SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.
SPEAKER_01: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: During the season of Lent, we do read Isaiah 58 and encourage you to also read that over and over again.
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of fasting that I want, says God.
SPEAKER_01: Stop harming your neighbor.
SPEAKER_01: Stop looking only to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention.
SPEAKER_01: Is someone around you hungry?
SPEAKER_01: Then feed them.
SPEAKER_01: And so thank you everybody who came on Wednesday night for Ash Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate your involvement and your part of that.
SPEAKER_01: And in this Lenten season, it is with great joy that we enter into a practice, a practice of transformation.
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully, prayerfully, what you practice during this season can be something that you can take out through your entire life.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why one of the things that we encourage here is when you practice Lent and you decide what am I going to fast, what am I going to separate from myself, don't give up good things, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: Keep to yourself good things.
SPEAKER_01: Give up anything that harms you, anything that keeps you separate, anything that makes you feel small.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said this, come to me and I won't put anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
SPEAKER_01: I am going to show you how to live freely and lightly.
SPEAKER_01: I am going to show you how to live in the unforced rhythms of grace.
SPEAKER_01: The way of Jesus and the way that Jesus is telling us to live, the way that he's showing us how to live fully human, understanding our being in the image of the divine, and saying, this is what it looks like to be a person who lives on the earth but recognizes oneness with God, recognizes oneness with all people.
SPEAKER_01: And so today we read in Matthew's gospel, and in Matthew's gospel, Matthew is telling us this is how Jesus gave instructions to his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And we look to the text to show us who Jesus was and how Jesus behaved and how Jesus lived in a time, in a space with humanity, with governments, with peoples, with uh friends and with enemies.
SPEAKER_01: And this indicates to us and gives us a beautiful path and how we can live.
SPEAKER_02: You know, if you look, not even that hard, you can find someone to agree with you about anything.
SPEAKER_02: Uh and even within uh church circles, there's people that believe just all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_02: And so we have to be real careful not to just say, well, I believe this and other people believe it too, so that it must be good.
SPEAKER_02: Because there are some things that are out there that are just real painful to other people.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's why we always look to Jesus, because uh lot of people, you know, give their theories of um of what God is and who God is and what God does, but uh the scripture shows us who God is through Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: So we want to look to Jesus and really ask yourself genuinely, you know, would Jesus have the kind of politics that I see some believers have, and or that I have myself, and really challenge yourself to allow our hearts to be changed.
SPEAKER_02: I'll tell you one thing that you could hang on.
SPEAKER_02: We read it in scripture already, uh, but if you left just doing this one thing, and it was and it was really believing the truth that you are one with every person.
SPEAKER_02: See, we're brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus prayed, Father, make them one like we're one.
SPEAKER_02: God wants you to be aware of the fact that you're one.
SPEAKER_02: It would change you in traffic.
SPEAKER_02: Because no longer do I got to get ahead of this jerk, but that person that I'm one with deserves to go wherever they're going, and I want to help them get there.
SPEAKER_02: It changes everything about greed and about putting ourselves first in the things that we want and the things that we demand.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm asking you as we read this to consider what is it Jesus revealing to us and what does God want us to know about God that we don't, so that in this slint and season we can give up that stuff that's painful, the stuff that hurts, the stuff that holds us back, and walk into what God has for us.
SPEAKER_01: So this morning in Matthew, watch out.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Please pay attention that Jesus here is clearly indicating that you should be doing good deeds.
SPEAKER_01: Do your good deeds, just don't do them so that you can get the praise from other people, but definitely be doing the good deeds.
SPEAKER_01: Again, if you look at the lives of Jesus, Jesus did good and healed all who were oppressed.
SPEAKER_01: This is the way of Jesus doing good.
SPEAKER_01: And so sometimes we need just to have the Holy Spirit expand our imagination into what is it look like?
SPEAKER_01: What does it look like for me to do good to the whole world?
SPEAKER_01: How do I live my life in order to do good to all the neighbors?
SPEAKER_01: How do I live my life in order to take care of those who cannot care for themselves?
