Recap Of Jars And Kenosis

Donald E Coleman 0:21

All right, welcome back. Hey, we are gonna pick right up, right where we left off in the last episode. And I think by now you're starting to understand that this formation, everything that I'm talking about from agape to agape tos to agape tan and to agape. If you're hearing this, it's it's present, it's right there in front of us. And I think we begin to see it as your eyes begin to become more enlightened, you will see this four movements all around you. And just just hold the course. Because everywhere I'm looking, everywhere I read, everywhere I like even in scripture, I'm just seeing the movement. I'm seeing God's presence everywhere. And in the last episode, we got to two of the details. And let me just do a quick review. I'm not gonna go in deep because I want to make sure I get the information here. Detail number one, they were ceremonial, purposed vessels. They were purposed shaped vessels. They had a specific purpose, ceremonial. They were dedicated for the purpose of, they were dedicated towards God for God's purpose, for the washing of the people. Right? So, and I'm gonna link to sin today, and I want you to understand what's happening here. And detail number two was they were empty. And I introduced to you Christ-centered canotic posture, or I will consider saying it over and over again, Christ-centered kenosis. And remember, kenosis, Philippians 2:7, is the the heart of what it is. It's Jesus being in the very image of God, did not consider himself equal with God, but took the form of a servant by letting go of his divinity and becoming a human. And I want you to get that because that is what kenosis is about. It is our willingness to let go in order to remain in presence or to keep coming back to presence, to be connected to Jesus, to be connected to the Father, to be connected to the Holy Spirit. This is what it is. And when we practice kenosis, it is worship unto Jesus, it is worship unto the Father, and it is honoring the work of the Holy Spirit that's in our lives. It is a consistent one, consistent act of worship. And I and I ended this episode with this statement. I said, a jar already full of something else cannot receive the water. A person whose interior life is crowded with noise, performance, anxiety, self-management, whatever you want to put in that sentence, whatever our lives are full of cannot be filled to overflow with agape. And the canonic practice or kinosis practice is the daily act of creating the space that formation requires. And a lot of it we don't even know because it's it's so deep. It's been repressed or suppressed so deep. And God starts to bring that stuff up and allowing it to come up so that it can be removed and healed, that agape may fill the space that those things, the repression and the suppression was holding on to. And that's what this is about. Everything that we've been walking through is creating space for us to become more conscious or to become more aware of the presence of God in our individual lives and also in the lives of others.

Beatitudes In Matthew And Luke

Donald E Coleman 5:08

So as we jump in here today, I want to focus on something because after the episode, I started to think about the beatitudes. So I'm gonna read through the beatitudes and I'm gonna read through Matthew's beatitudes, and then I'm gonna make reference to Luke because Luke and Matthew both have the beatitudes in it, and there's a language in it, but I want to read some points in this one, and I'm gonna talk about a couple of things that I've put language to that I started to see, but it's connected here with the empty vessels, and I want you to get this the empty vessels, right? So the Beatitudes, Matthew 5, 3. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. And blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say things of evil against you because of me, because of Jesus. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven. For in some way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Now, what I want to do is really quickly here. Let me go to Luke, and I want you to notice a transition here, just a small transition here. Luke says it this way: Luke says, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. And blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. I just want you to get that. So now I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna focus on Matthew. But the thing you notice there, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven. All right. So let me read through this and then I'll I'll focus a little bit more on that.

The Kingdom Of God Explained

Donald E Coleman 9:02

But in reality, kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God is the domain of God. It surpasses everything that is in the natural realm, and it is the highest realm in the spiritual realm that there can be. So I want you to grab that. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God encompasses the earth. That's why Jesus said it many times. He said, on earth as it is in heaven, he came to reveal to us that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So, what does that mean? That the spiritual can be present in the natural, but you must have eyes to see and ears to hear or to comprehend that the spiritual can also be present in the natural. And that is a major key for us to truly understand that. So whenever you read about the kingdom of heaven, just realize that you are reading about God's sovereignty and God's rule over the cosmic universe, not just the earth or America. We're talking about the whole cosmic aspect of God. All

