November 18, 2025 • 71 mins
đź’” We all carry stones. But what if Jesus never asked us to throw them?
When a crowd gathered, ready to condemn, Jesus didn’t pick up a stone—He knelt down. He didn’t expose shame—He extended grace.
“When we choose compassion over condemnation, we walk The Jesus Way.” “You can’t hold grace in one hand and a stone in the other.”
It’s easy to judge. It’s harder—but holier—to love the way He did. This message will challenge how you see people and how you see yourself.
👉 Watch the full message and the rest of The Jesus Way series now on our YouTube channel: 🎥 youtube.com/@sobernotboring
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hello friends.
(00:02):
So this book is What If
it was written by Ann Smith?
, somebody sat down with her whenshe was a hundred years old and
she talked about life and wisdom
that she has gained along the way.
And this is the collection ofher little pieces of wisdom.
So I'm literally just gonna open it andI haven't heard anything bad from her
(00:23):
yet, and I don't anticipate I will now.
Hmm.
What
if
I learned how
to give people space
to grow?
Oh man.
Anne's got a way ofjust saying it in a way.
(00:44):
Doesn't she?
on my time?
Oh,
space to grow.
But I want 'em to bejust like this right now.
So doesn't work that way.
So I don't know where the basketis or if it's made it around.
That is if you wanna be part of our, um,
we put our
names in there for those of you who wouldlike to just trade names with somebody
(01:07):
to be on our
pray for them throughout the week.
So if you'd like to
be part of it, feel free to take a piece.
Once
everybody has their names onthere, feel free to pass it back
around and take a slip back out.
And that will be your personto pray for through the week.
So that's what that's about.
The pennies that are inthere that have the cross.
Cut out of them, you're feel
(01:27):
free to take one or a couple or a few and
just something to take with you.
A good friend makes those for
me.
um, before prayer.
uh.
I'm
again, does anybody haverequests that you would like to
specifically pray about today?
I'm gonna share that andjust I'll get right to you.
(01:48):
Um.
Continued prayers for my youngest son,Parker, wherever in the world he may be.
We are completely not in
communication of any kind with anybody,so we don't know exactly where he's at We
have some guesses, but we don'thave the absolute proof of that.
But, um, but also for my daughter, uh.
(02:11):
She is pregnant with my granddaughterand due at Christmas time, but having
some complications that they're watching.
And we don't know if this isgonna be an early delivery or not.
So
prayers over my daughter, Hannah,and this little baby girl that we are
waiting on, that all will go well forher and we'll find out more this week and
have some more answers regarding that.
(02:33):
So,
but Scott,
for girls.
soon, so I'm Awesome.
Just
Okay.
(02:53):
Yes.
prayers for Fred
to, um, be able for housing andthen prayers for me for, uh,
go
whatever.
Just need
prayers I got you.
Yeah.
Anybody else?
(03:15):
Yes.
Okay.
Um,
Okay.
And when Is In December?
yeah.
Okay.
Um,
Okay.
is he receptive to restarting that?
(03:37):
Does he talk about it?
he
off, so we would surelove to see him here, so,
yeah.
Yes.
Um, prayer, just for peaceand strength this week.
I go to the mat tomorrow and
help somebody do all the I do,and so my heart kind I feel
(04:00):
like I have to give service.
So just prayer for strength and
then yeah,
situation.
kids Morgan not being she's there,the kids are bickering and just
And we had to
to start
new job.
Need lot of prayer this week.
You're gonna get smothered with it, girl.
(04:21):
All right.
Anybody else?
Right now?
My new old
For us,
new chapter.
Mm.
So
So You wanna share?
We're getting a house in Lions thesame amount of rent that we're rent
a one bedroom house for with four
(04:43):
Yes.
I'm, glad.
it's my mom's
house.
Yeah.
How is that for I'm, I can see it allover you, so It's probably a special
full circle kind of a thing for you.
So my
kids like
oh, kids are
like,
when I pulled over from, and
You better say yes.
Yeah.
yeah.
oh, your mom I'm sure is just.
(05:05):
so, So beautiful.
Yes.
And then for me, I and theydidn't get my application that I
so Okay.
That's why we're waiting on for Okay.
We'll get you We'll get you there.
So, all right.
(05:30):
think we are
good.
all right.
Let's take this to God.
Father, God, thank you, thank you thankyou for this beautiful Sunday, and yes,
I said beautiful.
Even with the snow on the ground,
it was beautiful to look atFather, and I know sometimes we
(05:51):
can grumble and complain about coldand snow, but God help us to have
eyes to see the beauty ineverything that you send to us.
I'm grateful for everybodythat is in this space today.
I pray a special blessingon each one of them.
We especially wanna bring to you Father,those that were brought to us today.
(06:13):
We wanna pray for Scott and his daughtersas they are anticipating, giving,
getting their own space, a place thatthey can call home and grow in to
continue the repairing and just liveout this amazing life that he's finding
in recovery with those children of his,
I pray continued prayers over myyoungest son, Parker, wherever he is,
(06:36):
father, you know what he's called to do.
you always know where he's at, and I prayfather, that you are always close to him.
That you always remind him of who he isand that he stands solid in who you are.
Father,
I pray protection over him.
Keep him safe, father.
(06:59):
But I pray especially that youkeep your hand on his mind.
Who loves you?
That he can be a testimony of you.
I pray also for my daughter,Hannah, who is looking forward to
the birth of a of another daughter.
I just pray that you continue to be withher to keep her and this little one.
(07:21):
Safe.
Through this time,
we pray that the results from thesetests in this upcoming week show that
things are okay to continue on, but if itmeans an early delivery, then Father, we
accept that and we pray for protection.
Also, in that situation, we think of Fredwho is in the search for housing, and I
(07:43):
pray, father, that an answer comes thisweek with exactly the right place for
him that provides the needs that he has.
And God we bring again to you ChrisChristina, who is just thriving
and growing so much in her recoveryand we're so happy to get to know
her and have her part of us here,and we just pray that you continue
(08:05):
to bless her and show her the way.
Also, we think of Brian who ishaving sentencing in December,
and God we pray if it's your will,that it will be to time served and
that he can step free,but that he steps free,
into a path that leadsto recovery for him.
And Father, I selfishlypray that we see him here.
(08:26):
We loved having him and and we areready and here to support him if he
chooses that And if it's your will,
I bring to you Rob and Father,she just is asking for prayers
for peace and some strength.
She's returning to a former job
to assist them there asthey move forward, and I
just.
Pray for her beautiful servantheart, that you use her as a witness
(08:51):
of you in this situation there.
And we pray for her children, Morgan andPhoenix, that that settles into a state
of peace in this, family.
There's just growing pains thathappen as our children become adults.
and I pray that they all findtheir way in a way that brings
peace and harmony to Robin's
And on top of all of this, father Robinis starting a new job and a new old job.
(09:16):
And, uh, we prayblessings in that for her.
We think of Brian and Billy who have been
blessed with this beautifulopportunity to have a home that
will provide what is needed
For them and they can be alltogether in a space that has room.
God, you are so very good andthere's just something so special
(09:38):
about the fact that thiswas Billy's mom's home.
And for Billy to return to this placeand to live in there is just, I'm
so grateful, father, for what youmake happen in people's lives and
we just think of our Mackenzie here.
Father, just resolve theseissues with this job.
Make everything gosmooth from here on out.
(09:59):
She's going to get that license, she'sgonna get that job, and life is just
gonna continue to get better and better.
And we're grateful for her andwe're grateful to know her.
father, I pray over the children in thebasement today, bless them in everything
that they're gonna do down there, I'mso thankful for Katie whose beautiful.
Heart is just a servant's heart, andshe willingly and eagerly jumps in to
(10:23):
provide care for these kids of ours here.
We sure love having them here.
Bless us through the rest of this day.
Father, I ask as always, pleasetake me completely out of the way.
Keep me from my own thoughts,from my opinions, from what I
wanna say, and please just useme to say what you wish to say.
(10:45):
I pray blessings on each one of us.
I especially thank youfather for your son Jesus.
It is through Him and Him only
that we can come to you in theway that we do, and we are so
grateful for the gift of Him.
It's in his name that wepray, pray all these things.
Amen.
(11:06):
Okay, so some of you mightknow that my new favorite song
lately is Just simply titled TheJesus Way because it's simple,
but the challenge is not simple.
It's not easy to live that way.
So I did actually make the decisionto break this down into a series.
(11:26):
It's gonna cover three weeks.
