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
Present in the Pause: Finding God Beyond the Noise
Have you ever felt that despite your spiritual efforts, God's voice seems frustratingly distant? You're not alone. This episode dives deep into the revolutionary concept that the divine guidance we seek is already within us—we've just forgotten how to listen.
Our spiritual journey often derails when we expect God to perform according to our specifications, like a cosmic vending machine. When those expectations inevitably go unmet, disappointment takes root. But what if the problem isn't God's responsiveness, but our receptivity? The pastors share powerful insights about how our minds typically operate in two time zones—the regretful past or the anxious future—while completely missing the sacred present where God actually speaks.
The conversation reveals a startlingly simple spiritual practice that can transform your relationship with the divine: five minutes of quiet meditation each morning. Just standing barefoot on the earth, listening to nature's rhythms, and being fully present can bypass your ego's constant chatter and open a channel to wisdom that's been there all along. This isn't complicated theology—it's practical spirituality that reconnects us with what matters.
Perhaps most compelling is the discussion about unity versus conformity in spiritual community. True unity celebrates the unique perspectives each person brings, recognizing that God speaks through diverse voices—women, people of color, formerly incarcerated individuals—each offering insights that form a more complete picture of divine truth. Your particular background and experiences don't disqualify you from spiritual authority; they uniquely equip you to reach people others cannot.
Ready to move beyond religious disappointment into authentic spiritual connection? This episode offers wisdom for anyone seeking to quiet external noise and rediscover the still, small voice that's been speaking all along. Take the challenge to begin a "summer of love" through simple practices that can ultimately lead to a lifetime of spiritual presence and peace.
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. So I greet you this morning in the name of Jesus and in the presence of the Holy Spirit. The light in us greets the light that is already in you and that you brought this morning, and we are grateful. It is the second week in Pentecost, the season of Pentecost, this entire beautiful time that we practice what it is like to be people who live in the Spirit. I appreciate so much what Thomas brought to us this morning in this reminding of ourselves that we the Holy Spirit in the pause, in the stop, in the quiet, in the refraining from speaking, to hear what the Spirit is speaking. And so it's with a lot of joy this morning that we come to you and we remind you of these beautiful truths that are given to us In this season of Pentecost.
Speaker 1:We remember that the Holy Spirit has been given to each one of us, that spirit inside of you that is often very quiet, that speaks wisdom. In fact, one of the wisest men that have ever lived on the earth said in all of your getting, get wisdom. It is the principal thing Be people who respond to wisdom, and wisdom that allows us to change our thinking. Jesus called us to a life of wisdom and, in fact, luke's gospel says this of Jesus that he grew in wisdom and that he grew in favor and he grew in his ability to stay in the spirit. This is, for us, a template for ourselves that we should be people who open our minds to be able to grow in wisdom, to allow the spirit to expand the way that we think about things and the way that we see things.
Speaker 1:In fact, we read together the Beatitudes, and I want to remind you the same is true today as it was in Jesus' day. This was opposite than what the world said. There is a blessing for those of you who are brokenhearted. There is a blessing for those of you who make peace instead of war. We are called to be peacemakers. We are called to be people who give up violence and who follow the way of Jesus, and so this morning, it's with a lot of joy that we read to you the text and that we get to discuss this morning what it looks like to be people not only full of the Spirit, but people who are wise enough to follow the Spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, it's our hope today that, as we share this message, that maybe you might learn or be encouraged in a way that maybe you hadn't considered before, about how you might hear the voice of god or how that you might receive the influence of god. You know, uh, uh, there's going to be some things that we'll present to you, maybe for your consideration, that are different than just our typical religious ways that we think we do things. I have a friend who often calls me. He doesn't live in the area anymore, but he often calls me and he tells and he vents at me, I guess because I'm a pastor and I guess he feels like he can't yell at God. So he yells at me and I mean he yells at me, he cusses at me and he tells me how God is not fair and that he's being ripped off. And you know he's going to church but he didn't even believe in God. And I don't know if he wants to make me mad or hurt my feelings or whatever. And oftentimes, as you know, I say slow down, explain to me what's going on.
