August 27, 2024 • 51 mins
Can love truly transform our lives and communities? Join us in this thought-provoking episode as we explore the deep metaphor of Jesus as the bread of life, reflecting on how His teachings on love resonate across cultures. We delve into the Apostle Paul's wisdom on maturity being marked by love and discuss the profound obligations we have in loving not just our neighbors, but our enemies and ourselves. Through the lens of 1 Corinthians 13, we unpack the challenges of expressing genuine love in our daily interactions and the importance of speaking with kindness and compassion.
Our conversation emphasizes the necessity of putting others' needs above our own, allowing the Spirit of Christ to lead us in showing true compassion. We share personal anecdotes that illustrate how small, consistent acts of kindness can bring about significant change and underscore the idea that love is not just for personal fulfillment but is a force that can transform the world.
In the final chapters, we address the internal struggle between staying mired in negativity and rising above it through the transformative life offered in Christ Jesus. We explore how faith, hope, and love—especially love in action—play crucial roles in fostering trust, open communication, and community support.
Reflecting on 1 Timothy, chapter 6, we discuss the importance of generosity and readiness to share as a means of storing up true treasures. Join us as we learn to live in alignment with divine love, embracing the power of simple acts of kindness and the profound impact of holy communion in our spiritual journey. For more information, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.
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.
In the past few weeks, we havebeen reading from John's Gospel,
where he gives us what is knownby people who have studied the
word the bread of life discourse.
(00:21):
Where Jesus says to us I am thebread of life.
I don't know what cuisine youlike, what ethnicity cuisine you
feel most attracted to, but Ijust want to tell you, no matter
what cuisine you don't like,you could still like their bread
.
It's true.
I mean, you can say I don'tappreciate this, but their bread
, everyone can eat the bread.
And I think that that is whereJesus says to us I am the bread
(00:45):
of life, I am the living word, Iam what you need to nourish
yourself.
And so, as we gather thismorning, I remind you of this
really sacred trust that isgiven to us, that love is what
sustains us and what we dotogether as a Christian church
is we've come to dedicate ourlife to learn about love and to
(01:07):
practice the love that Jesusshows us how to do.
In fact, it was Jesus who saidof his followers you're going to
be known by your love, and Ithink that that's really
important that we spend sometime thinking about that this
morning.
The invitation is to us to whatthe Apostle Paul said, that a
really true mark of maturity islove.
(01:29):
And if love is the goal and iflove is the standard, then we
need to be mindful about it,because in our culture we throw
the word love around verycarelessly.
I think that we use loveinstead of better words.
We say things like I love pizzaand I love my dog and I love
this color and I love, and sothe word sometimes loses
(01:52):
something, and so it may bebetter for us to say I prefer
this, I enjoy the taste of, butlove is essential, and when we
think about this, the invitationis is for us what is the
obligation of love?
If I am to love my neighbor, ifI am to love my enemy, if I am
to love myself, then what arethe obligations of love?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
you got.
Uh, you jumped two points.
I want to go back one point onthe bread, because I love bread
and, as a person who's alwaysstruggling with my weight, the
bread has seemed to be like theenemy.
It's like the devil.
You've got to stay away fromthe bread.
But I don't know if you're likeme and you've tried real hard,
(02:38):
but you can't stay away from thebread forever.
It calls to you.
You can smell it baking fromdown the street and I think
about this because if I do welland stay away from bread for a
few weeks, it's inevitable thatI get so hungry, I get angry.
(03:01):
You know that expression that'snew now Hangry.
You know what I'm talking about.
It's for people who,specifically, have been away
from bread too long.
They have become unmanaged,their life has become
unmanageable and if they don'tknow it, the people around them
do.
We can't be around you untilyou have some bread and I just
(03:23):
really.
Are you starting to maybe trackwith me where I'm going with
this?
There are some people that'slives have become unmanageable
because you have forgotten aboutthe bread of life.
Isn't that a good thought?
But it's true, right, when wekind of drift away and get into
our own thing.
We just we get these attitudes.
(03:44):
And so today we want to talkabout that love and what you
know, having that kind ofinteraction with love, with the
bread of life, what that does inus, through us, with the people
around us.
Amen.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Amen From 1 Corinthians 13,.
I want to encourage you withsomething this morning.
Very often this particularscripture has been read at
weddings you've been attendingand we kind of put it in the
category of this is romanticlove.
But I remind you, this waswritten to the ancient church in
Corinth.
This was written to a group, acommunity, to a bunch of people
(04:22):
who said we are going to try tobe family, and they were doing
it badly.
And so Paul said I want toremind you, let this be what
love is.
And so, before we give thisover to romance although I think
it's important to have in ourromantic relationships as well
but this is essential to ourday-to-day living.
And if you would hear the wordsof the apostle here from 1
(04:44):
Corinthians, if I were to speakwith the eloquence in earth's
many languages and in theheavenly tongues of angels and
yet I did not express myselfwith love, my words would be
reduced to the hollow sound ofnothing more than a clanging
cymbal.
Please don't miss the point herewhere he's saying that words
(05:08):
expressed with love, not justany words, not just some words,
but for all of us, that everyword that we have would be
expressed with love.
And sometimes that has tobecome a practice for us,
because we're used to expressingourselves with frustration, or
we're used to expressingourselves with frustration, or
we're used to expressingourselves with prejudice or with
opinion.
(05:28):
And the apostle is saying comeback to the fact that you need
to express yourself with love.
Your words sound like aclanging cymbal.
A clanging cymbal can get ourattention, but a clanging cymbal
outside of the orchestra justsounds like noise, and so the
invitation is to come into thetruth.
That is, love allows us tosound in a way that brings us to
(05:55):
the truth and brings us back toourselves.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
You know and this is a practice too, because no one
would expect one to be perfectat this type of communication
right away but I will tell youthis that if your heart is
willing to be transformed, godwill work with you in this area,
and what you can do is justlike when you say something,
(06:19):
maybe you meant it a certain way, or maybe you didn't even think
about what you were saying acertain way, or maybe you didn't
even think about what you weresaying.
But when the the hearerresponds like you just slammed a
symbol in their face, then youcan.
You can deduce maybe they didnot hear what I intended them to
hear, or maybe what I said wasnot right and needs some
(06:44):
adjusting.
Amen, so allow that way thatwhen people continually say to
you you're harsh, you're harshand you walk around going man, I
can't believe the sensitivepeople in my life, all these
people at work, at home.
It's weird.
No matter where I go, sensitivepeople everywhere or are you
extremely rude and aggressiveCould be the common denominator
(07:08):
here, you know.
So I would like for us to kindof allow God to.
I love that in this life we canbe trained as we go.
We don't have to master thesethings right away, but is your
heart willing to, to exchangeaggressive language for for
(07:29):
kindness and and just selfish uhcommunication for love, uh, are
we willing to go there and ifyou are, be careful what you
wish for?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
and if I were to have the gift of prophecy, with
profound understanding of God'shidden secrets, and if I
possessed unending supernaturalknowledge, and if I had the
greatest of faith that I couldmove mountains but have never
learned to love, then I amnothing.
I love how he stacks up all ofthe things here that people
(08:02):
would want.
I want supernatural knowledgeor I want to know that I have a
hidden secret.
And Paul is really reminding usthat love is the goal.
Beloved Love is the goal in theway that we speak, in the way
that we love, in the way that weinteract with people.
And he says if I've neverlearned to love, then I am
nothing.
(08:24):
And so the invitation is tolearn how to love, like we
watched Jesus love.
This is why we run the filterof how did Jesus behave when he
was fully human, when heaccepted all of his emotions as
worthy but then allowed himselfto be governed only by love?
But then allowed himself to begoverned only by love.
(08:46):
If I were to be so generous asto give away everything I owned
to feed the poor and to offer mybody to be burned as a martyr
without the pure motive of love,I would gain nothing of value.
And here we see again.
He's talking about people whoare generous, and this is a good
thing, and even, in someaspects, the idea of martyrdom,
(09:06):
the idea of giving your life forsomeone else.
This is a beautiful gesture,but without the motive of love,
it says that it is no value.
Love is large and incrediblypatient.
Love is gentle and consistentlykind to all.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know, I want to speak for a moment about this
idea of love and martyrdom,because many times people will
ask you throughout your life,you know, would you give your
life for the person that youlove?
You know, and of course sure Iwould.
The people that I love.
Of course I'd give my life,sure I would.
The people that I love, ofcourse I'd give them my life.
(09:46):
And the thing is, we're reallynever asked by God to die for
somebody, but it's the opposite,and it's really the harder
thing is to live for somebody.
So, in that idea when we think,oh yeah, I'd make that one final
decision and allow my head tobe chopped off, but what about
(10:08):
daily letting my selfishness bechopped off?
What about that daily decisionthat I'm going to put the needs
of another person above my own?
That that is how I want todemonstrate that I said that I
love you, is how I want todemonstrate that I said that I
(10:30):
love you and that thatcorresponding action is going to
be I would rather stay in bed,but I'm going to get up and help
.
I would rather uh, not uh, goto that place, but we're going
to go that place and this otherplace.
You know that there's this umlaying down of your life.
That's so beautiful and it's a,and it's a giving of your life.
That's so beautiful and it's agiving of your life versus just
having it snatched away and it'sa more proactive way.
(10:52):
And so, you know, maybe if wecan get out of that whole idea
of well, this once I would do,you know, because I think that's
it.
Well, you know, when Heatherand I got married, I said I love
you at the altar and ifanything changes I'll let you
know.
You know that's not going to gowell in my marriage.
You know, I need to dailycommunicate that I love you and
if my words don't match up withmy actions, something is wrong.
(11:19):
I say I love you, but yet Icontinually serve me.
