Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hey guys, this is Naeeb and you've reached the mosaic church podcast. So excited that you're part of our listening community and I'd love for you to be even more connected. So check out our website. There's more content there and there's more opportunities for you to get connected in our ministries and events as well. Also, love for you to share this content if this is blessed to you. I know that God wants to use you to bless other people with it, so share this podcast if you will. Lastly, would you consider supporting this ministry? This is made possible by other people's generosity and I'd love for you to pay it forward. Join us to reclaim the message and the movement of Jesus together. So would you consider giving to this ministry? I know that God is able to do immeasurably more through us when we come together. Thank you so much. God bless you and enjoy.
[00:00:57] So, hey, so glad you're here this morning. I'll tell you what, because it's a holiday weekend, and so for those of you who are here, you get extra credit, people, you get extra credit for being here. And I don't know, you get something. If you're online, you get something. I don't know if it's extra, extra credit, but it's something. But I'm glad you're here.
[00:01:16] We're doing kind of a one off conversation this morning, so usually we do these series, and so we just ended a series called Conspiracy of Hope. And next week we'll be starting a series called the Church the World needs. So that's going to be fun. That's going to be fun. But today I want to talk about, just to make it clear, we're going to talk about what?
[00:01:38] Yes. Divine. Divine moments. Divine moments. Is this true, though, that in life there's certain moments you just remember. You just remember several years ago, I was in Italy, and it was not my first time going to Italy because I've been there before, but I was super excited because I was actually speaking at a conference, italian conference. You know what I'm saying? I don't speak italian. But anyways, you know, they're like, hey, come speak at this thing. I was so pumped about it. And my buddy, the guy that I went with, he was a trip, and he was a great guy. And he's also the reason why I was going on this trip and why I got invited. So anyways, now, it was an amazing trip. It was an amazing trip. But one day we were like, we had kind of done the conference like we had spoken a couple times, done workshops, things like that.
[00:02:26] It was late. We finally got to our hotel. Now, this was also the first night, and so we got dropped off in this hotel, and this hotel was, like, not normal, like on busy street or anything like that. It was like. It seemed like it was like a retreat center, like, you know what I'm saying? It was like, in sort of the boonies, if that makes sense. Italian boonies, you know what I'm saying? So it was out there, and I'm like, okay, there's no one there. As we walked in, and there's really literally no one there except the person to greet us. And we're like, okay, there's just not a lot of people here. I'm like, all right, that's cool. So we started looking around, walking around, like, oh, wow, this is beautiful, beautiful stuff. I mean, a lot of things in Italy are beautiful. So finally, we go to our rooms, and he goes to his room, and I go to mine, and he calls me. He's like, hey, are you loving your room? And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, loving it. He's like, man, I love the balcony. And I'm like, I don't have a balcony. And he was like, you don't have a balcony? I was like, no, I don't have a balcony. Why don't you get a balcony? He's like, you wanna go check out my balcony? I was like, yeah, I wanna check out your balcony. He's like, come on over. I was like, sure. All right, fine. So the next couple minutes, I walk over to his room, right? And his room is a lot nicer than mine.
[00:03:32] A little jealous. Anyways, whatever, okay. He was paying for the trip, so, okay, so I walk in, and he's outside in the balcony, right? So I walk outside to the balcony, and I just shut the door. And he goes, no.
[00:03:50] And I'm like, what? He goes, it locks.
[00:03:54] It locks.
[00:03:56] So I'm like, what do you mean, locks? Yeah, they all lock. No, no, he's. We can't get out. So now we are stuck in a balcony. It's past midnight in Italy. I don't have my phone. He's got his phone. We don't know a lot of people here. I'm like, okay, can I. Now I'm thinking, can we. Can we parkour this thing? You know what I'm saying? Can we just, like, can we jump off? We're thinking. He's like, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? And so we're like, okay, we gotta call a guy. We gotta call a guy. We gotta call someone. So we don't even know how to pronounce the hotel that we're staying in. We don't even know anybody there.
[00:04:30] The guy dropped us off was from the conference. And I was like, okay, what are we gonna do? So we think of a guy, in fact. Guy. His name is Guy. Yeah, his name is Guy. Guy Gotano or something. Yeah. So we call him up. He is nowhere near. He's in a different city. So we wake him up and we're like, guy, we are locked in the balcony of a hotel. We don't know.
