Life at the Pace of the Holy Spirit | Pastor Levi Lusko | 1 John 3:11-24 | Fresh Life Church

I understand why it's tempting to just love Jesus. He's perfect. We are not. I'm hard to love. I'm an acquired taste. But guess what? So are you. Right? So So I understand why we just want time with Jesus alone. He never lets us down. We let each other down.

But you know, Dietrich Bonhoffer said when we let each other in down, that's where the miracles really happen. When we lean in through the heartbreaks, when we lean in through being frustrated, when we lean in through the bad breath, when we lean in through the lack of social graces and people's skills and you know just the all the ego, all the things that we have to deal with with other broken, messy people, that's where there's space for the Holy Spirit to actually take these loaves and make it a feast for the world.

If you have a Bible, First John chapter 3 is where we're going to be. We've called this series Touch Grass and that's because supposedly to go outside barefoot whether you're jetlagged or tired or just starting your day to have your feet on the ground. Supposedly earthing they say helps you get grounded is good for you.

It makes a lot of sense to me. Uh but the book of First John spiritually speaking does that for us in that it grounds us in the truth. It helps us discern between what's real, what's not, which I don't know about you, but more and more that's harder to figure out.

What was actually on my feed that really happened versus what is computerenerated? What's artificial? Did this really happen? Did it not? And first John is helping us to know when it comes to uh salvation, not everyone who seems to be saved is actually saved. And Jesus talked a lot about that, about how there's going to be a sorting at the end of the day between wheat and weeds, between goats and sheep and and not everyone who appears to be a child of God actually is.

So, we're looking at First John to give us as Christians an assurance of our own salvation, but also as a way to know ahead of time what's genuine and what's artificial. And we last week, if you weren't here, left with this idea of paternity, of spiritual paternity. And John just he is just blunt.

He's not messing around. He's like, "Listen, you're either a child of God or you're a child of the devil." And you're like, "Well, I don't like those categories." And he's like, "I don't care. Here's what's real. Here's what's true. like it or not, believe it or not, according to God's word, there's no such thing as Switzerland.

There's no can I pick neither. There's no can I be neutral. There's no I don't have to have an allegiance right now. He says by default, you're a child of the wicked one. This is language from the scripture. Now, you can you can choose to believe something else, but let's not in the name of scripture change what the Bible actually presents because Jesus said the same thing.

He said there are two roads, a road that leads to heaven and a road that leads to hell. And you are on one of those two roads right now. Timothy Shalomay put it well. You got to serve somebody. I mean, sorry, Bob Dylan put it well when he said you got to serve somebody.

You you can choose the devil or you can choose God. But not choosing is to have chosen. Your default answer is the wicked one is the devil. And he's continuing with that idea or train of thought as we pick it up in verse 11. He says,"For this is the message," that's a repeated phrase you'll find throughout the book, "that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

Look to your right, look to your left. He's saying you, if you love him, should love the people around you in the body of Christ, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. So look to your right, look to your left. Do not murder them.

That is what he is saying. You should not kill. You're like, check. All right. Got it. All right. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. John is saying Cain wasn't wicked because he murdered his brother. He's saying he murdered his brother because he was wicked.

He was saying that's downstream. What came out of his life because of who he was and who we are determines what we do. It's a really important theme all throughout first John. He's telling the child of God, become what you are. You are the child of God. So become more of that.

Practice what you are. Do not marvel. Verse 13. If the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

By this we know love because he laid down his love his life for us. and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, that literally could be translated stops the fluttery feeling in his guts.

Part of the way God leads us is through a fluttery feeling in our stomach that shows us, hey, this is an action I want you to take. You feel your emotions most pronounced not in your heart, but in your guts. It's that roller coaster feeling. It's that I love you feeling.

It's that compassionate feeling. The Bible would say about Jesus often based on his guts churning. He would preach to the people based on his gut. Splank nisomi is the word. That's a perfect word for that. Splank nisomi. It means your stomach gets all messed up. And that's part of the way the Holy Spirit leads us.

But if you feel that but don't do anything and don't do anything for your brother, how does the love of God abide in you? How how is it you can say you love God if you shut that feeling down every time it happens? My little children, let us not just love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him. We'll pause right there and continue our reading of the text in a moment, but let me say the title of this message is life at the pace of the Holy Spirit. life at the pace of the Holy Spirit.

I was thinking this week with all the attention on the lottery about that old meme you used to see a lot like if I won the lottery because I mean there's $1.2 2 billion dollars or whatever got got split between two people and everyone's kind of like who who's this person that won like how could you know if your neighbor won the lottery because I think the first rule of winning the lottery would be not tell anybody you won the lottery right now by by and large all across the board it's been proven to win the lottery is not something that makes your life better but makes it worse and so of course there's a good reason that a lot of people would you know keep it to themselves if they won but but there's an old meme you used to see floating around that would say if I won the lottery.

I wouldn't tell anybody, but there would be signs. There would be signs, right? Like like uh I don't know, let's say you uh walked by my house one day and and off off hidden behind the weeds, right? There would be signs, right? I wouldn't tell you. I wouldn't I wouldn't run that up the flag, but but but there would be signs. or or if you open the refrigerator up and uh you saw how many eggs I was buying, the cost of eggs these days, you'd have to have half a billion dollars to buy that many eggs.

