1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:03,160 Well, hello Crossing Church. How are you doing today? 2 00:00:04,720 --> 00:00:09,920 Now, I really appreciate that and but I know a lot of you 3 00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:14,520 aren't telling the truth. That you know, you, you, you put 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,560 yourself together, all of our locations. 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,040 And you know, I'm so glad that you're here, that you're here in 6 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:23,280 person. Those of you that are inside and 7 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,880 online, I know that you're not able to be here in person, but 8 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:34,460 and maybe you know you're still in your pajamas or whatever or 9 00:00:35,500 --> 00:00:39,780 whatever you might be doing. But the fact is, is that we want 10 00:00:39,780 --> 00:00:43,180 to always present something, you know, nice and palatable to 11 00:00:43,180 --> 00:00:46,700 everybody else around us. But in truth, a lot of times we 12 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:52,940 are not what other people perceive we are that there's 13 00:00:52,940 --> 00:01:01,060 stuff going on inside of our lives and we would just rather 14 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:04,220 not burden them with that. You know, we would just rather 15 00:01:04,220 --> 00:01:09,100 just kind of hold that quietly inside of ourselves and put a 16 00:01:09,100 --> 00:01:13,100 good face on and. And if people ask us how are you 17 00:01:13,100 --> 00:01:14,860 doing? We'll just say fine, when that's 18 00:01:14,860 --> 00:01:18,180 not the truth, It's kind of how we are, right? 19 00:01:18,180 --> 00:01:23,740 I mean, it would take a long time if you actually wanted to 20 00:01:23,740 --> 00:01:27,260 just, you know, back up the dump truck and let it out, you know, 21 00:01:27,260 --> 00:01:30,700 and just say how you doing? Well, why don't you sit down. 22 00:01:32,140 --> 00:01:33,940 True. Yeah. 23 00:01:33,940 --> 00:01:37,140 I mean, for a lot of us that that's how it is. 24 00:01:37,140 --> 00:01:40,220 And we're in the book of Romans and we are getting into some 25 00:01:40,220 --> 00:01:43,940 real practicality in the latter chapters of the book of Romans, 26 00:01:43,940 --> 00:01:49,820 and I'm in Romans 14 and 15. And it really is a discussion on 27 00:01:49,820 --> 00:01:53,060 people whose faith is weak and people whose faith is strong and 28 00:01:53,060 --> 00:01:57,500 how those two groups of people might interact with one another. 29 00:01:57,930 --> 00:02:01,410 And we're in the the part of the series we entitled noticeable 30 00:02:01,410 --> 00:02:04,810 neighbors like kind of how are you living your life in the 31 00:02:04,810 --> 00:02:07,770 context of the people around you. 32 00:02:08,610 --> 00:02:13,090 And one of the things that we're going to be discussing today is 33 00:02:13,090 --> 00:02:20,490 this idea that or this truth that we're all damaged and we 34 00:02:20,490 --> 00:02:23,890 all are to some extent. We're all damaged and damage is 35 00:02:23,890 --> 00:02:29,000 actually a part of life. And I know that a lot of us are 36 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:31,360 trying to avoid it. The parents are trying to keep 37 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,000 their kids from having to deal with it. 38 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,840 We're trying to avoid damage. We really can't do it because 39 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,720 we're surrounded by it. And we we aren't always the 40 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:43,880 victim. Sometimes we're the perpetrator, 41 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:47,040 you know, because human beings, that's kind of what we do. 42 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,720 We live in a sinful world, and it's a world full of damage, and 43 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:56,590 we tend to damage each other. Some of the worst damage, 44 00:02:56,590 --> 00:02:59,550 though, happens inside of a context, like you're in right 45 00:02:59,550 --> 00:03:04,630 now is in a church. Because I think that we believe 46 00:03:04,630 --> 00:03:09,310 that this ought to be a safe place, kind of devoid of damage. 47 00:03:09,310 --> 00:03:13,350 Like, you know, we we, we should be able to be more transparent 48 00:03:13,350 --> 00:03:14,590 here. We should be able to be more 49 00:03:14,590 --> 00:03:17,790 real here. We should be able to trust each 50 00:03:17,790 --> 00:03:21,650 other more here. But if you've been a part of a 51 00:03:21,650 --> 00:03:25,690 church for a very long for any time at all, you've probably 52 00:03:25,690 --> 00:03:29,130 experienced some of what we might call church damage or 53 00:03:29,410 --> 00:03:33,810 church hurt. And the reason I know we we tend 54 00:03:33,810 --> 00:03:36,250 to want to like label it as the church, like this. 55 00:03:36,570 --> 00:03:43,210 This church hurt me. But the reality is that churches 56 00:03:43,210 --> 00:03:47,570 are full of people, and the people that fill churches are 57 00:03:47,570 --> 00:03:51,340 damaged people. And when you're in the proximity 58 00:03:51,340 --> 00:03:56,380 of damaged people, it can damage your life because that's just 59 00:03:56,580 --> 00:04:01,580 human nature tends to be what we do, and it might take a lot of 60 00:04:01,580 --> 00:04:05,740 different forms in the church. It might be that you felt 61 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:09,340 overlooked, maybe you felt taken for granted. 62 00:04:09,620 --> 00:04:12,420 Maybe like in a small group or something, you shared some 63 00:04:12,420 --> 00:04:14,780 stuff. I mean, you risked it, you got 64 00:04:14,980 --> 00:04:18,500 open with some other people and maybe they shared it with other 65 00:04:18,500 --> 00:04:21,420 people and they shouldn't have, and you felt betrayed by that. 66 00:04:23,780 --> 00:04:26,300 Maybe you were stabbed in the back, or maybe you were accused 67 00:04:26,300 --> 00:04:30,580 of something that you didn't do. Maybe it was even more serious 68 00:04:30,580 --> 00:04:33,260 than that. Maybe you experienced something 69 00:04:33,260 --> 00:04:36,580 emotionally abusive or physically abusive and there are 70 00:04:36,580 --> 00:04:39,420 people in churches that have been sexually abused. 71 00:04:41,010 --> 00:04:43,570 Maybe whatever happened to you, you experienced when you were 72 00:04:43,570 --> 00:04:46,970 new in your faith and then it made you go, you know what, 73 00:04:46,970 --> 00:04:52,210 church, that's just like another one of these institutions. 