1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,000 Good morning church, Good morning. 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:05,480 A lot of you might not know who I am. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:10,400 As Rachel mentioned, I've had the privilege of ministering to 4 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:14,400 this church now for many years. I'm a board member here at the 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,240 church and I've been walking alongside this church pretty 6 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:20,440 much from the very beginning. It's been over a decade. 7 00:00:21,440 --> 00:00:24,600 So I'm just really grateful I'm, I think this might be my first 8 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,240 time preaching here since you've become the garden. 9 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,159 So God's doing a new thing. Amen. 10 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,760 And I'm excited to be here today. 11 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,960 By way of introduction, I like to tell people that I'm a part 12 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,120 of a weird family. I have two younger brothers, one 13 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:45,400 for many years managed artist for a rapper named Snoop Dogg. 14 00:00:46,040 --> 00:00:50,120 He now is a public defender for the city of Los Angeles. 15 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:54,720 And he's just passionate about justice, really trying to shake 16 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:56,800 up the justice system down there. 17 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,760 I have another brother. He goes by the name Bobby 18 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:01,840 Hundreds. He founded a company, fashion 19 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,879 brand called The Hundreds. I haven't had to buy clothes for 20 00:01:04,879 --> 00:01:08,240 like 20 years. And then earlier this year, he 21 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:10,840 was named the head of creative over at Disney. 22 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,480 And so he is now going into the Disney World and trying to shake 23 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:17,720 things up up there. And I became a pastor. 24 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:21,640 And I think, and I tell my brothers this all the time, I 25 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,480 think I have the best job because I get to go around and I 26 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,200 get to shake things up everywhere, right? 27 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,960 I get to shake things up everywhere through the message 28 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:33,760 and the power of the gospel. By God's grace, I've had the 29 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,680 opportunity to do this in both sort of like sacred and secular 30 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:40,040 contexts. And this morning I get to do 31 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,960 that here today. So excited to be here this 32 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:45,320 morning. I know there is already a title 33 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,400 for this message that was pre populated for me. 34 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,840 But when I was writing up my sermon that the title that I 35 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,520 gave my own sermon in my Word document is The Church in the 36 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:58,520 Power of the Spirit. The Church in the Power of the 37 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:00,680 Spirit. And I named it that because I 38 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,120 believe that as a church we are called to shake things up. 39 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:09,639 We're called to shake things up with the good news of Jesus. 40 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,080 And I don't know if you've noticed, but right now we are 41 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,120 living in a time where we are drowning in bad news, bad news 42 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,360 globally, domestically, locally. I recently talked to a pastor 43 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:23,240 who is an immigrant. He's trying to go through his 44 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,760 process of citizenship. Things have gotten really 45 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,200 complicated. He tells me he does three things 46 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:30,120 every day. He says he tries every day. 47 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,960 He prays every day, and he cries every day. 48 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:38,000 That to me, kind of sums up the state of the world that we're 49 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,560 living in. We are drowning in bad news. 50 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:46,240 But the church comes with good news for such a time as this. 51 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:49,120 And the church comes not only with good news, but with the 52 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:51,920 power of the Holy Spirit. And that's what we're going to 53 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,400 look at here today in Acts chapter 2. 54 00:02:54,920 --> 00:02:56,360 All right, you guys ready? Right. 55 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:58,000 Turn to your neighbor and say God has a word for you. 56 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:02,600 Yeah, that's right. And before you get too judgy, go 57 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:04,720 like this to yourself and say God has a word for me. 58 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,840 God has a word for me, right? OK, let me, let me pray for us. 59 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:10,120 And we'll look at Acts chapter 2. 60 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:16,320 All right, Lord God, we thank you for life, for waking us up 61 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:21,280 this morning, putting breath in our lungs. 62 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,000 We thank you that even as we occupy this space, this space 63 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,600 becomes holy ground. It becomes sacred when the 64 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,640 people of God gathered, you are there in a special way, in a 65 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,640 profound way. And so God, may we sense your 66 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:43,120 Spirit move through this place just like it did in Acts chapter 67 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:45,520 2. And may the Spirit then stir our 68 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:50,520 hearts as we hear your word. We pray these things in your 69 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:51,360 name. Amen. 70 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,360 Amen. All right, Acts 2. 71 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,000 Before we dig in, let me give you some context. 72 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,640 The book of Acts, it's a continuation of the Gospels, 73 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,160 right? In the Gospels, they essentially 74 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:06,080 tell the story of this guy Jesus. 75 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:09,640 Jesus comes into the world. Jesus lives, Jesus dies. 76 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:12,960 Jesus beats death, Amen beats death. 