Cana Jars And Receptive Poverty

Donald E Coleman 10:25

right. So now let's focus on the beatitude of the jars. What empty actually means. So the Canaan, the miracle at Canaan, there were six ceremonial jars or jugs. Now I'm going to attach this, the beatitudes with this, because I think it's going to reveal somewhat of the process of how this works or how we become empty. And in essence, when you think about the beatitudes, I don't know if you thought about this before, but the beatitudes is kind of like Jesus' manifesto. It's like it's the heart of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heavens, teaching and living. And just read it. I mean, when you think about it, look what it's telling you, right? So let's just jump in here real quick. And I'm only going to focus on this in this episode, and then I will pick back up on detail number three after this, because I think this is extremely important. So blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So watch this now. Before the jars are filled, before the servants draw the water, before the master of the banquet ever taste the water turned into wine, there was a word first spoken over emptiness. Centuries before Canaan's water was ever drawn. Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with this word: Blessed are the poor in spirit, not comforted are the poor in spirit, and not eventually blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed now, blessed in the poverty itself. Just stay with me now. I want you to remember the word poor, because this is the theological ground, or this is the ground in which the six stone jars stand. This is where Jesus is drawing us to. It is the precise language of formation, of everything that the formation that we've been talking about has led us already by referring to receptive poverty. I want you to catch that term, receptive poverty, not as a moral defect, not as evidence of spiritual failure. But look, but the heart's honest and holy omission that it is bound by self-sufficiency, sitting empty before God, becoming willing to be exactly what it is available. See, receptive. So that means that we take part in this. Are you catching that now? We are willingly saying that we will empty ourselves. So connect poverty to blessed are the poor in spirit. So blessed are those who are empty with inside. What does it say next? It says, in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The emptier we become, the more we begin to understand and see and live in the kingdom of heaven or in the awareness and presence of God within and around us in all things. I want you to get this now, right? Because this is critical to distinguish this carefully. We got to make sure that we don't mess this up because, for in my opinion, for too long we've distorted this.