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says this don't do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your father in heaven when you give to someone in need.
SPEAKER_01: Pay attention here, we're gonna read through a lot of verses this morning, but Jesus does not say if.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus simply says when, when you do this, because he's expecting, like when you brush your teeth, beloved, it's going to be good for you.
SPEAKER_01: You know, like these are things we should be doing.
SPEAKER_01: When you give to someone in need, don't do it as the hypocrites do.
SPEAKER_01: Blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get.
SPEAKER_01: But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
SPEAKER_01: Give your gifts in private, and your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: So in the season of Lent, we take this entire portion of the scripture of Jesus and we try to practice this.
SPEAKER_01: We try to live these things out when we give, when we pray, when we fast.
SPEAKER_01: And this indication for us is Jesus is saying, this is a way.
SPEAKER_01: There is a way to live in oneness with God and with everyone.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the way.
SPEAKER_01: When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in synagogues where everyone can see them.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get.
SPEAKER_01: But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your father in private.
SPEAKER_01: And then your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: In many translations it says, but when you go, go into your innermost room and pray.
SPEAKER_01: I want to remind you, beloved, the innermost room is in here.
SPEAKER_01: Go inward and be quiet and bring yourself into the presence of love, into the presence of God, and pray.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: And when you pray, don't babble on and on as the Gentiles do.
SPEAKER_01: They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be like them, for your father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him.
SPEAKER_01: Pray like this.
SPEAKER_01: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
SPEAKER_01: May your kingdom come soon.
SPEAKER_01: May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Give us today the food that we need.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna pause because we're all going ahead here.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna go back and I want to remind you about something.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, pray in this way, and in this prayer, he says, Our Father, which reminds us that we are one.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: We are family.
SPEAKER_01: Give us this day the food that we need.
SPEAKER_01: Bring the kingdom to us, and it's this indication that it's not just about you.
SPEAKER_01: The prayers that you pray are not just for your liberation, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: The prayers are for the liberation of all, for the goodness of all, for the hope of all.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go back and listen to the prayer that Jesus tells us to pray, and then remind yourself it's prayed in congregation, it's prayed in family.
SPEAKER_01: It is beautiful language that is inclusive and says, these are the prayers for all.
SPEAKER_01: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy, may your kingdom come soon, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Give us today the food we need and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
SPEAKER_01: And don't let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
SPEAKER_01: If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly father will forgive you.
SPEAKER_01: But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
SPEAKER_01: There is a path and a way that is being explained to us to live in light, that we are to be people who understand that our calling is to forgive sins.
SPEAKER_01: We are to be people who live in the light of Christ and we forgive the sins that people are sinning against them.
SPEAKER_01: I caution us here though, this does not mean that we stay in abusive relationships.
SPEAKER_01: This does not mean that we stay in places where we are being harmed.
SPEAKER_01: This means that when we leave that harmful place, we choose forgiveness for those people and we resist vengeance and the things that we would have them do.
SPEAKER_01: But this is an indication to us that this is a lifestyle to live as one forgiven, to live as one who has been given authority to forgive sins.
SPEAKER_01: But if you refuse to forgive others, your father will not forgive your sins.
SPEAKER_01: And when you fast, don't make it obvious as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled, so people will admire them for their fasting.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.
SPEAKER_01: But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.
SPEAKER_01: This is an everyday beautiful thing for us too, not just during the Lenten season.
SPEAKER_01: That way no one will notice that you are fasting except your father, who knows what you do in private.
SPEAKER_01: And your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_01: Do not store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: Store your treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will be also.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is reminding us here: do not let your attachments be here on the earth, here in things that are going to disappear.
SPEAKER_01: Allow your attachments to be in places eternal.
SPEAKER_01: Allow your worth to be in places of eternal value.
SPEAKER_01: Allow yourself to hear the words of the divine that say to you, you are loved, beloved, exactly as you are.
SPEAKER_01: That returning to love is the way, to return to ourselves and to God.