There would be signs. Or if you're over at my house, you say, "Can I use the restroom?" I say, "Go ahead." You're like, "Wait a minute. That is that is an awfully fancy toilet." There would be signs. Can't hide money, right? You snuggle up on the couch for movie night and this is the couch in my house, right?

That seems fancy, right? My personal favorite is your Amazon stuff would just go up, right? Here's here's Amazon bringing there would be signs, right? I got my own TIE fighter. That's that's what I got. Can't hide that kind of money. Half a billion dollars is a lot of money.

There would be there would be a change in your life. No matter how hard you tried to not let it get to you, that kind of money would would affect you. People around you would see the difference of that infusion of cash into your life. The argument John is making is if the Holy Spirit of God, the author of all creation, the Lord of life itself comes into your heart and takes up residence inside of your heart.

There will be signs. >> It's going to change your life, right? You can't say God changed your life if your life doesn't change, right? Not immediately. Not not everything all at one time. But I mean, imagine a dilapitated house. Like we've seen a house in a neighborhood. It's like no one lives there.

It's boarded up. It's been empty forever. You know, it's just a driving by it's it's an eyesore. How would you know when someone bought it and moved in it and was going to flip it and and so it was a fixer upper and there but you would just start noticing there would be changes the porch maybe new paint and you know the the glasses you oh someone's taking up residence said now listen them fixing up the house doesn't make them the owners of it and neither does you changing and growing and becoming more like Jesus make you a Christian that's maybe for some of us how we've always thought it works if I just do enough eventually God's like you know What?

You You've done so good. You're now a Christian. Why? Cuz you you stopped cussing and you stopped watching all that porn and oh man, you you quit hanging with the wrong crowd and and you started memorizing a bunch of Bible verses and and man, that's what God wants.

He wants church attendance and he wants morality and he wants you to be an upstanding citizen. And if I just do enough of this that God saves me. Listen, listen, listen. Salvation is not based on you. It gets placed on you. the righteousness of God gets placed on your life because so so it doesn't make you the owner of the house and start fixing it up.

That's called squatting. That's trespassing. No, no. Once it's under new management, once it's under new ownership, you can tell from the outside someone's living on the inside because of these changes. Now, listen, it may be it may be spread out. You got to save up. It takes time.

You got to you have your your day job. Maybe you're doing this work on on on on on the evenings and weekends, a little bit here, a little bit there, friends come over, right? That's that's that's amazing. And so it is walking with Jesus. It's not like he comes to live inside your heart and just you're you're completely a brand new person and the old habits are gone.

There's all the muscle memory with the flesh and and sanctification takes time and all of us are on growth curves of some sort and and it it's going to be up and then down and there's going to be plateaus. there's going to be bad years that we have and and backsliding and and lapses.

But I'm saying by and large looking back on a life following Jesus, you're going to watch him change things. It kind of reminds me of that old game operation where you're trying to get the wishbone out or you're trying to get the, you know, Adam's apple out and and then you hit the side, right?

When the Holy Spirit comes inside your life, you go because flesh calls you to flesh. You go to do some of those old things that you did. And you're like, "What? What was that?" He's like, "I don't like that. I don't like what we're watching." And you're like, "You're no fun."

He's like, "Actually, I I'm far better than fun. >> I'm taking you to wholeness. I'm taking you to joy. I'm taking you to strength." Right? But he's not comfortable. He's gonna cause you to have a discomfort with sin. And this is what why the Bible talks about don't quench the Holy Spirit.

Don't don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Don't The Holy Spirit is a him, not an it. And he living inside your life is going to steer you. And the better you get at following him, right, the more I mean the intuitive horse and horseback rider become almost one. You can you can the horse can sense what the the rider wants, right?

And so it's almost like this sense walking with the spirit. you you notice that just the the absence of peace, the tiniest nuances and then of course the more pronounced splanknismi moments where he's trying to steer you and lead you through the compassion and the broken heart that he gives you for you to sense a need that he's actually calling you to meet.

But there's going to be a change that comes as a direct result of following Christ. Think of it. Think of it this way. This is John's language. God is the God of love. God is love, right? God is a God of light. God is light. To have love incarnate, light incarnate inside of you, what would you expect downstream?

Love and light. If that's not the case, here's the deal with your salvation. It's like that scene in The Princess Bride. It never happened. when Buttercup and Wesley are reunited and he's still mostly dead, a little bit paralyzed, and Buttercup and sees him and falls. Oh, Wesley. And she goes, "I must confess I did something terrible.

I got married. I married Humperd Inc." And he's not phased by it. He goes, "It never happened." And she goes, "I promise you I did. I was there. The the priest was there. Marage is what brings us together today. I got married today, bro. I love you. You're my true love, but I married another."

And he goes, "It never happened." She goes, "What?" And he goes, "Did you say I do?" She thinks, and she goes, "Well, he sort of skipped that part." And he goes, "If you didn't say I do, it never happened." The point John is making is if you're looking at your life over time and there's no love and there's no light, there's no life change, however gradual and incremental and and fits and starts and and and wanderings and and all the all the rest, it never happened.

Perhaps you need to give your heart to Jesus and begin following him and watch as he begins to transform and revolutionize and rehabilitate and bring revival and new life into your dry bones. >> So what does it look like to live at the pace of the Holy Spirit?

