Rewriting The Rules?

Peter argues with God, and it might be the most honest doorway into spiritual growth. We start by welcoming our in-person and online community, then lean into Pentecost as a season of staying attuned to the Holy Spirit, the living source that keeps expanding our understanding. With the summer solstice as a backdrop of maximum light, we also honor the Spirit-filled women who carried resurrection hope across generations, from Mary Magdalene to Phoebe, Junia, Priscilla, and beyond.

From there we step into Acts 10, where Cornelius, a devout Roman outsider, receives a divine invitation, and Peter receives a vision that dismantles the categories he trusts. The command is simple and disruptive: stop calling unclean what God has made clean. We talk about how religious rules can harden into certainty, how fear and doubt show up even in sincere faith, and why holy curiosity and real conversation are often the bridge to change. If you’ve ever felt the tension between tradition and love, Peter’s story puts language to it.

We also get practical about what an inclusive church looks like in daily life: generosity that reaches beyond “our people,” hospitality at the table, and even choosing love in moments that normally trigger an us-versus-them reaction. We name a miracle as something you can witness right now: someone changing their mind. And we close with consent, the Mary-like surrender that makes space for the Spirit to do what we cannot.

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Transcript

Welcome And Online Belonging

Heather Drake 0:00

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.

Dennis Drake 0:11

Thank you for joining us. We're so grateful that you're with us at church. And uh, you know, uh I think prior to COVID, I would have said, you know, if somebody's just watching church on TV or online, they're no part of the church. You've got to be part of a community. But I really welcome you folks online as part of this community. I realize that that I was wrong in that because what I've found is that you folks online have made such an effort to connect with us through emails, phone calls. And there's some folks even online watching that will go so far as to text us and tell us they're not gonna watch. You know, just like many of you, when you're not gonna be here, you'll let us know you're you're where you're gonna be. And and and that's faithful committing to to a church body and and they're giving, and we're grateful for your giving, and they're calling and asking for prayers. Uh they're using all of the things available to them. They're they're emailing for prayer, you know? What an opportunity we have in this world to to have uh the body uh be able to be connected, but be from all over the place. Isn't that beautiful? And so welcome to each one of you that made it here today. We're so grateful. And for those that made it here by watching us online, thank you so much for your participation.

Heather Drake 1:32

We're grateful again to be in your presence and we reiterate what Thomas

Pentecost Light And Women Witnesses

Speaker 1 1:36

said: this being the season of Pentecost. This is the time of the year when we practice staying attuned to the Holy Spirit, staying attuned to the source of our very lives. And together we practice today is also the summer solstice. This is the longest day of light in the year. And so the light is at its apex. And I think that there's so much beauty in this understanding of this is the day of the most light. This is also the day of how the spirit illuminates us, reminds us, if you need more light, beloved, the spirit is here today to open our minds. And this morning, I stand before you with all of the spirit-filled women who carried the gospel of Jesus Christ across generations. I preach this morning in the authority of Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles, whom the risen Christ commissioned to be the first preacher of the resurrection hope. Before any man proclaimed Christ is risen, Mary carried that gospel of good news in her heart and on her lips. And I stand and preach this morning in the company of Phoebe, a deacon and a trusted leader of the church who carried Paul's letters to Rome and helped shape the faith of the very earliest church believers. I preach today with Junia, called Outstanding Among the Apostles, whose ministry could not was hidden for centuries but could not stay hidden, even when people tried to silence her. I preach beside Priscilla, the teacher of faith who instructed others in the way of Christ with wisdom and courage. And I stand with the unmarried daughters of Philip. I want to pause there for a second, because married women were a certain thing. They were given certain status. And together we recognize that in the New Testament, the unmarried daughters of Philip, people who are outside of the hierarchy, filled with the Holy Spirit, I stand with those women this morning, those women who prophesied and spoke the word of God. And I stand with the countless unnamed women, mothers and mystics and prophets and storytellers and paint and pastors and saints that declared the good news when the world was not always willing to hear them. So I preach today in the company of those women in their lineage. I preach in the same power of the Holy Spirit that oversherr Mary, the mother of Jesus, empowered the women at the empty tomb, and the spirit that fell upon all the sons and daughters at Pentecost, that same Holy Spirit with you, the same Holy Spirit in me. I do not preach from my own authority alone. I preach as one surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. I preach as one entrusted with the story of Jesus as you are. And I preach as one filled with the Holy Spirit, the very power and life of God. May the same Spirit who inspired them inspire us. And may all who have ears hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church today. Amen and

Cornelius Hears God And Obeys

Speaker 1 4:40

amen. We join this morning the text in um in Acts. In Caesarea there lived a Roman army officer named Cornelius. He was the captain of the Italian regime. He was a devout, God-fearing man, as was everyone in his household. That alone will set someone apart. He didn't just preach it, he didn't just live it, he lived it in such a way that it influenced everyone in his household. He gave generously to the poor, and he prayed regularly to God. And in that time, he still would have been an outsider because he was not a Jew. And so the invitation here is for us to reimagine a world where God is saying, I am expanding our understanding. I'm opening our eyes. One afternoon, about three o'clock, he had a vision in which he saw an angel of God coming toward him. Cornelius, the angel said. And Cornelius stared at him in terror. What is it, sir? He asked the angel. And the angel replied, Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have been received to God as an offering. Now send some men to Joppa and summon a man by the name of Simon Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner who lives near the seashore. And as soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and devout soldier and one of his personal attendants, and he told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa. The angel appears to him. He's terrified, he hears what the angel says, and immediately he does what the angel tells him to do. Immediately he does. Now also remember that he is a devout believer, that he prays, and that not only does he pray, but his life of generosity comes up before the throne of God as an offering.

