 This is the spirit of God that is coming, that is living in each one of us, and the spirit's job is to convict the world of the illusion of sin, of this separation. 00:16:17.653 --> 00:16:23.250 Convict the world and tell the world how there is a restorative judgment coming. 00:16:23.250 --> 00:16:24.072 That is not our job. 00:16:24.072 --> 00:16:26.288 That is the job of the Holy Spirit. 00:16:26.288 --> 00:16:29.149 Our job is to receive the Spirit. 00:16:29.149 --> 00:16:42.440 Our job is to listen to the Spirit and our job is people who will surrender our thoughts so that the love of God that we're going to read about in Romans, that is already shed abroad in your heart through Christ Jesus. 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:48.293 That love that is already there is something that we live on and breathe out of. 00:16:49.720 --> 00:16:53.110 The world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me. 00:16:53.110 --> 00:16:57.845 Righteousness is available because I go to the Father and you will see me. 00:16:57.845 --> 00:17:03.047 No more Judgment will come, because the ruler of this world has already been judged. 00:17:03.047 --> 00:17:07.807 There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. 00:17:07.807 --> 00:17:12.965 I would have been super disappointed. 00:17:12.965 --> 00:17:14.570 I really would have been. 00:17:14.570 --> 00:17:44.568 I would have been like, but I want to know, and do you hear the ego in that and not the precious spirit who says I trust you to tell me, when I can bear it, how gentle a shepherd we have to be able to say I would give you more to know, but it's too much for you, how gentle a shepherd we have, how good a father, how beautiful a holy parent we have who will not give us too much. 00:17:44.568 --> 00:17:46.645 You cannot bear it now. 00:17:47.201 --> 00:17:48.444 You know, this reminds us that. 00:17:48.444 --> 00:17:51.042 You know, the revelation. 00:17:51.042 --> 00:17:58.270 Knowledge is progressive, you know, and it takes a lifetime, I believe, for us. 00:17:58.270 --> 00:18:16.380 You know, I know that when I first became a Christian, you know, certainty was what I was looking for and I wanted to know, like, what was right and what was wrong so I could do it, and I wanted certainty. 00:18:16.380 --> 00:18:21.451 And so, you know, I found the things in Scripture that I thought would give me. 00:18:21.451 --> 00:18:40.101 That, you know, and I think you know for us, and you know many of us, you might have found yourself there, you might still find yourself there, but since that's not a thing that we're promised, he said that you know whether abased or abound, and all. 00:18:40.101 --> 00:18:40.843 You know those things. 00:18:40.843 --> 00:18:44.557 You can have peace, but it doesn't mean that you're not gonna. 00:18:44.557 --> 00:18:45.035 In this world there will be tribulations. 00:18:45.035 --> 00:18:45.174 You know those things. 00:18:45.174 --> 00:18:45.575 You can, you can have, uh, peace, but it doesn't mean that you're not gonna. 00:18:45.575 --> 00:18:47.236 In this world there will be tribulations. 00:18:47.236 --> 00:18:59.262 You know there is going to be struggles and so, uh, I was looking for that magic bullet or or whatever, and, and for a while that that appeased me, that pursuit and the revelation that I was getting. 00:18:59.502 --> 00:19:10.345 But there came, there came a point when, oh when, when I have to, even when I can't see God's hand, I trust God's heart. 00:19:10.345 --> 00:19:19.570 When you can't sink your teeth into certainty, when you can't even seem to find a handle on your faith, that God has not left you. 00:19:19.570 --> 00:19:32.728 And there's a progression in my faith and there's a place where that helps me turn loose of my illusion of control that I think I can control my family. 00:19:32.728 --> 00:19:34.307 I think I can control my future. 00:19:34.307 --> 00:19:37.509 I think I can tell God what he needs to do in my life. 00:19:37.509 --> 00:19:39.286 How foolish of us. 00:19:39.286 --> 00:19:46.317 All of us need to learn to let go of that and really then trust the God of the universe. 