REMEMBER TO LIVE: The Life of Jesus in You - Andrew Mook

And it's not just Jesus says, oh, here's an example of peace. It's like he wants to give us his peace. So, yes, you can see the moral exemplar that is Jesus and see a good example of that's what it means to be peaceful, and you should do that and follow his teachings. But Jesus is offering more. He's saying, I'll give you my spirit to help you do that. Know that I'm here. The spirit is alongside you advocating for you, spurring you on, healing you. Just his presence does that To live this life is to step into love that moves towards people, joy that can't be stolen, peace that holds in chaos, patience that doesn't give up on people, kindness that, yeah, feels sweet but moves toward people. Goodness that pushes back the darkness. Faithfulness that endures. Gentleness, and self control. I am here to announce to you that you can change. I can change. [00:41:05] (87 seconds)  #PeaceThroughSpirit

To remember to live is to remember that we can be made whole and remember that everything that happened tomorrow yesterday doesn't have the last word. But you need access to God, to the holy spirit, and you can have that access to the holy spirit. Scriptures use this great word, Jehovah. It's just repent. Turn around. Come home. Come back to God and come back to the person he created you to be. Repentance sometimes looks like weeping at the front of the room because you're like, I'm just coming face to face with something big. And repentance sometimes just looks like the quiet prayer of a brother or sister you're sitting next to. Just say, I I'm not I'm not walking in the peace that God has for me. [00:42:33] (62 seconds)  #ComeHomeToGod

I want a lifetime of holy moments. Everyday I wanna be in dangerous proximity to Jesus. I long for a life that explodes with meaning and is filled with adventure and wonder and risk and danger. I long for a faith that is gloriously treacherous. I want to be with Jesus not knowing whether to cry or to laugh. Our desire for this Eastertide series is to be reminded by the scriptures how to live, to provoke one another to see the everyday moments of our life with fresh eyes, to become as one writer says, better Easter people in a Good Friday world and ultimately receive all that's available to us because of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was him who says, you can have life and life to the full, abundant life. [00:00:23] (72 seconds)  #AbundantLife

As if Paul is saying, be more this, be more that, be more this. This is not what's happening. There's only one command in this verse. Did you spot it? It's only one command in this verse. What is it? Keep in step with the spirit. Walk in the spirit. Or the language that Jesus uses is abide in the vine. Abiding in Jesus is the starting place. Keeping in step with the spirit is the beginning and the end and everything in between in terms of becoming a follower of Jesus, becoming a disciple of Jesus, becoming an apprentice of Jesus. In John 15, Jesus says, I'm the vine, you are the branches. [00:26:23] (42 seconds)  #AbideInTheVine

How do we do this then? Sure. I would love to become a person who's more patient, more loving, more alive in all the ways you're talking about. I'd love to go deeper in that. Well, a few observations. One, this is a picture of the inner disposition of a father of Jesus who's been transformed. It's what discipleship looks like down the road as you get older. From the inside out, you can become a person who's loving, careful, joyful, at peace, patience, goodness, faithful, gentle, marked by self control. Does this sound good to anyone? If so, can I get an amen? Amen. You could become that kind of person. Two, second observation. This is not a list of commands. [00:25:16] (35 seconds)  #InsideOutDiscipleship

Transformation is not an event, it is a process. I have found that these big moments where God does something in a second that could have taken years, freeing somebody from anxiety or overcoming them with a sort of freedom of who they are, these big impact moments Usually, not always, I'm not trying to limit anyone's faith here, but in the scriptures and church history as far as I can read and definitely in my lived experience, what tends to not happen is God like whacks you upside the head and you're like, I am suddenly just more patient with my spouse. I have all sorts of theories as to why and I'm not gonna bore you with them. But there's something about process and the slow change that is critical of us undoing the sin of Adam and Eve which is not trusting God and becoming the person we are created to be. Transformation is most often a process, ongoing and continuous. [00:33:15] (64 seconds)  #TransformationIsProcess

Belief and encounter and practice and that in the context then of community or what the New Testament calls family, you open yourself up in the context of community and then you begin together to journey upwards learning to be with God and allowing God to heal you internally in the inward direction and then you move outward joining God in the renewal of all he's doing and we do that together and we become a family that follows the path of Jesus. If you're new with us, this is our language around what it means to be shaped and transformed. That's it. You create the environment and let the holy spirit do the work. And so in the busyness and chaos of the digital age, all of this and the insanity of school, of work, of relationships, your job remains the same, create the conditions for the holy spirit to do the work. [00:32:03] (64 seconds)  #CreateSpaceForSpirit

I need to have disciplines and practices that help me wade into the water of grace, help me reorient myself because if it's just all in my head, it won't work. We don't think ourselves into transformation. We act ourselves into transformation. We need practices. And then three, I wanna be somebody who is becoming a black belt at prayer, which means not just I talk at God sometimes, but as I go, as I journal, as I reflect, as I listen to jazz, as I look at the water, as I ask him for things, as I'm becoming attentive to the god who's at work all around me. Guys, it's a crazy amazing way to live your life. [00:31:26] (37 seconds)  #PracticesForGrace