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Happy Monday. 
Pastor Matt's here with you. 

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Pastor Chris is back. 
I'm back, I'm here, I'm here. 

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I am so ready to talk theology 
and say nonsense about other 

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topics. 
Just just complete nonsense 

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about other topics. 
I never say nonsense about 

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theology, but I love nonsense 
about anything else. 

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Real big no nonsense theology. 
Guy, no nonsense. 

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Here I am. 
I can't. 

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It's so funny. 
It's, it's like one of the few 

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things in my life I'm truly like
serious about. 

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And then everything else is 
just, you know. 

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Frivolity. 
Of a bag of cats. 

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It's just madness. 
You should, you know my wife, 

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God bless her, living with me. 
I don't. 

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I don't think it's boring. 
I can't imagine. 

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That is no, but it's also 
weirdly unpredictable. 

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Just the things that sometimes 
come out of my mouth. 

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I believe that, yeah. 
So anyway, there's a little peek

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inside the Hartley household. 
So you just had a a little 

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staycation, just kind of laid 
though for a week and took some 

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quiet time away off. 
Yeah, it was. 

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It was cool. 
You know, the last time I did a 

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staycation, I came back kind of 
hating the whole thing. 

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I was like, you know, I'm in 
town most of my like most of my 

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friends, like they're people in 
this church. 

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So now I feel like I can't hang 
out with my friends because 

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that's, you know, it gets weird.
But I just, I just did not 

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restrict myself this time. 
Went hiking with somebody from 

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church and just hung out with 
people. 

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And it was, it was great. 
It was an awesome week. 

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So it's it's tricky to like 
segment your time away from from

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church and that and that's not 
pointing fingers at at anyone 

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that like I'm not expecting 
people to have Shields up and 

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like interact with me 
differently based on whether or 

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not I'm quote UN quote working 
or not. 

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Like that's that's just the 
awkward, I don't know, life of a

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pastor, I guess. 
Yeah. 

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So anyway, back at it this week.
You're walking us through the 

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next step in Romans 8 here. 
And then we actually have, For 

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those of you who don't know, Dom
Weese is in his first year a 

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seminary and his second semester
kind of the yeah, but getting 

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into homiletics and the 
preaching courses. 

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And he's going to have 
opportunity to preach couple of 

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the next Sundays in March here 
in Romans, right? 

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Oh, I'm excited. 
I mean, I remember what it was 

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like, kind of remember what it 
is like being a a rookie 

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preacher, you might say. 
And I think Dom has a good head 

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on his shoulders. 
I think he'll be ready. 

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I'm sure he's going to do a good
job. 

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But when I first started 
preaching, I was given an 

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opportunity to do that here and 
there was just a 0 guidance. 

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It wasn't like here's how long 
you should talk or anything. 

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Or here's maybe some highlights 
you want to hit. 

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You're up, buddy. 
Good luck. 

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You're going to seminary. 
So here you go, man. 

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And there there are a number of 
people in this church who recall

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those first one or two 
experiences from, you know, the 

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chairs in the audience. 
And they just, they just kind of

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laugh and they're like, you've 
gotten a lot better. 

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That's all they say. 
They're like, I mean, you are 

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passionate, but you've just 
gotten a lot better. 

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Sure. 
So. 

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I'll take that as a compliment. 
Yeah, I guess. 

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Yeah. 
So I guess I was hilarious if I 

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was still, if I was still the 
the same preacher that I was, 

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you know, 15 years ago when I 
first started, I don't think I 

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would still be in the game. 
I don't want that as much. 

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I don't think anybody would be 
like, we want that guy on 

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Sunday. 
Nobody would say that. 

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No, and that's OK. 
You should, you should improve 

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and get better at that craft. 
There's a there's a Do you craft

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and rhythm to it too? 
Do you, do you remember your 

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first couple sermons? 
Like how did they go? 

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Do you feel like? 
I mean, so I had a couple 

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opportunities to preach. 
Obviously you've preached other 

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places too, but like I was just 
on church staff at like not 

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formal pastor title at the 
church before that. 

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Before, Yeah, at the church 
before I was here. 

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And those, those were also not 
great, similar to what you said,

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like not a whole lot of 
guidance. 

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I was given a lot of latitude 
and there were only, there were 

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only a couple times that it was 
on like Sunday morning. 

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Some of them were like Good 
Friday or side Christmas service

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or or Lenten season. 
We don't do Wednesday night 

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services during Lent, but the 
church I was at did. 

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So all the sudden, OK, that's 
6-7 Sundays. 

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I can't believe I just said 
that. 

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Oh, man, so sad that yeah, 
there's just preaching 

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opportunities on Wednesday 
nights for seven weeks in a row 

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or, or something like that. 
So a couple of those yeah, 

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approached it very differently 
and gotten I I, I think a lot 

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better. 
I still this might sound weird 

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to say like I I still shoot from
the hip a lot more than maybe 

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someone who's thinking about 
getting into preaching would 

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like are going pastoral roll 
would. 

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But as evidenced by the message 
I gave yesterday too, like I'm 

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not saying the events of last 
week, like informed and shaped I

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already I already had a pretty 
good whatever direction on the 

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sermon. 
We were studied out. 

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We have we have texts and 
outlines and things like out 

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through the end of August 
already. 

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We already looked at sermons and
direction of things for six 

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months in advance. 
So it's not like it's not like I

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was pulling all of it out of 
thin air this week anyway. 

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But like when, when life happens
and, or whether it's big events 

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or just like day-to-day events 
of the week, God's word speaks 

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into those sometimes too. 
So, yeah, yesterday I maybe took

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a little, a little liberty with 
attaching, attaching struggles 

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in a big way to this falling 
back into a spirit of fear sort 

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of thing. 
But I think that's, that's also 

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a real tension that we, that we,
we forget we have such a, we 

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have such short term memory loss
that like we forget how bad the 

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bad was. 
And we also don't do a great job

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remembering of how good the good
is either. 

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And and we just, I feel like we 
often spend a lot of our 

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lifetime just in the middle 
trying, trying to avoid the 

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worst and settling for like less
than the fast because we yeah, 

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no, no. 
You're you're really on to 

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something. 
Well, just because I think you 

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are. 
Yeah, I and so, but that's yeah,

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this past week was the the bad 
side of that. 

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Like we we maybe don't remember 
how bad it was. 

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And I think that's what Paul's 
warning about in this passage 

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in, in Romans 8 that we're going
to get to is like you, you were 

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dead in it's that you were dead 
in sin posture and you tasted 

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the goodness of God, the the 
gospel of Jesus Christ, But then

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you kind of forgot how good that
tasted and you kind of just went

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back to the terrible Ness that 
it was before in your life. 

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And and yeah, we shouldn't, 
shouldn't do that. 

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One of one of my favorite little
proverbs. 

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Keys in on what you're saying. 
Like a dog who returns to. 

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His mom, Yeah. 
And that's, that's, that's just 

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such a great little illustration
of like Jesus Christ has has won

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the war for you and you should 
not live in shame or guilt or 

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fear. 
And when you do, well, here 

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comes the vomit, you know? 
And so I think that's just 

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that's very apartment. 
Yeah, sorry that was a long 

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winded question to like how was 
your first preaching experience?

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But but I think in that way I'm 
a lot different. 

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I whatever 10/11/12 years ago, I
I couldn't get up there and 

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offered whatever a three 
different perspective. 

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And again, we we've talked about
it week over week could have 

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ended up in a lot of different 
places out of this passage. 

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There's a few different key 
things that we could have like 

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landed on or emphasized out of 
this probably could have taken 

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2025 thirty minutes on any of 
those three had a 90 minutes 

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worth of content. 
Probably out of these 4-5 versus

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1012 years ago, I couldn't have 
done that would it would have 

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needed to study up on the one 
point that I wanted to make for 

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20 minutes and hope I make it to
20 minutes. 

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Like that's now it's you're you 
often get the other side of that

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where you got to wonder if you 
got to if you're going to hook 

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me before 30 like so yeah, 
there's there's things that I 

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think there's there's strength 
in that. 

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There's also there's this weird 
cyclical tension that I'm sure 

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you can relate to in preaching 2
of the What have what have they 

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heard me say before? 
And like. 

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There are some things that you 
want to say again and that you 

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want to re emphasize and 
honestly that you can't and 

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shouldn't avoid about preaching 
the gospel in the Bible because 

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I mean the Bible is consistent. 
There are similar things in 

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different places. 
We even at staff meeting this 

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morning, I read from Galatians 4
that was also about not 

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returning to a spirit of 
slavery. 

