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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP180310A
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00:00 ♪♪ >> Father God, what a blessing it is to be Your child.
00:12 What a blessing it is that you shed your blood for us that, one day, we can go home with You, 00:17 Lord. We want to praise you today. We want to acknowledge You 00:20 today, Lord. And as a family, we have gathered here, Lord, to just 00:25 acknowledge You. So we thank You, Father. We love You. We praise You. 00:29 We honor You. In Your son Jesus' precious, holy, and powerful name, we 00:32 pray. Amen. 00:35 It is such a wonderful thing to have the blood of Jesus to have 00:39 been shed for us on the cross that we have hope. 00:42 [ "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power" begins ] And it is that blood that we can 00:46 lead on, that we can say, "It doesn't matter how I've messed up or what happened yesterday. 00:54 I know that Jesus has already paid the price... that I can go and see Him again. 00:59 He's already paid the price to cover my sins. All I have to do is lean on him. 01:05 So, sing this song with me. [ Music continues ] 01:22 [ Congregation sings ] 05:02 Amen. Amen. And we know that because it will never lose its power, we can 05:07 sing about what's gone on before and how that applies to us today in the "Days of Elijah." 05:12 Let's be proud. Let's be excited about the time that we're in and how the Lord 05:17 is moving us. Sing with me. "These are the days of Elijah." 05:22 [ "Days of Elijah" begins ] Here we go. [ Congregation sings ] 06:21 Sing it out! [ Singing continues ] 08:23 [ "He Is Exalted" begins ] 08:30 [ Congregation sings ] 09:27 One more time. Let's sing to our God. [ Singing continues ] 10:22 Sing it again. [ Singing continues ] 10:44 He is exalted. [ Singing continues ] 10:51 One more time. [ Congregation singing ] 11:04 [ "Because He Lives" begins ] Because He lives... that's why we can. 11:14 [ Congregation sings ] 12:05 Yes, I can. [ Singing continues ] 12:15 What? [ Singing continues ] 12:33 Hold a friend's hand. [ Singing continues ] Take a hand! 12:39 [ Singing continues ] 12:53 But greater still... [ Singing continues ] ...the calm assurance. 12:58 [ Singing continues ] This child can face... [ Singing continues ] 13:11 Sing it -- "Because He lives." [ Singing continues ] Yes! 13:17 [ Singing continues ] 13:25 There's no fear. [ Singing continues ] 13:48 "So then sings my soul." [ "How Great Thou Art" begins ] [ Congregation singing ] 14:46 [ "Jesus Shall Reign" begins ] 19:14 >> Happy Sabbath, guys. How are you guys doing? >> Good. 19:17 >> Good, good, good. You guys are all looking sharp. All right. 19:20 So, today I'm gonna be telling you guys a story about one really cool event that happened 19:25 to me. But first, how many of you guys get scared of something? 19:29 You guys get scared at night? Are you guys scared of the dark or scared of heights? 19:33 Yeah. [ Chuckles ] [ Children murmuring ] 19:35 Well, one of the things that I'm scared -- 19:38 Actually, I'm scared of two big things. I'm scared of fire, and I'm 19:41 scared of sharks. I don't know why, but those are the things that I'm scared of. 19:45 Anyways, so... [ Murmuring continues ] Ah. Shh. 19:49 I'm gonna be telling you guys a story of one time I went to Mexico. 19:52 So, I went to Mexico with my family, which is me, my brother, my dad, and I mom. 19:56 We went down to Mexico to do some really cool and adventurous stuff. 20:01 But one of the things that we did -- we all got on this really cool boat, and we all got on 20:05 this boat, and we sailed out into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 20:09 Brrrrrrrrr! Oh, for 20 miles we went out into the middle of nowhere, 20:14 deep, deep, deep water. It was kind of creepy. And then what I forgot to tell 20:20 you guys is you know what we were looking for? We were looking for sharks. 20:25 I'm scared of sharks. That was really intimidating for me, and it was kind of scary. 