Beyond Religious Rules: Becoming the Living Scripture

Have you ever found yourself trapped in a religious system built on fear rather than love? Most of us have been taught that spiritual growth means following rules and managing sin, but what if there's a radically different way to experience God?

In this transformative teaching, we explore the revolutionary concept of living in the flow of the Holy Spirit—a way of being that moves beyond religious obligation into genuine freedom. The journey begins with a fundamental shift in understanding: "the fear of the Lord" isn't about being afraid of divine punishment but standing in awe of love's infinite power. This reframing allows us to approach God with openness rather than anxiety.

At the heart of spiritual transformation lies the conflict between our ego (what scripture calls "self-life") and the Holy Spirit. Our ego constantly seeks control through noise, distraction, and self-protection. The Spirit, meanwhile, invites us into surrender through moments of silence and presence. This surrender isn't about weakness but about recognizing a greater power at work—one that changes us from the inside out rather than through external rules.

The most powerful evidence of this transformation appears in how we treat others. When we truly live in the Spirit, we begin to see ourselves as one with everyone—even the slow driver in traffic, the difficult colleague, or the political figure we strongly disagree with. This oneness doesn't mean condoning harmful behavior but approaching it with compassion rather than hatred. As one listener shared, "When I stopped seeing others as obstacles and started recognizing them as my brothers and sisters, everything changed."

Ready to experience this freedom for yourself? Start with five minutes of silence each day, intentionally surrendering your plans and ego to divine love. Watch how this small practice gradually transforms your relationships, your responses to challenges, and your understanding of what it means to follow the way of Jesus. The invitation stands: abandon the exhausting work of earning God's approval, and step into the liberating flow of the Spirit.

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In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake

Episode Transcript

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.
It's joy, it's all joy, it'sall good, it's all God, it's all
grace.
I'm grateful that you're herethis morning.
The presence that you brought,the light that you brought.
It is a gift to us as acongregation, and I'm very

(00:23):
excited that we got to readthose particular scriptures
together this morning.
One of the reasons why we readscriptures together is it
reminds you you hear yourselfsaying that we are all dearly
loved by God that we remindourselves that there is a
holiness that we are called to,there is a sacredness that we

(00:43):
are to remember, and that we areto be trained, to be taught to
put ourselves in a place wherethe full revelation of God can
be revealed to us.
And so I'm grateful for yourpresence, for your participation
, for those of you online whoare with us.
Thank you so much, and we areterribly excited today to talk

(01:04):
about this continuing practiceof living in the spirit, living
in the presence you know it wasjust as tom was talking about us
uh, not, uh, wanting to, youknow, add or subtract to
scripture.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Um, you know there's a verse in scripture I think
many of you know that that youknow kind of warns against
adding, against it or whatever,and I think that, almost though,
that could create kind of afear because, though we're not
going to add or subtract to it,we definitely need to understand
it or interpret scripturesmaybe better than we had in the

(01:42):
past, or better even thangenerations had before us.
You know that there's places inscriptures that instruct you
how to take care of your slavesthat should appall you, that
absolutely should appall you,but we, we understand now and
we've evolved as people to knowthat we cannot own other people
and that god never intendedand god never intended.

(02:03):
Yes, but the people in in thebible, they were deal, that was
their world, that they lived in,and so they're going.
Well, you know, if that's goingto be, at least do this and and
that's not.
That's not condoning or orsaying that, well, because
that's in there.
Then that's the way it's got tobe, that we've got to own
people and but we've got to makesure we treat them this way,
that, and so I think thatthere's a lot of things Like I

(02:27):
remember growing up being taughtyou know the fear of the Lord,
and then some people are likewell, are you going to be afraid
of God?
Well, no, that just means areverential respect, because
basically what it means is thatat any moment he can squash you
like a june bug, but I'm notafraid he's a loving God, and
Junebug, but I'm not afraid he'sa loving God.
And so I'm trying to understand,you know, what the fear of the

(02:48):
Lord is, and I realized that youknow a lot of the religion that
I was handed was fear-based,and the whole thing, the whole
scaffolding that held the thingup, was fear.
And so that scripture, thoughthat's in there for us to
wrestle with, it's not a mandatethat God wants a relationship
with you that's based in fear.

(03:09):
In fact, I believe God madetremendous efforts so that you
and I could have a relationshipwith God that is based in love,
and so we have to maybe build anew understanding.
Amen, we need to.
Even though those scripturesare there, we need to wrestle

(03:31):
with them, we need to talk aboutthem, we need to explore the
idea of what God means you knowby this and what spirit would
say, and how many things in theBible are just written by men in
the Bible that really aren'tfor all times and for everyone
and for every situation.
I mean, did you bring aparchment and a robe for Paul

(03:53):
today?

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Because it's in there .

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Because the scripture said before you come, bring the
parchment and the robe.
I have failed you, oh God, or doI understand?
Maybe that was for a certainperson for an individual time?
Amen, and so maybe there'sother things that God is wanting
us to remove from religion inorder for us to really have an

(04:17):
understanding of love andrelations.
So we want you to have astirred and ignited relationship
with spirit that you wouldunderstand that God has given
you a teacher, has given yousomeone to lead you, given you

(04:37):
the ability to be comforted, andthat is something that needs to
be maybe developed a skill oflearning how to follow and
understand.
And so, though it's the fourthweek of Pentecost, why are you
celebrating Pentecost again?
Isn't that happened already?
Well, maybe for you and I,coming into the Spirit isn't a

(04:59):
one-time thing, maybe it's apractice, maybe it's something
that we need to go over and talkabout different aspects, talk
about different uh ways that wecan learn to surrender, and so
that's really what we want to douh during these weeks.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Uh, pentecost is for us to to learn uh spirit and to
understand what god uh isoffering to us I remind you
during these weeks when jesussaid to the people who were
following him it's really muchbetter for you that I leave.
I would have struggled withthat.
I would have said absolutely not.
I can see how things are goingto go.

(05:32):
Do not leave, stay here with us.
And Jesus said it's better foryou that I leave, because I am
going to send you a comforter, Iam going to send you an
advocate.
I am going to have a spiritthat is sent to you.
You will not even need ateacher, because the spirit of
truth will tell you and I remindyou, in the very beginnings of
our Christian faith, in the verybeginnings of the work and the

(05:53):
following of Jesus, there was noscripture, but everyone had the
spirit, and our responsibilityis to be the living scripture.
Our responsibility is to allowthe spirit to change the way
that we think.
I mean one of the first jobs ofthe Holy Spirit, one of the
first ideas that we have, is theHoly Spirit is the thought

(06:14):
adjuster that we would be peoplewho, on a regular basis, expand
our ideas about everythingabout God, about love, about the
world.
You were saying, reminding us ofa scripture that says that the
fear of God is the beginning ofwisdom, and I want to tell you
that this text that we have hasbeen translated into many

(06:35):
different languages and we getit after a translation and a
translation and a mistranslationand a translation, but I really
feel like, if you look at theword, the word that was intended
, it is the awe of God.
I mean, have you ever stood infront of a mountain and looked
at that thing and your smallnessin front of it?