Speaker 2:Typically, god has disappointed an idea that he had that God ought to do. He had a thing that he a hoop that he wanted God to jump through and when, inevitably, god didn't do his little circus trick, he's very, very mad at God, and I wonder how much of our frustration with God is our disappointment in him not doing what we think he ought to do? I'll let that soak for just a second, but I think that that really boils down to a lot of disappointments. In fact, I run into people a lot of times and they're just like well, frankly, I don't believe in God, and I think that their inability to believe in God, or their decision to not believe in God, is based on the parameters and the things that they put on what they think God ought to do. If he were real. Well, I think there should be. You know, no children hurt if there's a real God.
Speaker 2:People say things like that to me there should be no war, there should be no poor people, there should be no starving people, and so we decide sometimes in our head with our logic, why? And I wish that I could answer those questions to you today that somehow I had the skill to be able to communicate a word to you that would give you perfect peace from now on and give you an answer every time someone brings it up. But I'll just say this to you that what if maybe we take some of the principles we talk about today in learning to listen, to be still, to surrender to spirit, and see if maybe God's self would reveal to you an answer or give you something that would give you enough peace to sustain you? Because that's what I want for you. I don't want to give you some intellectual answer. I would like to offer you the invitation to come on that journey with God, as God reveals God's self to you, as we learn how to recognize the influence that God has in this world that we were born into.
Speaker 2:Amen, because I believe there is sightings, there is evidences of God's presence, and sometimes we misread, misinterpret or lack the maybe understanding of what might be going on around us. What do you think, heather it's possible of what might be going on around us. What do you think, heather?
Speaker 1:It's possible. John's Gospel If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees nor knows the spirit. And you know the spirit because the spirit abides with you and will be in you. This is the vantage point that we are talking about from this morning. Each one of you has the spirit of life, the spirit of truth, the spirit of God in you.
Speaker 1:Very often, when we say things like I was going to pray or I wanted to have some kind of response from God, we're looking often from an outside source. And I tell you, beloved, Christ is in you. You should be listening to that inner, quiet, still voice that reminds you you know the way and beloved. This morning I remind you that Jesus is a way. Jesus is not a theology or a doctrine or even a religion. Jesus is a way.
Speaker 1:Jesus said I am the way and so go ahead, give up religion. It's been terrible to the whole world anyway. Follow the spirit, allow yourself to be a person who is filled with the spirit. Jesus said if you'll allow my words to abide in you. If you'll live in those words, in that wisdom, my father will come to you and we will live in you and you will have life. In fact, jesus quotes from isaiah. He says I have come that you would have life and have it to the full.
Speaker 1:The invitation of Jesus is to live in a frequency that is not what is happening around you, is to live in this frequency of love, to be able to follow the Spirit into an extravagant life, a life full of God and full of love, not just for ourselves, but for each other. This is the spirit of truth. In fact, this is how the church of Jesus Christ is born. Jesus said I'm going away, but you're going to have a comforter, you're going to have a spirit, and the spirit will teach you everything that you need to know. Well, that's a great idea, but I don't even know what the Spirit is. So how do I know what to listen to? And wisdom shows us what the Spirit is. Wisdom gives us the words and we go to the sacred text and we listen to the life of Jesus and we hear how Jesus lived and what Jesus knew of the Spirit. Then we are invited to do the same.
Speaker 2:You know just as the band on their particular instruments, got good at those instruments, good at the beautiful harmony that you sing part of. That is a natural gift, but without you exercising that, without you practicing, you wouldn't be able to do what you do in such a way that you blend for each one of the musicians to be able to offer their gifts. Yeah, it's great that you have them, but if you're not really aware that you even have that, unless you train in that? Now the Bible says God has given us the spirit, there's a voice inside of you, but would it be foolish to think that you're going to hear that well and recognize it all the time, without ever considering the training that might be responsible for you to be this little receptor that floats around in this realm and detects, hears, decodes and understands clearly the transmission that comes from a whole nother spirit realm? Well, that is silliness, wouldn't you put it that way, pastor? That I would just naturally be able to do this perfectly, that maybe there's community that could be around you to say you know, I remember my pastor one time.