20:30 But the shark that we were looking for superficially was the whale shark, the biggest 20:35 shark there is. Of course, the whale shark doesn't eat people, but it is 20:40 still a shark, and it's really big. So I brought my rope here. 20:43 I want to show you guys how big it really is. So, can I get two volunteers -- 20:49 one on this side? How 'bout you right here? You take this side of the rope 20:53 and walk that way. And then somebody over here? Okay, you right here. 20:58 And I want you to walk that way. Grab the rope. Grab the end of the rope and 21:05 walk that way. Walk as far as you can. Walk, walk, walk. 21:11 Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going. Raise it up. 21:14 Now raise it up as high as you can. This is the size of an average 21:18 whale shark. >> Whoa! That's big! >> This is me. 21:22 That's a whale shark. And I'm already scared of sharks. 21:25 I was...terrified. [ Chuckles ] I was scared. 21:30 All right. Thank you, guys. You guys can let go. It was really scary, and I 21:33 didn't know what I was gonna do. I was scared. I didn't know -- I was nervous. 21:37 I was freaking out and everything. [ Chuckles ] 21:41 And so what I did -- what the boat driver said he would do -- the boat driver said, "All 21:44 right, you guys are gonna sit on the edge of the boat, and what I'm gonna do" is he's gonna take 21:48 the boat -- Brrrrr! -- and he's gonna stop right in front of the whale shark. 21:53 And he's gonna wait there, and then we get to jump off the edge so that way we can see the whale 21:57 shark pass by us because they're really fast. So, if we didn't do that, then 22:01 we wouldn't get a head start and we wouldn't be able to keep up with him. 22:04 So, the -- [ Clears throat ] Yeah, this is scary. 22:08 So, the boat -- the boat came around, came around, came around, and it stopped in front 22:12 of the shark and said, "Go, go! Jump, jump, jump!" So my brother and my dad jumped 22:16 in, but I didn't. [ Chuckles ] I was too scared. I sat there like, 22:20 "No, no, no, no!" So I jumped back into the boat, and I stood there, and I was 22:23 like, "Aah!" And the boat driver's like, "What's wrong? What's wrong? 22:26 What's wrong?" I was scared. [ Chuckles ] 22:29 So, he came around again. He's like, "I'll do it again." So he came around, he came 22:31 around, stopped, and they jumped in, and I stayed there again. Too, too much. 22:37 And so the third time, I was like, "Okay, God. Please, Lord, please help me 22:42 jump in, because this is scary." So, third time around, he came around, came around, came 22:48 around, and, finally -- whew! -- I jumped in. And you know how it is when 22:54 you're swimming in water and you jump into the water and you're wearing your cool 22:58 goggles -- These are my cool goggles that I wore. 23:00 My goodness. They're a little bit small now, but...I jumped in, and -- 23:04 Pbbbbbbbbh! And all the bubbles are going, "Pbbbbbbbbbh!" 23:08 And then all of a sudden -- the second picture -- and it showed -- 23:12 And you know what I saw? I saw this...really...scary... thing. 23:18 [ Children shouting ] I-I screamed. I-I screamed. 23:23 You see this tube? It helps you breathe, but I still screamed, like, "Aaaaah!" 23:28 [ Laughter ] I was scared! I didn't know what to do! 23:32 I was scared! Oh, goodness gracious, it was scary. 23:35 And so I kept swimming. So, I had to, like, swim out of its way 'cause I didn't know 23:38 what to do. I was like, "Aaaaah!" 'Cause I didn't want to get 23:40 eaten, and, of course, these sharks -- they don't eat people. They eat plankton, which are 23:45 little, tiny, almost invisible creatures that swim around that the human eye can't see. 23:51 But I was still scared. [ Chuckles ] A big mouth is coming at you, 23:54 and it's scary. But you know what? After about 10 or 15 minutes, I 23:58 got used to it, and swimming around with that fish was so cool. 24:01 I got to touch it, even though I was -- I mean, I got to touch it a little bit. 24:05 And it was cool 'cause I got to swim around with this huge fish. And I look back now, and it's a 24:09 really cool thing that I got to do. But, like, the point of the 24:13 story is sometimes we go through really scary things, like whether it's the dark or we get 24:18 scared by [Clears throat] by little things. What we always have to remember 24:22 is when we have God and when we pray to God and when we ask God to be with us, God's always 24:28 gonna be there to comfort us and be with us in all we do. So, can I have a person, a 24:32 volunteer, to pray? Wow. People are eager. Can you come forward? Yeah. 24:38 All right. Ugh. What's your name? 24:44 >> Leigh. >> Leigh? All right. You have a little, quick prayer? 