Emptiness Without Shame Or Guilt

Donald E Coleman 14:55

Because the enemy of formation is rarely temptation. I want you to get it. The enemy of formation, the enemy of trying to shape us is rarely temptation. It is the misreading emptiness as shame. See, no one wants to talk about that in order to be filled, we must first be emptied. And that's why this is important because what people have majored on is moral poverty. Because moral poverty says, I am empty because something is wrong with me, or I did something wrong. Moral poverty is based in shame and guilt and condemnation. And we know shame, guilt, and condemnation does not come from God. Receptive poverty says, I am empty because this is where the filling of every vessel begins. And I am precisely the kind of vessel God has always filled. Do you see the difference in this? I just want you to grab this. Because once we understand that we are the beloved of God, the agape tos of God, and we begin to live in our identity in God, then morality will begin to lose its grip, or condemnation of morality will begin to lose its grip. And for too long, I think people have been bound by the morality condemnation. They've wrapped themselves in shame and guilt, and they could not find a way to come out of it. And for a lot of people, they left the church only because they felt that there was no way that they could ever please God. But that's a lie. I'm calling it what it is right now. That's a lie. So I want you to grab this receptive poverty, right? Because the jars at Cana, they carried no guilt in their emptiness. And I love the fact that they were jars, they're just there. But if we equate the jars to us being human and being empty, it's telling us to do the same thing. Let go of the guilt, let go of the shame, let go of all the stuff that people try to put on us. Let it go. Because if we still hold on to it, it's taking space that agape cannot fill within us. So the trick was okay, I'm gonna be angry with the person, I'm gonna be angry with church, I'm gonna be angry with what they did, and all that anger starts to fill us and repress deep down inside of us. Therefore, agape cannot get to the full crevices of our being. And as a result of that, we never get to experience the Zoe life. Jesus said, I came that you might have life and life more abundantly. So whoever you are, I'm I'm calling you back. I'm not calling you back to church, I'm not calling you back to religion, I'm calling you back to presence because our father has been searching, the river has been flowing, and you have been sensing that God is drawing you in. You have been sensing this pull that is pulling you in, and you're like, what is this? I don't have a name for it no more, but it's presence. It's the same God that created you in the womb, it's the same God that says, I know the plans that I have for you, plans of hope and plans to give you a future. This is what I want us to get out of this right now, because this is the life changer. And I want you to give this episode to anybody that you think that's dealing with a wound that was placed on them or a trauma that was placed on them. It's not theirs to carry. I want you to go back to Matthew 11, 28. He said, Come unto me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus came to reveal this very thing, and it's happening at the very first miracle. It's all tied in, it's all right there in Scripture. But I want you to get this. Let me read this again. I want to read the point about the vessels. Receptive poverty says, I am empty because this is where the filling of every vessel begins. And notice the conjunction. And I am, go ahead and say your name, I am precisely the kind of vessel God has always filled. The jars at Cana carried no guilt in their emptiness. They simply stood present, stone, ceremonial, unashamed, waiting. And listen, if you're honest, doesn't it feel like we've been waiting? And all that we've gone through to this point, doesn't it feel like there was always something bigger happening, something larger happening? Yes, it was the Father, it was our Father searching us out, it was the Holy Spirit reminding us. Look, I'm here, I'm with you. I won't leave you. I'm your comforter. Jesus said he was gonna send you, he was gonna send me to you. I want you to know I'm here. I can't force myself on you, but I can use the circumstances and situations to remind you that I'm I'm here and I'm available. But now look at this the pour in spirit, the jars, names, it's condition. The jars name the condition. Poor in spirit, not poor in circumstance, or poor in resources, but poor at the level of the human spirit's own resourcefulness. Did you catch that? Did you catch that? Poor at the level of the human spirit's own resourcefulness. Or let me say it this way: our own resourcefulness. Doesn't Proverbs say, he said, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge me. So what does that mean? It means that if we rely on our own understanding, our own abilities, our own education, our own experience, we are not leaning on God's understanding. We are not trusting on God. That's why He opens up the beatitudes with poor. Notice, let me just say it this way: blessed are the empty in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Or using the words that I just said, so blessed are the poor in the human spirit of their own resourcefulness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now you're getting it. Right? But I want you to think about this. This is part of the part of this process is being led by the Holy Spirit, not us trying to do this in our own strength. It reminds me of of Zechariah, right? Zechariah 4, where it says, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Almost thousands of years before Jesus even declares the Beatitudes, God reveals to Zechariah that not by your own might, by your own understanding, by your own strength, by your own resources, not by power, not by what you have or what you can muster up, but by my spirit. So God was declaring this in the Old Testament or in the Hebrew scriptures, and he's declaring it in the Christian scriptures that the same God that operates in the kingdom of heaven says, you have to be willing to let go. You have to be willing to consent to poverty. And here's another thing I want to say this because throughout Christian history, we've gotten this word poverty. In some cases, people have misunderstood what it means. Where in the Catholic Church, they take vows of poverty, which is phenomenal. But that's still physical. You can have a physical vow of poverty that doesn't necessarily mean that you are poor in spirit. We've seen it. So this poor does not necessarily have to only focus on external, but it focuses on external and internal. It focuses on the fullness of the human willingness to let go and be present with God. I want you to grab this because what we saw coming through church history, the vow of poverty and the different things, it's phenomenal because as I read it, it helps me understand what we came through. You got it. They were operating in their own ability or their own understanding at the time. But isn't God wonderful how He keeps providing us with information so that we can live in the present. And granted, some people are bound to do a vow of poverty. But that doesn't mean everybody is bound to that. And here's another thing, and I want you to grab a hold of this before I move on because I hear people saying about poverty, I like this or that about poverty. But here's the point. The key here is if you understand receptive poverty, you will understand Matthew 6, which is all part of this.