We're on the second week.
We covered the first three
topics that were touched on inthis song, and now we're gonna
touch on the middle section.
And I really like this because this isvery much about having a servant's heart.
Modeled the way that Jesus did.
And for us in this world,
(11:50):
it's not,
it's not human natureto live the human way.
Human nature
makes
us wanna live our way.
It makes us want to be an us first,a more selfish way of living.
(12:10):
We're gonna be talking about.
what it means
though, to live the Jesus way.
What that looks like and how we do
that in this part, it
starts with if you are helpless and thisis things that we need to notice around
you, I will defend you.
We have it modeled endlessly for us.
(12:32):
What God, there is nothing He will
not do to defend us, protectus, and to keep us safe.
No matter what we've done,
he is there for us.
He doesn't use anything we've doneto say You're not deserving of it.
How many times do I have tocome and do this for you?
He doesn't care.
He's like, you've turned back to me.
I'm here.
I've never left you.
(12:52):
And he expects us to be the same.
So the example that Jesus gave us, I gotall the passages written up there, is
taken in John eight, three through 11.
The religion scholars and Phariseesled in a woman who had been caught
in an active adultery, and they stoodher in plain sight of everyone and said.
(13:12):
Teacher.
This woman was caught red
handed in the act of adultery.
Moses in the law gives orders to stone.
Such a person, What do you say?
They were trying to trap him.
into saying something incriminating sothey could bring charges against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with
his finger in the dirt.
(13:35):
They kept at him, badgering him.
He straightened up and
said, the sinless
one among you, go
first, throw the stone bending down again.
He wrote some more in the dirt hearingthat they walked away one after another.
Beginning with the oldest.
(13:58):
The woman was left
alone.
Jesus stood up and spoke to her woman.
Where are they?
Does no one condemn you?
No one master.
Neither do I said, Jesus, go onyour way and from now on, don't
sin.
(14:21):
I love this story so much because crowdwas literally following their law.
We
caught her red handed, dragged her rightout, and I can about imagine the condition
that she was in being dragged out.
I can only imagine theshame, the utter shame
(14:41):
she felt.
But covering all of that,
she knew the penalty
and she knew what her death was gonnabe, and she knew that it was gonna be
by stoning and what a brutal way to die.
And she was prepared for it.
She's surrounded by acrowd that all had rocks
in their
hands, ready to go,
just ready to chuck a rock.
(15:02):
It's like a spectator event.
We don't do that here, so
don't anybody worry.
We're not gonna be throwing,throwing no stones,
But in this day and time andin their culture, this was
law.
This was penalty for the law,and they were ready to do it.
So, uh,
we're gonna get Jesus now.
That's right.
(15:23):
He's right here.
Drag him and throw her down at his feet.
There you go.
Rabbi Caught right in the, act.
They fully would've expectedJesus, like start chucking, wicked,
sinful person, but he didn't.
In
fact, he just started writing in the dirt.
They're whining, griping, complaining,wanting to throw stones, and
(15:47):
Jesus is riding in the dirt.
And then I can just imagineyou're ready to go and throw
stones and he looks up at you.
Imagine catching his eye.
and whoever here has no sin,you get to throw the first rock.
And
I like to believe you could starthearing the rocks just hitting
(16:07):
the ground as they fell from
people's hands.
I also liked how it said startingwith the oldest to the youngest,
they began to leave because there's
wisdom that
comes with age.
you?
learn things along the way and
we're called often to be the
ones to set the example.
(16:30):
so one by one, I can justhear those thuds of the rocks.
Imagine this woman
just probably eyes closed, waiting forthe first one to hit, probably hears a
thud and is wondering where mist, andall of a sudden it's just her And Jesus.
And
Jesus just looks, is thereno one here to condemn you?
(16:51):
She's like, no.
And he goes, well, I don't either.
And I can't even imagine being herin that moment, in that culture to
have somebody so openly love her, let
alone.
Jesus.
And I find it such apowerful example because it
(17:13):
can be so easy to dogpile on people, groups,
religions we're
ready to go, you know,the figuratives stoning,
But we tend to do it with our mouths andour words, what we write and post online.
(17:36):
And think of those like those rocks in
your hands.
Whoever's without sin can be thefirst one to chuck And I like to
think I'd be like, I can't throwit 'cause I'm not without sin.
The impact of such a simple lesson,
(17:58):
I'm sure every single person thatwas there never ever forgot that.
I have a feeling they weren't eager topick up rocks to throw at somebody again.
And then Jesus tells us this.
Jesus calls the judges This is Psalm 82.
Jesus calls the judges into his courtroom.
(18:20):
He puts all the judges in the dock
enough.
You've corrupted justice long enough.
You've let the wickedget away with murder.
You're here
to defend the defenseless to makesure that underdogs get a fair break.
Your job is to stand up for
the powerless and toprosecute all those who
(18:44):
exploit them.
So what does that mean for us?
Does that mean we get to dog pile peopleor do we get to be the person that
said, I'm gonna stand at your side and
face this.
(19:05):
it doesn't say if youagree with the reason
they're being dog piled on.
But do, are we willing to do that?
Are we willing to standwith that outsider?
Are we willing to noticethings that are wrong
and then do something about it?
(19:26):
Or are we willing tonotice that something's
wrong?
It's like, oh, I can make apost about it or I'll talk about
it, or, well, it doesn't affect
me.
Uh,
I don't think we have thatkind of wiggle room from God.
God gave us eyes to see.
(19:47):
and
a mind to think, and his word toweigh it against, and he told us, if
you see people that are defenselessand in need of assistance, you
as my beloved,
precious children arehere to be there for them.
(20:10):
When we see people struggling,
when we see people turning on
someone,
we're called to be the onethat stand by their side
Jesus wasn't a sinner.
Jesus was an adulterer.
(20:32):
Jesus didn't do anything
that would ever deserve a stoning,but he stood side by side with
somebody who very obviously
was.
The idea that somebody in Jesus'position, the way people saw him at
this point as a teacher, they came tohear that he would stand and defend.
(20:53):
Probably a half naked prostitute inthe middle of the city was shocking to
them,
and yet that's what he did.
It's really
easy to stand up for people that youlove and for people that you know are
(21:15):
just like you, that think like you,and live like you and act like you.
Those are easy to stand up with.
That's easy peasy.
The way we're called toisn't easy because we're
called to stand with
people who are helpless and
(21:39):
And the more I sat with that, the more I'mlike how many times have I failed this?
Because I didn't wanna openmy mouth to say anything.
'cause I don't wanna get dog piled,
Hmm.
so I'm not gonna agree with them.
But I'm not gonna say anything
I failed I might as wellhave been dog piling.
(22:03):
I think we can all imagine what itfeels like to just desperately wish
even one person could stand at my side.
Just one.
Is there anybody?
I know
that there's been moments whenI desperately wished I knew
I had one person at my side.
Just one.
(22:23):
But
silence.
staying silent doesn't mean youdid what God called you to do
And I'm starting to find out.
It's a lot harder to do than justsaying the words is, you know, my mind
(22:46):
can wrap around the understanding Itgoes, yeah, Jesus did this, so I have
to do this.
But when it comes down to the blackand white of it, I find myself
at war like God, do I have to?
Because people aren't
gonna like it.
Yes, you have
to.
my son did for you.
(23:07):
He stood at my side every
moment of my life.
He advocated for me infront of my father, God.
Every moment of my life
every single moment, everysingle thing I've done.
those things that are known andthe things that aren't known,
(23:27):
and he didn't hesitate and I, in my little
humanist, get too embarrassedstand with somebody who needs
somebody.
Because what an impactthat would make on a life.
I can't even imagine how that woman's
life
changed after that Do youthink she told people about
it?
(23:49):
How
many people learned about Jesusbecause Jesus stood with her?
Imagine that
impact,
Let
me tell you.
Can you imagine she probablybrought freedom to other women
trapped in the same thing she was.
That's not anything anybody wants to do.
(24:10):
Women in that time and our time, andin every time, that's not desirable.
But imagine the freedom she boughtto people who needed to hear
this,
this rap.
do you know what he did?
He didn't condemn me.
(24:31):
he
didn't
He protected me.
And what a beautiful, beautiful testimony.
We don't have a God that standsthere with a rock in his hand ever.
And there's something so incrediblybeautiful about that to me.
(24:55):
And if you're burdened,
I'll share the weight.
We had a number of prayer requests.
Those are burdens,
And
we brought those to God.
We shared the weight.
