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So our teaching Scripture this 
morning comes from Acts chapter 

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18 verse 24 to chapter 19 verse 
7. 

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It says now there came to 
Ephesus a Jew named Apollos from

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Alexandria. 
He was an eloquent man, well 

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versed in the Scriptures, and he
had been instructed in the way 

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of the Lord, and he spoke with 
burning enthusiasm and taught 

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accurately the things concerning
Jesus, though he knew only the 

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baptism of John. 
He began to speak boldly in the 

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synagogue, but when Priscilla 
and Aquila heard him, they took 

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him aside and explained the way 
of God to him more accurately. 

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And when he wished to crossover 
to Achaea, the brothers and 

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sisters encouraged him and wrote
to the disciples to welcome him 

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on his arrival. 
He greatly helped those who 

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through grace had become 
believers, for he powerfully 

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refuted the Jews in public, 
showing by the Scriptures that 

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the Messiah is Jesus. 
While Apollos was in Corinth, 

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Paul passed through the interior
regions and came to Ephesus, 

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where he found some disciples. 
He said to them, Did you receive

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the Holy Spirit when you became 
believers? 

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And they replied, no, we have 
not even heard that there is a 

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Holy Spirit. 
Then he said, into what were you

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baptized? 
And they answered into John's 

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baptism. 
Paul said John baptized with the

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baptism of repentance, telling 
the people to believe in the one

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who was to come after him, that 
is, in Jesus. 

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On hearing this, they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord

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Jesus. 
When Paul had laid his hands on 

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them, the Holy Spirit came upon 
them and they spoke in tongues 

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and prophesied all together. 
There were about 12 of them. 

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This is the word of the Lord. 
It's great to see you all this 

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morning. 
So we've been in a sermon series

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the last couple weeks called The
Spiritual Journey, and it's been

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an opportunity for us to focus 
on some of the ways that God 

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speaks to us in different ways 
across our journeys and 

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relationship with him. 
And now I'm a bit of a nerd, but

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I can't think about journeys 
without thinking of The Lord of 

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the Rings. 
But the thing about the Lord of 

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the Rings trilogy is, whether 
you've read the books or watched

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the movies or simply lived in 
the 21st century, is that 

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there's a longer journey that 
frames the entire narrative. 

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There's a journey to Mordor to 
destroy the Ring of Power. 

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But within that big journey, 
there's all these big journey, 

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this arduous task that has 
little hope of success. 

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There's all these little smaller
journeys, so it begins with the 

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journey out of the Shire pursued
by Black riders, then the 

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journey across the Wilds to 
reach Rivendell, then the 

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journey through the minds of 
Moria, and so on and so on. 

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Each of these segments of the 
journey are part of this bigger 

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journey, and what Frodo and his 
companions need on each step is 

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a little different. 
It's a bit like the spiritual 

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life as well. 
Sometimes you need the work of 

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getting your body into shape 
that the hobbits need to get out

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of the Shire. 
Sometimes you need the hope of a

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warm bed and safety that's going
to propel you forward. 

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Sometimes you need a resign 
determination that you will 

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consider whatever the cost, you 
will continue whatever the cost.

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When we think about the 
spiritual journey, so we think 

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about the ways in which God's 
invitation might differ in 

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different parts of our lives. 
There are many ways of telling 

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that story. 
For this week and the next 

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couple of weeks or the next 
week, we're going to be using 

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this framework by the Catholic 
priest and writer on 

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spirituality, Ronald Rohlhizer. 
He frames the journey in a 

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series of steps. 
Last week, Parker talked about 

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the experience of life before 
encountering the living Christ. 

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He shared about the way in which
encounter with the grace and 

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forgiveness of Jesus can 
radically change our lives. 

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And after having our lives 
changed by Christ, Roll Hyzer 

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describes the first steps in 
your spiritual journey as what 

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he calls essential discipleship.
And that's getting your life 

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together. 
And the next step he calls 

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mature discipleship, and that's 
giving your life away. 

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So this morning I'm going to be 
focusing on that first step, the

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getting your life together. 
And after Parker's sermon last 

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week, you might imagine that 
this is only for relatively new 

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Christians, but I wouldn't want 
to frame it in that way. 