What are the kinds of things we would expect to see? What are the signs of life? First sign, jot it down. huge family. You'll begin to think about the family of God, the people of God. Like I said a moment ago, the brethren to your right, the brothers, brothers and sisters to your left.

You're going to have an increased care for the people of God, a love for his people as a result of following him. He puts it very clearly in verse 14. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. If you don't love your brother, you abide in death.

You see what he's saying? saying you love Jesus and Jesus loves the church. The natural byproduct is your love for the church is going to kick in. >> You're going to love what he loves. You love what your beloved loves. And Jesus loves the church. Gave himself for the church.

Is seeking to build the church. Said, "I'm going to build it and not even the gates of hell are going to stand in the way of it." So following him, the direct result of that, the outflow downstream of that is there will be signs you're going to begin to care more and more for the church.

Now, we live in an era of autonomy where we can check out at the grocery store without having to even talk to anybody. And so, we sort of have wrongly taken a true teaching from God's word and distorted it into a consumer mentality. Now, what is the true teaching?

Because the the most dangerous lies have a kernel of truth to them. So, what's the kernel of truth? You need to have a personal relationship with God. True or false? >> True. But is your relationship with God meant to be lived out personally? No. It's meant to be lived out corporately that you follow Jesus as a part of the household of faith, >> as a part of the bride of Christ.

So that means if there's not a one another in your story, love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, comfort one another, be willing to rebuke one another, all of these things of the household of faith. Guess what? You're kind of treating Jesus as though he's a polygamist. and not taking your rightful place as a part of the bride of Christ, the body of Christ.

He's only got one. >> I hope you don't think you're going to get to heaven and ask, "Where's the fresh life section? Where's the Baptist section? Where's the Methodist section?" Right? There's only there's only one bride. There's only one church. Come on. It's got a capital C. It's now we are a local small C expression of the body of Christ but to follow Jesus which is an experience you can only enter into personally is always meant to be experienced corporately.

So you can come to Christ for yourself but you cannot walk with Christ by yourself. >> It is meant to be as a part of the body. Now, why is John being so clear about this? Well, remember context is everything. The Gnostics who had pulled away, they're called successionists because they had su succeeded sec, right?

Succeeded from the body of Christ. They pulled away from the body because of their new revelation, their new knowledge mixing together pagan and Greek and Eastern, all these sort of myths and then basically coming up with their own choose your own adventure spirituality. And they now said we don't need to go to church.

We don't need to be a part of the church. And then we're sort of like mocking and and regarding those who were still so naive as to be a part. Oh, I remember when I used to go to that, right? Oh, I've I've I've graduated beyond that. I just got to walk with God and experience him.

And so they had pulled away from the body. But but but think about that. Sin always puffs you up, >> right? So to pull away, I get to now judge those who are still in the body walking in humility as a part of the body of Christ. Now I get to pull away and and have all of these opinions and I I basically get to be separate and superior.

Be careful of anything that makes you the exception that makes you, you know, the rules don't apply to you. I know that that might be good for most people, right? Simple people, but but I've elevated beyond that and now I just get to No, no, no. God never wants you to be separate and superior.

God wants you to be a part of what he's doing. So, so the goal isn't come into church and hear what Levi has to say. This is the book that we've all come to be under for us to say. It's not it's not what we think. It's what God says that we get to be under the authority of God's word.

So, he says, "A condition of following Jesus and going from death to life is the love that you feel for one another." Verse 11. This is the message you heard from the beginning that we should love one another. So I'm going to say something that sounds intense, but it's meant to be heard as from God.

A move away from church is not a move towards God. When we move away from his people, we're not moving towards him because his eyes are on the church. His heart is in the church. His plan to save the world. It takes place through the church. In fact, Jesus said in John 13, "By this all will know that you are my disciples, the love that you have for one another."

And in case we think John's just messing around, the example he uses is the most intense possible. He goes, "Hey, if you don't love one another, you're going to end up like Cain and you don't want to end up like Cain." And you're like, "Wait a minute. The guy who murdered his brother, this is not what I'm doing when I'm I'm not moving towards Cain.

I just don't need to go to church. I just get to watch YouTube sermons and and get to listen to worship and and then change the channel whenever I get convicted. This is amazing, right? No, >> I don't have to actually contribute. I just get to receive. I just get to, you know, be blessed, but never have to actually be called to do anything and be a blessing.

And the Bible says, be careful. You're treating worship like Cain did. Cain was all about what he got out of it, what he experienced. And when he didn't get it, he sked. And when he didn't get it, he gave into his envy. He murdered his brother and and you go that that example is is is too drastic.

Is it? How did Cain end up completely and totally isolated? He did he think huge family? No. He was actually the first person in history to shrink his family. He had he had this one brother. He kills his brother. Now it's just him. And then God gives him the chance to to reconcile and to be made right.

And and he chooses isolation. He chooses the story ends with Cain all by himself driven out into the wilderness blaming everybody else for it. blaming every saying saying, "Well, this was too hard for me." Even complaining about the punishment, a victim mentality. Why? Because he gave himself into all of these little things despite God's warning.

God said, "If you choose the right path, won't you be accepted? You could be a part of what I'm doing. You could be a part of my programs. You'd have to humble yourself. You'd have to you have to, you know, take your place at the as as at the table of grace that I'm serving up."

