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
God Is Not Cruel: How Jesus Redefines Our Understanding of Love
What happens when prayer becomes more than reciting words—when it transforms into a revolutionary conversation that changes how you think? In this soul-stirring exploration of Luke 11, the pastors of First Love Church challenge us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about connecting with God.
The core revelation unfolds around a startling truth: repentance isn't about feeling sorry for sins but about fundamentally changing our thought patterns. As we surrender our limited perspectives to embrace God's thoughts of love, we discover what it truly means to live in the Spirit. This isn't about following religious formulas but experiencing genuine transformation from the inside out.
One of the most profound insights emerges through a deceptively simple story—a pastor spots a suffering, starving dog and prays for God's mercy, only to hear the challenging response: "You are the mercy." This powerful moment confronts us with the reality that our prayers aren't just words sent heavenward but invitations for us to become the very answer the world needs. What if the situations we pray about are actually divine appointments calling us to embody Christ's love in tangible ways?
The teaching daringly confronts cultural misconceptions about God's character, especially addressing how these distortions impact our approach to parenting and relationships. If God is love—patient, kind, gentle, and never cruel—how might this reshape how we interact with our children, spouses, and everyone we encounter? The pastors vulnerably share their own struggles to parent with God's heart rather than default to generational patterns or cultural expectations.
Ready to experience profound change? This isn't just about adding spiritual practices to your routine—it's about allowing the Holy Spirit to renew your mind completely. Listen now and discover what happens when you sincerely pray, "Holy Spirit, I am willing to have you change my mind about this."
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:Well, I just think we ought to give a special thanks to Thomas, who works so hard every week.
Speaker 3:We appreciate that we appreciate that so much. We appreciate the Christ that you brought with you this morning, the love that is already in your heart and we receive it with so much. We appreciate the Christ that you brought with you this morning, the love that is already in your heart, and we receive it with so much joy. Jesus in us, magnified. This is the whole way and the truth that Jesus is Together. We can do something that we cannot do apart, and so, by your gathering this morning, I remind you that the Spirit is already here. The Scripture tells us this where two or three are gathered together, there is God in the midst of them. We're gathered in the name of Christ, in the way of Jesus, and so I remind you that the Spirit is present with us today. Whatever you have need of it is here, because Christ is here. God is with us. This is the practice of Emmanuel, and it's our joy to be with you during the season of Pentecost, in the season where we focus and practice living in the Spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, you might have in your life heard a sermon that was uninspired, but I promise you that will not be today. I promise you.
Speaker 3:You are going to be glad that you showed up, even if I was dead right now.
Speaker 2:There is so much life in her. I couldn't stop breathing. All week long she's been going. I can't wait to preach this, and I'm like, and I'm going to say this, and I'm thinking to myself, if I can get, wait to preach this. And I'm like, and I'm going to say this, and I'm thinking to myself, if I can get a word in edgewise, I'm going to say this. So I want to tell you something.
Speaker 2:Your pastors are very excited to be here today, and it's not like just looking for a chance to talk in front of people.
Speaker 2:It's really a chance to say some of these things that are setting us free daily, and we just want to share them with you, because I know it's good for life and transformation, for healing and for understanding of doctrine, and what an exciting day. So, father, we just thank you, heather and I. We thank you for speaking through us your words, not our own. We thank you for the revelation that you stir within us, and I pray that the ears would be opened by the Holy Spirit to hear what it is that you want to say to us. And I do trust that the words that you've given us are life and for each one of us, they would be something that we could get a hold of, that would affect us and heal us, and transform us and sure our footing as we walk through this life together. And I thank you for all of these things, you, first and foremost, and in advance, for what you're going to do. We give you all the glory, honor and praise in jesus name. Everybody said amen amen.
Speaker 3:We honor the spirit among us today and I have been terribly excited to share this particular portion of the scripture with you. And as we witness Jesus together, I want to remind you of something that we read together God is love. Anyone who lives in love lives in God. God is love and God has given God's own spirit to us to testify to us, to remind us that there is an empowerment to expand, to change, to transform. In fact, jesus's invitation to all of us was to repent, and that doesn't mean to say I'm sorry for sins I've done.
Speaker 3:Repentance means to change the way that you think. This is the power of Christ. In fact, we're even invited by the scriptures that said this let this mind be in you. That was in Christ Jesus. You have a choice beloved how you think and how you see the word. And this is the power of the Holy Spirit that the Spirit would allow us to change the way that we think, to change our thoughts so that we would give our egoic, limited thoughts up and that we would choose the thoughts of God, that we would choose the thoughts of love that bring us into unity. And it is with a lot of passion that I remind you Not that we're just going to preach and that you're going to sit there, but that when we speak this morning, when we witness together what the scriptures tell us, that it will in fact inspire, ignite and re-enchant our world to be able to say this is what it looks like to live life in the Spirit.
Speaker 2:You know, we want to talk about the Holy Spirit, and the holy spirit is, is something that, that that even the early church fathers have struggled with the definition and the understanding of.
Speaker 2:And you know, some people would say that the um, the holy spirit, is given, uh, through the gifts, and others would say it's the holy spirit that's given and manifest the gifts, and there is that's not a splitting of hairs, it is different, and saint augustine kind of went with the, the, the idea that it's the holy spirit given, and I I tend to agree with this as well that it's the holy spirit given and then the gifts kind of manifest as they will, which kind of explains a little bit sometimes how, you know, you, you prayed for someone to be healed, but maybe didn't work out exactly the way that you thought.
