1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,640 What does this mean? That's the question we're going 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,600 to be responding to here today. What does it mean? 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:08,360 That's the question that was asked there on Pentecost Now 4 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:09,960 today. Is it Pentecost Sunday, Next 5 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,240 Sunday's Pentecost Sunday. I'm going to be out of town next 6 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:14,800 Sunday. Rick's preaching next week. 7 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,960 And Rick, if I stole Pentecost from you, feel free to preach 8 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,440 another one on Pentecost. There's plenty to preach there, 9 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,480 So, but got something else. Awesome. 10 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:26,160 All right, All right, because I really, I really wanted to talk 11 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:29,880 about this passage. I'll be visiting our son James 12 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:31,720 next weekend. Looking forward to seeing him. 13 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,600 I haven't seen him since Christmas, so very eager to see 14 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,160 him again. And I'm very grateful for Rick 15 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:40,080 for filling in. But this question that they 16 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:45,280 asked, what does this mean that that these folks who are all 17 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:49,160 Judeans, not just Judeans, they're all Galileans and 18 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:53,120 they're talking and all of us folks who are from all over 19 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,760 different parts of the world are hearing everything they say, 20 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,800 each one of us in our own language. 21 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:00,960 How is that possible? And it's, it's the men, it's the 22 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,400 women, it's the old, it's the young, it's the educated, it's 23 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,440 the uneducated. And they're all doing this. 24 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,040 And we don't understand what this means. 25 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:13,040 Well, what this means is what we're talking about today. 26 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:16,720 And I'm going to kind of take a, a roundabout way to get there. 27 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,640 And I'm going to begin with a clip from one of my favorite 28 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:21,520 movies, a movie called Chariots of Fire. 29 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:23,360 It's an old movie. If you haven't seen it yet, 30 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:25,520 watch it. It's free on YouTube. 31 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,560 If you don't want to, you know, rent it on Amazon, you can get 32 00:01:28,560 --> 00:01:31,480 it there. And it's true story of Eric 33 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:33,240 Little. And I'm going to show 2 races 34 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:37,480 that Eric Little ran. Eric Little was a missionary to 35 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,560 China and he was also a very accomplished athlete. 36 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:45,200 He played rugby and he ran. And at the point where we're 37 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:48,440 seeing him in the first clip, he's he's running a quarter mile 38 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,520 race. And and this again, this is a 39 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,200 true story. Both clips are of things that 40 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,600 actually happened, even though they're quite surprising. 41 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,360 And he's he's he's preparing for the Olympics, which will be 42 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,560 coming up in 1924. So this is way back in the in 43 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,000 the 20s. And Eric Little running a 44 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:09,800 quarter mile race, you'll know him. 45 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,880 He's the one that they get gets most of the camera time. 46 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:14,960 But let's watch this race together. 47 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,120 At this point, I showed a clip from the movie Chariots of Fire. 48 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,840 The scene is of 1/4 mile race in which Eric Little is not down 49 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,000 early in the race but comes back to win. 50 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,280 I didn't include the audio here because the clip is mostly 51 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,120 visual and the audio alone wouldn't have added anything. 52 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:34,080 Now back to the sermon. What does it mean? 53 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:35,840 You might be asking that? What does that have to do with 54 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,200 Pentecost? What does it have to do with the 55 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:39,160 Holy Spirit? Well, Eric Little talk 56 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:41,440 specifically about that. And we're going to get a little 57 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,480 bit more of that later, but I want us to have that in the back 58 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:49,320 of our minds this race run. There's not a track coach in the 59 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:51,520 world. And again, Eric Little 60 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,680 ultimately, spoiler alert, ultimately ends up winning a 61 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,960 gold medal at the Olympics. There's not a track coach in the 62 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,160 world that will tell one of their athletes to imitate Eric 63 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,320 Little's running style. When he really got going, he put 64 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,360 his head back, he closed his eyes and he flailed his arms. 65 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:10,080 You're track. You're in track, aren't you, 66 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,040 Paige? Try that next time. 67 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,960 See what your coach says. Maybe not, maybe not. 68 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:20,920 And yet what he did was extraordinary. 