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The Resting Place
We are a community of believers coming together to establish a new wineskin of renewal in the Midwest. Come and join us as we adventure into the unknown, with hands open to following the wind of Holy Spirit, and hearts hungry for community and to experience an outpouring of the love of the Father.
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The Resting Place
From Isolation to Intimacy: How Jesus Invades Our Broken Spaces
What does true humility look like? In this episode of The Resting Place podcast, we dismantle our cultural misunderstandings about humility. Far from self-deprecation or thinking poorly of ourselves, genuine humility means agreeing with heaven's perspective of who we are—beloved, righteous, and seated in heavenly places with Christ.
Through an intimate exploration of three powerful biblical narratives—the widow of Nain, St. Veronica (the woman with the issue of blood), and St. Fotini (the Samaritan woman at the well)—we discover a consistent pattern in Jesus's ministry. He consistently inserts himself into our most broken spaces with extraordinary kindness rather than judgment.
This revelation addresses a profound spiritual challenge many of us face: we anticipate judgment when God approaches with kindness. We withdraw when he draws near, trapped in "Adam's delusion of separation." Yet, as we learn to recognize God's true nature, we can break this cycle and experience his presence in our lowest moments.
Perhaps the most transformative insight comes through a powerful quote shared during the conversation: "Following Jesus is not doing it right, but realizing we're doing it wrong." In a world desperately seeking authenticity, there's no greater witness than a family walking in the wholeness that comes from knowing they are completely loved—not despite their brokenness, but right in the middle of it.
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Hi everyone, I'm Ben and I'm Logan, and we're the Robins.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Resting Place Podcast. I don't have a ton written down for notes, guys. I didn't really. As I've been progressing in this journey, I kind of am learning to. I'm kind of learning to flow with the Spirit in when I have a lot to write down and feel like there'll be a lot of. Not that there wasn't preparatory work done, it's just it was different. It looked less like writing and more like communing with Jesus and the bottom line is, if I'm not full of Him, then I write all I want to and study all I want to and deliver all I want to. It's not going to amount to a hill of beans. So for all my redneck friends and hillbillies, it won't amount to a hill of beans. So we had what night was it? Was it Thursday night? That old Toby joined our family Today's Saturday, so it would have been Thursday. Yeah, my sister texted me and said I better get a shout-out on your next podcast. So this is your shout-out, susanna. This is your shout-out.
Speaker 1:My brother-in-law and sister welcomed a new baby. This is their fourth child. They did that Thursday night. He's a miracle baby. They've had some severe complications being able to have another child and won't go into all of that, that's her story to share but have had severe complications and the Lord gave them a son and they have three girls. They've got three girls, girls, and Rose is the oldest and she's is she 12? Now she's about to be 12. Golly, I remember when she was not 12 and I was not old. Um, um, but uh, they, they welcomed, uh, they welcomed a new baby into the family. So shout out Toby. And his name is Tobias and she hates it that I'm already calling him Toby. So shout out Toby. And shout out.
Speaker 2:Susanna.
Speaker 1:And um, we're so thrilled. He's so cute too. If y'all want to see pictures.
Speaker 2:I'll show you a picture he's already like adorable.
Speaker 1:He's almost oh man. So we're we're thrilled about having having toby added to the family, so I'm just going to keep calling him toby suzanna. There's nothing you can do about it, so just get used to it. So we're going to go today to luke 7 and we're going to read 11 through 17, and I'm going to frame this with something, but I also am going to sprinkle in some review, because I have unintentionally continued in the vein of our previous two gatherings. This was not intentional in my heart as I set out to put this together, as I set out before the Lord, seeking the Lord for what he would have me share. I didn't intentionally continue in the vein of our previous two teachings, but I believe the Spirit is showing us something that he has determined for us to not just understand, not just grasp mentally, not ascend to mentally, but I believe he's committed to our receiving of that truth in a substantial way. I believe he's committed to that truth becoming incarnational in our hearts, and when I say incarnational in our hearts, I mean revelation. Pop always used to teach it this way revelation must become manifestation. Someone needs to give their heart or their life to allowing the revelation that the Spirit gives them to become a manifestation in their life, something you can hold, to become a manifestation in their life, something you can hold.
Speaker 1:Bill Johnson says something that always challenges me, that I so love him for and also kind of like dang Bill Every time he says it, because he says this faith is measurable. Measurable Faith should be measurable, measurable Faith should be measurable. Your faith produces something. Your faith produces something. Now, there are times when the measurable that your faith produces is peace in your interior world, while you're contending for the Lord to break through, for something that can be measurable. It does not always have to be material, the things that your faith produces or, yeah, the things that does not always have to be material, the measurable that your faith produces but it should be something that can be measured in some way. And that's always very challenging for me and I can never argue with it. It's always challenging and I'm always like gosh, you sure? I'm sure he's right, he's just. If Bill Johnson says it, just generally, you just go ahead and agree, even if you don't agree offhand, even if I don't agree offhand.
Speaker 1:I've learned enough that if Bill Johnson or Pop start saying things that are challenging to me, I'm just like, okay, I'm not sure I see that, but I'm going to give to your wisdom and your experience and allow what the Lord has for me in this thing that may be challenging to become a manifestation in my heart. And now, one of the beautiful things about having a relationship with the spiritual father is he never requires me to think the way he thinks, never asks me to, in fact encourages us to think differently than he does about things, encourages it. And I encourage you all think differently than me, because if everybody thought the way that I think I'd get really bored really quick. First of all, I would. I'd get very bored really quickly because I'd just have a bunch of people that oh yes, that's great, that's wonderful and there's never any question, there's never any mining out of further truth. There's never different perspective that can add a turn of the diamond to the revelation of the Lord to the family. This is how family members become valuable in spiritual family is you each have a piece, you each have a different perspective. That adds a turn of the diamond to what we're looking at, because, ultimately, what we're studying and what we're searching is beyond finding out.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, the Lord still lives in a cloud called unknowing. The early church fathers were adamant that he is surrounded by a cloud, and the name of that cloud is unknowing. You can't know him. He's past knowing, he's past finding out. He's past being able to be understood. Yet he invites us to come and understand him. So what we then must do is, with a heart of humility, search out the Lord and offer humbly the things that we're finding, and understand that I don't have the final perspective on this. This is what he's teaching me, this is what he's showing me.
