 We are being watched by people all over the world. Lisa just got a text or a message today from someone we've known for many years. KJ was just writing in today saying, I'm watching you guys. He said he's having a lot of fun listening. Listening, listening. Let's greet her. Okay. Well, the topic we have today is rising in the light. And right before we came down here, I just got a message because that series that portrays Jesus and the apostles called the chosen. Most of you are aware of the chosen. It's this series that started off with crowdfunding. And then they did season one, they did season two, then they decided to do the first first episodes from season three and movie theaters. And it's people are showing up more for the chosen series than for Hollywood movies. It's just been out for some days and I think they have a $10 million box office already. It's just been out for maybe some days or a week or so. And the man who plays Jesus was just on a major network. And they were asking him, why are people flocking to watch Jesus and the apostles? And it seems to be that he was just saying it's just in times of darkness than when there is something that brings light that touches the pulse of anyone who watches. It doesn't matter who they are or where they are, but when they see something that reminds them of the light, reminds them of love, they're drawn to it. And so we were just marveling today at how we are rising to the light and how maybe Francis, you can share a little bit about how when you checked into today, you basically were shown a very simple choice that it all comes down to one choice. Yeah, this morning I keep having this phrase in my mind after I woke up and it was Jesus has overcome the world and he has overcome it by forgiving it. So forgiveness is this one thing that he came here to demonstrate how to overcome the world, forgiveness. So I had that in mind and I just flip open the course and then what I read was this very striking question. It was do you choose to join crucifixion or do you choose to join the resurrection? That's a question he posed directly to us today. Which one do you choose to join? And then the next question is do you choose to stay in imprisonment or do you choose to ascend to your father, like rising to the father? And he said these two are the same question and the answer is the same. And he said, you know, choose to believe in crucifixion because the crucifixion, choose to believe in resurrection because the resurrection has been accomplished and has been accomplished in you. And that was so striking for me when I read it and I was like the resurrection has not been accomplished out there 2,000 years ago on the cross. It has been accomplished in me, which means I am carrying every day with this choice. The resurrection lives in me. Do I choose to live out of the resurrection or consistently choose to live out of this crucifixion mentality as if I'm crucified all day long, everybody else is crucified. This is the choice and I feel just when I read that the resurrection has been accomplished in you, it was such a feeling rising up in me to know that, yes, the resurrection is right here right now if I choose to access it and choose to live it. There's no excuse. What excuse do I have anymore? To say I have to wait. I have to wait to forgive it. I have to wait. I have to exercise my willpower or what excuse do I have if it is already living in me with resurrection choice, this perspective, the forgiven perspective is already here. And that's the only thing that's really have power. That's what I was thinking. This is the only thing that has power. That is the power that overcome the world, the forgiveness, so meek and so still. That's what Jesus came to demonstrate in every single thing including in the cross to demonstrate this is how I overcome. This is how I rise above this world of conflicts. This is how I rise above the world of attack. I do not believe it. I do not share it. I do not even respond to it. I rise directly above to the Father by forgiving it. Yeah, that's it. Rising to the life because it's like when we think of resurrection and ascension ascending are the same. And to the world it seems to be such a thick fog of forgetfulness that as people are growing up and families going to school going to university going to jobs running for politics doing all these things in the world. It doesn't even seem like there's in the mainstream discussion every day conversations about ascension or resurrection. It's like, oh, resurrection wasn't that something that Jesus did 2000 years ago. It's like it's not in the dialogue. It's not it's not in the mindset. And yet, yeah, that's the feeling is. I remember I've had these experiences sometimes where I'm walking or or driving or something where it comes over me like a big huge wave that that we really, we don't really have a past. We have operated as if our past memories, our past experiences are valid. And what Jesus is teaching us is know you, you would do much better if you just for a moment gave away all thought of the