Peter’s Vision Challenges Old Rules

Speaker 1 6:43

The next day, Cornelius' messengers were nearing a town, and Peter had gone up on a flat roof to pray. It was about noon, and he was hungry. While a meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance and he saw the sky open, and something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners. And in the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. And a voice said to him, Get up, Peter, kill them and eat them. No, Lord. I just want us to look at how the story is being told to us. This is someone who has been with Jesus for more than three years. This is someone who was there at some point, maybe he was hiding. We don't know that he was exactly at the cross, but the cross, the resurrection, he is there when the Holy Spirit comes down and he hears the voice of God and he says, No. The man who is a devout believer, but not included in the elite. Hears the word of the Lord and says, This is what we're doing. First thing, I will obey, I will do it, I will obey. No, Lord, Peter declared, I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. I want you to focus for a minute, just think about this. He's having a conversation with the I am. He is having a conversation with someone that he recognizes as the Lord, the creator of all things. And he says, I will not break the rules. Our Jewish leaders have decided these are the laws, and I will not break them. Now, I ask you this morning, what rules and what lines are you holding when God says to you, I want you to break those lines. I want you to step over them. I want you to let them go. Because he's saying, Listen, I know what I've been taught. I know what the people in authority told me. I know that, and I'm not going to break the law. I'm not going to do what I'm not supposed to do. I know who's in and who's out. I know what we should eat and what we shouldn't eat. I know where I should go and where I shouldn't go. Again, God asks us to break those in just a moment. He's going to be asked to go to the Gentile's house. He's not even permitted to do that. I mean, God is asking him to do all kinds of things that he's not permitted to do by the rules. No, Lord, Peter declares, I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean. And the voice spoke again. And don't you love this about our Jesus and about our God and about the I am and the source? Who has a conversation with us instead of just flicking Peter's head right off? He say, God said, Let's have a conversation then. If you want to come to me again, this is very much like Job, who stands before the Lord and who says, You know, I want you to declare who you are and why I'm in this condition. And God says, Where were you when I made the hippopotamus? Well, where were you when I made the dinosaurs? And do you know where I keep the thunderbolts as they're held start up in heaven? And then it says, and Job puts his hand over his mouth and said, Oh, I've said too much. I have said too much. And Peter is having this conversation. No, I'm not going to break the rules. And this is our merciful God. This is our loving God who has furthers the conversation. Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean. The same vision was repeated three times. Again and again and again, the opportunity to widen our understanding, our circle, our embrace. It comes to him again and again. And each time he says, No, I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna hold the law. I'm gonna hold what I know the Jewish leaders told me to do. The same vision was repeated. And then the sheet was suddenly pulled up to heaven. Peter was very perplexed. I wonder the if you have had the anxiety of going, I know what someone has told me about what I'm supposed to do, but I have heard the spirit tell me I need to do it differently. I have heard the Holy Spirit say, do something that the leaders will not be pleased with. In fact, a little bit later in the story, it's not a spoiler because I think that you've already read it, but he does get into trouble with the leaders in Jerusalem. He does get into some trouble. And I think that he wants to avoid that trouble. That he's looking very perplexed. What could the vision mean? And so I invite all of us during the season of Pentecost to ask the Holy Spirit, what could it mean for me to have a more welcoming table? What would it mean for me to expand the borders of where I say the love and the mercy of grace of God goes? What would it mean for me to give up all of the laws that I am confident in and sure of and surrender them to this higher version of love?

Dennis Drake 12:12

And I think the thing that we should be careful of is to not call unclean what God has made clean.

When We Call Holy Things Unclean

Dennis Drake 12:29

I'll tell you an interesting story. That there was this woman that uh was going through a terrible divorce a couple years ago, and she was coming by the house almost every other day. And Heather was ministering to her. And I'm telling you what, uh, the Spirit of God would be so strong and heavy in that living room of our house sometimes, and God was showing up and giving her an encouragement and hope. Uh, and I mean, she was devastated. And she said one time to me after Heather left, she goes, You know what's amazing to me is uh is I there's nowhere I go, there's nowhere I've been where I feel the presence of God more than when your wife talks to me. It's amazing that it's that she's in sin by being a pastor. And uh and she just she had this teaching that many of you have heard. You know, there's a couple verses that say women are to be silent in church, and they're real specific about if you want to go toe-to-toe and talk doctrine. I mean, we could, it's just it was uh certain people in certain situations, it was never a doctrine for uh for all of the church, and clearly Jesus is showing us the doctrine how the church is, and and uh it's neither male nor female or Jew uh or slave or free or Greek. We we're all called to the ministry of reconciliation, and so uh I I really wasn't at that point gonna battle doctrine, but I bring up the point that that she was receiving life, but yet because of what her teaching was, she was really calling that place unholy, and it was confusing for her because yet she was getting life and getting the spirit, you know. But uh, I wonder if maybe you have some places, uh, and I have some places that that we've believed some things, and so we're shutting off the ability for God to really move in our life in this area because of some preconceived notions. And I love how God is just saying, Hey, I'll make it all holy. It's all holy. Eat. You know, even a reptile? You know, we got our lines that we draw, right? Uh even that person's welcome at church, even that person gets forgiven and saved. Oh. Let God redefine those lines and redraw them, or maybe just get rid of them altogether.