24:48 >> Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for this day and thank You for taking us to church safely. 24:54 Please help us to not be scared when we are scared and please also help us to get back home 25:01 safely. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. 25:05 All right, guys. You all go your separate ways. Remember, God is always with you 25:09 in whatever you do. >> I'm really afraid of sharks. 25:13 >> I'm gonna pray with you first. Father, it is the truth. 25:19 It's the truth about you. It's the truth about your son. It's the truth about 25:24 the Holy Spirit. You love us. You just...plain...love us. 25:29 And the Bible tells us so, so we believe it. We know it. 25:33 But what does that mean? How, then, shall we live? Take these few moments left. 25:41 In the Word, speak to us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. 25:46 So, the question is, is God melancholy? 25:53 If He took the Four Temperaments test -- what is it, choleric, 25:57 sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholy -- would He score 26:00 high in melancholy? I'm just kind of thinking, you 26:05 know, He loves music, and He cries a lot. 26:08 That's got to be melancholy, right? 26:10 Come on. If you love music a lot and you cry a lot, you're 26:13 melancholy. You're also a good musician, I'm 26:16 sure. So, is God melancholy? 26:19 There's a picture of God that I want you to take a careful look 26:22 at right now. You're gonna look at his heart. 26:26 Check it out. See what you think. 26:27 Open your Bible with me in this as we put a wrap to it. 26:30 Put it on the screen. This is the last teaching -- 26:32 "Teach Your Heart to Sing Again." 26:35 Ephesians chapter 4. 26:36 Go to Ephesians chapter 4. Take a good look at this. Ephesians chapter 4. 26:42 Drop down to verse 30. I'm in the New International Version. 26:45 You got your device with you, you can look it up there. Don't have anything? 26:49 Grab the pew Bible in front of you. It's page 788. 26:52 Ephesians 4:30. 27:08 That is some awesome and rather dramatic word, wouldn't you say -- the word "grieve"? 27:13 I mean, please. Paul is scribbling this down in an ancient language, and the 27:18 word that he's using, that he chose to use, it can be translated "to be sad," "to be 27:22 sorrowful," "to weep," "to cry." In fact, it's the word that the Gospel writers grabbed -- the 27:29 same Greek word -- when they wanted to describe that moment dark, shadowy, mysterious Jesus, 27:37 stepping in to the moonbathed, night-moist patch of the Garden of Gethsemane. 27:44 He goes down on his face, and the word they choose is the same word right here to describe his 27:51 grieving, and, in fact, in English, describing the Garden of Gethsemane moment in 27:55 English, one translation will call it "Jesus is now grieving." Another one says he's full of 27:59 sorrow. Another one says he's feeling sadness. 28:01 Another one suggests he is filled with anguish. In fact, you need to see how the 28:07 writer of Hebrews captures the profound emotions of Jesus. Put it on the screen for you. 28:13 This is a familiar line, perhaps, to you. 28:22 What's up? Who's he talking to? 28:29 Loud, fervent cries and tears. I'm telling you... melancholy. 28:37 That's what he is. You have the Holy Spirit of God. You have the Eternal Son of God. 28:42 They both demonstrate this same pretty obvious melancholy. Apparent-- Lookit. 28:49 Apparently... it's not hard for us to make God cry -- apparently. 28:59 I mean, look at him crying right after, right after, he creates this beautiful planet. 29:06 Go back to the book of beginnings. Go to Genesis chapter 6 -- 29:08 yeah, chapter 6 -- for a moment. Genesis 6. Look at this. 29:14 You want to talk about heartache? We'll start with verse 5. 29:19 Genesis 6:5. 29:33 You know, when we went past that tragedy a few weeks ago, I decided to say nothing about it. 29:39 You know why? You say, "Well, Dwight, what tragedy are you talking about?" 