69 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,680 What does it mean? That's what we're talking about 70 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:31,440 because this our last Sunday on, on living the Easter life and, 71 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,160 and the Easter life, not only is it life in a world turned upside 72 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:37,960 down, a life of service, a life of faith, a life of love. 73 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,760 The Easter life is a life empowered and it's a life 74 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:47,480 empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to his disciples, for 75 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:51,360 you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. 76 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:54,320 And we need to be careful that when we talk about the this 77 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:58,200 notion that we're going to receive power because we live in 78 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:00,400 a day in an 8. Well, and I hate to do this 79 00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:04,680 again to you, but Star Wars, we live in a post Star Wars culture 80 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,840 and, and power means something very different in the minds, in 81 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,400 our cultural context that it meant when Jesus was talking 82 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,320 about it. Because our tendency, the modern 83 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:21,160 tendency is to think of power like the force in the Star Wars 84 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,320 universe. But the Holy Spirit is not the 85 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:24,920 force. Now I love, I love Star Wars 86 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,400 universe. Well, I like the first 6-7 87 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:28,960 movies. The last three not so much. 88 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,960 But the Holy Spirit is not the Force. 89 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:38,240 The Force in those movies, the Jedi's control the Force and 90 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:40,480 they use it to do what they want to do. 91 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,800 The Sith as well, the Force is this, this big thing, this Force 92 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,000 that, that exists out in the universe that some people have 93 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,480 the talent and the ability to learn to use. 94 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:55,720 And they take hold of the Force and they control the Force and 95 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,000 they use the Force to do things that they want to do. 96 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,560 And, and, and they can do extraordinary things with the 97 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,400 Force, and some of those things are good and some of those 98 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,960 things are bad. But the whole notion is that the 99 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:14,000 Jedi use the Force to do the things that they see need to be 100 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,720 done in the world around them. That is not the kind of power 101 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,960 Jesus was talking about. Jesus was talking about a very 102 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:28,560 different kind of power. The Holy Spirit empowers us to 103 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:34,200 do what God wants. The Force let's Jedi do what 104 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:37,120 they want to do. It gives them the power to 105 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:39,200 accomplish what they want to accomplish. 106 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,800 And the Sith as well, the power to accomplish what they want to 107 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,960 accomplish. But the power that Jesus 108 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,480 promised us, the power that Jesus promised the church, is 109 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:52,960 the power to do what God wants, not what we want. 110 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:56,800 The Holy Spirit was not given to us so we could live our best 111 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,400 lives now. The Holy Spirit was not given to 112 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,640 us so that we could walk out into the world with our sense of 113 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:06,440 justice and self righteousness and make people behave the way 114 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,360 they ought to behave and make the world into what we think it 115 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,880 ought to be. The Holy Spirit was given to us 116 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:17,120 to accomplish God's purposes and God's plan in the world. 117 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,160 And that's exactly what the Holy Spirit empowers us to do. 118 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:24,960 The Holy Spirit empowers us to do what God wants us to do as 119 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,840 individuals and as a church. Let's take a look at Jesus the 120 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:33,000 all the things leading up to all the things, a few of the things 121 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,480 leading up to Pentecost here and this business of the Holy Spirit 122 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:39,000 empowering us to do what God wants to do. 123 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:42,200 Jesus all the way back on the day of resurrection started 124 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,920 talking to his disciples. And this isn't just the 12. 125 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:48,880 By the time of Pentecost, there were 120, both men and women 126 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:51,680 followers of Jesus, disciples gathered. 127 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,120 And when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, and there 128 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,640 on the day of resurrection, Jesus had gone to Emmaus. 