74 00:04:52,210 --> 00:04:55,290 It's just another one of these things that you just can't 75 00:04:55,290 --> 00:05:00,330 trust. This is another club and it 76 00:05:00,330 --> 00:05:02,810 really isn't very hard to get cynical. 77 00:05:03,930 --> 00:05:07,170 And church can be viewed as optional by a lot of people. 78 00:05:07,530 --> 00:05:11,240 Like, why do I even need to trouble myself with that? 79 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,520 I'll just kind of stay back and I'll, I'll, I'll keep a healthy 80 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:20,560 distance between me and all of whatever's happening in that 81 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,480 place. I've had people come to The 82 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:29,520 Crossing over the years, share stories with me about how broken 83 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,480 they are when they feel like maybe they can trust me with 84 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:35,920 that story. And they will talk about their 85 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:42,220 previous church experience. And I begin to realize just what 86 00:05:42,300 --> 00:05:46,660 a major step of faith it was just to walk through the door of 87 00:05:46,660 --> 00:05:51,380 another church again. Some of these people were some 88 00:05:51,380 --> 00:05:54,820 of the hardest workers in their previous church environment, 89 00:05:54,820 --> 00:05:58,740 some of the most committed people in their previous church. 90 00:05:58,740 --> 00:06:02,580 But now if you find if you can find them at all, they're kind 91 00:06:02,580 --> 00:06:06,120 of in the back in the dark and they kind of want to stay in the 92 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,400 shadows. It's hard to reengage. 93 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,200 Boy, I sure would like to stand up here today and say that all 94 00:06:16,200 --> 00:06:22,440 just goes one way, but it doesn't because I have to tell 95 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,120 you that people at the crossing staff at the crossing, they have 96 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,640 done their fair share of hurting others and driving people away. 97 00:06:33,900 --> 00:06:39,460 And I think it's easy for us to make excuses for our own 98 00:06:39,460 --> 00:06:42,900 behavior or to find fault with people for leaving. 99 00:06:43,900 --> 00:06:50,100 But there is no doubt that we've damaged people too. 100 00:06:52,300 --> 00:06:54,300 You know, some of that damage comes from well meaning 101 00:06:54,300 --> 00:06:56,780 Christians. And what well meaning Christians 102 00:06:56,780 --> 00:06:58,540 are trying to do is maybe educate. 103 00:06:58,540 --> 00:07:02,980 Or we use the term disciple, newer believers, right? 104 00:07:03,550 --> 00:07:07,950 And so this is what the Apostle Paul is beginning to refer to in 105 00:07:07,950 --> 00:07:10,790 Romans chapter 14. Let's let's read it together. 106 00:07:10,790 --> 00:07:16,990 It says except the one whose faith is weak without quarreling 107 00:07:17,590 --> 00:07:21,950 over disputable matters also stop right there. 108 00:07:22,270 --> 00:07:27,310 How many matters do you ever face that are disputable? 109 00:07:30,070 --> 00:07:32,310 Like all of them? Right. 110 00:07:33,100 --> 00:07:38,620 So should we be quarrelling over disputable matters? 111 00:07:38,820 --> 00:07:42,300 Maybe somebody is pretty new in their faith. 112 00:07:42,860 --> 00:07:44,980 Maybe you've been in your faith a little longer. 113 00:07:44,980 --> 00:07:48,020 Maybe you were kind of raised up in a different context, this 114 00:07:48,020 --> 00:07:50,740 other person, and they're trying to figure something out. 115 00:07:50,740 --> 00:07:55,420 You think you've got it figured out, and so you want to disciple 116 00:07:55,420 --> 00:07:57,780 this person or help this person along. 117 00:07:58,420 --> 00:08:02,730 And you say some things that may be really discouraging when 118 00:08:02,730 --> 00:08:06,770 you're really just trying to help someone else, maybe because 119 00:08:06,770 --> 00:08:10,370 you're inside of a disputable matter. 120 00:08:15,090 --> 00:08:18,250 I think it's something that we all deal with. 121 00:08:18,250 --> 00:08:21,850 And I think there's a real question underneath this. 122 00:08:22,610 --> 00:08:25,530 And the real question is that we're. 123 00:08:26,010 --> 00:08:29,220 Well, maybe it's a The question is, are we are we trying to help 124 00:08:29,220 --> 00:08:32,860 people to become more like Jesus or are we trying to help people 125 00:08:32,860 --> 00:08:38,620 to become more like us? Maybe that's a little tougher 126 00:08:38,620 --> 00:08:44,420 way of putting it. I think sometimes the real truth 127 00:08:44,780 --> 00:08:50,740 isn't just Jesus. It's Jesus and Jesus and my 128 00:08:50,740 --> 00:08:55,260 interpretation of the Bible, Jesus and my choice of worship 129 00:08:55,260 --> 00:08:58,440 style. Jesus and my political leanings. 130 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,520 Jesus and my worldview. Jesus and my group. 131 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,440 Jesus and my culture. Jesus and my color. 132 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:09,160 Jesus and my education. You get it. 133 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:10,760 You talk, you, you get the picture. 134 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:18,240 The point is there is no and there's just Jesus. 135 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,320 And we keep trying to change other people. 136 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:31,240 But ultimately changing people is what Jesus does. 137 00:09:32,560 --> 00:09:35,960 It's not what we do. We're supposed to be cooperating 138 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,480 with him, not standing in front of him. 139 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,480 We need to let him do his job and not be a detriment to that. 140 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,080 Now. The Apostle Paul in Romans 14 141 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:53,880 gives examples of this in the Roman churches context when he 142 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:58,120 talks about faith and he talks about food restrictions in 143 00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:00,120 verses two to four of chapter 14. 144 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,800 Listen to what he says. One person's faith allows them 145 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:08,680 to eat anything, but another whose faith is week eats only 146 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:13,000 vegetables, and the one who eats everything must not treat with 147 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,720 contempt the one who does not and the one who does not eat 148 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,040 everything must not judge the one who does, for God has 149 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,960 accepted them. Who are you to judge someone 150 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,240 else's servant to their own master? 