77 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:17,120 And then Jesus kind of like, hangs around for a while until 78 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:20,320 he ascends to heaven. He literally flies up into the 79 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,960 sky and disappears. And what we're told in the at 80 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:25,640 the beginning of Acts is that just like when you go outside 81 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:28,960 and you let go of a helium balloon, the disciples are left 82 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,320 just, like staring up in the sky wondering what to do next. 83 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,920 But then they remember that Jesus before he ascends, he 84 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:38,960 gives them both a command and a promise. 85 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,280 He commands them to wait. He says wait in Jerusalem. 86 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,480 And then he promises them that if they wait in Jerusalem, they 87 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,440 will receive power. It says in Acts 1, he says, you 88 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,480 will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. 89 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:56,720 So that the disciples at this moment, they're, they're, 90 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,840 they're supposed to wait for power to come. 91 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:03,400 They are in a holding pattern. A lot of you here this morning. 92 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,240 You can relate with this, right? You can relate with being in a 93 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:10,360 holding pattern, waiting for power. 94 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:12,720 You're waiting for that job offer. 95 00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:14,680 You're waiting for those test results. 96 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,120 You're waiting for healing. You're waiting for the 97 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,320 government to reopen. You're waiting for God to make a 98 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,680 way where there is no way. You're waiting for power to 99 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:24,800 come. And that's what the disciples 100 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:26,760 are doing here. So that brings us to Acts 101 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:28,400 chapter 2. Let's read this verse one. 102 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:35,360 All right, first one it says When the day of Pentecost came, 103 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:36,680 they were all together in one place. 104 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:40,120 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came 105 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,600 from heaven filled the whole house where they were sitting. 106 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,640 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated 107 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:47,200 and came to rest on each of them. 108 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,280 Each of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to 109 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:52,920 speak in other tongues as a spirit enabled them. 110 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,040 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God fearing Jews from 111 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,800 every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a 112 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:01,720 crowd came together in bewilderment because each one 113 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:03,920 heard their own language being spoken. 114 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,880 Utterly amazed, they asked, Aren't all these who are 115 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:10,480 speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us 116 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:12,440 hears them? In our native language, 117 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,640 Parthians means Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, 118 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,560 Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphlea, Egypt and the 119 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,680 lower parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both 120 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,120 Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs. 121 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:31,800 We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own 122 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,080 tongues. Amazed and perplexed, they asked 123 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:40,480 one another What does this mean? Some, however, made fun of them 124 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,560 and said they have had too much wine. 125 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:47,120 The disciples are gathered in the upper room and then 126 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:50,600 something supernatural happens, and when it happens there are 127 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,360 only two questions. One question is what is going 128 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,160 on? And two, what does it mean? 129 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,800 First, what is going on? What's going on is what we're 130 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,760 told that there is wind. That word for wind is the same 131 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:07,320 word that's used in the Bible for breath, the same word that's 132 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:10,360 used when Adam and Eve are animated to life. 133 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,440 So in this moment, when this wind comes into the room, it's 134 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,880 like God is breathing into the disciples. 135 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,080 So first there's wind and then there's fire. 136 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,760 There's fire and we're told that that the disciples look at each 137 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:26,960 other and they're like, dude, you got fire on your head. 138 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,360 And, and, and there's fire that's like hovering over the 139 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,440 disciples at this moment. And we're told that this fire 140 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,840 represents the Holy Spirit. If you know your Bible, you know 141 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:38,800 that the Holy Spirit likes to hover. 142 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,440 OK, Genesis 1, the Spirit is hovering over the waters. 143 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,320 When Jesus gets baptized, the Spirit is hovering over the 144 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:46,920 waters. And here in Acts chapter 2, the 145 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,880 Spirit of God through fire is hovering over the people of God. 146 00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,920 Now as is the Holy Spirit hovers over the people. 147 00:07:54,960 --> 00:07:58,760 The Spirit is then imparting something to the people. 148 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,800 And what is the Spirit imparting to the people? 149 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:06,120 The Spirit is imparting tongues. Tongues. 