WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome to the First Love Church podcast. 00:00:03.680 --> 00:00:11.359 This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:15.679 We are excited to be with you this morning, this morning of Pentecost season. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:18.719 The Spirit with you, the Spirit with us. 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:21.920 We're grateful again to be in your presence. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:35.439 I want to remind us that we come this morning to this season, this remembering, this rehearsing into this goodness this morning, the goodness of the spirit with us. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:43.200 We were singing a song this morning and the lyric was, you know, the Holy Spirit overflowing. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:51.280 I don't believe any of us can make enough of the Spirit of God because it is how we live and breathe and have our meaning. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:56.719 It is this invitation into a new life, into transformation. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:00.960 I was thinking about resurrection because we've been in the Easter tide. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:08.719 And I was thinking that every time that we love someone who does not love us back, we are practicing resurrection. 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:15.359 Every time we speak love to a situation that is unloving, we practice resurrection. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:23.359 And so the invitation into Pentecost is to practice moving with the Holy Spirit, to practice participating with spirit. 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:32.959 And so we have been talking since last week about this understanding of how we attune ourselves to the moving of the Spirit. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:39.439 And today we'll read in Acts in that particular account of the Spirit moving among us. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:43.359 But what does it look like to have the Holy Spirit in your life? 00:01:43.359 --> 00:01:53.200 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, John the Baptist, full of the Holy Spirit, Mary, Magdalene, and the other disciples, full of the Spirit. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.319 And so what does it look like for you and me to be full of the Spirit? 00:01:56.319 --> 00:01:58.319 It means to be full of love. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:00.480 It means to be full of joy. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:04.319 And again, we have a list of what the Spirit looks like in case you don't know. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:11.680 Love, joy, peace, patience, long-suffering, self-control, beloved. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:15.520 Self-control is an evidence of the Holy Spirit. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:20.240 Self-control is an evidence of God's Spirit working within you. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:32.719 And so again, during this season of the year, during this time of Pentecost, where we practice not only consent to the Holy Spirit, but then we practice living animated by the Spirit. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.719 And what does that look like in our midst? 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:36.400 It also looks like unity. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:50.800 When we read the scripture today in Acts, people from all different walks of life, people from all different ethnicities, people from all different understandings of how to live are included in the Holy Spirit. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:55.599 And the Holy Spirit gives each person there the ability to understand each other. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:01.520 And so we are going to have a conversation this morning, and I'm going to ask the spirit to inspire you. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:04.240 Who do you need to understand differently? 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:10.960 Maybe you think no one, but I'm going to tell you the spirit will tell you there is someone that you need to be able to understand. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.840 And the invitation or the consent is may I see this differently? 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:19.840 May your spirit fill me so that I can see this the way that you see this. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:26.879 You know, I want us to really see uh what what it's like to be awakened by the Holy Spirit. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:31.120 Do you know how scripture in several places is like, wait, uh awake, oh you sleeper? 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:39.120 Uh I wonder if we realize that maybe we are asleep. 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:46.800 And in this sleep that you're in right now, the dream you're having is that you're individual. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.120 That you're somehow special, you're different, you're a part. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:53.919 And so you're trying real hard to get yours. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.879 And you're trying to take care of you. 00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:00.719 But God is waking you from this dream. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:04.719 You're not part of this world. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.520 You're my child. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:12.000 You're one with everyone. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:42.480 You're you're uh to be infused with my spirit, awakened and enlightened so that we can really connect with God, connect with each other, and move in this world by the by the virtue of the Holy Spirit, and not just be these drones that are just out working to trying to achieve our little nest egg, our little pile. 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:45.279 But what if we were called for so much more? 00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:48.720 What if there's an awakening that God wants to do? 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:50.879 They're looking at me like I'm crazy. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:56.480 No, they're excited about this same message, about the invitation that we could wake up. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:04:59.680 It says, Wake up, thou that sleepest, the light of Christ has come. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:08.480 Beloved, the light of Christ, the illumination of Jesus has come so that our minds are no longer darkened, so that we no longer just see things one way. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:12.560 And I want to invite you when you see and listen again to the story. 00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:25.439 And for many of us who have been a part of church for a long time, I think one of the things that could be a danger, and so I ask you to proceed with caution, is looking at a story or listening to a story and going, Oh, I know that one. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:27.199 I've heard that one before. 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:44.319 And the beauty of the text, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is that every single time we will receive something new, a new revelation, not something different, but another way of turning something and seeing, oh, that is what the spirit meant, or an invitation into more. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:52.399 And as we listen again in this story that's going to talk about unity, that's gonna talk about what it means gathering in one place. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:06:01.360 I also want you to pay attention to the diversity that is included in the text, to the diversity that is honored in the text. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:07.120 That the spirit doesn't come to bring conformity, the spirit comes to bring unity. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.759 And there is a beauty in the diversity. 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.920 And we know this again, based on all of creation testifying to us. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:15.839 There is not a flower. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.720 There are flowers in all of the spectrums. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.920 There is not an animal, it's all animals. 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:37.519 There is not a plant, it's plants and herbs and the earth that again testifies to us, reminds us of this truth that in the diversity, the unity that is presented is how Jesus is seen. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:41.839 Jesus told us that we were going to be known by our love for each other. 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:51.839 And as our love expands, as our capacity to understand expands, the light of Christ between us will also expand. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:07:07.759 So this morning I read to you from Acts chapter two, and I come to you in the lineage of Mary Magdalene, of Priscilla, of Junia, of women who preached the resurrection and who brought hope and life to people on the day of Pentecost. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:11.519 All the believers were meeting together in one place. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:14.079 I remind you of that's kind of what we'd done this morning. 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.000 Why will we meet on Sunday mornings? 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:21.759 The church has since this time met together on this day because it was the day of the resurrection. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:26.639 Every time we come together, we are reminded the old things have passed away. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:29.279 Behold, God is making all things new. 00:07:29.279 --> 00:07:32.399 And so on that day, they were gathered together. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:42.079 And suddenly there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 00:07:42.079 --> 00:07:46.800 They're all gathered together in grief, in fear, in disbelief. 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:53.439 Some of them have heard there is talking, but they're gathered together, and the Holy Spirit is given. 00:07:53.439 --> 00:07:57.279 There's beautiful imagery in this, and it says it's like wind. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:06.800 And since the beginning of time, people who have described or tried to describe the Holy Spirit have used the idea of wind. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:08.399 Where does the wind come from? 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:12.480 Have you ever just been outside and out of nowhere comes a beautiful breeze? 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.079 Out of nowhere comes a big wind out of nowhere. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:20.639 In fact, even Jesus, who is asked by Nicodemus, what is it like? 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:24.480 And Jesus says, it's like the wind. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:32.639 So the invitation is into this beauty, into asking, what is creation revealing to us? 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.679 And it filled the house where they were sitting. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:42.960 And then what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:59.679 Again, the invitation is for us to pay attention that each of them individually, uniquely filled with the Holy Spirit, each person having their own uniqueness, but joined by the Holy Spirit. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:02.960 There is such a beautiful hope for us in this. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:19.360 We're on verse 3, and then what looked like flames of fire appeared and settled on each of them, and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:27.759 The Holy Spirit came and gave the people there that had been gathered an ability that they did not have on their own. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:33.840 When the Holy Spirit comes and filled us, maybe you will have the gift of speaking in another language. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:38.159 But what you will have is the power to live differently. 00:09:38.159 --> 00:09:42.240 What you will have is the power to love expansively. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:49.840 What you will have is the power to attune to the spirit that God has already given to the church. 00:09:49.840 --> 00:10:09.679 You know, and I like the idea of speaking a language that I don't know because uh, you know, uh God has a way of being and loving that is is very contrary to uh to the human experience. 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:16.960 And so I want that new way of loving, that new way of living, and that new way of being. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:30.720 And I I think that if you think about the idea of the wind, you know, that God's saying that here's something that's offered that you can't really see and is very difficult to explain. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:37.519 But but I feel like a lot of my experience with Christianity was I've been coming to God for certainty. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:50.720 You know, I want to know for sure some stuff, and I I want to know for sure, you know, my soul is secure, and that's right for us to be concerned about something as big a deal as that. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:11:00.639 But we're often seeking certainty, and some people will peddle certainty, but I feel like God is always coming back to it's like the wind. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:09.919 There's not a certainty in uh facts, in leading, in in following the spirit, which can't be seen. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:16.879 But we're learning a new language, we're learning a new path, we're learning a new way. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:20.879 Are you open and surrendered to a complete new way? 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:23.440 I need a complete new way. 00:11:23.440 --> 00:11:27.679 The old way just isn't going to work. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:46.639 I could try to bend it into church, I could try to bend it into uh maybe rub some rough edges off of it, but it's never going to carry the love of God unless I get an overhaul. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:49.039 Transformation, amen. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:50.879 The love of God. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:58.960 When we read here, everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:07.360 I am confident this morning that there was no hate in the languages that was spoken by people who were filled with God's own spirit. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:09.679 There was no bigotry, no prejudice. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:15.840 That is not the message that was ever in the mouth of someone that was full of God's spirit. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:24.480 We can tell this in the way of Jesus, in the way of John the Baptist, in the way of people who spoke the words of truth, that there was no division. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.879 And again, the spirit comes. 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.799 I remind you of this truth. 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.600 The people understood the spirit was already promised. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:37.120 And when the spirit came, it says, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.559 Everyone would be able to receive the Holy Spirit. 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:42.480 There would be no exclusions. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:45.759 And so the people already knew that this was the promise. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:13:03.840 And so when the fi what appears like tongues of fire on people's head, what appears like this, and then the sound of this, I just want to have you imagine sitting in a room where it's like we have normal voice rattle, and then all of a sudden it sounds like a windstorm. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:14.960 It would get your attention, it might cause you to stop for a minute, and then all of a sudden we were speaking in languages we didn't know, but we could all understand each other. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:19.279 You know, you hit upon some and then breezed over it like all of us get this. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:25.279 You said there was no bigotry, no hatred, no prejudice, no meanness. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:14:00.000 And you know, I was talking to somebody uh the other day, and I was trying to figure it out because I feel like they they really love God and they speak highly of God, but yet there was something that just doesn't seem to really compute and so I mentioned it to Heather, and Heather said, Well, I mean And it was just like a light went on. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:03.039 Not just about that person, but about myself. 00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:12.000 You know that this person really desires to be a person that follows God. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:17.679 I know that, I can see that hard, but yet they're not given to kindness, to gentleness. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.960 They're harsh, they're mean with their Christianity. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:25.039 And and I want to learn a new language. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:30.559 I don't want to just try to add some Christianity to what I got going on over here. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:34.240 I'm I'm wanting the whole overhaul. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:35.120 Amen? 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:39.200 And so I need to learn, yes, my heart desires God. 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:51.120 But how can we say we love a God that we don't see if we're not loving to those that we do see. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:54.000 I'm preaching to somebody here now. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.320 If not just myself. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:15:01.279 That there they're they're that gentleness and that loving. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:07.279 Guys, that needs to be the language that God is teaching us, amen? 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:09.200 I thank you for sharing that. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:33.759 I just I love that idea that that if if I can if you lay down in bed and you think about some of the things you said today tonight when you lay down, and you realize, oh, there was some bigotry in there, there was some some judgmentalness, there was there was not gentleness in the way I approached then Holy Spirit, teach me this new language. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:44.159 And the invitation then would be to change your mind about something, to say, what I don't want to do is harm anyone else, to bring any kind of harm, but to only bring healing. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:50.399 We are to be agents of transformation, we are to be agents that hold the miracle power of God in our hands. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:16:18.000 And so if you do go to bed at night and you do the prayer of examine, and I invite you to do that, in times where we have missed it, we are invited to ask for forgiveness, to ask for those things to be separated from us, and then for us to ask, may I feel your gentleness, may I understand the language of heaven, may I understand the language of the Holy Spirit that inspires us not only to hear differently, but to speak differently. 