September 23, 2025 • 50 mins
The most radical teaching of Jesus might be the simplest: "Love your enemies." But what does this look like in practice, especially in our divided world?
Through the metaphor of "God's museum," we're invited to reimagine who belongs in the divine family. Picture walking through galleries displaying Earth's wonders—stones, rain, seas—but mostly photographs of people, including those we struggle to love. This perspective shift challenges us to recognize sacred value in everyone, even those who oppose us.
Jesus didn't just talk about loving enemies—he modeled it by bringing together disciples who would naturally be enemies, like a zealot and a tax collector. When he commands us to "let them bring out the best in you, not the worst," he's offering a revolutionary way to handle opposition. Instead of responding with hatred or indifference, we're called to "respond with the energies of prayer," connecting to love as our power source.
This sermon explores how everyday frustrations (like repeatedly dropping a tape measure) become opportunities to practice this love-centered approach. We can choose between anger at inconveniences or gratitude for the bigger picture. Similarly, we can focus on differences that divide us or the underlying unity that transcends them.
The teaching delves into how tenderness marks spiritual maturity, challenging cultural definitions of strength. Through the practice of communion—patiently waiting as others receive—we physically embody what it means to rejoice in others' blessings. This sacred meal reminds us we belong to God's family where there's enough love for everyone.
Ready to transform how you respond to opposition? Listen now and discover how loving your enemies might be the most powerful spiritual practice available to us today.
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
Mark as Played
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
.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I invite every person here to take a moment and
recognize that we are in theseason of Pentecost.
Still the 13th Sunday, is thatcorrect?
15th Sunday, okay, I'm notkeeping track.
So we're in the 15th Sunday ofPentecost, like I've just been
corrected, and this is important.
It's the third week of creation.
Okay, and here's the imagery.
(00:32):
Right, I have been.
I feel like there's some thingsthat I can imagine very clearly
and then some instructions thatI hear from my dad and my boss
and that just doesn't work.
But then sometimes the HolySpirit gives my imagination
something very beautiful.
Okay, imagine with me.
We're in God's museum.
Okay, we're getting a chance to, as you go throughout a museum,
(00:55):
you get a chance to see thewondrous beauties, the wondrous
works that are present.
We get a chance to see all thethings that he's created, all
the things that he values.
Some of it has the earth, someof it has the stones, some of it
has the rain, the skies, theseas, the creatures in it, but a
lot of it is just photos of us.
Now I'd like you to imagine youwalk through God's beautiful
(01:16):
museum and you also see thepeople that you hate and you
might say to yourself they don'tbelong here, but just take your
holy imagination for just amoment and say there is value
here for every person.
And then you go past that halland you see a gallery that's
just fit for you, all of thebeautiful moments that God has
captured for you.
(01:37):
Amen, so allow your heart.
The Holy Spirit is described asa fire and a river, and I think
those elements are importantbecause they're usually used for
purification or they're usuallyused for smoothening out,
because we have some rough edges.
I do, and there are still somethings that I have to be
(01:58):
smoothed over and allow God'ssoftness and caring to be a part
of my life and there are somejagged edges.
Often we experience jaggededges from being broken.
That's often where jagged edgesstart to take place.
Agreed, but what if we allowedourselves to enter the river of
God and that smoothening happens?
(02:19):
I don't know if you guys haveever seen photos of the glass
beach in California.
That's so cool to me that wetook something that was just
meant to be garbage and nowpeople sought after that area to
take pictures, to go see thebeauty of God's ocean, washing
it over and over and smoothingthings over and over.
And now we want to see it.
We want to see God's redemptionin real time.
(02:40):
Does that make sense?
That's good.
That's good.
Keep sense.
No, I'm out.
That was it.
This is where God's part getsto come on up.
So this is a reading, and I'dallow this reading for you today
to be like the oceans right Tobe like the waves of the Holy
Spirit getting a chance tosoften us up.
Amen, watch out.
(03:02):
Don't do your good deedspublicly to be admired by others
, for you will lose the rewardfrom your Father in heaven.
When you give someone in need,don't do it as hypocrites do,
blowing trumpets into thesynagogues and the streets to
call attention to their acts ofcharity.
(03:23):
I tell you the truth they havereceived all the reward they
will ever get.
But when you give to someone inneed, don't let your left hand
know what your right hand isdoing.
Give your gifts in private, andyour Father, who sees
everything, will reward you.
(03:45):
When you pray, don't be likethe hypocrites who love to pray
publicly on street corners andin the synagogues, where
everyone can see them.
I tell you the truth that isall the reward they will ever
get.
But when you pray, go away byyourself, shut the door behind
(04:09):
you and pray to your Father inprivate.
Then your Father, who seeseverything, will reward you Amen
.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We pay attention to these things because it reminds
us to ground ourselves.
Not just cats or dogs orwhatever animals speak to you.
I remind you that there areprophets among us in many
different ways, some of themanimals, some of them birds and
trees, but we are together,resounding.
Somebody was upset the otherday and they were throwing a
little tantrum, and it wasn't mytantrum and it wasn't somebody
(04:41):
that I was.
I was just observing thetantrum and somebody next to
them said I would like you totake a drink of water and go
outside and stand in the grass.
And I thought that is a reallygood idea for all of us.
Sometimes we need a drink ofwater and to go outside and
stand in the grass.
Over and over again we see Godtelling people this when they
are sure they are the only one.
I love Elijah's tantrum wherehe says I am the only one who is
(05:04):
following you, I'm the only onewho's doing right and you know
I've done all these things foryou.
And now, look, I'm the only one.
And God says how about you gotake a nap?
I'll send a snack and I wantyou to know there's over 700
prophets that are also teachingmy word.
So sometimes we get reallyshort-sighted and God's like,
have a snack, go touch somegrass, ground yourself, it's all
(05:26):
going to be okay.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And did I mention they were litter box trained?
Oh wait, we're on a differentsubject.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, you know, an animal can speak to you in all
kinds of ways, and this is abeautiful, beautiful rescue.
Dennis found them in the streetat midnight, the middle of a
street, and so it is anincredible rescue.
Sometimes love looks like that.
What do you?
What are these two little tinythings doing outside in the
(05:54):
middle of the street?
I don't know, we could all comeup with our own story, you know
, but it's tragic.
However, it happened there inthe street and we cannot just
drive by and say I hope it worksout for them.
We know it's not going to workout for them unless we do
something about it.
And so, beloved, go adopt a cat.
That's not what I'm saying.
Or adopt a dog, whatever it is.
That's not the truth.
(06:14):
Whatever, you see a need, whatis in my hands to be able to do
to be able to relieve this need?
Now, you weren't actuallyasking for cats all the time.
We have a beautiful dog, luna,who is.
She has some prejudice againstother animals and we have been
working with her for a very longtime on this, but we just keep
loving her.
But she has prejudice againstthe cats.
(06:34):
She does not believe that theybelong in the house and they are
, in her world, inferior to her,and so, again, we look at this,
and one of the reasons we cometo church is to learn how to
love, and how to loveexclusively, and how to love in
ways that expand us, and I'm sograteful to be able to be in
this moment with you and be ableto hear the words of Jesus that
(06:57):
remind us.
This is why we come so that wecan learn how to love, and we
can learn how to love well andlet's be honest, you're in the
presence of of of amazement.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Did you see how she can turn anything and make it
spiritual?
Isn't that good?
Go ahead and throw out a topic,watch her.
Let's not do that.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Let's not do that although I bet you I could but
let's not.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We're not going to bet and do those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But here's why because everything is sacred,
beloved.
There is nothing that is notsacred.
What is happening is, anytimeyou give attention to something
and recognize the holy, that'show it becomes the sacred we
ourselves holy because we aremade in the image of God, you
are loved and you are made inGod's own image.
And so the invitation is comeback to yourself, your true self
(07:41):
, that self that bears the imageof Christ.
You are loved, beloved just asyou are is come back to yourself
, your true self, that self thatbears the image of Christ.
You are loved, beloved just asyou are, and you are welcomed in
the house of the Lord.
I read to you this morning fromJohn's Gospel, and this is a
commandment for those of us thathave gathered today that say
that we're interested in beingpeople who follow the way of
Jesus.
We believe that Jesus is love,that Jesus is God, and, from the
(08:04):
very beginning, god is love.
But Jesus says this to us inJohn, chapter 13,.
Now I'm giving you a newcommandment love each other,
which is fine, good, good, we'veall done that, okay, great.
Love each other.
And then he says this just as Ihave loved you, well, now
(08:25):
that's another story.
That's a whole other story.
This is this cruciform shape.
Love each other the way thatJesus loved us.
Jesus, who is God with God,leaves heaven, comes to earth.
And I remind you, the earththat Jesus was born into was not
(08:46):
a great place.
The empire was so brutal that,within months of him being born,
the empire said all of thebabies under the age of two must
be slaughtered, because theemperor was so conceited and so
full of fear.
So he comes into this placewhere great slaughter I mean
(09:07):
crucifixion.
Jesus was not the first personto be crucified.
Rome crucified people all thetime.
This is the kind of torture andkind of place, and Jesus shows
us what it's like to live fully,human and thrive.
Jesus said I have come that youwould have life and have it to
the fullest, and so the way ofJesus is the way of love,
(09:29):
beloved.
And if you are coming to followJesus or if you don't know of
him, let us tell you about him.
He's beautiful, and to hear thewords of love that will inspire
us to become the people that wewere always meant to be, that
we are people who bear the imageof our Father.
Just as I have loved you, youshould love each other.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
You know it's really the getting off the couch when
someone's in the other roomsaying I need some help.
You know what is it.
Can you get somebody else?
You sure you need me.
You know there's those momentswhere we just have a choice to
be and now giving your life forsomebody.
(10:13):
That's amazing, but that's aone time deal that you maybe
could muster up the strength todo.
But I would say that reallythis is an example of how you're
to live love daily.
