0:02

Hello and welcome to the John

0:05

Mark Coma Teaching's podcast. I'm Strawn

0:07

Coleman, your host and part of

0:09

the teaching team here at practicing

0:12

the way. Each week on this

0:14

podcast we share a teaching from

0:16

John Mark or other trusted voices

0:18

in the formation space and it's

0:21

great to have you with us.

0:23

Today we get to hear from

0:25

our dear friend Tyler Staten, pastor

0:28

of Bridgetown Church and director of

0:30

247 Prayer USA. Tyler gave this

0:32

teaching as part of our 2024

0:35

Pastors Conference about his upcoming book

0:37

The Familiar Stranger. It's a book

0:40

about the person and work of

0:42

the Holy Spirit. So if you'd

0:44

like to go deeper in this

0:47

message, as I'm sure you will,

0:49

the Familiar Stranger is available for

0:51

pre-order now and releases on

0:54

January 28th, wherever good books

0:56

are sold. Here's Tyler. Lord,

1:02

I ask that you

1:04

would continue to be

1:06

faithful to speak the

1:08

language of each individual

1:10

heart and the word

1:12

that each of us

1:14

needs to hear and

1:16

to take with us

1:18

and to live and

1:20

to practice. In Jesus'

1:22

name, amen. So everyone's

1:24

laughing as we cleared

1:26

off the table, piling.

1:28

dirty plates and smudge

1:30

wine glasses into the sink

1:32

and just as we head for

1:34

the door someone suggests Hey, why

1:36

don't we pray before we all

1:39

head home tonight? And we all

1:41

stood there in this prayerful silence

1:43

in my friend's living room and

1:45

it was Chris who broke that

1:47

silence with the first words of

1:49

prayer. He spoke not directly to

1:51

God, but to John and said

1:53

John, I'm having this really clear

1:56

vision of you, and I think

1:58

that maybe God's trying to... something

2:00

to you through it. It's from

2:02

the opening scene of the old

2:05

movie Hook and It's worth mentioning

2:07

that Chris had just met John

2:09

that night, that he was in

2:11

town visiting from the UK. None

2:13

of us had the slightest idea

2:15

where he might be going with

2:18

this outdated film reference to the

2:20

person that he least knew in

2:22

the room. It's that scene where

2:24

Robin Williams gets to his son's

2:26

baseball game late and he hurries

2:28

down to the field, but it's

2:31

vacant and he's missed the game.

2:33

Only in this vision, John, you're

2:35

the kid. You're standing up to

2:37

bad. and you're scanning the bleachers,

2:39

but you can't find your father

2:42

there anywhere. And immediately when he

2:44

says that, John collapses on the

2:46

ground and just starts weeping hysterically.

2:48

A couple of us try to

2:50

reach down to comfort him, and

2:52

when we do, when he finally

2:55

is able to say something in,

2:57

he shoots straight up and sits

2:59

up and just says, there is

3:01

so much love! and

3:04

then throws himself back down and

3:06

just starts weeping more. Now at

3:08

this point in the story, there

3:10

is something that you need to

3:12

understand, something that I did not

3:14

know on that night and wouldn't

3:17

find out until much later that

3:19

when John was a kid, his

3:21

father abandoned him at a little

3:23

league baseball game. As a young

3:25

boy he was standing there on

3:27

the diamond in his baseball uniform

3:30

when his father took him by

3:32

the shoulders and said, I can't

3:34

be your dad anymore. And that

3:36

was the last time he has

3:38

ever seen his father's face. Now

3:40

the human brain is a lot

3:43

more malleable in our adolescent than

3:45

our adult years because of what

3:47

psychologists term brain plasticity Simply meaning

3:49

that the brain is more flexible

3:51

in children than adults making it

3:53

easier to write new neural pathways

3:56

on the young brain than it

3:58

is the older brain and that

4:00

principle works well for positive human

4:02

development. It's why a young person

4:04

is unable to pick up, or

4:06

is unable to pick up how

4:09

to play a musical instrument, or

4:11

speak a foreign language, or solve

4:13

for X more quickly than an

4:15

adult, our brains are wired for

4:17

healthy human development. But the very

4:19

psychological principle that works for something

4:22

good equally works for something destructive.