29:42 I'm talking about the Marjory Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida -- the wanton 29:47 killing of 17 on that campus. I decided, "Let's not say anything," because they're 29:54 warning us, people who know, that there's a danger we can suffer from what they're calling 29:58 "frozen emotions." You can get this stuff so f-- like a fire hose, so full in 30:06 your face, that, eventually, the ability to experience empathy is just -- Ptt! -- frozen. 30:13 But if you watch the news -- I'm sure you did -- and you saw those parents, the 30:18 grief on those parents' faces, and the friends' and the classmates', and -- and did you 30:23 see little Emma Gonzalez? Did you see that moment? Standing in front of the cameras 30:29 of the world, this little clip goes viral. Senior. 30:33 She is sobbing... in rage... over that slaughter of innocent 30:41 lives. How could your heart -- When somebody cries and you see 30:45 them cry, it just cuts you to the core. God with a broken heart. 30:53 Well, is he heartbroken here? Let's read the next line -- verse 5 again. 31:12 I want you to see this in the New Revised Standard Version. We'll put it on the screen 31:14 for you. Look at that. 31:21 Look at the New Living translation, also on the screen. 31:29 Grieved to the heart, broke His heart. However you choose to craft the 31:33 words, ladies and gentlemen, the truth is there probably is no word in the human language that 31:39 can plumb the depths of God's own emotions. Some people respond, "Well, 31:45 Dwight, I mean, think, boy. Of course -- Of course they're going to put this in 31:50 anthropomorphic terms." That means they're gonna describe him as a human. 31:53 "I mean, what do you expect? That's just a human attribution to Him. 31:58 He's not like that." [ Chuckles ] To which my friend John Peckham -- 32:01 Wish he were here. I'd get him up here to say it. John Peckham, who wrote the 32:05 book, by the way, "The Love of God: A Canonical Model" -- this is how he'd respond. 32:08 "Of course it's in the human language. Did you have another language 32:11 you prefer?" [ Laughter ] Peckham goes on to describe the 32:18 emotions, the raw emotions, of God right here, and he uses these adjectives -- "profound." 32:26 And I'm quoting him. "Profound, visceral, divine emotions." 32:32 And he goes on to write, on the screen for you... 32:41 That means it accommodates. Of course. 32:53 Of course our language is human, and so are our emotions, but where do you think we got our 32:58 language and emotions from? Who gave them to us? Oh, yes, there was a time -- 33:05 true, true -- these wise old theologians of the Middle Ages, and there are still some hanging 33:11 around -- they try to advocate the impassability of God. Now, that's "impossibility," 33:17 take the "o" out, and put an "a" in. Impassability. What is that? 33:20 That's an ancient Greek philosophy that suggests that God is so far removed from human 33:25 beings, any beings, that however they react, they cannot cause response in Him. 33:31 He's above. "This is not dignified for a deity. 33:34 I don't feel that like you." Wrong! Elie Wiesel, the well-known 33:44 Jewish writer, Nobel Laureate -- have you ever read his book "Night"? 33:48 Have they assigned "Night" to you yet? You got to read "Night." 33:51 Elie Wiesel, survivor of the Holocaust. In the book, he tells -- 33:55 and you might remember this. He tells the story of that execution in the concentration 33:59 camp Buna. I'll read this to you. If you've heard the story 34:05 before, listen again. Elie Wiesel. "One day when we came back from 34:10 work, we saw three gallows rearing up in the assembly place, three black crows. 34:17 Roll call. SS all around us, machine guns trained -- the traditional 34:22 ceremony. Three victims in chains -- and one of them, the little servant, 34:27 a sad-eyed angel." A child is gonna be hanged. "The SS seemed more preoccupied, 34:33 more disturbed than usual. To hang a young boy in front of thousands of spectators was no 34:38 light matter. The head of the camp read the verdict. 34:40 All eyes were on the child. He was lividly pale, almost calm, biting his lip. 34:45 The gallows threw its shadow over him. The three victims mounted 34:50 together onto the chairs. The three necks were placed at the same moment within the 34:54 nooses. "Long live liberty!" cried the two adults. 34:58 But the child was silent. 'Where is God? Where is He?' someone behind me asked. 