Speaker 1: 0:17

Good morning, northgate. Buenos dias. My name is Raquel Benito and I'll be reading the word this morning. We're going to be right in the beginning. Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. In the beginning, god created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. La creación En el principio. Dios creó los cielos y la tierra. La tierra no tenía forma y estaba vacía. Las tinieblas cubrían el abismo y el Espíritu de Dios se movía sobre la superficie de las aguas. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Speaker 2: 1:08

I love that. It's one of those things where you're like I have no idea what you just said, but it was awesome. Well, welcome to the 11 o'clock service. I was thinking at my church sometimes 11 o'clock is the smallest service, but I realized you guys have a lot of energy because you've got that extra hour of sleep right. You feeling it Sort of Some of you are, some of you need to go get caffeine. It's really really nice to be here. Last time I was here was five years ago, so I'm really kind of plotting out 2030 when he invites me back, just to kind of have my life in order a little bit. But I'll tell you a little bit about myself and my story. But just, I think Pastor Larry and I met. I knew him as Larry and now he's Lawrence. I don't know if you got that from the new Pope, I'm not sure where that came from, but Pastor Lawrence, the very holy Reverend Lawrence, I've had the privilege to serve as the chaplain to the Oakland Athletics.

Speaker 2: 2:06

I saw some people with some athletics hats. I don't know if you guys were athletic fans, but they abandoned us, right, they've left us. So I worked with the A's and actually with the Giants for a number of years and then that's been a little bit of my life, and then I started working a little bit with a team, just by random chance, a team that's called the Savannah Bananas. If you've heard of this phenomenon, I'll tell you a real quick story how it came to be. I just I've been watching them from the very beginning. I'm like what the heck is this right? And if you don't know what I'm talking about, google it later today and then send me a message and say thank you, because you're going to really enjoy what this is. But I was like watching this and I've been watching it from the very beginning and I saw that they were coming to California. This is years back and I said I'm just going to send an email.

Speaker 2: 2:54

I have this philosophy of radical hospitality. I'm going to send an email and just invite them over for dinner. Just say hey, if you guys like to come over for dinner, we'd love to have you. And they said, yes, we'd love to come over. Now here's the thing that I've learned Radical generosity is really really good. Also, informing your wife that you invited 200 people over for a barbecue also really good, which I forgot to do, and I should have said something like hey, honey, by the way, but now we invite them over to our house. They followed us with a camera. We're in the Banana Land documentary, season 2, episode 14. But very interesting thing, where we're just like, hey, we want to extend ourselves, we do a prayer blessing over them and meet with some of the players and then have them over for dinner at our house. So that's just kind of a new little thing that we do with the Savannah Bananas.

Speaker 2: 3:49

But also since the A's left, I just recently asked to be the chaplain to the CrossFit Games, and CrossFit Games will be coming in New York this August. I'm going to ask the church actually I'll send a message to Pastor Lawrence to have you guys pray for me, because this is the first time in the history of the games they've actually had a chaplain, based on last year's accidental death of somebody, an athlete that had died last year, and they said we don't know what to do, and so they reached out and said would you come? And so all of a sudden they've given me this open platform crazy right to minister to athletes and coaches there at the game. So I don't want to leave that picture up there too long, because I see some women taking out their camera and taking shots of that. So I want to just be really careful.

Speaker 1: 4:35

Yes, very good, get rid of that picture.

Speaker 2: 4:38

It's good to be here and it's good to really talk through the Holy Spirit and to understand the Spirit in one's life and how it actually functions and moves, because you recognize that that's part of the triunity of God and we understand the Father God and we understand who Jesus is. But do we give that understanding and a little bit more clarity of the Spirit? Because the Spirit is what interacts with us on the daily. And I grew up and I'll just tell you a little bit about my life. I grew up in a Christian home, very Christian home, not just Christian but very Christian. I grew up in a very conservative Baptist home. My father was a Baptist minister. I'm the second generation of three generations of pastors. Here's a picture of my family right here. This is my family.