That's why being known byyour family is important.
(25:16):
So Jesus offered to us.
one of my favorite verses, uh,I just, I read this so often,
Matthew 11:28 through 30.
Are you tired, worn out?
Are you burned out on religion?
Come to me, get away with meand you'll recover your life.
(25:40):
I'll show you how to take a realrest, walk with me and work with me.
Watch how I do it.
learn the unforced
rhythms of grace.
I won't lay anything heavyor ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you'lllearn how to live freely and lightly.
(26:10):
Over
and Over and over I sit with people whohave burdens that sometimes bogle my mind
walking
under the weight ofburdens, and I can dare
say every single
one of us in here has
'em.
We all do.
Life is heavy.
(26:37):
and all I do every single time isdesperately try to listen in a way so
that I can hopefully be used by God
to have the right words help themknow that I'm helping with the weight.
Jesus didn't say, I'm gonna take itaway from you, so you don't feel it,
(27:00):
but he offered to walk sideby side and carry it with you.
You know, you think of, you know, the way
they plowed the field usually, you know,you got the two ox in and the yolk and.
You know, they did thing like they wouldmatch the size and the weight, so it could
(27:20):
be an easier way to get the job done so
it didn't unfairly fallon One versus the other.
If you have an oxen that isconsiderably bigger than the
other, the yolk won't fit, right?
It's gonna cause issues.
One is gonna have more of the weight.
The other is gonna bear the
(27:41):
signs of the A yolk just
ill-fitting too
heavy.
God offers us something whereit's gonna feel easy and light.
When you're
with me
and together we're gonna walk thisand do this, I'm gonna come alongside
and we're gonna walk through this.
He doesn't take it from youbecause the lessons that.
(28:02):
are gonna be learned from there arenot things he is gonna take from
you because you need those for your
calling.
I'm so convinced of that.
The older I get.
the more I recognize
and realize
the weight that we're allowed isbecause that's where the lessons
are and it's the one thing we soactively look to get rid of in
(28:22):
our life.
We try to hide 'em and cover 'em.
A lot of us hear itthrough drugs and alcohol.
Mm-hmm.
Just avoiding it.
And God's like, all you'redoing is looking at the weight
and you're trying to do it.
alone.
I'm right here.
I'm right here I allowed this in yourlife because of what I'm gonna do with it.
Let me do it.
(28:45):
Let me do it.
It'll be so much easier.
Dave, here all the time.
A problem.
Shared his problem.
Cut in half.
And we are called
in Galatians six to this
live creatively.
Friends, if someone falls intoSin Forgivingly, restore him.
(29:07):
Saving your criticalcomments for yourself.
You might be needing forgivenessyourself before the day's out.
Here's some strong reminder inthat stoop down and reach out
to those who are oppressed.
Share their burdens andsow complete Christ's law.
(29:30):
Christ's law is love God with all
your heart and love otherslike you, love yourself.
If you think you are toogood for that, you are badly
deceived.
This is a pretty
weighty verse for us.
(29:54):
Stoop down and reach out That's notlike, oh, stooping to someone's level.
No, that's a rolling up your sleevesand willingly getting down on the
same level with somebody to helpthem, not to Lord it over them.
I really love the savior critical comments
(30:15):
for yourself because isn'tit so easy to point out?
where everybody screwed
up?
Hmm.
Let
me tell you what you've done wrong.
I got a whole list.
Where's the list for yourself?
I
guarantee you not a single onein here, and if you have come
see me because you're something special.
(30:35):
But I don't think a singleone of us has made it 24 hours
without needing some forgiveness.
So why are we people sometimesthat can dish it out?
'cause we're humans.
(30:58):
We talked
last week
about the importance of loving people.
And it's important because when we standin front of God, do you wanna hear?
But I don't know you.
And it's because of a lack of love.
Not because you didn't keep the law
(31:20):
perfect.
We worry so much about that.
Like I gotta be a good person.
Gotta do it better.
Gotta get it right.
Gotta do all the right things.
Keep all the commandmentslike you have this checklist
of actions you have to do.
So here you go.
God, look at, this.
look at look at the stuff that I did
(31:41):
And guess what?
I don't know you what?
But I have my
checklist.
it's it's right here.
Like, look it, I checked 'em all off.
I did the stuff.
Oh, you, you kept some laws.
That's great.
Who did you love?
(32:01):
I,
I, I checked these.
Yeah.
Who did you do that for?
Myself.
It was
me.
I don't want that to happen to me.
I had it backwards fora long time in my life.
(32:23):
It became about rule keepingand trying to do it right.
So people looking at me wouldsay, well, there's somebody
living a good Christian life.
God doesn't care about what it looks
like.
He cares about where it's
coming from in my heart.
I can do all, the things that make it?
look good and have all the hate in
(32:45):
the world in my heart,
but on the outside, you wouldn't know it.
It would look really good.
That's meaningless.
Keeping law does nothing for you
if there is no love driving it and not
love for ourself.
(33:06):
If anybody deserved to be
special and love self,above all, wasn't it?
Jesus,
the perfect one who also is, God
stands with prostitutes, eatswith sinners, calls the ones
(33:28):
in the messiest of lives,
washes their
feet.
Dies for them
and we wanna sit and pointout where other people fail.
(33:48):
Look at me, God.
Good Christian.
I'm gonna make sure theyknow where they're wrong.
People already know.
I always knew when I've done wrong.
Do you really think it helpedme to hear everybody pointing it
out?
Because what that does isit keeps people from being
(34:08):
open.
how do we help people if we don't know
them?
It's what I love about this community.
I know people in a waythat allows me to know
how to love you and pray for you.
It's not a community that tends to be
(34:29):
surface.
It still just shocks me sometimeshow these recovery communities
more closely resemble
the family of God than many
(34:53):
outside groups do.
You're
open, you're honest, you're transparent.
Own it.
When we fail, we bring it tothe group, we talk about it,
confess it.
(35:16):
It's like we, we don't even realize
those are kind of Jesus way things,
and I'm finding that, bringing that into.
A church setting
is a profoundly beautiful thing to mebecause it's a church family that is made
up of people who are known to each other.
(35:41):
I love that we have a longlist of prayer requests.
We have a church family here thatnow knows the needs and sometimes the
celebrations of those that we sit with,
we're not called here to be strangers.
It shouldn't be a superficial, oh, we'regonna sit down here, listen to her blather
(36:02):
on for however long she's gonna taketoday, and then go home and remember.
Check that off the box.
Yep.
Went
to church
because it will never, ever,ever, be lost on me again.
This is not church.
You are the We're just
here
talking about Jesus.
(36:23):
We're
learning more about him
because
we have a shared interestas a community and family.
But we're not here becauseI'm the be all, end all.
I'm
the only way.
You've got to figure it out.
'cause trust me, I'm not.
I am epically failed in flood and it's whyI'll own openly up here, my shortcomings,
because I need you to know that that's
(36:47):
I am a human being
that just like every
single one of you sitting there,
but notice the people who are oppressed.
Notice the people who are struggling.
(37:07):
Notice the people who are hurting.
And so up, and it's like, Ugh,
this is like the 749th time they relapsed.
And I am over it.
And I'm so grateful that God isn't.
'cause maybe 750 will be the one
(37:31):
I know it's hard to keep going.
I know it's hard to keep doing thesame thing over and over with maybe
the same person over and over andmaybe at times the relationship has to
look different.
But to write them off and throw them away,
that's not completing Christ's law.
(37:54):
How many times God, am Isupposed to forgive somebody
as many times as they need it?
And again someday, even as I say it,
I'm just
like, oh my goodness.
It's not, it was not lostto me in that moment.
Like,
thank you, God, for not lookingat me and saying, you've just
(38:16):
passed my ability to forgive you.
I'm over it with you, Heidi.
like,
seriously, how many
opportunities do you need?
I needed a lot
before I finally got there.
Picking
on you,
again today, Dave.
Dave, I was talking aboutsomebody in your life and
(38:36):
family that's been coming here and we justtalked about it this morning about the
importance of never giving up on somebody.
It's never too late.
Wasn't too late forthe thief on the cross.
It's never too late for
anybody here.
That thief on the cross nextto Jesus didn't do anything
(38:58):
in his life for anybody,
died
on the cross as a penalty forthe actions he chose to do.
He was truly a guilty man.
Wasn't religious, didn't follow Jesus,didn't sit under his feet, didn't know,
didn't care about the law, I'm sure.