Speaker 1:I believe this to be true. I believe that this is revelation from the Lord. I believe it's for the family, but we also must understand that there's always a further mining, there's always a further understanding. There's another turn of the diamond that can change things and add greater revelation to the thing that he's showing us, and arrogance will cut you off 100% of the time. Arrogance will cut you off 100% of the time. Arrogance let me say it 15 times so that we're clear Arrogance will cut you off 100% of the time.
Speaker 1:So, when the Lord begins to give revelation, what we then must do is receive it with a heart of humility. It's still the meek that inherit the earth. He still resists the proud guys. That's in the Bible. He gives grace to the humble and resists the proud. I believe this to be true even in our devotional walk with him. There are just some things that he's not going to allow the heart of arrogance to access inside of him. That's both challenging to me and safety for me. That's both challenging and safety. I don't know why I'm talking about this. I just start and things start coming out. That's both challenging and safety for me. There's a coexistence of those things. There's a symbiotic relationship, I believe, between those two things. Now we often have a wrong idea of what humility looks like.
Speaker 1:Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. Signed Moses. He wrote that and we still read that, and that joker wrote that. I'm curious how he knew he was the most humble man that ever lived. What's the Lord told him? Moses from the club Moses? I'm curious how he knew he was the most humble man that ever lived. What's the Lord told him? Moses from the club Moses you are the most humble man who ever lived. Oh, that's good. I'm going to write that. He said to me on this day I'm the most humble man who ever lived. I'm going to put it in the Bible, so everybody has. I'm going to put it in the law that your people will read for the next 2,000 years, and they're going to have to understand that I'm still more humble than any of them alive today.
Speaker 1:True humility is agreement with God's perspective of who you are. True humility is agreement with Yahweh's perspective of who you are. Ultimately, what Okay, gosh, I'm getting deeper on this than I wanted to, but we're going to go there for a second. Ultimately, if we agree with his perspective of who we are, what will be the result of the agreement of that perspective? Well, what is his perspective of us?
Speaker 1:That must then be the first question that we ask in order to access the heart of true humility. In order to access the heart of true humility, what, then, must we ask? We must ask if the definition of humility and my working definition of humility, which I stole from Damon I just stole it it's not stealing. If I'm in the family, so it's kind of mine to have it's like getting dad's peanut butter. Peanut butter was the first thing that came to mind. It's in the cupboard and I eat it and it's good. Slap it on some bread and you eat it, and it's delicious every time you throw it in your protein shake and it's even better. It adds something to it, makes it so you're not starving when you get done with your protein shake. Gabe knows what I'm talking about. Don't act like you don't know, gabe. Um, um.
Speaker 1:If our working definition of humility is agreement with Yahweh's perspective of who we are, then in order to access the heart of true humility which unlocks the heart of heaven for you, if God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, okay, if God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble and that remains true, which it does we then have the responsibility to understand just a couple of things One, what is the definition of humility and two, how do we access true humility in order to unlock the riches of heaven in our lives? I'm going to say this. I'm not intending to go down this road, but we're going to say some things. So, if the kingdom works on inheritance which it does it doesn't work on wages earned. That would make us slaves, not sons. That would make us slaves, not sons, or workers and not sons, and Yahweh has called us sons.
Speaker 1:If the kingdom of heaven works on inheritance, what then is the qualification for inheritance? 100% of the time. It's maturity. The maturation of the son determines the inheritance of the son, it determines the rhythm of inheritance, it determines the pace of inheritance and, guys, a lot of the time it's going to it's going to determine the amount of inheritance. So then, what unlocks maturation inside the heart of the believer? Humility will unlock a maturing in the heart of the believer. Humility will unlock a maturing in the heart of the believer faster than anything else. I believe that to be true, I believe that to be true. Humility will unlock maturation inside of the heart of the believer, a true heart of humility.
Speaker 1:Why do I say that? See, we approach humility with a wrong understanding of what humility is. We approach it with an American understanding of what humility is or, perhaps worse, a religious understanding of what humility is. And we call the person who thinks poorly of themselves, talks down about themselves, has a low view of who they are. And we'll just, in the South at least in the South where I spent, you know, the majority of the last decade they'll just say, oh, that person's just humble. And they don't pronounce the H for some reason in the South, and they call them humble. And I don't quite understand how the H got silent, but it did get silent. Somewhere in the deep South it's silent and I still don't quite understand that dialect, but they call them humble and it's like my God, they're just. They're just so humble. God bless their hearts. And no, they're not humble, they're under demonic oppression. They're under a demonic lie that would say that they're unworthy Jesus, that they would be unworthy of receiving God's perspective of who they are. And we approach humility under that same delusion. We approach I feel it right there we approach humility underneath that same delusion. And heaven is roaring over us.
Speaker 1:In this age. You've got to understand that you have to agree with my perspective of who you are in order to walk in true humility. You know what that will let you do. You know what understanding his perspective of you will let you do. It'll let you open blind eyes and wash feet. The two are not mutually exclusive. You can open blind eyes and wash your betrayer's feet all in the same moment. You can open. I'm opening blind eyes over here and I'm letting Judas steal from me on the other side, because I love him.
Speaker 2:God.
