The Holy Inhale

I want to invite you to open your Bibles with me to the book of Genesis and find with me chapter 1. Later on, we will finish out our time together in James 1. There are moments that slow you down and God speaks. Now, before I tell you about one of those moments in my own life, let me ask you something. Have you ever noticed that we all hear voices? Not audible ones—I'm talking about the constant stream of thoughts, worries, and demands that never seem to stop. Some people say these voices don't mean anything—they're just brain chemistry and random thoughts. Others say we should listen to whatever feels right to us. But what if there's actually a way to tell the difference between voices that help us and voices that hurt us? What if some voices are worth listening to and others aren’t? It was about five in the morning. For some reason, I couldn't sleep. And in His kindness, God moved me out of bed and led me outside. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothes, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped quietly out of the room without waking Alicia. No one else was awake—just me and Remi. So I stepped outside and went to my little spot by the pond and the willow tree. For those of you who have heard my heart, the tree reminds me of where the disciples slept while Jesus went a bit further to pray. But as I sat there in the cool morning air, waiting for the sun to come up, I struggled to pray. The issue was, there are a lot of voices in my life, fighting for my attention. The voice of anxiety telling me all the things that could go wrong. The voice of ambition pushing me to achieve more, do more, be more. There's also this voice of comparison whispering that I'm behind, that others are doing better, that I'm not measuring up. And then there's the voice of hurry—always hurry—telling me there's no time to sit still, no time to listen, no time to wait on God. Go... and go... and do and do... and accomplish. The more things I get done today, the more worth I am to God, the church, my family and friends. And I think to myself... this has got to be all wrong. Why do I give so much time to these voices? It's like my heart wants to be satisfied, but I can't find anything to quiet the constant noise in my mind and heart. And here's the thing—it's only 5:30 in the morning. The voices never sleep. They seem to wait for me to wake up, just so they can start all over again. Here's what I realized about these voices: they all have one job, one goal and one aim. To get me to react. To respond. To listen and believe them, and to convince me that everything this world offers is what will finally make me happy. They want me to put action and power behind what they say. Think about what God says in Isaiah 30:15: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Did you hear those words? In returning and rest. That means coming back to God instead of running to everything else. When our overwhelming thoughts hit our minds, we return to Him instead of spiraling. When comparison starts whispering, we return to His truth about who we are. And rest. Not the kind of rest where you collapse from exhaustion, but the kind where you stop striving and let God be God. Where you quit trying to control everything and trust that He's got it. In quietness and trust. Quietness means we stop the noise. We turn off the phone, we step away from the chaos, and we create space to hear His voice above all the other voices. And trust. That's where we put our confidence in His character instead of our own ability to figure everything out. Not in doing more, achieving more, or figuring everything out. But in coming back to Him and being still. And so in that moment, right there by the pond before the sun came up, I took a deep breath. And I slowly let it out. And I saw something….. ill share it later…

But for now, I want us to open Genesis together. Because sitting there that morning, I started wondering about something I'd never really thought about before. Turn with me to Genesis 1:1-2. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Did you catch that word "hovering"? It's the same word used to describe a mother bird caring for her young. Picture this: before any word was spoken, before "Let there be light," there was this moment. The Spirit of God hovering, moving gently over the waters. And sitting there by that pond, I found myself asking a question I'd never asked before: What was it like before anything existed? What was happening in that moment before God spoke? Here's what hit me: if every word we speak begins with a breath, and if God speaks, does God breathe? I know that sounds strange, but think about it. Before every sentence you say, there's an inhale. Before every voice, every sound, there's that moment of… kind of pausing to gather air. So what if God operates the same way? What if before every "Let there be, moment where God created with his words" there was a pause, a gathering, an inhale?