And yet in the moments on thecross and witnessing Jesus, can you
(39:21):
imagine here you are crucified and
agonized and the guy nextto you is blessing people
and praying for peopleand caring for his mother.
Do you think that made sense?
Like you're going through the same thing
and the guy's in agonyand God in his mercy
revealed like this is God.
(39:43):
And he recognized that and owned that.
Like he came to saving
grace dying on a cross next to Jesus.
And when he drew his last here, guesswho was waiting for him in heaven?
(40:03):
That it's never too late.
We cannot give up on people 'causeGod doesn't give up on us ever.
And I know it can be difficult,especially for those who live with
us, the people that we're druggies and
(40:26):
drunks.
It's a hard life.
You are called to.
It's not easy livingwith us as we navigate
that,
but don't give up on God and
what he can do.
Yeah, sometimes it means you changeyour life so it's safe for you
(40:49):
and maybe your children and you do thatbut not to cut somebody out of your life.
Not to say You're beyond
redemption,
because Jesus died for them too,
and no matter what they'vedone, it's not too big for
(41:11):
him.
And we can't let it.
be too big for us
because it's our selfishness and ourpride that says, enough, I'm all done.
That's it.
Last Don't come to me for help again.
'cause it ain't ever
happening.
You're gonna have to find someone else.
(41:36):
And yet, I'm pretty sureGod's got them in your life
because
Jesus.
And that's hard.
And if you're hopeless, let me show you.
(41:58):
So the example of Jesus.
I'll set up for you what washappening before I read it,
or it won't make much sense.
This happened after Jesus.
Had been crucified and rose from the dead.
This was
before
he went back to heaven and there were twopeople that were walking down a road to
a road called Emmaus and they were havinga conversation because all hope was lost.
(42:25):
It was just lost.
Thank you for
They're like, what's the point?
Like we followed him, webelieved him, and I what?
Where crucified, like, everything theythought was gonna happen went out the
window because they were expectingsomebody to sit on a throne in Jerusalem.
(42:51):
Literally,
they had no idea, Like
none of this makes sense.
What are
we gonna do?
Did we believe things that were false that
weren't
true.
Like now what?
Back to the temple.
Like what?
What do we do with everythingwe learned from Jesus
(43:11):
as they were walking?
A third man joins and iswalking along with them,
and they
let 'em join in thisconversation and this person
started
sharing with them, but gave them aperspective on the other side of what
(43:32):
they were thinking and taught themAnd showed them how this fulfilled
scripture, how it wasn't lost,it was actually won, that what
happened was supposed to happen
and then the stranger was
gone.
And Luke 24 32
(43:53):
is this Back and forth they talked.
Didn't we feel on fire as He conversedwith us on the road as he opened
up scriptures for us,it was Jesus himself.
He just
didn't allow them to know it wasJesus himself walking with them.
(44:14):
But He taught them He
taught them that what happened happenedbecause it had to happen that way.
You were wrong in what youthought was gonna happen.
it's not lost, it's not impossible,but the way you are seeing it
does this kind of maybe startto translate into how we can be?
(44:36):
Sometimes your view of things
is only looking at this one little part.
Come with me.
Look at it from and see it in the broad
context of things.
(44:56):
And then our hope, Romansfive, three through
five, there's more to come.
We continue to shout our praise evenwhen we're hemmed in with troubles
because we know how troubles candevelop passionate patients in us
and how that patience in turnforges the tempered steel of
(45:17):
virtue,
keeping us alert forwhatever God will do next.
In alert expectancy such as this,we're never left feeling shortchanged.
Quite the contrary.
We can't round up enough containersto hold everything that God generously
(45:39):
pours into our lives through the
Holy Spirit,
and that's where our hope is.
We
don't have hope because it's somethingthat we were able to do on our own.
We have hope if we arefilled with the spirit
and that
(45:59):
comes through a simple action of faith
that says, I want and I receive the spirit
in
me.
God, please show me
that burning on fire that theyfelt in that conversation.
That was the spirit at work,
it opens and reveals to usthe right and the wrong.
(46:20):
it helps us
to see the good and theworst of situations.
I'm painfully aware of what life waslike when I wasn't spirit filled,
because it was impossible for me tolook at past experiences as anything
other than horrible,
(46:41):
and you know where thatleft me Angry and bitter and
drunk and losing family.
And lonely
and quite frankly, ready,
literally to end it alland just be done with it.
(47:05):
There are some days when it's notlost on me, how dangerously close I
came to that decision Like
and I wanted that
but God,
but God,
I was actually angry whenthose plans were changed.
(47:26):
Partially his
fault.
Robert.
I know.
I was stepping in.
I was angry at first though.
Humanly, because now what?
Like now what?
What's the point?
Every time I turn aroundloss And loss and loss
(47:46):
And God's like, hold your headup and open your eyes, girl,
and maybe turn around andstop looking at the past.
Mm. Because you're missing
the view.
I remember the first time hope came
(48:15):
and it happened when I started just
serving.
it happened when I said, God, I'm done.
I
can't do it, obviously,because I intended to end it.
So God,
I
don't even have a clue anymore.
What do you want?
Because whatever you tell me to do,I'll say yes to it and had no idea
(48:39):
what I was saying, but I meant it.
I am starting to understand now,
but the hope that you get from the
spirit.
is a powerful thing in every singlemoment of your life, in your hardest
(49:00):
of times, You still have a foundationof joy because of whose you are and the
absolute knowledge that this awfulness isgonna become something amazing someday.
God
didn't
tell us to celebrate the misery.
Don't be excited about that.
You don't
have to be excited.
(49:24):
In the Bible when it says, I countit all joy, when trials, come, it's
not because we're excited about
the trials, it's because God seesus as worthy to go through them.
And that's a completely different thing.
We had talked about Job,consider my servant job.
And little did Job knowwhat was heading his way.
(49:47):
The loss after loss,after loss, after loss.
after loss.
But who was right?
God
was because he knew his heart.
In the testimony that came outof that in the blessings that
came to
him
were
double.
(50:11):
We need to be hope for other
people who haven't found it
yet.
I had people
come into my life who knew hope
and they modeled that for meeven when I didn't understand it.
And that matters a great deal.
It can be a life or
death thing 'cause I'm living,breathing proof of that.
(50:33):
'cause I would've beenlong gone, four years gone.
And I think four years arethe most beautiful things
I've ever seen in my life.
I would've missed it all.
I would've missed knowing my
granddaughter.
I would've missed knowing all of you Iwould've missed out on this ministry.
I would've
missed out on the good stuff.
(50:56):
I would've
missed out on my reward.
And I think
that's the enemy's goal,
because when you get through your journey,
and man, I know how hard that is whenall of us get through the journey,
(51:17):
where he has it for us.
He's just like, you just, it's right
here.
It's right here.
Keep going.
And that's why we're notcalled to live in isolation.
(51:37):
Because without people around you
to remind you of hope.
to show you hope to tell you of hope
Because
of
your testimony.
you know the stories about yourself thatwe quite often don't want to share with
people are probably the things we shouldshare with people because I can promise
(52:02):
you there are people sitting around youthat probably think I'm the only one.
But then they hear somebody share theirstory and it's like I'm not the only one.
There is hope
because if you, are sittingin misery and life is
hard and you feel like you can't win,and it is never gonna get better,
(52:26):
I am telling you, yes it will.
I am telling you it willnot always look like
this.
Living like Jesus in thisworld is so incredibly
difficult because it means we can'tfocus on ourself and we tend to be
(52:51):
really good at focusing on ourselfand everything that's wrong in our
life and all the things we don't like.
And, And,
and, and I could fill in a laundrylist of things in my life that
aren't quote unquote right,
and yet I'm exactly whereI'm supposed to be at
exactly this moment, experiencingwhat I'm meant to experience.
(53:13):
And I don't fight it
anymore.
I don't get angry about, well,I shouldn't say that 'cause
then I'd have to say, I'm sorry.
I just like, sometimes I getfrustrated with my lessons,
You know, like driving a carand other people have to be on.
the road with me.
Yeah,
I'm getting a lot better with
(53:34):
that.
' cause I learned a simple
thing.
praise music is on.
'cause that changes myattitude from the get go.
And I start saying
something, when I feel the emotionscoming, I still don't know why.
Driving just does
it to me.
But I'm
like, I am not late and I'm exactly
(53:56):
where I
need to be.
Oh, okay,
back off a bit.
Enjoy the ride.
There's a reason these people are infront of me or this person is getting in.
