Latest / Citipointe Church Caboolture / The Sift | Ps Rachel Eaton
Transcript
- 0:02Hey, welcome to the City Point Church podcast.
- 0:04Thanks for joining us. Every day is an opportunity to
- 0:07take hold of. So we hope this message inspires
- 0:10you and build your faith, but it helps you have more of the God
- 0:13perspective for your day. Enjoy.
- 0:17So you've got that movie, Jerry Maguire.
- 0:19You complete me and she's like, you had me at hello.
- 0:24So these human relationships, there's an expectation in the
- 0:27world that when we find that person, that one person, oh,
- 0:32that you will complete me. It's actually a really hefty
- 0:35responsibility. It's like when when I'm empty,
- 0:39it's your job to fill me. When I'm sad, it's your job to
- 0:43make me happy. And when I'm angry, it's your
- 0:46job to calm me down. It's a hefty responsibility to
- 0:50put on anyone human being and it's actually an impossible one
- 0:56because we just read in the Bible, God's word, the breath of
- 1:00God, Jesus speaking himself. Guys, the only way you're going
- 1:04to find completeness in life, the only way you're going to
- 1:07find fulfilment is actually in your union with me.
- 1:13And that word union together with in, in relationship with
- 1:18not hearing about, but in relationship with, in union with
- 1:22me. That's where we find
- 1:24completeness. We are talking relationships
- 1:27this month that got the theme, you and me and chat GTP.
- 1:35I don't know why we'd have a relationship with chat GTP GPT.
- 1:41See, I don't know. My husband's a grok man.
- 1:47Yeah. Yeah.
- 1:48You know, if you know, you know, this morning I actually want to
- 1:53talk on the topic of a sift. Now, This is why I have a
- 1:57spaghetti strainer here, Becca. In my household, this actually
- 2:01double s as a sift, which is what you put flour into for
- 2:04baking. It works well in my house.
- 2:07If you know me, I don't like stuff.
- 2:08I don't like things. So now I don't have to have a
- 2:10sifter and a spaghetti strainer. It does both, and I save more
- 2:14space in my kitchen. It makes for a happier me.
- 2:17But you don't need to hear about my kitchen practices.
- 2:19What we're here to talk about is the sift.
- 2:22Do you all who bakes here show me.
- 2:24Yeah. Do you sift your flour when you
- 2:26bake it? And doesn't it make for a much
- 2:29smoother experience when that flour is sifted through?
- 2:32If you're not a Baker, hold up. I'm going to help you out and
- 2:36let you know what sifting does. Sifting.
- 2:40It breaks up those clumps when you've got flour in there and
- 2:44they're all stuck together. Stuck it helps because it breaks
- 2:48up the clumps. It adds air breath.
- 2:53Who needs Holy Spirit breath in their relationships.
- 2:56Thank you Jesus, stay open this morning.
- 3:00It removes impurities other another way of looking back
- 3:05things that just don't belong there.
- 3:07So it highlights things when we sift, you go, oh, that doesn't
- 3:11belong in there. And we can pull those impurities
- 3:14out. And it also improves the mixing,
- 3:18which makes for a much smoother experience.
- 3:20So we as a church are going to go for a bit of a sift this
- 3:24morning. I know you ready.
- 3:27We're going to hold on. We're going to sift ourselves
- 3:30through God's Word, sift ourselves, sift our relationship
- 3:35with him, and sift our relationship with others through
- 3:39what God's Word has to say. So we ready?
- 3:44OK, we're going to start in Psalm 6310.
- 3:49God, you are my God. I earnestly search for you.
- 3:56My soul thirsts for you, my whole body.
- 4:02I want to ask a question this morning as we take a bit of a
- 4:05sift. Does passion and desire feature
- 4:09in your relationship with Jesus? As you read this Bible verse in
- 4:16Psalms, God's Word, does this exist, this kind of passion?
- 4:22Do you know what it is to earnestly seek God?
- 4:26Do you have the kind of passion where you can falter your knees,
- 4:30not just on a Sunday, but on a Monday?
- 4:33On a Tuesday, does passion overtake you where you remember
- 4:37that there's two people in the room, not just this outpouring
- 4:42of God and, and what you need and, and you're constantly
- 4:45talking and, and, and communicating, but communication
- 4:48has two people in the room. Even in worship this morning and
- 4:54and in that lead moment, I had this vision of God where we're
- 4:58pouring out our hearts. My hand was on my heart.