Heather Drake 15:06

Thank you. And in the season of Pentecost, let's practice a holy curiosity. Instead of determining we know what we know, let's be curious about. I wonder how. I wonder if I could see it a different way. I wonder if the Spirit of God would enlarge this. I wonder if there's more to what God is doing here. Peter was very perplexed. Your questions are holy. The things that you struggle with, that's welcomed. God never asked us to believe without thinking about things. In fact, we're instructed that we should love the Lord our God with all of our mind. Your intelligence matters. Ask the questions. Be free to be able to ask and have that curiosity. What could the vision mean? And just then the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house standing outside

Fear Doubt And Going Anyway

Heather Drake 15:53

the gate. And they asked if a man by the name of Simon Peter was staying there. Meanwhile, Peter was puzzling over the vision. He was still concerned about what he just saw, what he heard from heaven. The Holy Spirit said to him, Three men have come looking for you. Get up, go downstairs, and go with them without hesitation. Because we know that he's gonna hesitate. We know that's who he is, he is gonna have this conversation. Though this the angel did not say to Cornelius, do this without hesitation, because Cornelius was just gonna do it. But Peter needs a little second bit of the information. Go downstairs without hesitation and don't worry. Can I interject them?

Dennis Drake 16:41

Can I interject a little consideration for Peter though? And and the fact that he just watched his Lord be killed by these Romans, and now he's basically hiding out, and then and then God's saying, just go with them, don't hesitate. Yeah, go with them just like Jesus went with them. You know, that there's some natural fear that you will have in this walk. And let's don't stand up here and pretend like that's not a thing that you and I are gonna have to deal with. You know, that there are gonna be struggles emotionally. And I think that a lot of times when we get doubt, when we get struggles, we immediately jump to failure. I guess we've missed it. I guess we're not, you know, all because the because the people of God just went and did great things. Well, we we miss the fact that there was a struggle every time with each one of those, and their decision was, and it was a miracle that they ever got to that finish line, too. So understand that struggle that you have, it's okay. And and those questions, and and all those questions will lead to answers and all that uncertainty if you can just say, are you sure, Lord? You know, and help me trust you, and help me make that next step, help me go out the door and actually follow those guys. This seems a little too close to what I watched earlier. This is scary here. But allow God to give you the strength and empower you to do something different so that you can have a different result than you've always had the same things coming back. We want to see the transformation that comes from God.

Heather Drake 18:20

Get up, go downstairs and go with them without hesitation. Don't worry, for I have sent them. Well, that's worrying, just in the very fact that you're sending people that I'm not supposed to be with. It's worrisome that I know who's in and who's out, and you're sending outsiders and asking me to go with them. That's a worrisome thing. And God's saying, Don't worry about it. I love this. This is very much to me like the sound. You know the little video clip of Rosie. And uh he asked the dad asks, Can I help you with your seatbelt? She goes, worry about yourself. And the dad said, Can I help you? And he's she's trying to get in. She can't. She goes, just worry about yourself. She's tiny in a car seat. And I think very often the spirit of the Lord tells us that, worry about yourself, just take care of you. You just take care of you. So Peter went down and said, I am the man you're looking for. Why have you come? And they said, We were sent by Cornelius, a Roman officer, a devout and God-fearing man, well respected by all the Jews. A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so he could hear your message. That may not be terrifying to you, but it is to Peter because you don't go into a Gentile's house. That was the rule. That was the law. If you are an upstanding person, you don't go into the house of someone who is outside. And an angel said, Go with them. And then they say, break the rules. So imagine Peter's inner distress. Who do I trust? Do I trust myself? Do I did I really hear the Lord? Is this really God? I mean, I know what the rules are and they're clear. And the angel says, go and do it.