[00:04:59] Can you help us?
[00:05:01] So he was like, are you serious? And he speaks English. Are you serious? He's like, where did you get dropped off? Somewhere. We got dropped off somewhere. Who dropped you off? So he had to figure out who dropped us off to ask him where we got dropped off.
[00:05:16] Then find the number of the place, call the receptionist or the concierge and figure out how to get. Send someone up there to unlock our balcony door so we can get out.
[00:05:28] Wow. Couple of hours later, this.
[00:05:32] Can I say ornery? Ornery? Is that a word? Yeah. Guy comes in and he is not happy. We're like, hey, no, hey, no hey. And he lets us out. He lets us out. Now, there were some amazing things that happened on that trip. In fact, we have a sister church in Bergamo, Italy, because of that trip. Guess what? We tell stories about none of those things.
[00:05:54] Just the story of how we got locked out and how he blames me, which is not my fault. It is not my fault. Okay? Number one, it wouldn't have been. We wouldn't have been locked out if he didn't have a balcony. So anyways, it's his fault. It's his fault. He splurged for the bigger room. You know what I'm saying? It's his fault. So here's why I tell you the story. Tell you the story is because I feel like in life, there's so many trips that I've taken. And you've done it too, right? You've taken trips. But then when you tell the story of the trip, you only remember a certain moment. You go, remember the time. Remember when we did this? Remember when we did that? Because the truth is that as much as we try, we can't remember a lot of things. And we live so much life that we end up finding ourselves really locking into certain moments. And the truth is that our lives are actually not supposed to be just linear time it's supposed to be these moments in time. A buddy of mine wrote a book called life between the hyphen. And you know what that means is? It means, basically, is that your life and my life is the hyphen between two dates. The date you were born and the date you die. Our lives are right there. And I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel the pressure of it, and I feel like I need to run and do and accomplish so many things. Like, I want to make a difference in the world. I want to do that. I want to do this. There's things in the house I want to change. There are projects. Ashley's laughing. All right, I'll get to it. Okay.
[00:07:25] I'll get to a lot of stuff. Okay. But there are so many things I want to do. Do you find yourself doing that? Like, I don't have enough time. Have you ever said, I don't have the time? I need time. So I've thought that. I've said I just need more time. So I think for you and me, I want to. I'm in this with you because this thought that I want to share with you, I think it challenges me because I'm nothing totally there. It challenges me to move away from living my life with just time. I need more time. I don't need more time. You don't need more time. In fact, you need to create moments. We need to move. We need to have paradigm shift. No, no. Our lives need to have these divine, these amazing moments, because the moments are what we remember and the moments are what we tell stories about. And so my question to us is, could we live our lives, especially in our relationship with God, where we don't live our spiritual life as a timeline, but actually as these divine moments. Now, there's these greek words that talk about Kronos and Kairos. Kronos is linear time. It's the time. It's the time we have. Okay, but Kairos, not Kronos, but Kairos. The word for Kairos is defining moments in life, moments that you remember. And so what I wanna do is I want us to challenge ourselves. Could God be setting up these moments, these Kairos moments in our life for us to step into? Could God be asking you and me to do something, to look at something, to step into something to obey, to risk, because he set up this moment in time. And if we just step into it, it'll be one of those moments we'll tell stories about.
[00:09:10] But it will challenge us because God sets up these.
[00:09:14] These Kairos moments when it's super unlikely, when it's not convenient. Have you ever noticed God does not care if you busy? He does not care. The most significant things that he asks you to do are super inconvenient. Super. I think part of it is because he's beyond time. He doesn't watch. Like, he doesn't. Like, he doesn't. But he sets up these defining Kairos moments. So what I want us to, like, think about maybe before we get into the meat of this talk is could God be setting up a Kairos moment today?
[00:09:56] What if we were to live our lives saying, God, are you setting up a Kairos moment for me today or this day? Or, like, could we, could we figure out a way to live our lives where we're throughout the day? And I know, like, some seasons, you're so busy. You're so busy. You know, you have two kids, but it feels like you have 16, you know what I'm saying? I mean, some of you people, here's the problem. People are always talking to you and you're like, can the world just shut up? Everybody just, can, can something just shut.
