SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the First Love Church podcast.
SPEAKER_00: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you um are as excited about the seasons as I am.
SPEAKER_00: It just reminds us of what we can do with our life.
SPEAKER_00: Um I was with someone recently and they were doing some cleaning and they said, I'm s I knew that it was summertime and we've been very hot, and they said, throw all the sweaters out.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, well, maybe not.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe don't throw that out.
SPEAKER_00: Because maybe, just maybe, fingers crossed, in a few months we might need a sweater.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes in our lives, we need to be reminded of the season.
SPEAKER_00: Sometime the season you're in, you don't have to throw everything out, just put it away for another season.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a hope for that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't mean for us to be hoarders and never to go through things, but to recognize the seasons come.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why the church calendar is so helpful as a tool to develop a deep spiritual life, to look at these things and say, What season are we in?
SPEAKER_00: The season of practicing our alignment with the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And in this season, starting on September 1st, all the way till the end of the month, there is a sub-season.
SPEAKER_00: And it's called the season of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation is that you would allow creation to testify to you intentionally of God, that you would begin to open your heart and your mind to the thought that creation will tell me something about God, something about my place in the world, something about God's love for me and for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: And so it is with a lot of joy that we enter into these seasons and that we pay attention to our own spiritual growth and our own spiritual invitation into the family of God, into the heart of God.
SPEAKER_00: There is much happening around us, and we'll pray for things after service and we'll have holy communion together.
SPEAKER_00: That's the crescendo of the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: We get together every time and we do what Jesus told us to do, and we see what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Very often, in fact, the miracles that Jesus did were part of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And so I ask you to open your heart to the miracles that you may begin to see.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about the verses that we were reading in John.
SPEAKER_00: It says, No one has ever seen God.
SPEAKER_00: And I was going through the Hebrew Bible in my mind, all the people said that they had seen God.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's start with Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start, you could go to Moses, you could go to a lot of people who have said that they've seen God.
SPEAKER_00: And then you recognize what the apostle is telling us until Jesus, no one had gotten God right.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came to reinstruct us, to show us this is who the Father is and invite us into the longing that we have together, that we would be the hands and feet of God, that the kingdom of God that we pray for would come and it would be here with us now.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't want to call people out because sometimes people don't want to be called out, but my friend Mary Ann is here and I didn't know she was coming, and she came all the way from New Mexico, and that's super exciting.
SPEAKER_00: So so glad to see you, Mary Ann.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here with us.
SPEAKER_00: And then Ethan is here this morning and it's his 21st birthday.
SPEAKER_00: And so after church, yeah, we'll sing to him.
SPEAKER_00: But I was thinking, um, he mentioned it before church, and I was thinking about what it is to celebrate your 21st birthday and to be in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: So, Ethan, I wrote a blessing for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for me, it's from the church, but I was the one who was writing it, so you'll listen.
SPEAKER_00: Ethan, beloved child of God, may you know deep in the places of your soul that you are already welcomed in God's presence.
SPEAKER_00: Before you ever knew how to reach for God, God was reaching for you.
SPEAKER_00: Before you had words for your faith, love had already spoken your name.
SPEAKER_00: May you never believe that you have to become more worthy, more certain, or more holy, or more like anyone else to have place at God's table.
SPEAKER_00: There is a place for you here.
SPEAKER_00: There has always been a place for you.
SPEAKER_00: And may the house of God become for you a place where you do not have to prove yourself, a place where you can be and just breathe, a place that you are seen without being judged or scrutinized, without being intentionally asked to be someone other than you are, may you know that the house of God will love you without condition.
SPEAKER_00: And may you discover more about who God is and how much God loves you, and that God is wider than your questions, deeper than your doubts, and more enduring than any fears.
SPEAKER_00: And when you wonder whether or not you belong, may you remember you belong always to love.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to us, you belong at the table of God, you belong in the great unfolding family of God.
SPEAKER_00: And may you know with confidence your own belovedness, not as an idea that you were taught, but as something that you feel in your bones.
SPEAKER_00: And may you hear the voice of God whisper over your life, you are my beloved, not because of what you accomplish, what you will grow up to be, but simply because you are made in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: May you grow in the freedom of being deeply loved by God, who delights in you, who makes room for you, who walks with you, who will never stop welcoming your home.
SPEAKER_00: Ethan, on your birthday, may this, your life, become a living answer to the question that love has called you here.
SPEAKER_00: And may you know you're not standing at the edges of family.
SPEAKER_00: You are already home.
SPEAKER_00: You are loved.
SPEAKER_00: Happy birthday for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Reminded, yes, yes, yes, we are loved.
