1 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,640 So our teaching scripture this morning is very short. 2 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:17,120 It is only one verse from Romans chapter 5, verse 5. 3 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:23,720 It says God's love has been poured into our hearts through 4 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,360 the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 5 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:33,960 This is the word of the Lord. Good morning. 6 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,200 How are you guys doing? All right. 7 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:40,120 It's great to be here with you this morning. 8 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,840 There are people who are taller than me, and that's better. 9 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:50,480 OK, That's too much. It's good to be here with you 10 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:52,480 this morning. If you are new with us, my name 11 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:54,280 is Jared. I'm one of the pastors here. 12 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:57,600 And we'd love to have an opportunity to meet, to meet 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,000 you. And you know, I'll. 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,320 I'll look for you. We're a small enough community 15 00:01:02,320 --> 00:01:06,160 that if you're new, I, I, I can tell and I'd love to meet you. 16 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:11,200 So, and it's OK, you can bowl out immediately and you don't 17 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:13,040 have to meet me. That's totally fine as well. 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,920 It's really, I love child dedication Sunday. 19 00:01:17,960 --> 00:01:23,200 You know, all of all of our kids were dedicated at a church. 20 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:25,280 Three of them were dedicated at this church. 21 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:31,000 And, you know, my kids are in college now and there's 22 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,400 something really beautiful about a community of people and even 23 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,640 just the way that that we all experience this. 24 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:39,520 I mean, you can, you can always count on a couple kids going a 25 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:41,480 little crazy during child dedication, right? 26 00:01:41,960 --> 00:01:43,960 Laying on the floor and grabbing for things. 27 00:01:43,960 --> 00:01:47,480 And it's like this prophetic sort of witness of a community 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,080 to be able to witness the realities of parenting. 29 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,440 Like it's just messy. And you know, those of you who 30 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,080 are parents know that. Those of you who have parents, 31 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:02,280 you know that parenting is just really messy. 32 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:04,680 And it's really beautiful to have a community of people 33 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:06,960 around you to bear witness to the mess and to help. 34 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,360 And I just got to say that this church has been a place where we 35 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,600 have felt so supported in raising our kids. 36 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,760 And so I'm really grateful for so long ago, you know, 37 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:22,600 dedicating kids, you know, 20 some years ago. 38 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:32,480 So anyway, hello beautiful. This is the the title of a novel 39 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,440 that my friend Tyler sent to me a couple of months ago. 40 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:40,600 Because it's a story inspired by contemporary family that is 41 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:45,200 inspired a little bit by Louise May Elcot's book A Little Woman. 42 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,440 How many of you have read? How many of you wish you have 43 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:51,200 read Little Women because you keep hearing about it. 44 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,120 And as a family with four girls, one of whom is named Josephine 45 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:58,480 after one of the main characters in the story, let's just say 46 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:03,320 that we have a thing or two to say about Little Women. 47 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,800 And Hello Beautiful is primarily about about love. 48 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,800 It's about love. And because I think this is a 49 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,360 book that you should probably just go ahead and read, I'm 50 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,080 going to give you the no spoilers version of the book. 51 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:22,160 It's a story that follows a boy named William Waters. 52 00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,480 He's a young man who grows up in a home devoid of love because of 53 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,960 a family tragedy. And so basketball becomes his 54 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,320 lifeline, giving him structure and a sense of purpose. 55 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,680 And when he gets to college, he meets Julia Potavano. 56 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:41,280 And she is an ambitious and fiercely devoted young woman 57 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,880 with dreams of building a future of purpose and family. 58 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:50,240 And Julia has three sisters, Sylvie and Cecilia and Emmeline. 59 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,280 And the Potavano household is is vibrant and chaotic and full of 60 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,360 affection, which is the complete opposite of William's 61 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,000 upbringing. You guys ever like recognize 62 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,120 that like there are families that lived differently than your 63 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:09,440 family did. That can be a bit awkward. 64 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,680 But as William becomes entwined with the Potavano sisters, long 65 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,279 buried emotional wounds begin to surface. 66 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:22,440 Things get a little messy and chaotic and uncertain as some of 67 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:25,400 William's mental health struggles begin to surface. 68 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,960 And over time we get a story of what it looks like for someone 69 00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:34,240 who was nearly empty of love become surrounded by people who 70 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:42,850 learn how to love him. Here we go. 71 00:04:44,050 --> 00:04:48,440 Wrong button. I don't know, surrounding him 72 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,800 and learning how to love him and filling him up so that he too 73 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:54,600 eventually has some love to give away. 74 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,000 And listen, life still happens. Of course the story is not a 75 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,000 rose colored like, you know, ROM com. 76 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,720 It's just not that. But what it is, is a story about 77 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:08,680 what it looks like for people to surround one person and who is 78 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,880 in the midst of chaos and emptiness and uncertainty of 79 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,520 life and learning how to love that person and that person 80 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,960 learning how to receive love. So read the book. 81 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:21,960 I'll come back to it. OK. 82 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,880 Our teaching text this morning is a really short 1. 