Now I want you to experience what I'm talking about. Let's do this together. I want us to take a simple, deep…. breath together. Ok??? On the count of three, I want you to take a deep breath. Sound good? Let's do it together. One, two, three. Breathe in... and out. Pretty simple, right? Does anyone here feel a little better after that deep breath? Here’s what’s amazing about what we just did… You just took into your body about 25 sextillion molecules of air. Sextillion. I didn't even know there was such a word. That's 25 with 21 zeroes behind it. More molecules just passed through your nose than all the grains of sand on all the world's beaches. Those air molecules were made up of different elements, one of which is oxygen—about 20% of what you just breathed in. Side note: thankfully, you breathed in clean air and ht person beside you didn’t lay out one of those splagnezimia farts. If it had been filled with smoke or smelly methane gas, your body would have immediately rejected it. It wouldn't have been relaxing at all. But watch this… Here’s how it got into you. Your brain sent a message to your diaphragm and ribs, telling them to contract, increasing the size of your rib cage, enabling your lungs to expand, which then allowed that air to rush in. That air went down your trachea into your lungs, where it came into contact with millions of tiny balloon-like projections called alveoli. They brought those oxygen molecules in touch with red blood cells—the transportation system for oxygen in your body. You have about 20 trillion of these red blood cells. Your body is making about 2.5 million of them per second, and each one contains about 270 million oxygen-binding molecules of hemoglobin. Are you following this or have I lost you yet?? Good.. lets keep going… These red blood cells picked up the oxygen molecules and carried them throughout your entire cardiovascular network—this massive collection of blood vessels that reaches every cell in your body. If we laid out those blood vessels in a straight line, end to end, they would wrap around the entire world multiple times. So where did these red blood cells get the energy to transport that oxygen throughout your body? Your heart. It pumps an average of about 100,000 times a day. So in that one breath you took, your heart was the powerhouse that got the oxygen you inhaled to every part of your body that needs it. And all of that happened in just one breath.

Now you might be thinking, "Alright Pastor, where are you going with this?”

Here's what's been on my mind. We just experienced something incredible together. But what if I told you that the same God who designed your lungs to need oxygen also designed your soul to need something else? What if the breath you just took is actually a picture of something much deeper? Before any word we speak, there is always, a breath. Every sentence, every voice, every sound begins with an inhale. Theres this pause. And if that's true for us, what about God?

Listen, God doesn't gasp for air. He doesn't rush. He gathers. His "inhale" isn't weakness—it’s what we call, His presence. It's the pause of perfect love before love gives itself away. Let me show you what I mean. Before any "Let there be," there was the stillness of perfect joy within the Trinity. In Proverbs 8, wisdom—who is Christ—says, "I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." Before the world was even created, there was joy. Perfect joy. The Father delighting in the Son, the Son rejoicing before the Father. And this love doesn't disappear when Jesus comes to earth. At Jesus' baptism, we hear it: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." You can almost hear the Father's smile in those words, can't you? That's not God discovering something new about Jesus—that's eternal delight finally being spoken where those created in His image can audibly hear it. And the Spirit? Oh, the Spirit! He's right there creating space for us to be part of this joy. Listen to what Paul tells us in Romans: "You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!’" Do you see what this means? Do you see the staggering reality of what God has done? The same Spirit who is present in this beautiful, eternal relationship between Father and Son—that very Spirit—comes into your heart. Your heart! And He gives you the ability to call God "Dad" just like Jesus does. You can call the Creator of the universe "Dad." Not because you earned it. Not because you deserved it. But because the Spirit of God Himself has made you a son, a daughter, in the family of God. And in Ephesians, Paul says, "Through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." The Spirit doesn't just show us this love from a distance like we're looking through a window at something we can never have. No! He opens the door. He invites us in. He says, "Come. Come and taste what you were made for.” He creates the space for you—yes, you—to be joined with the Son and the Father. Can you believe this? You are invited into the very life of God. Jesus says this about the Spirit “the Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to you." Picture this: Right now, at this very moment, there is perfect joy flowing between the Father and the Son—an endless river of delight, of love so pure it's beyond our imagination. And here's the miracle: the Holy Spirit takes that very same joy—not a copy, not a lesser version, but the actual joy of God—and He breathes it directly into your heart. Right here. Right now. You see, before God ever spoke the first word of creation, before He said "Let there be light," those words were already born out of this perfect joy within Himself. Every word God speaks comes from a place of overflowing Love. And here's what should fill you with gratitude: You don’t… have to stay outside this joy…….You don’t.

