June 30, 2025 • 38 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good morning, northgate.
Buenos dias.
My name is Raquel Benito andI'll be reading the word this
morning.
We're going to be right in thebeginning.
Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1and 2.
In the beginning, god createdthe heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless andempty, darkness was over the
(00:26):
surface of the deep and theSpirit of God was hovering over
the waters.
La creación En el principio.
Dios creó los cielos y latierra.
La tierra no tenía forma yestaba vacía.
Las tinieblas cubrían el abismoy el Espíritu de Dios se movía
sobre la superficie de las aguas.
(00:47):
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I love that.
It's one of those things whereyou're like I have no idea what
you just said, but it wasawesome.
Well, welcome to the 11 o'clockservice.
I was thinking at my churchsometimes 11 o'clock is the
smallest service, but I realizedyou guys have a lot of energy
because you've got that extrahour of sleep right.
You feeling it Sort of Some ofyou are, some of you need to go
get caffeine.
It's really really nice to behere.
(01:17):
Last time I was here was fiveyears ago, so I'm really kind of
plotting out 2030 when heinvites me back, just to kind of
have my life in order a littlebit.
But I'll tell you a little bitabout myself and my story.
But just, I think Pastor Larryand I met.
I knew him as Larry and nowhe's Lawrence.
I don't know if you got thatfrom the new Pope, I'm not sure
(01:39):
where that came from, but PastorLawrence, the very holy
Reverend Lawrence, I've had theprivilege to serve as the
chaplain to the OaklandAthletics.
I saw some people with someathletics hats.
I don't know if you guys wereathletic fans, but they
abandoned us, right, they'veleft us.
So I worked with the A's andactually with the Giants for a
(02:04):
number of years and then that'sbeen a little bit of my life,
and then I started working alittle bit with a team, just by
random chance, a team that'scalled the Savannah Bananas.
If you've heard of thisphenomenon, I'll tell you a real
quick story how it came to be.
I just I've been watching themfrom the very beginning.
(02:25):
I'm like what the heck is thisright?
And if you don't know what I'mtalking about, google it later
today and then send me a messageand say thank you, because
you're going to really enjoywhat this is.
But I was like watching thisand I've been watching it from
the very beginning and I sawthat they were coming to
California.
This is years back and I saidI'm just going to send an email.
I have this philosophy ofradical hospitality.
I'm going to send an email andjust invite them over for dinner
(02:45):
.
Just say hey, if you guys liketo come over for dinner, we'd
love to have you.
And they said, yes, we'd loveto come over.
Now here's the thing that I'velearned Radical generosity is
really really good.
Also, informing your wife thatyou invited 200 people over for
a barbecue also really good,which I forgot to do, and I
(03:07):
should have said something likehey, honey, by the way, but now
we invite them over to our house.
They followed us with a camera.
We're in the Banana Landdocumentary, season 2, episode
14.
But very interesting thing,where we're just like, hey, we
want to extend ourselves, we doa prayer blessing over them and
meet with some of the playersand then have them over for
(03:28):
dinner at our house.
So that's just kind of a newlittle thing that we do with the
Savannah Bananas.
But also since the A's left, Ijust recently asked to be the
chaplain to the CrossFit Games,and CrossFit Games will be
coming in New York this August.
I'm going to ask the churchactually I'll send a message to
(03:49):
Pastor Lawrence to have you guyspray for me, because this is
the first time in the history ofthe games they've actually had
a chaplain, based on last year'saccidental death of somebody,
an athlete that had died lastyear, and they said we don't
know what to do, and so theyreached out and said would you
come?
And so all of a sudden they'vegiven me this open platform
crazy right to minister toathletes and coaches there at
(04:14):
the game.
So I don't want to leave thatpicture up there too long,
because I see some women takingout their camera and taking
shots of that.
So I want to just be reallycareful.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes, very good, get rid of that picture.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's good to be here and it's good to really talk
through the Holy Spirit and tounderstand the Spirit in one's
life and how it actuallyfunctions and moves, because you
recognize that that's part ofthe triunity of God and we
understand the Father God and weunderstand who Jesus is.
But do we give thatunderstanding and a little bit
more clarity of the Spirit?
Because the Spirit is whatinteracts with us on the daily.
(04:47):
And I grew up and I'll justtell you a little bit about my
life.
I grew up in a Christian home,very Christian home, not just
Christian but very Christian.
I grew up in a veryconservative Baptist home.
My father was a Baptistminister.
I'm the second generation ofthree generations of pastors.
Here's a picture of my familyright here.
This is my family.
We live out in Santa CruzMountains, out just near
(05:08):
Capitola, got a big 14-acreproperty out there.
My parents, my kids, my wifeand I and my grandkids I have
eight grandkids and we all livetogether.
It's kind of like a cult.
It's very, it fits.
Santa Cruz is very, you know,it just fits.
And so we all live out theretogether.
But life was different for mewhen I was growing up, because I
(05:30):
grew up as a pastor's kid andeverything about my life was
Christian.
Everything about me growing upwas Christian.
Because I went to Christianschool.
We only listened to Christianmusic, christian records, which
my kids are like.
What's a record?
They have no idea.
(05:50):
How do you fit these CDs inhere?
Christian TV, which is awful, Icould only have Christian.
You know, when I have friendscome over, are they Christian?
I'm like I don't know.
I don't know if they are, buteverything we went to church on
Sunday morning, sunday night andWednesday night and everything
about our home and our life wasChristian.
(06:11):
And I remember for my mother shehad a set of rules by which we
lived, called the nine nasties.
These are the things that youdon't do because you're
Christian.
We don't drink nasties.
These are the things that youdon't do because you're
Christian.
We don't drink, we don't smoke,we don't chew.
I remember as a kid thinking wedon't chew, my brother's like I
don't know, just swallow Idon't know.
(06:33):
It doesn't make sense.
You know, we didn't play cards,we didn't go to dances, we
didn't go cruising, we didn'ttake drugs.
That was the only one that madesense to me.
We didn't do all these thingsand we didn't hang out with
girls that do those things, likeall these nine nasties above,
which we don't do because we'reChristian.
And life was about growing up,sin management and ordering my
(06:59):
day based on this rap sheet ofthings that I can't be involved
in, on this rap sheet of thingsthat I can't be involved in, and
whether or not I'm somewherewas near.
That is a measure, anindication of what kind of
Christian or good Christian I am.
And I remember strugglingthrough that as a kid, growing
up, because there were timesthat other kids would come and
(07:19):
say, hey, there's a dance.
You know, at school there's adance.
You want to go to the dance.
We're all going to go to thedance.
And I'm like I can't becauseI'm a Christian.
They're like, okay, thatdoesn't make any sense.
But okay.
And I remember arguing with myfather, like can we go to the
dance?
Everybody's going to the dance.
And my dad's like son, he saidit in a very Baptist tone.
(07:39):
If that's a thing he says,dancing stimulates the lust of
the flesh.
I'm like we know that's why welike it, like I'm just being
honest, right, dancing's fun.
So I wasn't allowed to go.
I wasn't allowed to go tomovies Because I remember my
(08:03):
father.
Just, you know we can't go tomovies and friends would come
over want to go to the moviesand I'm like I can't, I'm a
Christian.
First movie I snuck out and saw.
Snuck out and saw was Raidersof the Lost Ark, I was 17.
What a great first movie, right.
But I'm like I've been missingall this.
And then I had to go home andconfess but I couldn't go to the
(08:25):
movies.
And I remember my father as I'dargue with my dad, like why
can't we go to the movies, dad?
And he would say, in a veryBaptist tone, he would say, son,
what if you're in the theaterand Jesus returns?
What happens then?
Like we won't get to see therest of the movie and all that,
like none of it made sense to me.
