1 00:00:01,240 --> 00:00:02,240 Well, good morning, good morning. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:08,720 This on there we go. Blessings, honey guys this 3 00:00:08,720 --> 00:00:13,520 morning, excited to, to be here. What a joy to, to worship in 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,280 this house this morning. Being at both services and just 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,440 seeing the, the strength of the team here in the warmth of the 6 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:26,840 body is just pretty remarkable. So thank you guys for having me. 7 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:31,360 A special thanks to Pastor Kurt and Jace for, for allowing me to 8 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,200 come and share with you guys today. 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,560 I was thinking during, during worship, Psalm 133 says, oh, how 10 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,680 pleasing and beautiful it is when God's people dwell together 11 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:44,800 in unity. And then it goes through and 12 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,200 starts talking about the, the dew. 13 00:00:47,200 --> 00:00:50,880 It's like blessing from above, the dew from Mount Hermon on to 14 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:53,480 Mount Zion. Then it starts going through the 15 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:58,160 oil that's poured out on the, the crown and down the the robe 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,280 and garments of Erin. And it's this blessing from 17 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,280 above, down below. And I was just thinking about 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:05,880 all the snow that you guys have gotten. 19 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,440 You guys have blessed us down in lower Michigan with the 20 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:10,920 abundance of rivers and, and water. 21 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,640 So I feel like even as you guys have been worshiping up here, 22 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,960 we've been communing together through weather down South and 23 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:20,480 yeah, we're, we're happy to be here. 24 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:30,280 I came today with a, a pastoral word and kind of a theological 25 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:35,320 lens to hand over to you guys. As I was listening and praying 26 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:40,200 with the Lord, I just, I really felt like primarily I want to 27 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,600 come and just shepherd hearts, offer a, a pastoral 28 00:01:44,600 --> 00:01:47,120 encouragement. But then secondarily, I'm, I'm 29 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,800 both a pastor and theologian. So I also want to give you a 30 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,880 theological lens in which will help to shepherd your heart 31 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,360 moving forward. Sometimes we could think of 32 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,120 theology as the the dead and dusty books, but the way that I 33 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:02,840 see theology is actually it's listening to the God who speaks 34 00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,480 to us. Our God is a self revealing God. 35 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,360 And sometimes getting a, a theological word gives us lenses 36 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,760 in which we can understand the common threads that go through 37 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:15,240 scripture. And I want to give you a common 38 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,080 thread. In fact, I hope that both the, 39 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,760 the question I give to you today and then the theological lens 40 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,000 that I give to today would haunt you as you go forward in, in all 41 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,680 the best ways, in the right ways of haunting, in the way that 42 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:30,800 Christ kind of haunts our consciousness when we hear his, 43 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,680 his parables and we go, what is that? 44 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:36,640 What does that mean? That's a good question that that 45 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:38,880 we can't get away from. And I, I kind of want these 46 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,320 things to just linger with you today. 47 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,680 So if you would join me in prayer, stand with me. 48 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:45,440 We're going to pray as we go through. 49 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:47,000 If you can. If you can't, it's all right. 50 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:52,880 And I like to to kind of embody our movements of prayer. 51 00:02:52,880 --> 00:03:01,600 So if you could put your hand over your heart, Lord Jesus, 52 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:07,880 Father, Son, Holy Spirit, we recognize your presence here 53 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:12,680 today. We welcome your presence here 54 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,280 today. We long for your presence here 55 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:18,280 today. Would you help us to have eyes 56 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,640 to see what it is that you were doing in our midst? 57 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:27,680 Would you help us have eyes to see what you're doing in our 58 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:31,880 life? And by your Spirit, would you 59 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:36,000 equip us to be able to walk this out with you to participate in 60 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,160 what you're doing. I love putting my, my hand over 61 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:42,880 my heart when I pray and stay in this posture of prayer because 62 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:46,360 hopefully you, you can feel your heart beating inside of your 63 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,040 chest. And I, I just want to give you 64 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,800 an encouragement that, that Christ, especially in, in that 65 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,560 great outpouring of his Holy Spirit has put his life within 66 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,240 us. And now as you feel your heart 67 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:03,120 beating, you can realize that Christ is as intimately present 68 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,440 as your beating heart. You don't have to do anything to 69 00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,960 muster up His presence. We simply turn in a tune and set 70 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:17,680 our awareness on where He is with us, what He is doing, a 71 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:20,800 myriad of things, and then we get to participate with that. 72 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,920 And that's today's message. So Lord, we thank you for it. 73 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:29,720 When you say Jesus thank you in Jesus mighty name, Amen. 74 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,760 You can take a seat. Sorry. 75 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:37,040 Give me one second. If I don't have my coffee, I'm 76 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:42,200 going to start losing my voice. This is my wife by the way, my 77 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:47,480 sleeping son Isaac. It actually worked out better. 