The Chosen River: From Stagnant Faith to Flow

``Then finally, Paul lands the plane on the one that we all know, love. Agape to be very specific, a binding everything together in perfect harmony kind of love. It's the way of the water, the sediment, the fish, and the forest that all work together as one body. Love, if you want, is the wet suit that holds the entire restoration crew together. It's the signature of the source. Without love, the other five garments, that's that's just a costume party. With love, you are the river. [01:24:57] (40 seconds)  #AgapeUnites

But as we saw in the Klamath, when water stops moving, it actually begins to die and and things around it begins to die. It turns that toxic it turns into that toxic soup, but your faith can feel stagnant today. It's not because God has stopped pouring into your life, it's because the outflow is blocked. God is continually and faithfully pouring into you. It's important to understand that the restoration actually didn't happen by accident. [01:14:44] (35 seconds)  #UnblockTheFlow

Paul wants to make it very clear in the ears of every single Jew, I don't care what you think, as God's chosen ones. Paul wants to try and make it very very understandable that that there is this strange reality about the about inadequacy in the face of God. Whether it's perceived, whether it's inadequacy that is put on you, whether you believe it, where someone says you are not worth it, but Paul offers this strange metric and already makes it very clear. I don't care what you think about yourself or what other people think about yourself, you're chosen. You're chosen. [01:10:28] (40 seconds)  #YouAreChosen

And floods destroy houses, uproots trees, it kills the very ecosystem it was meant to save. Meekness is the banks of the river. It is the strength to stay in the channel. It's the ability to be powerful in your faith but bold in your chosen status and clear in your convictions without being disruptive to other people. Meekness ensures that your flow clears the sediment without washing away the person. [01:23:30] (33 seconds)  #MeeknessIsStrength

Patience is an interesting word that he used, literally means long tempered. Patience is long temperedness. It's the opposite of short fuse. In the river restoration, the gunk doesn't clear in a day For weeks after the breach, the water is dark and murky and smells like a century of decay. Now, if you were a spectator on the bank, you might think restoration failed. But patience knows that the process is slow healing. The question to be asked here is, where are you tempted to re dam the river because the restoration is messy? Sometimes we don't like the process, so we'll give up and move on. But patience is required. [01:24:15] (42 seconds)  #TrustTheSlowWork

for as long as I have been a Christian, as long as I can affirm the notion that I believe in Jesus, I want to try and dispel an assumption about that. And here's the assumption I want to dispel, that even though I've always believed in Jesus, it doesn't always feel like I am happy to be a believer sometimes. Sometimes, in my relationship with God, I find that especially as a as a leader and as a pastor that I don't carry the right level of faith or belief that this God is for me and not against me. Sometimes I lack in faith. Sometimes I doubt in his promises. Sometimes I feel weak. [00:57:35] (61 seconds)  #SeasonsOfDoubt

I go to church, I read the bible, I pray, I engage with you fine people, I even put on my Sabbath smile to come and say hello to everyone. And and maybe you do the same where you find yourself in spiritual spaces, find yourself, you know, connecting with church folk and even talking about God in different ways, but you ever get the feeling that sometimes there are seasons where you just feel like, I get the head knowledge, I'm just not connecting with God. Those are very real experiences where you you you can follow God but they you just can't quite put a finger as to why there is a disconnect. [00:59:04] (41 seconds)  #HeartNotJustHead

Just like the Indian tribes, model keepers of the river, Paul's models the same kingdom effort, kingdom ethic in the book of Colossians. God didn't call you to be a curator of a private reservoir. We just pause into you and pause into you and you're you're loving it. You take it all on. You receive this blessing. He called you to be the architect of the outflow, doing the heavy holy work of clearing the way for life to return. You're life givers. That's what it means to be a king part of the kingdom. You are actual life givers. [01:17:26] (35 seconds)  #BeTheOutflow