83 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,640 Romans chapter 5, verse 5 says God's love has been poured out 84 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:35,200 into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 85 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:39,240 And I'm going to lead with this primary image that the apostle 86 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,520 Paul has given us in this letter to the church at Rome. 87 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,680 And the image that God gives us, and I want you to sort of 88 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,320 imagine this in your mind, is the image of the person of the 89 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,760 Holy Spirit pouring out the love of God into our hearts. 90 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,960 This is where we're going to begin and then we're going to 91 00:05:56,960 --> 00:06:00,520 move around a little bit and briefly meet the person of the 92 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:03,080 Holy Spirit in a couple of different contexts because it's 93 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,560 really hard to know a person from just one place or context. 94 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:11,160 Like I have this friend who's probably one of the smartest 95 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,720 people I've ever met in my life, you know, undergrad at Harvard, 96 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:19,640 PhD at MIT, and he's sort of just pretty buttoned up and, and 97 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:24,000 like, speaks incredibly eloquently and just super 98 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:28,360 successful guy in the world. And, and so my, my image of this 99 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:31,920 person has basically been shaped by sort of knowing that about 100 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:33,840 him and interacting with him in different ways. 101 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,080 And then we were all in New York City together and somebody had 102 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:41,480 the idea that we should go to a Korean karaoke bar. 103 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,160 And this guy became an entirely different person. 104 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:48,800 Like, I don't know what you're like at a karaoke establishment, 105 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,080 but you get me around karaoke. And I literally just sort of 106 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,840 like, do the Bart Simpson, you know, I, I, I don't want 107 00:06:54,840 --> 00:07:01,000 anything to do with karaoke. I, I, I might be able to do one 108 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:03,800 song and everyone will be embarrassed on my behalf, but 109 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:05,800 this guy, man, he was incredible. 110 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:08,960 And for hours and hours and hours, he's like, let's go, 111 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:14,000 let's go, let's go. So you know, you, you got to see 112 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:16,520 your people in multiple contexts in order to get a full picture 113 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:19,280 of them. And the same is true with the 114 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,560 Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. 115 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:25,560 And the scriptures give us these pictures and metaphors of the 116 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,440 kind of activity that the Holy Spirit is doing in the world. 117 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,360 And the three things that we're going to look at today are 118 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:38,840 pouring, hovering and sealing. So first up is going to be 119 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:41,480 pouring. We're in a series, a brief 120 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,160 series right now on the Holy Spirit. 121 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,640 And our friend Joel Seymour a few weeks ago opened it up by 122 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,720 reminding us that the Holy Spirit is a person, not just 123 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,480 like this inanimate power or force. 124 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:58,160 It's not Star Wars, OK? The Holy Spirit is a person that 125 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:02,920 Jesus left behind in order to be with us so that we can 126 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,640 experience the fullness of the presence of God at all times. 127 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,360 And then last week, Tori talked with us about the work that was 128 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,840 set apart and empowered by the Spirit for Craftsman and artists 129 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:19,240 to bring all of their skill and their knowledge for the carving 130 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,600 of wood and the weaving of fabrics in order to make the 131 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,520 place of worship for the people of Israel who were roaming 132 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,360 through the desert and, and they needed a place to worship in a 133 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,160 Tabernacle. And so the Holy Spirit gave them 134 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,880 gifts and empowered those gifts and put their hands to work, 135 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:38,880 enabling something to be built so that these people had a place 136 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,520 to worship. And the challenge that she gave 137 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:45,400 us last week was to not forget that all the work that we're 138 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,440 engaged in, the emails and the conversations and the lesson 139 00:08:49,440 --> 00:08:52,760 plans and the project planning and the painting and whatever it 140 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,440 is that you do, all of it has the capacity to be something 141 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,240 that we partner with the Holy Spirit in as we use our gifts, 142 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:05,840 empowered by the Spirit, to partner with God in the world. 143 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:08,320 It's really good. There's a sense in which, 144 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:14,040 friends, we have to receive the gift that God has given us to 145 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:17,280 move out into the world with energy in life. 146 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,640 And so we began thinking and talking about the person of the 147 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,120 Spirit empowering us for the work out there in the world. 