You know, not just a one-timething, that every time you know
I have this thing where I thinkyou should wash the tray in the
(10:38):
air fryer every time you use it.
I don't know if anyone else hasan air fryer.
I don't want to go, start tocook and pull the drawer out of
the air fryer and it be filledwith somebody else's sticky
stuff.
That's my life and I havecomplained and complained and it
does no good.
I'm angry, upset.
(11:01):
People don't want to hear myyakking Now.
I don't think there's littleevil people in my house who go.
I think I'm going to take thatoff.
I think there's people that arebusy and they got stuff to do,
so the last thing they think ofis the train and the air fire.
I'm fixated on the thing.
So I decided, instead ofyelling and complaining and
making myself and others unhappy, I would gladly wash that.
(11:27):
So I'm making an announcementnow Leave it.
I notice I point to this areafor no specific reason.
I'm just going to do it Until Ican do it joyfully, until it
can really be an act of love forthe people that I say that I
love.
You know, because it's thejustification, and there's
(11:50):
people that back me.
Yeah, you're right, but there'sso many, and you're probably
one of those angry, clean freakslike me.
How about letting that go andletting love rise up in place of
that?
Now, I know I just crossed theline right there.
I took some people off, butthis is good stuff, you guys.
It's those moments when someoneneeds your help.
I didn't hear you yelling forhelp from the other room.
(12:12):
I didn't want to get up, or Idon't want to do these little
things, or I've told you once.
I've told you this is where youshould park, this is where you
should.
You know all these things.
They're opportunities for us tolove or they're opportunities
for us to choose ourself.
That preach right there.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We talk a lot about things, things of God, things of
people and things of love,because beloved love is eternal.
It's the only thing thatmatters.
Love matters.
But we prayed a prayer thismorning.
We've been praying a prayertogether as the Church of Jesus
Christ for over 2,000 years.
Disciples went to Jesus and saidteach us to pray.
And he said our father stoppedthere because he just made us
(12:57):
all family.
We are family because Jesusmakes us family.
And then we say this yourkingdom come.
And I don't know if you knowthis, but if God's kingdom is
coming, that means our kingdommust go.
And I know that you want to sayI don't have a kingdom Beloved
(13:18):
anywhere that you have influenceis your kingdom.
When you get up in the morningand you plan your day and you
feel like this is the way thatit should go and no one should
interfere with it, that is yourkingdom.
And when we say I want God'skingdom to come, that means I
want love to be in charge ofthis day.
I want love to be in charge ofhow I respond.
(13:38):
I want love to be in charge ofhow I think and what presence
I'm in.
And so we go to Matthew'sgospel this morning for the text
.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I'd just like to add that you know, because we are in
this world and you know, onmost situations I'm grateful
about gravity.
You know I'm sticking to theplan and I'm able to walk around
.
It's very cool.
But yesterday I was working andit was hot outside and I was
cutting a bunch of stuff and Ican't tell you how many times
(14:08):
the tape measure wouldvicariously get set on my table
and it would fall off and it wasalmost like a comical amount of
times that the tape measurefell on the ground Like that,
should you know, and part of,and I used to just get so mad I
can't believe this freaking tapemeasure keeps falling.
Then I thought well, you know,in most situations I'm grateful
for gravity.
This is one of those thingswhere I'm not.
You know, it's just trying tofind its lowest spot to stick to
(14:29):
the earth and I'm the one thatset it on edge and the universe
wasn't out to get me.
It didn't create gravity sothat I could be mad about tape
measures falling.
It's part of what happens whenyou work you set things in
places and other things knock itover, and if you begin to
expect things like aren't alwaysgoing to go your way.
(14:50):
You can relieve a lot of painin your life Because, you know,
for some reason, for years andyears, I went to a job expecting
everything to go perfect.
Now, has that ever happened inthe history of me going to work?
Zero times Ever.
So what if you and I shiftedour expectation to?
(15:12):
The world isn't out to get me.
The devil isn't in every tapemeasure that I have in my shop.
Sometimes, if you set somethingon the edge of a wobbly table
out in the grass, it's going tofall down, and I got to tell you
that, at 57 years old, thehardest thing I do in a day's
time is bend over.
(15:33):
That hurts the worst.
And so you know what.
I probably need to bend over afew more times and bend down and
grab that stuff and touch mytoes.
What Touch my toes?
I can't even conceptualize that.
But what if those become thethings that we can accept as
(15:55):
just it's okay and not allowmyself to give in to anger,
curse the inanimate object oryell at?
You know, and I'm sure I'm theonly one that does this gets
disproportionately angry andsurrenders over to that side and
it feels good for a second.
But I realized that that's theexample that I set for the
(16:17):
people around me, that that'show you should behave.
And do you know what happenswhen I see them act like that
behave?
And do you know what happenswhen I see them act like that?
I cringe.
I don't want that for them, butI sure have presented that as
the top choice.
When tape measures fall, theyget awful quiet in here.
I guess I'm just preaching tomyself.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Let's talk about how, if a tape measure falls, what
in your life needs to come downas far as the rule of
measurement?
When can you be grateful forhow the day went?
When you've measured that itssuccess is exactly as you
imagined in the morning, or whenyou recognize I've been in the
presence of love all day?
Everywhere I go, I'm in thepresence of God Because God is
with me.
God is in the people that Imeet.
(17:03):
Matthew, chapter five.
Jesus said this you're familiarwith the written law love your
friend and its unwrittencompanion hate your enemy.
And one of the reasons that wecome together and we remind
ourselves of the words of Jesusis because you already know what
the culture is teaching you.
The culture is teaching youthat you need to find out who
agrees with you and who to makean enemy and who to divide
(17:24):
yourself from.
And Jesus is saying you youneed to find out who agrees with
you and who to make an enemyand who to divide yourself from.
And Jesus is saying you allneed to come together.
Everybody gets to come together.
No one is left out.
I remind you of things that wesometimes forget in the way that
we tell the story.
But Jesus had 12 people that hesaid I'm going to start with
this particular group, and hehad among them a zealot and a
(17:46):
tax collector.
These people were absolutelyopposite.
They believed absolutelyopposite of each other.
I'm not sure that Jesus didn'tphysically have to keep them
apart, I don't know that.
But I'm just telling you hesaid I want that kind, I desire
that that you would see thatthere's a different way to live
and that in being family, inbeing the family of the world,
(18:09):
that there's another way.
You're familiar with thewritten law love your friend and
its unwritten companion, hateyour enemy.
But I am challenging that and,beloved, I wonder how many
things you will allow Jesus tochallenge in the way that you
live in the world.
Will you allow Jesus tochallenge in the way that you
live in the world?
Will you allow Jesus tochallenge the way that you think
about something?
Will you allow Jesus to changethat?
(18:32):
I am telling you love yourenemies.
I'm so glad that you came tochurch this morning.
I'm glad to be able to sharethis with you, because shared
pain is easier to deal with.
Shared pain is easier for us tounderstand.
I've been looking at this versemore than a week now and paying
attention to what it's tellingus.
(18:52):
Jesus said I am telling youlove your enemies.
Let them bring out the best inyou.
Do people who disagree with youbring out the best in you?
I hope so, like that's the hopefor all of us.
And here's what is the best inus, christ, what?
is the best in us Love.
Love is so beautiful, beloved,and love is the best.
(19:16):
Jesus said.
Let them bring the best in you,not the worst.
When someone gives you a hardtime I love the word when there
too, not if it's going to happenbeloved.
Jesus was also a realist.
He understood what it was liketo be here.
When someone gives you a hardtime, respond with the energies
(19:39):
of prayer, Not the energy thatis fueled by hatred or
indifference.
Respond with the energies ofprayer, Not the energy that is
fueled by hatred or indifference.
Respond with the energies ofprayer.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
You know, this message right here perhaps is
the most important thing that wecould possibly preach to you in
the climate that we're in rightnow.
And it's so interesting thatthis message was prepared a
couple thousand years ago,because God has known the nature
(20:11):
of mankind and it is to divideand it is to pit one another
against each other and to fosterhatred.
And we're in a pivotal time nowbecause it seems, you know, in
my lifetime I've only seen acouple of times when things have
(20:33):
just risen to such a degree,such an uncomfortable
temperature, you know, and thereare people that families that
are splitting apart overpolitics and over things that
are happening in church.
For you and I, for us to knowthe way to navigate this is
(20:54):
through that inner witness oflove and peace.
You may disagree witheverything that comes out of the
mouth of someone that you'retalking to, but it does not mean
that they're your enemy.
They are still your brother oryour sister and they still
deserve respect and love, youknow, and the best way for us to
(21:17):
avoid the rhetoric is to justchange the channel.
We don't have to silence thevoice, we don't have to wish
someone else to never be able tohave their opinion because we
disagree with it.
We can just use that as anopportunity.
I've always used that as anopportunity to talk to my
children.
(21:38):
This is why your mother and Idon't believe that and we talk
about these things openly andthey're actually wonderful
opportunities.
You know, we don't have to beafraid that our families are
going to be abducted, that, youknow, by this false teaching or
whatever we disagree with.
But we can still find a place.
(21:59):
And I'm telling you, it is sohard for us to call certain
people brothers and certainpeople sisters, but the fact is
we all have one Father and thatunity.
It will defeat hatred.
It will defeat that separation.
It will bring us together.
It will transform this world.
(22:21):
So we're on the precipice ofthat change.
It will transform this world.
So we're on the precipice ofthat change.
But will the church rise up orwill we act just like?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
the world, beloved brothers and sisters.
Family is all that God hasalways been about.
God created families and one ofthe things that I love about
what Jesus shows us is, even asJesus is suffering and dying on
the cross, in his moment of painand in his moment of being, the
(22:53):
system empire egos of men tooksomeone completely innocent and
nailed him to a cross.
We took love and we nailed itto the cross.
And Jesus said to John, one ofhis disciples, beloved, here's
your mother.
Even at the very end of hislife, he's making people family.
