Can we just pray before we do so? Living God, you have blessed us with existence, and sometimes we don’t know the owner’s manual. We don’t know what to do with the days and moments and years that you’ve blessed us with. And sometimes we’ve not used our time well, not in reference to you. And yet at other times, we’ve seen through these things you’ve blessed us with a brighter future, a window onto eternity, and a breath from heaven. And we ask that your Holy Spirit would be with us today to honor magnify Jesus our savior, and to increase our faith. We ask that for his sake. Amen. Well, >> [snorts] >> I want to speak about everything >> [laughter] >> in a message called all things, and I confess to you I feel utterly inadequate to do so to this morning. In fact, [snorts] we only got back um from a different country Friday night at 10:00, and uh here we are. And I was hoping that the warm weather you experienced a few days ago would still be here, but alas. Well, on May 24th, the church will celebrate celebrate Pentecost Sunday. And I say celebrate, but in many cases in many congregations, it’s barely observed. It is, however, a third part of that Trinitarian movement that commenced on Good Friday, and in our worship time we had several songs that referred to our recent Easter events. So, Good Friday on Calvary, the Lord’s death, which we actually did observe to very good effect here with the two other churches that joined us. It was a wonderful service. And then um we came for Resurrection Sunday to celebrate the savior’s victory over death, over sin, over the devil, and yet these historical hammer strokes of liberation, if you will, of a bound and hopeless humanity uh are only personally secured and processed and possessed through the subsequent giving of the Holy Spirit, which occurred after Christ’s ascension around 40 days after rising from the grave, Pentecost Sunday. Without the giving of the Holy Spirit, these things would just be very interesting, intriguing historical things way back there with no real viable connection with us here today. So, the life in Christ, the faith in Christ, is a life in the Holy Spirit. In fact, Romans says if you do not have the spirit of Christ, we don’t belong to him. We haven’t really entered into the fullness of what he has done for us. So, Good Friday followed shortly after Easter Sunday, and then Pentecost. And really, when you look at that picture, for first-century Jewish fishermen to have erected a temple like that so soon after the Lord’s death, that’s really quite astonishing. Well, this is a picture of our backyard through our bedroom window before we went to Mexico for our daughter’s wedding. It really hasn’t changed after we got back. But this is where we went. It’s different, isn’t it? You’ve got color, you’ve got motion, you’ve got the ocean, you’ve got green things. Yeah, there are trees down there, right? Their trees have leaves. Like those Mexicans are way ahead of us. Um you don’t have to wear parkas in this place, nor gloves. It’s really quite nice, actually. But let’s refresh about the day of Pentecost, because I want to use um a bunch of different images and thoughts uh to sort of prepare us for the day of Pentecost, for um an appreciation of the life we have in the Holy Spirit, and to continue to give our days over to the Spirit for God’s glory. So, I don’t want to steal Doug Thunder, because I’m sure he’ll be preaching about this. So, I’ll just uh reference in Acts chapter 2, Luke describes what happened. When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting, and divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. >> [snorts] >> So, what we see is a rushing wind, a change in the atmosphere, a disturbance of the stale, muggy air for an invigorating freshness, which was then accompanied by a display a visible display of power, of light, and they were given a message, a message to share. They began to speak in all sorts of different languages. It was a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel, where God scattered them and divided them by giving them different tongues. Here he’s bringing them back. It’s a convergence, and that’s going to be very key where we’re going with this sermon about all things, a theory of everything, of God bringing everything back under his kingship. >> [snorts] >> So, they eventually um themselves, these disciples, were scattered also by the Spirit through Samaria, Judea, the rest of the earth as Christ’s witnesses. They didn’t just hold on to it for the rest of their lives, but they experienced this in-filling, they were then sent out, and they had a message of hope. Something has changed on planet Earth. All of this was in keeping with what Jesus had told them in one of his post-resurrection appearances when he said, “Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you’ve heard me speak about. For John, John the Baptist, he baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Baptized with the Holy Spirit, a gift from the Father. So, note the order. Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus now confers upon his followers the gift of the Spirit from the Father. This same Jesus who said, “All things have been handed over to me by my father.” Can you think of any other religious authority, any other historical figure who would have the presumption to say that? “All things have been handed over to me.” Chairman Mao didn’t say that. Even Donald Trump didn’t say that, yet. “All things have been handed over to me by my father.” The crowds, when they saw his authority, saw his power over illness and over uh demonic activity, they exclaimed, “He has done all things well.” This person from a backwater town in Nazareth, he’s done all things well. Even though they didn’t understand him, they admired the power in which he moved. Jesus then said that if we would leave our old ways behind us and follow him, that all things are possible for us who believe. And some of us here today are facing things that don’t seem very possible. Financial strains, health strains, relationship relationship strains, a number of things that cause us worry, that cause us fear, that cause us uh feeling helpless. But Jesus said all things are possible for one who believes. So, that same Spirit that rested on Jesus at his baptism now baptizes his followers. We’ve not been left alone as orphans. And with this, we begin an encounter with this theme of all things. Why >> [snorts] >> does Jesus sometimes say to the people who encountered him that to follow him would involve sacrifice? That in fact, they’d have to be willing to let go of everything that comprised their lives. He says, “Your family, your wealth, your your security, and so on.” He said some very challenging things, which a lot of us kind of want to skim over. Perhaps the story of the rich young ruler comes to mind. Yet, it’s only one really of several stories supplemented by uh Jesus’ own parables and teachings that the attachments in our lives may be part of the problem of the state of our relationship with God. Let me say that again. The attachments in our lives may be part of the problem about the state of our relationship with God, our creator. >> [snorts] >> Jesus spoke about the kingdom as being worthy of setting all of that aside. That in order to buy that field of treasure or that pearl of great price, um sell up. Sell up everything. This is worth more. For where your treasure is, there shall be your heart. And I think that’s the number one human problem, isn’t it? Where do I invest my heart? I might have some disposable cash. I’ve heard of such things. I never experienced it myself. Uh where you can put it into different stocks and funds of whatever. But, what about your heart? I mean, you you could fill your time with maybe Netflix uh for a couple of hours Saturday evening or or do different things, play some cards with some friends. But, your heart is very precious. And out of it comes our life. He says to guard that above all things. So, where do we invest that? And Jesus is saying, >> [snorts] >> “What I’m offering you is worth all the other attachments you’ve invested in. Come to the bank of Christ.” The great Apostle Paul, what about him? He was unlike the other disciples, right? He had some preeminence in his society. He had education. Um he had real prospects of success ahead of him more than just getting a big catch of fish. Right? He He was in the Pharisaical sect. He was um a young man who be could become one of the leaders of Israel. Nevertheless, in Philippians chapter 3 verse 8, he says, “For his sake, that’s Christ’s sake, I’ve suffered the loss of all things and count them actually as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” So, that was a real sacrifice. A real investment. And we’re going to hear from Paul again about these all things and how as we follow a life of the spirit of Jesus, all the things that we experience can be turned into gold, into treasure. >> [snorts] >> Now, Paul wasn’t there in Jerusalem, was he, with the other Jesus people when Pentecost came? He wasn’t a follower of Jesus at all. Yet, the same experience of being baptized by the spirit came like a mighty rushing wind, a hurricane, scattering all the things of his old life, leaving him temporarily blinded to what had happened and what all of this portended once that Jesus revolution, the truth tornado, hit him. Could he adjust? Could he go on with his old life with all of his things tucked securely in his robe pockets? Or did all those precious things now seem strangely empty in comparison with his experience of all things becoming new? At this point, I’d like all of you visual people to have an images in your head because this was a very big part of my process of being led to speak about this today. I want you to see movement. I want you to see swirling action. At one point yesterday morning, I had this crazy idea of cutting out um paper [snorts] shapes of uh starlings and