129 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,000 Then he went back to Jerusalem, met with again men and women in 130 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:05,400 the upper room, his followers, his disciples, and was telling 131 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:09,320 them what God was going to do through them. 132 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,680 And this is what Jesus said there on the day of 133 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:14,640 resurrection. Repentance for forgiveness of 134 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,720 sins, Jesus says, will be proclaimed in his name. 135 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,480 He's talking about himself to all the nations beginning in 136 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:24,560 Jerusalem. So there in Jerusalem, Jesus 137 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,560 said, here's what's going to happen now. 138 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,240 Repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in 139 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,040 the name of Jesus. And my name, Jesus says 140 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,120 beginning in Jerusalem, it's going to be proclaimed to all 141 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:42,640 the nations few weeks after that on the day that Jesus ascended 142 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,200 into the heavens, Jesus once again, he's not in the 143 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,880 Jerusalem. They're out of Jerusalem now out 144 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,560 in the countryside and and the disciples are gathered around 145 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,320 him. And Jesus before he ascends into 146 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,360 the heaven says this, you will receive power when the Holy 147 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,120 Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in 148 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:05,520 Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth. 149 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:10,760 Now he adds in this point to spot to two locations between 150 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,960 that Judea and Samaria, but now to the ends of the earth, 151 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:19,040 starting in Jerusalem, going to all the nations, going to the 152 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:21,520 ends of the earth. This is what Jesus is telling 153 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,720 his disciples is going to happen through them. 154 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:25,960 Now remember who his disciples were. 155 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,600 His disciples were not highly educated people. 156 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,880 His disciples that that had learned lots of languages. 157 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,240 His disciples were not wealthy people who could afford to 158 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:42,240 travel to the ends of the earth. His disciples were not 159 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:46,200 respected, powerful people who would be able to enter other 160 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,040 countries and just start doing things that they were going to 161 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:52,800 be doing. His disciples were just regular 162 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,120 folks. These were working class folks 163 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,200 that had a limited education. The women almost certainly had 164 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:01,040 even less education than the men because of the way their culture 165 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:06,120 was constructed then. But Jesus is saying to these 166 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:10,120 hundred 120 people, I mean, that's not bad for, you know, 167 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,240 for I love 120 people in here on Sunday. 168 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:14,840 I think, man, that's a lot of folks. 169 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,920 But you know, 8 billion people in the world now, 100 and 20s 170 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:23,320 tiny fraction to the ends of the earth. 171 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:27,160 Now we don't hear that the Bible does not report these 172 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:31,400 conversations happening. But I, I have to believe the 173 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,080 disciples from that day of resurrection up to this point of 174 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:40,120 ascension, we're going how, how is this going to be possible? 175 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,040 They were aware of how big the world was not, I mean not 176 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:48,080 completely, they didn't know about what we now call North and 177 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,600 South America or Australia, but they were aware that the world 178 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:53,840 was a lot bigger than Jerusalem and Israel. 179 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:57,960 They lived at the crossroads of great civilizations. 180 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:00,480 People travel. That's why that area of land 181 00:10:00,680 --> 00:10:03,920 kept getting conquered by 1 empire after another, because 182 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:06,200 that area of land was strategically important. 183 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:11,160 It was accessed between Asia and and Africa and Europe and 184 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,240 Africa, and they would have encountered people from all of 185 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,680 those different areas. They would have encountered 186 00:10:16,680 --> 00:10:19,200 people from India, maybe people from China. 187 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:21,160 They would have encountered people from the great 188 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:24,880 civilizations of Africa like Egypt and Ethiopia. 189 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:27,640 They would have encountered people from Europe and Rome and 190 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:30,400 the Roman Empire. All of these folks traveling 191 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:34,760 through that area, they would have known, have this tremendous 192 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,720 number of different languages, different cultures, all of this 193 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,120 diversity that was out there, all of these places that wealthy 194 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,360 people traveled to. And it took them weeks and 195 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:47,440 months to get there. And they would have said how, 196 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:53,800 how can this happen? And then Pentecost, then the 197 00:10:53,800 --> 00:10:59,800 Holy Spirit descends upon them and they are empowered and God 198 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:05,520 through the Holy Spirit helps them see that God can and will 199 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:09,320 empower them to do whatever God calls them to do. 200 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,800 Because right there in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, 201 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,440 Pentecost was a Jewish celebration before it was a 202 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:18,800 Christian celebration. And, and on that day there were, 203 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:21,600 there were Jewish folks from all over, different parts of the 204 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,400 world, different ethnicities, different languages, different 205 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,720 cultures, different backgrounds. We're gathering there in 206 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:28,880 Jerusalem. Right there on that day was a 207 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:33,320 sampling, a small sampling of all the nations of the ends of 208 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:33,800 the earth. Earth. 