(23:15):
He cares about us coming, andthat's why the communion table
is so incredible when we come toeat, where we come to be
nourished, where we come to benourished, where we come to be
ourselves, where we take off ourmasks and we allow our hunger
to drive us to the table.
What do you have need of thismorning?
It is at the table of the Lord.
Do you need belonging?
You're here.
There's a chair for you.
(23:36):
Do you need peace?
It's here.
Eat the body of Christ for you.
This understanding, everythingthat we need, this incredible
mystery, is here at thecommunion table.
But this is the hope for theworld, beloved, that we would
recognize that we are notseparate, but that we are one
because of Christ.
Jesus said I'm challenging that.
I'm telling you to love yourenemies.
(23:56):
Let them bring out the best inyou, not the worst.
When someone gives you a hardtime, someone gives you a hard
time, respond with the energiesof prayer, beloved.
Prayer is incredibly powerful.
Prayer is not something that wejust say and that's a last
resort.
Prayer is actually thisincredible thing that connects
(24:18):
us to the source of all power,and that is love.
God is love and prayer connectsus to that vibration, to that
frequency, to that understanding, to that incredible light.
God is love and God is with us.
For then you are working out ofyour true selves.
This is what Jesus said Lovingyour enemy and responding in
(24:40):
this place of response onlythrough the energy of prayer is
your true self.
This means that ego and thefalse self and all the things
that we create in order to putthem in front of someone, to
make them think that we'rebetter than we are or that we
have more to offer than we do.
And this is what the scripturesays.
Your God-created selves.
(25:03):
Just be aware of that thismorning.
You are beloved.
You have a God-created selfthat is holy, that is perfect
and that is wanted.
And this is what God does.
He gives his best, the sun towarm and the rain to nourish to
everyone, regardless the goodand the bad, the nice and the
(25:26):
nasty.
When we respond in love Now,does responding in love mean
that you allow people to harmyou or to harm your neighbors
Beloved?
No, Love responds in ways thatare gentle, but in ways that are
firm, in ways that say youcannot harm, you cannot do these
things.
But there is this energy ofprayer that comes with a
(25:49):
connection to God at all times.
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
(26:10):
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Prayer for us many times is like the mantras, the
thing that you have to say butwhere's the spot in your day and
in your life for just beingquiet and listening, you know,
and just hearing, because that'sthat's prayer.
Uh, we, we sometimes have justmade it like our request list,
but you know, there's valuablethings that we need to know.
(26:40):
I'll tell you a real painfulsituation in my life.
Years ago I was fired, uh, forat a church and uh, I, I, um.
Later, the very pastor thatfired me came to me and he
literally apologized.
He said I don't know why I didthat.
That was, that was wrong.
But what happened was, uh, Igot a call to come to a
(27:01):
mandatory meeting on thursdaymorning and it was wednesday,
and so heather was like I wonderwhat the meeting's about?
And, uh and I, I really didn'teven go into any deep prayer or
whatever.
But the Lord said they're goingto fire you tomorrow.
And I said, heather, I feellike they're going to fire me
tomorrow.
She said why would you say that?
I said I don't know.
I just feel like the Lord putthat in my heart that I'll be
(27:23):
fired.
She goes there's no way,there's been no warning, there's
no, nothing.
And the meeting they invited meand I said, well, you better
come along.
And I said, because you'regoing to ask me what happened in
the meeting and I'm a man, soI'm going to go, I don't know.
They fired me and she's goingto go.
Well, what did they say?
So I said you better be therebecause you're going to ask a
(27:45):
lot of questions and so, sureenough, I get there.
But then later on in the evening, the Lord, he said to me.
He said he said you know,people accuse us all of things,
but you know, when you defendyourself, you make the accuser
(28:05):
your judge.
I didn't realize that untilthat moment, because people
accuse you of stuff and then yougo no, no, it's not true.
And then they stand in chargeand then they rule.
And the Lord said you know, ifyou're accused of anything, I
don't want you to respond backbecause you, you know, as far as
(28:28):
I'm concerned, you're innocent.
And so I went into that meetingand they said, well, we're
going to let you go.
And I said, okay, as far as I'mconcerned, you're innocent.
And so I went into that meetingand they said, well, we're
going to have to let you go.
I said, okay, I knew that.
That's why I brought Heather.
And they began to say somethings and bring up some
accusations.
But I wanted to because somefacts that I could have tweaked.
(28:48):
But I was still, maybe for thefirst time in my life, right and
it was because in that quietplace the Lord had spoke to me.
And for something so major inmy life, I don't know how I
would have responded.
You know, but when prayer givesyou that insight and God wants
(29:12):
to give us all, that's notsomething reserved just for me,
that's for each one of us.
If we'll be still, god willshow you how to handle work the
next day, the troubles thatyou're struggling with.
Just be still and wait for thatanswer.
And it was so amazing to me thatI could have said but no,
that's true, but I was still,and it was maybe a year or two
later.
The pastor asked me for ameeting and he wanted to
(29:35):
apologize and I was able tolovingly forgive and
authentically forgive.
And now I look back on the mostpainful part of my life is the
best thing that ever happened tome, because heather and I might
still be in that place that wedidn't really fit, trying to
(29:56):
serve god in a way that justwasn't quite, or we could be
here with our family doing whatit is that god gave us to do.
You know this prayer.
It's not complicated, it's notlearning how to speak eloquently
(30:17):
and knowing all the rightscriptures to back up your
claims, but it's authenticallygoing to God as His child and
asking, and then being stilllong enough to hear Amen.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
This season of creation is getting easier, to
allow us to be still outside Inthe summertime, it feels a
little like the earth hassomething against us.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
At least in Florida.
It's just an opinion.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
It's just an opinion.
I know that that is not true,but these cooler mornings are
mornings for gratitude.
And if you I just want toremind you, beloved go outside
in the morning, like when thedark is just leaving and the sun
is just oh, and the birds willtestify to you and the grass
will again ground you in thefact that you belong.
(31:08):
The science behind howincredible it is that each one
of us are here.
I mean, beloved, you belong.
You are here for a purpose.
You are here intentionally.
You are the light of the world.
Jesus said this if all you dois love the lovable, do you
expect a bonus?
Anyone can do that.
(31:30):
How fantastic that you loveeveryone that is lovable.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Oh, if we can get that in our hearts.
Followers of Christ.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
And if you simply say hello to those who greet you,
do you expect a medal?
And I love this, becausesometimes we do, sometimes we
want our bonuses and our medalsand Jesus is like no, no, my
love, no, any run-of-the-millsinner does that.
If you greet people who greetyou, if you acknowledge what is
(32:02):
a greeting, a greeting is anacknowledgement that you see God
in something, and that's why,beloved, greeting the sun in the
morning is a good idea.
The rooster that wakes you up,that's a greeting too.
Sometimes it's an unwantedgreeting, but sometimes maybe,
your alarm clock get a different, like not alarm clock, but a
different tone.
If it irritates you in themorning, get up gently, it's
(32:23):
good for all of us.
Any run-of-the-mill sinner doesthat.
In a word, what I am sayinggrow up, beloved.
This is the word of Christ foryou this morning.
Grow up, it's the word for me.
Grow up, you are kingdomsubjects.
Our allegiance, beloved, is toChrist and to the kingdom of
love.
(32:44):
We cannot be like children justdeciding to look at someone and
saying they're different thanme, they're not my friend.
Come on, beloved, grow up.
Let love be in us.
It is small, childlike behaviorto look for differences and
then try to find commonality.
This is the body of Christ,this is the whole world, this is
(33:07):
creation.
Do you know how many variationsflowers come in?
Thankfully, amy gave us a gooddescription this morning.
I mean, every time that shebrings them, I'm always so
enchanted by the fact that, likeokay, not just flowers, what
about insects?
Do you know how many insectsthere are in the world?
Oh my gosh, each one different.
I have trouble sometimes withsome of the insects Maybe you
(33:27):
don't, but that's a wholeclassification that I have
trouble sometimes with some ofthe insects Maybe you don't, but
that's a whole classificationthat I don't see a lot of God in
and I want to, and so I'mtrying to greet them lovingly
and I really have a lot of.
I have familial hate, like myparents told me how to hate bugs
.
Certain bugs were allowed,certain ones were not.
Some bugs I thought werebeautiful, like let's talk about
(33:50):
this for a hot minute.
I have these little earrings on.
They're beautiful, they'rebutterflies.
I do not own anything that's amoth.
A moth is just like a butterflybeloved.
But we've just been taught ourculture and paintings and art
and stuff has decided this isbeautiful, moths are also
beautiful.
And so there's these ideas.
I was thinking about this theother day.
I was removing something and Icalled it a weed.
(34:10):
And I called it a weed becausesomeone told me that was a weed
and people in my family removethose.
It doesn't mean it's a weed.
We decide how we want toarrange things and then we say
some things are welcome and somethings are not Beloved.
Some weeds are not.
Those ones that leave thosestickers in your feet, sand
spurs oh, I think they're fromthe devil, but that's again.
(34:32):
I might need my mind expanded,but I just want to tell you I
don't want them in my yard.
They can be I'm not sayingeradicate them, because I'm sure
they serve a purpose, but Idon't want them under my feet
and I don't want them under thefeet of my family.
But I am reminding you.
There are things that we havelike little ideas of how the
world should be, what belongs,what doesn't.
Give those up.
Beloved, you're kingdom subjects.
(34:54):
Now you belong to God's familyand in God's family everyone
belongs.
In God's family there's enoughlove for everyone.
At God's table there's plentyof food.
There is no reason to saysomeone doesn't come, that
there's not enough.
There's so much love in God'sfamily.
There's so much love in God's,and Jesus is saying this live
(35:14):
out your God-created identityBeloved.
You are made in the image ofGod, the image of love.
That's who you are.
Live it out.
Let your enemies be again theverses before it said.
Let them experience who youreally are you are love.
Live generously and graciouslytoward others.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You know what Heather's talking about here is
you allowing your mind to bechanged about things that seem
to be very fixed?