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It's Paul's writings in a 
different place about pretty 

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much the same thing we talked 
about in Romans yesterday. 

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So in some ways you're going to 
repeat the same things, but 

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hopefully you repeat the most 
helpful things. 

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And then and then whatever I I 
we, we talk about too that often

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time I never really expect the 
sermon like the words that I say

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to be life, like all of them are
not going to stick with and 

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resonate on a weekly basis. 
But like how how we make you 

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feel about the word of God or or
or the insight you can have from

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the word of God. 
Hopefully what we're what we're 

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teaching and bringing out in 
that like that's, that's what 

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you take away. 
Yeah, I certainly hope there's 

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some lightning bolt moments of 
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. 

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I need to be, I need to be 
better about that or I never 

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thought about that that way. 
That's that's really good. 

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I need to take that part of 
God's word with me. 

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But for the 25 minutes, like I'm
not expecting all of it to 

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stick, but hopefully as a as a 
whole, there can be something 

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that's helpful and encouraging 
to send you on your way with SO.

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Actually, I like what you did a 
wonderful job yesterday of 

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making things sticky again. 
You're right. 

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I don't expect anybody to walk 
away from a 25 or 30 minute 

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sermon and go never forget the 
entire thing like I've got the 

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whole thing. 
But like, I thought you did a 

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wonderful job yesterday of like 
keen in on like two or three 

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ideas and just like man, you, 
you didn't hammer them home in a

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repetitious, annoying way. 
But like you kept coming back to

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it in such a way that like it 
created a stickiness around some

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of these bigger topics like fear
and, and some of those other 

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things that do come up in the 
Bible a lot. 

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And so, you know, even if I 
can't remember what you said 

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word for word, I can, I can take
the larger swaths from that and 

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start to apply that and I can 
start to internalize that a 

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little bit. 
And so I thought that was really

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helpful. 
Sweet, Where? 

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Where do you fall on the? 
I asked about the rule followers

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yesterday. 
Yeah. 

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That's. 
True. 

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How were you the rule follower 
child? 

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Or were you the the fearful 
follower? 

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Well, probably more fearful 
follower. 

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You know, I well 'cause, you 
know, I had older brothers and 

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stuff, and all of them in one or
more ways were rebels. 

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OK, And so I just saw all the 
drama of their infighting with 

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parents and stuff and I was 
like, you know what I don't want

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to do? 
I don't want that any of that 

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ever. 
So like I was the kid who would 

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just quietly get pretty decent 
grades, nothing mind blowing, 

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but nothing bad enough to that 
you have to talk to me about my 

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report card. 
And then I'm just like going to 

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hang out under the radar and not
do crazy bad things or anything 

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because I don't, I don't want to
deal with that drama, OK? 

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That's fair. 
So I was just avoiding all the. 

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You were learning by example and
like I don't OK, I can see how 

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far the limits can get pushed 
here, but I don't want to go, I 

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don't want to go that far. 
I. 

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Don't. 
It wasn't until my late teens 

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and I was just like, oh, forget 
all the rules. 

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And then, and then at some point
I made a weird turn. 

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And then in my adult life, I've,
I've come back to more, more 

225
00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:10,720
level normalcy for the most 
part, But I, I do even still 

226
00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,520
today, like I like challenging 
norms. 

227
00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:18,760
Sure, to some extent, you know, 
I, I just enjoy doing that. 

228
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:21,600
I think that's the art part of 
my brain is just always 

229
00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:24,560
challenging what you think 
everything should be all the 

230
00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:27,320
time. 
But I but I think that draws out

231
00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,320
some creativity that hopefully 
is helpful. 

232
00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:33,040
Yeah, no, I get that. 
I just, we've talked about it 

233
00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,520
before like with, I don't know, 
stop signs or the other. 

234
00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:38,600
I don't, I don't remember what 
we talked about like the rule 

235
00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:40,440
things we don't like or rules 
that we don't like. 

236
00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:47,000
Like most of the rules are like 
for the masses, not that doesn't

237
00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,400
mean we shouldn't follow them, 
but like, it's if we just take 

238
00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:55,240
this like, OK, people are 
generally whatever irresponsible

239
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:56,640
in this area. 
So we have this rule. 

240
00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:58,520
OK, what about the ones that are
responsible in this area? 

241
00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:00,240
I don't I don't like that rule. 
I don't need that. 

242
00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:00,800
Yeah. 
So I. 

243
00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,240
Don't for thee, not for me. 
That was always one of my 

244
00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:06,720
favorites. 
That was incredibly biased it. 

245
00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:09,720
Is built for thee, not. 
For me, wow, I love it. 

246
00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,840
I've never used that. 
I probably shouldn't start. 

247
00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,800
I, I, I do. 
I do ironically, when I'm being 

248
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,680
a total hypocrite, you know, 
that's when I, that's when I use

249
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:20,280
that line. 
OK. 

250
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:23,480
So yeah. 
Built for thee, not for me. 

251
00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:25,680
Oh. 
Man, when I'm, when I'm like 

252
00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,720
slamming cookies at home and 
it's like Grant, you know, 

253
00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:31,000
don't, don't need a bunch of 
cookies, you don't need that. 

254
00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,800
So bad. 
Oh, children are are examples 

255
00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:38,640
for you. 
Yep, Yep. 

256
00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:40,840
Just listen, listen to my I'm 
going to live my life. 

257
00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:42,160
I already made too many 
mistakes. 

258
00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,120
I'm beyond saving. 
You can still you can still make

259
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:48,560
not the mistakes that I did, but
I'm just going to wallow here. 

260
00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:55,560
And yeah, boy. 
So we were talking, oh man, 

261
00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,320
staff meeting. 
There are things that obviously 

262
00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,920
we shouldn't share with the 
masses from staff meeting in the

263
00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,440
morning, but there's also a few 
tangents that happened. 

264
00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,160
And I think I think part of your
idea for what to talk about this

265
00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:10,480
morning came out of the the Star
Wars tangent that we went down 

266
00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,200
this morning at staff meeting. 
But you brought up, I'm curious 

267
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:19,600
what movie series you're talking
about with this question, but 

268
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:22,480
what's what are we? 
What are we debating? 

269
00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,680
So the idea is before we jump. 
Into Romans 8. 

270
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,640
Yeah, the idea is like, OK, so 
sometimes there's release order 

271
00:15:28,640 --> 00:15:31,640
on books or movies or TV shows 
or whatever. 

272
00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,000
There's release order versus 
chronological order, like actual

273
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,840
timeline of the story. 
So you could even take it with 

274
00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:41,880
the Bible. 
For example, if you're going to 

275
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,320
do the Bible in a year, you 
could just do. 

276
00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:47,880
They have setups where you 
basically just read the thing 

277
00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:53,040
front to back, which is not 
chronological order which. 

278
00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,720
Seems really crazy actually that
our bibles aren't set up in 

279
00:15:55,880 --> 00:15:57,000
chronological but. 
Strange. 

280
00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,160
They're categorized by type, 
like by type of writing. 

281
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:03,600
There's there's historical book,
there's narrative, there's 

282
00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,320
historical books, there's 
prophets, wisdom literature, 

283
00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:07,760
things like that. 
That's that's how they're 

284
00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:09,280
arranged. 
If you, if you don't know that, 

285
00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:12,960
but there are chronological 
Bibles that you can buy as well,

286
00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,000
or even just probably 
chronological reading plans. 

287
00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:18,440
But you're going to get real 
thrown off when, like, I think 

288
00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,200
it's after what, Genesis 12? 
Like you jump into Job and 

289
00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,480
that's where it happens. 
Yeah, you just take a break from

290
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,680
everything that's happening in 
Genesis and you're like, oh, 

291
00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,480
here's this job guy and what's 
going on in his world, right. 

292
00:16:31,160 --> 00:16:32,320
Yeah. 
So that's really interesting. 

293
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:35,480
So I, I guess one of the 
questions that the, the, the key

294
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:41,760
idea was do you prefer 
disregarding release order and 

295
00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:46,880
going chronologically or would 
you prefer to watch or read or 

296
00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:49,920
whatever do those kinds of 
things in chronological order 

297
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,800
or, or release order? 
So, I mean, I don't know, one of

298
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,560
my one of my big kind of 
cultural examples comes in the 

299
00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:03,000
Marvel movie universe. 
So there's like 35 Movies Now, 

300
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,839
which seems crazy to me because 
they just started producing 

301
00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:10,560
movies really in 2011, 2012. 
So they've released a bunch of 

302
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:14,000
movies in a short amount of 
time, and the vast majority of 

303
00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:19,079
them do have a ongoing 
storyline, even though it's 

304
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:21,800
different characters in 
different places like these. 