SPEAKER_01: But wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart is also.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is really encouraging us and saying, Listen, you can put all of your attention and all of your money and all of your hopes in clothes or in silks and in riches and things like that.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, a moth will come in and eat it up.
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever saved something in your closet for a really long time and you're like, one day I'm gonna wear that?
SPEAKER_01: And then 20 years later, you're like, why did I keep that?
SPEAKER_01: Why did I think that that was great?
SPEAKER_01: I just wonder how many thoughts we have like that.
SPEAKER_01: Like we have kept one particular offense, or we believe that our anger is gonna keep us safe.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, give up that anger.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, give up those things that we, those ideas, those attitudes that keep us out of the truth that we are loved by God and that we're invited into the same kind of love.
SPEAKER_02: You know, this, I hope that you go back this week to this passage that we're looking at because it's sharing so many practices that are for us that are transformative.
SPEAKER_02: And these practices, and there's something that the Jewish people do, and and they're um the they're taught at a very young age to follow after what God says and then learn what it is that God wants to teach you.
SPEAKER_02: It's very American for us to hear what it is that you're offering, and for us to consider if I'm gonna do it or not, if it's worth it to me.
SPEAKER_02: And then if I judge that this will benefit me or my family, then I might partake in it.
SPEAKER_02: And do you understand how that maybe our culture has instilled in something us that is hindering us?
SPEAKER_02: These practices, just do them.
SPEAKER_02: And you may not get the reward that you realize because maybe you don't really understand fully.
SPEAKER_02: I can't imagine what it is, all the undoing and all the transformation that I need or you need.
SPEAKER_02: But he's saying, if we'll do these things, and I just think, just quite simply, about giving.
SPEAKER_02: It says give and God will give to you.
SPEAKER_02: And I've always thought, well, that just kind of means, you know, if I give some of my wealth, then I'll get wealth.
SPEAKER_02: But what if the real gift is when I get rid of that stuff that I realize I never needed it and it was never making me happy anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Well, I didn't sign up for that part of the gift.
SPEAKER_02: I had in my mind what it is that I needed.
SPEAKER_02: I just needed more stuff, God.
SPEAKER_02: That's what seriously, just just keep keep the flow coming.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I want stuff.
SPEAKER_02: But what if that is the thing that separates me because I'm distracted, I'm consumed.
SPEAKER_02: Amen?
SPEAKER_02: So, and I'm not saying that that's for you, uh, something that that God's been showing me.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you knew that a long time ago, maybe that's not your path, maybe you don't, but I am telling you that in these practices that we're talking about, as you just apply them, these disciplines, watch the transformation.
SPEAKER_02: Because what it is is us trusting God, doing what God said to do.
SPEAKER_02: And as we reach out and do in faith, God meets us there.
SPEAKER_02: And we put down that idea.
SPEAKER_02: Well, if this, you know, if I agree and I decide that I'm gonna do this, how about just being loving and kind, giving, so all these things that we're talking about today, because that's what God has asked you to do, and He is our God.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Gentle reminder, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot even exist without the breath of God.
SPEAKER_01: Every gift that we have, every breath we have is a gift.
SPEAKER_01: I remind you, you did not create yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You're created in the image of an all-loving God who wants to commune with you, who desires to co-create with you, who invites you into this beautiful world.
SPEAKER_01: One of the practices during this Lenten season that we are doing together is going outside for at least 10 minutes and looking at the birds.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to pray about them, you don't have to track them.
SPEAKER_01: Although Cornell University has a really wonderful app.
SPEAKER_01: It's free, and you could open up your phone after your 10 minutes.
SPEAKER_01: And if you do a little recording, it'll tell you based on the sounds what birds they are.
SPEAKER_01: Very nice anyway.
SPEAKER_01: I have other things we can discuss about it.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what we're doing together: going outside and just looking at the birds.
SPEAKER_01: I went out the other day and I could see none of them.
SPEAKER_01: I could hear them, but I could see none of them.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder if this isn't also teaching us to recognize presence when we cannot see it with our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: What if we could recognize the presence of God in all people, even when we cannot see it with our eyes?
