ON FIRE! The Holy Spirit in Each Person: A Sunday Conversation with Pastor Ross Stackhouse

Welcome to Heaven Earth Church.

My name is Ross Stackhouse.

I'm the founding pastor of Heaven Earth Church.

From the beginning, our heart was to be a church for people who

don't fit neatly into church.

Our heart is to meet people where they are, to learn their stories,

to honor their stories.

Because in every human story is God's story.

In this podcast, you'll hear more about the people who now call

Heaven Earth Church home.

There are stories in many cases of misfits who are discovering

or rediscovering faith.

If you want to know more about.

Us, you can go to heavenorthchurch.org Otherwise, we

invite you now into the story.

Hello, good people.

Brad Miller here, the producer of the Heaven Earth Church podcast.

One of the main benefits of being a part of the Heaven Earth

Church community is our Sunday morning conversations taught by founding

pastor Ross Stackhouse.

You can watch and participate in the Sunday morning conversation

this Sunday morning, 9:30am Eastern time at YouTube.com heavenerthchurch.

The audio version of the Sunday morning conversation is available

here on the podcast, which you can find at Apple Podcasts, Spotify

and on the website, which is heavenerthchurch.org here now is

Pastor Ross Stackhouse's Message on Fire, Part 2.

The Holy Spirit in each person.

God, help us to feel the power of your presence that's unlike anything

else that we may experience in this life.

Help us to experience your eternal life.

Help us to meet with you today, but not so that we go home

and forget, but so that we practice this continuous friendship

with you, living with you and abiding in you all the time in the

places where we live, work, learn, play.

I pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

I think I've asked you this before, but I'm going to do it again.

Whatever.

That's.

Hey, listen, if you come up here and speak, you get to repeat

stories, okay?

I don't have.

I don't have that much to say.

I can't figure out 52 weeks.

See, you don't have that much.

Can you think of a time in your life now?

Think we got a group here.

So you can't go five minutes on this, probably not even a minute

where there was life before it and then there was life after it.

But today I'm going to say there are two answers you may not

give.

When you got married and when you had kids.

All right, Sorry, sorry.

Because, look, we know, like you, when you have kids, everything

changes, right?

There was life before this happened and then there was life

after life before divorce.

Life after Paul.

Life before addiction.

Life after addiction.

Cara.

Life before my mom died.

Life after I'll just wait.

P.T.

h.

Life before ordination.

Life after.

Because.

And part of that was losing some friends.

After.

Online.

Wake up.

Yes.

Yes.

Life before Angela's grandfather passed away.

Life after we live with Russ for two years in his 90s.

He died on our fifth anniversary.

I see a hand over here.

Oh.

Aaron.

Life before 50.

Life after Christie.

Awesome, huh?

Life before Patty lost her son.

The life after.

And then getting.

She said it.

A new, wonderful son.

He's okay.

Yeah, I guess.

Dina.

Life before my parents passed away.

Life after.

Yeah.

Horsa.

Life before my brother went on his first deployment.

Life after.

Yeah.

Angie.

Life before this church.

Life after.

I'll second that.

This weirdo church that we have.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

I'd be interested here sometime.

How do you describe this church to your friends?

If you do.

When you do, it's hard.

I even find it hard of.

It's normal.

We're not doing anything different.

Sunday morning.

We're getting together here.

It's chill.

Right on, man.

Yeah, I think so.

It's different from my last church.

It is.

It is.

Yes.

You were there.

Anybody else?

Go for it.

Life before cancer.

Life after cancer.

So you notice with a lot of these that for a lot of us, there

was kind of a bridge that we walked that we passed that we didn't

want to.

Right.

And then there was the land on which we stood.

And then we had to cross that bridge and come over to another land

that we did not want to inhabit.

And yet we.

We do now.

Right?

Part of our existence in this world.

News.

Breaking news.

This world is not as it should be.

It's full of death and suffering and evil.

Did you know?

No.

We get reminded of that all day long every day.

It's a hard place to live.

Hard place to live.

So for a lot of us, there's.

There's life before in life after our loss and our grief.

Right?

That's part of the reality of being human here.

And yet when you share that, that's what amplifies or makes the

good news of Jesus hopefully brighter than ever.