Speaker 2:See, when, when, when the holy spirit's given, then the outcome is also entrusted into god. But if the gifts are given, then you have to kind of make these things happen and I just I just think that that really, when we talk about the spirit today, there's a power that maybe you might be missing, that we can have access to in our lives, but then there's also a place of now stepping back and trusting that outcome is, you know, heather, and I've been just really kind of recognizing that maybe in past our immaturity had been everything that our spirituality was about was based on outcome. And as we've really looked at this and go if I can not, how do you word it? Uh, uh, if I can, uh, not, um, based on the outcome.
Speaker 3:You know I want I want to help, but I I'm not.
Speaker 2:I don't remember maybe you'll get it on the way. Okay, we'll call every person. That's exactly. You'll get it on the way home.
Speaker 3:Okay, maybe I'll. We'll call every person. That's exactly. You'll get a text. This is what. And now, to both of our grace, we talk about this kind of stuff a lot. This becomes something that we talk about early in the morning. Sometimes I'll be up and I'll be very excited and I'll mention something to Dennis and he goes I'm going back to bed. I was only up to take care of something, but I'm going back to bed. I'm not ready to have a theological discussion at 3.22 in the morning, but I'm excited about things that I remember and that I've heard or that I'm learning.
Speaker 2:Attached outcome. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Okay, thank you for that, because I have said that and continue. This is our job in our maturing is releasing the outcome, that we as a people cannot be attached to the outcome. I will do this and then they will do that. That is not the work of spirit. I will do this because the spirit of God in me, it tells me that this is who I want to be, not because they are going to do anything back for me, but because life is in me. I forgive the world and you forgive the world, because Jesus forgave us and said this is what I want you to do Be people who practice forgiveness, not because people will accept it and then they'll be transformed, and that may happen Prayerfully, it will. But that is the job of the spirit. My job is to live in love, to live in light.
Speaker 3:Jesus said this if you will allow my words to abide in you, abiding someplace is very different than just stopping by. I am a visitor at a Starbucks, but I abide in my home. Sometimes, every once in a while, I'll go in place. That's different. And what does it mean to have the word of Christ abide in you, to live in it? Jesus said if you let my words live in you. My father and I will come to you and we will live in you. Beloved, there is nothing better. There is nothing better. This is the prize, this is the treasure. God.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:Love is the whole thing, and this is an invitation in us to choose this way. Now, in First Love Church, we follow something called the liturgical calendar. It is not our, we didn't come up with this. In fact, the church and the tradition has gifted it with us, and we follow a particular pattern of learning the story of Jesus, learning the story of ourselves and learning the story of the Spirit, so that we can grow like seasonally. I mean people.
Speaker 3:Before there were paper calendars or iPhones. You would look and you'd say, oh, the trees, the color of the trees is different. That means winter's coming. There's some things I need to do. We would look at seasons, we would look at the earth in the changing and we would make preparation.
Speaker 3:And the same is true with the liturgical calendar for us. It reminds us there are seasons of renewal, there are seasons where we practice death, where we practice giving up of self, and then there are seasons where we allow ourselves to be taught. And this particular season, the season of Pentecost, is the season where we practice living in the Spirit. What does it look like for me to stay in contact, to stay plugged into the Holy Spirit, and how do I live accordingly? So, in this particular portion of scripture today, as we're reading it, I remind you that an enormous part of the world, if they are part of a church, are reading this exact same scripture.
Speaker 3:Why this is helpful? First of all, it reminds us we're not the only place. We are part of a body of Christ that is all over this world. And, secondly, it reminds us, with great hope, that, collectively, one of the things I love about singing the hymns together is I like to hear your voice, too, reminding me holy, holy, holy, lord, god Almighty. Or when we sing together, great is thy faithfulness. And you hear someone else reminding you oh yes, faithful, he's faithful. There's something that stirs in our soul, and so this morning, I invite you to open your soul, to see with the eye of your heart and to allow the spirit to change the way that you think.
Speaker 2:I just want to interject real quickly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's fine that somebody might listen to what we just said and say you're contradicting yourself. You're saying that you want to live this life of the Spirit and yet you're following a church calendar. How much more non-Spirit could that be? And I have a pastor friend who believes that way, so he won't follow the church calendar. He just says I'm going to follow the Holy Spirit and I called him yesterday and I just was sharing some of the things we were studying and he goes God showed me that that's what I'm preaching this Sunday and it's what we're preaching because we're following the calendar. So I want you to know that god's going to get it to us.
Speaker 2:Yes, you don't have to follow whether you think you've got to follow a calendar to do it or you can't follow a calendar to do it.
Speaker 2:God's going to get what god wants, you know. And so there's a grace again, there's a, there's a peace in knowing that the spirit is leading us. Who are convinced we're following the Spirit, or those who don't believe that it exists God is leading, but wouldn't it make more sense if we could in tune ourselves and learn and be able to be adept? We would be more likely to see the road signs and sense and feel what God is showing us. And so that's what we hope that you would open up your heart and realize God's moving all around us. How can I discern this in a greater way? And so that's what we hope that you would open up your heart and realize God's moving all around us. How can I discern this in a greater way? How can I allow it to transform me and help me and help my family and help the people that I love? Because that's what God has left us with the Holy Spirit, for.