35:05 At the sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over. 35:09 Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was 35:12 setting. 'Bear your heads!' yelled the head of the camp. 35:15 His voice was raucous. We were weeping. 'Now cover your heads!' 35:20 And then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive. 35:25 Their tongues hung swollen and blue-tinged. But the third rope was still 35:29 moving -- being so light, the child was still alive. For more than a half-hour, he 35:36 stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. 35:40 And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed 35:44 in front of him. His tongue was still red. His eyes were not yet glazed. 35:47 Behind me I heard the same man asking, 'Where is God now?!' And I heard a voice within me 35:55 answer him, 'Where is he? He is here. He is hanging here on this 36:00 gallows." The God of the broken heart -- where would he be but there? 36:09 The God of the broken heart. Put that line up again, please. 36:19 Wiesel is right. The God of the broken heart, whom we came to know, by the 36:23 way, as Jesus of Nazareth. Of Jesus, it's written in John 11:35, the shortest verse 36:28 in all the Bible. How does it read? "Jesus wept." 36:33 There's another line from the Gospel of Luke -- I'll put it up there -- Luke 19:41. 36:36 Same Jesus. "As He approached Jerusalem" -- this would be the triumphal 36:40 entry -- "and saw the city, He wept over it." This captures the pathos, 36:47 the deep emotion of this moment right there. Put this on the screen for you. 36:52 "His eye fill with tears, and His body rocks to and fro like a tree before the tempest, while a 36:57 wail of anguish bursts from his quivering lips as if from the depths of a broken heart." 37:02 There it is again. 37:44 The God of the broken heart. So, this is the God of whom we speak. 37:49 What's this line? 37:54 Turns out there's much more to that word "grieve" than we first thought, isn't there? 37:59 Hmm. 38:00 Apparently, you and I really do have the capacity to somehow 38:04 make God cry. Can you believe that? 38:07 Make him cry. Apparently... 38:14 I and maybe you, too, have grieved all of them. 38:18 I'm talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 38:22 Break his heart. And just as apparently, and I 38:26 need to add this little caveat to this theological sidebar that 38:30 we just ventured into for this brief moment -- 38:33 Apparently, just as apparently... we can grieve our divine friend 38:40 away. You say, "But why would I, how would I, ever do such a thing?" 38:48 Very good question. "Why would I do such a thing?" Apparently, I can do just that 38:59 by repeatedly rejecting the Spirit's whispering voice to me. "Dwight, I'm talking to you, 39:08 boy. I'm asking you, don't. Give me that. 39:17 Surrender to me." Apparently, I can keep saying, "Nah. No. No, no, no, no, no. 39:25 Not now. Mañana. We'll get to it someday." Apparently, there comes a moment 39:32 when the Spirit says, "Okay. Okay, okay, okay. I get it. I get it. I get it. 39:38 I hear what you're saying to me. "Holy Spirit, which part of the 'No' don't you understand the 39:42 'n' or the 'o'? I hear your 'no.' I honor your choice. 39:51 I wish you'd change your mind. Still no?" And He slowly backs up to the 39:59 door of my mind and my heart, and He reaches behind and He opens the door... 40:05 backing out of my life... and walks away. "I got it. 40:13 Your wish is 'no.'" 40:20 I mean, isn't that what happened to Judas? Come on -- Judas. 40:23 We're talking about Judas, Judas, who hung around with the friends of Jesus all those 40:27 years, Judas, who, by the way -- listen to this -- went to church every Sabbath with Jesus. 40:33 Every Sabbath, he's in church. Judas, who -- who hears, who feels, who knows the strong love 40:44 of God in Christ that is drawing him, that's tugging him, that's pleading to him, that's pleading 40:50 for him, Judas, who keeps saying, "No, no, no" to the dearest friend -- the dearest 40:56 friend -- he would ever have... until it was too late. And the voice and the knocking 41:05 came back no more. Man. You're not thinking you're gonna 41:12 do that, are you? I mean, I'm not gonna do that, am I? 41:26 Can I hit the pause button right here? Some of you have been saying no 41:32 to God. I don't know what about. It's not my business. 