I'm exactly where I
am supposed to be.
(54:17):
and that's kind of becomean analogy for life.
You
aren't too late and you haven't missed it.
You're exactly
where you're
supposed to be and theplan God has for your life.
But as you
go through the journey, God didn'tsay only focus on your own journey.
(54:39):
Your eyes have to be
outward to those around you.
Share with the peopleyou encounter, especially
the hurting and the down and out.
They need you.
It's the reason why
God allowed the experiences
(55:03):
and I know the weight of that.
For some of you in here,
experiences, are allowedbecause God has an amazing
plan for it, and that knowledge isneeded for people who are coming.
I recognize that now
(55:25):
the very things I was the most angryabout, I have become grateful for
because it equips me to be therefor people in unique situations.
I'm really
grateful.
I didn't live in easy peasylife 'cause I'd be of no good.
I'm grateful.
(55:46):
I wasn't blessed withan easy, simple life.
'cause my life.
is much richer because of the troubles.
God is more real
because of the pain.
My knowledge of what Jesus did for me
(56:06):
is inescapable.
It's a beautiful thing tonot have shame over a past.
because you have such joy in KnowingJesus loved you so much to cover
that.
and he didn't cover it so you
could sit and live
(56:28):
covered in shame.
He didn't allow pain in yourlife, so you could just sit in
pain and never feel anything
else.
He allows it because of what's to
come
and because of who's coming.
(56:49):
So
to wrap this up,
it all comes down to
we need to both receive
and to reflect God's kindness And mercy.
And Luke six says this I tell
you, love your enemies.
(57:12):
Help and give without expecting a return.
You will never, and Ipromise, he says, regret it.
Live
out this God createdidentity, the way our father
lives towards us generously andgraciously, even when we're at our
(57:34):
worst.
Our
father is kind.
So you be kind.
Don't pick on people, don't jump
on their failures.
Don't criticize theirfaults unless of course you.
want the same treatment.
Don't condemn those who are down,that hardness towards people that can
(57:57):
boomerang.
Be easy on people, and you'll
find that life is a lot easier for you.
Give away your life and you'll find lifegiven back, but not merely given back.
Giving back.
with bonus and blessing
(58:26):
giving, not getting is the way.
Generosity begets.
Generosity
There's truth in that.
(58:48):
So much truth.
I was grateful for the group yesterday.
Christina.
I love talking about what wetalked about because you know,
this dreaded holiday season coming,
I have the distinct privilege ofthis being my 30th year of being
shunned from my family 30 years.
(59:12):
30 years of not being allowed at Christmasand Easter and holidays and birthdays
and weddings and baby showers and
funerals.
30 years for me.
Nieces and nephews have all grown up.
They, most of 'em have
(59:32):
kids of their own.
tell you their names or how oldthey are or where they live.
Couldn't tell you where my siblings live,if they still live in the same place.
30 years And that kind of hitme during the meeting yesterday.
(59:55):
Wow.
years.
I
would dare
say 28 of those yearswere spent in absolute
dread of the holiday.
I would've given anything for thecalendar to stop on November and restart
(01:00:17):
in
March.
I say that 'cause my birthday's inFebruary and I prefer to forget that too.
I don't anymore though becausemy youngest son was born on my
birthday, so God has a funny way of
redeeming dates that are hard.
So like Robert and I
for
ended up getting married on my mother's
(01:00:38):
birthday and it was onlybecause the Riverbank run had
an odd year and they changedthe date from the run from a
spring to a fall event and ithappened to be my mother's birthday.
That works.
Yeah, he does.
But I sat in that meeting yesterdaytalking with people as we all
openly shared about our difficultiesand our losses and the hurt and the pain
(01:01:02):
that holidays especially can bring up.
And it dawned on me that, thank you, God.
I find myself looking forward to theholidays because I'm gonna be here.
Amen.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Godhas been bringing me home for 30 years.
(01:01:25):
I made the mistake in my human
mind thinking home was
my blood family
and God's like, I didn't promise you
that.
And he's
right.
He didn't
promise me that
(01:01:46):
But I no longer say I don't have a family.
And while that includes Robert'sside of the family who has just
been very good to me, what I meanis it's the people that come here.
It's the people I sit in group with.
It's the people I get tohang out with on Friday.
(01:02:10):
It's the ones that roll in the doorat random times through the week.
I had no idea thatfamily looked like that.
I have never been moresurrounded with a loving
family in all my life.
I
thought it was supposed to looka certain way and I rebelled
(01:02:33):
because it didn't, and God's like,open up your eyes and see how good it
is.
If I did a side by side comparisonand I had the choice today, I
will give all of this back to you
in exchange for this, the condition.
All of this
(01:02:53):
right here is gonna come backto you as they are right now,
and it would take me notime at all to say no.
Thank you.
I would say no thank you
because I'm understanding now why Iwas taken out of where I came from.
(01:03:16):
I understand that it was graceand love and not punishment.
I
understand now why I
drank for 40 years.
I understand now why thehorrible things happened.
I understand why the losses,
(01:03:41):
when
you come face to calling Godhas on your life, you are gonna
see how uniquely equipped you.
are exactly because of your life.
So I'm willing to plead with you.
Don't hate your life.
because it's what God is using.
(01:04:02):
Every bit of it, becauseyes, it's a broken world that
we're in filled with sin.
I get it.
It is not how God originally intendedfor things to be, but when Jesus died on
that cross, and even more so when he came
out of that grave,
(01:04:23):
the brokenness of this world is nothing.
There is nothing God
cannot use in turn for such good, butif you think it's only your good, you're
not gonna receive your calling untilyou recognize it's for those around you.
(01:04:44):
My biggest barrier
was my ego and my pride.
It is really
difficult when you've been harmed by
people to do things that humanlyspeaking feels like, once
(01:05:07):
again, allowing somebody to win.
And because I had thatmindset I always lost
and I didn't know why.
Why do I feel
like I'm always paying the
(01:05:30):
it was me
and my ego, me and myself.
It was Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, Heidi,
and I had a laundry list.
If this gets straightened out andthis gets fixed and these people
do this and they say they'resorry, and this one, this happens.
(01:05:54):
Then it'll be good.
And I'm, I'm, gonna be mad until then,I'm gonna hate 'em Until then, if
they don't say they're sorry, well,
and this whole time God's like,
child, there's a much better way.
(01:06:16):
But you have to trust me.
And that's really what thisall comes down to do you trust
God that when he says the Jesusway is the way to a joyful rich
life?
Or do you not?
Because if you say yes, and you have tobe willing to do these things, because
(01:06:39):
that's how you experience the goodness,
and it's up to you, you don't
have to,
even
God isn't
making you.
But he's freely
offering it.
It
will cost you nothing
(01:07:00):
except for love.
So it means we need to step dog piling.
We need to step criticizing, shaming,beating people down, giving up.
We
have to support people, But personally,
that means You have todo the same thing with
(01:07:21):
yourself.
have to stop beating yourself up.
You have
to let go of the shame.
You have
to let go of the anger.
You have to let go of all of it
because it's standing between you andthat relationship that's just right there.
(01:07:42):
I'm gonna pull out the doubledog, dare you to let go of
that shame and let go of the pain.
To let go of the desire for it's gottabe fair and I need to just let it go and
say, God, I'm going to do it your way.
You said I could testyou so I'm gonna do that.
(01:08:03):
God, I am gonna do ityour way And prove to me,
and I dare say thatbecause I know he will.
I know he will
because he did it for me.
Because I am quite shocked at times how
radically my mindsethas been turned around
(01:08:24):
like radically.
I wish I could play a five minute snippetthat would let you know who I was before
and
who I was now
I'd probably feel a lot of shame havingyou watch that five minute snippet.
I never thought myself as a
selfish person.
(01:08:45):
I didn't think I was, I thoughtI was good 'cause I was always
helping people and volunteering.
But I was doing thatbecause I wanted to get
does anybody identify with that?
No.
Because how easy is it to trulyserve without expectation of getting,
(01:09:06):
I'm gonna be nice to them anddo what they want because I
want them to do this for me.
We're gonna
hear,
but I don't know you
because all we have to stop and do
is what would've happened to usif that's what Jesus would've said
(01:09:27):
to us.
Well, if you do this, I'll die for you
I'll die for you.
And then you, you have to live perfect
then you can keep my gift.
But if you screw up, you have to give it
back.
what would that mean for us
(01:09:47):
So the Jesus way is literallythat you can't have conditions
on your There can't be motives
beyond.