[00:10:35] Can just something happen? Could something happen? There was just silence because we live busy lives. But what if we were able to go, God, I wonder if you're setting up a divine moment for me to step into. Okay, so I want to illustrate this by a story that's found in the book of Acts. The Book of Acts is part of the scriptures in the New Testament, and the Bible is a library, and so this is one of the books. And the book of acts and acts are basically the acts of the apostles, the acts of the early church. It basically records what happened. Stories. A lot. A lot of stories. So one particular story I want to highlight is a story about a guy named Peter. You guys know Peter? Peter, right? Peter the apostle. Right. Peter the walk on Water guy. Peter the denier. Jesus. Remember that. I won't. I'll never, I'll never cock a doodle doo. I deny you. You know what I'm saying? That whole story, if you know the story. Yeah, yeah. So Peter's this guy, right? Very passionate, all for it. Risks, says stuff that shouldn't say all that stuff. He's that guy. He's passionate. But it's a story about him and a guy named Cornelius. Cornelius. Not where some of you might live, but it's a place.
[00:11:48] Cornelius. A guy named Cornelius. He's actually an italian guy, surprisingly, was part of the italian army. He's a very good guy. Good guy. Influence, power, wealth.
[00:12:00] But he wanted. He had this moment where he was feeling like God was speaking to him, sensing God. The cool thing about where our relationship is with God is that sometimes you don't really have to be super spiritual or even a follower of Jesus for God to talk to you. God just talked to you. Just because he's not waiting for you to do something, God doesn't wait. He initiates. That's what he did with Jesus, right? So he starts talking to him. He's like, hey, you need to get closer. And Cornelius, like, I need to be closer? And so he says, so God speaks to him somehow without a formal relationship. He says, hey, there's a guy named Peter, and you need to go find him, send your people to his people, and get him to you. And what he's going to share with you is going to change your world, change your generation, change everything about your life. And so it's this big ask, but he's like, okay, this guy Peter, okay, one of the ogs of the movement, this guy is, because it's been about ten years now after Jesus and the early church has been established, and so he does it. He does it. He sends him. He sends it.
[00:13:05] Now, what you're going to find is in the story is two major things. Two points. And I'm going to make two points, okay? Sometimes my sermons have two points, sometimes three. Sometimes they are pointless. So, first point, okay, first point. Here, I'll put it on the screen for you. Here's the point. The point is, complete certainty hinders divine opportunity. I kind of put this together, wordsmith, because I wanted you to remember it. It's like, okay, okay, that sounds sweet or cute, but think about it. Complete certainty, your next step forward. Complete certainty in that if you hold on to complete certainty, it always hinders you, and especially when it comes to God, when he tells you to do something, he says. When he says, hey, I know you're thinking about your business. I know you're praying about this. I want you to do this. And you're like, I just. I'm not certain about this. But you're waiting for. Waiting for complete certainty.
[00:14:00] But complete certainty hinders what?
[00:14:04] Divine opportunity. Divine opportunity. So you'll see this. Okay, let's read this passage. So, eight. I'm sorry, acts, chapter ten, verse eleven. Here's what we find. Okay, I'll read this to you.
[00:14:17] He saw heaven open and something came down, like a huge sheet held up by its four corners. In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. Let's stop right here. You're like, why did you start reading this? We have no idea what you're talking about. Is this the book of Revelations? What's happening? Let me tell you what's happening. What's happening is this. Is Paul dreaming. So what happens is that. I'm sorry, not Paul. Peter. Peter dreaming. Peter, as Cornelius is and God are talking. Cornelius sends people to find Peter. Peter. Around the same time they show up to a city, just happens to take a nap, and he sees. He dreams this. He dreams this kind of, like, strange picture. A picture. Like, okay, there's a sheet, and there's now animals and reptiles and snakes on them. Like, what's happening? What's happening? Have you ever had some weird dreams? Anybody?
[00:15:23] Right? Yeah. You're like, what was that? Have you had a dream? And you're like, who am I? Like, what's happening? Like, what did. What happened last night? What did I. What happened? What's going on?