past that you never did have a past. Sometimes like people even remember dreams and they can recount what happened to them in the dream. And then if you ask them about the first scene in the dream, how did you get there to the first scene in the dream? I don't know. I don't know. It just started there. There was nothing that preceded it. And what Jesus is saying is there really in this moment there is nothing real that preceded this moment that everything that you've based your decisions on is a past that actually never happened. It's not like we have to forgive what happened. He's teaching us the joy, the glee of ascension and the resurrection is you were mistaken about everything that you remembered. You remembered it wrong. You remembered it incorrectly. You didn't really have that as a given. And he's teaching us this moment is a given this moment. I am with you now. I am giving you this is a fresh clean new start. You don't have to try to bring a resume along. You don't have to bring you don't need to do a background check on you because the Christ doesn't require a background check. Still the light still innocent still perfect love still you are have done no wrong you are completely innocent. And to me that's what it is in a simple way we were just given the title rising into light but that's how we rise into light. Like even coming over every time I come over to La Casa, Benny's there in his tails wagging in his little eyes and he's he's giving such a greeting of love of welcome. Sometimes he's so he will even wine a little because he he can't contain his happiness. It's almost like imagine if you lived your life where you were so happy that you had to wine to try to rain it in. You know, it goes he just and and and imagine that you could do that that you honestly could live that way where you actually were greeting everybody in the same happiness. Everyone with the same joy. Everyone with this feeling of it's so good to see you again, which is what I feel from Benny when I come. He's just always there. It's been going on for years. I come through the gate. He can't he can't hold it in like I've been waiting for this moment. So that to me is is what we're asked to do that Jesus is saying the resurrection has been accomplished. I'm not trying to teach you something new. I'm trying to have you experience something that has already happened. It's already corrected. It's already over. But if you put spiritual awakening even on the timeline, it seems very difficult. But what I what mistakes I made in the past or what I will need to face in the future. You even had like you were telling me a visitation by by Jesus in light. And then you were wondering you as it came behind you to kind of hold you in light. You were wondering why are you here, Jesus? And he said, I'm here to comfort you because the second half of this year you will go through some things and you need you will need that comfort. But again, it was still that present reminder like I'm here for you. I'm here with you. No matter what you seem to go through and form. I am here with you. And that's the joy to me. That's the great joy. That's why we do this. And I can see why people are tuning in now for season three of the chosen because. Yes, we get to see Jesus, but more than just seeing Jesus, we get to see Jesus's interactions with the people. When he's doing his public teachings, we get to see his interactions with those who don't like him. Pretty much most every episode we do see there's people, the scribes, the Pharisees, what's he doing? They're just suspicious. And so we get to see how he handles that. Even the apostles will say we have to go avoid this town now because, you know, it feels like there's trouble brewing. And he just smiles and laughs with them and talks with them. And he says, we're going to that town. He's like going right against the advice of fear because he is shining and living as if there's nothing to be afraid of like workbook lesson number 48. There is nothing to fear. That's the whole lesson. There is nothing to fear, but to live like that without a fear of future consequences to live without worries and concerns of how will this get handled. And to live, I guess you could say to when you live in the present moment, you don't really have ambitions, but you're not bored. You're not you're not tired. You're not bored. You're not frustrated. Do you have future goals? No. Do you want future goals? No. You know, there is this like a contentment of being in the present moment like fully use me. Let me fully lift it up. Let me be ascending, resurrecting. You know, isn't that in Romans, you know, by the constant renewing of your mind. So the Bible is pointing us to that's what that's where the resurrection is. That's where the joy, the light is. It's in the mind. It's not in the body. So the constant renewing of the mind is this present moment renewing itself continually like a like a fountain that's just bubbling up. Not just water, but light. It's a fountain of light that is constantly ever renewing. And all we have to do is turn