I love you because Jesus loves Soremember that on the hardest days
when it's the people youleast want to love or forgive,
(01:10:15):
Jesus loves them,
and the only way that they willknow that Jesus loves them is
maybe if you show them that
that
is the Jesus
(01:10:36):
We need to be people who are on a mission
to show the unlovable that theyare loved by the Creator God.
And there's a lot of peoplethat we deem unlovable.
God doesn't,
(01:10:57):
that
'cause my ego stillreally gets in the way.
Some days.
There's number two, nextweek we're gonna wrap up.
Hello friends.
(00:02):
So this book is What If
it was written by Ann Smith?
, somebody sat down with her whenshe was a hundred years old and
she talked about life and wisdom
that she has gained along the way.
And this is the collection ofher little pieces of wisdom.
So I'm literally just gonna open it andI haven't heard anything bad from her
(00:23):
yet, and I don't anticipate I will now.
Hmm.
What
if
I learned how
to give people space
to grow?
Oh man.
Anne's got a way ofjust saying it in a way.
(00:44):
Doesn't she?
on my time?
Oh,
space to grow.
But I want 'em to bejust like this right now.
So doesn't work that way.
So I don't know where the basketis or if it's made it around.
That is if you wanna be part of our, um,
we put our
names in there for those of you who wouldlike to just trade names with somebody
(01:07):
to be on our
pray for them throughout the week.
So if you'd like to
be part of it, feel free to take a piece.
Once
everybody has their names onthere, feel free to pass it back
around and take a slip back out.
And that will be your personto pray for through the week.
So that's what that's about.
The pennies that are inthere that have the cross.
Cut out of them, you're feel
(01:27):
free to take one or a couple or a few and
just something to take with you.
A good friend makes those for
me.
um, before prayer.
uh.
I'm
again, does anybody haverequests that you would like to
specifically pray about today?
I'm gonna share that andjust I'll get right to you.
(01:48):
Um.
Continued prayers for my youngest son,Parker, wherever in the world he may be.
We are completely not in
communication of any kind with anybody,so we don't know exactly where he's at We
have some guesses, but we don'thave the absolute proof of that.
But, um, but also for my daughter, uh.
(02:11):
She is pregnant with my granddaughterand due at Christmas time, but having
some complications that they're watching.
And we don't know if this isgonna be an early delivery or not.
So
prayers over my daughter, Hannah,and this little baby girl that we are
waiting on, that all will go well forher and we'll find out more this week and
have some more answers regarding that.
(02:33):
So,
but Scott,
for girls.
soon, so I'm Awesome.
Just
Okay.
(02:53):
Yes.
prayers for Fred
to, um, be able for housing andthen prayers for me for, uh,
go
whatever.
Just need
prayers I got you.
Yeah.
Anybody else?
(03:15):
Yes.
Okay.
Um,
Okay.
And when Is In December?
yeah.
Okay.
Um,
Okay.
is he receptive to restarting that?
(03:37):
Does he talk about it?
he
off, so we would surelove to see him here, so,
yeah.
Yes.
Um, prayer, just for peaceand strength this week.
I go to the mat tomorrow and
help somebody do all the I do,and so my heart kind I feel
(04:00):
like I have to give service.
So just prayer for strength and
then yeah,
situation.
kids Morgan not being she's there,the kids are bickering and just
And we had to
to start
new job.
Need lot of prayer this week.
You're gonna get smothered with it, girl.
(04:21):
All right.
Anybody else?
Right now?
My new old
For us,
new chapter.
Mm.
So
So You wanna share?
We're getting a house in Lions thesame amount of rent that we're rent
a one bedroom house for with four
(04:43):
Yes.
I'm, glad.
it's my mom's
house.
Yeah.
How is that for I'm, I can see it allover you, so It's probably a special
full circle kind of a thing for you.
So my
kids like
oh, kids are
like,
when I pulled over from, and
You better say yes.
Yeah.
yeah.
oh, your mom I'm sure is just.
(05:05):
so, So beautiful.
Yes.
And then for me, I and theydidn't get my application that I
so Okay.
That's why we're waiting on for Okay.
We'll get you We'll get you there.
So, all right.
(05:30):
think we are
good.
all right.
Let's take this to God.
Father, God, thank you, thank you thankyou for this beautiful Sunday, and yes,
I said beautiful.
Even with the snow on the ground,
it was beautiful to look atFather, and I know sometimes we
(05:51):
can grumble and complain about coldand snow, but God help us to have
eyes to see the beauty ineverything that you send to us.
I'm grateful for everybodythat is in this space today.
I pray a special blessingon each one of them.
We especially wanna bring to you Father,those that were brought to us today.
(06:13):
We wanna pray for Scott and his daughtersas they are anticipating, giving,
getting their own space, a place thatthey can call home and grow in to
continue the repairing and just liveout this amazing life that he's finding
in recovery with those children of his,
I pray continued prayers over myyoungest son, Parker, wherever he is,
(06:36):
father, you know what he's called to do.
you always know where he's at, and I prayfather, that you are always close to him.
That you always remind him of who he isand that he stands solid in who you are.
Father,
I pray protection over him.
Keep him safe, father.
(06:59):
But I pray especially that youkeep your hand on his mind.
Who loves you?
That he can be a testimony of you.
I pray also for my daughter,Hannah, who is looking forward to
the birth of a of another daughter.
I just pray that you continue to be withher to keep her and this little one.
(07:21):
Safe.
Through this time,
we pray that the results from thesetests in this upcoming week show that
things are okay to continue on, but if itmeans an early delivery, then Father, we
accept that and we pray for protection.
Also, in that situation, we think of Fredwho is in the search for housing, and I
(07:43):
pray, father, that an answer comes thisweek with exactly the right place for
him that provides the needs that he has.
And God we bring again to you ChrisChristina, who is just thriving
and growing so much in her recoveryand we're so happy to get to know
her and have her part of us here,and we just pray that you continue
(08:05):
to bless her and show her the way.
Also, we think of Brian who ishaving sentencing in December,
and God we pray if it's your will,that it will be to time served and
that he can step free,but that he steps free,
into a path that leadsto recovery for him.
And Father, I selfishlypray that we see him here.
(08:26):
We loved having him and and we areready and here to support him if he
chooses that And if it's your will,
I bring to you Rob and Father,she just is asking for prayers
for peace and some strength.
She's returning to a former job
to assist them there asthey move forward, and I
just.
Pray for her beautiful servantheart, that you use her as a witness
(08:51):
of you in this situation there.
And we pray for her children, Morgan andPhoenix, that that settles into a state
of peace in this, family.
There's just growing pains thathappen as our children become adults.
and I pray that they all findtheir way in a way that brings
peace and harmony to Robin's
And on top of all of this, father Robinis starting a new job and a new old job.
(09:16):
And, uh, we prayblessings in that for her.
We think of Brian and Billy who have been
blessed with this beautifulopportunity to have a home that
will provide what is needed
For them and they can be alltogether in a space that has room.
God, you are so very good andthere's just something so special
(09:38):
about the fact that thiswas Billy's mom's home.
And for Billy to return to this placeand to live in there is just, I'm
so grateful, father, for what youmake happen in people's lives and
we just think of our Mackenzie here.
Father, just resolve theseissues with this job.
Make everything gosmooth from here on out.
(09:59):
She's going to get that license, she'sgonna get that job, and life is just
gonna continue to get better and better.
And we're grateful for her andwe're grateful to know her.
father, I pray over the children in thebasement today, bless them in everything
that they're gonna do down there, I'mso thankful for Katie whose beautiful.
Heart is just a servant's heart, andshe willingly and eagerly jumps in to
(10:23):
provide care for these kids of ours here.
We sure love having them here.
Bless us through the rest of this day.
Father, I ask as always, pleasetake me completely out of the way.
Keep me from my own thoughts,from my opinions, from what I
wanna say, and please just useme to say what you wish to say.
(10:45):
I pray blessings on each one of us.
I especially thank youfather for your son Jesus.
It is through Him and Him only
that we can come to you in theway that we do, and we are so
grateful for the gift of Him.
It's in his name that wepray, pray all these things.
Amen.
(11:06):
Okay, so some of you mightknow that my new favorite song
lately is Just simply titled TheJesus Way because it's simple,
but the challenge is not simple.
It's not easy to live that way.
So I did actually make the decisionto break this down into a series.
(11:26):
It's gonna cover three weeks.
We're on the second week.