148 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,840 And Parker is going to lead us along that same theme again next 149 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:32,040 week. What is it like for the Spirit 150 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,040 to empower the work out in the world? 151 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:39,280 That there are contours of our life and context that we have 152 00:09:39,280 --> 00:09:42,320 work to do and we need a little bit of help in order to do that. 153 00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:49,520 But this morning I want to focus in on what the Holy Spirit is 154 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:54,920 doing in you and around you and for you. 155 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:03,720 So the first image is this image of the Holy Spirit pouring the 156 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:09,600 love of God into our hearts. God's love has been poured into 157 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:13,280 our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, 158 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,520 says Paul in Romans, his letter to the Romans. 159 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,800 So let me just like ask you a little question. 160 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,720 If we had the capacity to to sort of open up your heart like 161 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:30,680 the top of a tin can, like what do you think it is that we would 162 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:36,440 see right now? Like if you just had the name, 163 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,560 sort of the particular flavor of the mix of things going on in 164 00:10:41,560 --> 00:10:44,760 your heart right now, how would you like, how would you name 165 00:10:44,760 --> 00:10:51,200 that this season or maybe this week or maybe just today? 166 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:54,960 Like what would you call it? And I'm not asking, I'm not 167 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:58,840 asking this in any way that is meant to kind of throw shade at 168 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,120 whatever it is that's going on inside of you or even put you 169 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:03,240 back on your heels. Like I can imagine that there's 170 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:08,520 a vast array of things that we might have sort of blended up in 171 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,720 in a blender, like a smoothie going on inside of our heart. 172 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:13,600 Does that make sense? I had a smoothie yesterday when 173 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,640 I was writing some of this. So that's there you go. 174 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:20,520 That's what it is. There's probably some fear and 175 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:24,040 anxiety and hope and excitement, maybe even some grief and 176 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,000 sadness. It's all mixed up in there, 177 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,640 isn't it? You know, more than 50% of 178 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:35,200 people prior to COVID indicated that there is a fair bit of 179 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:39,160 loneliness at work in the everyday of their lives that 180 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:44,400 just sort of sits there. And on the other side of COVID, 181 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:50,120 that number has actually skyrocketed such that, you know, 182 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:54,280 even medically they're calling loneliness like an epidemic. 183 00:11:54,840 --> 00:12:00,160 Like we are living society societally through an epidemic 184 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:03,040 of loneliness. Guys, people are lonely. 185 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:06,760 And so if you have some loneliness in your smoothie mix 186 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,640 inside of your heart, like it's OK, you're not alone. 187 00:12:09,640 --> 00:12:14,360 There is something happening, broadly speaking, in Western 188 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:19,960 culture, in American culture that has us feeling all kinds of 189 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,640 things. And so if you're most people, 190 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:26,760 you have probably a little bit of a challenge naming the 191 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,720 specific cocktail of emotion that makes up what is going on 192 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:32,080 in your human heart at any given moment. 193 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:41,480 We have one of these pillows sitting on our couch that helps 194 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:44,320 us out a little bit. You guys are like, that's 195 00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:46,040 brilliant. You can get it for 1299 at 196 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:48,400 Amazon. Not right now. 197 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:50,960 You can. You can wait like till after 198 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:53,280 church. But seriously, like this could 199 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,320 be on your couch tomorrow morning if you're an Amazon 200 00:12:56,320 --> 00:13:00,680 Prime member. And I want you to look if you 201 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:02,200 can see it. I tried to get a big enough 202 00:13:02,200 --> 00:13:04,000 picture. Do you see the centre of that 203 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:09,920 pillow and notice what is absent at the centre of that pillow? 204 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,320 Love. Love is absent at the center of 205 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:21,960 that pillow. This is sort of a tool that is 206 00:13:21,960 --> 00:13:25,520 to help us get in touch with and name what it is that is at work 207 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,440 inside of us. And love is at is completely 208 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:32,120 absent there. Never in a million years did I 209 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:34,800 imagine that I would have a theological squabble with a 210 00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:38,800 pillow. But as I look at is what is at 211 00:13:38,800 --> 00:13:42,520 the center in the core, these six primary emotions of fear, 212 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:48,000 anger, disgust, sadness, happiness, and surprise. 213 00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:52,520 And I set this up next to the Apostle Paul's description of 214 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,680 what it is that the person of the Holy Spirit is doing and has 215 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:58,560 done. And this fact of God's love as 216 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:01,000 being one of the primary theological points that the 217 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,920 apostle Paul is making in his letter to the church at Rome. 218 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:07,720 I can't help but see a picture that feels a bit confusing to 219 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,080 me. The only mention of love is 220 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,080 sitting somewhere down near the bottom of the outside of the 221 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:20,760 circle just before 6:00 PM. Second picture loving. 