Dennis Drake 19:53

You know, one one time I was I was hanging out with my youth group, and these, and this kid kept following my youth group no matter where we go. And he he just met us on the beach there when we were playing, but he kept hanging with us for like two hours. And then I thought, well, this is strange that he would just be so attracted. So I thought, well, maybe the Lord, you know, wants to us to minister to this young man. And so I started to say something, and I mean, just as soon as I had my intention and walked up to him, and I'd been spending a couple hours with the kid and the other kids, he just started to let out a stream of curse words that would have made a sailor blush. And I mean, just the way he was talking his stuff, and all of a sudden I thought to myself, well, you know, he's not ready to receive the holy things of God. And then all at once I felt like the Spirit of the Lord said, Well, who more needs me than that dumb mouth kid? And uh, and so I said, I said, this might seem weird, but I, you know, are you at all interested in a beginning? And just, I mean, he was like a sponge. Me and those teenagers gathered around him, prayed over him uh uh in ministry, and it was the most beautiful thing ever. And and I and I thought when I look back on that, I always think about that when I think about the scripture, because I would have judged based on the circumstance and his attitude, who you know, he we're boogie boarding, we don't have time for Christ, and and especially someone who's speaking this way, there's no opening there. And then to watch the way he received it, it was like the barrier wasn't him, the barrier is us because we judge they're not worthy of it, or they're not holy, or this is not the right moment, or whatever. And I think this is really what what Peter was struggling with because you know he's been inundated with all this doctrine and all this teaching, and that tells him that it's only for us Jews, and all of a sudden God is bringing. This man who is an outsider. So who do you consider an outsider? Who maybe is God's saying for you and I to reach out in love?

Heather Drake 22:13

A holy angel instructed him to summon you to his house so that he could hear your message. So Peter invited the men to stay for the night, and the next day he went with them, accompanied by some of the brothers from Jaffa. I love this about Peter. He's not going to get in trouble by himself. He said, If I have to go, and if this is gonna, I want witnesses that I heard from the Lord that this is how it went, he got some brothers and he took them with him. And they arrived in Caesarea the following day, and Cornelius was waiting for them, and he had called together. I like this. Everybody's calling their groups together, everyone's getting their tribes together, and he calls his friends together and his relatives, and he says, We're gonna hear something. I have prayed. God told me this, and we're gonna hear something. And Peter entered his home and Cornelius fell at his feet and worshipped him. And Peter pulled him up and said, Stand up, I'm a human being just like you. And so they talked together. This is the key to paying attention to the Holy Spirit in us, is having a conversation with someone else. It means that you're gonna have to listen to someone else. That you that's how a conversation happens. Not just you talked. He didn't go to a TED talk and just hear Peter talk. He had a conversation. They talked together, they had questions. Someone else had questions and they talked together. And it said they went inside where many others were assembled. So they didn't just have a closet meeting, they had a big conversation and they invited other people into this conversation.

A Conversation Across Prejudice

Heather Drake 23:54

And Peter told them, you know, it's against our laws. I think that's good for us as the readers. For us to put ourselves in that situation, to go, you know, that people in religious authority have told us it's this way. That I'm not to even associate with you. The amount of prejudice that is stated right here is astonishing. And we look at our world today and we go, it is astonishing. The amount of prejudice that we are still in. The message of Jesus is unity, is bringing us all together. And so there's such a beauty in this text. There is such a something that is so relative to what we are actually living in today. You know it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this or to associate with you. We're gonna give Peter a lot of grace because even if that was your rule, you shouldn't have said it. Not like that. Again, I realize what it's been translated many times. Maybe he was way nicer, and by the time it got from the Latin to us, it was just harsh. But he explains who he is. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone. Thank you, Miss Carroll. Anyone is really big. Anyone includes everyone as impure or unclean. And really, that was a total decimation of all of their laws because that include anyone includes the people who were sick physically, the people who were near death and couldn't come close to the uh to the community, all of the ways that we ostracize people, all of the ways that we put a margin or a barrier up. Peter is saying, um, God showed me that no one is impure or unclean.

Dennis Drake 25:53

I want to uh really stay on that idea for a minute. God sh showed him that, but he had to stand confident against the church rules. And those people, maybe that were been around longer, maybe you trust or and that are smarter. And why are they telling you something? But yet on the inside you have a feeling, and and that's the spirit. And can you trust that? You know, I've been at this thing a little while, and it was unacceptable when I first started for me to be in this pulpit without a suit on. You know that you've actually maybe even some of you had to go, I guess I accept Pastor Dennis, even though he's not in a suit. Maybe some of you had a struggle with that. I don't know. I know for sure as I look around and I see Pastor Lee and Butch and my own son Thomas. Uh when I started at a church, you are doing one of the most offensive things that you could possibly do in a sanctuary right now. My own son, Butch on the second row, and Pastor Lee, the pastor, have a hat on. And that was so. Do you remember that? I mean, they would walk up to you, I don't know you, you're a first-time visitor, take that hat off. You know, not like welcome and we'll let you. It was like that was if you don't like it, hit the road, you know? And and uh, and I gotta tell you too, sister right up here in the second row with pants, not a skirt. Oh my god. The Lord forbid. You know?

Speaker 1 27:38

Oh, yeah.

Dennis Drake 27:39

And so, and so let's go, because Heather, right here in the pulpit, how dare, you know, and so at some point we've had to say, I know the heart of Pastor Lee, and he's just trying to keep his bald head warm. And he loves the Lord, and that's no, that has no bearing on our relationship with God. No block between heaven and earth with the hat. Your pants are not offensive to God. The the woman who has the word of God is no more offensive than a man who doesn't. It doesn't make sense. All of this stuff is something that we've made up somewhere, someone along the line sold you on it. And so, church, if we're gonna have this kind of revival of love that God wants, we've got to go ahead and set aside some of these things and be confident. I just know that God is good and that God is loving, and he's not gonna stop you because of your gender. He's not gonna hinder you because of your outfit. He's not gonna alienate you because of where you're coming or because of what you've done in your past or what you're doing now. You're not doing something, and you have some deed or some act that is just somehow so offensive to the Lord that you that he and all of us have to shun you in order to minister something. That it's the love of God that brings transformation. Amen.

