August 14, 2025 • 34 mins
Jesus confronts our deepest assumptions about wealth and security in this eye-opening exploration of Luke 12. What begins with a simple inheritance dispute quickly transforms into a profound teaching on greed, possessions, and what truly constitutes a meaningful life.
Through the powerful parable of the rich fool who built bigger barns for his abundant harvest—only to die before enjoying any of it—we're invited to examine our own relationship with possessions. Count how many times this wealthy man says "I" and "my" throughout his internal dialogue. His self-centered perspective blinds him to both the source of his abundance (the earth's generosity) and the people who helped make it possible. God doesn't call him a sinner but a "fool" for missing life's entire point.
Contrast this with Jesus feeding thousands from a child's small lunch. When faced with overwhelming need, disciples saw scarcity while Jesus saw possibility. "What's in your hand?" becomes the question that transforms limitation into abundance. The miracle wasn't just multiplication but demonstration—showing what happens when we release our gifts rather than clutching them tightly.
This teaching challenges us to reconsider how we measure success. Do we value accumulation or contribution? Do we primarily see ourselves or others? Can we hear the Holy Spirit's guidance when we stop talking long enough to listen? Following Jesus means developing compassion that wells up when witnessing suffering and interrupts our carefully planned lives to attend to those in need.
The ancient rabbis blessed followers with "May you always be covered in the dust of your rabbi"—meaning you follow so closely their dust gets on you. Would anyone notice if Jesus replaced you in serving your family and neighbors? These challenging questions invite us into the "wisdom way" where love sees everyone, serves generously, and creates the kingdom Jesus described—right here, right now.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala,
florida.
I brought my whole self and Ihope that you did too.
I'm grateful to see everysingle one of you.
The peace and the love ofChrist in us greets the Christ
in you, and so I am in absolutevalue of your presence, your
(00:25):
witness, your goodness and thelove of Christ between us.
I am really excited and I thinkthat every week I say that, and
so I don't want it to lose itsvalue but I am excited to speak
of this with you this morning,to encourage you, for all of us,
to be encouraged by the wordsof Jesus.
(00:45):
This morning, thomas reminded usit's the eighth Sunday of
Pentecost, and we remindourselves of that because we are
in the season of learning howto live in the Spirit, how to
live connected to God and theways of God, and learn how that
we as people, as human people,can live our lives and truly
(01:09):
flourish.
Jesus said this I have comethat you would have life and
that you would have it to thefull, that we would savor the
life that we have, that we would, with gratitude, be able to see
every good thing that is aroundus, that the birds would teach
(01:29):
us, that the trees would teachus that we would listen, for
creation drawing us into thecompanionship with Jesus.
When Jesus said this to thepeople following, he said the
kingdom of God is so close toyou, it's in your mouth, it's
right here among us.
Sometimes I think we struggle alittle bit because someone told
us, and is told all of us, thatGod is somewhere really high up
(01:51):
in the sky, and when we put Godreally high up in the sky, we
forget the promise that we arenever alone.
Emmanuel, god with us, god inour suffering, god in our
distress, god in our joy, god inour bliss, god with us.
(02:20):
And the invitation that Jesusgives us is into joy, is into
real living, and Jesus shows uswhat it's like to be a human
person and to be able to ascend,to be able to stay in
connection with God, to be ableto hear the voice of the Father
say you are loved and I ampleased with you.
I hope you hear the voice ofSpirit affirm that to you this
morning.
You are deeply loved by God andyou belong wherever you are,
(02:43):
because wherever you are.
God is there.
And so this morning, as weapproach the text, we remind
ourselves, we allow ourselves toopen to the Spirit, who will
re-enchant the text to us, whowill remind us of what we knew
from the very beginning.
Jesus said this to his peopleand he said you don't even need
a teacher because you will havethe Holy Spirit, and the Holy
(03:07):
Spirit will direct you in allthings.
And so, if we don't have needof a teacher, why are we here?
We are here to remember, we arehere to be reminded that we can
trust the small voice inside ofus, that we can trust love,
that we can trust again eachother and the goodness that is
(03:28):
in the world.
And so we go this morning intoLuke's gospel, luke's account of
what is happening as Jesusgives instructions to the people
who are following.
And in Luke, chapter 12, verse11, when they bring you before
the synagogues, the rulers andthe authorities.
11, when they bring you beforethe synagogues, the rulers and
the authorities, don't worryabout how or what you will
(03:49):
answer or what you are to say,for the Holy Spirit will teach
you at that very hour what youare to say.
Well, that's incredibly hopefulif you know what the voice of
the Spirit sounds like, if youknow the voice that you are to
listen to.
I don't know if this has everhappened to you and I hope that
it has that you felt a littledisoriented in a crowd of a lot
(04:10):
of noise and all of a sudden,you heard a voice.
You remembered Ah, there is theperson I'm looking for.
I heard the voice.
Even there can be just a hugenoise, but you can focus in on
the voice that tells you you arenot alone, you are loved and
that God is good and has anincredible plan.
And so this morning, I inviteyou to welcome the Holy Spirit,
(04:32):
to teach you the voice of Spirit.
This is a wisdom tradition.
This is the thing that we areall looking for.
This is the hope and the callfor that we would know the voice
of wisdom.
The Holy Spirit is wisdom, andso that we would find true
wisdom, so that we would knowwhat to do in every circumstance
and I really appreciate Jesus'sencouragement in this text you
(04:56):
don't have to know what you'regoing to say when you stand
before anyone who asks somethingof you.
The Holy Spirit will tell you.
The Holy Spirit will say to youthis is what you should say,
this is what you should do.
And so our attention thismorning is to living, practicing
life in the Spirit.
Jesus is reminding the peopleabout the Spirit and someone
(05:18):
then says to him teacher, tellmy brother to divide the family
inheritance with me.
Don't you love it when somebodychanges the subject and it goes
all wonky and you're like what,wait a second, wait a second.
We're talking about life in thespirit.
And somebody goes make mybrother do something different,
make it about him, change him.
(05:39):
You take your words and youchange my brother.
I mean, mean, really.
And then what if the brotherwas there?
That's what I'm thinking about.
And then everybody's assumingwhat's happening in that family.
You know, like go further intothe story and ask yourself what
would it be like if my youngerbrother was right before Jesus?
And you're like tell my brotherto do better, tell my brother
to do differently.
(06:00):
My brother's doing it wrong.
Beloved, we are often thisbrother who's asking Jesus, make
him stop that, make him do thisdifferently.
And then Jesus shows ussomething beautiful, and there
are two particular points inthis story.
I want us to hang on, and Jesussaid this friend, I love how,
(06:22):
even when someone isantagonizing, when somebody is
coming in the wrong kind ofvibration or frequency, and
Jesus said friend, who sent meto be a judge or an arbitrator
over you?
That's a good question.
