Living With God: From Consumer to Communion

The older son, meanwhile, stays at home and works, and he's slaving away in the field. His words, hoping for his dad to just give him anything, and he tells his dad that that every that I I don't get anything from you. And his dad even says, all that I have belongs to you, and you're always with me. AKA, he wants his dad's stuff by working for it and getting it from him, but he wants nothing to do with his father as well. [00:14:11] (25 seconds)  #RelationshipOverRewards

There's a sociologist named doctor Christian Smith who wrote a book in the early two thousands about the spiritual lives of teens and young adults. And, in this book, he did extensive research of interviewing all of these young adults, and what he found is that most teens and young adults at that time viewed God as a divine butler and cosmic therapist. A divine butler and cosmic therapist, aka, I will go to God who is some distant entity who will help me with my problems and let me do whatever I wanna do. He'll give me the power that I need to do the desires that are on my heart, and it's about my happiness rather than God's glory. [00:15:27] (37 seconds)  #GodNotYourButler

We are those who who are are called to walk with him. We're not called to slave away and work away and strive away in the fields of his house only to get his blessings. We are welcome to walk with him in every day, in every way of our lives. And, here's what happened when what happens when we walk with him and live with him, everything changes because we experience the reason why you and I and every person were created, to be with God. Amen? [00:18:04] (29 seconds)  #WalkWithGodDaily

Issue, I think, for many of us is that we have fixated ourselves as the center of the universe and the center of the story. We are the main character. We're the best thing since sliced bread. Right? We are everything, and everything revolves around us, and we see this so clearly in so many places of our society and our world. We also see it in the church as well. We see high low high levels of narcissistic leadership. We see highly individualized religious expression for many people. And can I just say, as somebody who preaches regularly, we see a lot of me focused messages? [00:20:40] (36 seconds)  #NotTheMainCharacter

And, we recognize that David is actually just a foreshadowing of the ultimate hero, Jesus, who came in flesh to defeat the ultimate giants of our sin and death and hell and the grave. When we recognize we're not the center of the story, we actually fix our eyes on the reality that Jesus is the hero and we're not. And actually, we're not like David in the story. We're more like the scared and silent Israelites who need a savior, who need somebody to step in and fight our battles for us, which is the promise of the Lord. Amen? And the good news for us is that the hero has come, and he's inviting us to be with him in his victory over giants in our lives. We are not the center of it all. Jesus is. Amen? [00:22:53] (46 seconds)  #JesusIsTheHero

Can I tell you that this passage does not mean that if you take joy in the Lord and you say, Jesus is my joy? Now, give me my lottery ticket. Jesus is my joy. Now, upgrade my car. That is not what this passage is about. This is a song of praise to remind the people of God that when we take delight in the Lord, our souls actually find the reason that they were made, which is him. [00:28:55] (22 seconds)  #DelightInTheLord

Title, a a a position of power is not inherently bad. We can use those things for good, but when our identity is marked more by our actions and our striving and our working rather than by the work of Jesus, it is an idol. And when our money turns into something that is all that we prioritize and all that we idolize in our lives, it has turned into an idol. [00:31:59] (23 seconds)  #MoneyNotYourIdol

If we wanna move from living from God to living with God, we must return to communion, an everyday waking moment, perpetual eternal communion relationship with God. And, here's the good news, he's made all the preparations. Everything's been paid for in full. All we have to do is come. All we have to do is come and receive. [00:43:16] (23 seconds)  #EverydayCommunion