Replay | Don't Quarantine From God with Chris Schlotterbeck

Welcome to Hub City Vineyard.

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change me to 970-00.

Thank you and enjoy the message.

Hey good morning Hub City and welcome to Digital Hub City Vineyard for our first ever live

stream only Sunday morning gathering.

We're so glad that you're here, that you're joining us and that you're watching us online.

Now I know for all of us this past week has kind of turned our lives upside down if you

will.

This is Rhett shared, we're living in unprecedented times, times that we have never seen or experienced

before.

I was listening to a podcast on Friday actually and Ed Stetzer was just referring to the simple

truth that we thought 9-11 was big for many of us and it changed our lives and our understanding

of the world.

This is going to just make 9-11 just seem small in terms of our understanding and our

world view that is coming towards us.

So I want to encourage you that we've been praying for you all week.

We have been trying to reach out and to connect with you and to encourage you in any way possible.

Now also in that podcast Ed Stetzer shared that in times like these, in times of fear

and doubt and negativity and sickness and disease, the church or Christians have always

been known to run towards the fire.

Now hear me out, I'm not telling any of you nor am I asking our staff or our community

of faith to be irresponsible when it comes to the coronavirus and the sickness that's

spreading around the world and within our country, but I am saying that as a community

of faith and as people in our relationship with Jesus, we are called to be a light to

the world.

And that means we need to be smart in terms of our keeping social distancing, making sure

that we're being sanitary, but that doesn't mean we can't visit our neighbors.

We can't knock on a door, we can't send a text or make a phone call to check in on people

that we know could be vulnerable or could be living in fear or could be questioning

why this is all happening.

And it's a great opportunity for us to be the church, to be the hands and feet of Jesus

and to really reach out and connect with our community and make a difference.

Now for those of you that are part of our community of faith, we are doing the best

we can to stay connected with you.

For example, on Mondays and Fridays, Steve Wilcox is setting up digital Zoom hangouts

for all of our teenagers at 7 p.m. every night on Monday and Friday so that they can connect

together, have a lesson, pray together and worship together.

This coming Wednesday here at our building in our parking lot from 5 to 7, we're going

to have drive-through prayer.

That's right, hop in your car, head on out to the vineyard.

That doesn't mean you're going to get out or go in the building, but you can drive through

our parking lot.

We will have people set up to greet you, to hear your prayer requests and to pray for

any needs that you or your friends or your family may have.

So again, I want to encourage you, if you're looking to get out, that's a great way to

get out and let others know if they need prayer or they want to connect in, that they're invited

to come and be a part of that on Wednesday nights.

And not only that, but we're going to really just take our social media to a new level.

We're going to create different Facebook Live Hangouts during the day, in the evenings.

We're going to encourage our groups to remain connected in our Zoom chat rooms.

And the most important thing through this is we need to know if you have a need.

We need to remain connected with one another through phone, through text, through email,

so that if something arises, if you need something in your life, that we want to be there for

you.

We want to be the church.

As far as the community, what are we doing in the community?

We're connecting with different community leaders, accessing needs that are in our community

and seeing where we can plug in and make a difference.

We are going to encourage and support all of the healthcare workers that are in our

church and that are working 24-7, literally, in the hospitals.

We're going to be blessing them and sending them encouraging letters and words.

And it's just different ways that we can really plug into our community.

And if there are needs, we're going to put them out there so that if you feel you can

volunteer or you want to serve, jump on board and be a part of what God is doing.

So moving forward here, you know, I was really praying about how to continue this talk this

morning, and I really felt prompted by God to complete our Live Like Jesus series.

And it's one of those things where when you're in a crisis like this, you want to suddenly

just speak right to the crisis, but then I began to think, what better way to make a

difference in our community than to simply live like Jesus?

So we're going to conclude that series this morning with a simple talk called Jesus in

Me, and we're going to look at how God is actually alive in each and every one of us.

And I just want to open in prayer this morning and invite the Holy Spirit to overwhelm you

in love.