SPEAKER_01: What if we could recognize the presence of God everywhere, even when with our eyes we do not see it?
SPEAKER_02: I was just gonna say that we we were talking about there was a study that we stumbled on.
SPEAKER_01: Just recently, yes.
SPEAKER_01: There was a study done, and they said within 14 days of you going outside and observing nature, that there is measurable, more than 75%, a measurable increase in your hope.
SPEAKER_01: That's all they said.
SPEAKER_01: Hope is increased just by being outside in observation of nature.
SPEAKER_01: So if you look at the world around you and you're thinking to yourself, there is no hope, just go outside, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: Go outside and look.
SPEAKER_01: Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body, and when your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.
SPEAKER_01: But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness.
SPEAKER_01: And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is.
SPEAKER_01: What if what you think is true is not?
SPEAKER_01: That's a very vulnerable place to be, beloved.
SPEAKER_01: More light.
SPEAKER_01: It is what we all need.
SPEAKER_01: More light, more Christ, more love.
SPEAKER_01: This is what we're being invited into, into a season of transformation.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus invited us and said, Come to me, follow me, and let's think differently.
SPEAKER_01: Think differently about God and about everything.
SPEAKER_01: Allow God's thoughts that are higher than our thoughts to actually change the way that we see the world.
SPEAKER_01: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_01: If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?
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SPEAKER_01: If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.
SPEAKER_01: No one can serve two masters, for you will hate one and love the other.
SPEAKER_01: You will be devoted to one and despise the other.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
SPEAKER_01: And that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life.
SPEAKER_01: Whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing?
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds.
SPEAKER_01: If someone wants to say, Where did Jesus say it?
SPEAKER_01: This is where he said it, beloved Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the birds.
SPEAKER_01: They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them.
SPEAKER_01: And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?
SPEAKER_01: Can all of your worries add a single moment to your life?
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk just for a moment about worry.
SPEAKER_01: I would tell you that I am a recovering worrier.
SPEAKER_01: I'm also a recovering Pharisee and a recovering hypocrite.
SPEAKER_01: I would say of myself, and this might be prideful, but I was Olympic leather uh level worrier.
SPEAKER_01: I could worry about all kinds of things, my things and your things, and things of the world.
SPEAKER_01: I could just worry about everything.
SPEAKER_01: And the invitation is, Jesus is telling us, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: That will give you ulcers, and that's all.
SPEAKER_01: It will rob you of sleep.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is into belovedness, into prayer, into trust, into becoming who God asks us to be.
SPEAKER_01: Can all of your worries add a single moment to your life?
SPEAKER_02: Now I want you to think about, you know, the idea that uh somebody can live their life and have uh multiple businesses and multi millions of dollars uh and and just live in in such a place of stress and worry about those responsibilities.
SPEAKER_02: And you can take a simple farmer that barely makes the uh uh The bills, but but is able to sit on their porch at peace and on their deathbed, who's richer?
SPEAKER_02: You know, the one that spent time with their family and the one that really enjoyed that nature.
SPEAKER_02: And I wonder if God's trying to help us see that you know we worry so much about how we're gonna get these inns to meet and and all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And look at the birds.
SPEAKER_02: God takes care of them.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's right.
SPEAKER_02: God's gonna take care of me.
SPEAKER_02: And sometimes really the the things that I'm complaining that God doesn't take care of are the things that I put on myself.
SPEAKER_02: You know, a couple years ago I was I was looking at buying a truck, and I just got I realized every vehicle I had didn't have AC.
SPEAKER_02: And at some point at Florida, you grow and mature into a human being that goes, I'm not gonna do that to myself for my people that I love.
SPEAKER_02: So I sold all those vehicles, and I had enough to buy a good used vehicle, but I also had enough to put a really good down payment on a brand new vehicle.
SPEAKER_02: And I was so tempted.
SPEAKER_02: Look how awesome it is when it's all new.
SPEAKER_02: No one has buttered it up, and it's so amazing.
SPEAKER_02: But then I looked at it and I said, I could easily pull this off.
