Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] You're listening to a live recording from Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. Thanks for joining us.
[00:00:06] We're going through the Book of John. We're going to be in John chapter 15 and 16 today as we finish up the narrative in Scripture in the Book of John that is the Last Supper. And so the context of this is that Jesus is trying to help paint a picture of vision and understanding for what is about to happen, not just to him, but then to the movement that they've created.
[00:00:29] And this is a confusing time for the disciples. They don't know exactly necessarily what Jesus is talking about. Some seem to get it better than others.
[00:00:36] But there's a lot of anxiety that's beginning to happen in the group, and for good reason. And then Jesus is trying to explain what is happening, what's about to happen, and then what is a potential comfort for this group as they go forward. So I'm gonna invite you to go ahead and stand with me, and we're gonna read a different translation today. We're gonna read the message translation. I just love the imagery of it and would love to read this together. Just kidding. I will read it over you. Okay, I'm gonna shut up and keep talking. Here we go.
[00:01:05] I'm the real vine, and my father is the farmer.
[00:01:09] He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that has great bearing, he prunes back so that it will bear even more.
[00:01:17] You are already pruned back by the message that I've spoken. Live in me, make your home in me, just as I do in you.
[00:01:24] In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself, but only by being joined to the vine. You can't bear fruit unless you're joined with me.
[00:01:32] I am the vine, you are the branches. And when you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic. The harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing.
[00:01:44] Anyone who separates from me is dead wood gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words at home with you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon.
[00:01:56] This is how my Father shows who he is. When you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples, I've loved you the way that my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. And that's what I've done. Kept my father's commands and made Myself at home in his love. I've told you these things for purpose, that my joy might be your joy.
[00:02:21] Your joy wholly mature.
[00:02:23] And so this is my command. Love one another the way that I've loved you.
[00:02:29] This is the very best way to love.
[00:02:32] So put your life on the line for your friends.
[00:02:35] You are my friends when you do the things that I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father. You didn't choose me, remember? I chose you and put you in the world to bear fruit. Fruit that won't spoil.
[00:02:55] As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. But remember the root command. Love one another.
[00:03:03] This is the word of the Lord. Father God, we pray that we would abide in your word today. In Jesus name, Amen. You can be seated.
[00:03:15] So again, John 13 through 17 takes place the night before Jesus crucifixion.
[00:03:20] And there's this kind of general sense that something is wrong, or at least a little off. And Jesus has washed feet, Judas has left the room. And Jesus keeps talking about leaving.
[00:03:33] Now imagine the confusion for these young men who have made the decision to follow Jesus. What do you mean you're leaving? We've given everything to follow you. We've given up our. Our homes and our lives and our finances and our families, and we've been following after you. And now you're talking about leaving us also. You're the Messiah. Aren't you supposed to stay? We've got some goals to accomplish before eventually all of us die. But we have much, much more to do.
[00:03:59] And really, I believe that they thought that this story would end in not just a kind of victory, which was political and governmental, but really they wanted something visible. Something visible that would change the world.
[00:04:13] And instead, Jesus in this conversation is talking about absence and invisibility.
[00:04:19] A pretty big departure from victory and visibility to absence and invisibility.
[00:04:27] But then Jesus insists something shocking. And he'll say this in chapter 16, and we'll talk about this in a second. He actually says, this is good, that I'm going away.
[00:04:37] And I guess what I would ask today, and maybe you're asking this as well, is how can that possibly be a better way?
[00:04:46] Now that's me. And maybe I'm. I can. I have a tendency to be a little bit cynical.
[00:04:51] You know, I feel like I'd be maybe a Little bit suspicious of Jesus right here in this moment. Like, Jesus is almost like a guy. Did you have this person in your life when you were maybe in college that was just really bad with breaking up with people?
[00:05:04] I was like, no, it'll be better this way. It's not you, it's me.
[00:05:08] It feels a little bit like Jesus is doing something like this. And I would be looking at Jesus as he's saying, look, this is going to be better, that I actually instead go away and be like, no, it's not.
[00:05:19] I 100% disagree.
[00:05:21] Nice having you here. We can talk to you. You do, like, the miracle thing now, by the way, Jesus, you said a lot of weird things along the way, like, eat my flesh, drink my blood. And I've kind of come to terms with a lot of this stuff I've sacrificed for you. And now we're sitting here having dinner and now you're like, you're gonna leave me?