And invite your presence and your peace into each and every living room, God.

God, we just thank you for each and every person that is joining us, that may still

be sitting in their PJs, God, and just experiencing church in a different way.

We just ask, God, that you would unite us, that you would bring us together, that we

are watching online.

We know without a doubt that you are in our midst.

So God, I just ask that these words be your words, not mine, and that you would change

our lives in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So for the last four weeks, we've been in this series, Live Like Jesus, and it's been

a great journey so far.

Three weeks ago, I kicked this series off with just a simple talk on the gospel, the three

in one gospel, and how we look at creation and what Jesus did and now what that means

for us.

Two weeks ago, John had a challenging talk on dead to sin and alive to God, and last

week I continued this series with a talk on renewing the mind.

And just like I said earlier, today I just want to speak to Jesus in me.

You know, God is alive in you.

And when you hear those words quite often, many of us question, well, what does that

mean?

And it's almost as if we separate those simple truths and we kind of put, yeah, I know that

God is in me, but we kind of put it up there on a shelf somewhere and we don't really apply

it to our heart or our spirit because we don't really understand the power behind that truth,

which leads us very simply to our first thought this morning.

And our first thought is this.

Let me get to it there.

Jesus' followers are alive to God.

Now in the book of Romans, chapter six, we read the first thing that Paul really asks

us to do in the book of Romans.

The first five full chapters, he is telling us about Jesus and the history and what Jesus'

death and his resurrection meant.

And suddenly in chapter six, verse 11, he says these words.

So you should also consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God

through Christ Jesus.

Now almost everything that we've talked to in the past three weeks up to this point has

been focusing on that truth, dead to sin, that we have a new identity, that we're a

new creation, that we are dead to sin.

But now suddenly Paul takes it a step further and he challenges us and he says, no, don't

just focus on those things, but embrace the reality that you're alive to God.

Now, some of you are sitting there in your couches looking at him and saying, well, Chris,

what does that mean?

Well, Paul writes these words in Ephesians chapter two, verses one through five.

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins, but because of his great

love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we are dead

in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.

Now when it says dead, dead is defined as no longer living, complete or absolute.

And Paul is saying when a person is not in a relationship with Jesus, they're dead.

They are not living with meaning, they're not living with purpose, they're not living

their true identity.

But once a relationship with Jesus begins, then suddenly life begins and we truly are

alive.

Now last Tuesday, many of you know was St. Patrick's Day.

And when we think of St. Patrick's Day, quite often our mind goes to shamrocks and leprechauns.

And for some of you, you think green beer and it almost has become this drunken festival

to remember the Irish, when in reality, the opposite is true.

This whole holiday was created around this man named Patrick.

And I just want to share a little bit of his story with you.

Patrick was born in late 300 AD in Britain to a Christian family and he grew up in a

very positive home environment.

But however, when he was a teenager, he was kidnapped and he was sold into slavery and

he was sold to a Jewish, not a Jewish, excuse me, an Irish, I can't think of the name, an

Irish Druid, who at that time was a religious person.

And basically he became a sheep herder throughout his teenage years for six years.

He was a sheep herder.

And as he was living this life of slavery, he was able to, after six years, sneak away

and hop on a ship.

And he literally was hiding on a ship that began a journey to his freedom where he was

eventually reunited with his family back in Britain.

Now as time passed, he had a passion and a desire to want to pursue becoming a priest

and he actually went to school and began to learn about the Bible and was trained in what

it meant to follow Jesus.

And one evening while he was in school, he had this dream.

And in this dream, there was literally this man that handed him a piece of paper and on

this piece of paper was written a letter from the Irish people and the Irish people were

pleading to Patrick to return to the land that he was a slave so that he could introduce

Jesus to them.

And Patrick was so overwhelmed with the dream that he literally dropped out of school and

then set a course within his life to move back to the land where he was at one time

a slave in captivity and he began to introduce them to Jesus.

And just like I said earlier, it's a holiday because Patrick single-handedly introduced

an entire country to Jesus, transformed an entire people group.

