Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Welcome to Beyond
Sunday, the King of Kings
podcast, where we dive a littlebit deeper into our sermon
series and see what we're takingBeyond Sunday.
My name is Dina Newsome, andI've got some guests I haven't
had together for quite sometime.
SPEAKER_04 (00:18):
Reunited.
Yeah, it's actually great to behere.
I'm Jeff Probst from uh Survivoron the TV channel.
What TV channel am I on, guys?
TV TVS.
That's right.
This is a Survivor podcast.
So Carissa Bay, you can belistening to this one.
SPEAKER_00 (00:37):
We've just spent the
last 10 minutes talking about
Survivor.
So my opening question to youguys is what's your favorite
part about Survivor?
Is it like the challenges?
Is it the tribal?
Is it the relationships?
Is it Jeff Probst?
Like, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_04 (00:58):
I I gotta come
clean.
This is actually Peter Bay, andI've just been trying to get
Carissa to listen because sheloves Survivor so much.
She only listens to Survivorpodcasts.
My favorite part of Survivor isthat Carissa and her family
loves it so much.
They all come together, theytalk about it, their joys, their
disappointments in it.
(01:18):
I just love being part of thoseconversations.
SPEAKER_00 (01:21):
It brings people
together.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (01:23):
And Carista, we are
cheering for you that you become
uh contestant on Survivor.
Let's get that application in,that video in.
Let's see.
Carista Bay.
In season 53, I'm just gonnaname it.
So what season are we on now?
We're on 49 right now.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
50 has been filmed.
SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
Yep.
But my favorite part ofSurvivor, it's it's just gotta
be the in-between, the drama,the conversation, watching
people kind of socially worktheir way through the game.
I find it fascinating.
How about you, Miss Dina?
SPEAKER_00 (01:56):
I my favorite part
is when there's conversations
and changing things at tribal.
Oh, yeah.
And everybody's trying towhisper and the mics are trying
to get through there.
And um, they're they'rewhispering about me right now,
folks.
SPEAKER_04 (02:10):
How about the size
of the pen?
Oh, for the yeah, when they votethem out, I like how they can
never tell which end to takeoff.
SPEAKER_00 (02:17):
That's uh it's
always a challenge each other.
SPEAKER_04 (02:19):
It's the most
preposterous pen you've ever
seen in your life.
Survivor on CBS.
SPEAKER_00 (02:26):
Yeah, but let us
know, folks.
Are you a Survivor fan?
Maybe that's a a sermon seriescoming up some year in the
future.
Yeah.
I like it.
Um I'm gonna put that on nextyear's option list.
Yeah, for 2027.
SPEAKER_01 (02:40):
Outwit, outplay,
outlast.
SPEAKER_00 (02:43):
Yeah.
All right.
So that was deep.
That was deep, Peter.
SPEAKER_05 (02:52):
Thanks.
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Um so let's switch
now to week one, going from
season 50 of Survivor to weekone of our asking for a friend
series.
So we just jumped into theseries, and Pastor Greg Griffith
kicked us off this week withDoes God love me?
And does God love them?
That's kind of a survivorattitude there for you, you
(03:14):
know, us versus them kind ofthing.
So, what are you taking beyondSunday from this message?
SPEAKER_04 (03:20):
Yeah, the the theme
of this was really um a
conversation of worth or amessage on worth.
Uh, and am I worthy, or thepeople around me worthy?
And uh which was impactful forme.
I tend I have a high tendency todownplay myself, and I think
it's always benefited me in away of like if I have low
(03:43):
expectations for myself, thepeople around me might have low
expectations, and then I canovercome that versus if people
have high expectations, I feellike I might fail them.
Um, and so that speaks to likethe worth that I've kind of put
on myself over the years, and umhaving a hearing a message about
(04:03):
like I'm worthy, but not becauseof what I've done, but because
of I'm claimed by the king ofthe universe, uh, that stuck
with me.
SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
Yeah.
I think what stuck with mesimilarly is just every every
person is valuable and everyperson has worth.
And it's really easy to get intomy own little world and my own
little echo chambers and tothink other people that are
different than me are crazy andwhatever, whatever.
But just a great reminder thatuh God created all of us, just
(04:36):
really unique, really different,and loves all of us.
And how can I be a person thenthat even if you know we may not
see eye to eye on something, howcan I be a person that still
sees you as valuable, sees youas worthy, and uh treat and
treat treat with love?
Uh, I think absolutely it'ssomething that we all need to
hear more of.