151 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:32,880 A servant stands or falls and they will stand, for the Lord is 152 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:37,720 able to make them stand. So now we're in the context of 153 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:42,680 Romans and food restriction was a big deal in the in the Jewish 154 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:46,640 world and we've already established through the study of 155 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,360 Romans. Hope you're still doing that, 156 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:52,480 that the Roman church was an established church with with 157 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:57,520 Gentiles and with Jews, and so they were having to learn how to 158 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:01,360 get along together when they're coming from very, very different 159 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:03,120 backgrounds. And of course, if you were 160 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,440 raised Jewish there, there's a whole lot of rules associated 161 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,920 with your faith. It's called eating kosher or 162 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:14,920 eating pure. Now, Gentiles, they didn't 163 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:19,240 follow those regulations and they were not required to follow 164 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:23,400 those regulations. But that didn't stop Jews from 165 00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:27,320 looking down on Gentiles because of the food they ate. 166 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,600 And it was a big deal to them and it was causing a lot of 167 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,200 problems. How do we, how do we connect 168 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:43,320 that to our world today? Well, I'm speaking from Quincy. 169 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,520 And in many ways, Quincy is a very Catholic community, right? 170 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:51,710 There's 8 parishes in Quincy and I I I don't know about like all 171 00:11:51,710 --> 00:11:55,750 the rest of the other ten locations but definitely here 172 00:11:56,430 --> 00:12:02,470 that's a reality. And the story goes of a of a 173 00:12:02,470 --> 00:12:07,390 Jewish man that moved into a new community and it was a 174 00:12:08,070 --> 00:12:13,590 predominantly Catholic community and and so and all of his 175 00:12:13,590 --> 00:12:18,950 neighbors were were Catholics. And so on Friday, one of the 176 00:12:18,950 --> 00:12:21,790 things that this Jewish man loved to do was cook a nice 177 00:12:21,790 --> 00:12:27,950 steak on the grill. And so every evening Sky was out 178 00:12:27,950 --> 00:12:30,630 there and he's cooking a steak on the grill. 179 00:12:30,630 --> 00:12:33,790 And all of these Catholics that were pretty hardcore Catholics 180 00:12:34,150 --> 00:12:37,070 were taught that they could only eat fish on Friday. 181 00:12:37,790 --> 00:12:44,790 And so here comes this aroma wafting over the back fence, and 182 00:12:44,790 --> 00:12:47,950 it's just driving all of his neighbors crazy. 183 00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:55,300 And every single Friday night, this guy is cooking a nice juicy 184 00:12:55,300 --> 00:12:58,460 steak on his grill. And eventually they just can't 185 00:12:58,460 --> 00:13:01,740 take it anymore until they have an HOA meeting. 186 00:13:01,740 --> 00:13:05,820 I mean, they get the neighbors together, you know, all the the 187 00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:07,580 Catholic neighbors, they go, what are we going to do? 188 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:09,900 This is like, this isn't making it impossible. 189 00:13:10,100 --> 00:13:12,340 I mean, you know, here I am, I'm trying to eat my fish. 190 00:13:12,340 --> 00:13:13,780 I'm smelling. This is killing me. 191 00:13:15,350 --> 00:13:17,470 And so they're talking about it, and they decide, you know, what 192 00:13:17,470 --> 00:13:20,350 we got to do? Let's convert this Jewish guy to 193 00:13:20,350 --> 00:13:23,110 Catholicism. That's what we'll do. 194 00:13:24,230 --> 00:13:28,710 And so they started ganging up on him as neighbors, like, like, 195 00:13:28,710 --> 00:13:32,030 you know, encouraging him and talking to him and working on 196 00:13:32,030 --> 00:13:34,790 him. And over a period of months, you 197 00:13:34,790 --> 00:13:36,870 know, they started to break this guy down. 198 00:13:37,070 --> 00:13:41,000 And before long they had him to the place where he was ready to 199 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,640 convert from Judaism to Catholicism. 200 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,800 So they took him to their to their church. 201 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,320 It took him before the priest. And I don't know what it is that 202 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,240 the priest has. It has the water in it, you 203 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,240 know, like the holy what? What is that thing called? 204 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:55,680 I don't know what that thing's called anyway. 205 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:57,480 You know, there's a sprinkler thing. 206 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,160 That's the technical term. Anyway. 207 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,720 It's so the the Jewish man comes there and and he gets down on 208 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,980 his knees and the priest standing over him and he's 209 00:14:09,980 --> 00:14:13,860 sprinkling the holy water on him and he goes born at you, raise 210 00:14:13,860 --> 00:14:23,180 the Jew now Catholic and all of the neighbors went yes, that's 211 00:14:23,180 --> 00:14:25,020 it. Solve that problem. 212 00:14:26,300 --> 00:14:34,260 Next Friday, here comes that smell, the smell of a nice steak 213 00:14:34,260 --> 00:14:38,830 cooking on that guy's grill. And they go, we've got him now. 214 00:14:39,910 --> 00:14:43,190 And they all join up in the street and they head over to his 215 00:14:43,190 --> 00:14:45,670 house. They walk into his backyard and 216 00:14:45,670 --> 00:14:49,750 there he is over the grill with his little water bottle. 