And when we just sit there and think about the power of that, many of us sit there and

think, well, I could never do that.

And how could a person do that?

Well, this is how.

Because he was close to Jesus and he was so close to Jesus that the Jesus within him began

to use him to perform many signs and wonders.

In fact, it is written about him.

Listen to this testimony about his life.

For the blind and the lame, the deaf and the dumb, the lunatic, the leprous, the epileptic,

all who labored under any disease, did he in the name of the Holy Trinity restore unto

the power of their limbs and unto entire health?

And in these good deeds was he daily practiced.

Now think about that for a second.

We read about all these healings there and every day he was doing that.

Thirty and three dead men, some of whom had been many years buried, did this great reviver

raise from the dead as above we have more fully recorded.

Now think about that for a second.

I pray for people all the time and believe in healings and miracles, but this man was

praying for people that had been dead for years.

Now when I think about people that had been dead for years, I think about skeletons and

bones and this man, Patrick, was praying for them to come back to life.

And you see, this man lived a life of prayer.

It was said about his life that he would pray the 150 Psalms every day and that he would

walk from village to village, town to town praying.

And as he was walking and praying, he would stop and heal someone and then just continue

on and continue praying.

And you say, well, Chris, why did he pray so much?

Because he had to.

The country that he was sharing Jesus with was full of witches and druids and warlocks

and it was darkness and they were praying against him and he was the light.

So he was forced to be a man of constant prayer.

And one of his prayers that he would travel from village to village in and be praying

is actually recorded and is called St. Patrick's Breastplate and listen to a few of the words.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left.

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who

thinks of me.

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me.

Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.

See, you see, it's just a powerful testimony that Patrick believed and had the identity

that Jesus was alive in him.

And God desires that we live in that same truth in our own lives, which moves us to

our next thought.

You see, Jesus unites humanity and divinity.

Now, I literally want you to picture a uniting, a coming together, meaning that we are alive

to a relationship with God.

Now, the identity story, what I'm referring to, how we see ourselves in view of God loving

on us, is just completely intertwined with how we have a relationship with God.

If we don't understand how much God loves us, that we are a part of his family, that

we have a new identity, then we may be in a relationship with God, but it's not going

to be what God desires.

See, it is possible to be in a relationship with God and not understand our true identity.

A person that is living this way would kind of sound like this when they pray, God, I

thank you for putting up with me.

God, I thank you that you are good and amazing and that you're all powerful, and I know I'm

a disappointment and I let you down, but will you hear me?

Do you hear those words?

It's almost this negative impression of self rather than trusting in who we are in our

relationship with God.

And there's a disconnect between the identity and the relationship.

But here's the challenge.

Here's the challenge that we have to understand.

Have you ever been in a relationship with a person that just simply doesn't like you?

And if you have, if you've been in a relationship with a person that doesn't like you, what's

that like?

You know, a person that's just kind of putting up with you and going through the motions

and doesn't really love you or extend grace to you and mercy to you, it's not a good thing.

And for a lot of people that are relationship with God, that's how they view God.

They view God as this overbearing father, if you will, that's just waiting for us to

mess up because we have this inward thinking in our heart that we're no good and that we're

a disappointment.

Again, it's not God's best.

God desires that we live transformed lives.

In Galatians 2.20, he says this, my old self has been crucified with Christ.

Paul is challenging us that it's no longer you.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself

for me.

So when we're in a relationship with Jesus, Paul writes, he is living inside of us.

So simply stated, if Jesus is living inside of us, do you believe that God loves his son?

Of course he does.

Of course God loves Jesus and how Jesus walked out and followed and took the actions to restore

the relationship.

God loves his son and Jesus shares this story of the prodigal son in Luke 15.20.

So he returned home to his father and while he was still a long way off, his father saw

him coming filled with love and compassion.

He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

See that is our new identity.

See our new identity is being welcomed into God's family and when we understand that identity,

that transforms the way we live.

That transforms our ability to be able to see ourselves as a person that's in relationship

with Jesus, but it goes a step further.