(04:56):
And so I hope I not onlyintellectually take that beyond
Sunday, but hopefully more by myaction.
unknown (05:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:03):
I really liked the
reminder about how important God
sees the one.
Um, when we talked about some ofthe the Bible um chapter that
Greg went over, which we'll talkabout in a sec, too, but just
the idea of finding the lost oneand how we each are the most
important.
And if it's not me, it's theperson that I don't like.
And if it's not them, it's theperson I really love.
(05:25):
But God sees us all as importantenough to chase after us and
continue to pursue and trulyvaluable.
So Greg started out by jumpinginto Luke 15, which he referred
to as the lost chapter of Luke.
I had not heard it referred tothat um before, but it makes
sense.
So in this chapter, we hearabout the lost sheep um and how
(05:50):
God goes after He'll leave the99 to go after the one.
We hear about the last coin, theum woman that lost her dowry
coin and the prodigal son, thelast son.
Um, how does this uh Biblechapter hit you guys?
What do you carry with?
SPEAKER_04 (06:08):
Yeah, I feel like
the one that gets the least play
on here is the coin.
You said dowry.
What's that?
SPEAKER_00 (06:13):
Dowry is what um
like a woman's family brings to
the marriage when they're gonnamarry a man, right?
Yeah, I'm I'm not clueless onthis, right?
SPEAKER_04 (06:23):
I know I did
research, I had no idea.
I was like, oh, I'm gonna takesomething that no one's even
heard about, but then you justsaid it.
Oh because I was like, dang it,I don't know what dowry.
It kind of sounds like dowdy,like the little thing on the
table.
What's up with dow?
Doily doily that's a great word.
A doily.
It's so it's supposed to be soornamental and fancy, and it's
(06:46):
called a doily.
SPEAKER_00 (06:47):
Yeah, it sounds like
you're saying it wrong.
Like that's what it's one ofthose words that sounds like
you're butchering it when yousay it right.
SPEAKER_04 (06:55):
And doily doesn't
have anything to do with dowry.
SPEAKER_00 (06:57):
No, okay.
SPEAKER_04 (06:59):
Well, let's rewind
here a little bit.
What I love about this lostcoin, very serious.
Yeah, this is the one that youwant to talk about.
This is the one I want to talkabout.
But the the that dowry or thatbridal headdress, there were, I
guess, 10 coins on it.
And um, if she loses one, it'sless about her being poor or
(07:21):
like just finding a coin becausein my childlikeness, I've always
read that and been like, oh,it's a coin.
But no, it was a coin that wasmuch bigger than that because it
matched up with her identity.
And at uh for her to like sweepor turn over that entire house
to find that one coin, uh,that's a worth thing.
God sees us as his kids.
(07:44):
Um, and it's it's the a valuebased off of our relationship,
not based off of ourperformance.
And I loved, I love thattakeaway from uh the lost coin.
SPEAKER_01 (07:57):
Yeah, I think it's
like it's so fun to just find
something that was lost, wasn'tit?
When is that ever not fun?
And and and even thesesituations, like you you, you
had it, you lost it, and thenyou got it back.
We've had that a couple times inour in our family with Allison
and her her engagement ring.
(08:18):
I believe it.
SPEAKER_04 (08:19):
Because every time
Allison and Zach come to our
house, she leaves back like 2.5things at her house.
SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
I'm not gonna
comment on that.
SPEAKER_00 (08:27):
2.5.
I'm curious about the pointfive, but we'll talk about it.
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
One time three, one
time two, and he's going
averages here.
SPEAKER_00 (08:34):
Okay, yeah, he's I
thought she's leaving half a
thing.
SPEAKER_01 (08:38):
Well, she could
easily, but like one time it was
lost for two years.
And I was like literally thenext week gonna be going to buy
it, and we had friends thatfound it.
And it's just such a great thingto find something that's lost.
And uh, you know, you think of,and gosh, uh how what do I think
(08:59):
of this chapter?
Like, this chapter is probablyone of the top 10 chapters in
the Bible.
I think if you were to askpeople, what are your favorite
chapters?
this would show up in the top10.
And so we could spend hourstalking about it.
But I just think it's so fun tofind what's lost, and especially
the more value something has,even the greater fun it is to
(09:19):
find.
And so God and his kids, likewe're the most valuable
possession that he has.
We're the apple of his eye, theprized possession.
We are created for his glory.