Speaker 2:I loved him and he was one that would allow the Spirit of God to move in the church, but he also was bold enough to correct people when they made a mistake. I remember one guy stood up and he goes Pastor, my gift in this church is to be a naysayer. I'm here to tell people when they're wrong. And the pastor got up and he said Brother, I appreciate your zeal, but there's no such thing as a naysayer. The Bible says yes and amen and God didn't call you to tell our people no, so I'm going to have to ask you to sit down. Well, that guy didn't like it. He got up and quit the church. He didn't want to be trained. Many of us don't want to be trained. We want to be told we're right all the time. We want a trophy for participation. Come on church. What if we actually allowed God and allowed our brothers and sisters and allowed the word and really inside of us, just that discerning. The other day the dog broke a bull and Heather goes. Oh my God, it's all over.
Speaker 2:And I was working on church stuff in my office, but I knew what I should do. You are sitting in those seats, all smug, strong, discerners of the Spirit to know what I should do. It doesn't take a genius to know what to do. The Spirit speaks to us all the time and we reject, refuse, refuse and ignore the voice. See, it's not over complicated. You follow the good, you follow love. That is the key to never, ever have to be wrong when it comes to discerning the spirit.
Speaker 2:What would love do in this situation? Not stay, pretend like I didn't hear what was going on. Now, only I would pull a move like that. No one else here are we willing to really then discomfort ourselves to respond to that voice, because love will be sacrificial. Love will cause you to do something. I got up I think it was yesterday when Heather asked me to do something First time she asked me, I hopped up. She freaked out. It scared you a little bit, didn't it first time. Imagine, if we were surrendered in that way, what it would be like for the people around us. I might just preach.
Speaker 1:I don't know what you think recently, someone was at our home and they were very excited about this season. They had just gotten off school and I said what do you want? And they said what I want is a summer of love. That's what I want a summer of love. And it almost broke my heart Because, beloved, a summer of love is good, but I want a life of love. I want the whole thing to be love. I don't want to just have a summer of love and then a summer of greed and then a summer of we don't even pay attention to the life that we live. I want a life of love and that's what Jesus offered to us and I'll give you. Let's start with a summer of love. Let's do it. Let's do it together, as a church family. Let's say we're going to have a summer of love. And how do you do that? It's an easy practice. It's actually very difficult, but it's very easy at the same time.
Speaker 1:Here's how things of spirituality are a paradox. I encourage all of us to start the very first thing in the morning before we do anything else five minutes of quiet, meditation, alertness, awareness. Now, I can't do that in the house because I'm still a little sleepy first thing in the morning. But do you know, I have a dog and she is a spiritual director in her own way and she asks to go out first thing in the morning. So I go out with her and I stand in the grass barefoot teeth unbrushed, hair unmade, and I am quiet and I listen to the cicadas that are screeching at us and bringing such a beautiful summer noise, and I listen to the birds and I just stand in the presence of the good Five minutes beloved. Try it, let's do it for the summer. Let's see if we can experience a summer of love, which will then make us so thirsty and so excited about what would it look like for us to live a life of love.
Speaker 1:I want to tell you two things about the spirit that is in you. The spirit is faithful. And the second thing is if you have questions, if anything makes you doubt, if you are worried about something, listen to it. Do not ignore your doubts. Do not skip over questions. Stay there, wrestle it out. Skip over questions. Stay there, wrestle it out. Get someone to help you. Do what you need to do, but do not negate those things inside of you that feel like this is not right. Don't let anyone tell you you passed those over. Bring them to the mat and let's wrestle them and find it till we find the good, till we find the path. We do need each other and I appreciate that you mentioned path. We do need each other and I appreciate that you mentioned that we need each other. We need community. It helps us find the wisdom, helps us sometimes find the good, and so I want to.
Speaker 2:Can I interject, though, because you you just talked about meditation yes, for five minutes we're all going to do it.