4:24

For instance, there is a much

4:26

higher statistical chance of alcoholism for

4:28

people who begin drinking in their

4:30

teen years than people who begin

4:32

drinking. drinking in their 20s. Why

4:35

is that? Because of brain plasticity.

4:37

The young brain is created to

4:39

write new neural pathways and to

4:41

write them deeply into our psychology.

4:43

Now, in John's particular case, an

4:45

adolescent experience of abandonment had shaped

4:48

him deeply at an emotional level,

4:50

so deeply that it was actually

4:52

beneath his logical processing. Pain from

4:54

his past that was informing his

4:56

present, even though he was not

4:58

able to name it, much less

5:01

heal from it. So as an

5:03

adult husband, John had long been

5:05

resistant to having children because of

5:07

this deeply ingrained, unnamed, unnamed fear

5:09

that he would repeat the pattern

5:11

of his father. His life at

5:14

present was still being profoundly shaped

5:16

by something that happened to him

5:18

on a Little League baseball diamond

5:20

25 years prior to that. And

5:22

when God pulled that old film

5:24

scene into the imagination of Chris,

5:27

a relative stranger, he was doing

5:29

it for the purpose of healing.

5:31

God was reaching into John's past

5:33

to uncover a traumatic experience

5:35

that his love had not

5:38

yet touched because in spite

5:40

of John's own spiritual journey

5:42

his salvation his years of

5:44

maturity He was the pastor

5:46

of a thriving community yet He

5:48

still lived with this part

5:51

of his story that he

5:53

instinctively kept buried He still

5:55

lived always exerting energy to

5:57

keep this certain part of

5:59

him buried like someone holding a

6:01

beach ball under the surface of

6:04

the ocean a story he was

6:06

keeping unconsciously outside of the reach

6:08

of God's love or so he

6:10

thought and the mess that followed

6:12

on the living room floor that

6:15

evening was the power of the

6:17

holy spirit recreating within John from

6:19

the inside out gently but certainly

6:21

overpowering the grip that this memory

6:24

had on his life there is

6:26

so much love yes Because

6:28

it is one thing to

6:30

be told that God loves

6:32

you. To memorize scripture versus

6:34

to sing lyrics of redemptive

6:36

promise and even to preach

6:39

sermons about the love of

6:41

God that touched the lives

6:43

of others, but it is

6:45

another thing entirely. To have

6:47

that love targeted and channel

6:49

directly to you toward your

6:51

most personal wound delivered in

6:53

a message that only you

6:55

could hear that can coach

6:57

your life like a healing

6:59

balm. That's a different experience

7:01

altogether. And today, John is

7:03

still pasturing within that community,

7:05

and he is the father

7:07

of two amazing daughters. So,

7:10

the sort of prayer that

7:12

Chris offered him in the

7:14

form of a dated film

7:16

reference is bibically referred to

7:18

as prophecy. And depending on

7:20

your background, personality, type, and

7:22

level of experience, that's either

7:24

thrilling, intriguing, or suspicious, or

7:26

some mixture of the three.

7:28

But what I find really

7:30

interesting about that particular story

7:32

of the prophetic is that

7:34

the fruit of that experience,

7:36

the unwinding of lies, the

7:38

healing of childhood wounds, and

7:41

the renewal of the mind,

7:43

it sounds eerily like the

7:45

fruit of spiritual formation. the

7:47

instant supernatural power of the

7:49

Holy Spirit, and the slow

7:51

formative power of spiritual practices

7:53

work in complement to one

7:55

another, not competition. You see,

7:57

the sad truth is these

7:59

two methods of formation often

8:01

pitted against one another. in

8:03

recent church history, but the

8:05

compelling invitation is the rediscovery

8:07

of both the ancient way

8:09

of apprenticeship to Jesus by

8:11

formative practice and the equally

8:14

ancient way of apprenticeship to

8:16

Jesus by supernatural power. You

8:18

see, sometimes we pray come holy

8:20

spirit and then we wait a year

8:22

or a decade or a lifetime. That's

8:25

what I'm doing for instance each

8:28

morning when I sit on my

8:30

front porch with a cup of

8:32

coffee in my hand and a

8:35

candle burning next to me representing

8:37

the presence of God and I

8:40

pray in contemplative silence I'm asking

8:42

God to form me Slowly and

8:44

incrementally into the sort of person

8:47

who lives in the chaos stress

8:49

and interruptions of everyday life by

8:51

slow quiet inner peace Sometimes

8:54

we pray come holy spirit and

8:56

we wait a year, a decade, or

8:59

a lifetime. Other times though, we pray

9:01

come holy spirit and we wait a

9:03

minute or two. That's what a group

9:05

of friends were doing in a living

9:08

room after piling plates in the sink.