He is alive inside of us and suddenly our prayers change.

Our communication with God changes.

God thank you for making me a special son or a special daughter that you love.

And it's not anything that I have to do.

It's not actions that I have to take.

You just love me as I am.

And why?

Because I was created in his image.

Think about it.

A few weeks ago I discussed how we were created in God's image and when God created us, he

said what?

It is good.

And see when we are in that relationship with Jesus, with God living inside of us, you know

what he says to you?

He says it is good.

You are good.

You are special.

You are loved.

I have joy connecting with you and being with you.

I want and long to be with you.

And see when Jesus died on the cross, our sins were paid for once and it's over.

We don't have to continually beat ourselves up over mistakes and choices that we've made.

Whether in the past or in the future, we make them.

It's simply about seeking forgiveness and then walking away from it and continuing to

be the son or the daughter that God created us to be because you are good.

This is what God is speaking over us this morning.

That he loves you.

That he desires to connect with you.

That Jesus' actions brought together, think about it, divinity and humanity.

Have you ever been invited to go out for coffee or lunch with someone and immediately when

you sit down or you are ordering coffee, they look at you and say, I got this one.

I want to take care of this one.

I'll pay for it.

And if you are anything like me, sometimes I sit down to the table and I begin to look

at the menu and I find something that I like or I want to order a coffee that I really,

really want and that I like but it's so expensive, I feel guilty wanting to order it.

Have you ever been that way?

I know I feel that way quite often and it's that guilt in thinking that, oh, it's just

too expensive.

I don't want to put a burden on them.

But think about it.

That person said, I got it.

We are robbing that person of generosity.

We are robbing that person of their ability to want to be generous to us.

Have you ever thought that if we live with the wrong identity that we're actually robbing

God of the opportunity to be generous with us?

After all, Jesus did say, ask for anything.

If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it.

But so often, when our identity isn't as it should be as a son or a daughter that's loved

that he desires to be with, that we're full of joy, we're not going to ask God to do miraculous

things and to be generous.

We're going to think that we just got to go to him seeking forgiveness rather than praying

for healings and miracles and signs and wonders.

But see, that's what God desires.

He desires that we're overwhelmed with his love for us and that we are so in love with

him that we ask for things that seem impossible but are possible, which moves us to our next

thought.

Jesus followers are alive because God lives in them.

So think about it, we're alive to relationship and we're alive to the reality that God lives

in us.

Jesus, by his actions on the cross, destroyed everything in us that was blocking God from

coming in.

I mean, think about it.

He now calls us the temple of the Holy Spirit, meaning he lives inside of us.

In 1 Corinthians 6, 17, Paul writes these words, but the person who is joined to the

Lord is one spirit with him.

And see, so often when it comes to God, we have this understanding that I have a spirit

and there's the Holy Spirit and they're two separate entities.

Well, there's me, the spirit that's in me, and then there's the Holy Spirit.

And sometimes even when I pray, come Holy Spirit, that's almost the wrong prayer because

the Holy Spirit's already in there.

When we say come Holy Spirit, we mean come amongst us, be amongst us so we can sense

his presence.

We have to come inside of us because he's already there and that's what Paul is trying

to tell us.

Paul is actually referencing marriage.

And when he says there, who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

He's representing the relationship between husband and wife and that when they come together,

the two will become one.

And in that joining, they will not be separated.

Paul is writing, that's the same relationship that we have with God.

That his spirit living inside of us is two becoming one and that suddenly we're partnered

together to what make a difference in the world.

And we remain connected to God through faith.

God moves inside of us and Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, do you not realize

that Jesus is in you?

I mean, he's challenging us that no longer is humanity and God like oil and water.

Think about oil and water.

See, people that work on cars, it's like oil and water when you pour them together, they

completely separate.

There's no joining.

And a lot of people believe that that's God and man, but that's not what Paul is saying.

He's challenging us with a simple question.

Don't you know that Jesus is in you?

And not only is he in you, but he wants to use you and partner with you to change the

world.

