May 10, 2026 - Great News ...That Stays: John 14:15–21

``Healthy love always moves outward, not inward. God will take care of the inward as we stay focused outward. See, Jesus says, if you love me, let that kind of love take shape in your life. This is holiness. It's not cold rule keeping. It's not perfectionism. It's not pretending. Holiness is love embodied. Christ being formed in us for the sake of others. This is who we are. This is who we've been. This is what it means to be people who are consumed with the love of God. [00:57:27] (47 seconds)  #LoveEmbodied

Chat GPT cannot sit beside you in grief. Claude cannot answer all the questions in the world, and then hug you when it's over. Only the holy spirit can do that, and the spirit often works slowly, gently, relationally. That missionary I mentioned earlier described the spiritual life as a gradual stepping into the light. Perfection, not pretending, not performing spirituality, but becoming more aware of God's presence, more open to God's love, more fully alive in Christ, and that is what the Holy Spirit does. [01:07:57] (45 seconds)  #SpiritComforts

And suddenly, an an entire family's future begins to shift because the presence of God showed up through ordinary people willing to love well. What's the difference of the presence of god at work versus knowledge that we can find in AI or other resources? AI releases the knowledge of god, but without the wisdom of God. The presence of God is the holy spirit at work making himself known, and it matters deeply because information alone cannot heal the human heart. Beloved, information cannot love you. Information cannot forgive you. [01:07:03] (54 seconds)  #PresenceNotInfo

To love Jesus is to live with God and Jesus. That is to come home. You know, it's a phrase that we hear often, but we are not called human doings or even human knowings. We are called human Being. Beings. Who have you been with this week to remind you who you are and whose you are? To remind you of your calling? To remind you of what you are invited to do? Coming home to ourselves is coming home to God, a place where we're not invisible. [01:09:01] (45 seconds)  #BeingsNotDoings

What is it that people are looking for? A place where grace is real, a place where they can exhale and feel safe. What if the goal of the church family what if the goal is not where everyone knows everyone, but to create a church where everyone is known. There will come a point as god continues growing us that we may not be able to know everybody in the congregation as intimately as we'd like, but the question is, who do you know and who knows you? [01:09:46] (37 seconds)  #EveryoneKnown

So there's a deeper question in this in this passage underneath the scripture. Where do we find real presence and belonging in a lonely world? Because many people are exhausted, disconnected, restless. You know, one missionary this week I I in studying for the passage and attending a couple of webinars this week and attending some conversations and listening. One missionary described our condition this way. We can become so disconnected from who we truly are that we forget where we really belong. [00:44:38] (49 seconds)  #FindingBelonging

Where burdens are shared, where healing happens, where lonely people become family. But transformation is not merely knowing more. Transformation is embodying the presence of Jesus through the holy spirit wherever we are. Where we show up, Christ is present. Did you know that? When you show up to a space, you are carrying with you the savior of the world who really lived, really died, and really rose again. Did you know the power that is at work in you? [01:04:30] (42 seconds)  #ShowUpWithChrist

So the answer to an artificial and disconnected world is the real presence of Christ through the spirit filled community of love. What if that is the invitation and the calling? What if the invitation and the calling is not to know more? Don't misunderstand me. I believe in education. I believe in the more I learn, the less I know. So it matters. Don't misunderstand me. Education matters. Matters. But what if if the the invitation is not information for the sake of knowing, but information for the sake of experiencing God and being transformed in everyday moments. [01:10:57] (52 seconds)  #ExperienceOverInfo