78 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:50,120 Second service, first service. He was like running circles 79 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,800 around and up and down the aisle and which is also beautiful, but 80 00:04:55,240 --> 00:05:00,800 sleeping child is peaceful. If you didn't get a handout in 81 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,800 the way and I encourage you to to grab one in the back. 82 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,680 They're made available. There's going to be hopefully 83 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,760 we'll get to a a larger portion of Romans that we're going to 84 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,440 read and to have it in front of you will help you to to stay 85 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:18,920 pressed in and alert. So the the pastoral word that I 86 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,240 I want to offer over to you. What I couldn't get away from is 87 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:28,640 this question, what if the very circumstances that you find 88 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:33,720 yourself in right here and now in your life, both highs and 89 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,920 lows, the pain points of your week, that maybe you've been 90 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,840 crying out to the Lord, you've been asking for Him to do 91 00:05:39,840 --> 00:05:44,320 something in the circumstances. What if those circumstances are 92 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,040 the very place that God wants to actively form Christ into our 93 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:55,520 life, to actively massage the very life of Christ into our our 94 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,120 being, the fabric of our being, which hopefully by the end of 95 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,400 the service is that if that's foreign language to you, by the 96 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:05,840 end of the service, it's going to be very, very comfortable 97 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:08,160 language 'cause we're going to see it in the the writings of 98 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:09,960 Paul. It's in the Scriptures all over 99 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:13,840 the place. As I do my studies over the last 100 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:17,520 eight years, I've been digging in deep to the early church, the 101 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:20,560 ancient church, the 1st 500 years of the church. 102 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:25,400 Guys like funny names, Irenaeus and Athanasius and Maximus the 103 00:06:25,400 --> 00:06:28,320 Confessor, awesome names. I wish we would bring some of 104 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:30,600 those back today. In fact, I tried naming my first 105 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:34,280 son after Athanasius and Maximus the Confessor, but my wife 106 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:36,400 wasn't having it. So he ended up being Samuel. 107 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:43,120 But as I go into the early church and as I think through 108 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,840 the, the lens in which I, I kind of was raised in, in a 109 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:52,080 evangelical context, I often thought of what happened last 110 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,560 week, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 111 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:58,640 I thought of it as you know, Christ is the, it's the great 112 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:01,200 exchange. He takes our sin, He offers us 113 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,760 forgiveness and sets us up in a beautiful way to receive 114 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:09,320 resurrection life to come. And the early church would say, 115 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,600 yes, all of that is is a part of it. 116 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:13,880 But the early church pressed it even deeper. 117 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,840 The early church moved it from a center in ourselves to a center 118 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,640 in Christ. And then everything was Christ 119 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,200 working it out from the inside out. 120 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,920 Christ didn't just take our sin, He took our very life. 121 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:32,520 He doesn't just give us forgiveness, He gives us his 122 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:37,200 very life. It's beautiful in Christ. 123 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:40,800 We've been. We've been united to God in his 124 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,240 person, and now he offers us up his very life. 125 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,080 This is how the church was talking for ages and ages and 126 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,600 ages. But as we get to our kind of 127 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:54,280 modern postmodern, individualized context, we 128 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,240 sometimes miss some of this language. 129 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:57,920 We don't know what to do with it. 130 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,880 It feels really odd to us. What does it mean that we are 131 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:03,240 united to Christ? What does it mean that he gives 132 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:07,480 us his own life when all of the world right now is telling us 133 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:13,560 you get to define you. So just go and exhort yourself 134 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:16,360 to work that out. And sometimes we can hear the 135 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:19,560 Christian message through the the individualized message. 136 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:23,320 And we, well, I've even heard preachers preach this. 137 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,760 This is what Jesus done, now what are you going to do for 138 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,760 him? This is what Christ has done on 139 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,880 your behalf. Now what are you going to do on 140 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,000 his behalf? In the early church that was 141 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:39,679 absolutely foreign. The early church didn't go what 142 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:42,919 are you going to do with Jesus? Because they didn't have a 143 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:48,800 picture of an absent Christ. When Christ ascends to the right 144 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:53,480 hand of the Father, it's not his escape from this world I love. 145 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,920 The Easter tide is not just a single day of Easter. 146 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,640 It's actually 50 days Easter going all the way up to 147 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,520 Pentecost with the ascension 40 days in. 148 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:08,600 So you have Easter, 40 days ascension, 10 more days 149 00:09:08,600 --> 00:09:16,920 Pentecost, 3 distinct moments, one unified movement of God in 150 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,480 the resurrection. Christ is bodily raised, 151 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,920 defeating sin and death, putting it to the side and bringing 152 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:26,040 forth victorious newness of life. 153 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:30,160 But he's not done yet. He does 40 days of exhorting his 154 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:33,480 people on the Kingdom of God, and then he ascends. 155 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:35,560 And again, this is not his great escape. 156 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:39,240 He's not jet packing out of all the turmoil saying hey, hold on 157 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,720 tight, I'll be back. The ascension language is from 158 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,520 the Old Testament. Kings would ascend to their 159 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:52,920 throne, the high priest would ascend into the Holy of Holies. 160 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,280 That's what Christ is doing. He's not inactive. 161 00:09:57,280 --> 00:10:00,440 In fact he is at rest, extremely active. 162 00:10:02,560 --> 00:10:06,480 Just like when God creates all of creation and it says He rests 163 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:09,960 on the 7th day, you realize that even in His rest He was still 164 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:12,240 holding all things together by the power of His Word. 165 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:18,520 So as Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, He's 166 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:22,320 not on vacation, He's not in retirement, He is active and 167 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,440 present, says He ever lives to make intercession on our behalf. 