Because the entire story of Christianity is how God became flesh,

left God's land, to come and be a part of our land and to start

something incredibly and wonderfully new.

First and foremost, to be flesh with us in the loss, to lament

with us.

Lament's a fancy word that means to express sorrow, to express

sorrow with us in this land.

He says on the cross.

My God, my God, where in the hell are you?

He says that with us, he gets in this land with us.

But then did you know he has risen.

Come on, churchy folk.

Where are my traditional church going people?

Some of the, some of the non church, they're like, what is happening

right now?

You're fine, don't worry about it.

It's an old school thing.

When I say he is risen, you say he is risen.

Indeed, he is risen.

Every Sunday is Easter.

That's why the very first followers of Jesus started getting

together on Sunday mornings on the first day of the week.

For them, Sunday is the first day of the week in Jesus world.

Friday night to Saturday night is the Sabbath.

Sunday morning is the first day of the week.

So they got together on the first day of the week to start their

week with the memory and the celebration that no matter how hard

this life is, somebody, somebody crossed a bridge to come

to this land, to go before us, to deal with the darkness and to

be risen in it, to go ahead.

So every Sunday they got together to remember and to celebrate

and to try to catch the fire that he said, you're gonna get, you're

gonna get it because remember for them.

What I want to tell you is that we have enough hard news in

our life, Right?

It's like every day right now.

It's always actually been that way, honestly.

But every day is an occurrence where I stay engaged, folks.

I get on various news sources, I sample them, and then I throw them

in a skillet and cook it around for a minute.

And then I come out with something like, this is probably

somewhere the truth in between here.

Right?

Well, then there's that.

We have a new tradition in our house.

Angela comes in the room and tells me something bad that has happened.

Yeah.

And so, like we have enough hard news at like every day, but

we also have this transcendent good news.

That's what we're trying to grab a hold of together here.

Let, let it take over our lives and bear witness to it even

as it's still hard out here.

Right?

So that's what we see in the life of the first followers.

That's why we're in a series called On Fire.

The Holy Spirit in each person.

It's actually wonderful that Paul gave me this shirt today because

it's a perfect.

The dandelion bulbartell.

If you're out there, bud, it's the perfect image of the Jesus movement.

Remember when we talked about it recently, somewhere along the

line, somebody decided that we had to Declare war against the dandelions.

Because they show up in our yard and, like, take over.

And every year, like, we're spraying the heck out of them, just

pumping chemicals into the dirt.

Get out of here, dandelion.

And then we're like.

We experience the goodness of it for a while.

Then the next spring comes, and we're chilling and we're looking

out, we're resting, and then we look over, and there one of them

is, right there.

And then that stupid little resurrection flower, as Lowell calls,

has the boldness to look beautiful for a minute and then turn

to seed to make more dandelions.

That was the Jesus movement in the first century.

A bunch of little annoying, beautiful dandelions.

They tried so hard to wipe out the dandelions.

It didn't work.

Because for these first followers, there was life before

they experienced the Good News, and then there was life after.

And for the record, I want to show you it took him a long time

to not just experience it, but digest it.

Remember what we've talked about.

We talked about it so many times, you guys.

Some of you been trying to get this Jesus mystery for a long, long

time.

You've been in church for a long, long time.

Long time.

And it's still not clicking.

You're in good company.

The disciples are right next to Jesus.

For three years, they had not yet become dandelions like him.

They were trying to be something else that the world wants

you to be.

They were trying so hard to be something else.

And they were with him at the end.

Do I have it on a slide?

Christie, Acts 1:6.

Acts 1:6

Props to Christy today, because I said, I don't know which

any of these are of these scriptures we're going to use.

So first up, it's in there, I think, Christy, it may not be Acts,

chapter one, verse six, right at the end.

They've been there three years with this guy.

They're not yet on fire.

They have not yet crossed that bridge.

They're still in the life before.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's like there are two phases for them.

There's life before they met Jesus and life after they met Jesus.

So it doesn't invalidate those three years.

Just as if you're not fully on fire yet.

It doesn't invalidate all the religious experiences you had, but

it's three years later.

As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, lord,

are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel?

Now they're trying to be something else.