toward it and decide for it. Decide for ascension. Decide for resurrection. What are your career goals? Ascension. What are your future goals? Resurrection. You can be like a broken record and just say that all the time. Resurrection. Benny's doing that, but he doesn't have the English or the Spanish words for that. What are the Spanish words for? Resurrection. What about ascension? Ascension. Ooh, yeah. You're enticing her to learn Spanish. Something she swore she would never do. Ascension. Her one word. Ascension. Te amo. We'll just stick with ascension. Ammo. No. Yeah, just be yourself. No language constraints. Yeah. So what a joy. Yeah, because, uh, you know, with that Jesus movie, I just keep hearing this over and over again. You know, I felt like when we watched that Jesus movie every time that I actually get emotional because it was an experience every time I heard Jesus say rise. Like had it was like words twice removed, you know, like he was in such a conviction. And I thought, you know, that that is all he said was rise. And in such, you know, clarity and precision and and also seeing that the ones that he was healing was they had to believe it. You know, he's thinking this morning I saw in the, I was reading in the Bible, you know, he said to this daughter that was healed, you know, it wasn't me that healed. It was your faith alone that is healing you to rise and joining in that truth, like accepting the truth, accepting the decision, accepting, you know, our inheritance really, which is in this moment. And then I told you it's the rise thing. I just told Francis yesterday I'd written it down on a piece of paper. I thought, oh, I love this word rise and I could just feel like rise and and it's a living experience. Like it's the message that's alive right now. But and when I had it written down, I thought, okay, rise, receive instant spiritual experience. And then just this truly the spark, the twinkling of an eye in an instant. We get to open our minds to receive this blessing to be wrong about everything and to receive this, you know, complete transcendence of anything, you know, just this living rise. It's a rise. Not just, you know, once and done, but I'm going to rise. Like I get to choose to be alive. I get to choose, you know, to receive this essential, whatever it is. You know, like the resurrection is for all of us. I like the word receive so much, you know, like, you know, even Jesus is like, ego analyzes the spirit receives. It shows like this is effortless. It should be effortless to join with the Christ vision should be effortless. It shouldn't be working and striving because it's natural to us. So really what it takes is is to not holding on to what brings us fear and just to say, okay, I'm here to receive to receive the instant. This moment, it has to be done. This moment is already there. So let me receive your gifts to me. Let me claim your gifts to me. Let me receive it now. And I have no attraction to anything else. I think it's starting to just dawn that at this moment is more than realistic for us. But it just starts to dawn that it's really our only option. We don't really have an option to go back. There is nothing to go back to. And I remember years ago. There was all these Jesus movies. We just saw one which grabbed my attention because when he comes back after the resurrection, the body of Jesus is so lit up. It's white. It's light. I like that feel. But I remember years ago going to see the movie that Mel Gibson did called the passion of the Christ, which it was kind of a bloody mess. But I actually, I saw it with my mother. I went into the movie theater and she was sitting right next to me and she was raised in Christianity your whole life. And as the movie moved along and they started beating Jesus, like whipping Jesus. And the stripes of the whip started going across his body and the blood was literally started to splatter. You know, when you're looking at the big screen and you're seeing a scene like this. And every time the person would go back and the whip would just go right into Jesus's back. My mother, who was sitting next to me when the movie came out, she would gasp. She would go. And then, you know, she was literally gasping as she was watching this beating and the blood just splintering. It is splattering like watered down ketchup all over the place. But she was reacting to it. And then somebody asked me after I watched the movie, they came out. They said, David, what did you think of the Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ? And I said, the very last scene, I just felt this, the very last scene in the movie. I felt this rush of joy. That was the only rush of joy I had with the movie. And the last scene was him in the grave. And he was rising, the body was rising up in light. You could see that was the final scene of the movie. After everything else, it was just this kind of scene of like rising up in the grave. And I felt a rush of joy. And I think we can actually honestly start to do that with everything that we have perceived as our life in this