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This Sunday Podcast S1:E7
11 Plays13 days ago
Ascension Day bonus video!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Ascension Day
00:00:00
Speaker
Greetings and ah welcome back to the This Sunday Podcast. I am Pastor Matthew Hardaway. Joining with me, um as always, is Pastor, Dr. Reverend, High Holy Sir Philip Brandt. I don't know why I can't ever get that right when I'm starting this show, but he's here with me.
Significance of Ascension Day in the Church Calendar
00:00:19
Speaker
This is actually going to be a podcast going over Ascension Day, a day of the church year that we don't often celebrate because it actually falls on a Thursday.
00:00:32
Speaker
So knowing that there are churches that will celebrate Ascension on the Sunday following or the Sunday prior, might also have a Thursday service, or just because it's a wonderful part of the church here, we're going to do a special podcast this today on Ascension Day um in between the 6th Sunday and then the 7th Sunday of
Opening Observances and Prayer
00:00:57
Speaker
Easter. So with that, I'll open up with the collage of the day for Ascension Day, and Dr. Brandt will kick us off with the reading for that day.
00:01:06
Speaker
We pray. Almighty God, as your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, ascended into the heavens, so may we also ascend in heart and mind and continually dwell there with him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Understanding the Ascension (Q&A)
00:01:28
Speaker
Amen.
00:01:32
Speaker
Ascend into the heavens, we just prayed. what What do you think that means, Matthew? We go up there. Yeah. we i mean i i regularly, i regularly when i when I come to Ascension, i I just ask people, where do you think he went?
00:01:51
Speaker
where Where did Jesus go? And, you know, and and and kind of then I say, well, and where is he now? Where's Jesus right now? and And a lot of people sort of vaguely will do what you just did is sort of point off.
00:02:08
Speaker
right i go, really? that but But I thought he said he promised he would be with us to the very end of the page. I mean, that the Matthew 28 says, that's the concluding words of his of the gospel according to Matthew is he's going to be with us.
00:02:24
Speaker
um Where'd he go? Yeah. and And then then they'll usually they'll usually go and say, well, he's in my heart. And I say, well, let's let him out.
00:02:37
Speaker
Let's get him out of there. ah ah Yeah, I mean, it's it it's it's ah it's a really interesting question for me is is where people imagine Jesus is right now.
00:02:53
Speaker
And what's he doing? i think I think a lot of people have ah have a picture of Jesus ascended into heaven and he's sort of sitting on a throne, and listening to angelic top 40, waiting, just waiting around till that big last day, that big last event, you know, and, you know, the trumpet's going to sound and he's going get off the throne and raise the dead or something like that. but, but But I think that's ah that's ah ah really a misunderstanding of what the text says and and and what what
Analysis of Ascension Story
00:03:27
Speaker
what's going on. So let's look at at the Ascension story in the Gospel according to or the gospel according to Luke. It ends with that, but the but the subsequent of ah volume, the Book of acts begins with it. So let's look at the Acts version of that.
00:03:41
Speaker
Oh, just, but but before we do that, so, so i mean, Jesus isn't like sitting right next to God the Father going, is it time yet? Yes. Is it time yet? Is it time yet? No, no, I don't think that's quite the picture. Oh, okay. Okay. So the end of Luke, beginning of Acts.
00:04:00
Speaker
I'm just going to back it up to the first verse. In the first book, O Theophilus, I've dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach. And that is super important. He doesn't say that he bought and did, but rather that he began to do and began to teach.
00:04:22
Speaker
And the implication there is he's not done. know He's still doing it until the day when he was taken up after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.
00:04:37
Speaker
To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God. So luca Luke has us imagine this 40-day period where Jesus is popping in and out, telling them, teaching them, ah living with them, demonstrating his resurrection.
00:05:03
Speaker
While he was staying with them, that's a really interesting word. Jesus was remaining with him. He ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
00:05:28
Speaker
So Jesus says, hang tight, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit.
00:05:37
Speaker
So when they had come together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom
Disciples' Questions and Israel's Restoration
00:05:43
Speaker
to Israel? And you kind of go guys, have you not been listening at all?
00:05:53
Speaker
to anything that he has said, do they still have this complete misunderstanding? if you're If you're at all interested, um there's ah there's ah a scholar on the East Coast, I believe he's either at Durham or North Carolina, now it's it's eluding me.