SPEAKER_00: We should always be affirmed.
SPEAKER_00: I was walking through the other day, and my kids were watching um a story.
SPEAKER_00: And in the story, the part that I was walking through, um, the person was uh a person was telling someone else, whatever you do, don't forget your name.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you forget your name, you'll stay here and you'll never get out.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, I don't even remember my name.
SPEAKER_00: And then the person said it to them.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, You have to remember this.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking, oh, that's what we do in church every Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: We remind ourselves of our true name.
SPEAKER_00: We are beloved of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are ones chosen and we have a place in the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if you forgot your name this week, and this could be your weekly amnesia therapy, but you are beloved and you are welcomed in the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: Together, when we gather, we have something very special that happens.
SPEAKER_00: The presence of the Holy Spirit is with us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said this, where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the middle of them.
SPEAKER_00: In the Hebrew Bible, there is a very similar um quote, and the rabbis would say this: whenever people gather around the Torah or the Word of God, the Shekinah glory of God is in the middle of them.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus was reminding us that when we gather, that there is an expansion in the way that we can see God.
SPEAKER_00: There is an expansion in the way that we can see each other, and there is for us an alignment in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'm grateful that you are here with us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We have been reading in the book of Romans.
SPEAKER_00: Um, in this season of the Christian calendar, we're looking at a specific set of texts that remind us about the Holy Spirit and what it looks like for us to have the Holy Spirit in our lives and how that will play out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that if you went to children's church or kindergarten or like a Sunday school, they told you about the fruits of the Spirit and sometimes they attach them to different kinds of fruits.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to remind you that it means an evidence of.
SPEAKER_00: And while you might not have grapes in your life, I hope that you have patience because love is patient.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit, an evidence of God's Spirit, is patience.
SPEAKER_00: And so when we learn these things, we learn to be able to see them and know what to look for.
SPEAKER_00: And so today, when we go back to the text, let love be genuine.
SPEAKER_00: Hate what is evil and hold fast to what is good.
SPEAKER_00: The older that I get in my life, and I have been trying to follow Jesus since I was about five years old.
SPEAKER_00: So it's been a while of practicing and following.
SPEAKER_00: But holding fast to that which is good is a practice.
SPEAKER_00: With your other hand, let go of anything else that doesn't serve, that that no longer helps, that is something that we need to expand from.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Jesus said this all the time in following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You are gonna have to think a new way.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard it said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I'm telling you, there's another way to live.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, You have heard it said, but I say unto you.
SPEAKER_00: And so we follow the way of Jesus in expanding our ideas of love and what it means to hold on to good.
SPEAKER_00: Love one another with mutual affection.
SPEAKER_00: Outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it looks like to be a part of the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it looks like to be ones who remember our belovedness, who remember who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We would outdo each other in showing honor.
SPEAKER_00: I was in the grocery store the other day and somebody wanted to let me go first.
SPEAKER_00: I said, No, you please.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, No, you go.
SPEAKER_00: And we had this little contest.
SPEAKER_00: I said, I would really love for you to go first.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Yeah, but that was my intention first.
SPEAKER_00: So I would like for you to go.
SPEAKER_00: And then there was a woman who came behind us, and we both said together, you go first.
SPEAKER_00: And that was great because and it became this wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_00: And then she goes, I don't know, I want to play the game.
SPEAKER_00: You go first.
SPEAKER_00: And then I was like, What if we all did that though?
SPEAKER_00: What if we all said we would like to pay it forward?
SPEAKER_00: We would like to say, what does it look like to honor each other?
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like to give a special place to someone and say, I see the image of God in you.
SPEAKER_00: Do not lag in your zeal, be ardent in spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: There's some beautiful language here.
SPEAKER_00: It's it would be incredible if you could spend some time this week paying attention to this particular portion of scripture and allowing the Holy Spirit to tell you how you can open your heart to this.
SPEAKER_00: And I really think in today's language, what it means is don't live your life on autopilot.
SPEAKER_00: Choose, choose to live in the spirit, choose to live in love, choose to live not programmed by the culture of this world, but to live in the love that is divine, in the love that invites us into more and in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: These are practices, again, where the church here reminds us what is it like to live differently?
SPEAKER_00: What is it like to be baptized into a new family?
SPEAKER_00: What is it like to remember that you are born again, that there is a whole new way of living?
SPEAKER_00: Serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like in your life to serve the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about this because somebody was asking me some questions, and I was really trying to boil them down and make them simple.
SPEAKER_00: Catherine had left a little message for me.
