Jacob Burson: Good morning, church. Good morning. If I haven't met you before, my name is Jacob Berson, community pastor here at Sam Jones Methodist Church. If you're a first time guest, greetings. You are being led by the substitute teacher.
So that means if you misbehave, you're probably not gonna get any, notes. You're not gonna lose any Caine's cash. I don't know. Do we still stew the Caine's cash in the school district? We do?
Alright. Sorry. So you're not gonna lose any Caine's cash today. I don't know what we do, in the county district. But no, I'm glad that we're here today.
This coffee, talk series is is one that's interesting to kind of think about, of of why we have such, connection when we go into a coffee shop environment. There's something about the place. When you walk into a coffee shop there's the music that's playing, there's other conversations going on in in the room, there's the sounds of the coffee shop, of the espresso machine. It just feels, like a place it's just an easier place to have a conversation. It's not quite like, going to a conference room or an office.
It's just an easier place to go to go and chat. So growing up in in Lawrenceville, where I grew up, back eighties nineties, that I had never I don't know what a I didn't know what a coffee shop was. Like, the first time we saw coffee shops was on Friends with Central Perk, and I had it still didn't register with what a coffee shop was. We moved when I joined the military, we moved across the country to Seattle, Washington, the home of Starbucks. It wasn't until year 4 that I had a caramel macchiato.
I didn't even know how to say it. I had somebody else order that for me. And I was like, oh, it's coffee with candy in It's it wasn't bad. I was like, but I don't did still don't understand why people spent $42 for a cup of coffee being right there in the hub. What I resonated more with and made the connection with, you may not be able to see it from here, was Waffle House.
When I grew up, it was the Waffle House was where the community gathering spot was. There was a lot of, poor decisions made before going to a Waffle House. There was a lot of poor decisions made in the parking lots of Waffle House. But it was a spot, like, my dad would eat at the Waffle House on our side of town before going into work at Burt's entire company. House.
Now, if you went to the other side of town, my wife's grand dad,
he grew up with the Hardys game.
So there's a group of old men who ate at that Hardys. And then if you went to the other the the south side of town, south side was Waffle House. We had a missus winners group. We had a little red barn was another place. We have similar structure here, but that was the coffee shops.
That was a place where people would go. My buddy, Wes Breedlove, in high school, would joke about our future. His dad was in construction. My dad was in the entire business, and we would not joke, but we would talk about our destiny. We would be at the Waffle House and we would probably grow old together at the Waffle House before we go going off to work and that's that's how we would how we would live.
We would grow in connection and community there. Of coffee as adults. My buddy, Wes, he passed away in an accident our senior year. Super tragic. But there's still a I don't there's not a day that really doesn't go by where 2 things I don't forget.
Of football. Every time I
see it, every sideline I see I I see him. And also, those golden lit lights that light up the night sky. I think of think of Wes and the bad decisions that we used to make and and even some of the good ones. There's something about the coffee shop. There's something about even seeing this mug, you can you can smell bacon.
Like you can smell you can taste burnt coffee at the Waffle House. You can smell the grease going into those hash browns. How do you like your hash browns? There's been a lot of big decisions and life moments happened in that type of community space. Places of community seem to be great beacons of connection regardless of what their sign says out front.
I've made some pretty good connections and made some powerful life decisions during a conversation that started, how would you like your hash browns? It's a reminder that the Holy Spirit is always with us. We grow in the Holy Spirit together in life's ordinary moments. So this week, we're gonna pull up a table and we're gonna grab a cup of coffee or whatever you like to drink. I found that coffee as I've gotten older, I do not drink it anymore.
I have, still like the caffeine, but coffee makes me feel terrible and my dreams at night are weird. So I put down coffee about probably 2 years ago and it shift shifted to other forms of caffeine ingestion. But today, we're gonna pull up a table, grab a cup of coffee, grab something to drink, and we're gonna chat for a few minutes about where God is leading us and how the holy spirit Romans 12 verses 12. Here's what it says. Sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve of what God's will is, his good and pleasing and perfect will. It's the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Let's pray. God, I thank you for the Spirit's presence here with us today. I pray that I'm able to share the message that you would have for us. Lord, lead us. Amen.
Scripture to
choose from to talk about the holy spirit, to talk about the spirit.
This one though doesn't mention the spirit directly, but what this scripture is asking us to do requires that the spirit be present in this. So there we sit. We sit at the Waffle House. The air is rich with the aroma of bacon and eggs and syrup And there's some music playing in the background. It's probably if we're going back I'm going time machine.