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Certainly after each of us 
encounters in a real way the 

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love of God through the person 
of Jesus, we do need some work 

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to get our lives together. 
Because I think that anyone here

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who's been attempting to follow 
Jesus for a while will tell you 

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that beginning to call yourself 
a Christian doesn't make all the

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problems in your life go away. 
You become a Christian and you 

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feel like your life has been 
radically changed. 

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But then you remember that you 
have the same job that's boring 

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a lot of the time. 
You have the same family who 

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grows irritable in fights with 
one another. 

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You have the same stress and 
worry about the future, and 

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maybe you're able to relate to 
those pieces of your life 

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differently. 
I certainly hope so. 

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But all of those parts of your 
life are still there, and 

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they're still in need of 
conversion and change. 

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And that's part of what role 
Heiser means by getting your 

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life together. 
This moment of encounter with 

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the Spirit is great, but you 
also have to let God into all 

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these other areas of your life 
too. 

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Just why? 
The sermon isn't only for those 

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who feel like beginners. 
The reality of our lives that 

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they're always pieces of us that
are farther along in the 

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spiritual journey than these 
other parts of us. 

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And that's totally fine and 
normal. 

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We are finite and limited 
people, and we can't work on 

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everything in our lives at the 
same time. 

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We aren't usually capable of 
receiving healing in all of 

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these broken areas all at the 
same time. 

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Rather, we're all on this 
individualized journey towards 

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God. 
And at different points on our 

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journey, God has different 
invitations for us. 

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And so at these different points
in our journey, we have 

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different invitations. 
But then also in these various 

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parts of our lives, there are 
these different invitations as 

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well. 
Certainly there are seasons when

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we are more in a posture of 
receiving than a posture of 

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giving, but there's also a piece
of our life where we're more 

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have something to give and a 
piece of our life where we still

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need to receive healing. 
And so I think that most of the 

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time there's a space where God 
is always inviting you into 

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receiving the healing, receiving
the connection you need with 

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him. 
And at the same time, there may 

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be another part of your life 
where God is inviting you to 

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give yourself away. 
And those things just coexist 

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together. 
But what does it mean to engage 

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in some of this work of 
essential discipleship, of 

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getting our lives together? 
I want to look at that through 

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the passage that Parker just 
read from the book of Acts. 

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So in Acts, that's the story of 
the beginnings of the church 

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following the death and the 
resurrection of Jesus. 

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It chronicles the spread of the 
Church, empowered by the Holy 

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Spirit, out from the disciples 
in Jerusalem to their nearby 

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neighbors in Judea and Samaria, 
and then to the far ends of the 

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earth, at least as Luke the 
author would conceive of it as 

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the Gospel spreads to Ethiopia 
and to Rome. 

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Throughout Acts, there are 
stories of people encountering 

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the person of Jesus and the 
Kingdom of God in these 

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surprising and miraculous ways, 
stories of heaven breaking in 

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and lives being changed. 
But as you might imagine, 

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people's lives being changed by 
the result of these itinerant 

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ministers who just pop in and 
share the gospel and then leave.

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Those people still need 
formation and guidance on their 

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spiritual journey, and that's 
where we'll pick up this 

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morning. 
So the passage begins with the 

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arrival of a man named Apollos, 
who the text describes as 

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Apollos, a native of Alexandria.
He was an eloquent man, well 

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versed in the Scriptures. 
So someone quite impressive 

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seems like they've appeared. 
Apollos is on the scene and he 

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seems really important. 
Not only is he an eloquent 

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speaker, he seems to know the 
Bible really well, and it seems 

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like he's a good candidate for 
someone who has a good grasp of 

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having his life together. 
But not only does he have good 

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preparation in the spiritual 
life, the text tells us in the 

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next verse that he had been 
instructed in the way of the 

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Lord, and he spoke with a 
burning enthusiasm and taught 

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accurately the things concerning
Jesus that we only knew the 

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baptism of John. 
So as the story progresses here 

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in the second verse, we learn 
that Apollos is a little bit 

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misinformed. 
So when he says he only knew the

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baptism of John, it's saying 
that Apollos only knows the 

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beginning of the story of Jesus,
but that's still enough to 

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change his life. 
He hasn't experienced this or 

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heard of a baptism of the Holy 
Spirit. 