222 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,800 Now this particular pillow is pulling from a psychological 223 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,520 model of emotion developed by psychologists like Paul Ekman 224 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:32,560 and Robert Pluchik, whose work has identified what they call 225 00:14:32,680 --> 00:14:36,600 the primary emotions. The six that sit at the center 226 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:41,040 of this pillow are Paul Ekman's description and his 227 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,080 psychological work. Robert Pluchik would add joy and 228 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,240 anticipation to these six to make it 8. 229 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:49,520 But what they both agree upon is that these emotions are 230 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,800 considered universal across cultures. 231 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,960 They're they're biologically hardwired and they they're 232 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:59,160 expressed similarly in facial expressions and physiological 233 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,560 responses across different cultures. 234 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:04,680 It's not that other emotions don't exist. 235 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:07,880 I mean, clearly from the look of that pillow, I mean, some of you 236 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,200 are like, there's that many feelings. 237 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,560 Really. There is actually, and this this 238 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:14,920 pillow is actually really helpful. 239 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,360 So it's not that there are are other emotions that don't exist. 240 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:21,880 It's just that these six are like the primary colours of our 241 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:26,440 emotional wheel. They're basic emotions that 242 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,320 nearly everyone in the world can feel and express. 243 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:33,080 And the reason that love doesn't sit at the centre of this pillow 244 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:39,840 is because love is considered a complex emotion, particularly 245 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,520 because it involves multiple emotional components, relational 246 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,000 context, and different layers of meaning. 247 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,920 Does this make sense? Do you guys feel complexity 248 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:54,800 around love a little bit? So primary emotions like fear or 249 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,320 anger tend to arise suddenly. Like, like if you ever noticed 250 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,160 that, like you can get angry real quick or you can become 251 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,120 afraid real quick. You're out in the garden, you're 252 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:06,440 like minding your own business. You're pulling the weeds, you're 253 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,200 planting some zinnias and this little garden snake comes across 254 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:13,080 your path. And it's just like right now 255 00:16:13,080 --> 00:16:16,120 listen, it's not snakes for me. It's definitely dogs for me. 256 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,600 Like I am terrified of dogs. And you're like, don't you have 257 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,000 a dog? And I'm like, yes, I do have a 258 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,560 dog. It's pretty complex 259 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:28,360 relationship, but I have a lot of like dog trauma and so it's 260 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,120 been like a whole thing for me to try to actually like have a 261 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:33,720 dog and like we're becoming buddies a little bit. 262 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:38,080 I don't know, it's complex. So these emotions can come 263 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,680 quickly and they sort of function universally. 264 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:45,440 They're hardwired into the human psyche almost like a biological 265 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:47,360 response. That's why when most people see 266 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,200 a snake, there's this immediate sort of biological response 267 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,640 because these kinds of of, of, of core emotions, they sit at 268 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:58,320 the center and, and that the colors that we primarily paint 269 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:05,920 with. But love, love develops over 270 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,800 time. I mean, even if you believe in 271 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,839 love at first sight, it's actually not love that you're 272 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:13,560 feeling. It's all kinds of other things, 273 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,760 but but love takes quite a bit of time. 274 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,240 It is something else entirely. Love deepens over time through 275 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,800 experience and intention and relationship. 276 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,960 And so psychologically, love is typically seen as as as a 277 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:32,720 composite emotion involving joy and trust and attachment and 278 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,440 desire. And it's deeply, deeply 279 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,920 relational. Here's the thing about love 280 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:43,880 that's going to sound obvious. You cannot love alone. 281 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,280 It's impossible to love by yourself. 282 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,840 And love is also shaped by context and history and 283 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,040 commitment. And there's actually a lot of 284 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,200 complexity that goes into it. So like what we refer to when 285 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:03,720 we're trying to use the word love. 286 00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:07,400 So when I ask you to pop open the top of your heart and peer 287 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:11,800 into it and try to figure out what is it that is going on 288 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:13,600 inside of you. You probably had a greater 289 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,440 degree of access to the primary emotions of anger and grief and 290 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:19,760 sadness and maybe some anticipation or hope. 291 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,200 Because biologically these things sit at the surface and 292 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,640 and they're things that can pop up really quickly. 293 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:31,040 Whereas love is multi dimensional, one that varies 294 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,000 across time and relationships. And so like, you know, the way 295 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:39,720 that I, the way that I love John or, or the way that I love Katie 296 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,320 is, is quite different than the way that I love Sadie because 297 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,560 she's my daughter. Or the way that I love my wife 298 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:49,200 Jamie now 1/4 century into our relationship is really different 299 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:51,240 than the way that I loved her in year 3. 