- 5:00I'm like Lord, but I just saw God's hand on his receiving.
- 5:06There's two people in a relationship.
- 5:08Does passion feature in your relationship with Jesus?
- 5:12What does it look like? I'm talking to new Christians in
- 5:16the room. I'm talking to old Christians in
- 5:18the room. Does passion feature in your
- 5:21relationship with Jesus? Does it still?
- 5:25And if it doesn't, what's present?
- 5:30Would you search yourself for a moment and allow the sift to
- 5:33take place? What's present when you come
- 5:36before God? Because God's a person.
- 5:41Holy Spirit's a person. He's not an idol, a dead idol
- 5:46that we come and bow down to. No, he's a person who he is.
- 5:50He's a person who responds. He's a person that wants to
- 5:54unite. He's a person who can be
- 5:56offended and delighted. Holy Spirit is a person and so I
- 6:04want to do this sift this morning and I What is your
- 6:10relationship like? Building a relationship with Him
- 6:13is not that different to building 1 with any other human.
- 6:18It's time spent with Him. It's curiosity, exploring.
- 6:25It's actually to be vulnerable, which means that you want to
- 6:30remove the masks, to be open and honest, to be seen and to see.
- 6:38And this is possible. I love this scripture because it
- 6:41shows us what's possible in Jesus.
- 6:44In Hebrews 10/19 it reads. And so, dear brothers and
- 6:47sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's most holy place because
- 6:52of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened up a
- 6:56new and life giving way, a new and life giving way through the
- 7:01curtain into the most holy place.
- 7:04So in the Old Testament, the the Holy of Holies was only ever
- 7:09accessed once a year. It was a bit like Christmas.
- 7:13Once a year, one person, which was the high priest got to go
- 7:17into the presence of God and, and you know, it was like
- 7:20Christmas that you're counting down, you know, or 4 weeks, 3
- 7:23days and two days. I'm sorry, two days.
- 7:24So we go to Yom Kippur. Unless you like Pastor Mel.
- 7:27And you'd be counting in what, February.
- 7:31Yeah. When?
- 7:32I'm just curious, when is the earliest that you have ever
- 7:35looked for Christmas presents? Maybe July.
- 7:40No earlier. January.
- 7:43There you go. January.
- 7:44She looks forward to Christmas in January.
- 7:46No one loves Christmas more than Pastor Mel.
- 7:50But Yom Kippur was like this in the Old Testament.
- 7:52There was this excitement, this buzz, irreverent fear even of
- 7:56coming into the Holy of Holies. Only one person got to go, but
- 8:00there was a buzz and an excitement around it.
- 8:04Did you know that we are now able to access the Holy of
- 8:09Holies whenever we want to because of what Jesus did?
- 8:13And he tore that curtain wide open and went, No, you can come
- 8:17into my presence whenever you want to.
- 8:20But church, do we want to? Do you want to?
- 8:28A lot of our relationship with God can be centred around should
- 8:33I should want to, I should pray, I should be in your presence.
- 8:41But do we want to? Do we want to come boldly?
- 8:46Has access reduced desire? Has access reduced reverence for
- 8:55this, this moment of raw, unfiltered adoration before God?
- 9:00It's a bit like at the dinner table.
- 9:03You know when when you're your kids, they sit down and, and
- 9:06you've spent hours preparing this meal for them.
- 9:09You've gone shopping, you've prepared the food, you've
- 9:11probably done the dishes before you've even served it.
- 9:14And they sit down to eat this dinner.
- 9:16And then you're faced with, and then dad will come in and say
- 9:20something like eat it and be grateful for it.
- 9:22And they're like, thank you, Mom.
- 9:23You're like, yeah, great. It's awesome thanking you
- 9:26because you have to. And then you'll have a child
- 9:29come in who's maybe a little bit older.
- 9:31And then you hear this. Oh Mom, you're the best.
- 9:35I love this meal. And they'll come and they'll hug
- 9:37you and they'll think you, oh, it smells amazing, can I get
- 9:40into it now? And they sit and they inhale it
- 9:43in one mouthful. And you're like, oh, you go and
- 9:46try and pick up your heart off the floor 'cause it's melted in
- 9:49this moment. And then you might be like, you
- 9:52can have anything you want up to half my Kingdom.