168 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:30,400 He so desperately desires to put His life into us that 10 days 169 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:35,640 after the Ascension, He pours out His very spirit, His life to 170 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:39,400 go to the depths of our being and to work all of what He's 171 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,840 accomplished for us and secured for us from the inside out. 172 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,800 So what if the very circumstances that you find 173 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:54,720 yourself in is a very place that God by his Spirit is working the 174 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:00,520 life of Christ into your life. I'm in pastoral care and do 175 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:03,800 spiritual direction and I sit down with people on a a frequent 176 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,200 basis. And as I'm as I'm sitting and as 177 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,680 people are opening up and talking about the deep 178 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:12,680 wrestlings and desires and questions of their heart, more 179 00:11:12,680 --> 00:11:15,920 often than not, it sounds like God's will is somewhere outside 180 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,560 those doors. But I'm not experiencing it 181 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:24,080 right here now. A lot of young adults go, I, I 182 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:25,560 know I have a calling on my life. 183 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:28,600 God has called me to do this thing, but I'm not in it right 184 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:30,560 now. So I can't be in God's will 185 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:34,840 until I'm in it out there somewhere when I get that job, 186 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:41,240 when I get that spouse, when I get fill in the blank or the 187 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,760 other side of it is I just don't understand where God is in this 188 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:49,160 because it's just pain and it feels like hell and turmoil. 189 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,880 That's the great benefit of of what Christ going to the cross. 190 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,280 So many things that Christ going to the cross did on our behalf. 191 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,120 One of them is Christ took up our entire life, the entire 192 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:08,240 human condition and plumbed the depths on the cross of human 193 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:14,760 despair, abandonment, brokenness, fear, turmoil, 194 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:20,240 experienced it all and then fills it with the life of God 195 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,680 that there's there's no further place we can fall that Christ 196 00:12:24,680 --> 00:12:28,680 has not already gone to meet us there and to draw us up into 197 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,560 himself to put his very life within us. 198 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,480 That's good news on the cross amongst all the other things 199 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,800 that the cross is a picture of the cross is meeting us in the 200 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:47,200 pits of our despair and calling out, I'm still active to make 201 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,280 you more like me. I went there to meet you there 202 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:52,680 to give you my life and remove you from there. 203 00:12:54,080 --> 00:13:03,560 Does that make sense? As I as I popped up from early 204 00:13:03,560 --> 00:13:06,720 church studies and I go where is this in the scriptures, I 205 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,160 started reading again through this lens and started seeing 206 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,240 Paul been talking about this the whole time. 207 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,200 I just didn't know how to see it. 208 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:20,680 Listen with me Colossians, Colossians one since they're 209 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:22,800 sorry, Colossians 3, one and three. 210 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:27,840 Since then you have been raised with Christ. 211 00:13:28,880 --> 00:13:31,440 Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the 212 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,640 right hand of the Father. Set your minds on things above, 213 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:40,600 not on things of this earth, for you have died, and your life is 214 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:48,360 now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life 215 00:13:49,240 --> 00:13:52,200 returns, you also shall return with Him in glory. 216 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,080 Have you ever contemplated on this? 217 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,960 Have you ever meditated on this? This is really strange to our 218 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,880 individualistic culture, that I'm no longer trying to make 219 00:14:02,880 --> 00:14:06,240 myself, that Christ has given me his own life, that it's no 220 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,800 longer, as Paul says in Galatians 220, I that live, but 221 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:14,160 Christ that live in me. Can we say with Paul that I have 222 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,800 been crucified with Christ Jesus, that my old man has been 223 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:21,600 put to death? So now the life I live, well, 224 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:25,120 it's actually Christ who's living in me in the life I live 225 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:27,560 in this flesh. I now live by the faith of the 226 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:29,920 Son of God who gave himself for me. 227 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:37,520 Realize this is a big shift. This isn't Christ did this for 228 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,080 you. So now what are you going to do 229 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,640 on your on his behalf? This is Christ did this for you 230 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:48,640 and it is now doing it in you and will never leave you or 231 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,840 forsake you. He's going to see what He has 232 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:55,480 started to its completion. He is the author and perfector 233 00:14:55,480 --> 00:15:00,560 of our faith. Hebrews tells us so on your 234 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,640 sheets. What Christ did in His life and 235 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:07,880 ministry not only dealt with our sin, it reached to the very core 236 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:12,640 of what it means to be human. Christ took up our lives so He 237 00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:16,080 could give us His very life. Our life has been united to 238 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,240 Christ's life. What has happened to Him has 239 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:23,480 happened to us and is being worked out in us by His Spirit. 240 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,720 That's important by His Spirit. Philippians 2 Paul says, Work 241 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:32,280 out your salvation with fear and trembling continues on, for it 242 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:35,760 is God who is at work in you. We're not left to our own 243 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:38,800 devices. This isn't just, hey, go on and 244 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,280 try and muster this up. This is, hey, Christ has done 245 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,520 everything on your behalf. Will you recognize what He's 246 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:48,640 doing right now and cooperate and participate with it? 247 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:52,720 Can we have eyes to see what He's doing in our midst here and 248 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:56,520 now in the pain points of life? Sometimes we desire that the 249 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:58,280 circumstances are going to change. 