Friends, we're living in a crisis.

And there's no greater time than now that we don't recognize and realize that Jesus

is living inside of us so that we can partner with him to make a difference to our neighbors,

our friends, our community.

Again, being wise, not running into the fire using, you know, being unsanitary and being

too close to people, but being wise in how we pray for people and share with people who

Jesus is and what he's done in our lives and giving people hope in the midst of fear.

We have all that ability because we're joined with God and he is living inside of us.

Kind of like, think about it this way, kind of like my kids wanting to help on house projects.

I have a lot of kids, as you know, and recently we remodeled the first floor of our house

and the remodel happened and Jess said, oh, we'll save money.

We'll paint the whole first floor.

We got it covered.

We got plenty of people, you know, and immediately I looked at her and thought, how am I going

to paint the whole first floor?

Oh, we're all going to do it.

And when she said we're all going to do it, you know what that means?

That means all the kids too.

And being a perfectionist, when you have young kids getting ready to paint the first floor,

you're thinking this is never going to work.

Of course, I took care of all the ceilings.

They took care of the walls and I'm watching them roll the walls and I'm thinking that

is so wrong.

That's not right.

I'm going to have to go back and repaint it.

All this is a waste of time.

Why didn't I just do it all myself?

Now, I know you never thought that way about your kids when they ask you to want to help

with things.

And I know you never thought that way.

But what if I said this?

Did you see my thinking and my kids, oh, they're doing it wrong.

I'm going to have to go back.

A lot of times that's how we think about God.

You know, it's almost like God is up there.

He's all powerful.

He's all knowing and he's so busy doing all of his God stuff.

And how is he ever going to worry about me or take care?

No, that's the wrong thinking.

We when we are partnered together with God, literally become God to people.

We become God for people.

We have his spirit living inside of us to give away to others.

We take on a whole new identity.

Now the early church was much more in touch with this reality than many of us are now.

And I just want you to listen to some of the theologians from the early church.

Now these men that I'm going to read about, they would be considered the hall of fame

of Christianity.

Clement of Alexandria, who lived from 150 to 215 AD, wrote this.

He who obeys the Lord and follows the prophecy given through him becomes a God, lowercase

G, while still moving about in the flesh.

Now what I want you to hear, well Chris, does that mean I'm not like a God, like we're going

to become God?

But no, we represent God, lowercase G. Athanasius, 296 to 373 AD, this is the theologian that

literally wrote about, excuse me, the doctrine of the Trinity.

He wrote, the word was made flesh in order that we might be made gods, lowercase G. Just

as the Lord became a man, so also we are deified through his flesh and inherit everlasting

life.

Augustine, 354 to 430 AD wrote this, to make human beings gods, he who was God was made

man.

And you say to me, well Chris, that seems like a whole new idea.

It's what the Bible says to us.

Think about it.

We become alive to God.

Jesus is living inside of us.

First Corinthians 3, 4, think about this.

When one says, I follow Paul, and another says, I follow Apollos, aren't you merely

being human beings?

See, Paul was addressing the church, it was split in the different factions of which teacher

they should follow, and Paul said, why are you acting like human beings?

And that's what I say to you this morning.

Why are we acting like human beings?

We have God inside of us.

And Paul is challenging us to live this way each and every day.

For example, I was reflecting on the simple truth of, I've had this new found joy of running

on the towpath, which I share about regularly.

Many of you know I like to get out and run several days a week.

And I'll be honest with you, two, three years ago, if I would have said those words, I wouldn't

have thought it was me.

I hated running, despised running, didn't even want to get close to it.

Now I love the gym, but I didn't want to get out and run.

But now I go run three, four, five, six, ten miles, and I so enjoy it.

What if those of you that like to run, those of you that like to fish, or be outside, or

hike, or whatever it may be, it doesn't be that you have to be in the run for God group,

what if we began to develop an understanding that we like to be out so much because God

sees his creation through our eyes?