Speaker 2:Quiet meditation yes don't pass over your assignment. Make sure you write that down lest you forget it. But I want to tell you that I didn't realize that the world, my family, my choices, whatever programmed me to be a person that thought about my past all the time, thought about it with a lot of shame, a lot of embarrassment and with a real, genuine desire to learn from it so that I never do that again. So I became a person that was so convinced that if I thought about my past enough, if I planned enough, then I could make a different future, a different future. And so my constant battle was me warring between the shame in the past and the plans for the future. And oh, I planned and I planned and I planned and I've planned. For years I've planned for the future and nothing ever has come out like I planned and I planned and I planned and I consumed.
Speaker 2:And I realized relatively recently, sadly, as a 57-year-old man, that I have spent almost all of my life in the past or in the future. In the past, thinking about those things and what they did to me and how they affected me and how it bothers me and how I wish it wouldn't have happened, and all these plans of how I'm going to adjust to my future, and you know, frankly, I'm convinced that is not how God has designed you and I to live. And I wonder if I'm not the only person that hasn't even been aware of their present, because they're so busy. See, the past is done, it's gone, you cannot change it. And the future, no matter how much you plan it, is going to come out different. So the only thing and you know, quite frankly, there are many people that will not wake up tomorrow, so there isn't, in fact, a future wouldn't it be sad if, then, all of that present time was stolen or lost?
Speaker 2:And it's stolen or lost by me, because I'm not making the choice to stop and listen to a cicada. You know it's purposeful and there's science for it, but go outside barefooted and let your feet actually touch the earth, your human feet, not your rubber tennis shoes. But there's something actually in our makeup, electricallyically, that gets ground by the planet Earth. That's why your house has a wire coming out of it, going in, because your house knows better than you I need to be grounded to this planet or bad things could happen, and for us we don't take a minute to think. What would it be like if I just stopped everything and were quiet? Now, before you think this is hippy dippy stuff, we're going to read some scriptures and maybe it's been there the whole time and just not heads, like some of us just missed it. But we're not not heads any longer. Amen. We're being transformed, we're being changed, we're being awakened and becoming aware of the gift that is right in the right here, in the right now. Amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. The prophet Jeremiah said this to us stop If your life feels out of control, if you feel overwhelmed, if things are difficult for you, pause, stop, stand at the crossroads and ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good ways are, and in them you will find rest for your souls. That's a beautiful portion of scripture. I remember it and ask myself all the time where are the ancient paths? The next verse though I don't like to quote it to you is this is how the next verse goes. The prophet says but you'll say we don't want those paths, we want something faster, we want magic Beloved. There is a difference between magic and miracles. Magic is a sleight of hand. Magic doesn't change anything. Miracles are the workings of spirit.
Speaker 1:And we are God's children and we are invited into the miracle working power of God. We are invited into lives of love. We are invited to hold onto the spirit and watch ourselves be transformed. So from the book of Galatians in fact one of the oldest books in the New Testament, written a little bit less than about 50 years after Jesus has ascended so we have some remembrance of how things actually are.
Speaker 1:Before faith came. We were detained under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. I remind you, beloved, do not get involved with all the knowledge of good and evil. That is a trap. Follow the Spirit. This is what Jesus gave us and said I am going to give you the Spirit, and the Spirit will teach you all things. So then the law became our guardian until Christ, in order that we would be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for you are all sons of God. Through faith in Christ Jesus, you are all God's children. We are all God's children because of what Jesus actually did for us. And this is just radical, because at this particular time in history, there were some that were God's children and everybody else was not. There were some who called themselves promised and everybody else who was out of the covenant. And Paul is fighting a cultural war here when he said listen, the things that divide you are not.
Speaker 1:so, in Christ, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit. The evidence of God's Spirit is unity, is oneness. The unity of God's Spirit is that every dividing line that would separate people is dissolved by the Holy Spirit, that we recognize we are the body of Christ, we are the children of God. I have a place, you have a place, and we are not asked to conform. In fact, to the letter to the Romans, paul the Apostle said this do not give in to the conformity of the world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind. This is the invitation. The Holy Spirit will transform the way that we think, what we are able to conceive and to think of. But here is this understanding to a people who were trying to follow and they kept getting in their own little circles and going us and them ups and them. And Jesus was reminding them through the words of the apostle here.