217 00:14:50,190 --> 00:14:56,350 And he's going born a cow, raised a cow, now a fish. 218 00:15:08,610 --> 00:15:13,890 Brothers and sisters do not determine who their parents are, 219 00:15:15,090 --> 00:15:17,650 even though a lot of you, especially the younger ones, 220 00:15:20,330 --> 00:15:24,010 your older brothers and sisters try to convince you that you 221 00:15:24,010 --> 00:15:26,610 know who your parents were and weren't. 222 00:15:28,290 --> 00:15:33,330 And what does the word accept mean when Paul uses it? 223 00:15:33,410 --> 00:15:37,970 It means not to reject. It means not to ignore. 224 00:15:38,730 --> 00:15:42,530 It means not to treat someone else as second class. 225 00:15:43,610 --> 00:15:46,650 Acceptance is a basic recognition of family. 226 00:15:47,650 --> 00:15:53,690 It's understanding not only who we are, but who's we are. 227 00:15:54,570 --> 00:15:58,450 That it isn't us who determines our siblings in Christ. 228 00:15:58,850 --> 00:16:03,010 It's Christ that's determined by the parent. 229 00:16:03,770 --> 00:16:09,770 We don't have to agree, but when we disagree, we need to disagree 230 00:16:09,770 --> 00:16:15,130 in a very agreeable way. Years ago when I lived in 231 00:16:15,130 --> 00:16:19,730 Indiana and our children were little, we were downtown. 232 00:16:19,730 --> 00:16:23,890 And there's a famous deli downtown called Shapiro's in 233 00:16:23,890 --> 00:16:29,450 Indiana, Indianapolis. And Allison is trying to manage 234 00:16:29,450 --> 00:16:33,930 these children, toddlers at the time, and it's hard to do that 235 00:16:34,810 --> 00:16:38,090 and at the same time order. So she's not just ordering for 236 00:16:38,090 --> 00:16:41,250 herself, she's also ordering for them. 237 00:16:41,250 --> 00:16:44,610 And this is one of those places where I kind of step back and 238 00:16:44,610 --> 00:16:49,050 let her do that, right? Or thankful that she does do 239 00:16:49,050 --> 00:16:51,650 that. And so she's kind of going fast 240 00:16:51,650 --> 00:16:55,610 at Shapiro's. And so she goes for one of the 241 00:16:55,610 --> 00:16:57,850 kids. She says like a ham sandwich. 242 00:17:00,330 --> 00:17:05,760 Shapiro's is a deli. It's a Jewish deli. 243 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,560 Are you? Is it too early in the morning? 244 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:16,040 They don't serve ham. Now, the person behind the 245 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,240 counter could have gotten frustrated by that, but they 246 00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:24,560 could see that there was a young mom here dealing with kids and a 247 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:28,119 dad. And I I remember that moment. 248 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:34,700 I looked at her and I went, Oh my gosh, and and the guy behind 249 00:17:34,700 --> 00:17:37,540 the counter said, hey, wouldn't you like some nice pastrami? 250 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:41,220 I mean, he didn't make a big deal out of it. 251 00:17:41,620 --> 00:17:43,860 He didn't say, Did you not understand that this is a Jewish 252 00:17:43,860 --> 00:17:45,740 delicatessen and we don't serve ham? 253 00:17:46,700 --> 00:17:52,940 That ham is not kosher meat? He didn't scold her, give her a 254 00:17:52,940 --> 00:17:54,700 hard time. He just said something nice 255 00:17:54,700 --> 00:17:56,660 back. If we're going to disagree, we 256 00:17:56,660 --> 00:17:58,860 need to disagree in agreeable way. 257 00:18:01,740 --> 00:18:05,660 All goes on to talk about how in Jewish culture, one day is more 258 00:18:05,660 --> 00:18:08,300 important to another. And of course that's a core 259 00:18:08,300 --> 00:18:10,580 value. In the Old Testament covenant 260 00:18:10,580 --> 00:18:13,980 law between God and the Jews, part of the 10 commandments was 261 00:18:13,980 --> 00:18:17,540 the 4th commandment, which was remember the Sabbath day to keep 262 00:18:17,540 --> 00:18:21,020 it holy. But Gentiles were not a part of 263 00:18:21,020 --> 00:18:24,020 that covenant law. And in the New Testament, when 264 00:18:24,020 --> 00:18:27,340 we see the church established, you see this movement from the 265 00:18:27,340 --> 00:18:29,100 Sabbath day, which was a Saturday. 266 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:32,120 And by the way, it wasn't a Saturday the way you understand 267 00:18:32,120 --> 00:18:36,960 or I understand a Saturday because a Jewish Saturday begins 268 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:41,960 on our Friday at 6:00 PM and it goes from Saturday to 6:00 PM. 269 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,440 But that would be the way that the Jewish people in the Church 270 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,880 of Rome would understand it. But Gentiles didn't feel that 271 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:51,160 way. And when the church was 272 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:55,830 instituted and acts, two people began to worship the Lord on 273 00:18:55,830 --> 00:18:58,350 Sunday, the first day of the week, and they called it the 274 00:18:58,350 --> 00:19:01,630 Lord's day. So we we see this movement from 275 00:19:01,750 --> 00:19:07,430 the Sabbath, the Saturday to the Sunday. 276 00:19:08,670 --> 00:19:13,510 Now that would have sent a shockwave through the Jewish 277 00:19:13,510 --> 00:19:17,750 culture at that time. Then he talks about things like 278 00:19:19,030 --> 00:19:22,190 eating meat or abstaining from meat and how some people would 279 00:19:22,190 --> 00:19:24,870 only eat vegetables. Now if you go into First 280 00:19:24,870 --> 00:19:28,350 Corinthians chapter 8, it'll get deeper into this, but this is 281 00:19:28,350 --> 00:19:31,710 kind of culturally what would happen anytime you would go to a 282 00:19:31,710 --> 00:19:38,550 butcher shop to buy meat. During this era, all animals 283 00:19:38,550 --> 00:19:43,070 that were slaughtered were taken through like a tunnel and they 284 00:19:43,070 --> 00:19:48,490 were passed underneath an idol. So all of the animals that were 285 00:19:48,490 --> 00:19:52,370 slaughtered, that were killed and then butchered technically 286 00:19:52,370 --> 00:19:55,690 had been offered to An idol was kind of A2 for one, right? 287 00:19:55,970 --> 00:19:58,890 So, you know, they were trying to get credit from their false 288 00:19:58,890 --> 00:20:02,930 gods about the sacrifice of an animal even though they were 289 00:20:02,930 --> 00:20:06,970 going to butcher it for food. Well, there were some people 290 00:20:06,970 --> 00:20:09,490 that were new in their faith that were saying no, no, no, 291 00:20:10,250 --> 00:20:11,970 nothing. Unclean's going to enter my 292 00:20:11,970 --> 00:20:13,730 mouth. This was offered to an idol. 293 00:20:13,730 --> 00:20:15,170 I won't eat it. So they would only eat 294 00:20:15,170 --> 00:20:18,690 vegetables. And other people would say, come 295 00:20:18,690 --> 00:20:22,570 on, the fact that people are doing whatever they're doing 296 00:20:22,570 --> 00:20:25,410 with that animal as far as passing it under an Isles, no 297 00:20:25,410 --> 00:20:27,690 big deal. All this meat is clean. 