Episode 5
Essentials (Part 2): Humble, Hungry and Willing w/ Ross Stackhouse
The essence of this podcast episode elucidates the concept of the "humble, hungry, and willing" mindset as a foundational principle for spiritual growth and discipleship. We, as representatives of Heaven Earth Church, strive to create an inclusive community where individuals who may feel marginalized by traditional religious settings can explore their faith journeys. Throughout the conversation, we delve into the significance of humility, as exemplified by figures such as Simon Peter, who, despite his expertise in fishing, demonstrates a willingness to trust in Jesus' guidance. By embracing this mindset, we illuminate the path toward experiencing the transformative nature of eternal life—an existence characterized by profound spiritual fulfillment and the desire to share this transformative experience with others. Ultimately, our discourse invites listeners to reflect on their own spiritual journeys and consider how they might embody these essential traits in their lives.
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Heaven Earth Church serves as a welcoming sanctuary for individuals who often feel marginalized or out of place within traditional religious settings. Our mission is grounded in the belief that every individual's narrative is intrinsically linked to a larger divine story. In this particular podcast episode, we delve deeper into the core values that define our community, particularly emphasizing the importance of humility, hunger, and willingness as essential components of a fruitful spiritual journey. We explore how these virtues not only enhance personal faith but also foster a collective spirit of growth and connection among congregants. The narratives shared by those who have found a home within our church illustrate the transformative impact of embracing one’s unique story, and how, through these testimonies, we can witness God’s presence in everyday life. Ultimately, our aim is to encourage listeners to engage with their own spiritual journeys, understanding that their experiences are valid and that they play a vital role in the broader tapestry of faith. The episode invites individuals to reflect on their own lives, urging them to find grace and inspiration in the shared stories of others, thus reaffirming the notion that every story is part of God's grand narrative.
Takeaways:
- Heaven Earth Church was founded with a mission to embrace those who feel they do not belong in traditional church settings.
- The podcast highlights the transformative stories of individuals who have found faith within the community of Heaven Earth Church.
- The conversation emphasizes the importance of humility, hunger, and willingness as essential traits for a fruitful spiritual life.
- Listeners are encouraged to foster a continuous companionship with God, recognizing the significance of personal transformation from the inside out.
- The discussion also addresses the concept of eternal life, illustrating that it encompasses both quality and quantity in one's spiritual journey.
- The podcast invites participants to reflect on their own experiences and how they can embody the values of humility, hunger, and willingness in their daily lives.
Links referenced in this episode:
Transcript
Welcome to Heaven Earth Church.
Speaker A:My name is Ross Stackhouse.
Speaker A:I'm the founding pastor of Heaven Earth Church.
Speaker A:From the beginning, our heart was to be a church for people who don't fit neatly into church.
Speaker A:Our heart is to meet people where they are, to learn their stories, to honor their stories.
Speaker A:Because in every human story is God's story.
Speaker A:In this podcast, you'll hear more about the people who now call Heaven Earth Church home.
Speaker A:Their stories, in many cases of misfits who are discovering or rediscovering faith.
Speaker A:If you want to know more about us, you can go to heavenorthchurch.org Otherwise, we invite you now into the story.
Speaker B:Hello, good people.
Speaker B:Brad Miller here, the producer of the Heaven Earth Church podcast.
Speaker B: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.
Speaker B:You can watch and participate in the Sunday morning conversation this Sunday morning, 9:30am Eastern time at YouTube.com heavenerthchurch.
Speaker B: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 heavenearthchurch.org Here now is part two of the Essentials message series.
Speaker B:Humble, Hungry and Willing with Pastor Ross Dachaus.
Speaker A:Let's pray, and then we'll have our conversation.
Speaker A:God, I ask that you would enlighten our minds to help us to hear your word as we look at the words of the scriptures.
Speaker A:Help us to know your heart, to be changed by your heart, and to share your heart with others.
Speaker A:In Jesus name, amen.
Speaker A:Hey, I know I've asked you this before, but I'll ask you again because it's one of our discipleship essentials and it's something that's so important.
Speaker A:How do you define the word humility?
Speaker A:I know I've asked that before, but think about again, somebody that you consider to be very humble.
Speaker A:What qualities do they have?
Speaker A:What commitments?
Speaker A:Debbie.
Speaker A:They don't seek recognition.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:What else?
Speaker A:How do you define humble or humility?
Speaker A:They think of others.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Humility, Bobo.
Speaker A:Like Jesus talks about in the Bible.
Speaker A:He says when you give, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
Speaker A:As opposed to the people who would be like, hey, hey, do you hear this clink?
Speaker A:See what I did today?
Speaker A:They don't know what.
Speaker A:The left hand doesn't even know what the right hand's doing.
Speaker A:Charles.
Speaker A:Being right sized.
Speaker C:To either shrink.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Or it's to kind of get maybe too big, you know?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:Fill the Space to appear, still hiding.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, you can.
Speaker A:Humility is very closely, closely related in Charles definition there to like, authenticity or true self.
Speaker A:Like, you can shrink, kind of be embarrassed, ashamed, not want to be, not want to show yourself.