305
00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,240
These things don't happen in a 
vacuum, mostly. 

306
00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:29,080
So you can go back and you can 
watch these 35 movies or however

307
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:30,680
many there are in chronological 
order. 

308
00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,600
But it's not even close to 
release order if you do that. 

309
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:38,280
But release order is interesting
because it actually puts you in 

310
00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:40,080
the place of like, oh, I didn't 
know that. 

311
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,240
But then I get to rewind later 
and go back to that. 

312
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,560
And that makes so much more 
sense now if I'd watched it in 

313
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:48,280
chronological order. 
There's so many things I, I 

314
00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:50,520
guess maybe I don't totally 
understand. 

315
00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:55,480
So in some ways, chronological 
might be worse, I'm not sure. 

316
00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:01,680
So I think it, I think it really
depends for me. 

317
00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:05,920
And that's, that's what's 
interesting to me about some of 

318
00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:11,120
these different universes and 
just like creative forms, I 

319
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:17,280
guess because like Lord of the 
Rings or Harry Potter, I guess 

320
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:20,120
Lord of the Rings kind of did it
because they did the they did 

321
00:18:20,120 --> 00:18:24,120
the epic first on the and then 
released The Hobbit. 

322
00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:26,200
They went backwards to show you 
The Hobbit. 

323
00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:28,160
Yeah, to show you The Hobbit 
prequel. 

324
00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:35,400
But like Harry, Harry Potter, 
that really wouldn't work. 

325
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:40,840
Like you can't, you can't start 
on book four and or movie 4 and 

326
00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,760
then go back and do 123 or like 
that. 

327
00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,560
That has to be chronological, 
has to match release with that. 

328
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,160
And even though, and like so 
like even within Lord of the 

329
00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:55,160
Rings, like you couldn't start 
with two towers and then go back

330
00:18:55,160 --> 00:18:57,600
and do the fellowship of the 
ring. 

331
00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,440
And like you could do The Hobbit
is a different. 

332
00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:02,560
It is a prequel. 
It is the first part. 

333
00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:07,080
So I actually think it's 
masterful how Marvel wove all 

334
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:08,880
that because they are standalone
movies as well. 

335
00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:12,200
And yes, there's Easter eggs in 
each one that like connect this 

336
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,800
thread over here to this 
foreshadow over here or whatever

337
00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,120
else. 
So that is interesting once 

338
00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:27,040
they're all out. 
I do prefer especially with like

339
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,960
MCU that the event The Avengers,
at least part part of that. 

340
00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:36,480
I prefer chronological order now
that they are all released. 

341
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:40,080
I don't I don't I don't really 
do it by character. 

342
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,200
I guess if I were to go back and
watch them like I would, I 

343
00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:46,520
wouldn't watch all the Captain 
America movies and then watch 

344
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,360
all the Ant Man movies. 
Or does that make sense? 

345
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:53,440
It does, because if you did it 
in just character, I want to 

346
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:55,760
watch all this characters 
movies, but you didn't have the 

347
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:58,080
back story on all the other 
things, it wouldn't make a ton 

348
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,160
of sense. 
Yeah, you would still enjoy the 

349
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:03,880
action or the humor or whatever,
but the story itself may not 

350
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:06,760
make much sense. 
Yeah, because they're still, and

351
00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,400
they're still bounds. 
I think there's bounds within 

352
00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,000
this question anyway, because 
the big one, the glaring one in 

353
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,600
my mind is Star Wars because 
just craziness. 

354
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:21,240
At no point did they follow 
chronological order with their 

355
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:23,600
release or do you have a middle 
trilogy that is the original 

356
00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:28,360
trilogy that you then that they 
then met a prequel trilogy and 

357
00:20:28,360 --> 00:20:33,640
then a sequel trilogy with 789 
and he obviously couldn't like. 

358
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,080
So within that there's 
chronological order that you 

359
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,000
have to follow. 
You're not going to watch 564 

360
00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:43,280
like a crazy person. 
Like each each trilogy you got 

361
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,640
to watch in in order, but 
there's still some debate like 

362
00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:50,000
each trilogy is its own segment 
of characters, right? 

363
00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:55,720
Like you, you could watch 456 on
its own without having taken in 

364
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,600
one 2-3 or even continuing on to
789 after. 

365
00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,480
Right? 
So that's the bigger question 

366
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:06,600
for me, though, with someone who
hasn't, someone who's brand new 

367
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,000
to one of the I think, and I 
think that's the heart of your 

368
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:10,920
question here. 
Someone who's never seen it 

369
00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:12,840
before. 
Sure, what do you do? 

370
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:14,960
Do you do you like Lord of the 
Rings? 

371
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,760
Someone maybe who's never read 
The Hobbit or or read The Lord 

372
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:19,880
of the Things. 
They're long books. 

373
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,880
They're big books. 
Like it's, it's an undertaking. 

374
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,480
Do you start them with The 
Hobbit? 

375
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:30,480
I think, I think even even if 
they're not doing the books, I 

376
00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,920
think for somebody who's never 
experienced it, go ahead and 

377
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,360
start with The Hobbit. 
It gives you a world building 

378
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,240
that you don't. 
I mean, you get that in the 

379
00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:41,040
first Lord of the Rings movie, 
The Fellowship of the Ring. 

380
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,480
You get that. 
But start with The Hobbit and 

381
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,080
build the world for them and 
build the the character styles 

382
00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:49,920
and stuff like that for them. 
That if I was showing somebody 

383
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:51,360
brand new, that's what I would 
do. 

384
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,240
OK, Star Wars, the same thing. 
Do you? 

385
00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:59,000
Star Wars is a world I I kind of
dabble in but I do not 

386
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:01,040
understand. 
This is a Christian question. 

387
00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,920
Oh, yeah. 
I just, I don't understand the 

388
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,680
whole thing. 
There's so many TV shows now and

389
00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:09,720
they all happen at different 
times with different characters 

390
00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,320
and different worlds because, 
you know, start you're dealing 

391
00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,720
with a lot of different planets 
and worlds and you're just like,

392
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:17,560
I dude, I don't even know where 
to go. 

393
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,720
I so I, I think even for me and 
having seen all nine of the the 

394
00:22:22,120 --> 00:22:26,840
main movies, I would be like, 
no, let's just start from 

395
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,440
whatever the most beginning is 
and let's figure this thing out 

396
00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:33,400
because I otherwise I don't know
man the. 

397
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,120
Most beginning. 
Most beginning, because there 

398
00:22:36,120 --> 00:22:37,680
could always be a new new 
beginning. 

399
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,560
Yeah, I suppose that I suppose 
that's true For me, I grew, I 

400
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:44,760
grew up with Star Wars. 
That was my before Lord of the 

401
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,200
Rings or before Harry Potter. 
Like that was my epic. 

402
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:54,560
And and I watched the, even 
though the the new 123 trilogy, 

403
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,000
the prequel trilogy came out 
when I was like 10-11 something 

404
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,080
like that. 
But I had already seen the I 

405
00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,160
already been grown up on the 
original 3. 

406
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,840
So but I realized like for 
Oliver, for for my son, like 

407
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,920
that doesn't really make sense 
to watch the middle 3 and then 

408
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,520
go and then go back. 
So release order doesn't make 

409
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,760
any sense. 
I think I would still walk him 

410
00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,280
chronologically through. 
Is there any? 

411
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,160
So is there anything any of 
these series that we're talking 

412
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,640
about that you wouldn't if you 
were first showing them to 

413
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,280
someone? 
What's the argument? 

414
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:31,640
Is there an argument for doing 
release order rather than 

415
00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:33,600
chronological order? 
I didn't, I didn't. 

416
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,800
I've, I've caught like two or 
three episodes. 

417
00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:40,240
This show, Yellowstone that big,
they've done so many offshoots 

418
00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,040
on that. 
Now I wonder if I wanted to 

419
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,960
start that show, if it would be 
best to. 

420
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,240
I think there's a show called 
1817 or something like that that

421
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,680
predates Yellowstone and all 
this kind of I I wonder if it 

422
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,280
would. 
I wonder if it would help me to 

423
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,520
do it that way if I wanted to 
get into that show, or if maybe 

424
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,560
I should just watch Yellowstone 
1st and then jump backwards. 