What if suddenly this joy that we have to be outside and to be free, to see animals,

to be birds, to be running, to be in nature, what if there's so much joy in that that we

want to be out there doing those things because God sees his creation through our eyes?

That's a whole new revelation that suddenly not only can we adopt, but we can live and

take everywhere we go.

That Jesus is alive in us.

And think about it, Paul says, consider yourselves dead to sin.

He's saying, in your mind, consider yourselves dead to sin, meaning where you set your attention

is what you're going to believe.

So where we set our attention, if we focus that we're dead to sin and that we're alive

to God, that Jesus is living inside of us, suddenly that reality, that truth becomes

real to you and I.

That God is alive inside of you and suddenly that mission from God changes.

And when I talk about this crisis and it's spreading and we need to be wise, yes, it's

true, we need to be wise, but we also need to be making a difference because people need

to hear about the hope of Jesus and the relationship with him that is available to everyone.

And see when we are pursuing a relationship with him and allowing him to use us and not

only use us, but be the hands and feet of Jesus with others and making a difference

in other people's lives, people see God in us.

And that's what the early church fathers were talking about when they say we become gods.

Not that we are a god, but that they see God in us and they want a part of what we have.

I want to challenge you this week to just do something different.

I know we are all doing church differently, we are in our living rooms, we are separated,

we are not gathering, but I want to challenge you to do something this week.

Every morning that you get yourself ready, every morning that you prepare to go out and

go into the world, it doesn't matter what your routine is, do your same routine.

But before you walk away from that mirror, I want you to stare into your bathroom mirror

and I want you to look for God in you.

I want you to look deep into that mirror and begin to look on and reflect on where is God

in me.

Because I believe that if we begin to do that every day, we will begin to cultivate that

simple truth that he is alive in us and then suddenly that changes our outlook on mission.

That we want to serve our neighbors, that we want to call and encourage people, that

we want to do our best to reach out and give hope to others because he is alive inside

of us, but notice what I said, it is from the inside out.

We have to find God living inside of us so that we ultimately can go out and be the people,

be the church, be the hands and feet of Jesus for others.

So living from the inside out, four simple steps I want to give you this morning.

Living from the inside out and the first is this, we simply have to live by faith.

Romans 1, 16-17 we read these words.

For I am not ashamed of this good news about Christ.

It is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes.

The Jew first and also the Gentile.

This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight.

This is accomplished from start to finish as scriptures say it is through faith that

a righteous person has life.

In other words, dependence on God, faith becomes a natural part of our everyday lives.

See, many of us turn to God when there is a need, when there is a crisis, when there

is fear, when there is doubt, that is when we turn to God.

But see, faith, when we talk about live by faith, Paul is challenging us in those words

that it is not turning to God in crisis, it is turning to God every day and allowing his

spirit to come alive inside of us.

And it is recognizing that he is alive inside of us so that we can go and live our lives

every day.

Not going to him when there is a big need, but going to him every day in the good, the

bad, the ups, the downs, celebrating, having joy as we live by faith.

Next we live with confidence.

Now I am no way talking about arrogance.

Because you know Jesus challenges us to be humble, the first shall be last.

I am in no way talking about arrogance.

There's a big difference between arrogance and confidence.

Hebrews 11, 1, we read these words.

Faith shows the reality of what we hope for is the evidence of things we cannot see.

And when this verse says the reality of what we hope for, it's the effect, the result of

faith that brings about confidence.

The reality of what we hope for, that there's a new heaven, that we're going to spend eternity

with God, that the kingdom of God has come to earth, living inside of us, that is confidence.

And that is hope.

Now when it says the evidence of things we cannot see, that's not confidence, that's

perception.

When the confidence of faith that the kingdom of God is here, and that reality of God living

inside of us becomes real to us, becomes reality in our hearts, then our perceptions change

when presented with difficulties.

Look at Hebrews 11, 7.

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood.

Now listen, he obeyed God who warned him about things that had never happened before.

Sound familiar?

The coronavirus has never happened before.

It's new.

Hebrews 11, 13, all these people died still believing what God had promised them.