Speaker 3:I'm so excited to talk about this day. We're in Luke, chapter 11. No-transcript. Now, jesus is our only hope in life and in death. This is our confidence, jesus, and the way of Jesus and the way that Jesus returned us all back to our Father. So, living in the way of Jesus, living in the frequency that Jesus lived in, living in the patterns that Jesus lived in.
Speaker 3:Jesus was a man of prayer and the invitation for us is also to be people of prayer, that we would stay connected through the Holy Spirit, to our source, that we would not have to feel like we are alone, that they're every. The weight of the world is on us, but we would remember, through prayer we maintain a connection, we maintain a conversation with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus prayed, and the people that were here were surrounding him. His disciples and the people in that culture also prayed. But Jesus prayed a certain way and as he finished, one of the disciples came to him and said Lord, teach us to pray Now.
Speaker 3:I want to tell you, these people already knew how to pray. They had been in their particular culture as Jewish people. Prayer was a part of what they did since they were tiny, and so their families did it. The culture did it. People in the street were doing it. They knew what prayer was. It wasn't that they had no idea, but what they were saying was teach us what you know about prayer. Teach us how you stay connected to the Father. You teach us the way to pray.
Speaker 2:You know, I want us to think about this too, because you might say, say this is too fundamental. I already know how to pray, I have a prayer life and and I would just ask for you to consider that maybe the prayer life that you have and and though it's, um, maybe consistent, maybe inconsistent, or maybe you have a formula or a model or a way that you do that maybe you could be open up to the idea that maybe there's some things that you could learn about prayer, or maybe even your approach might be could be just 180 degrees from the approach that that maybe it's outlined in scriptures and maybe we're missing it, you know. So let let, as we discuss this, let yourself consider being open to the idea. Someone said something to me recently and it's really been on my heart and profound to me, and it's the idea that prayer should be a secondary response to God. And I'm going to explain that just real quickly, because typically, I think that I was trained that prayer was this first response that I have to god. So I go to god and I tell god what he needs to do in my situation. I give him my laundry list, I type in the, the numbers, even l7 because I want the snickers. You know I push the. You know again what it says in john 360, you know. So I go, I do my numbers and I'm waiting for my stuff, you know, and, um, uh, and, and when I, when I really looked at that first response and me going and me talking and talking, then uh, it, uh, it really.
Speaker 2:It really was a eye-opening for me to to think well, a second response well, you know, and the first response is is God responding to me? And how do I even do that? Well, I do that through, you know, being quiet and listening. I do it through, you know, reading scriptures and then, as that begins, or you know what, what to me is the greatest practice is as soon as somebody cuts you off, as soon as somebody says a word to you. If we would literally stop, you know, before I say my next words, do I honestly believe Jesus would say what I'm getting ready to say? For me it's going to be a big vet. No, most of the time.
Speaker 2:And then when, when I can take that now, that first response is him to me. So my prayer, instead of god, would you fix this jerk and keep saying this stuff? My second response is god, would you fix this jerk that keeps saying this stuff? Do you see what I mean? And so I take the time instead of telling God what he needs to do. You need to get all these people out of my way when I'm driving to work.
Speaker 2:Or, god, would you get this out of me, this rush that can't wait behind a car. I'm in a three-lane road. I am like one of them is the lottery, and I've got to get in the right one, because the one's going to certainly back up and everybody's going to turn right, you know. So I got to get. But even the middle one, sometimes that's slow because everyone switched from that lane. So I got to decide.
Speaker 2:And if I've picked the wrong one because that hurry and that you know, now I'm God, why didn't the Spirit of God lead me in the right lane today? How about Spirit of God? No matter what lane I'm in, allow me to be kind, allow me to be grace-filled. See the secondary response in that prayer is not what I'm going to rush to, but God, what are you, maybe even? And then my prayer is really different, because now I'm just praying for strength. Help me actually digest that. Help me not reject that idea immediately. Help me really. Let that wash over me and bring transformation. Now I know this is just for me. The rest of you got all this figured out, so stretch your hands out towards the pastor poor guy, or maybe could some of us really allow this new way of looking at prayer today. Isn't that beautiful?
Speaker 3:Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. And Jesus said this is how you should pray, father, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. The first thing that he does here, and we won't take this line by line, but I want to remind you that he calls father, our father in particular. Our Jesus is reminding us that we are all one. We are all beloved children, every one of us special and none of us special at the same time. All of God's children. And he reminds us if you're going to prayer, go to prayer for everyone. The prayer is not that you personally would be better off, but that together, that the whole world would thrive. This invitation into oneness, the invitation into unity, the invitation into love. Love does not exclude anyone. Love is for everyone, because God is love. Father, may your name be kept holy. May your kingdom come soon. Give us each day the food that we need and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us, and don't let us yield to temptation. And then teaching them more about prayer. So he gives them like a little template here. This is how remember the position that you're coming to. You're coming to a loving father. But you're coming not just for your needs, for the world's needs, for your neighbor's needs, for your enemy's needs. You are coming on behalf of everyone. You are connecting with God's own spirit for the flourishing of the world and teaching them more about prayer.
