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A podcast especially for our Prayer Time community
**Prayer Time Heir Waves episodes are edited for clarity and conciseness. Transcripts are generated using Machine Learning. They may contain typos, misspellings, omissions, and misheard words. Accuracy is not guaranteed. Please use for reference only.**
[00:00:00] Carl Nicolson: Now, we're legit!
[00:00:03] Pastor Addy: Have mercy!
Sorry. Okay. Just want to thank You because in Your presence there is fullness of joy.
[00:00:14] Carl Nicolson: Yes, Lord.
[00:00:15] Pastor Addy: Thank You for the fellowship and what we enjoy when we come to Your presence. Thank You so much, for all You've done for us, even as we sit in Your presence now, Lord, we pray that You will speak through Carl and his Better Half.
[00:00:34] Carl Nicolson: Yes.
They will minister life to us. Thank You for these great men that are sitting around the table and those that are online. We thank You for that which You have in store for all of us. We pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, that every destiny here will hear You say to them on that day, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
We know that we cannot live by bread alone. . But there is a preceding Word that can change things. We are open, Lord, to receive with meekness the engrafted Word. Thank You for all You've done for us in Jesus' matchless name we have prayed, Amen.
Guys, thank you so much for letting us take a turn. I'm glad you got to go part one and part two too. That would have been too much to cram into one week.
[00:01:30] George La Du: Yeah, thank you for letting me.
[00:01:32] Carl Nicolson: Yeah, plus I think it's easier to remember if you don't do an interrupted one.
I'm as curious as anybody to hear what you're going to share.
[00:01:43] Angela Nicolson: Yeah, even though we're married and we live in the same place, we didn't, we prepared separately.
[00:01:49] Carl Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:01:49] Angela Nicolson: So we have thoughts that are, unique to us.
[00:01:53] Carl Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:01:54] Angela Nicolson: And we trust the Holy Spirit to bind them together.
[00:01:57] Carl Nicolson: Yes.
[00:01:57] George La Du: There you go.
[00:01:57] Nilaksha Fernando: Did you have a topic and then you said, spoke separately, or
[00:02:00] Carl Nicolson: We just, we
[00:02:01] Angela Nicolson: most of the time talked about, but we didn't.
[00:02:03] Carl Nicolson: Yeah, we talked about what we're gonna talk about, but we both felt I think it'd be fun if we both stayed in this little vein. Yeah.
[00:02:10] Nilaksha Fernando: Love it.
[00:02:11] Carl Nicolson: It's like dim sum. You have a little, this little that.
[00:02:16] Angela Nicolson: All right Carl wanted ladies first, so we are, our group here is based on learning Scripture and figuring out how to apply it to our lives and building business and fostering growth and life. So I thought I would just share a little bit about some thoughts I've been having on eternal wisdom and focusing on the Parable of the Sower as well.
So when I was 30 years old, I began a business that became very much a mutual business as. things tend to when you're married. I'm going to be turning 53 on Saturday. So it's been a couple of years.
[00:02:58] Pastor Addy: Thank you Father for long life.
[00:03:00] Angela Nicolson: We are building business and we collectively are building business in various ways. And that's our privilege to apply the wisdom of God, which is the wisdom of the ages to our everyday lives. And how that applies to the The big things, the small things the unique endeavours that we do.
And what I'd like to talk to you about today is that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We're here to encourage each other, to exhort each other, to help each other to grow. In a way that will bring us closer to Jesus and providentially that then brings people that were around closer to Jesus. So I'd love to read from Mark chapter 4.
You can read along if you'd like. I'll be reading , the Parable of the Sower.
[00:03:49] Carl Nicolson: Starting in verse?
[00:03:52] Angela Nicolson: Verse 1.
And I love how the Scripture is so connected, there's just like little seeds, speaking of sowing seeds, there's little seeds of truth, the same truth, that kind of filter themselves through different passages. So in, from Mark 4 chapter, chapter 4 verse 1,
_"Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around Him was so large that He got into a boat. and sat in it out on the lake while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. He taught them many things by parables and in His teaching said, _
_'Listen, a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seeds, some fell along the path and the birds came and ate it up._
_Some fell on rocky places where it did not have much soil, sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root._
_Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. _
_Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and grew, produced a crop. Some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.' _
_Then Jesus said, 'Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.' _
_When He was alone, the twelve and the others around Him, not just the twelve, but the others around Him, asked him about the parables._
_He told them, 'The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables, so that they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding. Otherwise, they might turn and be forgiven.' _
And I love how Jesus, we know Jesus is love.
He is not just somebody who em, em, acted out loving things. He is love. And yet he also has these moments of what?
_So Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" _
There's funny little things that He says.
