Finding Our Way

From the transcript...

In that story of what Jesus does with the woman at the well, about “I don't condemn you, go and sin no more,” somewhere he's striking that full of grace, full of truth person that he is, and of that fullness we have received.

What McDonald was talking about, I think, he was restating that concept.

God forgives us of our sins because that's what love does. It keeps no record of wrong. But his love is so passionate and strong, he can't leave us there. He is saving us from our sins.

Until we come to that place of agreement, we go and sin no more.

And that's what he's raising up—sons that see as he sees.

See Him, we realize… I mean, that's where life is.

Sin is just a seeking satisfaction outside of where true fulfillment is. True life is, yeah.

Being able to see as He sees, we come to understand and are able to make better choices. And we're delivered from our sins.

We represent him, representing him.

I don't know, man. That's some of the stuff I'm coming into reading MacDonald.

No, it's good stuff. He had a way with words. He was kind of like Spurgeon, having a way with words. I mean, he could say something. He had a command of the language.

Well, yeah, both of them.

Well, they were somewhat contemporaries.

Yeah, they were.

I think about what kind of schooling system they had back in that day to produce men that had that command of language and deepness of thought.

From the transcript...

Hit your wiper so I can see.

What you want to see?

I know, but I'd like to look out the window.

I am, but I'm not going to look that way.

Yeah, I think we all get on these journeys following the Lord and trying to figure out what he wants for us and what we want in life and where those two things seem to meet or conflict.

And it's all part of our journey that seems to be, for an individual, something necessary for them to go through to get them where God wants them to be. It may not be necessary for somebody else, but it is for them.

I used to struggle with that—being where God wanted me to be.

One day, it was a revelation.

One day I stopped. I was walking through a door in my house. I stopped in the threshold. I picked my foot up and stomped it.

I said, “Lord, right now, I put my foot down in Jesus. That is where I am, and that is where you want me to be.”

From the transcript...

I'm detecting a little sarcasm. A little? I was trying to put it as heavy as I got it. Yeah, somebody's got it cleaned up now. Oh, you know there is. You ease over here a second. I'll see one. Yeah. A little white oaks there. Man, I'm going to tell you something. Tell me something.

Tell me something good, James.

I've just been realizing afresh how blessed we are. We are blessed. So many ways. So I have a good life. Thank you for having me feel that same way. I do. Only life I have.

Well, I mean… it's a good life.

I got a squirrel right there. I could even tree that one, James.

There's lots of shifting going on in the world. It won't take half a minute. I could pull up a video that would strike fear in us if we let it because of the things going on in the world.

But I am learning—I’m going straight—I am learning just to retreat within Papa's embrace. Rest there. Yeah. Not let the cries of the voices of the world distract me.

Sometimes it can be difficult.

Does that matter?

Yeah, well, I think the temptation's always there, and it can hook you in before sometimes you're maybe even aware that you're being drawn in.

From the transcript...

I’m going to read this out of The Message. Romans 5—just before verses 8, 9, 10, because it sets the tone so beautifully:

“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged—quite the contrary. We can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t and doesn’t wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for the sacrifice of death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready.”

That last line just lands, doesn’t it?

He didn’t wait.

Not for improvement. Not for readiness. Not for some turning point where we finally got our act together. He stepped in right at the point of our weakness—right in the middle of it, not on the other side of it.

And that reframes everything.

Because now even the “troubles” Paul talks about aren’t signs that something’s gone wrong—they become places where something is being formed. Not by pressure alone, but by the presence of God in the middle of it. That phrase—“alert expectancy”—it feels like a quiet invitation to live looking for Him, even here.

It reminds me of how James says to “count it all joy,” not because the situation itself is good, but because something deeper is happening in us. And Paul is saying the same thing, but with this added layer: you’re not empty in the process. You’re not barely getting by.

You “can’t round up enough containers” for what God is pouring in.

That’s abundance language. That’s not survival—that’s overflow.

And it all flows from this one truth: Christ acted first.

Before response, before awareness, before anything on our side—He moved toward us. Which means whatever we’re waking up to now isn’t something we’re trying to earn or unlock… it’s something we’re discovering has already been given.

That’s why hope here doesn’t disappoint.

Because it’s not built on our progress—it’s anchored in His initiative.

From the transcript...

All right, this might be good too because I’ve got a star by it:

“The Word through whom all things were made enters into the very fabric of creation—human flesh—to renew it from within.”

We didn’t think much about that. I mean, five years of seminary, growing up in church—we didn’t really sit with the weight of the Incarnation. There wasn’t much meditation on it. If it came up, it was mostly used as proof: He was sinless, He was perfect, the Son of God.

But not much beyond that.