298 00:20:27,690 --> 00:20:31,490 God's made it clean. They would argue about that. 299 00:20:33,090 --> 00:20:35,810 And you can see how there would be divisions in the church and 300 00:20:35,810 --> 00:20:39,130 difficulty and mean spirited talk and people would get 301 00:20:39,130 --> 00:20:41,450 frustrated. They would step away from it 302 00:20:41,450 --> 00:20:43,370 because of what was going on, right? 303 00:20:44,310 --> 00:20:46,710 And you might think to yourself, that would not happen today. 304 00:20:46,710 --> 00:20:48,150 We wouldn't do that in a church today. 305 00:20:48,270 --> 00:20:51,790 Come on, you know what I've noticed? 306 00:20:51,790 --> 00:20:53,870 I don't know about this and all the other our other communities 307 00:20:53,870 --> 00:20:57,550 been in Quincy. Halloween is a pretty big deal. 308 00:20:58,230 --> 00:21:03,350 I mean, some people, like, go crazy, like with their yards and 309 00:21:03,350 --> 00:21:05,750 everything, right? They just go nuts to celebrate 310 00:21:06,110 --> 00:21:09,230 Halloween. But there are some people, well 311 00:21:09,230 --> 00:21:11,790 meaning Christians, that are like, That is the devil's 312 00:21:11,790 --> 00:21:16,540 holiday and no one should ever celebrate Halloween because 313 00:21:16,540 --> 00:21:22,220 you're glorifying the devil. For many years my wife ran the 314 00:21:22,220 --> 00:21:30,500 preschool in here in Quincy and we did a Halloween alternative 315 00:21:30,980 --> 00:21:33,660 for preschoolers. It was called Noah's Ark Park 316 00:21:35,020 --> 00:21:38,860 and kids would dress up as animals to go on the ark. 317 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,960 But there were some well meaning Christians tending to disciple 318 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:45,560 others. That said, how dare you dress 319 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,560 little children up as animals for Noah's Ark Park because 320 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,800 you're trying to give them an alternative to Halloween cause 321 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,400 it's really just Halloween you pagans. 322 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,920 Now you can see how some people by faith are saying we should 323 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:03,520 never do anything called Halloween. 324 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,440 Other people by faith, are saying it's not a big deal. 325 00:22:07,370 --> 00:22:10,010 And there's even these positive ways that we can do this. 326 00:22:12,210 --> 00:22:14,170 Would you call that a disputable matter? 327 00:22:15,050 --> 00:22:20,130 Sure, certainly I would, because we all have our opinions. 328 00:22:20,810 --> 00:22:23,530 But our opinions should never be more important to us than the 329 00:22:23,530 --> 00:22:28,730 people that Jesus died for. For goodness sake, look at 330 00:22:28,730 --> 00:22:34,170 verses 7 to 10, it says. For none of us lives for 331 00:22:34,170 --> 00:22:39,350 ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 332 00:22:39,350 --> 00:22:41,310 If we live, we live for the Lord. 333 00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:45,390 If we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we 334 00:22:45,390 --> 00:22:49,070 belong to the Lord. For this very reason Christ died 335 00:22:49,070 --> 00:22:52,590 and returned to life, that he might be the Lord of both the 336 00:22:52,590 --> 00:22:57,950 dead and the living. You then why do you judge your 337 00:22:57,950 --> 00:23:01,110 brother and sister? Why do you treat them with 338 00:23:01,110 --> 00:23:05,910 contempt? For we will all stand before 339 00:23:05,910 --> 00:23:11,030 God's judgment seat. We have to recognize that it is 340 00:23:11,030 --> 00:23:14,950 not our job to judge or condemn other people. 341 00:23:15,510 --> 00:23:19,950 Leave that to the Lord and you just bring Jesus that not Jesus 342 00:23:19,950 --> 00:23:30,710 and just Jesus to people. Now in our movement of churches 343 00:23:30,710 --> 00:23:33,780 called the Restoration movement there are churches that are 344 00:23:33,780 --> 00:23:35,980 instrumental and there are churches that are non 345 00:23:35,980 --> 00:23:39,740 instrumental. As a matter of fact from this 346 00:23:39,740 --> 00:23:43,180 location where I'm preaching at 48th and main, if you go over to 347 00:23:43,180 --> 00:23:46,620 State Street about 46th and state there is a Church of 348 00:23:46,620 --> 00:23:50,100 Christ. It's a non instrumental Church 349 00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:54,060 of Christ because the people of the non instrumental Church of 350 00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:57,980 Christ do not see instruments being used to worship God. 351 00:23:57,980 --> 00:24:00,820 In the New Testament, they're worshipped in using instruments, 352 00:24:00,820 --> 00:24:03,740 The Old Testament, but not in the New Testaments. 353 00:24:03,780 --> 00:24:07,820 And since the New Testament is silent about the use of 354 00:24:07,820 --> 00:24:10,940 instruments in worship, they don't use instruments and they 355 00:24:10,940 --> 00:24:13,620 sing a cappella. Now they're fine with music in 356 00:24:13,620 --> 00:24:17,580 any other setting, but when it comes to worship, no 357 00:24:17,580 --> 00:24:20,700 instruments, how should we feel about that? 358 00:24:20,700 --> 00:24:22,060 Will? You obviously know how I feel 359 00:24:22,060 --> 00:24:26,780 about it, because you know, we love music and all forms and 360 00:24:26,780 --> 00:24:29,550 instruments. We think that's fine, but what 361 00:24:29,550 --> 00:24:34,190 if I were to invite, and we have before, someone from the non 362 00:24:34,190 --> 00:24:37,550 instrumental Church of Christ to come and speak at the crossing? 363 00:24:37,550 --> 00:24:41,830 What would I do? Would I have an expectation that 364 00:24:41,830 --> 00:24:47,110 they just need to just get over it or would I do something 365 00:24:47,110 --> 00:24:49,830 different? I've literally done this and 366 00:24:49,830 --> 00:24:53,590 I've asked people to come and I I've told them, listen, we will 367 00:24:53,590 --> 00:24:57,910 cover our instruments and we will sing acapella because we 368 00:24:57,910 --> 00:25:04,210 want to honor you. Because whether we have 369 00:25:04,210 --> 00:25:06,690 instruments or don't have instruments doesn't mean 370 00:25:06,690 --> 00:25:09,290 anything compared to who Christ Jesus died for. 371 00:25:10,690 --> 00:25:14,610 And we need to honor each other that way and not get caught up 372 00:25:14,610 --> 00:25:17,930 so much. Indisputable matters because 373 00:25:17,930 --> 00:25:21,170 ultimately we are all going to have to answer to God for this. 374 00:25:21,170 --> 00:25:25,170 That's what that scripture says. Look at verses 12 and 13. 