300 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,680 This makes sense. Do you see how complex this is, 301 00:18:54,800 --> 00:19:00,720 friends? Love is complex because love is 302 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:05,400 relational, and so while love does not sit at the center of 303 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,080 the psychological model of what it is that's probably going on 304 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:12,640 inside of our heart, it is at the very center of the 305 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,920 theological model of what is going on in our entire lives. 306 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:22,840 The only thing that sits at the center of your life with God is 307 00:19:22,840 --> 00:19:29,480 whether or not you are receiving the love of God and experiencing 308 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:33,360 it. And that's a complex 309 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:35,360 relationship, isn't it? How many of you know that that's 310 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:39,720 a complex relationship? But this is a really important 311 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:44,000 thing for us to know that God's love has been poured out into 312 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:47,080 our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 313 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:52,600 So the very complex thing that love is and the thing that the 314 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,600 in the world that we most long for and the thing that is often 315 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,680 most difficult for us to name at the center of our heart. 316 00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:04,520 Love is the thing that is being poured out into our hearts in an 317 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,440 infinite measure, cascading like a waterfall. 318 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,000 Isn't that just so beautiful that the thing that is like most 319 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,360 complex is the thing that the Holy Spirit has been given a job 320 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:20,600 to to make sure that? We are getting dose after dose 321 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:26,840 after dose of that. So how can we have love be the 322 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:31,720 primary emotion or affection that sort of fills up our heart? 323 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,960 How do we how do we become a little bit more attuned to it? 324 00:20:36,320 --> 00:20:39,960 Well, the only way to do that is relationship. 325 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,600 This one verse that we're looking at so far comes in the 326 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,360 middle of a beautiful articulation by Paul to the 327 00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,880 churches in Rome where Paul is trying to tell the story of the 328 00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:58,000 human condition with all its complexities in this love 329 00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,800 relationship with God. There's there's this reality 330 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:03,400 that the Apostle Paul was trying to bring these people into that 331 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:08,440 puts at the center of the human experience, the human desire to 332 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:15,360 be filled up with something. So Saint Augustine named this as 333 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:20,400 a kind of restlessness that is at work inside of our hearts. 334 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,560 You guys ever had a season where it just, you just feel like 335 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:31,960 unbearably restless and anybody like, OK, like, just like this 336 00:21:31,960 --> 00:21:35,240 restlessness in your heart, like I'm just trying to fill my life 337 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,240 and my heart with something. Because our hearts are made to 338 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,120 be filled. And we look for that filling and 339 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:47,240 excitement or satisfaction of of sort of getting things right or 340 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,800 being well regarded by others or that sense of security that 341 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,960 comes with having accumulated enough stuff. 342 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,960 And it's like, OK, like I, I have filled my bank account and 343 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:03,360 now my heart feels at rest. And Paul spends a few chapters 344 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,080 in Romans, actually, the few chapters right before this verse 345 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:12,040 describing some of the ways that the humans have historically 346 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:17,240 tried to fill up our hearts with things like, you know, the basic 347 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:23,160 three are money, sex and power. And all of those are relational 348 00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:26,280 kinds of things, aren't they? We're we're trying to get our 349 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,120 hearts filled up with these kinds of things because this 350 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:32,880 whole project and love affair with God is relationship is 351 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,120 relational. And because of that, His love is 352 00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:40,160 not coercive. Hang with me here. 353 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,840 God is pouring out infinite love all the time. 354 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:49,160 All the time. But God is not coercive. 355 00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:54,480 And so God is not going to force God's own love upon you. 356 00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:01,520 Which is why humans end up in quite a bit of a predicament. 357 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,720 The first few chapters of Paul's letter to the Romans, he is 358 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,360 setting out the whole history of God's relationship with the 359 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:10,760 human. He's talking about God's 360 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,160 affection for his people in the various contexts where God was 361 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,240 trying to to love and the promises that he was making to 362 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,160 the people and the people breaking all of those promises. 363 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:24,160 And he begins to highlight some of the people in the the the 364 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,360 story of the Scriptures who begin to understand and get the 365 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:32,520 fact that this relationship and the thing that we're looking for 366 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,040 to fill up in our heart, the thing that we're longing for, is 367 00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:40,280 built on trust and attachment and security and commitment, all 368 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,080 of which the ingredients of love. 369 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:47,800 The whole story, says Paul, is this giant cosmic act of God 370 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,160 pouring out his love into the world. 