You got time machine with me. Some music playing in the background with a mix of Garth Brooks and 95 South. Y'all don't even know. We're packed tight in that booth. Could they just make the booths a little bit bigger?
It's cold in there because they want us out in a hurry. Paul is there. We're looking we're looking at apostle Paul's tough words here and he's there with us giving us this appeal to give our whole selves as a living sacrifice to God. Easy, Paul. What in the world do you mean?
And as we sit there, don't forget now where 2 or more gathered, Jesus is there also. And he's got this warm smile as he always does. Just me and you and Paul and Jesus and then we recognize that the Holy Spirit is there, which we often forget the Holy Spirit is there even though we have a seat for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is present. We forget that the Holy Spirit is there physically, but also within us.
A concept is still tough to describe and understand. We're thinking about sacrifice in these words. A living sacrifice. They seem like contradictory statements of living and sacrifice. Living is living sacrifice is true and proper worship.
Paul Paul help us help us help me understand that, Paul. Paul, what are we supposed to die to? What are we supposed to die? What are we supposed to kill in sacrifice? Paul says, no.
Living sacrifice points to Jesus and reminds us that he's already done all the dying that needs to happen. All the old testament rituals of burnt offerings and sacrifices, those those apply no longer. Jesus raises his hand. He said, yeah. That's me.
I got that. We're we're covered there. So this isn't that kind of sacrifice. This is a living sacrifice. That living this way, of of living a way that is sacrificial towards God is true and proper worship.
It's giving our lives, our hearts, our minds of giving those things to God every single day. Paul says that's true and proper worship. He says it's not a scheduled time to sing and pray and attend an event. True and proper worship isn't a style. It's our whole life.
This is a call of of transformation of shifting what our life is to living to what our life can be in the pursuit of glorifying God in all that we do. This is a call that recognizes that we are not we are bent to ourselves in this world. We're not bent to to really commit to much of anything, much less to commit to God. The world is bent to self. A lot of times, we are bent to self.
Paul talks about that. He said that in the patterns of this world. He said, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we sit at the table and we start talking about the patterns of the world. Materialism, pride, moral compromise, self centeredness, a bentness towards taking power, success, pleasure, personal gain, greed, envy, lust.
Those are the things that we think about of where this world is bent. As we're sitting there in that booth, we're shaking our heads as we keep talking about how jacked up the world is. We're like, yeah, the world. The world. I'm like, yep.
Yep. And smarty pants me, typically, how I have these conversations says, we don't even have to leave the church to find that. We point at the world. We don't we don't have to leave our doors. And Paul says, I know that's right.
But we agree the patterns of this world pull people away from God, but we have to recognize that when the patterns of the church look the same, people leave the church. I've shared the statistics before. There's a lot There's more believers in this county who don't attend church than believers who do. Now we can argue about that commitment all we want to. But that is the world that we live in.
And we start talking about some of those things at the table, about the greed, the power, the wanting things done in a particular way, holding on to old things, promoting too many new things, promoting my way, wanting to be in charge of my thing. And then this couple sitting beside us in another booth pipes up. He says, yep. That's us. That's why we left.
They begin to share why their history in the church and what disconnected them. Jesus brings them in, wraps his arms around them, and we hear more of their story. The patterns of this world. The patterns of this world are passivity. Just fitting in.
Just kinda letting things go and I'll just go with the flow and just be passive. It's ultimate passivity is the pattern of this world. Do nothing. Go with the flow. Don't take a stand.
Just even take a stand for ourself. We can do that in our faith life. James 122 says, don't just listen to the word but do what the word says. Passivity means we don't take action. We just kinda let things happen.
Go to events on weekends. We hear the word. We know what we're supposed to do. And then passivity. We hear it.
We go with Sunday. We come again on Wednesday night. We go to Sunday school. We hear it. We hear.
We hear. We hear. And we still feel empty. What do we do? We take an action and we're confused at this table because we're hearing about not conforming to the patterns of this world like we understand that we know that they're right, but we're also supposed to love our neighbor.
Don't conform to the patterns of this world and love our neighbor. It is confusing. It is as if Jesus senses that tension. He leans in and he says, this tension that you're feeling is work is real. This is the same tension that he asked the disciples to live in.
Being in the world but not of it, The sacrificial life doesn't mean abandoning the world. It means offering every part of who you are to God, even the ordinary and mundane moments. And this is what Romans is all about. This the book of Romans is all it's it's not about big huge gestures of faith. It's about living faith in small moments to giving God the glory in all of the small moments in life.