Speaker A:Or you can like overcompensate for maybe insecurity or shame and really take up a lot of space.
Speaker A:Things like that.
Speaker A:How do you define humility, Kirsten?
Speaker A:Doing things.
Speaker A:Doing things because they need to be done or because they're right, not because others are going to see you right for the recognition.
Speaker A:It's about motives.
Speaker A:Like your motives for doing something is because it's necessary to be done, it's right to do it.
Speaker A:Not like, so you can get a trophy.
Speaker A:What else?
Speaker A:How do you define humility?
Speaker A:Folks online, hello, let's hear from you.
Speaker A:Humility.
Speaker A:Oh, wait, Andy.
Speaker A:Doing something knowing that the person can't repay you.
Speaker A:So you're not doing it for a transaction.
Speaker A:You're not making somebody a means to an end.
Speaker A:I like that.
Speaker A:Anybody else not putting yourself above others?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Well, the reason we're talking about this is because we've started a series of conversations that's based on what we call here discipleship essentials.
Speaker A:We asked a question, a group of us did, were asking the question months ago.
Speaker A:We met over some weeks and we said, like, if there was a committed, fruitful, flourishing disciple of Jesus or apprentice of Jesus, what would they look like?
Speaker A:How would we know that that person is a committed, fruitful, flourishing disciple of Jesus?
Speaker A:What kind of fruit would they be bearing in their lives and what kind of essentials would they be practicing?
Speaker A:What would be their kind of bare necessities?
Speaker A:Look for the bare necessities.
Speaker A:I'm going to sing a Disney song every week.
Speaker A:I think I'm pulling it off the simple bare necessities.
Speaker A:What would the bare necessities be?
Speaker A:Well, I don't know if you know, but there's not like a completely right answer to this.
Speaker A:I think there are some wrong things.
Speaker A:But this group, when you brought something to the table, you had to bring some evidence, some scripture, some life experience to say, like, hey, here's what it is.
Speaker A:We whittled it down to five, and I showed you these last week.
Speaker A:These are the essentials that if you invest in these, that you practice these, you're committed to these, they'll produce a certain kind of fruit that looks like fullness and wholeness of life in Jesus, an eternal kind of life that Jesus promises.
Speaker A:So number one is that we realize that Jesus talks a lot about this inside out Transformation rather than trying to graft fruit onto a tree producing tree from deep transformation that comes from the roots up through the trunk and out.
Speaker A:And the best way that that inside out transformation comes is learning and practicing a continuous companionship with God.
Speaker A:So what's the opposite of that?
Speaker A:Or the contrast of that would be like, okay, I have my devotional time for 15 minutes at 7:15am and then I do my bedtime prayers and then I go to the Heaven Earth Church Sunday gathering for an hour every week.
Speaker A:Some of you are like, Ross, I ain't doing all that well, let's say hypothetically you were doing all that.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker A:But honestly, what we're growing toward is this continuous companionship with God, like awareness of God's presence all the time.
Speaker A:And then, yes, having those special times where it's just us and God in a secret room in our house, so to speak, as Jesus says, and letting that shape us from the inside out.
Speaker A:Number two is what we're talking about today.
Speaker A:It is the HHW mindset, the humble, hungry, willing mindset.
Speaker A:Humble, hungry and willing to seek Jesus.
Speaker A:Talk about today.
Speaker A:Next week we're going to talk about grace and the great commands at the core.
Speaker A:Lord have mercy.
Speaker A:And then the week after that we're going to talk about this one's a shorter one, the scent essential.
Speaker A:Another name for this is the Cornelius principle from Acts 10.
Speaker A:It's taking seriously the idea that God sends us to people and God sends people to us and like listening to those nudges about the people or the places to whom or to where God sends us before we know why.
Speaker A:So we may be.
Speaker A:We keep getting these nudges that like God is asking us to like, listen to our co worker.
Speaker A:We just keep getting these nudges and signs and we just follow through.
Speaker A:We don't know why.
Speaker A:We just get enough vision for just the next step to show up alongside that person or to show up at that place and love people.
Speaker A:And the last one is great collaboration with the big good news that we'll talk about the last week.
Speaker A:We're going to talk about again how I and kind of we think about the gospel of Jesus.
Speaker A:Jesus says the kingdom of the heavens has come near.
Speaker A:Like Jesus has a mission to renew all things, including us.
Speaker A:And he invites us to be changed by that and be a part of it.
Speaker A:And each of us is uniquely gifted to do that.
Speaker A:So we'll talk about that week five.
Speaker A:But today it's week two.
Speaker A:And I want to talk about this one thing.
Speaker A:No, that's from last week.
Speaker A:Ross, come on now.
Speaker A:It's this one right here.
Speaker A:If we are humble, hungry and willing to seek Jesus, we will experience eternal life and we will want this life for everyone.
Speaker A:We will want this life to invade and take over Earth.
Speaker A:Ross, what is eternal life?
Speaker A:Everybody knows that, right?
Speaker A:That's not what the sermon is about today.