Jesus often asks us questionswhen we ourselves have questions
.
And I do want to remind us ofsomething when we go to the text
and we listen to the witness ofthe scriptures, they often just
(06:46):
give us more questions.
They often don't give us atruth.
But they ask another questionwho sent me to be the judge or
the arbitrator?
Does this mean that that man isactually a follower?
Does it mean that this manrecognizes the power and the
authority that is in Jesus?
Does his brother recognize thatauthority?
(07:08):
And then this one wants to makehim seem bad in front of the one
who has the authority.
I mean, these are the kind ofquestions that we can ask
ourselves and we can draw intothis story.
And so this brother said, hey,make my brother do something
better.
This brother said, hey, make mybrother do something better.
And Jesus said friend, takecare, be on your guard against
(07:33):
all kinds of greed.
Okay, that's not what you wantto hear when you're asking your
brother to divide theinheritance.
You had a plan.
And now Jesus said you know whatthe real issue is is greed.
I do want to remind all of usthat this is something that is a
big deal to Jesus.
He talks about it very manytimes, that the issues, the
(07:54):
places where we fall intoillusion, where we have the
follies of this illusion, is ingreed and in what greed does to
us.
In fact, there are otherportions of the New Testament
that says that greed actuallypierced us with sorrow.
I don't want to be pierced withanything and I certainly don't
want to be pierced with sorrow,and greed is the inroad to that.
(08:15):
So this is what Jesus isreminding us.
There is a deeper thing at playhere than your question of your
brothers rightfully dividinganything.
There is greed at the core, forone's life does not consist in
the abundance of possessionsBeloved I'm going to let that
(08:35):
sink for a moment for you.
One's life does not consist ofthe abundance of possessions,
this very anti-the-capthecapitalist society that we live
in, where we're going to measuresomeone's worth by how many
possessions they have.
Jesus here confronts the waythat the world has been for a
(08:57):
long time, that we haveconsidered people are wise
because they have a bunch ofstuff.
And Jesus is saying payattention to greed and don't
have a bunch of stuff.
And Jesus is saying payattention to greed and don't
have any part of that.
Your life does not consist ofthe abundance of possessions.
And then he told them a parable.
So Jesus hears the people'sgroans because I think they all
(09:19):
wanted things devoted anddivided fairly.
All of us have a question Makemy brother do something
different.
And Jesus confronts thisfalsehood, this illusion in us
that greed or more for me isgoing to prove anything for us.
The land of a rich man producedabundantly.
Right here Jesus is confrontingthe way that we view
(09:44):
agriculture, the way that wedecide what is wealth or what is
good.
The land produced abundantly.
Just leave that in your head.
The beautiful, good earth thatGod gave us abundantly gave
forth its fruits.
(10:04):
And the man thought to himselfwhat should I do?
For I have no place to store mycrops.
And then he said I will do this.
I will pull down my barns andbuild larger ones and there I
will store all my grain and allof my goods.
And I will say to my soul soul,you have ample goods laid up
(10:25):
for many, many years.
Relax, eat, drink, be merry.
And God said to him you fool.
This very night, your life isbeing demanded of you and the
things that you have prepared isbeing demanded of you.
And the things that you haveprepared, whose will they be?
(10:48):
And so it is with those whostore up treasures for
themselves but are not richtoward God.
I would like us all this morningto contemplate what does it
mean to be rich toward God?
What does it mean to live ourlife in richness toward God?
Many of us have the idea, orthe mindset, that we have
(11:11):
nothing and that God haseverything, and so all God wants
is all God should want is togive us more stuff.
And God is inviting us intoanother way of living, another
way of thinking.
I would like for you toconsider that this man who does
this is our brother or ourself.
I would like for you to listento how many times this man says
(11:35):
I will do it.
I would just go back.
It's just a few verses, but Iremind you.
And then he said oh well, I'llstart with the first I.
He thought to himself whatshould I do, for I have no place
to store my crops.
Listen, for all the I's.
Then he said I will do this.
I will pull down my barns and Iwill build larger ones and
(11:58):
there I will store all of mygrains and my goods and I will
say to my soul soul, you haveample goods laid up for many
years.
Relax, eat, drink and be merry.
This particular man is onlyseeing himself.
He lives in this egocentricview of the world where he is
the one who has done this.
Now, anyone who has done farmingknows that you don't do farming
(12:21):
without help and you don't haveso much that you do that you
would need barns and barns andbarns upon barns.
What this man is not accountingis the earth gave that to him.
That was a gift from God and Ipromise you with this man's
story, he did not do thiswithout help.
There was somebody plowing thatfield.
There was somebody working thatfield, tilling that ground,
(12:44):
watering that and then bringingit into the barns.
This is not a man who said I'mgoing to tear it down and I'm
going to build it up.
If you've already built a barn,you're going to find a way that
that's going to be enough.
That's hard work.
But if you've just orderedsomeone to build a barn, of
course you can just orderanother barn.
So this illustration, thisparable that Jesus is saying is
again looking at these things.
(13:04):
Where do we find thiscontentment?
But you hear this whole storythis man tells, and it's only
about himself.
In fact, he's even talking tohimself.
In no place is he even talkingto God.
He is simply living in a lifewhere the whole thing is about
him.
And Jesus is offering usanother way of seeing.
This is the healing miraclethat we would begin to see with
(13:26):
our eyes others, that we wouldresist greed, like it is the
poison that it means to be, thatwe would be people who would
relish in the fact that we aregiven, so that we can be givers,
that we can be people who healand who help.
We talked about this morning inour reading, when Jesus said
(13:46):
whatever you have done to theleast of these, my brethren, you
have done it to me.
So I ask you this morning tothink who are the people in the
margins that you know about?
Who are the people who don'thave community?
Who are the people that aredespised by the world?
(14:07):
Who are the people that aredespised by our culture?
And then what would jesus askus to do about it?
He says to himself.
Soul.
You have ample goods laid upfor many years.
Relax, eat and drink and bemerry.
And God says to him you fool.
This can be a harsh language,because this is a point I want
(14:31):
us to pay attention to.
This is a practice in missingthe point.
This man spent all these yearsand he has the bigger barns.
And God says this isfoolishness.
I don't think any of us want toget to the end of our life and
(14:52):
God looks at us and says this isfoolishness, how you lived,
always in the future, alwaysthinking about the future.
Now this man understandsagriculture and there is a time
to take food and to put it in abarn.
That's called wisdom.
Especially, think about theculture here.
There would have been timeswhere they understood a famine,
(15:13):
a lack of rain.
So you need to prepare, andthat is not what God is calling
foolishness.
What God is confronting here isthis idea of ignoring the
present, ignoring what is righthere in front of you, ignoring
the goodness that is right here,the people that are right in
front of you, and finding a lifewhere it is all about you and
(15:34):
you are the only person that isin it and you are the only
person being prepared for.