And so when when we who werecreated by him are lost and he
finds us, like, oh man, ofcourse that's gonna be just an
incredible party.
And so, how do we then join himin his mission to help find find
(09:42):
God's kids?
Let's go rescue them.
It's super fun.
And and that that was what madeit really even greater on Sunday
is that we had so many peoplethat got baptized in all three
of our campuses.
And that's like the tangible,it's more than a symbol, but it,
but it's a a sign of new life ofI was lost and now I'm found.
(10:03):
And it's just it was a reallypowerful Sunday.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Yeah, I really liked
the connection between baptism,
thinking of that last and thenfound and the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
Prodigal son's
always been one of my favorite
stories.
And I can remember when I wasyoung, before I had children, I
always thought, what a stupid,stupid father.
Like, how can you just take himback and be so celebratory when
he just blew all your money?
Like, what are you gonna do?
And now that I have adultchildren, I totally get it.
SPEAKER_05 (10:29):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:29):
I like I yes,
slaughter the calf.
Yes, let's throw the party.
Like, I can't imagine the thesadness or the worry or the
concern that he went through notknowing really where his son was
when he went off on his own.
Um, and so to think, God, that'show God thinks about us.
Yeah, wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (10:49):
And if anyone's
listening, if you want to go
deeper with the Luke 15,especially the lost son uh
parable, one of my favoritebooks of all time is by Tim
Keller, and it's called TheProdigal God, and just a really
masterful way of breaking downthis story in greater detail
that focuses not only on the sonthat we call prodigal, the which
(11:10):
means recklessly wasteful andextravagantly wasteful, but also
spend significant time talkingabout the older brother, who, if
you notice in the story, he'sstill invited at the end.
And I actually think that's themain audience for this.
It's less about, in fact, if yougo back to the very front of the
Luke 15, it's it's there's twogroups of people that are
(11:32):
meeting with Jesus.
There's tax collectors andsinners, and there's the
Pharisees and teachers of thelaw.
And and I would argue that this,these stories, like the tax
collectors and sinners, as Jesusis sharing three stories in a
row, are like, yeah, boom,celebrate.
Like this is what God's done.
And I can just see the Phariseesand the teachers of the law kind
(11:53):
of gritting their teethtogether, like, ah, no, this is
not.
But at the end of it, what itis, it's it's an invitation for
those that that live likePharisees and live like teachers
of the law, that live judgmentaland I always got to tick the
right boxes, but man, when I do,and that old that younger
brother of theirs made all themistakes and God, like it's an
invitation for all theself-righteous people that you
(12:15):
have a place here at the partytoo.
And it actually doesn't getresolved in the story, which I
think is fascinating.
Anyway, I could talk about Luke15 forever.
SPEAKER_04 (12:24):
And great shout out
to the late T.
Kelly.
Come on, Tim Keller.
Yes, that's awesome.
Yeah, and I think though thewhole idea that we are part of
God's treasure is crazyhumbling.
That he sees me not as like themess I am, but he instead like
goes into the mess, into thedirt because I'm his treasure.
(12:50):
Yeah.
So goodness.
SPEAKER_00 (12:52):
Amen.
All right.
So Greg kind of shifted andtalked about um, you know, we
all have things that go wrong.
And when we do, we get caught upin what he calls the three Ps.
So that's being personal,pervasive, and permanent.
And so, Peter, I'm wondering ifyou can, if you can uh, you
know, just exude some of theemotion in the statements that
(13:16):
um when something hits us and wedo something wrong and it's
personal, yeah.
Like what is that, what doesthat feel like?
SPEAKER_02 (13:22):
Oh, it's all my
fault.
Oh, I I did this, I can neverfix it.
SPEAKER_00 (13:27):
Yeah, now what about
per pervasive?
SPEAKER_02 (13:30):
Everything in my
life is upside down and it's all
a mess, and it's so terrible.
SPEAKER_00 (13:35):
I I like it.
SPEAKER_02 (13:36):
And permanent, it'll
never be good again.
SPEAKER_04 (13:41):
Or if another voice,
you may be familiar.
Well, I guess it'll never begood again.
Eeyore.
The worst of all animatedcharacters, and people love
wearing like eeyores on theirshirts and stuff, and I'm always
like, wow.
I mean, I get I get if you haveempathy for him, but that dude
was such a bummer.
(14:03):
I'm more of a tigger guy.
SPEAKER_05 (14:05):
Uh tiggerism.
SPEAKER_04 (14:06):
Tigger was a poor.