[00:05:37] No, this is not an option. And I totally don't understand how it could actually be better. And that's when Jesus begins to talk about how he's the vine and we're the branches.
[00:05:50] And every first century listener would have understood this kind of metaphor and terminology.
[00:05:54] And I don't know if you know this, but in the Old Testament scriptures, you'll find that Israel itself is very often referred to as, as the vine, including Psalm chapter 80 and Isaiah 5. But as we know, and that the disciples knew that it wasn't always that Israel was able and willing to bear fruit. And so Jesus, as a part of this kind of replacement, this greater Messiah, that's greater than a nation, and it's greater than a king and a leader. Instead, he says, now I am the true vine, meaning that life with God actually now flows through this relationship with me. And so abide in, in this place. As somebody that has grown up in church and listened to a lot of preachers, and preachers love this metaphor. It kind of teaches itself.
[00:06:36] I am tempted to spin this kind of really highly inspirational sermon this morning and then just really just tell you to abide. Just abide. Just do it. Just do the abiding. And growing up, I always remember, like this, wow, that feels really good. They're telling me to do this thing and I'm inspired. I feel great. I don't know what abiding means.
[00:06:55] I don't know how it works.
[00:06:57] How do we do that? And that's where in Christian history we've developed kind of this habit of, okay, we gotta create some physical spaces that now become the place that we can actually live in with the Lord or create certain kinds of music now, physical spaces. I love this room, this church, love the music that we make, all those things.
[00:07:14] But Jesus is talking about something better than all this. He's talking about this real connection that what I've experienced in my life is actually the fruit of a process in which I am constantly trying to come back to the teachings of Jesus so that I may be instructed again and again and fashioned in a way that looks and sounds and speaks like Jesus. This last week I was in, I drove out to sun river to see my in laws who live in a place kind of close to the shopping village in there.
[00:07:42] And if you go to sun river from Bend, you know, you're driving south on 97, you hit that like Century Drive exit. And then there's kind of a decent little stretch of highway before you hit the first circle. And then you can go out toward Mount Bachelor, you can go in towards sun river. And about halfway down this little stretch, you know, I'm going 60 miles an hour in a 55 as one does, you know, we give ourselves the five. It's fine.
[00:08:05] A ford escape, a black Ford escape flies up behind me, is right behind me.
[00:08:14] So there's nobody else on this road. This guy flies up behind me and I boy, did I slow down even more.
[00:08:22] And I get to the circle and again the circle is empty and I'm looking left, you know, I'm letting off the brake and hitting the brake again.
[00:08:31] And this guy flips me off and he's yelling at me and I'm laughing and laughing, having a great time. And that guy, I waved at him as he went by and oh man, I just downright enjoyed myself.
[00:08:45] And then that evening and the next morning I go, I wonder, I wonder if that was the way of Jesus.
[00:08:54] The answer is yes. Actually, I prayed about it.
[00:09:00] So good news, I guess, right?
[00:09:08] Jury's still out on that one. I'm not completely sure. I can't imagine Jesus pumping his brakes as he enters into a circle and there's like a small handful of you that are like, it's very unsafe. Okay, I get it, I get it.
[00:09:21] But justice, okay, I'm not really talking about the act that I did. As much as I have noticed over the course of my life and pastoring and walking with Jesus, I do have these little check ins where I'll think back on the previous day or the previous couple days or what I'm about to do and consider is this does this look and sound and feel like Jesus and I get it wrong so often.
[00:09:49] But I am happy to say that I know that my life hasn't just improved, but I've more often found my purpose. And I believe in many situations, cared for the world better because of this regular desire to go back and into the way of Jesus, to go back to his teachings in Scripture, to try to prayerfully consider what Jesus has done and how he would have me live my life today.
[00:10:11] And that's an important practice that we all need to continue to develop and cultivate. Because if we don't have that, then it's very easily, it's very easy to develop our own version and brand of Christianity that simply exists inside of our own train of thought. And then it can become whatever kind of Christianity that we want it to be.
[00:10:30] Because we're not actually checking in on the teachings of Jesus.
[00:10:34] We're not actually coming back to that place and wondering and considering humbly and open handedly, am I abiding in him now? After Easter, we're going to go through the Sermon on the Mount together. We're going to talk about the Beatitudes.
[00:10:50] And Jesus very directly is going to say things like, blessed are the poor in spirit and blessed are the meek.
[00:10:57] They're going to inherit the earth. And he says these things that I read and I go, oh my gosh, I hope a lot of these things are metaphors.