150 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,280 Now tongues can be a controversial topic in churches, 151 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:10,800 right? But what people don't understand 152 00:08:10,800 --> 00:08:12,960 is that there are two types of tongues that are found in the 153 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:14,720 Bible. The first one is known as 154 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,040 glossolalia. Somebody say glossolalia. 155 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,560 Good job. And glossolalia is is, is is 156 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,440 basically like angelic tongues, heavenly tongues, but to the 157 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:27,000 human ear, it sounds like gibberish. 158 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,440 And what it requires and the, and the apostle Paul tells us 159 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,039 this is that when you use this gift of tongues, it requires A 160 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:36,440 secondary gift. It requires another person to 161 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:38,000 have the interpretation of tongues. 162 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:41,440 And this is probably the biggest sort of like criticism of of 163 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,240 churches that that that activate the gift of tongues is that you 164 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,200 have a bunch of people speaking in tongues, but nobody 165 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,800 interpreting, no one who has the gift of interpretation that's 166 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,160 supposed to go along with it. But that's glossolalia. 167 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,760 But that's not what's happening here in Acts chapter 2. 168 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:58,800 What's happening here is not glossolalia. 169 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,360 It's what's known as xenoglossia. 170 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:02,600 Turn to your neighbor and say, what is that? 171 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:05,440 Yeah, what is that? Right? 172 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:07,320 Some of you don't have a neighbor, but you're doing good. 173 00:09:08,720 --> 00:09:11,800 Xenoglossia. Xenoglossia is when people are 174 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:16,920 supernaturally speaking actual languages, actual language that 175 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,480 are not their own, right? So in Acts 2, what you have is a 176 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:23,880 room full of Korean people speaking Arabic and an Arabic, 177 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,720 Arabic person speaking French and a French person speaking 178 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,400 Japanese, right? This is not the the gift of 179 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,560 tongues, right? This is xenoglossia. 180 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,480 And you don't need like, the gift of interpretation to 181 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,640 understand what's going on. All you need is a native 182 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,320 speaker. Acts chapter 2 verse 8 says then 183 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,640 how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 184 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:49,840 So what's happening? Xenoglossia is happening. 185 00:09:50,120 --> 00:09:52,800 Now the next question is found in verse 12, verse 12. 186 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:54,240 People are asking, well, what does this mean? 187 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:57,680 What does this mean? One theory is found in verse 13. 188 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:00,400 It says some however, made fun of them and said they have had 189 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:02,680 too much wine. All right, that's one theory. 190 00:10:02,680 --> 00:10:05,720 All right, this is so interesting that when God moves 191 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,920 in our lives, especially in miraculous, supernatural ways, 192 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:10,520 we have a tendency to explain it away. 193 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,720 We just do, right? You pray for that job, you get 194 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:15,560 the job and someone says, how'd you get that job? 195 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:18,800 And you're like, man, I got lucky, had a good interview. 196 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:20,800 You pray for healing, you get healed. 197 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:26,480 How'd you get healed? Green tea, mushroom extract, 198 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:31,400 It's miracle food, right? Well, what about the the one who 199 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:36,200 did the miracle, right? And so here God moves 200 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,360 supernaturally in Acts chapter 2. 201 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:40,920 And yet people look at him. They say, oh, that's, that's 202 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:42,200 just a bunch of people being drunk. 203 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:45,760 That's they're, they're just drunk, which makes no sense. 204 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,320 I've seen drunk people. Drunk people don't become super 205 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,120 linguists when they when they get drunk, right? 206 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,480 They don't become Duolingo experts, right? 207 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,840 Nobody says, oh, I got hammered last night and then not and all 208 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,600 this Arabic and Japanese came out of me like nobody does that. 209 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,640 So this theory actually makes absolutely no sense, but it 210 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:09,480 tells you the extent that people go to to try and explain away 211 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:13,480 the supernatural move of God. It reminds me of a quote by 212 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:14,960 Charles Spurgeon. He says this. 213 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,920 He said blessed is the man or woman who has done with chance, 214 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:25,520 who never speaks of luck, but believes that from the least, 215 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:30,400 even to the greatest, all things are ordained of the Lord. 216 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:33,040 So what is actually happening here? 217 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:35,120 This is one of the greatest moments in human history. 218 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:38,080 And what's happening here in Acts chapter 2, it is the birth 219 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,080 and the formation of the church as we know it. 220 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,080 It's the beginning of the church and it, and it's the moment 221 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,480 where God's people, they become the church and they are 222 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,480 empowered by the Holy Spirit. And this changes everything. 