00:19:46.317 --> 00:19:49.067 It sounds great in theory, but none of us want to do it in practice. 00:19:49.067 --> 00:19:55.391 To really trust the God of the universe with your next breath, yeah, that's great and all. 00:19:55.391 --> 00:19:58.019 But I still got to put some money in the 401k. 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:09.384 And I'm not saying, don't do that, but we tend to fall back on our certainties, don't we tend to to to fall back on our certainties, don't we? 00:20:09.384 --> 00:20:12.599 And uh, there's, there's this place of, of, of true that I I mean, I live in the natural and I'm called to this place of the spirit. 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:21.200 There's no certainty in that, there's no, fully understanding that there's no scripture that you're going to quote and all of a sudden it's all going to fall in line. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.868 There's always going to be that place of faith and trust. 00:20:24.868 --> 00:20:28.765 Amen, and I think you might even find that to be. 00:20:28.765 --> 00:20:38.653 There might be comfort in that discomfort, there might be knowing that I am growing, that God is revealing things to me that maybe I didn't know before. 00:20:38.653 --> 00:20:40.623 Amen, amen. 00:20:41.344 --> 00:20:46.974 There are beautiful spiritual practices that the church has given us that help us learn how to hear the Spirit. 00:20:46.974 --> 00:20:52.426 When the Spirit comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth. 00:20:52.426 --> 00:20:58.449 He will not speak on his own, but he will tell you what he has heard and he will tell you about the future. 00:20:58.449 --> 00:21:05.962 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me, all that belongs to the Father is mine. 00:21:05.962 --> 00:21:07.566 So Jesus is saying it's better that I go. 00:21:07.566 --> 00:21:17.490 You will receive a spirit and the spirit will teach you. 00:21:17.490 --> 00:21:29.583 The spirit will be your teacher, because you have a very specific life that is different than mine, and the things that help me may not be the same things that help you, and my path is different than yours. 00:21:29.583 --> 00:21:50.667 But together, as a family of God, we learn how to hear the Spirit, how to attune ourselves to the whisper of the Spirit who is leading us, who is with us always, who is inviting us into the co-creation that is happening between the kingdom that is coming and the one that we already have and so beloved. 00:21:50.667 --> 00:21:55.664 It is a beautiful invitation to learn how to hear the spirit of God. 00:21:55.664 --> 00:22:06.314 I will tell you one of my favorite practices, and it's recent, but it has brought me such awe and I just remind you that awe is really what's needed for worship. 00:22:06.314 --> 00:22:09.446 But I'm not going to tell you, I'm going to rewind it. 00:22:09.446 --> 00:22:10.611 I'm not going to say you should. 00:22:10.611 --> 00:22:19.445 I'm going to invite you to sign up for updates from the James Webb Telescope and you should? 00:22:19.445 --> 00:22:21.145 No, I'm going to rephrase that. 00:22:21.145 --> 00:22:21.567 Help me. 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:33.509 It would behoove you to look at the galaxies, to stand in awe of the creation of God. 00:22:33.509 --> 00:22:37.756 How incredible it is to look at the heavens. 00:22:37.756 --> 00:22:38.560 Beloved. 00:22:38.560 --> 00:22:49.690 If you need to find that place in spirit that is quickening you, that is reviving you, that is giving you direction, step outside, even into the Florida heat. 00:22:49.690 --> 00:22:51.988 I will tell you, the spirit will meet you there in the fire. 00:22:51.988 --> 00:22:53.585 I know this. 00:22:53.585 --> 00:23:14.410 But go out in the cool of the morning or in the cool of the evening and be able to watch the trees and to be able to listen to this and let God's own creation witness and testify of your place here and of God's care for all the things that are around us. 00:23:14.410 --> 00:23:16.634 There is a holy witness to us. 00:23:16.634 --> 00:23:31.829 The scriptures are a witness to us of Jesus, but the spirit we have been given, god's own spirit, each one of us, alive, creation inside of us, offering us comfort, guidance, truth. 