[00:11:03] And he's like, blessed are the kind of meek sometimes, because I want to be out front and big and massive and strong and charismatic. And he's talking about meek people and poor people and brokenhearted people. And these are the people that are really understanding and inheriting the kingdom of God. And when we come back and we revisit these teachings, these difficult teachings, these things that will challenge us no matter what end of the political spectrum that we're on, no matter what upbringing we have, these teachings will challenge us. But we are called then to abide, to return over and over and over, to remain, to stay and to make our home inside the person in the presence of Jesus. It says in John 15:5, Apart from me, you can do nothing.
[00:11:44] That's the big blind spot that we often have because we think going back to you and remaining with you feels so strong, it feels so difficult. But I understand that I could go out and with my own willpower build a kingdom that in our minds maybe would glorify God, but ultimately would be a departure from who Jesus is.
[00:12:04] And so Jesus doesn't say, work harder, try to be more moral and produce fruit.
[00:12:12] Instead. He says, stay connected.
[00:12:16] Stay with me.
[00:12:20] Because who we become flows from where we abide.
[00:12:25] As you'll notice that fruit isn't something that branches kind of manufacture on their own. Fruit is something that branches receive from the health of the vine.
[00:12:36] A branch doesn't strain to produce grapes. Instead, it simply remains right.
[00:12:41] But here's this tension. So Jesus says, abide in me. And the disciples are thinking, how are we supposed to do that if you're leaving? We know we've been abiding. We've. We've literally been sleeping in the same rooms and walking on the same trails. We're doing the thing so they'd follow him physically. They heard his voice and watch his miracles and. And shared the same dust on their clothes and on their shoes and feet that he had. And now he says he's going away. And so this understanding of discipleship is actually coming to collapse. It's everything. It's how they've been living their life and how they've been walking and existing. It's all about to completely fall apart. And then Jesus, in chapter 16, begins to talk about what we know as the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:21] And so in John 16:1, he says, I've told you these things so that you won't abandon your faith, for you will be expelled from the synagogues. And the time is coming when those who kill you will think that they are doing a holy service for God. This is because they've never known the Father or me. And yes, I'm telling you these things now so that when they happen, you'll remember my warning. I didn't tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer. But now I'm going away to the One who sent me. And not one of you is asking where I'm going. Instead, you grieve because of what I've told you. Some translations of verse 6 say you're getting sadder and sadder.
[00:13:58] It's like Jesus is rubbing it in or something.
[00:14:01] But in fact, it's best for you that I go away. Because if I don't, the advocate won't come.
[00:14:06] And if I do go away, then I will send him to you when he comes. He will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. And the world's sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father and you will see me. No more judgment will come because the ruler of the world has Already been judged. So Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit. And I've had many of you, a few of you over the last really especially couple months, ask me in a really great way, why don't we talk more about the Holy Spirit? Why don't we preach more about the Holy Spirit? And I will own responsibility for not teaching on that as much as we should.
[00:14:43] And for me personally, it's not that I don't have an understanding of what I believe, but there are a lot of aspects of the teaching and the theology that I have around the Holy Spirit that we have, that I'm really trying to walk into really well myself personally, before I feel like I can, with great conviction, lead people into that place. And so I'm just going to be honest with you. I'm slow on this topic right now, and I'll let you know when I can get up a little bit faster.
[00:15:11] But I will speak specifically to what Jesus is talking about in this. Right. Because the Holy Spirit, this phrasing, this phrase can bring up a lot of different connotations or experiences for many of us. Right. Maybe you even grew up with the Holy Ghost.
[00:15:27] Ooh, creepy.
[00:15:31] We talked about this in our teaching team, Evan and Lindsay and Brant and I, and we were talking about terminology and I was like, holy Spirit or the Spirit of Jesus is something that's referenced often in Acts and then in Romans. And I was like, how do we feel about the Holy Ghost? Lindsay was like, don't you dare.
[00:15:49] And why? I don't know. It just feels like that was part of an era or a time or whatever. But I'm trying to get to the center of this thing. All right, what is the Holy Spirit? Because Jesus took this time during this dinner before his death, which, by the way, if he knows that this is the last dinner, the last night that they're going to have together, what he is saying in this time is, I would imagine it's deeply meaningful and purposeful to him.
[00:16:13] And so he's talking specifically about how this is actually going to be an advocate that comes when I leave some translations would say a comforter or a helper.