SPEAKER_02: I'll just have to do two or three side jobs every month.
SPEAKER_02: And in addition to spending time with my family, and in addition to doing all my work at the church, just two to three side jobs.
SPEAKER_02: And then I can have the thing that I want.
SPEAKER_02: Or I could adjust my selfish desires and recognize I don't need the fancy new.
SPEAKER_02: I can enjoy the very good quality, one that is given to me, and then I can have extra time that's almost a luxury that some of those wealthy people would kill for.
SPEAKER_02: And so what do you do?
SPEAKER_02: Now, why am I sharing that story with you?
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm the only person that stacks myself this way.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the only person that that tries to reach and stretch to the next thing, you know, and and what if what if really for us there's a tremendous promise in us just looking at the bird.
SPEAKER_02: What is it that I really need?
SPEAKER_02: Well, God's taking care of that, but he's not taking care of that lust list that you and I need to learn to put down because it doesn't serve us, it only serves to distract us and hinder us from the purpose for which God has put us here.
SPEAKER_02: That's better preaching there, amen and heather.
SPEAKER_02: I'm just preaching to myself anyway, because that's me.
SPEAKER_02: You guys got it figured out, so that's great, but I know that I needed to hear that.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking, um, there's a portion of scripture and it says, for those of you who are worried about giving, because maybe you think that this is something that you have done for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: Remember that only anyone that can give is something that has been given to by God.
SPEAKER_01: Everything that we have is from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Everything we have, our breath, our strength.
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes we forget this.
SPEAKER_01: I did this morning, it was early, and um uh I was up and um I was I looked in the little clam plastic clamshell where the blueberries are, and they looked a little, hmm.
SPEAKER_01: They did not look like things I want to present on top of yogurt.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, oh, the birds will love these so much.
SPEAKER_01: So I went out onto the front porch and I threw them out and I said, Good morning, these are from me.
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm trying to make friends with the birds, and then I went in the house and I thought to myself, unbelievably arrogant, was it not?
SPEAKER_01: Unbelievably arrogant to the birds.
SPEAKER_01: So I went back out front and I said, Not from me, they're from God, you knew that already.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I did not imagine a blueberry grow it.
SPEAKER_01: Those were also the farmers that did that, and the people that picked it, and the people that put it on the grocery store shelf, and the people that then put it into a bag for me.
SPEAKER_01: And then so I went out there and said to the birds, I am trying to get one particular bird to like me, and that's why I was trying to do this.
SPEAKER_01: And so I was declaring to the bird, this is my offering, these are from me.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to like me.
SPEAKER_01: But then I did go back.
SPEAKER_01: I just want you to know I repented.
SPEAKER_01: I was like, those are from the Lord, you knew that.
SPEAKER_01: And the birds knew that.
SPEAKER_01: They just they ignored it and they forgave me.
SPEAKER_01: But I remind us of that because very often we do this.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna give because we think that, oh, I've measured out my life and this is how much I can give, as opposed to going, everything we have is from the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Every moment that we have is a gift, and so it changes our gratitude when we realize everything that we have is a gift, and so we can live in generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about your clothing.
SPEAKER_01: Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.
SPEAKER_01: They do not work or make their clothing.
SPEAKER_01: Yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
SPEAKER_01: And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you have so little faith?
SPEAKER_01: So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat and what will we drink and what will we wear?
SPEAKER_01: These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers.
SPEAKER_01: But your heavenly Father already knows your needs.
SPEAKER_01: Seek the kingdom of God above all else.
SPEAKER_01: Live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is to live righteously.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is to live.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, I have come to heal the brokenhearted, I have come to set the captives free, and I have come so that you would have life and have it to the full.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, the Lenten season is not just a practice of giving up, it's a practice of making space for God, making space for good.
SPEAKER_01: The practice of giving up worrying is an invitation in how can we practice prayer?
SPEAKER_01: How can we practice an invitation into expanding our trust?
SPEAKER_01: Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously.
SPEAKER_01: It is not just the seeking of the kingdom, but it is the living that we are invited into.