I say I love you, but yet Icontinually serve me.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh-oh, now he's starting to meddle now, and what
is that?
Right, though?
For us, even in community, tolook at the world at large, what
we're being invited to isresurrection, is the death of
ego and the resurrection of thetrue and beautiful souls that we
are.
We are made in the image of God, and so, as you're talking
about this idea of laying downyour life, it is in no way to be
(11:53):
abused or to be taken advantageof, but it is this idea of
surrendering our egos andsurrendering our false selves
and being enlivened by theSpirit of Christ that allows us
to love with real zeal.
Love is large and incrediblypatient, incredibly patient.
(12:14):
Patient is enough, but love isincredibly patient.
Love is gentle and consistentlykind to all.
Gentle and consistently kind toall.
Please be mindful of the factkindness is a way that we
exemplify or actually show love.
Kindness, in fact, it is inanother of Paul's letters that
(12:38):
he says be kind one to another,tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as Jesus, theChrist, forgave you.
So this idea of kindness beingsomething that love is marked by
.
Sometimes, again, we've grown upwith people who've said that
love is one way, love is another, and so we go back to the text
(13:01):
that tells us love is kind.
Firstly, we need to be remindedthat we are to be kind to
ourselves, and sometimes we arethe people who need the most
kindness from ourselves, that weoften stand in judgment in
places, and what we're beinginvited to is to follow the way
of spirit into compassionatewitness.
(13:21):
What about being a non-anxiouspresence for someone, just being
at peace within yourself whilethe people around you work out
their troubles?
But this is the invitation tobe consistently kind to all, not
just those who are kind to us,not just those who are kind and
think like us, but kind to all.
(13:43):
This is what love looks like.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
You know, and love is patient in that way that you
know, with this kindness and youallow patience, you'll begin to
see change.
And patience would infer thatthere's going to be time between
your first act of kindness andseeing some things changing.
And just, I had somethinghappen just a couple of days ago
(14:05):
where Heather, kind of, wasstacking the dishes, inferring
that she was going to do them,and I thought, well, I'll do the
dishes with you.
And all of a sudden I realizedI just got duped somehow,
because the dishes were all doneand I was drying them and she
was never to be found, like shescuttled off, and I was like,
hey, I wanted to do these withyou.
(14:27):
You know, my act of love wasgoing to be an act of at least
watching.
You do something too, you know.
And so, and I'm thinking I wantto say something, and then,
just as quickly, you know, theLord's like you better be
patient, you better, you betternot say.
And so I didn't say anything.
But I was a little inside like,well, you know what's the deal,
you kind of feel like I'm beingtaken advantage of here, what's
(14:50):
what's going on?
And so I went into the room,right just kitchen, right to my
bedroom and I go around thecorner and my credenza is
stacked, my laundry I don't knowhow it got there, church but
all my underwears, my shirts, mydress shirt, my pants even were
(15:11):
all laying there and I'm like,oh god, thank you that I did not
say anything about the coupledishes.
I did.
But I think that for us, oftentimes we're so quick to be the
referee for our treatment thatwe forget to know that God is
(15:31):
going to take care of you andyou're not going to get the
short end of any stick.
I don't know what that means,but I said it since I was a kid
and I'm going to keep on sayingit.
But I guess you don't want itthe short end of the stick.
I know you don't want thecrappy end of the stick.
I do know that for sure.
But we're always worried aboutus and what we would get.
(15:53):
And I'm telling you, if we canbe patient, watch God turn this
thing around, come on church.
Somebody say amen.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And for us, the invitation is to remember that
love is not just for us, butlove is what changes the world.
Love is the ultimate goal, loveis the hope, and so if we can
be people who practice love, whopractice incredible patience,
who understand that love islarge and that love is
constantly expanding, or itshould be, and refuses to be
(16:22):
jealous when blessing comes tosomeone else.
Love does not brag about one'sachievements nor inflate its own
importance.
Love does not traffic in shameor disrespect, nor selfishly
seek its own honor.
Love is not easily irritated orquick to take an offense.
Be mindful very often, when youfeel offended, it is your ego
(16:47):
that feels offended.
It is not your soul that knowsthat it is beloved and in the
presence of divine love.
It is some kind of pretense orsome kind of part that we play.
It is a false self, and so bemindful of those type of things.
Love joyfully celebrateshonesty and finds no delight in
(17:11):
what is wrong.
Celebrating honesty,celebrating truthfulness,
celebrating goodness.
Love enjoys them, savors them.
Love is a safe place of shelter.
Savors them, love is a safeplace of shelter.
Be mindful of the fact that oneof the ways that people most
experience love from you isthrough your safety, and to be
(17:35):
safe for someone means we needto be able to know that you are
going to regulate yourself, thatyou are going to take care of
you, that I won't also have totake care of you and so I won't
also have to take care of you.
And so this emotional maturitythat Paul is calling us all to
is saying that we need torecognize for ourselves, we need
to be trained.
Maybe no one showed you thetechniques and how to regulate
(17:57):
your own breathing or to bringyour thoughts back into some
kind of order, as opposed tothoughts that swirl or stories
that you tell yourself aboutwhat someone else thinks.
We were laughing the other daybecause we were watching a
little video and a woman said Iknow what everyone thinks and
it's a special power.
She just came right out and shesaid I know what everyone
thinks and so she had us hooked.
(18:18):
It was clickbait.
I'm like how do you know?
And she said I tell myself astory about what they're
thinking, and then I believe it.
And this is what we all do.
We tell ourselves stories aboutwhat someone is doing and then
we believe that instead ofoffering and saying can you
explain to me what this is orhow you're feeling about this,
(18:39):
and this is so beloved,important for us.
This is what brings unity whenwe stay in love's vein.
Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops the
believing the best for others.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Love never takes failure as defeat and it never
gives up you don't want to talkabout that, that part and that
element of being a safe placefor somebody, because I don't
think that anyone probably everlike, right off the bat,
consider yourself not being asafe place, you know.
So I'd ask you to maybe asksome questions.
(19:12):
Like you know, um, are you thekind of person that when
information is shared with youyou're a vault, you know, or are
you kind of free with your info?
If you're free with your info,then anyone else around you
would deduce they might be freewith my info and I don't want my
info out there to the world.
And so safety becomes like howyou handle intimate information
(19:37):
and things like that.
And also, too, a safe place isif I tell you, dad, that I
wrecked the car, are you goingto go ballistic?
Why do you think sometimes ourchildren hide things from us?
Are they just little sneakyones, or are they literally
(19:59):
afraid because you're not a safeplace to be around?
You know, I met and had someonein counseling that had terrible
abuse happen to her as a smallgirl and she had to decide as
this little girl, that her dadhad all kinds of guns and stuff
(20:21):
and she knew that if she wenthome and told her dad what this
neighbor man did to her, thatshe'd be visiting her dad in
prison for the rest of his life,because he always went around
saying anyone ever hurt my kids,I'll shoot, I'll kill any, you
know.
And he got all these guns andhe's cleaning his guns and stuff
.
And now that little girl, shehad to protect her father.
(20:46):
Now that story may seem far off, but why I tell it is because I
need to look inside and I thinkeach one of us need to look at
how we communicate and thethings that we think oh, just
that's what you know could becreating a scenario where
everyone around you really isnot safe.
(21:07):
And how terrible is it that thatchild had to bear that up into
adulthood, because not only ofthe abuse that happened to her,
but what she knew her fatherwould do because of that unsafe.
As a father, don't you want tojust be there?
And it's not about me, but wemake things about us so much in
(21:31):
relationships that it's not safeanymore, you know, and that
applies to us in a lot ofdifferent areas.
So if we can open up our heart,as much as we want to hear the
good news of the gospel.
This is good news.
God, help us see these thingsthat are painful.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And love is good news for us because it also tells us
how we belong in community,every one of us belonging to the
family of God, and so, in orderto be safe for the other
members of the family, wesometimes need to keep our
opinions to ourselves.
And here's the truth of it Allof us are in a place of learning
, all humanity is learning, andJesus has given us the most
(22:07):
excellent of teachers, the HolySpirit.
And the Holy Spirit is sofaithful in us, and so, very
often, we need to trust thatlove and the Holy Spirit are
fully able to accomplish whatneeds to be taught or what needs
to be imparted.
And I will tell you, assomething that I'm sure you've
experienced we learn a lot, notnecessarily by people's words,
(22:31):
but by their behaviors, by whatwe're shown, and so love is a
safe place of shelter.
It never stops believing thebest for others, never takes
failure as defeat, and it nevergives up.
Love never stops loving.
It extends way beyond the giftof prophecy, which eventually
fades away.
It is more enduring thantongues which will one day fall
(22:52):
silent.
Love remains long after wordsof knowledge are forgotten.
Our present knowledge and ourprophecies are partial, but when
love's perfection arrives, thepartial will fade away.
And when I was a child, I spokeabout childish matters, for I
saw things like a child andreasoned them like a child.
(23:16):
But the day came when I maturedand I set aside my childish
ways.
This invitation is totransformation.
That is what love's invitationis for us over and over again
that we would allow ourselves tobe transformed.
And in our transformation itrequires us to change the way
(23:38):
that we think, to change the waythat we reason, to change the
way that we believe things.
That matters.
Very often what we do is age andnot mature.
And the invitation of theChristian life is maturity, not
just aging, although aging is ablessing.
There is a little bit of thingswith aging that I wasn't
(24:00):
prepared for.
But you know, we're learning,we're just learning.
It's not all glorious gray hairand beautiful wrinkles.
There's some things other thatcome with aging and you're like,
oh, I didn't know that washappening, but it is.
And you accept reality.
We don't argue with reality andwe say where can I allow my
thoughts to be matured?
