PASTOR TIM DILENA // THE HOLY SPIRIT AND YOU // VIDA CHURCH

[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] hello be the church in Delano California and to all those that are watching Viva online this is Pastor Tim Delena all the way from Times Square in New York City I want to give a special greeting to Pastor Ray and Alicia also to Pastor Raul and Sylvia and especially to Pastor JC and Christina to the Vida Church the Dream Team and the entire VC family it's my honor and my joy to be with you to those who have just started to watch online keep watching and for those that are watching I want you to keep growing what an honor to be here today I don't even know if you know this but I had the privilege and the honor some years ago to marry your senior pastor Pastor JC and Christina and do their wedding what a joy it was for me and to watch how God has done extraordinary things through their life and Ministry I am so proud of Pastor JC and Christina Pastor Ray and Alicia and I have known each other since 1996 I remember the first time coming to delando California Pastor Ray to this day I remember the bumper stickers you sent out in your community that Delena will be in Delano and we won't even go there but what a joy it is to be with you and this is an incredible time for us to be together I don't want you or I at Viva church and here at Times Square Church I don't want us to miss what God is doing right now in our country in our world but especially in his church because I want to make sure I'm defining it the way God defines it let me let me give you a grid to go by about what's next for God's church with all that we're facing I think during this season I think God is this crisis is creating a creativity in the church that's never been there before it's creating Community it's even bringing some really important conversations with people that you wouldn't have had conversations with before I believe God is writing a new story for his people in the church I grew up hearing the old stories but something new is happening in God's Church from here in New York City all the way across America there in California let me explain it to you this way the children of Israel have been telling the same story about God's deliverance from Egypt for a thousand years and God shows up one day and tells the Prophet Jeremiah I don't want you to tell this story anymore I don't want you to tell the thousand-year-old story I'm writing a brand new story and after a thousand years they suddenly hear Jeremiah say stop telling that story because there's a new story you're going to be able to tell in fact Jeremiah 16 says it like this in verses 14 and 15. therefore behold days are coming declares the Lord will will it will no longer be said as the Lord Lives who brought the sons of Israel out of Egypt but he's and then the next verse says this but as the Lord lives you're going to tell this story who brought the Lord who brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north that was Babylon that was God telling them that something a new story was about to be told he said Not only did God get you out of Egypt that's the old story you've been telling that for a thousand years but God is getting you out of baby Babylon and you're going to rebuild the Temple and you're going to be rebuild the wall and you're going to tell a new story about this you're about to change the story you've been telling for the last decade even here at Viva church God is going to begin to do something through your new pastors there will be a season that the story um was not going to happen inside the building but outside of it on streets and on computer screens on in homes and in Parks baptisms not in a church baptismal but in bathtubs and lakes and ponds we've never told a story like this before because and get ready for this new story because with every new story there's new characters that's what he was telling with every new story God will raise up new characters Jeremiah was prophesying this think about he says no longer is it going to be Joshua and Moses but he says we're going to raise up in this new Time new characters it's going to be Daniel Nehemiah Esther and Ezra this is what God is going to do you and I believe be the church you are in the cusp you are right in the eye of what God is going to want to do there in the west coast I want to encourage you today and I want to preach to you today something that God's put on my heart for you let's pray father over these next few moments let your word come alive let us see the season the way you see it let us not be far off let's not let us not just to Simply Define it as a pandemic covid-19 civil unrest but let us use your definitions in Jesus name amen every time I get a brand new Bible I write the same thing in it before I start reading it in fact I have it here in this one with me right now I write it on the fly leaf in fact it's a 500 year old poem written by a prison convict and it seems almost to be a contradiction that prison convict that that I'm speaking about from 500 years ago was was none other than John Bunyan who wrote Pilgrim's Progress and he wrote this poem that's in my Bible and every Bible that I read here's the words there was a man they called him mad the more he gave the more he had seems like a contradiction let me read it to you again the last phrase the more he gave the more he had it doesn't even seem to make sense it almost seems like a contradiction that that and and you're gonna see this not only in the scriptures but it happens in our English language we have some words and phrases in English that seem to make no