Yeah, yes.
SPEAKER_00 (14:08):
I'm a poo.
I'm a poo fan.
SPEAKER_04 (14:10):
You're that is a
weird thing to say in a podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (14:13):
I'm Winnie the Pooh
fan.
SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
Thank you for that
clip.
SPEAKER_00 (14:17):
You know what I you
know what I loved about ER
though?
You know what I loved?
All of his friends would go andcheck on him.
They didn't try to change him,they didn't try to oh just snap
out of it, or we're gonna dothis to make you feel better.
They just accepted him the wayhe was.
That's true, and just stillloved on him.
All of the characters had theirquirks.
SPEAKER_04 (14:34):
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Yeah, you're right.
They just kind of let him be.
They're just like, he's just oneof the dudes.
Yeah.
Hey, if you're an Eeyore outthere, we're here for you.
Still come to church.
SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
All right.
So these three P's, personal,pervasive, permanent, how do
those hit you?
What do you take away from hisdescription of those?
Do you recognize this in your soDina, frame it a little bit?
SPEAKER_01 (15:00):
So is this are are
these three things that we may
feel when what?
SPEAKER_00 (15:06):
When when something
goes wrong.
SPEAKER_01 (15:08):
Something goes
wrong.
SPEAKER_00 (15:09):
It doesn't go to
plan.
Yes.
Or we jump to all three.
Or all three.
Yes.
Yeah.
Do you find that to be true?
Do you find one of these thatyou struggle with more?
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yeah, I I think
probably the one I would
struggle with the most out ofthose three would be the
personal, of not taking it toopersonal.
Uh and how how do you yeah, howdo you keep moving forward
without yeah, taking people'sshots or what they say about you
negatively.
Yeah, even last week I put avideo up of something that
(15:41):
happened in our denomination umthat I didn't agree with, and I
posted a reaction to it, andit's you know, you you can see
the comments, and there's a lotof people that are very
positive, but there's a numberof people that have honestly
taken it really personal againstme.
And and so in the midst of that,how do you stay above above
(16:04):
that?
And uh again, how do you how doyou still believe that person
who maybe said it in a reallyrude way and was super unfair is
still valuable, is still worthy,is there something truthful
about what he or she said that Ineed to know so that I can be
(16:25):
better?
Like I hope I'm asking thosequestions, but it's really easy
to just jump to personal andwell, let me get defensive and
shoot something back.
That's a slippery slope.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (16:37):
Maybe it's just that
face you're making on the
thumbnail.
SPEAKER_01 (16:42):
No, it's like Oh,
it's a frustration.
It was it was uh palm in facefrustration, which is a top five
out of ten thumbnail reaction.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (16:51):
Uh Carissa said it's
called soy face.
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
Is that that's what
called soy face?
SPEAKER_04 (16:55):
It's soy something
like yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (16:56):
Well, it's
exhaustion, it's frustration.
SPEAKER_04 (16:59):
It's just you can't
even believe it.
Yeah, it's I mean that Ilistened to the pod or your re
response and I thought it wasreally good.
The face annoyed me.
That's fine.
I should have commented, but Ichose not to.
SPEAKER_01 (17:15):
So you're doing it
publicly.
SPEAKER_04 (17:16):
So I wanted to give
my public apology for uh right
now.
No, yeah, but but seriously,Zach, I I am grateful uh for you
bringing up some of these topicsand be what being willing to to
talk about them in our Senate,it matters.
So thanks for your courage forthat and for persisting even
amid personal uh attacks, um,and acknowledging, like, yeah,
(17:41):
they may have an opinion I needto hear and think about.
SPEAKER_01 (17:44):
It's one of the
things on that line of uh that
again goes with value and worththat I'm trying to remind myself
of is like even if I disagreewith something, someone, uh I
need to take a posture becausethat person is valuable, is
worthy.
I need to take a posture of Ican learn something new in every
situation that I go into.
Can I learn something new?
(18:05):
And I believe I can.
You know, we can we we may stillwalk out of a room and disagree
with each other, but can I bringa posture of I can learn
something new?
I've been trying really hard tolike say that to myself before I
walk into some of theseconversations of like, yeah,
just be open.
You don't have all the answers,and I don't, but it's it's uh
certainly something that you yougotta remind yourself of.
SPEAKER_04 (18:26):
Yeah.
So for me, the three P's, um,personal, pervasive, and
permanent, um, I think thatthose happen in my life when I
forget that God is right thereand wants to carry my burdens
for me, and I like lose allfreedom, and I'm like, I gotta
figure this out.