425
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,400
Maybe it would be better to go 
backwards after seeing the 

426
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,720
original series, I'm not sure. 
Because that's the other 

427
00:24:06,720 --> 00:24:11,040
problem, you could like you 
could watch Yellowstone and then

428
00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:15,720
the prequel might deepen your 
understanding or character 

429
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,160
development of things. 
But like obviously Yellowstone 

430
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,960
stands alone on its own. 
Same thing with you could watch 

431
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:24,240
the Lord of the Rings trilogy 
not having any knowledge of The 

432
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,640
Hobbit, it still stands up just 
fine so. 

433
00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:31,440
OK. 
Interesting. 

434
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:34,040
Interesting question to think 
about. 

435
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:39,160
I I can't think of an example, I
guess where release order 

436
00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,800
Trump's the experience of having
like if you have the finished 

437
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,840
chronological order, I feel like
you just someone who's never 

438
00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:50,880
seen it, you show it to me in 
chronological order, not release

439
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,120
order. 
I would agree with that. 

440
00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:56,200
OK, that's probably wise. 
All right, so that was nerdy 

441
00:24:57,320 --> 00:25:02,320
Star Wars story sci-fi. 
I don't know pop culture rabbit 

442
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,320
hole for today. 
Welcome into the ERC leftovers. 

443
00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,320
If you haven't figured it out, 
we're two pastors that talk 

444
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:11,920
about somewhat trivial things to
start out with and we jump in 

445
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:16,480
and review the sermon from this 
past Sunday, hopefully in a 

446
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,640
deeper and more meaningful way. 
The things, the leftovers that 

447
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:23,720
we couldn't get to you in the 
sermon or just other sort of 

448
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,040
things to think about for life 
groups, small groups, your own 

449
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,880
personal study this week as 
well. 

450
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:36,320
We are in Romans 8. 
I took kind of the main, the 

451
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,440
main verses were 15 through 18 
this week. 

452
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,880
I had to back it up a little bit
because we do still have this 

453
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,480
spirit of just slavery to the 
flesh sort of things. 

454
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:52,160
Flesh in the spirit is, is a lot
of the thematic thrust of Romans

455
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,000
8 here. 
So I did go back and kind of 

456
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:58,400
remind us of that mindset on the
flesh versus mindset on the 

457
00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:02,360
spirit earlier in the chapter. 
But the main thrust from this 

458
00:26:02,360 --> 00:26:06,960
week was verses 15 through 18I 
tacked on there as the as the 

459
00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:08,720
thing to kind of look forward 
to. 

460
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:13,080
So I'm going to read those 4 
main verses here and we'll go 

461
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:16,040
back and get some deeper 
thoughts or or some extra 

462
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,200
things. 
Romans 8 starting at verse 15. 

463
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,720
For you did not receive the 
spirit of slavery to fall back 

464
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,920
into fear, but you've received 
the spirit of adoption as sons 

465
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,360
by whom we cry. 
ABBA, Father, the Spirit himself

466
00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:30,760
bears witness with our spirit 
that we are children of God. 

467
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,320
And if children, then heirs, 
heirs of God, and fellow heirs 

468
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,120
with Christ, provided we suffer 
with Him, in order that we may 

469
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:38,840
also be glorified with Him. 
For I consider that the 

470
00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:41,440
sufferings of this present time 
are not worth comparing with the

471
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,840
glory that is to be revealed to 
us. 

472
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:46,240
Amen. 
Yeah. 

473
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,920
I would say one of the things 
that both you and I over the 

474
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:56,360
last two weeks, we have touched 
verse 15 in different ways, but 

475
00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:00,880
both of us as I was sitting with
my life group last night, both 

476
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:09,800
of us skipped over adoption as a
verb, like God is adopting us. 

477
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,960
Because that is the actual word.
I don't know if you went back 

478
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,160
and looked at the Greek word. 
We had to because. 

479
00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:17,720
There was some confusion last 
night with different English 

480
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,000
translations. 
Because some of them say sonship

481
00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:22,560
or some of them say adoption 
into sonship. 

482
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:28,520
But the actual, the root Greek 
word there is, is the action for

483
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,280
like to be adopted, right? 
Like as as in brought into a 

484
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,800
family. 
Yeah, and we looked at this and 

485
00:27:36,080 --> 00:27:39,800
you know it, bigger picture, 
it's the one of the context of 

486
00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:44,240
it is the acceptance of the 
nation of Israel as sons and 

487
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,920
daughters of God. 
We've got this entire people 

488
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:50,480
group that God adopts. 
He brings in and says you are my

489
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,200
treasured possession. 
And so of course, on a much 

490
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,960
grander scale, God says that 
about all people made in his 

491
00:27:57,960 --> 00:27:59,920
image and likeness, which is all
people. 

492
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:05,640
But for a time frame in history,
God had adopted a specific 

493
00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:08,400
people group in order to give 
them the law. 

494
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,080
Not that they would push 
everybody out who's not living 

495
00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:16,840
in this law, but that they might
be an example and draw people 

496
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,440
into a relationship with God 
through this different means of 

497
00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:22,840
living than the way the rest of 
the world was living at the 

498
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:26,160
time. 
So that's at least the beginning

499
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,400
of adoption. 
But as we were talking a little 

500
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:34,760
bit last night and there is an 
adult in our group that was 

501
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,720
adopted as a child and it was 
cool to hear her speak about 

502
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:42,560
that, to hear her say I was 
chosen. 

503
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,320
I yes, it's great to be born 
into a family. 

504
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:47,760
You'll be something. 
Else entirely. 

505
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,920
Yes, it's so different to be to 
be seen and to be pointed at and

506
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,400
say I want, I want them. 
And so I thought that was 

507
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,040
incredibly powerful. 
And that's exactly what God does

508
00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,160
with us, right? 
He looks at us, flaws and all, 

509
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,440
and says, yeah, but I want them.
I want them in my family. 

510
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:08,400
And I think that's just a 
powerful, powerful thing. 

511
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:13,760
And so along along those lines, 
this, I'm not incredibly 

512
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:17,200
familiar with Annie as the 
musical, to be honest with you, 

513
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,840
but even just hearing you talk 
about adoption and, and kind of 

514
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:24,240
the choosing, it's been 
Hollywood ified and theatricized

515
00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:29,440
the, the, the sort of orphan or,
or, or, or or foster home sort 

516
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:31,880
of thing. 
I, I don't want to, I don't want

517
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:33,600
to step out of line with this. 
I'm sorry. 

518
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:37,520
I don't want to be insensitive 
to someone who has lived through

519
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:41,960
this. 
But like, in my mind, as, as 

520
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,080
this verse kind of says, you did
not receive the spirit of 

521
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:50,960
adoption to fall again into fear
in a lot of those things. 

522
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:55,560
In my mind, never is the 
orphanage portrayed as a good 

523
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,960
place. 
Like, like it's, it's a place of

524
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,280
suffering, of fear, of 
discipline. 

525
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,920
And then you get chosen and 
that's, that's your way out, 

526
00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,560
right? 
That's, that's the promise of a 

527
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,560
better life, right, Of a more 
joyful life. 

528
00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,920
You're not entering into that 
family to feel the same way you 

529
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,800
did at the orphanage, right? 
And that, and that's, that's I 

530
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,080
think the idea, if I can kind of
bring it out, that's the idea 

531
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,960
that Paul's getting at. 
You weren't chosen by God. 

532
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:31,680
You weren't blood poured out by 
Christ for you to live in 

533
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,720
bondage to God the same way you 
lived in bondage to the world, 

534
00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,280
right? 
And in bondage to fear of sin. 

535
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,440
So in that way, he's bringing 
out this this sort of adoption 

536
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:44,240
scenario. 
You were chosen, but you are 

537
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:48,080
also that the song we sing made 
for more like it wasn't, it 

538
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:52,120
wasn't to live in the same way. 
And and I hope you're you're not

539
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:56,360
out there as as a part of this 
church saying week after week, 

540
00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:59,680
yeah, like I, I have a life. 
I have a life in Christ. 

541
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:03,960
I am a chosen child of God. 
And then and then going back to 

542
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,280
the same life you were living. 
Like that's, that's not what 

543
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:11,320
Paul's getting at here, right? 
Well, and I'm glad you brought 

544
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,160
up Annie. 
It's not a film I'm super 

545
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:15,480
familiar with, but I have seen 
it once or twice a long time 

546
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:22,120
ago, but even more modern 
children's kind of story now. 

547
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,120
Despicable Me. 
Think about the very first 

548
00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,360
Despicable Me. 
One of the interesting things 

549
00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:29,520
about both of these films. 
Girls, Girls, sorry. 

550
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:32,720
I do. 
I do that to my girls all the 

551
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:34,880
time. 
I like it because you spell 

552
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,560
girls GURLS. 
Yeah, Gorls, gorls. 