sense and are also are are somewhat contradictory think about this ships carry cargo and cars carry shipments does it even make sense you you park on a driveway but you drive on a Parkway why why I know this is deep why does your nose run and your feet smell okay I'll let you deal with that one the man this is this one is crazy why is the man that invests all your money called a broker that is not a great word to use why why do doctors call what they do a practice shouldn't they be good at it by now then there are words that are so far off in describing the item there's no egg and eggplant there's no ham and hamburger the either their Pine or apples in a pineapple and then we're even faced with these conundrums all of us New Yorkers right here in Times Square why does pizza come in square boxes if the number two pencil is the most popular why is it still number two and here's one for you um how come there aren't B batteries we have a c and d I don't even understand that and then the most mysterious of all things get ready guys and gals get ready why women can't put mascara on with their mouth closed and conundrums Mysteries can can those items and their descriptions be that far off even even like John Bunyan the more he gave the more he had this kind of thing happened to Jesus and the disciples it happened just before Jesus went to the Cross Jesus and his disciples see the same event at the same time but their definition of it is so far apart it's not just silly but like the phrases and the words like the poem I read to you it seems contradictory it's as silly as those words that I just read to you here's the story it's Matthew 26 6-13 listen to the words Jesus now proceeded to Bethany to the home of Simon the leper while he was eating a woman came in with a bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it over his head the disciples were indignant what a waste of good money they said why she could have sold it for a fortune and given it to the poor Jesus knew what they were thinking and said why are you criticizing her for she has done a good thing to me you will always have the poor among you but you won't always have me she has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for the burial she she and she will always be remembered for this deed the story of what she has done will be told throughout the whole world whenever the good news is preached here's the contradiction be the church here it is it's Jesus's interpretation of this act versus the disciples interpretation of this act here it is verse 8 they say what a waste verse 10 Jesus says this is a good thing all based on seeing the same thing the same time This Woman's extravagant gift this what went through my mind when I read that passage of scripture was this how can we how can you to the disciples be so far off good thing and waste listen to the words of comparison the NIV calls it a beautiful thing the message says something wonderfully significant but every version and translation verse 8 waste waste a waste two views of the same deed waste and good and so far apart can somebody who's been with Jesus for three years still be that far off let me ask you even a bigger question can I be with Jesus for almost four decades and still misinterpret things can I can I be that off on Kingdom things that badly even thinking about this season can I misinterpret even the season that we're going can you be sitting in that church and maybe have sat there for years look what's happening around you online and how God is using Pastor JC and pastor and and Christina and thinking to yourself man I don't like what's going on this is wrong and and but we're we're having the wrong definitions to it can we be that far off who's right and why I think today we're going to fulfill Jesus's prophecy I know we're going to fulfill Jesus's prophecy as we speak about this passage because Jesus said whenever the gospel is preached that this deed would be told her gift would outlive her you know when Steve Jobs the founder of Apple died an old Apple commercial surfaced from the 90s and went viral on YouTube it's a commercial that aired 1997 that attempted to Rebrand the Apple products the tagline to the commercial and for the Apple was this think differently in the commercial they showed a collage of photographs and film footage of people who invented inspired created sacrifice to improve the world to make a difference there was everyone from Bob Dylan to Amelia Earhart Frank Lord Wright to Muhammad Ali Dr Martin Luther King Jim Henson Albert Einstein Pablo Picasso even to Gandhi and the images rolled by they heard this poem with those people attached to what these people did listen to the words Here's To The Crazy Ones The Misfits the Rebels the troublemakers the round pegs and square holes the ones who see things differently they're not fond of rules they have no respect for the status quo you can quote them disagree with them glorify them or even vilify them about the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things they pushed the human race forward while some may see them as crazy we see genius because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones that do it that Matthew 26 woman listen is one of The Crazy Ones that's who she is I want to be crazy just crazy for one person Jesus because he's worth it I heard one person say it like this they said to their friend you take this Jesus thing too seriously to which they responded well I don't know about that but what I do know is Jesus took me pretty seriously when he died for me on the cross be the church this woman took Jesus seriously and became