_"The farmer sows the seed. Some people are like the seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. _
_Others, like the seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away._
_Still others, like seeds sown among thorns, hear the word. But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. _
_Others like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it and produce a crop. Some 30, some 60 and some a hundred times what was sown."_
And then He follows it with this passage about:
_"Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don't you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."_
Wow, I, I mean I just, I think all of us could just sit here and read and read the Word of God, and it would be so life-giving.
[00:07:33] Carl Nicolson: This is the Word of the Lord.
[00:07:34] Angela Nicolson: This is the Word of the Lord.
[00:07:36] Pastor Addy: Thanks be unto God.
[00:07:38] Angela Nicolson: My sister and I were talking about this the other day, that she was sitting under the teaching of somebody at a conference, where they were talking about the fact that that Satan has been de-toothed and de-clawed.
Now, I think that from a standpoint of eternally eternally being effective and powerful, that could be true. But as verse 15 says, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. He is now, he's still powerful. And one of the things that God, revealed to me in the last couple of months as I was thinking about some spiritual warfare things.
I've been really, I think I've been really contending with some spiritual warfare on a couple of different projects that I'm working on. And it's been, you have to discern is this the Lord telling me not to go a certain direction? Or is this the enemy who's trying to block the, the work of God through this form.
And I think that my mistake was to think that I would say things to myself and other people like Satan loves to tear us down or Satan loves to do this. No, there is no love. Satan does not love anything. He just hates, right? He hates us. He hates good. He hates everything about God.
And that was important for me to remember, just that subtle and very profound, important change of thought process there. That there is no love in the enemy. He is purely here to kill, steal, and destroy.
So having said that I think is really important to remember as we talk about sowing seeds, because when Jesus was talking about the Parable of the Sower and the seed and the soil in this passage, He's talking about salvation and He is not changing the seed in any of those circumstances.
Like every recipient in that illustration was given the same seed. The difference was the soil. So I think that's important for us to remember as believers whether
We are enlisted to help the kingdom of God to sow that seed. We are sowing the seed of the Word of God And it is the same seed that Jesus is talking about It is a different soil. So it's because we know how he operates, even though we know it's salvation related, it's not just like a picture of time. of salvation when we believe that Jesus died for our sins and that we are saved by His blood.
It's not just that picture of time. He's talking about spiritual growth in our lives, and I love that there are so many illustrations that talk about growth, planting, harvesting seeds in other contexts, too.
[00:10:42] Carl Nicolson: Pruning.
[00:10:43] Angela Nicolson: Yeah,
[00:10:44] Carl Nicolson: I don't like that word.
[00:10:45] Angela Nicolson: It's very important, pruning,
[00:10:46] Carl Nicolson: I prefer not to go through with pruning.
[00:10:48] Chad Williams: That's true.
[00:10:48] Angela Nicolson: And that is a really important part. Anybody who loves gardening, you, you just have to get rid of some of the things, even if you think that they are bearing fruit or they're beautiful, there's flowers and leaves on something, you still have to prune them in order to achieve greater growth.
So He's talking about our own growth. He's talking about the growth that we're responsible for in the lives of other people.
He calls us to be people who show and who share and who shine the light of Christ around us. And the Parable of the Sower allows us to look at the different ways that the seeds can be either fruitful forever or fruitful for a time or not fruitful at all.
And I love how, because God is life, and He imbues everything with His life, that whether we're talking about small things or big things or whether you're talking in, like horticulturally, if you're talking about ground cover or huge oaks or if you're talking about spores or everything is imbued with His life.
And so I believe that this Parable of the Sower can apply also to business growth and to family life growth. and to relationship growth, where we can be sowing the same seed, and yet the soil that we are encountering is going to be different. And that's dependent on the hearer and on the client. Or the friend.
Sometimes the fruit of that seed planting doesn't show up for a long time. We had a wonderful reunion with an old college friend that Carl lived with while we were dating. And and then I was talking on the phone with my sister about another old college friend. And we were seeing in their lives the growth that happens over many years.
When somebody sets a trajectory a certain way. if you're just one degree off from where you want to be, 30 years later, you're quite a long way off. You've missed the whole goal, and on the other hand, sometimes—God is gracious all the time—and so sometimes He guides us back from our deviations along the way.
But that seed that is growing in us and in the people that we are around what a privilege to be able to sow the seed of the Word of God. And I believe if it's not too much of a stretch to say that even in our work and in our avocational pursuits in everything that we do, our travels, our. engagements with people, both, in deep ones as well as just meeting the people around us. All of those things are imbued with that life force of the truth of God and that sowing of the seed. of the Word of God can be applied in all of those ways.
And I love that's how, who God is. He is life, and so He brings life. He can't not bring life because that's who He is. And all life is connected to that life.
