WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:03.680 Welcome to the First Love Church podcast. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:11.199 This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.960 Today we're gonna start in Romans chapter 12. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:17.679 But we're gonna start with the first one. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:19.280 I think it's after this one. 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:20.320 Here we go. 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:25.440 So, dear brothers and sisters, please listen to the family language. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.960 You're not just an audience member, you're a beloved brother and sister. 00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:37.840 I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.280 Let them be a living holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:46.799 This is truly the way to worship him. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:55.359 Now, in this particular time, it was very important for the c in the culture for people to have a conversation about what it's like to worship God. 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:57.119 Who is worshiping God right? 00:00:57.439 --> 00:00:59.200 Where is are we supposed to worship? 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:00.079 Is it on this hill? 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:01.039 Is it in that hill? 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:03.039 Is it in that temple or this temple? 00:01:03.200 --> 00:01:06.480 The big question was how do you worship God? 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.239 And here the apostle reminds us, you worship God embodied. 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:12.159 Wherever you are, you are worshiping. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:13.120 You have a chance. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:26.799 Whatever situation you find yourself in, you have the opportunity to offer worship as an embodied presence, as a soul living and housing the eternal spark, the gift that God has. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.439 And he said, This is the way you worship. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:32.079 You give your entire life. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:43.280 Don't copy the behaviors and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way that you think. 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.000 Here is the whole invitation. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:57.840 This is really why we even practice baptisms and this understanding that we are being transformed, that we are invited into a place of absolute rebirth. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.239 Christ in us, the hope of glory. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:03.519 This is the promise that God is making all things new. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:07.519 And in the all things that God is making, it is you, beloved, it is me. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:17.280 And the way that we do that is not copying culture, but that we would allow our minds to be transformed by the Holy Spirit and change the way that we think. 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:37.919 I want somebody else to be responsible for this thing that I don't like. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:38.639 And we do. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:42.479 We want God to wave a magic wand over us or whatever. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:48.639 But what we're we're reminding you uh is the hard work of changing your own mind. 00:02:49.599 --> 00:03:08.639 I was uh working with uh a couple of my sons a few weeks ago recently, and uh and I was we were just having a good conversation because uh I was like, you know, help me understand why immediately when I uh offer to do a job, you immediately don't want to do it. 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:12.479 Because you're good people and you do what everyone else wants to do. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:18.400 I see anyone in congregation ask, you're happy to help, and your mother asks, yeah, what is it about me? 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:19.680 What's your problem with your father? 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.960 And they say, well, you you you show no mercy. 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:26.159 You laugh, but they're not laughing. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:31.520 Uh you know, and and uh I'm like, well, you know, I don't understand what she means. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:44.000 It's like, well, you know, if if if I say I'll help you with a job, then you don't care how bad it gets or what happens, you're gonna get that job done at whatever expense. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:48.639 And and and so I'm hesitant to want to work with you. 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:52.560 And when someone explains that to you, it makes a lot of sense. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:59.919 But I also want to ru r uh bottle as the man who has these uh ways of thinking. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:14.080 I'm like, well, you gotta understand, I told somebody that I would do the job, and so the way I think is if you tell somebody you're gonna do a job, by God, you better do that job. 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:20.639 And see, and some of you are saying, absolutely, but be quiet because it's about to get bad for you, absolutely. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:52.480 Because I realized, and it just became so real to me there, that what was happening was I had decided we're gonna get this job done, and and I had decided, and this is the way I think, if you tell somebody you're gonna do a job, then and I think that's a good principle, but also understand sometimes when you start doing a job, you find out there's things behind that wall you didn't know were there. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:55.519 It takes longer than you realized it was gonna take. 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:58.639 There are things that, in fact, someone gets hurt on the job. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:07.600 Maybe it they had plans or all these things, but I was unwilling to flex from my way of thinking. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:16.160 What I believed, I believed at all costs, if you say you're gonna do something, by God, you better do it. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:20.079 And so nobody wanted to work with me by fair right. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.879 Who would you want to work with the Nazi guy who won't let anyone have a break or until the work is done? 00:05:27.199 --> 00:05:36.240 And so I looked at that and man, everything over there going, I like the principle of if you're gonna do it, get it done. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:37.199 I like that. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:39.040 I don't want to give that up. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:06:02.000 But I was faced, do I am I gonna hang on to my way of thinking that obviously is a huge stumbling block in the relationship I have with my children and other people, or would I be willing to give that up in order to have something new that I've never had before? 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:10.240 And and what I decided was that that that loving relationship is worth more than getting a job done. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:11.759 And I never used to think that way. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:13.600 I thought the job was the goal. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:19.279 But I don't think on this whole thing, God's gonna meet you and go, Well, you didn't do enough jobs. 00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:23.120 I think he's gonna ask you, how was your relationship with your children? 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:25.519 How was your relationship with those people? 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:32.480 And so in in giving that up, just for the past few weeks, and not that now I'm not doing any jobs, not keeping my word. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:33.199 It's awesome. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:34.639 I never keep my word now. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:35.920 It's it's not like that. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:50.079 But it's but it's going with full intention, I want to do that, but all of a sudden, I just the other day, I got we got into this thing, and you know, I'm 58 now, uh and and and it was really, really showing the August heat. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:54.399 And I'm like, maybe I can finish this another day. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:04.879 And I'm telling you, to give my own self that break was the most beautiful thing because I had lived under that same iron fist that my kids hated. 00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:07.600 I was living under that iron fist. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:12.800 And why am I sharing this story, Shuri, so that you can just see what kind of a jerk your pastor is? 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:14.879 Yes, that's exactly why. 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:23.279 Or I wonder if you're doing some of those same things and it's tormenting yourself and the people that you say that you love. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:26.720 And and I and and please don't misunderstand me. 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:43.519 I understand that we've got stuff that's got to get done, but when we are willing to adjust some things that we think are absolutes in our mind, because there are a lot of things that you have, for whatever reason, as a child, you've adapted a line of thinking, someone has told you something. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:55.120 Somewhere along the line, each one of us have got some things concreted in our brain, and that concrete thing is a huge stumbling block to your future and your transformation. 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:00.959 And so what we're talking about today is are you willing to change the way that you think? 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:04.160 And we're like, yeah, yeah, that sounds spiritual, that sounds good. 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:11.600 But what if it means I have to address one of these things that are dear to me and a principle that I actually like? 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:18.800 But am I willing to let that go so that I can have what God said I could have and what you really want? 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:25.759 You want peace, you want loving relationships, you want to be able to have uh to take a breath. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:26.480 Amen. 00:08:27.759 --> 00:08:29.439 Change the way that you think. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.439 This is the invitation of Jesus. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:32.639 He said, repent. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.279 And repent means change the way that you think. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:40.639 It says here that you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good, pleasing, and perfect. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:45.440 God's will for us is that we don't allow productivity to be the judge of us. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:47.200 What have you produced? 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.840 Are you good enough because you've worked enough? 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:52.720 In fact, that's the entire practice of Sabbath. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:56.399 That at the very beginning of the week you have rest. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:00.240 You don't earn the Sabbath, you don't get to the Sabbath at the end of your week. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:08.879 In fact, you start in rest, you start in provision, you start in love, and you start by remembering that you are beloved. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:18.720 And if you work out of belovedness versus what I can earn, grace is not opposed to effort, grace is opposed to earning. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:27.679 And so the there is an effort that it takes for us to accomplish jobs, but we must not hold principle above people. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:29.120 Jesus showed us this. 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:31.360 The laws were don't touch a leper. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:35.279 That's a good idea for transmission of sickness. 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:39.120 But Jesus went and touched the lepers and said, I'm gonna bring healing. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:48.720 And so Jesus shows us over and over again that the rules are never above the people, that we need to change the way that we think, even about ourselves. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.600 But this way we can find God's law. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:56.240 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:01.519 So, a warning for you this morning, a warning for myself. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:07.039 Don't think you are better than you really are. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:16.080 Be honest in your evaluation of yourself, measuring yourselves by the faith that God has given us. 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:17.759 You know what is true. 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:22.080 We judge ourselves by our intention and everyone else on their actions. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:26.960 We are sure that we know what they were thinking and what they were intended by what they didn't. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:31.519 Now, I want to tell you that sometimes our intention and our actions don't match up. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:36.879 And there's mercy for that, there's forgiveness for that, there's a practice that may have to be made. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:40.080 But Jesus is offering us a new way of living. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.960 And what he's saying is this you are not better than anyone else. 00:10:45.120 --> 00:10:47.279 You are not less than anyone else. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:50.080 We are all loved and beloved. 00:10:50.320 --> 00:10:53.919 You are special, beloved, but so is every other person. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:59.279 You are holy because God has intended for all of us to be holy. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:05.279 And this invitation is to not exactly what Thomas was talking about, not compare. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.200 She's better than me, she's less than me. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:08.080 None of that. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:16.000 There is an invitation into a present moment and recognizing every person's belovedness, including our own. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:24.720 Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:30.639 We are many parts of one body and we all belong to each other. 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:32.720 This is so hopeful. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:40.639 This is so hopeful when you have a thought, well, what good is it that I come, or what does it matter that I give, or what does it matter that I serve? 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:43.200 It's because we're all part of the body. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:50.480 I'm so grateful that my spleen this morning did not say, I'm not interested anymore in being a part of this. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:12:00.080 This invitation is thank you for all the body parts, even the ones that are hidden, even the ones that we don't see all the time, who make a difference in our life. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:08.559 And Paul is giving us this invitation to consider the fact that we all belong and that there's reason for us to work together. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:12.080 You know, I want to talk about the practicality of that idea of belovedness. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:20.320 You know, I get an opportunity a lot of times here at the church, people will come up and they'll say, hey, you know, I need 20 bucks. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.000 Is there some work I could do around here? 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:25.360 I'd love to, you know, I saw some leaves or some branches or whatever. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:37.440 And then I'll I'll go outside with them and and uh and they'll, you know, pick up some sticks and I'll be honest with you, I'll think to myself, was that worth 20 bucks? 00:12:38.399 --> 00:12:41.279 They asked for 20 bucks and they said they wanted to do some work. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:51.120 So so I'm uh I'm judging whether I think they deserve the 20 bucks. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:55.840 Uh that happens to me uh sometimes in family. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:04.320 You know, you you're taking care of everybody, buying everybody meals, and so you think to yourself, well, I wonder if they should pay me back sometime. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:06.879 I wonder if they should do this little thing. 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:08.000 And all of a sudden we start. 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:25.360 Now I know I'm the only person that thinks like that, but there's a scripture for us, and it tells us, you know, in that vineyard, you agreed to work for a certain fee, and now you're upset because another person's maybe getting away. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:30.240 Maybe that guy who came to the door just gets the 20 bucks without picking up any sticks. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:37.600 Or maybe those people that live in your home, they can live there without ever picking up their own underwear. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:14:00.240 What if we switch that thing to help me find the belovedness in these people that are around me, not looking at the at the production, what what they can do or what I think is fair. 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:03.200 Because there that's a condition of my heart. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:12.879 That shows an ailment, a sickness within my own self, that the first place I go to is accusation. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:22.080 I find that uh in my own life I didn't realize how much of my thought life is wrapped in accusation. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:33.759 And as I've begun to really wrestle that in my own thinking, I hear a lot of you guys talking to each other, and I go, should I mention to them? 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:47.840 Are they gonna want to go down this little slippery slope into uh into the mercy of God that that we we have such accusation for uh you must you, you know, oh clearly you hate this. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.440 Well, you didn't say that. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:53.519 They, you know, I but my accusation is so quick. 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:55.279 Well, uh, they're just being lazy. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:56.159 Or are they tired? 00:14:56.240 --> 00:15:02.720 Maybe they worked all day and maybe they just need a break, and and and and and it's my opportunity to serve them. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:08.559 But we have such accusation and such judgment, and and I don't think I'm the only person. 00:15:09.759 --> 00:15:21.279 And this is something that only the Spirit of God can change our minds about if we can begin to see that sickness within our own self that we don't see the belovedness. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:27.279 Sometimes I want to stop Heather and say, Don't you see how you're being taken advantage of? 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:37.759 And then I stop myself and realize, don't you see that you're not seeing the belovedness of the people that she's willing to lay her life down for? 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.240 Does that make sense to anybody? 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:41.679 Does it make anybody mad? 00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:47.519 John the Baptist, Jesus said of John that there was never a better man that ever lived. 00:15:47.840 --> 00:15:52.000 The earth was John was the was the whole thing. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:54.399 And Jesus was baptized into John's baptism. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:56.159 One of the things John said is give it to somebody. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.240 If they ask it to you from you, give it to them. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:03.759 This whole making someone earn it is not the beloved way. 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:08.559 And so we listen to the Holy Spirit within us, we use wisdom. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:14.639 If your baby asks you for candy first thing in the morning, may not be the time for that. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.399 You have to use wisdom. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:23.919 But to ask someone to earn what God has already put in this world, all of the abundance. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:29.679 The idea that I'd have to make someone earn something or work for it comes from a thought of scarcity. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.840 There is abundance, beloved. 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:33.600 This is our Father's world. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.759 In his grace, God has given us different different gifts for doing certain things well. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:43.600 So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:47.440 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:50.320 If you are a teacher, teach well. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.960 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:58.720 If it is giving, give generously. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:03.120 If God has given you leadership ability, take responsibility seriously. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:08.160 And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:13.039 Don't just pretend to love others, really love them. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:19.039 Hate what is wrong and hold tightly to what is good. 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:22.799 Love each other with genuine affection. 00:17:23.119 --> 00:17:26.400 Take delight in honoring each other. 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:31.920 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically. 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.640 Rejoice in our confident hope. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:38.720 Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:43.440 And when God's people are in need, be ready to help them. 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:47.359 Always be eager to practice hospitality. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Bless those who persecute you. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:51.440 Don't curse them. 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:54.319 Pray that God will bless them. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:59.119 Be happy with those who are happy and weep with those who weep. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.839 Live in harmony with each other. 00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:06.079 And don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:08.960 And don't think you know it all. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.519 This is the message of Jesus that love is the end result. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.480 This is the hope. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:27.039 We return to God who is love. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:34.240 And this understanding and practice of returning to the good is that we would be people who know how to love well. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:42.000 When a man came to Jesus and said to him, Teacher, Rabbi, tell us the most important commandment. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:44.640 And there were over 600 of them. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.200 And Jesus said, Love. 00:18:47.839 --> 00:18:50.319 This is the most important commandment. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:18:56.160 Jesus gathers his friends together and he's going to have dinner with them. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.920 He knows the next day he will die and he will be crucified. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:03.759 He knows that his friend Peter will betray him. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:07.440 He knows his friend Judas will commit suicide. 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:12.640 He knows that this is the last time that he'll be gathered with them in this place. 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:14.559 And he talks about love. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:17.680 He says, I'm going to give you a new commandment. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.799 On top of the 600 and other ones that they had. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:27.839 And the commandment is this love each other the way that I have loved you. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:31.440 So you may have a different version of love than I have. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:39.039 And all of us are here today to get Jesus' version of love and say, He gets to change the way that we think by the Holy Spirit. 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:41.920 We're saying, change the way you think, like it's just a choice. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:42.880 And it is beloved. 00:19:43.279 --> 00:19:49.200 But we sometimes need the power of the Holy Spirit to make that choice to change our mind. 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:56.319 I would like to say, though, it is ultimately just that choice that you make. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:03.119 Because sometimes we're going, we're waiting going, Holy Spirit, do something so amazing you know, it's going to have to take some kind of mountain-moving thing. 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:11.440 The the miracle is in you just surrendering and just saying, I'm going to stop thinking this way. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:13.440 It's something I'm comfortable with. 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:19.200 It's humiliating to admit that you were wrong and all of these things. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:21.279 But you have you decide. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:26.640 Don't wait around for some bomb to go off, some amazing that you decide I can shift my line of thinking. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:30.960 We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:36.559 If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:41.839 This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:54.000 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. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.599 We were at an outreach uh just this week, David and I. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:00.000 And the thing is, you know, I know David so well. 