1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:04,000 Welcome to be on Sunday, an extension of the preaching 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:08,760 ministry here at Leamington, Emci am Pastor Jonah Chitty, 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,880 joined as always by Pastor Joe Penner, who has a confused look 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,920 on his face right now, which is always good. 5 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,040 Hello. Today we're going to be talking 6 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:22,720 a little bit about a few things. Actually, we're going to talk 7 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:24,920 about a question that came through to the podcast. 8 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:27,120 We're also going to be just recapping a little bit of Pastor 9 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,920 Jake's sermon from Sunday. Pastor Jake preached a sermon 10 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:31,960 from First Corinthians chapter 16. 11 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:34,680 Woo Hoo, almost to the end of the end of the letter, right? 12 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:37,200 So that's something to be this. Sunday I don't. 13 00:00:37,280 --> 00:00:38,920 Feel happy about it, sad about it. 14 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,160 I don't know. You just patiently, you just 15 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:44,400 don't realize how long you're in a book and then you realize you 16 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,960 finally get to the end and it is a little bit exciting to sort of 17 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:49,040 finish it, but. Yeah, sort of sad though. 18 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:51,360 I mean it was been First Corinthians have been so rich 19 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,960 and Paul's letter to them teaching us how to live and I 20 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,200 think that's really what it comes down to. 21 00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,560 And so Pastor Vick's sermon was entitled The Right Kind of 22 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,239 Giving and it was the first 4 verses of the chapter. 23 00:01:05,239 --> 00:01:07,040 I'll just read those really quick because it's a short, 24 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,240 short section. I'm going to read it from the 25 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:14,040 Christian Standard Bible. Paul says this now about the 26 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,880 collection for the Saints do the same as I instructed the 27 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,520 Galatian churches on the first day of the week. 28 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:24,880 Each of you is to set something aside and save and keeping with 29 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,680 how he is prospering so that no collections will need to be 30 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,160 made. When I come. 31 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,560 When I arrive, I will send letters, send with letters those 32 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:35,920 you recommend to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 33 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,920 If it is suitable for me to go as well, they will travel with 34 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:42,720 me. So, short passage, but there's 35 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:44,360 quite a bit of stuff there. Yeah. 36 00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:47,200 Jake had an an outline. You want to go over that, Pastor 37 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:49,840 Joe? Yeah, well, he started with an 38 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:54,840 illustration about being excited for Christmas as a kid because 39 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:57,560 of what he was going to be getting. 40 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:00,960 And I was going to ask you, I don't know if you can remember a 41 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,400 story from your childhood, maybe something maybe as a Christmas 42 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:05,920 you were particularly excited for or maybe you something 43 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:07,240 you're excited for this Christmas. 44 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:08,680 I'm excited for something this Christmas. 45 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:10,800 I love Legos. I think I'm getting Legos. 46 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:14,920 I think I'm getting Legos because I I am the owner of the 47 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:16,440 Amazon account that they're ordered on. 48 00:02:17,560 --> 00:02:20,920 So it would be a dirty trick if Val and the kids ordered Legos 49 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:22,920 for someone else, especially the set that I want. 50 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:24,240 Anyway now I'm excited about that. 51 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,960 But yeah I don't know. I just, I can remember 1 52 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:33,040 Christmas where I told my mom I really hate gift bags. 53 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,520 Like so please don't wrap anything in a gift bag for me. 54 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,640 I hate them so much. It's not any fun on Christmas 55 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,400 when you get a gift bag. Right, that's fair. 56 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,240 I mean, usually what OK, the excitement of opening the gift 57 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,720 and then you just cut a piece of tape and you pull out some paper 58 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:50,120 and there it is, right. You got it. 59 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:56,560 But so my mom being I'm very much like her in a lot of ways. 60 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,880 Like she was just like, OK, she wrapped every present that I got 61 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,040 in paper, but then she put it in a gift bag. 62 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,560 Oh, geez. And so I didn't like she kept 63 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,680 they kept bringing out because we, we do the thing where you 64 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,440 would, you'll pass out all the gifts to each each person before 65 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:15,240 they just you're sitting around and someone passes out all the 66 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:16,280 gifts. So you have them all by you, 67 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,720 whatever. And so like my sister was 68 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,080 passing them out and every gift I got was in a bag. 69 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:25,960 Anyway. That was annoying, but then then 70 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:27,160 they turned out to be wrapped too. 71 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,400 So that was. I didn't really answer your 72 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:30,800 question about like what did I anticipate? 73 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:32,120 But it was a fond memory from Christmas. 74 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:33,200 Nice. What about you? 75 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,360 You excited for anything this year or have you been excited in 76 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:39,080 the past? Well, it is funny. 77 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,800 Like I I feel like it is a running joke with guys about 78 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,000 socks and underwear. But legitimately like I'd, if 79 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:46,880 anybody knows me, they know I love socks. 80 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:49,440 Dress socks. Funny dress socks. 81 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,480 Silly socks. I, I feel like it's a way I can 82 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,040 not take myself too seriously to wear like socks that are 83 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:00,080 somewhat funny. So I'm looking forward to that. 84 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,640 You see the posts about on, you know, on Facebook or social 85 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:05,200 media, people go on, don't worry, guys. 86 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,000 You know, there's a picture of a holy sock and it's like, don't 87 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:09,600 worry, guys. Only a few weeks left for 88 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:12,400 Christmas. But your your holy socks are 89 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:15,160 your church socks. So you need to just like embrace 90 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,959 those for them. Your holy underwear or your 91 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:19,560 church underwear? Yeah, yeah, didn't. 92 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:21,040 Think we were going to go there today? 93 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:22,480 Nope. And we'll go. 94 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:24,760 We'll quickly run from that so. Yeah. 95 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:28,520 And so then Jake. Jake had three points in a 96 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,320 sermon. The first one was. 97 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:32,920 So again, the title was the right kind of giving. 98 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,520 First point was giving is an opportunity. 99 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,080 And so Paul was encouraging the Corinthians to support Jerusalem 100 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,040 and and this was an opportunity that they had to minister to the 101 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:46,360 needs of others, to those less fortunate. 102 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,920 And so he he did talk about Paul's sacrifice for the Kingdom 103 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,000 and Jesus's sacrifice for the Kingdom as examples for us to 104 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,440 follow. And so his encouragement there 105 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,440 was, you know, we should be motivated to help those who have 106 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,160 less than us. And those are opportunities for 107 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,080 us to be a blessing to other people that, you know, sort of 108 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,240 like the Christmas illustration. You know, rather than us always 109 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,240 focusing on what we what we get, we can be focusing on what we 110 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:12,400 can give to others, which I have heard. 111 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:14,520 You know, someone on Sunday actually stopped me and shared 112 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:16,320 this idea that they were doing this with their kids. 113 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:20,320 They had got an idea from somebody else that you have your 114 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,320 kids pick gifts for one another, right? 