SPEAKER_00: She's in Paris, and she left it late last night, and she goes, Somebody said, you know, that they needed a synopsis of this and they needed it right away, and they couldn't have it, and they were really upset.
SPEAKER_00: And she's like, I could ask my mom.
SPEAKER_00: And so she sent a little message and we got a text, and it was one of my favorite stories in the scripture about the friends who find a man on a mat who need healing, and they pick up the mat and they bring him to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I love the stories of Jesus because they remind us of what it looks like to live in this world.
SPEAKER_00: How do we bring people to Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: How do we love them?
SPEAKER_00: How do we serve them?
SPEAKER_00: How do we open our hearts to say the spirit in me compels me to live differently because I know that I am loved.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in hope.
SPEAKER_00: That's an easy one, I think.
SPEAKER_00: When everyone's hopeful, it's so good to be hopeful with them.
SPEAKER_00: This one's a little harder.
SPEAKER_00: Be patient in suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Because you know what we want to do the minute we suffer?
SPEAKER_00: We want to get out of it.
SPEAKER_00: The minute we are there, we are ready to be done with it.
SPEAKER_00: And the minute I think about this in the summertime, I'm like, I am ready for the fall.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the fall, I'm like, I can't wait for the spring.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the spring, I'm like, won't it be wonderful when we have the fall?
SPEAKER_00: And we do this as humanity.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture here reminds us, be patient in the suffering.
SPEAKER_00: The suffering is producing in you.
SPEAKER_00: And often it's not talking about abuse.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking here about the suffering of what it means for you not to be first, for you not to think of yourself better than you ought, for you not to allow your ego to run the show.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of suffering that he's offering us and saying, what is it like for you to follow the way of Jesus into compassion?
SPEAKER_00: Persevere in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, do not give up on praying.
SPEAKER_00: Do not give up, persevere in this time when something is not right.
SPEAKER_00: Pray about it.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the scripture tells us that we're invited to live in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And what is prayer but communication?
SPEAKER_00: To ask God about things and then to listen.
SPEAKER_00: To listen.
SPEAKER_00: And then to watch God show us different ways of seeing and for us to be able to find the miracles.
SPEAKER_00: I was thinking about Hagar in the Jewish Bible, and she's the first person who names God in the scripture, and she's in a terrible situation that men have put her in, and she is confident that she is gonna die and her child with her, and that is despair, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: And then an angel shows up and sees and she sees something differently, she sees something that was already there, and she names God as the one who sees me.
SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about that how often the miracle is already there, we just don't see it.
SPEAKER_00: Very much like the disciples, where the fish and loaves were there, but they didn't see it as enough and put in the hands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: It is so this invitation to persevere into prayer.
SPEAKER_00: There are many different forms of prayer, and the church has always been about prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was a person of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the disciples said, teach us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: It is one of the reasons why we pray the Lord's prayer and this idea that Jesus shows us how to pray and how to live.
SPEAKER_00: So as a person who is in faith, as a person who lives together, I want to remind you, persevere in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Do not give up on praying.
SPEAKER_00: Contribute to the needs of the saints.
SPEAKER_00: This is the invitation.
SPEAKER_00: This looks like Acts chapter 2, verse 42.
SPEAKER_00: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the first church looked like.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation for us is to continue in these things, that we would continue to contribute to each other's needs, that we would extend hospitality to strangers.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where the reckless love of God shows up.
SPEAKER_00: Because very often we want to show hospitality to our family or the people who are just like us or our friends.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation is to show hospitality to strangers.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for you to show hospitality to everyone?
SPEAKER_00: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovchurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.
SPEAKER_00: This is the message.
SPEAKER_00: This is the good news of Jesus that God has come and God is coming and living in the middle of us.
SPEAKER_00: Emmanuel, God with us.
SPEAKER_00: But extend hospitality to strangers.
SPEAKER_00: Open your heart to ask the Spirit and say, How will I do this?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the strangers that you might be asked to show hospitality to are to um insects and bugs and animals and plants, not just people.
SPEAKER_00: I have some hard lines at some things, like spiders.
SPEAKER_00: I believe in their existence.
SPEAKER_00: I know that the Lord has beautiful plans for them, and I know that they have a purpose, but I just do not want to dwell with them.
SPEAKER_00: That's just a personal thing, it's not a Jesus thing.
SPEAKER_00: But I have really hard lines about that.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation is may you find someone who is thrilled with spiders.
SPEAKER_00: I have a friend recently, and she cannot get over spider webs.
SPEAKER_00: She, the the way that they make them is just the are the most fascinating thing.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so fun for me because I walked outside the other day and I walked into one, and I just want to tell you how upset I was.