41:38 But the moment I say this, something pops into your mind, and whatever that something is, 41:42 you know that's what you've been saying no to Him about. "I'm not gonna surrender. 41:47 I'm not giving this to You. No, I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna do it. 41:53 I don't have to. I'm the leader here." If you've been saying no to 42:01 God -- seriously, if you have been saying no to God repeatedly, I appeal to you in 42:07 the name of Jesus Christ that you not... with cavalier disregard, blow 42:19 this moment away. If He's talking to you right now, would you listen to that 42:26 voice? And you don't have to move your lips. 42:28 You don't have to say a thing to me. But would you listen to that 42:31 voice...and say to Him... "All right. I got it. You may have it"? 42:42 Is it worth it? You know what? Do not grieve. 42:47 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. You know what I say? 42:50 I say, every morning, let's not break his heart. Let's make his day 42:54 every single day. That's what you do -- make His day. 42:56 You say, "Dwight, how can I make His day?" You just keep saying yes to Him. 42:59 Every morning, you say, "Yep, today I need you. Today come into my life. 43:02 Bring the love of God with you when you come, please. Live my life today through me." 43:07 When you do that, you're being baptized by the Holy Spirit every single day -- 43:11 every single day. That's what this has all been about. 43:13 You just, every day, say, "I'm not saying no today. I'm saying yes to You." 43:18 Bienvenido! Come on in! Welcome. 43:25 Hmm. Which is precisely what Paul is trying to say right here, but, 43:29 folks, what's really something is if you put 4:30, that we've just read, with a line -- go 43:35 back to Ephesians -- with a line in chapter 5, verses 18 and 19, you put those two lines 43:40 together -- ooh, my! That's what Paul is saying! You got to read these together. 43:44 There are just a few verses in between, and Paul's on a roll now. 43:47 So let's read Ephesians 4:30 again -- "And do not grieve the 43:52 Holy Spirit." Now we're gonna stop it right 43:54 there. Cut across to chapter 5, 43:56 verse 18. We've got this on the screen for 43:57 you. "Instead," Paul says, "be filled 44:00 with the Spirit," and, by the way, the tense in the Greek is 44:03 "be filled day after day after day." 44:04 Be filled continually. Keep saying yes every day. 44:07 Be filled with the Spirit, speak--" Ooh, watch this -- 44:09 "speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from 44:14 the Spirit." Don't you love that? 44:16 That's great. Songs from the Spirit. 44:21 [ Singing ] 44:44 Sing it. [ Congregation singing ] 44:58 Oh, I love the way the NIV renders, very uniquely renders, 45:01 that line. Put it on the screen again, 45:02 please. Look how the NIV renders this. 45:05 "Instead, be filled with the Spirit day by day" -- now watch 45:09 this -- "speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs of 45:13 the Spirit." 45:14 Your translation might say, "Spiritual songs." The NIV says, "No, we know where 45:18 the songs come from. They come from your best friend, the Holy Spirit. 45:21 Let your life be filled. Sing songs of the Spirit to each other." 45:26 I told you, I'm telling you, God is melancholy. He cries a lot -- we just 45:32 noticed that a moment ago -- and now we find out he sings a lot. Tch, tch, tch. 45:36 Melancholy. Put these two lines together, though. 45:42 It's really more beautiful than that. Put the line on the screen, 45:44 please. Put these two lines together, and here's what you get. 45:46 Don't make the Spirit cry for you by saying no to Him. Don't make the Spirit cry for 45:52 you by saying, "Not today. Mañana, por favor." Don't make the Spirit cry 45:56 for you. Let the Spirit sing through you. That's what He wants. 46:02 "Let me sing through you. I have songs. I'll give you songs." 46:06 Mmm. Because that's the way of love. Have you noticed love? 46:09 There's always singing. You don't have to -- If you can't carry a tune in a 46:13 bucket, you still love music. Have you noticed that? It's just in us. 46:17 We must have gotten this from somebody. Do you know that God, when He 46:20 looks at you and He loves you, He sings over you like your mother used to sing over you? 46:23 But God sings over you in your adulthood right now. Look at Zephaniah 3:17. 