115 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,200 So that at least there's some aspect of them being selfless 116 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,480 even in their giving, right? And so their kids are going to 117 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,120 get presents and so they're excited for that. 118 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:32,240 But then you can shift their focus and help them to go, hey, 119 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:34,360 you know what? Here, pick a gift for, you know, 120 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,760 exchange names as kids or. Whatever, we actually did that 121 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,000 in our in our family this year. We've done it a couple years, 122 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,200 but this year and then we, we all went out to, I don't know, 123 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,040 Walmart or where'd we go. Yeah, it was Walmart this time, 124 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,160 and they each got a certain dollar amount. 125 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,960 There's nothing major, you know, nothing like extravagant. 126 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,200 But you can only spend this much money and you have to spend it 127 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,280 on this sibling. And it's funny to watch them 128 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,600 like be thinking through and to go to the toy section and just 129 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,320 in the toy store or Walmart and say, oh, yeah, you can't think 130 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,600 about yourself at all, right. So it's kind of hard for some of 131 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,080 them, easier for some and then harder, you know, and I think 132 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:08,880 that changes with age. But yeah, that's a good. 133 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,120 It is good to think about. Yeah, yeah, for sure. 134 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,720 Absolutely. And then he went on to his 135 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,040 second point was giving should be planned. 136 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,600 And so here, you know, Paul encourages the people to set 137 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,120 aside money every week as they're able. 138 00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,160 And it's sort of within that point. 139 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,640 He talked about the fact that it's not about the amount, but 140 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:34,080 the heart that matters. And he also, he also mentioned, 141 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,520 you know, in Matthew where, where Jesus talks about when, 142 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,640 when giving is focused on our recognition, it's meaningless. 143 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,960 You know, that if we're giving to be recognized or if we're 144 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,400 doing good works out of a desire to be recognized by other 145 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,320 people, then it's meaningless. You know, as Jesus mentions in 146 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,560 that section many times. But I thought that was a 147 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,520 helpful, like giving should be planned because, you know, as as 148 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,120 we were talking about this, we were talking about, well, let 149 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,560 you know, I don't know what the timeline is here for, for when 150 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:02,440 Paul is planning to come back. You know, is he planning on 151 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:04,040 coming back in six months or a year? 152 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,120 Or who knows? Maybe he doesn't know exactly, 153 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,600 but it it's also a strategy for getting more money to be able to 154 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,440 take to Jerusalem, right? Because if you say, hey, now I 155 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,200 want you to take a little bit of a little bit of your increase 156 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:19,440 every every week and set it aside. 157 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,040 You know, when Paul comes, there's going to be a lot more 158 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,600 money that he's going to get to bring to help those people in 159 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:27,600 Jerusalem. Then if he just shows up one day 160 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:29,320 and then goes, all right, all right, does everybody have some 161 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,160 money? And then like, well, you know, I 162 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,280 got 20 bucks. And, you know, there's not going 163 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:36,560 to be as much as if they are systematically giving over the 164 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,000 course of the next few months waiting for Paul to arrive. 165 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:39,560 Right? Yep. 166 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,960 You'll never like, you'll never like give as much as you can if 167 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,360 you just wait until like the end and you're ready, right? 168 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,280 I think that's Paul's point too. He he also doesn't want to like, 169 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:52,680 like harass people when he gets there, like when he arrives, 170 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:54,800 like we're planning to send this on. 171 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:56,560 We don't want to like spend a ton of time. 172 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,240 I don't want to have to try to spend a ton of time convincing 173 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:01,160 you, twisting your arm to make you give right. 174 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,200 That's you don't we don't want to collect it when I'm there, 175 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:05,800 right. Have it already ready. 176 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,520 Yeah, let's make this a non issue and and be ready for this 177 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:11,360 gift. So yeah, systematic giving. 178 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:13,640 Well, and we see that a lot in our world today too, right? 179 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:16,240 Like whether it, you know, as a church, we encourage people to 180 00:08:16,240 --> 00:08:18,800 tithe and that's that same, that same sort of principle, you 181 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,280 know, give on a weekly basis, you know, whatever it is that 182 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,480 you can give, you know, every, every little bit. 183 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:27,000 Like we sort of talked about this last week a little bit too, 184 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,960 where if you increase your giving, let's say by a 185 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,559 percentage, even if you're starting from zero and you're 186 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:38,120 going from 0% to 1% giving, that is already going to be a 187 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,640 sacrifice to some extent, right? And so we would encourage 188 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:44,560 people, you know, to give and to give on a regular basis, to give 189 00:08:44,560 --> 00:08:48,040 to the Lord's work. But then, you know, ministries 190 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:50,400 that are taking donations, you know, there's all sorts of 191 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:51,840 ministries out there that you can give. 192 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,320 They all do that too, right, Where they encourage that 193 00:08:54,320 --> 00:08:57,320 monthly giving or you know, whatever it is, this recurring 194 00:08:57,320 --> 00:08:59,200 giving, you know, as opposed to a one time gift. 195 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,520 It's like partnering with that organization to help them to be 196 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,200 able to, to get the word out or whatever their ministry is on a 197 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:07,960 regular basis. And so you see this like 198 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,040 strategic planned giving. Right. 199 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,160 Yeah, I think it's good. I think like you and I talked 200 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,400 about like tithing recently, it's interesting to think about 201 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:17,520 giving and like the New Testament's view on it. 202 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:19,720 And like, yeah, I think, I think that's right. 203 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,440 It's sacrificial giving is the is the norm in the New 204 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,000 Testament, right? In the Old Testament, it was a 205 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,000 percentage. It was like a legalistic thing. 206 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,440 10% give it. New Testament is not as clear, 207 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:32,560 right? It doesn't say, I don't know if 208 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:35,440 it like maybe I'm overlooking or I'm not thinking of it, but 209 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,160 like, I think that. But the, the overall thing is 210 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:42,720 like here he says give in keeping with how you're 211 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,640 prospering. So like if you're if you're 212 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,360 having a good month, increase your giving, you know, given 213 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,840 keeping with what with how you're prospering, like, yeah, 214 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:55,480 it should be a sacrificial thing, not like to make you like 215 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,120 destitute. You're not trying to make 216 00:09:57,120 --> 00:09:58,960 yourself destitute to raise others up. 217 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,320 But yeah, yeah, I thought it was really good. 218 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,160 And it's good to think about this and especially this time of 219 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,400 year as time with it. It came up, yeah, at Christmas 220 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:08,000 time, right. You know, thinking about giving 221 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:09,720 SO. Well, and it makes me think of 222 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,840 like when you think about the world, like, I guess I'm just 223 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,080 thinking of businesses and how different things work. 224 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:19,280 I, I was hearing the story of, of this or I can't, I hate that 225 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,040 I can't remember right now, but it was, it was this idea that, 226 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:24,640 you know, this guy was a sale, a sales representative or 227 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,480 something. And so he did this sort of 228 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,280 background work for this person. Oh, that's what it was. 229 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,720 I was with a friend and he was talking about logging. 