371 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,720 And the whole of that story is that the the story of this whole 372 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:58,080 cosmic reality is a relational story, and God is doing 373 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,080 everything God can do. I'm highlighting, I'm 374 00:24:01,080 --> 00:24:03,280 underscoreting, I'm repeating myself right now. 375 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,520 God is doing absolutely everything he can do to get your 376 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:13,440 attention, to help you understand that you are loved, 377 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:16,960 that God loves you, infinite, infinite love. 378 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,680 That's the story. And that that story has been 379 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:25,360 handed to the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is pouring every 380 00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,880 ounce of infinite love into our hearts through that story and 381 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,280 the unfolding story that is your life. 382 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,680 And in the very next verse, Paul writes that the demonstration of 383 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,760 that love towards us is that even while we have rejected the 384 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:47,000 relationship that God has put on offer time and time again, God 385 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:52,400 gave up his very own life by pulling it out into the world. 386 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,640 He says that why we will, why we were still weak at the right 387 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,440 time. Christ died for the ungodly. 388 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,880 So what he's saying is that when we were still without strength 389 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,880 to sort out our hearts and to stop seeking to fill our hearts 390 00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:11,560 with all of these other stories, when we just absolutely had no 391 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:16,960 capacity to reciprocate love back to God or even receive 392 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,240 God's love, God poured his life into the world. 393 00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:25,920 This is how the apostle Paul describes this in another 394 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,080 letter. He says that God emptied 395 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:30,480 himself, emptied himself out into the world. 396 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,880 It's this picture of this giant pitcher of water being poured 397 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:40,200 out. The Holy Spirit is pouring out 398 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,000 the love of God into your hearts. 399 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:49,120 Last night I was drinking my smoothie and finishing up a 400 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:53,680 little bit of this teaching when I got interrupted by a bit of 401 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,760 the news that the United States military struck 3 targeted areas 402 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,440 in Iran. Now, friends, I don't have much 403 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:08,480 to say about any of that other than to under score what it 404 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,880 feels like right now. I don't know what it feels like 405 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:17,200 for you, but it feels a bit chaotic to me in the world right 406 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,000 now. I don't have any thoughts at the 407 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:24,320 moment about the geopolitics or about what this means for you or 408 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:26,520 I or the people that we love or our future. 409 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,920 But pastorally, I, I just felt like I have to say something, 410 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:36,600 right? And I actually don't know what 411 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:42,400 to say other than it. If it feels a little chaotic, 412 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,680 that's probably pretty normal to be feeling that right now. 413 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:50,960 Part of what is likely at work in you is a fair bit of chaos. 414 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,400 And what I know about the the geopolitical situation right now 415 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:59,960 is that is that there are humans involved making decisions, and 416 00:26:59,960 --> 00:27:05,920 humans are really good at chaos. And in the opening lines of the 417 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:09,920 Scriptures, we read this in the beginning, God created the 418 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,840 heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and desolate, 419 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:15,920 and darkness was over the surface of the deep. 420 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,360 And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the 421 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:23,160 waters. So in the ancient world in which 422 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,240 this was written, the most terrifying thing that existed 423 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,440 was the ocean. So like most scholars conclude 424 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,720 that the text of Genesis was written, you know, in the second 425 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,800 millennial BC, and the seafaring capabilities during that time 426 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,240 were quite limited. You're like rowing in a boat, 427 00:27:41,120 --> 00:27:45,480 you know, in like 2000 BC. And so you'd have maybe some 428 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:48,600 seasonal ability to sort of navigate the open waters, but 429 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,200 you would never really go too much far outside of what you can 430 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,800 see land. And so in their imagination, the 431 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,160 most terrifying thing that existed in the world was the 432 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:00,520 ocean, particularly at night time. 433 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,720 It's the experience of the unknown and the outer edge of 434 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,680 the waters of the sea. They come pretty quick. 435 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,560 They, they, they, they come pretty close to summing up what 436 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:15,440 it was like to fear, to feel some chaos and some feel some 437 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:16,960 fear. And so if you're, if you're 438 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,360 writing a poem, which is what the beginning of Genesis is, and 439 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:25,480 you're trying to tell a story about the God of love bringing 440 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:29,880 life into creation, you're going to set that story against the 441 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,520 backdrop of the chaos of the surface of the sea. 442 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,400 Does that make sense? Like, I don't know how we would 443 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:40,800 do that if we were trying to tell a similar story. 