223 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,880 And in particular, it changes the way that they are to live. 224 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,520 That in light of Acts chapter 2 and in the pouring of the Holy 225 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,000 Spirit upon the people of God, we are to live different. 226 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,400 I'm going to give you 4 ways that we live different. 227 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,320 We live by the promises of God. Now. 228 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,760 We live by the power of God, by the purposes of God and by the 229 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,720 presence of God. I usually preach 3 point 230 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:13,600 sermons. I'm going to give you 4 because 231 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:17,240 I love you guys and you guys, you know, we're good. 232 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:21,120 All right, So point number one, we, we live now by the promise 233 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,760 of God in light of Acts 2, we live by the promise of God. 234 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,480 In the Old Testament. What would happen is that the 235 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,960 Holy Spirit was there where the Holy Spirit would come and go. 236 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,560 The Holy Spirit would show up in the Old Testament to certain 237 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:37,600 people for certain times in certain seasons, and then the 238 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,880 Holy Spirit would go. That's what's happening in the 239 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:42,400 Old Testament. Every time the Holy Spirit 240 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:45,560 comes, there is peace and presence and power. 241 00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:49,560 And every time the Holy Spirit leaves, there is a vacuum that 242 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,480 is left. And it happens over and over 243 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,760 again in the Old Testament. This is why King David in Psalm 244 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,400 51, he says, cast me not away from your presence. 245 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:03,680 Take not your Spirit from me. King David knows what it's like, 246 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:04,960 right? If you read the story of King 247 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:07,640 David, he knows what it's like for the Spirit to come on him 248 00:13:07,760 --> 00:13:10,600 and for the Spirit to depart. And so in Psalm 51 is like, cast 249 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:14,600 not me away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from 250 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:17,400 me. This is what everybody was going 251 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,240 through. And so people kind of lose their 252 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,120 minds when the prophet Joel shows up with this promise from 253 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,720 God. And Joel in chapter 2 says, and 254 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:29,560 afterward, this is Joel 228 to 29 says, And afterward I will 255 00:13:29,560 --> 00:13:31,520 pour out my spirit on all people. 256 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:34,480 Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will 257 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,840 dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. 258 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,680 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my 259 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:44,960 spirit In those days. God promises through the prophet 260 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:47,760 Joel that there will be a day where the Spirit of God will no 261 00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:50,560 longer come and go. The Spirit of God will come and 262 00:13:50,560 --> 00:13:55,880 stay. And the Spirit of God will not 263 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:57,760 be here and there in a stingy way. 264 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,880 The Spirit of God will be poured out all over the place. 265 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,080 It'd be poured out on all flesh. And so you have to understand 266 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,680 that for centuries people waited for this promise to come true. 267 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:11,520 And it's on the Day of Pentecost. 268 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,920 It's on. It's in Acts chapter 2 that it 269 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,920 happens. It's in Acts chapter 2 that this 270 00:14:17,920 --> 00:14:21,840 promise that God made in the Old Testament comes to fulfillment. 271 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:23,640 The Spirit comes and doesn't leave. 272 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:28,720 The Spirit comes and and makes a home and stays and dwells and 273 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:30,280 remains. I don't know about you. 274 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,760 I grew up in the church. I, I always used to wish that I 275 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:34,960 lived in Old Testament times when I was a kid. 276 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:37,000 I was like, man, I wish I could have seen the Red Sea part. 277 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:38,640 I wish I could have seen that burning Bush. 278 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,520 But you need to understand that people back then, they were 279 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:46,720 dreaming about 2025. Back then they were like, oh, I 280 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:51,280 wish it was 2025 because by that point God would have fulfilled 281 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:55,840 his promise that the Spirit would come and not depart, that 282 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,040 the Spirit would dwell in the people of God. 283 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:00,680 That's what people are doing back then. 284 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:05,560 They're envious of us here. When that Holy Spirit is poured 285 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:10,120 out, it is a reminder that God keeps God's promises. 286 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:13,520 God keeps God's promises. And what does that mean? 287 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:17,240 If God keeps God's promises, we are then to live by God's 288 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:22,760 promises. I once heard of this woman here 289 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,960 in Massachusetts and she failed her Massachusetts teacher 290 00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,560 education license exam like 13 times, just kept failing, 291 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:31,720 failing, failing, failing, failing. 292 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,600 And she was about to take the test for the 14th time. 293 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,440 But then the school that she was working at told her, hey, we 294 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:41,120 don't care if you pass or fail. We're going to hire you here at 295 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,040 this at this school because you're a fantastic teacher. 