taping them all over the balcony and all over the walls and the organ pipes. I’m so glad I didn’t. But, it’s that idea I’m going to at least verbally uh convey to you. About unseen forces lifting up all the colored bits of our life like photographs of those you love. Let’s say your house is on fire. You’ve got a big stack of photographs and you’re running out and you trip and those photographs hit the ground and they come out of the albums and they got swirled up in that big wind of the fire. If that represented your life, would those pictures, those capturings of each different moment from childhood on to adulthood, would they be safe? Would they burn up into ash one day? Or will they be stored forever in eternity? Have what you’ve experienced has it been touched by the eternal God? Or is it just merely the scrapings of your fingernails as you try to gather the things of creation into you to give you substance, hoping that by association with bigger things, prettier things, stronger things, your own heart might somehow survive the process of decay that happens to all of us. Right? I use PowerPoint a lot and there’s a special transition >> [snorts] >> um called when you go from one slide to another slide, it’s called vortex. Vortex is one of the longest transitions. It takes the picture and it breaks it up into little bits and it spins it around and then it transplants it into a new picture. So, we had that with this. Let me just go back. And this idea. If someone did a portrait of you, capturing who you are, your essence right now, would it be able to be divided like you’re standing with Spock on a transporter on the USS Enterprise and you’re going down to a planet down there, would you reassemble into something good? Or would your little bits float out into space and just dissolve? I think Jesus cares about every moment of your life. Nothing is random. And you can either accept it as a gift, even the hard things, or you can curse it. Or you can use it. Manipulate it. That’s where we’re going with this talk about all things. >> [snorts] >> Well, let’s go on. I don’t know that you can see this very clearly, but it’s a mosaic of an eye made out of tiny little pictures. And um as with that vortex, molecular scientists tell us that your molecules have a lot of space between them, between your electrons and your neuron that that there’s a lot of gaps here. We look like we’re solid, but we’re not really solid. In fact, nothing is solid. Could it be that into those spaces the Holy Spirit wants to come? Into those empty parts and fill us. All that we experience in life that become part of us, >> [snorts] >> here’s the question. Are they only passing moments without any end like a cracker eaten, digested an hour later, and then gone? Okay, that moment’s gone. This moment’s gone. Or do they accumulate? Do the moments of your life become something bigger, a a bigger than the sum? The wholesale pursuit of pleasure and sensuality, the acquisition of beachfront property with 20% off all-inclusive menus, is that really the end game for all of us? Yeah. Right. See me afterwards, please. >> [laughter] >> Um >> [snorts] >> So, if that’s the composite of everything that we’ve experienced up to today, what prevents it from ending up this picture? Because a lot of people say that that’s it. It’s we’re just matter. There’s no spirit. Death is just part of existence. The Bible counters that. The Bible says death is an enemy. The Bible says God is a God of the living. So, let’s think again about this. >> [snorts] >> These days you hear a lot about choke points, about conflict, about energy crisis, about blockades. Geopolitically, we’re in the dire straits of Hormuz amongst the sultans of oily things. But, Jesus wants us to acquire through life the goodness of a good meal with a friend, the loveliness of a bouquet of flowers brought home to you by your husband, the wonder of seeing light through stained glass, though not necessarily this stained glass, and all these different things. He wants them to be windows, windows onto eternity, onto the heart of God. Isn’t that what Romans 1 tells us? That if we look at creation the right way, and you and I are embedded in creation, we experience creation, then we will get to know the invisible qualities of our creator. But, he says on the other hand, if we reject the knowledge of our creator and we worship created things, yes, I will invest $70,000 for that 10-year opportunity to have 1 week down in Puerto Vallarta, uh for the for the >> [laughter] >> even though I can afford it. Uh if we do that instead and say, “I need to possess it. I need to put it in my pocket. I need to somehow control it.” That is my life. We’re going to miss out on all sorts of things. Now, I’m um I’m spending a lot of time and I need to get going. So, here’s um Forgive me. Like, do you know we were just in in Mexico for our daughter’s wedding and I was performing the ceremony. So, this this is what God wants us to have an end picture