SPEAKER_00: Face full of spider, and then I'm never sure if it's in my hair now, you know, like how that works.
SPEAKER_00: And I the first thing I got was upset because this spider put its house right where I was going to walk.
SPEAKER_00: Now that spider should have known I feel like this because this is my house, those are my pillars.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00: Like we have these ideas that are insane.
SPEAKER_00: But I was firstly upset, and then I thought, oh my gosh, I shouldn't just wipe it away.
SPEAKER_00: I should take a picture so my friend could see the beautiful web that she loves so much all over my face.
SPEAKER_00: And I thought she would probably really enjoy this experience.
SPEAKER_00: I do not.
SPEAKER_00: But the invitation is to change the way that you think, beloved, and you're not going to do that until you have people around you who will also see things differently than you do.
SPEAKER_00: So embrace the diversity, show hospitality to the stranger.
SPEAKER_00: Bless those who persecute you.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_00: The invitation for all of us living in the Spirit is that we would be people who bless, that we would bless with our words, that we would bless with our presence, that we would bless with our resources, but that we are to be people who bless.
SPEAKER_00: Because God said this, I put before you blessing, life, choose life.
SPEAKER_00: There's blessing and cursing, be people who bless, be people who find ways to create opportunities for others.
SPEAKER_00: Bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is going to be a uh just a reminder to the original audience.
SPEAKER_00: These people heard the words of Moses, they understood the culture that they were in.
SPEAKER_00: And in this time, blessing and cursing got a little conflated.
SPEAKER_00: People got more excited about the curses than they did the blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking about this the other day with somebody.
SPEAKER_00: We were talking about Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a beautiful story, and it's a really, really old one.
SPEAKER_00: But there's a point where Jonah has, he know, he has the his events, and then he tells the people that God is going to judge them, and then the people repent.
SPEAKER_00: They change the way that they think.
SPEAKER_00: And then they don't get the punishment, and Jonah is furious.
SPEAKER_00: And let me just tell you, the story of Jonah tells a lot more about Jonah's own heart than anything else.
SPEAKER_00: And at one point, Jonah said, This is why I didn't want to come and do this, because I knew God that you were not going to punish these people.
SPEAKER_00: I knew you would relent from what you said.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder if that isn't what Jesus is asking all of us to open our eyes and see that God is different than the God that we have made, that we have created.
SPEAKER_00: We like a God of judgment.
SPEAKER_00: We like a God like the Greek gods who are furl of fury.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus comes and shows us a basin and a towel.
SPEAKER_00: How are we going to change the world with this?
SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way.
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 3, you know the verse.
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life through him.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the way of Jesus that God saves the world.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the invitation that we are all called to.
SPEAKER_00: Bless and do not curse them.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, this is a way to allow compassion to lead us.
SPEAKER_00: There are some people who have allowed their hearts to be so hardened that when someone is crying, we make excuses and say, Well, that's their own fault, or that's what they have done.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of going, wait, let our hearts be broken with each other.
SPEAKER_00: Let our hearts rejoice with each other, but let our hearts stay soft and full of the compassion of God.
SPEAKER_00: Live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be haughty.
SPEAKER_00: Another name for that is prideful, but associate with the lowly.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is reminding us, the apostle Paul is reminding us, the kingdom of God is not a hierarchy, it looks like a big circle.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone in Jesus at the very center saying, Come to God, all of us.
SPEAKER_00: You do not have to climb a social ladder or perform at a certain level for you to be holy.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the scripture tells us you are made whole and holy by God's love.
SPEAKER_00: So love is the invitation for us.
SPEAKER_00: Do not claim to be wiser than you are.
SPEAKER_00: This is an excellent way of remembering that we are all to be students.
SPEAKER_00: We are all to learn more of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That there is so So much that we still do not know.
SPEAKER_00: The minute you think that you know everything Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
SPEAKER_00: Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
SPEAKER_00: But take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
SPEAKER_00: And if it is possible, I do love this language.
SPEAKER_00: If it is possible.
SPEAKER_00: But if it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is an invitation in the spirit to change the way that we think, that we're not to judge other people or other situations, and that we can choose to live in peace no matter what happens around us, because our peace is in the fact that we are loved by God, that Jesus has made the way, and that we trust in the love of God.
SPEAKER_00: We read those verses before with Thomas.
SPEAKER_00: We said we trust in the love that God has for us.
SPEAKER_00: And so if it's possible, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace, that is not a kingdom of violence.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a kingdom of war.
SPEAKER_00: We see even when Jesus came in the actual physical realm that the empire of Rome was so violent and had used so much domination that even the disciples were thinking when Jesus really gets with it, he's gonna take over and smash Rome, and then we're gonna be the ones on top.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said to Peter, put down your sword.