Speaker 1:No, it is the oneness that the Spirit brings, it is the unity, and we see this even in the book of Acts. We see this unity that the Spirit brings. It is the unity and we see this even in the book of Acts. We see this unity that the Spirit brings that we would recognize. There is no difference. Every line that someone says makes you and me different. That's not true anymore, because of Jesus.
Speaker 2:You know, I want to talk for a minute about this unity, but in there's diversity, because, uh, you know, uh, a lot of churches still believe it or not in america in 2025, are going to say that women aren't allowed to be in the pulpit. Um, that, uh, simply is just a misunderstanding of some letters by paul that was speaking specifically to churches about specific issues that they were having at that time. They were never meant to be doctrines for the church for all time, but even if they were, then Paul would have made a mistake, because Christ is saying to us something different here that there is not Jew nor Greek, there's not some that you know. If God's chosen people are Jews, the rest of us are just hand-me-downs. No, there's not Jew nor Greek, there's not slave nor free, there's not male nor female. See, we're all one, you know. But yet there's a tremendous should be a tremendous celebration in the uniqueness of each one of us, and that is what we miss.
Speaker 2:If, just you know, white men get up in the church and preach the message, then all you're going to get is the perspective of what a white man has experienced in his life as both a white and a male. So imagine if God said I would like to express myself and the uniqueness of who I am through a woman, or through people of color, or through people of you know that were incarcerated or were slaves or, you know, were other ethnic groups. And all of these people make this big declaration of how unique and amazing God is. But yet we're one, because there is a unity there, you know. But unity is not conformity. Unity is not conformity. Unity is that, for us to be able to trust that, through these people that are different, the spirit of god would still shine, would still reveal, would still teach, would still lead, uh, would still help us.
Speaker 2:And so it's very important that we, we look at these scriptures and, and I gotta tell you you, you sell yourself short or it's to your own detriment if you say, because of this reason or that I'm not qualified to to share the gospel, or I'm not qualified to be used by god, or I'm not qualified to to really follow the spirit, to be a person of the spirit, and that and that's what I think a lot of people would want you to hand over your ability to hear the voice of god. Oh, you don't want to do that. I'll take that for you and then I will use that. Either intentionally or not, it will be used to control you, to keep you down, to manipulate you, and the whole time you're surrendering it, giving it up instead of realizing hey, coming from where I came, my background makes me specifically and uniquely able to speak to people that nobody else could.
Speaker 1: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:But that doesn't mean I'm the only one that should be the voice. Me and Heather always laugh about how my testimony involves me taking illegal substances. Kids, plug your ears. My wife has a testimony of never once tasting alcohol or taking drugs. So who has the better testimony? Most people want to hear my horror stories and then other people will say, well, no, hers is far better. And I would say well, it really depends on who you're talking to, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:And wisdom would tell us do not judge. Wisdom would tell us. It's not our place to say what is better and what is worse. Our job, through the power of the holy spirit, is to say how will love be seen in me, how will my eyes be healed, how will I hold and honor the presence and the frequency of the holy spirit, the healer of the world, the thought adjuster. So this beautiful portion of scripture asks us to remember this truth. You have the Spirit inside of you, you know the answers, you have what you need, and that is a difficult thing for us because very often we have been taught that we don't have it and we need to seek out somewhere else for it. Beloved, the spirit of Christ lives in you. In fact, the scripture tells us the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and it uses that parameter because death is big and death comes in many different forms. I don't know how many deaths you'll die before you die the death of a dream, the death of an idea, the death of something, maybe, hopefully, the death of your ego, the death of your selfishness. But there are many, many deaths. But death to us, as a culture, as humanity, we understand death to be an end, and the scripture tells us the same spirit that lived in you, that lives in you currently, is the same spirit that lived in Christ and raised him from the dead. And what this is reminding us is that the spirit is bigger than we could ever imagine and we can trust in the resurrection, we can trust in the ascension, that we are included in this and that this spirit allows us to see things differently, to allow our eyes to be healed.