What are you preparing for yourneighbors?
What are you preparing forthose who do not have?
Jesus told us this.
We read it today and we heardit in the text that Caroline
read to us this morning.
The people said the disciples,the followers of Jesus, said
(16:05):
these people are hungry.
Send them away.
We can't do anything about it.
If I was a hungry one, I wouldnot want to leave Jesus.
Like our best chance is somekind of miracle, like don't send
me away, send me to where itsays that there were no towns
nearby, there was nothing forthese people to do.
And so I remind you, this isnot just a parable for 2,000
years ago, beloved in our midst,there are people starving and
(16:27):
it can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like what can I do?
I have nothing.
We pause here for a moment tothank you for joining us today.
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(16:50):
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And Jesus says to Philip what'sin your hand?
I think Philip checked hispockets Nothing, I have nothing.
And then Philip startedcampaigning for fundraising.
(17:11):
So he started going around tothe people that were there what
do you have Nothing, we havenothing.
What do you have, we havenothing.
And there's a boy who has alunch.
Now this story is oftenreferred to the boy and his
lunch.
I would like to rename it righthere and now.
I would like to call it thewoman who prepared a dinner or a
lunch for her son.
I would just like us to saythis this little boy did not
(17:33):
prepare this himself, he did notgo and get that fish, he did
not bake that bread.
And so let's talk about the boy, let's talk about how this
story is framed.
Seriously, it's the boy who'sgoing to give her thing.
What about the mom who grilledand who made that fish and who
thought I'm sending him out to afireplace to listen?
He's going to need lunch.
Kudos to the woman who prepares.
That's wisdom, beloved.
Here God is contrasting yourfoolishness is you think you're
(17:56):
going to take care of yourself?
Here's the wisdom, here's thewisdom.
So, anyway, philip asks who hasthe food, and then he gets this
lunch and he goes oh, this isnot enough, no, there's just no
way this is going to make adifference.
(18:16):
Beloved, we are bringing thingsto Jesus.
Remember that Anything you give, any gift of hope, any gift of
mercy, any gift of justice, anycompanionship, you offer to
anyone, any hope, any resource,any fish or bread, whatever it
is that is in your hands orwhatever you can scrounge out of
(18:37):
your neighbor.
I don't know if the boyactually offered it.
Perhaps some other woman saidwhat's in that basket bud?
What did your mom put in there?
Give that to the guy.
We don't know how the story went.
Perhaps it was all a bunch ofwomen who said listen, this is
all we got, but he has something, and Martha Martha sent it this
morning from home and so givethat to the Lord.
You know, like what do we needto be able to do?
(18:57):
To say there is an empowermentin whatever you have.
Offer it to Jesus, and Jesustakes this and he blesses it and
he gives thanks for it, andthen he sends it out.
And you know what God does?
Make it enough, not just enough, make it so much that there are
leftovers.
Do you know how good leftoversare when you're already tired
(19:19):
and you don't want to thinkabout what to eat or how to make
it.
You just know you have to.
I mean there's a blessing onleftovers and Jesus makes enough
and makes it for the next daybecause you were tired from your
journey to hear Jesus.
I mean there's so much goodnesswrapped up in this what's in
your hand.
So what does that mean for us?
When we look at the worldbeloved, we cannot be despondent
(19:39):
, we cannot give up hope, wecannot say it's all a mess, it
has nothing to do with me.
Jesus is saying hey, there'sthings in your barns that's not
just for you, because tonightyou don't know how long your
life is going to be.
I don't know how long my lifeis going to be, but when we have
the life, the presence now, howwill we love, how will we
(20:01):
practice generosity?
Who will we have mercy on?
And Jesus asks us to reallyconsider the question when you
die, who's going to take yourstuff?
I promise you they're not goingto value it the way you do.
They're going to put a bunch ofit in a box that doesn't go in
the same box.
They're just going to do itthat way and they might not even
(20:22):
care about it.
Jesus invites us to care aboutthe eternal.
And he does that by saying tous when I was hungry, you fed me
.
And they said when did we feedyou?
And he said whenever you did itto the least of these, my
brothers, you did it to me.
(20:44):
Jesus is expressing to us thisbeautiful hope of oneness.
What we do for one another, weare actually doing for ourself.
Do for one another.
We are actually doing forourselves.
In feeding our neighbors, instanding up for justice, in
explaining or in bringing lightto a situation.
We are doing that for ourselves.
And Jesus is saying if you'regoing to follow me this is what
(21:05):
it looks like You're not onlygoing to be preoccupied with
yourself, you're going to careabout your neighbor.
And again, there's anotherparable that Jesus tells us of a
man who's beaten by the side ofthe road and a Samaritan who is
on his way to work.
He has a job, sees him andstops.
Thomas mentioned this thismorning that following the
(21:28):
Spirit is going to be a lot ofinterruptions in your plan and
in your future and how you leavethis present moment and have
planned the future.
There's going to be aninterruption for that.
That is the Spirit.
You see that over and overagain Jesus is walking and then
he sees someone in need and hestops One of the things that you
see over and over again in theTestaments who are witnesses to
(21:52):
us of Christ?
Jesus saw a woman weeping.
She had lost her son and hedidn't say everybody loses
people, everybody loses people.
It says he saw that andcompassion welled up in him.
Beloved life in the spiritmeans compassion will well up in
(22:16):
you, where you will begin tosee.
We sang this song this morning.
May our love cause our heartsto break when someone is
suffering.
And let us ask the Spirit whatcan I do to be a part of
relieving that suffering?
What can I do to be a part ofhealing?
Jesus said hey, you've seen theworks.
I do Greater works than these.
(22:36):
Will you actually do?
What kind of works did Jesus do?
Acts of mercy, beloved.
Everything he did was an act ofmercy.
It was not a power grab.
He was not trying to be theinfluencer of the year.
Jesus was seeing this and hesaid I'm following my father.
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Everything that you see me do,my father is doing.
So Jesus is showing us whatit's like to stay connected to
the spirit.
It is to stay connected to theSpirit.
It is to stay connected to thesuffering of our brother and
sister around us.
It's to say that we would seepeople, and if you can't see
anyone but yourself, we'll prayfor you that Jesus will heal
your sight and that he will giveyou back yourself, and that you
(23:19):
will remember.
Oh yes, we are to live tospread love to everyone, so that
everyone knows that there is atable that has been set for them
.
Jesus also gives this beautifulparable and you know it, so I
just remind you of it.
He said there was a king whoheaped up a feast, a huge feast.
(23:41):
He tells the people this storywhile they're hungry.
I think that's incrediblestorytelling.
While you're hungry, god isgoing to tell you a story about
a feast.
Think about the best mealyou've ever eaten.
Maybe that was yesterday.
(24:01):
I want to tell you.
I think best meal we've evereaten is the one we have today.
Whatever it is, the king says Iwould like to have everyone
come around the table.