(06:55):
Have you ever stood at theocean and looked at it?
Have you ever seen the oceanwhen she's angry?
Have you ever looked at natureand said incredible.
And if none of those thingshave ever inspired you, look at
the pictures that the James Webbtelescope is showing us.
Look at the cosmos and see thisinfinite plan that love is

(07:20):
inviting us into.
Be inspired, beloved, have awe.
Be what leads you into wisdom.
Someone just said to me thisweek I really need to know, I
need to get with you because Ineed to know what's right and
what's wrong.
And I said beloved, beloved.
This is the hope for all of us.
Give that up, because that wasthe wrong part of the garden to
be involved with.

(07:42):
The scripture says follow thespirit.
So what we need to know is whatwisdom is and what is
foolishness, and foolishness isnot for any of us.
We just leave that on the side.
But wisdom, where is wisdomleading us?
The scripture tells us that thespirit of God is wisdom, that it
looks like following after thewisdom that we have.
But how do we know what wisdomis and what she is creating?

(08:05):
We look to the scriptures for awitness of who Jesus is.
And Jesus, who lived in harmonywith the spirit, who said this
is how I'm able to do thesethings, to live life fully
connected to himself and also toGod, is through the spirit.
And so, good news, beloved, youare full of God's own Spirit.

(08:26):
The scripture tells us that whathappened is when God's Spirit
came upon you, when the love ofGod was in you.
God's Spirit is in you, and sowe're so grateful to go to the
scriptures today and to look atwhat it looks like to be a
people who are filled withSpirit, who know the voice of
the Holy Spirit, who understandthat there are things even that

(08:46):
Spirit will do for us that wecannot do for ourselves, like
change our minds about things orpray.
In fact, the scripture tells usthat when we don't know how to
pray, that the Holy Spirit willintercede for us with groanings
that even cannot be uttered,like with language, when you
don't know what to do about thissituation.
You don't know what to do aboutthis situation.
You don't know what to do aboutthat person.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Holy spirit, I thank you that you are interceding for
us you know, I want to just youknow, in the precursor to us,
get moving here today into thescriptures that you know, we
talk about the power of the holyspirit to move in in our lives
and to do a work in us andsometimes there's a disconnect

(09:28):
of what God would do through usand what God is going to do, and
I think a lot of times we havethe idea well, you know, god
will just take care of all that.
You know there's hurting peoplearound.
Oh Lord, do something about it.
Well, he intends to dosomething about it through us.
But that's going to take thepower of the Holy Spirit working

(09:50):
through you, for you to discernwhen I'm to do, whatever it is
that I'm to do, and how I'm todo that.
Because I've also seen peoplethat just go out and try to help
everybody all the time and theyend up getting burned out and
exhausted because you got aheadof the Spirit all the time and
they end up getting burned outand exhausted because you gotta
you head of the spirit.
So there's a real place in inlearning.
But but I I also want you tokind of maybe I want to rattle

(10:11):
your mindset on some things.
I I think that we really look atthis thing and go well, jesus
did this for us.
He sat down and said it'sfinished, so everything that
needs to be done is done.
So I'm just going to sit aroundand wait for the rapture, which
is a man-made doctrine, so I'mnot so sure that that you.
You got a lot of confidencethere and, and I want you to

(10:34):
maybe consider, did jesus livethe life in the spirit to set an
example to you and I of how youcould live?
You know, I think that we go.
Well, jesus is God, so he cando all that, and I am not.
So, therefore, good luck withGod, whatever you get out of me.

(10:58):
But Jesus said some strangethings like greater works will
you do than me, and so I thinkthe church has a real problem
and that we underestimate thepower of the spirit of god
through us and we forget thatjesus is not, uh, the one who

(11:22):
fixed and go and just does whatwe can't do, but he's the
example of what we're called tobe.
Now, if that's going to happenin my life, you better believe
it's going to have to be by thepower of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
And the invitation is for all of us that we would be
apprentices of Jesus, that wewould be people who follow the
rabbi, that follow our teacher,follow so much that we would be
covered in the dust of our rabbithat we would follow the way of
Jesus.
Jesus said I am the way, I amthe truth, I am the life.
And so he's offering himself tous as a path for us to

(12:01):
understand what it is like tolive and to have life to the
fullest.
In Galatians, chapter 5, paulis writing to the church at
Galatia and there's not a wholelot of good things that he tells
them.
He's really frustrated withthem.
He's like you got thisincredible gift, the salvation
of Jesus Christ, and now you'readding a bunch of rules to it.
And now you're saying thatpeople have to come in this

(12:24):
particular door, they have to dothat particular thing, and he's
just frustrated for them.
And so I encourage you.
You can read, you know thebeginning of the chapter two,
but this particular time we'relooking at Ephesians, chapter
five.
Beloved ones, galatians,chapter five.
Beloved ones, galatians,chapter 5.

(12:49):
Beloved ones, god has called usto live a life of freedom in
the Holy Spirit.
This is the invitation Comelive in the Spirit, come live in
communion with God, come liveand be a part of the moving and
breathing.
In fact, the scripture alsoreminds us that God holds
everything together and in Godwe live and move and have our
being Beloved ones.
God has called us to live a lifeof freedom in the Holy Spirit.

(13:14):
If that is your calling, if Godhas said come live in the
Spirit, then what are we doingto say yes to that answer?
But don't view this wonderfulfreedom as an opportunity to set
up a base of operations in thenatural realm.
And so this is a beautifulunderstanding for us that this

(13:36):
spirit realm is for us anunderstanding that there is so
much more.
I mean, you've known this sinceyou were little, since you were
tiny.
You knew that there wassomething and energy, that there
was God, that there wassomething bigger than your
language had that, yourunderstanding had that there was
an invitation into oneness.

(13:59):
Freedom means that we become socompletely free of
self-indulgence that we becomeservants of one another,
expressing love in all we do,and I thank you for that.
The wisdom reminds us freedommeans it's not going to be about
you.

(14:19):
Freedom means it's going to beyou don't express yourself in
all the ways that you wanted to.
That it is a service to oneanother in love.
If we looked at Jesus, we couldlook at the path that Jesus has
for us, and it was this it hasalways been.
We look at the testimony of howJesus lived To the hungry.

