Salt + Light Fort Worth

Alright, well good morning.

Uh, it's such a joy to be here with you.

Uh, my name is David, and
this is my wife, Cindy.

Uh, we live in Houston, Texas, in the
Spring Branch area, and we have three

kids, uh, wonderful children, and we've
been married for 26 years, and just

this past fall we became empty nesters.

And, um, we've been in ministry
for all but the first of our, our

first year of our married lives.

Uh, we've been mostly serving in global
missions and multi-ethnic church planting,

and as a pa, serving as pastor to pastors.

Together.

We serve as co-founders of Mosaic
formation, a ministry that focuses

on spiritual care and training
of leaders, especially those in

underserved communities and in
immigrant and refugee populations.

This is what we call diaspora Ministries.

The word diaspora, meaning.

Version as in those who have been
dispersed from their homes, their

countries of origin, and are
living in a different country.

At Mosaic, we lead retreats.

We provide one-on-one spiritual direction
and coaching, and we train leaders.

Our heart is to make formation accessible.

To say that what Jesus offers, his
presence and transforming work is for

everyone, not just a privileged few.

And that's why this morning's theme is the
transformational journey, and it's really

close to our hearts because again and
again in our own lives and in the lives of

those that we walk alongside, we've seen
that God really does transform people,

people of all backgrounds and experiences.

No one is out of God's reach.

Mm-hmm.

Sometimes that change is slow, sometimes
it comes through difficulty, but always

it's part of his loving work to form
us more into the likeness of Christ.

So today, Cindy and I want to walk you
through the transformational journey.

Now, this is usually
a three hour workshop.

We're just gonna take two hours

this morning.

We're just gonna give you a taste.

Uh, we'll walk through how the
spiritual journey has a clear

beginning and a clear end.

But that we spend most of our time in
the middle and because that's where most

of us live, and we'll see together how
God is faithful to transform us there.

Let's look at our scripture.

One of our scriptures, Isaiah gives us a
picture of transformation when he writes,

but now, oh Lord, you are our father.

We are the clay, and you are our potter.

We are all the work of your hand.

I love this image of the potter
and the clay because it tells us

something essential about change.

Real transformation isn't something
we can accomplish on our own.

We are clay.

And Clay doesn't shape itself.

Clay has to be held, softened, and
molded in the hands of a skilled potter.

That's why we start with this question.

Can transformation really happen?

If you're like me, maybe you've asked
that question after struggling with the

same weakness again and again and again.

Or maybe you've looked at the
brokenness of the world and wondered

if things ever really change.

The Apostle Paul described that
same frustration in Romans seven

for I do not do the good I want,
but the evil I do not want.

Is what I keep on doing.

So we start here with honesty.

Just being honest that sometimes we
question whether or not transformation

can actually happen because
transformation is not easy, but it is

possible because of who our potter is.

Yes, and that's really what we
want to talk about this morning,

the transformational journey.

When we think of transformation,
most of us hope for quick results.

We want to be different right now.

We want our marriages to improve.

We want our addictions to vanish,
our anxieties to disappear overnight.

But the Bible describes
transformation as more, more of like

a journey than it is a quick fix.

And that's exactly how we
define spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation can be understood as
the lifelong journey of being transformed

by the love of God, the Father, into
the likeness of Jesus, through the

power of the Holy Spirit, not the power
of our will so that we can love God.

And love others.

See this journey.

We sometimes we think of it as a
process from point A to point B,

but this is more like a journey.

And this journey is not a straightforward
upward line as we often imagine.

We like to picture growth as if
though it's moving up into the

right, more progress, more clarity,
more victory every step of the way.

But in reality, the journey has twists.

It has turns.

There are seasons of clarity.

And there are seasons of confusion.

There are times when the path feels
wide open, and there are times when

we feel like we're stumbling in
the dark, and I love that God gives

us stories to help us see this.

That's.

Uh, and that's part of, um, this journey
motif that we all, that we all love.

Stories like the Odyssey or stories
like the Pilgrim's Progress or My

Favorite The Lord of the Rings.

Yeah.

Right.

Why do we love these stories so much?

Because I think in part because we
love to watch a character change as

they walk through different terrains
and challenges by the end of the

journey, they'll never, they're never
the same as when they began Frodo.