So so we got it. Transformation. Got it. Renewing our mind. Got it.
Reject the patterns of this world, got it. But also, love people and don't abandon the world? It sure does feel like we're supposed to box ourselves up in holy huddles and reject the world completely in point. Still, it's confusing. And then the Holy Spirit leans in at the table.
Honestly, we forgot the Holy Spirit was there again. Spirit says, surrender your thoughts, your motives, your desires. We're not gonna ask you to God's we're not gonna ask you to do this alone. We're we're gonna lead you through this. We will be with you as you walk in this world, not conforming to this world, but walk in this world and loving your neighbor, not only are we going to be with you, but I am within you.
Again, we're confused looking at the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, just just trust us. We're with you. And I'll agree with you. If we have reserved if we have reserved active active activity in our faith to big missionary moments, and big church moments, and big church leaders.
If we reserve that to being the big faith moments, then we leave out 99.90 percent of Christians in the world. If that's what we reserve, the big moments, the big events, if we reserve that to growing in faith and growing in the spirit, then, yeah, we're gonna feel empty. Scripture doesn't allude to that at all. Scripture points to every single moment in the life that we live is significant. Everywhere we find ourselves, God is present.
And I have found myself in the church world that that I can do things churchy and look like I've got things put together. I can become carry the title pastor, and all of a sudden, there's a view that I've done something. Can I tell you a secret that I can go accomplish task? I'm a good task accomplice. I could set a goal and go checkbox, checkbox, checkbox, checkbox.
And I can go and execute a good thing without doing a whole lot of talking to God. And that good thing can look present itself well. And I don't know if anybody can relate to trying to do those types of accomplishments. But what I've found when I've in when I'm in that place is I'm exhausted. I'm tired because it's me.
It's me working. It's not me talking to the Holy Spirit, communicating with the Holy Spirit. I will try to work faith instead of living faith. Jesus smiles at the booth. He says, come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.
My yoke is easy. My burden is light. It's not supposed to feel like a burden. It's not supposed to feel like work. This life is paved with grace and rest and partnership.
He says it's easy because there's 2 spots on the yoke. You don't carry this load by yourself. So one for us and one for Christ. This Jesus way, it does require commitment. It does require effort.
And the rest comes and the burden is light because Jesus totes that weight of perfection for us. We do not have to live it. We pursue it, yes. But we don't have to let the failure of perfection continue to weigh us down. There's so much noise in this world, so many dark distractions and even some not so dark distractions that we can busy ourselves to the point where we're not really being in tune with the Holy Spirit.
And I know I'm really not really saying anything that's new if you spend any time in church. You've you've heard what I'm talking about. This is this is this is not new. I've heard a stand up comedian, Andy Stanley's son, talk about, being in stand up comedy and people asked him how he did it. He's like, this is easy.
This is my routine. He said, my dad's gotta give a book report on the same book every week. It's like these stories, do they it is what it is. The scripture is here before us. Staying in tune with the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 6 18. Pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Jude 120. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. These verses emphasize prayer as a primary means of connection with the Holy Spirit.
Praying in the spirit means we rely on the Spirit's guidance in our prayers. I thank God that we have Bluetooth now, because now when people see me talking to myself in the car, they think I'm having a phone call. For work, I travel a lot down to Fort Walton Beach to Eglin Air Force Base. There are times where I don't turn on the radio for 6 hours and will talk about life. I'm probably telling y'all too much.
I will talk about life for 6 hours, just me and the windshield and the Holy Spirit, talking to God about what what's gonna happen. What what do we need to do? How much is the grass gonna grow while I'm gone? What did I miss out on this week? What time?
What do we need to work on? What those conversations I'm thankful that I don't look quite as crazy. Even in grocery stores, you can put in the Bluetooth. And I if you see me talking in Ingles, I'm probably not on the phone. There's a chance that me and the Holy Spirit are chatting with one another.
It's filling the moments with that of even audibly talk to God. Those prayers count. 1, stay connected through prayer. 2, surround ourselves with a community who is also seeking to be guided by the Holy Spirit. And again, this is simple.
This isn't new. Being connected with other people who have a desire to know more of Jesus and are willing to grow together in the Holy Spirit and let the Holy Spirit guide those connections. This devotion led to the Spirit's powerful presence working among the early apostles. As they were devoted to prayer and fellowship and worship, this is how the early church came together. Remember.