Speaker 2: 5:19

We live out in Santa Cruz Mountains, out just near Capitola, got a big 14-acre property out there. My parents, my kids, my wife and I and my grandkids I have eight grandkids and we all live together. It's kind of like a cult. It's very, it fits. Santa Cruz is very, you know, it just fits. And so we all live out there together.

Speaker 2: 5:40

But life was different for me when I was growing up, because I grew up as a pastor's kid and everything about my life was Christian. Everything about me growing up was Christian. Because I went to Christian school. We only listened to Christian music, christian records, which my kids are like. What's a record? They have no idea. How do you fit these CDs in here? Christian TV, which is awful, I could only have Christian. You know, when I have friends come over, are they Christian? I'm like I don't know. I don't know if they are, but everything we went to church on Sunday morning, sunday night and Wednesday night and everything about our home and our life was Christian.

Speaker 2: 6:24

And I remember for my mother she had a set of rules by which we lived, called the nine nasties. These are the things that you don't do because you're Christian. We don't drink nasties. These are the things that you don't do because you're Christian. We don't drink, we don't smoke, we don't chew. I remember as a kid thinking we don't chew, my brother's like I don't know, just swallow I don't know. It doesn't make sense. You know, we didn't play cards, we didn't go to dances, we didn't go cruising, we didn't take drugs. That was the only one that made sense to me. We didn't do all these things and we didn't hang out with girls that do those things, like all these nine nasties above, which we don't do because we're Christian.

Speaker 2: 7:06

And life was about growing up, sin management and ordering my day based on this rap sheet of things that I can't be involved in, on this rap sheet of things that I can't be involved in, and whether or not I'm somewhere was near. That is a measure, an indication of what kind of Christian or good Christian I am. And I remember struggling through that as a kid, growing up, because there were times that other kids would come and say, hey, there's a dance. You know, at school there's a dance. You want to go to the dance. We're all going to go to the dance. And I'm like I can't because I'm a Christian. They're like, okay, that doesn't make any sense. But okay. And I remember arguing with my father, like can we go to the dance? Everybody's going to the dance. And my dad's like son, he said it in a very Baptist tone. If that's a thing he says, dancing stimulates the lust of the flesh. I'm like we know that's why we like it, like I'm just being honest, right, dancing's fun.

Speaker 2: 8:09

So I wasn't allowed to go. I wasn't allowed to go to movies Because I remember my father. Just, you know we can't go to movies and friends would come over want to go to the movies and I'm like I can't, I'm a Christian. First movie I snuck out and saw. Snuck out and saw was Raiders of the Lost Ark, I was 17. What a great first movie, right. But I'm like I've been missing all this. And then I had to go home and confess but I couldn't go to the movies. And I remember my father as I'd argue with my dad, like why can't we go to the movies, dad? And he would say, in a very Baptist tone, he would say, son, what if you're in the theater and Jesus returns? What happens then? Like we won't get to see the rest of the movie and all that, like none of it made sense to me.

Speaker 2: 9:00

And I remember struggling through my Christian faith based on a set of rules that became the benchmark of sin management. It had nothing to do with how I live intentionally, where when Jesus says in the Gospels he said a new commandment I give to you love one another as I've loved you. This is by this love, not management. Love. They'll know that you're my disciple, my follower, by the character and quality of how you love one another, game changer. And I remember growing up struggling with my own Christian faith. Being like this doesn't make any sense. My faith was not about walking in tune with the Spirit. It was about a set of rules and the things that we didn't do, rather than empowerment of the Spirit of God in one's life.

Speaker 2: 9:49

Even as a pastor's kid, life gets messy, it gets chaotic. Sometimes it gets really messy For pastor's kids. Some people would ask my dad, why is your kid so revised? He said well, he plays with the elder's kids. That's why, maybe, but not until later in life did I sense the Spirit of God moving and calling me and that I began to understand the work of the Spirit, this familiar stranger.