[00:15:36] And then sometimes God will speak to you, and you'll have the same similar dream. And I just want to say, for some of us, the only way God can get you to slow down and for God to talk to you is in your sleep, because there's so many other voices, there's so many other things you're doing. And so sometimes your dreams are really God talking to you. So here he talks to him. He shows him this thing, right? And then what happens? Then it says. A voice said to him, Peter, get up. Kill these and eat them. But Peter said, lord, I can't do that. I've never eaten anything that is unclean and not fit to eat.
[00:16:23] Now in his dream, he is debating God, which is hilarious, okay? Keeps on going, he says. Then the voice spoke to him again, and this is what I said. When God says that something can be used for good, for food, don't say it isn't fit to. What? Eat.
[00:16:43] Peter is thinking about this dream, and in the dream, he's arguing with God because he is rooted in who he is and his identity as a jewish guy.
[00:17:00] And as this is presented to him, what's happening is, I would say that being jewish, he's probably thinking of the laws, the kashut laws of the jewish dietary laws. Like, he's probably thinking about. That's the word. Kashut is the jewish laws. That's where we get the word kosher. Have you heard of that? Kosher, what's good to eat and what's unclean. So he's thinking about all those laws. He's thinking about the fact that this will.
[00:17:32] This is not good. This is just a bad dream. And he's all about keeping the laws because he believes or he thinks or he's gotten into that. I don't know, that mindset, where if you keep the laws, it keeps you close to God.
[00:17:48] But that's never true.
[00:17:50] Keeping the laws never keeps you close to God. And so here God is showing him something. But what happens after that? What happens after that is it says here, this happened. This happened three times. How many times?
[00:18:09] Three times. So it's happening again before the sheet was suddenly taken up back to heaven. So now there's a. Obviously something's going on. Like, it's like he's. Like God's trying to show him something. Peter was still wondering what all this meant when the men sent by Cornelius came and stood at the gate. So these guys are. They're in town. He's having this dream. He's trying to figure out what this means. He's like, this cannot be goddesse. You know? This cannot be right, because why? Because why would God want me to eat these things? Why would God want to put me in a position to be unclean religiously? Like, that's not. That's not what I do.
[00:18:48] And then it says here, while Peter was still thinking about the vision, the spirit said to him, simon, three men are looking for you, so get up and go downstairs. And then he says this. Do not, what, what's the word? Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them. So the idea is that there is a huge hesitation. Peter, I remember Peter, the guy that I described to you. Peter, who was very emotional. Peter, the guy who was like, ah, promises bigs, big, under delivers all the time. That Peter, right? He is the guy. He is like, I'll never do this. Remember, Peter is the guy who. What walked on what water, who's telling, like, when people tell stories about the person walking on water, that moment, it's always Peter. Peter is not known to what hesitate.
[00:19:50] The guy who never hesitate to walk on water is hesitating to actually eat a certain food or go with certain people, which is so interesting, which tells me that you could have a moment with God. You could have a moment in a relationship with God that you used to like. You know what? I'll do whatever. I'm willing to risk. I'm willing to do whatever. God. I'm open to some supernatural things in my life, but then you just fall into, ten years later, you fall into just your religion. You just fall into the same old, same old, same old. Because life is same old, same old, same old. Or you don't see the supernatural. And I see. I find myself in there. I find myself as a pastor who's been pastoring for over 25 years trying to figure out, okay, how do I keep. Like, not, like, how do I keep from being cynical?
[00:20:38] Cause I don't know about you, and you don't know these people, but people be weird and inconsistent. Not you.
[00:20:47] Not you.
[00:20:49] Those people. Those people. You know, I mean, talk about, like, you know, some of you guys have church heart, maybe have church heart. Heard of that? You have some church heart, and then you have other church heart. All I have is church heart.
[00:21:03] Like, that's all I have. Like, all. I be, all my people. Okay? So it's. It gets to you. And sometimes you just fall into the same patterns or just religious routine or spiritual routine. And here.
[00:21:16] Here what's happening is that Peter is confronted with the reality that the guy he used to be, who used to risk it all for God, is not that guy anymore.
[00:21:27] He's not that guy anymore.
[00:21:30] He's hesitating.
[00:21:33] He was a law breaker back in the day.
[00:21:39] He was like, well, I just grew up.
[00:21:41] Did you. Did your faith mature, or did it just get old?