(08:47):
And I remember strugglingthrough my Christian faith based
on a set of rules that becamethe benchmark of sin management.
It had nothing to do with how Ilive intentionally, where when
Jesus says in the Gospels hesaid a new commandment I give to
you love one another as I'veloved you.
This is by this love, notmanagement.
(09:09):
Love.
They'll know that you're mydisciple, my follower, by the
character and quality of how youlove one another, game changer.
And I remember growing upstruggling with my own Christian
faith.
Being like this doesn't makeany sense.
My faith was not about walkingin tune with the Spirit.
It was about a set of rules andthe things that we didn't do,
(09:31):
rather than empowerment of theSpirit of God in one's life.
Even as a pastor's kid, lifegets messy, it gets chaotic.
Sometimes it gets really messyFor pastor's kids.
Some people would ask my dad,why is your kid so revised?
He said well, he plays with theelder's kids.
That's why, maybe, but notuntil later in life did I sense
(09:52):
the Spirit of God moving andcalling me and that I began to
understand the work of theSpirit, this familiar stranger.
And I remember reading thispassage about Jesus going
through personal chaos right atthe onset of his ministry.
He's literally tested, he'stempted, he's broken down.
(10:16):
He's in the desert for 40 daysfasting I can't fast for 40
minutes, let alone 40 days andhe's broken down.
And he comes out of that and heenters into the synagogue and
he reads a passage that's handedto him from Isaiah and he says
this.
It says the spirit of the Lordis on me because he's anointed
(10:40):
me to proclaim good news to thepoor he has sent me, to proclaim
freedom to the prisoners and torecover sight for the blind and
set the oppressed free and toproclaim the year of the Lord's
favor.
And from that point on I beganto seek and understand what the
Spirit's role in my own life,because I'm watching this chaos
(11:02):
ensue in Christ's life.
And then this empowerment ofthe Spirit, where everything
that he does from that point onto bring peace and clarity and
purpose and empowerment in one'slife.
I remember for me growing up andgoing through this whole thing
(11:22):
as a kid.
I remember growing up andlooking at the set of rules that
we live by and struggling withthat and thinking there was one
day I remember watching my dogwalk in and I thought my dog's a
Christian, he has to be.
He doesn't drink, he doesn'tsmoke, he doesn't play cards and
(11:43):
there are dogs that do, becauseI've seen this picture right
here, right.
So when I look at this and Ibegin to understand now I look
at him like what does it mean tobe a Christian?
It means to be empowered by theHoly Spirit.
And all of a sudden, from thatpoint on, I seek to understand,
I begin to seek the Spirit'srole in my own life and I begin
(12:03):
to watch and see thisempowerment that plays out.
And I remember being in collegeand all of a sudden feeling
like God, the Spirit, isbeckoning me to something much
bigger than about what I don'tdo.
And I remember somebody at thechurch that was nearby the
church that we went to had alist.
They worked there at the church.
They had a list of names ofpeople in the community that
(12:24):
this was going to be their.
You know, they were really poor.
They had no food.
Single mom kids they're reallyon their last meal unless
somebody stepped in Like fourmoms listed on there and she
gave me the list.
I took it back to our dorm, wetook it to the guys and we're
like look at this list.
And we explained it.
This is what.
And something inside of me islike we've got to do something.
And I remember everybody got allthe money that we had, that our
(12:48):
parents had given us, and thenwe went to the store and we
bought as much food as wepossibly could and not just like
rice and beans.
We're like let's get the stuffthat we would eat, the good
stuff pop tarts and cocoa puffsand the things that would be
like, hey, they actually reallythought flowers for the mom.
All of a sudden, we're like abunch of college kids buying all
kinds of stuff and we're goingto get in these bags of
(13:09):
groceries and we took them tothe person's house because we
had the name, their kids' names,their address and their phone
number and we took the food.
We drove to their house and wesnuck up to the door, we put the
food on the doorstep and thenwe ran away and got in the car
(13:32):
and we and one of the rules waswe had to peel out.
Peeling out, it's like adrive-by blessing, you know and
we're like, whoa, it was like anadrenaline rush.
We did it to all these houses.
Then we went back to our dorm,got on the phone with a blocked
line For you millennials thatwas how it was back then and we
would call them on the phone.
We'd say, mrs Johnson, yes,there's food on your doorstep.
(13:58):
This is God.
And then we'd hang up and we'relike, oh my gosh, I have this
adrenaline rush like I've donesomething wrong, when I've
actually done something so rightwhen the Spirit made me go.
This is what I want to do.
I want to be involved in thingsthat are transformative and
(14:18):
disruptive and crazy, to wheremy life's journey will open up
opportunities, because my eyeswere open to say what does the
Spirit want to do right now?
And when you live that life,your life changes and you begin
to experience all kinds ofthings.
You see, the Spirit of Godmoves in the mess and the chaos
(14:38):
even of our own lives to enactsomething inside of us that
draws us into this one deeperrelationship with God and two,
empowering us to live in thisworld and in life.
I promise you, things break,relationships fail and people
die.
Life gets complicated, it getsbroken, it gets chaotic, and
(14:59):
many of you have gone through it, and some of you are here right
now and you're in it.
You might be here at churchbecause you're looking for an
answer, or you might be herebecause you just need an escape
from the drama, but you're inthe midst of chaos and you're
looking for peace or purpose orboth, and either way, the chaos
(15:19):
is not far from you.
It seems to be chasing all thetime, and it's not a mistake
that you're here this morning.
And here's what I know for surethe Spirit of God doesn't wait
for peace, he creates it.
It's different he doesn't waitfor things to settle, he steps
(15:40):
into the mess and creates it.
And the story of the HolySpirit is deeply connected to
chaos and even into suffering.
And from creation in Genesis 1to Jesus' ministry, to Pentecost
, all the way up until today,the Spirit enters into the chaos
and he brings clarity, hebrings purpose, he brings
empowerment, he brings peace.
(16:01):
And, weirdly, from Genesis toRevelation in the Scriptures,
there's this thematic connectionbetween the spirit and water,
and the invitation is not towatch the water but to come to
the water for your ownrefreshing and then to become
(16:21):
part of the river that heals theworld.
That's our talk today.
So will you join me in prayeras we just open up the
scriptures and talk through thisa little bit and ask god to
bless our time?
Father, we thank you for thechance to be here this morning.
Will you open up our eyes,illuminate our hearts and our
minds to understand and see whatit is you have us see today
that we would be convicted,encouraged, strengthened,
(16:43):
empowered through your spirit,whatever we need, that you would
do those things in us.
We pray in Christ's name, amen,amen.
So this morning I want tounderstand how the spirit moves
in chaos, how the spirit movesin chaos.
So, from the beginning, in thepassage that we read of the
biblical narrative, the HolySpirit is introduced in the
first book, first chapter,second verse, like it's
(17:07):
introduced at the get-go of allcreation.
The text reads, if I read itagain in English in the
beginning God created theheavens and the earth.
Now, the earth was formless andempty.
Darkness was over the surfaceof the deep and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters.
Earth was formless and empty.
(17:27):
Spirit of God hovering over thewaters and the waters, and the
picture and the imagery here iswhat we think is like.
Oh, it's just like a calm pond.
It's not that imagery.
The spirit is hovering overchaos.
He's hovering over the unknown,the formless, the empty, the
dark, waiting for the father togive the word.
And when he does, the spiritenters, give the word.
And when he does, the Spiritenters into the chaos and he
(17:52):
gives it order.
Light divided from dark, landseparated from sea, life
emerging out of chaos, plantlife, animal life, human life.
And the key, in its simplestform, is that the Spirit hovers
over chaos not to run from itbut to bring order and light and
(18:16):
life.