Worry Less By Trusting The Father

Donald E Coleman 27:41

Let me just slip over there really quick. I want to fast forward to Matthew 6. Where am I going? You know where I'm going. I'm going to Matthew 6, 28 and 29. And I'm going to just read this really quickly. I'm going to start at 25. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet look at and listen, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Now, this is Jesus speaking. And he says, Can any one of you or us by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the fields grow, they do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. But watch this now, verse 30. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will God not much more clothe you? You of little faith? Did you catch that? But look what it says here. I'm gonna jump down here to verse 33, because I think we all know it. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. I've read all of that to say what? From the point of poverty, if you understand that the Father takes care of all that we need, if we're in the kingdom of heaven and we understand and we acknowledge being in that, God takes care of us. I just want you to grab hold of that. So I want you to get to this place in prayer where instead of praying the petition, let's shift our attention to the prayer of thanksgiving and just say, Thank you, Father, for meeting my needs. Thank you, Father, for sustaining my life. See, that right there requires intimacy. I want you to get that. See, the prayer of supplication is beautiful prayer, but let's move on from supplication and let's start living in Thanksgiving, knowing that our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we needed and when we need it and will provide it for us. Not how we want it to be provided, but how it needs to be provided and when it needs to be provided. So let me keep going. So here's the key. Now, poor in spirit, not poor in circumstance or poor in resources, but poor at the level of the human spirit's own resourcefulness, the place where we manage, perform, and secure ourselves before God. This is the first movement of receptive poverty. The jar, the protective self stops pretending it was ever anything but empty. Christ's voluntary self-emptying mentioned in Philippians 2 7, and the human spirit's honest acknowledgement of its own poverty are empty, mentioned in Matthew 5 3, speaks to the same reality from two directions. And they meet at the same threshold. The Christ sent itosis posture and the beatitudes are one doorway seen twice. I want you to catch this now. This might take you some time, so just think. I want you to listen to this as much as it takes for you to

Let Silence Expose The Protective Self

Donald E Coleman 33:15

grab this. Because here's the key here we are not told how long the six jars stood empty. Scripture holds the details in silence, and it is worth resisting the urge to fill the silence with a moral we prefer. Right? Or a morale. It's like we we we get to the place of silence, and next thing you know, we want to fill it with something. No, sit in this, sit in this silence and not try to allow yourself to put something in there. Well, I did this or I did that, or this you did, this you did that. And all it is is the protective self. It's the judge saying, You you you you did this wrong. So now go out and do something else and be better at it. And then we go off and we want to start working, we want to start doing. I want you to grab this because it's not this, it says resist the urge to fill the silence with the moral we prefer, because the Bible text does not moralize the emptiness, it simply names it, and in essence, it doesn't even name it, it just says the six jars stood by. I want you to catch that, but I do not believe the emptiness was incidental. I don't at all, and I'm seeing this in a whole new clarity of light. These were not general purpose water jars or jugs, they existed for one purpose, and I want us to get this ceremonial washing and purification, they had a distinct purpose. An empty jar then was not simply an empty container, it could imply a closed door. I want you to just sit with that, because no washing, no presence, and this closed door, which points to the bronze basin that Moses set before the tabernacle of meeting. Let me go there, Exodus 30, 17, because I want you to see this. And isn't it awesome when we could read the Bible, right? And things just begin to start to connect. And I just want to tell you that that connecting is what happens when our awareness of God's presence is starting to increase. It's what Paul said. Paul prayed for us. He said, I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened. So let me read Exodus 30 and 17, just so that you understand about the ten of meeting. And it's in verse 17, it says, it says, Then the Lord said to Moses, I want you to catch this now. Who is speaking to Moses? Then the Lord said to Moses, make a bronze basin with its bronze stands for washing. Place it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet with water from it. Whenever they enter the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die. Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting a food offering to the Lord, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come. I just want you to get that. And if you get a chance, go back and listen to the episodes that I taught on Hebrews 10, 19 through 25, because Christ actually prepared the way for all of us to be able to go into presence. In the Old Testament, only the priesthood could go into presence. And Christ fixed that for all of us. And yet we have believers running around every moment of the day and still don't acknowledge God's presence that's right there with us. So let me read this. I read the scripture, so it implies a closed door which points to the bronze basin Moses set before the tent of meeting. The vessel of washing Aaron's sons had to be used so that they would not die before they could approach the altar. Water was never optional in Israel's worship. It was the threshold itself. It was through the cleansing that allowed them to come in. So this means receptive poverty at Cana name something broader than a chosen discipline. Sometimes our souls do not decide to become empty. And when I say souls, our mind, our will, our emotions, and our intellect and our reasons doesn't decide to become empty. It simply discovers itself already dry. I just want you to get that. Cut off from the means of approaching, approaching its needs or approaching what it needs through no particular failure of its own. And that's God working. See, think about it. How could the loss of a job of twenty years? How could that lead to a spiritual awakening? It defies what all human logic says. How could an illness draw a person closer to God? I just want you to get this. Don't limit God. Don't limit the Holy Spirit. And don't limit or underestimate the power that Jesus has. Hebrews tells us that He knows everything that we sense and feel in our bodies. That we have a high priest who understands all of our weaknesses. God can work in any situation. Good, bad, or in between. And here's the thing: good, bad, or in between, God doesn't even see that. He just sees you and me. So the jars did not empty themselves as an act of surrender. They were found empty. And I want you to get this because I believe that all that we have gone through in life brings us to this place of discovery that we are empty. Isn't it amazing where you can get to this point in life where you look back and having two degrees and titles and all that stuff, and you realize it's still not enough? You can have a bank account full of money, but yet it's still not enough. That's what this is talking about. External things is never going to fill that divine dissatisfaction, that place reserved in your heart for God the Father. It's never going to happen. And this is the key. And it is into that discovered condition, not only the chosen one that Jesus speaks, but grace meets the soul in both, or grace meets us in both. Now let me just finish up here really quick.