9:10

Inviting God to form me instantly and

9:12

miraculously. Fast forwarding what should take a

9:14

year, a decade, or a lifetime under

9:17

normal conditions, and instead do it in

9:19

just a single instant. Either way, it's

9:21

the same God that you're asking. It's

9:24

the same spirit empowering the work,

9:26

and it is the same

9:28

experiential surrender that is required

9:31

to make space within me

9:33

for the work to happen.

9:35

Supernatural ministry. spiritual formation, miraculous

9:38

expectation, and daily spiritual discipline.

9:40

The spirits empowering presence and

9:43

Jesus' easy yoke are not

9:45

competing approaches to spiritual maturity.

9:47

They're two sides of the same coin.

9:50

As a father of young

9:52

boys, I have become an

9:54

expert at two critical skills.

9:56

Hiping up an upcoming fun

9:58

experience and redirecting discipline. Often,

10:00

I attempt both back to back.

10:02

For instance. I was on the

10:04

aisle of white, this charming English

10:06

island just south of the mainland,

10:09

and that morning we had spotted

10:11

this mini golf course. Hank and

10:13

Simon, two of my sons who

10:15

happened to be sitting on the

10:17

front row right now, were six

10:20

and four at the time, and

10:22

they had their hearts set on

10:24

trying this mini golf course out.

10:26

So I decided we'd make the

10:28

short drive back that evening just

10:31

before dinner, and I was hyping

10:33

it up the whole way. We

10:35

ended up having to park a

10:37

good distance away because apparently this

10:40

was a very popular mini golf

10:42

course. And by the time we

10:44

had crested the hill walking up

10:46

this stinking, steep embankment, we finally

10:48

laid our eyes on it, the

10:51

object of their desire. Closed. I

10:53

couldn't believe it. It was 5.07

10:56

p.m. Apparently they closed at 5.