(14:40):
Jesus brought food To the sick.
He was the healer To those whowere oppressed.
He spoke liberty to them, andthis is an invitation for us.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I want to stay there just for a second.
You know Jesus is referred toas the door, and so Jesus has
made this doorway and invitedyou into freedom.
He's given you a path, given usfreedom that, uh, we're free in
christ jesus.
Uh, end of story.
Good night everybody yes, that'sit and the thing is, our minds

(15:15):
will really wrestle with that.
No, that's let me tell you,pastor, why.
That's not true, not yet, and Iwant it to be and I'm I'm
agreeing with it, but I'm gonnahave to figure out how I can lay
down, you know, my smokes, or Igotta lay down my cussing or or
my soap operas, whatever it isthat you feel like is the thing.

(15:35):
And I'm being silly because thethe truth is, god has made you
free, but there's something inyou that wants to say yeah, but
not yet, and I want to call tomind what that is.
That is our ego.
Our ego wants to do it, I wantto, and that's really the

(15:56):
problem with religion.
Religion is yeah, god, look whatI can do for you, look how I
can earn your approval, and Godhas made you free.
There's a humility and not ayeah, but he said it, it's true,

(16:16):
I accept it and I surrender.
I stop resisting, I stopfighting, I'm free to, I stop
resisting, I stop fighting, I,I'm free.
So, if I'm free, I'm, I'm nolonger a slave to to sin, I'm no
longer a slave to to my mind'sarguments or whatever.
And now I'm free to what?

(16:38):
Free to serve, serve and that'swhat I'm freed for and to.
That's our, our purpose, ourcalling our joy, because love
gives, because love prefersanother person, love cares, and

(16:58):
that's what you've been madefree so I don't have all the
these distractions and stuff Ineed to do.
I can just serve, and the powerof the Spirit gives me the
strength to do that, becausesometimes I don't want to.
Just recently there was somerustling on our front porch and
it was just yesterday, and I gota 57-year-old body and it's a

(17:18):
body that I can get up, thankyou Jesus.
But I feel every get up and getdown and there was rustling on
the front porch and I knew thefront door was locked and I
thought to myself somebody needsto unlock this door, but not me

(17:38):
, because it's going to cost mesome pain and discomfort.
Who can I yell for?
What young blood can I find inthe home and delegate this
wonderful opportunity for themto learn how to serve?
You get where I'm going.
Right, there's this.

(18:00):
I have been made free for theopportunity to go.
Holy Spirit, give me thestrength, the will, the love to
get up and open the door for oneof my sons that was wrestling
with his keys and, sure enough,an arm load of stuff.
You know, I was so glad that Ididn't choose myself, and many

(18:21):
times I have.
And so, because of that shameand that sorrow, how can I be
free?
I must pay penance.
There I go back into my egotrying to figure out how I can
earn this thing.
Wait a minute, god has made mefree.
Amen.
Can I accept that?
Can I learn to walk in that?

(18:41):
That is the real offer ofspirituality, that I'll learn to
surrender, because on any givenday I don't know about you, but
I mess up on it quite a fewtimes, but it's opportunity to
learn to surrender.
And how quickly can I get backinto service?
And or, how much do I have todeal with this penance or this

(19:05):
guilt or this?
How much shame should I carry?
How bad should I feel?
For how long?
Where's the?
Where's the exact amount that Ican feel like I've earned it?
Or can I just recognize I havebeen made free?
Can you accept that?
Because if you can accept that,your spirituality would be
completely different.

(19:25):
Somebody say amen.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
For love completes the laws of God.
That's good news, too, beloved.
All of the law can besummarized in one grand
statement Demonstrate love toyour neighbor even as you care
for and love yourself.
This is how it is evidencedthat we care for each other, and

(19:49):
that we care in ways that arehelpful and genuine and full of
God's spirit.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, I want to just interject here.
Love completes the laws of God,but you know that fear
cauterizes us from from movingforward, and and I think that if
we had that fear-basedrelationship with God and not
that love-based relationshiplike, I'm just convinced that
any minute I'm going to besquashed, I tell you there's a

(20:16):
reason why I need to push past.
That that's not well.
Hey, I'm just showing God, I'mrespectful and I'm afraid.
Well, the the, he really evensays Jesus tries to explain that
to us.
You know what?
There was a, there was aservant that was given a talent
and it was like well, I knew youto be a, a judgeful, you know.
So I buried that thing becauseI and I'll give you back what
you, what you gave me.

(20:37):
You know what?
We've been given something sothat we can multiply it.
Amen that God has has given usgrace upon grace, and then and
then, just in that freedom ofknowing I've been made free,
causes me to be able to step out.
But fear causes me to hold back.
And have you ever been soafraid?
You literally were paralyzed.

(20:57):
One time I was in the streets ofchicago and a semi truck was
rolling over the front of myfriend's car and it was just
getting crunched under andsucked under and I was in the
passenger side.
All I would have had to do isopen the door we were at a dead
stop and climb out of the car.
I scratched at that doorknoblike a cat.
I had no idea how to work adoor.
I was so afraid.
The only thing I worked up isthe courage to yell out oh shh.

(21:20):
Something I can't rememberexactly, and in the dead silence
my pastor, who was driving,looked at me and you said what
God help us.
But sometimes we get soparalyzed with fear, you know,
and God's reminding us no, I'mfree, and so that's a process.

(21:41):
I learned to exchange that fearfor his love, that grace.
Yeah, I deserve all kinds ofconsequence, but look at God,
who chooses to make us free, tochoose to love us anyway, and
that should cause us to fullyfulfill all of the things that

(22:04):
we need to do, and the strengthand the power to do it he gives.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
In verse 16, as you yield freely and fully to the
dynamic life and the power ofthe Holy Spirit Beloved.
The power of the Holy Spirit iswhat allowed Jesus to live
again.
It is the power of the Spiritthat brought the dead to life.

(22:30):
There is nothing that the powerof the Spirit cannot do, and we
are asked to fully yield tothat dynamic power that would
live in us.
As you yield freely and fullyto the dynamic life and the
power of the Holy Spirit, youwill abandon the cravings of
your self-life and this is sucha beautiful hope for us, because

(22:54):
it is the more of the good thatyou have.
Those other things will beevident to you that it is
foolishness and you will walkaway from the foolishness for
the things that are good andthat are life and that are holy
and that are merciful becausethat is who God is you will
abandon the cravings of yourself-life.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
The first part of my spiritual walk I spent in sin
management and I felt like, well, if I could confess or pray or
do something and I could dealwith this.
And then I found myself justfocusing on sin all the time.
Uh, as a result of that, Istayed in that and that made me
a very angry, uh, person, andthat anger was, you know, was
really at myself.