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He hasn't witnessed the power 
that the apostles experienced 

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that transformed their lives and
sent them outward. 

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He doesn't have the full story, 
and we'll get back to that. 

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What I first want to draw 
attention to in this passage is 

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that Apollo spoke with a burning
enthusiasm. 

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This burning enthusiasm is a 
characteristic of our lives when

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we are getting them together. 
We come to some sort of 

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encounter with the power of 
Jesus, and we find that we are 

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filled with this power and this 
outward energy and this zest for

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life. 
We're moving out into the world 

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and sure we might miss some 
things. 

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That doesn't mean that the 
enthusiasm is bad. 

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This outward force is part of 
what makes us human. 

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It drives us out of our parents 
homes into the world to find 

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ourselves where we going to love
the encounter with things of the

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world and where we enjoy life. 
If any of you have ever met a 

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teenager, you probably know what
this is like. 

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This outward force is part of 
what makes us human. 

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And I want to be really clear 
that this enjoyment of your 

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life, this engagement in the 
world, isn't a bad thing. 

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So I think that sometimes 
Christians get a reputation for 

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being a bit of a killjoy, which 
is may be deserved given how the

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church has shown up in 
particularly the late 20th 

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century America. 
We think of stories of 

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conversion. 
We often think of someone who's 

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become a lot less fun to be 
around, someone who loses a lot 

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of their liveliness, someone who
no longer enjoys dancing or food

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or drink, no more activity and 
action. 

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But this account of what 
following Jesus looks like 

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misses a lot of the point of 
this desire, this enthusiasm, 

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this energy that comes through 
our encounter with God, because 

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God is the one who made us with 
all those desires in the 1st 

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place. 
Early and medieval writers named

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this outward force Eros, drawn 
from the name of the Greek God 

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of romantic love and passion and
desire. 

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And a culture that's kind of 
worried about showing that much 

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energy. 
It can be dangerous, but this 

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desire outwards into the world 
is also placed deep in our 

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hearts by God. 
Ronald Rohlhizer calls it a holy

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longing, and he talks about an 
aching pain or a delicious hope.

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Those are like really like gotta
roll instinct words. 

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This sort of zest of life is 
what we're dealing with when we 

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talk about the essential 
discipleship, when we talk about

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getting our lives together, and 
as we think about how do we need

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to get our lives together. 
I don't want to set up desire as

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the enemy. 
It's good to lean into this 

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energy. 
This energy is what drove 

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Apollo's to action and 
enthusiasm of sharing the life 

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of Jesus with those he met. 
Apollo's had encountered the 

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reality of the living God 
meeting with him. 

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The goal of Christian 
spirituality is not the 

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repression or the ignorance of 
that desire. 

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It's not encouraging Apollo's to
sit down and stop embarrassing 

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everyone. 
It's to channel and direct that 

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enthusiasm and power in the 
right way. 

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Following Christ isn't about 
rejecting desire, it's about 

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intensifying it, preventing it 
from being dissipated. 

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In his book, Jared talks about 
this with an image of a hearth. 

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A hearth is a box surrounding 
the fireplace. 

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If you have a fireplace in your 
home, it doesn't just constrain 

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the fire, it actually 
intensifies it and makes it 

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hotter. 
So the fire burning inside your 

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fireplace is actually feels a 
lot warmer than the fire at a 

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campfire that spread out into 
the air. 

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What I want to think about as an
invitation for this morning is 

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to reflect on do we have that 
kind of space to intensify the 

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desire? 
Have we channelled our desire or

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have we just let it drift away? 
I think that's part of why we so

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often get caught up in media 
about young people. 

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We're trying to shock our way 
into re encountering the desire 

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that we had and we've been 
craving to find again. 

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But rather than seeking the 
community we long for, we just 

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binge watch Friends. 
Or rather than taking the risk 

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of setting out on a journey 
towards the vocation that God is

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inviting us to, we just read 
Jack Kerouac. 