230 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,320 He had a, he had a, a large chunk of property and he had it 231 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,360 logged so timber. Timber was. 232 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:39,960 Cut. Yeah, timber was cutting. 233 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:43,560 So what they did was a guy would come in and he would survey the 234 00:10:43,560 --> 00:10:46,720 whole property and he would mark the logs that need to be cut and 235 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,240 then he would put it out to bid. And then loggers could bid on 236 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,360 what, what they would pay for that job 'cause this, you know, 237 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,640 they're paying to take the wood 'cause they're gonna use it, 238 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:57,960 right? And so whatever, whatever 239 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,040 company gets the, gets the bid, they pay the amount. 240 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,320 And then this guy who did the work gets a percentage, right? 241 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,240 And so my friend who had hired him, he willingly pays that 242 00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:11,440 percentage because this guy's doing that work, right. 243 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,880 And I, I was sort of thinking about tithing in that same 244 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,120 sense. You know, the Lord gives us the 245 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:20,960 money that he gives us. He provides for us, he blesses 246 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,640 us. And, you know, as we think about 247 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,400 that example of, you know, I maybe the New Testament isn't as 248 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,280 overt with tithing. This might be one of the most, 249 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,080 the most, you know, out there passages that that seems to, you 250 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:35,920 know, emphasize that, but that you're giving a percentage, you 251 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:38,400 know, my friend doesn't even question. 252 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,000 Oh yeah. Well, that guy gets a percentage 253 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,000 because of with the work that he did for me, right? 254 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:44,800 And we think of like a a realtor, you know, a real estate 255 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:48,560 agent who I know going in that he's going to get a cut of the 256 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:50,760 work that he did. And I think that's sort of the 257 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:52,920 mindset that we need to have when we think about all that the 258 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:54,800 Lord has done for us. This is our worship. 259 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,840 You know, that the money that he gives to us, we give a portion 260 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,120 of it back to the building of his Kingdom, right to Kingdom 261 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:03,880 ministries and, and whatever. So that, you know, we can be, 262 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:07,200 we're not just looking at ways that we can, you know, use the 263 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:09,960 money for ourselves, but we're actually looking for ways to 264 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:12,800 build his Kingdom into, into sacrifice for that. 265 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:16,320 And so I think it's helpful to remember that we are stewards. 266 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:19,680 We are just stewarding what God has given to us. 267 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:22,840 It's not our money. And so we need to to be wise in 268 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:24,640 using that to the best of our ability. 269 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,320 Yeah, that's really good. It's really helpful. 270 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:29,000 Yeah. You know, I think that's a good 271 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:31,720 example of like the percentage we should. 272 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:33,520 We don't even think about it when it's like a business 273 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,280 decision like that. Like it's not something, it's 274 00:12:35,280 --> 00:12:38,760 just what you pay, right? The the percentage of whatever 275 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,760 is like whatever you pay, like the paying the closing cost on 276 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:45,520 your loan for your home or, or just paying the realtor fee, 277 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:46,560 right? Like, oh, it's just what? 278 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:48,800 It's just what you do. Giving a tip at the restaurant. 279 00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:49,920 Exactly. It's just what you do. 280 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:52,520 And so like, just yeah. But when it comes down to like, 281 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:54,520 giving in other ways, I can feel it too. 282 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,560 Like you feel the pressure or you feel like the desire to hold 283 00:12:57,560 --> 00:13:01,920 on to, and it's not yours really anyway, so it's really good. 284 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,200 Yeah. So what was this last point? 285 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:07,960 Giving should be done with discernment. 286 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:12,880 And so some of these, again, all these things are just my notes, 287 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,000 things that these are just things that I've written down to 288 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:16,360 the sermon. This may not be all the things 289 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:18,920 that Jake said, but I know one of the things he said in this 290 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:20,400 point was that money is tempting. 291 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:24,560 And so just being cautious, you know, the, the love of money is 292 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:27,600 the root of all evil. And so we need to be cautious 293 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:29,280 that we're not being trapped by that. 294 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,520 And so so we need to be discerning in a sense. 295 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:35,760 But he also talked about being discerning and who we give money 296 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:39,400 to. And so I think be generosity 297 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,320 doesn't mean that, you know, we're just doormats and like, 298 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:44,560 you know, that we should just always just give money to to 299 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:46,760 maybe people who will not be responsible with it. 300 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,520 We can be discerning at times. And so you can use wisdom in 301 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,120 making those sorts of decisions. And so, yeah, which I thought 302 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:58,280 was helpful. Yeah, I think that this, like 303 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:03,800 the sermon, Pastor Jake's application was very, it was 304 00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,720 very focused on the individual, which is fine. 305 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,400 The passage, though, Paul's not talking to one person. 306 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:13,600 So I think that's something that that to draw out too. 307 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:17,160 Like it's, it's it's it's not, it's not wrong that Pastor Jake 308 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:18,480 didn't do that. I think it's just like something 309 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:20,680 that that we should think about. Like Paul's talking about like 310 00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:22,760 corporate giving. Yeah, he's talking about like 311 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,960 the church should should have a plan for their money. 312 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,920 The church should have a plan for like what organizations that 313 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,680 they will support. So it's something for for all of 314 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:33,320 us to be thinking. About which he did have that 315 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,440 that sayings, I think it was towards the beginning of the 316 00:14:35,440 --> 00:14:38,880 sermon where he was talking about to give corporately, you 317 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:40,320 know, the individuals have to be given. 318 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:42,000 So you're but you're right though he is. 319 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,160 But Paul is talking to the church and it's like, but the 320 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:47,280 individuals are going to have to give in order for the church to 321 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:49,120 be able to be. Able to corporately bless 322 00:14:49,120 --> 00:14:51,480 another, right? Another congregation, really. 323 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:52,680 Because that's what's happening, right? 324 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:55,720 And, and something, you know, I, I would assume most people know 325 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,000 this, but maybe they don't. You know, we as a church have a 326 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:00,880 benevolence fund. And so benevolence is literally 327 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,960 just acts of charity, whether that's to our church, our church 328 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,160 members or our community. And so I would encourage, I 329 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,120 would encourage you all. I mean, even in light of this 330 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,440 Christmas season, if you know, people who are struggling and, 331 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,240 and who need help, we have actually money that we set aside 332 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:19,360 specifically to be able to help people. 