First Love Church
These podcasts are messages that were preached at First Love Church in Ocala, Florida. We hope that you are encouraged and inspired by what you hear. We are a non denominational, egalitarian church that practices a generous orthodoxy. Find out more about our local congregation online at firstlovechurch.org.
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First Love Church
Trusting the Divine Plan
Have you ever wondered why our expectations of divine intervention often clash with a greater purpose? Join us on a thought-provoking journey as we unpack the beautiful complexity of trusting a divine plan that transcends our understanding. Drawing inspiration from the life of Jesus and his disciples, we explore how our desires for worldly assurance often conflict with the path laid before us—a journey marked by faith, humility, and diverse partnerships. Together, we’ll reflect on personal stories and the courage it takes to take the next step, even when the end is not in sight.
Imagine a life led by service rather than power, where love and humility are the guiding forces. This episode poses a paradigm shift in leadership, challenging traditional notions of success. By recounting transformative experiences, we illustrate how embodying the spirit of servanthood can lead to profound personal growth, particularly in relationships and community life. Delve into stories where acts of selfless service and generosity redefine greatness, echoing the timeless teachings of Jesus. Our discussions reveal how love, the heartbeat of God's kingdom, can transform lives and communities.
Let the stories of spontaneous kindness and generous hearts inspire you to become an instrument of love. Envision the communion table as a symbol of grace and open arms, welcoming all to partake in a life marked by service and compassion. Through poignant anecdotes, we uncover the power of showing up for others, especially in their moments of uncertainty, and how these acts can serve as an answer to unspoken prayers. Together, we explore the sacred opportunity to let grace permeate our lives and interactions, encouraging a world where every encounter is touched by divine love.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast. This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala Florida.
Speaker 2:Where in our lives are we really wanting God to just, you know, bust some skulls or rule with this iron fist or rule in the way that systems and governments work in this realm? And he said no, no, you don't understand, it's totally different. But yet we're always trying to cram God into our way of doing things and we want it to happen. And he's offering a different path. And I see that, and every time I get off base, it's when I'm trying to work my way or the system that was handed to me in this world, that there's a path that God is inviting you to that is different, amen.
Speaker 1:And that's what we want to talk about a little bit today. When we're listening to the disciples here, have this conversation now, this is the two of them. They've pulled Jesus aside. Can you do us a favor? When you come into your glory, we want to be on either side of you. And Jesus says to them you don't have a clue what you're asking for. I just want to remind you when was Jesus in the most glory? When he was on that cross? They did not want to be the ones on either side. They did not want to do that. And again Jesus begins talking about these kind of things. But they have ideas about how it's going to be done and for many of us we do the same thing.
Speaker 1:I have a friend whose favorite prayer and bless her is fix it Jesus. That's her prayer for everything. She's like fix it Jesus, fix it Jesus. Which is great, and it's kind of funny. And then it I look at her all the time ago yeah, but what are we gonna do, you and me? Because it's great to say fix it Jesus, but where are the loaves and fishes in our hands? What are we going to do? Yeah, and I was listening to a friend the other day it it was right after the storm and all of us were kind of on this heightened place of almost anxiety.
Speaker 1:You could feel it in your body like we are watching, like hawks, you know, for any kind of news or what we can do to prepare. We felt, I think, so vulnerable as a people. And there is a portion of scripture where Jesus teaches and he says when you have anxiety, consider the lilies of the field and how beautiful they are, consider the birds of the air. But my friend had a prayer and she wrote it to me and she said, lord Jesus, you said, consider the lilies of the field. I have and it's not helping. And I thought what a truthful prayer, what a truthful prayer. But here's why it's not helping Because we are attached to a different outcome. The invitation is consider the lilies of the field, look at the James Webb telescope, look at creation and remind yourself we are loved. God has a plan.
Speaker 1:And Jesus said to them you don't have a clue what you're asking for.