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Or rather than seeking to 
understand the restlessness we 

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feel in our lives, we instead 
just learn about Luke Skywalker 

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learning that he is a Jedi. 
And that's something that has 

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been a temptation for me. 
It's always easier for me to 

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pretend that I don't want 
something than to risk it not 

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happening, and I wonder if 
that's the same for some of you.

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The spiritual journey isn't 
about losing our desire, it's 

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about finding the place where we
can intensify that desire 

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towards God. 
So what happens with this 

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outward energy that Apollo's is 
experiencing? 

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What happens when Apollo shows 
up in Corinth or in Ephesus? 

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He encounters this community, 
this check, this channeling of 

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energy. 
The text says he began to speak 

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boldly in the synagogue, but 
when Priscilla and Aquila heard 

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him, they took him aside and 
explained the way of God to him 

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more accurately. 
So Apollos needed Priscilla and 

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Aquila to be involved in his 
story. 

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He's filled with this outward 
energy. 

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He's filled with the excitement 
of his deep and real encounter 

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with Jesus. 
But it also, if you look at the 

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story, seems like he's been 
going at this alone. 

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He shows up in Ephesus all by 
himself. 

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He starts preaching. 
He's not part of a team. 

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He's not part of the community. 
He's full of energy, but he 

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doesn't have the structure to 
sustain that energy over the 

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long haul. 
Priscilla and Aquila see this 

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man full of enthusiasm, and they
don't try to shut him down. 

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They integrate him into their 
community. 

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They take Apollos to the side 
and explain the way of God and 

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explain to him this encounter 
with the Holy Spirit. 

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And this is the key part of the 
spiritual journey. 

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We have to allow ourselves to be
formed by a community. 

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We have to allow ourselves to be
integrated into the community of

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God. 
It's really easy to try to go at

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it alone, but it's only through 
relationships that were actually

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transformed and all of that 
outward energy. 

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This zest for life is able to be
settled and channelled into this

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kind of life that we say we care
about. 

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Relationships are the key X 
aspect of our lives during 

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getting our lives together. 
The work of learning to be in a 

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community is the work that 
sustains this outward energy. 

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It's only in a community that we
actually start to face 

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ourselves. 
It's only in community that we 

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face the reality of who we are. 
Because when you're really with 

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people, they will tell you how 
you are. 

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00:17:38,760 --> 00:17:42,720
Without relationships with real 
people, it's so much easier to 

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live in the ideal rather than in
the reality. 

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And only in the reality is a 
place where we actually meet 

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God. 
The relationships of the people 

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who surround us can be like that
hearth that's intensifying and 

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00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:02,920
deepening the fire that God has 
placed in our hearts. 

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00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:07,840
It's so easy to idealize the 
Christian life. 

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00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:10,200
It's easy to idealize the 
church. 

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00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,400
But something I've loved about 
this church here at Central 

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00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,680
Vineyard is that it's a place 
where you don't have to pretend 

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00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,880
to be the ideal community. 
This church has always been a 

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00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:24,400
place where it's OK to be a bit 
of a mess. 

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This church has always been a 
place where we can show up and 

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say, this is the reality of our 
lives. 

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00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,360
And it's been a place where you 
can find healing, or you can 

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00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:39,680
find a place to channel these 
fears of dissipation and 

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00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:42,200
insubstantiality and 
restlessness. 

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00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,360
The work of our the spiritual 
journey is learning how to face 

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00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:51,800
reality, learning how to grow 
into a reality that is not as we

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00:18:51,800 --> 00:18:55,200
have imagined it to be, but how 
it is. 

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00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,720
And facing reality means we 
actually have to look at those 

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00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:02,440
parts of our lives that really 
need work. 

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00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,240
We're able to see those places 
where God is inviting us to lean

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00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,320
in and to touch. 
That's part of what Parker 

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00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:13,360
invited us to reflect on in the 
Silence. 

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00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,800
Is there a space in your life 
where you feel that gap? 

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00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,000
Maybe you find yourself there 
that's this morning, and you 

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00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,240
feel like you need a community 
for healing. 