333 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,280 And we want to spend that money. We want to be generous. 334 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:23,800 We want to be able to help people. 335 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:26,800 And so that's, that's one way we as a church strive to be 336 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,880 generous with, with the funds that we have as a church to be 337 00:15:29,880 --> 00:15:31,680 generous to other people. Yeah, they would. 338 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,520 That's managed by the, the benevolence ministry is managed 339 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,240 by the deacons, right. So like the ministerial, if you 340 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:40,320 have a question or if you need their, just reach out to someone 341 00:15:40,320 --> 00:15:43,080 on ministerial and they can help you there. 342 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:45,880 But yeah, I, you know, the sermon, like it's a four, it's a 343 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:46,800 four verse sermon. Yeah. 344 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,080 So it's kind of hard to get too much in depth, but the 345 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:51,240 principles are there. Yeah. 346 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,080 Yeah. So, yeah, yeah. 347 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:56,720 So any other thoughts on the sermon from Sunday? 348 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,040 I think just I saw he closed with, I guess just going to his 349 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:06,880 closing that God is a generous God and he expects the same from 350 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:08,320 us. And I, and I thought it was good 351 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,880 because you know, God, it, it's interesting. 352 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,760 You know, God knows our weakness and yet he, he, he never lowers 353 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:17,600 the bar. He always sets the standard 354 00:16:17,600 --> 00:16:20,320 high. You know, you therefore should 355 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,280 be holy. Since God is holy, you therefore 356 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:24,920 should be holy. And since God is perfect, you 357 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,080 therefore should be perfect. And there's, he never really 358 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,200 lowers the bar. We are always to be striving to 359 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:32,960 become like God, being like Christ. 360 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,920 And he, he sort of had that, that image at the end too. 361 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,080 You are born looking like your parents. 362 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:42,760 You die, you die looking like your decisions. 363 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:46,640 And he, he sort of modified that slightly that we want to look 364 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,080 like Christ. You know, when people see us, 365 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,440 when they see our life, when they see our actions, when they 366 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,280 see the way that we're living, we want them to see Christ. 367 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:56,720 We want them to see, you know, what would Jesus do? 368 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,560 Yeah, WWJD not what would Joe or Jonah do? 369 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:04,640 Or Jake, what would Jesus do? Yeah, that's good. 370 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:06,880 Yeah, I I know that he had mentioned that quote to us 371 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:08,319 earlier in the week and he was going to use it. 372 00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:10,640 He said it was going to be a spoiler that he would tell us 373 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:12,720 early. But yeah, I thought it was a 374 00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:16,880 good, a good thought for sure. That we want to, we don't really 375 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:20,480 care what we were looking like when we were born, but we want 376 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,760 to make sure that at the end of the day is best of our ability. 377 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,560 We can look like Jesus. So, yeah, very good. 378 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:28,040 You said you had a question that came in. 379 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,120 Yeah. So this is this is a question 380 00:17:31,120 --> 00:17:34,840 that had come in a day, a day after we had recorded the 381 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,240 podcast last week. And so it was a question related 382 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,400 to my sermon, which was all about the resurrection body. 383 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:46,120 And so the question you. Fool, why would you want to talk 384 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:49,240 about what's why? Why you foolish person? 385 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:54,240 So this was a so this, this person said, it's a question 386 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,600 from my daughter. And the question was, if we get 387 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,520 new glorified bodies when we go to heaven, is it the same type 388 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,640 of bodies that people will get before they go to hell? 389 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,280 To which I I had responded with like an exploding mind emoji. 390 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:16,760 Yeah. Something in like, man, that's 391 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:18,200 a. That's a pretty deep thought for 392 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:19,960 a child. Yeah, I was gonna say it's not 393 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:23,400 your daughter who's 25, It's a daughter who's under 10 years 394 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,640 old. Yeah, who's thinking big 395 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:27,960 thoughts thinking. Yeah, Mind blown, right. 396 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,000 Not the same type, I would say. I don't know that we would. 397 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,760 They wouldn't get a glorified body, right. 398 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,760 So that would be one of the the caveats, I would say. 399 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,920 But the other overarching answer is, yeah, I think we are eternal 400 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,640 beings. Like, like we have a soul, 401 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:46,080 right? No, we don't have a soul, right? 402 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:48,480 Yeah, I sure don't have a soul. Shared that quote from CS. 403 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:52,040 Lewis We are a soul and our souls are made in the image of 404 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,840 God, which would mean that they would possess some form of like 405 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,800 eternality, like we we're going somewhere for eternity. 406 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:02,920 That's taught clearly throughout Scripture and that's, that's the 407 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,200 whole basis of like the salvation. 408 00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:09,920 What are we being saved from? Well, we're being saved from an 409 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,880 eternity in hell, right? Like we're being, in other 410 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:18,520 words, we're being saved from an eternity completely separated 411 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:25,560 from Christ and our creator, from the from the source of life 412 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,320 and light in the world, in the universe. 413 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,960 You're going to be separated and cut off for eternity. 414 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,280 So yeah, you will have a body that's separated and cut off for 415 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:37,800 eternity. Revelation talks about that. 416 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:40,120 You had a quote too that you like. 417 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:42,160 We're thinking about like that applies to this, right? 418 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:44,440 Yeah. Clive Staples again. 419 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:48,280 Clive Staples I'm I'm on a Clive Staples ACS Lewis role. 420 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:51,600 He shares. He shares this quote. 421 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:53,800 I I borrowed this book from Pastor Jake. 422 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,320 He might not remember this. I borrowed it from him like a 423 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,840 year ago. Note to self, don't loan Joe any 424 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:02,680 books. Don't don't loan Joe books. 425 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,200 And well, The funny thing is I was telling somebody this 426 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,760 recently too, Jake. I don't see his name in the 427 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:11,520 beginning of this book. Actually, that's kind of ironic, 428 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,680 but I've always noticed that he puts his name in the front of 429 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:15,920 his books. Well, that's why I didn't get 430 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,320 this one back. That's why I didn't get it back, 431 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:18,040 because I didn't. Yeah. 432 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:20,240 But I always wonder, I'm like, oh, why does he do that? 433 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,640 And then I started, you know, now that I'm a pastor, I've 434 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,160 loaned my books out to people. And sometimes I'm looking at my 435 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,800 bookshelf going, I'm like, I know I have this book somewhere. 436 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,040 Where is it? And it's like, I must have 437 00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,120 loaned it out to someone and they will never remember, right, 438 00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:35,400 that it was mine. And I will never remember who I 439 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:36,920 loaned it to. And so I'm like, that's pretty 440 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:38,600 smart. We need a catalogue like 441 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,760 electronic library system for our books. 