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:24.320 Everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. 00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:29.919 And at that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:44.320 Now, this is essential for us to remember because, again, this also mirrors the things that we see in the book of Revelation when God starts talking about what it looks like for this beautiful kingdom to come among us. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:52.639 In fact, in John's remembrance of this vision, and he says, I don't know if I was here or if I was there, but let me just tell you about what I saw. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:17:01.600 People from every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every language, more people than we could count around the throne of God. 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:12.559 And there is this invitation into expanding our understanding of other and how in the understanding other we recognize we are one. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:14.400 This is what Jesus prayed for us. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.240 Jesus prayed for us, Lord, make them one like you and I are one. 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:22.000 And the Holy Spirit is the answer to Jesus' prayer for us. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:33.359 The spirit given to us allows us to have unity, to be able to experience things differently, to hear things and understand things that we didn't understand before. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:38.000 And when they heard the loud noise, this is everybody from every nation. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:39.920 Everyone came running. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:43.519 I just, I love about us as a people, as humanity. 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:44.799 We are nosy. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:46.640 We have always been nosy. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.079 We are gonna want to know what the commotion is about. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:52.079 I mean, this is thousands of years ago. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:57.920 And if you would have said this this time, if somebody had heard something, we are all gonna say, what is it that I am hearing? 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:06.880 And they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:18.240 Now, this was an actual miraculous understanding that you would have someone who didn't speak your language, who all of a sudden could speak your language, you could understand them. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:21.920 I was thinking about this in contemplation. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:36.799 And I was thinking, if all of a sudden I could say something to someone that they didn't understand before, I hope I say something really important, like you are loved, like you are one with God. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:53.680 And so the practice has to be if we have something to say to someone, it needs to be loving, it needs to be full of God's spirit, it needs to be an invitation into something bigger and something more expansive than we could have ourselves. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:59.119 But these people are bewildered and confused, and they're like, wait a second, how do you speak my language? 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:01.920 Wait a second, how do you understand me? 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:09.519 And this is the act of the Holy Spirit that we could understand people that we didn't understand before. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:15.839 How many times in your life, don't give me an actual number, please, have you said, I just don't understand them? 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:17.680 Whoever them is. 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:30.079 Beloved, consent to the Holy Spirit, consent to another way of hearing or listening or being able to say, is what I'm saying matching with the love that I feel in my heart. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:33.279 You know, and I think it's also like, what do you want to attune to? 00:19:33.279 --> 00:19:36.000 What channel, you know, what frequency or whatever. 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:43.039 Because I've been practicing this thing where I don't know if you've done this, but I I've got my spouse, my my partner, my friend. 00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:51.839 And so when I go out somewhere, I like to come home and tell her what happened, what I saw, what I did, and she'll do the same for me. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:52.480 How was your day? 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:53.440 What went on? 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:57.279 And and something, oh, you know, will always happen when you're out. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:03.440 Some cashier will say something super weird, or somebody will cut you off in the parking lot. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:19.440 And I have always just come home and shared those bummers, those downers, those negative stories that that escalated me, and and oftentimes it escalates the hearer. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:23.039 And lately I've been practicing. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.519 Can I walk in forgiveness? 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:29.440 Now, this is the rub and just not mention it to her. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:31.440 And oh, it's that difficult. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:35.920 And I want to tell that story. 00:20:35.920 --> 00:20:41.759 Now I'm sure I'm the only one, but it's just like I'm itching to tell that negative story. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:42.960 What is that? 00:20:42.960 --> 00:21:00.480 I have tuned myself to that frequency of that negativity, and so I when I see it as much as I can when I'm around, and then I go and I, and when it's not there, I tell people the story so I can get that negative back, and then I go, oh God, I can't believe it. 00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:02.480 I'm in such a negative cloud. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:04.400 Imagine that. 00:21:04.400 --> 00:21:07.200 I've tuned into it, I've practiced it. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:16.240 And so what my first step is, is that I'm whatever I whatever I can do, I keep from repeating those nonsense. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:24.319 Now, I'm not saying you don't tell people your hurts and your thing, but I'm talking about the nonsensical stories that you and I know just stir you and other people up. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:28.559 And instead, I'm looking, what story can I tell her? 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:32.319 Lord, what is allowed in this story today? 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:33.839 And so what did I did? 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:35.200 What did I did? 00:21:35.200 --> 00:21:39.039 I did it, I changed, I'm changing the channels what I did. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:42.720 And I'm looking for a different story. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:44.880 And you know what God always does? 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:52.319 He leads me in that place where I can experience something beautiful, or I can rehash that stuff. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:53.119 Come on, church. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:54.240 You see what Spirit's doing? 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:58.720 Inviting us to a new way of living, a new language, a new way of thinking, even. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:03.119 We pause here for a Moment to thank you for joining us today. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:08.640 If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:14.000 This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:25.039 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, 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.240 follow, and subscribe. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:28.000 And they were completely amazed. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:28.880 How can this be? 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:29.920 They exclaimed. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:31.839 These people are from Galilee. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:35.039 Please don't miss the slight. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:36.559 Please don't miss. 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:39.200 We can't expect very much from these people. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:42.960 These people are from Galilee. 00:22:42.960 --> 00:22:46.480 So there's a lot of bigotry in this. 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.599 There's a lot of diminishment in this. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:52.319 There is a lot of prejudice in this. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:06.559 And I really invite you into the understanding that the Holy Spirit loves to show up in places where people are marginalized, where people are looked down upon. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:15.599 I remind you that Jesus came to a Middle Eastern young woman and gave birth to God's son in Bethlehem. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:19.680 And if we were all there, we're like, that's not the place to have the son of God. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:22.000 We should have something grander. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.119 It should be bigger. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.359 And God says, I have a plan. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.319 So do not despise wherever you are. 00:23:28.319 --> 00:23:30.640 Do not despise the small things. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:37.759 Do not despise that what comes from Galilee or Bethlehem or Dunelin or wherever it is that you are. 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:41.359 I mean, that's like way out there, Inverness, you know, like those kind of places. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:43.039 Can that happen there? 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:49.519 And the invitation is the Holy Spirit is awakening something in us. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:51.039 The Holy Spirit is come. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:55.519 And we hear them speaking in our own native languages. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:15.200 Here we are Parthians, Med, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius, and the province of Asia, Pyrrha, Pamphia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:18.799 Again, it is painting a picture. 00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:26.880 Again, we might not understand this, but this is so massive and so inclusive, it's startling. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:33.839 Over and over again, every time the Holy Spirit shows up in the sacred text, it startles. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:44.160 When Peter is gonna go preach about the resurrection and the Holy Spirit says, I'm just gonna pour it out on these people, Peter goes, On those people. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.039 And the Spirit said, Absolutely. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.559 The Holy Spirit is also known as the wild goose. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:57.359 This just spirit poured out everywhere, just like anointing, just like healing, everywhere for all people. 00:24:57.359 --> 00:25:05.279 And they heard them speaking in their own language about the wonderful things that God has done. 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:10.079 Beloved, when you are going to say anything about God, let it be about the wonderful things that God has done. 00:25:10.079 --> 00:25:12.400 I once was lost, but now I'm fined. 00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.880 I once was blind, but now I see. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:19.759 There is a goodness that we are called into, being able to speak about. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:26.559 So the invitation for you to be filled with God's own spirit is that you would be able to speak and tell a better story. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:51.359 Perhaps you have only told the story about how you were lost, and the spirit would empower you to tell the story about how love rescues all of us, that we have a good shepherd who leaves the 99 and goes after the one, that we have a loving father who opens his arms to the prodigal, that we have a God who searches for us like a woman who searches for a coin. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:54.000 And they stood there amazed and perplexed. 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:55.279 What can this mean? 00:25:55.279 --> 00:25:56.960 They asked each other. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:01.519 That's another beautiful indication of what we do when we gather together as a church fellowship. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:05.039 When we see the working of the Holy Spirit, we should ask each other, what does this mean? 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:07.519 And we should have a conversation. 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:14.799 You should have conversations with your neighbors, with the birds that visit on the porch, with the squirrels that are out there. 00:26:14.799 --> 00:26:15.920 You should have conversations. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.359 What does this mean, this moving of the Holy Spirit? 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:22.000 But the others in the crowds ridiculed. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.240 Don't be those people, beloved. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:27.440 Be the people that ask the questions and say, what does it mean? 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:28.880 Don't be the people who ridicule. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:31.839 Don't be the people who just stand there and make fun of. 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:33.279 They're just drunk. 00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:34.000 That's all. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:47.359 You know, um, for three days now, the uh there's these two red birds, and they're trying to make a nest on our ceiling fan on the back porch. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:49.039 You know, there's no screen in there. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:51.119 So that and she's flying in. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:55.359 I think the dude's helping a little because he's there all the time, and I don't know, maybe he's just watching. 00:26:55.359 --> 00:27:19.200 But uh she's just and then it looks like the haunted mansion because they're getting that um Spanish moss and it's hanging from the uh it's hanging from the each blade, and then she sets it up on the top of that metal thing, and it just slides down on the blades, and she just looks up there, and then there's a pile of rubbish on the ground because it all fell from there. 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:21.680 Two or three days now she's been doing that. 00:27:21.680 --> 00:27:30.400 And um uh this morning, uh Thomas goes uh and gets uh one of those. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:33.440 I mean, we've been putting pot you know, plants out in the yard. 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:35.519 I want to interrupt your story just for a minute. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:36.799 I won't I won't spoil it. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:44.079 I just wanted to do it in the when I edit this, I'll do the commercial and we'll get back to my story. 00:27:44.079 --> 00:27:45.119 Go ahead. 00:27:45.119 --> 00:27:49.279 We have all been looking at the nest that is on the ground that is no good. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:51.359 That is not what she intended to do. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:55.599 And we've all been asking ourselves the question, how are we like the bird? 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:02.640 How is our intention to do something, to build something, to create something, and it's not working. 00:28:02.640 --> 00:28:05.200 And our hearts are broken for this little bird. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:07.119 And I have tried to explain it to her. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:12.400 I have very gently, in a very quiet voice, say, not here, beloved, there are ferns right there. 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:15.279 You could just sit in the fern basket, a nest could be built. 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.880 I've offered many other locations, she's not interested. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:20.319 She is not interested. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:23.599 At one point, we took down and we're like, that's just dangerous. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:26.880 So we're gonna take down her work, and she persists. 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.359 She persists, and this pile is on the floor. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:34.000 Thomas came in this morning, and I know you're gonna say what he did, but I want to say something. 00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:36.559 But you're missing, but I get to say the point. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:39.519 The point is all the rest of us passed it by. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:43.039 And Thomas decided to do something about it. 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:46.000 Do you see my point? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:47.440 Do you know what I mean? 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:53.680 There's like this we've watched this bird struggle for three days, and we all tell that dumb bird you need to go somewhere else. 00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:59.279 Thomas got a ladder and fashioned something to help her. 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:01.519 And I was so beautiful, it was beautiful. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:03.839 I just tears came to my eye when he was like, I'm gonna fix this. 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:24.640 Yeah, you know, a little plastic left over, you know, for the and he made it like a small little bird nest, and then he gathered all that stuff and shoved it in there, and then he was hiding by when I left for church story, he was hiding by the thing, and the bird was like inspecting it, flying all the way on all the blades and looking, and the bird. 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:32.160 So I don't know if the bird decided to abandon this new thing or now this like got this condo now because it's this awesome thing. 00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:34.799 But my point was as it was Mike. 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:35.440 Was it yours? 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:37.119 Well, you were gonna steal my point, weren't you? 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:38.400 They all saw it. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:40.000 I caught you. 00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.559 Uh but isn't that isn't that awesome though? 