(23:36):
But if you, but how you treatyourself, it's how you're going
to treat others, and I had thisjudgment and standard for myself
.
And then then, as as realizedwait a minute, at some point
I've just got to accept thecompleted work of Christ.
And if God says I'm free, I'mfree.
And now let me focus on whatfreedom does and go back to that
verse, because I really likehow it says that you abandon the

(23:59):
cravings of your self-life.
If you're so busy focusing onsin, you're going to be
distracted and the cravings andthose things are going to be
what is before your eyes.
But when you look towards Godand that freedom he's given you,
next thing you know we're justfollowing after good and all of
a sudden the spirit begins to do.

(24:19):
It's not like oh, today I gotto follow the spirit.
Today I get to see what thespirit's gonna do in my life.
Just the other day, heather andI went I'm gonna brag on
Heather for a minute the waythat she lives her life and just
kind of flows in the spirit.
We've adopted this languagewhere we're like you know what?
What is, what is my job today?
Holy Spirit like, yeah, we'vegot our stuff to do and we're

(24:43):
gonna do that, but it's amindset.
What's God going to do?
We walked into this place welike, this restaurant.
I'm not going to say the namebecause you might know the
person, but we walked into thisrestaurant we like and Heather
just looked at the lady and saidwhat's wrong and she just kind
of shook it off.
Before Heather even sat down,the lady was taking us to our

(25:08):
favorite seat.
She looked at her, she saidsomething's wrong and the woman
said my mom just died.
She lives in, we're fromanother country and there's no
way that I'm going to be able tobe there.
And Heather just went, likethis, and that woman fell in
Heather's arms.
At work at a restaurant withcustomers around and food going.

(25:31):
She fell into Heather's arms,heather held her as she wept for
the the longest time and andHeather just held her.
And a little tip on that youdon't let go until they let go,
don't you do the?
My family had what we used tocall the Drake Pat me and

(25:55):
Heather named it.
You get a hug and then a pat onthe back and it's like we're
done now.
Okay, move along.
But I'm talking about asurrender to the holy spirit in
the middle of a restaurant,where that woman just fell in
heather's arm and there wasnothing more holy.
I've never seen a churchservice with a better anointing

(26:18):
or a moment in time where thatwoman received love, acceptance,
comfort.
The Holy Spirit showed up andanswered things and gave her
because I'm sure there's allkinds of thoughts what kind of a
daughter are you?
How do you?
You know all this stuff?
You know there's no money, howdo we?

(26:38):
You know?
And just to be held by love.
And Heather was love andHeather is love.
But we all are love.
That not heather's job today.
It's all of our job and many ofyou do it and I encourage you
to continue.
But I gotta tell you we've gotto get out of the way of our.
I love that verse, that thatyou know our self-life.

(27:02):
Oh, it's about me.
What do I got to get when Irealize I'm free?
What is there to get?
So now I can just trust.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Come on now.
Your self-life craves thethings that the Holy Spirit for
your self-life craves, thethings that the Holy Spirit for
your self-life craves.
The things that offend the HolySpirit and hinder the Spirit
from living free within you.
And the Holy Spirit's intensecravings hinder your self-life
from dominating.

Speaker 2 (27:34):
Come on.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
That's a good news.
So, then, the two incompatibleand conflicting forces within
you are your self-life of theflesh and the new creation life
of the Spirit.
This is the good news that thespirit of God lives in you.
When someone, you ask them andthey say nothing is wrong.
But you could look in theireyes, at least as people who are
paying attention, and you couldsee something is wrong.

(27:56):
You don't need an outside voiceto come and say I would like
for you to do this.
Your own heart, your owncompassion moves toward that
thing, and we again have awitness in scripture where we're
told to weep with those whoweep.
Weep with those who weep.
What if you loved someone andyou could not be there for them

(28:19):
when they were dying?
That would cause you to weep,your own weeping.
And so there are tears, areholy, beloved, and I think a lot
of things in this world couldbe changed if we would do a lot
more crying, if it could breakour hearts when we see mothers
not able to feed their children.
It should break our hearts whenwe see mothers and fathers

(28:41):
receiving back their dead sons,because we are still a people
who love violence.
God forgive us, mercy, break usand say how do we live
differently?
This is why paying attention,learning to live in the spirit
is so much hopeful of it.
This is how the world changes.
In fact, in the very beginningin the book of Genesis, there is

(29:03):
a story that tells us that theearth was formless, it was void,
it was a wreck, it was darkness, and then the Spirit of God
hovered over the chaos.
When I look around and seechaos and you could do that you
could look, you could be awareand see chaos all around us.
This is our job.

(29:24):
Holy Spirit, how are you makingall things new and how can I
get in on what you're doing?
I want to be a part of thegoodness that is happening in
the world.
I want to be a part of whatlove is creating here.
This is the promise that Godsaid to us.
I am making all things new.
That's hopeful.

(29:44):
He is making us new, but by thepower of the Holy Spirit, god
said to us, I am making allthings new.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
That's hopeful.
He is making us new, but by thepower of the Holy Spirit.
I just want to look at thisverse for a minute because it
talks about the old self and themove of the Spirit, and I think
that old self it really couldalso be.
You could use the language ofyour ego, and your ego is going

(30:11):
to fight against the spirit,because the ego wants to take
care of you.
It wants to take pastexperiences and deduce how
future things might play out andhow it would be best for you if
this happened.
And so it's always scheming andthat's our mind, that's running
and it's a computer and it wasgiven to us by god and it's good
.
I mean, it was good for thosepeople that lived in the baltic

(30:34):
states at one point to go webetter pack up some grain in the
summer because it's going toget winter.
And when that winter was reallylong and they were, they canned
foods and they had grains, theywere like thankfully.
So I'm not saying that youabandon that.
You just don't have that voicecontrol you.
You allow the Holy Spirit tocontrol us and we don't allow

(30:58):
that constant.
For many of us we're in aconstant.
I got to take care of myself, Igot to do this, I got to do
this, and we're in a constantI've got to take care of myself,
I've got to do this, I've gotto do this and we've got a list.
So long there's no room for theHoly Spirit.
And I'm telling you that thisis why they conflict, because

(31:19):
there's rarely a spot in a lifeof someone in Western
civilization that is quiet.
We fill it up with social media, with entertainment, with TV,
with talk, with whatever.
Got to listen to music.
Some people you know, a lot ofpeople I know, and not judge you
or whatever but you got towatch TV.
Even when you go to bed, it'sgot to be playing, something's
got to be going Because Godforbid we have silence, and

(31:43):
silence is that place where theego can't control anymore and
the spirit gets to it and we'revery uncomfortable with that
place.
And so I'm challenging you.
I'm not if, if that's one ofthese things where it's like
you're just not ready to shutoff your tv and go to sleep at
night.
I'm not criticizing you, but doyou, but I am challenging you.
You better figure out some timewhere you can have five minutes
, 10 minutes, let it lead to 30minutes.