Speaker 2: 10:17

And I remember reading this passage about Jesus going through personal chaos right at the onset of his ministry. He's literally tested, he's tempted, he's broken down. He's in the desert for 40 days fasting I can't fast for 40 minutes, let alone 40 days and he's broken down. And he comes out of that and he enters into the synagogue and he reads a passage that's handed to him from Isaiah and he says this. It says the spirit of the Lord is on me because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me, to proclaim freedom to the prisoners and to recover sight for the blind and set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And from that point on I began to seek and understand what the Spirit's role in my own life, because I'm watching this chaos ensue in Christ's life. And then this empowerment of the Spirit, where everything that he does from that point on to bring peace and clarity and purpose and empowerment in one's life.

Speaker 2: 11:31

I remember for me growing up and going through this whole thing as a kid. I remember growing up and looking at the set of rules that we live by and struggling with that and thinking there was one day I remember watching my dog walk in and I thought my dog's a Christian, he has to be. He doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke, he doesn't play cards and there are dogs that do, because I've seen this picture right here, right. So when I look at this and I begin to understand now I look at him like what does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. And all of a sudden, from that point on, I seek to understand, I begin to seek the Spirit's role in my own life and I begin to watch and see this empowerment that plays out. And I remember being in college and all of a sudden feeling like God, the Spirit, is beckoning me to something much bigger than about what I don't do.

Speaker 2: 12:30

And I remember somebody at the church that was nearby the church that we went to had a list. They worked there at the church. They had a list of names of people in the community that this was going to be their. You know, they were really poor. They had no food. Single mom kids they're really on their last meal unless somebody stepped in Like four moms listed on there and she gave me the list. I took it back to our dorm, we took it to the guys and we're like look at this list. And we explained it. This is what. And something inside of me is like we've got to do something.

Speaker 2: 12:57

And I remember everybody got all the money that we had, that our parents had given us, and then we went to the store and we bought as much food as we possibly could and not just like rice and beans. We're like let's get the stuff that we would eat, the good stuff pop tarts and cocoa puffs and the things that would be like, hey, they actually really thought flowers for the mom. All of a sudden, we're like a bunch of college kids buying all kinds of stuff and we're going to get in these bags of groceries and we took them to the person's house because we had the name, their kids' names, their address and their phone number and we took the food. We drove to their house and we snuck up to the door, we put the food on the doorstep and then we ran away and got in the car and we and one of the rules was we had to peel out. Peeling out, it's like a drive-by blessing, you know and we're like, whoa, it was like an adrenaline rush. We did it to all these houses.

Speaker 2: 13:54

Then we went back to our dorm, got on the phone with a blocked line For you millennials that was how it was back then and we would call them on the phone. We'd say, mrs Johnson, yes, there's food on your doorstep. This is God. And then we'd hang up and we're like, oh my gosh, I have this adrenaline rush like I've done something wrong, when I've actually done something so right when the Spirit made me go. This is what I want to do. I want to be involved in things that are transformative and disruptive and crazy, to where my life's journey will open up opportunities, because my eyes were open to say what does the Spirit want to do right now?

Speaker 2: 14:41

And when you live that life, your life changes and you begin to experience all kinds of things. You see, the Spirit of God moves in the mess and the chaos even of our own lives to enact something inside of us that draws us into this one deeper relationship with God and two, empowering us to live in this world and in life. I promise you, things break, relationships fail and people die. Life gets complicated, it gets broken, it gets chaotic, and many of you have gone through it, and some of you are here right now and you're in it. You might be here at church because you're looking for an answer, or you might be here because you just need an escape from the drama, but you're in the midst of chaos and you're looking for peace or purpose or both, and either way, the chaos is not far from you. It seems to be chasing all the time, and it's not a mistake that you're here this morning.