- 9:55There's this, this response, but there's this unfiltered, raw
- 10:01gratitude and adoration. Does God ever get that from us?
- 10:08Does he ever get that from us? Raw, unfiltered, real, honest
- 10:17adoration. He deserves it.
- 10:21But just allow yourself to be sifted and go.
- 10:23If this desire doesn't actually exist, why not?
- 10:28What does exist? What's present when you come
- 10:31before God? There are some blockers to
- 10:35intimacy in relationship. I'm going to just speak about
- 10:40one in our relationship with God.
- 10:45It's actually sin. Sin blocks us from being
- 10:51intimate with God. God's like this hopeless
- 10:54romantic that he wants to be close to you.
- 10:58He doesn't actually want to judge you.
- 11:01He didn't come and die on the cross because he wants to give
- 11:04out judgement. He came and he died on the cross
- 11:07because he wants to cover you, because he wants to be in
- 11:10relationship. He is a hopeless romantic.
- 11:13If you don't believe me, go and read Hosea.
- 11:16He is desperate for you. He's not about religion, he's
- 11:20actually about the relationship. I want to be close to you.
- 11:24That's what he wants. And then sin can get in the way.
- 11:29I often think sometimes like God is so wants to lavish love on
- 11:35us. He's so desperate to lavish love
- 11:38on us and, and as he as he pours out his love and as he as he as
- 11:44he sends his son, I think he actually knew the whole world
- 11:49right at the beginning, what was going to happen.
- 11:52He knew all of the horror. He knew all of the cruelty that
- 11:57was going to exist through every generation.
- 12:00He saw it all. He knew it all and he went, I
- 12:04love relationships so much it's actually worth it to me.
- 12:08How much more than does it mean when we have this moment of
- 12:12roar, unfiltered adoration to God?
- 12:16Could you think it through for a moment?
- 12:18He saw all of it and he went, I I'm going to choose to do this
- 12:22anyway because when you love me, when you show this gratitude,
- 12:27when you connect with me real, it's all worth it to me.
- 12:31That's crazy. That's that's a hopeless
- 12:35romantic right there. But sin does get in the way.
- 12:41Sin doing the wrong thing actually gets in the way of
- 12:45every relationship. Am I right?
- 12:49When someone's done the wrong thing by you, instantly there's
- 12:52a block, but it's the same with God.
- 12:57And so when sin comes in, just give me a second.
- 13:02When sin comes in, we've we've got to first of all own it.
- 13:08And then there's got to be this repentance and then this
- 13:11receiving of forgiveness. James 4 actually says that God
- 13:17is passionate. It uses those words, God is
- 13:20passionate and that the Spirit that He's placed within us
- 13:23should be faithful to him. It goes on to say come close to
- 13:27God and then he will come close to you.
- 13:29Can you hear his? I just want to be close to you.
- 13:32But then it goes on to say, can you please wash your hands,
- 13:36Sinner, purify your hearts. For your loyalty is divided.
- 13:42Your loyalty is divided between God and the world doing the
- 13:46wrong thing. It blocks intimacy.
- 13:50It blocks it in our human relationships, and it definitely
- 13:53blocks it with God. And so when we do the wrong
- 13:56thing, there's got to be ownership on our behalf.
- 14:02OK, I've got a story here. My, my beautiful son Jamie,
- 14:05who's on lights at the back there.
- 14:10Yes, we all know Jamie. He came to me as a little preppy
- 14:165 years old. He was the cutest little preppy
- 14:20and he comes home and he's all frustrated and kicking things
- 14:23like mom this girl she got me in trouble today.
- 14:28Like wow this is a story I want to I want to hear about this
- 14:32one. So annoying.
- 14:34I was actually only trying to help her and went OK, I said
- 14:37what happened? He goes, well, I was just trying
- 14:39to comfort her. I went, OK, tell me the story.
- 14:43He goes, well, I kind of really liked his prep.
- 14:47He's five years old. And so in his mind, he thought
- 14:51that the best way to get close to this girl was to be able to
- 14:54go and comfort her. Thing is, is that she didn't
- 14:58really need comforting. And so he's an opportunist.
- 15:01So he saw opportunity. If I create opportunity here for
- 15:07her to need to be comforted, I can be that person to come on
- 15:10in. And so he threw a pineapple at
- 15:13her. We had a little conversation on
- 15:22ownership. He could have own your sin.