So the word gets out and saysthe king is heaped to a feast
and a bunch of people said thiswe're busy.
(24:21):
Thanks so much.
I want to tell you who thosepeople are.
Not hungry people.
Those are people who have toomuch and they are full of
themselves.
That is me, beloved, and thatis you.
When we do not stop and attendto the suffering of others, we
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are too full, and in that casewe are full of ourselves, not
full of God.
God is love and God iscompassion, and God is just and
God is justly.
And this act of doing justice,this is what we're called to
when we're called to be peopleof God.
We're gathered here todaybecause all of us have decided
(25:04):
that we believe that Jesus isthe way.
Jesus said this and we've heardit and we're like yes, jesus is
the way to the follower.
So what does it mean for us, asfollowers of Jesus, to live the
path that Jesus lived?
When Jesus saw suffering, heattended to it.
The same is true of the storyof the Samaritan he saw a man
suffering and he stopped.
(25:26):
The truth is, he couldn't healthe man.
He knew his own skill, so hebrought him to someone who could
Beloved the whole world.
You don't have to solve everyproblem.
You don't have to solveeverything, but take people to
the ones who can heal them, takethem to a doctor, sit with them
(25:48):
, wait outside in the office oftheir therapist.
Whatever it is that you have todo, you are not required to do
it all, but you are required todo something.
This is an ancient proverb.
The rabbi said this you do nothave to be worried that you
cannot meet all the needs, butyou must meet some.
You can't give up on it.
And this is an invitation intoGod's life.
(26:09):
This is an invitation to lifein the spirit that we would be
people of radical generosity,that we would recognize that
everything we have is a giftfrom God.
And how we join in with thespirit is how we become people
of generosity, because werecognize we are not alone.
We are part of a family thatGod is telling, that God is the
(26:34):
father of and saying everybodygets a seat at the table.
So a bunch of these people saidyou know what?
We're too busy for the goodnessthat God has.
We have our own goodness and weare full.
And they come back and theytell the king they're not
interested.
And the king says okay, fine,go out to the highways and the
byways, to the people that areliving in the bushes, go out to
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the homeless.
Go out to those that the worldsays we don't even see you.
You go and find them Beloved.
A work of the Spirit is seeingpeople that are unseen and
tending to their needs.
This is how the kingdom comes.
We prayed together this morning, and we do every single week,
the prayer that Jesus taught usto pray.
(27:18):
Your kingdom come, your will bedone on earth as it is in
heaven.
Who is unseen in the kingdom oflove?
No one, because love seeseveryone.
(27:41):
Who is hungry in God's kingdom?
No one, because God feedseveryone, and so we are invited
into this co-creation of thisbeautiful world that God is
saying is available to us, andhe's saying I'm asking you to do
this and I'm not giving it toyou by yourself.
I'm going to give you the HolySpirit, and the Holy Spirit's
going to be your teacher andyou're going to know what to do
because you've heard the voiceof the Spirit.
I just want to encourage usthis morning.
The way to hear the Holy Spiritis to stop talking.
(28:02):
I just want to encourage usthis morning.
The way to hear the Holy Spiritis to stop talking.
We are a people who love thesound of our own voice.
We're comforted by our nonsenseand our babbling, and I say
that with a lot of asking forforgiveness.
I don't say that you are thatperson, I am that person.
(28:23):
Jesus talked about this in ourprayers.
He said you pray and you'rejust happy that you said so many
words.
But he said instead, go intoyourself, go into that quiet
place and listen for the SpiritBeloved.
We don't want to miss the point.
God doesn't say to the man whois in this parable you're bad.
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God doesn't say to the man whois in this parable you're bad.
He doesn't say you're a sinner.
He doesn't say you're eternallyapart from me.
God said you fool.
Ah, you missed the point.
So the invitation for us is toreceive wisdom for that and go.
I do not want to participate inthe missing the point club.
I would like to be invited intothe wisdom way.
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One of the ancient teachers saysto us in all of your getting,
get wisdom.
Wisdom is the spirit thatcreates these things.
In fact, all the way in Genesisit says that there was chaos in
the world and the spirit of Godbegan to hover over the waters.
We're here today because theSpirit started a movement and
(29:29):
I'm telling you, the Spirit isstill asking us to be a part of
this movement, for us to saywhere is my place to serve?
I want to tell you, beloved, ifyou need joy, find someone to
serve, not out of duty, notbecause you're going to earn
anything, but because this iswhat it's like to follow the way
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of Jesus, to serve, to lovinglyserve people.
This is what Jesus did.
Jesus shows us how to be human,how to thrive in our humanity,
how to be abundant in ourrelationship with God, and he
says it's going to be throughservice.
The man with all the burnsmissed that memo, and so let's
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hear the words of Jesus and go.
Okay, yes, for me, I'mfollowing.
There's also an ancient proverbin the rabbis would bless each
other and bless their followersand say may you always be
covered in the dust of yourrabbi.
Do you know what that meansthat you're following so closely
(30:32):
?
They got their dust on you.
They were walking and you wereright behind them.
What does it look like forJesus to be in Ocala?
One of our friends offered usthis, thought it was slightly
horrifying.
I'm allowing it to be part ofwho I am.
And they said if Jesus showedup at your house and said you go
(30:53):
ahead and take a nap, just havea rest, and I'll serve your
family and I'll serve yourneighbors and I'll do the
grocery shopping or I'll do thewhatever.
Would anyone notice that Jesusreplaced you?
I'm sad to say that peoplewould totally notice.
But here's our invitation to bethe hands and feet of Jesus, and
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this is good news, beloved,this understanding, this
enlightenment that we are to bein the present moment, that we
are to be grateful and that weare to be able to say to the
Spirit where can I serve?
What can I do to relievesomeone's suffering?
What can I do to feed someonearound us?
And I encourage us?
We are a church that feedspeople, and that's beautiful,
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but that's not enough.
That's you know.
We are a church that givestogether so that we can do
beautiful things for ourcommunity, and that's wonderful.
But this is where you're trained, that's not where it stops.
This is where you come and youpractice this radical generosity
so that others can be blessed.
And this is our invitation intothe life of Christ, into a
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wisdom that says love is the way, love has always been the way,
love will be the way and beloved.
Love is not cruel, love is notimpatient.
Love does not only care aboutitself.
Love does not put itself first.
Love doesn't give up.
(32:22):
That's one of my favorite partsabout the love thing, because
this is who God is.
God doesn't give up on us.
God says, okay, if you don'twant to come, you're busy,
that's fine, we're going to goget everyone who lives in a bush
.
Do you know how the people thatlive in the hedges and that
live along the street actuallyfind out about anything?
(32:43):
And that live along the streetactually find out about anything
?
Because someone went and toldthem.
We are the people who get totell everyone that God is love
and that God has heaped up afeast.