Are you going to storm the gates with your Military.

Have a military parade.

You can have a military parade while people are hungry and storm

the gates and win it back with military force.

Jesus said, it isn't for you to know the times or seasons that

the Father has set by his own authority.

Jesus is such a frustrating person to be around.

Frustrating.

Some of you got the reference there a minute ago, and some of you

were like, yes, grill that guy Ross.

Go get him.

Jesus is equally frustrating for the Democrat and the Republican.

His good news is beyond both of them.

Clearly.

Okay, clearly.

He says, go back to seven.

What on earth is he saying here?

You guys don't get it yet.

You haven't crossed the bridge yet.

Next verse.

Now we'll go there.

But you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

And you will be my.

And you will be my.

You'll be my little annoying, beautiful dandelions here.

That whole territory, your enemy's backyard, Samaria, and to

the end of the earth.

This dandelion invasion is going to start with you.

I'm leaving, by the way.

And it passes to you.

They had not crossed that bridge yet.

There was life before they met Jesus, life after.

But what I'm going to tell you today, there's life before they fully

received the Holy Spirit, and life after.

There's life before they became on fire.

There's life after.

There's life before they fully surrender to the wind of God and

just let that wind blow through the sails of their ship.

And there's life after they're still in life before here.

Isn't that nuts?

It's like we've had three seasons of the show, and these guys

are still idiots.

Three series, and you're waiting like they're going to breakthrough.

It's like Mad Men if you like the show, right, Heather, you're,

like, waiting for the main character, Don Draper, to have some,

like, spiritual awakening where he has some moral.

Like, all of a sudden, he becomes a more morally reputable

figure.

Spoiler alert.

He doesn't ever get there.

These.

It's three seasons in.

They're not on fire yet.

What about you?

Maybe you're like, shoot, I'm like, 40 seasons in.

I'm 45 in.

Am I on fire yet?

If you've even begun to ask that question, praise God, because

that means you're humble, hungry and willing.

And when you're humble, hungry and willing, you can the.

That's kindling, folks.

Here's the good news.

Perhaps you think I'm a horrendous artist.

That's okay.

I Am.

I am.

But I showed you last week this beautiful, terrible illustration.

If dandelions didn't do it for you.

Let's.

Let's try this one again.

Okay.

When we were made mysteriously and wonderfully.

Sorry, it stuck to the.

Oh, nope, gonna leave it there.

Let's move the microphones.

We could really be on fire today.

That would not be what we want.

Sorry, folks over there.

When we were.

Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Thanks, Melissa.

Thanks for holding me accountable.

Accountability is good in community.

Good job.

When we were made, it said that God made us.

In God's image, in every person there is this.

God, like, puts God's magnificent, dynamic image in every

single person.

It is in you.

If you're running away, if you've given up, if you want nothing

to do with God, there's a flickering flame in inside you that

God keeps burning because of God's grace.

Because of God's grace, God decides to create in the first place.

God's a sharer.

Human beings tend to be hoarders.

God is a sharer by nature.

And God says, I don't want to keep this glory to myself.

I don't want to keep this power to myself.

I want to share it.

I want to give it.

I want to collaborate.

And so what does God do?

He shares it with you.

This is in you, and there's nothing you can do about it.

You know what I'm going to say next.

But there's everything you can do about it.

I hate that phrase when people go, God loves you and there's nothing

you can do about it.

What?

God loves you and there's everything you can do about it.

This is good.

I don't care what Christianity has told you for years at your essence,

goodness.

And this is.

This is not bad.

But also you're meant to be this.

Ross, what on earth is that?

I don't know.

Hudson told me you should take these and sell them as abstract art.

I'll try donate it to the church.

Of course.

This is what we're meant to be.

Jesus comes to show us what it looks like for a human being to be

completely on fire.

A roaring fire of the glory of God.

That's why he looks like a weirdo to everybody.

But he's completely on fire.

The Holy Spirit is in him and he's like, I'm not going to be here

forever because if I don't leave, then I don't pass it fully

on to you, so I must leave.

So it passes on to you completely and utterly so that this

fire you Become not just this which is good, you become this which

is glorious.

A roaring fire that if you can see it, there's.

There's paint spilling onto the world.