- 15:31Own when you've done the wrong thing.
- 15:35It's our job to own when we've done the wrong thing in human
- 15:39relationships indefinitely with God.
- 15:43Just confess it. Just get it out.
- 15:46It's our job to humble ourselves, you know.
- 15:49It's not God's job to humble us. That's actually our job to
- 15:52humble ourselves. Say sorry.
- 15:56Say sorry, ladies. Is sorry a normal part of your
- 16:03relationships? Emotionally healthy
- 16:07relationships? Say sorry.
- 16:10Get it out in the open. Let confession come and
- 16:14forgiveness come. Say sorry.
- 16:16No, repentance actually attracts grace.
- 16:22Repentance attracts grace. You know God doesn't.
- 16:26He doesn't want to judge you. He wants to forgive you.
- 16:30He's here. You got to hold him back.
- 16:34He's just waiting for that confession.
- 16:35He wants to show you grace. He wants to extend mercy.
- 16:39He wants to forgive you. But it's our job to confess
- 16:45where we've done wrong and own it in the natural, in our human
- 16:51relationships. An unrepentant heart.
- 16:56It creates distance when someone's done the wrong thing
- 17:01by you and they're not sorry. Instant distance, right?
- 17:06Why can't they just say they're sorry?
- 17:08Instant distance when we just don't own it.
- 17:12It also creates blindness. Can't see anybody else's
- 17:18perspective, only yours. And it also creates judgement.
- 17:24When you don't own it, others are going to judge you.
- 17:27They just do. It's actually just the way that
- 17:29it is. And it's the same with God.
- 17:33He doesn't want to judge, but when there's unrepentants there,
- 17:38that's the next inevitable inevitability.
- 17:43Someone please. You know what I mean.
- 17:49An unrepentant heart is going to create distance between you and
- 17:53God. It also creates spiritual
- 17:57blindness for you're only going to be able to see things from
- 18:00your perspective instead of a God perspective.
- 18:05Intimacy requires confession and forgiveness and he's so good for
- 18:10the forgiveness. He wants to forgive you.
- 18:12Let's take another sift here. We ready.
- 18:16OK Hebrews 6-7 to 9. It says for the Lord disciplines
- 18:24those He loves, and he punishes each person he accepts as His
- 18:29child. As you endure His divine
- 18:32discipline, remember that God is treating you as His own
- 18:36children. Whoever heard of a child who was
- 18:40never disciplined by its father? If God doesn't discipline you as
- 18:45He does all His children, it means that you are illegitimate
- 18:49and not really His children at all.
- 18:53Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us,
- 18:58shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of
- 19:03our spirits and live forever? How's your sift going now?
- 19:11Oh, it might be good for some people.
- 19:13I'm just going to call it and go.
- 19:14We may have found a few clunks because there would be people in
- 19:19this room who heard that, and that's not sitting so well with
- 19:24you, am I right? There would be people in this
- 19:29room that have a real problem with hearing that.
- 19:32It might make you squirm in your seats because God's Word says
- 19:42natural fathers should be respected because they've
- 19:45disciplined so well. But over here we're like that,
- 19:51that, that is not my experience. So is God's word wrong?
- 19:57I'm not trying to be insensitive.
- 19:59I'm trying to show you something.
- 20:03I know for some people in this room, this, this passage in the
- 20:06Bible, it's, it comes with a sting.
- 20:10I'm actually going to ask to allow it to sting a little bit
- 20:15as we just sift this through God's Word.
- 20:18Because when we read something in God's Word, which is truth,
- 20:22which is wholeness, which is life, which is healing, which is
- 20:27hope, which is perfect. And when we read something and
- 20:33we take it through the sift and we go, oh, I don't like that.
- 20:37This isn't sitting so right with me.
- 20:40This is showing fractures and breaks.
- 20:44It's not God's Word that's broken.
- 20:49It's not God's word that's broken.
- 20:51Those fractures and the brokenness it, it's usually in
- 20:55US. And so when we do the sift, it
- 20:59highlights these fractures, sifting our relationships with
- 21:06our parents and then with our children through God's Word.
- 21:10It's going to highlight fractures, small ones and big
- 21:14ones, areas that require a bit of attention, understanding or
- 21:21repair. It's not your fault.
- 21:26It's usually not your fault, but it's there.
- 21:31Our filter is our normal, OK, And we think that our lived
- 21:38experiences are normal because they're our normal.