Speaker 1:You keep mentioning what it is like for us to celebrate diversity. I look to the book of Revelation of John and it says around the throne it's pretty amazing. There's dragons, first of all and that should astonish all of us that are flying and circling around there. Look it up, it's the seraphim. We could have a whole conversation about that. There's a crystal sea I mean, it goes on and on. Rainbows everywhere. That's what it says in the scripture. Everything is lit with these rainbows. And then it says there are people from every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every ethnicity, and so it's this beautiful place of everyone. In fact, jesus said this when he said come. Are you tired? Are you burnt out on religion? Is everything heavy for you? Come to me and I will give you life. I'm going to show you the unforced rhythms of grace. Come and receive this grace, this grace of allowing our diversity, of allowing spirit to reframe us and to say I can hear for myself how it is to follow love. There is a beauty for us in remembering this and in hearing this. But this, every tongue, every nation, every tribe, every time that we try to say someone is different and this is how they are excluded. Heaven is saying oh no.
Speaker 1:I love this part about Jesus when he said in my father there is so much room. I know that there's some American translations and I loved it as a little girl and there's an American translation. It's just an American translation and it says in my father's house are many mansions, but that's not actually what it says. What Jesus said is in my Father there is so much room Beloved.
Speaker 1:If religion has been too narrow for you, if spirituality has cornered you or said you're not there, listen to the words of Jesus that said in my Father there's so much room. In his love there's enough room. You, as you are, are welcomed into the love of Christ and you knew it ever since you were little, no matter what anyone told you. You knew it. You knew it. There has always been a voice inside of you whispering saying this is the way that you could trust yourself, that you know the difference between love and hate, that you know the difference between inclusion and exclusion. And the Spirit of God is calling us all to a life that is full of love. A summer of love is a great start, beloved, but let's all get on to a life of love, because that's what Jesus came for.
Speaker 1:John 3.16 says this for God. So loved God who is loved, loved and in God's loving, god sent Jesus because we had gotten the whole thing wrong. And that's why Jesus came and said I'm here, but you're going to have to unrule. And that's why Jesus came and said I'm here, but you're going to have to unrule, unlearn a whole bunch of things that you thought you already knew. You have heard it said do not commit adultery. But I say to you, if you even objectify a woman, you've already done the damage to her. So Jesus is saying that there is more. It's not about the rule, it is about understanding the spirit that calls us to be people of more love, that transforms us, that allows us to change the way that we're thinking.
Speaker 1:The Holy Spirit, the thought adjuster that invites us into this, this whole idea of the spirit being given is recorded for us, or a version of it, in Acts and you can read it. A bunch of people from a bunch of different places gathered together. I appreciate very much that we're gathering this morning, that we're gathered together. And then there was a really big sound, the sound of a rushing, mighty wind. A big sound. And then fire came. And then the spirit provided a miracle so that everyone could understand each other. Beloved, what if the people that you love actually understood you? What would that world be like? What if we understood the people we called our enemies? What if we knew what they were afraid of? What if we knew what they lacked? And what if we could meet them at the table that God is preparing for us. We practice holy communion here and we understand that.
Speaker 1:The beautiful imagery that at the end of time there will be a great feast again in the book of Revelation, where it talks about the Lamb's Supper, where everybody comes home, where everybody eats together, where Jesus reigns there, that's a beautiful invitation. But the invitation is now beloved, that you could sit with family and with neighbors and with enemies and that you would be understood. What a gift, what a peace. The Holy Spirit that is peace among us. Now, this is not all just pie in the sky. This is how do I live as a person of peace, how do I live as a person who has laid down my weapons and is following the way of Jesus into nonviolence, into ways of peacemaking, into ways of hope, into ways of real living. Beloved, a life of love, not just one summer. A life of love. This is empowered to us by the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, a little bit ago you mentioned about the ego and I want to talk about that for a second because, you know, I don't know how much thought you really give to your ego, but you know there's a question of who am I and the you that answers that question is the you. The ego is the person that you're trying to make everybody believe you are, or that you want to be or that you want to be. You know, and the ego really is that mechanism that worries about the past, and part of that's just common sense. I mean, if you, you know we had a bad winter last winter and you don't learn from that past and save enough food in the summer, then you die. So I'm not saying that these kind of instincts are wicked at the root, they're just out of balance in most of our lives and the ego is so driven that sometimes we don't realize that all of our decisions are made by the ego and not by the spirit. And then we justify later why we did what we did later, why we did what we did. But you know, deep down, or maybe you don't, maybe we've not learned the voice of the spirit because the ego screams so loud.