00:23:31.829 --> 00:23:41.680 This is the promise of Jesus and this is why Jesus said it's better for you that I am not here, because you will contain me, the Spirit of God. 00:23:43.476 --> 00:23:46.705 Are you familiar with church history at all to know anything about Martin Luther? 00:23:46.705 --> 00:24:00.321 Martin Luther wrote a thesis of 97 things that he thought were wrong with the church and nailed it to the doors. 00:24:00.321 --> 00:24:06.266 And he was saying I want to have a discussion, but at that time stuff like that got you beheaded. 00:24:06.266 --> 00:24:10.625 So you ever ask yourself, like what was going? 00:24:10.625 --> 00:24:12.134 Or is he just a church history person? 00:24:12.134 --> 00:24:16.778 Or do you ever think about what would cause him to stand up against the entire church? 00:24:16.778 --> 00:24:19.926 That's amazing. 00:24:19.926 --> 00:24:21.136 It's the Holy Spirit. 00:24:21.136 --> 00:24:23.723 But I mean, would anyone do that today? 00:24:23.723 --> 00:24:46.008 You know, and I was talking to a young lady that attends our church and she was saying in school she went to kind of like a goofy um Christian school that had some weird doctrine and they would like say to her you know, you have to believe this doctrine, and as a little girl she'd be like well, you know, I appreciate what you're saying, but I disagree with it. 00:24:46.008 --> 00:24:46.930 And do you ever think of this? 00:24:46.930 --> 00:24:52.815 And it'd make the teacher steaming because they couldn't answer her questions. 00:24:52.815 --> 00:24:57.188 You went to that same school, I think. 00:24:57.188 --> 00:25:09.042 So then these two that I'm speaking of now all of a sudden are made to feel like an outcast and begin to question themselves. 00:25:09.042 --> 00:25:10.006 But they're just, they have a knowing, you know. 00:25:10.006 --> 00:25:11.811 Now, all of a sudden, are made to feel like an outcast and begin to question themselves. 00:25:11.811 --> 00:25:12.634 But they're just, they have a knowing. 00:25:12.634 --> 00:25:16.397 You know that I shouldn't step in, that there's just a common sense there. 00:25:16.718 --> 00:25:23.202 And then, even when these people are preaching and they're like you've got to believe this, and here's what's happening, most people will go along. 00:25:23.202 --> 00:25:26.726 There's a study, a controlled study, and they'll go. 00:25:26.726 --> 00:25:35.451 They'll have two lines a line that stops here and a line that stops here and 19 people are in on it and one person's not. 00:25:35.451 --> 00:25:40.750 And they'll have the 19 people come up and they'll say this line is taller than this line. 00:25:40.750 --> 00:25:42.461 And you can see it's not. 00:25:42.461 --> 00:25:46.566 But 19 people will come up and say this line is taller. 00:25:46.566 --> 00:25:56.746 And then, when they come up to the subject, they'll walk up and almost always say line A was taller, even when they know beyond the shadow of a doubt line B was taller. 00:26:01.479 --> 00:26:02.481 That's just how we are. 00:26:03.103 --> 00:26:31.041 We don't want to be wrong, we don't want to rock the boat, we don't want to make people uncomfortable and I'm wondering why it is that certain people just have that ability to just say this is not right and those people need to help us and teach us, and we need to be around people like that, otherwise we become the people that will stand up and swear that a line is not as tall as the other, you know, just because we want to get along. 00:26:31.041 --> 00:27:03.499 And so there's something here that I want you to kind of see that the Spirit speaks to us, and sometimes we train ourselves to ignore the Spirit and we need to be trained to respond, and that happens through us experiencing other people and watching their lives and for them to encourage us and look us in the face and remind us in the toughest time breathe, we can trust God. 00:27:03.499 --> 00:27:14.502 Now it's great to say I trust God in smooth sailing, but when the storm is going and the boat looks like it's gonna sink, can you lay down on a pillow and fall asleep then? 00:27:15.115 --> 00:27:18.823 We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today. 