Speaker 2: 15:38

And here's what I know for sure the Spirit of God doesn't wait for peace, he creates it. It's different he doesn't wait for things to settle, he steps into the mess and creates it. And the story of the Holy Spirit is deeply connected to chaos and even into suffering. And from creation in Genesis 1 to Jesus' ministry, to Pentecost, all the way up until today, the Spirit enters into the chaos and he brings clarity, he brings purpose, he brings empowerment, he brings peace. And, weirdly, from Genesis to Revelation in the Scriptures, there's this thematic connection between the spirit and water, and the invitation is not to watch the water but to come to the water for your own refreshing and then to become part of the river that heals the world.

Speaker 2: 16:39

That's our talk today. So will you join me in prayer as we just open up the scriptures and talk through this a little bit and ask god to bless our time? Father, we thank you for the chance to be here this morning. Will you open up our eyes, illuminate our hearts and our minds to understand and see what it is you have us see today that we would be convicted, encouraged, strengthened, empowered through your spirit, whatever we need, that you would do those things in us. We pray in Christ's name, amen, amen. So this morning I want to understand how the spirit moves in chaos, how the spirit moves in chaos.

Speaker 2: 17:11

So, from the beginning, in the passage that we read of the biblical narrative, the Holy Spirit is introduced in the first book, first chapter, second verse, like it's introduced at the get-go of all creation. The text reads, if I read it again in English in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Earth was formless and empty. Spirit of God hovering over the waters and the waters, and the picture and the imagery here is what we think is like. Oh, it's just like a calm pond. It's not that imagery.

Speaker 2: 17:50

The spirit is hovering over chaos. He's hovering over the unknown, the formless, the empty, the dark, waiting for the father to give the word. And when he does, the spirit enters, give the word. And when he does, the Spirit enters into the chaos and he gives it order. Light divided from dark, land separated from sea, life emerging out of chaos, plant life, animal life, human life. And the key, in its simplest form, is that the Spirit hovers over chaos not to run from it but to bring order and light and life. So when I look at it from the get-go, the Spirit's role is to enter into chaos, and when you begin to ask yourself I got chaos? This is the conduit for the Spirit. The Spirit of God has always been and always will be most active in the mess.

Speaker 2: 18:46

I like how this one author puts it. He says where the Spirit is, there is life, not a trimmed, ordered life, but a struggling life. The Spirit does not keep chaos at bay, but broods over the chaos and from within brings forth new creation. We just sang about this. And from the onset of Scripture, from the beginning of all things, the Spirit makes a very dark place become an oasis teeming with life. And it's very important to see because from this point on, throughout the whole Bible, the Spirit of God is described through the imagery of water, in the Psalms, in the Proverbs, in the Prophets, all the way up to the Gospels. In fact, in John's Gospel we see the imagery, the same interplay between the Spirit of God and water, right in the middle of one of the Jewish festivals that's going on, where Jesus offers living water in the middle of a religious ritual. I've read this passage so many times, but when I begin to go into the context of it, I see this emergence of water.

Speaker 2: 19:55

In John chapter 7, jesus enters into a Jewish holy event called the Feast of Tabernacles. It's still a festival that's celebrated today, called Sukkot, and it's a Jewish festival that celebrates God's provision and presence while the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness for over 40 years, from the end of Genesis into Exodus, all the way up to Joshua, and they're wandering in the desert for 40 years, living in tents and how God was present and providing for them. And they celebrate that every year around October. And in the Jewish culture it's a joyful, week-long festival where people build temporary shelters or tents to remember God's protection and provision for them and spiritually it points to God's desire to tabernacle or to dwell with his people, not just in the past but in the present and in the future. So back in John chapter 7, this is the high point of the festival. The high point of the festival is called the greatest day.

Speaker 2: 20:53

You might have read that passage before and not known what the greatest day is. The greatest day is like the crescendo of this festival that goes on and the crowds were singing and celebrating and priests would carry these large cisterns of water into the temple and they would pour them out and they would go down the temple steps and recreating this prophetic reenactment of streams of living water, that Jesus. And then what Jesus does in the middle of that festival in John 7, he does this in classic Jesus. It's just classic Jesus where he disrupts it with something, he interrupts the ritual and does something that's, I would say, almost scandalous.