Speaker 1:I'm washing his feet, I'm restoring Peter after Peter's betrayal. I still contend Peter's betrayal was far worse than Judas' betrayal, because it says, judas accomplished the thing that he was born for he was destined to betray Christ. That's what Jesus, that's what the Word says, and Peter's testimony could have saved him because it required two witnesses, and Jesus shows up just for Peter. I've still got some things for you to do, peter. I want you to turn and feed my sheep. Man, open deaf ears. Pull people up out of their lameness. Pick up your bed and walk. Pick up your bed and walk. Man, pick up your bed and walk and hug on a tax collector all in the same moment.
Speaker 1:True humility and understanding the perspective of heaven, of who you are, allows you to walk in what we would call. We would say those two things are conflicting. These are two separate things, right? These are two separate things, right, these are two separate things. Hugging on a crackhead and pulling someone up out of a wheelchair are two separate things. No, friend, they're the same thing. That's the ministry of Jesus, okay? So let's take it a step farther. Let's take it a step farther. Okay, so let's take it a step farther. Let's take it a step farther, laying your life down for your spouse, laying your life down for your children and walking in purpose and walking into the purpose that Yahweh has designed for your life. We've got it so backwards in the church, guys. We've got it so backwards that I'm going to go over here and I'm going to accomplish my purpose and I'm going to completely ignore the ones closest to me, abuse them and be distant and disengaged when I'm near them. Do a dish. I'm the man of God. Do a dish, pick up after the kids. The man of God is too busy to pick up after the children. You're be careful, be careful, nope, um. If you're too powerful in the ministry to wash a dish or pick up after your kids or help your wife in a tough moment, friend, you're not a man of god. You're a pretender on a stage that people come to be entertained by, but you don't carry the heart of heaven. You don't, you don't. And there's a path of repentance available to you, but it's only open through the gate of humility. And the true perspective of heaven allows sons to walk in seemingly contradictory walks of life and hold that tension beautifully, because they understand it's all the ministry of Jesus. It's all the ministry of Jesus and there's no dividing line between the secular and divine. Or we can continue down the path that we've been on Get really good at entertaining folks, get really polished, and in 15 years your kids will want nothing to do with the church too, and will have made no impact on the culture, and nothing will have changed.
Speaker 1:The Lord is committed in this hour to bringing sons into maturity, and when I say sons, I'm talking about sons and daughters. The Lord is committed in this hour to bringing sons into maturity. Why? The frustrating thing about being brought into maturity is it's often done in a hidden place. It's often done in hidden, dirty places. It's done in less than ideal circumstances. It's done in less than ideal circumstances. It's done sometimes through hardship. It's done sometimes through delay. Sometimes listen, sometimes it's done through contradictory. How do I want to say that? Sometimes it's done just contradiction, seeming contradiction is a way. Adversity probably would be the word that encapsulates all of that. Adversity is a lot of the time. The way that Yahweh brings us into, brings us into maturity. Adversity and hiddenness are two tools in the hands of the Lord. I'm not saying the Lord sends bad things. I'm not saying that he doesn't have bad things to give.
Speaker 1:I'll lean on Bill Johnson again. He'll have people ask him well, why does the Lord give people cancer? He says he doesn't give people cancer. He doesn't have any cancer to give. He can't give anything that he doesn't have and he doesn't have any cancer to give. He can't give anything that he doesn't have and he doesn't have any cancer to give anybody. So that can't be from him. But he certainly can take what the devil meant for evil and turn it and use it for your good.
Speaker 1:And in less than ideal circumstances, what he'll do is he'll convince you of your beloved identity. And in contradiction and adversity, what he'll do is he'll come in moments and he'll whisper the truth of beloved identity into your bones, to the place that you become convinced that you're beloved of Yahweh. And as he begins to do that, what's going to happen is he's going to bring you into maturity. So true humility is agreement with heaven's perspective of who you are. And how does he see us? What is his perspective of us? Perfectly righteous, perfectly whole, one with yeshua. Perfectly righteous, perfectly whole, complete, lacking nothing, and one with Jesus. So what we then begin to do is we begin to, through beloved identity, come into a greater understanding of heaven's perspective of who we are. And as we come into a greater perspective, as we come into a greater understanding.
Speaker 1:And when I say understanding, I'm not talking about a mental understanding that allows us to continue to live in our squalor and in our filth. I'm talking about incarnational truth that gets in your bones and convinces you of who you are, to the point that it begins to change the frequency you carry in the earth. It begins to change the way you respond. It begins to change the way that you act. It begins to change the way that you carry yourself. Instead of slouched over, all of a sudden we've got our shoulders pulled back and we're walking into a room, not like we're unworthy. We're walking into a room knowing that if I'm here, heaven sent me here and I'm carrying the frequency of freedom in my bones. And I'm just going to come in here and I'm going to let my bones reverberate freedom into a place and just see what spins out of that. And it may be nothing. It may be I had a nice time at a restaurant with my family. Or it may be your waiter's going through a hard time and he needs you to ask him how's his heart.
Speaker 1:I was in Mobile for Under the Oaks our previous Under the Oaks, and we, we. I don't want to share this, but I will. We were eating at a restaurant. I was with Mark Caston. We were eating at a restaurant. I had just worked out with um, one of my heroes in that world, and um needed to get some food because I was shot to pieces, tired. And Mark's son, elijah, had worked out with us, but Mark did not. So shout out Mark for being lazy. He's not going to listen to this anyway. He won't hear me. Take a shot at him. Um, but if you do, mark, I took a shot at you and I meant it. Um, but if you do, mark, I took a shot at you and I meant it. Um, um, and we're just sitting there and our waiter is just spilling his guts to us. It's kind of irritating.
Speaker 1:He's talking a lot. I'm like what is going on? You're giving me your life story here, dude. I just want some chicken and rice so I can eat and feel better. That's all I want right now. Bring me the chicken and the rice so that I can put it in my mouth and eat it. And he's talking to us about moving and moving jobs and living with his mom and the water's turned off in his mom's house so he has to get a gym membership to take a shower. I'm like my God, something has gone terribly wrong in this guy's life.