10:58

Employees are flooding out. The gates

11:00

are being locked. There's hours of

11:02

daylight left, but this place is

11:04

a ghost town. And that's when

11:06

my second skill set kicked into

11:08

operation. I had spotted a croquet

11:10

set in the garden side shed

11:12

of our host home the day

11:14

of before. Now of course, these

11:17

two had never heard of croquet

11:19

because it's more fit for like

11:21

senior living facility Sunday afternoon than

11:23

it is rowdy little ones on

11:25

vacation, but you work with what

11:27

you got. So I got to

11:29

hyping up how much fun these

11:31

big mallets are to swing and

11:33

how in croquet you get to

11:35

build your own mini golf course

11:38

and that kind of thing. But

11:40

when I looked at their little

11:42

faces. I knew they weren't buying

11:44

it. Because they already had a

11:46

vision in mind, a putter in

11:48

one hand and a dripping cone

11:50

of vanilla soft serve and the

11:52

other. And when you're working against

11:54

a competing vision, a new one

11:56

always includes disappointment. And that's a

11:59

tough cell. John's Gospel. the most

12:01

lengthy account of Jesus's final night,

12:03

and wedged right in between the

12:05

last supper and his arrest and

12:07

guest's seminy, Jesus cracks a rise

12:09

smile and says something along the

12:11

lines of, look, my days with

12:13

you are numbered, but I'm sending

12:15

you my spirit, and that's even

12:17

better. In fact, John devotes about

12:20

a quarter of his gospel

12:22

to this one evening, and

12:24

Jesus repeats this sentiment four

12:26

times, changing the wording, but

12:28

naming the Holy Spirit by

12:30

the exact title, Parakletas, every

12:32

single time. He is hammering

12:34

this point home. So according

12:36

to Jesus, and he's remarkably

12:38

clear on this, the Holy

12:40

Spirit is a staggering improvement

12:42

to direct face-to-face conversation with

12:44

God in the flesh. God's

12:46

indwelling presence through the

12:49

Holy Spirit surpasses God's

12:52

bodily human presence

12:54

in Jesus. That's what he

12:56

said. They didn't buy it. The

12:58

12 were looking at Jesus the

13:00

way Hank and Simon were looking

13:03

at me on the aisle

13:05

of white trying to sell

13:07

croquet. You see they'd been

13:09

planning their imagined experience of

13:11

Jesus. They already had a

13:14

mini golf playing soft serve cone

13:16

dripping vision in mind And so

13:18

a competing vision included disappointments a

13:21

tough cell Jesus first disciples didn't

13:23

buy it and in general Jesus

13:25

modern disciples don't buy it either

13:28

I mean honestly how many of

13:30

us would trade our experience with

13:32

gods and dwelling spirit to this

13:34

point in our stories for one

13:36

face-to-face chat with God in the flesh

13:39

basically all of us, right? I mean,

13:41

regardless of your maturity level,

13:43

commitment, gifting, education, tradition, most

13:45

people dotting the pews across

13:47

the global church today on

13:49

any given Sunday are a

13:52

bit underwhelmed with the very

13:54

experience of the very promise

13:56

that God Jesus so excited.

13:58

The better plan that made Jesus

14:00

momentarily giddy on the march to

14:02

his own execution? We trade it

14:05

back if we could. The biblical

14:07

story presents a triune God, three

14:09

persons one God, a God in

14:11

community, Father, Son, and Spirit. And

14:13

we generally get the Father. He's

14:15

God in Heaven parenting all of

14:18

us as children. And we know

14:20

the Son, Jesus, who came to

14:22

dwell among us, who made a

14:24

way for us back into relationship

14:26

with the Father, the Spirit, though.

14:29

has become something of an urban legend.

14:31

We've all heard the rumors, but has

14:34

anyone actually spotted the yeti? From Genesis

14:36

to Revelation, the spirit is present, active,

14:38

and essential, but despite that, the tragic

14:40

truth is that for much of the

14:42

church in the modern West, the Holy

14:45

Spirit has become nothing more than a

14:47

familiar stranger. The very spirit Jesus gave

14:49

us as the empowering and bonding agent

14:51

of the church has in our moment

14:53

become the mysterious and divisive subject within

14:56

the church. A 2014 Christianity Today survey

14:58

asked this true or false question. The

15:00

Holy Spirit is a force, not a

15:02

person. 51% of respondents said true. Forty-two

15:04

percent said false. Seven percent said I

15:06

don't know. In 2022, the same survey

15:09

was conducted again to track changing trends

15:11

and belief among committed Christians. This time,

15:13

60% of committed Christians answered true. Meaning

15:15

nearly two-thirds of American Christians today believe

15:17

the Holy Spirit, the third person of

15:20

the Trinity, is a force to be

15:22

wielded, not a person to know and

15:24

be known by a familiar stranger. And

15:26

mystery has led to division. For generations

15:28

across the Western Church landscape, there's been

15:30

a noticeable divide between Bible churches and

15:33

Holy Spirit churches. By which I mean,

15:35

there are certain churches that major on

15:37

teaching the Bible thoughtfully, intellectually, and exigent.

15:39

but the experience

15:41

of the Holy Spirit

15:44

is varying degrees

15:46

of absent, while there

15:48

are other churches

15:50

that major on ecstatic

15:52

experience, but tend

15:55

to diminish the Bible

15:57

to a script

15:59

for spiritual pep talks.

16:01

But of course

16:03

the kingdom of God

16:05

is not an

16:08

either or kingdom, it's

16:10

a both and

16:12

kingdom. The Bible and

16:14

the Holy Spirit,

16:16

thinking and feeling, teaching

16:19

and experiencing, preaching

16:21

the gospel and signs

16:23

and wonders, exegeting

16:25

the text and offering

16:27

a word of

16:30

prophecy, presence through suffering

16:32

and miraculous deliverance from

16:34

suffering, shaped slowly over

16:36

time by committed spiritual

16:38

practice, and

16:40

reshaped in a moment

16:42

through supernatural spiritual experience. The

16:44

church's bonding agent meant

16:46

to unite us has somehow

16:48

become the church's dividing

16:50

agent driving us apart. Now

16:54

though, we

16:56

are standing at the dawn of a

16:58

new cultural moment. You

17:00

see today's young adults

17:02

are far more open than

17:04

the generations preceding them

17:06

to experience and they're resistant to

17:09

explanation. Today's

17:11

young adult generations and those coming after them

17:13

are far more likely to try a

17:15

yoga class or a mindfulness meditation app or

17:17

even an hour in a Christian prayer

17:19

room than they are to listen to a

17:21

sermon and that's new. Post

17:23

World War II generations wanted information

17:25

and answers to hard questions.