Speaker 2:And the other day I have this really nice when it works this amazing piece of software for audio. But it's finicky. It'll just decide it's not going to load and then all the expense we paid for it, all the work that we could do with it, is just on hold because that little circle is just spinning and we're just waiting for that thing to load. And then sometimes I'll get mad and say, heather, I'm going to throw this computer across the room. She'll say, well, let me take a look at it. And then she holds command keys and she can get the thing to boot up in a back door.
Speaker 1:It's magic beloved. It's not real magic.
Speaker 2:It's a magical back door, this button to push and she got in past the thing that was not letting this thing load. Now some of you might be tracking with me here, because I believe that spinning around block is your ego and you maybe don't even realize how stuck you are. Because you maybe don't even realize how stuck you are Because you're going to bless God, take care of you, because when you were little, no one took care of you. And you're going to do this, and this is the right thing, and to tell you why I do it, because this happened in the past. And all this instead of shh, there's a timeless one, a God of the ages, jesus, who's put. There's a timeless one, a God of the ages, who has put God's spirit within you, and we can listen to that. But we don't know. We don't know how to bypass that ego. It screams so loud we didn't even know this was going on. How do I get past it, pastor? What is the codes? Well, we're going to sell those after church. No, I'm just kidding. No, the truth is it is so beautiful and it is so free. But the key to get past that the back door is meditation, is that when you decide to just be present. Shut down that thinker thing. Shut down that I've got to do this, I've got to do this. I'm just going to be in the presence. I mean, you know, are we going to read the scripture where the rocks or the wind is so strong that the rocks are crushed? No, but you could tell it, but the Lord was not in that wind and the fire burns so tremendously that, but the Lord was not in the fire, but, quiet, in the still small voice, the Lord could be heard. I think we go about this thing wrong. We're going to figure it out, we're going to do this thing, and I wonder how much of your prayer life is just you reading your requests off to God, who already knew everything that you have need of. And maybe God's looking for a time when I would be quiet long enough for him to be able to download some direction, some answers or maybe even a piece to tell me I don't even need the stuff, that I think that I need All that list that I come up with and my haste and my struggle about my past and my future. Maybe I could realize right now I have everything I need.
Speaker 2:It was Father's Day last Sunday and so we went to Tony's Sushi my favorite place to eat in town, but consequently my kids as well and they took me out, and Heather and some there with my sons, and I just sat back and they were just telling stories. They're adults, they're these men who could be anywhere on the earth, and they decided that they would give that gift to me and it was the best gift. I don't want a tie or a sweater. I wanted to sit at that table and I wanted to watch them tell stories and I could have missed that in my haste, because what's for dessert? Or what are we going to do after? I've got a nap coming in? Or you know what next week holds?
Speaker 2:Come on church. Do we stop? Or I got a nap coming in, or you know what next week holds? Oh, da-da-da, da-da-da, Come on church. Do we stop and just realize at that moment I had everything that I need and I was full and I was perfectly content, I was experienced in the summer of love. And then I leave that presence and I go off, driven by my ego, to conquer the world, driven by my ego, to try to give some peace and satisfaction inside of me that it can only come by way of the presence of the living God. And so I trade that off and I miss what we could have on a regular basis. Am I speaking to anybody else, or is this just me, right, don't we miss? And then, in those quiet times, in that still small voice, god can remind me what are you striving for? Sometimes I'd find myself in my room, my office, practicing a guitar riff. I'm 57, who am I performing this riff for? And I'll hear Heather and Silas out playing Connect Four.
Speaker 1:It gets loud. Beloved.