Speaker 1:Are you prepared to drink from the cup of suffering that I am about to drink and are you able to endure the baptism of death that I am about to drink, and are you able to endure the baptism of death that I am about to experience? I mean, jesus is being very what seems to us plain, but we're here in history and we know what's happened and these people have not. So Jesus is saying things like I'm going to die, and they're like yeah, yeah, yeah, okay on with the fact that we're when your kingdom is established, and he's saying to them are you able to endure this same kind of baptism? He's giving reference here also to John the Baptist, because Jesus was baptized into the way of John the Baptist. This way of you do what's right and your head might be handed to someone else on a platter. This is the way of of the world, and Jesus is telling them there is a different plan. But Jesus' rebuke of them is you don't even have a clue what you're asking for.
Speaker 2:You know, I want to really challenge you on that idea that you don't have a clue. You know, could you maybe consider that might be true, and that's okay, you know, because all you need to do is know the next step, and that is by the unction of the Holy Spirit, yes, and for us to really trust that the Holy Spirit will show you the next thing. You know, I couldn't have possibly known, you know, when I was 21, 22 years old and I met Heather, that the partnership that her and I could form and just how desperately I needed the kind of personality that she daily aggravates me with this is true, beloved. And how could she have known that she needed all this?
Speaker 1:This is also true, but it's true.
Speaker 2:I mean, oftentimes people see, you know Heather's gifts and they wonder, you know, or they just kind of go good, good job tagging along. But you know, there's things about the both of us that you know. I have that tendency and willingness to jump pretty much at any time and Heather has a tendency to jump never. So there's that, that, that partnership that helps hold me back sometimes but helps get her to move when she maybe never would. You know, and and her ability to help me hold my tongue is beautiful. But my willingness to go ahead and step out and do those things, so that partnership, how could we have known anything other than to take the next step in that partnership? And how could we have known the kind of family that we could have and the kind of church family that we could have when we were sitting around frustrated in Chicago, knowing that there was something that we had to step out into but having no idea what it was? But we didn't need to know the ultimate plan. And even now there's who knows where this will go? But there's a place now of trust, of going. I only need to know and and learn to really trust. And what is that next step? What's the next breath, what's the next word? You know, and for you that might seem like too much of a risk, but I tell you it is in the following god. That is, that is what is beautiful, and really to embrace the idea.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't really have a good plan. You know, or or I have no idea what I'm doing really. I mean, every plan I have, it's your plan, it's as good as you can come with, or would you want to allow God to impart to you, you know, a plan that is much more well thought out, much more well provided for in provision and whatnot, and so there really has to be that you know kind of willingness to shift, you know, from I know what I going to do or you know what I don't, and that's okay because I can trust the next step. And you know, could we get to that place, anyone? Could you? Do you see the invitation? Do you see the beauty of it?
Speaker 1:And they replied yes, we are able. Yeah, real quickly, before they even knew what they were talking about. Yes, we are able. And Jesus said to them you will certainly drink from the cup of my sufferings and be immersed into my death, but to have you sit in the position of highest honor is not mine to decide. It is reserved for those whom grace has prepared them to have it Now.
Speaker 1:The other 10 disciples overheard this and they became angry and began to criticize Jacob and John. And so they were like this is not how you do it. You don't take them aside. And then you guys get the best seats or you guys get to be the prime ministers. We're in this together. You don't get more power than we get. That's not how it works. And they begin to be angry.
Speaker 1:And this is this invitation into this beautiful look at how humanity works, what it looks like in families, what it looks like in cities, what it looks like in countries, what it looks like to be part of the human family. When we hear someone else is getting or what they think is getting ahead. It then tells us that we will not have what we need. It provides a fear in us that makes us angry. Well, if they get something, then that means I won't have and beloved.
Speaker 1:I need to tell you a truth that there is a God who is abundant in mercy and grace and provision and all of the things. There is no scarcity in God. So because someone else is blessed does not mean that then you will then do without. There is a scarcity in God, so because someone else is blessed does not mean that then you will then do without. There is a hope for us in paying attention to this. And then, of course, what they begin to do is criticize. So be mindful of that too. This is not the way of Jesus. But they begin to criticize their brothers and I think probably they're a little upset that they got it in first. They may have had their own plans to ask, but these two got it first.
Speaker 2:You know, I was convinced when I first got saved that if I could just, you know, get out of the secular world and work at a church, then things would be so heavenly, I'd be around Christian people and it would just be amazing, you know. And then it come to find out every time you get in a place where there's positions, there's people jockeying for said positions and there's people willing to flush anyone they can flush in order to get a little bit more of a leg up. And I was devastated when I saw it in the church because I thought for sure this would not exist. But it's not a problem in the church, it's a problem in the hearts of mankind, amen.