17:27

That's why books like The Case

17:30

for Christ and Evidence that

17:32

Demands a Verdict did so well

17:34

was a heyday for apologists.

17:36

Win my mind and then you get my

17:38

heart. But beginning with

17:40

millennials and increasingly in subsequent

17:42

generations a new era is unfolding.

17:44

Today's young adults are suspicious

17:46

of experts forever aware that there's

17:48

always an alternative perspective on

17:50

any given topic. But when a

17:52

message resonates with my experience,

17:54

that message then puts language to

17:57

what I've perceived been on

17:59

it. able to name it

18:01

wins my trust, win my heart,

18:03

and then you get my mind.

18:05

You and I are shepherding the

18:07

church at a time when

18:09

across the board mystery is

18:11

suddenly being replaced by openness

18:13

and even hunger for the

18:15

spirit and Historic divides are

18:17

being mended as various streams

18:19

in in the church seek

18:21

thoughtful integration of the ministry

18:23

of the spirit in their

18:25

communities The doorway that stands

18:27

open between the church and

18:29

the broader culture is a

18:32

thoughtful experiential spirituality, which is

18:34

grounded in both practice-based spiritual

18:36

formation that integrates the whole

18:38

person, not the intellect alone,

18:40

and power-based spiritual formation that

18:42

exceeds the bounds of my

18:44

spiritual practice with God, but

18:46

invites the spirit to by

18:49

his healing power open my

18:51

blind eyes, stand up my

18:53

feeble legs, and even raise

18:55

the long-dead parts of me.

18:57

The barrier that exists today

18:59

for most apprentices of Jesus

19:02

isn't one of theology or

19:04

an altogether lack of openness

19:06

or desire for the spirit,

19:08

the barrier is a lack of model.

19:11

We lack a way to practice

19:13

supernatural ministry

19:15

with honesty and integrity.

19:18

One of John Wimber's more

19:20

helpful maxims went something

19:23

like this. for anything to

19:25

be picked up off the pages of scripture

19:27

and lived today in community, you're

19:29

going to need three things. You

19:31

need a theology, a model, and

19:33

a practice. So we need a theology.

19:35

We've got to have a common

19:37

understanding of what the scripture teaches

19:39

about any particular topic. And theology

19:41

has to be rock solid and

19:43

shared belief about what the scripture

19:45

teaches should actually be common across

19:47

church communities. Sadly, that isn't always

19:49

the case, but it should be.

19:51

And then we need a model.

19:53

We need a shared way of

19:55

expressing that belief here and now

19:57

among this particular community and this.

20:00

particular place. And a model is

20:02

not infallible. There are no right

20:04

or wrong models. There's just more

20:07

or less helpful ones. For instance,

20:09

the way of teaching, which is

20:11

a gift of the spirit according

20:14

to the letters of Paul, is

20:16

expressed different across community, context, and

20:18

tradition. Most Catholics in mainline Protestants

20:21

teach by a homily, which is

20:23

a brief reflection on a biblical

20:25

passage Evangelicals typically offer a long-form

20:28

teaching which is meant to persuade

20:30

inspire and mature So which one

20:32

of those is the correct model

20:35

for biblical teaching? Neither There's liberty

20:37

in the expression of the gift

20:39

based on the needs and personality

20:42

of the congregation What we share

20:44

is the imperative of making disciples

20:46

of Jesus of Jesus Meaning the

20:49

most effective model for teaching scripture

20:51

that serves that end among these

20:53

people in this place, that's the

20:56

right model. The ministry of the

20:58

spirit often feels inaccessible to the

21:00

everyday follower of Jesus because we

21:03

have not offered coherent models. Of

21:05

course I believe God heals today.