Where can I allow the way thatI think and the way that I
(24:23):
reason?
And that's why we need eachother, because if we stay in our
own little thoughts, in our ownlittle corners.
We don't have the gift ofcommunity that says you got to
grow up, brother, sister.
We have to do thingsdifferently because love has
made a table for us.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know I love what you're saying because I think to
myself about.
You know how thattransformation is.
Naturally we're going to resistit, but you know the blame and
excuses.
You know well, you know I wouldtransform, but you know that
stuff you do it really makes itimpossible for me, and so what
(25:03):
we want to do is find somereason, some exterior reason why
and and I got to tell you thatthere's there's not an obstacle
that God can't bring you through.
So if we would just stop actinglike children about this, you
know, my kids sometimes willtell me reasons why they can't
(25:29):
do the chores around the house,and they seem to really believe
in these reasons.
They seem so.
I mean, they're in the middleof a game and you know, if I
could sit down with game makers,as a 56 year old father I would
say why have you removed thepause button?
(25:51):
When I was a kid we had videogames, but when our mothers
paused it, when our motherscalled us, we paused it and we
came back and it burnt a hole inthe screen.
Mario was burnt, but we cameback.
Now my kids say I got to keepplaying.
I can't stop Because there'speople in another country
(26:13):
counting on me.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, let's talk about that for a minute, because
not just with children.
Sometimes it's when somebodysays to you you're being loud
and you're scaring me, or theenergy that you have is big and
I don't need that kind of energyright now.
Let's lower our voice and we'relike but I can't pause.
I'm already enraged.
I can't stop now.
I've already started the verbalvomit.
You can, beloved.
(26:37):
Pausing is everyone's choice andwe can put a pin in things, and
we can, because we also havethe Holy Spirit in us that gives
us the ability to be able tostop what we're doing when we
recognize harm in someone else.
But it is a choice.
It absolutely is a choice tosay I choose to care for the
person that is in front of memore than I care for whatever it
(26:59):
is that I have worked up in myfeelings.
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
(27:19):
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
And that is the excuse that we can roll on.
You know, that's what I'vealways said.
You know, my kids got theirexcuses, I've got my excuses.
Or I can decide that I want togrow and there's going to be,
obviously, all kinds ofobstacles that are going to be
between you and your goals, butthey're no longer the things
(27:52):
that stop you, they're thethings, the exercises, that
strengthen you to victory.
So either we're going tocontinue to make excuses why we
can't change, or we're going tosurrender under the knife, as it
were, to the great physician tocarve out of me the things that
(28:12):
are unhealthy, the things thatare not edifying to my family
and to and I want those thingsgone, as much as the selfish
part of me, my ego, might wantto.
I want that transformation thatyou promise in scripture more,
and so we surrender to that.
And so either you willcontinually allow those excuses
(28:38):
to keep you safe and comfortablein your misery and in your
undone condition, or we canventure out into that place of
transformation, that very scarynew place where healing is.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
And the invitation is for us to look at ourselves and
our behaviors and ask ourselveswho told me this?
Who told me it was okay tobehave like this?
Who told me it was okay tospeak like this?
Who told me it was okay for meto engage the world like this?
I mean, this is the very firstquestion that God asks humanity
(29:15):
in the Genesis story.
Who told you this?
And the invitation is for us toallow love to mature us.
It's one of the reasons whybeing a part of a church family
or being a part of a communityof people matters, because what
happens in a church family isyou didn't get to pick the whole
team.
You maybe picked a few of yourfriends and you brought them
(29:37):
with you, and that's good, butyou didn't get to pick the whole
team, the whole family.
God gets to put them togetherand God has this beautiful way
of putting us with people thatdon't behave like us, don't act
like us, don't love like us, andwe have all these us and me and
my, and then, when we do that,we recognize that's childish.
(29:57):
If you are the subject of allof your thoughts, that's
childish, because one of thefirst things that we would tell
you that small people learn ismine, and I want to know what is
going to happen to mine.
See, everybody knew that.
You've seen that.
You've seen small children,even if you can't remember being
one.
And mine was a very importantword.
And when we watch the news, doyou know what I hear?
(30:17):
Mine, everything is about mine.
I'm like, as community, as thewhole world, we need to evolve
past mine and go.
This is our father's world.
I don't know what happened toyou in your house, but when I
was growing up, there were somethings that we just didn't do
because it was our mother'shouse and we knew it.
You know, we just didn't behave, we just didn't go tearing up,
(30:39):
we just didn't go turning thingsover.
And I'm looking around atpeople tearing up the earth and
I'm like this is our father'sworld.
We perhaps shouldn't be tearingup all the trees, perhaps we
shouldn't be leaving our garbageon the floor, and so this idea
of allowing ourselves to evolveinto the fact that it is ours,
not mine, and it is thisinvitation to true family living
(31:01):
, to belonging, but it's aninvitation to allowing our
thoughts to be transformed, butthe only way you are gonna
allowing our thoughts to betransformed.
But the only way you are goingto allow your thoughts to be
transformed is if you realizethey're childish.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Is if you realize this doesn't serve me anymore,
this is hurting the peoplearound me and this is hurting me
.
This is not good for the world.
And so to be able to say Ichoose to allow a bigger thought
, and this is what Jesus offeredus when he said I offer you a
life of repentance changing theway you think about something,
changing the way that you engagewith the world, and even engage
(31:34):
with your own inner world, toallow love to be the way that we
engage our thoughts.
When the day came that Imatured, I set aside childish
ways.
No one is going to pullchildish ways away from you.
You have to surrender them.
You set aside that way ofliving and learn the way of the
(31:56):
Christ.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I don't know if you realize this, but as God is
bringing me to healing incertain areas of my life, god is
bringing me to healing incertain areas of my life I
realize that the struggles Ihave are because, like a
six-year-old, eight-year-olddentist, experienced something
and made a decision about that,and then that was locked away in
(32:21):
a vault.
And now, even though I'm 56years old, I still respond to
those ways and those thingsbased on what the six-year-old
or eight-year-old did.
And that's and it's a verycommon that people do that.
And I mean, in so many areasand in areas of you know, mostly
(32:41):
you know self-esteem and andand how you relate to other
people, it's really based ontrying to build your self-image
and your ego.
And when you look at that andrealize that a lot of the things
(33:02):
that I did, then I could be madand resentful about that little
kid.
But that little six-year-old,eight-year-old kid was doing the
best he could.
And so I really want to lookback on that little
eight-year-old kid six-year-oldkid with mercy and grace.
You know, young Dennis, youwere trying the best you can and
I wonder if you could say thatabout yourself.
But you know what I got it fromhere.
(33:26):
I'm the, I'm the 56 year oldguy who's going to make a
different assessment about lifenow and if you can allow
yourself to realize, wow, I'mdoing that in a lot of areas and
, instead of just beingresentful and hateful, faithful
towards that.
You know there were times whereI should have, you know, got
(33:51):
defended.
I remember one time I waswalking down the college walkway
at McMurray College and I saw asubstitute teacher.
That was my substitute teacherthe year before and I'm a sixth
grade person.
So so you know, whatever, nine,ten years old, and this guy, he
walked up to me and he pickedme up by my neck and he shook me
(34:14):
and then he pulled my hair andand and he was uh, he was
physically abusing a 10yearyear-old kid.
But I remember thinking whatdid I do to Mr, what's his name,
to make him hate me?
What kind of a person am I thatI was excited to see the guy
(34:36):
and he did what he did to me.
So I must be a really terribleperson.
So I made the decision as alittle kid, you know, I'm not
worth much, you know.
And now, as an adult, I lookback and go oh, that's just
plain old child abuse, you know,and so little Dennis didn't
(35:00):
know what was going on.
But now, as an adult, I carryin that idea I'm worthless, I'm
no, people must not like me, youknow, and that affects all my
relationships until I get tothat place where I can put away
those childish things.
And so let this, uh, uh,reminds you of some of these
(35:22):
things and then, for the love ofgod, have some love for you and
for the younger you.
That didn't know any betterwhen you made mistakes, when you
made the decisions and theassessments that you made.
But but I'm here to tell youyou do not have to stay in that
place, that that, that thosedecisions have trapped many of
(35:46):
us, that there is a place, andit might be painful, but as we
mature and grow, god brings usout of those things, doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (35:56):
For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and
mysteries, as though reflectedin a mirror.
But one day we will see.
Face to face.
My understanding is incompletenow.
Hang out there for a minutewith me because for most of us
we feel like our understandingis pretty complete.
I know what happened and Ipretty much understand this, and
(36:18):
we go flying into relationshipsand into situations because
we're sure we see clearly.
Have you ever been in asituation where you're driving a
car and all of a sudden, youdon't see so well, I don't know
if it's a rain or whatever.
You just slow way down.
In fact, you think I might evenneed to stop and I wonder how
very often we just need to bereminded we don't see everything
(36:40):
, we don't know everyone's wholestory, we don't know exactly as
it is, and so we should slowdown in our responses, in our
ideas that we see clearly, evenhow we believe, that we see
about God and our relationshipwith God, that God is saying
there'll be a day when we allunderstand, but right now you
only see through riddles andmysteries and metaphors, and so
(37:03):
go slowly, go humbly, go gently,and this invitation is my
understanding is incomplete now,but one day I will understand
everything, just as everythingabout me has been fully
understood.
Until then, there are threethings that remain faith, hope
(37:25):
and love.
Things that remain faith, hopeand love.
Yet love surpasses them all.
So, above all else, let love bethe beautiful prize for which
you run.
This year, we've all celebratedthe olympics and we've seen
what people have done to goafter the prize and the
dedication in their life, thetraining in their life, all the
(37:50):
things that they gave up with sothat they could run and get the
medal.