We covered the first three
topics that were touched on inthis song, and now we're gonna
touch on the middle section.
And I really like this because this isvery much about having a servant's heart.
Modeled the way that Jesus did.
And for us in this world,
(11:50):
it's not,
it's not human natureto live the human way.
Human nature
makes
us wanna live our way.
It makes us want to be an us first,a more selfish way of living.
(12:10):
We're gonna be talking about.
what it means
though, to live the Jesus way.
What that looks like and how we do
that in this part, it
starts with if you are helpless and thisis things that we need to notice around
you, I will defend you.
We have it modeled endlessly for us.
(12:32):
What God, there is nothing He will
not do to defend us, protectus, and to keep us safe.
No matter what we've done,
he is there for us.
He doesn't use anything we've doneto say You're not deserving of it.
How many times do I have tocome and do this for you?
He doesn't care.
He's like, you've turned back to me.
I'm here.
I've never left you.
(12:52):
And he expects us to be the same.
So the example that Jesus gave us, I gotall the passages written up there, is
taken in John eight, three through 11.
The religion scholars and Phariseesled in a woman who had been caught
in an active adultery, and they stoodher in plain sight of everyone and said.
(13:12):
Teacher.
This woman was caught red
handed in the act of adultery.
Moses in the law gives orders to stone.
Such a person, What do you say?
They were trying to trap him.
into saying something incriminating sothey could bring charges against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with
his finger in the dirt.
(13:35):
They kept at him, badgering him.
He straightened up and
said, the sinless
one among you, go
first, throw the stone bending down again.
He wrote some more in the dirt hearingthat they walked away one after another.
Beginning with the oldest.
(13:58):
The woman was left
alone.
Jesus stood up and spoke to her woman.
Where are they?
Does no one condemn you?
No one master.
Neither do I said, Jesus, go onyour way and from now on, don't
sin.
(14:21):
I love this story so much because crowdwas literally following their law.
We
caught her red handed, dragged her rightout, and I can about imagine the condition
that she was in being dragged out.
I can only imagine theshame, the utter shame
(14:41):
she felt.
But covering all of that,
she knew the penalty
and she knew what her death was gonnabe, and she knew that it was gonna be
by stoning and what a brutal way to die.
And she was prepared for it.
She's surrounded by acrowd that all had rocks
in their
hands, ready to go,
just ready to chuck a rock.
(15:02):
It's like a spectator event.
We don't do that here, so
don't anybody worry.
We're not gonna be throwing,throwing no stones,
But in this day and time andin their culture, this was
law.
This was penalty for the law,and they were ready to do it.
So, uh,
we're gonna get Jesus now.
That's right.
(15:23):
He's right here.
Drag him and throw her down at his feet.
There you go.
Rabbi Caught right in the, act.
They fully would've expectedJesus, like start chucking, wicked,
sinful person, but he didn't.
In
fact, he just started writing in the dirt.
They're whining, griping, complaining,wanting to throw stones, and
(15:47):
Jesus is riding in the dirt.
And then I can just imagineyou're ready to go and throw
stones and he looks up at you.
Imagine catching his eye.
and whoever here has no sin,you get to throw the first rock.
And
I like to believe you could starthearing the rocks just hitting
(16:07):
the ground as they fell from
people's hands.
I also liked how it said startingwith the oldest to the youngest,
they began to leave because there's
wisdom that
comes with age.
you?
learn things along the way and
we're called often to be the
ones to set the example.
(16:30):
so one by one, I can justhear those thuds of the rocks.
Imagine this woman
just probably eyes closed, waiting forthe first one to hit, probably hears a
thud and is wondering where mist, andall of a sudden it's just her And Jesus.
And
Jesus just looks, is thereno one here to condemn you?
(16:51):
She's like, no.
And he goes, well, I don't either.
And I can't even imagine being herin that moment, in that culture to
have somebody so openly love her, let
alone.
Jesus.
And I find it such apowerful example because it
(17:13):
can be so easy to dogpile on people, groups,
religions we're
ready to go, you know,the figuratives stoning,
But we tend to do it with our mouths andour words, what we write and post online.
(17:36):
And think of those like those rocks in
your hands.
Whoever's without sin can be thefirst one to chuck And I like to
think I'd be like, I can't throwit 'cause I'm not without sin.
The impact of such a simple lesson,
(17:58):
I'm sure every single person thatwas there never ever forgot that.
I have a feeling they weren't eager topick up rocks to throw at somebody again.
And then Jesus tells us this.
Jesus calls the judges This is Psalm 82.
Jesus calls the judges into his courtroom.
(18:20):
He puts all the judges in the dock
enough.
You've corrupted justice long enough.
You've let the wickedget away with murder.
You're here
to defend the defenseless to makesure that underdogs get a fair break.
Your job is to stand up for
the powerless and toprosecute all those who
(18:44):
exploit them.
So what does that mean for us?
Does that mean we get to dog pile peopleor do we get to be the person that
said, I'm gonna stand at your side and
face this.
(19:05):
it doesn't say if youagree with the reason
they're being dog piled on.
But do, are we willing to do that?
Are we willing to standwith that outsider?
Are we willing to noticethings that are wrong
and then do something about it?
(19:26):
Or are we willing tonotice that something's
wrong?
It's like, oh, I can make apost about it or I'll talk about
it, or, well, it doesn't affect
me.
Uh,
I don't think we have thatkind of wiggle room from God.
God gave us eyes to see.
(19:47):
and
a mind to think, and his word toweigh it against, and he told us, if
you see people that are defenselessand in need of assistance, you
as my beloved,
precious children arehere to be there for them.
(20:10):
When we see people struggling,
when we see people turning on
someone,
we're called to be the onethat stand by their side
Jesus wasn't a sinner.
Jesus was an adulterer.
(20:32):
Jesus didn't do anything
that would ever deserve a stoning,but he stood side by side with
somebody who very obviously
was.
The idea that somebody in Jesus'position, the way people saw him at
this point as a teacher, they came tohear that he would stand and defend.
(20:53):
Probably a half naked prostitute inthe middle of the city was shocking to
them,
and yet that's what he did.
It's really
easy to stand up for people that youlove and for people that you know are
(21:15):
just like you, that think like you,and live like you and act like you.
Those are easy to stand up with.
That's easy peasy.
The way we're called toisn't easy because we're
called to stand with
people who are helpless and
(21:39):
And the more I sat with that, the more I'mlike how many times have I failed this?
Because I didn't wanna openmy mouth to say anything.
'cause I don't wanna get dog piled,
Hmm.
so I'm not gonna agree with them.
But I'm not gonna say anything
I failed I might as wellhave been dog piling.
(22:03):
I think we can all imagine what itfeels like to just desperately wish
even one person could stand at my side.
Just one.
Is there anybody?
I know
that there's been moments whenI desperately wished I knew
I had one person at my side.
Just one.
(22:23):
But
silence.
staying silent doesn't mean youdid what God called you to do
And I'm starting to find out.
It's a lot harder to do than justsaying the words is, you know, my mind
(22:46):
can wrap around the understanding Itgoes, yeah, Jesus did this, so I have
to do this.
But when it comes down to the blackand white of it, I find myself
at war like God, do I have to?
Because people aren't
gonna like it.
Yes, you have
to.
my son did for you.
(23:07):
He stood at my side every
moment of my life.
He advocated for me infront of my father, God.
Every moment of my life
every single moment, everysingle thing I've done.
those things that are known andthe things that aren't known,
(23:27):
and he didn't hesitate and I, in my little
humanist, get too embarrassedstand with somebody who needs
somebody.
Because what an impactthat would make on a life.
I can't even imagine how that woman's
life
changed after that Do youthink she told people about
it?
(23:49):
How
many people learned about Jesusbecause Jesus stood with her?
Imagine that
impact,
Let
me tell you.
Can you imagine she probablybrought freedom to other women
trapped in the same thing she was.
That's not anything anybody wants to do.
(24:10):
Women in that time and our time, andin every time, that's not desirable.
But imagine the freedom she boughtto people who needed to hear
this,
this rap.
do you know what he did?
He didn't condemn me.
(24:31):
he
didn't
He protected me.
And what a beautiful, beautiful testimony.
We don't have a God that standsthere with a rock in his hand ever.
And there's something so incrediblybeautiful about that to me.
(24:55):
And if you're burdened,
I'll share the weight.
We had a number of prayer requests.
Those are burdens,
And
we brought those to God.
We shared the weight.
That's why being known byyour family is important.