21:07

Beautiful, me too. When is the

21:10

last time you prayed for miraculous

21:12

healing in the life of a

21:15

friend? Why haven't? Or very, very

21:17

rarely, I guess I don't know

21:19

how. Or, more likely, the only

21:22

time I have experienced that, the

21:24

model felt manipulative, ineffective, unbiblical, or

21:26

all of the above. So finally,

21:29

then we gotta have space to

21:31

practice. Meaning we need safe space

21:33

created within a local church community

21:36

where it is okay to fail

21:38

and learn the mechanics of the

21:40

model together. When a team gathers

21:43

to practice. A dance team for

21:45

a recital or a basketball team

21:47

getting ready for a game or

21:50

a band rehearsing for a show.

21:52

The unspoken agreement is mistakes are

21:54

okay and perfection is not demanded.

21:57

protected space where the stakes are

21:59

lowered because it's not the recital,

22:01

the game, or the concert. The

22:04

pressure's off because we're all on

22:06

the same team trying to grow

22:08

in the tools necessary for the

22:11

main event. So where is the

22:13

space in the church that you

22:15

lead where your people can attempt

22:18

to hear the voice of God,

22:20

offer a Robin Williams seen from

22:22

hook, a prayerful image to someone

22:25

else, completely missed the bullsey. and

22:27

then both of them laugh it

22:30

off and keep on listening. If

22:32

every prophetic word, every healing

22:34

prayer, every discernment process has

22:36

to be a spot on

22:39

book of acts level breakthrough

22:41

story, we are putting a

22:43

huge amount of pressure on

22:46

people rather than immulating Jesus.

22:48

who sent out his disciples

22:50

with power and risk, debriefed their

22:52

experiences later, and then learned

22:54

from both their successes and

22:57

failures. To return to the teaching

22:59

example from a moment ago, if

23:01

someone indicated to me that they

23:03

thought they were gifted in teaching

23:05

and wanted to learn more, I

23:07

wouldn't say, fantastic, you should step

23:09

into the pulpit this Sunday. And

23:12

we know intuitively that there must

23:14

be space given to any individual

23:17

to develop that teaching gift where

23:19

the stakes are lowered and we

23:21

train up teachers over time through

23:23

practice. So why then would it work

23:25

any differently with the gifts of the

23:27

spirit which are in the exact

23:30

same category as teaching biblically

23:32

speaking? There's a renaissance

23:34

awaiting the church a rediscovery of

23:37

the biblical imagination and Supernaturally empowered

23:39

ministry But it is stuck between

23:41

theology. What does the scripture teach

23:43

and model and practice? Well, how

23:46

do we bring that to life

23:48

here and now and have we

23:50

created space for people to live

23:53

into that practice together? Where the

23:55

pressure is off the loudest and most

23:57

common models we have in today's church

23:59

air at either extreme, either side

24:02

of the spectrum, either it's

24:04

all theology and no practice,

24:06

or it's all practice with

24:08

shallow theology. So what is

24:10

an expression of the gifts

24:12

of the spirit that is

24:14

biblically faithful, wide-eyed in wonder,

24:16

and thoughtfully winsome for a

24:18

21st century world all at

24:20

the same time? Well, there's

24:22

the rub, isn't it? At

24:26

Bridgetown we have by no

24:28

means cracked the code on

24:30

this, but we are trying

24:33

to make a meaningful contribution.

24:35

In terms of theology we

24:37

preach a Sunday series annually

24:39

on the Giffs and Ministry

24:41

of the Spirit offering people

24:44

language to decode and invite

24:46

experience. And then as a

24:48

model we train up everyone

24:50

who enters a Bridgetown community.

24:53

That's our small group structure

24:55

in a thoughtful biblical model

24:57

for supernatural ministry through prayer.

24:59

And then in terms of

25:02

practice, we create space for

25:04

practice-based spiritual formation, think prayer,

25:06

solitude, Sabbath, scripture, that sort

25:08

of thing, and power-based spiritual

25:10

formation, think prophecy, healing, discernment,

25:13

and so forth, through quarterly

25:15

church-wide training workshops here around

25:17

our stage, and regular practice

25:19

in tight-knit communities, in living

25:22

rooms, all across our city.

25:24

Now is that a prescription?