00:06:12
Speaker
His name is Jason Staples. ah Just wrote in the last couple of years a fascinating book called Paul and the Resurrection of israel
00:06:24
Speaker
ah which, if if he's right, completely changes the way we understand that question. um ah Staples argues that, that in fact, um in the in the time when that when the disciples lived and in the centuries prior, that ah it it all kind of revolves around what your understanding of the of the meaning of the word Israel is.
00:06:53
Speaker
Because, of course, it's the guy, i the son of Isaac, Jacob, becomes Israel. um But then you've got the children of Israel as a whole, the all the descendants of Jacob.
00:07:07
Speaker
um And Israel as a unified kingdom under King David. But then it gets split, of course, and you have the northern kingdom, which takes the name Israel, and the southern kingdom, which takes the name Judah.
00:07:23
Speaker
Well, at the time when this is happening, they almost always understood Israel as opposed to Judah.
00:07:33
Speaker
But if you remember your church history or your your biblical history, um in the year 722 or so, the Assyrians come in and destroy the northern kingdom of Israel, and they're gone.
00:07:47
Speaker
when when When this all happens, they're gone. But the prophetic witness throughout had talked about God would restore Israel. And particularly in the in in Jeremiah, but also a little bit in Ezekiel, um they talk about God will restore both Judah and Israel.
00:08:12
Speaker
God will restore both Judah and Israel. Over and over again, they talk about that. and And Staples really argues that when the disciples come and ask this question, they're not talking about Israel as the inclusive whole.
00:08:28
Speaker
They're talking about, are you going to bring back the northern ten tribes now?
00:08:36
Speaker
That's really interesting. if ah growing up Growing up in a church body that did not teach much at all Old Testament.
00:08:46
Speaker
Right. Outside of Jonah and the Whale and Noah's Ark and and all that. David and Goliath. Right, right, right. Your your your key things there. I don't even know if there's many in that church body that would even fathom what you just shared.
00:09:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, well, it's um it's it's a great text. it It deserves a lot more than, of course, the few minutes I can give it here. um Fascinating. I don't know that, you know, of course, I'm kind of still digesting it a little bit, all right, to know quite exactly whether how how far I'm willing to walk with Staples on this. But ah yeah, his name is Jason Staples, and the text is ah ah Paul and the Resurrection of Israel.
00:09:33
Speaker
um Really, really interesting text. Really, and he he raises some very interesting questions um that's gonna that'll play out you know in a lot of what Paul has to say, and of course, ah later on in the book
Paul's Mission and Gentile Inclusion
00:09:47
Speaker
of Acts. But but yeah, are are the disciples, does Paul, and and and what what Staples will eventually come to say is that because the the Northern Ten Tribes have been just sort of Gentilized, they've been scattered among the Gentiles, they're indistinguishable from the Gentiles, that this is why Paul is preaching to the Gentiles.
00:10:11
Speaker
He understands that that they have become synonymous with the lost ten tribes the lost tribes of Israel, the the the ten tribes of the of the the the northern kingdom.
00:10:23
Speaker
That if you're going to bring them back, you've got to bring everybody back.
00:10:28
Speaker
And that's why he that's why he preaches to the Gentiles.
00:10:33
Speaker
Interesting. Because he believes he's fulfilling these promises that Jeremiah made. you know that God made through Jeremiah to restore the lost kingdom of Israel.
00:10:45
Speaker
So would that be in place of all of the the prophecies, or even the Gospel gospel matthew where where Jesus came back for everyone?
00:10:59
Speaker
Well, Gentile alike. Is that, does Staples argue? I don't think Staples would argue that those things are in opposition to each other. okay I think what he would say is that the reason Matthew and Jesus and that Jesus through Matthew and and and others are are saying what they're saying is because it was understood that that in order for the eschaton, the Messiah to show up, one of the things the Messiah would do is he would restore the Northern Ten tribes.
00:11:33
Speaker
and that And that the inclusion of the Gentiles now is in fact the restoration of the northern dead tribes. Okay, okay. That... My brain's catching up. Yeah, yeah. It's really it's a really kind of kind of sort of fundamental shifting kind of a way of thinking about it.
00:11:54
Speaker
um And like I say, we we can't really argue it here. If you're interested in it, that's the book. And I'd encourage you to read that one. But... um Okay, so they ask him this question.