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:08.400 If Dave ever ticks you off or does something wrong, I'm just telling you, he didn't do it on purpose. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:11.759 He wasn't being, it's just I know him. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:19.359 And all of a sudden this lady starts tying into him that he stole her juice, her cases of drink. 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:26.319 And I had asked Dave to put because the people that have the place donated some uh drinks to the church. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:28.799 So I asked Dave to take the cases, and he did. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:32.240 This lady who doesn't even work there just starts screaming. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:50.960 And I get a little offended, man, when you start messing, you know, with my kid, especially such a good man that he is, you know, and and all of a sudden, you know, I'm trying to figure it out because like she's losing it, and I'm I'm like, well, what flavor was it? 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:59.039 Was it some because I'm standing there and my perspective, she's yelling, but behind me there's a palette of the same drink. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.960 Yeah, it's juice it was juice. 00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:02.079 It wasn't a different flavor. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:02.720 There's only two. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:08.640 That's what so she had a palette to choose from. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:16.400 But the two that she had set aside, I guess, or someone took, I don't think we did even took it, but she thought we did, and so we were getting the brunt of it. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:26.160 But it was that, it would, and I'm and I got so angry because I'm like, she's shouting at us, and there's all this provision right here that she's missing. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:34.640 And then I'm I'm telling you what, just like a miracle, God said to me, because I'm in, I'll tell you what, I was this close to tying into some folks. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:35.680 You know what I mean? 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:45.440 Uh and and probably saying a bunch of stuff that I would have to come here to church on Sunday morning before you got here and repent of, so I could come up here and preach. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:51.519 And so, and I looked at that and it just dawned on me, oh, she's just working it out. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.640 She's just, she's afraid that she's not gonna get anything. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:22:58.400 And look at there. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:02.799 Behind her is a whole pallet. 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:08.160 But she's convinced that that she's been robbed. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:12.079 Her name wasn't on any of that stuff, nobody did anything wrong. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:21.119 But in her mind, it's all there's all this, you know, what she was so and and and I and you know, there's a part of you that wants to tell them how wrong they are. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.079 And and we want to get our rightness out, we want to get our pound of flesh. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:28.319 I was right, you were wrong, let me prove it. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:30.079 Here's the facts, ma'am. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:38.799 But I don't want to be judged by those facts, you know, and I want space when I'm working it out. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:44.960 Because keep in mind, I was only about a second from being in way more sin than she ever thought about being in. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:46.160 Do you know what I mean? 00:23:49.279 --> 00:24:06.880 And it's like those opportunities for us to recognize oh, help me have compassion for someone who's going through the same struggle I'm going through, trying to figure out, you know, she felt robbed, she felt all these things, and she had a palate that we could turn her around. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:21.359 Here, here's all the drinks you could possibly want, you know, and and learn to, but her scarce mindset, scarcity, she showed up at that thing and she thought, if I don't get mine, I'm gonna suffer. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:23.920 When God's saying there's more than enough. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.839 So, how much of our mindset is in scarcity, and we are the ones that have to go, God's gonna take care of me. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:49.119 Yeah, but it last Tuesday I was trying, you know, that, or my experience is better, you know, and we we listen, we let all these voices and all these thoughts and all these beliefs concrete in our mind, instead of allowing God to change the way that we think. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:59.200 And then so just as a result, I literally, and I didn't say it out loud because I would have been mean to the lady, but I said to myself, oh, I don't have to participate in her crazy. 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:00.720 Oh, I'm opting out. 00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:08.480 And so I just smiled and thought, well, you know, she's gonna figure out how to get some juice off that palate. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.920 Because this is not, this is clearly not my problem. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:23.519 And man, what a relief to roll that over and let my mind be changed and recognizing that it's happening to others around and it needs to happen to you and I, amen? 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:28.079 Never pave back evil with more evil. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:37.519 Never, not just on Tuesdays, never pay back evil with more evil. 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:44.400 There was a law that said if someone harms you and they take your eye, all you can do is take the other eye. 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:46.079 You can't lop their head off. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.400 It was called an eye for an eye or tooth for a tooth. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.200 And Jesus came and said, Absolutely not, that's not God's way. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:53.920 If someone hits you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. 00:25:54.079 --> 00:25:56.960 There is no eye for an eye in the kingdom of God. 00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:00.799 It is an invitation into forgiveness. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:05.920 Do things in such a way that everyone can see that you are honorable. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:12.960 This scripture here reminds us it is not honorable to gouge someone's eye out because they have taken yours. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:18.240 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:21.519 I remind you that Jesus is a peacemaker. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.319 In fact, Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:34.319 War and violence and hatred and division and bigotry and misogyny and all of those things have nothing to do with Jesus the Christ. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:38.000 And Jesus tells us that we are to be peacemakers. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:45.039 The apostle Paul reminds us here in the scripture: you do everything you can to live in peace with everyone. 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:52.160 Dear friends, never take revenge. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:59.039 And this would be fine to overlook, except for the fact that you only want revenge when you've been harmed. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.519 Or what you think you've been harmed. 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:03.920 What the illusion is that you have been slighted. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.519 What if we were to somehow change the way that we think? 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:11.920 Dear friends, never take revenge. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.039 Leave that to the righteous anger of God. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:23.039 For the scripture says, I will take revenge and I will pay them back, says the Lord. 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:24.559 Whose justice do you want? 00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:25.599 Yours or God's? 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:26.880 I want God's. 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:40.160 Because God has all kinds of ways to bring people back to Himself, all kinds of ways to illuminate the illusion that they're in and bring them back to the consciousness. 00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:44.240 Indeed, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:47.279 This is the way of Jesus, beloved. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:50.799 If your enemy is hungry, it doesn't say make them hurt worse. 00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:54.160 It doesn't say do more to them, it doesn't say annihilate them. 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:56.880 It says, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:59.839 If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.480 In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their head. 00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:07.519 Don't let evil conquer you. 00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:08.960 Oh, come on. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:11.440 But conquer evil by doing good. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.720 Beloved, we are called to good works. 00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:31.759 We are called to be people who love people who extravagantly open our hands and our hearts and our homes to the hospitality of the Holy Spirit, who, according to the scriptures, is God's plan to make all things new. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.319 God says the kingdom is coming right now. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:35.359 Jesus offered it. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:37.759 It's so close to you, it's even in your mouth. 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:45.359 Let the kingdom come in all of its goodness, in all of its righteousness, and don't let evil get into you, beloved. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.079 Conquer evil by doing good. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:55.359 You know, we're uh still at hotel, and uh um people say, you guys are still in the hotel. 00:28:55.519 --> 00:29:03.519 And uh when we get when the tree went through the house, the guy said, you know, that it'd be a miracle if this thing gets fixed in six months, you know. 00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:06.480 And it's been just a little over a month, you know. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.160 And so um people are like they this over and over. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:15.039 I mean, it's just almost like it's like they're reading a script. 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:16.960 They go, I feel so sad for you. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:18.240 That must be terrible. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:21.359 And and I'm thinking, am I missing something? 00:29:21.519 --> 00:29:23.359 Should I be more angry? 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:30.400 Should I sit because what Heather and I have been practicing is being thankful that we have a roof over our there's a hotel. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.400 We don't have to pop a tent out in the yard and wait for the house to get fixed. 00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:40.079 We got and and and it's the most terrible living in a hotel. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:45.519 Well, when we get home at night, that there's clean towels and the beds are made. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:29:47.920 There's something to be thankful for. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:55.680 Now, I will tell you that we'll go by the house and clean every day and do and do laundry and do some work and stuff. 00:29:55.839 --> 00:30:03.440 And and every once in a while, Heather and I will just climb in our bed for a second and we'll go, oh, because there's nothing like your own bed, right? 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:12.079 And we've got that thing where we got the, I mean, our bed's the, you don't want to go anywhere else in the world, comfortable bed we've found ourselves in. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:20.160 And so we'll lay there and go, oh, and then we'll both go, boy, it's gonna be so great, and we're gonna be so happy when we get to go back in. 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:36.000 And we're just trying to make sure that our we don't allow our minds to go the one way, and we find the good that that we even have a bed that that we're gonna be able to go back to one day that is so comfortable, that God has given us that in the first place. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:48.160 And and so there's a way that you can control your mind, or you you don't have to constantly think of the negative and think of, but we it is a training, it is a practice. 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:53.200 We have to then choose to rehearse what is the good. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:58.640 Given what is, what is mind to do is the most important thing that we can remember. 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:00.160 What is mind to do in this? 00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:02.240 We're talking about this entire thing. 00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:05.279 The apostle reminds us to change the way that we think. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:14.160 In the very beginning of the text that we have in the Hebrew Bible, it tells us that man and women are put in a garden. 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:20.640 And at the very beginning of the story of mankind, God says to them, Who told you that? 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:25.440 This is a very good question to ask yourself at all times. 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.960 Who told me that I needed to go first? 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.599 Who told me that if I don't scramble, I will not get what I need? 00:31:33.839 --> 00:31:38.079 Who told me that I have to make sure that I'm not being taken advantage of? 00:31:38.319 --> 00:31:39.359 Who told me? 00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:43.519 Ask yourself the question, where did this thought come from? 00:31:43.680 --> 00:31:45.519 And then surrender it to Jesus. 00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:49.359 Allow yourself to think the thoughts that love would think. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.960 And this is the beautiful part of practicing during Pentecost. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:56.160 It is giving consent to the Holy Spirit. 00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:02.720 When you find yourself in a situation and you're like, oh, I wonder who told me that, and you think back or you can't even come to it. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:07.039 This practice is I give consent for the Holy Spirit to change my mind. 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:07.920 Yes. 00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:12.079 As easy as that, I give consent to think another way. 00:32:12.319 --> 00:32:17.279 And there is another practice that we do, it is the embodied practice of holy communion. 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.400 When we come forward to the communion table, we are entering a mystery. 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:29.200 We are entering into this embodied practice of receiving everything that we have need of. 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:32.799 We don't take communion, we receive communion. 00:32:33.039 --> 00:33:04.240 There is an invitation into receiving all of the good that God has for us so that in response we can do good, in response to receiving the communion of Jesus Christ, that we would go out blessed, broken, and given to the world, that we would allow our fists to be unclenched, that we would open and use our hands for helping and not for hurting, that we would open our lives and that we would let people see the light of Jesus Christ. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:10.079 You know, that there's a there's a mystery that's to be revealed. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:12.559 And that's what the Spirit does. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:18.880 But only to those people that are open to that and willing to hear something different. 00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:23.039 And I and I want to go back to that thing I shared in the very beginning of this service. 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:35.759 You know, at very face value, to say that a man finishes the job that he starts, that he commits to do is very good and very noble. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:37.359 And it sounds great. 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:50.960 But if you find what I found in my life, that in keeping that commitment, everyone around me had to pay a price that they didn't offer. 00:33:52.799 --> 00:34:00.400 And that that what what what my decision and my thinking, how that falls on the people that are around me. 00:34:00.640 --> 00:34:12.000 Because remember, the words of a father fall very hard on their children. 00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:26.159 I remember years and years and years ago, we had just watched Lord of the Rings and Thomas came in from outside and his feet were dirty because he was playing outside, and I said, You have hobbit feet. 00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:31.599 I meant hobbit feet because the hobbits are barefooted and they're dirty. 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:35.280 But if you remember watching Lord of the Rings, Hobbit had some weird-looking feet. 00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:43.920 And I watched him deflate because his dad said that he had freak feet. 00:34:45.440 --> 00:35:08.719 That's not what I meant, but that's what I said, and I was embarrassed, and I almost said nothing, but I tried to endeavor and apologize to him then because I remember things that my dad said that still are with me at 58 years old. 00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:11.679 They fall from a weight. 00:35:12.719 --> 00:35:39.199 And I could stand and argue and say that, man, it's good, a man, and it is good that a man keeps his word, but not that he expands, you know, we have to be willing to open up to the spirit to help us understand the mystery of this, because maybe there are some things that you've coveted, you've concreted, and they and you, and to you they're they're they're non-negotiables, and they're good in in theory. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.480 But what kind of damage are they doing to the people around you? 00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:50.559 And we wonder why God doesn't seem to be real, he doesn't seem to be working in my life. 00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:56.960 God is working to the lit to the extent that you will allow because of the way that you think. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:03.039 The change is really that simple because I switched that thing. 00:36:03.119 --> 00:36:08.639 And it was, I mean, I was struggling, I was like, oh, good, and I'm like, I can set myself free. 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:13.519 I don't have to always do things so rigidly. 00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:18.639 What a relief! A gift I gave to myself. 00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:23.039 What a gift you'll give to yourself if you will find those places. 00:36:23.119 --> 00:36:25.119 Because why am I why am I harping on this? 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:34.159 Not so that I can just tell you some dumb story about my own life, but that you can realize, oh yeah, you're doing that all the time in some areas or in other. 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:40.800 And how that's hurting the people that you say that you love, how that's hindering you from what God wants to do in your life. 00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:57.760 So when we go to this table and the mystery of God giving you daily bread, the thing that you have need of, God help me turn loose of the beliefs and the thoughts and the patterns I have that are causing pain for myself and those that I love. 00:36:58.079 --> 00:37:00.239 We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:05.920 If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.