250 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,800 Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't for some time. 251 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,440 What the Lord desires is that we would change in the midst of 252 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:11,720 them, that He would form to the depths of our being the very 253 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:18,200 image and likeness of His Son. You see this God's supreme will 254 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,480 and calling for your life is that you would receive and be 255 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:26,160 conformed to the very life and likeness of His Son by the Holy 256 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,200 Spirit. Romans 829. 257 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,840 We love when we have trials to, to quote Romans 828, and it's a 258 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:36,600 beautiful, beautiful passage that God is working all things 259 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,160 together for those who love him, right? 260 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,400 And we we grab hold of that, but sometimes we fail to read on to 261 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:46,000 see what the good God is working out for those who love him. 262 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,280 He continues on and Paul says for those whom he foreknew and 263 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:55,120 also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son in order 264 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,280 that Christ might be the first born among many brethren. 265 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,680 Galatians 419. Paul's talking to Glacia and and 266 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,079 he's, he's bursting at the seams. 267 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:10,520 He says, my children, for whom I am again in the anguish of 268 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,880 childbirth, until Christ be formed in you. 269 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,560 We tend to picture the will of God as the things we do and the 270 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,599 places we go. But if we're not able to do the 271 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:29,600 things or go the places again, then the will of God is separate 272 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,040 in somewhere outside the doors. We got to go hunting it down. 273 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:34,640 Maybe we need another worship service. 274 00:17:34,640 --> 00:17:36,080 Maybe we need another prayer time. 275 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:41,240 Maybe we need a. But the brilliant thing is, and 276 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:44,320 what Christ has done for us and what He has secured for us and 277 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:49,880 what He has placed in us by His living spirit means there is no 278 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,000 circumstance I could be in that I'm not touching the will of 279 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:54,760 God. If I would have eyes to see what 280 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,880 Christ is actively doing, if I would submit my life over for 281 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,640 Him to form His life on the inside of me, and then guess 282 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,240 what? Situations start changing 283 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:08,040 because I'm walking in newness of life. 284 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,720 In fact, if you've anything like me, there's many times where it 285 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:15,760 took the awakening of, Oh yeah, this is what Christ is doing. 286 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,200 Wait, I was misreading my circumstances because I'm pretty 287 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:26,200 large, knucklehead. And I start to experience 288 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,280 humility. I start to realize, man, the 289 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,880 argument that I might have been having with my wife, I was the 290 00:18:31,880 --> 00:18:34,400 one who is wrong. I wanted God to change her. 291 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,200 And he's going, Nick, Nick, Nick, open up your eyes. 292 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,000 Will you see what I'm doing with you? 293 00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,240 Can I transform you into my image and likeness? 294 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:47,000 And will you trust that I'm doing the same thing with your 295 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:48,520 wife? Right. 296 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:53,880 The Co worker at work, the boss at work, the sibling, the 297 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:55,920 parent, all of these different movements. 298 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:57,880 Will you? Will you cooperate with me? 299 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,760 Will you have eyes to see what it is that I'm doing in your 300 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:05,560 midst so that you can carry forth my life into the midst of 301 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:10,520 what you're experiencing? There's not a single movement in 302 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,880 our life that is not touching the will of God if we would just 303 00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,120 be active and present to what He's doing. 304 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,440 We so want God to move and the things around us, and He will. 305 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:22,960 He cares about those things. He is a good Father. 306 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:25,840 He takes our needs and our desires to heart. 307 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:31,040 But man, He wants to translate our heart into the heart of 308 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:34,120 Christ. He wants to put His love into 309 00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:36,680 the depths of our being. So that way, even if the 310 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,200 circumstances don't change, we do and we walk in a new way. 311 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:46,480 There's not a single moment within your life that God isn't 312 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:52,320 intimately present in actively working out the very life of 313 00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:54,960 Christ offered over to you by His Spirit. 314 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:01,480 OK, one moment I need to remember when I need to be done 315 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:09,800 by. Awesome, good, I'm a talker. 316 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,600 I can just keep going. We could be here all day, but I 317 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,280 won't. I'll be mindful of the the 318 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:18,440 timeline. Hopefully this is, this is good 319 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,680 news for you. Hopefully you're, you're feeling 320 00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:25,560 the, the weight being brushed off of your shoulders. 321 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:29,920 Because if it's about me seeing what Jesus has done and me going 322 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:34,800 out and trying to muster it up and doing it on my own cord, I'm 323 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,080 going to walk in turmoil. I'm going to have a lot of 324 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,760 anxiety coming in. I found last year at a a thrift 325 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:45,680 store a little Pennant cross that on one side I had a 326 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,080 beautiful cross and then on the backside it said Christ is 327 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:57,280 counting on me. Realize the weight that that 328 00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:00,800 thing would have hanging on your your neck. 329 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,040 That is not the gospel. The gospel is not Christ is 330 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:07,600 counting on you. The gospel is. 331 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:12,240 We can count and rely on Christ who is actively at work in our 332 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,480 life even today. That as I go out into the world, 333 00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:20,880 He's there with me and I get to learn how to walk in step with 334 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:25,000 his Spirit. Paul's two favorite phrases #1 335 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:28,760 in all of Paul's literature is in Christos, in the the Greek, 336 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:32,880 in Christ, that we are united to Christ, that our life is now in 337 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:34,880 Christ. You will see it all throughout. 