00:12:07
Speaker
Maybe they completely misunderstand him. Maybe they are they are thinking about Israel in a different way than you and I usually do. Jesus' response to that is, well, that's not for you to know the times or seasons the Father has fixed by his own authority.
00:12:22
Speaker
A typical non-answer that Jesus loves to loves to throw out. when you When you try and nail him down, he oftentimes doesn't really give you an answer. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
00:12:35
Speaker
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. A lot of people have noticed that that is actually the outline of the book of Acts.
00:12:52
Speaker
That the whole book of Acts follows that pattern of first Jerusalem and then Judea and then Samaria That's chapter eight with Philip. And then to the ends of the earth, that's of course the ministry of Paul as he's going to to the west.
00:13:10
Speaker
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up. and And I want you to notice here, just because they're trying to do good English, they have to do this.
00:13:22
Speaker
But in fact, in Greek, there is no article.
00:13:28
Speaker
which is kind of unusual in front of cloud. And it just says, oh okay and cloud took him out of their sight.
00:13:38
Speaker
And while they were gazing into heaven, as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes.
00:13:46
Speaker
They said, men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will come again in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.
00:14:03
Speaker
That emphasis on that little word cloud is is so interesting for that because um i think it's actually the Shekinah.
00:14:15
Speaker
This is not a nimbus or a strato cumulus or some other cloud. I really think this is the cloud that overshadowed them at transfiguration.
00:14:29
Speaker
this is This is the cloud that filled the temple when Solomon dedicated it. This is the cloud that led them through the wilderness in the days of Moses. um This is the glory that shone around them when the angels sang to the to the shepherds.
00:14:45
Speaker
um that That I think this is saying Jesus entered divine glory. um If you remember two weeks ago ah when we were looking at the um stoning of Stephen, it says he he lifted up his eyes and he saw the glory of God and Jesus was there standing at God's right hand.
00:15:13
Speaker
I think those that that passage is connected to this one. that That this passage says, yeah, Jesus went up into cloud. That is the Shekinah.
00:15:25
Speaker
Went up into the glory of God. um but But that again, you know, just kind of leaves us with this question of, well, where did he go?
00:15:38
Speaker
What is that to say that god that Jesus is there? And I think Luke actually gives us the answer. for this. um and And I think this is the piece of of ascension that we we so often miss.
00:15:56
Speaker
that That ascension really isn't about the absence of Jesus, but it's about the presence of Jesus.
00:16:07
Speaker
um and And this is one of the things that is kind of frustrating about Luke um a little bit. he ah that That opening phrase where he says, in my first book, O Theophilus, I told you about all the things that Jesus began to say and to do.
00:16:23
Speaker
And then really within that sentence, he just slips right into the narrative. He never breaks that for the rest of the book.
00:16:36
Speaker
In other words, he never addresses you as a reader.
00:16:40
Speaker
In the same way that you know Matthew, he'll he'll stop and say, oh yeah, this happened to fulfill the prophecy. That's Matthew talking to you as a reader. Luke does not do that for the rest of the book of Acts.
00:16:57
Speaker
He never stops and tells you this is what this means. He just tells you the story and forces you to make that meaningful assessment on your own.
Jesus' Presence in Believers' Actions
00:17:12
Speaker
um So where did Jesus go?
00:17:17
Speaker
Well, if you look at the post-Pentecost narratives, Peter and John go to the temple and they encounter a lame man, a paralyzed guy.
00:17:33
Speaker
They heal him. They heal him. In chapters four and five, they get persecuted by the Sanhedrin. in ah A little bit later there in chapter six, there's a there's there is some confusion or some dissension about the feeding of the widows.
00:17:54
Speaker
um And... um Peter later on goes and he, and it says that Peter's doing so many miracles that they're just flocking to him and that they're positioning people by the road so that his shadow will fall on them because that brings a blessing.
00:18:14
Speaker
um Peter raises Dorcas from the dead. He heals Lamanias in chapter nine. um Yeah, you're kind of going, wait a minute.
00:18:26
Speaker
I think I know where Jesus is. um When Stephen dies, just two weeks ago, we heard him say, Father, you know, Jesus, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing.
00:18:39
Speaker
and into your And receive my spirit. no Those are just echoes. They're not verbatim, but they're echoes of what Jesus says on the cross. ah and But I think the the the real kicker, clincher for me on this is that when dies,
00:18:57
Speaker
But when Jesus confronts Saul on the road to Damascus, he doesn't say, you know, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people?