Nothing Separates Us From Love

Heather Drake 29:05

During the season of Pentecost, I've started a little list and um it's in my phone, so I can have it with me all the time. And at the top of the list, it says the things that will separate me from the love of God. How's it going so far, the list? Well, nothing's on there. Not because I haven't thought about it for a second. I wonder if God is displeased with this. Ah, I shouldn't have said that. I shouldn't have done it. And all the time we make this list, and the scripture tells us there's nothing that will separate you from the love of God. So on a regular basis, I look at this daily list. There's nothing that separates me from the love of God. I can stay connected to the Holy Spirit, I can stay connected to the source because there is nothing that I can do. I'm just not that powerful enough. 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 firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe. It says in the scripture that God had already determined that God was in love with you. You are not powerful enough to change God's opinion of you. You are loved by God, and we know that deep inside we do. But over the course of our life, people have told us these are the ways in which you displease God. And so then in our mind, we have a list in the ways we've displeased God. And so the invitation by the Holy Spirit is for us to trust ourselves, not the selfish part of you that wants your way, but the true you deep within you that knows that God is love, that you are made in the image of God, and that God's intention is hospitality, that everyone should come to the table, that everyone should remember that they are welcomed home.

No Favoritism And Jesus As Judge

Heather Drake 31:03

Now, listen to the way that Peter tells the story here, because I'm impressed with it. I really am. Okay, I want to go back because I want to like read it quickly for you. Just listen to Peter's talk here. So Peter told them, you know, it's against our laws for a Jewish man to enter a Gentile home like this, or to associate with you. First of all, let's talk about the degree of separation that Peter has drawn here. And God said, There is no separation between us, we're one. This is what Jesus prayed for. And so Peter said, Here's the big line. I shouldn't be here in your house, and I shouldn't be with you. But God has shown me that I should no longer think of anyone as impure or unclean. And since I came without objection, as soon as I was sent for. I love the way that Peter tells the story. He forgot to say, I really struggled with this, brothers. And I didn't know what to do. And I really thought this is going to be worse than it was, so I brought my guys and we came, but we were freaking out. That's not what he says. He said, God showed me this, and I came without objection.

Dennis Drake 32:08

Again, in Peter's defense, if you get to write your story in the Bible, but everything.

Heather Drake 32:13

But I but the reason I bring that up, and thank you for saying that, the reason I bring that up is sometimes we see someone else and we say, Well, I don't know how they can believe this, or I don't know how they can include that, and we forget to ask them about the struggle. How did you get to that? How did you understand that? How did you work that out where you could go beyond the borders? And then he says, Now tell me why you sent for me. Which is, if we look, if we read Jesus' teaching, he's learning a little bit from Jesus because every time someone asks Jesus for something, Jesus then says, What would you have me to do for you? Which is an important part of conversation. Peter didn't just come in seven guns ablaze and saying, This is how it's going to be. The conversation needs to be, now, how how can I answer questions that you have? How can I be a part of the help here? And Cornelius replied, Four days ago, I was praying in my house about the same time, three o'clock in the afternoon, and suddenly a man in dazzling clothes was standing in front of me. And he told me, Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been noticed by God. For anyone who is interested in having a conversation about why we practice radical generosity, this is an excellent place to read. Now, send messengers to Joppa and summon a man named Simon Peter. He is staying in the home of Simon, a tanner, and lives near the seashore. And so I sent for you at once, and it was good of you to come. It was. Here we see a softening between two opposing sides. Here we see a softening. It was good of you to get past all of the things that you had to get past to have this conversation. It was good of you to listen. And so we need to be reminded of that. Sometimes it's really hard for people to give up the way that they know things or the way they see things. And the Holy Spirit is offering to change the way we see things. It was good of you to come. So now we're all here waiting before God to hear the message the Lord has given you. And then Peter replied, I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism. That's a beautiful word for us. There is no special deal. We are all loved by God. Everyone, every place. In some of the translations from the Greek, it says, actually, this I now see that there is no hierarchy. That there is no above, that we are all the same, every single person with dignity and belonging. And Peter says, I now see that very clearly. In every nation, he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of the good news for the people of Israel, that there is peace with God through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. The good news is a gospel of inclusion. The good news is that every person is welcomed through Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, and this invitation into more. And you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee, after John began preaching his message of baptism. And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. And Jesus went around doing good. I want to tell you, when you are full of the Holy Spirit, you will be a person who does good. You will not be a person who just proclaims rules, and you will not be a person who's just super weird. I just want to say that right now. You'll be a little weird, but not super weird. And a little weird because you're going to see things differently. I can see how everyone is family, I can see how everyone is one in what Jesus is saying. Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we apostles were witnesses of all he did throughout Judea and Jerusalem, and they put him to death by hanging him on a cross. But God raised him to life on the third day, and God allowed him to appear, not to the general public, but to us whom God had chosen in advance to be the witnesses. We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead, and he ordered us to preach everywhere and to testify that Jesus is the one appointed by God to be the judge of all, the living and the dead. This is an important doctrine, beloved. Jesus is the one who is appointed to judge. Not you, not me, not anyone else. Jesus is appointed, and God appointed Jesus. It is not your business to judge anyone, it's not my business to judge anyone. It is our business to share the good news that Jesus is the way, that there is a way that is life-giving, that is inclusive, that is loving. He orders us to preach everywhere. This is disappointing for people who were confident that their role was to be the judge. Now they're out of a job. All the judges are now have to figure out what to do. And this is an invitation that Jesus is the judge. I remind you, when a woman was brought before Jesus, you know how the story goes, right? The religious leader brings this woman before Jesus and says, She has broken the rules. That's one way of looking at it, beloved. She didn't break the rules all by herself. There was a man who was not included in this accusation. There was a man who was included, but not in the after effects. The woman is brought to Jesus and Jesus says, I don't condemn you. The judge of all. The judge of all says, You are not condemned. The same is true for you, beloved, and for me. Our sins forgiven. Every time we practice this communion, every time we rehearse this, we remember we are loved. We are filled with God's own love. According to Romans chapter 5, in our heart, the Holy Spirit, and that there is nothing that separates us from the love of God.