296 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,640 You've demonstrated that you have a job here at this church 297 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:47,960 no matter what you do on that exam. 298 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:50,440 She went into that exam and she passed the exam. 299 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:57,200 Now what happened? Maybe lucky number 14, or she 300 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,360 took that test knowing that her future was secured. 301 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:05,240 You follow me. What if you knew that your 302 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,120 future was secured? What if back in high school, you 303 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,960 knew what school you'd go to, what job you'd have, where you'd 304 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:14,120 live, what your relationships would be, would be like? 305 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:17,160 What if you knew all that stuff in high school That would change 306 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,160 everything. That would change everything 307 00:16:19,160 --> 00:16:24,560 about high school. God has secured our future for 308 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:28,840 us, and because we have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit 309 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:31,200 moving in our midst, that Holy Spirit in our lives is a 310 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,640 reminder that God keeps God's promises and that God has 311 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,720 secured our future. Walter Bruggeman, he puts it 312 00:16:37,720 --> 00:16:40,360 this way. He says we do not live by what 313 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,280 we possess, but by what we are promised. 314 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,680 The promises of God are the only grounds for hope in a world of 315 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,320 despair. We then need to live in light of 316 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,200 God's promises because God has secured our future. 317 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:01,640 And I promise you this, that in this life or the next, things 318 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,200 will be OK. I don't know if you. 319 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,240 I don't know if you believe that I'm telling you right now things 320 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,480 will be OK. There's one writer, He's a 321 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,520 Brazilian writer named Fernando Sabino. 322 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,000 He says everything will be OK in the end. 323 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:17,880 If it's not OK, it's not the end. 324 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,119 We live by the promises of God. Second, we live by the power of 325 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,640 God, by the power of God. The Holy Spirit in this story 326 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:30,960 comes in power through fire, right? 327 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,360 In Acts chapter 2, What happens here? 328 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:38,040 It's not a random thing, right? What happens in Acts 2 is not a 329 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:39,920 random thing. And, and, and what happens is 330 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,280 that in Pentecost, right? Pentecost was actually a Jewish 331 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,960 festival. It was a Jewish festival that 332 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:48,640 was celebrated 50 days after a Passover. 333 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,520 And during Pentecost, what Jews would do, they would gather 334 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,360 together and they would commemorate and remember the day 335 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:57,880 that the law was given to them on Mount Sinai through Moses, 336 00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,440 right? That's what Pentecost was all 337 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:00,760 about. All right. 338 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:02,680 Now, what you need to know is this. 339 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,720 It's not an accident that that acts to happens on Pentecost on 340 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:07,600 this Jewish sort of like festival. 341 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,120 It's not an accident. So follow this progression. 342 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,160 In the Old Testament, Moses encounters God in a burning 343 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,200 Bush. So God sets a Bush on fire, and 344 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,040 that's where God shows up in Exodus 19. 345 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:22,800 Again, if you know your Bible, when they get to Mount Sinai and 346 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,680 they receive the law, we're told that God comes down from Mount 347 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,560 Sinai in fire. In essence, instead of lighting 348 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:31,200 a Bush on fire, God sets the entire mountain on fire. 349 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:36,360 The entire mountain is ablaze in Exodus 19. 350 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,920 And now here in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit comes, the Bush is 351 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,520 not set on fire, the mountain is not set on fire. 352 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,880 We are set on fire. God sets us on fire. 353 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:54,720 That fire that represented the very presence of God and the 354 00:18:54,720 --> 00:19:00,480 very power of God now rests upon us and consumes us. 355 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:03,800 We in a sense, we are the burning Bush. 356 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,960 We become the burning Bush. And, and what that means is that 357 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,800 Christ in US makes us more powerful than you could possibly 358 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,000 imagine, more powerful than you could possibly imagine. 359 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:19,280 Now, what do you do with all of that power? 360 00:19:19,280 --> 00:19:21,160 I know what the world would do with all of that power. 361 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,480 But what Jesus does with that power is very different. 362 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:27,800 Jesus, the way of Jesus is not coercive. 363 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,120 It's not through force. It's not through violence. 364 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:35,160 We're given all this power, but we're to wield it in the way of 365 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,080 Jesus. And that leads us to the Third 366 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:38,440 Point, which is that we are live. 367 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,400 We are to live by God's purposes. 368 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:42,400 We are to live by the purpose of God. 369 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:43,680 So what are we supposed to do with this power? 370 00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,480 There's a purpose that we've been given with this power. 371 00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,360 I was recently at Starbucks. I went to get my coffee. 