[00:16:24] And I love the idea that that is how Jesus leads ahead with the Holy Spirit.
[00:16:30] Cause this almost sounds impossible. Cause how could anything be better than Jesus right beside us? But then when we consider the limitation of Jesus physical presence, right when he was in Galilee, maybe he wasn't in Jerusalem when he was talking to Peter, he wasn't necessarily talking to Thomas. His presence is localized. But through the Spirit, Jesus presence is now becoming universal and, and internal. And Jesus is saying that universal presence, that is my presence, will actually be a comfort to you.
[00:16:57] He leads with comfort.
[00:17:01] Eugene Peterson describes the Holy Spirit this way. The Holy Spirit is the way Jesus continues to be present with us even after the resurrection. It's as simple as that.
[00:17:11] The Spirit of Jesus going with us after his death and his resurrection. And so the Spirit is not a replacement for Jesus, but the Spirit is the presence of Jesus with His people.
[00:17:23] And so in John 16 it continues, in verse 12 it says, there's so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it. Now when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will tell you what he's heard. And he will tell you about the future.
[00:17:36] He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. And all that belongs to the Father is mine. And this is why I said, the Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me. In a little while you won't see me anymore. But in a little while after that, you'll see me again.
[00:17:51] And so Jesus describes what the Spirit will do. Listen to this. The Spirit convicts the world. He'll prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment. The Spirit exposes false stories that we live by.
[00:18:04] And in doing so he reveals the need for grace. Our often misunderstanding of what righteousness or right with Godness is, our blindness to God's kingdom.
[00:18:15] The Spirit also guides into truth. He will guide you into all truth it says. And notice what he says next. He will not speak on his own. And so the Spirit isn't inventing this brand new message, but instead the Spirit is continuing the teaching of Jesus so that Jesus might be glorified in us even thousands of years later. This is the Job of the Holy Spirit says, He will glorify me because it is from Me that He will receive what he will make known to you.
[00:18:41] And so the Spirit's mission is not simply to draw attention to Himself, but the Spirit's mission is to make Jesus real to us. And so the Spirit makes Jesus real to us.
[00:18:56] So this is something fascinating to me. In the New Testament, the early church sometimes uses this different phrase. Like I talked about before, it's not just the Holy Spirit, but it's the Spirit of Jesus. Acts 16:7, Luke writes, the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to do something. And Paul in Romans 8 says, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they don't belong to Christ. So why specifically this phrase?
[00:19:19] And again, it's because it's that continuing of the life of Jesus among them. So when the Spirit is speaking, Jesus is speaking. When the Spirit is guiding, Jesus was guiding. And when the Spirit comforted, Jesus was coming. Comforting.
[00:19:31] The resurrection didn't mean that Jesus disappeared, but instead it mean that his life expanded beyond our wildest imagination.
[00:19:40] And so now I want to connect these two passages, right? Jesus, I think, puts them together, John puts them together on purpose that we're called to abide in the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit will come.
[00:19:54] We're abiding in Jesus and Holy Spirit will come.
[00:19:59] And so I wonder how we do that. Well, there's, there's lots of ways. And I've talked about this regular kind of check in, not evaluation and not some reason to be shamed, but this regular check in. How does the teachings of Jesus sound when put up against what I speak and how I live in my life?
[00:20:16] But I also want to draw attention to this, this kind of awareness that I believe is important when it comes to the Holy Spirit.
[00:20:24] We used to sing this song.
[00:20:26] We used to sing it a lot.
[00:20:28] It was called Holy Spirit and it came out in like 0708, something like that. And I was a worship pastor at the time, and boy, I probably sang that song 700 times.
[00:20:40] And I gotta say, it hits different the 700th time compared to the first.
[00:20:45] But I do remember this experience that I had because you sing through the verse in the chorus and it gets to the bridge and the bridge has this line that says, let us become more aware of your presence.
[00:20:59] Let us experience the wonder of your goodness.
[00:21:02] And I remember hearing that for the first time being like, no, I don't think so. Have you ever done that with a worship song? Ooh, I hate that.
[00:21:13] It's a very godly experience to have in here.
[00:21:18] Nope, not that one. Don't like that.
[00:21:21] But I was keying in on this, like, let us become more aware of your presence. Because I think up until that point I was like, what we do is we have to gather together and then if we're doing a really good job as Christians, we can conjure the presence of the Holy Spirit.