And God is saying come and eat,come and enjoy life, come and
find fulfillment in belonging,come and experience eternal life
(33:05):
.
This is a beautiful invitationinto remembering, and the good
news is that Jesus said youdon't even have to remember
everything yourself.
Just listen to the Spirit andthe Spirit will remind you.
Just know the voice of theSpirit.
And so I invite us again wetalked about it over the last
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few weeks a prayer that we canpray and it's a short one,
because then in our other timeof prayer we're sitting quietly
and listening, but a prayer isthis Spirit.
I am willing to change my mindabout this.
Let me tell you that is aninvitation into transformation,
beloved.
That is an invitation intomiracles, and as children of God
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, we are entitled to miracles,miracles of transformation
changing us, changing the way wesee something and changing the
world around us.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala,
florida.
I brought my whole self and Ihope that you did too.
I'm grateful to see everysingle one of you.
The peace and the love ofChrist in us greets the Christ
in you, and so I am in absolutevalue of your presence, your
(00:25):
witness, your goodness and thelove of Christ between us.
I am really excited and I thinkthat every week I say that, and
so I don't want it to lose itsvalue but I am excited to speak
of this with you this morning,to encourage you, for all of us,
to be encouraged by the wordsof Jesus.
(00:45):
This morning, thomas reminded usit's the eighth Sunday of
Pentecost, and we remindourselves of that because we are
in the season of learning howto live in the Spirit, how to
live connected to God and theways of God, and learn how that
we as people, as human people,can live our lives and truly
(01:09):
flourish.
Jesus said this I have comethat you would have life and
that you would have it to thefull, that we would savor the
life that we have, that we would, with gratitude, be able to see
every good thing that is aroundus, that the birds would teach
(01:29):
us, that the trees would teachus that we would listen, for
creation drawing us into thecompanionship with Jesus.
When Jesus said this to thepeople following, he said the
kingdom of God is so close toyou, it's in your mouth, it's
right here among us.
Sometimes I think we struggle alittle bit because someone told
us, and is told all of us, thatGod is somewhere really high up
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in the sky, and when we put Godreally high up in the sky, we
forget the promise that we arenever alone.
Emmanuel, god with us, god inour suffering, god in our
distress, god in our joy, god inour bliss, god with us.
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And the invitation that Jesusgives us is into joy, is into
real living, and Jesus shows uswhat it's like to be a human
person and to be able to ascend,to be able to stay in
connection with God, to be ableto hear the voice of the Father
say you are loved and I ampleased with you.
I hope you hear the voice ofSpirit affirm that to you this
morning.
You are deeply loved by God andyou belong wherever you are,
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because wherever you are.
God is there.
And so this morning, as weapproach the text, we remind
ourselves, we allow ourselves toopen to the Spirit, who will
re-enchant the text to us, whowill remind us of what we knew
from the very beginning.
Jesus said this to his peopleand he said you don't even need
a teacher because you will havethe Holy Spirit, and the Holy
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Spirit will direct you in allthings.
And so, if we don't have needof a teacher, why are we here?
We are here to remember, we arehere to be reminded that we can
trust the small voice inside ofus, that we can trust love,
that we can trust again eachother and the goodness that is
(03:28):
in the world.
And so we go this morning intoLuke's gospel, luke's account of
what is happening as Jesusgives instructions to the people
who are following.
And in Luke, chapter 12, verse11, when they bring you before
the synagogues, the rulers andthe authorities.
11, when they bring you beforethe synagogues, the rulers and
the authorities, don't worryabout how or what you will
(03:49):
answer or what you are to say,for the Holy Spirit will teach
you at that very hour what youare to say.
Well, that's incredibly hopefulif you know what the voice of
the Spirit sounds like, if youknow the voice that you are to
listen to.
I don't know if this has everhappened to you and I hope that
it has that you felt a littledisoriented in a crowd of a lot
(04:10):
of noise and all of a sudden,you heard a voice.
You remembered Ah, there is theperson I'm looking for.
I heard the voice.
Even there can be just a hugenoise, but you can focus in on
the voice that tells you you arenot alone, you are loved and
that God is good and has anincredible plan.
And so this morning, I inviteyou to welcome the Holy Spirit,
(04:32):
to teach you the voice of Spirit.
This is a wisdom tradition.
This is the thing that we areall looking for.
This is the hope and the callfor that we would know the voice
of wisdom.
The Holy Spirit is wisdom, andso that we would find true
wisdom, so that we would knowwhat to do in every circumstance
and I really appreciate Jesus'sencouragement in this text you
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don't have to know what you'regoing to say when you stand
before anyone who asks somethingof you.
The Holy Spirit will tell you.
The Holy Spirit will say to youthis is what you should say,
this is what you should do.
And so our attention thismorning is to living, practicing
life in the Spirit.
Jesus is reminding the peopleabout the Spirit and someone
(05:18):
then says to him teacher, tellmy brother to divide the family
inheritance with me.
Don't you love it when somebodychanges the subject and it goes
all wonky and you're like what,wait a second, wait a second.
We're talking about life in thespirit.
And somebody goes make mybrother do something different,
make it about him, change him.
(05:39):
You take your words and youchange my brother.
I mean, mean, really.
And then what if the brotherwas there?
That's what I'm thinking about.
And then everybody's assumingwhat's happening in that family.
You know, like go further intothe story and ask yourself what
would it be like if my youngerbrother was right before Jesus?
And you're like tell my brotherto do better, tell my brother
to do differently.
(06:00):
My brother's doing it wrong.
Beloved, we are often thisbrother who's asking Jesus, make
him stop that, make him do thisdifferently.
And then Jesus shows ussomething beautiful, and there
are two particular points inthis story.
I want us to hang on, and Jesussaid this friend, I love how,
(06:22):
even when someone isantagonizing, when somebody is
coming in the wrong kind ofvibration or frequency, and
Jesus said friend, who sent meto be a judge or an arbitrator
over you?
That's a good question.
Jesus often asks us questionswhen we ourselves have questions
.
And I do want to remind us ofsomething when we go to the text
and we listen to the witness ofthe scriptures, they often just
(06:46):
give us more questions.
They often don't give us atruth.
But they ask another questionwho sent me to be the judge or
the arbitrator?
Does this mean that that man isactually a follower?
Does it mean that this manrecognizes the power and the
authority that is in Jesus?
Does his brother recognize thatauthority?
(07:08):
And then this one wants to makehim seem bad in front of the one
who has the authority.
I mean, these are the kind ofquestions that we can ask
ourselves and we can draw intothis story.
And so this brother said, hey,make my brother do something
better.
This brother said, hey, make mybrother do something better.
And Jesus said friend, takecare, be on your guard against
(07:33):
all kinds of greed.
Okay, that's not what you wantto hear when you're asking your
brother to divide theinheritance.
You had a plan.
And now Jesus said you know whatthe real issue is is greed.