And Paul is reminding us letlove be the thing that you go
after.
Let love be the prize for you,and go after it because it's
worthy.
Make yourself a person who saysI am going to learn how to love
myself and love my neighbor andlove my community and love my
(38:12):
enemies.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
This is what Jesus has offered us how to love and
how to love well you know, and,and I think that oftentimes
we're yes but, or okay but, andyou know, and we're trying to
add things to uh, this, uh, and,and I'm, I'm just so grateful
(38:36):
that when god offers this lifeof love, it's not you have to
have a master's degree to figureit out, or you got to have been
a certain you know, iq or orpeople group or whatever, but
that the message is is simple,but sometimes I think for people
(38:58):
it's too simple, uh, and wejust want something else, and it
is the offer that you wouldlive life, a life of love, and
that is different than the world, it's different than the way
that they love.
You know the ideas that we'representing here.
(39:18):
You can kind of see how they goagainst how we naturally want
to act, and so you do understandthat that's what God is asking
Live differently.
And I'm telling you, when youlive in God, you've been invited
up higher.
There is a higher plane that wedon't have to stay grumbling
(39:42):
and complaining and miserableand unhappy, grumbling and
complaining and miserable andunhappy.
That if you will just love andyou will just decide that's what
we're doing, okay, I'm on board, god is, and, and because it's,
it's a work.
It's going to take the rest ofour lives to figure out how to
do that.
But in doing that, watch thetransformation that comes.
(40:07):
The old things that fall asideand the uh, the, the new, fresh,
different ways of thinking come, uh, flooding through our minds
.
You know, I've I've noticed thatthere are times where I can
hear people grumbling andcomplaining about something and
(40:31):
it's almost like I'm not fullyhearing it and part of me wants
to turn and tune in.
What are you guys talking about?
But then there's somethinginside of me that goes no,
that's going to be some gossipor some backbiting and it's
going to stir something in meand it's going to bring me just
(40:55):
look at it like it'll bring youdown to that level, that demonic
realm you know that miry placescripture talks about.
Or we can come up higher.
Now I can be in the same room.
I don't have to leave myconnection with those people.
I just don't have to allowmyself to do that.
And I'm telling you it is adifferent life that we get in
(41:20):
Christ Jesus.
The offer is so beautiful whywe miss it and why we hunt for
something else.
That's gonna fit inside thisgod-shaped hole and we're gonna
try to find something elsethat's gonna make us happy when
he's offering something sobeautiful for our community, for
our marriages, for ourfriendships and relationships
(41:42):
that so exceeds anything thatthis world has to offer.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Until then, there are three things that remain Faith,
hope and love.
And love surpasses them all.
Beloved, you know this.
I know this.
Love actually does.
Love has effort behind it, lovehas evidence behind it.
Love is not just something wesay in a platitude, but it is
for us an energy, it is for us aas evidenced by our love for
(42:08):
neighbor, as evidenced by wecall ourselves followers of
Jesus, and one of the thingsthat God all throughout ancient
scripture, ancient text, hastold us is that God cares about
the poor and that ourresponsibility in following God
should be that we care about thepoor.
And as has been a part of whowe are as a church, ever since
(42:30):
the very first November that wewere together is we have done
food outreaches.
We said this is what our loveis going to look like.
We're going to make sure that,as much as it is possible with
us, for whatever people we haveresources for, we are going to
take care of those who arehungry, and this is what it
looks like to follow Jesus.
In fact, this Wednesday, if youwant to come out and help,
(42:51):
pastor Dennis and a group ofpeople are going to go out and
hand out groceries.
It is the middle of the day andso that might not be the time
for you to be out in the sun andin the heat, but I want to
remind you that what they do, wedo that.
All of us are a part of it.
We do that through ourgenerosity, we do that through
our prayers, through ourblessings.
We do that through thecommunity.
We do that, and and we've doneit in such a way that that we
(43:14):
know the names and the peopleand the stories of the people
that we're helping for and andhelping, and they become our
neighbors.
They become people whosestories we carry and whose love
we are being influenced by.
But love does incredible things.
I remind you of this from theGospel of Matthew.
Jesus said watch out, don't doyour good deeds publicly to be
(43:36):
admired by others, for you willlose the reward from your Father
in heaven.
When you give to someone inneed, don't do it as the
hypocrites do, blowing trumpetsin the synagogues and street to
call attention to their acts ofcharity.
I tell you the truth they'vereceived all the reward they
will ever get.
But when you give to someone inneed, don't let your left hand
(43:57):
know what your right hand isdoing.
Give your gifts in private andyour father, who sees everything
, will reward you this idea thatwe are giving.
I had a policy with my childrenand this is just how our
particular family ran.
But we don't typically buy atoy for someone who is small.
The first time we see it, wehave to go home and we have to
(44:19):
think about it and we also haveto look and see if there's
that's definitely something wewant.
But at one particular time Ihad said to my David, who was
very little, we can go and wecan get this toy.
And he was very excited and weand we had rules like you had to
touch the cart at all timeswhile your mom is shopping and
you had to stay there and youhad to wait.
And we got to the, to the aislewhere he is going to pick out
(44:42):
his toy, because I told him thatthis would be the day that we'd
get it.
And there was a kid there thatyou have seen when you were
shopping, and the kid isballistic, had a complete
meltdown.
I don't know what happened.
Maybe that child needed a nap,maybe they needed some snacks,
maybe this wasn't the time, Idon't know.
It was a meltdown and it wasn'tmine and I was grateful, but I
(45:02):
but I had little David and hetalked a lot.
So he went over to the kid whowas literally screaming on the
floor and he goes dude, ask yourmom nicely and she'll get it
for you.
Now he and I already had anarrangement.
He had full confidence that hedid not have to behave like that
to get what he wanted.
(45:22):
But often we don't have or wedon't know about the arrangement
that we have with our heavenlyfather.
God said I will give youeverything you need.
There's nothing that you willneed that you will lack.
God will give it to you, and soyou don't have to throw a big
fit, you don't have to clutchthings to yourself.
You don't have to do thosethings because you already have
the agreement.
Your father will take care ofyour day-to-day needs, and there
(45:45):
is a gift in knowing that.
And this is how love behaves.
Dude, ask your mother nicely,like, do it in such a way that
and I believe this is a call forall of us when we see someone
misbehaving like that, not inany way a punishment for them.
Perhaps a snack may have been,maybe he could have shared a
juice box, I don't know, but theidea that what we don't know is
(46:08):
how to love.
In fact, john from the apostlesaid this those who know God
know and understand love.
And sometimes if someone is notacting in love it's because
they don't know God.
And so our invitation is toshow them God, to witness these
things about God that love does.
But love is generous all thetime.
(46:29):
It is an action word, it is nota noun.
It is something that requiresfrom us service, self-sacrifice.
It allows us to be people whounderstand the promise of
resurrection, new life, newworld, this idea that our holy
imagination can be ignited so wecan be people.
(46:50):
What would it look like if wewere people who knew how to live
without war, how to livewithout people around us who are
hungry and doing with less?
And the invitation is yourkingdom come, your will be done
on earth the same way it is inheaven.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
We want to remind you that this August 28th, that's
this Wednesday, we'll have anoutreach at 11 o'clock at
Harvey's, and so if you want tomeet us over there at 11, we'll
have the perishables andnon-perishables.
We have frozen meat we're ableto give away, and some fresh
(47:32):
bread and some canned foods andthings, and so it is a procedure
to deliver it so we could useyour assistance.
But if you can't make it, I'dask that you'd reserve that time
to pray for us wherever you are, because it usually takes about
20 or 30 minutes, but in thattime we pray for so many people,
for so many things, and one ofthe things I'm impressed with
(47:56):
the most about going month aftermonth to Harvey's is just how
many times people will say to us, when we give them a hug, they
hadn't had a hug since we werethere last month.
And so I think one of the thingsthat we all can take for
granted, besides having all thefood that we have need of, is
(48:17):
that don't take for granted theembrace of those people that are
around you, that love you, andthat's one of the things that we
want to offer as community.
We want to offer you, uh, thathug and we want to go out and we
want to offer it to those folksthat are so grateful for it.
So if you can help us with that, that is this wednesday, the
(48:37):
28th, at 11 am at harvey's.
If you don't know where that is, I can get you directions, but
we'd love to have you come out.
But even if you're not there,would you pray for us?
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Again from 1 Timothy, chapter 6, teach those that are
rich in this world not to beproud and not to trust in their
money, which is so unreliable.
Their trust should be in God,who richly, gives us all we need
for our enjoyment.
Tell them to use their money todo good.
They should be rich in goodworks and generous to those in
need, always being ready toshare with others, and by doing
(49:11):
this they will be storing uptheir treasure as a good
foundation for a future, so theymight experience true life.
This is true life beloved,loving each other in ways that
practice our generosity, in waysthat say I will pay attention
and look out for you.
(49:31):
I will use whatever privilege Ihave to make sure that we as a
collective, as a body, asbeloved, as family, can come to
the house of the Lord and saythis is what we will learn
together how to love each otherbetter, how to hear the voice of
grace.
One of the practices that thechurch has given us is holy
(49:53):
communion, and I'm so gratefulfor the fact that we get to
perform these rituals, and innot just a ritual, in the fact
that there is somethingsupernatural and there is for us
an entrance into a holy mystery, that we remind ourselves that
the bread and the wine thatJesus offered to us is still
(50:16):
being offered to us.
The love and companionship ofChrist is still being offered to
us.
The mercy and forgiveness thatChrist gave us is still being
offered to us.
The mercy and forgiveness thatChrist gave us is still being
offered to us and together, aswe hear these words, we remind
ourselves.