Y'all this didn't exist. They didn't have books. How did the early church explode when they didn't have paper and journals to write? Spirit's presence, guiding and leading them, being in tune. We absorb more information in the morning when we open up our phones than Abraham did in his entire life.
Removing the busyness from our life. Removing the noise allows us to hear more of the Holy Spirit's presence in our life and doing it with people who are also pursuing the same. Why is this so hard? Why do we feel empty still? If you feel empty, take heart.
There are so many people who don't feel empty. They don't even know. They're not even thinking about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The fact that you feel empty is evidence that the Holy Spirit is already at work. So celebrate that you feel empty.
I know that that sounds contradictory, but celebrate that the Holy Spirit is active. Now celebrate that, that God is working in you. Now do something about it. And these things are simple. Again, it's not working faith.
It's living faith. Because we can feel empty. It's a reminder that faith is not about feelings. How did Job feel? I'm sure Job felt awful.
David all through Psalms is a wreck. He feels terrible. Jesus, the Garden of Gethsemane, he felt awful. Faith is not about feelings. Faith is about trust and truth.
It's a decision to show up. It's a decision to show up in all the big moments, but I sense we feel empty because we maybe lack the big moments and we've attributed too much weight to the big moments and we fail to recognize God working and present in all of the in between moments in life. That the spirit is leading us in our jobs, in our classrooms, in our neighborhoods, at the park, at the gym, on the field. The spirit is present there with us. What does that look like?
I've got a video I'd like for you to check out for this about this lady named Ludmila. Let's watch this video together.
Video: In my lifetime, I have experienced the rule of 2 totalitarian regimes. 1 was the German Nazis and the second was the Russian communists. The word of God says 366 times, do not be afraid. Do not fear. So we weren't afraid.
After 40 years of communism here, the fact that many believers left the country, the Czech Republic has been called the most atheist place in Europe. It breaks my heart. My name is Lyudmila Haryarova. I'm 82 years old. I have 7 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
My husband went to heaven in 2002. The Lord Jesus told me, now he is my husband and he wants to continue to use me. He wants me to be his representative, his ambassador. Next to the door of my house, there is a bronze sign that says, the embassy of the kingdom of heaven. My home is an extension of Christ's kingdom.
It's a place where people can come and look for help if they're in trouble or have a need. The Bible says the kingdom of heaven is joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. That is the atmosphere I want here at the embassy. The visitors that I get, some of them have called ahead to let me know they're coming, and some just come. Uh-huh.
That's okay. Uh-huh. The ones that haven't called are usually the best ones, because I'm not prepared for them. Everything that happens is dependent on the Lord. No.
Today, a dear friend came by. She's a widow and her family really are struggling financially. Whenever people enter this house, I just lay everything else aside and spend time with them. I have learned to recognize the inner voice of the Holy Spirit and give him room to use me. The holy spirit likes to take control.
Often, I listen to myself and I'll say things I wouldn't even think about. There is no problem to deal with the issues people bring when they come here because the Holy Spirit here. It's an honor for me to be an instrument of God's love and his wisdom every day. We often don't realize that all believers are called to be representatives of the kingdom of heaven. We are all ambassadors.
The Lord Jesus didn't choose to do it any other way, he simply entrusted us.
Jacob Burson: The question is, is what's our excuse? God has given us a space. God has called us to our jobs. God has called us to our homes. He has called us to our neighborhoods.
We grow in the Holy Spirit in life's ordinary moments. And all of those in between spaces is where the Holy Spirit is at work. Ask God to take part in every fabric of your life. Be tuned into the Spirit's presence. Transform your mind.
Find your coffee shop. Find your waffle house. Open the home that God blessed you with. Take time this week to connect with someone, pray with them, invite the Holy Spirit in. You'll realize he's already there.
Let us pray. Where we confess that the pressures of this world can be overwhelming, that they pull us in directions that do not honor you. Lord, but today we ask for renewing power that can only come through the Holy Spirit. Lord, transform us. Transform our minds.
Help us see life from your perspective. Lord, guide us to resist to conforming to the patterns of this world. Lord, help us grow in your spirit each day. Lord, transform us. Transform our minds.
Lord, take take our thoughts. Declutter the things that we think about that are distractions. Lord, lead us to simplicity. Lord, you you are already have gone before us. You are already out there.
Lord, light the path. Lord, let us see. Lord, guide us. Lord, allow us to be your light and show the world. Amen.