SPEAKER_00: And he said over and over again, that's not how we, that's not how this works.
SPEAKER_00: It is the towel and the basin, it is serving each other, it is loving each other, but as so far it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave room for the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: Don't say anything, don't make any faces yet because this is a test.
SPEAKER_00: This is a test, not from me, this is from the apostle.
SPEAKER_00: Never avenge yourself, make room for the wrath of God.
SPEAKER_00: For it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And we like that because we want a God who is going to bring justice upon the people that are different than us, that are not like us.
SPEAKER_00: Mercy for us, justice for others.
SPEAKER_00: This exposes our ideas about a vengeful God.
SPEAKER_00: Vengeance is mine, I will replace as the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: This is what actually the Proverbs say as well.
SPEAKER_00: No, so that was the test.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be excited about the fact that your enemies are gonna get theirs.
SPEAKER_00: No, says the apostle.
SPEAKER_00: Again, he's not coming up with a new version.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same thing that the Torah has teach has taught us.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same thing that the Psalms and the Proverbs are teaching.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it is from Proverbs, I think, 23.
SPEAKER_00: If you can't find it, I can find it for you later.
SPEAKER_00: But it's in there.
SPEAKER_00: This is an exact quote.
SPEAKER_00: And that's why it's actually in quote quotations for you.
SPEAKER_00: But the apostle here is quoting a very old text.
SPEAKER_00: If your enemies are hungry, feed them.
SPEAKER_00: If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.
SPEAKER_00: By doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads.
SPEAKER_00: I remember being very little and loving this idea of burning someone's head.
SPEAKER_00: I just thought it was the greatest thing.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about it, I'll be nice to you and I'll burn your head.
SPEAKER_00: I want to remind you that it's not what the story is saying at all.
SPEAKER_00: Again, very old text.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're doing.
SPEAKER_00: Give them food, give them drink.
SPEAKER_00: And when you give them food and drink, you will be doing this.
SPEAKER_00: In ancient times, if your fire went out, your life went out.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't have a way to make fire, you not only could you not cook, but you were also not protected.
SPEAKER_00: And so if your fire went out, you would go to your neighbor and you would say, Could I have a living hole?
SPEAKER_00: Could I have a red hot ember so that I could take it to my fire and relight it?
SPEAKER_00: And often they would carry those containers on their head.
SPEAKER_00: So you would go to your neighbor and you would ask for something that would support your life.
SPEAKER_00: Can I make food?
SPEAKER_00: Can I boil water?
SPEAKER_00: Can I, what can I do to sustain life?
SPEAKER_00: And so the scripture here is telling us give your enemies a chance to actually repent by giving them what they need to thrive.
SPEAKER_00: Not withholding open hands, generosity by doing this, not that you will burn their heads, you will give them the life that they can love so that they can see the work of God, so that they can come to repentance.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_00: We see this in the life of Jesus, and the apostle is reminding us in our lives that if you see evil around you, don't panic, don't give up, overcome the evil by doing good.
SPEAKER_00: You be the person who lives in love, full of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_00: You, the person who expands your mind and your hospitality and your table so that others can see.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be overcome by evil.
SPEAKER_00: Overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_00: This is the invitation that we would live a life practically full of good things that God has given us.
SPEAKER_00: But the invitation is for us to recognize that it needs to be given everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about this in even the disciples, more about that story where Jesus sees the people and the disciples said, Well, send them away so they can go and get their own food.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, No, you feed them.
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Well, we don't have anything.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Maybe look better.
SPEAKER_00: And so they found a little boy whose mom had packed a lunch.
SPEAKER_00: God blessed the women who pack lunches and breakfasts and and then they gave it to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, they gave it to him, I don't think, with a whole lot of faith.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know that that's an accusation, but they went to Jesus and they're like, That's all we have.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to feed everybody.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus took it and he blessed it and he gave thanks for it.
SPEAKER_00: And it said, and then they took it hand in hand and they distributed it, and it was enough, and there was some left over.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, what is in your hand?
SPEAKER_00: What bread, what resources in your hand to give to someone else so that everyone can be fed, so that the miracle of Jesus can be seen, so that the promise that there's another life, do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SPEAKER_00: There is so much hope in this verse.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much, there is so much richness in this is the kind of life we're invited to leave as followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We're invited to be people of good works.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the scripture tells us before the world was formed, good works were planned and you were invited into them.
SPEAKER_00: That we can be people, the hands and feet of Christ, continuing to live in love, in generosity, and in respect.org.