Speaker 1:And then he starts talking some more and we ask him you know, hey, bud, what, uh, what brings you to Mobile? Why'd you move? Cause he moved from Denver. He said, well, I got a divorce. And I said, huh and uh, I just look at him. I said how's your heart? And he responds to me and says I feel like you're looking into my soul when you ask me that. And I said, well, that's because I am. I just responded to him. I said it's the truth, I am looking into your soul and I can see your heart's hurt. What's going on? And he said, well, I'm okay sometimes, but there are nights I sit alone and cry in my mom's basement. It's terrible.
Speaker 1:I said, buddy, let me pray for you. I prayed for that man and I felt the glory of the Lord touch that man. And we didn't have any dramatic response. I didn't cast a demon out of him or anything like that. What happened was he said hey, where y'all go to church and I said, well, we just we're going down there to homestead mobile, we're going down there to Homestead Mobile and you have a blessed day, bud.
Speaker 1:But what I'm finding is, as we, what I'm finding is, as we are obedient to those moments, you don't know the effect that that has on someone. You will never know the effect that that has on someone and it could be 15 years from now that man's life is completely revolutionized through one moment in a restaurant, or not. Or it was a moment of being obedient to the whisper of the Lord and giving that man an opportunity to come into light and someone else can come along and water that seed. One of the worst things we ever did I'm rambling so much today, sorry guys. One of the worst things we ever did. I'm rambling so much today, sorry guys.
Speaker 1:One of the worst things we ever did was put this pressure on us to record everything on our stupid cell phones that we ever do out in the culture. I hate that culture so much. I hate it so much and I understand the people that started it have a pure heart and whatever. I hate it, I hate it. Let's record ourselves doing the ministry of Jesus in the street so we can build a following. Are you kidding, oh God? It puts pressure on, and what it will do then is cause things to be less than authentic. So you're doing things for a purpose rather than simply obeying the heart of the Lord.
Speaker 1:All right, so we're going to go to Luke seven. I did not mean to say all that. Good Lord, all right. True humility is agreement with heaven's perspective of who you are. You're a son, you're in christ, you're seated in heavenly places, far above, far above all principality, power, strength and dominion. Seated in heavenly places, far above all principality, power, strength and dominion. Seated in heavenly places, far above power, authority, strength and dominion. Seated in the highest possible seat of honor, one with Christ, united in Christ, joined to Christ mystically in His crucifixion, in his burial and in his resurrection. He took captivity, captive. We're going to celebrate that next Saturday, holy Saturday. We're going to celebrate Jesus taking captivity, captive and giving gifts unto men.
Speaker 1:The Orthodox Church celebrates Holy Saturday so well. In the Orthodox tradition, jesus invaded hell, emptied hell out and left the devil there alone with his demons and lonely Preaching to those that are in captivity. You're righteous, you're not broken, you're not less than I don't know why I'm hammering this so much. Somebody needs to hear this. You're not broken, you're not less than you're not barely getting by. You've been mystically joined to yeshua, the Son of God. He's the firstborn among many brethren that are to follow him. He's the firstborn from the grave, the first of many that would follow him and bring many sons to glory. The word says he's going to bring many sons to glory, so you know what that means. Heaven's perspective of you is that you're glorious Jesus and in order to walk in true humility, you've got to understand that and be able to hold the tension of humility Looks like me washing some feet and also opening deaf ears, opening blind eyes, also trying to say this in the most edited way I can being kind to your wife, being kind to your kids, having patience.
Speaker 1:Lord, give me some more patience. I'm still working on that one. I'm still working. I try, I do good some days, and some days I am terrible and we can. We can, I think, encapsulate this thought with this, and this is what Pop always used to say in South Carolina and Carolina Reliable. He always used to say this the Father refuses to view us through any other lens than Yeshua, and it's time that we return the favor. Jesus is the precise image of the Father. He's the exact image of the Father and he's precisely what the Father has to say about himself. The revelation of Jesus is the revelation of the Father. He's not different than Jesus, he's not less kind, he's not less patient.
Speaker 2:He's not less loving. He's not less powerful. He's not less for you. He's not less on your side. He's not less patient. He's not less loving. He's not less powerful. He's not less for you. He's not less on your side. He's not less Jesus. He's not less man. He's not less on our side than Jesus.
Speaker 1:He is the exact same as. Jesus. So all that goodness you see in the gospels.
Speaker 2:So all that goodness you see in the Gospels is the Father revealing His heart to His children. All that goodness you see in the Gospels, all the challenge that you see to the religious spirit all of the challenge that you see to the people, that would lead people into a misunderstanding of the Father's heart. That's Him too.
Speaker 1:He's cleansing temples and he's washing feet.
Speaker 2:He's letting prostitutes wash, as it would have been considered a humiliation To let a woman like that touch a rabbi's feet, and he did it, staring them dead in the eyes.