- 21:41It's it's what happened. It's just normal, but our normal
- 21:45can be formed through trauma, loss, hurt, abandonment,
- 21:52culture, abuse, pain, or neglect.
- 22:00And so everyone's normal can look a little bit different.
- 22:04Now, why is this important in relationships?
- 22:08Because how we do relationship with other people comes out of
- 22:12the framework of our lived experience.
- 22:16But now we're at an impasse. We've got God's word up here,
- 22:20but we're down here and there's this, this mis, this misfit.
- 22:25It's not, it's not fitting. So God's Word that's perfect is
- 22:29up here. But we're like, but we're so far
- 22:31from it. God, that was not my experience.
- 22:35If I can even just give you an example, I'm going to just do a
- 22:39silly little example. We might have a man from Burma
- 22:44who's just migrated to Australia, let's call him Han.
- 22:48And then you've got a guy Aussie named Jack.
- 22:51And these two, they, they kick off and they start being friends
- 22:54and, and Jack goes, let's go and play a game of cricket.
- 22:58Summertime storms rolling in. And Jack's like, here we go.
- 23:02Come on, Han, we're all going out to play cricket.
- 23:04And the guys head off and go out to play cricket.
- 23:06And Han's over here and going, Oh no, there's, there's a storm
- 23:10rolling in. I, I don't he, he doesn't want
- 23:13to go. He hasn't verbalized it.
- 23:15But for him, he's just come from Burma and nearly lost his sister
- 23:19because when a storm came in, it came in so quickly and the
- 23:22rivers, they, they came up so fast.
- 23:25And he, he lost his house and he nearly lost his sister.
- 23:28And he's looking at these guys going out in an open field and
- 23:31going, it's too open. Someone's going to get shot.
- 23:35He lost a family member only a few weeks ago because they went
- 23:39out into an open space and someone got shot.
- 23:42And so Han is now looking at Jack and going, you're
- 23:46insensitive. Han is angry, he's frustrated.
- 23:52Jack is insensitive and he doesn't understand.
- 23:56This is Han's experience. I think you're reckless and he's
- 24:01sitting here and he won't go and play cricket because he's living
- 24:05in his experience. This can happen at big levels
- 24:10and it can happen at small ones. Now, yes, Jack could definitely
- 24:14be more sensitive to the situation, but Hahn, he's living
- 24:19out of fear. He's living and it's not his
- 24:23fault. He's not to blame for what's
- 24:27happened, but it is his lived experience.
- 24:32The Bible actually says not to live in fear.
- 24:36He says that we can laugh for fear of the future without fear
- 24:39of the future, which is what Jack and all his friends are
- 24:42doing. They just want to gain a
- 24:43cricket. They're like he's overreacting
- 24:46and there's a disconnect. So you've got God's word that
- 24:52says laugh without fear of the future.
- 24:55I have given you, I haven't given you a spirit of fear.
- 24:58I've given you a spirit of love and of power and of a sound
- 25:01mind. But Han, he, he, he can't reach
- 25:05that because he's in, he's in this lived experience.
- 25:08He's he's stuck in this place. Our filter is our normal, and so
- 25:18we think that our lived experiences are normal, but our
- 25:21normal. It's not necessarily God's way.
- 25:25Now, this isn't a place of judgement, but a place of
- 25:28understanding. So God's not insensitive when he
- 25:33says that he wants fathers respected, that he wants godly
- 25:37discipline. It's actually his way.
- 25:42But there might be a disconnect. And so if you find that as we
- 25:48shift our relationships through God's word and that you've come
- 25:52up and you're like, actually, there's a few fractures here.
- 25:55I've got a big clunk of, of flour, I'm stuck.
- 25:59There are three things that you can do #1 you can ignore it.
- 26:05Many people do. You're your own person and you
- 26:08actually get to make that decision.
- 26:11You can live with your fractures and just hope that you don't
- 26:13break, but just understand that they're there and it's not what
- 26:18God's called you to. He's actually called you to
- 26:21wholeness. He's actually called you to to
- 26:27heal. He's called you to fullness.
- 26:31He wants you thriving in your relationships with your
- 26:34children. He wants to break the cycle #2
- 26:41you can start the process of alignment, change,
- 26:50transformation. And this is done very gently.
- 26:55The Holy Spirit is gentle and it has to be done in faith.