Mourning Meekness And Holy Hunger

Donald E Coleman 43:06

I got a couple of more points in this Matthew here. Those who mourn, the jars grieve what it releases. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5, 4. Receptive emptying is not neutral. It is not a technique performed without cost. Something is actually being released. The noise, the performance, the anxiety, the guilt, the womb, the trauma you keep returning to manage or hide. To empty is to grieve or mourn. And Jesus blesses the grieving, not the stoic. This is not compunction, the tender ache of the heart as it releases its grip. It's not the protective self distortion of peace of a heart that never held. Anything to begin with. I just want you to grab this. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. And Jesus said, I will send you a comforter. Look at the next one, verse five. It says, the meek, the jar surrendered, surrenders the right to fill itself. This is so important for us. Meekness is not weakness. Let me say that again. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength that has stopped grasping. The jugs could theoretically fill itself with lesser water. We could fill ourselves with lesser water, with striving, with self-management, with spirituality, with the protective self's counterfeit fullness. Meekness is the relinquishment of that right. Kenosis, letting go. This is the moment the protective self's grip genuinely loosens. It's starting to lose its ground in power. Not through defeat, but through willing surrender. And it is shaped in the whole of all the beatitudes. Willfulness is our attempt at strength and might to do what the scripture is saying. Willingness is allowing the Holy Spirit to work that work in us as we participate. Next one is watch this now. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. The jars turn towards the source. Did you catch that? Isn't that awesome? Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Here's the hinge now. Emptiness stops being merely the absence or stops being merely an absence and becomes an ache with direction. Oh, let me can I put it this way? Can I throw out something this really quick for you before we move? The prodigal son. And he said, When I came to myself, see, that's the ache that had direction. He said, When I came to myself, or when I thought about my father's house, I met a noya, I turned around, I shifted. The jar does not simply lack water. It's important for us to understand that. We don't simply lack water, we don't simply lack spirituality. That's the key. It's not a lack of water, it thirsts for it. It goes beyond not having the water, it thirsts for it. And that thirst is not despair, it is a thirst that is desire rightly oriented. And here, the most beautiful example that I have of this is Psalms 42, when David said, As a deer pants after a water brook. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Do you get that? He said, As a deer pants after water. And the analogy here was as the deer was being chased for its life, and it became thirsty and it was panting after water. This is how our soul thirsts for God, for the living God. And this is receptive poverty ripening into readiness for receptive emptying. Receptive emptying fruit. And there's the key, which is Ephesians 3.19. And I want you to I want to read this to you because I want you to get it. Because 319 is what I just prayed. And I want, I want to read it right here, verbatim, so that you can understand it. This is the most prof one of the most profound prayers that I have found in all of Scripture. And let me just read it from 17 to 19 so that you can get what Paul is saying. He he says here, uh 16. Let me start there. He says, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit, his spirit, the Holy Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, which is agape here, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp. Catch this now. You ready? To grasp how high, how long, how wide, and how deep is the agape of Christ, and to know this love or agape that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. So let me come back and read this again. What I just said. This receptive poverty ripens into readiness for receptive emptying's fruit. And the fruit is that we receive or know the love that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. What does that remind you of? Did not Jesus say, fill the jars to the brim? See, you get it? So three nineteen, fullness that awaits ahead. Notice too, the words Jesus chose for the promise is filled. The same word that the servants will hear at the wedding. The Beatitudes and the Canaan narrative, what Jesus is talking about in both cases, are not two texts pressed together by analogy. They are one revelation given twice so that the church would never mistake emptiness for failure again. I just want you to grab this because that is where we are. So let's just sit with this right now for a moment. I want us to understand the Beatitudes and the miracle at Cana are not two texts pressed together by an analogy. They are one revelation given by Jesus twice so that the church, and I when I say church here, I am saying the body of Christ, all believers, would never mistake emptiness as failure again. You are the agapitos of God. God loves you and you are loved. Rest and live in your identity as the beloved of God and settle this. Oh yeah, I can get this done. So just bear with me here. I know I'm going a little bit over, but please bear with me. And I want to point out, I didn't really do it here. I just want to give you a little bit