375 00:25:25,170 --> 00:25:29,440 It says so then each of us will give an account of ourselves to 376 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,280 God. Therefore, let us stop passing 377 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,600 judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not 378 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,400 to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother 379 00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:44,280 or a sister. That's the main thing. 380 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:50,080 We're not supposed to forget it. Let's look at another verse, the 381 00:25:50,120 --> 00:25:54,060 19th verse. It says Let us therefore make 382 00:25:54,060 --> 00:25:59,620 every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. 383 00:26:01,580 --> 00:26:06,340 I wish I could frame that and hand it out to everybody. 384 00:26:06,700 --> 00:26:12,540 Let us do whatever leads to peace and mutual edification. 385 00:26:12,860 --> 00:26:17,660 Edification means to encourage. It means to build up, make 386 00:26:17,660 --> 00:26:20,380 another person feel pretty good about where they are. 387 00:26:20,910 --> 00:26:25,030 So, and it's so. There's two things there, peace 388 00:26:25,070 --> 00:26:32,550 and mutual edification. Here's two questions we should 389 00:26:32,550 --> 00:26:37,150 always ask ourselves before we ever get into a conversation 390 00:26:37,390 --> 00:26:41,430 that is going to devolve into a disputable matter. 391 00:26:41,430 --> 00:26:46,030 Number one, does my part in the conversation lead to peace? 392 00:26:48,150 --> 00:26:51,900 Are the things that I'm saying or the ways that I'm responding? 393 00:26:51,900 --> 00:26:53,740 Doesn't matter if I brought it up or they brought it up. 394 00:26:54,020 --> 00:26:56,220 Is it leading to peace? #2? 395 00:26:56,860 --> 00:27:00,220 Do the things that I contribute to the conversation actually 396 00:27:00,220 --> 00:27:03,620 build the other person up in some way? 397 00:27:04,940 --> 00:27:08,740 I want you to think about before stuff came out of your mouth. 398 00:27:10,700 --> 00:27:14,860 How much different would your life be if before anything came 399 00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:16,620 out of your mouth? You ask yourselves those two 400 00:27:16,620 --> 00:27:18,780 questions and then lived according to them. 401 00:27:20,130 --> 00:27:24,570 Is it contributing to peace? And I am I encouraging the other 402 00:27:24,570 --> 00:27:28,050 person in some way? I would imagine a lot of us 403 00:27:28,250 --> 00:27:33,570 would have a lot less to say. I imagine that a lot of us would 404 00:27:33,570 --> 00:27:37,770 be spending a lot less time on social media and it and and we 405 00:27:37,770 --> 00:27:39,930 would look at our phones and when it got we got our screen 406 00:27:39,930 --> 00:27:41,970 time thing, it would say, well you're really down. 407 00:27:41,970 --> 00:27:55,040 You know it's like yeah, why? It's because of that if those 408 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:57,000 things are not happening, we need to ask why. 409 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,240 Could it be because we have this Pride issue that we want to be 410 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,680 right, That we just want to be right here? 411 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,000 A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail. 412 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:10,840 Some people had come to me and they had asked me to use my 413 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,760 influence as the publisher of Christian Standard magazine to 414 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:19,030 promote something. And they were being so nice to 415 00:28:19,030 --> 00:28:23,030 me. And I took them out and we had a 416 00:28:23,030 --> 00:28:27,110 meal together and, you know, was sharing with them. 417 00:28:27,670 --> 00:28:31,230 And then immediately I got emails back. 418 00:28:31,230 --> 00:28:34,270 Just really positive. Boy, I really appreciate your 419 00:28:34,270 --> 00:28:35,790 time. Really appreciate the things you 420 00:28:35,790 --> 00:28:38,150 shared with us. I'm so excited about this. 421 00:28:38,150 --> 00:28:44,570 I'm so excited about that. But as some people do, sometimes 422 00:28:44,570 --> 00:28:47,650 they don't realize that they have other emails to one another 423 00:28:47,650 --> 00:28:49,650 attached to the e-mail that they sent to me. 424 00:28:52,650 --> 00:28:57,050 And the two guys were emailing each other back and forth 425 00:28:57,570 --> 00:29:08,020 talking about me and hadn't realized that they sent that 426 00:29:08,020 --> 00:29:09,780 along, that that was somehow attached. 427 00:29:10,460 --> 00:29:13,740 You know, you'd never do anything like that. 428 00:29:13,740 --> 00:29:18,820 That's never happened to you. So I'm reading this and I'm 429 00:29:18,820 --> 00:29:21,220 like, wow, that. So that's what they think. 430 00:29:23,060 --> 00:29:29,020 That's what they really think. One guy was saying to the other 431 00:29:29,020 --> 00:29:32,260 guy, I, I, I, I'll place a bet that he doesn't call, he doesn't 432 00:29:32,260 --> 00:29:35,540 e-mail us back for two weeks, stuff like that. 433 00:29:36,180 --> 00:29:38,660 I showed it to my wife. She got really upset. 434 00:29:40,460 --> 00:29:49,050 And so there's a part of me that's going and I was working 435 00:29:49,050 --> 00:29:56,170 on this sermon and I went great sermon illustration, but it 436 00:29:56,170 --> 00:30:05,930 doesn't lead to peace or mutual edification Flood go right and 437 00:30:05,930 --> 00:30:08,210 some of you are going are going well that never that's never 438 00:30:08,210 --> 00:30:10,050 happen Anything like that's ever happened to me. 439 00:30:10,530 --> 00:30:12,780 Oh yeah. Oh yeah. 440 00:30:12,820 --> 00:30:15,100 Well, maybe it hasn't. Maybe it didn't have an e-mail 441 00:30:15,100 --> 00:30:19,100 issue like that. But maybe to a person's face, 442 00:30:19,100 --> 00:30:21,180 you've said the things you know that they want to hear. 443 00:30:21,180 --> 00:30:23,540 But when you get with somebody else and you talk about that 444 00:30:23,540 --> 00:30:26,260 person, the conversation is very different. 445 00:30:28,340 --> 00:30:36,380 And we're all guilty of that. Look at the 22nd verse. 446 00:30:37,340 --> 00:30:39,740 So whatever you believe about these things, keep between 447 00:30:39,740 --> 00:30:42,980 yourself and God bless. The One is the one who does not 448 00:30:42,980 --> 00:30:45,140 condemn himself by what he approves. 