Speaker 1:Man, he was a stone cold killer, golly staring staring simon dead in his eyeballs while she wept and washed his feet and then had the nerve to tell him one of you will leave sanctified today. And it ain't you, simon, that's the father too. And it ain't you, simon, that's the father too. All right, I'm going to briefly touch on I don't know even what time it is I've not been painting. How long have I been talking? I've been talking too long. Luke 7. Luke 7 and verses 11 through 17. I'm going to do a little bit of review and I might read something else, but we're going to do this quick. Everybody say quick, one voice, one voice, quick. I'm not going to do it quick, I'm lying to all of you. I'm building false hope. Shortly afterward, jesus left on a journey. So shortly after what? Well, let's back up. John's disciples had just come to Jesus from prison and said John has sent us here to ask if you're the one that we seek, are we waiting for another? Jesus then completely ignores the question and turns and ministers to an entire crowd of people, heals blind eyes, opens deaf ears, pulls the lame out of their sickbed, and then it says that he says to John's disciples go and tell him the things that you have seen the blind, see the deaf, hear the lame are raised and the dead are brought back to life. So did someone bring? We don't have a firsthand story here, but it's reasonable to assume perhaps there was a resurrection in the crowd. And then he turns to the crowd and says there's never been a man born of a woman more important than John and begins to tell the crowd about John. This is so interesting. John, you don't need to know who I am. You need to remember who you are. Did not offer an explanation of who he was. He offered back to John an explanation of who John was. John, you know your purpose. You know that you were brought into this world to be covered in the mantle of Elijah and prepare the way for the Christ. Don't forget who you are, john, just because you've been landed in the middle of a contradiction. Don't forget who you are, john, just because you've been landed in the middle of a contradiction. Don't forget who you are because you've been landed in the middle of a contradiction, john. You've been sent to prison for your ministry. You've opened your mouth and fought against power, which is the mantle of Elijah is going to go ahead and do that Sometimes. The spirit of Elijah is going to cause someone to do that Sometimes. John, don't forget who you are just because you've been thrown into the middle of a trial. You don't need to know who I am. You know who I am. You forgot who you are, prophet. You forgot who you are, john.
Speaker 1:So shortly afterward, jesus left on a journey to the village of Nain, and I just gave you the wrong story. That's not in verse 7. I was studying that last night and that's good anyway, but that's not chapter 7, but we'll cover chapter 7 another time. That word's for somebody. There's a reason that I did that. There's a reason for that word's for somebody. Don't forget who you are. Don't forget who you are. Jesus heals a man from a distance above this. That's not the intention of the Lord right now. The intention of the Lord is to speak to somebody who's in the middle of a trial and you've forgotten who you are, and you're asking Jesus who are you? Where are you? I'm needing to understand just exactly who you are to me, jesus, and Jesus is speaking to you right now. Don't forget who you are just because you're in the middle of a trial. You know who I am. Don't forget who you are. Don't forget who you are. Don't forget who you are. Don't forget who you are.
Speaker 1:Shortly afterward, jesus left on a journey to the village of Nain, with a massive crowd of people following him and his disciples.
Speaker 1:As he approached the village, he met a multitude of people in a funeral procession who were mourning as they carried the body of a young man to the cemetery. The boy was the mother's only son and she was a widow. When the Lord saw the grieving mother, his heart broke for her and with a great tenderness he said to her Please don't cry. Then he stepped up to the coffin and touched it. When the pallbearers came to a halt, jesus spoke directly to the corpse young man, I say to you, arise and live immediately. The young man sat up and spoke to those nearby. Jesus presented the son to his mother alive. A tremendous sense of holy mystery slept, swept through the crowd and they shouted praises to god, saying god himself has blessed us by visiting his people and a great prophet has appeared among us. And a great prophet has appeared among us. The news of Jesus and this miracle raced throughout Judea and the entire surrounding region, surrounding region.
Speaker 1:I want to frame this with something that I thought was profound as I studied some text about this passage. I want to frame what we just read with this and I'm going to go back into reading this, and this is a quote from Friar Anthony Hughes, and this is from a message that he gave at St Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge Massachusetts on October the 6th 2019. So this is Friar Anthony Hughes speaking at St Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge, massachusetts on October the 6th 2019. This it has become clear to me that Scripture is an open window into what appears to the mind as an alternative reality. It has become clear to me that Scripture is an open window into what appears to the mind as an alternative reality, but which is, in fact, reality itself, but which is, in fact, reality itself. It is not the closed and locked door of intellectual certainty. It is not the closed and locked door of intellectual certainty. It is not the closed and locked door of intellectual certainty. It is the entrance to eternal and divine possibility, the gateway to the heart. It is the entrance to eternal and divine possibility, the gateway to the heart. It is, in fact, reality itself. It is not the closed and locked door of intellectual certainty. It is the entrance to eternal and divine possibility, the gateway to the heart.
Speaker 1:Shortly afterward, jesus left on a journey to a village of Nain, with a massive crowd of people following him and his disciples. As he approached the village, he met a multitude of people in a funeral procession who were mourning as they carried the body of a young man to the cemetery. The boy was the mother's only son and she was a widow. Pause right there. She was a widow, her only son, and she was a widow. It's not an exaggeration to say that this woman probably a beggar, and possibly a worse fate awaited her. It's not an exaggeration at all to say she had no future. So she's dealing with twofold here. She's dealing with the death of her only son after her husband has already passed, and she's dealing with the fact that I'm my life is over too. Her son is dead, her son is dead, her husband is dead and she's as good as dead. I don't think that it would have been a great exaggeration to call this a miracle of two resurrections. He gave two people their life back that day.
Speaker 1:Now I've talked to you all before about my friend Ron Teal. He spoke with a. He told me this story. I was sitting in a coffee shop with him in Atlanta and it was the weirdest coffee shop. He was flying through and said hey, you want to come get coffee with me while I lived over there? And I said yes, ron, I want to come get coffee with you. Anytime you're in town I want to get coffee with you. And um Ronald says, tells me the story, says you know um this, this story.
Speaker 1:It's similar to the story of Lazarus. He'd spoken with um, a man who had, I think, six doctorate degrees and had studied Israeli history or Jewish history and understood much of the culture of that time. And the tradition among the Jews is that this young man was a Roman soldier. And there are a couple of things to understand about the fact that he was a Roman soldier. One is that he had been embalmed according to the Roman method, which would have been removing of the heart, brain and liver and placing them in a separate container. So his heart, his brain and his liver had been removed and he was being carried on a funeral pyre and it would have been illegal for anyone to stop the procession and it was punishable by death for anyone to touch the funeral pyre. So you're going to get in trouble if you try to stop the procession and you could be put to death for touching the funeral pyre. And Jesus broke all the rules. But notice, it didn't say that he commanded them to stop. Notice it didn't say that he commanded them to stop.