338 00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:37,280 That's why I'm saying I want this to haunt you. 339 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,000 That as you go into his prison letters, you go there it is. 340 00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,040 I have eyes to see because it's all over. 341 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:47,840 The other one is walking by the Spirit in step of the Spirit, 342 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,520 the life in the Spirit, the the gifts of the Spirit. 343 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:54,280 Like Paul is talking about this life that Christ has secured for 344 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,760 us that we are in and then the life that Christ has deposited 345 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:03,800 us into us in the Holy Spirit. It's all throughout and he's 346 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:05,600 inviting us into this journey of going. 347 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:08,960 Would you have eyes to see what the Lord is working in your 348 00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:11,680 life? One of my favorite stories from 349 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,760 the Old Testament is Elijah and his his servant. 350 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:20,400 Elijah, his Elijah's servant are being surrounded in encampment 351 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:23,920 by all these these armies of the nations around them. 352 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,840 And Elijah's servant is outside and he's looking around and his 353 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:30,680 knees are shaking because they're being surrounded by some 354 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:35,520 pretty aggressive armies. And Elijah says to him, hey, you 355 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:38,640 have no need to worry. Those who are with us are 356 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,280 greater than those who are against us. 357 00:22:41,120 --> 00:22:45,160 Elisha's servants looking at him going, those who are with us, do 358 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,840 you have a mouse in your pocket? Like what's going on here? 359 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:53,240 So Elisha prays a simple prayer. Lord, would you give him eyes to 360 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,080 see? Would you open up his eyes to be 361 00:22:56,080 --> 00:23:00,520 able to see your hand at work? And the scriptures say that his 362 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:05,280 eyes are enlightened, scales fall off, he looks around, and 363 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:08,840 whereas before he just saw the armies of the earth on the 364 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:12,320 mountaintops, he saw the Angel armies that were in camping 365 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:15,120 around, that those who were with him were greater than those who 366 00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:17,360 were against him. And all of a sudden, shaking 367 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:23,080 knees became steady. This is what the Spirit is 368 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:28,280 inviting us into. Would you have eyes to see on 369 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,680 your sheet I give you just a couple questions that we could 370 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:34,400 bring into our our daily prayers versus you know, it's good to 371 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,680 pray that situations change the prayers of righteous people 372 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,000 avail much and we have a crowd of righteous people in here. 373 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:43,360 You should be praying over these things. 374 00:23:43,360 --> 00:23:45,080 Absolutely. We pray over the city. 375 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:49,400 We pray over circumstances, but I invite you to invite some 376 00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,080 prayers of Lord. What are you doing down at the 377 00:23:53,120 --> 00:23:55,520 the bottom. It's in bold on the first page. 378 00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:00,400 Lord, what are you doing here? A really good prayer. 379 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,800 When I get home from work and I'm I'm stressed out from just 380 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,080 an exhausting day of work. You guys have been there and my 381 00:24:08,080 --> 00:24:11,480 2 toddlers want to jump on me and it's like over stimulating 382 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:12,800 and all of a sudden I'm about to break. 383 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:20,160 As a a father, I could pause and go, oh Lord, what are you doing 384 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,000 here? Where are you in this midst? 385 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,280 Would you give me eyes to see? One of the beautiful things that 386 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,520 the Lord constantly tells me about my boys is I just hear the 387 00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:35,120 Lord's invitation. Let the children come to me. 388 00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:40,680 He had this, this grace to allow the children to be children to 389 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,000 to sleep and snore over on the side. 390 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:47,480 It's a beautiful thing. I love it, the sweet little Coos 391 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,480 and snores of a A2 year old. Let the children come to me. 392 00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:56,520 I can cooperate with that. That gives me peace. 393 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:00,800 I can now I could participate with the the Lord allowing my 394 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,680 children to be children and I can receive them as they are. 395 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:09,560 Lord, what are you doing in me? Well, most of the time it's 396 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,600 crucifying my need for tidiness. I could tidy things up after 397 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,600 they go down to bed, but He starts to do this in me and I 398 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:19,600 can receive His movements. I could learn to participate 399 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:21,640 with them. I don't always do it well. 400 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,360 I don't always pause and ask and sometimes I break. 401 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:35,960 I love you, buddy. Those movements when I I feel 402 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:40,200 misunderstood and I want to justify myself. 403 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,160 I want to prove myself. I'm about to step back into my 404 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,800 old way and doing it on my own accord. 405 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:52,800 I could pause and say, Lord, what are you doing? 406 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,760 Speaking life into you? I'm encouraging you on who you 407 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:02,240 are, that the world might misrepresent you, but you have 408 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,040 been perfectly represented in Christ before the Father. 409 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:07,280 Would you receive that here and now? 410 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:13,000 Somebody cuts you off on the highway, right? 411 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,480 You want to bless them with a specific finger? 