You know, like your opinionabout bugs, I find myself more
than not now carrying themoutside and putting them outside
instead of smashing them.
You know, and it's like so, mymind has changed about things,
you know, and I want to be opento really the important things.
(36:01):
You know, to allow my mind tobe changed, and so would you
consider that?
You know that God wants to dothat.
I think the greatest thingabout being a human being is we
have the ability to change ourminds.
You know, like the dog's stillgoing to be the dog.
You know them cats, god blessthem.
They're still going to belittle cats, but you can allow
(36:22):
yourself to be transformed.
I was thinking about thatbecause I have had a habit.
I think it was from my familyof origin.
I have had a habit I think itwas from my family of origin but
when people ask me how I do, Iwould scroll to some negative
story to tell.
Or even someone would say, hey,nice truck.
Yeah, well, I had to put a newengine in it.
(36:43):
It's always the negative, and Istarted hearing myself halfway
through a story with somebodyand hear myself and I'm almost
like an outside observer going.
You're doing it again.
Why are you a follower ofChrist, someone who loves God,
(37:05):
and you just tell the bad things?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Make the beautiful of the story and the bad things
Make the beautiful the story andbad things keep happening and I
honestly went for thisintention.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I'm just not going to tell those stories, even if I'm
aggravated on the way here, andthat's usually a thing, yeah,
on the way here, I can't believeyou.
And we escalate one another andwe bring one another to this
kind of a frequency of justfrustration.
And you know how you could tella story, and I was talking
about this the other day.
I was telling Dave a storyabout something that happened to
(37:40):
me and I was right back angryand it happened 20 something
years ago maybe.
And then I even apologized toDave at the end of the story
because I hurt myself.
I'm doing that thing Instead oftelling you a beautiful story
that brings life.
How are you doing?
You know, oh, I woke up andheard the birds chirping.
(38:01):
You know, I got to swim in thepool today.
I got to, you know, be with mychildren.
You know, yesterday I got to bewith Nathaniel all day and he's
busy.
He's got a girlfriend, he's gotwork.
I got to spend the day with himand have dinner Isn't that
awesome?
Or?
Nathaniel and I workedyesterday.
It was so freaking hot.
Oh my God, it was disgusting.
(38:23):
I had a hard time getting thistape to go on this thing, it was
so aggravating.
Or my son and I spent a daytogether.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Beloved.
This is good word for us.
Make what's beautiful the story.
You have the choice.
Make what's beautiful the storyIn your own life.
You are a storyteller.
In fact, jesus was the beststoryteller, and Jesus would,
over and over again, say thingslike consider the lilies of the
field, look at the birds, lookat everything.
(38:55):
If your father knows when oneof them falls, how much more
does he care for you?
You are worth more than birds,more than flowers, and so this
understanding, this is a choiceto live differently, beloved, to
live in the realm of thekingdom, to make what is
beautiful the story.
This is our choice, and thebeautiful story is that we are
family, that God is family.
(39:16):
In fact, in the scriptures itsaid God is our father and every
family on earth is named familyunder him.
So this beautiful thing, we areall brothers and sisters, and
some of us are the misbehavingbrothers and sisters, and that's
okay.
You can do that, I guess, oryou know, the parents will take
care of you, there'll be someconsequences, but the invitation
is family.
(39:36):
The invitation is Jesus sayinglove your enemies.
The spirit.
This is for us an intentionaltime.
Although it's the 25th Sundayof ordinary time, it is the 15th
Sunday of Pentecost and it isthe third Sunday and we kind of
drill down into what day this is.
But remembering this is thelife and the spirit God said
he's given us his spirit, thatwe are full of God's spirit, and
(39:59):
you know what love is beloved.
That is the spirit of God.
Love is patient, love is kind,love is kind.
I have theologians and mysticsand people from ancient books
and stuff who have inspired mewith the life that they live
(40:20):
toward Christ and over and overagain, I am responded to this
invitation to live differently,to live as one of those who
understands and who sees withthe eye of my heart.
And let me tell you what theeye of your heart tells you that
the world is full of good, thatthere is abundance, that the
idea that there is differencebetween us, the idea that sorrow
(40:43):
is going to win, no belovedlove is going to win.
Love always wins, and ourattention to living in love is
this attention that we can livecompletely differently.
This one particular mystic thatI love reminded me of something
that I knew.
I knew this when I was a tiny,tiny person Tenderness is the
(41:07):
mark of maturity.
Tenderness, not harshness, nothardness, not a hard line.
Tenderness is the mark oflove's maturing.
Jesus beloved was tender, andtender is not mushy and tender
(41:29):
is not without spine.
Tender just means when the hurtdeclares its need, love
responds to it.
We serve a Jesus who is tendertoward us, but tenderness is the
mark of this.
Can we be tender toward someone?
And tenderness causes us to becurious toward something.
(41:50):
Rabbi Joshua Herschel saidsomething along these lines.
It's a poor imitation, but it'stwo lines.
When I was young I used toadmire people who were strong
and powerful.
Now that I'm older, I admirethose who are gentle.
There is a way to live in theworld through gentleness, and
gentleness is an evidence ofGod's own spirit.
(42:10):
If you see someone with forceand domination, that is not love
beloved, that means it cannotbe God.
Love is gentle, love is kind,love is all-powerful.
But love does not coerce us,love does not force us.
Love is not angry and God isnot cruel.
Love is God.
(42:31):
God is love.
Jesus is tender toward us.
So our learning how to betender means that we're learning
how to live who we truly are,even toward people who declare
us to be enemies.
It's okay if someone declaresyou to be their enemy, but you
declare them, maybe, to be abrother or a sister who is far
off.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
They just haven't.
You know they'll remember.
Pray for their amnesia, prayfor their illusion, but we are
one beloved.
Grow up your kingdom subjects,live out your God-given identity
, live generously and graciouslythe way that God lives toward
you.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I want to just maybe piggyback on something Heather
said and maybe even tweak thedefinition a tiny bit when she
was talking about you know,we're this family and God is our
father, god is also our mother,and that makes a lot of people
cringe in the fundamentalChristians because their male
(43:33):
pastors told them so, you know,and so God is.
God is this dude, you know?
And God is not gendered and Godis revealed, is revealed in
mankind, in both male and female, and I find that that rigidness
(43:54):
often comes from the masculineyou know.
And then this kindness thatyou're talking about is foreign
to some men and foreign to theway we've been encouraged to
behave and what is really underthe realm of what it means to be
a man.
And of course we understandthat that obviously you know, as
(44:19):
men we should show feelingstowards our children and love.
But there still seems to bethat disconnect where we're like
know, because God's like that.
Then we got to be you know andand we don't understand, and we
we see that that the masculinepart is part of God.
I'm not taking away from that,but I'm saying that if we only
show one side of that, then wereally miss the whole testimony
(44:45):
of who God is, and so I findmyself being able to learn from
my daughter and my wife where Icouldn't learn from anywhere
else, because that is notnaturally trained in me, valued
in me by many people, expectedby our culture, society and even
(45:08):
in the church.
It's a subject that we oftenavoid because we don't want to
offend anybody and run them off,but it's the truth.
I mean, these are all veryscriptural things that I'm
sharing with you right now, andif we're going to understand, it
doesn't mean that a man beginsto act like a woman, because
(45:31):
that's a whole different thing.
Act like who you are, butunderstand that in God, the
nature of God is able to freelymanifest in all of us.
It doesn't have to be this rolethat the world told me to play
(45:56):
and told a woman to play.
God says no, I've broken thoseboundaries and I want you to
love, and part of love isbreaking those boundaries.
Part of being tender is breakingthose constructs that were put
on us, and even the church isresponsible for that, and we
(46:16):
need to repent for that and andrealize what is good and what is
God, and I just, oh, I want tohelp people understand this,
because it is becoming soapparent to me, as I'm quiet and
listen to God, that God's likethis is a piece of the puzzle
(46:37):
you're missing and you've madeit okay because the leader said
it was okay, or you made it okaybecause that's all the teaching
you've exposed yourself to.
But I want you to learntenderness, so I go out and have
to hold little cats on my arms.
Learn to become more loving,amen.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Amen.
I remind you that in thebeginning, the scripture tells
us that God was talking to thecommunity, that is, god, father,
son, holy Spirit, to the angels, to whatever other beings were
there.
And God said let us make man inour own image, mankind, not
just man, and so, male andfemale, he created them.
(47:26):
This incredible spectrum of whoGod is, god, who is all love,
is a spectrum, like when he saysI am creating light and dark.
What a spectrum, because lightand dark is also twilight and
also dusk and also all of thesebeautiful things.
But the invitation is into more, into more.
(47:48):
God, who is our eternal parent,is offering us a way to live
live generously and graciouslytoward others, the way God lives
toward you, beloved.
How does God live toward you IfGod is angry toward you?
Come, get a better story.
I'll tell you a beautiful one.
I've read it in the scriptureand I see it in the life of
Jesus.
Let the testimony of someonewho has seen the beautiful story
(48:11):
tell you of who Jesus is andwhat it would be like to live in
love at all times.
And this is what Jesus isoffering to us.
There's another way to live,and this is the power of
communion.
This is the power of what we dotogether.
In just a moment, we're goingto go to the communion table and
you're going to wait forsomebody.
Somebody is going to be infront of you and you are going
(48:34):
to wait while they receivesomething from the Lord.
And this is the hope for all ofus in this practice that when
someone else receives, we willjust be joyful about it.
We will just receive thismystery, this sacred sacrament
that we do together, that weremind ourselves, we retell
ourselves this story that I amloved, that the world is loved
(48:55):
and that God has a plan.
This is the word of Christ.
Behold, I am making all thingsnew.
You who were once separated anddidn't know where you belonged,
you belong in God's family.
And there is such a hope for usthis morning in recognizing and
in honoring this portion of ourservice.
This is perhaps the most holything that we do together, the
(49:15):
most sacred thing that wepractice.