[00:21:36] We're going to make this happen, right? If we sing well enough and we sing loud enough. And by the way, we sing at the right time and we lift our hands at the right time.
[00:21:45] Which, by the way, nothing better than a good orchestrated church and a good worship service. Hello, Holy Spirit. You are welcome. You know, flood this. Okay. That's just for me.
[00:21:59] And it feels so good, right? There's like this unity to it. We're singing and it's loud and there's this crescendo. And music has this beautiful thing that happens, and it does to us. And I used to think, okay, when we feel that feeling, like that's all of a sudden the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the room. And. And then I went to a rock concert and I felt the same way.
[00:22:20] And I was like, shoo.
[00:22:23] Blink182 can do the same thing to me at the worship. Pastor, this is terrible news.
[00:22:33] Now, I'm not saying they're the exact same and that our hymns are the same thing as, you know, first date or something like that, but I'm saying we have to be able to. Been willing to get past this kind of, like, massive communal and purely emotional experience, which, by the way, I believe that the Holy Spirit works through our emotions as well. And we have to get to this point. Like the actual bridge of the song says, can we be aware of the presence of God?
[00:22:56] Because the moment we get into this thing where we have to create these practices in order to conjure the presence of God, our spirituality and our Christianity becomes deeply performative and formulaic. And then when we don't get the results that we want, all of a sudden, then we feel like we are the. Or whatever. But really, the trick that he's trying to help the disciples understand in this moment is that I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to give it to you for free. And that Holy Spirit is going to go with you. And you say, well, when you live a righteous and good and a faithful life, then the Holy Spirit will follow along with you. He is speaking this over a group of young boys who will betray him, who will run and cry at his hour of greatest need, and to one who will then go on and full on betray him. And. And to this group, he says, I send my spirit with you.
[00:23:41] What a waste on these losers.
[00:23:48] But thus, in that teaching, the Holy Spirit coming into this group of people and then distributing all throughout the world, it's this message on grace where Jesus is saying, I'm not looking for your marriage to be perfect. I'm not looking for your words to be perfect. I'm gonna send my spirit to you because I want to be with you. I want to go with you. I want you to experience my love. And it doesn't matter where you've been or where you're going I. I want to be with you because you're my son and my daughter, and that's how I'm choosing to love you. And there's nothing that you can do about it.
[00:24:16] And so then the job of the Christian becomes, how do we live understanding that the Holy Spirit then goes with us. If we are aware of the presence of God, then how would we walk through the world knowing that the Creator of the universe walks with us and is in us today?
[00:24:32] That's the challenge that we have.
[00:24:36] Can we just be aware?
[00:24:38] Can we just shut up long enough sometimes to remember that the Holy Spirit is with us?
[00:24:43] Can we just stop and pause and reflect and understand that when you coach the youth sports team and when you walk the river trail and when you find yourself in silence and solitude or at a concert at Hayden Homes, no matter where we go, that the Holy Spirit is in there and teaching and moving and comforting us in those places.
[00:25:04] And so for those of you, especially those of you who find yourself in a lonely condition today, I want to encourage you that it's not after you rekindle that relationship, you find that new job or that purpose, that finally you'll feel the comfort that comes along with community. Instead, right now, in what looks like loneliness to the world, you can find comfort in the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:28] It's not just this massive move of power. And like I said, there's a lot to talk about with the Holy Spirit, and we're gonna continue to talk about that. We talk about kind of these movements. We talk about prayers, we talk about speaking in tongues. We talk about a lot of these things in connection with the Holy Spirit. All well and good. But Jesus goes out of his way to say, this will comfort you in desperate times.
[00:25:53] So good.
[00:25:57] And this is why Paul can say in Galatians, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
[00:26:03] This thing that's propelling and teaching him forward.
[00:26:09] And then we should be aware that when the presence of God is with us and that we are aware of it, we should be aware of those fruits of the Spirit that then should come as a result. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control.
[00:26:27] These aren't personality traits, but they're actually fruits that are then produced by the people of God.
[00:26:34] Tim Keller once said, the Gospel creates a new motivation and a new power for obedience.
[00:26:42] This power comes from the Spirit of Jesus.
[00:26:47] And so as we get ready to close and Brent, I've abandoned my keyboard cue. Somewhere in here, you can just go ahead and come out anytime.
[00:26:59] I Don't. Where the heck did it go?