So when I look at it from theget-go, the Spirit's role is to
enter into chaos, and when youbegin to ask yourself I got
chaos?
This is the conduit for theSpirit.
The Spirit of God has alwaysbeen and always will be most
active in the mess.
I like how this one author putsit.
He says where the Spirit is,there is life, not a trimmed,
(18:38):
ordered life, but a strugglinglife.
The Spirit does not keep chaosat bay, but broods over the
chaos and from within bringsforth new creation.
We just sang about this.
And from the onset of Scripture, from the beginning of all
things, the Spirit makes a verydark place become an oasis
(19:00):
teeming with life.
And it's very important to seebecause from this point on,
throughout the whole Bible, theSpirit of God is described
through the imagery of water, inthe Psalms, in the Proverbs, in
the Prophets, all the way up tothe Gospels.
In fact, in John's Gospel wesee the imagery, the same
(19:21):
interplay between the Spirit ofGod and water, right in the
middle of one of the Jewishfestivals that's going on, where
Jesus offers living water inthe middle of a religious ritual
.
I've read this passage so manytimes, but when I begin to go
into the context of it, I seethis emergence of water.
(19:42):
In John chapter 7, jesus entersinto a Jewish holy event called
the Feast of Tabernacles.
It's still a festival that'scelebrated today, called Sukkot,
and it's a Jewish festival thatcelebrates God's provision and
presence while the Israeliteswere wandering in the wilderness
for over 40 years, from the endof Genesis into Exodus, all the
(20:02):
way up to Joshua, and they'rewandering in the desert for 40
years, living in tents and howGod was present and providing
for them.
And they celebrate that everyyear around October.
And in the Jewish culture it'sa joyful, week-long festival
where people build temporaryshelters or tents to remember
God's protection and provisionfor them and spiritually it
(20:25):
points to God's desire totabernacle or to dwell with his
people, not just in the past butin the present and in the
future.
So back in John chapter 7, thisis the high point of the
festival.
The high point of the festivalis called the greatest day.
You might have read that passagebefore and not known what the
greatest day is.
The greatest day is like thecrescendo of this festival that
(20:47):
goes on and the crowds weresinging and celebrating and
priests would carry these largecisterns of water into the
temple and they would pour themout and they would go down the
temple steps and recreating thisprophetic reenactment of
streams of living water, thatJesus.
And then what Jesus does in themiddle of that festival in John
(21:07):
7, he does this in classicJesus.
It's just classic Jesus wherehe disrupts it with something,
he interrupts the ritual anddoes something that's, I would
say, almost scandalous.
In John 7, verse 37, he saysthis on the last day and the
greatest day of the festival,jesus stood and said in a loud
voice let anyone who is thirstycome to me and drink.
(21:30):
Whoever believes in me, asscripture said, rivers of living
water will flow from withinthem.
He offers this two-partinvitation.
The first one, the firstinvitation, is to come to come.
Are you thirsty?
Come to me and drink.
Like there's water everywhere.
(21:51):
I mean it's a crazy joyful, youknow waterpalooza kind of thing
, and they're all having a goodtime.
And Jesus is yelling this outin the middle of the thing.
You want to come, you thirsty?
Come to me, basically saying Iam living water.
I'll give you something thatyou've never had before.
Jesus is offering an encounterwith the same spirit that
hovered over the creation, chaos.
(22:11):
So the first thing he offers isto come and the second
invitation is to become.
He says whoever believes,rivers will flow from within
them.
All who come to me, you'll notonly drink of the source, but
you'll become a conduit of thesource.
The living water that heals theworld will flow from within you
(22:38):
.
This is a powerful message andwe think about how scandalous it
is.
Right in the middle of it, thecrescendo of everything, and
Jesus is there saying this iswhat this is, and even clarifies
it in verse 39, at the very endof that passage, where he says
by this he meant the spirit whomthose who believed in him were
later to receive.
It says it right there in thepassage.
He's talking about the spirit,he's talking about the water,
(23:00):
he's talking about the spirit.
Jesus said that's what I'mtalking about, and it's coming.
And what he's referencing isPentecost, follow your church
history, jesus' ministry, thenthe trial, the death, the
resurrection of Jesus, and takesus all the way up where the
Spirit is poured out on chaosagain.
So the Spirit is promised inJohn 7.
(23:24):
It's given in Acts 2, and thedisciples are in Jerusalem.
So after the chaos of the deathand resurrection of Christ,
where the disciples weredisoriented and fearful and
scattered, chaos again ensuedand they were instructed to wait
in Jerusalem until the HolySpirit came.
They didn't know what thatreally even meant and if you
(23:46):
look at Acts, chapter 1, you cansee how disoriented they are.
They're like picking a new guythat you never hear from again.
It's just crazy.
And they get to Acts, chapter 2, and the Spirit comes upon the
disciples, rushing wind, tonguesof fire, speaking different
languages, and they're filledand empowered with the Holy
Spirit.
That's Acts, chapter 2.
That's the birth of the church,the early church, and in that
story they get accused of havingtoo much wine.
(24:09):
The early church, and in thatstory they get accused of having
too much wine.
Y'all been drinking.
My translation Peter gets up andhe preaches the sermon of his
lifetime and he says somethingsuper important in the sermon he
quotes the prophet, the passagein Joel where he quotes and he
says I will pour out my spiriton all people.
(24:31):
You see the theme.
It is a theme from thebeginning all the way to the
church Spirit, water, chaos toclarity, healing, holiness,
empowerment, this river ofliving water being poured out
that's streaming forth in thelives of all who came to drink
and everything that waterrepresents life, healing, hope.
(24:53):
The early church would become,through the Spirit, to be poured
out into a dry, broken andchaotic world and that encounter
, from that encounter in Acts,would come clarity, purpose.
All of a sudden you watch thedisciples kind of bumbling
before in the gospels.
Now they speak with boldness,now they're healing the sick,
(25:15):
now they're feeding the hungry,now they're proclaiming good
news and we're seeing thisrevival and this empowerment of
the church.
Why?
Because the Spirit has beenpoured out on them, as he's been
poured out upon us.
And from that day forward totoday, the church does what
water does?
It seeps into the cracks andoverwhelms dry land to produce
(25:38):
something and bring somethingnew.
So water does.
It's a reason why this metaphoris so important.
On my property I have avineyard, small little boutique
vineyard.
We have a water line from ourwater tower going to it and in
the middle of that it goesacross this dry stretch of my
property and there's a break inthe water line, just a little
(26:00):
leak.
And while it's dry right hereand the vines are growing there,
there's this nice little oasisof weeds right in the middle.
Right where all this?
Why?
Because water has seeped intothe places.
That is changing the landscape,and when I think about it, the
spirit that hovered over thedeep, the spirit that Jesus
(26:21):
invited to those to drink at theFeast of Tabernacles, the
spirit that was poured out atPentecost, is the same spirit
that meets us today.
So here's the deal the spiritin you is the river of life.
The spirit in you is the riverof life, and it's all about
(26:41):
activating that spirit Like howdo I live in tune and touch with
the spirit?
In 1 Corinthians 6, paulreminds us of this to the church
and he says do you not know?
Your bodies are a temple of theHoly Spirit who is in you.
Every time I've read thatpassage or heard people talk
about it, they talk aboutstewardship of our body.
We should exercise everymorning, don't eat gluten.
(27:03):
I hear that and that's not whathe's talking about.
You are the same temple that isflowing that water down those
stairs, that living water thatseeps into a dry world.
You are that.
The power of God is the powerof God.
The power is God indwelling inand among us through the Spirit
(27:26):
operating through our woundedand ordinary selves, to be the
river of life flowing to thedead places of this world.
He's activating us constantly.