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00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,160
So I'd invite you to take the 
time you need from God. 

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00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:33,320
Sometimes you need to rest in 
the healing care of others. 

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00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,000
Maybe even as I've been talking,
or as you were reflecting in 

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00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:40,920
silence, you know that space in 
your life where you need help. 

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00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,000
And we'd love to hold that for 
you as a church this morning. 

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We'd love to get you connected 
into deeper communities. 

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00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,400
We have the central communities 
that are relaunching soon. 

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00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,320
We would also just love to pray 
for you and hold whatever that 

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00:19:55,320 --> 00:20:00,960
is in your heart before God. 
But these relationships aren't 

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00:20:00,960 --> 00:20:04,880
the end of the story. 
Instead, finding our lives a 

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00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:07,520
little more put together leads 
to something powerful. 

319
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:12,240
It leads to this energy inside 
us being channelled outward into

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00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:15,240
life. 
And so the outcome of this 

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00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:19,400
direction, this channelling of 
direction, is more ministry for 

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00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:22,160
Apollo's. 
It comes when he gets to see 

323
00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:25,080
more deeply the reality of his 
calling. 

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00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,760
So the sire, the text says when 
he wished to crossover to IKEA, 

325
00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:33,480
the brothers and sisters 
encouraged him and wrote to the 

326
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,440
disciples to welcome him. 
And on arrival, he greatly 

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00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:40,960
helped those who, through grace,
had become believers. 

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00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,840
Part of the work that Apollo's 
does here is learning where it 

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00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:48,760
is that God is actually inviting
him towards. 

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00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,880
It's not here in Ephesus where 
he thought he needed to be. 

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00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:56,320
Through the community, he learns
that it's actually over in IKEA,

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00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,240
which is also known as Corinth. 
So part of the work of following

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00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:05,880
Jesus is finding where in your 
life is God inviting you. 

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00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:10,320
There's always more that you 
want to do in your life than 

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00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:13,120
you'll be able to do in your 
finite lifetime. 

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00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:18,440
When you talk to kids, they have
dreams of the future, of being 

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00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,520
like a Princess, astronaut 
teacher, or a superhero doctor, 

338
00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,760
veterinarian, or a musician, 
firefighter, baseball player. 

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00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,680
We start our lives with so much 
openness to the future, so many 

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00:21:32,680 --> 00:21:36,320
things we could do, and this 
outward energy that God has 

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00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,000
given us pushes us out into that
world. 

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00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,320
So we're looking for a world 
that looks more like the Kingdom

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00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,800
of God. 
But as we grow up, we learn we 

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00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:50,640
can't do everything. 
Our college classes on pedagogy 

345
00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,360
leave little time to train to be
an astronaut. 

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00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:57,600
It turns out that staying up all
night fighting crime isn't a 

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00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:02,160
recipe for succeeding in our pre
Med classes, and practicing the 

348
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,840
guitar doesn't leave a lot of 
space for perfecting our 

349
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,560
curveball. 
And while those are stereotypes 

350
00:22:08,560 --> 00:22:12,520
of the kind of careers children 
want, we all face this 

351
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:15,520
disappointment in our adult 
lives too. 

352
00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:20,920
We realize that every choice we 
make does preclude some other 

353
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,520
choices. 
Deciding to buy a house means we

354
00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,000
have less disposable income to 
travel the world. 

355
00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:31,920
Deciding to get married means we
have less time to pursue our 

356
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,680
eccentric hobby. 
Deciding to pursue a career 

357
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:40,120
known for long hours means we 
might not have as much time for 

358
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:45,160
free play with a young child. 
The temptation in our spiritual 

359
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:49,480
lives is to begin to see those 
choices, these limitations on 

360
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,160
our energy through the lens of 
resentment. 

361
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,960
But I would caution you that 
this is a path that mostly just 

362
00:22:56,360 --> 00:23:01,280
leads to destruction. 
Instead, I think that part of 

363
00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,920
the work of getting your life 
together is to discover your 

364
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:09,800
sense of vocation. 
So now vocation often gets 

365
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,560
really tied to what our job is. 
And while sometimes that is part

366
00:23:13,560 --> 00:23:17,120
of your vocation, what I want to
focus on is more that vocation 

367
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:20,120
is how God is inviting you to 
shape your life. 