Speaker A:But have you heard that term before?
Speaker A:Heard that phrase?
Speaker A:It's a little phrase, right, that shows up in the church.
Speaker A:If you've been in the church.
Speaker A:If you haven't been in the church, I'm honestly kind of happy for you.
Speaker A:It is such a rich term in the original language that the word eternal almost means without time.
Speaker A:Without time.
Speaker A:So, Ross, is eternal, is it about quality of life or quantity of life?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Is eternal a description of a quality of life or quantity of life?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Dallas Willard, that's why he uses the phrase.
Speaker A:And by the way, Dallas Willard is like.
Speaker A:I mean, people love his book.
Speaker A:So, like, I'm in line with some pretty, you know, normal, ordinary thinkers here.
Speaker A:I'm not saying anything way out of school today.
Speaker A:He talks about.
Speaker A:He describes the life with Jesus as an eternal kind of life to help us to think of it differently.
Speaker A:An eternal kind of life.
Speaker A:And that's the way Jesus talks about it, too.
Speaker A:Is Jesus talking about quality or quantity?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Jesus is talking about how our lives truly take on the character of characteristics of the kingdom of the heavens.
Speaker A:As we belong to Jesus and become citizens of his kingdom, we put that citizenship first.
Speaker A:Something happens deep within us that bears fruit.
Speaker A:On the outside.
Speaker A:We look like people who have been living in a different kind of household.
Speaker A:But also it is quantity.
Speaker A:Jesus does talk about, like, how if we belong to Jesus, we are a part of this life that never ends.
Speaker A:We didn't totally miss that in traditional Christianity.
Speaker A:Sometimes we just kind of, in my opinion, distorted heaven a lot.
Speaker A:But Jesus does talk about, like, how if we are like, in God's love, nothing beats God's love.
Speaker A:Nothing has power that is stronger than God's love, not even death.
Speaker A:So he does talk about this promise that we will.
Speaker A:Death will be no more.
Speaker A:Revelation 21.
Speaker A:When the city of Heaven comes to earth, death will be no more.
Speaker A:There will be no more tears.
Speaker A:So eternal life in Jesus mind is quality and quantity.
Speaker A:We can live without fear of death, and we can live with this sort of transformation kind of life.
Speaker A:Are you with me?
Speaker A:If you want to disagree with me, I told you it's not what the sermon's about today.
Speaker A:So just stay with me.
Speaker A:If you.
Speaker A:We can Talk afterwards.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:If this was like.
Speaker A:No, Ross, we need to keep talking about this.
Speaker A:Sorry, we got to keep going with humble, hungry, and willing.
Speaker A:Okay, deal.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:I got to show you how.
Speaker A:I want to show you what humble, hungry and willing looks like.
Speaker A:And how if we are humble, hungry and willing, what will grow within us is an eternal kind of life.
Speaker A:Like Jesus.
Speaker A:All right, this is.
Speaker A:This story takes place in Luke, chapter five.
Speaker A:It's when Jesus.
Speaker A:So rewind.
Speaker A:We started.
Speaker A:We were in this part of the Gospel of Luke when we were in the Resolution series at the beginning of January.
Speaker A:So Jesus is around his hometown.
Speaker A:He was standing by that lake, which is also called the Sea of Galilee.
Speaker A:It's a freshwater lake.
Speaker A:The Bible's always trying to confuse us, man.
Speaker A:Can we just call things by one name?
Speaker A:Dag on, it's already hard.
Speaker A:One day, Jesus was standing beside Jesus, just gotten started in Luke's gospel.
Speaker A:He has not called his disciples yet.
Speaker A:This is a little bit of a difference.
Speaker A:Jesus has done a few things, but he hasn't called his disciples yet.
Speaker A:He hasn't invited people to come follow him and be his apprentices and learn this eternal kind of life.
Speaker A:The crowd pressed in around to hear God's word.
Speaker A:Jesus can't even have a good day at the beach.
Speaker A:People are like, hey, can you tell us something, man?
Speaker A:And so Jesus is resourceful.
Speaker A:He saw two boats sitting by the lake.
Speaker A:The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets.
Speaker A:Jesus boarded one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon.
Speaker A:Simon, I mean, apparently didn't ask, simon, can I use your boat for a minute?
Speaker A:And then he puts them to work.
Speaker A:Hey, I need you to row out a little bit, please?
Speaker A:And he sat down in the boat and taught the crowds from the boat.
Speaker A:Look at how Jesus meets people where they are.
Speaker A:Look at how Jesus practices the scent essential.
Speaker A:The scent essential for us, corresponds to our community core value here at Heaven Earth Church.
Speaker A:We want to meet people where they are and see them as God's masterpiece.
Speaker A:Ross, I'm confused.
Speaker A:We have core values and essentials and a mission and a vision.
Speaker A:Yeah, we do.
Speaker A:I promise they work.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:When he finished speaking to the crowds, we don't know what he taught on.
Speaker A:He said to Simon, row out farther into the deep water and drop your nets for a catch.
Speaker A:Watch this, too.
Speaker A:The sentessential is still at work.