Speaker 2:I was talking to a man last night at the wedding that I was doing and he was saying one of the hard things about his secular life, not because he was in military for six years. And he said you know, I prepared the Black Hawk helicopters for flight and then I rode with them and he goes do you know, forgetting something could cost my brothers and sisters on that helicopter their lives. So he goes, I'd look at something and if I wasn't, if I had some feeling, I'd ask somebody else look at this is this and he goes. And we just depended on each other and we just looked out for each other, for our very lives, and he goes. And he goes because I asked him how he was doing in his new secular found world. Because it's so hard to watch people just phone it in for a paycheck or just not care about anyone but themselves. And you know, I've had uh outlaw bikers come into this church and give their hearts to the Lord, and ex-military people and I've seen those people be the most beautiful Christians because they kind of just understand, hey, we're about the collective here. You know, those bikers look out for themselves, you look out for each other. I mean, you know them, their group there, and I find that so much of the times we we're missing that in in church and so and so understand that that's a problem in our heart or in the heart of mankind, that we're worried about someone else getting a better position. Oh, wait a minute. You know, if you, if you worked uh an hour and I all day, why are we getting the same pay? This is addressed so many times in Scripture.
Speaker 2:But for us to really I love that video on the Internet Worry About Yourself, rose. I don't know if you've seen that little girl in the back seat trying to tell the dad how to drive. Worry about yourself, rose. You need to worry about yourself and and and just allow. Know that god's going to take care of it.
Speaker 2:And it's so, so easy to get distracted by the peripheral somebody's getting a better position at a job. Well, sometimes that's better that they move up and move on, so that so that God can bring you to the place. Or maybe that was never even the goal and the plan, but you thought that would be the be-all, end-all if you could be stuck in that little place for the rest of your life when God has so much more for you. So there's that place of trust when we stop worrying about the only thing you should really worry about is if the people around you have enough to eat and if they're doing all right, not worried about them getting more than us. And so that's what we're seeing here as reminding us again in Scripture. That is the nature of us, but God is giving us what A new nature. Amen.
Speaker 1:Jesus begins to see this might be a problem, and so he does what Jesus does he gathers them all together. So remind yourself when there feels like division, when it feels like maybe you can't see, to gather yourself together and go. What would Jesus teach us to do? So Jesus says to them those recognized as rulers of the people and those who are in top leadership positions rule oppressively over their subjects, but this is not the example that you are to follow. Now this is to us the same charge what example are you following? Whose example are you following? Is Jesus your rabbi, your teacher? Are you following the spirit of God? This becomes something of a beautiful recheck or reset for us to be able to say who is the example that I am following, into a life that is abundant and full. Jesus said I have come that the captives would be set free. I have come to liberate those who are bound. I have come to bring freedom and I have come that you would have life to the full. This is the hope for all of us and this, if we are following Jesus, leads us to re-center or to have an eye exam and say who am I following? Maybe I need to pay attention to this.
Speaker 1:We had a situation last week where somebody was following us and we have a kind of a non descript car, just a silver minivan, and they started following someone else because it was also another car like ours and we had no way to get in touch with them and we were just thinking to ourselves we hope it's good wherever they end up, because and I see that sometimes like if we don't know who we're following beloved that's why we have to look to Jesus. We have to look to the scriptures to show us who Jesus is, that Jesus is God and Jesus is light and love and spirit. And if we find the way of love, then we have found the way of Christ. In fact, in 1 John, john says this he said God is love and whoever loves is born of God and knows God. If you do not love, then you do not know God.
Speaker 1:No-transcript. You are to lead by a different model, and here is where Jesus is healing their sight. Here is where Jesus is asking us. You are going to have to be people who look differently. You're following a different plan. Your lives are not going to be the same. You are not going to make the same choices because you're following a different model. Now, here is where all of us remind ourselves that our allegiance is to the kingdom of God, to the kingdom of love, to the kingdom of love that Jesus told us about and said that it's here, available to us as close as our very breath. If you want to be the greatest one, then live as one called to serve others, beloved. This is the Jesus way, this life of service, this way of saying I'm going to bring myself low in order that God would lift me up, but this idea is revolutionary. Still this day, 2000 years later, and people are trying to make plans on how they can exalt themselves. And Jesus said hey, my way is going to be live as one called to serve everyone.