[00:14:05] Carl Nicolson: Isn't it in Chronicles of Narnia where Aslan, the character that's portraying God, is walking along through Narnia and where his foot falls like blossoms are growing?
Is that, am I remembering that correctly?
[00:14:18] Angela Nicolson: I think that's right, yeah.
[00:14:19] Carl Nicolson: But it's like that, like He, He just can't help but to make life come out of, He's the only one where it's _ex nihilo_, right? Out of nothing.
[00:14:26] Angela Nicolson: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah, I was also thinking, just as a creative person, I was also thinking about that.
A lot of you are creative. I think all of us are creative. Some of you know it. Everything that we create, is created with something that was already created by God. Everything that we see, everything that we use, everything was created by something that was here at the beginning of Creation.
And I love that.
Carl and I are meeting later this afternoon with a couple who's going to be hiring me and by extension, Carl to list their property. We met seven years ago when we were helping a dear friend moving, move into this historic condo building, beautiful condo building in Northwest.
We've spent several years engaging with them. Some periods of time more intensely. Some just, oh, happened to see them on the side of the street. Loving them, getting to know them. Not pushing our faith on them. Not pushing real estate on them. Just sharing the love of Jesus through lifestyle evangelism.
And and I know that our friend who moved into that building is also you know, such a dear lover of God and shares her faith through lifestyle evangelism. So just knowing that we are people of integrity, that lamp that has been set on the stand by the grace of God, we are now being asked to step into their lives in a more intimate way.
And probably also, knowing the way that we go, we'll be able to share, philosophical, theological, spiritual things in a more intimate way with them and It often happens this way. It's a little sad that people we help people move out of Portland. So they're moving out of Portland, but for the time that we have we all have these glimpses of time with people You know, we show we sow the seed of Christ's love. We sow the seed, it depends on the soil.
The business soil was fertile. We hope the spiritual soil will be fertile.
[00:16:31] Chad Williams: Yeah,
[00:16:34] Carl Nicolson: I always marvel when we get to this point in the relationship. So much of the actual interaction is the interpersonal and the we pray spiritual. The topic is actually just nuts and bolts of property valuations, but I love that God places us in interactions and relationships where the real reason, that we're having these engagements is because we are so eager that they would fully respond to God's love.
And I just, I thank God that he answers our prayers that would happen, that we could rub shoulders with them and express what we understand of God's love. Articulate it with His Spirit.
Thank You, Holy Spirit.
What if we were on our own and it was all up to us? Ah, that's awful. No, thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Holy Spirit.
[00:17:29] Scott Waggoner: Yeah, but you've earned the right for a more, for a deeper relationship just by being patient, and by loving them. That is like a great return on your relational investment. You didn't have to beat him over the head, you didn't, you just had to love him. And then the seed returns in time.
So that's exciting.
[00:17:46] Angela Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:17:47] Scott Waggoner: That's really cool.
[00:17:48] Angela Nicolson: Thank you. I think that's probably where all of us we are tempted to go wrong. We plant a seed and we want to pull it up and help it to grow. , You put the cake in the oven and you're like is it done yet? Is it done?
It needs time to you have said this, but over the years, many times you plant the seed and then you have time. Oh, and then you harvest.
[00:18:09] Carl Nicolson: I have a vivid memory of you doing that, and you stood up to make the point, seed time, and then harvest. I always thought of it as seed time. Like it was the time to plant the seed.
I didn't think about the time being a long divider between seed and harvest.
[00:18:29] Pastor Addy: I like it when you say everything God does is salvific. I love that because that's the end game. And everyone you sit in this room, that's the same decision you make. If I came to this dear pastor, and I tell him, "Say, I want to give you a billion dollars so you can go to Hell. Enjoy yourself in this life and spend the rest of your life in Hell." He would tell me, "No."
And she started by saying everything God does, we got to see it that way, it's significant. Because anything that emanates from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God rejects that. And so she's trying to bring us to that understanding because the incorruptible seed liveth and abideth forever. That proceeding word from out of God, you know?
So these guys go out and they cast out all the demons, they kind of rejoice in that subject and Jesus said no, your names are written there That's the goal. That way you rejoice in Him because you'll be in intimacy with the Father. We're all sitting down rejoice not because of the demon you can't see all But rejoice because your names are written there.
You'll be intimate, that's the end game. You'll be intimate with your Father. And she started off by saying, bless my heart, that everything God does is salvific in nature.
[00:19:51] George La Du: When you mentioned the seed and I was thinking why is it sometimes there's 30 fold and 60 fold and 100 fold?
[00:19:59] Angela Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:20:00] George La Du: And I've been saying that it has to do with the fertileness of the ground.