And if I’m honest, the way it was often summarized went something like this: God became a man so He could avoid a sin nature, fulfill the law, and have a body that could die. Almost like the Incarnation was just a necessary step toward the cross—a means to an end.

But when you slow down and really look again… that feels painfully small.

Because what’s being said here—what the apostles are actually seeing—is something far more sweeping, far more intimate. The One through whom all things were made doesn’t just visit creation—He enters into it. Fully. Personally.

Not to stand outside of it and fix it from a distance, but to renew it from within.

That changes everything.

It means the Incarnation isn’t just about qualification for sacrifice—it’s about union. It’s about God stepping into the depths of our humanity, not to bypass it, but to fill it. To heal it at the root. To bring it back into its true life in Him.

I think of how Paul speaks in Colossians—Christ holding all things together—and then that same Christ taking on flesh. It’s as if the One who has always carried creation now carries it from the inside.

And suddenly, the story isn’t just about getting us somewhere else someday—it’s about God meeting us here, in the middle of what we are, and restoring it from the inside out.

There’s something deeply hopeful in that.

It means nothing human is beneath His reach. Nothing in our story is outside His ability to enter, to touch, to renew.

And maybe that’s what was missing before—not the truth that He is sinless or divine, but the wonder that He has drawn near this completely. That He has joined Himself to us, not temporarily, but in a way that reveals our origin and our destiny in Him.

Not just God becoming a man so He could die…

…but God becoming human so humanity could live.

From the transcript...

I want to talk to you about Colossians, because in Ephesians 1 it says… when you read that, what did you say?

Verses 15–16—that’s where Ephesians 1 comes to mind. Yeah, verse 15–16. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created.

Right there.

Because he keeps bringing us back to that original purpose in Ephesians 1—chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. It all started there. And now we see that fullness revealed in Christ the Creator.

So He’s coming into His own creation—a creation He already has a relationship with. The apostolic vision of Jesus Christ as Creator is that He continues to uphold all things and give life to all. That’s who He is. That’s what He is.

And that’s the One who becomes a man.

Let that settle for a moment. The One who holds all things together steps into the very world He is holding. The Life of all life breathes our air.

I’ll stay in Colossians, but let me read this. What version are you using?

Same idea—I’m going to read from the Mirror Translation.

Colossians 1:15:

“In Him, the image and likeness of God is made visible in human form in order that everyone may recognize their true origin in Him. He is the firstborn of every creature.”

Come on.

There’s something deeply grounding here. Paul isn’t starting with sin—he’s starting with origin. Not with separation, but with source. Christ doesn’t arrive to begin something new in the sense of God reacting—He reveals what has always been true in the heart of God.

It echoes like a quiet refrain from Ephesians: before the foundation… in Him.

And it reminds me of those opening lines in John’s Gospel—“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” The life we’re awakening to isn’t foreign to us. It’s not imported from the outside. It’s the very life we’ve always had our being in, now unveiled in Christ.

So when we look at Jesus, we’re not just seeing God—we’re seeing ourselves as we were always meant to be, held in Him from the beginning.

From the transcript...

We do the same thing. We just repeat the pattern over and over, but we're not seeing what's happening—that Jesus came to break that pattern and to give us a different way of living. But normally we gather up in our Christian circles and we justify living under what Christ came to give us.

That’s right. Because we say, “We’re just down here in this old sinful world.” And in doing that, we start explaining away something less than the life Jesus came out of the tomb to give us—resurrection life.

What is that life? It’s full—full of purpose, full of joy, full of hope, full of love. There are things in this world that cannot affect resurrection life, cannot defeat it, cannot hinder it. And that’s what we’re waking up to—or what we need to wake up to. It’s the life that is already in us. It’s the Spirit of Christ. He is Lord.

So it’s about becoming aware and learning to live from that reality.

He goes on to say, the law always ended up being used as a band-aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. That’s a good way to think about it—it never dealt with the root.

And now what the law asked for but couldn’t deliver is actually accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

That’s it.

The law is about performance, earning, striving—you’ve got to do. But in Jesus, it’s grace. It’s a gift. He’s already done it. We receive it, and we learn to live in the enjoyment of it.

Two completely different ways of relating, and two completely different ways of living.

From the transcript...

Oh man, that was a good breakfast. Always is.

Yeah—good, steady kind of place. Nothing flashy, just consistent. Good food, good service, familiar faces. Something about sitting there, coffee in hand, not in a hurry… it does something to you. Slows things down a bit.

Looks like the whole town’s out today.

Oh, they’ve got a big garage sale going on—up and down the road. One of those “main to main” kind of deals. Folks scattered everywhere, tables set up, people digging through things, looking for something they didn’t even know they needed.

It’s funny how that works.