372 00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:53,000 They called out my name. They said coffee for Larry, and 373 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,800 I went to go get it. And this other dude grabbed my 374 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:59,560 coffee and then like one second later, the woman goes coffee for 375 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:01,440 Larry and puts out another cup, cup of coffee. 376 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,800 And I look at this dude and this guy looks at me and this guy 377 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,120 goes, he goes, I'm Larry. And I look at him and I go, I'm 378 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:13,000 Larry. And he says great name. 379 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,400 And I should have said you also have a great name. 380 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:18,880 But I didn't say that. You know what I said? 381 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:20,640 I said, how do you know you have the right coffee? 382 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:27,320 And I don't know. I look back at that moment. 383 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,320 And I don't know why I was so hostile. 384 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,640 Like, the conversation just died, right? 385 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:34,320 Like, he and I have the same name. 386 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:37,000 He's being super nice. We should be best friends. 387 00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:39,760 Instead, all I care about is like, I think that guy took my 388 00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:46,240 coffee and I think he's touching like, the lid or like, that's 389 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:47,520 all I cared about in that moment. 390 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:53,200 And here's my point that ever since Adam blamed Eve for the 391 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:58,240 fall, people have been divided and we strive against each other 392 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:00,080 and sometimes for no good reason whatsoever. 393 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,840 In Acts 2 verses 5 through 11, it says now there were staying 394 00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:08,200 in Jerusalem God fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 395 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,200 When they heard the sound, a crowd came together in 396 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:14,400 bewilderment because each one heard their own language being 397 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:16,200 spoken. This is not random. 398 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:21,000 What we need in order to to to kind of break that striving and 399 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,160 that barrier between people is something supernatural. 400 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,360 We need something supernatural. We cannot do it by natural 401 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:28,960 means. We need something supernatural. 402 00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:30,680 And this is the way that God does it. 403 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,040 And what we're told is that they're all these nations that 404 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,240 are gathered here in this city. It says Parthians means 405 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:40,080 Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, 406 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:43,560 Phrygia, Pamphlea, Egypt, Libya, Rome, Cretans, Arabs. 407 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,920 This is not an accident. This is a story that goes all 408 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:49,400 the way back to Adam and Eve and the division that happened since 409 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,120 the fall. From the very beginning, we've 410 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:54,440 created walls and created categories. 411 00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,040 We've been against each other. We separate by language, 412 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,920 separate by ethnicity, separate by nationality, by class, by 413 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:04,280 politics. And throughout history, those 414 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,680 divisions lead to violence and war and brokenness. 415 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,720 At Pentecost, God is healing things, reversing things. 416 00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,440 He gives everybody this Zeno Glacia so they can understand. 417 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,040 And it breaks down this barrier that exists between language. 418 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,720 And by doing So, what God does is he takes a crowd and he turns 419 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,800 them into a community. God, as he does, as God is 420 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:29,600 saying, I'm putting the world back together. 421 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,040 I'm, I'm healing the division that was sown into this world 422 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,920 going all the way back to the days of Genesis. 423 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,280 And This is why the power of God manifests as xenoglossia and not 424 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,760 glossolalia, right? And I think there's a role for 425 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:43,560 glossolalia. There's a role for people 426 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,280 speaking what sounds like gibberish and people 427 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,800 interpreting it. But right now, right now, I 428 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:52,440 don't know if we need that. Right now, what we need is we 429 00:22:52,440 --> 00:22:55,520 need the power to understand other people's languages. 430 00:22:55,880 --> 00:22:58,600 We need the power to understand other people's cultures. 431 00:22:58,720 --> 00:23:01,360 We need the power to understand other people's stories. 432 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:04,120 We need the power and the empathy to be able to stand in 433 00:23:04,120 --> 00:23:07,760 other people's shoes. When you do so, you break down 434 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,560 these dividing walls that have been there from day one. 435 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,840 Willie James Jennings has probably the best commentary on 436 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,800 the book of Acts, and he says this. 437 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:20,080 He says speak a language, speak a people. 438 00:23:21,120 --> 00:23:26,240 God speaks people fluently, and God wants the disciples of his 439 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:29,200 only begotten Son to speak people fluently too. 440 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,880 But this will require bodies that reach across massive and 441 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,920 real boundaries, cultural, religious, ethnic devotion to 442 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:42,400 people's unknown and undesired. This is love that cannot be 443 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,640 tamed, controlled or planned. And once unleashed, it will 444 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,840 drive the disciples forward into the world and drive a question 445 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,880 into their lives. Here's the question. 446 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,680 Where is the Holy Spirit taking us and into whose lives? 