You don't have to wonder if there's room for you. You don't have to question whether you're truly welcome. But, before we move on…. let me tell you why the Spirit has come. Because when you understand this, it will change how you see everything. Jesus says something incredible in John 16:14:… he tells his disciples in the high priestly prayers that, “He, meaning the comforter, the holy Spirit will glorify me.” That might sound simple, but listen—this is the Spirit's whole mission. He didn't come just to make you feel included or to give you a spiritual experience. He came to open your eyes to see Jesus. Now, when Jesus says that the Spirit will take what is His and declare it to you... we have to ask: what belongs to Jesus? What is “His"? Everything.!!!! Jesus says in John 16:15, "All that the Father has is mine." Think about that for a moment. The Father's infinite love? That's Jesus's. The Father's perfect joy we talked about earlier—that river of delight flowing in the Trinity? That belongs to Jesus too. The Father's power that spoke galaxies into existence? Jesus's. Every blessing, every promise, every good gift—it all belongs to Him. But here's what will take your breath away: because…. of the cross and the empty tomb, what belongs to Jesus now belongs to you. Paul says it plainly in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23: "All things are yours... and you are Christ's, and Christ is God’s." And I think we can get this all wrong. We can… We think our faith is just supposed to get us through the day, to somehow help us muddle through this journey. And yes, that's true in a sense... but friend, we're thinking INWARD. … The goal of the Holy Spirit isn't to make your life a little easier. His goal is to reveal Christ to you in such a stunning way that your heart melts with delight. When you truly see Jesus—not just know about Him, but see Him—everything changes. And here's the thing: if there's no transformation happening, something's not right. The Spirit doesn't put on a show for its own sake. He doesn't come to create empty spiritual experiences or religious highs. He comes to awaken dead hearts to the beauty and worth of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.

And here's the acid test—this is how you know if the Spirit is really at work: Not by whether there are tongues or miracles or loud emotions. Those can all be faked. Here's the real test: Is Christ being lifted high? Is the gospel becoming more precious to you? Is Jesus more beautiful to you today than He was last month? And is real holiness—life-altering, sin-killing holiness—taking root in your life? Because listen carefully:……. the Spirit's greatest miracle isn't that He makes people spectacular. It's that He makes sinners holy. That's His signature. That's His glory. That's His work. He shows you Christ in such a way that you can't help but be changed from the inside out.

So how does this happen? How does the Spirit actually bring us into all that belongs to Jesus? How do we go from being outsiders to being family? Here's the beautiful simplicity of it: through faith, by grace. That is the means by which you are brought into the very inhale of God. Think about what that means. The Spirit doesn't just give you information about God's presence—He brings you into it. You and I are adopted. We are redeemed, and brought in, through Christ, but by the Spirit. Through faith, you're not just learning about the joy that flows between Father and Son; you and I are breathing it in. By grace, you're not just hearing about God's love; you're living inside of it, and he lives inside of you. When you put your faith in Christ, the Spirit does something miraculous: He takes you from the outside and places you right in the center of God's own life, and He puts the center of who He is—the Spirit of Christ—right in the heart of you. Think about what that means. It's not just that you get to visit God's presence occasionally, like a guest who's allowed in the house for special occasions. No—the Spirit takes up residence inside you. Paul says it this way: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is living in your heart. You become part of that eternal conversation of love. You start breathing the same air, so to speak, that flows in the heart of the Trinity. . His presence becomes your home, and your heart becomes His home. This is why Paul can say with such confidence that "all things are yours"—because through faith, you've been brought into the very place where all of God's treasures are kept. Not someday when you die, but right now. The Spirit has made you family, and family gets to come inside. You're not standing at the door hoping to be noticed. You're not pressing your face against the window wondering if there's room. No!!!!!…….Through faith, by grace, you are home. You're breathing the air of heaven, living in the very presence of the God who delights in you.