When we practice the taking ofthe Lord's meal of reminding
ourselves, and we bring ourwhole body and we say I present
myself to be nourished, to befed, to be honored at the table
of the Lord and the table of theLord is love.
His banner over us is love.
(49:37):
We are feasting at love's tablethis morning and whatever need
you have, it is here because weserve a God who is miraculous,
and love is miraculous, beloved.
It is able to transform thehardest of hearts.
It is able to make the blindeyes see.
Love is able to make those thatare lame walk.
(49:58):
Love is able to raise the dead.
Love is all-powerful and God isloving.
God is inviting us this morningto love's table.
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
.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
I invite every person here to take a moment and
recognize that we are in theseason of Pentecost.
Still the 13th Sunday, is thatcorrect?
15th Sunday, okay, I'm notkeeping track.
So we're in the 15th Sunday ofPentecost, like I've just been
corrected, and this is important.
It's the third week of creation.
Okay, and here's the imagery.
(00:32):
Right, I have been.
I feel like there's some thingsthat I can imagine very clearly
and then some instructions thatI hear from my dad and my boss
and that just doesn't work.
But then sometimes the HolySpirit gives my imagination
something very beautiful.
Okay, imagine with me.
We're in God's museum.
Okay, we're getting a chance to, as you go throughout a museum,
(00:55):
you get a chance to see thewondrous beauties, the wondrous
works that are present.
We get a chance to see all thethings that he's created, all
the things that he values.
Some of it has the earth, someof it has the stones, some of it
has the rain, the skies, theseas, the creatures in it, but a
lot of it is just photos of us.
Now I'd like you to imagine youwalk through God's beautiful
(01:16):
museum and you also see thepeople that you hate and you
might say to yourself they don'tbelong here, but just take your
holy imagination for just amoment and say there is value
here for every person.
And then you go past that halland you see a gallery that's
just fit for you, all of thebeautiful moments that God has
captured for you.
(01:37):
Amen, so allow your heart.
The Holy Spirit is described asa fire and a river, and I think
those elements are importantbecause they're usually used for
purification or they're usuallyused for smoothening out,
because we have some rough edges.
I do, and there are still somethings that I have to be
(01:58):
smoothed over and allow God'ssoftness and caring to be a part
of my life and there are somejagged edges.
Often we experience jaggededges from being broken.
That's often where jagged edgesstart to take place.
Agreed, but what if we allowedourselves to enter the river of
God and that smoothening happens?
(02:19):
I don't know if you guys haveever seen photos of the glass
beach in California.
That's so cool to me that wetook something that was just
meant to be garbage and nowpeople sought after that area to
take pictures, to go see thebeauty of God's ocean, washing
it over and over and smoothingthings over and over.
And now we want to see it.
We want to see God's redemptionin real time.
(02:40):
Does that make sense?
That's good.
That's good.
Keep sense.
No, I'm out.
That was it.
This is where God's part getsto come on up.
So this is a reading, and I'dallow this reading for you today
to be like the oceans right Tobe like the waves of the Holy
Spirit getting a chance tosoften us up.
Amen, watch out.
(03:02):
Don't do your good deedspublicly to be admired by others
, for you will lose the rewardfrom your Father in heaven.
When you give someone in need,don't do it as hypocrites do,
blowing trumpets into thesynagogues and the streets to
call attention to their acts ofcharity.
(03:23):
I tell you the truth they havereceived all the reward they
will ever get.
But when you give to someone inneed, don't let your left hand
know what your right hand isdoing.
Give your gifts in private, andyour Father, who sees
everything, will reward you.
(03:45):
When you pray, don't be likethe hypocrites who love to pray
publicly on street corners andin the synagogues, where
everyone can see them.
I tell you the truth that isall the reward they will ever
get.
But when you pray, go away byyourself, shut the door behind
(04:09):
you and pray to your Father inprivate.
Then your Father, who seeseverything, will reward you Amen
.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
We pay attention to these things because it reminds
us to ground ourselves.
Not just cats or dogs orwhatever animals speak to you.
I remind you that there areprophets among us in many
different ways, some of themanimals, some of them birds and
trees, but we are together,resounding.
Somebody was upset the otherday and they were throwing a
little tantrum, and it wasn't mytantrum and it wasn't somebody
(04:41):
that I was.
I was just observing thetantrum and somebody next to
them said I would like you totake a drink of water and go
outside and stand in the grass.
And I thought that is a reallygood idea for all of us.
Sometimes we need a drink ofwater and to go outside and
stand in the grass.
Over and over again we see Godtelling people this when they
are sure they are the only one.
I love Elijah's tantrum wherehe says I am the only one who is
(05:04):
following you, I'm the only onewho's doing right and you know
I've done all these things foryou.
And now, look, I'm the only one.
And God says how about you gotake a nap?
I'll send a snack and I wantyou to know there's over 700
prophets that are also teachingmy word.
So sometimes we get reallyshort-sighted and God's like,
have a snack, go touch somegrass, ground yourself, it's all
(05:26):
going to be okay.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And did I mention they were litter box trained?
Oh wait, we're on a differentsubject.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, you know, an animal can speak to you in all
kinds of ways, and this is abeautiful, beautiful rescue.
Dennis found them in the streetat midnight, the middle of a
street, and so it is anincredible rescue.
Sometimes love looks like that.
What do you?
What are these two little tinythings doing outside in the
(05:54):
middle of the street?
I don't know, we could all comeup with our own story, you know
, but it's tragic.
However, it happened there inthe street and we cannot just
drive by and say I hope it worksout for them.
We know it's not going to workout for them unless we do
something about it.
And so, beloved, go adopt a cat.
That's not what I'm saying.
Or adopt a dog, whatever it is.
That's not the truth.
(06:14):
Whatever, you see a need, whatis in my hands to be able to do
to be able to relieve this need?
Now, you weren't actuallyasking for cats all the time.
We have a beautiful dog, luna,who is.
She has some prejudice againstother animals and we have been
working with her for a very longtime on this, but we just keep
loving her.
But she has prejudice againstthe cats.
(06:34):
She does not believe that theybelong in the house and they are
, in her world, inferior to her,and so, again, we look at this,
and one of the reasons we cometo church is to learn how to
love, and how to loveexclusively, and how to love in
ways that expand us, and I'm sograteful to be able to be in
this moment with you and be ableto hear the words of Jesus that
(06:57):
remind us.
This is why we come so that wecan learn how to love, and we
can learn how to love well andlet's be honest, you're in the
presence of of of amazement.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Did you see how she can turn anything and make it
spiritual?
Isn't that good?
Go ahead and throw out a topic,watch her.
Let's not do that.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Let's not do that although I bet you I could but
let's not.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We're not going to bet and do those kind of things.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
But here's why because everything is sacred,
beloved.
There is nothing that is notsacred.
What is happening is, anytimeyou give attention to something
and recognize the holy, that'show it becomes the sacred we
ourselves holy because we aremade in the image of God, you
are loved and you are made inGod's own image.
And so the invitation is comeback to yourself, your true self
(07:41):
, that self that bears the imageof Christ.
You are loved, beloved just asyou are is come back to yourself
, your true self, that self thatbears the image of Christ.
You are loved, beloved just asyou are, and you are welcomed in
the house of the Lord.
I read to you this morning fromJohn's Gospel, and this is a
commandment for those of us thathave gathered today that say
that we're interested in beingpeople who follow the way of
Jesus.
We believe that Jesus is love,that Jesus is God, and, from the
(08:04):
very beginning, god is love.
But Jesus says this to us inJohn, chapter 13,.
Now I'm giving you a newcommandment love each other,
which is fine, good, good, we'veall done that, okay, great.
Love each other.
And then he says this just as Ihave loved you, well, now
(08:25):
that's another story.
That's a whole other story.
This is this cruciform shape.
Love each other the way thatJesus loved us.
Jesus, who is God with God,leaves heaven, comes to earth.
And I remind you, the earththat Jesus was born into was not
(08:46):
a great place.
The empire was so brutal that,within months of him being born,
the empire said all of thebabies under the age of two must
be slaughtered, because theemperor was so conceited and so
full of fear.
So he comes into this placewhere great slaughter I mean
(09:07):
crucifixion.
Jesus was not the first personto be crucified.
Rome crucified people all thetime.
This is the kind of torture andkind of place, and Jesus shows
us what it's like to live fully,human and thrive.
Jesus said I have come that youwould have life and have it to
the fullest, and so the way ofJesus is the way of love,
(09:29):
beloved.
And if you are coming to followJesus or if you don't know of
him, let us tell you about him.
He's beautiful, and to hear thewords of love that will inspire
us to become the people that wewere always meant to be, that
we are people who bear the imageof our Father.
Just as I have loved you, youshould love each other.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
You know it's really the getting off the couch when
someone's in the other roomsaying I need some help.
You know what is it.
Can you get somebody else?
You sure you need me.
You know there's those momentswhere we just have a choice to
be and now giving your life forsomebody.
(10:13):
That's amazing, but that's aone time deal that you maybe
could muster up the strength todo.
But I would say that reallythis is an example of how you're
to live love daily.
You know, not just a one-timething, that every time you know
I have this thing where I thinkyou should wash the tray in the
(10:38):
air fryer every time you use it.
I don't know if anyone else hasan air fryer.
I don't want to go, start tocook and pull the drawer out of
the air fryer and it be filledwith somebody else's sticky
stuff.
That's my life and I havecomplained and complained and it
does no good.
I'm angry, upset.
(11:01):
People don't want to hear myyakking Now.
I don't think there's littleevil people in my house who go.
I think I'm going to take thatoff.
I think there's people that arebusy and they got stuff to do,
so the last thing they think ofis the train and the air fire.
I'm fixated on the thing.
So I decided, instead ofyelling and complaining and
making myself and others unhappy, I would gladly wash that.
(11:27):
So I'm making an announcementnow Leave it.