(32:04):
Imagine that that you couldjust trust God in silence for 30
minutes.
See your ego.
Stop running, stop controlling,because the you is not that ego
.
The you is not the one who'splanning and scheming stuff.
The you is the one who decideswhether you should do that or
follow God, and that you nevergets to run the show, and that

(32:31):
one needs to learn to surrenderto God.
Amen.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
We pause here for a moment to thank 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
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at

(32:59):
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.

Speaker 2 (33:03):
Where we get it all focused on sin.
God's mad at you because you'resinning.
Well, no, just that life isdistracting you from a life of
love and service, where youdon't have to hurt your family
anymore, you don't have to bringthat stuff.
Why did you cheat?
Well, I cheated because I justneeded to fulfill something

(33:26):
empty inside of me, somethingthat's never going to be empty
because the ego is never goingto be satisfied.
Well, I just had to do this.
I just had to drink because Ineed to quiet these voices.
Well, because we haven'tlearned that, surrendered to the
Holy Spirit.
So God's not up there madbecause you did this sin or that
sin.
God is just.
I'm offering a way free from it.

(33:47):
I made you free.
I might just preach, I don'tknow.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
It's exciting.
I told you we were excited totalk about the Holy.
Spirit.
We're using words and I want tobe really clear about some of
the language because I'm awarethat people come from different
places but we're saying it wouldbe so good for you to sit in
stillness, for you to sit sayingnothing in front of God.
But let me tell you that is notgood news if you feel like God

(34:17):
is angry with you.
That is not good news if youfeel like God is disappointed
with you.
We're talking about sitting inthe presence of love, who is
already enamored with you, love,who is already.
You are faultless, thescripture tells us, in God's
eyes, and so coming before thepresence of God becomes a
different thing when we're notworried that we're not living up

(34:40):
to things.
When you are brought into thefull freedom of the spirit of
grace, you will no longer beliving under the domination of
the law, but soaring above it.
So it's this idea that thethings that mean to shackle us
or keep us down.
I really want to talk to youabout the fact that we're
talking about caring forourselves and loving and living
in freedom.

(35:00):
And if it's freedom for you butmeans not freedom for someone
else, that's not freedom.
Beloved, that is calledsomething else.
It's not freedom.
Freedom is when you are free.
Everyone is free.
Jesus paid the price for us andgave it to all of us and said
everyone is welcomed to comehome to the Father.
Fruit or evidence produced bythe Holy Spirit within you is

(35:25):
divine love in all of its variedexpressions.
We just need to reallycontemplate this on a regular
basis.
What is an evidence of God'sSpirit in you?
What is an evidence of youbeing led by the Spirit?
It's going to be love, and it'sgoing to be love for all people

(35:46):
.
It's going to be peace Peacefor all people.
This is not you and yours.
This is the invitation intowhat God is doing, what God is
bringing us to.
In fact, I was in our devotionand in our paying attention to
what the season is, this seasonafter Pentecost, which is this

(36:10):
entire beautiful part, till weget to Advent again this
practice of living in the HolySpirit, living with mind attuned
to the Spirit and payingattention to that.
You've used a word today overand over again surrender, and
when I was growing up, surrenderwas what someone said when they

(36:32):
were in an arm wrestling match.
I mean, we did a lot of armwrestling because there were
some strong people in our livesand they like to show how strong
they were.
So they would take anybody likelet's wrestle, you know.
And then you were the young,tiny person and they look like
Popeye arms and they're like,let's wrestle.
I'm like, all right, and youknow.
And then bam, surrender.
And it's like I'm hurting.
I don't want to surrender, Ijust don't want to die.

(36:52):
And that's not surrender,beloved.
That's not what God is asking,that's not what we're asking.
Surrender is leaning into love.
Surrender is what you do whenyou close your eyes and lean in
for a kiss.
That's a different kind ofplace where, with God, you're
saying I'm going to surrenderand I'm going to lean into the

(37:14):
love that you have for me andfor the world and I'm going to
give up my proclivity towardfighting for things, my
resisting of how things are andhow I think that they should be
and how we need to get ahead.
And this invitation is intolove, is into returning back.
The scripture tells us, johntells us, that God is love and

(37:37):
anyone who lives in love livesin God.
Beloved, you can live in lovetoday and that's so incredibly
helpful.
You can live in God and it isthrough the spirit of God
changing, expanding, bringing usa different thought and
allowing us to live differentlytogether.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
I just love that verse where it says that you'll
no longer you'll soar above thelaw.
If you think about it with yourlittle kids, they needed the
rules Don't put a fork in thelight socket.
We want to keep you around, butthere became a point and I'm

(38:18):
grateful now that, as a pastor,I don't have to walk around each
one of you and make sure thatyou don't stick a fork in a
light socket Because you'vegotten to a point where you soar
above that law.
You're not going to do that,you're not even considering that
, because there's so much morein this life that you can do and

(38:41):
you can experience that.
I don't need to experience afork in a light socket.
I already know that's a bad ideaand so much of the time, you
know, I've had pastors corner meand say you don't talk about
sin enough and I think, no, youdon't talk about freedom enough.
No, you don't talk aboutfreedom enough because sin, if

(39:05):
we talk about sin and we justtalk about the rules and the law
and all this, and then you'relike, yeah, I can't do this,
can't do that, but but reallyyour spirit tells you don't put
the fork in the light socket.
Amen, I'm not saying thatyou're free to stick forks and
light sockets.
That's what we're talking abouthere.
The Spirit offers freedom forall.
Forks in light sockets, brethren.

(39:26):
That's what I teach.
That's insanity.
But I want to live in theSpirit which is above just
talking about sin and talkingabout rules, and I'm telling you
there's a place that scripturetalks about it.
But most religion accidentallyrealized that we kind of got to

(39:51):
navigate people and control themand hurt them a little bit I
mean, they're sheep after all.
So we just got to tell themdon't do the light socket thing,
give in the offering box oryou're all going to be punished
with poverty.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
This is not the word of the Lord beloved.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
We threaten people with, dangle them over hell
Instead of offer, prop it up.
You know what I want you togive an offering today, don't
get me wrong.
But guess what You're going tobe.
An offering today, don't get mewrong, but guess what.
You're going to be just asblessed if you walk past those
boxes.
God is not going to punish you.
He's done away with that kindof law.