SPEAKER_01: That we would find ways to practice, that we would find there's hope in the prayers, there is hope in the fasting, there is hope in the giving, but these are a pathway to transformation.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus was on the side of a hill and he said to the people that were listening to him, Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
SPEAKER_01: He began telling us that the things that we think we know we don't really know.
SPEAKER_01: Because very often when we see someone suffering, we feel like it's because they've done a really terrible thing or God is frustrated with them or angry with them.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, Jesus is saying there's another way to see this, that they will receive comfort.
SPEAKER_01: Very often, the suffering that we see around us is not from heaven, it's from other human people who have made decisions that have hurt other human people.
SPEAKER_01: And the same human decision that has made that can unmake it.
SPEAKER_01: And we have an invitation to allow the mind of Christ, to allow the goodness of the Lord to be the miracle in the world that we need.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved Jesus showed us the way of miracles, that there were in that there were exceptions to even the consequences of how things were.
SPEAKER_01: And he invited us also to be miracle workers.
SPEAKER_01: That we would be people who would allow our minds to expand and say, what can be done here?
SPEAKER_01: What can be done here?
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, you are the miracle for someone else, but you can also be the miracle for yourself.
SPEAKER_01: You can set yourself free from the things that you bind yourself up with.
SPEAKER_01: You can find the way of Christ that releases the brokenhearted, that heals us from oppressive thoughts, and that invites us into righteous living.
SPEAKER_01: What does righteous living look like?
SPEAKER_01: Well, we just read that in Isaiah 58 for you today.
SPEAKER_01: Go back, feed the hungry, take care of the oppressed, stop speaking vicious words against other people.
SPEAKER_01: This is the invitation, and then God says, and then your families will be the ones who restore broken cities.
SPEAKER_02: You know, when I see this live righteously, you know, you you can't help but think on the behavior modification, the things that you wish, you know, I wish I didn't I didn't get angry or or I didn't say certain words or or whatever, and we begin to kind of get distracted on symptoms instead of the real issue.
SPEAKER_02: And and I'd like for you to think maybe in this time of Linton and the things that you maybe want to consider giving up, um, that that really to live righteously really is to learn the responsibility of controlling your thoughts and your beliefs, your inner dialogue, you know.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
SPEAKER_02: And so the way that we really believe about ourselves, uh, many, many people need to change.
SPEAKER_02: You know, we we allow ourselves to just be fearful, to be mean, uh, to be angry, to whatever you know.
SPEAKER_02: And uh the Bible clearly tells us cast down arguments and thoughts that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, that work against the way God.
SPEAKER_02: So this right living for us, sometimes when we go out and say, okay, I'm gonna try to cuss a little less, or I'll try to be a little nicer or whatever, but really you're dealing with a symptom, you're putting a band-aid on an open wound, and we're wondering why there's no transformation.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm really asking you in this season to really look within and recognize how you continually choose the path of fear.
SPEAKER_02: You continually choose negative thoughts and words about yourself.
SPEAKER_02: When Tom stands up here and shares that idea that he's not gonna allow that in, what he's saying there is that I'm gonna go to work every single time I hear a word.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna make a decision to put a guard on my mind so that I recognize what's being said to me is not from God, so I cast it down.
SPEAKER_02: I turn it away.
SPEAKER_02: And there's there's some of us that just your life exists in fear.
SPEAKER_02: Your life exists and functions in anger because you have trained in that.
SPEAKER_02: You're very good at it.
SPEAKER_02: It's just not a thing to be good at.
SPEAKER_02: But you have trained in all of those things, and what my promise to you is if you will train in the opposite of that, the healthy of whatever we're talking about here, you will receive victory.
SPEAKER_02: God will show God's self strong in your life.
SPEAKER_02: I promise you.
SPEAKER_02: But I will tell you this it is hard work between here and there, and it's not for the faint of heart, it's not for the uh the lazy spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: You have to decide, I want this thing.
SPEAKER_02: And if you want it, you'll sell everything you have and you'll buy that plot of land because you know the treasure is buried there.