Six Jars Holiness And New Creation

Donald E Coleman 54:03

here. The number six, the number of man, scripture is specific about whose number six is. On the sixth day, God formed humanity in his image. And this is where we get the Imago day, Genesis 1, 26. There were six jugs. I just want you to catch that. So when John later reaches for a number to describe humanity straining towards divinity and falling short of it, he does not invent a new one. He intensifies the same digits three times over the number of man. And he used it in Revelation 13 and 18, six, in Scripture's own vocabulary. It's not incompleteness in the abstract, it is creaturely incompleteness. The specific ache of being human made in the image of God, not yet whole. And this is what the six stone jars, I believe the six stone jars, they are not simply six containers. I want you to get this. They are a picture of man, humanity himself, male and female, six vessels standing for the whole human family, aching, unfinished, poor in spirit by nature, not only by circumstance. He fills the six exactly as they stand. He meets humanity's precisely where its incompleteness already waits. And what comes out of the other side is not a seventh number completing the count. It is an entirely new category, a new creation. Second Corinthians 5, 7. So just grab a hold of this. Now let me tie this in with agape because it's actually speaking to the agape of God that has been formed and shaped in us, now starting to flow out. Because the risk behind being filled, there is a cost to this filling that is easy to move past too quickly. But the reckoning of the time, these jars held enough water, right? They held enough water to approximate an immersion pool, the baptismal pool, a set apart specifically to guard against ritual impurity. I just want you to understand this. So the use to use them for wine was to risk defying the vessels built to protect against defilement. But Jesus did it anyway. This is the same reversal found everywhere in his ministry. Jesus will risk it all for you. He touches the leopard instead of becoming unclean by contact. And the leopard is cleansed. The woman with the issue of blood touches his garment. But instead of defiling Jesus, power goes out of him. In the old economy, contact ran one direction. You got it? In the old economy, in the old, I would say in the old testament or the Hebrew scriptures, right? Contact ran in one direction. The unclean thing contaminated the clean. In Jesus, it runs the other way. Holiness moves outward from him and transforms what it touches. Good Lord, I want you to get this. Holiness moves outward from Jesus and transforms what it touches. And this is the key. This is a God preview. This is it now. This is the love of God flowing out before the word is ever named for us. Not love that calculates its own exposure first. It's love that gives without hedging what it might cost the vessel doing the giving. The emptying of the jars was interior surrender. The filling was Christ willingly putting a sacred vessel at risk because what he was making of its matter, what he was making of it, mattered more than what might have cost him to make it. So here's where we end. The jars did not defile the wine, and the wine did not defile the jars. Something greater than either happened instead. The old vessel became the carrier of a new thing. And holiness proved stronger than the boundary meant to protect it.

Return To Presence And Closing

Donald E Coleman 59:58

So return. Return. God is there waiting. And as we get ready to go, just be prepared as we come out of this one in the next episode. We'll pick right back up on the three details. But I know you are blessed by this one. And may the presence of God fill you and encourage you in your emptiness and be strengthened to know that you're right where you need to be because God is there with you and He's making more room for His love to fill you to the brim. And until next time, stay the course and keep living daily for Christ.