Speaker 2:You know I'm going to say something that might be a little offensive or difficult, but I want you to hear my heart and hear what I'm saying. You know, over the years, heather and I have had relationships with people that are kind of like-minded and like-experienced, you know. And so we, as a young couple with young babies, had friends with young couples with young babies and of course, our kids got older and then new young ones came along and we've had several friends that have been like oh, I'm so glad when the kids get out of the house so we can get our life back and we can start doing the things we want to do. And in fact I had several people say to do and and in fact I had several people say to me and and, heather, when silas was born, oh, I feel so sorry for you. You were almost out and then they put you back in. And I'm like and and I was super offended and to this day I'm super offended that you would say that you would not celebrate the fact that I get to have a relationship with Silas and I get a second chance at dadding, and it has just been the delight of my life to find out that the greatest, the most well-kept secret in the world is being an old dad, and I didn't know that that was going to be a thing and that I would love it so much. But my point to you is that I see people viewing, you know, that season as something that you get past and then you get something back. And then there's been a few odd balls in my life that have been a different example that, and two of them happen to be here today. Uh, pastor lee and carol matson, and I, I watched them continue to serve and, in fact, I would almost say, maybe serve more.
Speaker 2:And and I and I've come to realize that us having children was just training ground for for us to learn what it is to serve, because everybody before you had kids. You were busy, do you remember that? And you just didn't have time and you just didn't know how you could possibly do what you were asked to do by anybody else. And all of a sudden you have children and you go oh, my god, I am not going to sleep again. What you know and this person is just needs for their entire life.
Speaker 2:And you go, you level up several levels on the serving ladder and, just by by, you know you're, you're forced into it and then that thing really produces in us, hopefully, the idea that we can serve and give way more than we thought we could and that there's a potential through love, because that's what causes mama to get up in the middle of night and dad to do to do that Right. It's just that overwhelming. I love that, that child and and and. So if that becomes the training ground, how can we for the rest of our lives and that's what I want to challenge you that, uh, that that there's a new way of leading, it's different, it's not getting older to well, well, now I get this position and all these old kids can come back and praise me for keeping them alive, and now they serve me and take care of me. But no, now I'm warming up to how can I now serve them as they have children, and how can I be selfless to a whole other level? Amen.
Speaker 2:I didn't think you'd get too many amens, but that's some good stuff and I want to ask you have you considered how can I become more Christ-like? Or are we trying to win something back, Because there's no backseas on that?
Speaker 1:No, there are no backseas. That's good, I'm on that. No, there are no backseas.
Speaker 2:That's good. I'm just digging myself deeper, so I'm going to quit, but it's good right.
Speaker 1:We have people make solicitation calls to the church because our number is published and they want to sell us things as a church all the time. And some of it's laughable because I know who we are and they're like we want you to be able to have this because it's for your platform and we want your platform to be the platform that everybody looks at and that you have all the attention. I said, well, there is no platform in our church. And they're like why? I'm like? Because we intended it that way, because we're not above anybody else. And then they'll call and they'll say you have to have this particular service. And they're like because you don't want to be the one cleaning up. And I'm like but I am the one cleaning up and I do want to be the one.
Speaker 1:And though I sometimes appreciate help, there is this idea that to be someone who is following Jesus means our life is service.
Speaker 1:Our life is service not just to ourselves, but to the world, to people who don't deserve, or at least first of all, we should get the idea of deserving out of our head, but like people who don't deserve or at least first of all we should get the idea of deserving out of our head, but like people who don't contribute to us.
Speaker 1:In fact, dietrich Bonhoeffer said that the church exists for those outside of the church, that we become together, that we become loving, that we become the people that God has us to do, not just for us, but so that us includes everyone. So there are no divisions, so that where unity is that the Lord commands the blessing. But he says if you want to be the greatest, then live as one called to serve others. But I had this gentleman call the other day and he said I need you to have this curriculum of leadership and you need to teach it to your people because everybody needs to know that the way of God is that we would all be leaders. And I said to him I'm a little confused because I was just studying this week about we're all called to be servants and he goes well, this curriculum will not fit you. And I said I did not think so.