Speaker 2: 21:30

In John 7, verse 37, he says this on the last day and the greatest day of the festival, jesus stood and said in a loud voice let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. He offers this two-part invitation. The first one, the first invitation, is to come to come. Are you thirsty? Come to me and drink. Like there's water everywhere. I mean it's a crazy joyful, you know waterpalooza kind of thing, and they're all having a good time. And Jesus is yelling this out in the middle of the thing. You want to come, you thirsty? Come to me, basically saying I am living water. I'll give you something that you've never had before.

Speaker 2: 22:21

Jesus is offering an encounter with the same spirit that hovered over the creation, chaos. So the first thing he offers is to come and the second invitation is to become. He says whoever believes, rivers will flow from within them. All who come to me, you'll not only drink of the source, but you'll become a conduit of the source. The living water that heals the world will flow from within you. This is a powerful message and we think about how scandalous it is.

Speaker 2: 22:55

Right in the middle of it, the crescendo of everything, and Jesus is there saying this is what this is, and even clarifies it in verse 39, at the very end of that passage, where he says by this he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive. It says it right there in the passage. He's talking about the spirit, he's talking about the water, he's talking about the spirit. Jesus said that's what I'm talking about, and it's coming. And what he's referencing is Pentecost, follow your church history, jesus' ministry, then the trial, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, and takes us all the way up where the Spirit is poured out on chaos again. So the Spirit is promised in John 7.

Speaker 2: 23:37

It's given in Acts 2, and the disciples are in Jerusalem. So after the chaos of the death and resurrection of Christ, where the disciples were disoriented and fearful and scattered, chaos again ensued and they were instructed to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came. They didn't know what that really even meant and if you look at Acts, chapter 1, you can see how disoriented they are. They're like picking a new guy that you never hear from again. It's just crazy. And they get to Acts, chapter 2, and the Spirit comes upon the disciples, rushing wind, tongues of fire, speaking different languages, and they're filled and empowered with the Holy Spirit. That's Acts, chapter 2. That's the birth of the church, the early church, and in that story they get accused of having too much wine. The early church, and in that story they get accused of having too much wine. Y'all been drinking.

Speaker 2: 24:26

My translation Peter gets up and he preaches the sermon of his lifetime and he says something super important in the sermon he quotes the prophet, the passage in Joel where he quotes and he says I will pour out my spirit on all people. You see the theme. It is a theme from the beginning all the way to the church Spirit, water, chaos to clarity, healing, holiness, empowerment, this river of living water being poured out that's streaming forth in the lives of all who came to drink and everything that water represents life, healing, hope. The early church would become, through the Spirit, to be poured out into a dry, broken and chaotic world and that encounter, from that encounter in Acts, would come clarity, purpose. All of a sudden you watch the disciples kind of bumbling before in the gospels. Now they speak with boldness, now they're healing the sick, now they're feeding the hungry, now they're proclaiming good news and we're seeing this revival and this empowerment of the church. Why? Because the Spirit has been poured out on them, as he's been poured out upon us.

Speaker 2: 25:39

And from that day forward to today, the church does what water does? It seeps into the cracks and overwhelms dry land to produce something and bring something new. So water does. It's a reason why this metaphor is so important. On my property I have a vineyard, small little boutique vineyard. We have a water line from our water tower going to it and in the middle of that it goes across this dry stretch of my property and there's a break in the water line, just a little leak. And while it's dry right here and the vines are growing there, there's this nice little oasis of weeds right in the middle. Right where all this? Why? Because water has seeped into the places.