They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it from a distance and welcomed it.

You see that confidence.

You see these heroes of the faith that we're reading about in Hebrews, it was all about

their confidence in knowing what God was calling them to do.

Hebrews 11, 27, it was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king's

anger, he kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.

See that's the assurance, that's the heart assurance that brings about confidence in

our ability to walk out our relationship with Jesus, which moves us to our next step.

You got to live in truth.

Second Peter 1, verses 3 through 4 says, by his divine power, God has given us everything

2 Peter 1:3–4

we need for living a godly life.

We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself

by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.

These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's

corruption caused by human desires.

What Peter is saying to us is everything we need has been given to us through our growing

relationship with God.

As our relationship with him grows, we take on God's very nature and we get to experience

all the new joy and passion and excitement that it means to be alive in God.

And it's not the human nature, right?

It's the godly nature living inside of us.

We have to believe that truth because when we believe about the godly nature living inside

of us, what comes out are godly attributes, which is what we want the world to see.

That's the divinity that people see coming out of us that they then want to connect with.

And finally, we have to live in a new reality.

And you say, well, Chris, what is this new reality?

Listen to Romans 8, 38 to 39, and I am convinced that nothing can separate us from God's love.

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons nor fears for today nor worries about

tomorrow, not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

No power in the sky above or in the earth below.

Indeed, nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is

revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So think about that.

The love of God is revealed in Jesus, right?

His death on the cross, he took on all of our past mistakes, our choices, our future

sins so that we can what? be connected with God.

He turned everything that blocked God from living inside of us.

He took it all in himself so that we can be connected to God.

So that means that nothing cuts us off from God's love, that you are loved, that God is

living inside of you, and he desires to continue to draw close to you.

Now don't get me wrong, we may let ourselves get distracted.

We may struggle to stay connected with God at different times, but nothing is going to

separate you from God's love.

So whatever situation we're facing, and we're all in this together, we're all facing having

to not connect with other people and social distancing and living online for six to eight

weeks.

Friends, we're preparing for six to eight weeks of this so that we can respect those

in authority over us, so that we can be healthy, so that we can look for opportunities to serve

you and serve our community.

And it's just a new reality, but does that steal our joy?

No, because God is living inside of us.

That's the different struggles, that's the different temptations, that's the pitfalls

that happen in life, but we don't have to allow those things to pull us away from God.

We don't have to live with fear or doubt or negativity.

No, we can live with hope and joy and peace in the midst of all those things because God

is alive inside of us.

So God prompted me to close with communion this week.

And I was really praying about it.

I was like, God, why are you, we're not together, how are we going to be able to break bread?

And he challenged me.

He said, there's no greater way to recognize that God is alive inside of us than by sharing

communion together.

I mean, listen to what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 to 25.

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself.

On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God

for it.

He broke it in pieces and said, this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant

between God and his people and agreement confirmed by his blood.

Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.

Now friends, we practice communion at HCV corporately together once a month.

You know, when we gather every first Sunday of the month, we share in communion together.

But you can practice it more regularly.

You can practice it every Sunday.

You can practice it every day of the week.

In fact, God prompted me when I was studying on communion a little bit and the connection

that it means to us that I can take communion every day with my family and that I should

every morning as we start the day.

You say, well Chris, why would I do that?

Think about it.

I have my elements here.

If you have your elements, you can grab them.

Jesus starts by talking about eating bread.

He talks about the bread representing his actions, his broken body, the actions that

he took in order for what?

His actions means that God comes alive inside of us.

Now think about it for a second.

This is important because this whole separation thing, this whole separation with God began

with what?

Eating.

Right?

The eating of the apple.

And Jesus is redeeming that.

He's saying, no, by the eating of this bread representing my body, suddenly you come into

relationship.

He was renewing it.

And the cup of wine, he says, this wine is my shed blood which is shed for you and for

many for the sins of the world.

And you have to realize that in Jesus' time, wine was drank regularly because water just

was unclean.

So they would actually practice communion, the drinking of the wine daily.