46:27 Isn't this a beautiful line? "The Lord your God is with you. He will take great delight in 46:32 you, and will rejoice over you" with what? What's the word, folks? 46:35 With singing. God sings! I'm telling you! Melancholy! 46:41 Singing. Wow. Hallelujah. 46:46 Yep. Love is a song. You're such a dear friend of His that every morning when you wake 46:52 up and you say, "Oh, by the way, the answer today is yes. You were wondering, was it yes 46:56 today? It's still yes." The moment you say yes, songs of 47:00 the Spirit. He starts singing. He sings over you. 47:06 But then that's what love does. You notice that? Hey, have you noticed that some 47:10 people -- Come on. Have you noticed that the people 47:13 who are asking daily for the baptism of the Holy Spirit are really wonderful to be around? 47:17 I mean, have you noticed that? I'm being serious. There's a difference. 47:24 The people who are filled with the Holy Spirit -- You know why there's a 47:26 difference? Because when you invite the Holy Spirit into your life every 47:28 day, He always brings a big gift called the love of God. He just -- pshhhhh! -- pours 47:32 that into you. And then you move out, and that's just splashing all over 47:35 everybody, and that's why, when you're around people who've been baptized by the Holy Spirit, 47:39 it's kind of a fun day. I mean, life can be tough. You can be going through some 47:44 real heartache. But these people just have a way of just lifting your spirit. 47:47 And, by the way, have you noticed this? You can always tell the people 47:50 that are not baptized by the Spirit. You know of what I speak. 47:58 But the people who've been baptized by the Spirit -- I mean, you get to go to school 48:00 with them. You get to share the same sink in the dorm room with them. 48:03 What a joy. People that are baptized by the Holy Spirit -- you know what you 48:08 get to do? You get to be married to them. You get to sit across the 48:11 kitchen table from them, no matter how they look. You just love 'em, 'cause 48:18 they've been baptized by the Holy Spirit that day. I mean, to share the same 48:22 workroom, the same drinking fountain, with people who've been baptized by the Spirit -- 48:26 it just doesn't get any better than that. You don't even have to know 48:28 their names to listen to the song. You hear the song, and you don't 48:31 even know the guy's name. But, man, I can tell he's got something pretty special, 'cause 48:36 every time I feel the Spirit, the song, as that old spiritual sings, the love of God just 48:44 flows out of you. They're a delight to be around, these kind of people. 48:49 Wow. So, what do we do? Listen, listen. What do we do when we fail to 48:52 love? When the song dies in us and we can't seem to have the -- 49:01 that divine gift when we need it. You ever had those times? 49:04 When I get home or when I get alone, I say, "What was I thinking when I said that? 49:11 Why did I say that? What was I thinking when I did that to him, to her?" 49:19 Times when the song gets choked in our throat before it even gets out. 49:26 I want to close with a story that perhaps has the answer embedded in it. 49:30 See what you think. It's a story from the great South African writer 49:34 Laurens van der Post. I'm gonna read it to you. I've got it right here. 49:39 Just a short story. But listen. It's the story of two brothers. 49:44 "The elder brother was strong and tall, intelligent, an excellent athlete." 49:50 Got the picture? "Sent away to a private school in South Africa, where the 49:56 family lived. He became an admired leader of the student body. 50:01 His brother was six years younger. Neither good-looking nor 50:06 capable, he was also a hunchback. But he had one great gift. 50:13 He had a magnificent singing voice." [ Chuckles ] 50:18 Eventually, the younger brother joined the older at the same boarding school. 50:21 One day, in a cruel outbreak of mob psychology, a group of students ganged up on the 50:27 younger brother, jeered at him, tore off his shirt to reveal his humpback. 50:35 The older brother was aware of what was going on. He could have gone out. 50:45 He could have faced the crowd of sadistic students. He could have acknowledged the 50:48 strange humpback as his brother and put a stop to this whole sorry mess. 50:52 Instead he remained in the chemistry lab, completing an assignment. 