(40:30):
You're living above it.
But if I'm really living in thespirit, then generosity causes
me to go.
Well, the lights do have to beon, and that chubby guy does
need to eat.
Have to be on, and that chubbyguy does need to eat.
So you know, what I will give,I will support, but that's
between you and love and ingenerosity, not out of fear of
punishment or anger of god,because you and I are called to

(40:52):
live above that.
But above it doesn't mean thatI live now in the flesh and in
the carnal paul said certainlynot but that I'd live in the
spirit in a place where I couldjust know that this person needs
a hug, this person needs to beserved.
It was funny just the other day.
Heather's going, what are youdoing today?
I go, I have no idea veryshortly after I got a text and

(41:15):
someone said I need you to driveme somewhere, pick up a certain
thing.
And I said well, today I'mdelivery guy and I got to go be
with somebody for a couple hoursand just love on a minute and I
thought, well, this is my dayand I'm looking around and all
of a sudden, the the person'sneighbor came over and he goes

(41:37):
hey, this is my pastor.
He came over to help me and hegoes you're a pastor and you did
this for him.
And all of a sudden, this guy'sgoing.
I didn't think pastors were likethat.
And I'm out in the yard and allI want to do is leave, because
it's 9,000 degrees outside andthe guy wants to have a
theological discussion andinstead of me going, you need to

(41:59):
get to church I go no, this ismy pulpit, this is my moment,
and so I can discard personaldiscomfort and I can just choose

(42:19):
for the big 20 minutes Isuffered on the cross of hot
Florida sun.
Poor me, right?
We feel so sorry for ourselvesand and it's like we get an
opportunity to love somebody andand that's I mean.
It's just.
It's just.
We're living in a, you know,whole different opportunity here
freedom in god, or do we livebound by fear and the law?

Speaker 1 (42:41):
And it's freedom through the power of the Holy
Spirit, through the power ofGod's Spirit, through entering
into that eternal current ofwhat God is up to Beloved.
God is up to good.
God is up to beauty.
God is up to more love, and soour invitation is to be a part
of what God is doing.

(43:01):
Our invitation is to enter thatcurrent, to look at these
things.
Fruit produced by the HolySpirit within you is divine love
in all its varied expressionsJoy that overflows, peace that
subdues, patience that endures,kindness in action, a life full

(43:23):
of virtue.
Faith that prevails, gentlenessof heart, strength of spirit
never set the law above thesequalities.
They are meant to be limitlesscan I interject just quickly?

Speaker 2 (43:39):
I apologize just so quickly, when I saved.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
We're not going to get to the good part beloved.
I'm just teasing.
We are, it's all good, it's allgood.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
When I first got saved, I was hanging around with
my friends and my friendsstarted to get saved and all of
a sudden we'd be around and wemight be acting all carnal or
something, but something wouldhappen and the Spirit of the
Lord would just show up.
The spirit of the Lord wouldjust show up and I remember a
couple of times like one of myfriends, he goes, he goes.
I don't know why that kid thatcauses so much trouble.

(44:08):
I just think there's good inhim.
And my other friend goes.
I think that's a gift from God.
I think God has something likethat where he gives that to you,
where you know things and we'relike really, and so and the
next day he goes.
I found it.
It's in the Bible.
It says you know the gift ofdiscernment and and now he goes
you had it, you had it we had itand we're like all excited.

(44:32):
And then I think that I went toBible school and we studied the
list, you know, and we go.
Well, if I'm going to be in thespirit, I got to be patient and
be kind.
Know, I gotta, I gotta makesure that I, that I, you know,
if I have a tongue, I haveinterpretation of tongue, or or
if I all right, you know.
And so we get all like in thehead instead of, wouldn't it be
fun just to go to surrender togod and then go, oh, there's

(44:55):
that thing.
I believe that's what he'soffered to us, that you stop
planning it out and we surrender.
And then we find out, oh, thatthing's happening where God is
just, you know, pouring out hisspirit upon all flesh, that God
is just accepting people thatfelt that they didn't deserve it
or they didn't earn it, or theyfelt they were unaccepted by

(45:15):
everyone else.
Every other people grew.
They are feeling the love ofGod.
Oh, I want to be part of this.
And then let someone else pointit out yeah, that's a thing in
the Bible that's cool, but we'vegotten so cerebral that we know
all those scriptures but wedon't live any of them.
I want to just surrender tothat kiss and surrender to what

(45:38):
God might do with the rest of mylife, because I want to stop
making it about me.
And that means a thousand timesbetween the the time I take my
last breath.
I need to die.
I need to die to myself.
No, I wanted to stay on thatcouch and for somebody else to
unlock that front door, but Idied in that moment.

(46:00):
And I died when the alarm wentoff this morning and I think
I'll die a thousand or maybe amillion times before I actually
die, and then, by the time I getthere, I'll be good at it, amen
.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus, the
anointed one, have alreadyexperienced death.
That's good news.
We have experienced death todeath, death to self cravings,
death to selfishness, death tohatred.
Let me just be very clear aboutthis beloved, those who are in

(46:38):
the spirit abide no hatred.
The Spirit of God is love, andhatred is not a part of God's
spirit, and so whenever you findany kind of hatred, you need to
look at that and go.
I'm inviting the Holy Spirit tocome in and remove that and find
a way to listen to the witnessof Mary Magdalene, who said it
is our job to return to love.
As fast as you can identifyhatred, return to love, make

(47:01):
that repentance, change thateverything connected with our
self-life was put to death onthe cross and crucified with the
Messiah.
We must live in and follow theHoly Spirit.
This is the invitation for allof us.
Jesus said I came, that youwould have life and have it to
the full, and I want you to beconnected to the same spirit

(47:23):
that I'm connected to, the sameway that I hear the Father speak
.
I want you to hear the Fatherspeak and remind you of your
belovedness and your place inall things, but we choose to
live in the Spirit and we chooseto follow the Spirit.
It is our choice.
It is what love gives us.
You can choose hatred, but why,when you could choose love?

(47:46):
The power of love is thegreatest power that has ever and
will ever exist.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
God is all love you know this, this word here, that
we must live in the flow of theHoly Spirit.
You know, I can just feelpushback from people.
Yeah, pastor, but you don'tunderstand what it's like to
live at my house or you don'tunderstand what it's like at my
work and what they demand of meand how things go.
And I'm telling you that we asa people need to stop giving

(48:21):
ourselves an excuse not to dosomething, instead of rely on
the power of the Holy Spirit toactually do what we can't do in
our own strength.
Because I've been at meetingsbefore and I've been strongly
impressed to say to a group ofpeople listen, we need to start
living right.
To a group of people, listen,we need to start living right.