00:19:08
Speaker
He says, why are you persecuting me?
00:19:14
Speaker
And Saul goes, who are you? And he says, I'm Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
00:19:22
Speaker
And ah yeah, I i think that we don't point up when we ask where jesus when when somebody asks us where Jesus is. i think we point out.
00:19:36
Speaker
We point to that that other person who is doing the Jesus thing right now. you know Maybe in their loving me and forgiving me as Jesus loves and forgives me, in the feeding of the hungry, in the healing of the sick,
00:19:52
Speaker
All right. It's no accident that if if you look around Portland, Oregon, where I live, you know, the hospitals are named Emmanuel and Good Samaritan and Providence and okay. And Adventist and peace and St. Vincent. and They've all got these religious terms to them because they were started by religious communities.
00:20:17
Speaker
um Now, granted, OHSU is an outlier there. um Kaiser, you know, there's new ones have started that that are that are no longer um ah ah religiously oriented. And many of those old ones aren't even owned by religious entities anymore. But the fact of the matter is that, that you know, Christians for a long time have said, I'm going to take care of sick people because that's what Jesus does.
00:20:47
Speaker
And I may not have the gift of you know laying my hands on somebody and healing them, but I can love them with Jesus' love. and And that's why you've got all these hospitals like this.
00:20:58
Speaker
but you know if in And the truth is, if you're hungry in Portland, there's a very good chance that if you go to a food bank somewhere to get something to eat today, there's going to be a cross on top of that building.
00:21:12
Speaker
um you Jesus is still feeding the hungry. Jesus is still caring for the sick. Jesus is, you know, comforting people.
00:21:23
Speaker
um and And so, yeah, don't look up, but look out. look at the Look at the world around you and see the places where people look like Jesus, even sometimes in their suffering.
00:21:36
Speaker
As Stephen has the words of Jesus on his lips as he's dying. um That Jesus shows up all around us all the time.
00:21:48
Speaker
Just kind of your eyes open to see him.
00:21:53
Speaker
Sorry. Leading chapel this morning for our preschool. Three-year-olds and four-year-olds. And somebody asked where Jesus is.
00:22:07
Speaker
Mm-hmm. and And before I could answer, one of the other little ones goes, oh, it was on the cross. Like, where we're in chapel, like you in the sanctuary. They can see the cross. They're remembering the Easter story, remembering right talking about Thomas and, you know, all that stuff. And and I said, well, no he was on the cross on Good Friday, but he he died and rose again.
00:22:30
Speaker
and one of the ah little girls, she's probably one of the older ones, goes, and now he's everywhere. He's with us now. Mm-hmm. and and But I kid you not, i kid you not, on that row that she was sitting on, some little kid, they they I don't know what their fascination is with this one spot on that pew, but every kid wants to sit on that one spot. Right. So there's a kid that was sitting there and and he he he wiggled around. He got off the pew for a second. He was trying to get back into his spot. And they're they're kind of fighting quietly over it. you know They're not really necessarily being the nicest. But after she says that, that space opens up and the kid's able to get his spot back.
00:23:16
Speaker
And I didn't really think much of it except, oh, cool, you know, the three and four-year-olds, you know, are doing what they're supposed to be doing. But no, now that I'm looking back, and I'm like, no, Jesus was there. We're supposed to love our neighbor. We talk about that a lot in chapter.
00:23:32
Speaker
Right, right. jesus Jesus is here with me. Oh, that's right, he is. Here, come sit next to me, friend. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, i i think we I think we oftentimes have this sort of, if if we admit Jesus is present, we we sort of think of him as a disembodied Jesus, a spirit Jesus sort of floating around in the air around us. But that no, Jesus is in the hand and the face and the person who's loving me with his love.
00:24:00
Speaker
you know and And he's also, by the way, in the person who I may be loving at the moment. Jesus says, if you give so much as a cup of cold water to the least of these in my name, you're giving it to me.
Everyday Enchantment of the World
00:24:12
Speaker
and And so, I mean, yeah i mean the the what one of the great projects of the of the Enlightenment was the disenchantment of the world. You know, this this idea of of removing superstition, of removing this idea that the world is anything more than and or other than simply the the material world that we live in.
00:24:35
Speaker
And and i really think the Bible and and the and the and the Ascension story in particular is is is addressed to no to re-enchant that world or maybe to say it never got disenchanted.