That's you and me.

Well, guess what?

Three seasons in these schmucks became this.

And there was life before that and life after.

And guess what?

We're all sitting here in the legacy of life after.

We would not be here if it weren't for these 12 to 20 poor,

uneducated, low status men and women who stuck with it hung around

this on fire person named Jesus and surrendered their lives

to receive this fire into their souls.

And they let it spill out and bear witness.

Go to Acts 2, if you would, Christy.

I want to show you when they cross the bridge real quick.

And then we're going to show something from Acts 3 and then we're

done.

When Pentecost day arrived.

Pentecost, like 50 days after Easter.

Big fancy word my kids hear.

They.

What does that mean, Daddy?

I was like, I think I know, I'm not sure.

They arrived together in one place.

This is Acts chapter two.

We're.

We're three plus seasons in Marnie.

We're like fourth season here.

Okay, go ahead.

Verse two.

Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind

filled the entire house where they were sitting.

They saw what seemed to be individual flames of.

They saw what seemed to be individual flames of alighting on

each of them.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other

languages at the spirit enabled them to speak.

Don't get tripped up on that part.

Like, should we be speaking in tongues?

Ross, let's not go there today.

We'll figure that out another day.

In this case, it literally just means they were able to understand

each other in their native languages.

Pretty much.

They were all filled with the.

And began to speak in other languages.

Okay, next one.

Everybody is there.

Next verse.

They were mystified at what was going on.

Next.

They were surprised and look, aren't all the people who are speaking

those morons from Galilee?

Folks from the Galilee had a bad wreck like, bad reputation.

No, nothing.

Nobodies.

Aren't these those people?

Every one of them.

Next verse.

How can they do this?

Next.

Everybody's there.

Did I say that?

Next.

Did I tell you everybody's there?

Did I tell you everybody's there.

They were all surprised and really quick.

This is not the main point today.

I'm convinced that one of the things Christianity is suffering

from as we.

We've tried way too hard to organize it man, it's feeling baptisty

in here right now.

We've tried so hard to organize it rather than letting it

be a holy mess.

GK Chesterton talks about letting good things run wild.

Christianity is a movement of letting good things run wild.

That's my life.

There's life before I started letting the good things run wild.

And life after.

Before I was trying to organize it all.

Manicure this, resume this life that people remember.

I talked about cocktail party Cool Ross.

I was trying to build cocktail party Cool Ross.

And like, I'm still Faithful Ross.

There's life before that and there's life after.

I said, nope, done.

Done with that.

And I let the wind come through the sails of my ship and

let the good things run wild.

We need to organize this less and bless it more as holy mess.

I did not mean to sound like Dr.

Seuss there, but gardening right now at my house, some people

I have guy who coaches baseball with me.

He and his wife's garden is the most HGTV beautiful thing you've

ever seen.

And props to them for it.

I'm not calling them out for me this year.

I am just embracing a mess of gardening.

I have trees that are just grown up in my yard.

Angela's so mad about it.

I'm just letting them grow and I mow around them.

And some oak trees, walnut trees.

Yep.

Let them grow.

They just sprouted up.

And I'm going to either let them grow right where they are or

I'm going to plant them somewhere else because I want some

trees to grow unplanned.

Holy mess.

I got all these tomato plants who are coming up from last year.

So you know what I said, let's figure out another garden plot.

Put them over here.

I don't know if it's.

You're right, Heather, but they're hosta plants over here that

just grew up from the last owner of the house.

So over here in this plot, hosta plants, some like cedar tree

that's just growing up.

I don't know where it came from.

And now we got watermelon that I did put there.

Wildflowers over here.

I don't know where they came from.

Tomato plants that grew up from last year or five years ago.

Over here is a cantaloupe.

And then you got the garden plot over there on the other side

of the yard with all kinds of stuff.

I didn't map it out.

I'm just, let's plant the next thing.

Let's embrace this holy mess.

Let the good things run wild.

Christianity is like that.

We almost need to disorganize it and let the good things of the

Holy Spirit run wild in us.

Because when we do, here's what happens.

We stop becoming hoarders.

We start becoming sharers.

We start becoming the holy happy, frustrating, beautiful dandelions

we were created to be.