Speaker 3:He used this story. Suppose you went to a friend's house at midnight wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. Find that interesting. Well, three is a good one too, but we're borrowing the bread. Typically, when I'm eating the bread it's going to be gone. There's no borrowing. I guess maybe you're going to bring some bread back to him in a couple of days. I'm not sure. It's. Just, the story is complicated and that's what Jesus wanted. It's not easy, like there's always a question, and that's okay. If you have questions, if you have questions wanting to borrow three loaves of bread, and you say to him this is also what we do in our prayers. We make big stories and I just want to invite you to allow the Holy Spirit to change the story that's going on in your head the story about someone else or the story about yourself.
Speaker 3:A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit and I have nothing for him to eat. Also, look here, he's already. Only he's already asking God, give us this day the bread that we need for us. But now he's got to go back and he's got to ask my friend has need of bread. I don't have any to give. I would give but I don't have it. So I'm asking you for a resource so I can give it to someone else. And suppose he calls out from his bedroom don't bother me, the door is locked for the night and my family and I are all in bed. I can't help you.
Speaker 3:But I tell you this, though he won't do it for friendship's sake if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up. That's a lot of beautiful invitation into tenacity, into saying, but it's not only for me, it's for my friend. He has traveled a great distance or he is hungry for days. This has a lot to do with our human nature. It has a lot to do with what we're gifted by Jesus to say Now, it's not begging and God is not a person that he wouldn't get up. Love is this omnipresent, this beautiful in everything. He will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. He didn't call it shameful persistence, shameless. There's no shame in asking. There is no shame in petitioning heaven for these things. And so I tell you, keep on asking.
Speaker 3:If anyone tells you not to ask questions about your faith or about God, this is absolutely opposing the teaching of Jesus. Keep asking. Sometimes the answer is in the asking. Keep asking and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened for you. This is essential for us in understanding our maturity and our faith that, as it progresses, that we should be hearing things, we should continue. You're not. I am a person of faith and this is all the faith I need, beloved, no, the invitation is a path. Jesus is a way. The invitation is to more love, a bigger table, more expansion. This is the hope of Christ in us. Keep knocking, the door will be open to us.
Speaker 2:You know, heather and I have come to a crossroads a while back and we decided to go one path. And I believe that Christianity was taught to me, or the way I understood it, that Jesus just rescued all of us from sin because he's God, and now you're just a forgiven bunch of slugs who are going to go around doing a bunch of terrible stuff until one day you die and, because he's so good, he's going to bring you to heaven. I mean, isn't that kind of what we were taught all of us at some level? Isn't that kind of what we were taught All of us At some level? And then there's this idea that God is asking us to live like Christ in the world. Well, I can't do that. He's God, I'm not. I'm the one who's going to continue to sin, and that's why I need forgiveness. And the crossroads is to are you going to decide? I'm going to do it, I'm going to try to live like Christ in this world. And here's the thing about it I keep falling short all the time. And with that comes the idea well, I told you so. Or shame, can't believe you said that, can't believe you did that. And there has to be a place where you recognize he's forgiven us so that we can move forward on the path, not forgiveness because you just can't do it. See the difference. And so that brings me to everyday life.
Speaker 2:Heather and I look at each other. Let's live love today. And then I get a quiz when I get home from work. Heather does it to me or I'll do it to her how was your day? Did you live like Christ? And that's a cringy question sometimes and I'd say and I had a job Friday and Saturday, outside, on the two days of the year where they give a outdoor warning not to be outside. So I got home Friday and Heather said how did you do?
Speaker 2:And I said you know it was hot, right, let me start off by saying it was hot and I got aggravated and I was working with somebody that was really aggravated. And I was working with somebody that was really aggravated, but I said, you know, it was interesting that I was able to have grace for that person, because I thought, oh, that's me. Unity, oneness helps me see that and the fact that the very behavior, stuff that I know I've done to my family, my workers, my friends, you know, and I just began to see, oh, this is someone who's nervous, scared, worried, and so now they're just lashing. And so I was able to have a grace, you know. And then Heather said how did you change the situation? And I said well, I just stayed out of the way and I was challenged by our conversation. You know, it wasn't. You know, is it a victory just to not join in? Sure, but is that it? It is a victory to just have compassion, to see that you used to act like that too. And so now I'm going to have grace for people that are acting like that? Sure, but is that it? Or is there a possibility?
Speaker 2:Because I go back on Saturday and I'm telling you what I thought to myself. God, with your grace and your power, I bet you that I could be a thermostat and not a thermometer. I bet you I could influence the entire job site today. And it was even hotter on Saturday. The heat index thing, the warning came out in the morning. It didn't come out until the afternoon on the first day. They told the night before on this one. But even with that, I'm telling you what I had so much joy when I worked and it was just such a different thing.
Speaker 2:Now I share that. Not to pat myself on the back, but just to remind you that we're not sitting here in the pulpit saying Church, go out and try to live this stuff. We have no idea how you're going to do it, but the Bible says something about this, so go try it. And then there's a disconnect because you see, well, that guy doesn't know what it's like to be under pressure at work. He doesn't know what it's like to be under pressure at work. He doesn't know what it's like to deal with an irritating. Well, maybe this guy does, and maybe this guy has always stopped where you're stopping.