Baggins started off as a small
peace loving hobbit from the Shire,

but then through his journey, he
becomes something entirely different.

Deeper, braver transformed.

Our lives are like this.

We are also on a journey
and not just any journey.

It's a transformational journey.

Along the way, there's a beginning,
there's an end, and then there's

this middle place in between
where we spend most of our lives.

And today, we'll, we'll touch Lee Brief on
the beginning and the end, but we'll spend

most of our time, even this morning in the
middle because that's where we are being

shaped most deeply in the Potter's hand.

When we think about the beginning
of the transformational journey, the

Bible describes it as a new birth.

In John chapter three, Jesus has this
late night conversation with Nicodemus,

a religious leader who came with
questions, and Jesus told him, truly,

truly, I say to you, unless one is born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus is puzzled.

How can someone be born when they are old?

But Jesus is speaking
about a spiritual reality.

He says, unless one is born
of water and the spirit, he

cannot enter the kingdom of God.

The wind blows where it wishes.

And you hear it sound, but you do not
know where it comes from or where it goes.

So it is with everyone born of the spirit,
and that's what happens at the beginning

of this journey, something miraculous.

The spirit of God comes to dwell
in us at that moment, whether we

feel it or not, everything needed
for transformation is given to us.

The Holy Spirit who comforts us,
convicts us, guides us, and empowers

us, actually makes his home in us.

This is where it all begins, go, and
we don't want to just breeze past

the truth that it's, um, ordinary.

Mm, friends, this should be a
jaw dropping reality to you.

The Holy Spirit comes to live in me.

The same spirit that
raised Jesus from the dead.

That spirit now dwells in us.

Not near you, not around you, but in you.

So let's take a moment
to let that sink in.

Would you put your hand over
your heart and together, let's

say these words out loud.

The Holy Spirit dwells in me.

That should feel really incredible.

And I don't know when's the last time
you just sat with that and remembered

that the spirit of God dwells in you.

And that means that no matter
where you go, God's with you.

It means you are never abandoned.

It means transformation is possible
not because of your strength, but

because resurrection power lives in you.

Amen.

So this is how the journey begins
with God giving us himself.

Yeah.

And here's a picture that helps me, right?

Think about some of the great
journey stories that we love.

And the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.

Do you remember, father Christmas
gives the children gifts, these

supernatural weapons that they'll
need for the dangerous road ahead, or

how about in the Lord of the Rings or
Frodo doesn't just get sent off empty

handed, but he's given Elvin Armor.

And a dagger that glows
blue when enemies are near.

These gifts don't take away the danger
of the journey, but they equip the

traveler with what's needed to endure.

Now here's the incredible thing.

As amazing as those stories are
as amazing as having a, a chain

of armor that can't be pierced.

Right.

They have nothing on what we've
been given for the journey ahead.

We've been given the Holy Spirit
himself, the very presence

of God dwelling within us.

We're given a new nature with
new desires to follow him.

We've been set free from slavery to
sin, whereas before we couldn't choose

not to sin, but now with the new birth.

We've been given the ability to
choose not to, and that's not all.

We've been given a new identity
before we were estranged from God,

but through the new birth, we are now
the beloved sons and daughters of God.

This is extraordinary.

I mean, just let that, let all of these
realities sink in for just a minute.

Right now, that's just the beginning.

Where's the journey headed?

What's the destination?

Well, that's where we want to go next.

Let's take a quick look at the end
before we spend our time in the middle.

So if the journey begins with the new
birth and God's spirits equipping us.

Where is all this headed?

What will transformation look like?

What's the destination?

The church fathers and mothers
summarized it with one profound

phrase, union with God.

Union with God means that the
God who once felt far off.

Will be our closest companion.

It's relational intimacy.

Loving communion.

Jesus said as the father has
loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

That's the heart of the end goal, not just
that we become better, more moral people.

That we live in unbroken fellowship
with the God who made us and loves us,

and Union with God changes everything.

It means out of this relational intimacy,
our desires, our thoughts, our will.

Becomes aligned with his.

His mission becomes our mission.

The things that grieve him, grieve us.

And we will also finally be like Christ
when he appears we shall be like him

because we shall see him as he is as one.

John three, two, and think of
who Jesus is the most fully God.

Fully human person who ever lived,
embodying perfect love, joy, peace,

patience, humility, faithfulness,
courage, all of these Christ-like virtues.