00:27:18.823 --> 00:27:24.262 If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? 00:27:24.262 --> 00:27:29.886 This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. 00:27:29.886 --> 00:27:42.461 If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg, reminding you to like, follow and subscribe. 00:27:42.682 --> 00:27:51.346 I think one of the powers of Pentecost and one of the things that we forget or don't remember is that the miracle of Pentecost is in the hearing. 00:27:51.346 --> 00:27:57.278 Every time you hear someone and really hear them, you hear their heart. 00:27:57.278 --> 00:27:59.025 You've experienced Pentecost. 00:27:59.025 --> 00:28:11.143 Every time you are heard, you are participating in Pentecost, and there is for us a practice in holy listening, for us to be people who listen to the Holy Spirit of God. 00:28:11.143 --> 00:28:20.586 The Spirit makes our hearing possible, not just the ability to capture sounds, but to be able to really, truly understand. 00:28:20.586 --> 00:28:23.499 This is the message of reconciliation. 00:28:23.499 --> 00:28:26.106 This is the good news of the gospel. 00:28:26.106 --> 00:28:34.027 In fact, all of the scriptures that we will look at in this time of Pentecost is of people who have to go beyond their natural borders. 00:28:34.027 --> 00:28:40.423 In fact, peter, filled with the Spirit, says let me tell you, these people are not drunk, as you suppose. 00:28:40.423 --> 00:28:47.097 This is what was prophesied by the prophet Joel when he said in the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. 00:28:47.097 --> 00:28:51.029 Your sons and your daughters will prophesy Again. 00:28:51.029 --> 00:28:56.525 There is a distinction there between sons and daughters, who we honor, who we elevate. 00:28:56.525 --> 00:29:06.016 And Joel said, and Peter says the exact same thing no, in the day that God's spirit is poured out on everyone, all the distinctions are gone. 00:29:06.016 --> 00:29:10.787 And so Peter has to continue to hear these things because he doesn't really believe it. 00:29:11.067 --> 00:29:20.564 A little bit later in the story, he's on the rooftop praying and an angel appears to him and visions appear to him, and then people come to the door and say please come. 00:29:20.564 --> 00:29:23.984 And he has to go to the house of a Gentile which is against all the rules. 00:29:23.984 --> 00:29:32.301 And he gets there and he's going to save the Gentiles because he has an idea that they need to be saved and they need to hear this good news and they need to change from who they are. 00:29:32.301 --> 00:29:34.902 And he begins to talk and the Holy Spirit interrupts him. 00:29:34.902 --> 00:29:54.018 And I want to tell you the Holy Spirit, who is so good, is readily to interrupt you and ready to say you know where you've placed those boundaries. 00:29:54.018 --> 00:29:54.378 It's us and them. 00:29:54.378 --> 00:29:56.244 The Holy Spirit's going to just absolutely destroy those, because love is a reconciliation. 00:29:56.244 --> 00:29:59.275 God is love and God's incredible, radical love, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is what changes our way of being heard and of hearing other people. 00:29:59.275 --> 00:30:00.778 And over and over again we'll see this. 00:30:01.057 --> 00:30:04.785 We'll see this Ethiopian eunuch who is on the side of the road. 00:30:04.785 --> 00:30:11.334 Here is a person outside of the norm and because of this sexual it's something that actually happened to him. 00:30:11.334 --> 00:30:12.940 Nobody makes themselves a eunuch. 00:30:12.940 --> 00:30:20.182 Somebody had decided this had happened and he was changed and because of that he was kept out of the temple. 00:30:20.182 --> 00:30:21.644 He was not allowed to be in. 00:30:21.644 --> 00:30:22.887 He's on the side of the road. 00:30:22.887 --> 00:30:23.857 There's an actual miracle. 