553
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:42,240
That's so good. 
Sorry. 

554
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:46,400
Give me a second, OK? 
Anyway, I love, I love that 

555
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,480
series of movies. 
But one of the interesting 

556
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,320
things that happens in both 
Annie and Despicable Me is that 

557
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,000
the kids who are in the 
orphanage, it's like they are 

558
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,480
performing in order to be 
adopted, to be. 

559
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,120
Worthy of being chosen. 
Yeah, I need to look cute. 

560
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:04,000
I need to be kind. 
I need to do all this stuff. 

561
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:07,200
I need to look and and act a 
certain way so that I get 

562
00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,760
picked. 
Oh, the gospel says the exact 

563
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,280
opposite. 
The gospel says, Oh no, I see 

564
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,520
you when you're filthy, I see 
you when you're misbehaving, I 

565
00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:17,720
see you when you are shameful 
and I'm picking you anyway. 

566
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,760
And I think that is just a 
powerful, powerful thing that we

567
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,480
need to understand about God's 
adoption of us. 

568
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,400
The other thing that I think is 
worth picking up on comes from 

569
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,720
John chapter 15, verse 16. 
And here's what it says. 

570
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:37,920
You did not choose me, but I 
chose you and appointed you that

571
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,560
you should go and bear fruit and
that your fruit should abide so 

572
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,960
that whatever you ask the Father
in my name, he may give it to 

573
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,600
you. 
Good gravy, friends, He chose 

574
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,560
you. 
He picked you and he didn't just

575
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:55,680
pick you just so you could sit 
around the house and OK sweet, 

576
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,280
I'm a child of the King. 
No, He picked you so that you 

577
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,880
might be something greater than 
you ever thought you could be, 

578
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,520
and so that you could go to your
father in need at any point, in 

579
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,280
that He would give you what you 
need every single time. 

580
00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:12,160
I love that. 
And so with that, though, comes 

581
00:33:12,440 --> 00:33:15,520
we talked about inheritance 
yesterday we we didn't talk so 

582
00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,960
much about like the rights and 
responsibilities of a son or 

583
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,000
daughter of the king, but that's
that's the life you're entering 

584
00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,680
into honor. 
Read this this commentary 

585
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,240
thought from David Guzik and 
enduring word he he equates it 

586
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:31,280
to the Roman world that would 
have been closer to the time 

587
00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:33,720
that Jesus was teaching on this 
and Paul was writing about it. 

588
00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,320
Under Roman adoption, the life 
and standing of the adopted 

589
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,520
child changed completely. 
The adopted son lost all rights 

590
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:47,480
in his old family and gained all
new rights in his new family. 

591
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,400
The old life of the adopted son 
was completely wiped out with 

592
00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,120
all debts being canceled. 
Nothing from his past counting 

593
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:57,680
against him anymore. 
That's that's the end of his 

594
00:33:57,680 --> 00:34:00,840
thoughts there, right and then 
and then, of course, you're 

595
00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:07,200
entering into the inheritance, 
the standing that the Co airness

596
00:34:07,240 --> 00:34:11,120
of your brothers and sisters in 
that new family, right, that the

597
00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:13,960
Co heirs with Christ that that 
Paul is writing about here in 

598
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:17,159
our passage. 
I man isn't that so cool Isn't 

599
00:34:17,159 --> 00:34:19,639
that amazing You were just 
reading that and then I started 

600
00:34:19,639 --> 00:34:24,440
following along and I just man 
that is just that is the gospel 

601
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,239
signed up in such a beautiful 
way. 

602
00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,960
And so this this word adoption 
in verse 15. 

603
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,880
Again, I know neither you or I 
hit on that specifically on a 

604
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:37,320
Sunday, but what a powerful 
image that God gives us in order

605
00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,840
to make sure that we are seen 
and known and loved. 

606
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:45,960
And if you just meditate on that
one word and take that word in 

607
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:50,000
as this is who I am now, I am an
adopted child of the king. 

608
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,159
If you can just hold on to that 
and meditate on that for a long 

609
00:34:53,159 --> 00:34:58,440
enough, think deeply about that,
it will change your identity. 

610
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,480
It will change how you move and 
live in this world because you 

611
00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,280
know that you are so fully and 
freely accepted by your Father 

612
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:09,880
in heaven that you know what, I 
can be criticized over here. 

613
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,600
I can be not liked over here and
that's going to be OK. 

614
00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:17,160
My identity can withstand those 
things because I know who I am 

615
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,400
in Christ. 
Yeah, and it's another way of 

616
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:24,240
taking those, those in Christ 
being a new creation, the old 

617
00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:26,880
has gone, the new has come. 
This, this sense of adoption 

618
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,920
into God's family, that old life
is, is gone, is not counted 

619
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,560
against you anymore. 
You, you do not need to bear the

620
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,640
burdens or fears of that any 
longer and fast. 

621
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,080
In fact, Paul warns against 
returning to that right. 

622
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:46,200
You didn't, you didn't get this 
new life to just keep living the

623
00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:50,120
old one or to return to the 
things that inhabited the old 

624
00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:52,440
one. 
You, you are made new and, and 

625
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,520
that comes with rights and 
responsibilities and, and an 

626
00:35:55,520 --> 00:36:00,000
inheritance that isn't worth 
comparing with the the toils and

627
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,160
suffering, he says in verse 18. 
Like it's not even worth taking 

628
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,800
the time to try to compare 
what's stacked against you 

629
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:07,360
versus what awaits you in 
heaven. 

630
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:11,800
So Oh my gosh, yeah, I love the 
what he says about all the debts

631
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,040
are canceled. 
Nothing in your past can count 

632
00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:16,720
against you anymore. 
It's all it's all just a a 

633
00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:21,880
distant memory at best. 
And so not that we forget our 

634
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:26,400
lives before Christ, but the 
sins and the shame that maybe 

635
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,000
came during that period in our 
life, man, it shouldn't be much 

636
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,520
more than a distant memory 
because God has made us new and 

637
00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:37,280
we are new every morning by his 
mercies that are new every 

638
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,640
single morning. 
And it's and it's an amazing 

639
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:41,600
thing. 
And again, it's an identity 

640
00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:45,760
shaping, life giving truth that 
we get to experience. 

641
00:36:46,720 --> 00:36:53,120
Verse 16 is a little interesting
as far as like there's a lot of 

642
00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:59,720
freedom, but I also think it can
go too far into a somewhat not 

643
00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:02,320
not cheap grace is the wrong 
word for it. 

644
00:37:02,320 --> 00:37:05,840
But the spirit himself bears 
witness to our spirit that we 

645
00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:07,960
are children of God. 
I touched on it a little bit 

646
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:13,400
yesterday about how the the 
spirit leads us in ways that are

647
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:17,040
unnatural for our, for our 
fleshly bodies like wheat and 

648
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:22,760
any inclination to fight against
sin or to push back our 

649
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,240
rebellion from God. 
Like that's all spirit LED that 

650
00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:30,160
that's where, that that's where 
the power in that is. 

651
00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:35,080
But there's still, there's still
a yearning, there's still that 

652
00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:38,680
that's, there's freedom in that 
because in the power of the 

653
00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,640
spirit, we, we can overcome. 
We can't, we can't fight against

654
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,120
the, the struggles of of sin and
in this world. 

655
00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,520
But it's also not like a hands 
off Jesus take the wheel sort of

656
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:53,880
thing either, right? 
Like, wait, we, we need to be 

657
00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:57,040
constantly vigilant. 
We need to be constantly 

658
00:37:57,040 --> 00:38:00,080
reminded of the promises of 
God's word. 

659
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:04,000
It's not like, OK, I'm, I'm in 
the club, Holy Spirit, do your 

660
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:06,760
thing, right. 
So how do we work out that 

661
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,680
tension? 
Well The thing is like if you 

662
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:15,560
were to think of an individual 
who was perfectly spirit filled 

663
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:19,320
and spirit LED in everything 
they did, you would look at 

664
00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:24,880
Jesus Christ. 
And so if a human being, were it

665
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:28,200
possible for them to be so 
sensitive to the spirits leaning

666
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,880
and movement and decision making
qualities in our life, that 

667
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:37,560
person would be perfect. 
But all of us fail that because 

668
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:40,600
we are just intrinsically kind 
of selfish. 

669
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:45,200
And and so I mean, we don't 
perfectly follow the spirit's 

670
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,360
guidance. 
Therefore we don't make perfect 

671
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,240
decisions and we fail and 
ensure. 