Our lives are meant to betemples where the living water
flows and where the Spirit isn'tjust present, but he's active
through his people.
Spirit isn't just present, buthe's active through his people.
(27:51):
I love the passage where Jesussays, or it says, you are
Christ's ambassadors If God asif God were pleading with you to
be reconciled to him.
You're Christ's ambassadors ifGod was pleading with you to be
reconciled with him.
Like our job, the next person wemeet is to experience that
(28:12):
flowing water that comes fromthe Spirit inside of our own
lives.
See, for many of us in thechurch, I think it's like
standing at the edge of the pooland watching kids splash and
play and have fun and have agood time, and we see the joy
and we feel the mist and wenever actually jump in.
We observe the refreshing lifeof the Spirit without actually
(28:35):
participating in it, and thathappens every day.
God is in the business ofredeeming mankind and the Spirit
is activated inside of you.
And the question you havepaused.
Have you paused enough andslowed down enough to recognize
that the spirit's inside of youthat brings peace and purpose in
(28:58):
the midst of chaos.
I say this all the time.
When you get bumped, you spillwhatever you're full of.
I mean, think about it when youdrive and you've got your
coffee full and you don't havethe lid on and you get bumped.
And it's the same thing in allaspects.
Whatever you are filled with.
If you're filled with some ofthe rhetoric we're hearing on
the news or you're filled withthe Spirit of God, whatever
(29:19):
you're bumped, you're spillingthat over.
And every time your life getsdisrupted, every interaction
that you have with somebody, godis using that moment.
If he's in the business ofredeeming mankind enough to
sacrifice his own son, don't youthink he would use the church,
empowered by the Spirit, withevery interaction, that when
your life gets disrupted andbumped, he would use that To
(29:45):
share the story about going toCostco.
That's where I learn a lot aboutthe Lord and whether or not I'm
filled with the Spirit.
You guys have Costco out here,right?
So if you don't, costco is myfavorite place because it's the
only place in the world you canget 12 gallons of milk and a
kayak right, just like therandom things.
(30:05):
So when we first moved to theBay Area, we would go to Costco.
We had to find out.
My wife was like I need to knowwhere Costco, whole Foods and
Trader Joe's that was like hertrifecta of groceries.
I'd see a bunch of ladies goingyep, that's for me.
And so we found our Costco.
And I remember the day we gothere and you know you go to
(30:27):
Costco and Costco and you sawhow large our family was.
Started with a cart, we quicklygraduated to a flat, then we
became a cart and a flat familybecause we had both.
And I remember being at Costcoone time with all the things
that we had loaded on our cartand flat.
And we get in line and whathappened is I'm in this line and
(30:48):
all the other lines are movingand my line's not moving and I
can't move because there's foodtesters and ladies with Dixie
cups and a quarter of a you knowtaquito that are handing out to
me.
My kids are everywhere.
I can't move.
It's chaos.
I got places to go, I gotthings to see and things to do.
I'm on an agenda, I'm on aschedule and I'm waiting for all
this madness to go on.
(31:09):
Chaos is ensuing in my own lifeand I'm getting immensely
frustrated.
Ever experienced that at Costco?
I finally get to the front ofthe line and there's a girl
there.
I see her name tag, it saysNatalie and she's struggling
there.
I see her name tag, it saysNatalie, and she's struggling.
And she looks at me and shesaid it's my first day and I'm
(31:31):
like we know.
And then something got a holdof me.
It reminded me you wereChrist's ambassador, you're to
be present with this person,you're to interact with her.
And so I just said it, I'm likeyou know, listen, you're doing
(31:54):
a great job.
And she goes really and my wifegoes really.
I said, yeah, we just startedtalking and I look at my wife.
I said, listen, every time wecome to Costco we're going to
get in Natalie's line.
She's like you realize she'sslow.
I said I know it's perfect,because by the time we get up to
the front of the line I'm goingto take my time to get to know
her.
Those people can wait, becauseI've been waiting forever.
(32:15):
So we get up there and interactwith her.
And so for the next this isalmost 15 years ago we get in
Natalie's line and it wasn'thard to find.
It was the longest one and wejust pick up the conversation
where we left off and I allowedit to disrupt my life.
I allowed the chaos to come inand to say you know what?
We got things, we got places togo.
(32:37):
But all of a sudden it shiftedmy mind towards what does she
need?
And we started interacting.
We pick up the conversationEvery time we got left off.
We picked up the conversationOne time we got in line and I
see her and she waves to us andshe points to the ring on her
finger.
She's like I got engaged and I'msuper excited.
And she said I want you to.
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I know you're a pastor, I wantyou to do the wedding.
I'm like, oh, and it was likesix months down the road.
So we'd talk, interact.
And one time we got in line andshe had a really sad face and I
said what's going on?
She said my mother-in-law to beshe doesn't want you to do the
ceremony.
I'm like why?
She said well, she doesn't wanta pastor from Costco to do the
(33:20):
ceremony.
I'm like I don't work here.
I'm the real deal.
Don't work here Like I'm a real.
I'm the real deal.
Look me up Like KirklandSeminary.
Like no, I'm a pastor.
They looked me up.
Sure enough, he's the real deal.
I thought that was funny.
(33:42):
Then we did the ceremony, mywife and I.
It was beautiful and I remembershortly after that they wanted
to come to our church and shesaid we would like to.
Our church is called Westgate.
She said we would like to cometo Christmas Eve mass at
Westgate Parish.
Very similar, our church isjust like yours.
I love the fact she used thatlanguage because she had no idea
(34:04):
she's going to sit in a churchand a service like this is like
a Coldplay concert for ChristmasEve.
Crazy.
She brought 14 people.
They sat in the front row.
I remember seeing them.
They're like shocked.
Like this is mass.
It was so great.
They heard the gospel for thefirst time.
Why?
Because you slow down, youlisten and you allow the spirit
(34:29):
to interrupt in what's going onand you're like what am I
supposed to be paying attentionto?
It's the barista.
It's the next person you meet.
When you're at a restaurant andyou get bad service, you don't
tip because of what they've done.
You tip because what's beendone for you.
You tip generously and itchanges the game.
(34:49):
All of a sudden you're having aconversation like why would
they tip me so much?
Because you're Christ'sambassador and the Spirit of God
works through you as a conduit.
The promise of the Holy Spiritto the church today is the same
as it's always been theinvitation to come, allow water
to heal and refresh the brokenplaces in your own life, and the
(35:12):
invitation to become being partof the current that brings
peace and hope to the world.
The Spirit isn't locked in thisbuilding here flows through you
and you're the channel throughwhich dead places are revived.
Do you believe that you have tolive that?
(35:34):
Here's my challenge for you topray this prayer when you wake
up in the morning.
Just try it for one week.
Just wake up in the morning andsay God, fill me with your
spirit, give me the mind ofChrist, give me the eyes that
will see, give me the eyes thatwill see, give me the ears that
will hear, give me the mouththat will bless, and just see
how your day goes.
What you've done, you justinvited the spirit to put on a
(35:56):
whole new lens to see thingsthat you never saw before.
So here's my closingdeclaration to you, church.
You are not meant to managechaos.
You are not called to stand onthe riverbank and watch.
The one who hovered overcreation's chaos now hovers over
yours.
(36:16):
The Spirit has come and theinvitation is simple Come, drink
deeply and become part of thecurrent that heals the world.
Will you stand with me inprayer?
Holy Spirit, we invite you intothe chaos, into our own chaos,
(36:37):
not to tidy it up, but totransform it.
Speak light into our darkness,pour peace into our panic, flow
through our wounds so that wemight become a river of life in
the broken places around us.
We don't want to just observe,we want to swim.
(36:57):
For the sake of the King andthe kingdom, we pray in Jesus'
name Amen.