Speaker A:Ross, I thought we were talking about number two today.
Speaker A:Well, the essentials are happening everywhere all the time because it's Jesus.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:You might think that Jesus didn't notice or care that These guys, these fishermen had worked the third shift, the graveyard shift, trying to catch fish, and they come up with nothing.
Speaker A:They'd worked all night and were empty.
Speaker A:So, first of all, part of the scripture is speaking to people who feel like they're hustling, hustling, hustling, working, working, working.
Speaker A:They're drowning, but they're thirsty.
Speaker A:Your life is full of activity, but not full of quality activity, not fruitful activity.
Speaker A:He notices.
Speaker A:Do you notice the people you walk alongside every day?
Speaker A:But we're not talking about that.
Speaker A:Simon replied.
Speaker A:Can you read?
Speaker A:Stop at the but.
Speaker A:Okay, just read the first sentence.
Speaker A:Are you with me?
Speaker A:Simon replied.
Speaker A:Okay, good.
Speaker A:Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:I want you to imagine for a minute we don't have that next sentence.
Speaker A:This is why you got.
Speaker A:The Bible is not a manual.
Speaker A:Right, Angie.
Speaker A:It's living, it's breathing.
Speaker A:What happens in the gaps is as important as what happens beyond them.
Speaker A:What happens in between the words matters just as much sometimes as what happens with the words.
Speaker A:How did this Simon fella say that sentence?
Speaker A:Well, if you didn't have the second sentence, it might sound like this.
Speaker A:Master, we've worked hard all night and caught nothing.
Speaker A:Translation, bro, you are a stonemason.
Speaker A:We do this for a living.
Speaker A:My daddy fished this lake.
Speaker A:His daddy fished this lake.
Speaker A:We're not just fishermen.
Speaker A:This is our lake.
Speaker A:So I get that everybody wanted to hear your teaching and you think you're a big deal, but we are fishermen, and this is our lake.
Speaker A:We worked hard all night.
Speaker A:So it's real rich for you to show up this morning and tell us what to do.
Speaker A:You ever have that in your heart with people or with God?
Speaker A:They don't say it like that.
Speaker A:Do you know why?
Speaker A:Because they're humble.
Speaker A:I ask for your definition.
Speaker A:Show it here.
Speaker A:Lots of text, but I wanted all this text.
Speaker A:Here's some ways to think about humility.
Speaker A:They have the thing in their heart that makes everything possible.
Speaker A:I would wager that one of the things that our culture and society is suffering so greatly from, that we have an egregious deficit of humility, especially amongst the people who have power, Republicans and Democrats alike, we have a sickening deficit of humility.
Speaker A:A lack of this.
Speaker A:These guys actually believe that there is something greater than someone greater than them.
Speaker A:They actually believe that.
Speaker A:They take so seriously that there's so much that they don't know.
Speaker A:That's one of their assumptions about life.
Speaker A:We don't know a lot.
Speaker A:Can you imagine some of our leaders publicly saying, you know, I don't know yet.
Speaker A:I'm learning about that.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Even though they've experienced so much and seen so much, they believe that there's a lot that they've not seen yet.
Speaker A:That's like their assumption.
Speaker A:They don't believe that they are the center of the universe with all things orbiting them.
Speaker A:Uh, they believe that the center of gravity is somewhere else with someone else.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:You'll see like, like one of our planets.
Speaker A:Last time I checked, like, Venus wasn't like.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:I don't like where I'm at in this situation.
Speaker A:I'm gonna switch with Earth.
Speaker A:I'm sick of it.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:In fact, I don't like the sun.
Speaker A:I'm gonna try to be the center dog here.
Speaker A:I'm sick of this.
Speaker A:I'm sick of just being in an acronym.
Speaker A:Nobody thinks of me.
Speaker A:Nobody cares about me.
Speaker A:Nobody lives on me.
Speaker A:I hate it.
Speaker A:I'm sick of it.
Speaker A:I wanna be the sinner.
Speaker A:I am the sinner.
Speaker A:You know what?
Speaker A:I am the sinner.
Speaker A:Forget it.
Speaker A:You think that's funny?
Speaker A:But like, that's pretty much human beings center gravity people exist to orbit me.
Speaker A:That's what I'm about.
Speaker A:No, these planets.
Speaker A:We exist on one are very happy to exist in this perfect, harmonious, graceful dance around this impossibly wonderful thing we call the star or the sun.
Speaker A:They're happy to exist where they do in this Milky Way galaxy and to let the sun be the center of gravity.
Speaker A:Isn't that cool?
Speaker A:The disciples are like that.
Speaker A:Look what they say.
Speaker A:Oh my God, I want to be like them.
Speaker A:I am like them.
Speaker A:Look at this.
Speaker A:It's so cool.
Speaker A:This is why we have to like chew on the scriptures.
Speaker A:We gotta like spend time with them and search for God's heart through them.
Speaker A:Don't treat it like a textbook.
Speaker A:Good Lord.
Speaker A:Yes, these words are authoritative.
Speaker A:God gave us these words to wrestle with above all else.