Speaker 2:I appreciate your time because this curriculum is not for a life of service, but this is the curriculum that Jesus offered to us service for everyone that all of us would become so willing to say what is in my hand and how can I offer it I do want to say, though, that you know, throughout the years, people have told heather and I how to have a big church yes, they have, and I was like you've got to get away from doing that. You got to delegate all this stuff and I, and I will say to you you know, in truth, you know, I don't know if you, if you wonder, like, how did the bathrooms get clean?
Speaker 1:but 99 of the time pastor heather does that and when they're not cleaned, it's because I haven't got it.
Speaker 2:So, lord, have mercy and and you know, and the things that break get I I love to and willing to fix those and and a lot of people will look and say, well, that you know that's that's wrong. You know that that's not how you build a big church, but I personally think god should build the church yes, this is the church of us, with our schemes, not of us and I think that god requires that kind of willingness for us to.
Speaker 2:You know, I've been in ministry a long time, longer than I've not been in ministry and I, I still want to and don't feel above you that I, that you should be the one who's fixing things or cleaning up or whatever, that that, that, as long as Heather and I have the time and the strength and the ability to do it, if you want to come help, I'm not saying you can't, but what I am saying is that why do we try to position ourselves out of service or somehow get the idea that that is the life, that that you're shooting for when laying your life down?
Speaker 2:There could be no greater example than Christ laying his life down for us and we kind of sniffing around for another path. Do you think there's another path to a healthy relationship than you laying everything down To really connecting with your children? You know, long haul it's. It's laying our uh, our, our life down and and granted, it's not a big shout hallelujah message, but and it might make some people aggravated, but it's truth and you know in your heart it is and then, and there's nothing more beautiful than when you can just selflessly serve those people that you say that you love, but what an awesome thing to really love them in that capacity to serve their needs.
Speaker 1:That's a hallelujah moment.
Speaker 2:All right, we'll take it.
Speaker 1:The path to promotion and prominence comes by having the heart of a bond slave who serves everyone. This is the invitation. This is how we ascend. This is what Jesus is asking us to do. The path to this other way of thinking, to understand the way of God, is by having a heart of a bond slave who serves everyone. For even the Son of man did not come expecting to be served by everyone, and this is a good mind shift for all of us, because we're like he's Jesus. We should do this for him. And Jesus is saying I don't come expecting you to serve me, I come to serve you. And this is beautiful about our God who bends low, who comes to be with us in our humanity, who comes to be with us in our struggles. God with us, for the Son of man did not come expecting to be served by everyone, but to serve everyone and to give his life as the ransom price in exchange for the salvation of many. In exchange for the salvation of many. Oh, what a beautiful hope that Jesus was intending to give his own life for our salvation, for us. And this is the pattern, then, and this is what we do when we follow the way of Jesus.
Speaker 1:There's an ancient rabbinic blessing and it says may you always be covered in the dust of your rabbi. And what it means is and again, if you understand this, it was a very dusty place, this ancient Israel that you would be following him so closely that his dust, from where he was walking, would be kicked up on you. And may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi, your teacher. And this is the hope for us. If we will allow God's spirit, if we will allow the spirit of God to teach us, to lead us. May we always be covered in the dust of spirit. May we always be people who co-create this beautiful world that Jesus is offering us.
Speaker 1:But I am here to remind us this morning this formation that we are being offered is to be formed into the image of Christ. Not to be formed into the image of Christ, not to be formed into the image of our culture and whatever says that. This is what success looks like. In fact, paul says this to us be renewed, be transformed by the changing of your mind. Beloved, come before the throne, come before Jesus and allow Jesus to change your mind about things, allow him to heal your sight so that you can actually see what is available, what is there and how the kingdom actually loves. We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today. If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend? This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg, reminding you to like, follow and subscribe.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the most beautiful things about you and I as human beings is that we have the ability to change Change our minds.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Change our actions, you know, because a dog was born a dog and it's going to die a dog.
Speaker 1:You may learn some tricks.