world. We've tried to make sense of it. We've tried to figure it out. We've tried to analyze it. We've tried to judge it. We've tried to form opinions about it. And really what Jesus is saying is you don't really need to do any of that. Be here with me now and let me show you the resurrection that has already been accomplished. That's your one responsibility, is atonement or to accept the resurrection for oneself, to join the Christ in this resurrection. And how practical that is. And oftentimes people say, well, you know, man cannot live by bread alone and all the sayings and cliches of the world. And what we're saying is in this moment, it still is the only moment that you can receive guidance. And more than that, the guidance is for you to accept the resurrection in this moment. It's not for the future. You may think you're receiving guidance that will be helpful for your future, but it's not actually intended for the future. It's just intended for present release and present joy. So there's a section in the workbook, the section in the text called setting the goal where Jesus says, every time you look back on the past, it's always the ego. The Holy Spirit never turns and looks on the past because the Holy Spirit is the presence of love in this moment, the remembrance of our true self, the reminder. And we don't need to look back on the past and think, what did I do wrong? Or what could I have done better? Or maybe things could have been different. It's just like that is a waste of our mind's energy just to come back to the moment and say, I'm with you here, Jesus. I'm with you, Holy Spirit. And then if there's anything that you are to say or do, it will just be given. It will trickle off your lips. The smile will come from your face so automatically. Your cheeks will be shiny just from that. And in that, there's a release because you don't have to compromise with the world. And you don't have to compromise with the past. Yesterday, I think, or maybe yesterday or the day before, Laverne was mentioning a new movie that she had seen. And the movie was a movie based on the gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson. And she was an American gospel singer. And it shows her from childhood all the way through her life. And she had this magnificent voice, this booming otherworldly voice. And it showed how the world kept wanting her to sing jazz, to be in the theater, to broaden her horizons, to be a crossover singer. And she just couldn't do it. She was so much into the presence of God that she knew that the only purpose of that magnificent voice was to sing to God and to sing for God. She was not tempted by commercial things. She actually, when they wanted her to sing in Carnegie Hall in New York City, she's like, no, no, why would I need to sing in Carnegie Hall? But eventually, they did persuade her to go there. But she sang for the Lord in Carnegie Hall. She just didn't ever compromise with the world. She didn't go for commercial compromises. She didn't go to try to be famous. She didn't go to try to accomplish something. She was for equality, so she was good friends with Martin Luther King. And she did a lot of events for charity and to raise money for equality and the things that she cared about and for God. But she just didn't channel her energy into a place where she would feel like she was compromising, doing something because the world was telling her, you should do this. She had all these shoulds coming at her for her whole life. And she absolutely did not budge. She did not compromise. She just sang for God her entire life. And even when she experienced the things that human beings go through, like a separation or a divorce or a death, an assassination of her dear friend Martin Luther King, she just had to keep coming back to, okay, God, it's all for you. I'm doing this all for you. And I think that is how we accept the resurrection. That's how we are ascending is when we don't compromise with the world. If something doesn't feel right, we voice that. We say, hmm, I don't think so. And then they came to her and they say, do you know how much money you could make if you would just sing the blues? There's a lot of blues singers and there's a lot of money in it. And she said, anyone can sing the blues, but I don't want to sing the blues because there's something that I'm here for. And I'm here for the Lord. She even quoted that Psalm 100. I'm here to make a joyful noise for the Lord. He says this woman just, and that was her stance. She was like, this is why I'm here and I'm not compromising. This is why I'm here and I'm sticking to it. And anyone who tried to dissuade her, she would listen to them and you could see it in her eyes. And then she goes, no. So it's possible to do that. It's possible to live a life of uncompromising devotion to God. As if your very heart and joy depended on it with no sense of having to balance the equation. Or do this first or a little bit of this, a little bit of that. You know, when you go for it, then the magnitude of the joy is so strong. So yeah, we might have