209 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:38,880 And right there these regular, ordinary folks experienced this 210 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,000 extraordinary thing. All of them, men, the women, the 211 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,240 young, the old, the educated, the uneducated, all of them were 212 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,880 filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues 213 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:52,120 as the Spirit enabled them. Now they were staying in 214 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,120 Jerusalem, God fearing Jews from every nation under the under 215 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:59,640 heaven, when the when they heard this sound, a crowd came 216 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:03,560 together in bewilderment because each one heard their own 217 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,600 language being spoken. So we hear about them speaking 218 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,000 different languages and each people hearing in a different 219 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:11,480 language. And so, so, yeah, you got to 220 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,480 imagine this crowd of folks. There's 120 disciples plus all 221 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,840 of these other folks here. The disciples filled with the 222 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,000 Holy Spirit are telling the good news of Jesus Christ. 223 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:25,000 And everyone there was in all of this chaos, hearing the gospel 224 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:27,960 in their own language, in their own ears. 225 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:37,560 And the disciples can say, if God can do this, we've got 226 00:12:37,560 --> 00:12:40,920 nothing to worry about. Ends of the earth, other 227 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,600 languages. We've got the Holy Spirit. 228 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,040 The Holy Spirit didn't empower them to go out and force other 229 00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,560 people to convert to Christianity except Jesus or 230 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:54,640 die. The Holy Spirit didn't empower 231 00:12:54,640 --> 00:12:57,960 them to, to, to build up their lives and their personal net 232 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,040 worths and and the Holy Spirit didn't empower them to establish 233 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,320 their own personal empires in one form or another. 234 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,680 The Holy Spirit wasn't there to help them become great. 235 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,240 The Holy Spirit empowered them to do the work that Jesus had 236 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:15,080 given them to do to fulfill the prophecy that Jesus made about 237 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,040 them. That is the power of the Holy 238 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:21,120 Spirit. The Holy Spirit empowers us to 239 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:26,920 do what God wants us to do, not whatever we want to do. 240 00:13:27,720 --> 00:13:30,240 Now, in all of that, it's important to remember that the 241 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:34,160 Holy Spirit does not empower everyone to do the same thing. 242 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,920 We're part of a body, right? And the hand doesn't do what the 243 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,880 heart does, and the heart doesn't do what the lungs do, 244 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:43,360 And the lungs don't do what the feet do. 245 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,360 And the feet don't do what the kidneys do, and the kidneys 246 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:52,920 don't do what the knees do. Each of us gets empowered by the 247 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:57,240 Holy Spirit to do what God calls each of us as individuals to do. 248 00:13:57,440 --> 00:13:59,360 And we're going to come down back to this ordinary, 249 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:03,320 extraordinary example of Eric Little because I, I, I believe 250 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,280 he's a, a, a wonderful illustration of this, partly 251 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:08,720 because what he does is extraordinary. 252 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:12,960 And he explicitly tributes what he does to the power of God, 253 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,560 working in his life through the Holy Spirit that way. 254 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:21,120 It's extraordinary what he does. It's ordinary in the sense that 255 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:25,080 this promises for all of us as individuals. 256 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:29,000 It's like, you know, you're, you're, you've heard that 257 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,200 before. You're a unique individual. 258 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,800 And the history of the world, there has never been anyone 259 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:39,120 exactly like you. You are absolutely unique, just 260 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:43,920 like everyone else in the world. It's both extraordinary and 261 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:48,440 ordinary, and Eric Little is extraordinary and ordinary. 262 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:50,680 We're going to watch his race in the Olympics. 263 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,240 He trained ultimately in Olympics and qualified for the 264 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,880 100 meters. Watch the movie, you'll find out 265 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:57,360 why he didn't run the 100 meters. 266 00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:58,800 He ended up not running the 100 meters. 267 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,160 Instead, he's running the 400 meters, trained for 100 meters, 268 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,720 running the 400 meters and we're going to see his race in the 269 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,440 Olympics. The, the medal, this is the 270 00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:11,600 medal round. He's run 2 heats in this day and 271 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,320 age. And it wasn't like we'll come 272 00:15:13,320 --> 00:15:16,560 back day after they, they had already run 2 heats that day. 273 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:19,840 And now he's running the third heat competing for the medals. 