442 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:44,240 Yeah. So I had borrowed this one from 443 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:47,720 him I'd seen on his bookshelf probably about a year ago. 444 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,760 It's called Paved with Good Intentions by CS Lewis, A 445 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,800 Demon's Road Map to Your Soul. And I'm, I'm guessing I don't 446 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:00,120 know, but I thought, OK, yeah, it does say this has previously 447 00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:02,280 appeared in the screw tape. Letter so excerpts from screw 448 00:21:02,280 --> 00:21:05,400 tape. Yeah, And so this in the 449 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,960 beginning of his book, he has a quote from another one of his 450 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:14,200 books, but it says I willingly believe that the damned are in 451 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:20,320 one sense successful rebels to the end that the doors of hell 452 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:26,520 are locked on the inside. They enjoy forever the horrible 453 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,520 freedom they have demanded and are therefore self enslaved. 454 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,040 And so from that perspective that that those who, who choose 455 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,320 to reject Christ, they don't want God. 456 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:40,920 I, I, I want to be free from God. 457 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:42,400 I don't want to be under his thumb. 458 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:43,560 I don't want to be under his rule. 459 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:45,560 They really want separation from God. 460 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:48,400 That's what they want. And he's saying in this sense 461 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,880 that I they get what they want and therefore suffer that 462 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:54,920 horrible freedom that they have demanded. 463 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:59,520 And our self enslaved, they've they've now enslaved themself 464 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,680 and they're now going to suffer for eternity that which they 465 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,400 demanded, which was freedom, absence from God. 466 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:09,240 But then he sort of counters that with what the believer 467 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:14,480 experiences. Just as the blessed forever 468 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:19,640 submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and 469 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:27,000 more free, so them submitting to Christ, submitting to his 470 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,720 lordship, submitting to God and all that he has for us, they 471 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:34,080 submit themselves to him and it and it in their eternity, they 472 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,800 become more and more free in Christ, experiencing his 473 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,320 goodness, which I thought was a really interesting, really 474 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,440 interesting quote in light of, you know, that conversation with 475 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,040 eternal bodies. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. 476 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,960 Yeah. The hard answer is, yeah, we to 477 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:53,240 to the question, to the, to the little girl's question or a 478 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,560 child daughter. Yeah, yeah. 479 00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:01,240 It does mean that, yeah, yeah. It does mean that you will spend 480 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,040 eternity somewhere. And I think that's the thing 481 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:04,960 that we need to remember. And even like coming up to the 482 00:23:04,960 --> 00:23:09,760 Christmas season and like we're going to be possibly my family 483 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,320 not right. And my family right now, we're 484 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,040 not going to be gathering with our other family like we already 485 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,960 did, that you're going to be surrounded by people who either 486 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:20,680 are believers or are not believers. 487 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:22,320 There are going to be some in every family that's not a 488 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,320 believer. And like keeping in mind the 489 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:31,440 reality that we are eternal beings, like we're not, not in a 490 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:34,800 way that's like omniscient, like like God, you know, we're not 491 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,600 that way, but we are. We are going to spend eternity 492 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,520 somewhere like that means like thousands and thousands and 493 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,480 thousands and millions of years in our time. 494 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:49,160 There is a place that we'll end up And like, you know, we need 495 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,320 to be sure that we're letting people know that there's hope 496 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:58,240 that you can, you can live eternity with life giving like 497 00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,200 God, who, who's the source of all life and light. 498 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:08,320 Like right, like in Revelation 22 says, he basically says there 499 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,560 is no sun. There's there's the source of 500 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,000 light comes from Christ on the throne. 501 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,480 He is the source of light and hope. 502 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,120 And if you want to experience the eternity in the presence of 503 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:24,080 light or in the presence of just like utter darkness and despair. 504 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,280 Weeping and gnashing of. Teeth, is that what you want? 505 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,080 Like, you know, so is that really what you want? 506 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,440 Because that's what that CS Lewis quote comes out like. 507 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,240 You know, I don't think that's what people really want. 508 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,360 I think they just want whatever they love their sin too much. 509 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:41,160 And I think that's the thing we have to, we have to come to 510 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:47,280 terms we all had to like, do I love my sin so much that I'm 511 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:52,160 willing to like to like have a moment of whatever satisfaction 512 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:56,600 and like that I can get here on earth in this current state? 513 00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:02,080 Or do I want to maybe maybe give that up for freedom that comes 514 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,200 in stages overtime in life, you know? 515 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,600 So anyway, yeah, the answer is yes. 516 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:10,920 Well, and to, to that point, you know, like, and, and what we're, 517 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,000 what we're talking about saving people from is God's wrath, 518 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:15,400 right? Like, it's not like God is up 519 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,800 there going like, hey, like there's a, there's a Cliff at 520 00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:19,600 the end of the road and like, I'm just trying to stop you. 521 00:25:19,600 --> 00:25:24,800 It's like, no, it is his wrath that he has has made a way for 522 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:26,400 you to avoid. But. 523 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,240 He's made the way. The way. 524 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,640 Yeah, I have a beef with one of the songs you sang on Sunday 525 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,960 because it says he made a way. I can't remember the song it 526 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:34,920 was. It might have been the last 527 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:36,400 song, but it's not. It's not. 528 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:40,640 You didn't write it, but it's like I I would like, I would 529 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:42,320 always like, just think, let's just sing. 530 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:45,320 He made the way there is only one way. 531 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:46,680 Yeah. So anyway, I didn't mean to cut 532 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:47,960 you off, but it was like, yeah, he. 533 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,640 Made well, no, I was I was just going to go from there to go. 534 00:25:50,680 --> 00:25:54,840 You know, we, like you said, we need to be telling people the 535 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,640 good news of why Christ came, right? 536 00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:58,800 Christmas. We always hear that Christ is 537 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:00,480 the reason for the season, but what does that mean? 538 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,440 Like don't just say Christ is the reason for the season. 539 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:07,360 Like we are saving people from that eternity in hell that we 540 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:11,120 are eternal beings and we'll go either eternally, eternally into 541 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:15,720 Christ's presence free or eternally into the absence of 542 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:18,480 his presence, which is hell enslaved. 543 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:21,880 And so to that point, we, we were just talking about these 544 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:26,200 statistics, the one I'll the one I'll share, which will tie into 545 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:27,360 yours, but. Oh, right. 546 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,600 The about inviting people to church. 547 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,240 I, I read a statistic the other day and I think we may have 548 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:36,720 shared this before with the church, but over 80% of non 549 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,120 church going people would be willing, would, would consider 550 00:26:41,120 --> 00:26:43,480 going to church if they were invited by somebody. 551 00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:47,000 That's mind boggling. It is so like they're doing 552 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,960 these surveys and these, these people who are not church going 553 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,440 people, I don't know if they're Christians or not, but it's like 554 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:54,520 over 80% of them say, yeah, you know what? 555 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,360 I I'd think about going to church if some, if someone, if a 556 00:26:57,360 --> 00:26:59,320 family member or a friend invited me. 557 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:02,680 So invite people. Yeah, invite people to church. 