Speaker A:Wrestle with them.
Speaker A:Okay, now you can read the whole verse.
Speaker A:Simon replied.
Speaker A:Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Speaker A:You sound like an eighth grade science class at 7:30 in the morning.
Speaker A:This is exciting.
Speaker A:This is Jesus.
Speaker A:God in the flesh, teaching us.
Speaker A:Try again.
Speaker A:Simon replied.
Speaker A:Our entire church pursuit could be summed up in this.
Speaker A:Because you say so.
Speaker A:Our entire church's heart is to figure out what Jesus says and does and try to be about that many days.
Speaker A:You might be like, I don't like what Ross said up there today.
Speaker A:He offended me.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:Well, sometimes I'm not.
Speaker A:But sometimes, sometimes I am.
Speaker A:I'm a guy.
Speaker A:I'm just a guy.
Speaker A:Try to prepare well for our conversations together.
Speaker A:Try to be a good steward of your heart and your mind, your time.
Speaker A:I'm just a guy, though.
Speaker A:My heart, the heart of this church, one of our core values.
Speaker A:We want to fix our eyes on Jesus and live by his spirit.
Speaker A:And our discipleship essential.
Speaker A:We want to be humble, hungry, and willing to seek Jesus.
Speaker A:What does he say?
Speaker A:When?
Speaker A:What does he do?
Speaker A:We want to be about that.
Speaker A:This guy Peter, he doesn't even know Jesus yet.
Speaker A:He doesn't.
Speaker A:It's one thing to know somebody.
Speaker A:It's another thing entirely to trust somebody.
Speaker A:He doesn't know him yet.
Speaker A:He's acquainted with him.
Speaker A:They live in the same area.
Speaker A:It's a small town.
Speaker A:They probably heard the disciples.
Speaker A:Like there's this fellow named Jesus who been hanging around Walmart, healing people.
Speaker A:They've heard that.
Speaker A:They maybe saw him.
Speaker A:Like, there he is over there.
Speaker A:Gosh, he's acting bizarre.
Speaker A:They've seen that.
Speaker A:They're acquainted with him.
Speaker A:They don't know him.
Speaker A:It's one thing to know somebody, another thing to trust somebody.
Speaker A:And yet these guys are humble.
Speaker A:Peter doesn't say, this is my lake, I'm a fisherman.
Speaker A:You're just some artisan.
Speaker A:Get out of here, pal.
Speaker A:No, he says, Jesus says, hey, we've worked hard all night, but because you say so, I'll give it a try.
Speaker A:Give it a try.
Speaker A:I put up in our email that went out this week, Heaven Earth Church email.
Speaker A:If you don't get it, you want to get it.
Speaker A:Heather, you can get on the Church center app.
Speaker A:You enter in your information and email address, everything, and you'll start getting it.
Speaker A:If you don't want the email, don't give us your email address because it'll automatically start sending it to you.
Speaker A:I know we should probably do better on that, but I talked about, like, for much of my life as a Christian, I had this thought buried deep down in the back of my brain and was motivating a lot of my faith life.
Speaker A:If you would have said, ross, do you believe this?
Speaker A:I would have said, no, I don't believe that.
Speaker A:But actually, sometimes those thoughts are buried deep down, motivating us.
Speaker A:And that thought was basically all the things Jesus is saying and telling us to do is a big test.
Speaker A:It's an interest exam.
Speaker A:Like, you might take the GRE or the MCAT or the SAT or whatever.
Speaker A:Basically, Jesus is.
Speaker A:All this stuff is just an entrance exam.
Speaker A:If you do it well at the end, you get to enter.
Speaker A:Now, if you would have asked me when I was 22.
Speaker A:Ross, do you think that.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Nuh.
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:I don't believe that.
Speaker A:Motivating me a lot.
Speaker A:What I now realize, what I now believe.
Speaker A:Jesus doesn't work that way.
Speaker A:He's not a.
Speaker A:He doesn't play games.
Speaker A:I believe what he's actually telling us is the way life actually works.
Speaker A:Like, he's telling Mark and me, like, how we're actually created to live.
Speaker A:So when he says, like, Dave, why.
Speaker A:I'm not assuming you did this week, Dave, but Dave, why do you point out the speck of dust in your neighbor's eye when you got a plank in yours?
Speaker A:Take out the plank of wood in yours, and then you'll see clearly.
Speaker A:He's telling us how we work.
Speaker A:He's telling us how the kingdom of the heavens work.
Speaker A:When he says, don't treasure earthly things.
Speaker A:Desire first the kingdom of the heavens and God's righteousness.
Speaker A:And all these other things will be added to you.
Speaker A:Don't seek heavenly treasures where moths and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal.
Speaker A:Don't seek that stuff.
Speaker A:Seek heavenly treasures.
Speaker A:He's not like, giving you a test, Jill.
Speaker A:Like, hey, if you do that, if you don't try to go get the rich stuff, you'll get to get into heaven and then you get all the rich stuff.
Speaker A:No, he's telling you.
Speaker A:Yeah, partly.
Speaker A:Anyways.