In fact, even in the performingof this, it is an embodied
(50:38):
experience.
We hear our neighbors, we hearwhat is happening, we see with
our eyes.
We hear what is happening, wesee with our eyes, but we also
taste and we bring our wholebodies to this place of saying
what I need, I receive from you.
Love provides for me and evenwhen the stories that we tell
ourselves are different, we cometo the table of the Lord and we
(51:05):
are reminded that we have agood Father who has heaped up
for us abundance, has heaped upfor us good and beautiful things
, and invites us all of us tocome to the table of the Lord.
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.
In the past few weeks, we havebeen reading from John's Gospel,
where he gives us what is knownby people who have studied the
word the bread of life discourse.
(00:21):
Where Jesus says to us I am thebread of life.
I don't know what cuisine youlike, what ethnicity cuisine you
feel most attracted to, but Ijust want to tell you, no matter
what cuisine you don't like,you could still like their bread
.
It's true.
I mean, you can say I don'tappreciate this, but their bread
, everyone can eat the bread.
And I think that that is whereJesus says to us I am the bread
(00:45):
of life, I am the living word, Iam what you need to nourish
yourself.
And so, as we gather thismorning, I remind you of this
really sacred trust that isgiven to us, that love is what
sustains us and what we dotogether as a Christian church
is we've come to dedicate ourlife to learn about love and to
(01:07):
practice the love that Jesusshows us how to do.
In fact, it was Jesus who saidof his followers you're going to
be known by your love, and Ithink that that's really
important that we spend sometime thinking about that this
morning.
The invitation is to us to whatthe Apostle Paul said, that a
really true mark of maturity islove.
(01:29):
And if love is the goal and iflove is the standard, then we
need to be mindful about it,because in our culture we throw
the word love around verycarelessly.
I think that we use loveinstead of better words.
We say things like I love pizzaand I love my dog and I love
this color and I love, and sothe word sometimes loses
(01:52):
something, and so it may bebetter for us to say I prefer
this, I enjoy the taste of, butlove is essential, and when we
think about this, the invitationis is for us what is the
obligation of love?
If I am to love my neighbor, ifI am to love my enemy, if I am
to love myself, then what arethe obligations of love?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
you got.
Uh, you jumped two points.
I want to go back one point onthe bread, because I love bread
and, as a person who's alwaysstruggling with my weight, the
bread has seemed to be like theenemy.
It's like the devil.
You've got to stay away fromthe bread.
But I don't know if you're likeme and you've tried real hard,
(02:38):
but you can't stay away from thebread forever.
It calls to you.
You can smell it baking fromdown the street and I think
about this because if I do welland stay away from bread for a
few weeks, it's inevitable thatI get so hungry, I get angry.
(03:01):
You know that expression that'snew now Hangry.
You know what I'm talking about.
It's for people who,specifically, have been away
from bread too long.
They have become unmanaged,their life has become
unmanageable and if they don'tknow it, the people around them
do.
We can't be around you untilyou have some bread and I just
(03:23):
really.
Are you starting to maybe trackwith me where I'm going with
this?
There are some people that'slives have become unmanageable
because you have forgotten aboutthe bread of life.
Isn't that a good thought?
But it's true, right, when wekind of drift away and get into
our own thing.
We just we get these attitudes.
(03:44):
And so today we want to talkabout that love and what you
know, having that kind ofinteraction with love, with the
bread of life, what that does inus, through us, with the people
around us.
Amen.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Amen From 1 Corinthians 13,.
I want to encourage you withsomething this morning.
Very often this particularscripture has been read at
weddings you've been attendingand we kind of put it in the
category of this is romanticlove.
But I remind you, this waswritten to the ancient church in
Corinth.
This was written to a group, acommunity, to a bunch of people
(04:22):
who said we are going to try tobe family, and they were doing
it badly.
And so Paul said I want toremind you, let this be what
love is.
And so, before we give thisover to romance although I think
it's important to have in ourromantic relationships as well
but this is essential to ourday-to-day living.
And if you would hear the wordsof the apostle here from 1
(04:44):
Corinthians, if I were to speakwith the eloquence in earth's
many languages and in theheavenly tongues of angels and
yet I did not express myselfwith love, my words would be
reduced to the hollow sound ofnothing more than a clanging
cymbal.
Please don't miss the point herewhere he's saying that words
(05:08):
expressed with love, not justany words, not just some words,
but for all of us, that everyword that we have would be
expressed with love.
And sometimes that has tobecome a practice for us,
because we're used to expressingourselves with frustration, or
we're used to expressingourselves with frustration, or
we're used to expressingourselves with prejudice or with
opinion.
(05:28):
And the apostle is saying comeback to the fact that you need
to express yourself with love.
Your words sound like aclanging cymbal.
A clanging cymbal can get ourattention, but a clanging cymbal
outside of the orchestra justsounds like noise, and so the
invitation is to come into thetruth.
That is, love allows us tosound in a way that brings us to
(05:55):
the truth and brings us back toourselves.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
You know and this is a practice too, because no one
would expect one to be perfectat this type of communication
right away but I will tell youthis that if your heart is
willing to be transformed, godwill work with you in this area,
and what you can do is justlike when you say something,
(06:19):
maybe you meant it a certain way, or maybe you didn't even think
about what you were saying acertain way, or maybe you didn't
even think about what you weresaying.
But when the the hearerresponds like you just slammed a
symbol in their face, then youcan.
You can deduce maybe they didnot hear what I intended them to
hear, or maybe what I said wasnot right and needs some
(06:44):
adjusting.
Amen, so allow that way thatwhen people continually say to
you you're harsh, you're harshand you walk around going man, I
can't believe the sensitivepeople in my life, all these
people at work, at home.
It's weird.
No matter where I go, sensitivepeople everywhere or are you
extremely rude and aggressiveCould be the common denominator
(07:08):
here, you know.
So I would like for us to kindof allow God to.
I love that in this life we canbe trained as we go.
We don't have to master thesethings right away, but is your
heart willing to, to exchangeaggressive language for for
(07:29):
kindness and and just selfish uhcommunication for love, uh, are
we willing to go there and ifyou are, be careful what you
wish for?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
and if I were to have the gift of prophecy, with
profound understanding of God'shidden secrets, and if I
possessed unending supernaturalknowledge, and if I had the
greatest of faith that I couldmove mountains but have never
learned to love, then I amnothing.
I love how he stacks up all ofthe things here that people
(08:02):
would want.
I want supernatural knowledgeor I want to know that I have a
hidden secret.
And Paul is really reminding usthat love is the goal.
Beloved Love is the goal in theway that we speak, in the way
that we love, in the way that weinteract with people.
And he says if I've neverlearned to love, then I am
nothing.
(08:24):
And so the invitation is tolearn how to love, like we
watched Jesus love.
This is why we run the filterof how did Jesus behave when he
was fully human, when heaccepted all of his emotions as
worthy but then allowed himselfto be governed only by love?
But then allowed himself to begoverned only by love.
(08:46):
If I were to be so generous asto give away everything I owned
to feed the poor and to offer mybody to be burned as a martyr
without the pure motive of love,I would gain nothing of value.
And here we see again.
He's talking about people whoare generous, and this is a good
thing, and even, in someaspects, the idea of martyrdom,
(09:06):
the idea of giving your life forsomeone else.
This is a beautiful gesture,but without the motive of love,
it says that it is no value.
Love is large and incrediblypatient.
Love is gentle and consistentlykind to all.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know, I want to speak for a moment about this
idea of love and martyrdom,because many times people will
ask you throughout your life,you know, would you give your
life for the person that youlove?
You know, and of course sure Iwould.
The people that I love.
Of course I'd give my life,sure I would.
The people that I love, ofcourse I'd give them my life.
(09:46):
And the thing is, we're reallynever asked by God to die for
somebody, but it's the opposite,and it's really the harder
thing is to live for somebody.
So, in that idea when we think,oh yeah, I'd make that one final
decision and allow my head tobe chopped off, but what about
(10:08):
daily letting my selfishness bechopped off?
What about that daily decisionthat I'm going to put the needs
of another person above my own?
That that is how I want todemonstrate that I said that I
love you, is how I want todemonstrate that I said that I
(10:30):
love you and that thatcorresponding action is going to
be I would rather stay in bed,but I'm going to get up and help
.
I would rather uh, not uh, goto that place, but we're going
to go that place and this otherplace.
You know that there's this umlaying down of your life.
That's so beautiful and it's a,and it's a giving of your life.
That's so beautiful and it's agiving of your life versus just
having it snatched away and it'sa more proactive way.
(10:52):
And so, you know, maybe if wecan get out of that whole idea
of well, this once I would do,you know, because I think that's
it.
Well, you know, when Heatherand I got married, I said I love
you at the altar and ifanything changes I'll let you
know.
You know that's not going to gowell in my marriage.
You know, I need to dailycommunicate that I love you and
if my words don't match up withmy actions, something is wrong.
(11:19):
I say I love you, but yet Icontinually serve me.
I say I love you, but yet Icontinually serve me.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Uh-oh, now he's starting to meddle now, and what
is that?
Right, though?
For us, even in community, tolook at the world at large, what
we're being invited to isresurrection, is the death of
ego and the resurrection of thetrue and beautiful souls that we
are.
We are made in the image of God, and so, as you're talking
about this idea of laying downyour life, it is in no way to be
(11:53):
abused or to be taken advantageof, but it is this idea of
surrendering our egos andsurrendering our false selves
and being enlivened by theSpirit of Christ that allows us
to love with real zeal.
Love is large and incrediblypatient, incredibly patient.
(12:14):
Patient is enough, but love isincredibly patient.