I notice I point to this areafor no specific reason.
I'm just going to do it Until Ican do it joyfully, until it
can really be an act of love forthe people that I say that I
love.
You know, because it's thejustification, and there's
(11:50):
people that back me.
Yeah, you're right, but there'sso many, and you're probably
one of those angry, clean freakslike me.
How about letting that go andletting love rise up in place of
that?
Now, I know I just crossed theline right there.
I took some people off, butthis is good stuff, you guys.
It's those moments when someoneneeds your help.
I didn't hear you yelling forhelp from the other room.
(12:12):
I didn't want to get up, or Idon't want to do these little
things, or I've told you once.
I've told you this is where youshould park, this is where you
should.
You know all these things.
They're opportunities for us tolove or they're opportunities
for us to choose ourself.
That preach right there.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
We talk a lot about things, things of God, things of
people and things of love,because beloved love is eternal.
It's the only thing thatmatters.
Love matters.
But we prayed a prayer thismorning.
We've been praying a prayertogether as the Church of Jesus
Christ for over 2,000 years.
Disciples went to Jesus and saidteach us to pray.
And he said our father stoppedthere because he just made us
(12:57):
all family.
We are family because Jesusmakes us family.
And then we say this yourkingdom come.
And I don't know if you knowthis, but if God's kingdom is
coming, that means our kingdommust go.
And I know that you want to sayI don't have a kingdom Beloved
(13:18):
anywhere that you have influenceis your kingdom.
When you get up in the morningand you plan your day and you
feel like this is the way thatit should go and no one should
interfere with it, that is yourkingdom.
And when we say I want God'skingdom to come, that means I
want love to be in charge ofthis day.
I want love to be in charge ofhow I respond.
(13:38):
I want love to be in charge ofhow I think and what presence
I'm in.
And so we go to Matthew'sgospel this morning for the text
.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
I'd just like to add that you know, because we are in
this world and you know, onmost situations I'm grateful
about gravity.
You know I'm sticking to theplan and I'm able to walk around
.
It's very cool.
But yesterday I was working andit was hot outside and I was
cutting a bunch of stuff and Ican't tell you how many times
(14:08):
the tape measure wouldvicariously get set on my table
and it would fall off and it wasalmost like a comical amount of
times that the tape measurefell on the ground Like that,
should you know, and part of,and I used to just get so mad I
can't believe this freaking tapemeasure keeps falling.
Then I thought well, you know,in most situations I'm grateful
for gravity.
This is one of those thingswhere I'm not.
You know, it's just trying tofind its lowest spot to stick to
(14:29):
the earth and I'm the one thatset it on edge and the universe
wasn't out to get me.
It didn't create gravity sothat I could be mad about tape
measures falling.
It's part of what happens whenyou work you set things in
places and other things knock itover, and if you begin to
expect things like aren't alwaysgoing to go your way.
(14:50):
You can relieve a lot of painin your life Because, you know,
for some reason, for years andyears, I went to a job expecting
everything to go perfect.
Now, has that ever happened inthe history of me going to work?
Zero times Ever.
So what if you and I shiftedour expectation to?
(15:12):
The world isn't out to get me.
The devil isn't in every tapemeasure that I have in my shop.
Sometimes, if you set somethingon the edge of a wobbly table
out in the grass, it's going tofall down, and I got to tell you
that, at 57 years old, thehardest thing I do in a day's
time is bend over.
(15:33):
That hurts the worst.
And so you know what.
I probably need to bend over afew more times and bend down and
grab that stuff and touch mytoes.
What Touch my toes?
I can't even conceptualize that.
But what if those become thethings that we can accept as
(15:55):
just it's okay and not allowmyself to give in to anger,
curse the inanimate object oryell at?
You know, and I'm sure I'm theonly one that does this gets
disproportionately angry andsurrenders over to that side and
it feels good for a second.
But I realized that that's theexample that I set for the
(16:17):
people around me, that that'show you should behave.
And do you know what happenswhen I see them act like that
behave?
And do you know what happenswhen I see them act like that?
I cringe.
I don't want that for them, butI sure have presented that as
the top choice.
When tape measures fall, theyget awful quiet in here.
I guess I'm just preaching tomyself.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Let's talk about how, if a tape measure falls, what
in your life needs to come downas far as the rule of
measurement?
When can you be grateful forhow the day went?
When you've measured that itssuccess is exactly as you
imagined in the morning, or whenyou recognize I've been in the
presence of love all day?
Everywhere I go, I'm in thepresence of God Because God is
with me.
God is in the people that Imeet.
(17:03):
Matthew, chapter five.
Jesus said this you're familiarwith the written law love your
friend and its unwrittencompanion hate your enemy.
And one of the reasons that wecome together and we remind
ourselves of the words of Jesusis because you already know what
the culture is teaching you.
The culture is teaching youthat you need to find out who
agrees with you and who to makean enemy and who to divide
(17:24):
yourself from.
And Jesus is saying you youneed to find out who agrees with
you and who to make an enemyand who to divide yourself from.
And Jesus is saying you allneed to come together.
Everybody gets to come together.
No one is left out.
I remind you of things that wesometimes forget in the way that
we tell the story.
But Jesus had 12 people that hesaid I'm going to start with
this particular group, and hehad among them a zealot and a
(17:46):
tax collector.
These people were absolutelyopposite.
They believed absolutelyopposite of each other.
I'm not sure that Jesus didn'tphysically have to keep them
apart, I don't know that.
But I'm just telling you hesaid I want that kind, I desire
that that you would see thatthere's a different way to live
and that in being family, inbeing the family of the world,
(18:09):
that there's another way.
You're familiar with thewritten law love your friend and
its unwritten companion, hateyour enemy.
But I am challenging that and,beloved, I wonder how many
things you will allow Jesus tochallenge in the way that you
live in the world.
Will you allow Jesus tochallenge in the way that you
live in the world?
Will you allow Jesus tochallenge the way that you think
about something?
Will you allow Jesus to changethat?
(18:32):
I am telling you love yourenemies.
I'm so glad that you came tochurch this morning.
I'm glad to be able to sharethis with you, because shared
pain is easier to deal with.
Shared pain is easier for us tounderstand.
I've been looking at this versemore than a week now and paying
attention to what it's tellingus.
(18:52):
Jesus said I am telling youlove your enemies.
Let them bring out the best inyou.
Do people who disagree with youbring out the best in you?
I hope so, like that's the hopefor all of us.
And here's what is the best inus, christ, what?
is the best in us Love.
Love is so beautiful, beloved,and love is the best.
(19:16):
Jesus said.
Let them bring the best in you,not the worst.
When someone gives you a hardtime I love the word when there
too, not if it's going to happenbeloved.
Jesus was also a realist.
He understood what it was liketo be here.
When someone gives you a hardtime, respond with the energies
(19:39):
of prayer, Not the energy thatis fueled by hatred or
indifference.
Respond with the energies ofprayer, Not the energy that is
fueled by hatred or indifference.
Respond with the energies ofprayer.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
You know, this message right here perhaps is
the most important thing that wecould possibly preach to you in
the climate that we're in rightnow.
And it's so interesting thatthis message was prepared a
couple thousand years ago,because God has known the nature
(20:11):
of mankind and it is to divideand it is to pit one another
against each other and to fosterhatred.
And we're in a pivotal time nowbecause it seems, you know, in
my lifetime I've only seen acouple of times when things have
(20:33):
just risen to such a degree,such an uncomfortable
temperature, you know, and thereare people that families that
are splitting apart overpolitics and over things that
are happening in church.
For you and I, for us to knowthe way to navigate this is
(20:54):
through that inner witness oflove and peace.
You may disagree witheverything that comes out of the
mouth of someone that you'retalking to, but it does not mean
that they're your enemy.
They are still your brother oryour sister and they still
deserve respect and love, youknow, and the best way for us to
(21:17):
avoid the rhetoric is to justchange the channel.
We don't have to silence thevoice, we don't have to wish
someone else to never be able tohave their opinion because we
disagree with it.
We can just use that as anopportunity.
I've always used that as anopportunity to talk to my
children.
(21:38):
This is why your mother and Idon't believe that and we talk
about these things openly andthey're actually wonderful
opportunities.
You know, we don't have to beafraid that our families are
going to be abducted, that, youknow, by this false teaching or
whatever we disagree with.
But we can still find a place.
(21:59):
And I'm telling you, it is sohard for us to call certain
people brothers and certainpeople sisters, but the fact is
we all have one Father and thatunity.
It will defeat hatred.
It will defeat that separation.
It will bring us together.
It will transform this world.
(22:21):
So we're on the precipice ofthat change.
It will transform this world.
So we're on the precipice ofthat change.
But will the church rise up orwill we act just like?
Speaker 1 (22:32):
the world, beloved brothers and sisters.
Family is all that God hasalways been about.
God created families and one ofthe things that I love about
what Jesus shows us is, even asJesus is suffering and dying on
the cross, in his moment of painand in his moment of being, the
(22:53):
system empire egos of men tooksomeone completely innocent and
nailed him to a cross.
We took love and we nailed itto the cross.
And Jesus said to John, one ofhis disciples, beloved, here's
your mother.
Even at the very end of hislife, he's making people family.
(23:15):
He cares about us coming, andthat's why the communion table
is so incredible when we come toeat, where we come to be
nourished, where we come to benourished, where we come to be
ourselves, where we take off ourmasks and we allow our hunger
to drive us to the table.
What do you have need of thismorning?
It is at the table of the Lord.
Do you need belonging?
You're here.
There's a chair for you.
(23:36):
Do you need peace?
It's here.
Eat the body of Christ for you.
This understanding, everythingthat we need, this incredible
mystery, is here at thecommunion table.
But this is the hope for theworld, beloved, that we would
recognize that we are notseparate, but that we are one
because of Christ.
Jesus said I'm challenging that.
I'm telling you to love yourenemies.
(23:56):
Let them bring out the best inyou, not the worst.