But he ended up alone. As a result, he cut himself off from the blessings of who God called him to be. Here's why. You cannot become yourself all by yourself. >> We need each other. And you know what we need? We need the disappointment that comes from being a part of a community.

But I understand the attraction. I don't want to have to deal with all this. I just want to deal with God. Of course you do. God's perfect. We're not just spending time with him. He's always loving and like a cozy blanket on a cold morning, right? You come in here and we got bad breath and lack of social graces and, you know, varying degrees of got it together.

And there's all kinds of dysfunction in the church. There's all kinds of expectations and and hurt feelings and and I I thought this was going to go this way, but Dietrich Bonhoffer said that precisely for the reason that the church is a place of broken dreams is what makes it so powerful. >> We get disappointed and we get let down.

But if we keep showing up in the midst of the context of that kind of a community, it's possible that he can take those fragments of broken pieces and fashion something beautiful out of them. He can take your loaves and my fish and he can serve up a feast and it can be something where the the it's greater than the sum of its parts.

You see what I'm saying? Because the Holy Spirit is the glue that that fits the pieces together as a part of the household of faith. And so huge family is how he wants us to think that he always is glad to have us in the house, but then he's always saying scoot over and make more room for the next person.

And we don't like that part. We love the party that we get when we come in and we just want to keep singing my song. But but to have them into, well, now what can we do? How can we be positioned to welcome the next person in? But I don't want to have just received grace but not extend it.

I want to live so that the house may be full. I want to make more room. I want to build a bigger table, not just have bigger walls. I want to have the mentality that says, "Come on, let's go after the one lost sheep and leave the 99 behind."

And that's how God wants us to think. So, if there's love in your heart, huge family will be kind of something constantly on your radar. And if you're going to live that way, you'll need thick skin. >> Thick skin. Because, man, Abel is the opposite of Cain. And what does Abel get? jabs.

What does Abel get? Difficulty for doing what's right. He's the one in scripture who's told, "Do it this way. Live this way." And what happens to to Abel? Hardship. In fact, look at verse 12 or 13. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. So, Cain hated Abel.

So in the story, we're told to be like the one who suffers harm, to be like the one who experiences difficulty. Jesus put it this way. The world hates me and you're following me. What do you think's going to happen to you? >> And yet when we follow Jesus and life gets complex when we follow Jesus and there's antagonism, when there's affliction, we freak out like, "What's gone wrong?"

No, no, no. We should be encouraged that something went right. Now you clap for that. It's not fun to live, right? It's not fun to to get tweeted angrily at. Second Timothy 3:12, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Haters are going to hate."

And why did Cain hate Abel? Because Abel's life was righteous. And Cain thought, "If I extinguish the bright light, it'll make me look better." Because right now he exposes the darkness inside of me. That's one of the reasons people come against you and and tell lies about you and try and hold you back from the promotion, try and smear you because they feel bad about themselves and they think by taking you out it's going to make them look better.

So we have to look at it correctly with an even mentality to understand what's happening. And also to remember this, I just love this. We are indestructible in the will of God. >> Come on. I want you to really internalize that you are indestructible in the will of God.

Not height, not depth, not any created thing. Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ, for it to get to you, it has to go through him first. And if he ever says yes to a hard thing coming your way, it's because he intends to use it.

I'm so encouraged when I think about Joseph because Joseph had these dreams of greatness, dreams of leadership. And his brothers hated how he wanted to be a leader, how he wanted to, oh, Joseph. And so they tried to tear him down by selling him as a slave. And what' they do?

They played a part in the very set of circumstances that God would overturn to cause him to be the ultimate leader that not only the world would need, but they themselves would need. So when hardships come your way, you're a bit like Black Panther. All of the shots you take just make you more powerful.

We're kind of forever that situation, bro. Okay? Just just hang on to that one. Okay? >> Hang on to that one. You are indestructible in the will of God. If he lets it come your way, learn from it. Lean into Christ in the midst of it and believe that it's not going to be able to take you out.

John is proof. the apostle who wrote first John. This cat according to Tertullian, so this isn't scripture, but it's church history. That means it's legend. That means it may or may not be true, but it's written down uh by a church leader. He says John got boiled in hot oil.

And this was the emperor trying to kill him. But God miraculously allowed him to live through what should have killed him. Why? He hadn't written Revelation yet. >> He hadn't written First John yet. As long as God still had purposes for him, nothing was going to take him out.

And the same is true for you. So you can have confidence. You can have a little bit of Holy Ghost swagger, right? That's Psalm 23. >> He's going to make me have a table to eat at in the presence of my enemy. Oh, that's punk rock. They're going to have to watch me eat.

Now, you know, don't let too much of that get into your spirit, but just enough. Just enough of that to get into your spirit. All right. So, so, so we need to make sure that we have thick skin, huge family. Thirdly, open hands. Open hands that we don't have a mind mentality when it comes to what we've been entrusted.

So, I'm talking about generosity as a key characteristic of the life of love. Oh, you have the Holy Spirit in you. Show me. Jerry Magcguire said the money. Show me how that's true. Cuz listen, money flies to whatever you're passionate about. >> This week I had the chance to preach at a conference in Orlando and it was all these church leaders and they were asking me to to talk to them and and it was the event was in Disney World.