00:24:50
Speaker
That that when when Jesus needs something done, he doesn't show up as this sort of bolt of lightning or ah or some angelic being. He sends me. Right.
00:25:04
Speaker
And he sends you. and And he puts us on as a mask. That's the word Luther uses for it, to describe the human interaction. God puts us on as a mask so that so that he can he can get these he can do these things in the world that that in a sense, you know, you know the the the disenchanted world sees everything flat.
00:25:29
Speaker
It's all on a horizontal plane. You know, it's just cause and effect, economic forces, physical forces. That's what's causing all of these things to happen. But that what theology does, what what the Bible does is it says, no, that's a three-dimensional that's a three-dimensional world you live in. That, yes, those causes are so are real.
00:25:52
Speaker
Economics, poverty, wealth, um but also, you know, politics and and sickness and disease and and all kinds of things are going on.
00:26:03
Speaker
um that that are shaping the world around you. But inside all of that, there is also this vertical dimension with it, that all of that also is connected to God. And particularly, Ascension wants to say that that's all now mediated through Christ. He went into the glory.
00:26:21
Speaker
Now, all of that stuff that's coming that's connected to God is connected through his perforated hands. that That the one who sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty,
00:26:32
Speaker
as we confess in the Nicene Creed, is the one who who who sees the world through that suffering he had on the cross and through his resurrection.
00:26:46
Speaker
And that now that those are the hands, those perforated hands are the ones that are governing this world and is done in grace. So that's that's why it's really important, I think, to see that that that it was the he was he was hidden from their sight by cloud.
00:27:06
Speaker
That it was the Shekinah, that he entered into the glory of God. That talks about his authority and his and his power. But then the rest of the book of Acts is talking about his presence.
00:27:20
Speaker
that that That that Jesus who's in Shekinah is also in the face, the hands, the the the love of my fellow persons. And that's why, you know, when in in in chapter six, when he's got hungry people to feed, they appoint a committee.
00:27:42
Speaker
You got seven guys that are saying, you go take care of feed, make sure everybody gets an equal share of the food. it it It looks like a synodical convention at that point. They just appointed a committee to take care of it.
00:27:56
Speaker
You know, a voters meeting would do this kind of a thing. Well, except for the people got fed that day and not three years later. Yeah, it's true. Synodical convention, right. I mean, i mean it it looks so mundane is the point. It it doesn't look miraculous. Right.
00:28:15
Speaker
And yet the same Jesus who who fed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish by the Sea of Galilee is feeding the widows of Jerusalem through the ministry of Stephen and Philip and Nicanor and all the rest of those guys.
00:28:29
Speaker
um that that That Jesus is is at work in all of this. and that's why that's why the the book of Acts wants to tell you about those miracles that that the disciples did.
00:28:43
Speaker
But it doesn't just talk about the miracles. It also talks about just the regular stuff that people do. It talks about, it it really emphasizes they got together and they loved each other.
00:28:55
Speaker
They ate, they broke bread together with a gladsome heart. They prayed together. they were they were They were helping each other out in their need. Those were not miracles in the common sense of miracle. I think they are miraculous, but they are miraculous.
00:29:11
Speaker
They are far more than simply an association of like-minded people who got along until they didn't and then they broke up. um This was this was a this was a a a a a a community of people, a holy assembly of people in which Jesus was actively engaged in the in the relationships of people.
00:29:36
Speaker
Reminds me of Jesus' words in Matthew 18, where two or three are gathered in my name. There I am also. i think so often we think that more a economically. don't not what you just like oh yeah when when we're When we're in agreement with each other for this period of time, yeah, yeah that was ah Jesus was there with us. We were united in his name.
00:30:02
Speaker
And I'm not saying that's the the wrong way of looking at it, but when you take this The cloud, the glory, the the Jesus created us to interact with him and others. that that You know, when I'm by myself, I'm not alone. Yes, I'm not i'm not saying that. But also, i can't be the love of Christ unless I've got somebody else with me.
00:30:28
Speaker
yeah And how how that looks is going to be different all the time. right Like we talked about when, went you know, that community in the beginning of Acts, that's that is not prescriptive for the way that the church should be today.
00:30:42
Speaker
it just is how Jesus was there amongst those people. Right. and And I mean, very interesting, the Matthewan passage you just cited, you know, it doesn't say wherever one of you is in my name.