And even in in like, there's awhole range in those challenges
(18:51):
of things that are lifeshattering and things that are
very small, but in all of those,if I was just to like invite God
into them, very quickly thatpersonal, pervasive, and
permanent kind of fades away.
And then I actually have freedomand I'm not on my own, and I
remember the creator of theuniverse is on my side, and then
(19:15):
when I'm focusing on him, well,all of a sudden his word starts
coming alive in my heart and inmy mind.
And um, so that's usually thetrade-off that that I need to
make when I get stuck in apersonal, pervasive, or
permanent problem.
The four pieces nice, nice, youadded a P is that I need to
(19:36):
purvey persistent my prayer, myprayer to the propitiation
prevents performance.
Yes, that was great.
But yeah, if you could readthrough the lines, you'll glean
something powerful.
That's a terrible sound forlisteners.
Goodness.
(19:57):
Oh, by the way, have you heardthat like men and women uh like
women can't do machine gunsounds, but men can.
No, that's such a stereotype.
Do machine gun sounds gonna doit.
Dina, do it first so I so Dina,you go first.
SPEAKER_00 (20:13):
No, I'm not gonna go
first.
SPEAKER_04 (20:14):
Okay, when you're
home, ask your family members to
do this because men know you doit.
Give me what a machine gun?
SPEAKER_00 (20:21):
Yeah, like I I think
there's a variety of okay.
SPEAKER_04 (20:25):
There's there's a
couple.
There's a more throat one, thator the or the more the lip one.
Um, but like that's a machinegun.
Guys know that you go and youalways make the hand motions or
whatever.
Yes, yes.
Dino, what do you got?
unknown (20:41):
Got nothing.
SPEAKER_04 (20:42):
She's not gonna do
it.
Ask is ask around, see if thisis true.
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_00 (20:48):
Pew pew pew.
SPEAKER_04 (20:50):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (20:51):
I've never shot a
machine gun, so what uh how did
that relate?
SPEAKER_04 (20:55):
Because you were
like, gotcha.
So that was me.
SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
You were machine
gunning our listeners.
SPEAKER_04 (21:02):
Machine gun Zacky.
SPEAKER_00 (21:05):
So one of the ways
that Greg wanted to recognize
that we can pull ourselves outof the three Ps was by
remembering the three thingsthat he talked about: our value,
our worth, and our belonging.
And I really liked um that Gregmade this really interactive and
we had to repeat with gusto, youknow, several of these phrases
(21:26):
that I am valued, I am worthy,and I belong.
And so I just want to kind ofwalk through those and see what
stuck with you guys about thediscussion or something about
your personal life.
Value.
What really jumped out at youwhen he was talking about value?
I really liked that um he thatwe can be so odd by creation
(21:48):
that we question our value.
I find that to be true.
I feel like God is such a bigGod that my problems seem too
small.
And I've said this before onhere, you know, that it
sometimes feels disproportionatethat he's gonna care that much
about me.
SPEAKER_04 (22:03):
Yeah.
Um, I think like I'm worth beingsearched for.
A God searched and found me inmy sin in my muck and and send
Jesus to redeem me.
That uh I'm not measured by myusefulness or my performance.
I'm measured as a son of God,like a son of the most high king
(22:27):
redeemed by Christ.
Uh that that's a big differencein value versus what I what have
I done lately.
SPEAKER_01 (22:37):
Yeah, and I think a
value, I think it's such an
important word to ascribe topeople and to just remind our
listeners that you are you areonly worth what someone is
willing to pay.
Right?
And we all know that exercisewhere uh you may have a
possession and you may thinkit's worth, like our kids are
(22:58):
perfect examples of this.
They, you know, they have abaseball card or they've got a
coin or they've got whatevercollectible, and oh, it's worth
$100.
It's like, no, it's worthwhatever you can get for it.
Uh and typically it's not worthwhat the Beckett magazine says
it is.
SPEAKER_04 (23:12):
Go back to Beckett.
SPEAKER_01 (23:14):
Oh man.
But you are only worth as muchas someone is willing to pay.
And if you take that threadlineall the way through, you see
through Jesus how valuable youreally are, that he is willing
to pay and give everything,every ounce of his blood to pay
in full for you.
And so when the world comes atyou, and when the enemy lies at
(23:37):
you, and when the people in yourlife let you down, and when they
say things negatively about you,go back to the cross to see how
much our Lord and Savior waswilling to pay for you.