Speaker 1:The profundity of this miracle to me isn't even the raising of the boy Although that would have been a recreated brain, a recreated heart, a recreated liver all in a moment. All he had to do was touch the thing that was carrying him to his grave, say son, rise up out of your casket. Son, rise up out of your casket. The man rises up and the people say God himself has visited us this day and a great prophet I want to read that just quickly. A great prophet has appeared among us. You know, new Testament prophecy is, by definition, the testimony of Jesus. New Testament prophecy is, by definition, the testimony of Jesus being spread abroad. This is New Testament prophecy. So when they say a great prophet has appeared among us, maybe they're talking about Jesus. Or maybe they're talking about one who can testify of one moment I was being carried on a funeral procession. One moment I was in a funeral procession, in a casket and Jesus walking down the road. I was being carried down. Maybe they're talking about one who was raised up out of his deathbed and then could Jesus share the testimony of Jesus wherever he went? Maybe that's who they were talking about.
Speaker 1:Maybe the last two weeks or the last two gatherings we've come together, we've explored it's been three. Now we've explored the story of three women, and this has not been intentional on my on my part. This has not been intentional at all. We've explored the story of three women, the first being who the Orthodox Church calls St Veronica, and in religion we ignorantly call her the woman with the issue of blood. I call it ignorance because there was never a time, at that point in the ministry of Jesus, that anyone had had the courage to say if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I know that I'll be made well from my sickness. But if you fast forward to Mark, chapter six, you're watching an entire crowd follow Jesus, and as many as touched him were made whole. As many as touched him were made whole. There had never been a story of someone touching him and being made whole Up to that point. This woman, in desperation, grabbed hold of something that no one else had grabbed hold of before, and for it. The Orthodox Church calls her Saint Veronica. She had the issue of blood. She was not allowed to be out and she was not allowed to be in public. She was not allowed to touch anyone. She was to be quarantined in her house until she died. Her life was over.
Speaker 1:The caption in my Bible says two healings are two miracles a healing and a resurrection. Because this is the interruption of Jesus procession to Jairus house, where he's about to raise Jairus' daughter from the dead. And in the middle of walking to Jairus' house, a man who would have been influential in the it's so profound to me. The man who was responsible for enforcing the law of Moses has someone break the law of Moses in front of him and he gets to watch Jesus heal them anyway. He gets to watch Jesus heal them anyway, although they were breaking the law of Moses. They're breaking the law of Moses, teacher, don't you understand that, first of all, my daughter's about to die and it's great that she got healed, but we ought to go, and she broke the law of Moses, so she, she should be disqualified from receiving the miracle she's asking for.
Speaker 1:And Jesus stops and is present with her. Not only is he present, he does something that he does, something that I think we overlook. And he stops and he converses with her. You don't have to do that. She'd already received her miracle, Didn't have to do that. She'd already received her miracle. She had already received the thing she was asking for. And Jesus stops and says woman, oh, your faith has made you whole.
Speaker 1:And I contend that in stopping and being present with her in a moment, he healed her perspective of a distant, angry God. And had he not stopped and been present with her in a moment, she might have received the healing that she needed, but she would have dealt. She might have received the healing that she needed, but she would have dealt with a broken perspective of who Yahweh is the rest of her days. And Jesus was not content to leave her healed and broken on the inside. He said no, if we're going to fix one thing, I'm going to fix it all and I'm going to stop and be present with you in a moment and I'm going to bring you into complete and total wholeness. I'm going to bring you into sozo and you'll never have to ask who he is again. You'll never have to ask who the father is again. You'll understand that there was a time when I was untouchable. There was a time that I was unable to be outside in public, unable to touch anyone, unable to have anyone come near me lest they be made ceremonially unclean. And I touched a man and in my touching him he made me whole. Not just that, he stopped and was present with me, st Veronica. Jesus was present with her in a moment and brought her into wholeness.
Speaker 1:And then we have the story of the woman at the well. We looked at who the Orthodox Church calls St Fotini, a woman of such profound gospel power that when the Ephesian church came into persecution and the leaders of the church were under duress and had to leave the church, they called this woman in to lead the Ephesian church. The church at Ephesus was led by St Fatini. After the leaders of the church had been run off by the government. They'd had to go into hiding and they said there's only one person that we can think of that carries enough glory on her life to come in and lead this profound example of what the church ought to look like. And it's that woman who at one time was at a well and had five husbands and was living with someone who wasn't her husband. Jesus meets her at a. Well, she's come. It's so interesting how these stories all kind of have a similar thread.
Speaker 1:Jesus is walking somewhere and someone interrupts Jesus. And then Saint Fotini is going somewhere and Jesus is waiting for her at her destination. And what does he do? What does he do? He asks her for a drink. Why would a Jewish man ask me for a drink? You have nothing to do with my people. Why would you stop and ask me for a drink? Why would you do it? Why would you ask me for a drink? You don't even have a vessel to let down and draw a drink out. With no baby, you got to go over in that chair. You don't even have a vessel to drop down and say you give me a drink. You do it. And if you knew who it was that was speaking to you, you would ask of me and I would give you living water that if you drank of you would never thirst again. And she said I think I'd like some of that. I'd like to have to stop coming out here in the middle of the afternoon.
Speaker 1:Woman, where's your husband? You have said well that I have no husband because you have had five, and the man you're living with now is not your husband. I perceive that you are a prophet. That's the most obvious statement, I think, in the New Testament. It's hilarious. We always used to insult each other in middle school. Be like, okay, captain Obvious, thanks, she was at that moment, captain Obvious. I perceive that you're a prophet, and my people like to worship on this mountain and your people say that we're wrong because true worship is to be offered in the temple. And which one of you is right?