[00:21:48] His got old.
[00:21:50] His got old. He's like, I'm telling Peter not to hesitate here. He said, go, go, go with him. So what happens then? What happens? Well, it says here, while Peter was still saying these things, okay, so here's what happened. He goes. He goes to them. He enters in, and he starts. He walks into Cornelius House. And the story, before I read this, the story is that Cornelius just opens up. He's like, hey, talk to us about everything. I just need to know who this God is. Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me. And so Peter does it. He does it, and he talks to him.
[00:22:29] I don't know if he's.
[00:22:32] I don't know what his mental condition is, but he does what he's supposed to do. He goes in there and tells them the story of Jesus. And here's what happened. It says here, when Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.
[00:22:47] And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed. It's a fancy way, I mean, complicated way of saying there are people who came with him, but the writer here is talking about circumcised people. Now, why do you have to bring that up, especially in the morning? Okay, here's the deal. Okay. It's because he's explaining they're jewish. Explaining they're jewish.
[00:23:09] That was the thing. So he's like jewish people, just like Peter, who was jewish. They were amazed. Why were they amazed? Why were they amazed? Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out. Check this out. Was poured out. Out. What? What's that word? Even on the gentiles?
[00:23:30] Okay, what is happening here? Because when Jesus told Peter, I'm going to build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and he gave him the great commission. Remember?
[00:23:44] Anybody remember the great commission? Go out, right?
[00:23:48] Yeah, that right? Yeah. Go out to the world. Tell everybody. Baptize the world. Like, let's go. Let's do this. Don't stay here. Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Go tell the world. Because God's for everyone. That was the great commission. And what happened is Peter, ten years later, is now practicing the great omission, and he's omitting all the people who are not jewish.
[00:24:19] Peter is doing this. The early church was doing this. Ten years later, ten years later, they're freaking out because they're like, the gentiles can have the Holy Spirit. By the way, all of us are gentiles.
[00:24:35] Yeah, the gentiles. What is the world coming to?
[00:24:39] What? That denomination can be filled with the spirit of God? No, there's no way. Isn't it amazing that the more religious we get, the more we want to omit people?
[00:24:54] We want to practice the great omission.
[00:24:57] Those people? Not those people. These people, not those people. These people, not those people. No. See, religious systems and institutions always divide and conquer to change the world. That's how it works. But with Jesus, he unites and creates the new world. Like, that's how it works. Divide and conquer is not the flow in God's kingdom, because that's always to be in power. But here he's like, no, you have to. I want you to go this. I want you to go do this. And so he does it. He does it, right. What happens?
[00:25:37] What happens? Well, the Holy Spirit falls on them. And it was amazing, and it's great, and he can't believe it. And he, you know, God kind of set up this divine moment, but it challenged him because it was going against everything he knew, who he was. It did the opposite. See, sometimes in our life, God sets up these moments, wants you to make a decision, want you to step into this, and it goes against everything that you thought you were, but it brings you back to who you were.
[00:26:12] It brings you back to this fresh faith with God. It allows you to stop and notice and go, what am I even doing? See, I think Peter had that moment. He had this moment of going, what am I doing in my life? See, sometimes it's so hard to just not stop and notice. No, not see. Not look around. Notice. Have you ever stopped and just. Just notice the room? Notice what's going on around you. Notice what's happening in your workspace. Just notice, like, what's happening. Like, all of a sudden, you have these divine eyes to see what's going on.
[00:26:53] What's happening? What's happening?
[00:26:57] I think that's what happened with Peter. But he did it. He did it.
[00:27:02] He didn't allow himself to be hindered. So what happened? He comes back. He comes back to town, and people find out. It gets on instagram quick.
[00:27:14] Okay, so what happens? The apostles and the followers in Judea heard that gentiles had accepted God's message. Again. Blows my mind. Again, the gentiles. So when Peter came to Jerusalem, some of the jewish followers, followers of who?
[00:27:35] Jesus started arguing with him. They would never do that. Followers of Jesus. Never argue. Okay. Okay.
[00:27:45] They wanted. They wanted gentile followers to be circumcised. What is up with you with that? Like, let go. Stop.
[00:27:57] And they said. They said, hold on. So they said you stayed in the homes of gentiles. You even ate with them.