Speaker 2:Along the way, but they're dog tricks because it's a dog, do you know? It is a dog trick and I'm telling you that that's beautiful about you and it's just amazing. You know, I I think about when heather and I first got married and and I see it when we counsel, and it's just, I think it's, I think it's the average way that a human being evolves, but I just couldn't help but feel at some level in competition with her. Like you know, she was wrong and so I needed to tell her she was wrong.
Speaker 1:I need to help her because you're a kind of generous person you know you're just wrong on this.
Speaker 2:I know I'm right and so that our conflicts become my passionate desire to correct her. And she knew she was right and so she was going to just tell me how. You know, and we're doing this thing to try to win from the other person. You know, and when you do that, you both lose. You know, and you try to make your point. You try to strive for that individuality and you try to strive to get some respect. You know, if I just got some respect, or you just could trust me, or you know, and we just stand on these things that we feel like we really need and this invitation to a different way of thinking, that the beauty of being a human being is that we can do things differently, and it's that place of that I know that Heather and I have shifted in our marriage where if we're trying to outdo one another and top one another, it's it's in serving each other and you have to lay down the accounts of of what's owed to me or or how much I did.
Speaker 2:A servant wakes up and serves Doesn't say well, I served enough yesterday, that I'm done. You're a servant If you'll buy into that as a life and your relationships with your children, you know, and it doesn't mean that it has to be reciprocal, because you're a servant, you're just going to serve. There's something that happened with Heather and I that we said that we would just pastor whoever God sent. And a lot of my pastor friends said well, if they ain't part of your sheepfold, if they ain't given, tell them to get on down the road. We did not.
Speaker 1:We did not say that I'm like, well, somehow that don't make sense to me because I'm given an opportunity to minister.
Speaker 2:I'm not so busy that I can't minister to you because I'm ministering to somebody else. So when people come on my path, heather and I just decided we're going to minister to whoever, whether they're there for that moment, they're part of our group and and that our family just has this idea we're going to serve people. And then I couldn't figure out but how every month our bills get paid and our family seems to be happy and living in some kind of weird bubble. And then it kind of dawned on me, mcfly, after a little while, that boy, you just make this arrangement with God that you'll just serve, and it's not like I'm going to serve you. So you better kick up. You know, I want a taste of everything you make because I helped you one time. It's free and somehow, through the weirdest ways, god gets resources to our family and we live way better than we should, way better than we deserve, and we live in that place and and we're just deciding that and and it's caught on, our kids live that way.
Speaker 2:And now in other countries, katherine could be, could be doing anything. No one has to know. She's a pastor's kid, no one has to know she. But when the church said we're having a conference and we need people to serve in the children's class, you know what happened to her heart? It was stirred because she's, that's who she is, and so there she could have been quiet. But she, you know, but there's something, and and watch her, watch god, just bless her with the, the life that that she has, and watch that happen to you if you'll just lay down that accounting that you have. Well, if it wasn't done to me back then, no, no, you know.
Speaker 2:Now, I'm not saying that you give and pour into an abusive relationship If you're unsafe or you're. You know, I'm not talking about that. That's not a servant, that is a slave or a victim. Right, you know I'm not saying that. But I'm talking about, you know, when you feel like you've done enough and you know, and so we've gotten into some accounting there, and what we can say is, no, I am a servant and I'm amping this thing up and I'm excited about serving my kids, and for a while I had this idea well, I'll do this for a while and it'll catch on and they'll start pushing me out of the way and doing that, and then I'm like well, even if something like that never happens, it's my privilege while they're at my house. That I did to bless and god is so merciful and so good.
Speaker 1:If you don't have children that are your own, he gives you the children of the world. There is somebody's child around, and not just children, it's people. We can serve each other, and one of the ways that we practice this and we're aware of this is we every week, we come and we celebrate the sacrament of holy communion. Every week we come and we say we are going to wait together and we're going to sit at this mystery, at this table that love has heaped up for us. Every week, we're going to come and we're going to give financially. We're going to do these things Every week, we're going to pray together. Every week we're going to allow Jesus to be formed in our sight and in us. And even if you don't have little ones in your house that you are practicing serving, there are other people, anyone who has need. In fact, we were looking at this a few weeks ago.