Speaker 1:She gets into a theological discourse because Jesus has touched something in her heart that she's not comfortable with opening up to him. And he, just, he, just, he just does it. There's so much beauty in the kindness of Jesus, in this interaction, because he just allows her to talk and then he says to her there's coming a time when you're not going to worship on this mountain or in Jerusalem, but the father is seeking those who will offer, who will worship him in spirit and in truth, and it will be the worship of the heart that is the primary concern, not the location of the worship. That is the primary concern. And she says I know that we're waiting on a Messiah, and said the one that you see in front of you is the one. And she runs off into the town and says come and see a man that told me everything that I've ever done. He hadn't told her everything she ever done. You said you've been married five times. She said you've been married five times and you're not married now. But you're living with a man. And in that moment he's revealing the things, everything she believed that disqualified her from a relationship with the father. And Jesus is revealing to her that you're not disqualified. I'm actually going to qualify you for a relationship with the father and if you want to worship him, I'm going to tell you the truth that it's the heart, it's the worship of the heart that matters, and you don't have to offer it on a mountain or in the temple, you can go straight to him. And there's coming a time when you daughter will be raised to great prominence in the spirit and this woman goes and says come and meet a man, and the entire city gets evangelized. Why did the entire city get evangelized? Because Jesus was kind to a prostitute. He was kind to her.
Speaker 1:And then we're fast forwarding to this week. These are not intent. I'm not intending to keep the keep the uh forwarding to this week. These are not intent. I'm not intending to keep the keep the keep the same theme. But we find another woman whose life is as good as over. We find another woman whose life is as good as over. She's carrying her dead son to be buried and she may as well lay down on top of that grave and die too, because her life is about to get dramatically worse. When the Lord saw the mother grieving, his heart broke for her. I don't know that Jesus was intending to do this when he started off towards Nain. Guys, I'm a little bit of the persuasion that this funeral procession caught him unawares, or, at the very least, was not what he expected to find when he went to Nain. And his authentic reaction to a moment of surprise was this when the Lord saw the grieving mother, his heart broke for her. With great tenderness he said to her please don't cry.
Speaker 1:And Dr Simmons has a footnote about verse 13, the Greek word, and I'm not even going to try on this, guys, I listened last night. It was midnight. I'm studying, I'm doing my best, it's midnight and I'm on blue letter Bible and there I'm pushing the pronunciation where they'll pronounce it for you, and I was like, yeah, it's redneck. This redneck ain't going to pronounce that correctly. This redneck ain't going to pronounce that correctly. You're close, lucy, you're really close. So that word denotes the deepest level of compassion.
Speaker 1:There is no greater word in the Greek language to describe the depth of emotion Jesus felt for this widow. Hear that. There is no greater word in the Greek language to describe the depth of emotion Jesus felt for this widow over the loss of her son. This is actually the word for intestines. Jesus' emotions fully identified with the grief, with her grief, and he carried her sorrow. I want to just insert this little bit right here.
Speaker 1:Jesus inserted himself into St Veronica's isolation and brought her out. He inserted himself into St Fotini's immorality and brokenness and made her whole. And he brought himself and put himself into the middle of this woman's Jesus, in the middle of this woman's grief, and he carried it. He didn't just carry it, he brought Jesus, he inserted himself into the middle of it and made it new. Jesus was interrupted by St Veronica. Then he waited in ambush for St Fotini.
Speaker 1:And now the widow at Nain. He meets in a collision of life and death. And now the widow at Nain, he meets in a collision of life and death. The one who is life itself meets a funeral procession, and it wasn't just enough for him to heal this one, because he was going to heal him the moment he saw the funeral procession it was on his heart I'm going to destroy a funeral today. I don't know that that's what he intended to do when he walked toward Nain. He may have just heard the spirit whisper it's time to go to Nain. And so he started walking to Nain. But as soon as he saw the funeral, he destroyed a good funeral. It was always in his heart to do that, but he didn't just do that. That wasn't sufficient for the heart of God.
Speaker 1:He got down into the very depth of her sorrow and her sadness and carried it for her Guys. He walks up to her and says dear woman, please don't weep. I've always heard that, taught as Jesus telling her you've got to regulate your emotions and cause them to meet my presence here. And after you regulate your emotions, with the arrival of my presence, I can perform the miracle. I don't think that's true at all. I think Jesus looked at her with deep compassion and said I feel what you are feeling and I'm telling you it's about to get really good you can stop your weeping. I've gotten to the depth of your sorrow. I'm carrying your sorrow right here. I'm carrying your sorrow and I'm not going to let you be sorrowful for a moment longer. I'm going to insert myself into the middle of your pain and I'm going to make it new.
Speaker 1:This is the life-giving message we heard of Him. We heard Him share and it is still ringing in our ears. We now repeat His words to you God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in you. God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him. God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him. And pure light. Met a funeral procession and carried a woman's sorrow and raised her son back from the grave.
Speaker 1:How does this apply to where we're at? Okay, so we've explored this. We've explored these three stories of these women. And how does this apply to where we're at? Because we don't have dead children. We don't. We're not burying children today. We're not here. None of us has an issue of blood. We've not married five women and living with, living with one who's not my, my wife right now.
Speaker 1:So this is a little bit difficult to relate, but what it does show us is his willingness to get into the middle of the thing that we're not wanting him to get into, the middle of the thing that is most close to our heart. Often we hold back, we hold our cards a little bit close to the chest. If you're a poker player, you know what it is to hold your cards close to the chest. And Jesus is inviting this family I believe this is part of the reason I've shared this today Jesus is inviting this family to throw them all into the middle of the table and say you can get into any piece of me that you want to get into and you can touch any piece of me that you want to touch, because I know that there's a greater degree of wholeness available to me as a son of Almighty Yahweh than I'm currently living in. And if this thing doesn't work for us in the middle of where we are, guys, it's not real. Go ahead, lou.
Speaker 2:It seems to tell me that something that I learned recently by James Danner, that two things here, is that we must become aware of who we are and where we are. Yeah, and so Danner here said something that fits here. He says Say it. Following Jesus is not doing it right, but realizing we're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, that's a shock to the heart. Can you say that again? Say it again, lou Say it wrong. Oh, that's a shot to the heart. Can you say that again? Say it again, lou, say it again.