- 27:00Because when God says that it's possible for your children to
- 27:04respect you as a father, but your lived experience is, oh, no
- 27:08discipline. I don't have any any good
- 27:12association with that word, but we can start to align and allow
- 27:18him to transform us so that his word now becomes our lived
- 27:23experience. And #3 if you find that you're a
- 27:27bit stuck in this place, if you like, actually this fracture's a
- 27:31bit a bit heavy, this clunk, this one's not coming through.
- 27:35How? Get some help.
- 27:37There's no shame in getting any help in these spaces.
- 27:41All of your relationships that you do with your best friend,
- 27:46with your siblings, with your parents, with your own children,
- 27:50they come out of the framework of your lived experiences.
- 27:55It's OK to go and get some help if I can be vulnerable.
- 27:59Every one of our pastors in this church have actually taken this
- 28:03process. We have done done some work here
- 28:06and continue to go back when things come up, when clumps come
- 28:09up, it's a phone call. I just need to to get some
- 28:11understanding and some reconciliation in these places.
- 28:14There's no shame. It's not your fault.
- 28:19It's not your fault. God's word here is, is not here
- 28:23to bring judgement in these spaces.
- 28:25It's here to highlight, Hey, I have a much better intention for
- 28:29you. I have hope that I want to
- 28:32breathe into this space. I have healing that I want to
- 28:35bring. I want you thriving in your in
- 28:37your relationships. And this is the way.
- 28:41So where there's the disconnect, allow him to to transform you.
- 28:47And if you need to go and get some help, Godly disciplines and
- 28:52boundaries. They actually create safety.
- 28:57We have boundaries because there's safety in there.
- 29:00He's a good God, He's a good father.
- 29:04When people come to my home, they like bringing their small
- 29:07children because there are fences they can go and play in
- 29:10the backyard without harm. They're not going to run on the
- 29:13road because there's boundaries. Godly boundaries are healthy,
- 29:20and everyone who's emotionally healthy lives within boundaries.
- 29:25Godly relationships experience rebuke, intimacy, honesty, real
- 29:32communication, real conversations.
- 29:36They experience forgiveness, accountability, sexual purity,
- 29:43stewardship, rest, and refreshment all possible when we
- 29:48do things God's way. I want to bring out one last
- 29:53sift and it's a nicer one, I promise.
- 29:57Let's read in God's word here it says 1 John 416.
- 30:03We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his
- 30:08love. God is love and all who live in
- 30:13love, Sorry. All who love live in God, and
- 30:17God lives in them. And John 15-9 reads, I have
- 30:21loved you even as the Father has loved me.
- 30:25Remain in my love. It's one thing to be told you're
- 30:30loved. It's another thing to be able to
- 30:34receive love. I want to address this morning,
- 30:38Are you able to receive love? You've got people who might have
- 30:45walls up. Men, they call it emotionally
- 30:51unavailable. You've got your walls up.
- 30:54Nothing's getting in here. God might say he loves you.
- 30:57Yeah. Yep.
- 30:58That's good. How's your relationship with
- 31:00Good? Good.
- 31:01Good. How are you going?
- 31:02I'm good. How good is that word?
- 31:05Good, Right. You got you got these walls up.
- 31:10Everything surface. Everything's just here.
- 31:14Nothing's getting in. Oh, I love you.
- 31:16Yeah, Love you. Yep.
- 31:17Good, Good. We're good.
- 31:19Are we good? Yep.
- 31:19Good. It's great.
- 31:22We ladies like to use the word fine.
- 31:24Yeah, we're fine. Great.
- 31:26Yes, fine, fine. I'm fine.
- 31:28Didn't you hear me the first time?
- 31:30I'm fine. Wall up.
- 31:31Don't come in here. There's a nice, big, clear,
- 31:34definite wall. Or for ladies, it might be the
- 31:39opposite. Sometimes you're overly needy.
- 31:42You're so needy. Need to constantly be told,
- 31:47constantly reassured, constantly got to check that text message
- 31:52to see if that person's replied yet no 30 seconds later have
- 31:56they replied yet? They must hate me.
- 31:58No one's liked my post yet they must hate me.
- 32:01Maybe I've done something wrong. Is someone not going to love me
- 32:04now because I said something constant?
- 32:07You need constant reassurance. Constantly told constant words.
- 32:17I actually have a small beef. All right, I've got to be
- 32:24careful here because I'm like borderline heresy.