447 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,040 I like that. Where is the Spirit of God 448 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:07,040 taking you and into whose lives? We pray for that job. 449 00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:10,560 I'm like, cool, you'll pray for the job, but into whose lives 450 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,120 are you entering into? You're praying about moving to a 451 00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:15,840 city. Cool, right? 452 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:19,720 But into whose lives is the Spirit taking you? 453 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,920 There's this power, but that power comes with a purpose. 454 00:24:23,280 --> 00:24:27,360 And the purpose is to go and to bring reconciliation, to bring 455 00:24:27,360 --> 00:24:31,880 peace, to wield that power in the way of Jesus. 456 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,440 Finally, finally, we live by the presence of God. 457 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:39,320 We live by God's presence. Again, going back to the Old 458 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:41,320 Testament, I don't know if you know this, but but God's 459 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,360 presence was localized in the temple and people understood 460 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:46,160 that God basically lived in the temple. 461 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:49,040 And so you'd get to the outer courts and you would feel that 462 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:51,120 the presence of God. And once you got into the inner 463 00:24:51,120 --> 00:24:54,080 courts, then you really got to feel the presence of God. 464 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:55,960 And then there's there's a section in the temple in the 465 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,480 very, very center called the Holy of Holies, where people 466 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,920 believe the very essence of God dwelled. 467 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:04,120 People back then believed that Holy of Holies was like almost 468 00:25:04,120 --> 00:25:06,320 like an elevator that was mirrored in heaven. 469 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:08,960 It was like a Direct Line to the heavenly realm. 470 00:25:09,360 --> 00:25:12,760 And that Holy of Holies was like a sacred, sacred, sacred space 471 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,040 where very, very, very few people could go into. 472 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:18,440 That's how the presence of God works. 473 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:25,080 But in 2025, post Acts 2 and the Holy Spirit being poured out on 474 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,560 all flesh and Christ dying and resurrecting, what then was the 475 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,240 temple? The temple is no longer there 476 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:34,160 and we then become the temple. And what does that mean? 477 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:40,880 It means the very essence, the very essence of God is now in 478 00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,240 us. This is what the apostle Paul 479 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:45,480 calls a mystery. It's Christ in us. 480 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:49,560 This is this is the part that I think that that we just can 481 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,760 quite fathom or understand because it's such a mystery, but 482 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:54,840 it's also something that we need to press into because if we 483 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,800 understood that it isn't about Christ just alongside of you, 484 00:25:58,520 --> 00:26:00,000 right? This is how we typically picture 485 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:01,480 God. God is alongside of me. 486 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,720 God is here, God is around. OK, But over and over again, 487 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,040 what we're told by the Apostle Paul is that Christ is in you, 488 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:11,320 not, not next to you. It's Christ in you. 489 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:17,520 And what what Christ in you? What that creates is unspeakable 490 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,080 intimacy. It's intimacy that you can't 491 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:26,520 even possibly imagine. When you understand that, it 492 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:30,840 changes everything. I recently met someone who 493 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,920 became a follower of Jesus but was raised Buddhist and in a 494 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,600 Buddhist household in Burma. She told me her story and she 495 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:41,400 said that when she was younger, they're all Buddhist. 496 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:42,880 Her dad is Buddhist, everybody's Buddhist. 497 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:46,080 Her dad in Burma took them to a Catholic Church, took the whole 498 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,200 family to a Catholic Church. And the family was confused 499 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,440 about why they were there. And at the end of the service, 500 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:52,240 the dad said, all right, turn around, everybody look at the 501 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:53,600 back wall. They look at the back wall. 502 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,040 And she said that there's a picture of like this Italian 503 00:26:56,040 --> 00:27:01,160 looking dude. And his dad goes, that man, his 504 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,840 name is Jesus, and he was, that man is a revolutionary. 505 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:08,280 Now in Burma, when you've lived under an authoritarian 506 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:12,680 government for five decades, being a revolutionary is a very 507 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:16,520 good thing because that man is a revolutionary. 508 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,600 But he brought revolution in a different way. 509 00:27:19,600 --> 00:27:24,520 He brought it in a peaceful way. He brought it to the Roman 510 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:26,680 Empire, but he did it differently than every other 511 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,040 revolutionary. He did it in a peaceful way. 512 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:32,880 And the dad told his family, he said, I want you to respect that 513 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,520 man, that revolutionary. I want you to know his name, and 514 00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:38,840 I want you to pray to him. That's what this dad said. 515 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,680 And so in that moment, this girl, she prays to Jesus for the 516 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:43,120 first time. And she prays. 517 00:27:43,120 --> 00:27:46,880 And she said that when she prayed, she sensed and saw light 518 00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:51,080 and warmth and what she describes as a gentle power. 519 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,080 And when she opened her eyes, she said she could still see 520 00:27:55,080 --> 00:28:01,720 light and warmth and this gentle power. 521 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:05,760 Ever since that day, ever since that day, whenever she was in 522 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:07,880 trouble, she said she would pray to this Jesus. 