558 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,400 I mean, we, we're closing First Corinthians this coming Sunday. 559 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,360 You're going to preach the last sermon in this book. 560 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:10,480 And then we have Christmas Day services and we, and even as we 561 00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:13,000 come into the new year, maybe maybe that's a way to say, hey, 562 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:14,680 you know what? And have you thought about in 563 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:16,920 the new year, like, you know, how you might change your life. 564 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:18,280 Maybe you think about coming to church. 565 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:19,760 Would, would you consider coming to church? 566 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,160 Maybe just asking that question, you know, invite someone. 567 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,480 Maybe they will come. Especially if it's a friend or a 568 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:27,400 family member. Because honestly, if they're 569 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,880 your, if they're really your friend, right, they might just 570 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,280 come because they, they like you or they respect you, right? 571 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,320 To say, yeah, you know what? And it may be as simple as like, 572 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,920 hey, I know that we've been friends a long time and I've 573 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:44,680 never really brought this up, but I'm a Christian and I go to 574 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,080 church on Sunday and they'll be like, they'll be like, yeah, 575 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:48,920 Jonah. I know, right? 576 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,360 They they know these things about it and it's like, you 577 00:27:52,360 --> 00:27:54,320 know, would you just be willing to come with me on Sunday or 578 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:55,880 would you be willing to come with me on like we're going to 579 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:57,760 meet there after we open gifts on Christmas morning. 580 00:27:57,760 --> 00:27:59,000 We're going to meet there at 9:00. 581 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,600 And would you just, would you just come? 582 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:03,520 You don't have to dress up fancy. 583 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,840 Just come. And they like they might not 584 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:08,920 come that Sunday, but if they're that that day, but they might 585 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,400 come another one, you know, just just ask. 586 00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,640 They will come. Most likely they will come at 587 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,520 least once. You know, you don't get it, but 588 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:18,560 but I guarantee you want it. How they won't come. 589 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,240 You never invite them. Like you're always going to get 590 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:23,080 a no if you don't ask the question, right? 591 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:26,440 You can always figure out a way to talk yourself out of inviting 592 00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:30,040 someone to church. So my, my statistic is very 593 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:36,000 similar to that, except for this guy, Matt Smethurst. 594 00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:38,840 I'm cheering because I think I said it right. 595 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,280 He this source for this question came from church outreach and 596 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,320 attendance campaign. So he put this out on Twitter 597 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:52,280 and it says why do people start attending church? 598 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:55,200 So they actually, these people actually start attending. 599 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,760 So 2% said that they they started attending a church 600 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,680 because of an advertisement. So like a Facebook ad or 601 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:06,400 billboard, a flyer, a Mailer, whatever, an ad, an ad, they got 602 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,480 2 percent. 6% say it was an organized visit. 603 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,920 So like, maybe, I don't know, maybe they were invited by, you 604 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:16,400 know, some kind of strategic campaign. 605 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:18,400 Like somebody came to my house, knocked on the door and invited 606 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:21,880 me to church. Another 6% said that they came 607 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,720 because it was an invite from a pastor. 608 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,920 So Joe, I hate to tell you, if you ask 100 people to come to 609 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,160 church tonight this week, only 6% or 6 people will say yes. 610 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:33,040 I just got it. I just can't tell them I'm a 611 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,560 pastor. Right, that's true because you 612 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:38,960 can't tell them I'm a pastor because an invite from a friend. 613 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,360 So like this is this even more than just like a stranger, an 614 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,120 invite from a friend. What we were just talking about 615 00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:48,640 86% of people started attending church because they were invited 616 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:52,520 to church by a friend. It matters like what we say, how 617 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:54,800 we invite like this, just the fact that we invite people 618 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,680 matters. Invite your friends, not just 619 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,040 random strangers. You have relationships like a 620 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:01,600 sphere of influence in your life. 621 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:03,280 We talk about this in business all the time. 622 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,680 You know, you're not like your, your first target audience for 623 00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:09,640 your customer base should be your sphere of influence. 624 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,120 Those are the people you live with, you live with, you work 625 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:16,080 with you go to church with all those different things that 626 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:17,760 that's, that's it's low hanging fruit. 627 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:21,040 These people trust you already. So, so that's the thing. 628 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,320 Like a friend is going to say, they will say they're going to 629 00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:28,320 start coming. 86% of people said they came because a friend said, 630 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,480 hey, would you come to church with me? 631 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:32,600 Yeah, I'll meet you out front. You won't have to worry about 632 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:36,000 finding a seat. I'll find one anyway. 633 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:38,560 I think it's so important for us to think and keep that in mind, 634 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,960 like just random, like even our strategies, our Thursday night 635 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:44,880 strategy, right? It's a good strategy. 636 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:46,680 There's going to be a small percentage of people that say 637 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:49,440 yes there though. But if they're your friend, 638 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,540 right, the likelihood goes way up because you've got that built 639 00:30:53,540 --> 00:30:56,160 in trust already. And I would argue you've got 640 00:30:56,160 --> 00:31:00,440 that built in God ordained trust because you God ordains your 641 00:31:00,440 --> 00:31:02,880 friendships. I believe that like he's 642 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:06,200 sovereign over everything. You're friends with the people 643 00:31:06,200 --> 00:31:08,480 you're friends with because God wants you to be friends with 644 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,680 them. That should change your life 645 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,440 too, that that'll all change your paradigms. 646 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:14,760 So. Well, and it just bring it full 647 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:17,680 circle to to Jake's pastor Jake's sermon, the right kind of 648 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:19,800 giving, thinking about, well, maybe you could use 649 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,440 opportunities of generosity to invite people, you know, and 650 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:26,760 maybe that's and so maybe this is sort of like a like a 651 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,760 lifestyle as opposed to just like a one time thing, right? 652 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:32,080 Maybe you're looking in friends and family members, you're 653 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,040 you're looking and you probably are already doing this, but 654 00:31:35,040 --> 00:31:37,240 looking for opportunities to bless them, looking for 655 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:38,880 opportunities to give things to them. 656 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,280 And then, you know, when Christmas or Easter, you know, 657 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,160 those are big ones, those you don't always need to wait for 658 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:49,640 like a holiday, but then just use that as a, as a place to 659 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,320 launch from there to like, Hey, would you be interested in 660 00:31:52,320 --> 00:31:54,320 coming to church? Or, you know, like build those 661 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:55,760 relationships, build those friendships. 662 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,560 And maybe it's you bake a batch of cookies and you start handing 663 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,400 them out to your neighbors and you invite them to come to the 664 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:02,880 Christmas Day service, you know, things like that. 665 00:32:02,880 --> 00:32:07,400 But use generosity as a way to to as an inroad and then invite 666 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,000 people to church. Yeah, I I agree. 