Speaker A:He's saying, like, if you pursue wealth, it will destroy your soul.
Speaker A:Ross, hold on a minute.
Speaker A:Are you saying it's bad to be wealthy?
Speaker A:See how quick we do it?
Speaker A:We fight back.
Speaker A:He's just telling you if your main obsession in life becomes building wealth and greed takes over your heart, it will destroy you utterly, destroy you.
Speaker A:He's telling us how we're actually made to live.
Speaker A:And this guy Simon is going to see it because he's humble and he's hungry.
Speaker A:Second thing, he has a desire.
Speaker A:You see his humility and his openness.
Speaker A:He's been through a lot of things, but he thinks somebody else knows something more than me.
Speaker A:But he also has desire.
Speaker A:Jesus says, Matthew 5, 6.
Speaker A:Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the kingdom of God, for they will be filled until they are satisfied or hunger for righteousness.
Speaker A:Sorry.
Speaker A:Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled until they're satisfied.
Speaker A:You see that?
Speaker A:Like these guys.
Speaker A:How do I know that they're hungry?
Speaker A:He's still willing to fish.
Speaker A:Some of us in the room, some of us online have quit fishing because we've been through a long night.
Speaker A:It's understandable.
Speaker A:Faith has Been hard.
Speaker A:Faithful people who maybe called themselves faithful were not so loving to us.
Speaker A:Maybe a church let us down.
Speaker A:Whatever the case, maybe we've been fishing all night long in faith, and we woke up with nothing in our nets and our bellies are empty.
Speaker A:And so we said, I'm done with fishing.
Speaker A:It's understandable.
Speaker A:Jesus says, blessed are those who keep hungering.
Speaker A:Don't let somebody else make you quit hungering.
Speaker A:These guys keep fishing even though they've been through a long night, and look what happens.
Speaker A:So they dropped the nets, and their catch was so huge that their nets were splitting.
Speaker A:An eternal kind of life.
Speaker A:Ross, are you saying that if I follow Jesus, he'll make me wealthy and healthy?
Speaker A:Some people took verses like these and said, yep.
Speaker A:See, there it is.
Speaker A:Do you believe in Jesus?
Speaker A:He's gonna make your bank account go up, heal you of all your stuff.
Speaker A:It's called.
Speaker A:Anyone know the name for that?
Speaker A:I hear it.
Speaker A:I hear it.
Speaker A:Somebody's whispering it.
Speaker A:You can be a little prouder about it.
Speaker A:What's it called?
Speaker A:Amanda?
Speaker A:Prosperity Gospel.
Speaker A:You know the guys on TV who are like, hey, if you chip in $70 right now and sow your seed, God is gonna give you $7,000 in return.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Maybe I should say this.
Speaker A:Don't send them your money, okay?
Speaker A:If I ever say that to you, you should leave.
Speaker A:You should.
Speaker A:You should, Ross.
Speaker A:But it's right there.
Speaker A:You'd miss the rest of the story.
Speaker A:They're humble, they're hungry, they keep fishing.
Speaker A:Don't quit fishing.
Speaker A:Maybe you have good reason to.
Speaker A:The church let you down.
Speaker A:Faithful people let you down.
Speaker A:You feel like you've been in a rut.
Speaker A:You don't know who Jesus is.
Speaker A:Keep fishing, keep being hungry, keep showing up.
Speaker A:And these guys are willing.
Speaker A:In aa, they say willingness is the key that opens the door.
Speaker A:They say, because you say so, I'll do it.
Speaker A:That's willingness.
Speaker A:It's the willingness to practice something that doesn't make sense yet.
Speaker A:Will you do that?
Speaker A:No.
Speaker A:Jesus, I need to understand what you mean first.
Speaker A:I'll do it, but first, can you give me, like, an itinerary, instructions, how it's going to end up, what it's going to cost me?
Speaker A:These guys are willing to practice something that doesn't make sense yet.
Speaker A:Jim, are you willing?
Speaker A:Joanna, you willing to practice something that doesn't make sense yet, but you have a clear conviction, like, Jesus is saying, I should do this?
Speaker A:If you thought the Prosperity Gospel is what this verse is about, you would miss the rest of the story.
Speaker A:First of all they're like, you guys, this stonemason is really good fisherman, it turns out.
Speaker A:Good thing.
Speaker A:We listen to him.
Speaker A:And then Peter's like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:He feels a little.
Speaker A:I don't know how we should interpret this.
Speaker A:That's not what the sermon is about today.
Speaker A:But look, immediately he feels like, whoo, convicted.
Speaker A:I wonder if he feels a little bit of the thing that Charles is saying.
Speaker A:Maybe he starts to shrink for a minute.
Speaker A:Why are you.
Speaker A:Why am I.
Speaker A:Whoa.
Speaker A:Why are you messing with me?
Speaker A:Why are you.
Speaker A:Why do you care about me?
Speaker A:I'm a worthless sinner.
Speaker A:It may be a good thing we don't know.
Speaker A:Maybe Peter has a right size conviction.