00:30:23.857 --> 00:30:26.405 Philip, just absolutely like drops in from outer space. 00:30:27.336 --> 00:30:29.042 We were talking the other day about time travel. 00:30:29.042 --> 00:30:31.824 I think Philip has already experienced that. 00:30:31.824 --> 00:30:41.781 But he's there by the side of the road and this person is already studying the scripture and Philip sees it and says, oh, I see that you're studying this and do you want information? 00:30:41.781 --> 00:30:51.708 And the eunuch just asks him and says, hey, is there any reason why I can't be baptized? 00:30:51.708 --> 00:30:55.095 Is there any reason why I can't be a part of this family. 00:30:55.095 --> 00:31:01.394 Is there any reason why I cannot experience this life? 00:31:01.494 --> 00:31:02.938 According to their culture, there was. 00:31:02.938 --> 00:31:05.825 According to all the rules that were there, there absolutely was. 00:31:05.825 --> 00:31:14.861 And Philip said, by the Holy Spirit, oh, I see no reason at all. 00:31:14.861 --> 00:31:17.391 Sometimes the Holy Spirit will, inspired by the Spirit, say those lines that are between us absolutely not. 00:31:17.391 --> 00:31:17.771 They're not. 00:31:17.771 --> 00:31:21.362 And miraculously by water in the desert, and he's baptized. 00:31:21.362 --> 00:31:39.426 And so, over and over again, through this time of Pentecost, we will see the expansion of love, the expansion of spirit, the expansion of reconciliation, all God's people being redeemed, being able to hear the message and being loved and brought in. 00:31:39.426 --> 00:31:45.384 Our faith in Jesus transfers God's righteousness to us and he declares us flawless in his eyes. 00:31:45.384 --> 00:31:46.165 Let me talk. 00:31:46.586 --> 00:31:51.304 I just want what I want to piggyback on what you were saying, because I really want us to land on that idea. 00:31:51.304 --> 00:32:11.021 Pentecost, one of the major miracles is we talk about how they stood up and they began to speak and everyone that was in the city heard, you know, within their hearing, heard them speak in their native tongue, and so you know, within their hearing, heard them speak in their native tongue, and so you know, a lot of people will talk about you know. 00:32:11.021 --> 00:32:13.086 We kind of narrow it down. 00:32:13.086 --> 00:32:16.240 Well then, there's only two ways for the Holy Spirit to move. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:42.643 It's like, you know, either in the miracle of you speak and you speak in a language that you don't know but the people can hear it, or you speak in an unknown language and you edify yourself to God, and so then we kind of like, then we kind of spin off into distraction, and I think Heather really brought up a point that that's super profound and I kind of want to say it again, that the miracle can be. 00:32:42.643 --> 00:32:52.686 It was in the hearing that they heard it, so could that miracle already have happened to you before or be happening to you, or could happen to you if you learn to expect it. 00:32:53.015 --> 00:32:53.656 I'll tell you something. 00:32:53.656 --> 00:33:02.565 I had somebody come up to the to me and they just kind of tied into me about how mad they were of of what I did. 00:33:02.565 --> 00:33:11.798 And they were just going to leave the church and they're kind of insulting, you know, and pointing out my flaws and they are many, and I don't like to think about them and I don't like to be listed to me. 00:33:11.798 --> 00:33:23.159 But it was so weird that like right in the middle of it, I realized, oh man, what they're doing is they're just trying to reject me because they're afraid of being rejected. 00:33:23.159 --> 00:33:28.199 And so, after all those hurting things, they said I wanted to defend them all, but instead I didn't defend any. 00:33:28.199 --> 00:33:30.325 When they finished talking, I said I said that. 00:33:30.325 --> 00:33:37.857 I said I think you're just, you know, worried that that maybe I'm going to reject you and so you're just wanting to reject me first. 00:33:37.857 --> 00:33:40.204 And I want you to know I love you and I will always love you. 00:33:40.204 --> 00:33:46.388 And that person just melted in tears in my arms And've to this day have an incredible relationship. 