one of The Crazy Ones what what did Jesus see in this act what made it beautiful and significant what what what was it that Jesus saw that the other twelve couldn't see what did Jesus see in this woman's gift I think there's three things and I want you to jot them down that I see number one because I think it had the extravagance of God on it it looked a lot like what God does the character and heart of God I love using that word extravagance the word means to spare no expense a lack of restraint in using resources to be elaborate God from the very beginning has been extravagant not only with the giving of a son that extravagant gift but even how he created the world let's take creation just for a moment and the extravagance of God what's crazy is that when God created he was extravagant not stingy he could have created one star but decided that's not enough I'm gonna load the heavens with hundreds of billions of stars not just one now a number that you couldn't even count in your lifetime everything he created is with extravagance it's insane like insects he spoke in 10 million um species were created 10 million not a hundred not a thousand I mean think of this for a moment 2500 variations of ants ants and most of those are in my home 300 000 species of beetles extravagance think about this 5 billion birds in the U.S alone and then he got extravagant with these birds personalities some can fly 500 Miles non-stop there's mallard ducks that can fly 60 miles an hour Eagles a hundred miles an hour Falcons 180 miles an hour some he created to navigate by stars over ten thousand species of birds 28 000 species of just fish and he got so extravagant that God just said let me throw one in there that there is a fish that won't eat anything in the water it comes up to the surface and spits at insects flying it out until they drop in the water water and God goes let's just get crazy with extravagance as we create a planet this was God breaking his Alabaster Box for God to see his Beauty that's why both Paul and David say when you look at the world around you you can't miss God I wonder if that's why Jesus praised this woman he saw it just like he sees his father what his father did and it caught his attention when I was speaking there in the west coast in California not too far from Bakersfield when I was at a church Someone put in my room a gift basket and they put a book in there was called in the heart of the World by Mother Teresa one of those stories caught my attention talk about extravagance let me read to you what the story was she writes at a seminary in Bangla Gore a nun said to me a nun one said to me Mother Teresa you're spoiling the poor the poor by giving them free things they are losing their human dignity her response this is what Mother Teresa said and wrote In the book when everyone was quiet I said calmly no one spoils us as much as God himself see the wonderful things he has given to us freely he says all of you have no glasses that you're sitting here but yet you can see if God were to take money for your sight what would happen continually we're breathing and living on oxygen that we didn't pay for what would happen if God were to say if you work for four hours you'll get Sunshine for two how many of us would survive then there are many congregants that spoiled the rich it's good to have one congregation in the name of the poor to spoil the poor God is extravagant be the church God has put you there in that community in Delano to begin to show the extravagance of God to that Community Jesus saw extravagance of this gift Jesus saw himself in this gift Martin Luther the great reformer said it like this a religion that does nothing that saves nothing that gives nothing and that costs nothing that suffers nothing is worth nothing Jesus saw extravagance let me give you a second thing it was giving the best with nothing left it was common to offer a little kind of small amount of fragrant ointment to refresh the dinner guests just to kind of Take A little dab and just to refresh from the from the hot and dirty streets but Mary goes beyond custom and common she pours the whole box the whole vial on Jesus's head as if she was inaugurating a king to his office as Jesus would say later preparing his body for burial let's think about this for a moment be the church just kind of get ready just to kind of um lean in on this for a moment let's say the average yearly salary right there in Delano is about 30 000 a year can you imagine giving a 30 000 bottle 30 000 bottle of perfume and then busting it open and pouring it on Jesus's head let's let's if we wanted to update it what what what would our response be that's that's how much it was worth in fact the mark passage in Mark 14 4 and 5 um actually tells us that it was worth 300 dinero which which it goes on to say is a Year's one year's wage giving one year's wage of a bottle of perfume in fact we learn in the history of this substance it's called spikenard came from a plants in the Himalaya Mountains and costing a Year's waste Himalayan Mountains a Year's wage it's not what why why couldn't it have been literally why why that bottle why why that kind of uh uh Alabaster uh bottle and given to Jesus when you think about it here's what's crazy why not just some cheap perfume picked up from the bargain um area of a dollar store CVS why not brood or Stetson or Jovan no offense at CVS why does it have to be from the Himalayas why not from CBS why a year's salary why not a week's salary a month that seemed like it would have been good enough why a year it didn't it didn't need to be Alabaster why why couldn't it just