And there's your value.
It's an incre it's why it's themost incredible love story that
(23:58):
we ever we've ever had.
Is because he was willing to dothat for us, like Peter said,
when we were at our worst.
Yeah.
Like that's crazy.
It's easy to bring value tothings that work well for you or
connect with people that youmight be able to network and
connect your way up.
Like you may find them valuable,you might talk about them in
(24:18):
that way, but to see somethingthat actually the rest of the
world would let go by thewayside, to see the prodigal son
that has nothing good to offerand's already taken everything,
the best of what you have, andruined it, and and to welcome
them back, like there's nothere's no story like it.
SPEAKER_04 (24:39):
Yeah, and you you
kind of uh tipped your toe in
the pool of worth already.
So let's keep running with thatone.
I think um running with that uhlike sports card analogy, you
and I both collected cardsgrowing up, and uh I've never
gotten too far into it as anadult, but now I know that if
you want to see what a card isreally worth, to even find out
(25:02):
if anyone will pay for it, youhave to get it graded.
Yeah, and the higher grade it isdetermines how much it's worth.
So you can have two of the samecards, but if one's graded a six
and one's graded a nine, or six,seven, six, seven.
That's for you, fourth graderslistening to the pod.
Uh so yeah, I mean the six, thethe six is gonna be worth three
(25:27):
dollars, where the nine might bethe four hundred dollar card.
Right.
Um, and so I think that is sotypical here on this side of
earth where we look at thepeople around us and we are
seeing on our appearance, on ourusefulness, on our um like how
shiny and prepared and goodwe're looking on our stuff, and
(25:52):
God is the opposite.
Um, our worth is not determinedon how shiny or new we are.
God sees us as beaten in ourbeaten down, dirty states and
says, Your worth is enough forthat my son died.
SPEAKER_05 (26:11):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (26:12):
So yeah, the value
and worth though I think they
really work together.
SPEAKER_01 (26:16):
They go together.
I have an easier time believingthat I am valuable than I am
worthy.
Uh it they're similar, but Ithere's something about worth,
worthy, that for whatever reasonin my brain, I have a harder
time getting to than seeingmyself as valuable.
And I and I I obviously we getthe word worship, yeah, right,
(26:39):
from worth.
And I did not know that.
Not obvious to me.
And worth ship?
Come on.
But like typically, and this isjust what I do, but when you
you've been in church and youknow this the songs are going
on, and the worship leaders willsay, All right, sing it in your
own words, sing your own words,sing your own words.
And I that's so confusing topeople.
(26:59):
I but for me, it's not confusingor hard for me because but I've
also grown up in church, but Ialways like whatever my language
is or whatever song quote thatGod gives to me, the worthy is
always the first word.
I just can't stop singing howworthy he is.
And so there's so I I know I'mworthy because of what Christ
has done, but I have a hardertime without context saying I am
(27:23):
worthy than I do saying I amvaluable for whatever reason.
SPEAKER_04 (27:26):
Yeah, well, and and
I think when we think value, we
do think of like what whatskills has God given me?
What strengths?
Uh and you take strength findersor you take the spiritual gifts
test or whatever, and you'relike, Yeah, I've got values, and
we can see that in ourselves andthe people around us, but
worthy, yeah, it's it is adifferent conversation.
And I think as a good Lutheran,I grew up being like I'm
(27:49):
unworthy over and over again.
Now there is that whole like,but I'm redeemed, I'm saved
through Christ, and my worth isin him, which makes me worthy.
But like I've I'm still cautiousto say that.
So yeah, that was uh I think Ifelt that in myself and felt it
a little bit in the room when uhPastor Greg was giving us that
(28:12):
truth.
You are worthy.
I was like, I squirmed a little.
SPEAKER_00 (28:16):
I was really struck
um by when he said, God's up in
heaven.
And when you call out to him,he's like, Shh, all of heaven,
shh, Peter spoke my name, or youknow, Zach spoke my name.
That was an image that kind ofknocked me out.
Like I was like, oh my gosh, Inever would imagine that.
I feel, like I said, very smallin God's world.
(28:40):
I know he loves me, I know hecares about me, but I don't
think of being that important,that worthy sometimes.
So that really struck me.
SPEAKER_05 (28:47):
That's cool.
SPEAKER_00 (28:48):
I really liked um
Greg also said when he was
talking about being worthy andhe was talking about shame, a
lot of the our feelings ofunworthiness come from shame.