00:33:46.775 --> 00:33:53.932 Well, what had happened was that I heard what they said, but I didn't. 00:33:53.932 --> 00:33:55.256 I heard it in a different language. 00:33:55.256 --> 00:33:57.000 I heard what was really being said. 00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:00.498 Do you understand what I mean Now, how many times has that happened with your children? 00:34:00.498 --> 00:34:03.686 Or how many times has that not happened with your children? 00:34:03.686 --> 00:34:08.907 And your wife said hey, dennis, your daughter's up in that room crying. 00:34:08.907 --> 00:34:11.322 And I said no, we had a great exchange. 00:34:11.322 --> 00:34:15.177 I'm sure I'm father of the year and she goes. 00:34:15.177 --> 00:34:17.043 If you go up there, that girl's going to be crying. 00:34:17.043 --> 00:34:19.161 And I go, I'm going to go prove you wrong. 00:34:19.161 --> 00:34:23.686 I knock on the door and her face is buried in the pillow Are you sleeping? 00:34:23.686 --> 00:34:32.340 Pulled back and it's wet with tears. 00:34:32.380 --> 00:34:41.862 And she heard the voice, the interpretation, that understanding, the insight that I needed, and it was revealed to me that was a work of the holy spirit. 00:34:41.862 --> 00:34:47.797 Thank god for pentecost, thank God for our parenting, thank God for your having the understanding at work. 00:34:47.797 --> 00:34:51.025 How did you know that those things needed to be adjusted? 00:34:51.025 --> 00:34:56.105 How did you know that this was something that would help in your marriage, in your relationship? 00:34:56.105 --> 00:34:57.496 How did you know that? 00:34:57.496 --> 00:35:00.603 Well, the, the Spirit of God speaks. 00:35:00.722 --> 00:35:09.788 And then I begin to train myself and learn either to push away those thoughts and those voices you know, or or to recognize oh, that was the Holy Spirit. 00:35:09.788 --> 00:35:12.523 I can trust the Holy Spirit. 00:35:12.523 --> 00:35:18.867 And there's all kinds of bad doctors like well you know, if you, you know, don't listen to the Holy Spirit, that's it. 00:35:18.867 --> 00:35:22.545 You're going to scar your heart and never be able to hear God again. 00:35:22.545 --> 00:35:25.762 God's going to wait until the next time, because you are loved. 00:35:25.762 --> 00:35:39.097 He doesn't parent you that way, and for us it is important to repent and to recognize oh, that was the Holy Spirit all day yesterday telling me to put that stuff in my car. 00:35:39.097 --> 00:35:44.262 And now today I'm in that problem and I think to myself three times. 00:35:46.420 --> 00:35:48.465 God told me to put those jumper cables in the car. 00:35:48.465 --> 00:35:50.864 I looked at them when I was in my shop and I was walking by. 00:35:50.864 --> 00:35:57.940 And now I'm standing out here with my battery dead and people saying I'd jump your car. 00:35:57.940 --> 00:35:59.264 But I don't have jumper cables. 00:35:59.264 --> 00:36:01.641 Neither do I because I listen. 00:36:01.641 --> 00:36:06.246 Now God's not punishing me, but that's a perfect opportunity to go. 00:36:06.246 --> 00:36:16.625 Next time, when I get that nudge, I'm going to respond and I'm going to train myself to hear, because it might not be jumper cables next time. 00:36:16.625 --> 00:36:22.206 It might be a life preserver that saves someone's life, amen. 00:36:22.206 --> 00:36:42.557 And so it is important for us to train and be around people that believe this way and talk this way, because, you know, if we're just getting our heads filled with knowledge and we're not experiencing the god that leads us in this fantastic manner, we miss the glory and power of being followers of christ. 00:36:42.557 --> 00:36:46.628 We do ourselves to just some student that's working on a book. 00:36:46.628 --> 00:36:51.780 Oh, we're followers of the living God. 00:36:51.780 --> 00:36:52.242 Amen. 00:36:53.862 --> 00:36:59.538 Our faith in Jesus transfers God's righteousness to us, and he now declares us flawless in his eyes. 00:37:03.568 --> 00:37:04.070 Read that again. 