Practicing Generosity Beyond Our People

Dennis Drake 38:25

You know, I'd ask you what is a practical takeaway from this message today for you, you know, and and and for me, it's it's really important that I recognize that it's good that I become loving. It's good that I become generous. You know, it's good that you would become more loving and generous. And we tend to only be generous and loving with the people we love and the people we feel responsible for. So it's nice in religion to hedge up and get that group as small as possible. So I can do the most I can with as little as possible, you know? And so this idea that I really expand that, it one of my favorite exercises to do is when I come home and there's boys or men at the table now that I don't know playing games with the men that I do know, which are my sons. I like to go over there and I try to every single time. I say, Are you boys hungry? Because it's impossible to come upon a 20 or 30-some-year-old man without them being hungry at some level. Well, I just had a smorgasbord dinner, but yeah, I could eat. Uh and I'd love to order pizza for them or do something, you know? And and I think to myself, you know, uh really my responsibility I could sell myself on. Really, I just gotta make sure I feed my kids. Somebody else's because there's them and there's us. But what a great experiment with all. Just take care of all that we can, everyone that was at my table. Was there too many for me to help? No. I could definitely feed them, you know? And that you begin to let love and generosity expand you. You know, that's what we're talking about. We're not saying Katie Barr the door throw out every rule you've ever had or any teaching or whatever. But if you have a teaching that excludes and causes you to really think in the us, them, we're really outside of God. God is non-dualistic. And we're very um, you know, concerned with us and ours. What is mine? What is yours? I'm gonna take care of mine or what, and really understand it's all God's. Amen. And whatever I have is God's resource. And so can I learn how to turn loose of it a little pizza party at a time? You know, a little experience at that. And so that would be the practicality that I'd ask that you consider taking away from what Heather and I are saying, among other things, uh, you know, but this is just something important for me to have you consider that um maybe we don't fully understand what it is to uh live out of that oneness. And and when it comes to sharing love, for me, the greatest practice has been driving. Because I I gotta tell you, somehow I feel like the idiots of the world are always in front of me.

Heather Drake 41:44

Beloved children of God, also driving and doing important things.

Dennis Drake 41:47

Right? Or can we learn to to love that brother, not an idiot. There's someone else who has somewhere to go. And I'm telling you, it is a beautiful, it's a can of worms. If you want to open it up, it's a you know, uh Pandora's box there, but it's such a good thing to stop being us and them, and and and there's there that I love that person, so now I can let them go in front of me without resentment. I can actually have a good day. Not based on whether someone offended me in traffic, because I make a choice to love. It's transformative, church. Generosity, loving. You will not exhaust the love of God. You will not turn up empty if you'll look in these areas and consider surrender to God in them.

Heather Drake 42:38

He is the one whom all the prophets testified about, saying that everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name. And even as Peter is saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message. Again, this is what I love too. The Holy Spirit, just all loosey-goosey, just the spirit for everyone, even before the message is finished, before they made a decision, before they said, Yes, that is what I choose. The Holy Spirit just fell upon them. And the Jewish leaders who came with Peter were amazed. Peter's crew, the ones who didn't know how much he was struggling, the ones who didn't see the vision that he saw, the one who saw this, his people who also knew who what the leaders were gonna say. They were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too, for they had heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God. And then Peter asked, Can anyone object to their being baptized now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did? Because here's the truth of it they all could have objected because none of those rules were made, none of the rules worked. So everyone could have said, You can't be baptized, you can't be in with us because you haven't done the things. And Peter says to them, Listen, I think we get to baptize them because the Holy Spirit came on them, and the Holy Spirit. Spirit made clean what we have called unclean. The Holy Spirit said, This is pure. What we have determined is unpure. The Holy Spirit came and now they have received it just as we did. An appointment here is for us to look at this just as we did. We did not earn the Holy Spirit. None of us did. Not one of us did enough so that we could receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit always has been a gift, the best gift from a God who loves to give. Can anyone object to their being baptized now that they've received the Holy Spirit just as we did?