449 00:30:45,740 --> 00:30:49,620 That's some really, really good advice. 450 00:30:50,980 --> 00:30:53,380 Have you ever gotten into it with someone about some petty 451 00:30:53,380 --> 00:30:55,580 thing? And then after the damage is 452 00:30:55,580 --> 00:30:58,740 done, you look back and you say to yourself, it would have been 453 00:30:58,740 --> 00:31:07,180 just better if I would have kept my foolish mouth shut, keeping 454 00:31:07,180 --> 00:31:09,100 some things just between you and God looking. 455 00:31:09,180 --> 00:31:12,890 It's okay if you want to say to God, this person just really 456 00:31:12,890 --> 00:31:16,370 hacks me off. I don't know you. 457 00:31:17,050 --> 00:31:19,650 God can handle that. You keep, you know, you complain 458 00:31:19,650 --> 00:31:22,810 up. It's OK, he'll work through 459 00:31:22,810 --> 00:31:24,490 that. He'll remind you of all the 460 00:31:24,490 --> 00:31:30,570 things that you do right. But this other direction is not 461 00:31:30,570 --> 00:31:34,010 good. This direction from 22 is really 462 00:31:34,010 --> 00:31:38,210 good advice. And the other thing that you see 463 00:31:38,210 --> 00:31:42,930 from this is that Jesus takes it personally when people insult 464 00:31:42,930 --> 00:31:46,770 you because of your faith, it offends you. 465 00:31:46,970 --> 00:31:50,130 When people insult you because your faith, it also offends him. 466 00:31:51,010 --> 00:31:53,730 And you might go, OK, all right, it's nice to have someone stand 467 00:31:53,730 --> 00:31:54,810 up for me. That's a good thing. 468 00:31:54,810 --> 00:31:59,410 But wait, he also takes it personally when you and I talk 469 00:31:59,410 --> 00:32:03,090 down to someone because of some shortcoming they might have. 470 00:32:03,090 --> 00:32:07,770 Or maybe not to someone, but about someone to someone else. 471 00:32:11,380 --> 00:32:16,180 Chapter 15 verses one to three says, we who are strong ought to 472 00:32:16,180 --> 00:32:19,020 bear with the failings of the weak and not to please 473 00:32:19,020 --> 00:32:21,860 ourselves. Each of us should please our 474 00:32:21,860 --> 00:32:24,060 neighbors for their good, to build them up. 475 00:32:24,700 --> 00:32:28,540 For even Jesus, even Christ did not please himself. 476 00:32:28,540 --> 00:32:33,620 But as as it is written, the insults of those who insult you 477 00:32:34,180 --> 00:32:40,870 have fallen on me. Truth is, sometimes we know just 478 00:32:40,870 --> 00:32:45,350 enough about the Bible to hurt people and we need to step back. 479 00:32:45,350 --> 00:32:50,070 And we need to do our best to learn practical ways that we can 480 00:32:50,070 --> 00:32:53,750 walk out our faith and live out our faith without hurting other 481 00:32:53,750 --> 00:32:58,110 people, because that hurt can be profound. 482 00:32:58,110 --> 00:33:02,990 I want to close with this. When I read a story in the 483 00:33:02,990 --> 00:33:06,990 Bible, it's not uncommon for me to want to identify with whoever 484 00:33:06,990 --> 00:33:09,590 is the hero because I want to be that person. 485 00:33:09,590 --> 00:33:12,470 I want to be the one who does the right thing. 486 00:33:15,190 --> 00:33:17,910 Isn't it interesting that so many of us tend to want to 487 00:33:17,910 --> 00:33:22,430 identify with the hero in the story, but when it comes to our 488 00:33:22,430 --> 00:33:26,870 own intimate, personal relationship with Jesus, we have 489 00:33:26,870 --> 00:33:30,150 to understand there's only one hero and it's never us. 490 00:33:32,270 --> 00:33:36,750 Jesus is always the hero of the story, and the glory goes to 491 00:33:36,750 --> 00:33:38,870 him. Doesn't go to us, right? 492 00:33:39,110 --> 00:33:41,390 Well, maybe you're going well, you miss me on that one, Jerry, 493 00:33:42,310 --> 00:33:44,950 Because when I read a story in the Bible, I'd identify with the 494 00:33:44,950 --> 00:33:45,790 victim. Okay. 495 00:33:46,990 --> 00:33:49,470 Maybe you identify with the victim because, you know, we 496 00:33:49,470 --> 00:33:51,150 kind of live in a victim culture. 497 00:33:51,430 --> 00:33:56,070 And so, yeah, this because we're not thinking about maybe being 498 00:33:56,070 --> 00:33:58,030 the good guy. Maybe we're thinking about the 499 00:33:58,030 --> 00:34:02,470 other person being the bad guy and me being recipient of that. 500 00:34:03,650 --> 00:34:07,610 I'm not saying that those things aren't valid, but when you try 501 00:34:07,610 --> 00:34:10,170 to identify with the victim of the story, you're doing the same 502 00:34:10,170 --> 00:34:12,330 thing that I'm doing if I identify with the hero, the 503 00:34:12,330 --> 00:34:15,570 story, Because ultimately there's really only one victim, 504 00:34:15,570 --> 00:34:19,530 and that's been victimized to this level, to to the highest 505 00:34:19,530 --> 00:34:22,130 level, and that's the same person as the hero, the story. 506 00:34:23,489 --> 00:34:25,929 Has there ever been a greater victim than Jesus? 507 00:34:27,770 --> 00:34:30,290 Has there ever been someone treated more unfairly than 508 00:34:30,409 --> 00:34:34,870 Jesus? And so if you want to get up on 509 00:34:34,870 --> 00:34:39,909 the pedestal for hero, maybe you should step out. 510 00:34:39,909 --> 00:34:42,150 Maybe you step off. And if you want to get on the 511 00:34:42,150 --> 00:34:45,110 pedestal for the victim, maybe you should step off. 512 00:34:45,310 --> 00:34:48,630 And maybe all of us together need to look to the one place 513 00:34:48,630 --> 00:34:55,030 where the truth is the one place, the one person who was 514 00:34:55,030 --> 00:35:00,390 the hero of every story, and a person who was victorious, even. 515 00:35:01,730 --> 00:35:12,730 But this kind of victimization truth is we are a collection of 516 00:35:12,770 --> 00:35:18,610 victims and perpetrators. And to be honest, probably 517 00:35:18,610 --> 00:35:21,250 everybody I'm talking to has been both at one time or 518 00:35:21,250 --> 00:35:32,060 another, maybe even now. But Jesus is here, the ultimate 519 00:35:32,060 --> 00:35:37,420 victim and the ultimate hero, and he is here to heal the 520 00:35:37,420 --> 00:35:42,860 victims and to turn the hearts of perpetrators back to him. 521 00:35:42,860 --> 00:35:47,860 If we'll just lean into him today, this place was made to be 522 00:35:47,860 --> 00:35:55,220 a place of healing, a place of burdens, lightning, place of new 523 00:35:55,220 --> 00:35:58,820 life and new perspective. A place where old is laid down 524 00:35:59,700 --> 00:36:04,370 and the new is freely and gratefully received. 525 00:36:05,850 --> 00:36:11,090 Let's be that place we're moving to a time of decision. 