Love is gentle and consistentlykind to all.
Gentle and consistently kind toall.
Please be mindful of the factkindness is a way that we
exemplify or actually show love.
Kindness, in fact, it is inanother of Paul's letters that
(12:38):
he says be kind one to another,tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as Jesus, theChrist, forgave you.
So this idea of kindness beingsomething that love is marked by
.
Sometimes, again, we've grown upwith people who've said that
love is one way, love is another, and so we go back to the text
(13:01):
that tells us love is kind.
Firstly, we need to be remindedthat we are to be kind to
ourselves, and sometimes we arethe people who need the most
kindness from ourselves, that weoften stand in judgment in
places, and what we're beinginvited to is to follow the way
of spirit into compassionatewitness.
(13:21):
What about being a non-anxiouspresence for someone, just being
at peace within yourself whilethe people around you work out
their troubles?
But this is the invitation tobe consistently kind to all, not
just those who are kind to us,not just those who are kind and
think like us, but kind to all.
(13:43):
This is what love looks like.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
You know, and love is patient in that way that you
know, with this kindness and youallow patience, you'll begin to
see change.
And patience would infer thatthere's going to be time between
your first act of kindness andseeing some things changing.
And just, I had somethinghappen just a couple of days ago
(14:05):
where Heather, kind of, wasstacking the dishes, inferring
that she was going to do them,and I thought, well, I'll do the
dishes with you.
And all of a sudden I realizedI just got duped somehow,
because the dishes were all doneand I was drying them and she
was never to be found, like shescuttled off, and I was like,
hey, I wanted to do these withyou.
(14:27):
You know, my act of love wasgoing to be an act of at least
watching.
You do something too, you know.
And so, and I'm thinking I wantto say something, and then,
just as quickly, you know, theLord's like you better be
patient, you better, you betternot say.
And so I didn't say anything.
But I was a little inside like,well, you know what's the deal,
you kind of feel like I'm beingtaken advantage of here, what's
(14:50):
what's going on?
And so I went into the room,right just kitchen, right to my
bedroom and I go around thecorner and my credenza is
stacked, my laundry I don't knowhow it got there, church but
all my underwears, my shirts, mydress shirt, my pants even were
(15:11):
all laying there and I'm like,oh god, thank you that I did not
say anything about the coupledishes.
I did.
But I think that for us, oftentimes we're so quick to be the
referee for our treatment thatwe forget to know that God is
(15:31):
going to take care of you andyou're not going to get the
short end of any stick.
I don't know what that means,but I said it since I was a kid
and I'm going to keep on sayingit.
But I guess you don't want itthe short end of the stick.
I know you don't want thecrappy end of the stick.
I do know that for sure.
But we're always worried aboutus and what we would get.
(15:53):
And I'm telling you, if we canbe patient, watch God turn this
thing around, come on church.
Somebody say amen.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
And for us, the invitation is to remember that
love is not just for us, butlove is what changes the world.
Love is the ultimate goal, loveis the hope, and so if we can
be people who practice love, whopractice incredible patience,
who understand that love islarge and that love is
constantly expanding, or itshould be, and refuses to be
(16:22):
jealous when blessing comes tosomeone else.
Love does not brag about one'sachievements nor inflate its own
importance.
Love does not traffic in shameor disrespect, nor selfishly
seek its own honor.
Love is not easily irritated orquick to take an offense.
Be mindful very often, when youfeel offended, it is your ego
(16:47):
that feels offended.
It is not your soul that knowsthat it is beloved and in the
presence of divine love.
It is some kind of pretense orsome kind of part that we play.
It is a false self, and so bemindful of those type of things.
Love joyfully celebrateshonesty and finds no delight in
(17:11):
what is wrong.
Celebrating honesty,celebrating truthfulness,
celebrating goodness.
Love enjoys them, savors them.
Love is a safe place of shelter.
Savors them, love is a safeplace of shelter.
Be mindful of the fact that oneof the ways that people most
experience love from you isthrough your safety, and to be
(17:35):
safe for someone means we needto be able to know that you are
going to regulate yourself, thatyou are going to take care of
you, that I won't also have totake care of you and so I won't
also have to take care of you.
And so this emotional maturitythat Paul is calling us all to
is saying that we need torecognize for ourselves, we need
to be trained.
Maybe no one showed you thetechniques and how to regulate
(17:57):
your own breathing or to bringyour thoughts back into some
kind of order, as opposed tothoughts that swirl or stories
that you tell yourself aboutwhat someone else thinks.
We were laughing the other daybecause we were watching a
little video and a woman said Iknow what everyone thinks and
it's a special power.
She just came right out and shesaid I know what everyone
thinks and so she had us hooked.
(18:18):
It was clickbait.
I'm like how do you know?
And she said I tell myself astory about what they're
thinking, and then I believe it.
And this is what we all do.
We tell ourselves stories aboutwhat someone is doing and then
we believe that instead ofoffering and saying can you
explain to me what this is orhow you're feeling about this,
(18:39):
and this is so beloved,important for us.
This is what brings unity whenwe stay in love's vein.
Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops the
believing the best for others.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
Love never takes failure as defeat and it never
gives up you don't want to talkabout that, that part and that
element of being a safe placefor somebody, because I don't
think that anyone probably everlike, right off the bat,
consider yourself not being asafe place, you know.
So I'd ask you to maybe asksome questions.
(19:12):
Like you know, um, are you thekind of person that when
information is shared with youyou're a vault, you know, or are
you kind of free with your info?
If you're free with your info,then anyone else around you
would deduce they might be freewith my info and I don't want my
info out there to the world.
And so safety becomes like howyou handle intimate information
(19:37):
and things like that.
And also, too, a safe place isif I tell you, dad, that I
wrecked the car, are you goingto go ballistic?
Why do you think sometimes ourchildren hide things from us?
Are they just little sneakyones, or are they literally
(19:59):
afraid because you're not a safeplace to be around?
You know, I met and had someonein counseling that had terrible
abuse happen to her as a smallgirl and she had to decide as
this little girl, that her dadhad all kinds of guns and stuff
(20:21):
and she knew that if she wenthome and told her dad what this
neighbor man did to her, thatshe'd be visiting her dad in
prison for the rest of his life,because he always went around
saying anyone ever hurt my kids,I'll shoot, I'll kill any, you
know.
And he got all these guns andhe's cleaning his guns and stuff
.
And now that little girl, shehad to protect her father.
(20:46):
Now that story may seem far off, but why I tell it is because I
need to look inside and I thinkeach one of us need to look at
how we communicate and thethings that we think oh, just
that's what you know could becreating a scenario where
everyone around you really isnot safe.
(21:07):
And how terrible is it that thatchild had to bear that up into
adulthood, because not only ofthe abuse that happened to her,
but what she knew her fatherwould do because of that unsafe.
As a father, don't you want tojust be there?
And it's not about me, but wemake things about us so much in
(21:31):
relationships that it's not safeanymore, you know, and that
applies to us in a lot ofdifferent areas.
So if we can open up our heart,as much as we want to hear the
good news of the gospel.
This is good news.
God, help us see these thingsthat are painful.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
And love is good news for us because it also tells us
how we belong in community,every one of us belonging to the
family of God, and so, in orderto be safe for the other
members of the family, wesometimes need to keep our
opinions to ourselves.
And here's the truth of it Allof us are in a place of learning
, all humanity is learning, andJesus has given us the most
(22:07):
excellent of teachers, the HolySpirit.
And the Holy Spirit is sofaithful in us, and so, very
often, we need to trust thatlove and the Holy Spirit are
fully able to accomplish whatneeds to be taught or what needs
to be imparted.
And I will tell you, assomething that I'm sure you've
experienced we learn a lot, notnecessarily by people's words,
(22:31):
but by their behaviors, by whatwe're shown, and so love is a
safe place of shelter.
It never stops believing thebest for others, never takes
failure as defeat, and it nevergives up.
Love never stops loving.
It extends way beyond the giftof prophecy, which eventually
fades away.
It is more enduring thantongues which will one day fall
(22:52):
silent.
Love remains long after wordsof knowledge are forgotten.
Our present knowledge and ourprophecies are partial, but when
love's perfection arrives, thepartial will fade away.
And when I was a child, I spokeabout childish matters, for I
saw things like a child andreasoned them like a child.
(23:16):
But the day came when I maturedand I set aside my childish
ways.
This invitation is totransformation.
That is what love's invitationis for us over and over again
that we would allow ourselves tobe transformed.
And in our transformation itrequires us to change the way
(23:38):
that we think, to change the waythat we reason, to change the
way that we believe things.
That matters.
Very often what we do is age andnot mature.
And the invitation of theChristian life is maturity, not
just aging, although aging is ablessing.
There is a little bit of thingswith aging that I wasn't
(24:00):
prepared for.
But you know, we're learning,we're just learning.
It's not all glorious gray hairand beautiful wrinkles.
There's some things other thatcome with aging and you're like,
oh, I didn't know that washappening, but it is.
And you accept reality.
We don't argue with reality andwe say where can I allow my
thoughts to be matured?
Where can I allow the way thatI think and the way that I
(24:23):
reason?
And that's why we need eachother, because if we stay in our
own little thoughts, in our ownlittle corners.
We don't have the gift ofcommunity that says you got to
grow up, brother, sister.
We have to do thingsdifferently because love has
made a table for us.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
You know I love what you're saying because I think to
myself about.
You know how thattransformation is.
Naturally we're going to resistit, but you know the blame and
excuses.
You know well, you know I wouldtransform, but you know that
stuff you do it really makes itimpossible for me, and so what
(25:03):
we want to do is find somereason, some exterior reason why
and and I got to tell you thatthere's there's not an obstacle
that God can't bring you through.