523 00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,360 And every time, she said sometimes she would see light, 524 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:14,080 sometimes she she would sense this warmth, but every time she 525 00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:18,040 would sense this gentle power almost nudging her to go in the 526 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,360 right direction. And then COVID came. 527 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,760 And during COVID she was living alone and struggling. 528 00:28:22,760 --> 00:28:24,320 And so she was praying to Jesus a lot. 529 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,560 And as she prayed to Jesus, she found that Jesus was again 530 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,160 bringing presents and peace and wholeness to her. 531 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:36,040 And during COVID, she says that two people knocked on her door 532 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:37,640 during COVID and she was really struggling. 533 00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:39,680 She said she was living alone, really, really, really 534 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:41,680 struggling. And during COVID, somebody 535 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,800 knocked on her doors. 2, two people showed up and these two 536 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:45,400 people said, Hey, we were praying. 537 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,720 We were sent by God to you and, and we want to tell you about 538 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,160 Jesus. And she said, I don't, I don't 539 00:28:51,160 --> 00:28:52,760 need that. I I'm ready to be baptized right 540 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:56,040 now. She was baptized the next day. 541 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:01,520 She was baptized the next day. She told her family. 542 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:03,440 The whole family was incredulous. 543 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,080 They're like, what did you just do? 544 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,040 Even though it's her dad's idea to pray to Jesus in the 1st 545 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:12,680 place, but he never knew that praying to Jesus would lead to 546 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,200 an encounter with Jesus. Since then, her life has been 547 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,640 turned completely upside down in the best possible way. 548 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,160 And she, she discovered this, these are her words. 549 00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,160 She said she discovered that she wants to live. 550 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,760 She says she wants to live more than anything she wants to live. 551 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,600 And what she meant is that she wants everything that life has 552 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,080 to offer her. She told me that that Buddhism, 553 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:39,720 the way of Buddhism, teaches to detach from desire and craving 554 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,440 and clinging and to hold life at a distance to go with the flow 555 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,640 of the universe, because desire in Buddhist thinking leads to 556 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,680 suffering, right? Desire leads to suffering. 557 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,240 This Buddhist thought, this is Star Wars Yoda talk, This is all 558 00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:56,840 of it is true, desire leads to suffering. 559 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:01,080 But Jesus, she said when she started following Jesus, called 560 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:03,880 her to do the opposite. It called her to increase her 561 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:09,320 desire, to increase her desire. And she realized that as she did 562 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,520 that, she realized that she wanted to live. 563 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:15,400 She realized she wanted life, but you know what she 564 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:17,120 discovered? She discovered that as her 565 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,280 desire increased, that the Buddhists were absolutely right. 566 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,200 That as desire increased, suffering also increased. 567 00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,560 She was like, oh, that's totally, they were totally 568 00:30:25,560 --> 00:30:27,840 right. What she wasn't told is this. 569 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,480 She wasn't told. She wasn't told that when she 570 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:38,560 does suffer, there is this person Jesus that shows up over 571 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:47,320 and over and over again and brings light and warmth and 572 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:52,880 gentle power. No one told her this, this, this 573 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:55,880 is like it's like she's figured out the secret of living life 574 00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:00,520 because she kind of has, right? This church is the good news 575 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,760 that we have. This is the good news that we 576 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:07,880 have this week, just very personally, this is this week is 577 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,320 my son's was my son's birthday. It was on November 6th, but he's 578 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,320 no longer with us. So my wife and I lost a child 579 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,040 many years ago. His name was Emmett. 580 00:31:18,240 --> 00:31:20,680 And this last week would have been his 15th birthday. 581 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,040 He would have been in high school, which kind of like blows 582 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,720 our mind. And so it's been, you know, 583 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:30,080 every birthday of his is always a heavy week in my family. 584 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,520 But I look back and I'm just like, losing my son brought the 585 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,400 most intense suffering in my life. 586 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,800 But that's suffering came from a place of intense love. 587 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:49,160 And that love, when you love someone in that way, it opens 588 00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:56,000 you up to so much suffering. But in that suffering, I 589 00:31:56,000 --> 00:32:01,840 discovered that there is this person Jesus, and there's always 590 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:06,000 light, there's always warmth, this gentle power. 591 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,640 There's this person, Jesus who shows up over and over and over 592 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:14,040 again, church, this is what is promised to us, that he will 593 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,680 never leave or forsake us. He says I am with you always to 594 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,640 the end of the age. We as a church, we live by this 595 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:26,560 promise, by this presence, by this purpose, by this power.