25:26

Certainly not. But it is

25:28

an invitation. The church of

25:30

the future must rediscover a

25:33

thoughtful approach to both practice-based

25:35

spiritual formation and miraculous supernatural

25:37

ministry. Both pepper the pages

25:39

of scripture, and both tend

25:42

to be mysteriously absent in

25:44

the church today. The aim

25:46

of practicing the way and

25:48

the shared ache and desire

25:51

that brought you to this

25:53

pastor's conference is a longing

25:55

for apprenticeship to Jesus, experiencing

25:57

his life by his... lifestyle.

25:59

And if our vision of

26:02

the lifestyle of Jesus includes

26:04

all of the formative practice

26:06

while ignoring the miraculous ministry,

26:08

we're only looking at one

26:11

side of the coin. If

26:13

we pit long, slow redemption

26:15

by the spirit against supernatural

26:17

instant redemption by the same

26:19

spirit, we have an unbiblical

26:21

view of change that is

26:23

rooted in deism, not in

26:25

Jesus. And if we hold

26:27

a miraculous theology but a

26:29

purely rationalistic model and practice,

26:31

we are blind, not sophisticated.

26:33

The ancient roots of our

26:35

faith are contemplative and charismatic.

26:37

They are uncompromisingly realistic,

26:40

psychologically viable, and uncompromisingly

26:42

miraculous, supernaturally powerful. Two

26:45

sides of the same

26:47

coin called transformation that

26:50

are held in complement,

26:52

not competition. One without

26:55

the other just swings

26:57

the pendulum to a

27:00

new kind of dysfunction.

27:03

But the two

27:05

held together, that's walking

27:07

the narrow path by an

27:09

empowered stride. So, what does

27:12

that bring to mind for

27:14

you? Where

27:16

do you find

27:19

yourself resonating with

27:21

what I'm offering? Where

27:23

do you find

27:25

yourself resisting? And

27:27

what might be the one

27:30

half step that you feel

27:32

God inviting you

27:35

to take as

27:37

an individual or

27:39

your community to

27:41

take corporately? It

27:44

feels in there like Tyler is

27:46

really inviting us to whole new

27:48

space for what it means to

27:50

live this kind of charismatic,

27:52

contemplative space where we both

27:54

believe in the imminence in

27:56

the life and the gifts

27:58

of the spirit. alongside and

28:00

in the midst of this

28:02

long formative journey that we

28:05

are taking in this moment.

28:07

So I thought it would

28:09

be nice to give our

28:11

reflection time today to just

28:13

asking the Holy Spirit to

28:15

heal these false dichotomies within

28:17

us between the charismatic and

28:19

the contemplative and to give

28:21

us a renewed vision for

28:23

what life in the Spirit

28:25

can mean for us in

28:28

our time and moment. It

28:30

can be so much power

28:32

in simply saying, God, I

28:34

sense you're doing something significant

28:36

here, and I just want

28:38

to be part of it.

28:40

I'm open, do something in

28:42

me. So if you feel

28:44

that with me, it's just

28:46

take half a minute now

28:48

to pray, to take a

28:51

few deep breaths, to open

28:53

ourselves to God's presence, and

28:55

to just say, I want

28:57

in on this Lord. Do

29:00

something in me. I'm

29:02

open. I'm here So

29:04

I'll leave half a

29:06

minute here and then

29:08

close with I'm in

29:40

This podcast is from

29:42

practicing the way. We

29:44

develop resources to help

29:46

churches and small groups

29:48

apprentice in the way

29:51

of Jesus. And all

29:53

we make is completely

29:55

free because it's already

29:57

being paid for by

29:59

the Circle, a community

30:01

of monthly givers who

30:03

partner with us to

30:05

see spiritual formation integrated

30:07

into the church at

30:10

large. Special thanks for

30:12

today's episode goes to

30:14

Fiona from Columbia, Tennessee,

30:16

Dakota from Sydney, New

30:18

South Wales, Alexis from

30:20

Albany, New York, Heather

30:22

from Bangor, Maine, and

30:24

Julianne from Center, Colorado.

30:26

Thank you all very

30:29

much. To join the circle

30:31

or to learn more about running

30:33

a practice in your church or

30:35

community visit practicing the way

30:38

dot org Until next time may

30:40

the grace of the Lord Jesus

30:42

Christ and the love of God in

30:45

the fellowship of the holy spirit be

30:47

with you all