412 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,360 You pause, Lord, what are you doing right now? 413 00:26:23,400 --> 00:26:26,320 These are things, these are ways that that all of a sudden now 414 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,120 I'm participating and cooperating with the will of 415 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,000 God. And now every moment becomes 416 00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:36,600 opportunity to pray and receive from God above, from Christ who 417 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:38,960 is seated at the right hand of the Father as am I. 418 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,520 Ephesians 2 says You also are seated in heavenly places with 419 00:26:42,520 --> 00:26:45,040 Christ Jesus. So my life is rooted there. 420 00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:48,400 So then he could put his life into me here and now instead of, 421 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,000 you know, saluting the the guy who just cut me off. 422 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,240 I bless him, give him the right away and maybe I move over to 423 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,800 the slow lane and I no longer have to be the fast one. 424 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:03,600 Anyway, he starts to work Christ into me at a young guy, I'll 425 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:08,520 just call him Adam for the sake of the the story who would come 426 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,960 in and I was on office duty for the day and I sit down with him 427 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,680 and his world was just it felt like it was in shambles. 428 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:20,560 He had just wrecked his car the week before his his relationship 429 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,160 was up in in turmoil. His he was living back home with 430 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,160 his parents that was in turmoil. And after, after sitting and 431 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,360 hearing his story for a bit, I just asked him the question, 432 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,840 where do you think God might be in the midst of all this? 433 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,040 And at first he didn't have an answer. 434 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,600 And, and he had talked about a story how three years prior he 435 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,440 had actually died of a pretty serious drug overdose. 436 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:50,240 And he said in the story, he said, Siri saved my life. 437 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:53,040 I had to call out to Siri to get the, the ambulance there. 438 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:55,040 And then when they got there, I was dead on the spot and they 439 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,440 had to resuscitate me and bring me back. 440 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:03,560 And I, I brought the story back up and I so it, the thing that 441 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:07,360 we could rest assured on is that Christ is active in every moment 442 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:09,320 of our life. There's not a single moment of 443 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,960 our life that has not been touched by the life of Christ. 444 00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,040 So why don't we just ask the Lord, Lord, where were you in 445 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,480 that situation? Because his great praise was 446 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,800 that Siri saved him. And all of a sudden he gets into 447 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,080 this prayer and he gets a revelation of it wasn't Siri 448 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:30,760 that saved me. This is the hand of the Lord 449 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,640 intervening on my behalf, leading me and guiding me. 450 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,760 He said it was actually after that that I had the wake up call 451 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,880 and realized that I needed to return to the faith that I left 452 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,520 when I was a child. The Lord is all over it, drawing 453 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:49,320 him in. Now the Lord didn't cause the 454 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,800 the incident, but man did He use the incident to bring him to the 455 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,240 place that he was. And once he saw Christ's 456 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:01,000 activity and presence there, as we went back into prayer for the 457 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,840 situations that he was in, he started to see the hand of God 458 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,880 already at work. And that was no longer him 459 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:10,560 trying to hold his life together. 460 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,080 It was actually Christ who was upholding in him. 461 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:14,640 We live and move and have our being. 462 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:19,440 And now he got to see the hand of God and just walk in step 463 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,600 with it. Again, the weight off the 464 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,080 shoulders. He left my office an hour and a 465 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:30,080 half after coming in with severe anxiety, talking 1,000,000 miles 466 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,560 a second. He left with peace, Shalom. 467 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:38,080 And we continued to walk over the next six months and see as 468 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,440 the Lord was just showing up for him and showing him, here's my 469 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,560 hand in your life. Will you bless my hand? 470 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:47,160 Will you learn to cooperate with the Spirit, to walk in step with 471 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,000 the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the 472 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:51,720 flesh. Paul says in Galatians 5. 473 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:56,160 But you will bear forth good fruit, Lovejoy, peace, patience, 474 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,080 kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. 475 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:04,080 Lord, what are you doing here? Lord, what are you doing in me 476 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,040 and how might I receive and participate in your presence and 477 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:11,560 activity? Originally, when I was sitting 478 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,800 down, I was I was building out. I want to do this movement with 479 00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,080 you guys. I, I'd heard from the Lord what, 480 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:23,040 what I should deliver and I was going to do a Romans 8 study and 481 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:27,480 as a theologian, you sit down, you start writing and after one 482 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,440 evening I, I wake up the next morning, I open it up and 483 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:34,120 realize it was 13 pages long. I cannot do that to you guys. 484 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:37,840 But sometimes the, the beautiful thing. 485 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,520 Some people like to critique the message and I I I give you the 486 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,640 the movement that it is a paraphrase, but Eugene Peterson 487 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,440 was a pastor and a theologian, also a a language scholar. 488 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:54,760 And I think one moment while I readjust there we go. 489 00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,840 Sometimes I open up the message and the way that Eugene has 490 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:06,120 unpacked the original language for us to put it in such 491 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:10,320 theological movements, but such relational and easily acceptable 492 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,840 terms is just brilliant. And the other night I opened up 493 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,520 to Romans 8 and I wrote it out of the message and just realized 494 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,680 I just want to close our service out and read this over you 495 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:24,480 realizing that this is this is Paul's language for us today. 