been glass or plastic because it wasn't good enough for this woman why break it think about that why why break Alabaster she could have poured a little bit on it that would have been good enough to break it means that there's nothing left to poor it means it's all gone this is the problem and this is the challenge folks so many times and I'm and I am a convict number one on this we give good enough but we never give good with nothing we never give enough with nothing left we give good enough but never nothing left I I think about this so many times as we're going through this when you have people there'll be actually people who argue the the the the just enough people that will start arguing side note of do I tithe on gross or net and I'm going those aren't Alabaster Box people when was the last time you just gave to God with nothing left not not just money Pastor JC and Christina when they were in youth ministry there at be the church they used to bring um teenagers down to our youth conference in Detroit called War week used to have people come from all over the country some 15 17 different states for a youth conference right in the heart of the inner city of Detroit Michigan I remember a worship service one of our Sunday worship Services there in Detroit Michigan um and one lady in particular she was over 70 years or 70 years old she was suffering from a lung condition and didn't have much time to live but she did not want to miss church and every Sunday morning her children would load her in a van with a with a lift a wheelchair that she would control with her thumb and two oxygen tanks to keep her alive that were going up her nose so she could breathe and the only thing that she could do she was so incapacitated was use her thumb to move her thumb to move the wheelchair I'll never forget one Sunday morning was a moment where God just visited Us in worship spirit of God came down in such a special way and I'll never forget that woman in the back of the church oxygen tanks attached to the back a work one working thumb and and tubes going up her nose and not much time left to live I'll never forget we called her mother Ivan Sister Yvonne Davis with the only strength that she had this is called giving with nothing left she took her thumb and jammed it and comes flying down the center aisle because worship was happening and she couldn't walk she couldn't get there she couldn't even sing because of because of the oxygen she wanted to worship she she took that thing our security was a little scared at that moment not knowing what to do and with everything that she had left the only thumb muscle she had she took that toggle switch and jammed it to the right and all of a sudden while the music's going she started turning 360s in a wheelchair and that was her only way that she could worship God what she did was she gave with nothing left inside of her that's called breaking an alabaster box that's giving with nothing left see what this woman was doing was something that was so expensive some in fact some historians speculate that this was her the family inheritance can you imagine in one swoop everything that the family saved up for is gone because she gave it to Jesus all that the family gave to her is now given away to a carpenter do you ever think did you ever think what you were doing no no one does she just knew it belonged to him I think she got overwhelmed with Jesus and just thought everything he gets everything that's why the words of the 1960s Christian martyr Jim Elliott as he laid it all out for the AKA Indians in South America died for his faith in Jesus said it like this forgive me God for being so ordinary while claiming to know an extraordinary God man that should be our prayer today let me finish with this I think what Jesus saw is that is this phrase she was there are people that are hindered by calculation or motivated by Love or Let me let me I'm going to be crazy here so this is going to sound a little like the crazy one I think she was avoiding being number 56. Pastor Tim what are you talking about okay stay with me I'm gonna explain why she was avoiding being number 56 because I don't want to be number 56. the woman wasn't going to be number 56. see the enemy of extravagant love are those that calculate if it's worth it they they compare and calculate before they commit how do you know if this person is the one to marry I'll tell you if you're calculating going like man I got can't hang out with my friends and I can't do this that's not the one to marry because once you start calculating see love doesn't calculate love doesn't go like now I've got to go out to dip now I've got to spend money on this that's not a calculation that's not love because love doesn't calculate like that um she didn't want to be 56 what do you mean Pastor Tim I was reading the article that took place in Amesbury Massachusetts a few years ago Ellen Taylor tells the story of something that happened to her that she's never experienced before she said every Saturday Ellen Taylor goes to Heavenly Donuts in Amesbury Massachusetts he says it's just kind of our family tradition I buy a dozen donuts and I bring it home for my husband and my children and I went just like I do every single Saturday morning showed up and when I pulled up to get my Donuts they handed it to me and wouldn't take my money she said the the the the the person that that gave her the donut said it was already paid for by the car that just drew drove off she said I don't I don't know who that person was and then she told her the story she said you're number 17. she said the last 16 cars have paid for