So if we would just stop actinglike children about this, you
know, my kids sometimes willtell me reasons why they can't
(25:29):
do the chores around the house,and they seem to really believe
in these reasons.
They seem so.
I mean, they're in the middleof a game and you know, if I
could sit down with game makers,as a 56 year old father I would
say why have you removed thepause button?
(25:51):
When I was a kid we had videogames, but when our mothers
paused it, when our motherscalled us, we paused it and we
came back and it burnt a hole inthe screen.
Mario was burnt, but we cameback.
Now my kids say I got to keepplaying.
I can't stop Because there'speople in another country
(26:13):
counting on me.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Well, let's talk about that for a minute, because
not just with children.
Sometimes it's when somebodysays to you you're being loud
and you're scaring me, or theenergy that you have is big and
I don't need that kind of energyright now.
Let's lower our voice and we'relike but I can't pause.
I'm already enraged.
I can't stop now.
I've already started the verbalvomit.
You can, beloved.
(26:37):
Pausing is everyone's choice andwe can put a pin in things, and
we can, because we also havethe Holy Spirit in us that gives
us the ability to be able tostop what we're doing when we
recognize harm in someone else.
But it is a choice.
It absolutely is a choice tosay I choose to care for the
person that is in front of memore than I care for whatever it
(26:59):
is that I have worked up in myfeelings.
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
(27:19):
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
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Speaker 2 (27:29):
And that is the excuse that we can roll on.
You know, that's what I'vealways said.
You know, my kids got theirexcuses, I've got my excuses.
Or I can decide that I want togrow and there's going to be,
obviously, all kinds ofobstacles that are going to be
between you and your goals, butthey're no longer the things
(27:52):
that stop you, they're thethings, the exercises, that
strengthen you to victory.
So either we're going tocontinue to make excuses why we
can't change, or we're going tosurrender under the knife, as it
were, to the great physician tocarve out of me the things that
(28:12):
are unhealthy, the things thatare not edifying to my family
and to and I want those thingsgone, as much as the selfish
part of me, my ego, might wantto.
I want that transformation thatyou promise in scripture more,
and so we surrender to that.
And so either you willcontinually allow those excuses
(28:38):
to keep you safe and comfortablein your misery and in your
undone condition, or we canventure out into that place of
transformation, that very scarynew place where healing is.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
And the invitation is for us to look at ourselves and
our behaviors and ask ourselveswho told me this?
Who told me it was okay tobehave like this?
Who told me it was okay tospeak like this?
Who told me it was okay for meto engage the world like this?
I mean, this is the very firstquestion that God asks humanity
(29:15):
in the Genesis story.
Who told you this?
And the invitation is for us toallow love to mature us.
It's one of the reasons whybeing a part of a church family
or being a part of a communityof people matters, because what
happens in a church family isyou didn't get to pick the whole
team.
You maybe picked a few of yourfriends and you brought them
(29:37):
with you, and that's good, butyou didn't get to pick the whole
team, the whole family.
God gets to put them togetherand God has this beautiful way
of putting us with people thatdon't behave like us, don't act
like us, don't love like us, andwe have all these us and me and
my, and then, when we do that,we recognize that's childish.
(29:57):
If you are the subject of allof your thoughts, that's
childish, because one of thefirst things that we would tell
you that small people learn ismine, and I want to know what is
going to happen to mine.
See, everybody knew that.
You've seen that.
You've seen small children,even if you can't remember being
one.
And mine was a very importantword.
And when we watch the news, doyou know what I hear?
(30:17):
Mine, everything is about mine.
I'm like, as community, as thewhole world, we need to evolve
past mine and go.
This is our father's world.
I don't know what happened toyou in your house, but when I
was growing up, there were somethings that we just didn't do
because it was our mother'shouse and we knew it.
You know, we just didn't behave, we just didn't go tearing up,
(30:39):
we just didn't go turning thingsover.
And I'm looking around atpeople tearing up the earth and
I'm like this is our father'sworld.
We perhaps shouldn't be tearingup all the trees, perhaps we
shouldn't be leaving our garbageon the floor, and so this idea
of allowing ourselves to evolveinto the fact that it is ours,
not mine, and it is thisinvitation to true family living
(31:01):
, to belonging, but it's aninvitation to allowing our
thoughts to be transformed, butthe only way you are gonna
allowing our thoughts to betransformed.
But the only way you are goingto allow your thoughts to be
transformed is if you realizethey're childish.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Is if you realize this doesn't serve me anymore,
this is hurting the peoplearound me and this is hurting me
.
This is not good for the world.
And so to be able to say Ichoose to allow a bigger thought
, and this is what Jesus offeredus when he said I offer you a
life of repentance changing theway you think about something,
changing the way that you engagewith the world, and even engage
(31:34):
with your own inner world, toallow love to be the way that we
engage our thoughts.
When the day came that Imatured, I set aside childish
ways.
No one is going to pullchildish ways away from you.
You have to surrender them.
You set aside that way ofliving and learn the way of the
(31:56):
Christ.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
I don't know if you realize this, but as God is
bringing me to healing incertain areas of my life, god is
bringing me to healing incertain areas of my life I
realize that the struggles Ihave are because, like a
six-year-old, eight-year-olddentist, experienced something
and made a decision about that,and then that was locked away in
(32:21):
a vault.
And now, even though I'm 56years old, I still respond to
those ways and those thingsbased on what the six-year-old
or eight-year-old did.
And that's and it's a verycommon that people do that.
And I mean, in so many areasand in areas of you know, mostly
(32:41):
you know self-esteem and andand how you relate to other
people, it's really based ontrying to build your self-image
and your ego.
And when you look at that andrealize that a lot of the things
(33:02):
that I did, then I could be madand resentful about that little
kid.
But that little six-year-old,eight-year-old kid was doing the
best he could.
And so I really want to lookback on that little
eight-year-old kid six-year-oldkid with mercy and grace.
You know, young Dennis, youwere trying the best you can and
I wonder if you could say thatabout yourself.
But you know what I got it fromhere.
(33:26):
I'm the, I'm the 56 year oldguy who's going to make a
different assessment about lifenow and if you can allow
yourself to realize, wow, I'mdoing that in a lot of areas and
, instead of just beingresentful and hateful, faithful
towards that.
You know there were times whereI should have, you know, got
(33:51):
defended.
I remember one time I waswalking down the college walkway
at McMurray College and I saw asubstitute teacher.
That was my substitute teacherthe year before and I'm a sixth
grade person.
So so you know, whatever, nine,ten years old, and this guy, he
walked up to me and he pickedme up by my neck and he shook me
(34:14):
and then he pulled my hair andand and he was uh, he was
physically abusing a 10yearyear-old kid.
But I remember thinking whatdid I do to Mr, what's his name,
to make him hate me?
What kind of a person am I thatI was excited to see the guy
(34:36):
and he did what he did to me.
So I must be a really terribleperson.
So I made the decision as alittle kid, you know, I'm not
worth much, you know.
And now, as an adult, I lookback and go oh, that's just
plain old child abuse, you know,and so little Dennis didn't
(35:00):
know what was going on.
But now, as an adult, I carryin that idea I'm worthless, I'm
no, people must not like me, youknow, and that affects all my
relationships until I get tothat place where I can put away
those childish things.
And so let this, uh, uh,reminds you of some of these
(35:22):
things and then, for the love ofgod, have some love for you and
for the younger you.
That didn't know any betterwhen you made mistakes, when you
made the decisions and theassessments that you made.
But but I'm here to tell youyou do not have to stay in that
place, that that, that thosedecisions have trapped many of
(35:46):
us, that there is a place, andit might be painful, but as we
mature and grow, god brings usout of those things, doesn't he?
Speaker 1 (35:56):
For now we see but a faint reflection of riddles and
mysteries, as though reflectedin a mirror.
But one day we will see.
Face to face.
My understanding is incompletenow.
Hang out there for a minutewith me because for most of us
we feel like our understandingis pretty complete.
I know what happened and Ipretty much understand this, and
(36:18):
we go flying into relationshipsand into situations because
we're sure we see clearly.
Have you ever been in asituation where you're driving a
car and all of a sudden, youdon't see so well, I don't know
if it's a rain or whatever.
You just slow way down.
In fact, you think I might evenneed to stop and I wonder how
very often we just need to bereminded we don't see everything
(36:40):
, we don't know everyone's wholestory, we don't know exactly as
it is, and so we should slowdown in our responses, in our
ideas that we see clearly, evenhow we believe, that we see
about God and our relationshipwith God, that God is saying
there'll be a day when we allunderstand, but right now you
only see through riddles andmysteries and metaphors, and so
(37:03):
go slowly, go humbly, go gently,and this invitation is my
understanding is incomplete now,but one day I will understand
everything, just as everythingabout me has been fully
understood.
Until then, there are threethings that remain faith, hope
(37:25):
and love.
Things that remain faith, hopeand love.
Yet love surpasses them all.
So, above all else, let love bethe beautiful prize for which
you run.
This year, we've all celebratedthe olympics and we've seen
what people have done to goafter the prize and the
dedication in their life, thetraining in their life, all the
(37:50):
things that they gave up with sothat they could run and get the
medal.
And Paul is reminding us letlove be the thing that you go
after.
Let love be the prize for you,and go after it because it's
worthy.
Make yourself a person who saysI am going to learn how to love
myself and love my neighbor andlove my community and love my
(38:12):
enemies.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
This is what Jesus has offered us how to love and
how to love well you know, and,and I think that oftentimes
we're yes but, or okay but, andyou know, and we're trying to
add things to uh, this, uh, and,and I'm, I'm just so grateful
(38:36):
that when god offers this lifeof love, it's not you have to
have a master's degree to figureit out, or you got to have been
a certain you know, iq or orpeople group or whatever, but
that the message is is simple,but sometimes I think for people
(38:58):
it's too simple, uh, and wejust want something else, and it
is the offer that you wouldlive life, a life of love, and
that is different than the world, it's different than the way
that they love.