368
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,600
What is God inviting you towards
Who isn't what God inviting you 

369
00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:28,440
to care for? 
Vocation is about the deep work 

370
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,720
that God has given to you. 
And sometimes that's a job, and 

371
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,720
sometimes it's not. 
It's ultimately about being 

372
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:39,320
faithful to the call of God. 
It's about recognizing that the 

373
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:43,880
choices we make do preclude the 
multitude of possibilities. 

374
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:48,960
But that's not a bad thing. 
The narrowing of these choices 

375
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,560
is actually part of what it 
means to respond to the call of 

376
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,080
God. 
God invites us to particular 

377
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:59,880
places, to do particular things 
with particular people, not for 

378
00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:03,840
everyone all at once. 
And that's what Apollos 

379
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,480
recognized in this passage. 
He comes to find the community 

380
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,520
that he needs to discern. 
What is it that God is inviting 

381
00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:14,000
him to? 
It's not to Ephesus where he 

382
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:17,720
thought he was being invited to.
It's about one way of the 

383
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,080
importance of getting our lives 
together, The story here in 

384
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:24,240
Apollo's. 
But that personal work of our 

385
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,920
own lives, our own vocation, 
isn't the only thing that's 

386
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,400
important. 
Apollo's, as we chose, move into

387
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,040
the next chapter of Acts just 
fades away. 

388
00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,880
The story of Acts again picks up
with the apostle Paul, who is 

389
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:41,680
back in Ephesus where he found 
some disciples. 

390
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,960
And the passage goes on to say 
when Paul shows up, he looks at 

391
00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:50,320
these disciples and he says, did
you receive the Holy Spirit when

392
00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,680
you became believers? 
They replied, no, we've not even

393
00:24:54,680 --> 00:25:00,000
heard there is a Holy Spirit. 
Then he said, into what then 

394
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,000
were you baptized? 
They answered into John's 

395
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,720
baptism. 
And Paul said John baptized with

396
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:11,160
a baptism of repentance, telling
the people to believe and the 

397
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:15,800
one who was to come after him, 
that is in Jesus. 

398
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,160
On hearing this, they were 
baptized in the name of the Lord

399
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,360
Jesus. 
When Paul laid his hands on 

400
00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:29,560
them, the Holy Spirit came upon 
them and they spoke in tongues 

401
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:33,280
and prophesied all together. 
There were about 12 of them. 

402
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:36,760
Side note, I just love that 
there was only 12 of them. 

403
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:38,920
And I think a lot of times in 
Acts were like look at all these

404
00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:41,440
thousands of people. 
But actually, this is recounting

405
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:44,640
just these 12 people, and that 
really matters to God. 

406
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:50,800
But this mass passage, it moves 
us away from Apollo's seemingly.

407
00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,320
It might be that these are 
people that Apollo's has 

408
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,080
ministered to because they seem 
to have the same gap and 

409
00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,080
understanding that Apollo's has.
But they are a group of people 

410
00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,320
who are trying to get their 
lives together, who are trying 

411
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,240
to follow Jesus. 
But what these people are 

412
00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:11,360
missing is an active encounter 
with the Holy Spirit. 

413
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:16,080
They don't even know who the 
Holy Spirit is or that there is 

414
00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,960
a Holy Spirit. 
And that's sometimes the way our

415
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:24,600
lives play out too. 
We sometimes do a pretty good 

416
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:29,200
job of seeming like we have all 
of our lives put together, but 

417
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,840
we've been mostly doing 
everything under our own power. 

418
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,400
We've been trying really hard to
follow God, or at least follow 

419
00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,840
our image of what following God 
looks like. 

420
00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,800
But we've missed that power that
we need. 

421
00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:46,360
We've been really building some 
really great channels and banks.

422
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,440
Maybe we're trying to build a 
hearth. 