that movie coming rolling up pretty soon. So you all can get a taste of that too. With the themes this week, there's a couple of movies that are very strong that are coming to mind. So we'll wait to see how it all plays out. Yeah, but I also feel just, you know, when we're sharing the good news like that with Jesus's message, the good news really is the experience of feeling that connection with God. Like we don't have to compromise that like this experience of just, I don't know, just love and joy and peace. It's like it's all given to myself. And that's, you know, it just, I know for myself that's what I experienced. That's why I'm doing it. I'm not doing it for any other reason that because it's good or bad because I love the experience of what it feels like just to be this, you know, conduit for this love and joy. And yeah, just this love affair with God in that. I think isn't it interesting to like with the baptism that different churches and denominations have different times. Sometimes you have to be baptized by a certain year by by a certain time in your in your time with the church. But but it was just dawning on me that that I remember. And I did get baptized when I was a baby. They held me. My mother held me in front of the congregation that came in and not that I remember the experience. But I remember there was a sprinkling of water. It wasn't like the baptism in the movie where you throw the baby. You know, that's for the older ones, but they got me so early. They got me sprinkled as a newborn baby. Let's get David real quick. It's almost like, you know, it was scripted. And then my parents names were or my sister's name was her first and middle name were were the parents of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Mary, Joe. And then John, who was the harbinger who came right before Jesus saying this is the one that was my father's name. John and Eve was the first woman in the Bible. And it's like, it's awesome. It's all scripted like, wow, how did that all happen? And then throwing water on my head before I have a chance to say you are baptized in the name of the father, the son. The holy ghost. Yes, yes, we know there will be resistance to this, but this is destined. Your life is destined. You know, just get a towel. Okay. You know, so that's what we're doing. You know, I feel like I've had no choice. Like it's all, it's all scripted. You know, it's like we're just stepping in your last name was spent star. You think Lisa's a star? Her last name in German wasn't it? It was Lisa Stern Stern, which is the stars in German when also I read it. I got this card one time and it says the name of Lisa, what it means. Oh, you ain't even going to. It means consecrated to God. Star consecrated to God. It is beautiful. It's like there's no option. Which is a good thing. I know. Because I was also that movie about Mahali. What is about the singer? That singer. Oh, Mahalia Jackson. Yeah, I haven't seen it, but I heard about a scene where because she was so, so devoted to God so much so that when she sings, there was a scene that a girl got healed in audience and she said, Oh, I didn't do anything. It's not me. It's God. But it's like that's what Jesus does. It's not like anything happens out of a conscious or effort. It's so involuntary and this involuntary is like a flow from God when we line up our view with God. It's just when our mind is completely anchored in God, that's the only thing there is. And yet the ego tells us we have power if we're angry, we have power if we attack. This is like, this is a wake up call. You know, the power lies in one with God. When we actually really put our mind into, I'm here to do my father's will and nothing else. And I'm here to forgive the world. And I'm here to basically fulfill my function as the light of the world. That's really become the only choice there is. There's no other power. There is no other function. There's no other thing going on for our life and this world. When I know for me, nothing else works. Right. It's like I tried to do something else and everything else fails. Or it's a lot of work. It's a struggle. It's like uphill battle. It's like, okay, and then I go and I surrender to God and, okay, now I'm back in the lily fields again. Oh, thank you. Jesus, like his will for my life is perfect happiness. And I don't know what that is. That he's choosing it for me all the time. And that's really this living in that divine trust. There's an even trust anymore. I feel like it's a knowing that you know that you don't know. And so it's a continual opening to this present moment and opening into this. Yeah. Given life. The life is given. And you just open to it and see the perfection of it and taking new thought for tomorrow. In a real way. You don't think like that anymore. You're just riveted in the experience of feeling God's love like we're one. Like that's what Jesus, how he healed like him saying it is not me that does these things about my father in heaven. It's like knowing that you aren't even interfering at all. That you really are just taking