How in the ground you're sowing into it will produce accordingly. But what just came to me as you were talking was the fertileness in you when you're sowing into people's lives is producing a fertileness in them.
[00:20:28] Carl Nicolson: Oh, wow.
[00:20:30] George La Du: And they're responding to you now after so many years because of that quality of ground.
[00:20:39] Carl Nicolson: Wow.
[00:20:40] Angela Nicolson: Wow.
[00:20:41] George La Du: Wow. Yeah.
[00:20:42] Carl Nicolson: Yes. Thank you. It's very exciting.
[00:20:45] Pastor Addy: Amen.
[00:20:47] George La Du: I did, I never imagined myself having a part in somebody else's fertileness.
[00:20:54] Angela Nicolson: But yeah, you can, you can, yeah, it's a good thing.
[00:20:57] George La Du: Or,
[00:20:58] Angela Nicolson: Fertilize that soil.
[00:20:59] Carl Nicolson: In my lesser, weaker moments, I am very sure I have sown seeds of discordance, which, Lord forgive me.
[00:21:07] Angela Nicolson: Yeah, we're human.
[00:21:08] Carl Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:21:09] George La Du: Yeah what am I sowing?
[00:21:12] Angela Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:21:13] Kenneth (Bishop): St. John 7:20. That's uh, that, that was really important, but that was beautiful. I like that. I always like this verse when it says the soul is the word. If I knew something, I wouldn't have to die. Nothing that I can't. So one thing that He had given what He says in that day, you shall know that I am in my Father and my Father.
So that means that He's in the Father. That means you. Are you me? And that if you and me, I mean you, so that's why they were confused. Who's the Father? I'm in the Father because I want you to tell Moses that I am. Then later on, He cleared it by to make sure they know I am He. And so that's something that this says that if you don't know this parable, How can you know all the parables?
Which was beautiful. I always enjoyed that. That's excited me in my lifetime to see this. You have to study that one. If you don't understand this one, you're going to have difficulty with all the other parables. How would you understand it without this? And so the source, so that's why Paul says, some sow, some plant, whatever, but some water.
But who gives the increase? That's good, I enjoyed it.
[00:22:37] Angela Nicolson: I just realized that, one of the other a verses that I was talking to my sister about some of the, spiritual engagements that they've been involved with and some people who have sown really terrible seeds in their lives.
And I, my thoughts went to Luke chapter 11, which kind of ties into what you're talking about here, where Jesus is sitting there at the house of a Pharisee. Do you mind if I read a little? This is pretty, I just whoa let's not be like these people.
Now then Luke 11, verse 39.
_"Now then, you Pharisees, clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, You are full of greed and wickedness, you foolish people. Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now, as for what is inside you, be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. Woe to you, Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue, and all other kinds of garden herbs..."_
Which, I think his point is that they're, like, super legalistic about every little detail.
_"...but you neglect justice, and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone." _
I love that verse.
_"You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. _
_Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces._
_Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it. _
_And then one of the experts in the law answered Him, Teacher, when You say these things, You insult us also."_
[00:24:21] George La Du: That's the point, guys!
[00:24:22] Pastor Addy: The flesh gotta show up.
[00:24:29] Angela Nicolson: Yeah and I love Jesus' answer because, as we said earlier, Jesus is love.
And this is what He said,
_"And you experts in the law, woe to you because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry. And you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them. Woe to you because you build tombs for the prophets and it was your ancestors who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your ancestors did._
_They killed the prophets and you built their tombs. Because of this, God, in His wisdom, said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill, and others they will persecute.' _
_Therefore, this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that have been shed since the beginning of the world._
_From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary, yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all."_
And then this verse number 52 was the verse that I had thought of, which led me to this passage in the first place. And, may it never be said of us,
_"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."_
[00:25:46] Carl Nicolson: That's true.
[00:25:47] Angela Nicolson: Oh my word.
I think about that with sowing of the seeds. May we sow the seed of the Word of God. May that be the seed that we sow that is at the core of everything that we sow. Whether it's business relationships, personal relationships, ministry, everything may we sow the seed that is imbued with the Word of God and His salvation.
Those are the thoughts that were running through my mind.
[00:26:14] Nilaksha Fernando: You made the point, it was very interesting that the seed that was sown was the same seed on all four situations, right?
I don't sow the same seed at every situation that I'm in, right? I sometimes don't sow the seed of righteousness, if I may say.
Sometimes I do something else. That's interesting to think about like, sow the same seed, right through.
[00:26:43] Angela Nicolson: Yeah, that's good.
[00:26:45] Pastor Addy: Great point.
[00:26:46] Angela Nicolson: Yeah.