I do want to remind all of usthat this is something that is a
big deal to Jesus.
He talks about it very manytimes, that the issues, the
(07:54):
places where we fall intoillusion, where we have the
follies of this illusion, is ingreed and in what greed does to
us.
In fact, there are otherportions of the New Testament
that says that greed actuallypierced us with sorrow.
I don't want to be pierced withanything and I certainly don't
want to be pierced with sorrow,and greed is the inroad to that.
(08:15):
So this is what Jesus isreminding us.
There is a deeper thing at playhere than your question of your
brothers rightfully dividinganything.
There is greed at the core, forone's life does not consist in
the abundance of possessionsBeloved I'm going to let that
(08:35):
sink for a moment for you.
One's life does not consist ofthe abundance of possessions,
this very anti-the-capthecapitalist society that we live
in, where we're going to measuresomeone's worth by how many
possessions they have.
Jesus here confronts the waythat the world has been for a
(08:57):
long time, that we haveconsidered people are wise
because they have a bunch ofstuff.
And Jesus is saying payattention to greed and don't
have a bunch of stuff.
And Jesus is saying payattention to greed and don't
have any part of that.
Your life does not consist ofthe abundance of possessions.
And then he told them a parable.
So Jesus hears the people'sgroans because I think they all
(09:19):
wanted things devoted anddivided fairly.
All of us have a question Makemy brother do something
different.
And Jesus confronts thisfalsehood, this illusion in us
that greed or more for me isgoing to prove anything for us.
The land of a rich man producedabundantly.
Right here Jesus is confrontingthe way that we view
(09:44):
agriculture, the way that wedecide what is wealth or what is
good.
The land produced abundantly.
Just leave that in your head.
The beautiful, good earth thatGod gave us abundantly gave
forth its fruits.
(10:04):
And the man thought to himselfwhat should I do?
For I have no place to store mycrops.
And then he said I will do this.
I will pull down my barns andbuild larger ones and there I
will store all my grain and allof my goods.
And I will say to my soul soul,you have ample goods laid up
(10:25):
for many, many years.
Relax, eat, drink, be merry.
And God said to him you fool.
This very night, your life isbeing demanded of you and the
things that you have prepared isbeing demanded of you.
And the things that you haveprepared, whose will they be?
(10:48):
And so it is with those whostore up treasures for
themselves but are not richtoward God.
I would like us all this morningto contemplate what does it
mean to be rich toward God?
What does it mean to live ourlife in richness toward God?
Many of us have the idea, orthe mindset, that we have
(11:11):
nothing and that God haseverything, and so all God wants
is all God should want is togive us more stuff.
And God is inviting us intoanother way of living, another
way of thinking.
I would like for you toconsider that this man who does
this is our brother or ourself.
I would like for you to listento how many times this man says
(11:35):
I will do it.
I would just go back.
It's just a few verses, but Iremind you.
And then he said oh well, I'llstart with the first I.
He thought to himself whatshould I do, for I have no place
to store my crops.
Listen, for all the I's.
Then he said I will do this.
I will pull down my barns and Iwill build larger ones and
(11:58):
there I will store all of mygrains and my goods and I will
say to my soul soul, you haveample goods laid up for many
years.
Relax, eat, drink and be merry.
This particular man is onlyseeing himself.
He lives in this egocentricview of the world where he is
the one who has done this.
Now, anyone who has done farmingknows that you don't do farming
(12:21):
without help and you don't haveso much that you do that you
would need barns and barns andbarns upon barns.
What this man is not accountingis the earth gave that to him.
That was a gift from God and Ipromise you with this man's
story, he did not do thiswithout help.
There was somebody plowing thatfield.
There was somebody working thatfield, tilling that ground,
(12:44):
watering that and then bringingit into the barns.
This is not a man who said I'mgoing to tear it down and I'm
going to build it up.
If you've already built a barn,you're going to find a way that
that's going to be enough.
That's hard work.
But if you've just orderedsomeone to build a barn, of
course you can just orderanother barn.
So this illustration, thisparable that Jesus is saying is
again looking at these things.
(13:04):
Where do we find thiscontentment?
But you hear this whole storythis man tells, and it's only
about himself.
In fact, he's even talking tohimself.
In no place is he even talkingto God.
He is simply living in a lifewhere the whole thing is about
him.
And Jesus is offering usanother way of seeing.
This is the healing miraclethat we would begin to see with
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our eyes others, that we wouldresist greed, like it is the
poison that it means to be, thatwe would be people who would
relish in the fact that we aregiven, so that we can be givers,
that we can be people who healand who help.
We talked about this morning inour reading, when Jesus said
(13:46):
whatever you have done to theleast of these, my brethren, you
have done it to me.
So I ask you this morning tothink who are the people in the
margins that you know about?
Who are the people who don'thave community?
Who are the people that aredespised by the world?
(14:07):
Who are the people that aredespised by our culture?
And then what would jesus askus to do about it?
He says to himself.
Soul.
You have ample goods laid upfor many years.
Relax, eat and drink and bemerry.
And God says to him you fool.
This can be a harsh language,because this is a point I want
(14:31):
us to pay attention to.
This is a practice in missingthe point.
This man spent all these yearsand he has the bigger barns.
And God says this isfoolishness.
I don't think any of us want toget to the end of our life and
(14:52):
God looks at us and says this isfoolishness, how you lived,
always in the future, alwaysthinking about the future.
Now this man understandsagriculture and there is a time
to take food and to put it in abarn.
That's called wisdom.
Especially, think about theculture here.
There would have been timeswhere they understood a famine,
(15:13):
a lack of rain.
So you need to prepare, andthat is not what God is calling
foolishness.
What God is confronting here isthis idea of ignoring the
present, ignoring what is righthere in front of you, ignoring
the goodness that is right here,the people that are right in
front of you, and finding a lifewhere it is all about you and
(15:34):
you are the only person that isin it and you are the only
person being prepared for.
What are you preparing for yourneighbors?
What are you preparing forthose who do not have?
Jesus told us this.
We read it today and we heardit in the text that Caroline
read to us this morning.
The people said the disciples,the followers of Jesus, said
(16:05):
these people are hungry.
Send them away.
We can't do anything about it.
If I was a hungry one, I wouldnot want to leave Jesus.
Like our best chance is somekind of miracle, like don't send
me away, send me to where itsays that there were no towns
nearby, there was nothing forthese people to do.
And so I remind you, this isnot just a parable for 2,000
years ago, beloved in our midst,there are people starving and
(16:27):
it can feel overwhelming.
It can feel like what can I do?
I have nothing.
We pause here for a moment tothank you for joining us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
(16:50):
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
And Jesus says to Philip what'sin your hand?
I think Philip checked hispockets Nothing, I have nothing.
And then Philip startedcampaigning for fundraising.