Good morning, northgate.
Buenos dias.
My name is Raquel Benito andI'll be reading the word this
morning.
We're going to be right in thebeginning.
Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1and 2.
In the beginning, god createdthe heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless andempty, darkness was over the
(00:26):
surface of the deep and theSpirit of God was hovering over
the waters.
La creación En el principio.
Dios creó los cielos y latierra.
La tierra no tenía forma yestaba vacía.
Las tinieblas cubrían el abismoy el Espíritu de Dios se movía
sobre la superficie de las aguas.
(00:47):
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I love that.
It's one of those things whereyou're like I have no idea what
you just said, but it wasawesome.
Well, welcome to the 11 o'clockservice.
I was thinking at my churchsometimes 11 o'clock is the
smallest service, but I realizedyou guys have a lot of energy
because you've got that extrahour of sleep right.
You feeling it Sort of Some ofyou are, some of you need to go
get caffeine.
It's really really nice to behere.
(01:17):
Last time I was here was fiveyears ago, so I'm really kind of
plotting out 2030 when heinvites me back, just to kind of
have my life in order a littlebit.
But I'll tell you a little bitabout myself and my story.
But just, I think Pastor Larryand I met.
I knew him as Larry and nowhe's Lawrence.
I don't know if you got thatfrom the new Pope, I'm not sure
(01:39):
where that came from, but PastorLawrence, the very holy
Reverend Lawrence, I've had theprivilege to serve as the
chaplain to the OaklandAthletics.
I saw some people with someathletics hats.
I don't know if you guys wereathletic fans, but they
abandoned us, right, they'veleft us.
So I worked with the A's andactually with the Giants for a
(02:04):
number of years and then that'sbeen a little bit of my life,
and then I started working alittle bit with a team, just by
random chance, a team that'scalled the Savannah Bananas.
If you've heard of thisphenomenon, I'll tell you a real
quick story how it came to be.
I just I've been watching themfrom the very beginning.
(02:25):
I'm like what the heck is thisright?
And if you don't know what I'mtalking about, google it later
today and then send me a messageand say thank you, because
you're going to really enjoywhat this is.
But I was like watching thisand I've been watching it from
the very beginning and I sawthat they were coming to
California.
This is years back and I saidI'm just going to send an email.
I have this philosophy ofradical hospitality.
I'm going to send an email andjust invite them over for dinner
(02:45):
.
Just say hey, if you guys liketo come over for dinner, we'd
love to have you.
And they said, yes, we'd loveto come over.
Now here's the thing that I'velearned Radical generosity is
really really good.
Also, informing your wife thatyou invited 200 people over for
a barbecue also really good,which I forgot to do, and I
(03:07):
should have said something likehey, honey, by the way, but now
we invite them over to our house.
They followed us with a camera.
We're in the Banana Landdocumentary, season 2, episode
14.
But very interesting thing,where we're just like, hey, we
want to extend ourselves, we doa prayer blessing over them and
meet with some of the playersand then have them over for
(03:28):
dinner at our house.
So that's just kind of a newlittle thing that we do with the
Savannah Bananas.
But also since the A's left, Ijust recently asked to be the
chaplain to the CrossFit Games,and CrossFit Games will be
coming in New York this August.
I'm going to ask the churchactually I'll send a message to
(03:49):
Pastor Lawrence to have you guyspray for me, because this is
the first time in the history ofthe games they've actually had
a chaplain, based on last year'saccidental death of somebody,
an athlete that had died lastyear, and they said we don't
know what to do, and so theyreached out and said would you
come?
And so all of a sudden they'vegiven me this open platform
crazy right to minister toathletes and coaches there at
(04:14):
the game.
So I don't want to leave thatpicture up there too long,
because I see some women takingout their camera and taking
shots of that.
So I want to just be reallycareful.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yes, very good, get rid of that picture.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's good to be here and it's good to really talk
through the Holy Spirit and tounderstand the Spirit in one's
life and how it actuallyfunctions and moves, because you
recognize that that's part ofthe triunity of God and we
understand the Father God and weunderstand who Jesus is.
But do we give thatunderstanding and a little bit
more clarity of the Spirit?
Because the Spirit is whatinteracts with us on the daily.
(04:47):
And I grew up and I'll justtell you a little bit about my
life.
I grew up in a Christian home,very Christian home, not just
Christian but very Christian.
I grew up in a veryconservative Baptist home.
My father was a Baptistminister.
I'm the second generation ofthree generations of pastors.
Here's a picture of my familyright here.
This is my family.
We live out in Santa CruzMountains, out just near
(05:08):
Capitola, got a big 14-acreproperty out there.
My parents, my kids, my wifeand I and my grandkids I have
eight grandkids and we all livetogether.
It's kind of like a cult.
It's very, it fits.
Santa Cruz is very, you know,it just fits.
And so we all live out theretogether.
But life was different for mewhen I was growing up, because I
(05:30):
grew up as a pastor's kid andeverything about my life was
Christian.
Everything about me growing upwas Christian.
Because I went to Christianschool.
We only listened to Christianmusic, christian records, which
my kids are like.
What's a record?
They have no idea.
(05:50):
How do you fit these CDs inhere?
Christian TV, which is awful, Icould only have Christian.
You know, when I have friendscome over, are they Christian?
I'm like I don't know.
I don't know if they are, buteverything we went to church on
Sunday morning, sunday night andWednesday night and everything
about our home and our life wasChristian.
(06:11):
And I remember for my mother shehad a set of rules by which we
lived, called the nine nasties.
These are the things that youdon't do because you're
Christian.
We don't drink nasties.
These are the things that youdon't do because you're
Christian.
We don't drink, we don't smoke,we don't chew.
I remember as a kid thinking wedon't chew, my brother's like I
don't know, just swallow Idon't know.
(06:33):
It doesn't make sense.
You know, we didn't play cards,we didn't go to dances, we
didn't go cruising, we didn'ttake drugs.
That was the only one that madesense to me.
We didn't do all these thingsand we didn't hang out with
girls that do those things, likeall these nine nasties above,
which we don't do because we'reChristian.
And life was about growing up,sin management and ordering my
(06:59):
day based on this rap sheet ofthings that I can't be involved
in, on this rap sheet of thingsthat I can't be involved in, and
whether or not I'm somewherewas near.
That is a measure, anindication of what kind of
Christian or good Christian I am.
And I remember strugglingthrough that as a kid, growing
up, because there were timesthat other kids would come and
(07:19):
say, hey, there's a dance.
You know, at school there's adance.
You want to go to the dance.
We're all going to go to thedance.
And I'm like I can't becauseI'm a Christian.
They're like, okay, thatdoesn't make any sense.
But okay.
And I remember arguing with myfather, like can we go to the
dance?
Everybody's going to the dance.
And my dad's like son, he saidit in a very Baptist tone.
(07:39):
If that's a thing he says,dancing stimulates the lust of
the flesh.
I'm like we know that's why welike it, like I'm just being
honest, right, dancing's fun.
So I wasn't allowed to go.
I wasn't allowed to go tomovies Because I remember my
(08:03):
father.
Just, you know we can't go tomovies and friends would come
over want to go to the moviesand I'm like I can't, I'm a
Christian.
First movie I snuck out and saw.
Snuck out and saw was Raidersof the Lost Ark, I was 17.
What a great first movie, right.
But I'm like I've been missingall this.
And then I had to go home andconfess but I couldn't go to the
(08:25):
movies.
And I remember my father as I'dargue with my dad, like why
can't we go to the movies, dad?
And he would say, in a veryBaptist tone, he would say, son,
what if you're in the theaterand Jesus returns?
What happens then?
Like we won't get to see therest of the movie and all that,
like none of it made sense to me.