(48:43):
I've had groups of people and Igathered together just with
anger problems, because I havestruggled most of my adult life
with a horrendous anger problemand actually I didn't struggle
with it, I surrendered to it.
It was very natural for me.
Everybody that was in my lifestruggled with my anger problem.
It's the truth and that's thesad truth.
We giggle, but it is aterrifying truth that those are

(49:06):
the people that suffer with youranger problem.
But I'm with a group of peopleand I'm saying we cannot allow
ourselves the privilege to acthowever we want.
We cannot just surrender tothat.
Every time we just feel hurt,feel wounded, feel embarrassed.
Because that's kind of been mything.
I have the standard for myself,and when I don't mean it, I get
mad, and when I get mad I getmean.

(49:27):
And when I get mad and mean itmyself, then that's how I'm to
everyone else.
And so I'm telling you that inthis place of surrender, it
really starts out with us notallowing ourselves the excuse.
And I sit in front of that groupof people, anger, and I said we
cannot do that.

(49:48):
And they said yeah, I agreewith you, but you know, once at
work, you know three times, theyasked me the same thing and
they're in my face.
What am I supposed to do?
I punched them, you know, andit's like, and everybody in the
room is like yeah, you know,it's like.
And everybody in the room'slike yeah, you know he's right.
I mean it's three times.
Come on, come on, pastor.
I mean three whole times.
I mean really, I mean I thoughthe was being so good.

(50:08):
You know, I was surrendering togod those first two times.
You know, I totally surrendered, then god didn't do it, so I
had to take matter of the moment, you know.
And then, and I find that in alarge group of people we end up
cutting each other this breakbecause we want this break cut
to us.
And I'm saying how about?
The break that was cut to youwas by god giving you the holy

(50:28):
spirit and the grace.
Is that the power to do whatyou can't do in your own
strength.
And so if we would stopsurrendering to what we can't do
and agreeing there's no way Icould be like Christ, because
he's deity I'm just over here,you know instead of going, no,
he is, he is the path.
Christ, uh, dwells in me andand I and I'm, and I'm following

(50:52):
after this new life, and Ican't.
Does anyone tracking with mehere that we actually can do
these if we would?
And and I love how the authorhere is saying we must surrender
to the flow of the Spirit,because if not, what else are
you surrendering to my flesh, mywill, my ego, to anger, to fear

(51:15):
, which cauterizes, which holdsme back, which, oh, come on,
church, I don't even.
Oh.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
So may we never be arrogant or look down on another
, on any other.
May we never be arrogant andlook down on another, for each
of us is an original made in theimage of God.
We must forsake all thatdiminishes the value of others.

(51:44):
That is our job.
God made us with value, made usbeloved, and we, as people,
must forsake anything thatdiminishes the value of others.
We must be people who raise thevalue of all people, who raise
the value of all people, whoraise the value of all thoughts

(52:05):
and be able to say this is whatthe Spirit is calling us into,
this incredible hope.
And while we say this, we'retalking about the power of the
Holy Spirit and the power ofgoodness.
And what do you do when youencounter someone or when you
experience someone's hate?
What do you do when you're onthe other side of this?

(52:25):
What do you do when you'rewatching the news and you feel
anger?
Beloved, you should feel angerIf you're paying attention.
There is a reason thatinjustice is around us and there
are things to do.
But with the feelings that wehave, the human emotions of
anger, then we get to have achoice on how we will offer
those to the world.

(52:47):
Recently I've been horrified, asI'm sure you have, and I know
that we are called to pray forall people, that we are called
to wish and to pay attention tothe thoughts that we have for
all people.
When I look at what some peopleare doing to our brothers and

(53:15):
sisters, don't for one minutethink it's someone else.
It is our brothers and sisters.
This is why Jesus taught us topray Our Father, who art in
heaven.
This is why Jesus, when he'spraying for us, says to the
Father oh Holy Father, I ampraying for these that you have
given me, that you would protectthem.

(53:36):
Good news Jesus is praying forus to be protected From what
Jesus says.
Protect them from anything thatwould divide them.
Make them one, like you and Iare one.
Jesus is praying for us to beone.
And how do we do that?
When we see, or when we are therecipients of someone's hatred

(53:58):
or someone's violence toward us,what is our place then?
If we respond back with thesame violence, then the
scripture tells us that we arethe same person, but to do
something greater.
Here is the invitation.
Sometimes I don't know what todo with people who are hurting
me.
I don't know what to do withpeople who hurt people that I
love, people that I know, peoplethat I share life with, and

(54:22):
that's a frustrating place forall of us.
What do we do?
What do we do?
Beloved Jesus is our answer,has always been our answer, and
one of the ways that we pray foreach other is we hold that
person who is in the illusionthat they're in, and we bring
them before Jesus and we pictureJesus embracing them.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Yes, that's a tough one.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
Yes, but it's holy.
Think of someone right now whohas harmed you, and then picture
our loving.
Jesus holding that person.
Not so they get away withanything, but I do want to tell

(55:14):
you, I'm confident, that ourloving Jesus is whispering
something into their ear,healing whatever broken place is
in them that makes them behavein that way.
I can't think of a better placefor anyone, a place that is
more prize, and a place that youshould go if you are
misbehaving, if you are in yourillusion and harming others.

(55:35):
To me, it is very much likehaving a very naughty toddler
and you lifting them up andreturning them to their parent.
I will not allow you to harmthese, and so it feels to me.
That's what I'm doing when Ibring someone into the loving
presence of Jesus.
I remind you of a story accountin the scripture of a man named
Saul who is breathing hate.

(55:57):
I don't know if you can imaginethis, but there are people who
literally breathe in hate.
Everything about them is hate.
This is how he's described tous.
He has no interest in turningand doing anything different.
He enjoys his hate and he knowsthat he's right and he abides
this hatred.
He did not pray and ask God forhelp.

(56:17):
He, in that hatred, went on hisway to do harm, and Jesus met
with him, a great light inillumination came to him and
stopped him and from that momenton, from that time, in the
presence of Jesus, he wascompletely changed, beloved,

(56:40):
that is the story of Saul for us.
And then the scripture tells usthat people had been praying.
People had been praying sayinglove, come to this person.
So that's our beautiful job isto say when and again.
Scripture tells us and we knowthis in our heart that wisdom
does not ask us to stay inabusive relationships or to stay

(57:01):
where we are being harmed.
In fact, wisdom tells us thatonly a fool sees danger coming
and doesn't run from it.
So the idea is we don't stay inharm's way.
But what do we do withourselves after we have removed
ourselves from the presence ofthat person or from that thing?
That we bring them to thepresence of a loving Jesus.
And I am confident, beloved,that love changes everything.