[00:27:08] And so maybe you're like me, and you've tried to imagine how amazing it would be to live in the days of Jesus, which would be really cool, hear him preach and watch him heal and walk beside him on the road like these disciples did. But we have to return to this how Jesus started. Chapter 16. So it's better for you that I go.
[00:27:26] And so we have to live from this place today. I want to encourage you to live from this place today, that somehow this is better.
[00:27:36] Are we aware of the presence of God and the Spirit of God in a way where we can embrace that this is actually the better way?
[00:27:44] Because now the presence of Jesus isn't just beside us, it's within us, right?
[00:27:49] And through the Spirit. Now, Jesus walks into every workplace and sits at every kitchen table and in every hospital room through you, through his people, the Spirit of God goes with you.
[00:28:05] And so then we get to receive this message that this Christian life that we live isn't about trying harder, but it's about staying connected, abiding, listening to the Spirit, trusting the life of Jesus to then flow through us.
[00:28:23] Because again, we get to be the branches.
[00:28:28] We don't have to conjure this thing up. Instead, we get to receive the fruit that simply comes by being connected.
[00:28:35] We produce fruit by remaining.
[00:28:38] And the Spirit of Jesus is the living connection between the vine and the branches.
[00:28:44] And so I want to ask you again, and I feel like I've asked this in some way, shape or form over the last several messages, and I believe that that's a Holy Spirit thing. Is, are you striving or abiding?
[00:28:56] Striving or abiding?
[00:28:58] Are you trying to overcome all the problems and issues that you've created in this world for yourself and for others? Or are you abiding first and then allowing the fruit of God to then appear in the middle of all that?
[00:29:09] That can be such a difficult road, to simply be humble enough to connect ourselves back to the vine. But that is the one that Jesus is leading to.
[00:29:17] And so in a moment, we're gonna close. And if you like communion elements brought to you, you can go ahead and raise your hand right now, and we'll wait for a moment.
[00:29:29] What would it take to just be, and not just to be present in the moment, which I think is a piece of it, right? But what would it take for us to just be, to just exist inside of God, even just for a moment, and just to say, I am good enough, not because of my own Works because of what I've accomplished, but because it's the grace of God that works through me. Me.
[00:29:54] What would it take to stop evaluating ourselves and the shape of our bodies and our understanding of the future and our financial situation just for a moment, to just simply relax and recline in knowing that we have been called and loved and adored by God?
[00:30:13] It's just being with.
[00:30:19] I was talking with one of you the other day that was saying like, well, how. What's like a practice and how can I do this? And this person is particularly fitness kind of minded. I brought this up with a few people, but I was like, yeah, well you're familiar with like personal records and stuff, right? And getting stuff done faster, working faster, going through workouts faster, running farther, faster.
[00:30:40] And they were like, yeah. And I was like, okay, what would it take to prioritize your mile? But on the long end, can you do a 30 minute mile on the river trail?
[00:30:49] Oh, this is a person that runs seven minute miles, you know, what would that take? Well, it would probably take stopping.
[00:30:59] Okay, good.
[00:31:02] It would probably take looking around, finding a bench. Okay, great. I think we're onto something.
[00:31:09] What would it take to just slow down and to stop?
[00:31:12] What would it take to be reminded that the presence is just the most powerful thing? I feel like my family's been through a lot over the last couple years. And then the other night when I was out in sun river, after I had messed with the guy in the car behind me, my father in law asked me to take his truck for a spin because it needed to be run and so I was gonna get in it. And I just kind of drive around sun river and I looked at my son and I said, you want to go, Joel? And he was like, I'd love to. And I was like, oh, I'm gonna cry.
[00:31:39] You want to be with me?
[00:31:43] What could be better?
[00:31:46] And now look, he's an 11 year old punk kid and I'm great, I'm awesome. He should want to be with me.
[00:31:53] But now imagine the creator of the universe that could be anywhere, that could do anything, that could love anyone, has now made the decision to exist inside and with you.
[00:32:02] And it's not because of that great thing you did the other day. And it's not because of this difficult decision that's coming up, or Jesus is coming alongside and being like, okay, well I'll be here with you on this one because this is a tough one. The spirit of God is just like, I just want to be with you. That's it.
[00:32:19] Nothing needs to happen before that. No precursors, no earning, no effort. I just want to be with you. Because I want to be with you. Because I want to be with you.
[00:32:27] And that's all that it takes.
[00:32:28] That's Christianity. That's how God walks with us. And then we get the invitation to abide in that presence. Amen.