(08:47):
And I remember strugglingthrough my Christian faith based
on a set of rules that becamethe benchmark of sin management.
It had nothing to do with how Ilive intentionally, where when
Jesus says in the Gospels hesaid a new commandment I give to
you love one another as I'veloved you.
This is by this love, notmanagement.
(09:09):
Love.
They'll know that you're mydisciple, my follower, by the
character and quality of how youlove one another, game changer.
And I remember growing upstruggling with my own Christian
faith.
Being like this doesn't makeany sense.
My faith was not about walkingin tune with the Spirit.
It was about a set of rules andthe things that we didn't do,
(09:31):
rather than empowerment of theSpirit of God in one's life.
Even as a pastor's kid, lifegets messy, it gets chaotic.
Sometimes it gets really messyFor pastor's kids.
Some people would ask my dad,why is your kid so revised?
He said well, he plays with theelder's kids.
That's why, maybe, but notuntil later in life did I sense
(09:52):
the Spirit of God moving andcalling me and that I began to
understand the work of theSpirit, this familiar stranger.
And I remember reading thispassage about Jesus going
through personal chaos right atthe onset of his ministry.
He's literally tested, he'stempted, he's broken down.
(10:16):
He's in the desert for 40 daysfasting I can't fast for 40
minutes, let alone 40 days andhe's broken down.
And he comes out of that and heenters into the synagogue and
he reads a passage that's handedto him from Isaiah and he says
this.
It says the spirit of the Lordis on me because he's anointed
(10:40):
me to proclaim good news to thepoor he has sent me, to proclaim
freedom to the prisoners and torecover sight for the blind and
set the oppressed free and toproclaim the year of the Lord's
favor.
And from that point on I beganto seek and understand what the
Spirit's role in my own life,because I'm watching this chaos
(11:02):
ensue in Christ's life.
And then this empowerment ofthe Spirit, where everything
that he does from that point onto bring peace and clarity and
purpose and empowerment in one'slife.
I remember for me growing up andgoing through this whole thing
(11:22):
as a kid.
I remember growing up andlooking at the set of rules that
we live by and struggling withthat and thinking there was one
day I remember watching my dogwalk in and I thought my dog's a
Christian, he has to be.
He doesn't drink, he doesn'tsmoke, he doesn't play cards and
(11:43):
there are dogs that do, becauseI've seen this picture right
here, right.
So when I look at this and Ibegin to understand now I look
at him like what does it mean tobe a Christian?
It means to be empowered by theHoly Spirit.
And all of a sudden, from thatpoint on, I seek to understand,
I begin to seek the Spirit'srole in my own life and I begin
(12:03):
to watch and see thisempowerment that plays out.
And I remember being in collegeand all of a sudden feeling
like God, the Spirit, isbeckoning me to something much
bigger than about what I don'tdo.
And I remember somebody at thechurch that was nearby the
church that we went to had alist.
They worked there at the church.
They had a list of names ofpeople in the community that
(12:24):
this was going to be their.
You know, they were really poor.
They had no food.
Single mom kids they're reallyon their last meal unless
somebody stepped in Like fourmoms listed on there and she
gave me the list.
I took it back to our dorm, wetook it to the guys and we're
like look at this list.
And we explained it.
This is what.
And something inside of me islike we've got to do something.
And I remember everybody got allthe money that we had, that our
(12:48):
parents had given us, and thenwe went to the store and we
bought as much food as wepossibly could and not just like
rice and beans.
We're like let's get the stuffthat we would eat, the good
stuff pop tarts and cocoa puffsand the things that would be
like, hey, they actually reallythought flowers for the mom.
All of a sudden, we're like abunch of college kids buying all
kinds of stuff and we're goingto get in these bags of
(13:09):
groceries and we took them tothe person's house because we
had the name, their kids' names,their address and their phone
number and we took the food.
We drove to their house and wesnuck up to the door, we put the
food on the doorstep and thenwe ran away and got in the car
(13:32):
and we and one of the rules waswe had to peel out.
Peeling out, it's like adrive-by blessing, you know and
we're like, whoa, it was like anadrenaline rush.
We did it to all these houses.
Then we went back to our dorm,got on the phone with a blocked
line For you millennials thatwas how it was back then and we
would call them on the phone.
We'd say, mrs Johnson, yes,there's food on your doorstep.
(13:58):
This is God.
And then we'd hang up and we'relike, oh my gosh, I have this
adrenaline rush like I've donesomething wrong, when I've
actually done something so rightwhen the Spirit made me go.
This is what I want to do.
I want to be involved in thingsthat are transformative and
(14:18):
disruptive and crazy, to wheremy life's journey will open up
opportunities, because my eyeswere open to say what does the
Spirit want to do right now?
And when you live that life,your life changes and you begin
to experience all kinds ofthings.
You see, the Spirit of Godmoves in the mess and the chaos
(14:38):
even of our own lives to enactsomething inside of us that
draws us into this one deeperrelationship with God and two,
empowering us to live in thisworld and in life.
I promise you, things break,relationships fail and people
die.
Life gets complicated, it getsbroken, it gets chaotic, and
(14:59):
many of you have gone through it, and some of you are here right
now and you're in it.
You might be here at churchbecause you're looking for an
answer, or you might be herebecause you just need an escape
from the drama, but you're inthe midst of chaos and you're
looking for peace or purpose orboth, and either way, the chaos
(15:19):
is not far from you.
It seems to be chasing all thetime, and it's not a mistake
that you're here this morning.
And here's what I know for surethe Spirit of God doesn't wait
for peace, he creates it.
It's different he doesn't waitfor things to settle, he steps
(15:40):
into the mess and creates it.
And the story of the HolySpirit is deeply connected to
chaos and even into suffering.
And from creation in Genesis 1to Jesus' ministry, to Pentecost
, all the way up until today,the Spirit enters into the chaos
and he brings clarity, hebrings purpose, he brings
empowerment, he brings peace.
(16:01):
And, weirdly, from Genesis toRevelation in the Scriptures,
there's this thematic connectionbetween the spirit and water,
and the invitation is not towatch the water but to come to
the water for your ownrefreshing and then to become
(16:21):
part of the river that heals theworld.
That's our talk today.
So will you join me in prayeras we just open up the
scriptures and talk through thisa little bit and ask god to
bless our time?
Father, we thank you for thechance to be here this morning.
Will you open up our eyes,illuminate our hearts and our
minds to understand and see whatit is you have us see today
that we would be convicted,encouraged, strengthened,
(16:43):
empowered through your spirit,whatever we need, that you would
do those things in us.
We pray in Christ's name, amen,amen.
So this morning I want tounderstand how the spirit moves
in chaos, how the spirit movesin chaos.
So, from the beginning, in thepassage that we read of the
biblical narrative, the HolySpirit is introduced in the
first book, first chapter,second verse, like it's
(17:07):
introduced at the get-go of allcreation.
The text reads, if I read itagain in English in the
beginning God created theheavens and the earth.
Now, the earth was formless andempty.
Darkness was over the surfaceof the deep and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters.
Earth was formless and empty.
(17:27):
Spirit of God hovering over thewaters and the waters, and the
picture and the imagery here iswhat we think is like.
Oh, it's just like a calm pond.
It's not that imagery.
The spirit is hovering overchaos.
He's hovering over the unknown,the formless, the empty, the
dark, waiting for the father togive the word.
And when he does, the spiritenters, give the word.
And when he does, the Spiritenters into the chaos and he
(17:52):
gives it order.
Light divided from dark, landseparated from sea, life
emerging out of chaos, plantlife, animal life, human life.
And the key, in its simplestform, is that the Spirit hovers
over chaos not to run from itbut to bring order and light and
(18:16):
life.