274 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,920 It's the medal round and, and we're going to watch that race. 275 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:25,920 You're going to hear Eric Little's voice in the background 276 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:29,800 as he's running and and he's saying things that he had said 277 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,680 earlier in the movie, but we're only getting part of it at this 278 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:33,800 point. And I'm going to fill those 279 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,400 things out. But let's watch the race. 400 280 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:47,200 meters. Don't expect the seats after the 281 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:54,560 race to deal with this guy. Little coach, your problem. 282 00:15:54,880 --> 00:15:56,840 No problem. He's a flier. 283 00:15:57,200 --> 00:15:58,920 He's had two races today already. 284 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:02,400 He'll die. Just swing along, you guys, and 285 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,920 wait. After 300 meters, rigor mortis 286 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,240 sets in. You'll pull him in on a rope. 287 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,280 Good luck. Watch out for a little coach. 288 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,480 There's no problem. He's got something to prove, 289 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,760 something personal, something guys like Coach will never 290 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:45,240 understand in the meeting use. Says in the old book, He that 291 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:51,000 honours me, I will honour good luck, Jackson shows. 292 00:17:19,589 --> 00:17:22,829 So where does the power come from to see the race to its end 293 00:17:23,750 --> 00:17:48,400 from within? Jenny, I believe God made me for 294 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:56,480 a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run I feel his 295 00:17:56,480 --> 00:18:26,240 pleasure. As he's thinking there and he's 296 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:28,800 running, we hear his voice echoes from earlier in the movie 297 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,960 where he's he's teaching and talking about God and and 298 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,200 comparing as Paul did the Christian life to a race. 299 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,640 And where does the power come from? 300 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,240 Here we just hear him say it comes from within. 301 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,240 Earlier in the movie. He says it comes clearly. 302 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,200 He says it explicitly. It comes from God within us, 303 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,920 from the Holy Spirit within us is where the power comes. 304 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,400 And there's a place where he's saying there that that I know 305 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,880 God made me for a purpose. The full statement, he was 306 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:57,920 talking to his sister. His sister thought he was 307 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:01,080 wasting his time that this running stuff, this sports 308 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,120 stuff, the rugby, it was all silly. 309 00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:06,120 It was all distracting him from the real important work that he 310 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,600 needed to do as a missionary, A missionary to China. 311 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:12,160 And he eventually went back to China where he had a very 312 00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:14,120 effective ministry for many years. 313 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,200 But he said, I know God made me for a purpose, God made me for 314 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,600 China, but God also made me fast. 315 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,440 And when I run, I feel his pleasure. 316 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:32,920 So my question for you is, what do you do that lets you feel 317 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,200 God's pleasure? Because it's going to be 318 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:37,560 different things for different folks. 319 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,360 For some, it might be sports, some kind of academics, maybe 320 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:42,800 it's teaching, maybe it's building things, maybe it's 321 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,240 growing things, maybe it's making things. 322 00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:47,280 Who paint? Who knows? 323 00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:51,600 Working with children, healing all of these different things. 324 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,680 But what is it that you do in your life? 325 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,320 And when you do that, you can say in your heart and your soul 326 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:04,360 and your bones, When I do this, I feel God's pleasure. 327 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,920 Do that. Whatever that is, do that. 328 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,560 Whatever else anyone thinks about it, do that. 329 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:16,360 That thing where you feel God's pleasure in your life because 330 00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:20,520 that's the Holy Spirit, that's the power that God is giving you 331 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,760 to do a thing. And God brings that power to 332 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:25,160 you. And it's not easy. 333 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,200 You see him, he was exhausted at after that first race where he 334 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,600 has to come from behind and win. It cost him everything he could 335 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:35,360 to win that race, to run and to do this thing that he feels 336 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:39,120 God's pleasure. It cost him, but He did it, and 337 00:20:39,120 --> 00:20:42,520 there's joy in that. And it's not going to be the 338 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,280 same for everyone. God has different callings and 339 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,640 gives different gifts to each of us according to His purpose in 340 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:51,880 our lives. But whatever, whatever that 341 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,520 thing is that you can do that gives you a sense of God's 342 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,400 pleasure, keep doing that thing. Now, there is that 343 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,120 individuality, but there's also this ordinariness part of it. 344 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:04,920 And there are some things that the Holy Spirit empowers all of 345 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,960 God's followers to, something that the Holy Spirit does in 346 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,440 everyone who is a follower of Jesus. 