[00:26:47] Pastor Addy: You understand what he just said? Yeah. The proceeding Word from the mouth of God. The seed of the Word of God that God will give you for your situation. Will be different seed of the Word of God that God will give him.
So every seed depend on his harvest. God will send the Word, or he will have to sow that seed guided with a heart to produce the harvest that is necessary for what he needs. Another would've been leading, healing, another financial breakthrough or all the different seed that God will send our way would be different, but we have to guide that seed to understand and produce the harvest.
[00:27:19] Carl Nicolson: So . Thank you so much.
[00:27:23] Pastor Addy: Yeah, that's amazing.
[00:27:24] Nilaksha Fernando: It's very good.
[00:27:26] Pastor Addy: Wow. That was good. Thank you.
[00:27:33] George La Du: Very good.
[00:27:34] Pastor Addy: I want to say you wouldn't want to defeat your wife, so go ahead, we understand that. Yeah. She has to outshine you.
[00:27:40] Carl Nicolson: This will not be a problem. No problem.
[00:27:47] Pastor Addy: Because she has so blessed us!
[00:27:53] Carl Nicolson: I feel like I have just had a multi-course meal from a very gifted French chef and I'm like, "Hey guys, anybody feel like a little mac and cheese?"
[00:28:02] Chad Williams: You can be dessert.
[00:28:05] Carl Nicolson: Okay, I'll be dessert.
[00:28:06] Pastor Addy: We're in.
[00:28:06] Chad Williams: Sounds delicious.
[00:28:09] Carl Nicolson: You've heard me comment on this before, we've been in Prayer Time but I try through my life and I love that God answers this prayer, my desire for kind of whimsy and winsomeness and the ways that God reveals His truth, His nature to me in Nature, in Creation, in people that I meet, in animals that we love observations of interactions.
One of the ways that God has just repeatedly visited me with kind of parables that I am experiencing and not just reading is through our little kitty, Fonzie.
And I've mentioned his name to you before. I'm going to bring up a picture of him again just to show you.
Back in October of 2009 this little guy was a little teeny weenie lost kitten in the forest and he adopted us as his people.
We put up notes wherever we went around the neighbourhood for a while to see if anybody lost him. No one came forward to claim him, so we were very thankful that he was guided to us.
[00:29:13] Pastor Addy: Oh yeah, I've seen this guy before.
[00:29:17] Carl Nicolson: Arthur Fonzarelli, guys. We knew his name was his name when we both thought of it at the same time.
We're sitting in the Burgerville in Canby, and we were thinking through a few different names, and we waited a little bit of time, so it seemed like he kinda was in the middle of naming himself. And when we both at the same time thought about it, "What about Fonzie?" That's it, and we even noticed later he has thumb claws.
So like the character on _Happy Days_ that went like, "Hey!" He can do that if he wants to.
Have you ever seen this show we're talking about? In the '70s there was an American television show called _Happy Days_, and one of the main characters was Fonzie. Anyway, what an inspiration. But....
When, this is a couple years ago now, I don't have the same relationship to him as Angela has.
This is definitely Fonzie's "Main Person." His whole kitty world kind of revolves around her.
[00:30:15] Angela Nicolson: He loves you.
[00:30:16] Carl Nicolson: He loves me, but we just have a different way of engaging. And I refer to him and me when we do this stuff together: we're "The Chaps." So, The Chaps do certain things, but neither of us engage with Aunt Angela the same way.
He, a few years ago did a thing. He never does this. He sits on her, rests on her and puts his paw in her and claims ownership over her all the time, but he hardly ever will cuddle with me.
So one time I was having a kind of a blue day and I think maybe sometimes God sends creatures toward us because they can sense maybe something isn't quite as it would be. And so God used Fonzie to minister to me. And I'm laying on the floor and kind of a little crumpled heap of my own. I don't even know what was going on, but something was pitiful in my mind. And something was not quite right with the world.
And Fonzie hops up on my back. And he starts just becoming, first he kneads on me, that's one of his little love languages, he'll make this motion with his paws, and he's purring all real loud, and then he sits like a little loaf of bread on my back. He never does that! He's just, sitting there making his presence felt on me.
And I had been reading at the time a verse, a little a psalm. And I still, to this day, I don't quite know why the things that came after this, that God revealed to me through Fonzie are related to this verse, but I'm sharing this with you as the snapshot of what God was impressing on me.
And so sometimes I think God will use something entirely unrelated to remind us of something that very much matters that we would know and learn.
So what I've been thinking of in that moment prior to Fonzie making his presence very much known upon me, Psalm 125.