the person behind them some of it was just two dollars for a cup of coffee some of it has been 35 and 40 dollars for two and three dozens of donuts she couldn't believe it she was car number 17 16 people have paid so she goes man I want in on this she goes what's the price of the person behind me they told her and she said here it is pay for them she received her Donuts paid for the person behind her and here's what's crazy the next day in the newspaper this is what it said that 55 cars went through that line and every one of them were paid for in Heavenly Donuts people were blown away maybe this is my critical mind be the church but I want you to listen here's what I thought who was number 56 which genius said oh I get something free and drove off and never paid for anybody else who stopped the act of generosity who was more concerned about themselves than for the people coming up behind them and took and took advantage of an opportunity misinterpreted this goes all the way back to the Jeremiah 16 passage misinterpreted a moment and ended up taking and just thinking about themselves I don't want to be number 56. and be the church you don't want to be number 56. let me show you number 56 in this story it's not hard to find this woman was an inspiration of so many except one it was number 56. she didn't Inspire one other person in the room because some other calculations were happening here it is right after Jesus says that This Woman's deed verse verse 13 was going to be preached wherever the gospel is being preached listen to the next verse then Judas Iscariot one of the twelves went to the chief priest and says how much will you pay me to get Jesus in their hands and they gave him 30 silver coins folks wow all in the same story you have a 300 dineroi Alabaster perfume or 30 pieces of silver do you know what 30 pieces of silver equals today ready for this 15 bucks Judas is criticizing her sacrifice and yet sells Jesus for 15 bucks one person giving it all another trying to get all he can it was our President Calvin Coolidge you said no person was ever honored for what he received only honor is for what we give this in mind she never brought up the price of the items she gave all the others did she never brought it up 12 guys sitting in a room did a price check on this gift and came up with a price what a waste there's some people who know the value of everything in other words they think they know the real value and they'll tell us here is here's how the calculations go that hinder people from avoiding number 56 here even at Viva Church the Dream Team well if I'd be part of the Dream Team then I've got to get to church early they're calculating it's 56. well if we're if we're going to be reaching giving away uh food or we're going to go out um on Saturdays we're going to do this for children I've got to give up my time I've got to do this all those things if I join a connect group if I go online I'm going to have to lose time here see those are all the calculations those are all number 56 calculations the most important thing I can tell you today is just as the woman just as the disciples missed the woman interpreted wrong just as people and even church people are interpreting this pandemic and what's happening wrong there's one thing you can interpret wrong and I want to help you with listen to these words eternity is too long to be wrong it's too long to be wrong you can't you can't miss that one via the church those watching online listen to me you can't be far off on this you gotta get this one right I said Tim can you can you help me there are people that get far off on what it means to go to heaven on what it means to be a Christian and we can be that far off and what matters on this one is not Sundays but what matters is forever eternity let me show you how far off we can be here's my question how do you get to heaven here it comes you ready for this some people say well I'm a good person I I go to church I'm a Catholic I haven't hurt anybody those those those are good things but those aren't the directions can Pastor Tim are you saying I'm far off no I'm saying Jesus is saying you're far off listen to what Jesus said because here's the part I want you to get be the church if there's if there's anybody who would know the directions to his own house it's Jesus you don't know them and I don't know them we have to be told what the directions are and here's what Jesus said if his home is heaven he said this I'm telling you the truth John 3 3 no one can see the kingdom of heaven without being born again those are Jesus's words he's giving you the directions he's not leaving it for you or I to Define how we get to heaven because those things some think well I was water baptized I took communion I was christened I was dedicated uh I'm a Catholic I'm a Baptist something all those things those aren't the directions Jesus said Jesus said you have to be born again those are Jesus's words see I want you today to not be far off but why eternity is too long to be wrong okay pastor Tim then give us the directions how do we become born again and what does that mean what Jesus was saying was this just as you had a first birth you need a second birth a born again just as you have a birth date you need a second birth date or a born again date in your first birth you're born in a hospital your second birth what Jesus is talking about is happens internally in fact Jesus says in John 3 5 that that no man he says no man not only can see won't see the Kingdom of Heaven unless they're born again he says You must be born again those are his words what he was saying was don't make