Transformative Worship: Embracing God's Presence and Sabbath

1. "And Jesus told us that we should pray for God's kingdom to fully come. And man, when that happens, it's gonna be awesome. It's gonna be just like what we just experienced right now all the time. There's gonna be no more crying and no more fear and no more death and no more betrayal or cancer or hate or war or division. And God is gonna be fully with us. That little taste we just had of his presence is gonna be completely surrounding us all the time. And I don't even know if we can imagine what it's gonna be like to be in full, everybody, not just me, not just you, everybody to be in full, constant communion with God and just be like soaked." [01:41] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "Because in his kingdom compared to the world that we live in everything is like upside down right in his kingdom everything feels flipped everything feels weird everything feels upside I mean in his kingdom people who want to be first choose to be last it's upside down it's weird it's it's it's leaders don't dominate the people below them leaders serve the people below them it's a weird weird space when somebody gets hurt they don't they don't get angry and look for revenge they forgive you and look for reconciliation so the ways of God's kingdom are really different than the ways I think of this world because in God's kingdom we pray for our enemies how weird is that in God's kingdom we never worry how weird is that in God's kingdom it's actually better to give than it is to receive in this world we all assume that would be better off if we had more money but when Jesus was talking about his kingdom coming he's constantly warning rich people about the dangers of money how weird is that so God's kingdom is a way better world than we're used to and it is a completely different counter intuitive counter cultural upside down world everything there feels upside down and so I think if we want to flourish and if we want to thrive and if we want to matter in the kingdom that seems so upside down we need to flip we need to be upside down because without even knowing it we have been so formed by this world we have been so formed to fit in here" [02:22] (125 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "Because just like I can't grow gills and I can't grow flippers and I can't grow fins on my own, I also can't just suddenly become a person of peace and joy and love like Jesus on my own. We do it in the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of us. Somebody say amen to that. Okay. But the cool thing is that he calls us to partner with him in this project of metamorphosis. He calls us to participate in our own miracle of transformation. So we're looking at how we do our part, like how do we do our part? How do we do our part? How do we do our part? How do we participate in our miracle? How do we partner in our own spiritual formation?" [07:19] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Because legalism is all about following certain practices so that God will love you. And so that God will accept you. If you do these things, then God will accept you. But the practices are things that we do because God loves us, and because he accepts us, and because we know that he knows what's best for us, and he wants what's best for us, so we trust his ways. I mean, a works -based religion is all about earning your salvation, or earning credits, or earning points with God. And this isn't about earning anything. This is just about accepting. This offer of a loving partnership, of an apprentice to being transformed into the life of Jesus. And 100 % of our leading, and 100 % of our power comes through the Holy Spirit. And the practices are just the tools he uses to change us, and to form us, and to transform us. So spiritual formation is a partnership where God allows us to participate in our own miracle, and we have a part to play in this." [14:15] (70 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "And we could never on our own follow the instructions of Jesus. We could never on our own match the model of Jesus. But these practices, again, they create time. They create space for God to miraculously empower us, for God to actually change us so that we can follow these impossible instructions that make us more like Jesus. So here's a couple of examples. I want you to think of the instructions Jesus gave us that are impossible. I'll start with one of my favorites. Luke 6, 35, Jesus said, love your enemies. Love your enemies. I really disagree with Jesus on this one. But it doesn't really matter if I agree or not. Point is, I hear Jesus saying, love your enemies." [18:44] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "But I can do the practices. I can read scripture. I can pray. I can spend time in community. I can practice generosity. And listen, as I do the things that I can do, as I read scripture, and I see the model of Jesus, and as I pray for his love in me, and as I spend time in community, and I learn to love, and as I practice generosity and learn to see the needs and the brokenness of my enemies through these practices that I can do, God does something in me that I can't do. He transforms me into a person of love. You see how that works? I can't do the thing he says." [20:15] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "So how can we follow that impossible instruction, do not worry? How can we possibly not be anxious? And the answer is, we can't do that fully on our own. But we can read his word. We can see how powerful and loving God is and how much he cares for us. We can practice Sabbath and rest in his goodness. We can pray and literally give our worries to him. And as we do these practices that we can do, God does in us what we can't do. He takes us from being people of stress and frustration and anxiety and worry, and he forms us into people of life and joy and faith and peace. So each one of these practices creates time and creates space for God to actually miraculously, it's metamorphosis, man. Think what that word means, right? It's miraculously change us to slowly, surely transform us into the likeness of Jesus." [24:50] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Sabbath is a transforming habit. Sabbath is slowing down. It's not slowing down. Sabbath is a hard stop. Right? Because it's not a time that we put our faith in God and our work. We put our faith in God and our productivity. It's a time where we put our faith in God instead of our work. Instead of our productivity. It's a time to rest in knowing that He is my source, not my job. job, not myself, not that 300th email of the day. It's a time for me to remind myself that what makes me matter is not how much I work or what I like earn or what I own or what I achieve or what I acquire." [30:00] (48 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Most of us, if we're honest, are just, we're saying we want to want to be transformed, right? We're saying we want to be like Jesus. We're saying that's important to us, but most of us are just too busy, are flustered, are digitally distracted to have any spiritual life at all. Dallas Willard said, hurry is the great enemy of our spiritual life. that's true. Yeah? Hurry is the great enemy of our spiritual life, and we have to fight that enemy." [34:58] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "So apprenticeship to Jesus doesn't work like, like, you know, a hobby that you just like, here's my busy life already, and I'm just going to tack one more thing on. You know, it's not just adding something to your already stressed, busy, overcrowded life. In the way of Jesus, less is more. This isn't about addition. This isn't about adding stuff to your schedule. This is about subtraction, simplifying. It's not about complicating your life. It's about simplifying your life. As we integrate the practices of Jesus, we have to add. Not what can I add to my life? What can I cut out? What can I say no to so I can say yes to Jesus? And look, I'm not pretending it's easy. None of these practices are. They take energy. They take intentionality. They take time." [35:27] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)