I don't think I realized that till I actually got there cuz I'm always like write the next thing the next thing and I got there I'm like oh like we're in we're in we're in it in Disney World. And uh so it was very disorienting cuz like I would give a talk and there would be some hours free.

And so like I brought two of my kids with me on this trip cuz I usually will rotate through kids or Jenny coming with me or and and and and so it was like riding a roller coaster and trying to think about my sermon I was about to do.

It was like what is happening here? And at one point Clover and Lennox were in a a ride right in front of me and because we were three there was an empty seat next to me. But there's like a mechanism that you can go to Disney all by yourself and wait less.

The downside is you're at Disney by yourself. Uh and and and then you could just ride the ride quicker, I guess. And so I'm like, "Oh, the empty seat." Kind of like on an airplane. You're like excited and then someone sits down and and this guy right before we took off sits down and I look over at him.

You know that movie Despicable Me? This guy looked just like Vector. Okay. I spitting image. Okay. So this Vector cat sits down, curly hair. He's wearing the track band headband thing. and he he's like all in wearing like running shorts and like you know like like a so kind of the whole ride I'm like oh this is interesting and what's going on here and right when we we we get pull into the station this guy just just just get just just like rushes away and as he turn like the bar's not even up yet so he can't go anywhere but he's like ready to go and I look at the back of his shirt and the back of his shirt just said 48 rides four parks one day and I tap him on the shoulder and I said, "What does that mean?"

He goes, "I'm in the midst of the ultimate challenge. There are 48 rides in all four Disney World parks." And I'm like, "It's it's like the size of New Jersey. You know that Disney World is like the size of the state of New Jersey." I mean, it's massive.

I said, "You're trying to ride all 48 rides today." He says, "By part closed, but as long as I'm in the last line, by the time park closes, they have to let me." And then he was off like a phantom. and I had nothing but questions. It was a Wednesday, ladies and gentlemen.

It's a grown man by himself riding all of the Disney World rides. Now, if I was trying to get this man to prove that he was a Disney fanatic, he wouldn't need a lot of words. He wouldn't need to tell me how much he loved Disney. There are signs He made a shirt.

I Googled it and apparently it's like a subculture. It's very difficult to do. And the guy even told me, he said, "I attempted it last year, but due to several rides being down for mechanical reasons, I couldn't complete the challenge." I was like, "Oh, okay. Well, that makes sense.

You got to you got to finish what you start, you know." And my kids were giving me a hard time like, "Dad, that you know, you're just making fun of it because you would try this one day." And I was like, "Okay, well, if I'm ever not here on a Sunday, I won't tell you where I am, but there will be signs."

Okay. So, the even just the time it took to organize the plan of attack and how he's going to get around to all the parks and and to even attempt such a thing. I mean, the the not not to speak of the money involved in this undertaking, right?

But I guarantee you it wasn't for this guy like, "I don't know. the cost of making a screen printed shirt bragging about my accomplishments is kind of expensive. He was like, I can't wait till they see my shirt. Right? Money flew towards what he was passionate about, right?

So, so, so tell me how you could love Jesus but get real angry every time someone talks about giving in church. >> Love Jesus but but pucker up and go, "Oh, I can't believe I thereafter all." No, no. Money flies towards passion. So, so your love for young people coming to know Jesus, your love for the poor being fed, your love for for King Jesus's kingdom to be built, show me the money.

We can all in looking at our Bank of America statements find out what we're passionate about, whether it's the kingdom or not. But what John is saying here is if you have the love of Jesus inside your heart, you will be able to see it inside of your budget.

And so we come back to the Cain and Abel story and we go why did God reject Cain's gift and accept Abel's? We don't have to wonder. The Bible says Abel brought his first fruits to God and Cain brought a gift in the passing of time. Okay. What does it take to give to God first?

Faith. Hebrews 11. That Abra Abel Abel pleased God because his gift took faith. Well, of course, if you give to God first, you don't know how you're going to make it through the month. You don't know what other needs are going to come up. You don't know if you're going to be good.

Cain in the passing of time was able to see the cumulative effect of what he had. And then when he knew he was good to give God a token gift, but it didn't take faith. God is pleased with the mentality and spirit that says, "I've been given everything.

I want more people to know. I've been given everything. I want more people to receive. I want the stream to go out to the whole world. I want everyone to come to life in Jesus Christ." So, there's going to be an openhandedness when it comes to your resources.

How do you know that you've believed John 3:16? It's not a trick question. You're living out first John 3:16. >> If you believe John 3:16, then you will be living first John 3:16, which is what? By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us, and we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

You're like, that's amazing. Well, I would I would die for another Christian if it ever happened. If it ever pushed, don't worry. I got you, pastor. I would die for Yeah, but will you live to help another Christian? Will you live to help people come to know him?

Cuz John Sto said, "It's not about the big blazing, you know, martyrdom giant act. It's it's a thousand small acts every single day. It's the how how is this church doing what God's doing through this church? through the faithfilled regular generosity. Unspectacular, unsexy, not some big I don't need a plaque with the my name on it.

It's just the con constant tithes and offerings of regular people believing in the vision consistently giving systematically over time. And so he says we will lay down our lives for other people. David said, I will not give to God that which costs me nothing. So we should always be asking the question is the way I'm worshiping through giving a sacrifice?