This is from the Voice translation:
_"All who have faith in the Eternal stand as Mount Zion, unmoved, enduring, eternal._
_Just as the mountains around Jerusalem embrace her, the Eternal, too, wraps around those who belong to Him, for this moment, and for every moment to come. _
_For wickedness will not get the upper hand. It shall not rule the land where righteous people live, lest good people go bad and do what is wrong._
_Be good, Eternal One, to those who are good, and to those who are filled with integrity. The Eternal will send all the wicked away, along with those who pervert what's good, and twist it in their own crooked way. May peace be with Israel."_
Thank You, Lord.
[00:33:04] Pastor Addy: Hallelujah.
There's lots in there, I think that would be a wonderful entire sentence diagramming Bible study for the Bible nerds among us. I would love to do that sometime, but for right now, I'll let that sit in your thoughts and go back in time with me.
Here's this unlikely messenger of God's love. He's now laying on my back and he's still purring. He's a loaf of bread making a sound.
And I just started thinking, well, Lord, you sent that word into my mind and you sent this little creature to my back for some reason. So I'm going to rest and bask. I'm going to wait in this moment and not try to hurry it up. Would you reveal yourself to me God, of what you intend for me to draw from this experience?
So I wrote down the five things that God brought to my attention and not at the time, but thereafter I went through the Scriptures and just recounted some passages that I knew would attach to these concepts. The first one was,
*God's presence has weight. At times I notice it.*
It always has weight, but sometimes I'm more conscious of Him pressing upon me.
Ways that He presses on me in discipline. There are ways that He prunes, and we're like, "Oh, Lord, really was that necessary? That's leaving a pretty big open spot right here."
And other times the weight of His blessing is just tangible, that you feel the perfume of His aroma, of His love that we don't deserve.
That led me to be thinking about the other things in our lives which have weight. And this is encouraging to me. 2nd Corinthians 4:17 from the King Jimmy:
_"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. _
How much does glory weigh? I just love thinking about that.
God, thank You.
I'm still sitting there. Fonzie's still sitting there. He's on top of me.
The other thought that came to me was
*God expresses His love in surprising ways. Will I anticipate its surety?*
The sureness, the reliability, the utter full manifestation of who God is. It can be a surprise to me, but to use a little bit of your analogy from last week, sometimes I'm not tuned in.
It's God's broadcasting His love, but I'm just me, my problem. Oh, wait. Oh, there's more that I could tune into than just those thoughts, right?
From Psalm 119 verses 121 and 122. Oh, wow. I like that.
_"I have done judgment and justice. Leave me not to mine oppressors. Be surety for thy servant for good._
_"_Let me not,"
Sorry._ _
_"Let not the proud oppress me."_
Will I anticipate. the surety of God's love?
Fonzie is still sitting on top of me. He's nestling in for the long haul.
Third thought that God brought to me,
*God is with us in the smallest of ways, as well as in His majesty. May my spiritual vision grow ever more keen, like a watchman.*
I love that God reveals Himself to us in all of the ways that come to mind when we think of His majesty.
Remember a few years ago we found that app that lets you slide the scale down to the subatomic level on one side, and then all the way up to just the terrestrial, and the extraterrestrial, and the extragalactic, and... why do I ever worry about anything is how I come away from that experience!
But also in the little moments that God would lavish His love on us where there are such particular things, even the experience I was having in the moment of,
What would really bless Carl and reverberate in his mind for years? I'm just going to, 'Hey. Psst. Go hop up on Uncle Carl.'"
And He does that.
He loves us in these just intimate, very personal ways. It isn't just like He happened to ordain love in this province. And if you go into that province, there shall be love. It's very particular to each of us, right? It's very personal. I love that.
This is more than dessert.
[00:37:56] Carl Nicolson: Maybe it could be a Baked Alaskan.
I've always been fascinated ever since I discovered what a watchman is when I was a kid. And I always thought, man, if I ever had to serve in some kind of capacity in the military, I would really like that idea of the being careful to watch for what might be happening.
Could be good news. There were watchmen who would wait for the lord of the home to come back and you want to make sure, Hey, he's coming back. Get everything going.
Other times you're like, Oh my gosh, here comes a sandstorm. We need to batten the hatches or look, here comes a bunch of chariots and dudes don't look very happy.
We probably going to do something about that.
The watchman plays an important part. And I love this when Jesus is talking to his closest friends
_"And He cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep. And saith unto Peter, 'What? Could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"_
So beautiful. His love, His patience. He's not shying away from the exhortation.... He's calling Peter to something greater. He's recognizing he wants to do the right things, but our flesh gets in our way.
Fonzie is still set on top of me. I can't believe it. This has been like in Fonzie time, it's been like, he's been on my back all afternoon because a minute and a half is a long time, but he's there for a while.
Number four.
*God's presence abides with us beyond the limitations of our pessimism and lack of worthiness.* *Will I receive Him?*
God's presence abides with us beyond the limitations of our pessimism and lack of worthiness. Will I receive Him?