00:37:04.195 --> 00:37:05.300 Intentional pause. 00:37:05.300 --> 00:37:12.784 There's much to discuss this morning morning, but I just want to remind you this is the truth you are flawless in God's eyes. 00:37:12.784 --> 00:37:21.675 You might not even be flawless in your own eyes, but in God's eyes, flawless flawless. 00:37:21.675 --> 00:37:30.947 This means we can now enjoy true and lasting peace with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, has done for us. 00:37:30.947 --> 00:37:39.605 Our faith guarantees us permanent access into this marvelous kindness that has given us a perfect relationship with God. 00:37:39.605 --> 00:37:47.807 What incredible joy bursts forth within us as we keep on celebrating our hope of experiencing God's glory. 00:37:48.434 --> 00:37:49.498 But that's not all. 00:37:49.498 --> 00:37:57.704 Even in times of trouble, we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us a patient endurance. 00:37:57.704 --> 00:38:00.795 And patient endurance will refine our character. 00:38:00.795 --> 00:38:03.844 And proven character leads us back to hope. 00:38:03.844 --> 00:38:17.025 And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. 00:38:17.025 --> 00:38:22.483 You can experience this kind of joy, you can experience this kind of peace. 00:38:22.483 --> 00:38:27.527 This is the Holy Spirit holding your chin and saying breathe with me. 00:38:27.527 --> 00:38:37.608 Through this pain that you are in, through this situation that you are in, there is hope for us this morning in learning to hear the Holy Spirit. 00:38:37.608 --> 00:38:48.585 One of the ways I think the greatest ways that we can learn to hear the Spirit is stop talking ways that we can learn to hear the Spirit is stop talking. 00:38:48.646 --> 00:38:50.349 I will give you the keys to this. 00:38:50.349 --> 00:38:58.137 And it is silence, and I just want to tell you that silence is uncomfortable and we know that. 00:38:58.137 --> 00:39:10.677 But it is in that stillness, it is in that breath you take between the torrent of words that you want to pour out on someone and you listen for the Holy Spirit. 00:39:10.677 --> 00:39:19.358 Jesus, living fully human, fully divine, said I don't speak anything that I don't hear the Father say. 00:39:19.358 --> 00:39:30.373 I encourage you the next time you want to say something to someone, ask the Holy Spirit is this what the Father is saying to them? 00:39:30.373 --> 00:39:32.865 I'll tell you what he's saying to them. 00:39:32.865 --> 00:39:34.715 You're flawless in my eyes. 00:39:34.715 --> 00:39:41.061 You are beloved, beloved, beloved. 00:39:41.061 --> 00:39:41.922 You are beloved. 00:39:41.922 --> 00:39:44.824 We get to speak words of truth and love. 00:39:44.824 --> 00:39:47.327 We get to hear words of truth and love. 00:39:47.628 --> 00:40:06.114 The Pentecost reminds us of transformation, of the blessing that comes with fire, of the blessing that comes with hearing the Spirit, of learning to hear our own spirit testify to us of the goodness of God that has already been shed abroad in our hearts through Christ Jesus, according to Romans. 00:40:06.114 --> 00:40:08.077 The love of God that has already been shed abroad in our hearts through Christ Jesus, according to Romans. 00:40:08.077 --> 00:40:09.661 The love of God is already there. 00:40:09.661 --> 00:40:18.688 That needs to be the source of all of the things we do, our source not in ourself, but our source in the love that is already there. 00:40:18.688 --> 00:40:25.807 Returning to love, returning to the good, reminding ourselves, turning to the good, reminding ourselves. 00:40:25.807 --> 00:40:29.070 In that pain, I didn't stop being able to breathe. 00:40:29.070 --> 00:40:39.349 I forgot, and when somebody reminded me, and when someone stayed with me in that reminder, I could do what I could not do by myself. 00:40:39.349 --> 00:40:44.193 This is what God is saying when I'm making a new family, a new community. 00:40:44.193 --> 00:40:52.257 The things that you didn't think that you could do, you can do because you do them together, because this is the glory of what is happening here. 00:40:52.257 --> 00:41:03.126 I'm so grateful this week for all of the ways that First Love Church got to be real miracles in people's lives, and we were able to do that because everyone participates. 