444 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:47,080 We would probably start talking about like nuclear war and all 445 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:51,680 that kind of stuff. In the beginning, God created 446 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,320 the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and 447 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,600 desolate and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the 448 00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:01,840 Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 449 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:07,080 And this brings us to the work of the Spirit as hovering. 450 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:15,240 The picture that this story is painting is the image of the 451 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:19,040 Spirit of God, the the force of God's presence, the wind of 452 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,240 God's breath, who we later meet throughout the Scriptures as the 453 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,720 presence of God, who we eventually come to know as the 454 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,040 Holy Spirit poured out on the disciples at Pentecost. 455 00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:34,880 The Spirit at the very beginning of creation, the poem says, is 456 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,680 moving over the chaos of the desolate and dark places that 457 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,800 hold all of the fears. This is how the story begins. 458 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,200 Later translations of of this Genesis text, particularly in 459 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,080 Aramaic, would show up in the ancient world. 460 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,440 They, they give us this image, this picture of the, the 461 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:01,160 hovering spirit like a, like a bird flying over water or, or 462 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:06,080 brooding over her nest. The Spirit of God is hovering 463 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:09,880 over the waters like a bird flying just above the surface of 464 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:13,520 the darkness and of the chaos. And if the Spirit of God is 465 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,840 hovering over all of the chaos of the world from the very 466 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,680 beginning, how much more is he hovering over whatever chaos you 467 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:26,800 are presently facing? Just imagine like, like take a 468 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,680 moment with your imagination and think about some of the chaos 469 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:36,480 that you might be feeling right now, whether that is just like 470 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:39,960 happening inside of you or inside of your home, inside the 471 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,200 story of your life, or whether it's related to geopolitical 472 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:47,200 events. There is so much chaos and what 473 00:30:47,200 --> 00:30:52,200 the Scripture tells us is that the Holy Spirit is brooding 474 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:59,240 right next to you, waiting for new life to emerge in the midst 475 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:06,680 of all of that chaos. So we have pouring, we have 476 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,760 hovering. And last I'm going to close with 477 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,080 sealing. Sealing. 478 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,360 The same Paul who wrote the letter to the church in Rome 479 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:22,040 writes this in his letter to the churches in the ancient city of 480 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,240 Ephesus. He says this. 481 00:31:23,240 --> 00:31:28,360 He says in Him, you also, when you had heard the word of truth, 482 00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,720 the gospel of your salvation and had believed in him, were marked 483 00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,840 with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. 484 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:41,120 So friends, there is far more that I would want to say about 485 00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,760 this than I have time to say, but I wanted to give you one 486 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:46,920 last image to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. 487 00:31:47,480 --> 00:31:52,160 And it's this image of the kind of seal that would be placed on 488 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,720 the outside of a letter like a wax seal with an imprint on top 489 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,040 of it. And in the ancient world, the 490 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:04,640 seal functioned as a, as a powerful symbol of identity and 491 00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:08,080 authority and security. It it was the way that the 492 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:12,080 sender of the letter communicated to the receiver of 493 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,680 the letter that the stuff that I have written on the inside, it 494 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:18,360 is from me. It is addressed to you. 495 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,640 And as long as this seal isn't broken, you can trust that 496 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,680 nothing on the inside has been has been tampered with. 497 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,200 Does that make sense? It really functioned as like a 498 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,680 like a security measure. It authenticates the sender and 499 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:37,120 the recipient could trust that the message kind of made it from 500 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,760 the origin to them. And so Paul is using this 501 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:45,040 metaphor and he says to be sealed with the promised Holy 502 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,840 Spirit means that you now bear God's imprint, and the infinite 503 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,720 love of God being poured out into your heart along with the 504 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,360 hovering presence of the Spirit around you is now protected and 505 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,840 sealed. The Holy Spirit is the one that 506 00:33:01,880 --> 00:33:06,840 authenticates the letter that God is writing inside of you. 507 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:12,520 Does this make sense? You do not need to be afraid 508 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:17,480 that the thing that God is doing inside of you is going to get 509 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:25,120 tampered with or snatched away. Whatever message that God is 510 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:29,640 trying to sort of send to you and, and seal up in you the work 511 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,000 that God is doing in you is secure. 512 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,480 You can trust it. It's been sealed by the Spirit. 513 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,880 This is the work of the Spirit, friends. 514 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,920 It's the work of of pouring out the love of God in your heart, 515 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,080 hovering over the chaos within you and around you, ready to 516 00:33:49,080 --> 00:33:53,440 sing new creation into existence with whatever chaos is happening 517 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,920 inside of you and sealing in you what is real. 518 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,400 Authenticating all of the things that He is doing in you and in 519 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,760 me and sort of protecting all of it happening. 