That's part of our inheritance.

Imagine someday I will be like that too.

That's who we're becoming right now.

Bit by bit as the spirit transforms
us into his likeness from within.

And here's something that
really stirs my heart.

Union with God also leads
to union with one another.

Mm-hmm.

Jesus prayed in John 17 that they,
meaning God's people may all be one just

as you Father are in me and I in you.

And in Revelation seven, John gives us a
glimpse of the end, a great multitude that

no one could number from every NA nation,
tribe, people, and language standing

before the throne and before the lamb.

Just try to imagine this one day.

The rich diversity of humanity will
not be at war with one another.

We won't be divided by politics or race.

Or culture, all the polarizations of our
world will be healed, and instead, people

from every corner of the earth will be
unified, loving and worshiping God and

being with one another in one heart.

And one Mind.

We experienced this recently in Houston.

We hosted the Diaspora Network
National Conference on the theme

of immigrant church planting.

And we had folks from, we had about 200
plus registrants, but they represented

over 50 nationalities and ethnicities,
and they came from 25 different

states and countries, and we had this
really amazing worship, multilingual,

multi-ethnic worship on Friday night.

And it was just such a blessing to
see people from so many different

backgrounds, worshiping and learning and
having conversation with one another.

And just yesterday in Houston, um,
at Ride With Refugees, which is.

This event that I direct, we had high
school students and adults from, again,

all over the world, participating in
a citywide community event, a slow

paced bike ride in one of the densest
and immigrant dense and most diverse

neighborhoods in the entire country,
raising awareness about refugees and

empowering them through mobility.

Both of these events were so good
for my soul, and part of what I

really loved about 'em was just
the diversity coming together.

For a common purpose.

Mm-hmm.

Don't we long for this type of diversity
in unity when we see how splintered

and fractured our world is today.

Mm-hmm.

That's the promised end of the journey.

You know, this will
come to be someday day.

And as far much as we see this
gap between the reality of

today and where we are headed.

It's like, wow, God, you have a lot to do.

You are gonna be busy.

That's the promised end.

It's not just that our personal issues
get fixed, it's about God bringing

all creation into union with himself.

And with one another.

And that's why in our ministry, we
keep coming back to this emphasis

that transformation isn't just
about tweaking your personality or

trying harder to improve yourselves.

Instead of focusing, um, this world
is so obsessed with self-improvement,

but instead of zeroing in on
self-improvement, spiritual formation

focuses on how deepening intimacy
and trust in God results in the fruit

of Christ-like virtues being formed
in us, and then also fruitfulness

out into the rest of the world.

Real transformation flows out of
communion, loving communion with God.

It's not from our striving
in our own effort.

So the journey has a beginning.

And the journey has an end, but most
of us live somewhere in the middle,

and that's where transformation often
feels the hardest and the slowest,

and where we feel the most stuck.

Let's spend the rest of our
time this morning there.

In the middle place, the part
of the journey that stretches

and reshapes us the most.

I want to begin this middle section
with a quote from Sue Monk Kidd.

She writes, we seem to have focused
so much on exuberant beginnings

and victorious endings that we
have forgotten about the slow.

Sometimes torturous, unraveling
of God's grace that takes

place in the middle places.

Mm-hmm.

Isn't that true?

We love to celebrate new beginnings.

I know some of you were
at a wedding last night.

That's a new beginning.

We love to imagine Victoria's endings
like celebrating the end of a game

or like running to that finish line.

But most of us spend most of
our lives in the middle places.

Where transformation feels slow,
sometimes painful, and often hidden.

The late Walter Bruge, a wonderful
Old Testament scholar, gave

us a framework that is on your
handout that I find so helpful in

describing this part of the journey.

He called it the
spirituality of the Psalms.

He noticed that the Psalms give voice
to the full cycle of the spiritual life.

First, we have secure orientation.

This is when life feels ordered.

And stable.

There's also painful disorientation
when life unravels through

sorrow, suffering or loss.

And then there's surprising or
reorientation when God brings new

life out of the ashes, a deeper
faith and a deeper trust than before.

You can think of it as a circle
with union of God at the center.

And around it.

Arrows flow between three
stages, orientation,

disorientation, and reorientation.

This is the rhythm of
our journey with God.

Let's start with orientation.

Okay?

Orientation is when things feel settled.