Speaker 2:Following Jesus is not doing it right, but realizing we're doing it wrong. See, it puts Jesus' teaching into a different context. Yeah, the distractions of life keeps us from being aware of an opportunity for a blessing or a healing here and now, put right in front of us Put right in front of us. I don't know how many times in retrospect I said you know, maybe I should have said something to that person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they responded yeah to that person. Yeah, they responded yeah, maybe even crying. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I was respecting her privacy. Yeah, I walked away from her and said being like Jesus, and say is there something I can?
Speaker 1:pray about for you.
Speaker 2:Man, realizing that she was in need, but also realizing who we are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, yeah, exactly right, that's exactly right. Read one more thing here that's going to stick with me, lou, would you text that to me after you get home? Following Jesus is not repeat that.
Speaker 2:For me, it's not about doing it right, but realizing we're doing it wrong.
Speaker 1:Man following Jesus is not doing it right. It's realizing we're doing it wrong. God man.
Speaker 2:We're so into our life that we don't see it. Man, god, man.
Speaker 1:Man, I agree. I agree. The common thread of the last three gatherings has been the willingness of our Jesus to invade our broken, lonely spaces with kindness. I think if I were to encapsulate the last three gatherings we've had and this has just been something very simple today I didn't have anything profound to share. Today I didn't have any deep insight into the widow of Nain and I've taught this in miracle services before and shouted for 15 minutes about the light of life meeting a funeral procession. We had great miracles afterwards, but his kindness met a broken woman and his kindness invaded a funeral and his kindness raised that boy back to life.
Speaker 1:And what will happen if we're still I feel it right there? What will happen if we're still, I feel it right there? What will happen if we're still dealing with Adam's delusion of separation, that God is distant and disinterested? Is that when Yeshua comes with kindness to address broken spaces, we'll withdraw from him because we're anticipating judgment? Surely he's coming with the hammer that I've been deserving all these years? And surely my chickens have come home to roost Use another redneck term Chickens are coming home to roost, buddy, and I'm about to get what I deserve and what I see. Surely, if anyone was going to get what they deserve. The woman at the well was about to get what she deserved, and what she found out she deserved was the love of God invading the brokenness of her life and saying there's a better way. And I'm going to lift you up. The old church, the old church, used to sing. He lifted, he lifted me up out of the miry clay. He set my feet upon the rock to stay. He lifted her up out of her lowest state and brought her into the fullness of life. And what will happen? If he's not kind to you, in your mind, in your heart, in your thinking, if he's not kind, what will happen is you'll remain at a distance when he wants to get really, really close. And when he gets really, really close, you'll get really, really uncomfortable and you'll withdraw at a distance again, and you'll do this dance where he comes close and you withdraw and he comes close and you withdraw and he comes close and you withdraw. It's the, it's the revel, it's the, it's the Jesus, it's the story. He stands at the door and knocks, and His knocking is His kindness. He stands at the door of the heart and he knocks, and it's not with judgment and it's not with a hammer, it's not with a whip, it's not with I'm going to give you what you deserve. After all these years, you've finally gotten the thing that you deserve. No, he comes with the goodness of Almighty Yahweh and says I'm going to lift you up out of the Jesus. I'm going to lift you up out of the brokenness and bring you into the fullness of life.
Speaker 1:There isn't a greater witness to a culture that over 60% of medical visits result in someone being issued antidepressants. There isn't a greater witness to a culture that is riddled with delusion and depression and turmoil. Then a family of people walking in the fullness of life. You won't even have to start talking to people about Jesus for them to be attracted to you. They'll be attracted to the way you glow and the light of life will start resonating out of a family. And what will begin to happen is that resonance.
Speaker 1:It's fake coffee, lance, lance. You better drink it. Just play that song a little bit, lance. Play that song a little bit, lance. Play that song a little bit.
Speaker 1:There's not a greater witness, friend, than wholeness in a culture that's so broken, and I want to say that about a church culture. I'm not even talking about the American culture. I'm talking about the culture that we're a part of. I'm talking about a church culture that is full of brokenness and delusion, depression and turmoil and sadness and questioning our faith and dismantling our faith. And all of the confusion. And all of a sudden, the Lord begins to drop the truth, that I'm actually really kind and I'm actually really present and I'm actually here, not with a sword and not with a whip and not with a gavel and not with judgment and not with a sentence of death. I've actually come to bring you into the fullness of life and you can have life, and life more abundantly.
Speaker 1:Judgment starts first in the house of God. What does God come to judge? He comes to judge our enemies. Isaiah says it very well he's coming to avenge us of our enemies and in this hour, our enemies are our internal enemies of fear, depression, anxiety and the things that keep us from Almighty God. Let judgment start in the house of God and let Him come after the things that are keeping us from Him. Let it start in me. Come after my anxiety. Yeah, come on. Come after my anxiety. Come after my need to control things. Come after my fear. Come after the things that cause me to live in a way that I know is not the way that you have pre-designed me to live. Come and come after my subconscious thought patterns. Come and come after all of it. You can come after all my enemies. You can avenge me of all my enemies if it means that I get to be close to you.
Speaker 2:Mm, mm.
Speaker 1:Mm. Amen for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing. Be anxious for nothing, but in all your ways acknowledge God and he will direct your paths. Be anxious for nothing, be anxious for nothing, but in all your ways acknowledge God and he will direct your paths. Be anxious for nothing, but in all your ways acknowledge God and he will direct your paths. Be anxious for nothing, but in all your ways acknowledge God and he will direct your paths. Be anxious for nothing, but in all your ways acknowledge God and he will direct your path. The psalmist said you'll direct my feet so that I won't even strike my foot upon a stone. You'll make my feet like Heinz feet.