Speaker 1:The idea of the poor in scripture is written from the beginning to the very end. It is a big concern for God. In fact, it is the thing that God cares about the most is who will take care of the poor, but in our particular culture, we like to rate things we're like well, how poor are they? You, in our particular culture, we like to rate things we're like well, how poor are they? You know like? What kind of poor are they? And we want to see if someone is deserving or not. And the poor, literally in the translation, just means someone who has a need, someone who has a need. That means all of us have a need. In fact, I have a need, you have a need, all of us. And Jesus said, blessed are those who are poor in spirit. And so Jesus is reminding us that the invitation into a formed life, into a discipleship, into a person who is experiencing their humanity and also their divinity and following the spirit of God, is a person who will serve and who will serve the world. And if you're asking yourself, then who do I serve? Look around you and who has a need and who has a need, that's something that you can do. Maybe it's holding the door for someone. It can be as simple as that. Maybe it's listening to someone, maybe it's praying for someone. Do the things that are in your hand to do, but be aware of the fact that this is the path to following Jesus. You are to lead by a different model. If you want to be the greatest in God's kingdom, then live as one called to serve others. This is the intention.
Speaker 1:One of the things we do in Holy Communion together is we serve others. Part of our service is just waiting waiting for someone else to receive what they have from the Lord. Part of our service is holding the space, the space to be able to say this is what it looks like for all of us to come with a need and to meet with the Holy One, to meet with the Spirit of God, to hear a good word about ourselves and about where we belong. We bring our broken hearts to the Lord and Jesus meets us at the table, the broken-hearted God who weeps with us. This is the invitation for us to live differently, to follow the way of Christ.
Speaker 1:In 2 Corinthians, paul is writing to the group of people and he said here's my point A stingy sower will reap a meager harvest, but the one who sows from a generous spirit will reap an abundant harvest. Let giving flow from your heart, not from a sense of religious duty. Let it spring up freely, just from the joy of giving all, because God loves hilarious generosity. Yes, god is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace so that you will have more than enough of everything. Every moment and every way, he will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.
Speaker 1:Just as the scripture says about the one who trusts in him because he is sown extravagantly and given to the poor, his kindness and generous deeds will never be forgotten.
Speaker 1:This generous God, who supplies abundant seed for the farmer, which becomes bread for our meals, is even more extravagant toward you. First he supplies every need plus more, and then he multiplies the seed as you sow it. So the harvest of your generosity will grow. You will be abundantly enriched in every way as you give generously on every occasion, for when you take your gifts to those in need, it causes many to give thanks to God. This is the hope for us that the table that love has set for us is an invitation for us to practice here and then go into the whole world with an abundance in our life, remembering that the generous God who gave us our very breath, who gives us the ability to get wealth, who gives us the ability to find answers to questions, who gives us the ability to live differently, that God is offering a life in the kingdom, god's good kingdom, for those who will follow the way of spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, many of you guys know that I've done stand-up comedy for a while and through doing that I met a guy and he kind of I watched him kind of transform his. You know, in that world there's a lot of people that are really kind of anti-God, you know, and he was, you know, stirring a relationship with God through navigating it through that and, you know, not taking any credit for it, but, as you know, relationship with him through the navigating it through that and and you know, not taking any credit for it, but, as you know, relationship with him and encouraging him. You know he he came to this church and was baptized and uh, and so I was driving down yesterday to do his wedding and he's getting married. He got married, you know, yesterday and, and so you know they're, they're not a part of our church, but that's I pastor them when the opportunity is there. You know, and it's just amazing how god puts that and and uh, and so I want to challenge you in that, like you know, when there's an opportunity to serve, those are the people. You know, it's not like I'm signing up. I will serve these people if you want to serve god's people. All people are god's people. And so just you know, if you know, it's not like I'm signing up I will serve these people. If you want to serve god's people, all people are god's people. And so just you know, if you limit it, then you'll limit the blessings that god can go through you, the way god can use you. I mean, either limit it or don't.