50:58 He betrayed his brother by what he failed to do. The younger brother was never 51:07 the same again. He returned home to his parents' farm, where he kept to himself 51:11 and sang no more. 51:14 Meanwhile, the older brother had become a soldier in 51:17 World War II, stationed in Palestine. 51:20 One night, lying outdoors and gazing into the starlit sky, he 51:23 realized what he had done to his younger brother in their school 51:26 days. His heart told him that he would 51:30 never have peace until he went home and asked his brother for 51:33 forgiveness. And so he made the incredibly 51:36 difficult wartime journey from Palestine to South Africa. 51:40 The brothers talked long into the night, the elder one 51:43 confessing his guilt and remorse. 51:45 They cried together, embraced, and the breach between them was healed. 51:51 Something else happened that night. The older brother had fallen 51:55 asleep when he was startled awake by the sound of a full, rich, mellifluous voice soaring 52:01 into the night. It was the beautiful voice of his younger brother, who was 52:07 singing once again. My. Somebody in your life... 52:18 whose song you needlessly crushed? Somebody in your circle... 52:27 whose music was throttled because of what you did, because of what you said? 52:34 Somebody...needs... the song to be released again. Brennan Manning, who tells this 52:44 story, then comments -- on the screen, please... 53:09 Wow. Makes you wonder. Is the song of the Spirit -- 53:17 Is the song of the Spirit and the love of God... getting through me... 53:25 to all the people God is desperate to love right now? Hmm. 53:34 [ "Holy Spirit, Gracious Guest" begins ] 53:52 [ Congregation singing ] 55:20 That is so beautiful a prayer, and we've prayed it collectively together. 55:23 If you'd like somebody to pray with you, as soon as this prayer is over, we have two of our 55:28 prayer leaders here, a father-and-son team, today. You'll see the identification. 55:32 Step up to them. They'd be honored to pray with you. 55:35 You don't have to go on this journey alone. We want to lift you up. 55:40 Let's pray right now. Father... what a prayer that we've just 55:45 prayed. Please, give us Jesus. The Father loves us. 55:49 Jesus loves us. The Spirit loves us. It's not like we have to 55:53 convince you. It's not like we have to perform to get Your love. 56:00 We just need the fullness of that gift. And, oh, God, please, for all 56:05 the times we've said no... forgive me. Forgive us. 56:11 Don't let us say no. Teach us to be "yes" people in Your presence. 56:17 "Yes, I want Your love. Yes, I need You to use me today. Yes, I will follow wherever You 56:25 lead. Yes, I am Yours. And then send us out now. 56:30 The world's waiting. Send us out. Disciples and friends of Christ, 56:37 children of the Father, and our dearest friend, the Holy Spirit, I'll never leave You. 56:42 I will never leave You or forsake You. Now may the grace of the Father 56:48 and love of Christ Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 56:55 Amen. >> Amen. ♪♪ 57:12 >> Thank you for taking the time to join us in worship today. 57:14 I'd like to spend another moment with you here at the end of our 57:17 program to share with you a gift of hope. 57:19 In these uncertain times, this little book, "The Great Hope," 57:22 will help you understand what God has planned for your future. 57:24 And not just your future, but for the future of 57:26 the human race. In this 500th anniversary of 57:29 the Great Reformation, we recognize that Luther had a 57:32 mighty work to do, but the truth is he didn't 57:35 recognize all the light of holy scripture. 57:36 How could he have? He's just one life. 57:39 New light has been continually shining since his time, 57:41 and new truths have been constantly unfolding. 57:44 This book, "The Great Hope," is a story of that continuing 57:47 Reformation. So grab your phone, 57:50 dial our toll-free number... Remember the two words -- 57:54 877-HIS-WILL -- and we'll get a copy to you 57:57 right away. Until the next time we meet, 57:59 may the peace of our Lord Jesus be with you. 58:05 ♪♪ ♪♪ 58:25 ♪♪ |
Revised 2018-03-16