And he said, God is activelyseeking the shamed to restore
their honor.
And I really liked that.
How that just felt uplifting.
All right.
So belonging is the third one.
(29:09):
What do you think aboutbelonging?
SPEAKER_04 (29:10):
Yeah, so the son
comes home and he's like, make
me a servant.
I don't, you know, I'm I don'thave the value, I don't have the
worth.
And um the father says, No,let's do the opposite.
Kill the fat and calf.
Like I'm no matter what you'vedone, it doesn't change who you
are, my child.
(29:30):
And uh, and kind of what yousaid earlier, I I see that
better now as a parent.
Um my kids can get the best ofme often, but I would never
trade them away.
I would never devalue them.
They're still my child.
And at the end of the day, I Ithank God that they gave that He
gave me them and that that theyare mine.
(29:53):
Um and so that belonging is webelong to the Father regardless.
Of what we've done.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:03):
And I like that
image of Luke 15, too, that when
we talk about belonging, it'snot like uh you belong here,
kind of quietly, secretly makeyour way in and you know, sit in
the back.
You can belong, but you know,don't come up to the front.
SPEAKER_00 (30:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (30:21):
I like the fact that
no, I belong and and you belong.
If you're a listener, youbelong.
And when you are in God'spresence, when you get out of
that baptismal water, like we'rethrowing a party, we're killing
the fattened cat.
Like it's the it's the best meatwe've ever eaten.
The whole, the whole party, thewhole, the whole village is
coming.
Like it's about to go downbecause you belong.
(30:43):
Like you are at the come to thefront.
Come to this is what it's allabout.
This is re-reunited.
And it feels so good.
It feels so good.
But no, you you belong.
But I want people to know thatthey not only belong, like just
sort of on the fringes ofbelonging, but you belong in in
the in the in the very center ofall of this.
(31:03):
That's what I think is reallycool.
SPEAKER_04 (31:05):
Well, and and you
belong whether you've been good
at it, whether you've been badat it, whether you've done it
your whole life, whether youlike the thief at the cross met
Christ um minutes before yourdeath.
Belonging isn't something you'veearned.
Belonging is something you'vebeen given.
And that's a gift.
And I just have to receive it.
(31:27):
And then it's mine throughfaith.
Uh, and because of what Christhas done, I belong.
And I think it's hard in ourWestern culture because we want
to earn everything.
And most things you can you havea chance to earn, but not this.
You can't.
It's been given to you.
Receive it.
(31:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:49):
I also like the idea
of belonging and how God models
that for us.
Because, like the the title ofthis is Does God Love Me?
Does God love them?
And the idea of this they thatwe may not like or we don't
understand, or we just don'tknow who they are.
They belong to.
And to remember that in such adivisive culture, you know,
(32:10):
where it's very easy to get usversus them.
Them is still a child of God.
Them is still created in hisimage.
Them is still who he's going toleave the 99 to go find.
Them still gets to sit at thehead table.
Like it's just this idea of umhow he models that for us.
(32:31):
And Greg said, his love isrelentless and transforms us to
love others.
And I liked that.
That struck me as okay, that'san area I can work on.
Like I don't struggle as often,I think, with feeling like I
belong as I do with maybe myworthiness.
But I do struggle to rememberthat others belong too.
SPEAKER_04 (32:55):
Yeah.
I I wonder, I think the thechurch, we have a tendency to
love them certainly post-baptismand like on the way towards
baptism.
SPEAKER_05 (33:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (33:09):
But the people who
blatantly are living differently
and and they don't know thatthey're creating God's image and
they're living contrary to that,which by the way, I do the same
thing.
Um I think the church, we havestruggled to love them well.
And that whole thought of likeif I if I want someone to um if
(33:36):
I want someone to know Christ,what's gonna work better for me
to like love them, to show themcare, or to be against them and
to push them away?
I mean, it's so obvious, even asI disagree.
And most people I'm around don'tmind if I disagree, but they do
mind if I'm a jerk.
(33:57):
And so that was a good reminderto me, um just really to shift
who the way I treat them, thepeople pre-baptism folks.
SPEAKER_01 (34:09):
And and if you look
into the story too, right?
He's talking to those twogroups, it's the tax collectors
and sinners.
And what I love about Jesus ishe I I think you could make a
really good argument that he hedoes not ask them to believe
before he asks them or invitesthem to belong.