[00:28:08] So full circle back in that dream, he's like, hey, like, don't call this people group and their food impure, unholy, or make them out to be the enemy. Like, these, the kosher laws, the sherut laws don't apply anymore. Like, will you stop living your life like that? Compartmentalizing it.
[00:28:42] See, you don't have a work life and a parenting life and a family life. You're part of all of this. And God is working in all of these parts, friends. And he wants to speak and set up these divine, amazing moments with your kids, with your coworkers, with strangers, sets up these things, and they're going to challenge you. They're going to challenge the people around you. They're going to be people who said, I can't believe you're associating with so and so. I can't believe you're doing this. I can't believe you're doing that. I can't believe you're friends with so and so. I can't believe you're going to that church.
[00:29:20] And I know there are people, some of you, your family is like, you go to mosaic. Ha ha. We'll pray for you.
[00:29:26] We'll pray for you.
[00:29:28] Pretty sure they're not going to make it.
[00:29:31] Like, what?
[00:29:33] What's happening? Why? Why is this? Because we want certainty with our spirituality, don't we? We want certainty, and certainty always hinders divine spirituality. Let me do the second thing. The second thing is this.
[00:29:50] If you are willing to step in that moment, God will make you able to do it.
[00:29:58] See, you don't have to be willing and able.
[00:30:03] You don't have to be able or willing, but you just have to be willing, and that's it.
[00:30:09] Sometimes, you know, when I get seated on a plane next to the exit doors, you know, you know, they ask you for, like, verbal confirmation, have you done that? They're like, are you able and willing to do this? Look at me. Look at me. Look at me.
[00:30:23] I mean, I've done a whole.
[00:30:25] No, no, say it. Say it. And sometimes, I mean, I love them. Sometimes I'm annoyed because I'm like, you know what? I am able to do this, but I don't know if I'm willing. It depends on your service. I don't know. I don't know. Depends on this guy over here, what kind of mood I'm in. I don't know. Oh, by the way, is this bowing? You have no problem with doors? Doors fly off.
[00:30:48] I don't have to do anything.
[00:30:51] I don't have to do anything. No.
[00:30:55] See, in life, we either one of those, right? We're willing. We're not able. We're able. We're not willing.
[00:31:01] But with God, man, when he sets up these divine moments, he just doesn't need you to be able. Like, am I able to say the right things? Am I able to do this? Am I able to see this? Am I able to get it right? Am I able to talk to people about my relationship with God? Am I able? Am I able? You know what? You're not. Okay? You're not.
[00:31:21] You just need to be willing. You just need to be willing.
[00:31:25] Just be willing to do it. I mean, that's pretty much all you need to do. Be willing to be available. Like, just. It's available.
[00:31:37] Like I said, to slow down. Not to see, but to notice.
[00:31:41] Just be available to change who you are, change the way you live your life, change maybe a little bit of a routine. Just need change. Just be willing to do that. See, some of us, we just don't want.
[00:31:58] We're able to do it. We're just not willing to do it. Sometimes we're not willing to do some things because some of us are called, maybe asked by God to do something. And here's what happens.
[00:32:10] Like, sometimes it's. Sometimes it's finances. Sometimes God says, hey, I want you to be generous. I want you to tithe. I want you to do this. But if you're like me, I grew up poor, and I don't want to go back there. Do you know what I'm saying? So I don't want to give my money away.
[00:32:26] So in one sense, I wrote this down. I don't know if it makes sense to you, but I wrote down, like, sometimes I find, like, I'm prejudiced against my past, and because I'm prejudiced against my past because I don't want to end up that way. There's too much pain, loss, lack, always in want. I'm prejudiced against it. I don't want to go there. And because I'm prejudiced, I can't really see the privilege of, like, my present. Like, I can't really appreciate all the things I do have because all I'm doing is living a life, running away from my past.
[00:33:09] Like, I just want to go back there. And God says, hey, this might cause you a little bit of pain. This might. This. Peter, if you go back there, you're going to be that guy who gets the reputation again of being the dude who broke all the laws and went there. And Peter's like, I don't want to be that guy anymore. The whole walking on water, remember? I mean, I said a lot of things. I denied a lot of things. I'm just. I just. I just. I want to put my head down and live, be the guy petros the rock. That's it. No, I don't want to go anywhere else. I don't want to risk messing up my image, who I am, my identity, because I don't want loss and pain, and then I don't want people talking about me.