347 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,200 God calls us different people to do different things, but the 348 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,240 Holy Spirit will empower you to do whatever God calls you to do. 349 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:23,680 But there are common things also that the Holy Spirit will 350 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:27,080 empower and in produce in all who receive him. 351 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:30,040 Let's look at what Paul said in Galatians. 352 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,600 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. 353 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,880 Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 354 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,000 faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 355 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:43,040 There is no law against these things. 356 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:47,600 This is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that is for everyone, for 357 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:49,520 everyone. I think you can make a real 358 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,040 strong argument that when you see this in the life of anyone, 359 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:56,760 that's evidence of the Holy Spirit in that person's life. 360 00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:01,320 Whatever specific individual thing, again, whether it's 361 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,920 sports or arts or construction or building or farming or 362 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,600 teaching or doctoring or nursing or driving, whatever it is, 363 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:13,440 whatever it is the specific thing that gives you that joy of 364 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,920 God in your life. The Holy Spirit allows us to do 365 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:23,120 that and empowers us to do that with love, with that joy, with 366 00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:26,480 peace, with patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 367 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:31,120 gentleness and self-control. Those are the marks that that's 368 00:22:31,120 --> 00:22:35,440 God working in us. That's what Eric was able to see 369 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,120 and experience and feel in his own life. 370 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:41,200 That's what he was pointing to when he said when I run, I feel 371 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:46,200 God's pleasure. When he ran, he felt that joy of 372 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,520 God working in him. And this is not easy and it 373 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:51,720 requires letting go of a lot of things too. 374 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:53,800 Paul says right after this, let's not be. 375 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,560 Let us not be conceited or provoke one another or be 376 00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:02,560 jealous of one another. Conceit, pride, jealousy, 377 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:07,000 obvious marks of not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit of this 378 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,880 world, the spirit of the devil in our lives and that provoking 379 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:12,280 one another. My goodness, you spend 5 minutes 380 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,320 on the Internet and you find people trolling and that's their 381 00:23:15,320 --> 00:23:18,440 what they've devoted their life to is provoking other people, 382 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:21,520 click baiting and rage baiting and all of the things that 383 00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,480 happened online and in real life. 384 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,080 And I confess this was one of the things I used to love. 385 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,480 One of my greatest sources of pleasure as a young man was to 386 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:33,600 say things that shocked and offended people. 387 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:35,680 I would get such a kick out of it. 388 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,200 I would say all sorts of things. Believe you said that. 389 00:23:41,840 --> 00:23:45,520 And then I found out later, Well, realized later, yeah, that 390 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:47,360 was not a good way to do things, Blevins. 391 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:51,880 Not a good way to do things. I've grown a little bit. 392 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:55,000 Little bit we're not here to provoke each other. 393 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:59,320 And since we're living by the Spirit, let us follow the 394 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,760 spirits leading in every part of our lives everywhere. 395 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:06,920 We can live by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit with 396 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:10,040 Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, 397 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,960 self-control, all of these things. 398 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:15,920 I want to give you a personal example here as we wrap up. 399 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,680 I'm running late again. We'll have to wait for me over 400 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:22,000 at New Beginnings because I I, you know what? 401 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:23,600 Yeah. I'm going to tell this. 402 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:28,160 I just have to abbreviate it. One of the things Amy and I have 403 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,360 done in our lives was in the hardest things, probably the 404 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:34,920 hardest thing each of us has ever done is, is Amy's mom lived 405 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,480 with us for three years while she had Alzheimer's. 406 00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:40,240 And then then the final year of her life, it was beyond our 407 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,600 capacity to care for her. And, and she was in an, an 408 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,280 assisted living center. And I'm going to tell you a 409 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,440 little bit about Phyllis, and Phyllis won't mind. 410 00:24:49,640 --> 00:24:51,960 Phyllis is Amy's mom. She won't mind that. 411 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:53,920 I've told this. Phyllis was a too much 412 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,280 information kind of person. After 15 minutes of knowing 413 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,840 Phyllis, you would know things about her that only your doctor 414 00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,400 knows about you. That's just who Phyllis was. 415 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,960 She was happy to share everything. 