00:41:03.748 --> 00:41:30.443 Recently I was traveling down 441 and I was at the stop light right there on 27 and it was hot and a brother of mine had a little cardboard sign and he was standing at the edge of the road and that's a really busy intersection, you guys know that, and so I motioned to him that I had something to contribute to my brother and I held the money out the window so he could see it. 00:41:30.443 --> 00:41:35.186 And he went in front of four cars to be able to get the money. 00:41:35.186 --> 00:41:38.541 And he went to the window and he was on that side of the car. 00:41:38.541 --> 00:41:43.137 So I leaned all the way over and I gave him the money out the window and he said God bless you, I love you. 00:41:43.137 --> 00:41:47.887 And then he said oh, no, no, I'm sorry, you know what, like, sometimes we say things and we didn't mean it. 00:41:47.887 --> 00:41:49.978 I said did you just take back the I love you? 00:41:49.978 --> 00:41:53.976 I said don't take that back, because I love you too, because we're family. 00:41:53.976 --> 00:41:55.458 And he started laughing. 00:41:55.458 --> 00:41:57.380 He goes yes, yes, okay, you could have the I love you. 00:41:57.380 --> 00:42:00.003 And I was like, yes, and you can have my. 00:42:00.023 --> 00:42:04.349 I'm like get out of the street to this man we're having this conversation. 00:42:04.349 --> 00:42:10.577 He goes, spoken like a sister, and I'm like, yes, get here, take your love, take this thing, but don't get yourself harmed. 00:42:10.577 --> 00:42:16.215 And I started laughing and he was laughing as we were leaving this interaction. 00:42:16.215 --> 00:42:19.360 That took about 30 seconds, if it took that. 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:25.802 And here's someone who's standing on the side in the heat, sweat pouring on the side of the road. 00:42:25.802 --> 00:42:27.701 This is my brother, this is your brother. 00:42:28.744 --> 00:42:32.498 And in this quick moment of release, when we remembered we're not taking our love back. 00:42:32.498 --> 00:42:34.161 I love you, you love me. 00:42:34.161 --> 00:42:35.545 There's nothing weird about that. 00:42:35.545 --> 00:42:39.559 We're family and in our reminder get out of the street. 00:42:39.559 --> 00:42:44.454 Love tells me don't be standing here talking when cars are flying by, and then you just take it. 00:42:44.454 --> 00:42:46.188 You remember, yeah, my sister's reminding me don't be standing here talking when cars are flying by, and then you just take it. 00:42:46.188 --> 00:42:48.570 You remember, yeah, my sister's reminding me get out of the street. 00:42:49.355 --> 00:42:56.561 But both of us were laughing at the end of this exchange and I was thinking look at joy, look at God right there in the middle. 00:42:56.561 --> 00:43:05.688 Not every problem was solved, not everything was changed, but joy, generosity and love was there. 00:43:05.688 --> 00:43:08.543 Beloved love created the world. 00:43:08.543 --> 00:43:09.880 God is love. 00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:12.943 Love is the only thing that's always going to remain. 00:43:12.943 --> 00:43:19.202 When we give anyone love, we give them the eternal, and that is what we are all returning to. 00:43:19.202 --> 00:43:23.699 What does it look like for us to know, to hear and to live in the presence of the eternal? 00:43:23.699 --> 00:43:26.355 There's two things I want to talk about and I want to get to hear and to live in the presence of the eternal. 00:43:26.655 --> 00:43:29.143 There's two things I want to talk about and I want to get back to that. 00:43:29.143 --> 00:43:34.228 But beforehand you had mentioned prayer, maybe not directly. 00:43:34.228 --> 00:43:35.519 You said being quiet. 00:43:35.721 --> 00:43:35.942 Yes. 00:43:37.436 --> 00:43:51.391 And I just wonder how many of us realize, in our way of being trained to pray, that probably one of the biggest parts of prayer is being quiet. 00:43:51.391 --> 00:44:08.885