If it's not, it takes no faith for me to participate in it. But I think it also extends to other areas of worship. You know, we talked last week a little bit about the notion of I connect with God best in the woods. The idea of singing songs with other Christians and reading the Bible, that's not my favorite way to connect with God. to which I would say you're selfish >> and you're thinking about worship wrong. >> If you think about worship in terms of building it to where it's most optimized to encourage and bless you, your worship is not about him.

It's about yourself. >> Worship is meant to be an offering that we give and he either likes it or he doesn't. I tell oursel all the time this the question isn't how' we do how was that worship set? Did we like it? It's did he like it? Was he pleased by it?

I hope you clap. I hope you enjoy this sermon. But my measure of success is not going to be how many YouTube views we get or thumbs up we get on Facebook for this word. It's going to be whether God sees me having done what he told me to do as I studied his word to present it to you.

So when we come here to worship him, it's not what did I get out of it. Look, I I would way rather walk alone and sing a song to bless and fill up my tank. But God said, "Come together in my name. Worship me together." So my worship, if it's not my ideal way, is a sacrifice.

There's a thought that it actually takes sacrifice for me to not do what I would most enjoy doing, but what he asked me to do. Like like Gary Chapman says, figure out your spouse's love language. Right? If your spouse likes acts of service, but you just are always writing them notes.

You know what I'm saying? They're like, "That's great, but could you do the dishes?" You know, like you want to figure out how they receive love. The question is, what's God's love language? And he's not left us wondering. Hebrews chapter 10, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

So, we shouldn't be thinking about church as a mechanism for us to get blessed, but for us to be the blessing for other people. That we're not coming simply to consume, but to take our place as a member of the household of faith and to use what we've been given to make a difference in the world. >> And it's not just going to be money and songs and that we were there for the Bible study and and all of that.

That's all great, but it can happen in so many different ways. I was at the sink yesterday, standing at the sink, putting a bowl into the sink from eating cereal, and my spiritual radar went off hardcore. My my stomach began to be in knots, thinking about a friend of mine whose wife is battling cancer, and I was overcome by compassion and and broke.

So, I began to pray earnestly for them. I began to pray for for her. her, began to pray for him. I just was overcome by the situation. So I prayed for them for a while. Came into the room where where Jenny was. Told her about it. Have you heard from him recently?

No. So So we talked and then I sent a text and he says literally she just went to heaven. I hadn't thought about him in a couple days, but out of nowhere, like bang, Holy Ghost redirects my attention and my focus, and I'm able to participate maybe in prayers as they needed it in that moment.

He's going to lead you. He's going to guide you. Life at the pace of the Holy Spirit is not about you. It's about other people through you. And you will receive more blessing and more fulfillment and more joy than a thousand lifetimes stacked together of just wondering what's in it for you.

It's an invitation to die and in dying you live. Laying your life down and in laying your life down you find it. True joy in Jesus' name is possible, but it's with open hands. Number four, living at the pace of the Holy Spirit means having a tender heart.

And that tender heart is going to get broken sometimes as even some of you maybe it's happening for some of you right now where you're hearing all this and you're just thinking man do I even call myself a Christian like I have such a long way to go and and and maybe there's even going to be oh gosh am I even a Christian I don't like almost this this sense of like dang and and your heart is accusing you because you think about the benchmark Mark and Barb being Jesus and you're like, "Dude, I don't stack up to that."

We were joking around, sitting around the a little fire pit the other day as a family just talking about First John and one of my kids goes, "I don't really like First John. He's just trying to make us feel bad every week." Right? And I think that's such an actually insightful comment.

Why do they put warning labels on products? You ever read the warning labels? You know, on a chainsaw, if you read that booklet, it says, "Do not hold it by the chain." Can you imagine? On a kid's Superman costume, the warning, if you look at the fire, it says, "This does not make you fly."

Irons, the booklet will say, "Don't iron your clothes wearing them." Honesty in church, I've done it. Anybody else? I just had this one wrinkle. I can do it really quickly. Ah, it's a it's a mistake. Don't go down that road. I mean, sunshields that you put on your windshield of your car to keep the sun off your car.

If you read the instructions, it says do not drive with this in the windshield. And part of you is like, why do they put this? Are they just afraid of getting sued? No. Someone's done each of these stupid things. When we read first John, it's important to remember he's dealing with extreme circumstances.

He's dealing with the exceptions. And as a result, I think John knows that the the rule, the the perhaps even the vast majority of the people that are a part of this church that haven't gone the way of the Gnostics, that aren't going the way of Cain, have tender hearts to the Holy Spirit, and they're going to be like, "Oh, G, I don't I I'm probably not even a Christian.

Like, I don't even love him at all." And and so that's why he gives us the comfort of verse 20. John the pastor knows there's probably a few of them out there who who have their hearts all a flutter. And so he says, "Hey, just so you know, beloved, if our heart condemns us, God is greater verse 20 than our heart and he knows all things." >> What he's saying, and this is actually Jedi Even you feeling like that is an indication and a part of the assurance that you're on the right track.

We met with our interns before they left from the summer internship and we always Jenny and I do Q&A with them is ask us anything anything you want talk about whatever area of life ministry whatever just go nuts and one of the question I've never got at an internship Q&A was how do you know if you've committed the unpardonable sin and you're not really a Christian right you're you're and I was like that's first of all okay okay let me wake up for a second we're going there right and and and I said cuz cuz I could see like there was in her eyes like what if I have done it on accident?