Speaker 2:I'm just so ashamed at how I acted so I can't get past myself Because I have said and done some dumb stuff. We don't have time in this service to go through it, and so I'm so grateful that it's forgiven. But even though it's forgiven, oh, is it hard to get over it. It's hard to get on top of it, it's hard to get past it. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Because it just stays there in my memory and it. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Because it just stays there in my memory and it just and I know better and I and I and I feel like maybe I got you and I were talking about this, like we, we as people, don't we feel like we got to pay some penance for it. But how much is you know? And it's, and so we're just like you know, and I and I and I got to tell you.
Speaker 2:I believe that that's what the Spirit's given to us for, to empower us for the daily bread, the thing that we need, and the strength to move on. And so that's my prayer, not, oh God, will you forgive me, I did it again, but give me the strength so I can move past this now, because it keeps replaying in my mind. I should have said this. I should have said that how about just being able to go the past?
Speaker 2:Amen, yeah, but what about the future? Well, I don't know about the future Because I'm not there yet. But you know where I am Right now, on the job site, and this is the only time I can really just love and be kind and not say the word and recognize. Oh, even in this heat, everybody else is stressed too, so maybe that's why they got a little short with me. A couple times I got short by words because I only had so many words I could spit out or I'd pass out. I only have so much oxygen, this chubby guy going up and down a ladder. So maybe we misunderstand what's going on and take it all personal. Holy Spirit, help me not to do that.
Speaker 3:Jesus is asking us to allow these words to challenge the way that you have been taught about prayer or the way that you've always prayed. And there's an invitation, particularly during Pentecost. I would like you to try practice this. It's an invitation only, no obligation, but when you need guidance or when you're aware that you should respond to something about God, this is the very and it's a very short prayer. I do love a long prayer, but this is a very short one especially when you're feeling stressed.
Speaker 3:You need a short one. Holy Spirit, I am willing to have you change my mind about this. That's the whole prayer, Because you know we've already made up our mind about a lot of things. We already have judgment stacked to the ceiling about how things should go, how they shouldn't go, who needs to do what. We already have that. So the invitation is Holy Spirit, I am willing for you to change my mind about this, and it's a risky prayer, beloved. You could end up considering completely different things than you had before, and isn't that the truth? Isn't that where the answer is? Because, with the same thoughts you are in the situation, you can't come up with an answer. You need a higher thought, we need the mind of Christ and we need to be able to see this invitation into oneness, into holiness.
Speaker 3:I love prayer. I have prayed my whole life. My grandmother was a woman of prayer and in fact, I remember more of her prayers than I do of any of our other conversations that we had. I could pray for you verbatim some of the prayers that she would pray over us, and it is a way that my grandmother stays near to me.
Speaker 3:She died when I was 10 years old and I remember her coming home from work. She would take off her nursing hat and she would take off her white stockings and she would sit in a chair and she would begin to pray for myself, my brother and her grandchildren. And she would pray this way In your good kingdom, let my grandchildren grow up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. May they be taught of Jesus, who is the way. Now I don't remember word for word any other conversations she had, but I can tell you prayers that she put out and prayed for us. May Jesus be everything that they know. What a beautiful thing, what a legacy. I hope that people remember you for the prayers that you prayed.
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 3:I have been a person influenced by prayer, but I will tell you one of the experiences that I've had in prayer and I would love to be able to talk to you about contemplation and prayers, and Dennis is going to do an invitation on meditation. So prayer is something that I'm excited about. One of the things I collect is books of prayers. Do you have a prayer? Have you written a prayer, john? I'd like to pray that prayer. I love prayer, but one of the greatest teachers of prayer to me was a dog, and if you've heard this story before, I ask you to consider that among us are the animals that are prophets.
Speaker 3:I was driving down the road home and animals that are prophets. I was driving down the road home and I was going to do something. This wasn't a leisurely Sunday drive. I was going to get something and it was important, and I saw a dog on the side of the road that was in such horrible condition, being starved. Bones showing through Every piece of fur was just it was. You could see the mange. It was a horror, and when I looked at that, I didn't say that they came about fifth, but the first thing I did not say was who is responsible for this. What kind of person would let a dog suffer, which again, again, came later. So you can forgive me for that.
Speaker 3:But the first thing that came out of my heart when I saw that dog was oh Lord, jesus Christ, have mercy on that animal. Did you know what I heard? You are the mercy. And I was like, oh no, no, no, send someone, because you and I, god, we're on the same page. This is wrong. This is not acceptable. Beloved, we know what right is and we know what wrong is. It's in our heart, all of us. It's built in there because of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3:But I asked God for mercy and God said I was the mercy. Well, I'm not necessarily interested in that kind of mercy because that's going to cost me like a long time. That means that I'm going to have to take that sick dog into my house. That means I'm going to have to care for that dog. I will be the one who provides food for that dog. I will take that dog and make sure it has flea medicine. And I went through the list of all the, all the effort that this mercy would cost and I still said I think you should say to someone else I don't have any animals. I have small children. I think I'm busy. And then I looked at the suffering and I remembered all of us are. We are the mercy of Christ to this world.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes, we are, that's it.
Speaker 3:We cannot pray and ask God for someone else to do it. Beloved, it will cost you. It will absolutely cost you. It will cost you your greed. It will cost you your own plans. It will cost you your own story. This is what it will cost you. So then I threw a fleece out to God. I was like, okay, if I'm going to be the mercy, then I'm not getting out of the car to get this dog, Because I don't know the condition of what this dog could do. This dog is hungry and horrible and I'm astounded by it, but what if it attacks me Again? Beloved, we say this not only of animals, but of people.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 3:I know that they're hurting, but I don't know how, if I could be hurt as well. So this is what I said to God If I open the van door and the dog gets in, then I'll know this is to be the mercy. So I pushed a button. This is the kind of privilege in life I live. I pushed a button in the van and the door slid open and that dog took one leap and lived right into the car and sat down like it was his van.