[00:33:58] Maybe your divine moment is wrapped up in that, for you to just say, hey, God, I need to do this, or God saying, I need you to do this. I need you to do this. And divine moments can be something that doesn't make any sense. Ashley was telling me of one recently. She asked her if I could share a story. It was a pretty powerful story, and she told our staff, but story is basically, she was in Trader Joe's and she was in line, and there was a lady in front of her and a college student in front of her, and they're checking out. They're all checking through, checking out, and the college student starts talking about, you know, just life in college and all that. I can't wait to be graduated. I can't wait to grow up and all that. And really right after that says, oh, man, you don't want to do that. Once you get older, you cannot go back. Yada, yada, yada. So she's talking, saying those things, and the college lady leaves, and then the lady right in front of Ashley, who's talking about how, you know, life just goes by so fast and his life sometimes is so hard. She's talking to the cashier a little bit, just sharing, just saying the same stuff, you know? And she's like, man, sometimes I just wish she told this cashier and Ashley heard it. Sometimes I wish I just want to crawl back in my mother's womb.
[00:35:14] So I just want to do that. I just feel like I just, it's, life is too much. And Ashley, by the way, Ashley does not do this, okay? She does not do this. She's not touchy feely, too, people. I'll hug everybody. You know what I'm saying? I'm a hugger. She is not necessarily one. She steps up and she goes, and she makes eye contact with a lady, this black lady right in front of her, right, the one who just said that. And she says this, which I'm like, you said this. You said this. And she said, do you want a mom hug?
[00:35:48] And I know, I was like, what? And then she. The woman, she's like, yes. And then Ashley just hugged her.
[00:35:58] Just hugged her. The cashier is like, what's happening?
[00:36:04] What's happening? And then they hugged.
[00:36:08] They checked out. And the woman before left, she said, thank you. I just need that. And the cashier's like, that was amazing.
[00:36:21] Now I'm not going to go and tell people, hey, you want a mom hug? I'm not going to do that. Not going to happen.
[00:36:30] But I wonder if you and I could do this, though. I wonder if you and I could go, God, let me notice.
[00:36:39] Not see. Let me notice some people. Let me notice what you're doing. Let me hear. Let me listen to what's really happening around me. Maybe you're setting up a divine moment for me to step into, and it could be as simple as that, my friends. So can I pray for us? Can we do that this week? Let's stand together.
[00:37:06] Lord. God, I thank you so much. I thank you for moments, God, that you allow us to experience how we're part of something bigger.
[00:37:20] And, God, so often. So often, I find myself just, honestly, my faith just gets old.
[00:37:30] It gets tired.
[00:37:32] It gets weary.
[00:37:35] But God, I want my. I want a faith that matures. I want a faith that is growing, that's luscious, a faith that God, that grows up like a tree. Tree and that has branches and those branches are big enough that provide so much shade that other people can sit underneath it and get away from just.
[00:38:06] Just life.
[00:38:12] God, I want to notice. God, we want to notice.
[00:38:16] So, God, I pray for me, I pray for my friends. That God, that. Would you allow us to remember to ask our spirit or ask ourselves?
[00:38:26] God, are you setting up a divine moment?
[00:38:29] God, would you just set up a divine moment this day for me? A conversation, something, something? God, would you speak to me? And God, I pray for the person who thinks that you just don't speak to them because they are not worthy.
[00:38:49] That we know from Cornelius, the person who was othered, a person who was not considered having any relationship with God or Jesus, someone who lived a pagan life, heard from you.
[00:39:06] And there are stories and stories of that guy.
[00:39:10] God, your spirit is not prejudiced against our past nor our present.
[00:39:20] God, he wants to speak to us. So, God, I pray that we would have the confidence to know, God, you are speaking to us and you're setting up moments that we need to step into. God, I pray. I pray even on this weekend, this holiday weekend, God, we would notice and step into it in Jesus name.
[00:39:47] Amen.
[00:39:50] Thanks for listening to this message from Mosaic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more audio and video content, visit us at Mosaicchurch TV.