SPEAKER_02: And I promise you, what joy it would be to your family members if you were if you were not mean.
SPEAKER_02: If you did not let anger be the first response or the ever the response.
SPEAKER_02: What transformation it would be if you weren't a fearful person constantly cursing every situation with your flavor of what could possibly go, likely go wrong, definitely go wrong, with everything that's presented to you, because you have trained in it.
SPEAKER_02: You were an Olympian in that thing, like Heather was talking about.
SPEAKER_02: But what if?
SPEAKER_02: What if we took a season like this and took a hold of that thing and you gave up the thing that you despise the most anyway?
SPEAKER_02: If I ask you what it is, oh, I hate that about myself.
SPEAKER_02: And then you rehearse it over and over.
SPEAKER_02: That's who I am, that's who I am.
SPEAKER_01: No, the invitation is to forgiveness, to be a compassionate witness toward yourself and say, invite the Holy Spirit, change this in me.
SPEAKER_01: I invite you to do something different in me.
SPEAKER_01: The season of Lent is 40 days, and I know if you looked at your calendar, you're like, there's more than 40 days.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: There's more than 40 days because every Sunday we give up the fasting and we're just supposed to be feasting.
SPEAKER_01: It is a day of celebration, and it is because the church has said ever since the beginning, how could we possibly consider anything less than abundance on the day of the resurrection?
SPEAKER_01: Every Sunday is a reminder of the resurrection power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Every Sunday we are reminded that even though it looks not like this is how a good story ends, we're reminded because this is not how the story ends.
SPEAKER_01: One day every sad thing will be untrue.
SPEAKER_01: One day death will no longer have dominion.
SPEAKER_01: One day God will make all things new.
SPEAKER_01: And the invitation is to start now, beloved, that we would be the hands and feet of God, that we would co-create a world that is full of goodness and forgiveness, and that we would seek first the kingdom, live righteously, and allow God to give us the things that we have need of.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is to own who you are, beloved of God.
SPEAKER_01: That our function and our invitation is to be people who forgive, people who remove burdens, people who do not speak evil of other people, and the invitation is into hope.
SPEAKER_01: The invitation is a practice of expansion, that we would recognize that death is nothing to fear, that we would recognize that Jesus has gone before us and already redeemed that.
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about the congregation this morning and praying for you after I prayed for myself because I told the birds the blueberries were for me.
SPEAKER_01: They were not.
SPEAKER_01: And I was hopeful this morning because some people have a newly broken heart, and the grief that they bear is difficult for them to even be in the presence of others.
SPEAKER_01: And I was so hopeful and I'm grateful that they're here this morning because it is a beautiful witness of others who have also survived terrible grief and tell us that life does go on.
SPEAKER_01: It goes on differently, but it does go on.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, there is a blessing for your brokenheartedness.
SPEAKER_01: There is a space in God for grief, and there is a way for everything to be redeemed.
SPEAKER_01: For all of us who love and who ache and still love again, the blessing this morning is for you.
SPEAKER_01: But this morning, together in God's house, I bless you.
SPEAKER_01: I was also reading a poet this week, and maybe you read poetry all the time too, but Henry David Throw said, There is no remedy for love but to love more.
SPEAKER_01: When you are in love, just love more.
SPEAKER_01: Love everyone.
SPEAKER_01: This is what Jesus invited us into.
SPEAKER_01: But let us all agree for now that we will not say that breaking makes us stronger or that it is better to have pain than to have done without this love.
SPEAKER_01: And let us promise we will not tell ourselves that time will heal this wound when every day our waking opens it anew.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps for now it can be enough to simply marvel at the mystery of how a heart so broken can go on beating, as if it were made for precisely this.
SPEAKER_01: As if it knows that the only cure for love is more of it, as if it sees the heart's sole remedy for breaking is to love again, as if it trusts that its own persistent pulse is the rhythm of a blessing that we cannot begin to fathom, but will save us nonetheless.
SPEAKER_01: What is it like for us to recognize that even our heartbreak is holy if we allow God in the middle of the brokenness?
SPEAKER_01: We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.