672
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:55,960
But I do think that, and again, 
we both been touching on this 

673
00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,400
over the last two weeks, which 
is the sense that as we let the 

674
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:03,960
Spirit do the work, but we're 
sensitive and enough to follow 

675
00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,200
him because there is a verb 
we're doing, we're following the

676
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,320
Spirit. 
As we do that, we're going to 

677
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,160
make infinitely better and more 
holy decisions. 

678
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,880
We're going to, we're going to 
move in ways that love God and 

679
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:18,520
love our neighbor better than 
we, better than we could ever do

680
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:20,600
on our own. 
It's not close. 

681
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:25,880
But yeah, there's us following 
the the Spirit who's moving in a

682
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,120
direction. 
We still have to see that. 

683
00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:32,360
We have to look at what our 
selfish desires, our base, our 

684
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,840
fleshly desires would want. 
And we have to say, well, but 

685
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:36,240
this is where the Spirit is 
going. 

686
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:40,880
Do I want to follow the spirit 
or do I want to take care of me?

687
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:43,840
And those things are not 
necessarily mutually exclusive, 

688
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:48,880
but there's one that seems to 
scratch an itch, an immediate 

689
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:50,080
itch, a little bit faster for 
us. 

690
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:52,920
And that's usually the selfish 
choice, so. 

691
00:39:53,560 --> 00:39:55,800
And that with the other caution 
I'd have with this sort of 

692
00:39:55,800 --> 00:40:01,080
spirit LED language, I did, I 
did kind of harp on it yesterday

693
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:04,640
that this isn't a led by the 
Spirit is not a. 

694
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,480
Each and everything. 
Do I think that God can be 

695
00:40:08,480 --> 00:40:10,280
leading us in? 
Yeah. 

696
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:11,560
OK, where, where am I going to 
move? 

697
00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:13,080
Where am I going to work? 
Who am I going to marry? 

698
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:18,760
How many kids should I have? 
Like, yes, I, I think there is 

699
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:20,400
spirit leading and all those 
things. 

700
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:22,760
I don't think that's what Paul 
specifically talking about here.

701
00:40:22,760 --> 00:40:26,360
I think he I think he is talking
about leading us out of a life 

702
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:31,040
of of sin and fleshly rebellion 
into a life filled with the 

703
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:32,880
spirit. 
I think that's what he's more 

704
00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:34,840
specifically talking about. 
So that's why we talked about 

705
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:40,200
fighting against sin, falling 
before a gracious father and and

706
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,800
submitting to Jesus with 
lordship over over our lives, 

707
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,720
because I think we can get 
wrapped up in always the is the 

708
00:40:49,720 --> 00:40:52,480
Holy Spirit leading me to to 
move here. 

709
00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:54,760
And I'm not saying he can't. 
I'm not saying he doesn't. 

710
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:58,720
But I also think sometimes as 
Christians, we can get it up in 

711
00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:04,040
our head too much like we think 
this might sound weird. 

712
00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:06,200
You can you can be my 
theological guardrails on this. 

713
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:16,240
Like we think that that there is
a like right and wrong following

714
00:41:16,240 --> 00:41:19,080
God or not following God with 
every single decision we make. 

715
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:24,520
I actually as black and white as
I am on a lot of things I don't 

716
00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:29,680
by and large, most decisions 
that we make, I don't think are 

717
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:34,200
that black and white and and I 
will lean on God works all 

718
00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:36,720
things together for good, for 
the good of those who love him. 

719
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:40,800
And even Joseph's what you 
intended for evil, God worked 

720
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,560
for good. 
Like there's maybe a more right 

721
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:47,560
decision to be made and in some 
instances, OK, to sin or not to 

722
00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:48,640
sin. 
Which one should I do? 

723
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,600
Yeah, there's there's black and 
white. 

724
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:54,440
But with some of those things, 
as far as like what should I do 

725
00:41:54,440 --> 00:41:56,360
as a, what should I do as a 
career? 

726
00:41:57,520 --> 00:42:03,000
I think God can bring glory to 
himself through your life in a 

727
00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:04,440
variety of different ways. 
Probably. 

728
00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:08,000
Might one bring him more glory 
than another? 

729
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:09,880
Possibly. 
Sure. 

730
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,640
Is it more glorifying to God to 
have one or two or four or six 

731
00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:20,240
or eight children? 
Maybe I, I again think he can 

732
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:24,760
bring glory to himself in, in 
any of those familial 

733
00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,000
structures. 
I don't, I don't think there's a

734
00:42:27,320 --> 00:42:32,160
like honored the Spirit 
dishonored the spirit in the 

735
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,080
size of your family sort of sort
of thing. 

736
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:38,560
Like so I, I think I think we 
can often interject like Holy 

737
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:42,760
Spirit approval into into maybe 
too many of our decisions. 

738
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:46,400
Holy Spirit approval. 
Well, I'm just like he. 

739
00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,320
Stamped it. 
I just I don't know, I don't 

740
00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,160
want to make God sound as 
uncaring, but I think I think we

741
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:56,520
can get to a point where we 
think God cares a lot about the 

742
00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:59,120
decisions we have to make when 
really he's up there just like I

743
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,200
need, I just need you to move 
like I I just need you to pick a

744
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:05,320
thing and I'm going to help you 
with that. 

745
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,760
It was the it's the greatest 
thing. 

746
00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:10,720
I don't know if this will make 
it into a servant last night, 

747
00:43:10,720 --> 00:43:14,760
but last night at life group. 
I love it's a little Owen 

748
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,640
Sheehan, his his mom, Andy. 
He's hilarious. 

749
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:20,160
He comes in, gives me a fist 
bump. 

750
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:24,600
Hey, pastor man, like and then 
he and then he turns around. 

751
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:27,480
It's like I got to I got to go 
take my shoes off and he runs 

752
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:29,400
back in the entryway. 
He comes back in the kitchen. 

753
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:31,800
He said, mom, I can't get my 
shoes off. 

754
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,080
And his mom looks down. 
She's just like, well, buddy, 

755
00:43:35,080 --> 00:43:36,880
it's because you it's because 
you're stepping on your pants 

756
00:43:36,880 --> 00:43:40,000
when you're trying to slip your 
shoes off in that moment. 

757
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:43,880
I just had this like heavenly 
Father God looking down as we're

758
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,400
trying to just do like the 
basic, most simplest thing. 

759
00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:48,280
I'm just God, I'm trying to take
my shoes out. 

760
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,160
He's like, yeah, but you're, 
you're stepping on your pants, 

761
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:50,880
man. 
Like you're not. 

762
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:53,560
You can't, I can't trust you to 
do this little tiny thing. 

763
00:43:53,720 --> 00:43:57,520
So like as far as like the Holy 
Spirit LED thing, I think I 

764
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,520
think a lot of the time it's 
just like, Nope, I just need 

765
00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:03,720
gods are just saying no, I just 
need you to like choose to do a 

766
00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:06,680
thing and I'm going to help you 
with it most of the way because 

767
00:44:06,680 --> 00:44:09,280
really you're stepping on your 
pants instead of taking your 

768
00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:11,520
shoes off. 
Like I really think, I really 

769
00:44:11,560 --> 00:44:15,640
think that's how it is anyway. 
So I think I think we make too 

770
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:20,360
much of what we stay in 
indecision waiting for like a 

771
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:23,640
crystal clear lightning strike 
LED from the Holy Spirit. 

772
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:24,880
Does the Holy Spirit work that 
way? 

773
00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,400
I think it can not in every 
single instance. 

774
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:30,640
Am I crazy? 
No, and actually one of the 

775
00:44:30,640 --> 00:44:33,680
things that you're keying in on 
is what I've watched Christians 

776
00:44:33,680 --> 00:44:39,160
and I think sometimes in moments
of fear, I've done myself, which

777
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:43,520
is I'm just, I'm begging God to 
just make a decision for me. 

778
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:47,200
I just, I want the sure thing 
and why do I want that? 

779
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:50,400
Do I want it because I want to 
honor God or do I want it 

780
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:53,200
because I want the sure thing 
and I don't want to go through 

781
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,600
any hardship or whatever. 
So if I rely only on what God 

782
00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:59,000
wants me to do and, and then he 
does all the work and all the 

783
00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:01,640
movement and makes all the 
decisions, then I don't have to 

784
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:04,640
feel bad if something goes wrong
because God told me to, you 

785
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:06,000
know. 
And so I think there's like 

786
00:45:06,720 --> 00:45:11,080
again, behind every one of even 
our best motives, there's always

787
00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,560
a hint of sin in there. 
And so I, I think we can too 

788
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:20,240
often kind of mystify in some 
ways or over spiritualize 

789
00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:23,200
everything. 
But the reality of God and how 

790
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:27,480
he built us is the same reality 
that all human parents should 

791
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:29,520
want. 
And it kind of goes like this. 