(17:11):
So he started going around tothe people that were there what
do you have Nothing, we havenothing.
What do you have, we havenothing.
And there's a boy who has alunch.
Now this story is oftenreferred to the boy and his
lunch.
I would like to rename it righthere and now.
I would like to call it thewoman who prepared a dinner or a
lunch for her son.
I would just like us to saythis this little boy did not
(17:33):
prepare this himself, he did notgo and get that fish, he did
not bake that bread.
And so let's talk about the boy, let's talk about how this
story is framed.
Seriously, it's the boy who'sgoing to give her thing.
What about the mom who grilledand who made that fish and who
thought I'm sending him out to afireplace to listen?
He's going to need lunch.
Kudos to the woman who prepares.
That's wisdom, beloved.
Here God is contrasting yourfoolishness is you think you're
(17:56):
going to take care of yourself?
Here's the wisdom, here's thewisdom.
So, anyway, philip asks who hasthe food, and then he gets this
lunch and he goes oh, this isnot enough, no, there's just no
way this is going to make adifference.
(18:16):
Beloved, we are bringing thingsto Jesus.
Remember that Anything you give, any gift of hope, any gift of
mercy, any gift of justice, anycompanionship, you offer to
anyone, any hope, any resource,any fish or bread, whatever it
is that is in your hands orwhatever you can scrounge out of
(18:37):
your neighbor.
I don't know if the boyactually offered it.
Perhaps some other woman saidwhat's in that basket bud?
What did your mom put in there?
Give that to the guy.
We don't know how the story went.
Perhaps it was all a bunch ofwomen who said listen, this is
all we got, but he has something, and Martha Martha sent it this
morning from home and so givethat to the Lord.
You know, like what do we needto be able to do?
(18:57):
To say there is an empowermentin whatever you have.
Offer it to Jesus, and Jesustakes this and he blesses it and
he gives thanks for it, andthen he sends it out.
And you know what God does?
Make it enough, not just enough, make it so much that there are
leftovers.
Do you know how good leftoversare when you're already tired
(19:19):
and you don't want to thinkabout what to eat or how to make
it.
You just know you have to.
I mean there's a blessing onleftovers and Jesus makes enough
and makes it for the next daybecause you were tired from your
journey to hear Jesus.
I mean there's so much goodnesswrapped up in this what's in
your hand.
So what does that mean for us?
When we look at the worldbeloved, we cannot be despondent
(19:39):
, we cannot give up hope, wecannot say it's all a mess, it
has nothing to do with me.
Jesus is saying hey, there'sthings in your barns that's not
just for you, because tonightyou don't know how long your
life is going to be.
I don't know how long my lifeis going to be, but when we have
the life, the presence now, howwill we love, how will we
(20:01):
practice generosity?
Who will we have mercy on?
And Jesus asks us to reallyconsider the question when you
die, who's going to take yourstuff?
I promise you they're not goingto value it the way you do.
They're going to put a bunch ofit in a box that doesn't go in
the same box.
They're just going to do itthat way and they might not even
(20:22):
care about it.
Jesus invites us to care aboutthe eternal.
And he does that by saying tous when I was hungry, you fed me
.
And they said when did we feedyou?
And he said whenever you did itto the least of these, my
brothers, you did it to me.
(20:44):
Jesus is expressing to us thisbeautiful hope of oneness.
What we do for one another, weare actually doing for ourself.
Do for one another.
We are actually doing forourselves.
In feeding our neighbors, instanding up for justice, in
explaining or in bringing lightto a situation.
We are doing that for ourselves.
And Jesus is saying if you'regoing to follow me this is what
(21:05):
it looks like You're not onlygoing to be preoccupied with
yourself, you're going to careabout your neighbor.
And again, there's anotherparable that Jesus tells us of a
man who's beaten by the side ofthe road and a Samaritan who is
on his way to work.
He has a job, sees him andstops.
Thomas mentioned this thismorning that following the
(21:28):
Spirit is going to be a lot ofinterruptions in your plan and
in your future and how you leavethis present moment and have
planned the future.
There's going to be aninterruption for that.
That is the Spirit.
You see that over and overagain Jesus is walking and then
he sees someone in need and hestops One of the things that you
see over and over again in theTestaments who are witnesses to
(21:52):
us of Christ?
Jesus saw a woman weeping.
She had lost her son and hedidn't say everybody loses
people, everybody loses people.
It says he saw that andcompassion welled up in him.
Beloved life in the spiritmeans compassion will well up in
(22:16):
you, where you will begin tosee.
We sang this song this morning.
May our love cause our heartsto break when someone is
suffering.
And let us ask the Spirit whatcan I do to be a part of
relieving that suffering?
What can I do to be a part ofhealing?
Jesus said hey, you've seen theworks.
I do Greater works than these.
(22:36):
Will you actually do?
What kind of works did Jesus do?
Acts of mercy, beloved.
Everything he did was an act ofmercy.
It was not a power grab.
He was not trying to be theinfluencer of the year.
Jesus was seeing this and hesaid I'm following my father.
(22:57):
Everything that you see me do,my father is doing.
So Jesus is showing us whatit's like to stay connected to
the spirit.
It is to stay connected to theSpirit.
It is to stay connected to thesuffering of our brother and
sister around us.
It's to say that we would seepeople, and if you can't see
anyone but yourself, we'll prayfor you that Jesus will heal
your sight and that he will giveyou back yourself, and that you
(23:19):
will remember.
Oh yes, we are to live tospread love to everyone, so that
everyone knows that there is atable that has been set for them
.
Jesus also gives this beautifulparable and you know it, so I
just remind you of it.
He said there was a king whoheaped up a feast, a huge feast.
(23:41):
He tells the people this storywhile they're hungry.
I think that's incrediblestorytelling.
While you're hungry, god isgoing to tell you a story about
a feast.
Think about the best mealyou've ever eaten.
Maybe that was yesterday.
(24:01):
I want to tell you.
I think best meal we've evereaten is the one we have today.
Whatever it is, the king says Iwould like to have everyone
come around the table.
So the word gets out and saysthe king is heaped to a feast
and a bunch of people said thiswe're busy.
(24:21):
Thanks so much.
I want to tell you who thosepeople are.
Not hungry people.
Those are people who have toomuch and they are full of
themselves.
That is me, beloved, and thatis you.
When we do not stop and attendto the suffering of others, we
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are too full, and in that casewe are full of ourselves, not
full of God.
God is love and God iscompassion, and God is just and
God is justly.
And this act of doing justice,this is what we're called to
when we're called to be peopleof God.
We're gathered here todaybecause all of us have decided
(25:04):
that we believe that Jesus isthe way.
Jesus said this and we've heardit and we're like yes, jesus is
the way to the follower.
So what does it mean for us, asfollowers of Jesus, to live the
path that Jesus lived?
When Jesus saw suffering, heattended to it.