Speaker 3:Here's the mercy and I'm begrudging. Here is a sad, sad dog, and I'm thinking to myself now I have a sad dog. You know the story. Max was an incredible blessing. Our family was better off because of the love of this dog, and it was was nothing. Now I counted nothing. But in that moment, when I looked at something and said I need you, god, to do something that doesn't cost me. I need you to fix something, but I don't want to pay the price Beloved, that's when the Holy Spirit comes in and changes our mind.
Speaker 3:We are to do the acts of mercy that Jesus did. Jesus is the one we're following, and when Jesus saw someone hungry, jesus fed them. And when Jesus saw someone sick, he healed them. And when Jesus saw families torn apart, he did miraculous things and brought dead people back to life so they could be with their families.
Speaker 3:And the way of Jesus has always been the way of compassion. And then he said to us you're going to do greater works than I do, and we want fame for this, and you know what that means. There's going to be more work that you have to do because we are his hands and feet. We are the mercy of Christ personified, and if we want change in the world, then we're going to have to change the way that we think and it will cost us, but this is the pearl of great price. This is the story of saying there's a man who found a pearl that was so incredible that he went home and sold everything and his neighbors were like that's kind of crazy, but they did not know the value of the pearl that was hidden. Beloved people are of great value. The world is of great value. God is of great value. Love is the way, for everyone who asks receives, Everyone who seeks finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Speaker 2:You know, I want to backtrack a little bit on what Heather said, because she shared that story of her grandmother praying for her and we all benefit because she prayed for Heather. I'm benefiting right now as she ministers to us and I have, for my entire marriage and lifetime benefited. And so you see that impact, don't you, of somebody's prayer. And then I want you to think that I don't want you to think that that, uh, her grandmother's prayers missed on the other ones because aaron took a detour, didn't go straight into the church. He went to some other chemicals and things and did stuff.
Speaker 2:And sometimes you look at him, he's a little rough out at his job, selling shingles or doing whatever he's doing these days. And just the other day he called and said I heard somebody talking and they wanted to get baptized. So I just took him over to the pool and baptized him. Isn't it powerful that you know andather and I were talking about that this this week, that you know we're uh, all of us are pastors yes, yes, every one of us you know, uh, and again, all of us are christ.
Speaker 2:For somebody, yes, he lives on the inside of you. And again we go, oh, that's for somebody else, or or well, that's for heather. When you know, because she lives, there's a you know because that one prayed for, but aaron is, is out doing that. But when there's a need for baptizing, he went into the body of water, waist deep and he plunges this person down and they were baptized. You know, it's like you, you, uh, you're. Each one can be used by god to to.
Speaker 2:You don't have to have a building, uh, you just have to be willing. You know, I think so many times you're, you're a half pastor, half evangelist there at that haircutting place, cause I've been there. Yeah, you know you're not a shy person, uh, but I mean, he stands in front of those guys and when they talk something you know, against God or religion or something, he'll just stand right up there. Well, I don't believe that, and just but, and you're not mean, you're not picking a fight with anybody. It's the sweetest way that I've ever heard somebody oppose somebody on the things that you're not supposed to talk about religion and politics and and he's there, right in the middle of his workplace, your entire, uh income based on this and just going.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm going to let god speak through me and and I think that we miss, uh, maybe, some of these beautiful opportunities that each one of us have to just be effective and to be that witness and to to really speak into somebody's. Yeah, but I don't know the Bible as well as other people do. I guarantee you know it better than somebody that ain't heard it before. And it's great to preach to those people, because they're not going to correct you. Well, actually that was in Luke, not Mark. They don't know, so they're just taking the word and it's bringing life and light to them. Amen.
Speaker 3:That's a beautiful, hopeful thought that all of us are the hands and feet All of us are to use and make acts of mercy. In this particular portion of Scripture. I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit right now to open the eyes of your understanding, because maybe you've heard this a million times, because you've heard this part read, but I am asking you to allow the Holy Spirit to expand your thoughts about God here. This is exactly what Jesus is doing. Jesus many times said to people you have heard it said and you know the next part is. But I say unto you you have heard it said this, but now here's a higher thought. In fact, jesus said you have heard it said that a man should not commit adultery, but I say to you that a man should not, even in his brain, objectify a woman. No hierarchy, jesus said you've heard it said. I say now Jesus is talking specifically about the character of God that he is in communion with. And Jesus said this you fathers, there's only a few things that earthly fathers are told not to do.
Speaker 2:Come on.
Speaker 3:Because they're all encompassing. Okay, he's talking about cruelty here, and I want to tell you something that Jesus is confronting a thought, and the pervasive thought is that God is cruel. And this is Jesus confronting that thought and saying God is not cruel. If you have received cruelty from someone, it is not because God told them to do it. Cruelty is no part in love. Love and cruelty do not have any of the same characteristics. Love is patient, love is kind, love is faithful, love is full of goodness, love is gentle. These are not my words, these are the words of the apostle that tell us this is what love is. And so there is no cruelty in love, beloved, and there is no cruelty in God. And Jesus is confronting a way that we think and a way that we approach God. There's another verse in the scriptures that also tells fathers not to provoke their children. Now, just let that one marinate for a while. Don't do anything that would provoke.