416 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,840 So on Phyllis's behalf, I'm going to share more than you 417 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,480 know. She'll be all right with us. 418 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:17,800 Phyllis was not an easy person to get along with in in, in her 419 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,960 good years before Alzheimer's kicked in. 420 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:23,400 She was tough. She was tough. 421 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,600 And there reached a point we were living not too far from her 422 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:32,280 after her second husband had passed and our interactions with 423 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,480 her and her with us and with our kids. 424 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,680 And there was a point where Amy and I, after one particular 425 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,520 conversation with her, looked at each other and said she will 426 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:43,400 never live with us. Whatever happens to her, 427 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,560 wherever she ends up going, she will never live with us. 428 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,280 And we meant it. She was tough. 429 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,400 And then we both also, we were just talking about this 430 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:01,480 yesterday, had a very clear memory of when we were having 431 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,320 conversation with her and we saw clearly and unequivocally the 432 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,120 evidence of the Alzheimer's. And we looked at each other and 433 00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,080 said she needs to move in with us. 434 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,320 And, and we meant it. And it was hard. 435 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:20,080 It was hard. It was particularly hard on Amy 436 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:24,520 and, and, and the cleaning and the serving and the caring and 437 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,320 the arguing and the, if you've had to care for someone with 438 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:32,200 Alzheimer's, you know, is hard. And she stayed with us for three 439 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:33,840 years. Amy and I both working full 440 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:36,400 time. COVID was a blessing for us 441 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:40,480 because Amy's job went remote and she was able to be at home 442 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,160 full time as well as working full time. 443 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,600 And that helped us care. And I was home a lot more than 444 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:52,560 two helped us care for Phyllis. And it was it was not only the 445 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,920 hardest four years of our life, but also, and Amy will tell you 446 00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:59,880 the exact same thing. We had this sense all the way 447 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:02,760 through of this is what God wants us to be doing. 448 00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:06,880 This is exactly what God has called us to do right now. 449 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,120 And we felt through the struggle, through the challenge, 450 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:16,200 through the tears, we felt God's pleasure and we felt that joy. 451 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:20,160 And we saw God doing things to make it possible for us to care 452 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,000 for her. That we don't have time to tell 453 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,960 them to you all. I got a lot of stories. 454 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,160 There's some amazing ones of things we could never have 455 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:33,440 worked out on our own that just worked out all by the power of 456 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,720 the Holy Spirit so that we could do this thing that God was 457 00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:39,720 calling us to do. And I can guarantee that gum to 458 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,640 you that our capacity to care for Phyllis was not our 459 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,960 willpower and our determination. It was a gift of the Holy 460 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:50,600 Spirit. And we got to give him all that 461 00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:54,080 credit and all that glory because he deserves it, because 462 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:57,440 he called us to do that, to care for her. 463 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:02,760 She was his daughter. He knew she was tough, right? 464 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:07,840 I went to a couple times to monastery in New York for some 465 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,320 spiritual retreats, talking to one of the monks there, and I 466 00:28:10,320 --> 00:28:12,120 was belly aching about something. 467 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:15,440 I can't remember what it was about how hard it was and how 468 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:18,960 much it hurt and how challenging and difficult it was. 469 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:21,720 And he just looked at me and said, yeah, I said, I wonder, 470 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,600 you think it was hard for Jesus to be crucified? 471 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,000 Was that uncomfortable for him? I was like, shut up. 472 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,520 It's hard. What God calls us to do is hard. 473 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,320 It is uncomfortable. It is at times extraordinarily 474 00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,600 painful. But the Holy Spirit will always 475 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:49,440 empower us to do whatever God calls us to do, whatever that 476 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:55,320 is, and to do it with love and joy and peace and patience and 477 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:58,440 kindness and goodness. And also a lot of tears. 478 00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:05,440 A lot of tears too, but that's the Spirit empowered life. 479 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:10,760 That's the Easter life filled with, empowered by the Holy 480 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:15,040 Spirit to do whatever God is calling us to do in Jesus name, 481 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:16,920 Amen. Amen.