the backseat and letting him, you know, do it through you. The constant prayer, show me, teach me, help me. You know, I don't know. You know that that experience. I love that experience that in everything that I do, I really don't know. But I know that the one that does know is with me to show me that he's not going to give me anything that I can't handle. Or can't like the even like opening up even what we're doing with our online program. You know, it's so exciting because it's like we're entering all new paradigms places where I've never gone before. And for me, that is beautiful because it's like I have to pray. You know, okay, Jesus show me how this is going to happen. I have no idea. And just knowing that he is going before me really leading the way. And like it's, it is living in the wonder of God and the beauty and yeah, just heavenly. And it is beautiful to realize that the ego is the one that invented all the situations of the world. And what Jesus is saying is there. But no thought of any situation in the past time few and let no thought of any situation in the future. I'm few because I am here with you now and and that is not circumstance dependent. And it was just a bad habit for us to look at situations. We were caught up in situational thinking and we believe that we needed to think about the situations in order to solve the situations. And Jesus is saying, well, the news is it's already been solved. You're thinking about nothing. Your mind is preoccupied with nothing when you keep thinking about situations. Pray now. Pray now. If you just stay in the prayer, then everything comes to you effortlessly because it's only in trying to break it down into situations and think about them. Oh, what do I like about the situation? What is acceptable and what's unacceptable? And in the future, what kind of situations do I want to find myself as a body in? And Jesus is like, how about none? Why don't you try? Pray with me now. I am not a body. I am free. I'm still as God gave to me. I am spirit. I am one with God. I choose the resurrection. I choose eternal life. I choose this moment. And when you're surrendered into that, that's suddenly when you have a glimpse that you have no problems. Because it's only been trying to solve the situations, thinking about past situations, projecting future situations and trying to solve somehow. Like a Rubik's Cube. I keep out of here. I keep spinning, spinning. It's not necessary. You know, we all grew up with the idea that we were supposed to have goals, you know, and at some point it just starts to dawn that you actually can do quite well. In this moment with Jesus, without goals, you know, it's very restful. It's just peaceful. And there's so much contentment when you don't have to think that you're obligated to be generating more future goals. And to me, that's what's made the whole ride. It felt like a twig in the river because it felt like everything was just given. Planned. I don't wake up thinking, how's my day going to go? Because I don't know who will call me, who will write to me, where I'll be called to go and meet with somebody or go have a lunch with somebody or do something. I don't need to have the day so pre-planned. And I feel like that's the goal. That's really why we've all come into this connection, this following Jesus is not to make something in the world, but to let go of everything we thought was so important about the world and feel good about letting it go. Not feel guilty. Not feel like we're letting somebody down or not feel we're letting the world down even. We were talking on the way over, you were saying that Jesus was saying, yeah, it's already done the resurrection, but it's done through forgiveness. And to see that forgiveness is the key to happiness and I need no other key. Jesus has handed me the key and he says, this is the key to happiness, it's forgiveness. I'll just use it. Don't stick it in your pocket. Don't put it away. Keep it in your hand and use it all day long. Use this beautiful key. Use it. And when we do, we're just amazed. We're marveled by, oh my gosh, that's right. I have the key to happiness right in my hand and all I have to do is use it. Turn the key. If there's a lock, if you perceive something is locked, your mind is locked, your world is locked, your life is locked. Oh yeah, that's right. I have the key in my hand. Well, that was our presentation of Rising Into the Light. And we're down here at La Casa de Milagros. We're just getting warmed up, but we have some more things to talk about, but it's here with the community. Right, but it's nice to even let people know because we're doing your, Francis is going to do a show tonight. A worship service. A worship service. 7 p.m. Central Time. Is it here? It's right here. Right here. Yeah. And then we also have our Sunday worship service, which is at Sunday at 5 p.m. Central Time. Central Time. So we invite you all to join us and yeah, let's open up to the mystery of God and see what happens next, really. Our cup runneth over. Okay, well thank you to our streaming audience.