Speaker 2:Come on, that's what it says.
Speaker 3:Again, you get upset with somebody else, not me. That is what the scripture tells us. Don't be a part of provoking someone. Let's talk about that just for a hot second. To provoke someone is to take them out of a place of peace. They are existing as they are and then you're going to go provoke them. Now, okay, I hear what you're saying. There is another scripture that also says and we could do this all day but only provoke each other to love and good works. If what you're saying is not going to be loving and not going to cause them to have good works, then just leave that alone.
Speaker 3:Beloved you fathers, if your children ask for fish, do you give them a snake instead? The answer would be no, and if it isn't, it should be. Let's just be clear about that. If you're, if you are being asked for something like food, you should give it to your children. Give them food.
Speaker 3:It is cruel to withhold food from children. Thank you, ms Carol. And may all of us be astonished and horrified when we withhold food from children. It is wrong, it is cruel, it is not like God and we should have nothing to do with it. In fact, we see Jesus. Every time people were hungry. He fed them, because that's what a good parent does. Our eternal parent, god, our Father, offers to us an invitation to be like God and says if your child hungers, feed them. Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not.
Speaker 3:But here Jesus is confronting the fact that we have ideas about God because someone told us about something or someone explained this terror that happened in your life is because God wanted it this way? Absolutely not, absolutely not. The trauma that you experience is because some person hurt you, some terrible story in their ego told them that this was okay. But this is not love and this is not God. And so Jesus is confronting cruelty and saying it cannot be a part of us. We cannot be a part of doing cruel things, we cannot be a part of making war. In fact, we are to be people of peace, and Jesus said this in the Beatitudes in this virtuous path, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
Speaker 3:God does not make war. That is people. This is again. You read the beginning accounts of people, and in Genesis we got the first family and the one brother goes to war against the other brother. That's a really difficult one to blame anything on what they heard that from the neighbors. You know like he watched too much television, he was inspired by video games or something, so he's violent. This is the first two kids and they're killing each other. So I just want to tell you that there is for us no blame for anything. But god is telling us this through jesus god is not cruel. If someone told you before that god was cruel, that was not the jesus who came to show us how God is.
Speaker 2:Now this is, if you'll allow it you know this is a template or this is, like you know, a new, fresh idea If we really did say that prayer, god, show me a different way of seeing things, because parenting, by and large, is for better or worse. You know, my parents did it and I turned out fine. We say, while we limp around with the wounds that we carry, I'm fine, I'm fine Seriously. And then, furthermore, us as men, we will take only so much advice, for we say I appreciate your advice, but this is what I'm going to do. And in our stubbornness, or in our strength, because we're larger physically, we push an agenda that was pushed on us. Frankly, shut up, boy, don't cry. This is what a man does. And so we pass that on from generation to generation. And Jesus is saying I'm showing you this new way, this way of vulnerability, this way of trusting in me. But we've kick and scream. Why? Because culture shows us this way. Our parents that we admire, men that we admire, did that. But just because we admire them doesn't mean the things that they did were okay, or yeah, they got us here, but God wants to take us out of here to this place of ascension. But it's only going to happen if we will allow ourselves to have a new way of looking at this, A new way of responding.
Speaker 2:In the past 48 hours, I have talked to four fathers and every one of them said the exact same thing those devices. They're constantly with their head in the devices from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep. And you know, just the other day I watched Heather make this big meal and call everybody down and half of the guys can't come down because they don't put a pause on games anymore. That's specifically to tick me off. I don't know who else it would be for and if they quit early they get punished by the game. These people are setting up to ruin family dinner and the kids.
Speaker 2:You know and I think to myself, you know this new problem of devices. Well, I seem to recall my parents saying the exact same thing about this 57-year-old guy when he was a kid. He's not paying attention, he's distracted by all that. You know. All he does is flip through baseball cards. Baseball cards were the demonic influence that was going to ruin kids, because all they do is memorize stats instead of memorizing scriptures. You know there's always going to be some again and you trace that back. Look at the two first dudes. That's what that story's trying to tell you. That it's not about. You know it's within us that we need to bring that change, and that change is only going to come by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Speaker 3:Oh, amen.
Speaker 2:And we can preach on this. But I will tell you this that if you can hang your hat on something here and as young people, if and when you have children, we can follow exactly the way our family did it, for better or worse, and hope that somehow something's going to turn out better than what's been happening for generation for generation. Or we can say God is showing us a way to parent and to the extent that Heather and I have surrendered our parenting to the way God would, parent has been, if you could see any success in our home at all, it would be because of that very decision and that awareness. Help us see things differently. Well, you know, my parents did this and I noticed with God that it's never punitive. You know, it's never just to punish me, it's for me to learn anything that has to come in Like, you know, sometimes my crowd's so mad at you know that I want to get a little pound of flesh from, from what they did to me or what they did with the fence, I think they did to my wife, you know, and it's like but god, oh, I'm so grateful god doesn't parent that way, you know, and I and I know in my home.