792
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:35,520
I don't want to tell my 18 year 
old hey am IA can I? 

793
00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:38,840
Should I eat right now? 
I'll be like, you're 18, are you

794
00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:40,880
hungry, right? 
Now like you can. 

795
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:45,560
Decide so God does just like 
human parents, he grows us so 

796
00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:50,280
that we can make decisions 
without without asking God to 

797
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:52,640
micromanage us because who wants
that? 

798
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:57,440
And so I mean, like, we need to,
we need to be wise here about 

799
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:03,120
like, OK, so God, there's 8 
billion people on the planet. 

800
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:06,880
How many of them could I have 
honestly had a meaningful 

801
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:09,360
relationship with in terms of 
like marriage, right? 

802
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:12,840
I, I don't think God tapped me 
on the shoulder. 

803
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,320
And I know this doesn't sound 
romantic, but I've talked to 

804
00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,040
Alyssa about this. 
So no surprises. 

805
00:46:17,400 --> 00:46:19,320
But I don't think God tapped me 
on the shoulder and said, oh, 

806
00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:23,200
no, this is the only one you can
make that This is this is it. 

807
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,200
Out of 8 billion people, this is
the only one. 

808
00:46:26,200 --> 00:46:29,960
So good luck. 
No, like I, I think within those

809
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:34,160
decisions that God gives us, we 
have moments of being able to 

810
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,120
honor or dishonor what he 
desires for us ultimately. 

811
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,880
But he's still asking us to live
your life. 

812
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:45,640
I, I, I raised you to grow you 
so you can make good decisions. 

813
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:48,760
And I'm, I'm asking you to 
involve me in those things, but 

814
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:52,240
I don't want to micromanage your
life any more than a parent 

815
00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:55,800
should want to helicopter their 
young adult kids or whatever 

816
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:57,280
else. 
Like that's not the point. 

817
00:46:58,160 --> 00:46:59,280
Right. 
And I'm not saying this from 

818
00:46:59,280 --> 00:47:03,920
like a spirit of apathy or just 
like making flippant or 

819
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,320
uninformed decisions. 
Yeah, God gives us discernment, 

820
00:47:06,320 --> 00:47:09,800
God gives us wisdom. 
But I, I want to caution against

821
00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:14,640
so over analyzing every single 
thing. 

822
00:47:14,720 --> 00:47:17,000
And marriage is a good example 
of that because I'm I'm right 

823
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:24,200
with you that yeah, you know 
what I believe that the concept 

824
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,560
of marriage is bigger than one 
person. 

825
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:33,400
I could have fulfilled a God 
honoring marriage with someone 

826
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,640
else honest. 
Like there wasn't. 

827
00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:38,080
And again, sounds really 
unromantic for our wives. 

828
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:41,520
They're so blessed that they 
have a you're welcome. 

829
00:47:42,880 --> 00:47:48,240
But, but like the, the, the 
concept of marriage and, and 

830
00:47:48,240 --> 00:47:52,600
thereby even this, this 
relationship with God and, and, 

831
00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:55,040
and maybe you did a better job 
of putting that in. 

832
00:47:55,040 --> 00:47:59,800
Like there are, there are tears 
and elements to this thing that 

833
00:47:59,800 --> 00:48:06,480
like a God honoring relationship
with God can come out in a 

834
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,280
variety of ways. 
And again, not from apathy or or

835
00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:15,600
indecision, but the I just don't
think it's as black. 

836
00:48:15,760 --> 00:48:18,400
It was the Spirit lead me to do 
this thing or this thing. 

837
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:20,840
You know what I think the Spirit
could lead you to do either of 

838
00:48:20,840 --> 00:48:25,680
those things and God could still
work his glory out in in either 

839
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:29,480
circumstance. 
So some of them a lot more, a 

840
00:48:29,480 --> 00:48:33,080
lot more clear what we what we 
talked about leaving that life 

841
00:48:33,080 --> 00:48:35,880
of slavery to the flesh behind. 
Like that's Yeah, no, you 

842
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:39,920
shouldn't sin habit. 
Should you or should you not log

843
00:48:39,920 --> 00:48:43,440
onto that website? 
Probably not like no, that's a 

844
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,560
full stop. 
Should should you lie and ruin 

845
00:48:46,560 --> 00:48:49,360
that relationship? 
No, you shouldn't God's words 

846
00:48:49,360 --> 00:48:55,120
pretty clear on that for some of
these other things make a God 

847
00:48:55,120 --> 00:48:58,720
honoring and and like you can 
use the Bible to vet a lot of 

848
00:48:58,720 --> 00:49:00,560
these things. 
Know the character of God from 

849
00:49:00,560 --> 00:49:04,800
the words that he says in there 
and and make it and and. 

850
00:49:05,120 --> 00:49:08,600
Let him Lord over that area of 
your life and see where it goes.

851
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,040
Absolutely. 
The other thing that I like 

852
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:13,800
about verse 16, I know we've 
been stuck here for a little 

853
00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:17,600
bit, but that's OK. 
The Spirit himself bears witness

854
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:20,480
or testifies, depending on which
one you're doing with our 

855
00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:22,000
spirit, that we are children of 
God. 

856
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:25,120
And we looked at this a little 
bit last night and I, and I love

857
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:29,200
it because I had to, I had to 
look up this bear's witness as, 

858
00:49:29,240 --> 00:49:32,880
as like a, a verb. 
And it's, it's providing 

859
00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:37,200
supporting evidence through 
testifying to a high degree of 

860
00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:40,160
strengthening. 
So like we looked at it from the

861
00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:44,320
perspective of like, if you have
an expert witness in a court 

862
00:49:44,320 --> 00:49:49,720
case, man that, that witness, 
he, his, his, his thoughts on a 

863
00:49:49,720 --> 00:49:52,720
topic carry a tremendous amount 
of weight. 

864
00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:58,640
And so who carries the weight of
calling us children of God, the 

865
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:02,840
Holy Spirit, who knows us who, 
who is one with the Father and 

866
00:50:02,840 --> 00:50:05,200
one with the Son. 
He's the one who's bearing 

867
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:08,640
witness as an expert on the 
case. 

868
00:50:09,000 --> 00:50:12,440
This is who you are. 
And so when we get down on 

869
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,600
ourselves and when we feel kind 
of ashamed and we're pulling 

870
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:20,240
backwards into these these 
things of guilt and fear and 

871
00:50:20,240 --> 00:50:22,120
worry about does God really love
me? 

872
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:25,800
I keep on messing up, man. 
Who's bearing witness about your

873
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:28,360
identity? 
The Holy Spirit is bearing 

874
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:31,520
witness about your identity even
when you don't get it. 

875
00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:37,000
And so I love that about verse 
16, that it's not even us who 

876
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:39,720
has to be on the stand in this 
court case. 

877
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,680
It's not me bearing witness 
like, but I pick Jesus, I pick 

878
00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:43,880
Jesus. 
No, no, no, no, no. 

879
00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:45,680
It is the Holy Spirit who bears 
witness. 

880
00:50:45,760 --> 00:50:48,960
You are a son. 
You are a daughter of the King. 

881
00:50:49,400 --> 00:50:52,480
And so I love him as an expert 
witness in our lives. 

882
00:50:52,520 --> 00:50:54,920
And we do need to listen to him 
when he talks about that. 

883
00:50:55,360 --> 00:50:57,400
And can I add one thing to that 
then? 

884
00:50:57,400 --> 00:51:01,080
Because there's this the Spirit 
himself bears witness with our 

885
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:03,280
spirit that, that we are 
children of God, right? 

886
00:51:03,400 --> 00:51:10,040
So, so then because people often
like, we get the question 

887
00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:13,520
sometimes, why would, why would 
God include an imperfect people 

888
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:17,920
in his work in his plan? 
So actually though, what I think

889
00:51:17,920 --> 00:51:21,320
part of this verse is saying is 
you're witnessing, then your 

890
00:51:21,320 --> 00:51:24,800
testimony can hold that same 
power, the same power the Holy 

891
00:51:24,800 --> 00:51:28,120
Spirit holds as witnessing to 
your standing in front of God. 