667 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,640 There's so many different things you can do, so many strategies 668 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,720 you can take. Yeah, so good. 669 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:18,720 So do you have anything you like this week? 670 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:23,480 I guess I'll just hit on this this book I I've Paved with Good 671 00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:25,680 Intentions by CS Lewis. You're going to read this? 672 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,600 Yeah, you got good. You had good intentions to read 673 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:32,240 this 12 months ago. That is the irony of ironies. 674 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,560 It is like the most convicting thing ever. 675 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:36,280 It's just like sitting on my shelf there. 676 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,960 I took it from his office and was like, oh, yeah, I'm going to 677 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,680 read this book. And now like for the last year, 678 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,200 it's sitting there like. It's not like this taunting 679 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,760 giant tome of a book either. I'm looking at this book and 680 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:50,560 it's maybe like the size of a 5 by 7 index card and then it's 681 00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:52,200 like probably 85 pages. Long. 682 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:53,960 Oh, it's tight. I got through half of it in like 683 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,160 30 minutes. It's a tiny book, but it's just 684 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,000 been sitting there taunting me for a year. 685 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,560 Like you said, I had good intentions to read it. 686 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,720 But anyway, it's just as, as it talks about this idea that, you 687 00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,680 know, the screw tape letters, this, this, you know, older 688 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:11,840 wiser demon is teaching this younger demon how to deceive 689 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:13,960 people and turn them away from God. 690 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,040 That's the whole point. And I don't have anything in 691 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,120 specific to point out. Just I guess thinking, though, 692 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:27,120 thinking of demons as having a strategy is interesting because 693 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,200 I've, I've often said this with, with Dave Ramsey, He has this, 694 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,240 this lesson in his Financial Peace University called Buyer 695 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,640 beware. And some of the things that he 696 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:40,000 teaches buyers there is when you go to the grocery store, like do 697 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:45,840 you think it is an accident that candy and cookies and things 698 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:50,360 that kids would want are located on the bottom shelf where kids 699 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:52,280 will see them? You know, there's a reason 700 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,400 they're not on the top shelf. And so he talks about the fact 701 00:33:55,400 --> 00:34:01,160 that companies are paying lots of money for shelf position to 702 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:06,160 put their product in line with where the the most likely person 703 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:08,120 who's going to want it is going to get it. 704 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,600 And that just really opened my eyes the first time I saw it, to 705 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:16,040 go, they have a strategy and a plan to separate me from my 706 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:18,719 money so that they can become wealthy. 707 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:22,400 And I think to think of our spiritual lives in this sort of 708 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,960 same way is to think of how many times are we just haphazardly 709 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,000 walking around, pulling up our phone, walking down the street, 710 00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,239 walking into town and putting ourselves in these situations 711 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,800 just randomly. We don't really have much 712 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,880 strategy for the way that we're living our life. 713 00:34:39,199 --> 00:34:41,159 But the enemy does have a strategy, right? 714 00:34:41,480 --> 00:34:43,840 And he's seeking for whom he will devour. 715 00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,000 And, you know, I think that changes things to think like, I 716 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:50,159 need to be living more intentionally and not go, oh, 717 00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:52,480 just at the end of the day, I'll sit on the couch for two hours 718 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:55,480 and, you know, pull up my phone and just see what to look at. 719 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:57,920 No, you need to be, you need to have a strategy. 720 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,200 You need to have a plan of attack for your life. 721 00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:03,640 How you will not be putting yourself in Sims pathway. 722 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,280 Yeah. And yeah, just to yeah, that 723 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,640 would really that sort of struck me this morning as I was reading 724 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:10,040 that book. That's so good. 725 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,640 Yeah. I'm thinking about. 726 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:15,280 What were you going to say? I was just going to ask about 727 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:16,560 things that you like. I don't. 728 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:18,760 You made me use my quote earlier. 729 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:24,920 No, no, I think like I'm just thinking, thinking about next 730 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,560 year's reading plans, things like that for what we're going 731 00:35:27,560 --> 00:35:30,840 to do as a church. There's so much to do, right? 732 00:35:30,840 --> 00:35:34,240 Like so much to plan for. So maybe we could talk quickly 733 00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:38,680 about that. Our goal for 2025, the Reading 734 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:43,760 plan, will be what Joe? We are going to do a plan called 735 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:47,360 the F260 plan and so this is similar to the ones we've done, 736 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,040 but it is actually the one we did. 737 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,960 Two years ago. Two years ago and so it is sort 738 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,400 of like it hits the high points of the whole Bible. 739 00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,200 Yeah, the F stands for foundations. 740 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:03,440 So it's 260 foundational texts in Scripture. 741 00:36:03,440 --> 00:36:06,360 So you're not reading the whole Bible with this plan, but you 742 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:07,920 are reading through the whole Bible. 743 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,800 So there's going to be passages from every book of the Bible. 744 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:15,600 There'll be something there. But yeah, you'll read a lot of 745 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:16,680 the Old Testament, which is good. 746 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,040 I think that was one of the things that a lot of people sort 747 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,120 of I know I missed it this year, the Old Testament like there's 748 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,560 just some something about being connected. 749 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,360 We don't want to be unhitched. We're going to be connected to 750 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,080 the Old Testament. So yeah. 751 00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,040 So I'm excited about it. And then the memory verses, 752 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:35,680 obviously they'll be peppered throughout. 753 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:38,280 It's not as it's not as strategic like this year. 754 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,720 If you were if you were faithful and memorizing scripture, by the 755 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:42,720 end of the year, you should be able to say the whole Sermon on 756 00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:45,080 the Mount, which is cool. But this want to be the 757 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:48,400 foundations 260 plan. We, we, we debated all sorts of 758 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,120 things we like, thought about. Like there's one called the 759 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:53,760 McShane read Bible reading plan, which makes you read well, it 760 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:58,120 makes you, it encourages you to read 44 sections of Scripture 761 00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,800 every day. There's no two day break on the 762 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:02,720 weekends. We thought maybe that might be a 763 00:37:02,720 --> 00:37:04,760 little bit much for for many people. 764 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,080 So the foundations 260 plan and we'll be printing those up and 765 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:14,160 those should be in the four year, I don't know when the last 766 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,920 Sunday of the month for sure. We want you to start on in the 767 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:20,280 first Monday of January. Maybe, maybe we'll get them 768 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:21,600 printed this week and have them there Sunday. 769 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,840 I don't know. Yeah, and we would just really 770 00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:28,360 want to encourage people to, to get a reading buddy or a reading 771 00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,720 group or something, have someone because because we, we know, I 772 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:33,480 mean, we've struggled with Bible reading. 773 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,080 And when you don't have accountability, it's easy for 774 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,240 things to to fall by the wayside and to fall off the rails. 