Speaker A:Maybe it's like, man, When I'm in the presence of this radiant person that I now believe to be like something else, it's kind of shining a light on the way I think, and live.
Speaker A:And it's a little bit uncomfortable.
Speaker A:I don't know what it is.
Speaker A:But Simon Peter, this fellow is humble, hungry and willing.
Speaker A:They were overcome with amazement.
Speaker A:Remember, is eternal life quality or quantity?
Speaker A:Yes, amazement.
Speaker A:If you're humble, hungry, and willing to seek Jesus, you will have amazement in your life.
Speaker A:Will I stop noticing the bad things?
Speaker A:I didn't say that.
Speaker A:That's not what I said.
Speaker A:But you will have amazement.
Speaker A:His partners are amazed, too.
Speaker A:But here.
Speaker A:Here's where the prosperity gospel falls apart.
Speaker A:I'm going to believe in Jesus, and he's going to make me a rich fisherman.
Speaker A:No, he's going to ask you to quit your job.
Speaker A:That's where the prosperity gospel breaks down.
Speaker A:Big catch.
Speaker A:You got a vision of like, man, my investment account's going to skyrocket.
Speaker A:This is.
Speaker A:How am I going to figure this out?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:Jesus, you want me to leave my job?
Speaker A:From now on, you'll be fishing for people.
Speaker A:Come, be my apprentice.
Speaker A:Lord, help me.
Speaker A:I wish I could do this.
Speaker A:Ross, is Jesus telling me to quit my job?
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:Maybe that happened once here.
Speaker A:By the way, someone said, hey, your sermon last week made me realize I needed to quit my job.
Speaker A:I was like, geez, hold on a minute.
Speaker A:Whoa.
Speaker A:I don't know the answer to that.
Speaker A:The question that you have in your heart right now.
Speaker A:But I do know this.
Speaker A:I know it because I've experienced it.
Speaker A:If we're humble, hungry, and willing to seek Jesus, there's a life that's going to enter into our midst like we've never experienced before.
Speaker A:Doesn't mean we won't see the hard stuff, but we'll start to believe we have this sort of victory over the hard stuff.
Speaker A:In the end.
Speaker A:I'm still afraid of death.
Speaker A:Hi, I'm Ross.
Speaker A:I'm still afraid of death.
Speaker A:But Jesus has helped me to confront the hard stuff, the dark stuff, and live in freedom and love.
Speaker A:Anyhow, what else I have in here?
Speaker A:No, we're not doing that.
Speaker A:Because it's messed up and I was having a good run.
Speaker A:Go back, act like I didn't see that.
Speaker A:All right, finally.
Speaker A:That's it for me.
Speaker A:What's astern in you?
Speaker A:Sorry, that was an abrupt segue to the end.
Speaker A:What's this stirring you?
Speaker A:I love Simon Peter.
Speaker A:He's my hero.
Speaker C:Maybe focus more on the why for the truth.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker C:Like, don't worry so much about how it's going to happen.
Speaker A:Yeah, maybe not be so obsessed with the how can I add to it, Christy?
Speaker A:Maybe get a little bit more trusting in the who.
Speaker A:Pursue trust essential one, continuous companionship with Jesus.
Speaker A:Cultivate a trusting relationship with him.
Speaker A:When you feel an urge to do something, don't be like, yeah, but how's it going to work out?
Speaker A:Just enough vision for just the next step.
Speaker A:What else?
Speaker A:What's turning to you, Charles?
Speaker C:Who the hell do you think you are?
Speaker A:That's another way to say it.
Speaker C:But his attitude.
Speaker C:There was something, I guess, that they trusted about Jesus.
Speaker C:There was something about his spirit or his teaching authority, whatever, that put them in a position to kind of just trust him.
Speaker C:Like, embodied trust that.
Speaker A:I forgot to mention this.
Speaker A:It was kind of one of the most important parts of the message.
Speaker A:Dang.
Speaker A:All right, this will take 30 seconds, I promise.
Speaker A:So I'm going to start counting.
Speaker A:Put me on a clock.
Speaker A:I'll show you.
Speaker A:Jesus himself carried himself with that HHW mindset.
Speaker A: Matthew: Speaker A:Put my yoke and learn from me.
Speaker A:I'm gentle and humble.
Speaker A:You'll find rest for yourselves.
Speaker A:Jesus carried himself with this.
Speaker A:There's something about the minute you were in Jesus's presence, you were like, this guy is trustworthy in a really different way.
Speaker A:Which makes our experience of kind of betrayals of trust in the church so disheartening because Jesus was such a supremely trustworthy person.
Speaker A:Person.
Speaker A:What else?
Speaker A:What's stirring in you with this humble, hungry, willing discipleship, essential Joey.
Speaker C:Situation?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:We talked about this two weeks ago.
Speaker A:Part of that humble, hungry, willing mindset is loving the spiritual art of discernment.
Speaker A:Like, you start to develop the habit of, like, looking and listening for God's guidance before you lead to action.
Speaker A:Did I say that we have a humility deficit.
Speaker A:We have a discernment deficit too.
Speaker A:A lot of people leap into action.