892
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:33,240
Then your spirit, your testimony
of how that's changed to someone

893
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:37,800
else can be just as powerful at 
right as as the Spirit saying 

894
00:51:37,800 --> 00:51:40,880
before God. 
So that's why you're sharing 

895
00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:43,800
your witness, your testimony, 
what you've known to someone 

896
00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:47,560
else about being a child of God.
That's how and why God includes 

897
00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:48,680
us in that. 
Do it. 

898
00:51:48,680 --> 00:51:49,680
Preach. 
That's awesome. 

899
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:55,440
Yep, killing it. 
Sweet couple more verses here 

900
00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:58,400
and it's really, this was kind 
of the, the doom and gloom and 

901
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:03,840
I, I feel like I didn't, I feel 
like I didn't prescribe a whole 

902
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:08,720
lot of application in these 
verses other than to like grin 

903
00:52:08,720 --> 00:52:13,560
and bear it. 
I, I, I, I got to the end 

904
00:52:13,560 --> 00:52:16,960
yesterday and was like, Yep, 
you're going to suffer, but 

905
00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:20,240
heaven's coming. 
Have a have a great life. 

906
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,040
I feel like that's what I left 
people with yesterday, but I 

907
00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:29,600
didn't, I didn't know like I 
feel like there's so many 

908
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:32,800
specific instances of suffering 
that I couldn't really prescribe

909
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:37,360
an action for all of them other 
than that's not the way God 

910
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:42,200
intended it for, for you to for 
you to be slave to this 

911
00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:44,800
suffering. 
It is for you to not live in 

912
00:52:44,800 --> 00:52:48,160
fear of consequence, but to be 
able to run to the helpful, 

913
00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:51,720
gracious father of OK in this 
world. 

914
00:52:51,720 --> 00:52:54,200
I have trouble and I need to 
call my dad. 

915
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:58,000
I need to call the one who's 
over who's overcome and we have 

916
00:52:58,000 --> 00:53:02,320
this glory to be revealed that 
is not worthy to be compared. 

917
00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:07,160
So like the suffering right now 
isn't isn't anything in, in 

918
00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:09,760
light of eternity that is going 
to happen to us. 

919
00:53:09,760 --> 00:53:13,200
So sorry if that wasn't 
extremely helpful, but that I 

920
00:53:13,240 --> 00:53:15,520
think that's what's in here. 
Right. 

921
00:53:15,720 --> 00:53:17,520
No, you got to be honest with 
the text. 

922
00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:21,720
And so let's not import 
something that's just clearly 

923
00:53:21,720 --> 00:53:24,000
not there. 
But actually, I thought, you 

924
00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:26,720
know what, man? 
I thought you spoke about that 

925
00:53:26,720 --> 00:53:30,720
so well, like with that little 
illustration you gave. 

926
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:34,920
When I'm in trouble, do I hide 
and do I run away and do I lie 

927
00:53:34,960 --> 00:53:38,760
or do I have such a relationship
with my father that I actually 

928
00:53:38,760 --> 00:53:41,000
go to him first? 
I love that. 

929
00:53:41,000 --> 00:53:45,240
I thought that was just top 
notch and that is incredibly 

930
00:53:45,240 --> 00:53:48,240
applicable. 
It's challenging for those of us

931
00:53:48,240 --> 00:53:51,920
who often times run and hide. 
That's a challenge for us, but 

932
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:55,600
it's incredibly applicable. 
And so I absolutely love that. 

933
00:53:55,600 --> 00:53:59,720
And I thought that was a great 
little piece of biblical advice 

934
00:53:59,720 --> 00:54:02,480
to give. 
I just, I think that's 

935
00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:06,280
wonderful. 
And as a person who has really 

936
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:10,400
struggled with that from time to
time, like he, he, there's no 

937
00:54:10,400 --> 00:54:13,240
way he wants to hear from me 
right now because I promised him

938
00:54:13,240 --> 00:54:15,440
I wouldn't do this or this or 
this and I did it anyway. 

939
00:54:15,640 --> 00:54:18,760
There's no way he wants me to 
pick up the prayer phone and 

940
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:21,840
call right now because what it, 
what happens if I do? 

941
00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:24,800
He's going to be silent or he's 
going to yell at me or, you 

942
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:28,560
know, and so all this fear comes
back in. 

943
00:54:28,600 --> 00:54:31,000
And that's just not how it's 
supposed to be. 

944
00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:33,480
That's not what the Bible says 
our relationship with him should

945
00:54:33,480 --> 00:54:36,080
look like. 
And so I just, I thought that 

946
00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:40,160
was wonderful. 
And it is glorifying to God when

947
00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:46,240
we come to him burying our sins 
because that shows that we look 

948
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:50,080
at the cross that Jesus took on 
for us and we believe that it 

949
00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:53,920
was enough. 
So it is glorifying to God when 

950
00:54:53,920 --> 00:54:57,640
we do come to him with all of 
our junk. 

951
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:02,120
That is so glorifying to Him 
because it is putting all of the

952
00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:05,080
all of the sin back where it 
belongs, which is on Jesus's 

953
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:09,880
shoulders because He chose that.
He chose to take the cross for 

954
00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:12,080
us, therefore He wanted that for
us. 

955
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:15,800
It was the for the joy set 
before him that He endured the 

956
00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:18,320
cross. 
Therefore, to go to God, even in

957
00:55:18,320 --> 00:55:20,560
my worst, is glorifying to 
Jesus. 

958
00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:25,320
Yeah, that's so good. 
It's it's, it's just, it's just 

959
00:55:25,320 --> 00:55:27,160
like an outpouring of what you 
said. 

960
00:55:27,160 --> 00:55:29,480
That's what it made me think of.
So there you are. 

961
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:31,400
Cool. 
That's where we're going to 

962
00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:33,480
leave it for today. 
Well done. 

963
00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:39,000
Good day, good to have you back.
It's great to be back. 

964
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:42,080
Yeah, we're glad that you are. 
So you're on the docket for this

965
00:55:42,080 --> 00:55:44,600
week. 
Dom is preaching on the on the 

966
00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:47,560
8th. 
So yeah, we have that to look 

967
00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:48,560
forward to. 
Be over. 

968
00:55:49,200 --> 00:55:51,080
Wow. 
Be over. 

969
00:55:51,080 --> 00:55:52,400
I don't know what I was saying. 
Be over. 

970
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:56,200
That's not a you don't say that.
Be praying over. 

971
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:59,560
That's what I was going to say. 
Be be praying over Dom and his 

972
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:03,840
preparation too. 
And yeah, just encourage you to 

973
00:56:03,840 --> 00:56:06,880
continually church be in in 
prayer. 

974
00:56:06,880 --> 00:56:12,200
We we covet and appreciate your 
prayers for for us and our 

975
00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:17,360
elders and leadership at church.
We had a jam packed Sunday 

976
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:20,720
yesterday and I don't need like 
we do keep track of numbers. 

977
00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:24,120
That's mostly for a caring 
that's not to puff our chests 

978
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:27,400
out sort of thing. 
That's do we have do we have 

979
00:56:27,400 --> 00:56:29,520
coverage? 
Are we, do we have enough 

980
00:56:30,240 --> 00:56:34,320
ministry, volunteers and and 
outreach and and follow up in 

981
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:36,840
place to to keep up with people 
that are coming in? 

982
00:56:36,840 --> 00:56:42,360
We had we had our biggest non 
Easter Sunday yesterday since 

983
00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:46,240
since I've been here. 
So those of you that are that 

984
00:56:46,240 --> 00:56:49,840
are new, welcome into the fold. 
Those of you that have been here

985
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:54,160
a while, we appreciate your, 
your partnership in, in serving 

986
00:56:54,200 --> 00:56:58,960
and giving and testifying to how
the Spirit has moved in your 

987
00:56:58,960 --> 00:57:02,000
lives to reach to reach the one 
mores. 

988
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:04,040
And, and some of some of these 
are people that are coming in 

989
00:57:04,040 --> 00:57:06,480
and checking us out of church. 
Some of them are, are coming 

990
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:10,440
along by invite with others. 
It's happening. 

991
00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:13,960
It's, it's, it's working. 
And then we are growing and 

992
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:18,080
we're continuing to search for 
the next steps that God has for 

993
00:57:18,080 --> 00:57:20,760
us as we look to continue to to 
join him in his work here and 

994
00:57:20,760 --> 00:57:23,840
continue to impact DeWitt and 
the surrounding communities with

995
00:57:24,200 --> 00:57:26,880
with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So we thank you, we appreciate 

996
00:57:26,880 --> 00:57:28,960
you. 
I hope this is an encouragement 

997
00:57:29,200 --> 00:57:32,440
to start your week. 
Have a blessed week, Church.