775 00:37:39,240 --> 00:37:42,560 And so we really would encourage you, you know, we know there are 776 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,000 some discipleship groups out there, groups of men and groups 777 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,000 of women who are already doing this, holding each other 778 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,240 accountable. If you want to start your own 779 00:37:49,240 --> 00:37:51,880 group or want to join a group, you can reach out to us and ask 780 00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:54,400 about that and, and we can help get connected. 781 00:37:54,720 --> 00:37:56,800 And we're always encouraging people to start groups. 782 00:37:57,360 --> 00:37:59,920 Yeah, and one of the things too, if you're not, if you're like, 783 00:37:59,920 --> 00:38:02,280 if you're just going to do it one other person that is like 784 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,880 the bare minimum we would recommend like read the Bible, 785 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:07,040 commit to reading the Bible through like through this plan 786 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:10,040 with someone else. But like, our plan is to, to 787 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:12,840 give you some way to supplement like how to, how to do a hear 788 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:14,880 journal. Like, like we're talking through 789 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,600 an idea. I don't want to let too much out 790 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,720 because we're not sure it's going to come, come like be all 791 00:38:20,720 --> 00:38:23,280 fleshed out. But we, we plan to, to like, 792 00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,640 release something in this format, like a podcast format or 793 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:30,960 like a, like a YouTube video format where we show you how to 794 00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,600 do a hear journal by giving you hours like saying, Hey, here's 795 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:36,320 the reading from today. Here's a hear journal from that 796 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:37,960 reading. And like, maybe you won't do 797 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:41,720 exactly the same thing, but but it gives you like the idea of 798 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:44,040 how to do it right. And so like we would, we would 799 00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:46,200 obviously try to use different voices in our church too. 800 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,040 So different leaders in the church offering up their own 801 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,840 interpretation and using the here journal. 802 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,600 But I think that would be we want to help you. 803 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,400 Like, so that's the thing. Like we don't want you to like 804 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:57,320 feel like you're on an island or you don't know what to do. 805 00:38:57,320 --> 00:39:01,720 We want to give you like as many resources as possible to make 806 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:03,040 that happen. So yeah. 807 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:04,880 So I'm thinking all through those things. 808 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:06,560 So those are the things I like right now. 809 00:39:07,240 --> 00:39:09,600 Also, like the rest of First Corinthians chapter 16, I'm 810 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,520 looking forward to through that text on Sunday. 811 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:15,480 Yeah, you get to close this out. Trying to figure out what he 812 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:21,840 means by there's a a wide door of effective ministry and at the 813 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:25,000 same time many oppose me. So like how's it going to be 814 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,080 effective if you got a lot of opposition right. 815 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,880 So thinking that that's that's fresh on my mind and yeah, it's 816 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:33,640 going to be fun to close it out. I can be the last one, the last 817 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,240 word on 1st Corinthians. Nice for us. 818 00:39:36,240 --> 00:39:37,840 So yeah. That's good. 819 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:39,040 I'm excited for. It it would be fun. 820 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,800 Yeah. So, Pastor Joe, you got any 821 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,800 final words for us today? I don't think so. 822 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:52,040 No, OK, well, listen, don't like if you don't get socks and 823 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:56,120 underwear, it's going to be OK. I will be a little disappointed 824 00:39:56,120 --> 00:39:59,720 though. Hint, hint, Yeah. 825 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:03,040 Family, family, who's listening? Hint, hint. 826 00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,960 You know, Duluth, Duluth trading in the US. 827 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:08,800 They make the best underwear ever. 828 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,600 Just so you know, I know that's a weird thing to say on a 829 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,760 podcast based on, you know, Christian things, but like, you 830 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:17,360 know, Christians wear underwear too. 831 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,280 It's not a secret. Anyway, not where we wanted to 832 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:23,200 go to finish the podcast, but it was on my mind. 833 00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:27,640 I'm going to pray. To finish this out, is that OK? 834 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:28,560 Good. All right. 835 00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:32,760 Father, we thank you for the ability to laugh. 836 00:40:34,280 --> 00:40:39,920 It is so refreshing knowing that you created us as as people who 837 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,920 experience a like a wide range of emotions. 838 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,600 And so, Lord, I'm just grateful that that we can laugh together. 839 00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:49,720 Pastor Joe and I can laugh together today. 840 00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:53,840 And Lord, I pray for, for our church, those who are listening 841 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:59,520 to the podcast, who, who are thinking through like they're 842 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,080 the Christmas season. Maybe they, maybe they have a 843 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,680 friend that, that they, that's been on their heart and on their 844 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,000 mind and, and that they feel like they should invite to 845 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,120 church. So I pray that you would give 846 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:14,000 them the, the courage to ask, to ask their friend to come to 847 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,400 church. And maybe, and maybe from there, 848 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,240 they start more conversations about the gospel. 849 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:24,800 Lord, I'm I'm so thankful for those who you have been drawing 850 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:28,600 to yourself, who have become believers over the last year in 851 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:33,160 2024, those who have been sharing their testimonies about 852 00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,600 their desire for baptism, for membership in our church. 853 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:38,840 Lord, I'm just grateful for all the things you're doing. 854 00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:42,640 It is easy for us to get caught up in all the different 855 00:41:42,640 --> 00:41:47,520 insurance and outs of what we do here at LEMC, all the different 856 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,480 things we have to do in order to make Sundays and Wednesdays and 857 00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:53,520 all the different ministries we have go and to lose sight of 858 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:55,360 what you're doing. So Lord, I pray that you would 859 00:41:55,640 --> 00:41:59,280 keep us, just keep us tethered to what you're doing. 860 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:03,680 Help us to, to look and find ways where you're working, maybe 861 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,440 in the, in the cracks and crevices where we we're not 862 00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:09,520 looking. So help us to to not forget that 863 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,440 that people are the reason that that churches exist. 864 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:17,040 We want to give you glory and we want more people to come to hear 865 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,600 the gospel so that they can believe and put their faith and 866 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:24,600 trust in you and so that there's one more worshipper or two more 867 00:42:24,600 --> 00:42:28,200 worshippers who are who are who are giving glory to your name. 868 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,680 So Lord, we, we ask today that you would keep us faithful as 869 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,760 pastors, keep us faithful as church members, keep us faithful 870 00:42:36,760 --> 00:42:41,720 as Christians in our community to share the gospel, to share 871 00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:49,040 the love of Jesus who came as a baby, but who died as a perfect 872 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,400 someone who lived a perfect life as a substitute for us, who 873 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,760 bore, as Pastor Joe said earlier, who who took on the 874 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:03,080 Father's wrath so that, so that we could be saved from our sin 875 00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:06,800 and to spend eternity with you. Lord, I pray that we would not 876 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,840 lose sight of our of our eternal nature. 877 00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:14,160 And then to keep remembering that though we may experience 878 00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:20,280 troubles in this life, it's all worth it in the end because if 879 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:24,160 the if we know you, if we, if we believe in you, then we will 880 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:25,680 have eternal life with you forever. 881 00:43:26,520 --> 00:43:29,160 So I pray these things in Jesus name, Amen. 882 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:32,520 All right, well, that's all I've got for today. 883 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,640 We hope that you have a great week, a Merry Christmas. 884 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:39,160 The next one would be released on Christmas Day, if we if we 885 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,400 hold true to our schedule. So we may or may not see you on 886 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,480 Christmas Day. All right, thanks guys. 887 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:46,120 Have a great day.