You know what I'm saying? Like that would be terrible. And I was like the person who's done that isn't asking that. Cain doesn't care about hurting God's heart. Cain doesn't care that he's sitting with impunity. There's no flag being tripped. You see what I'm saying? There's nothing in the dashboard going alert, alert, alert.

Even when God's like, "Dude, no. Satan's trying to destroy you." He just persists with a bad attitude and then blames God for it. God says, "Where's your brother? Who cares? That's not my fault." Like what? That is not a tender heart. The tender heart of the person going, "Maybe I did it on accident when I wasn't even paying attention."

What if what if there's like Job says, "I'm like praying for my kids to ask God to forgive them of sins they may have committed, not even knowing they did it." You know what I'm saying? And that person probably is more concerned about the few sins that remain in their day-to-day life they're still struggling with than the new believer who's sinning heinously but brand new saved.

And that's because the more you do it walking with Jesus, living at the pace of the Holy Spirit, the better you get at it, the less likely you are to think you're good at it. >> Because let's not forget our benchmark is Jesus. And you might think you're doing pretty good, but the the closer you get to him, the more you get a glance at yourself in the mirror and you're like, "Yeah, we got a long way to go."

Right? I Paul said, "I'm a chief of sinners." Cuz he he he he knew Jesus. So he realized I'm I'm so so so the person who who is in greatest danger is the person who thinks they're not in danger. But the person whose heart's condemning them, right? Someone asked me this week, "Do you struggle with pride?"

I said, "Probably." But usually more self- condemnation that I'm not doing enough is what I actually struggle with. That I who am I? I feel so unworthy. I feel like I'm such a mess. Why doesn't God use someone else? Like that that my bigger struggle isn't getting on the stage like I can't wait till everyone can watch me for a minute.

It's like I don't even I I am I need I need to cry, right? the and he says, "If our hearts condemn us, loved one, if you feel like you're a terrible Christian, that's proof you're doing pretty good because God knows all things and he's greater than our hearts." >> So, in those moments, what do you have to do?

You have to say, you have to bring those feelings to Jesus. One translation says the torment of self- condemnation. That incessant voice of you're you're you're a failure and you're the worst and you're an impostor and you know all those things that we all feel like oh my gosh and and what do we do God?

You know all things. That means you know what I'm feeling but you also know the other side of the story that these voices are not lying. They're telling the truth. But the other side of that truth is I have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous who himself is our propitiation. and not just for me, but also for the whole world.

So, I'm going to come to you with these feelings. I'm going to come to you with these thoughts. I'm going to let you pick me up in your arms because the spirit within me is crying out, "Aba, Father." And the child that says, "Dad, I made a mess and I did wrong."

And and and is tormented by their their own the the dad is so excited to pick that child up and go, "I love you." Each of my kids, their first steps were so bad. They were so bad, but we celebrated the smallest victory. That's how your father thinks about you.

So, a sign that you're on the right track is is is feeling like you're bad at walking, and you are, but he wants to pull you up in his arms. >> If our hearts condemn us, he's greater than our hearts. >> He knows all things. He knows that you're a you're a blubbering mess, and so am I.

He just loves you. And he knows that as you spend time with him in those moments, you're going to naturally bend your knees. That's the the fifth thing that you're going to see in your life. You're going to see bent knees. Bent knees are characteristic of someone who with a tender heart keeps coming back to the father because while you're snuggled up to him, you realize that now you have nothing to confess because you just confessed all that junk.

So, you're actually positioned to pray in that moment. Why do you think the verse goes straight to where it does? Okay, now we've told him I'm a mess and I suck. And he's like, "It's cool. I'm good." You immediately, beloved, verse 21, have a heart that does not condemn you anymore.

Why? Cuz you just told him all the things that were condemning you. Now you're good. Now we have confidence towards God. So the the the the the walking with Jesus, the confidence that comes from letting him hold you gives you the position to verse 22, whatever we ask, we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. >> What is he saying?

He's saying you're naturally going to walking with Jesus, closeness to Jesus is going to cause there to be a power that's unleashed in your prayer life. And you're not going to want to use it just for you. You're naturally going to realize, man, such grace, such kindness upon me.

I want to use this for other people. Then you're going to start praying in alignment with his will, which is when your prayers become unstoppable. Jesus said the same exact thing. He said in John 15:7, "If you abide in me and my words abide in you," look at this.

You will ask whatever you desire and it shall be done for you. When your heart is full of God's words, you're not just like Mercedes-Benz and new job and new clothes and and right. Your byproduct of time in his arms with him is going to be your heart so full of his word that you're praying what God wants you to pray.

And those prayers are going to be done in Jesus' name. >> And let me just tell you, Satan is not and has never been afraid of a big church, but he's scarified of scare scared and terrified of a praying church. And when we take our place in prayer and begin praying in alignment with his will out of a spirit of humility and dependence, things can change.

William Kalper put it this way. Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon their knees. And you should see downstream over time your love for prayer grow the longer you walk with Jesus and the more you see him flowing through you through his Holy Spirit in this conversation and gift with prayer and and we'll stop thinking about prayer like I get to write this email to God every day and almost just more the time you get to spend with him the time in his presence and that way that your heart and your life and his heart and his life become one.