When someone gives you a hardtime, someone gives you a hard
time, respond with the energiesof prayer, beloved.
Prayer is incredibly powerful.
Prayer is not something that wejust say and that's a last
resort.
Prayer is actually thisincredible thing that connects
(24:18):
us to the source of all power,and that is love.
God is love and prayer connectsus to that vibration, to that
frequency, to that understanding, to that incredible light.
God is love and God is with us.
For then you are working out ofyour true selves.
This is what Jesus said Lovingyour enemy and responding in
(24:40):
this place of response onlythrough the energy of prayer is
your true self.
This means that ego and thefalse self and all the things
that we create in order to putthem in front of someone, to
make them think that we'rebetter than we are or that we
have more to offer than we do.
And this is what the scripturesays.
Your God-created selves.
(25:03):
Just be aware of that thismorning.
You are beloved.
You have a God-created selfthat is holy, that is perfect
and that is wanted.
And this is what God does.
He gives his best, the sun towarm and the rain to nourish to
everyone, regardless the goodand the bad, the nice and the
(25:26):
nasty.
When we respond in love Now,does responding in love mean
that you allow people to harmyou or to harm your neighbors
Beloved?
No, Love responds in ways thatare gentle, but in ways that are
firm, in ways that say youcannot harm, you cannot do these
things.
But there is this energy ofprayer that comes with a
(25:49):
connection to God at all times.
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
(26:10):
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Prayer for us many times is like the mantras, the
thing that you have to say butwhere's the spot in your day and
in your life for just beingquiet and listening, you know,
and just hearing, because that'sthat's prayer.
Uh, we, we sometimes have justmade it like our request list,
but you know, there's valuablethings that we need to know.
(26:40):
I'll tell you a real painfulsituation in my life.
Years ago I was fired, uh, forat a church and uh, I, I, um.
Later, the very pastor thatfired me came to me and he
literally apologized.
He said I don't know why I didthat.
That was, that was wrong.
But what happened was, uh, Igot a call to come to a
(27:01):
mandatory meeting on thursdaymorning and it was wednesday,
and so heather was like I wonderwhat the meeting's about?
And, uh and I, I really didn'teven go into any deep prayer or
whatever.
But the Lord said they're goingto fire you tomorrow.
And I said, heather, I feellike they're going to fire me
tomorrow.
She said why would you say that?
I said I don't know.
I just feel like the Lord putthat in my heart that I'll be
(27:23):
fired.
She goes there's no way,there's been no warning, there's
no, nothing.
And the meeting they invited meand I said, well, you better
come along.
And I said, because you'regoing to ask me what happened in
the meeting and I'm a man, soI'm going to go, I don't know.
They fired me and she's goingto go.
Well, what did they say?
So I said you better be therebecause you're going to ask a
(27:45):
lot of questions and so, sureenough, I get there.
But then later on in the evening, the Lord, he said to me.
He said he said you know,people accuse us all of things,
but you know, when you defendyourself, you make the accuser
(28:05):
your judge.
I didn't realize that untilthat moment, because people
accuse you of stuff and then yougo no, no, it's not true.
And then they stand in chargeand then they rule.
And the Lord said you know, ifyou're accused of anything, I
don't want you to respond backbecause you, you know, as far as
(28:28):
I'm concerned, you're innocent.
And so I went into that meetingand they said, well, we're
going to let you go.
And I said, okay, as far as I'mconcerned, you're innocent.
And so I went into that meetingand they said, well, we're
going to have to let you go.
I said, okay, I knew that.
That's why I brought Heather.
And they began to say somethings and bring up some
accusations.
But I wanted to because somefacts that I could have tweaked.
(28:48):
But I was still, maybe for thefirst time in my life, right and
it was because in that quietplace the Lord had spoke to me.
And for something so major inmy life, I don't know how I
would have responded.
You know, but when prayer givesyou that insight and God wants
(29:12):
to give us all, that's notsomething reserved just for me,
that's for each one of us.
If we'll be still, god willshow you how to handle work the
next day, the troubles thatyou're struggling with.
Just be still and wait for thatanswer.
And it was so amazing to me thatI could have said but no,
that's true, but I was still,and it was maybe a year or two
later.
The pastor asked me for ameeting and he wanted to
(29:35):
apologize and I was able tolovingly forgive and
authentically forgive.
And now I look back on the mostpainful part of my life is the
best thing that ever happened tome, because heather and I might
still be in that place that wedidn't really fit, trying to
(29:56):
serve god in a way that justwasn't quite, or we could be
here with our family doing whatit is that god gave us to do.
You know this prayer.
It's not complicated, it's notlearning how to speak eloquently
(30:17):
and knowing all the rightscriptures to back up your
claims, but it's authenticallygoing to God as His child and
asking, and then being stilllong enough to hear Amen.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
This season of creation is getting easier, to
allow us to be still outside Inthe summertime, it feels a
little like the earth hassomething against us.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
At least in Florida.
It's just an opinion.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
It's just an opinion.
I know that that is not true,but these cooler mornings are
mornings for gratitude.
And if you I just want toremind you, beloved go outside
in the morning, like when thedark is just leaving and the sun
is just oh, and the birds willtestify to you and the grass
will again ground you in thefact that you belong.
(31:08):
The science behind howincredible it is that each one
of us are here.
I mean, beloved, you belong.
You are here for a purpose.
You are here intentionally.
You are the light of the world.
Jesus said this if all you dois love the lovable, do you
expect a bonus?
Anyone can do that.
(31:30):
How fantastic that you loveeveryone that is lovable.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
Oh, if we can get that in our hearts.
Followers of Christ.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
And if you simply say hello to those who greet you,
do you expect a medal?
And I love this, becausesometimes we do, sometimes we
want our bonuses and our medalsand Jesus is like no, no, my
love, no, any run-of-the-millsinner does that.
If you greet people who greetyou, if you acknowledge what is
(32:02):
a greeting, a greeting is anacknowledgement that you see God
in something, and that's why,beloved, greeting the sun in the
morning is a good idea.
The rooster that wakes you up,that's a greeting too.
Sometimes it's an unwantedgreeting, but sometimes maybe,
your alarm clock get a different, like not alarm clock, but a
different tone.
If it irritates you in themorning, get up gently, it's
(32:23):
good for all of us.
Any run-of-the-mill sinner doesthat.
In a word, what I am sayinggrow up, beloved.
This is the word of Christ foryou this morning.
Grow up, it's the word for me.
Grow up, you are kingdomsubjects.
Our allegiance, beloved, is toChrist and to the kingdom of
love.
(32:44):
We cannot be like children justdeciding to look at someone and
saying they're different thanme, they're not my friend.
Come on, beloved, grow up.
Let love be in us.
It is small, childlike behaviorto look for differences and
then try to find commonality.
This is the body of Christ,this is the whole world, this is
(33:07):
creation.
Do you know how many variationsflowers come in?
Thankfully, amy gave us a gooddescription this morning.
I mean, every time that shebrings them, I'm always so
enchanted by the fact that, likeokay, not just flowers, what
about insects?
Do you know how many insectsthere are in the world?
Oh my gosh, each one different.
I have trouble sometimes withsome of the insects Maybe you
(33:27):
don't, but that's a wholeclassification that I have
trouble sometimes with some ofthe insects Maybe you don't, but
that's a whole classificationthat I don't see a lot of God in
and I want to, and so I'mtrying to greet them lovingly
and I really have a lot of.
I have familial hate, like myparents told me how to hate bugs
.
Certain bugs were allowed,certain ones were not.
Some bugs I thought werebeautiful, like let's talk about
(33:50):
this for a hot minute.
I have these little earrings on.
They're beautiful, they'rebutterflies.
I do not own anything that's amoth.
A moth is just like a butterflybeloved.
But we've just been taught ourculture and paintings and art
and stuff has decided this isbeautiful, moths are also
beautiful.
And so there's these ideas.
I was thinking about this theother day.
I was removing something and Icalled it a weed.
(34:10):
And I called it a weed becausesomeone told me that was a weed
and people in my family removethose.
It doesn't mean it's a weed.
We decide how we want toarrange things and then we say
some things are welcome and somethings are not Beloved.
Some weeds are not.
Those ones that leave thosestickers in your feet, sand
spurs oh, I think they're fromthe devil, but that's again.
(34:32):
I might need my mind expanded,but I just want to tell you I
don't want them in my yard.
They can be I'm not sayingeradicate them, because I'm sure
they serve a purpose, but Idon't want them under my feet
and I don't want them under thefeet of my family.
But I am reminding you.
There are things that we havelike little ideas of how the
world should be, what belongs,what doesn't.
Give those up.
Beloved, you're kingdom subjects.
(34:54):
Now you belong to God's familyand in God's family everyone
belongs.
In God's family there's enoughlove for everyone.
At God's table there's plentyof food.
There is no reason to saysomeone doesn't come, that
there's not enough.
There's so much love in God'sfamily.
There's so much love in God's,and Jesus is saying this live
(35:14):
out your God-created identityBeloved.
You are made in the image ofGod, the image of love.
That's who you are.
Live it out.
Let your enemies be again theverses before it said.
Let them experience who youreally are you are love.
Live generously and graciouslytoward others.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
You know what Heather's talking about here is
you allowing your mind to bechanged about things that seem
to be very fixed?
You know, like your opinionabout bugs, I find myself more
than not now carrying themoutside and putting them outside
instead of smashing them.
You know, and it's like so, mymind has changed about things,
you know, and I want to be opento really the important things.
(36:01):
You know, to allow my mind tobe changed, and so would you
consider that?
You know that God wants to dothat.
I think the greatest thingabout being a human being is we
have the ability to change ourminds.
You know, like the dog's stillgoing to be the dog.
You know them cats, god blessthem.
They're still going to belittle cats, but you can allow
(36:22):
yourself to be transformed.
I was thinking about thatbecause I have had a habit.
I think it was from my familyof origin.