- 32:26I so I have. I know, I know.
- 32:29I've just said this. Now you're all paying attention.
- 32:32Let's catch her out. I want to dug her into the
- 32:34elders. I've run it past John.
- 32:39I have a small beef with a Christianese statement that we
- 32:44say where it's heresy. It is actually kind of from the
- 32:47Word of God. My beef is not with the
- 32:49statement so much, but on the assigned meaning.
- 32:53OK, so when you hear this come from the platform, from any
- 32:57other pastor, listen, because they've got a very important
- 33:00point to make. But I'm going to ask you to hear
- 33:03mine for a moment. John, will you come on up here
- 33:05with me? My beef is with our assigned
- 33:11meaning that we give to the words be washed in the word.
- 33:17And I have a beef with it because we assign it meaning and
- 33:22start treating God's word like a shower.
- 33:27And so God's word, we're just going to pretend that the
- 33:30pillows are God's word. We're not up here having a
- 33:32pillow fight. It's OK.
- 33:35So just pretend that these pillows here are God's word and
- 33:39he starts throwing them at me. Rachel, I love you.
- 33:44Keep, don't, just don't destroy my hair.
- 33:50And it's Rachel. I love you.
- 33:53I've died for you. I want to forgive you.
- 33:56You are worthy. And these words keep coming at
- 33:59me and at me and at me. But I start treating God's word
- 34:03like a shower. Oh, that's nice.
- 34:05I'll come in. Yeah.
- 34:08You want to start something here, husband?
- 34:13But they do. They come at you.
- 34:14And actually, Yeah. Go back there.
- 34:15Keep going. His like, I love you, I've died
- 34:20for you. I want to forgive you.
- 34:22You're worthy. And I'm like, oh, these are nice
- 34:25words. Keep them coming.
- 34:26Keep them coming. And it's a prophecy.
- 34:29Oh, another prophetic word. That was nice.
- 34:30Let's come and get another one and another one and another one.
- 34:34And we treat God's word like it's a shower.
- 34:37Yeah. Keep it coming, Lord.
- 34:38Keep it coming. Did you not stay there?
- 34:45It's actually his birthday today.
- 34:53He's doing good. You've got God's word and it's
- 34:58at you. God's Word is not a shower.
- 35:04Actually, Jesus said I am the bread of life.
- 35:09I am the cup. I am the blood.
- 35:12You are to partake, ingest, digest, consume.
- 35:18Allow it to transform and get it in you.
- 35:22You've got to throw it at me. You've got to receive.
- 35:30Stop letting it wash on over you.
- 35:33Thank you, love. You can get off.
- 35:38Stop just listening to God's Word and start to hear it in
- 35:45faith. You've got to reach out and grab
- 35:47it and go. You what?
- 35:49You love me. What is that?
- 35:52What is that? And go home and start digesting
- 35:57and start eating and start meditating, mulling over His
- 36:02Word. Lord, I've got to get this in
- 36:04me. I've got to let it transform me.
- 36:06I've got to digest it. I've got to ingest it.
- 36:10Stop treating God's word like a shelver because you will always
- 36:14come up empty. It's not God up here and you
- 36:18down there, It's union with. Allow His words to transform
- 36:23you. He loved the world so much that
- 36:27He gave His only begotten Son. He wants to do life.
- 36:32He wants to abide. He wants you in him.
- 36:37In him. He wants to do life with you.
- 36:42We do this all of the time. Forgiveness.
- 36:46I'm sorry God. I'm sorry God.
- 36:48I'm sorry God. I'm sorry God.
- 36:49He's like, would you stop being sorry and receive my
- 36:53forgiveness? We have to receive His words and
- 37:00we do this in faith. We do this in faith. 1 John 419
- 37:08says we love each other because He first loved us.
- 37:16How we love each other is out of our love for Him and being loved
- 37:22by Him. Your union with Jesus will
- 37:26affect how you do every other relationship.
- 37:31If you've got fractures in your relationship, why don't you just
- 37:34come straight back to the heart of Jesus, Straight back to what
- 37:40he says. Allow him to sift you.
- 37:45Allow the fractures to highlight.
- 37:47Allow him to pour himself in His love, His mercy, his
- 37:54forgiveness. Would you allow your walls to
- 37:57come down? Would you allow him to see you
- 38:00this morning?