496 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,320 And with all that we just talked about in mind, I hope you'll 497 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:32,080 start to see where some of these movements are really starting to 498 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:33,640 come out. And then as you go through 499 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:38,200 Paul's letters again, I pray this haunts you. 500 00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,280 I pray you can't help but to see that Christ is giving us his 501 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,600 life through and through and through, and it's piercing us to 502 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,120 our core. Something grand and mysterious 503 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,080 is happening, if we would have eyes to see. 504 00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:54,880 So if you have your sheets, this is on your sheet. 505 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:56,960 They will put it up on the screen. 506 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,440 It is a lot of reading, but if you would bear with me. 507 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:06,920 Romans 8 with the arrival of Jesus the Messiah, that fateful 508 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:11,000 dilemma is resolved, The dilemma of wrestling with ourselves, 509 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:12,440 trying to do it on their own accord. 510 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:18,360 Romans 6-7 number and eight, those who have entered into 511 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:25,040 Christ's being here for us no longer have to live under a 512 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,480 continuous low lying black cloud getting here. 513 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:33,080 See what Eugene is doing amazing movements crisis. 514 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:38,320 Emmanuel, God with us in his ascent to the right hand of the 515 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,200 Father. He is not now God not with us. 516 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:47,960 He is still God here with us now, the spirit of life or 517 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:51,640 sorry, we don't have to live under a continuous low lying 518 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:54,160 black cloud. A new power is in operation. 519 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:58,360 The spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has 520 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:02,520 magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a faded 521 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,840 lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. 522 00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,360 God went for the jugular when He sent His own Son. 523 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:16,480 He didn't deal with the problem as something remote or 524 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:20,840 unimportant in His son Jesus. He personally took on the human 525 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,760 condition. Enter the disordered mass of 526 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,880 struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. 527 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:33,000 The law code re weakened as it always was by fractured human 528 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:35,080 nature could never have done that. 529 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,800 The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin 530 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:44,640 instead of a deep healing of it. And now with the log code asked 531 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,480 for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of 532 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,680 redoubling down on our own efforts, simply embrace what the 533 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,920 Spirit is doing in US. Those who think they could do it 534 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,120 on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral 535 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:04,760 muscles, but never get around to exercising it in real life. 536 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:09,719 Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is 537 00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:14,080 in them, living and breathing God. 538 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:17,639 Obsession with self in these matters as a dead end. 539 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:22,280 Attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, 540 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,000 free life. Focusing on the self is the 541 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:30,719 opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in 542 00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:34,120 self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than 543 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:36,760 God. That person ignores who God is 544 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:41,520 and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being 545 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:46,159 ignored. But if God himself has taken up 546 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:51,920 residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of 547 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:56,159 yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not 548 00:34:56,159 --> 00:34:59,840 welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit 549 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:02,440 of Christ won't know what we're talking about. 550 00:35:03,560 --> 00:35:09,000 But you who welcome him, in whom he dwells, even though you still 551 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:13,760 experience all the limitations of sin, even though you yourself 552 00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:18,680 experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, 553 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,400 that if the alive and present God who raised Jesus from the 554 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:26,800 dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he 555 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:30,080 did in Christ, bringing you alive to himself. 556 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:34,840 When God lives and breathes in you, and he does as surely as he 557 00:35:34,840 --> 00:35:39,800 did in Jesus, you are delivered from that dead life with his 558 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:44,040 Spirit living in you. Your body will be as alive as 559 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:49,040 Christ. He's talking about the alive and 560 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:54,800 reigning Christ today, this resurrection or so. 561 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,360 Don't you see that you don't owe this old do it yourself life 1 562 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,280 Red sent. There's nothing in it for us, 563 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:03,640 nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it 564 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,360 a decent burial and get on with your new life. 565 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:10,080 God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and 566 00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:12,240 places to go. He will lead you. 567 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,640 This resurrection life you received from God is not timid, 568 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:21,080 not a grave tending life. It is adventurously expectant, 569 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:25,880 greeting God with childlike. What's next, Papa? 570 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:31,280 God's Spirit touches our spirit, confirms who we really are. 571 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:37,000 We know who He is, we know who we are, Father and children, and 572 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,400 we know we are going to get what is coming to us. 573 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:44,040 An unbelievable inheritance, Christ himself. 