Dennis Drake 44:37

And can the Holy Spirit be uh just contained by a denomination?

Heather Drake 44:43

No.

Dennis Drake 44:44

No, and and uh and we're non-denominational, but the truth is non-denominational is a denomination, as it turns out. And so it's it the Holy Spirit is for all. And what's interesting to me is if we're as a church, uh, and I'm talking about the Church of Jesus Christ, wrestling and fighting as denominations, and we can't even go, oh, we all are welcomed in our differences, then how are we going to welcome the world? Why has there not been a tremendous transformation in the earth and a revival? Because the people of God are busy fighting themselves and telling each other why we're not welcome in. So, how on earth will we have the time and energy to share with others so others look upon us as foolish because we can't even get it together? And so we see in these stories over and over God warning us not to do the things that we're doing right now. But we don't have to anymore. We can learn from this and we can make choices differently moving forward that cause the Church of Jesus Christ to be transformed in our lifetime. We can experience that. Amen.

Consent To Miracles And Openhearted Living

Heather Drake 46:02

I'm a person who wants miracles. I don't know if you've seen them, I want them, and as children of God, we are entitled to them because God said that we were. What is a miracle, beloved? Someone changing their mind is a miracle. Someone saying, I used to believe this way and I now believe another way. That's a miracle. There's other miracles that I'm believing for that I want you to believe for. That what Jesus prayed for, that God would make us one, may those things happen. So he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus. And afterward, Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days. They furthered the conversation. This wasn't a drive-by relationship. It was now stay and eat with us and teach us and let us learn to live in the Holy Spirit. I want us to think about the miracles, and I want us to think about all the things that God asked in this particular passage for us to do outside of the boundaries of religion, outside of the boundaries of how they were taught. And I want us to be encouraged by Mary, the mother of Jesus, who tells us and shows us how to engage the miracle. Now, this is really important. I'm pay attention to how you can engage the miracle. The same spirit that provides and allows over Mary for the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And this is what she did. Consent. Be it unto me according to your word. I don't know how this is gonna work, but you be the one who makes the and so when you are in a situation and prejudice would tell you that you cannot talk with that person or you cannot include them in this, uh, consent like Mary did. Be it unto me according to your word. May the Holy Spirit fall on all of us, may our bridges be just everywhere. May they enlarge not our walls, but the ways that we are able to bring people in to the table of Jesus Christ. This time of Pentecost is a time for us to open to the widening of the Holy Spirit, that our minds would be widened and opened, that we would expand in our way of understanding, that our hearts would be opened to all people and be able to say, This is the work of God. And I remind you, your sins are forgiven, beloved, just as their sins are forgiven. That what is uniting us is Christ, Jesus and Him crucified, and Him raised from the dead, and Him ascended back up into heaven. It is Jesus who shows us that there is a way to God, a path to God, and it is inclusion.

Dennis Drake 48:42

I want to talk just for a second about what Heather said about consent, because you know how that really works in a practical sense is uh that you you you butt up against an obstacle and then you recognize that you cannot get over this in and of yourself. But you're sure that the Holy Spirit could, that God is able, right? So what if you at that moment just consented, Holy Spirit? I surrender, have your way in this situation. If you want to do something amazing in this, I I'd tell you a neat experience that Heather and I had where uh they tore down seven acres of property next door to us. And and we watched all those trees be crumbled, and we couldn't do a thing about it. We didn't own the property. Trees that were been on this earth three times as long as I have were just taken away. And it was sad. I hate it too. And we stood there and we said, Lord, I don't know what we can do, but we consent to welcome the little animals that are being you know, denied a home. And the trees that are lost, let them grow up here somehow. But we didn't know that God would put us in contact with somebody within a month who would give us free trees. And we're putting trees up in our on our property all along that line. And and it's like to consent is really just to say, I'm open to a miracle. You know, I can't do it. But you know, Holy Spirit, I I I I don't I don't see how I can be nice to this person, but I consent to Holy Spirit, and I tell you that awareness, there's something so powerful to you being aware that you can't do something because then all of a sudden you're aware of your need for God, and God's going, I've been waiting for this opportunity, this opening. And so there's something to awareness and consent that you would surrender. And so I would actually actually look maybe at your obstacles differently. Instead of these terrible stumbling blocks that are set before you to ruin your life, maybe every one of them are opportunities of consent and surrender so that you can see God do something so amazing. I could not have thought how could we buy or do or have a transformation on our property so transformative. But God worked it out.

Heather Drake 51:27

And can I tell you that it wasn't a miracle where the trees just were there without any work? Turns out the trees were given, but we still have to dig the holes. And then we have to fill it them in, and then we have to water, and we have to.

Dennis Drake 51:38

I'm like Peter, I didn't talk about the worst part.