And again, what does that wine represent?

It represents the covenant, the partnering, the coming together of divinity and humanity

so that the two become one and ultimately we can transform the world.

And just powerful.

So just as Paul shared, if you have your elements, if each of you could take your bread on the

night he was betrayed.

He just took bread and broke it.

And he said, this is my body which is broken for you.

Take it and do it in remembrance of me.

Likewise, after supper, Jesus took wine and he said, this is my blood which is shed for

you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Drink it often, friends.

And do it in remembrance of me.

So let's pray together.

Jesus.

We just thank you for truth.

We just thank you, God, for the reality of you living inside of us.

God my prayer is that this new reality that daily we can look in that mirror and look

for God living inside of us.

Transform our hearts and our minds to a new understanding, God.

That it's not some impossible task that we have to do or that God calls us to the impossible.

He wants us to the impossible because it's possible with Him living inside of us.

So God, just as we learned about Patrick changing the entire country, God, may we do the same.

May we be a people, God, that become active in our communities with those that are living

in fear and doubt and negativity.

May we bring hope and light to the world, God.

And God, not in our own strength, not being overwhelmed with negativity, but being hopeful

that you're alive inside of us.

And that by you living inside of us, you desire we go and bring about change in Jesus name.

And we all said, amen, amen.

Hey, hey.

Hey, how are you?

Miss Jessica?

I'm great.

What is this?

I just wanted to tell you how much I love you.

Oh, thank you.

I love you so much, and these flowers are like from spring, and God loves us so much

to be with spring people.

And you also, you can share toilet paper.

He gave us toilet paper.

I love Patrick so much, and I love all of you guys so much.

And I wanted to tell you before we left this morning how much we love you and how important

you are.

And just like these flowers, they're so precious, and each and every one of you are so precious

to us.

You are so precious to our hearts.

And when I read the Bible, I read that God is love.

God is love.

And just like Pastor Chris said today, when God is living inside of us, we can share his

love with each other.

And I want to let all the boys and girls know at home and all the parents know how much

we love them and how much God loves them.

And parents, you can do it.

You have Jesus living inside of you.

So no matter if the schedule's changed, if your kids are changed, you have the confident

hope that Jesus is living inside of you, and you have what it takes to pastor your kids.

You have what it takes to be an example of God to them.

You have what it takes to just love on your neighbors and love on your family.

So kids, love your parents.

Parents, love your kids.

And we just want you to know that we're here for you.

We have got a Facebook page.

We've got our HCV Kids Facebook page.

Parents, please join in.

We've got plenty of resources and information.

If you need us, the office is open.

The office hours are open, just call, leave a message.

We'd love to pray for you because we love people.

We love God, and we're embracing God in this time, and we're going to embrace you no matter

how small your need is or how big it is.

Just let us know, okay?

And right after this message, right after we get off of online here, I've got the kids,

all your messages, all your Sunday services, everything's going to come up online.

You can watch the videos at home with your family.

And families, just share Jesus' love together.

This week, my kids and I, we kind of took a little mini vacation.

I decided not to home school.

I am a teacher, but I was saying, hey, let's just have a little vacation.

But what we did every day is we had a devotional with God, and we prayed for each other.

Monday was Nolan's day, and we prayed for him.

Tuesday was Zoe's day, and we prayed for her.

Wednesday's day was Lily's day, and we prayed for her.

Thursday was Trinity's day, and we prayed for her.

And Friday was Mr. Chris's day, and we prayed for him.

And what we did is we prayed encouraging words for one another.

And so I pray that for you that you would encourage each other as a family.

You would see the good in each other.

There's good in every single person because you're all part of the family of God.

So just have a great week.

We love you.

We look forward to hanging out with you online.

And please, let us know anything we can do to help.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Hey, and if you have extra toilet paper, put some flowers in it and go visit your neighbors.

That's right.

God bless.

Mm.

Let's go.

There's no impossible.

Oh, I believe that you are working now.

Pour it out.

Oh, pour it out.