526 00:36:17,290 --> 00:36:23,130 Earlier this week, Allison and I were at We sit at the dinner 527 00:36:23,130 --> 00:36:27,770 table and we work there. And Abby, my youngest daughter, 528 00:36:27,770 --> 00:36:32,890 came over with her. One was at preschool, the other 529 00:36:32,890 --> 00:36:35,930 one is younger than that and brought the younger one. 530 00:36:37,930 --> 00:36:40,330 And I'll tell you, these two kids of hers, I love these two 531 00:36:40,330 --> 00:36:45,450 kids so much. They are all boy and they are 532 00:36:45,450 --> 00:36:51,210 like 2 Tasmanian devils. Like if there is something on a 533 00:36:51,210 --> 00:36:56,370 shelf or there is something put away, that is totally a wrong 534 00:36:56,370 --> 00:36:59,410 thing. It needs to be fully displayed 535 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:04,600 on the floor for all to be able to see and maneuver around. 536 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:11,240 Sometimes that irritates me. Doesn't really seem to bother my 537 00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:13,360 daughter. She's a great mom with them. 538 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:22,320 Doesn't seem to bother my wife. So we're sitting there and Abby 539 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,880 and I are talking about some of the different struggles that 540 00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:26,600 we're dealing with, and she's sharing with me. 541 00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,720 She's being transparent. I'm trying to share with her and 542 00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:32,520 being transparent. And she said something to me 543 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:37,800 that kind of hit me. She goes, I'm such a 544 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:44,320 perfectionist, but she really wasn't talking about how she 545 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,120 viewed others. She was talking about how she 546 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:55,500 viewed herself. And she always falls short of 547 00:37:55,500 --> 00:37:58,100 what she feels like she ought to be or ought to do. 548 00:37:58,100 --> 00:37:59,980 I don't know if you guys connect with that or not. 549 00:38:03,660 --> 00:38:05,740 And I was trying to think of something I could say to 550 00:38:05,740 --> 00:38:11,820 encourage her. And for some reason, she took 551 00:38:11,820 --> 00:38:14,140 her eyes off of me while we're in this conversation. 552 00:38:14,140 --> 00:38:18,780 Maybe she heard something that her son was doing right next to 553 00:38:18,780 --> 00:38:21,820 her on the other side with Allison, with him bouncing on 554 00:38:21,820 --> 00:38:27,940 the lap, watching train videos. And I saw that, and it occurred 555 00:38:27,940 --> 00:38:33,820 to me, I go, Abby. I know that may be how you feel 556 00:38:33,820 --> 00:38:37,820 and how you think, but you need to understand that when God 557 00:38:37,820 --> 00:38:42,700 looks at you, it's just the same as when you look at Avery. 558 00:38:46,540 --> 00:38:54,610 That's what he sees. He sees you that way, and Avery 559 00:38:54,610 --> 00:38:57,210 comes into this house and he makes all these messes. 560 00:38:59,250 --> 00:39:01,210 It doesn't seem to bother you that much. 561 00:39:01,730 --> 00:39:05,890 It certainly doesn't change the amount of love that God had that 562 00:39:05,890 --> 00:39:08,810 you have for Avery. And it doesn't seem to bother 563 00:39:08,810 --> 00:39:12,130 Allison much. Doesn't really change that level 564 00:39:12,130 --> 00:39:15,450 of love there either. As a matter of fact, you have a 565 00:39:15,450 --> 00:39:19,690 lot of grace for a kid who just turned 2. 566 00:39:22,890 --> 00:39:26,270 And if you know this scripture, and I know she knew this 567 00:39:26,270 --> 00:39:30,150 scripture, if you then, being evil, know how to give good 568 00:39:30,150 --> 00:39:36,150 gifts to your kids, how much more will your Heavenly Father 569 00:39:36,150 --> 00:39:37,990 give the Holy Spirit to those who ask you? 570 00:39:43,470 --> 00:39:47,470 Some of you are here right now, and you're trying to manage this 571 00:39:47,470 --> 00:39:51,390 stuff all by yourself. Trying to carry all your own 572 00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:55,620 load, trying to be tough enough, Pull yourself up by your own 573 00:39:55,620 --> 00:40:02,420 bootstraps, Buck up when maybe you just need to be the little 574 00:40:02,420 --> 00:40:10,500 kid that runs to the parent and needs to feel the nurturing arms 575 00:40:10,500 --> 00:40:16,540 of a Heavenly Father. Encouraging and reassuring. 576 00:40:18,820 --> 00:40:20,500 That's what these steps are for today. 577 00:40:21,350 --> 00:40:23,430 For you to just spend some time with the Lord. 578 00:40:24,550 --> 00:40:26,350 To be reminded that he loves you. 579 00:40:26,950 --> 00:40:31,790 To be reminded how He sees you. And to be reminded that we've 580 00:40:31,910 --> 00:40:35,110 talked about a couple of weeks ago, that he has more grace than 581 00:40:35,110 --> 00:40:40,390 you will ever require for you. Some of you are here today. 582 00:40:40,390 --> 00:40:43,310 You've never come into an intimate, personal relationship 583 00:40:43,310 --> 00:40:45,950 with God. You think you're so tough. 584 00:40:46,430 --> 00:40:51,930 You think you're so strong. I want you to know right now 585 00:40:52,250 --> 00:40:58,610 that you are surrounded by a whole room of weaklings, and the 586 00:40:58,610 --> 00:41:01,810 guy you're listening to is one of the biggest weaklings of all. 587 00:41:09,410 --> 00:41:13,890 And you can let go of that today, and you can let the Lord 588 00:41:14,690 --> 00:41:18,250 Jesus have his way in your life, and it'll be messy. 589 00:41:18,650 --> 00:41:22,280 But what do you think he expects out of an infant? 590 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:26,680 There's going to be somebody right over there by that 591 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:28,440 baptistry that would love nothing more. 592 00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:32,360 And just to share with you some of what the next steps could be. 593 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:37,640 And you could leave this place today completely different than 594 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:41,960 when you walked in. Here's an opportunity. 595 00:41:42,440 --> 00:41:45,120 Would you stand with me? Let's pray together. 596 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,120 Let's give this moment to the Lord. 597 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,700 In Jesus name, Heavenly Father, I pray take this moment. 598 00:41:50,860 --> 00:41:56,460 It belongs to you anyway. But help it to belong to you as 599 00:41:56,460 --> 00:41:58,900 far as we're concerned, in our hearts. 600 00:41:59,300 --> 00:42:04,460 And if there are hearts right now that are struggling, I pray 601 00:42:04,460 --> 00:42:09,380 Father that we would put down those defenses. 602 00:42:10,540 --> 00:42:14,660 Be transparent before you and let you have your way in Jesus 603 00:42:14,660 --> 00:42:16,580 name. Amen.