00:30:55
Speaker
Right. It's always wherever two or three of you are in my name. So that Jesus is found in the other person. Right. But he's not just sitting like invisibly on a stool. Right. Off to the side watching you two get along.
00:31:10
Speaker
He's in the forgiveness that that person is speaking to me. um Yeah. Yeah. and Another just just quick, another fascinating piece about that passage. um ah You know that the that the the divine name as translated into Greek is I am.
00:31:30
Speaker
Ego a me. um And that's kind of unusual in Greek. Usually you just need the M. You you don't need the i the The pronoun is not necessary. But there it puts it in.
00:31:42
Speaker
ah and And because of the way Greek is structured, it says,
00:31:48
Speaker
wherever whenever two or three of you gather in my name, there I with you am.
00:31:56
Speaker
And so the U is in the middle of the divine name.
00:32:02
Speaker
It's really, it still sends shivers up and down my spine when I think about it. so But yeah, I mean, I think i think preaching or or gathering as a community of people on Ascension Day, or maybe if you move that and take that idea to the Sunday prior or to the Sunday after, boy, this is so important because I think this is really talking about, about,
00:32:26
Speaker
about the re-enchantment of the world or or maybe the the continuing enchantment of the world that we would we would be able to see this community of people who we sit by in church on Sunday mornings and that can get really old and stale and it can feel just so mundane and like, oh,
00:32:45
Speaker
You know, yeah nothing special about it. And yet I think what this is saying is, no, there's there's all kinds of special here because Jesus is involved. So that so that when when I, so you know, as as Jesus says, whosoever sins, you forgive.
00:33:00
Speaker
On earth, they're forgiven in heaven. that that that there's a that that That the words I speak in an absolution or that you speak as ah as forgiveness among each other, those things are things of cosmic significance.
00:33:18
Speaker
Jesus empowers those words. He tells the disciples in this text, you will receive power from on high. and And that means when you preach, when you teach, when you speak, when you when you love, when you those things are all not just you doing it, but it's God through you doing it.
00:33:40
Speaker
And I think, and for that reason, I think, you know, we neglect Ascension Day really to our peril.
Importance and Observance of Ascension Day
00:33:49
Speaker
i think I think that's, that that we need to, we we really need to keep that day somehow, whether that's migrating it before or after or observing it on Thursday.
00:34:00
Speaker
you know i mean, i I get it. i I used to always try and do an Ascension service. i I'd get five people. um and And so I started to say, well, maybe what I ought to do is do it on Sunday so that everybody's there. you know And that's how it works.
00:34:22
Speaker
Yes, yes, but it's a huge thing, just to, and somebody should just repeat, but also it fits again. Where is Jesus?
00:34:33
Speaker
o and And we know he's omnipresent. he's He is everywhere at all times, can be wherever he wants to be, in our finite created brain, it's it's almost like he can just teleport.
00:34:51
Speaker
Yeah. You know, wherever he wants to be. Cool. Oh, I feel like, you know, let's go to Hawaii right now. Okay. Bam. I'm in Hawaii. But no, no, it's, it's, it's, he's constant, present, constant within. He's bound himself to you.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah. He is voluntarily, willingly, joyfully, because he likes you, bound himself to you. He's going to stick with you wherever you go. Yeah.
00:35:22
Speaker
i mean, that's got legs to preach. Yeah. A lot. Yep.
Conclusion and Reflections
00:35:29
Speaker
It's really got it.
00:35:32
Speaker
Well, I think you've got your Ascension Day sermon ready to go. I do. I do. So, awesome. Any other thoughts for Ascension Day?
00:35:43
Speaker
You know, let's leave it there because yeah because otherwise, you Obviously, you can always go on and on and on about a text, but I think we got some good stuff there.
00:35:55
Speaker
Well, and it comes again next year. Yeah. but Awesome. Well, as always, a great joy to sit and and chat with you. A question I have before we leave, where two or three are gathered in my name, does that include via Zoom?
00:36:10
Speaker
I think, although, you know, I do want to say that I think the the in-person thing is actually really important. and Yeah. that That was meant to be more facetious than anything else. Or fastidious whatever is that word is. I probably just misused it. But ah it's a great joy to gather with you weekly and and and go through the text. So thank you again for for this time. I appreciate it.
00:36:39
Speaker
All righty. God bless you Matthew. And God bless you too. Bye-bye. Bye.