A lot of times I sense that as I look back and then if I'm more conscious in the moment, it is not God who is not speaking. It is I who is not listening. Right?
I am not receiving the Word that He has given His Word.
The people around me, you guys who speak truth and love into my life, if I am not careful, I can just tune that all out. , and revert back into some inward spiral of pessimism that prevents me from this blessing. And then also being able to be part of the blessing of what God is doing through us to each other.
John 15:4. And I bet some of you among us could quote this in the King Jimmy. I won't stop you if you want to jump in
Abide all the way down, but let's go ahead. I'll listen.
_"Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can you, except you abide in Me."_
[00:41:18] Kenneth (Bishop): Hallelujah!
[00:41:19] Carl Nicolson: Yes!
[00:41:19] Pastor Addy: Woo! Praise the Lord! Glory to God!
[00:41:23] Carl Nicolson: Love it! Now bear in mind again, this was not in all that moment that I was able to think through these verses, but I'm so thankful that God used them as stepping stones for me to reflect on some very important passages.
Last thing. This is the part I knew would happen because there is only a certain amount of time where a little creature is going to just nestle on top of you, especially if he's more inclined to be running off and doing something rascally.
But as soon as he hears the click of the front door of Angela returning from wherever she had been, he hops right off, and bounds down the stairs of all the joy of,
"You're back. I love you; you're my Main Person!
And a little bit of me was sad "Aw, we were having such a good time together. I love that little guy."
But, this is what God brought into my heart to think about:
*God moves to express His love to others in special ways that further manifest His particular love. May I rejoice as others rejoice.*
God moves to express his love to others in special ways that further manifest his particular love. May I rejoice as others rejoice.
And then Romans 12:15:
_"Rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep."_
I love that God gives us this. He gives us each other. I've been reflecting on that a lot. You've probably heard me say it a lot recently. God gives us each other.
That we get to be growing together.
That we get to help build into each other.
If you're Angela, that you get to endure me.
To be patient with each other.
To help exhort or encourage each other.
What a gift!
God with us, right? And that He sends us into each other's lives. I really appreciate you guys. Thank you for the ways you've spoken into my life, and thank you for letting me share a little bit about what God is speaking into my life.
[00:43:26] Pastor Addy: Before, before, before you, oh my goodness not so?. You the computer guys, go to the cloud. But right above me, there's movies, there's CNN, there's all these different things, they're right here. I can determine which one I want to catch. I can turn on the YouTube now and watch the movies that I want to watch that's in the cloud.
I can watch in the cloud, or I can download it into my phone, into my hard drive. Go, Jesus said if you don't understand this parable, you don't understand any other parable. So anytime God is dealing with anybody, the first thing God does, He will send the proceeding word to the person. He will always give you a word.
If you Moses, point your rod to the sea. If you this, give three times. Or do this. He will always send the proceeding word. He said, once you receive the proceeding word, now you have divine backing from heaven. Because you can't just go on your own without hearing from Him. He said, so when you receive that word from God, you say, because the place you begin from is to get the word of the Lord concerning the situation.
So Jesus said in this parable, you got to get the word of the Lord. He said, don't lean to your own understanding in everything you're doing. He said, because He said, that's how the kingdom of God function. God chose you to go do that. Now you have divine backing. Then you can begin from there and begin He said, The scope of your harvest depend on you.
Telling folks, because we understand it now, you can bring forth the harvest. So that is the foundational parable. You say, how can you say you love him? He said the love of God does not dwell in you. You can't say you born again. Why? Because when God speaks to you, the imparts into you is His love.
So you can't be saved with all the love of God. Nobody can be saved without the faith of God, without the love of God. My hand is like this, and you come to me and stretch forth my hand. The reason I can't stretch forth my hand is because it's like this. But when He says, "Stretch forth your hand," He embodies the ability to stretch it.
So once I'm born again, the love of God is already in my heart. I just need to release it. But when He spoke to me, He fired it. So anytime God speaks to you, He releases the ability for you to achieve the thing. That's why the work of the Lord is important.
[00:45:52] Angela Nicolson: We would love to have Pastor Jared close us in prayer.
And before that, I wonder, Chad, if you wanted to share that praise that you referenced earlier?
[00:46:03] Chad Williams: Yeah, I'll make it quick, but thank you. You guys are fantastic. It's so fun today.
My son was, I'm trying to make this fast, but my son was coming home from a missions trip and they flew in to Seattle, so we went up there to get him on Monday, or last Monday, a week ago or so from Monday.