Speaker A:A lot of people not honoring this maxim.
Speaker A:Don't just do something, stand there, you know, a little more of that.
Speaker A:What else?
Speaker A:What's stern in you?
Speaker C:I think we worry a lot about what we want, what we think we need, making sure we keep going after it.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:So maybe we get stuck in a scarcity mindset.
Speaker A:Like if I don't go hustle and do these things and I'll be left.
Speaker A:And there's a bit of that.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker A:Like we have a lot of our neighbors, some people in the room like how they're hustling every week to make ends meet.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:But we can get kind of stuck in a scarcity mindset, like everything is scarce, rather than trusting in God's abundance and provision.
Speaker A:I saw a hand somewhere, Adam.
Speaker C:It takes a bit of a reset to be told, like the.
Speaker C:Your nest back in.
Speaker C:It takes a bit of a reset to.
Speaker C:I think we come to the notion of eternal life with a presupposition of what that looks like and what it means, and that's what we're looking for.
Speaker C:And it's hard to back off of that and really make yourself open to how does, how does the Holy Spirit want to form that vision in my life?
Speaker A:And.
Speaker C:So that's where I think we project a lot of our presupposition onto these things.
Speaker C:Kind of come to it thinking we know what it means or what it looks like because of what we know, because of our experience.
Speaker C:And I think that can be a lot of shame.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:That's what discernment is about too.
Speaker A:Like is discernment helps us be aware of our own assumptions and expectations.
Speaker A:That's hard.
Speaker A:Right?
Speaker A:You always hear me quote this from aa.
Speaker A:Expectations are pre planned resentments.
Speaker A:Well, that works with God too.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So I'll have Brandon Adam join me up here while we take maybe one more.
Speaker A:Ooh, hey, Joanne, will you go get the kids, please?
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker A:We need them in here for this closing.
Speaker A:They're gonna help us get a little bit more comfortable with being silly.
Speaker A:Some of you are so scared of being silly.
Speaker A:What else, Debbie?
Speaker A:We'll take yours too, Andy, in a minute.
Speaker A:It makes you think about how we.
Speaker C:How our judges.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Debbie's just noting that part about like, if we are humble and hungry, willing to seek Jesus, we're going to start getting this eternal kind of life and we're going to want it for everyone too.
Speaker A:That's how you'll know the difference.
Speaker A:Which is what?
Speaker A:They don't need to be quiet.
Speaker A:Bring them on in.
Speaker A:They're good.
Speaker A:Michael, we need some of that rowdiness here in a minute.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Like, one of the things that I got used to in the church, I'm not saying everybody, but in some of my upbringing, I was around some Christians who were glad that they had this thing, and they were, like, dancing on the grave of other people.
Speaker A:Like, man, look at that lowlife over there.
Speaker A:So wicked.
Speaker A:Whatever.
Speaker A:Good thing I have it.
Speaker A:Andy, do you have something in the back?
Speaker A:I know you're bombarded now with kids, but yes, if you get the nudge or the push, you are the right person for the job.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:There's an old saying, Jesus doesn't call the qualified.
Speaker A:He qualifies the called.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker A:Hey, stand up with us, if you will, please.
Speaker A:Now, listen, you can sit there like a bump on a long during this song, that's fine.
Speaker A:If you're an introvert and you're like, I ain't doing it, Ross.
Speaker A:I ain't doing it.
Speaker A:Just playing Peace like a river again.
Speaker A:At the very least, just sing it with us.
Speaker A:Iva, where's my Iva?
Speaker A:Iva, babe, get into it.
Speaker A:All right?
Speaker A:Help the people clap.
Speaker A:Do whatever you want to do, babe.
Speaker A:Kinsley, you can come on up if you want.
Speaker A:Yep, we're gonna sing.
Speaker A:We're not singing this because it's true yet.
Speaker A:Do you hear what I said?
Speaker A:We're not singing this because it's true yet.
Speaker A:But we believe if we're humble, hungry and willing to seek Jesus, he will unearth in us.
Speaker A:Peace like a river, Joy like a fountain Love for my Savior.
Speaker B:Thank you for participating in the conversation happening at Heaven Earth Church.
Speaker B:Your next opportunity to do so live is this Sunday morning, 9:30am Eastern Time, either at the main campus at 3:09 East Main in Whiteland, Indiana, or online at YouTube Live.
Speaker B:That's@YouTube.com heavenerthchurch.
Speaker B:The audio podcast is always available at Apple Podcast and on Spotify.
Speaker B: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.
Speaker B:Instructions on how to do just that and links are in the show notes.
Speaker B:You can always find out more by going to the church website heavenearthchurch.org.
Speaker A:We want to thank you for spending time with us today.
Speaker A:My name is Ross Stackhouse, the pastor to Heaven Earth Church.
Speaker A:And you may think out there that your story is over.
Speaker A:But in fact, your faith story may just be beginning.
Speaker A:If you want more information about our church or you're interested in the next step, you can go to heavenearthchurch.org otherwise we look forward to being with you next time at the Heaven Earth Church Podcast.