When life and faith feel secure,
many psalms of praise and

Thanksgiving come from this place.

For example, Psalm 95, proclaims the
Lord is a great God and a great king.

Above all, gods in his hand
are the depths of the earth.

The heights of the mountains are
his also for he is our God, and

we are the people of his pasture
and his and the sheep of his hand.

From the psalm we go, yeah,
from this psalm, you can

identify the professed image.

Next slide.

Please, you can.

You can identify the
professed image of God.

This is what we would say, what we would
proclaim with our lips, that God is great.

God is our shepherd.

We are safe and secure.

God can be trusted.

By a show of hands, how many
people would profess this as well?

God is great.

God can be trusted.

Yes, but a long life's journey,
sorrow and suffering emerge.

And when that happens, trust gets tested.

The script doesn't hold.

Now suddenly we find ourselves
moving from prayers of praise and

Thanksgiving into prayers of lament.

One of the most striking
examples of this is Psalm 88.

It is painfully raw.

It doesn't have an happy ending.

It doesn't resolve.

With the triumphant praise chorus.

It simply ends in darkness.

Listen to some of these words.

I am overwhelmed with troubles
and my life draws near to death.

I'm counted among those
who go down to the pit.

I am like one without strength.

You have put me in the lowest
pit, in the darkest depths,

and later the psalmist pray.

Why, Lord, do you reject me and hide
your face from me, from my youth?

I have suffered and been close to death.

I have borne your terrors and
M in despair, and the very last

verse closes with these words.

Darkness is my closest friend.

That's the end.

No resolution, just silence.

I'm afraid to say that many
Western Christians don't know

how to pray prayers like this.

We've been shaped by a kind of
spirituality that leads us to

have a triumphalistic faith.

We always want to flip the script
to something positive and winning.

We think that lament shows a
lack of faith, but lament is

actually an expression of faith.

When we lament, we are trusting
God enough to bring him our raw.

Honesty, our grief, our
anger, our confusion.

We believe that God can hold it.

We believe that God cares, and
there's something else that happens

in times of disorientation as much as.

It feels bad to be in disorientation.

Sorrow and suffering have a way
of exposing the disconnect between

our professed image of God, what
we say that we believe, and our

operative image of God and self.

What actually holds sway in our hearts.

Back in Psalm 95, we saw
the professed image of God.

God is great.

God is my shepherd.

We are safe and secure.

God can be trusted, and all of these
propositions are true, but when we

enter seasons of disorientation, the
operative images buried beneath the

surface, they often come spilling out.

In Psalm 88, in contrast,
we hear God is cruel.

God is far away.

I am alone.

God cannot be trusted.

This can be unnerving, maybe even
frightening to name that there is this

gap between what we say about God and
what we actually believe about God.

But it is honest.

It is brutally honest, and it's in
naming those hidden operative images

that transformation can actually begin.

Mm-hmm.

We have to begin with honesty,
disorientation exposes what

is really inside of us.

And in that exposure, God
invites us into a deeper trust

than we've ever known before.

Yes, and you know when everything
else is stripped away and when

we are vulnerable before God.

Transformation happens.

It is here that God touches us the
most, most profoundly, and this is

not just theory, it's the testimony
of countless saints before us.

In these moments, lament can
begin to turn into rep prayers

of repentance and surrender.

And out of that, a surprising
reorientation emerges.

Psalm 1 31 is a great example of
this, where it's the, the psalmist

says, I have calmed and quieted
my soul like a weaned child with

its mother, like a weaned child.

Is my soul within me?

Notice what's changed.

The circumstances may not
be any different, but the

image of God has shifted.

God is no longer seen as cruel
or distant, but as profoundly

good and profoundly near.

The image of ourselves shifts too.

No longer do we feel we are abandoned
and insecure, but beloved and safe.

One of my favorite pictures of this comes
from the allegory, another Journey story.

Um, I don't know how many of you have
heard of the story Speed on High Places.

Okay.

All right.

So in this story, the main character
is a young woman named, much Afraid.

And she lives in the valley of fear and
she's surrounded by her fearing relatives.

But in her heart, she longs to follow the
good shepherd in the high places where

she can leap and dance with freedom,
but much afraid has two major obstacles.

For one, she has lame feet
and her face is disfigured.

She feels unworthy.