So you're on the golf course as a dandelion or you're on a work

call.

Dandelion.

You're with students, you're a dandelion.

People in the hospital, you're a dandelion with your clients.

The fire's gotten into you and it's spilling out.

I'll show you what it looks like.

We're almost done.

Acts, chapter three.

Is it in there, Christie?

If not, that's okay.

Luckily, this little phone of mine has a Bible on it.

Okay.

Did I tell you we're.

We're trying to disorganize this a little bit?

Okay, Listen to this.

Look at this.

Oh, there's life before.

These guys let themselves be.

Be caught on fire, which sounds like a not great thing to

do, but they embraced it.

Listen to what?

Listen.

Peter sounded so much like he's trying to control everything.

Manicure, his life, because he's so insecure and ashamed.

He's had so much grief, so much loss.

He's trying to manufacture this life as he thinks it should

be.

And so, like, when Jesus says things like, I'm gonna die and suffer,

he's like, you can't say that, man.

And then he sounds like this.

This is where I end.

Today, Peter and John were going up to the temple at three o'

clock.

This is, if you don't know.

Chapter three comes after chapter two.

So we've now crossed the bridge.

There's.

They're now on fire.

We're four seasons in Marnie.

They're on fire.

Now watch what happens.

Man, I love this story.

Peter and John were going up to the temple at 3 o' clock in the

afternoon.

The established prayer time, organized religion time.

Watch what happens in the midst of organized religion time.

So just like you when you're on the golf course or you're at school,

on a work call with students, whatever you doing, it's on fire

time.

Meanwhile, a man crippled since birth, was being carried in.

Every day, people would place him at the temple.

I know it's hard to listen and keep attention, so please, keep your

attention.

Come back to me if you're distracted.

Every day, people would place him at the temple gate, known as

the beautiful gate.

Isn't it ironic that a Place Amanda to them was worthless.

They throw him there at the beautiful gate so he could ask for

money from those entering the temple.

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he began to ask them

for a gift.

Before I finish this story, when I finish it, your rational brain

is going to start crying out resistance.

Just let it be for now, okay?

Don't need to figure out like everything.

Disorganize it for a minute.

Just receive this story, okay?

When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he began to ask them

for a gift.

Peter and John stared at him.

Practical thing there.

The if nothing else you can do, look someone in the eyes, in

the face.

That's all you do.

Peter said, look at us.

What does that mean this man was doing?

Where was his face?

They have to say, look at us.

Where's his face?

Luckily, a couple of weirdo dandelions are going to come across

his path and he theirs.

Look at us.

So the man gazed at them, expecting to receive something from

them.

Unfortunately for them, these guys got no money.

They haven't had money.

They still don't.

Peter said, I don't have any money.

But what I will give you.

I'll give you what I do have.

Everything I've got.

Now I just want to give it away to you.

In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk.

Then he grasped the man's right hand and raised him up.

At once his feet and ankles became strong.

Jumping up, he began to walk around.

He entered the temple with them, walking, leaping and praising

God.

All the people saw him walking and praising God.

They recognized him as the same one.

He used to be dumped at the temple gate.

That's not exactly what it says.

It says he used to sit at the temple's beautiful gate asking for

money.

Just like Acts chapter two.

They were filled with amazement and surprise at what had

happened to him.

On fire.

Spilling it out for others.

Okay, I'm done.

What's this stirring in you today?

What's this making you think, feel wonderful?

I'll hang up and listen.

The disciples were in this upper room and PT Said for them to

be on fire, they had to leave the safety of the upper room where

they were with Jesus or had been there.

They had to leave the safety of that and take a risk.

That's great.

What else?

What's stirring in you?

What do you notice?

What are you thinking?

What are you feeling?

Nick?

The importance of the self sacrificial life.

The church fathers called it the life of like self denial of self,

emptying what else?

What's this stirring you?

What's it making you think, feel, wonder?

Go ahead.

We try to organize the steps before we step out.

We try to.

We.

I got to come up with a plan first.

I gotta have things organized, figured out.

We keep our.

Yeah.

Which is even harder when you've been through trauma and grief.

When you've been through trauma and grief, your self protective

instincts go up.

All right, what else?

What's this stern in you?