of the moments of our lives, of these little pixels, these little things that are floating around in a vortex and they come together a comprehensive picture. What is it going to be? It’s going to be freedom. It’s going to be youthfulness. It’s going to be joy. He wants that to be our picture of the kingdom of God. Um So, I Decker told me before going to Mexico, “Could you take this Sunday for me?” Um so, I’m I’m I’m doing stuff with all sorts of people down there. I’m actually officiating at my daughter’s uh ceremony, but in the back of my mind is is today, is this moment. And so, these are the things that are impacting me as I’m going through last week. The colorful Mexican streets with those festive banners in the air. Um The greenery, the lushness of botanical life in all sorts of shapes and colors and forms, just riotous all around. Um the wonder of bird life, uh whether it’s the the grackles in the in the palm trees in the town square, or the pelicans flying in formation over the water, or the uh frigate birds up in the air, um even the uh the pesky roosters in the morning at 5:00 a.m. All of that was going on, too. And um and this idea of you know, like murmurings that like like when the starlings get together and flock and and and that vortex image, all of that was was forming in my spirit and of course, my daughter and my son-in-law getting married. And in this place, there was such a convergence of of of their friends, this wonderful group of young people whom they’ve actually traveled with to to Asia, to to Europe, to other places together, and they’ve gone on multiple hikes in the Rocky Mountains. And all of these young people love love love creation. But, I don’t think there was one of them that really knew the creator. And I’m trying to think, how do I honor my daughter and my son-in-law with a talk about their union, their coming together with this big friend group, and um uh my son-in-law’s family, our family, um but honor the fact that God’s behind marriage, God’s behind unions, God is is bringing everything together in his son. So, that was all of in my thoughts. And one last um image, just over here by the library, you know, there’s the on the south side of the library, there’s the park. Um I was there um I’d been to Knox doing some repairs. I went over there to sit on the bench and I noticed that an eddy of wind had caught these fallen petals on the ground and then along with some dust and some uh paper litter, it was spinning it up, spiraling in this corner. And I knew soon the moisture that was in those petals was going to be gone. It it it would just dry out. It would become dust itself, too. But, for a moment it was magical. And and it was it was the gift of a gentle rushing wind lifting things up from the earth towards heaven. So, these are the things I have in mind as I um go to speaking to you about all things, the strange thing about being born again, born from above, baptized by the Holy Spirit, having Jesus enter you, giving yourself to the Lord in surrender. I want you to hear some familiar verses that you may have never lumped together before in this way and see what your impressions are. And I want to begin with the one verse that kept playing through my head while I was walking down the beach in Mexico. And it was a verse from Romans 15 where Paul talks about the mystery of God and and his grace that there really should be anything instead of nothing, that he should share this with us, ending with all things are from him and through him and then to him. And that last one is so important. If we just are receivers all the time, well, God’s made creation. Now, he’s gone off somewhere. He’s got his own vacation happening. All we get to do is have pleasure with the things he’s made. And we don’t see that these things are made from him and they’re given to us through him so that they can come back to him, we’ll become self-centered. If you’re egocentric, there’s a physical force called centripetal force. It causes things to come inward, like a black hole. Centrifugal force is the opposite. It makes things expand and go out. That’s what the kingdom of God is like. That’s what salvation is like. It turns a person that takes centripetal force, “Oh, I want this. I want that. Bring it in. Bring it in. Now, I’m safe. Now, I’m fulfilled.” Just saying, “Uh-uh.” Sell up. Here’s a pearl of great price. It changes the vortex. Now, outward, outward. And you and I, as brother and sister, we become one. We’re not in competition anymore. We don’t judge anyone anymore. We don’t manipulate or seduce anyone anymore. The love that God has poured into our heart now comes through us. And each thing that the day brings, we say, “Thank you, Father.” So, that’s the first verse. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, right? He wants to be glorified by his creation. He didn’t make us so that we could be independent of him and just scoff at him. He wants us to give him glory and say, “Father, you are so amazing.” What else does he say? This is the biggest passage and and it has so many things. I couldn’t ignore it, but I don’t want to get into detail. I’m going to get past it soon. What does it say about this Jesus who died on the cross, who rose from the grave, who gave us the gift of the spirit? He says, “He wasn’t just a good man. In fact, he’s the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him, all things were created.” Right? John’s gospel starts in the same way. “In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.” You might be thinking, “This is the worst season of my life. I am in so much bodily pain, mental pain, emotional pain. He made you for his glory. He’s not done with you yet. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Did Jesus just die to make you not feel bad about yourself, low self-esteem, some shame about some guilty things? No, he’s drawing you to himself cuz in him all things hold together. So, everything that is precious in your life is held in his hand and he wants you to experience that multiplied forever. He’s the head of the body for the church. Uh we’ll end with this uh this section. He’s the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. How do you stop turning moments into dust and ash? Dust to dust, ashes to ashes, we used to say that at funerals. You need moisture. You need the blood of Christ. You need the blood of Christ in you, which will then give you the breath of the spirit in you. Why then does Peter say, “The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled, sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.” He’s talking not about the created things that are being redeemed. He’s talking about the attitude of a fallen world that if I have things, if I possess things, that will give me the foundation of my life. He says, “No, it’s all going to be burned up. The old order is going to be turned aside. There’s going to be a revolution. It’s already started on the day of Pentecost and it’s going to come to a finale.” So, if that is your life, living for your possessions and your experiences, your hedonism, you’ve got nothing to look forward to. But, if we heed Jesus, our master, and seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things will be added to you in a way that sustains our life here and now, but does not become idolatrous. So, that’s why Paul can say to the Corinthians who were vying they were worldly-minded believers, new believers. They weren’t very deep in the faith. They were vying for different different leaders and stuff, but he says, “Don’t boast in men. All things are yours.” The immediate context was Paul, Apollos, and Cephas, but he goes on to expand it so that you and I can be fit into this, too. The world is ours. Even if you don’t have a condo in Mexico, life is ours. Death is ours. It’s not Satan’s anymore. It won’t be held against us. It will just be a portal. The present is ours and the future is ours. All are yours. Why? Here’s the formula. They’re yours because you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. If you don’t have that formula, then you don’t have all things in a secure place. Your treasure and your heart are misaligned. So, we get to the end of the Bible. We get to the very end. This long drama of redemption, what does the one on the throne say? He was on the throne said, “Behold, I’m making all things new.” What we’ve already received from God, given thanks to God, surrendered back to God, he now brings it into its completion where there is no sin, there is no death, there is no devil, there is just an ongoing existence kind of like those starlings in the sky or those waxwings that you might see here, all together. We no longer are people with light and shadow inside of us. Good points, but then some flaws. We’re whole. And that’s why this wonderful verse that you and I love, we can say this, we know if we love God, all things, even the difficult things, work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. So, this message is just about seeing beyond the moment, seeing through the moment, through our experiences, through our years, to see the God who’s behind that speaking to us and wooing us and say, “Come to me. Come to me. I made you for my glory. You will be at peace in me.” So, I’ve just want to finish this with um a little presentation that includes um this idea of birds and gathering and swirling and um all things being brought under the blood of Christ so that it might be glorified. And I I just hope it just speaks to your heart and um and I trust that the Holy Spirit might just uh whisper to you today that you are precious to him and that there’s nothing you’re facing that is too difficult for the Lord. So, we’ll go into this and um we’ll have a uh uh someone’s going to come up and pray. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] >> Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Our Lord is a great God. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.