423
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,200
We feel like we're missing the 
power that needs to fall through

424
00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:55,760
them. 
Because that's the thing about 

425
00:26:56,080 --> 00:27:00,040
getting your life together is 
that it's ultimately the Spirit 

426
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:05,040
of God doing the heavy lifting. 
The Spirit is the one enabling 

427
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:09,720
this transformation, empowering 
us to get our lives together at 

428
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,760
all. 
And ultimately, in the book of 

429
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,920
Acts, the main character is not 
all of these human characters 

430
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,360
that are kind of hops between, 
like it's going between Apollos 

431
00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:23,880
and Paul. 
It's the Holy Spirit who is 

432
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:28,840
doing the work of joining people
together and letting them get 

433
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:33,320
their lives together. 
The Spirit invites us 

434
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,600
individually into getting our 
lives together. 

435
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,800
But through the power of the 
Spirit, we actually join this 

436
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:45,440
larger story of the Kingdom of 
God breaking in, transforming 

437
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:50,280
the whole world into a place 
where God's will is effective 

438
00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:53,280
and where the world looks like 
how God wants it to look. 

439
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:58,160
So I opened this story by 
talking about the journeys of 

440
00:27:58,160 --> 00:27:59,880
the Company in The Lord of the 
Rings. 

441
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,440
But the true part of that story 
is that these small journeys 

442
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:08,720
make up this longer journey. 
But even that longer journey is 

443
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,520
part of this bigger story, the 
work of ages. 

444
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,360
Tolkien loves to write all of 
these other stories that no one 

445
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:19,160
reads. 
The great tales never end. 

446
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,040
And the Spirit is part of that 
bigger work in the world, 

447
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:29,160
shaping the entire community and
people into the likeness of God 

448
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,800
in our movement of getting our 
lives together. 

449
00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:37,120
It's just one part of that 
larger work as well. 

450
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:43,160
But for us this morning, I do 
think there's an invitation to 

451
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,160
take a little step down this 
path. 

452
00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,400
For those of us who feel like 
we're still getting our lives 

453
00:28:51,400 --> 00:28:54,360
together, or we have this piece 
of our life that we're really 

454
00:28:54,360 --> 00:29:00,240
trying to get together, I think 
God is inviting us to welcome 

455
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,280
his empowering and active 
Spirit. 

456
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,120
We have work to do when we're in
a season of getting our lives 

457
00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,360
together, but I don't want to 
say that that work is the most 

458
00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,760
important thing. 
Ultimately, the Holy Spirit is 

459
00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,280
the one who's doing the work for
us. 

460
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,000
We move just the tiniest bit and
the Spirit does the rest. 

461
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,240
So this passage from Acts for 
this morning concludes with when

462
00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:33,320
Paul laid his hands on them, the
Holy Spirit came upon them and 

463
00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:40,040
they spoke in tongues and 
prophesied this morning. 

464
00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,440
I want you to take a moment and 
just think, is that something 

465
00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:47,560
that you want with you this 
morning? 

466
00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:56,040
What kind of following of Jesus 
is God inviting to you to do? 

467
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,040
You need the Holy Spirit to 
empower you to do it. 

468
00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,920
So I'd like to invite our prayer
team to come to the sides, our 

469
00:30:03,920 --> 00:30:07,000
worship team to begin to make 
your way back up. 

470
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:11,200
Just I'd invite you all to 
stand. 

471
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,960
We're going to take a moment 
before we start worshipping to 

472
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:22,960
pray together. 
So if you feel comfortable, I'd 

473
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,400
invite you to just open your 
hands. 

474
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,640
There's nothing magical about 
that. 

475
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,960
It's just a way of opening 
yourself up to the presence of 

476
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,280
God. 
I pray, Lord, come Holy Spirit, 

477
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:41,880
you'd move among us. 
I pray you'd even now be 

478
00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:50,800
highlighting places in life 
where people need healing, they 

479
00:30:50,800 --> 00:31:05,280
need the Holy Spirit. 
If you feel like something's 

480
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,920
going on with you, I'd invite 
you to get some prayer. 

481
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:10,440
There are people here on the 
sides. 

482
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:12,400
You can move now if you want to.