(57:25):
When whoever it is that hasharmed you is in the embrace of
Jesus, things will change.
And you might have to bringthem.
Many times We've done that withtoddlers, and they just scoot
off their parents' lap and dothe same thing, and we just
bring them back.
And so this invitation to comeback into the presence of divine
love.
So we come back to thispractice of forsaking anything

(57:47):
that diminishes the value ofothers.
That we practice this, payingattention and to the sacredness
of all things, for us to listento the voice of the Holy Spirit
and for us to learn how to enterthe flow of this eternal
current that has been from thevery beginning of time.
In the book of Ephesians, thewriter says this to us before

(58:10):
the world was formed, god hadyou in mind.
Before the world was formed,you were in the thoughts of God.
Before the world was formed,god had you in mind and God had

(58:32):
already decided that you weregoing to be the one that he
loved.
This is settled, you're loved.
That doesn't change anything.
And God said that he intendedto lavish you with his love so
that you would be made whole andholy by that love.

(58:54):
Wholeness is always a part ofwhat God is doing.
In things that are fracturedand broken, in things that have
been smashed by angry people,god is coming to bring wholeness
, hope, new life to us you know,part of this wholeness, uh, and
if you're going to be whole, uh, we're going to have to be one.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Do you understand that they're synonymous and a
oneness is really?
We have to change the dualisticmindset that we've gathered
when we were children and ithelps you develop.
Like you know, someone handsyou a ball, but I thought that
was a ball.
Well, no, this is a red ball,this is a blue ball, some is a

(59:36):
basketball or something.
You just start to be different.
And then we look at well, youknow, there's a woman, I'm a man
, ball or something.
You just start to be different.
And then we look at well, youknow, there's a woman, I'm a man
, you know she's a girl, he's adude, he's an old dude and, uh,
you know I'm tall.
He's not telling, you know.
And so we make all thisdifferent.
And then, all of a sudden,we're like now we got
preferences.
I, I prefer the tall ones, Iprefer the short ones, I don't
like the brown ones, I like thisand I don't like the ones that
have this sexual preference, butI like the, you know.

(59:56):
And so then, all of a sudden,we start all this stuff, and so
beginning to be healed is thatwe're beginning to be one and
that means we have to be onewith everyone.
I was talking to a friend.
We were laughing because theydisagree with a particular
politician and in fact I wouldsay hate that politician as much

(01:00:18):
as a Christian can hate.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
No, we cannot.
We cannot abide any hatred.
We cannot abide any Christiancan hate this person.
No, we cannot.
This person has godly.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Christian hate for this politician, and, uh, and,
and.
And Heather said uh, well, youknow, I see myself as one with
this politician, and.
And the person just had suchpushback, oh, I'm not one with
it, you know.
And it's like where, where dowe?
Wherever we draw that line, youstart to see, okay, there's
something in here that thespirit of God needs to get out,
because that oneness is going tochange something.

(01:00:46):
If I begin to recognizeeverybody is my brother and my
sister, we're one, then itchanges.
It's changed the way I drive,because I used to be like I was
confident that it was my job toteach.
If it says in 500 feet that theright lane ends, then why drive

(01:01:06):
up to the blinker and try toturn in my lane?
No, I will use my car as a ram.
If I have to, I will drive youoff the road.
You're not getting in front ofme, you're not going to do this.
But when I started to realizethat I'm one with that, that's,
that's me.
I make those mistakes.
Sometimes I choose myself oversomeone else, or or I didn't

(01:01:27):
recognize things and I want tobreak.
I started letting people in,and I'm telling you what it's a
slippery slope once you startletting people in, then you stop
getting mad at this jerk infront of me.
He's driving so slow like theonly person on the road that's
not a jerk is me, because I knowthe exact tempo to drive at all
times, and so I.
So then I'm starting to go.
Well, now it's my job just to.

(01:01:50):
In fact, the other the other day, I just yesterday, I was
driving and I just immediatelyI'm like all the lanes were
going fast except for my guy infront of me, and I'm like, well,
you know, it's my pleasure justto let my brother that I'm one
with, go whatever speed.
And so that means wherever Iwas going is going to change,
you know.
And so you have to prepare.

(01:02:11):
If you're going to live in thespirit, you have to leave five
minutes early, it's all.
It takes A little preparationbecause that guy's going to set
a new tempo.
And then, as soon as I relaxedit because I was tailgating them
, and as soon as I said, no, no,they get to drive however fast
they want, and I'm not going toimmediately, as soon as I did
that and just said, spirit ofthe Lord, that's my brother,

(01:02:32):
then they turned over as if theRed Sea parted and I and I go.
There is a peace in living.
That doesn't have to be you,son of a.
Why are you driving?
He was just driving.
He has no idea.
I'm behind him and now I'm likeI'm going to ride the back of
this guy because he won't speedup.
Now I know I'm the only personthat does this.
So stretch your hands outtowards the weirdo up here.

(01:02:53):
Or maybe all of us are in ourheads and in our egos so much
that we forget that, that thatoneness is going to bring me
unity, and and in that unity Ican find that that they're,
they're um, they deserve a break, they deserve love, they
deserve to not be tailgated.

(01:03:15):
You know, and I'm telling youjust like, when we decided we
were going to put five you knowa stack of fives in our car
every month for when we sawpeople on the side Instead of
going look at these weirdosbegging, they're probably going
to buy drugs we just decided I'mgoing to bless them.
I'd like to give 20s, butfinancially I'm a fiver right
now.
But you know what?

(01:03:37):
We never run out of those fivesin a month's time and we're
always able to just smile andsay we love you and give those
away.
And it costs us something.
It costs a little preparationand planning, but God always
provides, and I believe in thatsame way.
If we'll decide to leave thisparking lot with a little

(01:03:59):
preparation, I'm going to be onewith everyone I come in contact
with.
I was sharing with my brotherand he goes.
Sure enough, as soon as Italked to him about it, he
started telling me he goes.
I'm one with this idiot.
How true is that statement?
We are that idiot.

(01:04:22):
We are that idiot.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
We are beloved of God .

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
When we act like that , we are we're still beloved by
God.
But God's inviting us to livebeloved.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Yes to live holy truly beloved.
And before you say to somebodybecause my friend did say I
can't be one with that personbecause of the harm they're
doing.
And I understand that thatperson is not in their general
life, there's nothing physicallythey can do about that.
But we do all have a right tospeak up for the harm that

(01:04:56):
people are doing to others.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Amen.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
But shunning people and being hateful towards
someone else is not going tobring the life in the spirit.
Bringing them the light.
You being the light, you beinglove, you bringing someone into
the presence of Jesus, that ishow beloved the world changes
your love.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.

(01:05:19):
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.