00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:52.319 And I want that for you and I, that we won't just watch something, but by the Holy Spirit we'd be prompted to do something about it. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:55.200 Because we can sit around, man, there's a lot of pain around here. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:59.599 But I can do something about that. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:02.880 And that's profound, church. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:06.640 To those people that are struggling, I don't want you to struggle. 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:14.640 If there's something we can do to help you, pick up some of that, carry that burden. 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:28.240 And Peter stepped forward with the 11 other apostles and shouted to the crowd listen carefully, all of you fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem, make no mistake about this. 00:30:28.240 --> 00:30:31.920 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. 00:30:31.920 --> 00:30:35.200 Nine o'clock in the morning is much too early for that. 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:39.920 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:45.119 In the last days, God said, I will pour out my spirit upon all people. 00:30:45.119 --> 00:30:52.559 Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:00.799 And in those days, I will pour out my spirit upon my servants, men and women alike, and they will prophesy. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:15.119 And I will cause wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and clouds of smoke, the sun will become dark and the moon will turn blood red before the great and glorious day of the Lord arrives. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:20.880 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:23.200 People of Israel, listen. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:32.240 God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:38.559 But God, who knew what would happen and had prearranged his plan, was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:44.720 With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 00:31:44.720 --> 00:31:58.559 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:05.519 King David said this about him: I see that the Lord is always with me, I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:09.839 No wonder my heart is glad and my tongue shouts his praise. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:12.640 My body rests in hope. 00:32:12.640 --> 00:32:18.000 For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow the holy one to rot in the grave. 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:23.519 You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence. 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:26.720 Dear brothers and sisters, think about this. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:30.720 You can be sure that the patriarch David wasn't referring to himself. 00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:34.960 For he died and was buried in his tomb, is still here among us. 00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:42.400 But he was a prophet and he knew that God had promised with an oath that one of David's own descendants would sit upon his throne. 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:47.759 And David was looking into the future and speaking of the Messiah's resurrection. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:53.119 He was saying that God would not leave him among the dead or allow his body to rot in the grave. 00:32:53.119 --> 00:32:58.240 God raised Jesus from the dead, and we are all witnesses of this. 00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:03.759 And now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven at God's right hand. 00:33:03.759 --> 00:33:12.880 And the Father, as he has promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:16.799 Beloved, this would be a great time to shout when you're thinking about this. 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:30.079 This is the hope of the whole world that Jesus has come, that God loves the world and sent Jesus, that Jesus has come, that Jesus has completed the work, and that Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit. 00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:45.839 All loosey-goosey poured out on everyone, poured out everywhere, a big giant mess, not neatly in certain containers, just this overwhelming Holy Spirit anointing, this invitation into transformation. 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:48.880 Beloved, we can be people of great love. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:52.240 We can be people whose lives are completely transformed. 00:33:52.240 --> 00:34:08.000 We can be miracle workers if we will choose to allow the Spirit to change the way that we see things, to change the way that we speak about things, and to expand our heart, to include everything and everyone. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:19.440 I want you to see, church, that uh that that God is laying out the plan for you and I, that Christ is the path and he's empowering us by the Holy Spirit. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:26.480 He's shown us the way of repentance and he's shown us the path of oneness, of unity. 00:34:26.480 --> 00:34:43.920 Now, it's lost on us more than likely when it talks about this ragtag group of people that were together on that day, because it when they start talking about these people from this place and that place, we don't realize what that meant to a Jew. 00:34:43.920 --> 00:34:51.119 It was it was really the who's who's of enemies of us, the who's who of people that don't believe correctly. 00:34:51.119 --> 00:35:16.239 And today we could do, we could go through denominations of people we think that clearly don't know as much of us, and then we can move from denominations to other groups of people that we're convinced are absolute heretics, that do not even, you know, uh, you know, there's people that uh just on the other side of the world that are doing stuff that just to us is no uh way they could be right. 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:21.119 And and that's the kind of mind-blowing experience that's happening right here. 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:52.480 They're beginning to hear things in a new way they've never heard before by Holy Spirit, that there's a love that's opening up and open up and start accepting these people, not categorizing them as uh lost, uh worthless, but they're part of God's family, and we're to view them differently and not see ourselves as separate and different and better, but that we are God's children. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:36:03.199 And I'm not suggesting that you begin to change your doctrine and your things that that you believe, but it's not for us to sit there, well, sure, unless they're not uh loving. 00:36:03.199 --> 00:36:25.199 Uh, but but what I'm what I'm saying is that we uh we have to remove that part of of us and them and and that separateness because that's just that's not how unity works, and that's what the Spirit of God was bringing on that day, and still it is seems to be the biggest struggle for us in the church world. 00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:29.199 And and you recognize that there are cultures and times where things are the biggest struggle. 00:36:29.199 --> 00:36:45.119 There's one particular time because the barbarians were also included, and we as a people don't necessarily think about that, but when we're talking about the table of Jesus and we're talking about gathered together, and the barbarians were naked a whole lot, and they just show up naked. 00:36:45.119 --> 00:36:56.400 And part of that was intimidation, part of it was who they wanted to be, but these people were warriors and they were just naked all the time, and they would just show up to the fellowship. 00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:03.039 In fact, there's some ancient writings I was reading that was so beautiful, where someone was confronting these people and saying, Well, you have to change. 00:37:03.039 --> 00:37:07.039 And they're like, This is who we are, we are barbarians, and we are filled with God's spirit. 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:14.239 And they couldn't say that they weren't filled with God's spirit because there was evidence of God's own spirit. 00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:16.960 And people were like, But you can't come like this. 00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:21.119 And they said, We come as we are, made in the image of God. 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:26.480 You have just fashioned your fig leaves in such a way, but we are as God made us. 00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:35.199 And so the invitation, again, we don't necessarily in this culture at this time have people that are showing up in a way of intimidation, being completely naked. 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:52.239 But every time that there is a transference of this understanding, there's an understanding that beyond the imagery that we would consider okay, or that we would consider like what is good for us, the Holy Spirit pushes those boundaries and says, Look at what I'm doing. 00:37:52.239 --> 00:37:53.760 I am doing a new thing. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:38:07.039 David himself never ascended into heaven, yet he said, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at the place of honor at my right hand until I humble your enemies, making them a footstool under your feet. 00:38:07.039 --> 00:38:17.440 So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah. 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.039 This would have been a text that would have startled everyone. 00:38:21.039 --> 00:38:27.440 He's there and he's saying, because what people would have said, they were told to say, Caesar is Lord. 00:38:27.440 --> 00:38:30.960 There was a government and there was things that they couldn't couldn't say. 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:35.519 And they said, Caesar is Lord, all the goodness comes from Caesar, the Caesar is going to do this. 00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:58.639 And so when this Peter says he is Lord and He is Messiah, he is declaring his allegiance is to Jesus alone, his allegiance is to the resurrected Christ, his allegiance is into this illuminated way of being, and his allegiance is not only directed in this way, he is full of the spirit. 00:38:58.639 --> 00:39:01.199 And Peter's words pierced their heart. 00:39:01.199 --> 00:39:07.920 And they said to the other apostles, now we stand here just at a second, it says Peter's word pierced their hearts. 00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:17.119 Just a few weeks ago, we talked about the scripture and the road to Emmaus, where Jesus is telling them a story, and they say, Oh, didn't our hearts burn within us? 00:39:17.119 --> 00:39:18.800 The same thing is happening here. 00:39:18.800 --> 00:39:25.360 Peter's words are just words until the spirit is on it, and then it causes a piercing in their heart. 00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:28.880 All of a sudden they see things and hear things that they couldn't before. 00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.559 And there's an invitation for all of us to live in the spirit. 00:39:32.559 --> 00:39:39.119 Beloved, in you, believe you, beneath your chest, here in the middle of you, you have a knowing. 00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:46.000 The Holy Spirit, in fact, the scripture says in John that the Holy Spirit will be given to you and you will know the things of God. 00:39:46.000 --> 00:39:54.400 Now, maybe other voices will compete and you'll have uh, you know, questions, but deep in this knowing, this did not our hearts burn within us? 00:39:54.400 --> 00:39:58.000 Did not our hearts be pierced with these words? 00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:00.880 Brothers and sisters, what should we do? 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:12.719 And Peter replied, Each one of you, repent of your sins, turn to God, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:22.480 This promise is to you, to your children, to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God. 00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:47.280 This is a beautiful promise that keeps ongoing, that keeps getting bigger, that keeps enclosing more and more people and more and more opportunities for us to say this is the hope that we ourselves will be filled with the Holy Spirit, but that we would watch this, that we would invite this into the kingdom, that we would make space for it, that all would be filled with God's Spirit. 00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:50.159 I mean, this is you written in scripture, you know. 00:40:50.159 --> 00:41:03.519 Um, it's talking about this far off, as far, you know, and look at ahead in time a couple thousand years, and you're sitting in this church, opening up your heart, and God's saying, the Holy Spirit is for you. 00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:13.679 And we we see here that what they're doing is they're explaining and helping them understand how it works to follow spirit. 00:41:13.679 --> 00:41:23.360 And so don't expect that all of a sudden you're gonna be some Olympic level performer at following Holy Spirit when you just begin. 00:41:23.360 --> 00:41:25.920 That's what really fellowship is. 00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:28.320