And church…… this should change everything about how we face life's challenges… and…..how we speak to one another in love. Now, here is where James comes in... I want to take the time we have left together to ask: Do we, as Christians, speak, to one another, and to others, as those who are living within the inhale of God? I want us to look at James chapter 1, and find with me verses 19, kelt begin here.. James begins by saying, ‘19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ’ Now, theres a rhythm here. Like breathing. Quick to hear—that’s the inhale. Slow to speak—that’s the pause Slow to anger—that’s the exhale. James is teaching us that before anything comes out of our mouths, something must first come in from God. But here’s the problem—we usually live this backwards. We’re quick to speak, quick to anger, and slow to listen. We exhale before we inhale, and it leaves us gasping. It’s why so many of our conversations turn defensive, why so much of our energy gets wasted in conflict. Because we’re speaking from empty lungs, from our own fear and frustration, instead of from the breath of God. James says in verse 20, look with me… , ‘20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ’ In other words, human reaction—our quick exhale—will never build the kind of life God desires. Anger, defensiveness, frustration—these don’t form Christ in us, they deform us. What do I mean by deform? Think about it: every time we choose anger instead of patience, our hearts get a little harder. Every time we react out of frustration, the image of Christ in us gets a little more blurred. Every time we gossip, or murmur, or slander, or tell half truths, it never brings with it, the exhale of Christ. And, What happens afterward? There’s regret, there’s distance, there’s a wedge in our relationships with one another. That’s deformation—it pulls you out of the shape of Christ’s love, and you live by the your flesh.. Galatians tells us—Galatians 5:19–21—‘Now the works of the flesh are evident: enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions…’ Anytime we see these rear up—whether within the church or out in the world—we’re watching the fruit of the flesh at work. Enmity—hostility that fractures unity. Strife—conflict that never seems to end. Jealousy—resentment that eats away at joy. Fits of anger—explosions that wound the people closest to us. Rivalries, dissensions, divisions—splits that tear the body of Christ apart. And church, let’s be clear—these don’t form Christ in us. They deform us. They bend us out of His shape, out of His love, and they leave us gasping for breath. But here’s the hope: Galatians doesn’t stop there. Just a few verses later Paul says, ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.’ In other words, when you breathe in the presence of God—when you slow down enough to receive the Word He has already implanted in you—the Spirit who already lives in you brings this fruit to the surface. What comes out of you is no longer the chaos of the flesh, but the life of Christ. And I’ve said it before, what comes out of you is usually the evidence ion what’s happening within you.

Listen, church… What’s your daily rhythm? What are you inhaling before you speak? Again… listen, The world doesn't need more people who are right—it needs more people who are whole.

I'm gonna call up our worship team for us to close, and I want to finish my story.

Here's the thing... all of the voices in our life want us to react. To respond. To lash out at others... or to speak ill of others... or to assume or shame or put down. Think about it—the voice of anxiety doesn't just want you to worry, it wants you to speak that worry over others. What if this happens? What if that goes wrong?" The voice of comparison doesn't just want you to feel inferior, it wants you to tear others down to build yourself up. The voice of hurry doesn't just want you to rush, it wants you to be impatient with everyone who's moving slower than you. All these voices have the same goal: get you to exhale before you inhale. Get you to speak from your wounds instead of from God's healing. Get you to react from your fears instead of respond from His love. But that morning by the pond, when I finally stopped listening to all that noise and started breathing in God's presence, that's when I saw something… I noticed something beautiful in the water… Two fish. Just floating there. Not swimming frantically. Not searching for anything. Just being still in the water that surrounded them. And it hit me: they weren't struggling to stay wet. They weren't anxious about whether the water would be there tomorrow. They were simply surrounded by what they needed, held by what sustained them, breathing in what gave them life.

That's when I realized something about myself—about all of us. We spend so much of our lives frantically swimming around life, looking for God's presence, trying to create spiritual moments, working up feelings, striving to earn His approval, creating what we would call church or faith, and we ,live so exhausted in trying to find God anywhere and everywhere… but he’s already there. Just like those fish, we're already surrounded by what we need. And if we have come to faith in Jesus... we're already given what we've been searching for. His very presence. You see, through faith, by grace, you've already been brought into the very center of God's life. The Father is delighting in the Son, the Son is glorifying the Father, and the Spirit of Christ is already living in you. You're not trying to get God's attention—you already have it. And if you do not have faith in Jesus Christ... if you've never surrendered your life to Him... then friend, this morning isn't just about learning a better rhythm for your relationships. This is an invitation into the very life of God Himself. You see, the reason you feel like you're frantically swimming, the reason those voices of anxiety and comparison and hurry feel so loud, is because you're trying to find in this world what can only be found in Christ. You're looking for love that won't disappoint you, peace that won't be shaken, joy that won't fade—and all of that is waiting for you in Jesus. Listen, friend… The gospel isn't complicated: Jesus lived the perfect life you couldn't live, died the death you deserved to die, and rose again to give you the life you could never earn. And when you put your faith in Him—when you stop trying to save yourself and trust that He's already done it—everything changes.

Church… The invitation is simple: come home……. Come home. Those fish taught me that morning that life isn't about swimming harder—it's about learning to be still long enough to feel the water we're already in. Church, you're already in the water. God's love is already surrounding you. His Spirit is already hovering over you, just like He hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation. The question isn't whether His presence is here. The question is: will you slow down enough to notice him, and will you inhale, pause and exhale his love to others.?

Let’s stand, and worship together. *