And on the way back from the airport, my truck broke down, my SUV broke down, right near the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma, I think it's called, LeMay American Car Museum. So it just, we were in the far left lane, scooting, and then it just started gulping at me, like gurgling, like all around the world, and so we slowly moved over six lanes, went over by that LeMay Museum, just was like, I told my wife, I said, "Find a Honda dealership. It's a Honda. Where's the closest Honda dealership?"
so she found one. It was two miles away. And we called him and I said, This is what it's doing. Can I drive it to you? He says yeah, it's probably your fuel injectors. There's an issue with them and an extended warranty because of some machining errors in the shops.
So he says, Sounds like it's your fuel injectors. You can drive it. You know when it starts when you try to accelerate and it bogs down just take foot off the pedal Give it a few minutes and it'll catch up and then you know, try to keep going So i'm like, all right, so i'm like, all right, and the car is full of people like luggage My son one other young person that went on the trip, too So there's seven of us in there and luggage and stuff and So i'm like we're praying let's go and to get back to the dealership We had to get on the interstate.
Oh and the on ramp for the interstate was up not down So you gotta accelerate So we're accelerating and it would start gurgling and we'd slow down a little bit. We'd accelerate. So we got on the interstate and we're just trucking along. So we go to the dealership. So they took a few days to look at it.
So some friends came and got us and brought us back to Portland that night. Our refuge was Chick fil A. So we just ate the chicken. But we, Anyways, come to find out that the fuel pump had also failed and it was, once they replaced the fuel pump, the injectors were bad. The biggest concern was that there's a huge backlog of parts with Honda.
Our concern was that it would take 30 days to get the injectors. And and we were praying about that. So when I got the call from him, and he decided the ejectors are bad He was really excited. The service guy was really excited. He said we put in the computer that we needed the parts. The parts guy came back, backlogged, arrival unknown, which we anticipated.
And then the parts guy said I'm just going to go in the back. Went in the back and found injectors that fit my SUV. And they didn't even have them in the system, which was good. Cause if they did, someone else would have gotten the dealers are calling each other, right? And inventorying parts. Yeah. There's such a huge backlog.
So we broke down two miles. From the only dealership with injectors for my vehicle.
[00:48:49] Carl Nicolson: That's so amazing. I love it.
[00:48:51] Chad Williams: I went, it happened on Monday. By Saturday, my father in law and I drove up there and got it and came back.
[00:48:57] Angela Nicolson: That's amazing.
[00:48:58] Chad Williams: It's amazing, like the last guy that needed them at that dealership, which was just about two months ago, had to wait 30 days.
[00:49:04] Kenneth (Bishop): Oh my.
Let us break down the two miles from the dealership that had injectors on a shelf in the back of the vehicle. How awesome is that?
[00:49:13] Carl Nicolson: That's fantastic.
[00:49:14] Chad Williams: We were thankful for that.
[00:49:15] Angela Nicolson: Thank you for sharing that. Oh, that's great. Praise God.
[00:49:20] Carl Nicolson: Thank you, Chad..
[00:49:21] Pastor Addy: Hallelujah.
[00:49:22] Jared Roth: Oh, the preface of the prayer is Lord, if any of us break down, may we have Chad's anointing.
Breakdown anointing. Let's pray.
[00:49:38] Pastor Addy: Thank you.
[00:49:41] Jared Roth: Thank you, Lord, for our experience of the written word today, which was your spoken word, written word, now read word to us, but we lived in it today. Lord, you know our hearts and every person here and joining us online, we want our hearts to be the good soil, the hundredfold soil.
Would you work in our hearts, work out the lumps? Take out the rocks, get rid of the shallow places, go deep, prepare our hearts like 100 fold soil,
Or, in light of George's insight, Would you help us be spreaders of Your Word that are fruitful spreaders, that have the street cred, the integrity the life story experience that makes Your Word credible when it comes out so that we can be 100 fold spreaders of Your Word?
Lord, would You would You work in us all of Your good Word?
Carl's story for us with Fonzie on the back.
Would You help all of us be sensitive to Your presence, be in tune to Your touch, be open to unlikely sources of Your Word and love, and be listeners for Your voice? Help us toward that.
[00:51:23] Pastor Addy: Yes, Lord.
[00:51:24] Jared Roth: As we receive Your seed.
Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.
[00:51:29] Pastor Addy: Amen.
[00:51:29] Kenneth (Bishop): Hallelujah.
[00:51:32] Carl Nicolson: Thank you everybody.
[00:51:34] George La Du: Thank you. Brilliant.
[00:51:36] Carl Nicolson: Thanks everybody!
[00:51:41] Pastor Addy: It is so good.
I can ride on this fuel for one week!
[00:51:44] Angela Nicolson: That was no dessert!
[00:51:51] Pastor Addy: No, that was no dessert!