optional what Jesus says is a necessity well then Pastor Tim how how does that happen we tell kindergartners and first graders the ABCs I want to make it that simple today it's ABC in each one of those letters will be a word a it's admitting first that I'm a sinner that I get honest with God that all of us starting with me have a condition called sin it's it and it's a sin condition it can't be fixed by a promise I'm gonna promise God I'm gonna do better at any program I'm going to go to this program it's going to fix me a priest a pastor even personally we need help to fix us I'm broken inside of the diagnosis of sin and I have to admit that a word that I'm a sinner one pastor says it like this we're not mistakers in need of correction we are sinners in need of a savior we need more than a second chance we need a second birth that's where it comes to the b word believing believing that God sent his son to fix our sinful condition I can't fix myself I I Can't Get To Heaven on my own it's not that Jesus came down died on the cross and then God said hey do your best to get to heaven if we could fix this ourselves then God putting his son through this suffering he went through is the ultimate case of child abuse if I could get myself to Heaven by being good then why would Jesus have to come and die on the cross see Jesus's death was Jesus taking being my sin Bearer taking the penalty that I that I deserve to pay and paying it for me he died the death that I should have died live the life I couldn't even live and gave me a reward heaven and forgiveness of sin that I didn't deserve and finally it's confessed it's admit believe confess Jesus says Lord Romans 10 9-10 do you think that Jesus that God sent his son Jesus to die on the cross to get you to sit in a church there in Delano for just an hour and every Sunday he goes through all that suffering and says now they're sitting in a seat at church that was the mission that's not the mission God's goal was not to get you to church God's goal is to get you to heaven coming to church on Sunday that's religion born again is a relationship that's why Christianity is not coming to a place it's coming to a person and that person now becomes in charge of your life he becomes Lord and that word means boss I I don't it's God saying I don't want you I don't want you to do what I want you to do on a Sunday for an hour God goes I want you every single day that's called lordship and today can be your second birthday you're born again birthday that can happen today I'll Pastor Tim Howe I want to pray a born-again prayer with you whether you're listening online listening in person wherever you're listening you could be in a home a gym a car wherever you're listening I want you to pray a prayer with me if you're saying pastor Tim I've been far off on my definition of heaven today I want this to be my second birth date wherever you're at right now I want you to pray a prayer with me it's not a magic words but it's it's taking all those things and saying God this is how you define getting to heaven then I want to use your definition not my definition I want your directions to Heaven not what I made up on my own or what I've even heard all my life John 3 3 and John 3 5 are Jesus's directions so wherever you're at right now if you say Pastor Tim I want to start this journey today but I'm not perfect exactly perfect people don't go to heaven forgiven people go to heaven well then how do I do this pastor Tim wherever you're at if you're able to say it I want you to pray this out loud with me I'll go slow and I want you to pray this with me come on say this with me dear Lord Jesus I believe that you're the son of God I believe that on the cross you took my sin shame and my guilt and you died for it I believe you faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go you rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven purpose on Earth and a relationship with your father today Lord Jesus turn from my sin to be born again come on say it with me God is my father Jesus Is My Savior the holy spirit is my helper and Heaven is my home in Jesus name amen be the church what a joy to share with you today to Pastor JC and Christina to Pastor Ray and Alicia to Pastor Raul and Sylvia and the whole Vida church family what a joy it is and for those that prayed that prayer happy birthday this is going to be the beginning of a brand new life for you we love you from Times Square Church God bless you Your Grace is more Grace is found is where you are and where you are [Music] [Music] I do need you my one defense [Music] to teach my song to rise to you when Temptation comes my way when I cannot stand [Music] [Music] Lord I need you [Music] [Applause] [Music] you're my one thank you defense my righteousness oh God how I need you [Music] it was great hosting you today at Vida online remember to follow Viva on Instagram and Facebook at vivachurch Delano to stay connected throughout your week are you inspired to give if you would like to invest into this ministry there are three easy ways to do so you can text give to visa to 94090 you can give at vidadelainal.org just hit the link on the page that says give to Vida and finally you can give in person if God has made an impact through this ministry we'd like to hear from you let us know by sending some encouragement via direct message through Vedas socials or by emailing us at information vivadelano.org see you here next week at Visa online bye

Channel: VIDA CHURCH DELANO

Views: 490

Keywords:

Id: pTQUfZdHBbs

Length: 42min 28sec (2548 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 10 2022