Speaker 2: 26:25

That is changing the landscape, and when I think about it, the spirit that hovered over the deep, the spirit that Jesus invited to those to drink at the Feast of Tabernacles, the spirit that was poured out at Pentecost, is the same spirit that meets us today. So here's the deal the spirit in you is the river of life. The spirit in you is the river of life, and it's all about activating that spirit Like how do I live in tune and touch with the spirit? In 1 Corinthians 6, paul reminds us of this to the church and he says do you not know? Your bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you.

Speaker 2: 27:10

Every time I've read that passage or heard people talk about it, they talk about stewardship of our body. We should exercise every morning, don't eat gluten. I hear that and that's not what he's talking about. You are the same temple that is flowing that water down those stairs, that living water that seeps into a dry world. You are that. The power of God is the power of God. The power is God indwelling in and among us through the Spirit operating through our wounded and ordinary selves, to be the river of life flowing to the dead places of this world. He's activating us constantly. Our lives are meant to be temples where the living water flows and where the Spirit isn't just present, but he's active through his people. Spirit isn't just present, but he's active through his people. I love the passage where Jesus says, or it says, you are Christ's ambassadors If God as if God were pleading with you to be reconciled to him. You're Christ's ambassadors if God was pleading with you to be reconciled with him.

Speaker 2: 28:19

Like our job, the next person we meet is to experience that flowing water that comes from the Spirit inside of our own lives. See, for many of us in the church, I think it's like standing at the edge of the pool and watching kids splash and play and have fun and have a good time, and we see the joy and we feel the mist and we never actually jump in. We observe the refreshing life of the Spirit without actually participating in it, and that happens every day. God is in the business of redeeming mankind and the Spirit is activated inside of you. And the question you have paused. Have you paused enough and slowed down enough to recognize that the spirit's inside of you that brings peace and purpose in the midst of chaos. I say this all the time.

Speaker 2: 29:15

When you get bumped, you spill whatever you're full of. I mean, think about it when you drive and you've got your coffee full and you don't have the lid on and you get bumped. And it's the same thing in all aspects. Whatever you are filled with. If you're filled with some of the rhetoric we're hearing on the news or you're filled with the Spirit of God, whatever you're bumped, you're spilling that over. And every time your life gets disrupted, every interaction that you have with somebody, god is using that moment. If he's in the business of redeeming mankind enough to sacrifice his own son, don't you think he would use the church, empowered by the Spirit, with every interaction, that when your life gets disrupted and bumped, he would use that To share the story about going to Costco.

Speaker 2: 30:01

That's where I learn a lot about the Lord and whether or not I'm filled with the Spirit. You guys have Costco out here, right? So if you don't, costco is my favorite place because it's the only place in the world you can get 12 gallons of milk and a kayak right, just like the random things. So when we first moved to the Bay Area, we would go to Costco. We had to find out. My wife was like I need to know where Costco, whole Foods and Trader Joe's that was like her trifecta of groceries. I'd see a bunch of ladies going yep, that's for me. And so we found our Costco. And I remember the day we go there and you know you go to Costco and Costco and you saw how large our family was. Started with a cart, we quickly graduated to a flat, then we became a cart and a flat family because we had both. And I remember being at Costco one time with all the things that we had loaded on our cart and flat.

Speaker 2: 30:59

And we get in line and what happened is I'm in this line and all the other lines are moving and my line's not moving and I can't move because there's food testers and ladies with Dixie cups and a quarter of a you know taquito that are handing out to me. My kids are everywhere. I can't move. It's chaos. I got places to go, I got things to see and things to do. I'm on an agenda, I'm on a schedule and I'm waiting for all this madness to go on. Chaos is ensuing in my own life and I'm getting immensely frustrated. Ever experienced that at Costco?