You know the ideas that we'representing here.
(39:18):
You can kind of see how they goagainst how we naturally want
to act, and so you do understandthat that's what God is asking
Live differently.
And I'm telling you, when youlive in God, you've been invited
up higher.
There is a higher plane that wedon't have to stay grumbling
(39:42):
and complaining and miserableand unhappy, grumbling and
complaining and miserable andunhappy.
That if you will just love andyou will just decide that's what
we're doing, okay, I'm on board, god is, and, and because it's,
it's a work.
It's going to take the rest ofour lives to figure out how to
do that.
But in doing that, watch thetransformation that comes.
(40:07):
The old things that fall asideand the uh, the, the new, fresh,
different ways of thinking come, uh, flooding through our minds
.
You know, I've I've noticed thatthere are times where I can
hear people grumbling andcomplaining about something and
(40:31):
it's almost like I'm not fullyhearing it and part of me wants
to turn and tune in.
What are you guys talking about?
But then there's somethinginside of me that goes no,
that's going to be some gossipor some backbiting and it's
going to stir something in meand it's going to bring me just
(40:55):
look at it like it'll bring youdown to that level, that demonic
realm you know that miry placescripture talks about.
Or we can come up higher.
Now I can be in the same room.
I don't have to leave myconnection with those people.
I just don't have to allowmyself to do that.
And I'm telling you it is adifferent life that we get in
(41:20):
Christ Jesus.
The offer is so beautiful whywe miss it and why we hunt for
something else.
That's gonna fit inside thisgod-shaped hole and we're gonna
try to find something elsethat's gonna make us happy when
he's offering something sobeautiful for our community, for
our marriages, for ourfriendships and relationships
(41:42):
that so exceeds anything thatthis world has to offer.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Until then, there are three things that remain Faith,
hope and love.
And love surpasses them all.
Beloved, you know this.
I know this.
Love actually does.
Love has effort behind it, lovehas evidence behind it.
Love is not just something wesay in a platitude, but it is
for us an energy, it is for us aas evidenced by our love for
(42:08):
neighbor, as evidenced by wecall ourselves followers of
Jesus, and one of the thingsthat God all throughout ancient
scripture, ancient text, hastold us is that God cares about
the poor and that ourresponsibility in following God
should be that we care about thepoor.
And as has been a part of whowe are as a church, ever since
(42:30):
the very first November that wewere together is we have done
food outreaches.
We said this is what our loveis going to look like.
We're going to make sure that,as much as it is possible with
us, for whatever people we haveresources for, we are going to
take care of those who arehungry, and this is what it
looks like to follow Jesus.
In fact, this Wednesday, if youwant to come out and help,
(42:51):
pastor Dennis and a group ofpeople are going to go out and
hand out groceries.
It is the middle of the day andso that might not be the time
for you to be out in the sun andin the heat, but I want to
remind you that what they do, wedo that.
All of us are a part of it.
We do that through ourgenerosity, we do that through
our prayers, through ourblessings.
We do that through thecommunity.
We do that, and and we've doneit in such a way that that we
(43:14):
know the names and the peopleand the stories of the people
that we're helping for and andhelping, and they become our
neighbors.
They become people whosestories we carry and whose love
we are being influenced by.
But love does incredible things.
I remind you of this from theGospel of Matthew.
Jesus said watch out, don't doyour good deeds publicly to be
(43:36):
admired by others, for you willlose the reward from your Father
in heaven.
When you give to someone inneed, don't do it as the
hypocrites do, blowing trumpetsin the synagogues and street to
call attention to their acts ofcharity.
I tell you the truth they'vereceived all the reward they
will ever get.
But when you give to someone inneed, don't let your left hand
(43:57):
know what your right hand isdoing.
Give your gifts in private andyour father, who sees everything
, will reward you this idea thatwe are giving.
I had a policy with my childrenand this is just how our
particular family ran.
But we don't typically buy atoy for someone who is small.
The first time we see it, wehave to go home and we have to
(44:19):
think about it and we also haveto look and see if there's
that's definitely something wewant.
But at one particular time Ihad said to my David, who was
very little, we can go and wecan get this toy.
And he was very excited and weand we had rules like you had to
touch the cart at all timeswhile your mom is shopping and
you had to stay there and youhad to wait.
And we got to the, to the aislewhere he is going to pick out
(44:42):
his toy, because I told him thatthis would be the day that we'd
get it.
And there was a kid there thatyou have seen when you were
shopping, and the kid isballistic, had a complete
meltdown.
I don't know what happened.
Maybe that child needed a nap,maybe they needed some snacks,
maybe this wasn't the time, Idon't know.
It was a meltdown and it wasn'tmine and I was grateful, but I
(45:02):
but I had little David and hetalked a lot.
So he went over to the kid whowas literally screaming on the
floor and he goes dude, ask yourmom nicely and she'll get it
for you.
Now he and I already had anarrangement.
He had full confidence that hedid not have to behave like that
to get what he wanted.
(45:22):
But often we don't have or wedon't know about the arrangement
that we have with our heavenlyfather.
God said I will give youeverything you need.
There's nothing that you willneed that you will lack.
God will give it to you, and soyou don't have to throw a big
fit, you don't have to clutchthings to yourself.
You don't have to do thosethings because you already have
the agreement.
Your father will take care ofyour day-to-day needs, and there
(45:45):
is a gift in knowing that.
And this is how love behaves.
Dude, ask your mother nicely,like, do it in such a way that
and I believe this is a call forall of us when we see someone
misbehaving like that, not inany way a punishment for them.
Perhaps a snack may have been,maybe he could have shared a
juice box, I don't know, but theidea that what we don't know is
(46:08):
how to love.
In fact, john from the apostlesaid this those who know God
know and understand love.
And sometimes if someone is notacting in love it's because
they don't know God.
And so our invitation is toshow them God, to witness these
things about God that love does.
But love is generous all thetime.
(46:29):
It is an action word, it is nota noun.
It is something that requiresfrom us service, self-sacrifice.
It allows us to be people whounderstand the promise of
resurrection, new life, newworld, this idea that our holy
imagination can be ignited so wecan be people.
(46:50):
What would it look like if wewere people who knew how to live
without war, how to livewithout people around us who are
hungry and doing with less?
And the invitation is yourkingdom come, your will be done
on earth the same way it is inheaven.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
We want to remind you that this August 28th, that's
this Wednesday, we'll have anoutreach at 11 o'clock at
Harvey's, and so if you want tomeet us over there at 11, we'll
have the perishables andnon-perishables.
We have frozen meat we're ableto give away, and some fresh
(47:32):
bread and some canned foods andthings, and so it is a procedure
to deliver it so we could useyour assistance.
But if you can't make it, I'dask that you'd reserve that time
to pray for us wherever you are, because it usually takes about
20 or 30 minutes, but in thattime we pray for so many people,
for so many things, and one ofthe things I'm impressed with
(47:56):
the most about going month aftermonth to Harvey's is just how
many times people will say to us, when we give them a hug, they
hadn't had a hug since we werethere last month.
And so I think one of the thingsthat we all can take for
granted, besides having all thefood that we have need of, is
(48:17):
that don't take for granted theembrace of those people that are
around you, that love you, andthat's one of the things that we
want to offer as community.
We want to offer you, uh, thathug and we want to go out and we
want to offer it to those folksthat are so grateful for it.
So if you can help us with that, that is this wednesday, the
(48:37):
28th, at 11 am at harvey's.
If you don't know where that is, I can get you directions, but
we'd love to have you come out.
But even if you're not there,would you pray for us?
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Again from 1 Timothy, chapter 6, teach those that are
rich in this world not to beproud and not to trust in their
money, which is so unreliable.
Their trust should be in God,who richly, gives us all we need
for our enjoyment.
Tell them to use their money todo good.
They should be rich in goodworks and generous to those in
need, always being ready toshare with others, and by doing
(49:11):
this they will be storing uptheir treasure as a good
foundation for a future, so theymight experience true life.
This is true life beloved,loving each other in ways that
practice our generosity, in waysthat say I will pay attention
and look out for you.
(49:31):
I will use whatever privilege Ihave to make sure that we as a
collective, as a body, asbeloved, as family, can come to
the house of the Lord and saythis is what we will learn
together how to love each otherbetter, how to hear the voice of
grace.
One of the practices that thechurch has given us is holy
(49:53):
communion, and I'm so gratefulfor the fact that we get to
perform these rituals, and innot just a ritual, in the fact
that there is somethingsupernatural and there is for us
an entrance into a holy mystery, that we remind ourselves that
the bread and the wine thatJesus offered to us is still
(50:16):
being offered to us.
The love and companionship ofChrist is still being offered to
us.
The mercy and forgiveness thatChrist gave us is still being
offered to us.
The mercy and forgiveness thatChrist gave us is still being
offered to us and together, aswe hear these words, we remind
ourselves.
In fact, even in the performingof this, it is an embodied
(50:38):
experience.
We hear our neighbors, we hearwhat is happening, we see with
our eyes.
We hear what is happening, wesee with our eyes, but we also
taste and we bring our wholebodies to this place of saying
what I need, I receive from you.
Love provides for me and evenwhen the stories that we tell
ourselves are different, we cometo the table of the Lord and we
(51:05):
are reminded that we have agood Father who has heaped up
for us abundance, has heaped upfor us good and beautiful things
, and invites us all of us tocome to the table of the Lord.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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