She feels broken and incapable of ever
reaching such a beautiful destination.

But when the good Shepherd comes
and invites her to join him, her

heart leaps with the joy at the
possibility, but almost immediately

she despairs certain that her
handicaps will make it impossible.

The shepherd comes along and
then he gently promises her.

One.

I will always be with you where
whenever you call, I will be there,

and then he tells her, I'm going to
provide for you two companions who will

surely see you through your journey.

Their names.

Sorrow and suffering

at first, much afraid is horrified.

She thinks I will always, she's,
she's horrified and she's just

thinking, there is no way I can,
I can make it with these guys.

They were terrifying to her, but
over the long journey, much afraid,

slowly learns to trust them.

Near the end of the journey, she
has her hands placed in their hands

as they climb the steepest parts of
the path, and they draw her closer

into intimacy with the shepherd
than she ever imagined was possible.

By the end of the story, much afraid
does make it to the high places, and when

she arrives, she herself is transformed.

Even more, her companions
are transformed also.

Mm-hmm.

No longer sorrow and
suffering, but joy and peace.

If you haven't read it, I'm hoping
you kind of want to go and get it now.

Right.

It's such a powerful, powerful story.

That's the promise of
surprising reorientation.

God does not waste our pain.

He transforms it.

He can take what once felt unbearable
and turn it into the very means by

which he draws us into his love.

That's why trust deepens most in the
middle places and in particular through.

Are seasons of disorientation because
it's there that we learn firsthand

that the shepherd is faithful

and this is how trust deepens
orientation teaches us to say God is

good, but after disorientation and
reorientation, we can say it with

a deeper conviction than before.

God is good, not because life is easy,
but because God meets us in our pain.

God is near, not just when
we feel him, but even when we

thought we'd been abandoned.

God can be trusted, not just in good
times, but in the darkest night.

So this is the middle place and
it's here more than anywhere else.

That transformation takes root.

So where does this all leave us?

We've looked at the beginning of the
journey, the new birth, the spirit

dwelling in us, and we've looked
at the end union with God becoming

like Christ, living in a reconciled
family of every tribe and tongue.

And we've spent most of our time in the
middle, and he's talking about places

of disorientation that God uses to
reorient us more deeply into his love.

The truth is we are all
somewhere in this cycle.

Some of you may be in a season
of orientation right now.

Life feels steady, faith feels secure.

Some may be in disorientation where
the bottom has dropped out and nothing

is making sense to you right now.

Some may be tasting reorientation,
new life and greater trust

growing out of a season of loss.

Wherever you are.

The good news is this, you are
not outside the potter's hands.

The spirit is at work and God is faithful
even when it looks, when it feels hidden.

I love how second Peter one says it.

His divine power has granted to us all
things that pertain to life and godliness.

Through the knowledge of him who called us
to his own glory and excellence by which

he has granted to us his precious and very
great promises, so that through them you

may become partakers of the divine nature.

God has already given us everything
we need for this journey.

Everything.

Even if you feel emptied, empty or
unqualified, the resources of heaven are

already poured into your life in Christ.

So let's take a moment
together to reflect and pray.

As we close, I wanna invite you to
take some deep breaths and reflect

on what part of the message the Holy
Spirit spoke to your inner spirit.

Where are you right now?

You're welcome to close your
eyes, just get settled and

really comfortable in your seat.

Where are you right now?

Orientation.

Does life feel ordered and stable?

Thanks be to God.

Mm-hmm.

Are you in disorientation?

Is life unraveling through
sorrow, suffering, or loss?

Thanks be to God.

Mm-hmm.

Are you in reorientation?

Is God bringing new life out of the ashes,
giving you a deeper faith and more trust?

And then before, thanks be to God.

What emotions are getting stirred up?

As you sit with where you are right now,

just be present to the
thoughts and emotions.

Don't jump to a plan
of action or decision.

Remember.

People of salt and light.

Wherever you are, God is with you and
he is shaping you slowly, lovingly

into the likeness of his son.

And thanks be to God,

father, I lift up the community
of Salton Light to you father.

May they sense your transforming
work in their lives.

Whether it is sorrowful or painful
or rapturous and victorious.

God, may they believe that you
are with them, that you have not

abandoned them, but Lord, you are
doing your slow and good work in them.

Day after day as they
trust and follow you.

And we pray this in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.