What's it making you think?

Joanna?

The needles get started that way around the brick and Puerto.

Because that's the first labeled out my lens here.

It's still bad seven times.

But there's something.

I feel like.

I think God pours it all back into you.

He gets.

There's been moments of like, yeah, I'm.

Terrified of talking about this person, about the joy.

But in our eyes, like shrimp is just a don't get.

And if I pray that God will.

Me through it, then, you know, let it be what it'll be.

But then I notice that I'm talking like at least 75% of the

time it's poured back into me and I've given this person this gift

and they're.

They're changed after that and they're just so positive and just.

I mean, I can't say all experiences.

Will be like that, but I.

I have seen so much goodness and joyful after that.

So for Joanna, like when you take that risk or you make that sacrifice,

it often comes back to you in a really exciting way.

You experience this fruit.

Like Kara Baker walking in today with her first zucchini.

Like.

Like it was like Simba.

She said, like she's like, oh my God.

You know, it's her first year gardening.

Lucy, go ahead.

All of a sudden after the grief and military.

But it starts just like when we're talking about the disciples

and life before and left after and become.

We're kind of seated.

We did the opposite way as I am.

This is what was before.

Yeah.

What's this?

It is.

So look, I think somehow in some way I think what you asked me,

but it's to sort of seek this from this trauma prior to was the

young hold on the white path.

Give you a.

Like much better.

How do you.

How do you go there with a.

You are.

Yes.

One thing I'm just.

I'm highlighting is that for them, they also.

They.

They were just like you.

They experienced grief and trauma times 20 that didn't go away

after they became on fire.

They still had that and they still faced incredible trials and

they had this and they were moving on to something new.

So Brandon and Joe, you want to come on up?

Anybody else?

What's this turning to you, Angela?

One of the reasons that was because before my grand I still felt

very hard.

I didn't have kids and for some reason her diet was switched.

And all of a sudden I just felt like it's because at the death

basis, like concentrate on things that are really important.

And I realized that that was the important part that I wanted

in my life.

And so that's the reason why I laid above almost like immediately

after.

And it just makes me leave in my faith like maybe like I'm the.

Mm.

Yeah.

So for Angela, she talked about some past grief and trauma

and that maybe sometimes coming out of that we have this expectation

that or grief, loss and grief.

We're going to have this moment when the pilot light just

goes.

For some people it does other people, it just, it's a little bit

more.

A little bit more.

And then one day the fire's roaring.

Stay the course.

Would you stand with us?

We're just going to close with one ch, a bridge and a chorus to

build my life.

So I think what for me, what I keep learning as this, this fire

takes over my life is practically what it looks like to

build your life on love.

Because every day I catch in myself that fear inspired living

is ready to go all over again the next day.

Maybe I lived in love yesterday and love was leading the

way for whatever reason.

When I get up the next day, fear is ready to run the show again.

So I have to learn like moment to moment, day to day to let the

Holy Spirit lead me in a life that is inspired by love.

So perfect timing.

Thank you for being with us today.

I pray that this week God gives you the ability to open your

life, open the sails of your ship to the wind of the Holy Spirit,

to take the risk, to leave comfort, leave the control, leave

the organization to step into a life of holy mess with Jesus.

Have a great week.

Thank you for participating in the conversation happening at Heaven

Earth Church Church.

Your next opportunity to do so live is this Sunday morning, 9:30am

Eastern Time, either at the main campus at 309 East Main in Whiteland,

Indiana or online at YouTube Live.

That'[email protected] heavenerthchurch.

The audio podcast is always available at Apple Podcast and on

Spotify.

You can help others find out about the Heaven Earth Church podcast

by going to Apple Podcasts and or Spotify and leaving a five star

rating and your review instructions on how to do just that

and links are in the show notes.

You can always find out more by going to the church website heavenearthchurch.org.

We.

Want to thank you for spending time with us today.

My name is Ross Stackhouse, the pastor to Heaven Earth Church,

and you may think out there that your story is over, but in fact,

your faith story may just be beginning.

If you want more information about our church or you're interested

in the next step, you can go to heavenorthchurch.org Otherwise,

we look forward to being with you next time at the Heaven Earth

Church Podcast Test.