Speaker 2:I would recommend not, you know, and and so I left for that wedding and of course I left late because I was trying to get some stuff done for today for church, and then the car needed gas. So I get over there and I'm putting the gas in the car and all of a sudden the lady next to me said Sir, you know, could you help me? I'm trying to get down to Tampa and I have no gas and I'm nine months pregnant. She was out to here and I said, absolutely she she said just a little bit would help me. So much, you know. And so I, uh, you know, put my card in, was doing that, and I just went around and I put the card in and filled her uh, gas up and was talking to her and finishing mine up and and getting that, and then she watched and hers was ringing up and she goes oh, don't put that much, I'm not asking you for that. And I said well, you know, I won't, I'll fill it up for you.
Speaker 2:You know, and honestly I I look at it like at that moment that's not my money, it was her money, that I had, that I happen to have and I'm a steward of because we had it, but it's. But just because you have it doesn't mean it's yours and it's, you know but but it doesn't mean you can't have it either. It's just kind of it's. But just because you have it doesn't mean it's yours and it's, you know, but but it doesn't mean you can't have it either. It's just kind of it's a it's changing the frame of, of kind of how you exist, because I'm not everybody's pastor but at any moment I might be somebody's pastor and I happen to be her servant and her pastor at that time and and she, uh, you know, she was talking to me and I was talking to her and I just said, I said I just, you know, she was talking to me and I was talking to her and I just said, I said I just.
Speaker 2:She said I don't want you to do that. I said no, you're my sister and I love you and, more importantly, jesus loves you. And she was so overwhelmed by getting that full tank of gas that she's standing at the pump just weeping and it was so and the smile on her face and it was so beautiful and it was so authentic. You know, you couldn't have created that, you know, like a fake if you tried, and it was just a beautiful moment of kind of navigating through life and you don't have to go hunt it down and you can just kind of exist and watch opportunities show up, but don't, but don't miss them, you know, don't blow past them.
Speaker 1:I just want to share one thing, because I thought you were going to share the story about your other friend at Austin's. Dennis was in working some comedy, doing some comedy routines, and I would go with him and just sit there while they all did stand up, and one time I put my bag in something and the entire shelf on this coffee house fell down. Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, all these games. And we look at that. And he was very embarrassed. He was like I'm sorry and he just needed to get that mean, to get to that, but that's, you know, not happening at his coffee shop, like everything just fell over.
Speaker 1:So middle of the week, dennis shows up with an entire trailer, all new wood. He comes in there, he's going to start fixing these shelves and the owner says to him I got to go outside, I was already outside and he starts having a fit in the alley and his fit is this Do not, do not, do not. And he's yelling like this Do not do this to me, lord, he goes, you and I have an agreement, he goes. No, he goes. You stay over there, I stay over here. You don't care for me, I don't care for you, you stay there and you don't come here. And he's mad and he doesn't know. I'm sitting out there and he's furious and he's in the alley and he's pacing and he's angry at God and he said don't you do this, don't you bring help to me, when I know that's not who you are. But you know, beloved all of us. When you said that, you heard his heart. What he had experienced in his life, what he had told himself was that God did not care. But when Dennis pulls up with a trailer and wooden shelves now beloved, that's not for everybody. Dennis pulls up with a trailer and wooden shelves Now beloved that's not for everybody, but for this man he said don't come here, don't make me hope that that is who you are. So then he's standing there crying and then we're standing praying in the alley going this is really who God is, because if you have wooden broken shelves, you might need a guy who knows how to fix wooden broken shelves and sometimes you don't have the time or the space or the skills or the resources to do it but you need someone and that beloved is the body of Christ.
Speaker 1:Very often we need to show up and we are someone else's answer to prayer. We are someone and maybe they don't even know how to pray. Maybe they're praying like these two jokers in the earlier part. Give us the right side and the left side of you in the earlier part. Give us the right side and the left side of you, you know like they're praying the wrong way.
Speaker 1:And so he's praying. Stay over there. Don't encroach on what I know. And really what he needs is all the love of Christ to come and to be with him. And that is the communion table for us. Beloved, we come. We didn't set this table, jesus did, and Jesus said everyone's welcome and at this table you will be seen and at this table, love will encroach on what you said or how far you allow God to come. But there is a grace for us at the table and in our practices of generosity to go. What are we allowing Jesus to reframe for us? How will we let him heal our eyesight? We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg.