So when I look at it from theget-go, the Spirit's role is to
enter into chaos, and when youbegin to ask yourself I got
chaos?
This is the conduit for theSpirit.
The Spirit of God has alwaysbeen and always will be most
active in the mess.
I like how this one author putsit.
He says where the Spirit is,there is life, not a trimmed,
(18:38):
ordered life, but a strugglinglife.
The Spirit does not keep chaosat bay, but broods over the
chaos and from within bringsforth new creation.
We just sang about this.
And from the onset of Scripture, from the beginning of all
things, the Spirit makes a verydark place become an oasis
(19:00):
teeming with life.
And it's very important to seebecause from this point on,
throughout the whole Bible, theSpirit of God is described
through the imagery of water, inthe Psalms, in the Proverbs, in
the Prophets, all the way up tothe Gospels.
In fact, in John's Gospel wesee the imagery, the same
(19:21):
interplay between the Spirit ofGod and water, right in the
middle of one of the Jewishfestivals that's going on, where
Jesus offers living water inthe middle of a religious ritual
.
I've read this passage so manytimes, but when I begin to go
into the context of it, I seethis emergence of water.
(19:42):
In John chapter 7, jesus entersinto a Jewish holy event called
the Feast of Tabernacles.
It's still a festival that'scelebrated today, called Sukkot,
and it's a Jewish festival thatcelebrates God's provision and
presence while the Israeliteswere wandering in the wilderness
for over 40 years, from the endof Genesis into Exodus, all the
(20:02):
way up to Joshua, and they'rewandering in the desert for 40
years, living in tents and howGod was present and providing
for them.
And they celebrate that everyyear around October.
And in the Jewish culture it'sa joyful, week-long festival
where people build temporaryshelters or tents to remember
God's protection and provisionfor them and spiritually it
(20:25):
points to God's desire totabernacle or to dwell with his
people, not just in the past butin the present and in the
future.
So back in John chapter 7, thisis the high point of the
festival.
The high point of the festivalis called the greatest day.
You might have read that passagebefore and not known what the
greatest day is.
The greatest day is like thecrescendo of this festival that
(20:47):
goes on and the crowds weresinging and celebrating and
priests would carry these largecisterns of water into the
temple and they would pour themout and they would go down the
temple steps and recreating thisprophetic reenactment of
streams of living water, thatJesus.
And then what Jesus does in themiddle of that festival in John
(21:07):
7, he does this in classicJesus.
It's just classic Jesus wherehe disrupts it with something,
he interrupts the ritual anddoes something that's, I would
say, almost scandalous.
In John 7, verse 37, he saysthis on the last day and the
greatest day of the festival,jesus stood and said in a loud
voice let anyone who is thirstycome to me and drink.
(21:30):
Whoever believes in me, asscripture said, rivers of living
water will flow from withinthem.
He offers this two-partinvitation.
The first one, the firstinvitation, is to come to come.
Are you thirsty?
Come to me and drink.
Like there's water everywhere.
(21:51):
I mean it's a crazy joyful, youknow waterpalooza kind of thing
, and they're all having a goodtime.
And Jesus is yelling this outin the middle of the thing.
You want to come, you thirsty?
Come to me, basically saying Iam living water.
I'll give you something thatyou've never had before.
Jesus is offering an encounterwith the same spirit that
hovered over the creation, chaos.
(22:11):
So the first thing he offers isto come and the second
invitation is to become.
He says whoever believes,rivers will flow from within
them.
All who come to me, you'll notonly drink of the source, but
you'll become a conduit of thesource.
The living water that heals theworld will flow from within you
(22:38):
.
This is a powerful message andwe think about how scandalous it
is.
Right in the middle of it, thecrescendo of everything, and
Jesus is there saying this iswhat this is, and even clarifies
it in verse 39, at the very endof that passage, where he says
by this he meant the spirit whomthose who believed in him were
later to receive.
It says it right there in thepassage.
He's talking about the spirit,he's talking about the water,
(23:00):
he's talking about the spirit.
Jesus said that's what I'mtalking about, and it's coming.
And what he's referencing isPentecost, follow your church
history, jesus' ministry, thenthe trial, the death, the
resurrection of Jesus, and takesus all the way up where the
Spirit is poured out on chaosagain.
So the Spirit is promised inJohn 7.
(23:24):
It's given in Acts 2, and thedisciples are in Jerusalem.
So after the chaos of the deathand resurrection of Christ,
where the disciples weredisoriented and fearful and
scattered, chaos again ensuedand they were instructed to wait
in Jerusalem until the HolySpirit came.
They didn't know what thatreally even meant and if you
(23:46):
look at Acts, chapter 1, you cansee how disoriented they are.
They're like picking a new guythat you never hear from again.
It's just crazy.
And they get to Acts, chapter 2, and the Spirit comes upon the
disciples, rushing wind, tonguesof fire, speaking different
languages, and they're filledand empowered with the Holy
Spirit.
That's Acts, chapter 2.
That's the birth of the church,the early church, and in that
story they get accused of havingtoo much wine.
(24:09):
The early church, and in thatstory they get accused of having
too much wine.
Y'all been drinking.
My translation Peter gets up andhe preaches the sermon of his
lifetime and he says somethingsuper important in the sermon he
quotes the prophet, the passagein Joel where he quotes and he
says I will pour out my spiriton all people.
(24:31):
You see the theme.
It is a theme from thebeginning all the way to the
church Spirit, water, chaos toclarity, healing, holiness,
empowerment, this river ofliving water being poured out
that's streaming forth in thelives of all who came to drink
and everything that waterrepresents life, healing, hope.
(24:53):
The early church would become,through the Spirit, to be poured
out into a dry, broken andchaotic world and that encounter
, from that encounter in Acts,would come clarity, purpose.
All of a sudden you watch thedisciples kind of bumbling
before in the gospels.
Now they speak with boldness,now they're healing the sick,
(25:15):
now they're feeding the hungry,now they're proclaiming good
news and we're seeing thisrevival and this empowerment of
the church.
Why?
Because the Spirit has beenpoured out on them, as he's been
poured out upon us.
And from that day forward totoday, the church does what
water does?
It seeps into the cracks andoverwhelms dry land to produce
(25:38):
something and bring somethingnew.
So water does.
It's a reason why this metaphoris so important.
On my property I have avineyard, small little boutique
vineyard.
We have a water line from ourwater tower going to it and in
the middle of that it goesacross this dry stretch of my
property and there's a break inthe water line, just a little
(26:00):
leak.
And while it's dry right hereand the vines are growing there,
there's this nice little oasisof weeds right in the middle.
Right where all this?
Why?
Because water has seeped intothe places.
That is changing the landscape,and when I think about it, the
spirit that hovered over thedeep, the spirit that Jesus
(26:21):
invited to those to drink at theFeast of Tabernacles, the
spirit that was poured out atPentecost, is the same spirit
that meets us today.
So here's the deal the spiritin you is the river of life.
The spirit in you is the riverof life, and it's all about
(26:41):
activating that spirit Like howdo I live in tune and touch with
the spirit?
In 1 Corinthians 6, paulreminds us of this to the church
and he says do you not know?
Your bodies are a temple of theHoly Spirit who is in you.
Every time I've read thatpassage or heard people talk
about it, they talk aboutstewardship of our body.
We should exercise everymorning, don't eat gluten.
(27:03):
I hear that and that's not whathe's talking about.
You are the same temple that isflowing that water down those
stairs, that living water thatseeps into a dry world.
You are that.
The power of God is the powerof God.
The power is God indwelling inand among us through the Spirit
(27:26):
operating through our woundedand ordinary selves, to be the
river of life flowing to thedead places of this world.
He's activating us constantly.