Speaker 2: 31:31

I finally get to the front of the line and there's a girl there. I see her name tag, it says Natalie and she's struggling there. I see her name tag, it says Natalie, and she's struggling. And she looks at me and she said it's my first day and I'm like we know. And then something got a hold of me. It reminded me you were Christ's ambassador, you're to be present with this person, you're to interact with her. And so I just said it, I'm like you know, listen, you're doing a great job. And she goes really and my wife goes really. I said, yeah, we just started talking and I look at my wife. I said, listen, every time we come to Costco we're going to get in Natalie's line. She's like you realize she's slow. I said I know it's perfect, because by the time we get up to the front of the line I'm going to take my time to get to know her. Those people can wait, because I've been waiting forever. So we get up there and interact with her.

Speaker 2: 32:30

And so for the next this is almost 15 years ago we get in Natalie's line and it wasn't hard to find. It was the longest one and we just pick up the conversation where we left off and I allowed it to disrupt my life. I allowed the chaos to come in and to say you know what? We got things, we got places to go. But all of a sudden it shifted my mind towards what does she need? And we started interacting. We pick up the conversation Every time we got left off. We picked up the conversation One time we got in line and I see her and she waves to us and she points to the ring on her finger.

Speaker 2: 33:07

She's like I got engaged and I'm super excited. And she said I want you to. I know you're a pastor, I want you to do the wedding. I'm like, oh, and it was like six months down the road. So we'd talk, interact. And one time we got in line and she had a really sad face and I said what's going on? She said my mother-in-law to be she doesn't want you to do the ceremony. I'm like why? She said well, she doesn't want a pastor from Costco to do the ceremony. I'm like I don't work here. I'm the real deal. Don't work here Like I'm a real. I'm the real deal. Look me up Like Kirkland Seminary. Like no, I'm a pastor. They looked me up. Sure enough, he's the real deal. I thought that was funny.

Speaker 2: 33:55

Then we did the ceremony, my wife and I. It was beautiful and I remember shortly after that they wanted to come to our church and she said we would like to. Our church is called Westgate. She said we would like to come to Christmas Eve mass at Westgate Parish. Very similar, our church is just like yours. I love the fact she used that language because she had no idea she's going to sit in a church and a service like this is like a Coldplay concert for Christmas Eve. Crazy.

Speaker 2: 34:24

She brought 14 people. They sat in the front row. I remember seeing them. They're like shocked. Like this is mass. It was so great. They heard the gospel for the first time.

Speaker 2: 34:37

Why? Because you slow down, you listen and you allow the spirit to interrupt in what's going on and you're like what am I supposed to be paying attention to? It's the barista. It's the next person you meet. When you're at a restaurant and you get bad service, you don't tip because of what they've done. You tip because what's been done for you. You tip generously and it changes the game. All of a sudden you're having a conversation like why would they tip me so much? Because you're Christ's ambassador and the Spirit of God works through you as a conduit.

Speaker 2: 35:14

The promise of the Holy Spirit to the church today is the same as it's always been the invitation to come, allow water to heal and refresh the broken places in your own life, and the invitation to become being part of the current that brings peace and hope to the world. The Spirit isn't locked in this building here flows through you and you're the channel through which dead places are revived. Do you believe that you have to live that? Here's my challenge for you to pray this prayer when you wake up in the morning. Just try it for one week. Just wake up in the morning and say God, fill me with your spirit, give me the mind of Christ, give me the eyes that will see, give me the eyes that will see, give me the ears that will hear, give me the mouth that will bless, and just see how your day goes. What you've done, you just invited the spirit to put on a whole new lens to see things that you never saw before. So here's my closing declaration to you, church.

Speaker 2: 36:17

You are not meant to manage chaos. You are not called to stand on the riverbank and watch. The one who hovered over creation's chaos now hovers over yours. The Spirit has come and the invitation is simple Come, drink deeply and become part of the current that heals the world. Will you stand with me in prayer? Holy Spirit, we invite you into the chaos, into our own chaos, not to tidy it up, but to transform it. Speak light into our darkness, pour peace into our panic, flow through our wounds so that we might become a river of life in the broken places around us. We don't want to just observe, we want to swim. For the sake of the King and the kingdom, we pray in Jesus' name Amen.