And I think that's why he ends where he does. If you look at the last two verses, we're going to we're going to consider this is his commandment. Verse 23, that we should believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ. Okay, so he spirals through that again.

And then what what's going to happen if we've done that? Uh love one another as he told us from the beginning. Okay. Now, he who keeps his commandment does what? Abides in him. And what? and he in him. So I'm in Christ and Christ is in me. I'm doing life with Jesus.

It's not a box I check. It's a savior I get to love. >> It's a Holy Spirit inside of me. It's me doing life at the pace of the Holy Spirit being aware every day there's missions. There's assignments. There's pitfalls. There's there's pleasures. He's going to be that rumble strip when I'm getting astray.

Spurgeon said, "If I go somewhere and I couldn't keep praying, I'm going to I'm going to leave. If I'm if I'm watching, if I couldn't keep praying, oh Lord, this is so great. Okay. Right. If if there's if there's things you're you're writing and saying and doing, if you couldn't keep praying in the midst of it, that's the Holy Spirit.

You've touched the side of the operation thing. He's trying to steer you back towards love, back towards light. And if you do these things, you're going to live with bright eyes. Bright eyes. We're going to have huge family, thick skin, open hands, tender heart, bent knees. And if you're doing that, you're going to have shining bright eyes.

Cain's eyes grew dark. That's what the Bible says. His face was downcast. His countenance countenance was was dimmed. In fact, God's first question to Cain was, "Why are you so bummed out? Why is there such a flatness and a dullness to your eyes as he had come to worship God?

Which is crazy and scary that Cain showed up at the wor worship service. Right? So there's there's more than a a fair chance that that someone today is in that place of danger in church but not in Christ. And God says, "Why is your face so downcast?" And he says, "Cuz you didn't receive me."

And God says, "If you did right, I would receive you, too. if you did what I asked you to do, I' I'd accept you just like Abel. And his response was to take Abel out. And then to give into that victim mentality narrative that he already had already chosen he was going to continue to live in, not abiding with God, not letting God abide in him through the spirit that he had given to us.

I want you to think about something. In our access to Jesus, we have unlimited, unprecedented, unimpeded access to the father. When the veil tore in the temple at Jesus at Jesus's death, we were invited into the father's presence. We can abide in him. We can we can we can do life with him life on life anytime we want to.

Christ said, "You now are the temple." This this this is crazy because you had to used to go to a temple. Now now he said you are the temple. As we come together we're uniquely able to interact with them but each of us individually are the temple of the Holy Spirit and as often as we want to we can experience the brightness of eyes from time with Jesus.

A couple years ago, there was construction in our neighborhood, which is always like, you know, as the father, you're thinking about kids on bicycles and, you know, trucks farming through the neighborhood, and it's just you kind of go, "Ah, right." Now, you didn't mind it when it was your construction, but sometimes you you you kind of have this mentality.

Now that I'm here, everything needs to stop, right? Sadly, people have that mentality sometimes in church, too. And and so, I was that guy and I was bummed out. And one day I drove by and there was just a big pile of, you know, dirt and I was just like, "Oh, it's an eyesore and all the all the things."

Because all I saw was the dirt. But later that day, I drove by again and I saw a woman standing on the sidewalk with a digital camera taking a picture of a pile of dirt. And at first I was like, "Oh man, doesn't she know that her phone has a camera?

What is she doing with the digital camera?" And then I realized, what is she taking a picture of? This mound of dirt. And it hit me. She didn't see the dirt. She saw her kids playing. She saw her grandchildren in her arms on a rocking chair. I saw inconvenience and mess and dirt.

She saw a place for her family to grow up. She saw what I couldn't see cuz I couldn't see through the barriers to what was going to be there one day. When God looks at you and looks at me, he doesn't see the dirt. He doesn't see the mess.

He sees a home for his breath. >> His breath that can fill us. And when we live in Christ, abiding in Christ, letting the spirit of Christ be the Lord of our lives, our eyes will stay bright. Psalm 34:5, let's close here. Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy.

No shadow of shame will darken their faces. And so, Father, we thank you for the kindness that you show to us. Behold, what manner of love the Father has given to us that we could be called your children. If you would say, "I needed this message. I needed this moment.

God has spoken to my heart today through his word." Could I just ask you to raise a hand up all across the church? Thank you, God. Thank you, God. God, we're in on what you're doing. We're in on the inconvenience. We're in on the dirt. We're in on the mess.

We want you to live in our hearts. Keep our eyes bright. Keep our knees bent. Keep our hands open. Keep our skin thick. And may you continue to add brothers and sisters to your huge family. And may we be a part of it. You can put your hands down.

I want to now invite anybody who in this moment would say, "I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to be saved. I need to be born again. I'm not a child of God, but I want to be. If that's who you I'm describing, Jesus paid it all.

You can't do anything to save yourself. But if you receive the gift of eternal life, you can be saved. You and your family, if that's you, I'm describing. Say this prayer with me. Believe, confess, receive salvation in Jesus name. Church, say it with us. Dear God, >> Dear God, >> I know that I'm a sinner. >> I can't fix myself.

But I believe that you can. Please come into my heart. Make it your home. Help me to follow you. >> Thank you for new life. I give you mine in Jesus name. ((music playing)) ((music playing))