Our lives are meant to betemples where the living water
flows and where the Spirit isn'tjust present, but he's active
through his people.
Spirit isn't just present, buthe's active through his people.
(27:51):
I love the passage where Jesussays, or it says, you are
Christ's ambassadors If God asif God were pleading with you to
be reconciled to him.
You're Christ's ambassadors ifGod was pleading with you to be
reconciled with him.
Like our job, the next person wemeet is to experience that
(28:12):
flowing water that comes fromthe Spirit inside of our own
lives.
See, for many of us in thechurch, I think it's like
standing at the edge of the pooland watching kids splash and
play and have fun and have agood time, and we see the joy
and we feel the mist and wenever actually jump in.
We observe the refreshing lifeof the Spirit without actually
(28:35):
participating in it, and thathappens every day.
God is in the business ofredeeming mankind and the Spirit
is activated inside of you.
And the question you havepaused.
Have you paused enough andslowed down enough to recognize
that the spirit's inside of youthat brings peace and purpose in
(28:58):
the midst of chaos.
I say this all the time.
When you get bumped, you spillwhatever you're full of.
I mean, think about it when youdrive and you've got your
coffee full and you don't havethe lid on and you get bumped.
And it's the same thing in allaspects.
Whatever you are filled with.
If you're filled with some ofthe rhetoric we're hearing on
the news or you're filled withthe Spirit of God, whatever
(29:19):
you're bumped, you're spillingthat over.
And every time your life getsdisrupted, every interaction
that you have with somebody, godis using that moment.
If he's in the business ofredeeming mankind enough to
sacrifice his own son, don't youthink he would use the church,
empowered by the Spirit, withevery interaction, that when
your life gets disrupted andbumped, he would use that To
(29:45):
share the story about going toCostco.
That's where I learn a lot aboutthe Lord and whether or not I'm
filled with the Spirit.
You guys have Costco out here,right?
So if you don't, costco is myfavorite place because it's the
only place in the world you canget 12 gallons of milk and a
kayak right, just like therandom things.
(30:05):
So when we first moved to theBay Area, we would go to Costco.
We had to find out.
My wife was like I need to knowwhere Costco, whole Foods and
Trader Joe's that was like hertrifecta of groceries.
I'd see a bunch of ladies goingyep, that's for me.
And so we found our Costco.
And I remember the day we gothere and you know you go to
(30:27):
Costco and Costco and you sawhow large our family was.
Started with a cart, we quicklygraduated to a flat, then we
became a cart and a flat familybecause we had both.
And I remember being at Costcoone time with all the things
that we had loaded on our cartand flat.
And we get in line and whathappened is I'm in this line and
(30:48):
all the other lines are movingand my line's not moving and I
can't move because there's foodtesters and ladies with Dixie
cups and a quarter of a you knowtaquito that are handing out to
me.
My kids are everywhere.
I can't move.
It's chaos.
I got places to go, I gotthings to see and things to do.
I'm on an agenda, I'm on aschedule and I'm waiting for all
this madness to go on.
(31:09):
Chaos is ensuing in my own lifeand I'm getting immensely
frustrated.
Ever experienced that at Costco?
I finally get to the front ofthe line and there's a girl
there.
I see her name tag, it saysNatalie and she's struggling
there.
I see her name tag, it saysNatalie, and she's struggling.
And she looks at me and shesaid it's my first day and I'm
(31:31):
like we know.
And then something got a holdof me.
It reminded me you wereChrist's ambassador, you're to
be present with this person,you're to interact with her.
And so I just said it, I'm likeyou know, listen, you're doing
(31:54):
a great job.
And she goes really and my wifegoes really.
I said, yeah, we just startedtalking and I look at my wife.
I said, listen, every time wecome to Costco we're going to
get in Natalie's line.
She's like you realize she'sslow.
I said I know it's perfect,because by the time we get up to
the front of the line I'm goingto take my time to get to know
her.
Those people can wait, becauseI've been waiting forever.
(32:15):
So we get up there and interactwith her.
And so for the next this isalmost 15 years ago we get in
Natalie's line and it wasn'thard to find.
It was the longest one and wejust pick up the conversation
where we left off and I allowedit to disrupt my life.
I allowed the chaos to come inand to say you know what?
We got things, we got places togo.
(32:37):
But all of a sudden it shiftedmy mind towards what does she
need?
And we started interacting.
We pick up the conversationEvery time we got left off.
We picked up the conversationOne time we got in line and I
see her and she waves to us andshe points to the ring on her
finger.
She's like I got engaged and I'msuper excited.
And she said I want you to.
(32:57):
I know you're a pastor, I wantyou to do the wedding.
I'm like, oh, and it was likesix months down the road.
So we'd talk, interact.
And one time we got in line andshe had a really sad face and I
said what's going on?
She said my mother-in-law to beshe doesn't want you to do the
ceremony.
I'm like why?
She said well, she doesn't wanta pastor from Costco to do the
(33:20):
ceremony.
I'm like I don't work here.
I'm the real deal.
Don't work here Like I'm a real.
I'm the real deal.
Look me up Like KirklandSeminary.
Like no, I'm a pastor.
They looked me up.
Sure enough, he's the real deal.
I thought that was funny.
(33:42):
Then we did the ceremony, mywife and I.
It was beautiful and I remembershortly after that they wanted
to come to our church and shesaid we would like to.
Our church is called Westgate.
She said we would like to cometo Christmas Eve mass at
Westgate Parish.
Very similar, our church isjust like yours.
I love the fact she used thatlanguage because she had no idea
(34:04):
she's going to sit in a churchand a service like this is like
a Coldplay concert for ChristmasEve.
Crazy.
She brought 14 people.
They sat in the front row.
I remember seeing them.
They're like shocked.
Like this is mass.
It was so great.
They heard the gospel for thefirst time.
Why?
Because you slow down, youlisten and you allow the spirit
(34:29):
to interrupt in what's going onand you're like what am I
supposed to be paying attentionto?
It's the barista.
It's the next person you meet.
When you're at a restaurant andyou get bad service, you don't
tip because of what they've done.
You tip because what's beendone for you.
You tip generously and itchanges the game.
(34:49):
All of a sudden you're having aconversation like why would
they tip me so much?
Because you're Christ'sambassador and the Spirit of God
works through you as a conduit.
The promise of the Holy Spiritto the church today is the same
as it's always been theinvitation to come, allow water
to heal and refresh the brokenplaces in your own life, and the
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invitation to become being partof the current that brings
peace and hope to the world.
The Spirit isn't locked in thisbuilding here flows through you
and you're the channel throughwhich dead places are revived.
Do you believe that you have tolive that?
(35:34):
Here's my challenge for you topray this prayer when you wake
up in the morning.
Just try it for one week.
Just wake up in the morning andsay God, fill me with your
spirit, give me the mind ofChrist, give me the eyes that
will see, give me the eyes thatwill see, give me the ears that
will hear, give me the mouththat will bless, and just see
how your day goes.
What you've done, you justinvited the spirit to put on a
(35:56):
whole new lens to see thingsthat you never saw before.
So here's my closingdeclaration to you, church.
You are not meant to managechaos.
You are not called to stand onthe riverbank and watch.
The one who hovered overcreation's chaos now hovers over
yours.
(36:16):
The Spirit has come and theinvitation is simple Come, drink
deeply and become part of thecurrent that heals the world.
Will you stand with me inprayer?
Holy Spirit, we invite you intothe chaos, into our own chaos,
(36:37):
not to tidy it up, but totransform it.
Speak light into our darkness,pour peace into our panic, flow
through our wounds so that wemight become a river of life in
the broken places around us.
We don't want to just observe,we want to swim.
(36:57):
For the sake of the King andthe kingdom, we pray in Jesus'
name Amen.
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