The same is true of the storyof the Samaritan he saw a man
suffering and he stopped.
(25:26):
The truth is, he couldn't healthe man.
He knew his own skill, so hebrought him to someone who could
Beloved the whole world.
You don't have to solve everyproblem.
You don't have to solveeverything, but take people to
the ones who can heal them, takethem to a doctor, sit with them
(25:48):
, wait outside in the office oftheir therapist.
Whatever it is that you have todo, you are not required to do
it all, but you are required todo something.
This is an ancient proverb.
The rabbi said this you do nothave to be worried that you
cannot meet all the needs, butyou must meet some.
You can't give up on it.
And this is an invitation intoGod's life.
(26:09):
This is an invitation to lifein the spirit that we would be
people of radical generosity,that we would recognize that
everything we have is a giftfrom God.
And how we join in with thespirit is how we become people
of generosity, because werecognize we are not alone.
We are part of a family thatGod is telling, that God is the
(26:34):
father of and saying everybodygets a seat at the table.
So a bunch of these people saidyou know what?
We're too busy for the goodnessthat God has.
We have our own goodness and weare full.
And they come back and theytell the king they're not
interested.
And the king says okay, fine,go out to the highways and the
byways, to the people that areliving in the bushes, go out to
(26:58):
the homeless.
Go out to those that the worldsays we don't even see you.
You go and find them Beloved.
A work of the Spirit is seeingpeople that are unseen and
tending to their needs.
This is how the kingdom comes.
We prayed together this morning, and we do every single week,
the prayer that Jesus taught usto pray.
(27:18):
Your kingdom come, your will bedone on earth as it is in
heaven.
Who is unseen in the kingdom oflove?
No one, because love seeseveryone.
(27:41):
Who is hungry in God's kingdom?
No one, because God feedseveryone, and so we are invited
into this co-creation of thisbeautiful world that God is
saying is available to us, andhe's saying I'm asking you to do
this and I'm not giving it toyou by yourself.
I'm going to give you the HolySpirit, and the Holy Spirit's
going to be your teacher andyou're going to know what to do
because you've heard the voiceof the Spirit.
I just want to encourage usthis morning.
The way to hear the Holy Spiritis to stop talking.
(28:02):
I just want to encourage usthis morning.
The way to hear the Holy Spiritis to stop talking.
We are a people who love thesound of our own voice.
We're comforted by our nonsenseand our babbling, and I say
that with a lot of asking forforgiveness.
I don't say that you are thatperson, I am that person.
(28:23):
Jesus talked about this in ourprayers.
He said you pray and you'rejust happy that you said so many
words.
But he said instead, go intoyourself, go into that quiet
place and listen for the SpiritBeloved.
We don't want to miss the point.
God doesn't say to the man whois in this parable you're bad.
(28:46):
God doesn't say to the man whois in this parable you're bad.
He doesn't say you're a sinner.
He doesn't say you're eternallyapart from me.
God said you fool.
Ah, you missed the point.
So the invitation for us is toreceive wisdom for that and go.
I do not want to participate inthe missing the point club.
I would like to be invited intothe wisdom way.
(29:09):
One of the ancient teachers saysto us in all of your getting,
get wisdom.
Wisdom is the spirit thatcreates these things.
In fact, all the way in Genesisit says that there was chaos in
the world and the spirit of Godbegan to hover over the waters.
We're here today because theSpirit started a movement and
(29:29):
I'm telling you, the Spirit isstill asking us to be a part of
this movement, for us to saywhere is my place to serve?
I want to tell you, beloved, ifyou need joy, find someone to
serve, not out of duty, notbecause you're going to earn
anything, but because this iswhat it's like to follow the way
(29:49):
of Jesus, to serve, to lovinglyserve people.
This is what Jesus did.
Jesus shows us how to be human,how to thrive in our humanity,
how to be abundant in ourrelationship with God, and he
says it's going to be throughservice.
The man with all the burnsmissed that memo, and so let's
(30:12):
hear the words of Jesus and go.
Okay, yes, for me, I'mfollowing.
There's also an ancient proverbin the rabbis would bless each
other and bless their followersand say may you always be
covered in the dust of yourrabbi.
Do you know what that meansthat you're following so closely
(30:32):
?
They got their dust on you.
They were walking and you wereright behind them.
What does it look like forJesus to be in Ocala?
One of our friends offered usthis, thought it was slightly
horrifying.
I'm allowing it to be part ofwho I am.
And they said if Jesus showedup at your house and said you go
(30:53):
ahead and take a nap, just havea rest, and I'll serve your
family and I'll serve yourneighbors and I'll do the
grocery shopping or I'll do thewhatever.
Would anyone notice that Jesusreplaced you?
I'm sad to say that peoplewould totally notice.
But here's our invitation to bethe hands and feet of Jesus, and
(31:16):
this is good news, beloved,this understanding, this
enlightenment that we are to bein the present moment, that we
are to be grateful and that weare to be able to say to the
Spirit where can I serve?
What can I do to relievesomeone's suffering?
What can I do to feed someonearound us?
And I encourage us?
We are a church that feedspeople, and that's beautiful,
(31:37):
but that's not enough.
That's you know.
We are a church that givestogether so that we can do
beautiful things for ourcommunity, and that's wonderful.
But this is where you're trained, that's not where it stops.
This is where you come and youpractice this radical generosity
so that others can be blessed.
And this is our invitation intothe life of Christ, into a
(32:01):
wisdom that says love is the way, love has always been the way,
love will be the way and beloved.
Love is not cruel, love is notimpatient.
Love does not only care aboutitself.
Love does not put itself first.
Love doesn't give up.
(32:22):
That's one of my favorite partsabout the love thing, because
this is who God is.
God doesn't give up on us.
God says, okay, if you don'twant to come, you're busy,
that's fine, we're going to goget everyone who lives in a bush
.
Do you know how the people thatlive in the hedges and that
live along the street actuallyfind out about anything?
(32:43):
And that live along the streetactually find out about anything
?
Because someone went and toldthem.
We are the people who get totell everyone that God is love
and that God has heaped up afeast.
And God is saying come and eat,come and enjoy life, come and
find fulfillment in belonging,come and experience eternal life
(33:05):
.
This is a beautiful invitationinto remembering, and the good
news is that Jesus said youdon't even have to remember
everything yourself.
Just listen to the Spirit andthe Spirit will remind you.
Just know the voice of theSpirit.
And so I invite us again wetalked about it over the last
(33:26):
few weeks a prayer that we canpray and it's a short one,
because then in our other timeof prayer we're sitting quietly
and listening, but a prayer isthis Spirit.
I am willing to change my mindabout this.
Let me tell you that is aninvitation into transformation,
beloved.
That is an invitation intomiracles, and as children of God
(33:49):
, we are entitled to miracles,miracles of transformation
changing us, changing the way wesee something and changing the
world around us.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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