You see a crowd like that and it almost pulls you in—makes you wonder if there’s something out there you’re supposed to find. Maybe we stop, maybe we don’t. Maybe we just keep driving and watch it pass by.

I like that old Bronco, though. Something about it—worn, but still carrying a story. You can almost feel the miles in it.

You doing alright?

Yeah… just getting settled. Got to be comfortable when you’re looking out the window.

There’s something about that posture—just looking out, taking it in. Not trying to control anything, not trying to make something happen. Just present.

Honestly, moments like that feel a lot like what we were just talking about earlier. Learning to live from what’s already been given, instead of always reaching for something else.

Like sitting at the table after a good meal—you’re not striving anymore. You’re just… full.

From the transcript...

Jesus is the crescendo of God's conversation with us. He gives context and content to the authentic thought that God had in mind for mankind is voiced in him. Jesus is God's language. His name declares his mission. As savior of the world, he truly redeemed the image and likeness of the invisible God and made him apparent again in human form. The God who gave you birth is your father. Jesus is God's language. His name declares his mission. He's his savior. Yeah, Jehovah saves.

The destiny of the Logos was not the printed page, but you. Yeah. Yeah. The word became flesh and dwelt in us. Among us, what the English says. But the word is in. Yeah, the Greek preposition's in. It's just a revelation of what's always been. That's where I am. I ain't going to argue with nobody about it. But you can't exist without it. Yeah. A mirror can only reflect the object. Likewise, the purpose of the page was only to reflect the message, which is Christ in you.

Oh, I see it right there. That's what was hidden for ages and eternity past. What? Christ in you. That's right. If it was hidden for ages, was it always there? It had to be if it was hidden. Oh, yeah. That's such a mind-blowing, veil-lifting, light-shining, piercing-the-darkness revelation. Yeah. It was always true. We just couldn't see it. We didn't believe it. We were looking in the wrong place for it, looking in the wrong direction. We're looking out here. Had the wrong perspective.

I mean, yeah. Simply put, as a human being, I can only see basically one direction. I cannot see what's behind me. So there could be, I don't know, there could be anything behind me. I can't see it. I know it's a real simple thing, but it was as if Adam turned away from God, and when he did, he could not see. He had no ability to turn back around. I don't know if that's the right way to say that or not. Well, he could. And Jesus came and turned us back around. He saw us in the darkness, wandered, failing to remember. Yeah.

Well, okay. There's some language in Scripture. Though it's there, it's not in my history has never been an emphasis of things because the emphasis has always been on You're a sinner. You're judged. You're guilty. And you know it. And here's how bad it is. And here's the punishment. And here's what you need to do. And here's what you need to do. Yeah, that seemed to be the drum that got beat. And then there's the language of, like you mentioned, Eve was deceived. Yep. Okay. So there's deception language. And it's in other places in the scriptures that we're deceived, which is a different thing. I know Adam was willing in his transgression. I've had that drum beat. But how about the deception that we're under and that the whole world is under about who God is that we're deceived?

From the transcript...

Well, it's because we believe that we were far from love and that heaven had turned his face. We believe that sin had slammed the door on grace and left us feeling displaced. Yeah. But could a father, son, and spirit whose bond no dark can sever create us in communion's flame, then cast us off forever? In other words, is God out of this love relationship, face-to-face-to-face, communion with himself, wants a big family, doesn't set it up in his son? He creates us. Is He going to create us to throw us off forever?

Not the Father, Son, and Spirit. Not the one I know. No, the one that we know hung on a cross and said, Father, forgive them. Yeah. Well, I keep going back to that idea that we want to make God in our image instead of realizing we're made in His image. Yep. Because this is how we do, that's how God's got to do. I'm going to run out of patience with you, so we think he's going to run out of patience. He don't run out of patience. I'm only going to be in relationship with you as long as you do like I think you ought to do. Act a certain way. Walk a certain way. Believe a certain way. If you don't, then we're not going to be friends. You're not going to be my child. Yeah.

Well, and then, okay, I have to admit, in this world system, you go to work and you've got to perform in order to get paid. But that's this world system. And then we want to take this world system, created by our fallen minds, and put it upon the kingdom of God and the way God is. That's right. That he's not going to provide or bless you if you don't do some mysterious something or other. Yeah. Yeah, that's lie. Yeah. Religion.

I like what it says here. The cross was not a bridge for God as if he went away. The cross revealed his great desire, love's greatest grand display. He was never separate. From us. If you go to hell, David said, I'm there. If you go into Hades, you're already there. How are you going to get away from God? The Lord told me that years ago. I mean, it's been over 23, 24 years ago when the Lord said, show me and help me understand. I can't get away from Him. I mean, really, where am I going to go?