I have had a habit I think itwas from my family of origin but
when people ask me how I do, Iwould scroll to some negative
story to tell.
Or even someone would say, hey,nice truck.
Yeah, well, I had to put a newengine in it.
(36:43):
It's always the negative, and Istarted hearing myself halfway
through a story with somebodyand hear myself and I'm almost
like an outside observer going.
You're doing it again.
Why are you a follower ofChrist, someone who loves God,
(37:05):
and you just tell the bad things?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Make the beautiful of the story and the bad things
Make the beautiful the story andbad things keep happening and I
honestly went for thisintention.
Speaker 3 (37:20):
I'm just not going to tell those stories, even if I'm
aggravated on the way here, andthat's usually a thing, yeah,
on the way here, I can't believeyou.
And we escalate one another andwe bring one another to this
kind of a frequency of justfrustration.
And you know how you could tella story, and I was talking
about this the other day.
I was telling Dave a storyabout something that happened to
(37:40):
me and I was right back angryand it happened 20 something
years ago maybe.
And then I even apologized toDave at the end of the story
because I hurt myself.
I'm doing that thing Instead oftelling you a beautiful story
that brings life.
How are you doing?
You know, oh, I woke up andheard the birds chirping.
(38:01):
You know, I got to swim in thepool today.
I got to, you know, be with mychildren.
You know, yesterday I got to bewith Nathaniel all day and he's
busy.
He's got a girlfriend, he's gotwork.
I got to spend the day with himand have dinner Isn't that
awesome?
Or?
Nathaniel and I workedyesterday.
It was so freaking hot.
Oh my God, it was disgusting.
(38:23):
I had a hard time getting thistape to go on this thing, it was
so aggravating.
Or my son and I spent a daytogether.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Beloved.
This is good word for us.
Make what's beautiful the story.
You have the choice.
Make what's beautiful the storyIn your own life.
You are a storyteller.
In fact, jesus was the beststoryteller, and Jesus would,
over and over again, say thingslike consider the lilies of the
field, look at the birds, lookat everything.
(38:55):
If your father knows when oneof them falls, how much more
does he care for you?
You are worth more than birds,more than flowers, and so this
understanding, this is a choiceto live differently, beloved, to
live in the realm of thekingdom, to make what is
beautiful the story.
This is our choice, and thebeautiful story is that we are
family, that God is family.
(39:16):
In fact, in the scriptures itsaid God is our father and every
family on earth is named familyunder him.
So this beautiful thing, we areall brothers and sisters, and
some of us are the misbehavingbrothers and sisters, and that's
okay.
You can do that, I guess, oryou know, the parents will take
care of you, there'll be someconsequences, but the invitation
is family.
(39:36):
The invitation is Jesus sayinglove your enemies.
The spirit.
This is for us an intentionaltime.
Although it's the 25th Sundayof ordinary time, it is the 15th
Sunday of Pentecost and it isthe third Sunday and we kind of
drill down into what day this is.
But remembering this is thelife and the spirit God said
he's given us his spirit, thatwe are full of God's spirit, and
(39:59):
you know what love is beloved.
That is the spirit of God.
Love is patient, love is kind,love is kind.
I have theologians and mysticsand people from ancient books
and stuff who have inspired mewith the life that they live
(40:20):
toward Christ and over and overagain, I am responded to this
invitation to live differently,to live as one of those who
understands and who sees withthe eye of my heart.
And let me tell you what theeye of your heart tells you that
the world is full of good, thatthere is abundance, that the
idea that there is differencebetween us, the idea that sorrow
(40:43):
is going to win, no belovedlove is going to win.
Love always wins, and ourattention to living in love is
this attention that we can livecompletely differently.
This one particular mystic thatI love reminded me of something
that I knew.
I knew this when I was a tiny,tiny person Tenderness is the
(41:07):
mark of maturity.
Tenderness, not harshness, nothardness, not a hard line.
Tenderness is the mark oflove's maturing.
Jesus beloved was tender, andtender is not mushy and tender
(41:29):
is not without spine.
Tender just means when the hurtdeclares its need, love
responds to it.
We serve a Jesus who is tendertoward us, but tenderness is the
mark of this.
Can we be tender toward someone?
And tenderness causes us to becurious toward something.
(41:50):
Rabbi Joshua Herschel saidsomething along these lines.
It's a poor imitation, but it'stwo lines.
When I was young I used toadmire people who were strong
and powerful.
Now that I'm older, I admirethose who are gentle.
There is a way to live in theworld through gentleness, and
gentleness is an evidence ofGod's own spirit.
(42:10):
If you see someone with forceand domination, that is not love
beloved, that means it cannotbe God.
Love is gentle, love is kind,love is all-powerful.
But love does not coerce us,love does not force us.
Love is not angry and God isnot cruel.
Love is God.
(42:31):
God is love.
Jesus is tender toward us.
So our learning how to betender means that we're learning
how to live who we truly are,even toward people who declare
us to be enemies.
It's okay if someone declaresyou to be their enemy, but you
declare them, maybe, to be abrother or a sister who is far
off.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (42:53):
They just haven't.
You know they'll remember.
Pray for their amnesia, prayfor their illusion, but we are
one beloved.
Grow up your kingdom subjects,live out your God-given identity
, live generously and graciouslythe way that God lives toward
you.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
I want to just maybe piggyback on something Heather
said and maybe even tweak thedefinition a tiny bit when she
was talking about you know,we're this family and God is our
father, god is also our mother,and that makes a lot of people
cringe in the fundamentalChristians because their male
(43:33):
pastors told them so, you know,and so God is.
God is this dude, you know?
And God is not gendered and Godis revealed, is revealed in
mankind, in both male and female, and I find that that rigidness
(43:54):
often comes from the masculineyou know.
And then this kindness thatyou're talking about is foreign
to some men and foreign to theway we've been encouraged to
behave and what is really underthe realm of what it means to be
a man.
And of course we understandthat that obviously you know, as
(44:19):
men we should show feelingstowards our children and love.
But there still seems to bethat disconnect where we're like
know, because God's like that.
Then we got to be you know andand we don't understand, and we
we see that that the masculinepart is part of God.
I'm not taking away from that,but I'm saying that if we only
show one side of that, then wereally miss the whole testimony
(44:45):
of who God is, and so I findmyself being able to learn from
my daughter and my wife where Icouldn't learn from anywhere
else, because that is notnaturally trained in me, valued
in me by many people, expectedby our culture, society and even
(45:08):
in the church.
It's a subject that we oftenavoid because we don't want to
offend anybody and run them off,but it's the truth.
I mean, these are all veryscriptural things that I'm
sharing with you right now, andif we're going to understand, it
doesn't mean that a man beginsto act like a woman, because
(45:31):
that's a whole different thing.
Act like who you are, butunderstand that in God, the
nature of God is able to freelymanifest in all of us.
It doesn't have to be this rolethat the world told me to play
(45:56):
and told a woman to play.
God says no, I've broken thoseboundaries and I want you to
love, and part of love isbreaking those boundaries.
Part of being tender is breakingthose constructs that were put
on us, and even the church isresponsible for that, and we
(46:16):
need to repent for that and andrealize what is good and what is
God, and I just, oh, I want tohelp people understand this,
because it is becoming soapparent to me, as I'm quiet and
listen to God, that God's likethis is a piece of the puzzle
(46:37):
you're missing and you've madeit okay because the leader said
it was okay, or you made it okaybecause that's all the teaching
you've exposed yourself to.
But I want you to learntenderness, so I go out and have
to hold little cats on my arms.
Learn to become more loving,amen.
Speaker 1 (47:02):
Amen.
I remind you that in thebeginning, the scripture tells
us that God was talking to thecommunity, that is, god, father,
son, holy Spirit, to the angels, to whatever other beings were
there.
And God said let us make man inour own image, mankind, not
just man, and so, male andfemale, he created them.
(47:26):
This incredible spectrum of whoGod is, god, who is all love,
is a spectrum, like when he saysI am creating light and dark.
What a spectrum, because lightand dark is also twilight and
also dusk and also all of thesebeautiful things.
But the invitation is into more, into more.
(47:48):
God, who is our eternal parent,is offering us a way to live
live generously and graciouslytoward others, the way God lives
toward you, beloved.
How does God live toward you IfGod is angry toward you?
Come, get a better story.
I'll tell you a beautiful one.
I've read it in the scriptureand I see it in the life of
Jesus.
Let the testimony of someonewho has seen the beautiful story
(48:11):
tell you of who Jesus is andwhat it would be like to live in
love at all times.
And this is what Jesus isoffering to us.
There's another way to live,and this is the power of
communion.
This is the power of what we dotogether.
In just a moment, we're goingto go to the communion table and
you're going to wait forsomebody.
Somebody is going to be infront of you and you are going
(48:34):
to wait while they receivesomething from the Lord.
And this is the hope for all ofus in this practice that when
someone else receives, we willjust be joyful about it.
We will just receive thismystery, this sacred sacrament
that we do together, that weremind ourselves, we retell
ourselves this story that I amloved, that the world is loved
(48:55):
and that God has a plan.
This is the word of Christ.
Behold, I am making all thingsnew.
You who were once separated anddidn't know where you belonged,
you belong in God's family.
And there is such a hope for usthis morning in recognizing and
in honoring this portion of ourservice.
This is perhaps the most holything that we do together, the
(49:15):
most sacred thing that wepractice.
When we practice the taking ofthe Lord's meal of reminding
ourselves, and we bring ourwhole body and we say I present
myself to be nourished, to befed, to be honored at the table
of the Lord and the table of theLord is love.
His banner over us is love.
(49:37):
We are feasting at love's tablethis morning and whatever need
you have, it is here because weserve a God who is miraculous,
and love is miraculous, beloved.
It is able to transform thehardest of hearts.
It is able to make the blindeyes see.
Love is able to make those thatare lame walk.
(49:58):
Love is able to raise the dead.
Love is all-powerful and God isloving.
God is inviting us this morningto love's table.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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