And I think sometimes we have toget that, we get that mixed up
(34:31):
in the church, is we expectpeople to come all buttoned up
and neat and tidy and pretty.
And sometimes when people cometo the church, church, they're
sloppy, they're wet, they'remessy.
And and and I we need to createan environment where come as you
are and you can belong here.
And what's neat is the more youbelong, the believing will come.
The more you're around Jesus,like these these people couldn't
(34:53):
wait to sit around Jesus and hisfeet and learn from him.
He had compassion and love andkindness and care.
And so I think sometimes when weget that order backwards and
we're so afraid of messy church,let's just call it, that we
create a system where it's onlyfor the nice, tidy, neat people
(35:14):
that already kind of understandor maybe halfway have their life
together, that already ascribeto what we believe.
And it's like, awesome, we wantto be a place for you too.
But no, how can we be a churchthat no matter who you are, what
your story is, where you'vebeen, and no matter what will
come of it, whether you one dayget baptized or not, you have a
place here.
You can belong here before youbelieve.
(35:38):
And the more you're aroundJesus, I'm convinced that the
Holy Spirit will do great workas we his as our his people um
live more and more like him.
And I hope and pray that all allwould come to believe.
SPEAKER_00 (35:50):
Definitely.
So as we wrap up, what are yourfinal takeaways from this
message?
SPEAKER_04 (35:57):
Yeah, I would I
would say that uh um whether you
know it or not, there's a doilywith your name on it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:07):
Waiting for you.
That's good.
I think for me it's yeah,getting back to the realization
personally of being able to say,I am worthy.
I am worthy.
And then seeing other people inthat same light and really going
over the posture that thisperson's valuable, they're
worthy.
I can learn something new fromthem.
SPEAKER_00 (36:28):
I really liked one
of the last things that Greg
talked about was um he wasencouraging us to be joyful with
the baptisms that werehappening.
And he said, you know, that thatthey celebrate in heaven when
this happens, you know, there'shooting and hollering in heaven,
and that he talked about joybeing communal.
And I I just liked that idea.
And because I can have the mostecstatic thing happen, but it's
(36:51):
so much nicer when I'm sharingit with other people.
And so, how does my faith becomethat joy that I share?
And how does that help othersbelong?
SPEAKER_01 (37:00):
Yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_00 (37:02):
All right.
Well, thank you guys for beingon today.
SPEAKER_01 (37:05):
And Dina, could I
could I do something I'd like to
uh Greg was talking about in thesermon that he's been working on
songwriting?
SPEAKER_00 (37:12):
Oh, did you get
that?
SPEAKER_01 (37:13):
So have I.
So I have a song for us.
You don't need the drum, it'sjust not a cappella song I've
been working on this this uhpodcast.
Do you need harmony?
Uh maybe.
I mean you just flow with me ifyou want.
All right.
The title of the sermon waswhat?
SPEAKER_00 (37:26):
Does God love Does
God love me?
Does God love them?
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (37:31):
Does God love me?
Does God love them?
Let me clear my throat.
Does God love me?
Does God love them?
Oh no, I got a little phlegm.
But the answer is yes.
The answer is yes.
And so if you're asking for afriend, does God love me?
(37:52):
Does God love them?
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (37:55):
The answer is yes.
SPEAKER_00 (38:03):
I think there's
nothing that can top that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:05):
I mean, you usually
have a song to go out.
No, I like it.
I like what you just did.
Did you have one prepped?
No, I I thought we could do atwo for uh yeah.
SPEAKER_04 (38:12):
My my song is more
about uh one of my favorite
holidays coming up becausethere's not enough songs about
Thanksgiving, and that gobblegobble one is brilliant, but
it's like the only one.
So I wanted to make up one songabout Thanksgiving right now,
and it goes, what's it calledagain?
SPEAKER_00 (38:29):
Wait, but what is
the gobble gobble song?
SPEAKER_04 (38:31):
Matt Matthew West,
check it out.
Gobble gobble, greatThanksgiving song, Blair It.
Okay, it's great.
But what's the name of my song,Dina?
My Thanksgiving song?
SPEAKER_00 (38:42):
Um, my turkey had an
egg.
SPEAKER_03 (38:44):
Yeah, that's it.
My turkey had an egg.
I know that's weird for you,because turkeys do not lay eggs,
or perhaps they do.
SPEAKER_04 (38:57):
Doily doily Sunday,
Monday, beyond Sunday.
You can listen doily daily,doily, doily, you know.