Speaker 2:I had so many rules. And then I looked at god and god said you know, wasn't that what the jewish people did? Hundreds and hundreds of rules. And jesus said I'll give you two, really one. Love god, love your neighbors, yourself. So I look at that go all the simpler we can make this as we parent, the better off they're going to be and we're going to be, amen and that but. But I just want us to focus on that thing that heather said about you know, is god cruel? Does he parent you with cruelty?
Speaker 2:and I think people have made a cruel God in their mind to justify themselves, and you have made a God in your own image and it is comforting for you Because God lashes out, sometimes opens up the earth and destroys everyone. So some days I have a bad day. I can only take so much from that woman. God knows, I try See. Once we create that image, then we can go ahead and live that way.
Speaker 2:Or we can realize God is love and love does not behave that way, and instead of me wallowing in the fact that, listen, I have a lifetime of shame that I could set in because I have not lived what I'm preaching right now. Or I can say from this moment on, I can spring back from that into this new life If I finally learn, instead of spending my time justifying it, packing it away, pretending like it didn't happen. Or we can go. God, empower me today to be a different man, to be a man that is loving, that is not cruel, because I have been cruel to my children and I would venture to say that there's not a man in here that hasn't been cruel. We've been taught that's what a boy does he takes a magnifying glass and burns a bug once in a while.
Speaker 1:No, it's what we do, no or do we excuse ourselves?
Speaker 3:love is not cruel, love is not harsh, love is tender, is gentle.
Speaker 3:That is who God is and that is who we are called to be. I love this part of the verse. This is why this is preached during the time of Pentecost. So if you sinful people, if you people who believe that you are separate and have this other thing in fact you were talking about Cain and Abel. I was talking about Cain and Abel, and here's the thing from God that God says to Cain. It's a beautiful story. You should go back and read it.
Speaker 3:The idea of separation is crouching at your door. You must master it. That's what he said. God, in a conversation with Cain, who had just killed his brother, said this idea that you're separate from your brother, this has been crouching at your door since the very beginning. You master that thought. You are one with someone. You are one with, not just someone with everyone.
Speaker 3:So if you, sinful people, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask the Holy Spirit? The thoughts of God are given to you. If you will ask the Holy Spirit Now, I want to tell you that. If you wanted to know what was powerful. It's going to be the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. That Spirit lives in you. That Spirit is what we meet at the communion table Together, when we read the communion invitation together, when we say this is what it looks like to receive something and then give this away.
Speaker 3:God is not cruel. Beloved, god is love. God is love, not love, and God is love. And if it is not loving, it is not of God. And we cannot let our culture tell us that God is cruel, that we are to be people who expand the table, who say we are children of God. There can be no who say we are children of God. There can be no bigotry. We are children of God. We can abide no hatred. We are children of God. We are to love the same way that Jesus told us to love.
Speaker 2:I'm not even kidding. In the past 48 hours, four men and I talked about this frustration that we have with our children and I see that scripture and it says the Holy Spirit is given to us. And because I can't stand up and tell you, here's how you handle that whole device thing, I'm trying to figure it out myself. I have a 12 year old son. I'm getting ready to hit it big time for the fifth time. Those teenage years, you know what I mean. I can't give you. I can tell you a bunch of stuff not to do. In fact I can write you a book on that. I got it covered. But in all seriousness, I am convinced that if I can take some of those patterns like the more rules and more things I heap on there, the harder this is going to be for them and me. That I'm not going to do this punitively, I'm not going to do it out of anger, I refuse to be cruel. And then I just am open Holy Spirit to, because I think it's so amazing, like with my children I think you know they were homeschooled what would have happened to some of them? One of them would have probably ran the school. One of them would have been destroyed, their spirit destroyed by the school, one of them. Would you know the other couples? One of them would have been fine. Their spirit destroyed by the school, one of them, would you know the other couples would have been fine either way, you know, but it's like each one are so different that there's no. This is how you, parent, just do this thing. So wouldn't I need the timeless one? Wouldn't I need, wouldn't Heather and I need, another voice, a teacher, wisdom, to show us how, at this moment, to handle this particular person going through this particular struggle, because I can tell you, when they're acting up, it's because something's wrong.
Speaker 2:Every time my kids get sick and throw up, it's not just they didn't have anything to do. They ate something, something was in there, had to come out right, and so we need to treat. And I have seen this parenting technique and it's taught by many and I've watched some of my friends do it. If they're going to act like that, they're getting out. Friends do it. If they're going to act like that, they're getting out, get out. So what you're going to do when somebody's having the worst time of their life, at the most vulnerable age of their life, and you can tell they're sick because they're throwing up all over you. Is anyone tracking with me? I mean it's all over yet. Is anyone tracking with me? I mean it's all over me and I just want to get rid of it. What does God do at that moment? Come here, come closer. You just need more time with your father. Oh, but I just want to wring some necks. God's not cruel, god's loving. I got this.
Speaker 3:And I want to remind all of us that this is not just about parenting the children in your home. This is how we behave in the world. Oh, come on, we cannot be people of cruelty. Jesus said this you are the light of the world. Beloved, beloved. Our good father has given us the Holy Spirit so we can think different thoughts, so we can have a better story, so we can make what's beautiful, the story. Feed the hungry, bring peace to those at war, liberate the captives. Love always liberates us, love never binds us, and so when we see the invitation of Jesus, it is an invitation to co-create. The kingdom is among you. That's what Jesus said. It's so close. We are to be the people who have acts of mercy as part of who we are.
Speaker 1:We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurchorg.