574 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,080 We go through exactly what Christ goes through. 575 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,000 If we go through hard times with them, then we're certainly going 576 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:52,400 to go through the good times with them. 577 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:58,720 How magnificent, How magnificent. 578 00:37:00,560 --> 00:37:02,320 God doesn't leave us to our own devices. 579 00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,320 He places his very life to the depths of our being. 580 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:09,080 And now we get to learn what it looks like to walk in step with 581 00:37:09,080 --> 00:37:10,880 that. And part of that looks like just 582 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,120 the awareness of going God, what are you doing today? 583 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:19,160 How might I participate with it? I'm going to continue on. 584 00:37:19,160 --> 00:37:22,000 We're going to skip a portion. Romans 8 is just beautiful. 585 00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:25,200 Started to talk about the Spirit and what the Spirit's doing in 586 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,400 you and groans of of prayer that when we don't know what to pray, 587 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,880 the Spirit prays on our behalf. Like it's there through and 588 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,480 through. But he closes out, at least in 589 00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:38,520 this portion. He decided from the outset to 590 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:43,800 shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as 591 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,360 the life of His Son. The sun stands first in the line 592 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,880 of humanity He restored. We see the original intended 593 00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:55,480 shape of our lives there in Him. After God made that decision of 594 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,800 what His children should be like, He followed it up by 595 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:05,080 calling people by name. After He called them by name, He 596 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,120 set them on a solid basis with Him. 597 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:11,760 And then after getting them established, He stayed with them 598 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:17,880 to the end, gloriously completing what He had begun. 599 00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:28,680 This is gloriously good news, friends, and I'm here to tell 600 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,480 you from the Lord today that it's true. 601 00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:38,400 It's available and present. So I have a quick invitation to 602 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:42,400 give to you is if you would close your eyes and just turn 603 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:48,320 your awareness to the Lord, you might say, Lord, you are here, 604 00:38:51,680 --> 00:38:54,240 what are you doing right now? Gone 605 00:39:09,240 --> 00:39:14,360 and you listen and you wait. Jesus says, my sheep hear my 606 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,840 voice, the voice of another. They will not follow. 607 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:24,360 Hearing God is the most natural thing for the human condition in 608 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,000 Christ. Lord, what are you doing? 609 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,880 You might take that circumstance that you found as a pain point 610 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,680 this week and you might hold it up before the Lord, and you just 611 00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:37,640 say, Lord, what are you doing there? 612 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,520 What are you doing in this circumstance? 613 00:39:52,710 --> 00:39:54,070 And Lord, what are you doing in me? 614 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:06,640 What are you working out in me? She helped me to see. 615 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:15,520 And how might I participate in what it is that you are at work 616 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:33,460 doing? I trust the Lord is making His 617 00:40:33,460 --> 00:40:39,660 activity and presence known to many in here and I I trust that 618 00:40:39,660 --> 00:40:43,140 He's going to continue to do so. As you go out into the world 619 00:40:43,140 --> 00:40:49,520 from here, if you have not received Christ Jesus as your 620 00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:52,280 Lord and Savior, then I could tell you confidently that I know 621 00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,720 what he is doing in this moment. He is working to soften your 622 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:59,040 heart for reception of his life in your life. 623 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,480 And it's simple. Ask the the entire church 624 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,800 family, would you would you pray with us, with anybody who who is 625 00:41:05,800 --> 00:41:09,640 not also taking this step and put your faith in Christ. 626 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,440 Join in with us today. This is a marking moment in your 627 00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,800 life as you're learning what it looks like to participate in 628 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,560 Christ's movement on your behalf. 629 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:26,760 And would you guys out loud say, Lord Jesus, I receive you, You 630 00:41:26,800 --> 00:41:31,720 are God, you are Lord, and I am not. 631 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:37,840 That's good news. I receive it. 632 00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:45,120 Ioffer you my old life, my old ways, my old rhythms, habits. 633 00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:53,960 Would you help me to put them to death and would you help me to 634 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:59,280 receive your new life that you're placing in me? 635 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:06,560 Well, Father, I thank you. I thank you for each and every 636 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:09,880 person in here today. God, I know that you are 637 00:42:09,880 --> 00:42:13,440 intimately present and at work in their lives. 638 00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:16,000 And Father, I pray that as they go forward, You would give them 639 00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,080 eyes to see, ears to hear, a spirit of wisdom and revelation 640 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:23,480 to be able to pick up on what You are actively doing on the 641 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:26,400 landscape of their circumstances, their life 642 00:42:26,400 --> 00:42:29,280 circumstances, in their relational capacities, God. 643 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:33,640 And they would be able to see and bless your hand at work and 644 00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:36,080 participate in what it is that You are doing. 645 00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:39,560 I bless them. If you would stand, I have a 646 00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:46,240 benediction to speak over you. I'll start this way and then 647 00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:47,920 we'll go into the the standard blessing. 648 00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:52,480 But you are one in whom Christ dwells and delights. 649 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:56,960 You are living in the all powerful, unshakable Kingdom of 650 00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,000 the triune God of grace. His Kingdom is not in need. 651 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:05,120 It's not in lack, and it's not in turmoil, and neither are you. 652 00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:07,760 May the Lord bless you and keep you. 653 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:12,600 May He make His face to shine upon you and He surprised you 654 00:43:12,600 --> 00:43:15,360 with His grace, favour and mercies. 655 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:19,160 As you go into your week and walk this message out, Go and be 656 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:20,720 the church. God bless you guys. 657 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:21,200 Thank you.