Speaker 2:And there's part of me that wants to shut the door on their noise. So I could finish my thing that my ego would say once you can play that, you've arrived, you're the master. Or I could say does that matter? Or does what's going on out on that table? Is that life? Is that what it's all about? Amen, and the Spirit will lead us if we'll take a minute.
Speaker 1:I was just thinking of the book of Ecclesiastes. Again, the wisest person in the world said everything is a vapor, it's all so fast, and that's one of the reasons we need elders in our life, people who are old enough to tell us it is fast. It feels long Especially when you have a lot of littles. Those days seem long, but it's fast. But the author of Ecclesiastes says it's all in vain, all of it, all of it. And it says everything that you tried and worked at it's not going to matter. And so the writer of Ecclesiastes says this so eat good food in the presence of your friends. Beloved, this is simple things. Meditate in the morning, five minutes a day, and in the summer of love, eat good food with your friends. These are ways that we follow into the spirit. I want to read to you the 23rd Psalm. Dennis keeps mentioning the table and I cannot hear that without hearing David's version.
Speaker 1:The Lord is my friend and my shepherd. I always have more than enough. He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to oasises of peace near the quiet brook of bliss, and in that quietness he restores and revives my life. He opens before me the right path and he leads me along his footsteps of righteousness so that I can bring honor to his name.
Speaker 1:And even when the path takes me through the valley of deepest darkness, fear will not conquer me, because you already have your authority, is my strength and my peace. The comfort of your love takes away all of my fear. I will never be lonely because you are always near me. You have become my delicious feast and even when enemies dare to fight, you anoint me with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit and you give me all I can drink of you until my cup overflows. So why do I fear the future? Only goodness and tender love pursue me all the days of my life and afterward, when my life is through, I will return to you and to your glorious presence, and I will be in your love forever. Amen, amen.
Speaker 2:I've had the privilege of going to hospice and being with people in their final moments and I've seen people struggle and fight and I've seen people so peacefully just go from this life into the arms of Christ the most amazing thing. But what a contrast. And you know, I'm convinced that if you don't practice dying you're not going to be any good at it. And how does one practice dying? You know it's when that glass breaks out there and you were doing something. And you know what you're doing now has to die for the greater good. That you put down that guitar and go enjoy that game with your family. That you let the third and fourth and fifth car cut in front of you when they all seen that barrier, 500 feet till that lane ends. I die and I practice. I practice every day. I got things to do. I can't stop and meditate, I can stop and I'm surrendering to love and I'm practicing that to the point that there might be one day when you're right at that edge and you're going. I'm breathing my last breaths right now, but I can trust that God's meeting me on the other side, because every time I've surrendered in the past, god's met me on the other side and things have been better. So I can trust that.
Speaker 2:I used to think that as a pastor, you know, my success or my approval was how well I prayed for the sick. I remember the first time a lady asked me to come pray for her husband. The next day I called her and said how is he? She goes? Oh, he died a half an hour after you left. I am terrible at praying for the sick, and I realized, though, through all these experiences, that my job isn't to keep you here, because it turns out there's a 100% death rate to this deal. My job is to help you go, help you get there one day.
Speaker 2:Now, for many, many of us, that's a long, long time away, but for all of us it'll maybe not show up soon enough or never seem to come around at all. But there's a place where that's all okay, when we have learned to trust the Spirit of God, because that's what this whole thing is about. You know we sprinkle it with the benefits. Oh, you'll benefit by trusting with the Holy Spirit, but I tell you, I believe our life depends on it and learning how to surrender to Spirit. When this is God's thing anyway, your ego can't fight and cause some extra minute or grow some inch to your height or or somehow produce something you've deceived yourself. You're living in a lie and an illusion if you think anything outside of the generosity of the Spirit of God is given to you or I. So how about if I learn to slow down and then just appreciate that and walk and live in that? Doesn't this sound like a better pace?
Speaker 1:The evidence of God's Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness. You know these things. The evidence of God's spirit living through us is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control. And then the writer says and there's no law against these things, there is nothing that will corral you in that there is no law, that love is not greater than God is love and God is calling us back to God's self. We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg.