520 00:34:07,680 --> 00:34:11,400 Like what a good job the Holy Spirit has, right? 521 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:14,719 Isn't that an incredible job description? 522 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,360 And here's the thing, like that's like the tip of the 523 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,719 iceberg. But here's some primary 524 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,480 metaphors that I want you to pray into over the course of the 525 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,159 couple of weeks that are ahead of you. 526 00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:31,159 Like, what is the way in which the Spirit of God is pouring out 527 00:34:31,159 --> 00:34:37,080 the love of God into your heart? And you know, you know, I don't 528 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,040 know about you, but like, I just want to say like spirit, like 529 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:44,840 hover everywhere. Can you just like hover, like 530 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,199 just this image of, of a mother bird? 531 00:34:47,199 --> 00:34:49,239 It's, it's actually helpful for me sometimes. 532 00:34:49,639 --> 00:34:52,960 You know, in a lot of the tradition, the Holy Spirit is 533 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:56,560 sort of this feminine mothering presence in the life of the 534 00:34:56,560 --> 00:34:59,000 believer. And so if you need that, that 535 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:02,320 image, you know, Jesus talks about, oh, how I wish I could 536 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:06,520 have been like a mother hen and, and gathered you up underneath 537 00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,920 me. It's that image of of the Spirit 538 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:12,920 of God sort of protecting and hovering and waiting to speak 539 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,320 new life and and man seal up everything you're doing inside 540 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,720 of me, Lord. So back to hello beautiful, 541 00:35:23,360 --> 00:35:27,680 which I really want you to read. If you can't afford to buy a 542 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:31,120 book right now. I mean, there's the library. 543 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:35,560 I will buy this book for you if you want to read it. 544 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,760 I've been trying to think about why I loved reading this book so 545 00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:41,840 much. And I think it's it's simply a 546 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,920 story about an empty heart that is filled with chaos and 547 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:50,200 insecurity, filled with love, where chaos is pushed aside and 548 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,640 new life is created. And you get the sense in the end 549 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,920 of the story that everything that unfolds, that whatever it 550 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,720 is that has happened because of what they have lived through and 551 00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:02,520 built together is going to be untouchable. 552 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:06,360 And I, as I reflect on the story, it's a story that is 553 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,480 filled with love. New life is created and it's 554 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:15,080 full of security. And I'm like, this is a familiar 555 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,920 story. Won't you stand with me? 556 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,960 The kids are going to be coming back in shortly. 557 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,720 The worship team is going to come back up and begin to lead 558 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:30,080 us into some worship. And as we do that, I just want 559 00:36:30,120 --> 00:36:34,000 to maybe offer a couple of suggestions. 560 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,800 Those of you that are part of our prayer team, can you begin 561 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:41,720 to make your way up to pray? What do you need today? 562 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:43,960 It's a question I want to ask you. 563 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,720 Do you need, do you need filled up with the Holy Spirit? 564 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:51,440 You guys know that that can happen both slowly, but it can 565 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:55,040 also happen where we invite the Spirit and the Spirit with power 566 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:59,280 can come and fill you up with His love, with the love and the 567 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:03,160 presence of God. Are you feeling a little chaos 568 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:06,320 in your life? We can pray that the Spirit 569 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:11,320 would would do something in your life to help you feel that that 570 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,360 chaos could birth new creation. And then the last thing is that, 571 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:19,320 yeah, I got a sense this morning early that there are some of you 572 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:23,160 that just even question your own place in God's family. 573 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:26,240 Like it's not, it doesn't feel like a sealed letter. 574 00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:29,480 It feels like a like a letter that somebody's been open and 575 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,680 you're just like, I wonder if this is actually going to get to 576 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:35,680 the final destination. And I just want to invite you to 577 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:40,520 come and receive prayer that you would know that you are sealed 578 00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:43,400 by the Spirit, that there is nothing that you need to be 579 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,920 afraid of. So there's all kinds of ways 580 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,800 that we could pray for you this morning. 581 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:53,640 And then one last thing. I just have a sense that there's 582 00:37:53,800 --> 00:37:58,160 there's some folks here that there's one person here that has 583 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,960 like a hip problem, get a lot of pain in your hip over the past 584 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,520 couple of weeks. And I would love to pray for 585 00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,480 healing for that. So let's worship together. 586 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,280 Please come forward for prayer, Tom. 587 00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:13,600 One more thing, even this ties into some of what Jared was 588 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:16,960 saying, but I just have a sense that someone or maybe a few 589 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:21,160 people are having the sense of like you want to receive the 590 00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,520 love of God. You want to see it in your life, 591 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,640 but there's this curtain that's around you and it's like not 592 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:30,120 letting you it come to you. And I think God just wants to 593 00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:33,560 pray to ripped that curtain from top to bottom.