Heather Drake 51:39

Well, okay, we don't want to talk about the worst part. The beautiful part is it still takes effort, is what I'm saying. Sometimes we think your uh miracles means no effort on my part. It is, it is your effort, but empowered by the Holy Spirit. I mentioned earlier about a little list that I've been keeping about what is keeping me from the love of God, and the truth is nothing. The apostle says to us that there is nothing that will separate us from the love of God. It is also a lens that I am looking at everyone else through. That is nothing that they do that separates them from the love of God. There's nothing, any person that I look at that I view that is separate from the love of God. And so the invitation is not only to look at ourselves, but to look at others through this framework of saying everyone is dearly loved by God. And so, if I understand that they are dearly loved with God, how I respect them, how I honor them, how I offer them hospitality as they are, is what the miracle is for me. Is what the miracle is. And this is how the world changes. This is how collectively our consciousness changes when we say we will allow God's way of thinking to give up our way of thinking and change it for God's way.

Dennis Drake 52:50

And it does have to be a change because I uh change the way we think because we still departmentalize, well, these people are worth that kind of sacrifice, you know, and and just just even whether it's nature or a human being that we're that we're kind uh to our planet is is just the same. I I heard something this week and it absolutely blew my mind. There's these people it's a show you could watch, uh rewilding, but uh it's a documentary. But they they had turned over five miles of property to just be rewilded to see what would happen with nature, and and then all of a sudden these thistles grew up. And these thistles are poisonous over in England, and they ruin gar they ruin farms, and they're just unbelievable. And so they're they're coming up and they just filled these this these one year, these people's property. And so now this is dangering everything, the whole project and all this stuff. And then in this other country, all these like a crazy amount of butterflies were were uh hatched or whatever, how are they how are they come about?

Speaker 1 54:02

Migrated.

Dennis Drake 54:03

And and then all of a sudden they flew up in the air, and a Gulf Stream took them from that country across the water to England, and they landed over there, and those little butterflies love to eat thistles, and they ate up all the thistles, and the thistles didn't come back the next year, and the larva it fed off of and it and so they and now they have all these amazing butterflies in in in England that they never had before, and all the you know, it's and it's like do you think your stupid little problem is too complicated for God? I can't even tell you the story of what happened, it's so complicated, but it's incredible. How much more amazing is God than you realize? And and if we just cooperate, and our cooperation is just consent and kindness to everyone, that we would consider loving and be generous all the time. That's it. You don't get to sometimes be ticked and sometimes yell at people. You don't get to sometimes just let off some steam. We decide to be loving. We decide to be generous with whatever we have. And watch how God gets it uh uh He'll get it to you if He can get it through you. Watch how you'll continually have the thing, the resources that you need. There's something that we connect with God that is supernatural, and it'll cause the butterflies to blow through the Gulf Stream over and take. Now, did God resolve the problem with those butterflies? Or did God have the thistles come so that they'd have something to eat? Or does it all work out because God is amazing? You know, but we'll look at one of those things and it's a problem that's insurmountable. But his solution is beyond understanding. Amen. Oh, I want us to get on board with this. And what is our what's the price of admission?

Speaker 1 56:08

Consensus.

Speaker 56:10

Merely surrendering absolutely and completely everything.

Speaker 1 56:14

It seems easy enough. It just seems easy enough.

Speaker 56:17

It would be more complicated though if we had to pick and choose. Yes. So I'm grateful it's just everything.

Speaker 1 56:21

Just everything. Give it all up. Give it all up for the love that is bigger and big enough for every single person. I want to just ask us for a moment to um notice our own breath. We've heard a lot of things today, and I know some of it has resonated with you, and other things you're questioning, and that's okay. Consent to the Holy Spirit opening, consent to conversations, consent to curiosity. I would like to bless you before we go to the communion table and receive all of the blessing that the communion table offers us. Beloved ones, may the Holy Spirit that brooded over the waters of creation, who breathed life into dust, who arrived as wind and fire upon the waiting disciples. May that spirit open you. May the Spirit open your minds beyond what is familiar, beyond what is comfortable, beyond the borders that fear and certainty draw. May the Holy Spirit open your hearts to the widening love of God, a love that is deeper than doctrine, broader than tradition, and more generous than our understanding. May you remember the vision that is given to Peter when the heavens opened and the Spirit gave a new word. May you remember that what religion called separate, God called beloved, what rules excluded, the spirit embraced, what seemed impossible, grace welcomed. May the God of Acts 10 continue to work among us. May every closed gate within us become a doorway. May every hardened certainty become fertile soil. May every assumption that limits love be softened by the gentle fire of compassion. And may the Holy Spirit awaken in you curiosity, a willingness to listen, a courage to learn, and a humility to be transformed. May you live with open hands and an open table. And may you expect God to arrive through unfamiliar voices, through unexpected friendships and new understandings and sacred encounters that will expand your vision of what love can be. May the breath of God move through our thoughts, loosening our grip on prejudice, healing the wounds of division, and teaching us again the language of belonging. When love tempts you to close, may love invite you to open. And when judgment tempts you to separate, may Christ teach you to embrace. And when old stories tempt you to exclude, may the Spirit reveal the larger story that God is telling where all are welcomed, all are seen, and all are held within the boundless love of God. Beloved congregation, may you live open to wonder, open to transformation, open to each other, and open to the ever-expanding love of God. In the season of Pentecost, may the Holy Spirit, the holy fire of God not consume you but illuminate you. May the wind of God not unsettle you but awaken you. And may the Spirit of the Living Christ open you again and again to the sacred truth that love is always bigger than we imagined. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon. If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.