(25:16):
So Jesus offered to us.
one of my favorite verses, uh,I just, I read this so often,
Matthew 11:28 through 30.
Are you tired, worn out?
Are you burned out on religion?
Come to me, get away with meand you'll recover your life.
(25:40):
I'll show you how to take a realrest, walk with me and work with me.
Watch how I do it.
learn the unforced
rhythms of grace.
I won't lay anything heavyor ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me and you'lllearn how to live freely and lightly.
(26:10):
Over
and Over and over I sit with people whohave burdens that sometimes bogle my mind
walking
under the weight ofburdens, and I can dare
say every single
one of us in here has
'em.
We all do.
Life is heavy.
(26:37):
and all I do every single time isdesperately try to listen in a way so
that I can hopefully be used by God
to have the right words help themknow that I'm helping with the weight.
Jesus didn't say, I'm gonna take itaway from you, so you don't feel it,
(27:00):
but he offered to walk sideby side and carry it with you.
You know, you think of, you know, the way
they plowed the field usually, you know,you got the two ox in and the yolk and.
You know, they did thing like they wouldmatch the size and the weight, so it could
(27:20):
be an easier way to get the job done so
it didn't unfairly fallon One versus the other.
If you have an oxen that isconsiderably bigger than the
other, the yolk won't fit, right?
It's gonna cause issues.
One is gonna have more of the weight.
The other is gonna bear the
(27:41):
signs of the A yolk just
ill-fitting too
heavy.
God offers us something whereit's gonna feel easy and light.
When you're
with me
and together we're gonna walk thisand do this, I'm gonna come alongside
and we're gonna walk through this.
He doesn't take it from youbecause the lessons that.
(28:02):
are gonna be learned from there arenot things he is gonna take from
you because you need those for your
calling.
I'm so convinced of that.
The older I get.
the more I recognize
and realize
the weight that we're allowed isbecause that's where the lessons
are and it's the one thing we soactively look to get rid of in
(28:22):
our life.
We try to hide 'em and cover 'em.
A lot of us hear itthrough drugs and alcohol.
Mm-hmm.
Just avoiding it.
And God's like, all you'redoing is looking at the weight
and you're trying to do it.
alone.
I'm right here.
I'm right here I allowed this in yourlife because of what I'm gonna do with it.
Let me do it.
(28:45):
Let me do it.
It'll be so much easier.
Dave, here all the time.
A problem.
Shared his problem.
Cut in half.
And we are called
in Galatians six to this
live creatively.
Friends, if someone falls intoSin Forgivingly, restore him.
(29:07):
Saving your criticalcomments for yourself.
You might be needing forgivenessyourself before the day's out.
Here's some strong reminder inthat stoop down and reach out
to those who are oppressed.
Share their burdens andsow complete Christ's law.
(29:30):
Christ's law is love God with all
your heart and love otherslike you, love yourself.
If you think you are toogood for that, you are badly
deceived.
This is a pretty
weighty verse for us.
(29:54):
Stoop down and reach out That's notlike, oh, stooping to someone's level.
No, that's a rolling up your sleevesand willingly getting down on the
same level with somebody to helpthem, not to Lord it over them.
I really love the savior critical comments
(30:15):
for yourself because isn'tit so easy to point out?
where everybody screwed
up?
Hmm.
Let
me tell you what you've done wrong.
I got a whole list.
Where's the list for yourself?
I
guarantee you not a single onein here, and if you have come
see me because you're something special.
(30:35):
But I don't think a singleone of us has made it 24 hours
without needing some forgiveness.
So why are we people sometimesthat can dish it out?
'cause we're humans.
(30:58):
We talked
last week
about the importance of loving people.
And it's important because when we standin front of God, do you wanna hear?
But I don't know you.
And it's because of a lack of love.
Not because you didn't keep the law
(31:20):
perfect.
We worry so much about that.
Like I gotta be a good person.
Gotta do it better.
Gotta get it right.
Gotta do all the right things.
Keep all the commandmentslike you have this checklist
of actions you have to do.
So here you go.
God, look at, this.
look at look at the stuff that I did
(31:41):
And guess what?
I don't know you what?
But I have my
checklist.
it's it's right here.
Like, look it, I checked 'em all off.
I did the stuff.
Oh, you, you kept some laws.
That's great.
Who did you love?
(32:01):
I,
I, I checked these.
Yeah.
Who did you do that for?
Myself.
It was
me.
I don't want that to happen to me.
I had it backwards fora long time in my life.
(32:23):
It became about rule keepingand trying to do it right.
So people looking at me wouldsay, well, there's somebody
living a good Christian life.
God doesn't care about what it looks
like.
He cares about where it's
coming from in my heart.
I can do all, the things that make it?
look good and have all the hate in
(32:45):
the world in my heart,
but on the outside, you wouldn't know it.
It would look really good.
That's meaningless.
Keeping law does nothing for you
if there is no love driving it and not
love for ourself.
(33:06):
If anybody deserved to be
special and love self,above all, wasn't it?
Jesus,
the perfect one who also is, God
stands with prostitutes, eatswith sinners, calls the ones
(33:28):
in the messiest of lives,
washes their
feet.
Dies for them
and we wanna sit and pointout where other people fail.
(33:48):
Look at me, God.
Good Christian.
I'm gonna make sure theyknow where they're wrong.
People already know.
I always knew when I've done wrong.
Do you really think it helpedme to hear everybody pointing it
out?
Because what that does isit keeps people from being
(34:08):
open.
how do we help people if we don't know
them?
It's what I love about this community.
I know people in a waythat allows me to know
how to love you and pray for you.
It's not a community that tends to be
(34:29):
surface.
It still just shocks me sometimeshow these recovery communities
more closely resemble
the family of God than many
(34:53):
outside groups do.
You're
open, you're honest, you're transparent.
Own it.
When we fail, we bring it tothe group, we talk about it,
confess it.
(35:16):
It's like we, we don't even realize
those are kind of Jesus way things,
and I'm finding that, bringing that into.
A church setting
is a profoundly beautiful thing to mebecause it's a church family that is made
up of people who are known to each other.
(35:41):
I love that we have a longlist of prayer requests.
We have a church family here thatnow knows the needs and sometimes the
celebrations of those that we sit with,
we're not called here to be strangers.
It shouldn't be a superficial, oh, we'regonna sit down here, listen to her blather
(36:02):
on for however long she's gonna taketoday, and then go home and remember.
Check that off the box.
Yep.
Went
to church
because it will never, ever,ever, be lost on me again.
This is not church.
You are the We're just
here
talking about Jesus.
(36:23):
We're
learning more about him
because
we have a shared interestas a community and family.
But we're not here becauseI'm the be all, end all.
I'm
the only way.
You've got to figure it out.
'cause trust me, I'm not.
I am epically failed in flood and it's whyI'll own openly up here, my shortcomings,
because I need you to know that that's
(36:47):
I am a human being
that just like every
single one of you sitting there,
but notice the people who are oppressed.
Notice the people who are struggling.
(37:07):
Notice the people who are hurting.
And so up, and it's like, Ugh,
this is like the 749th time they relapsed.
And I am over it.
And I'm so grateful that God isn't.
'cause maybe 750 will be the one
(37:31):
I know it's hard to keep going.
I know it's hard to keep doing thesame thing over and over with maybe
the same person over and over andmaybe at times the relationship has to
look different.
But to write them off and throw them away,
that's not completing Christ's law.
(37:54):
How many times God, am Isupposed to forgive somebody
as many times as they need it?
And again someday, even as I say it,
I'm just
like, oh my goodness.
It's not, it was not lostto me in that moment.
Like,
thank you, God, for not lookingat me and saying, you've just
(38:16):
passed my ability to forgive you.
I'm over it with you, Heidi.
like,
seriously, how many
opportunities do you need?
I needed a lot
before I finally got there.
Picking
on you,
again today, Dave.
Dave, I was talking aboutsomebody in your life and
(38:36):
family that's been coming here and we justtalked about it this morning about the
importance of never giving up on somebody.
It's never too late.
Wasn't too late forthe thief on the cross.
It's never too late for
anybody here.
That thief on the cross nextto Jesus didn't do anything
(38:58):
in his life for anybody,
died
on the cross as a penalty forthe actions he chose to do.
He was truly a guilty man.
Wasn't religious, didn't follow Jesus,didn't sit under his feet, didn't know,
didn't care about the law, I'm sure.
And yet in the moments on thecross and witnessing Jesus, can you
(39:21):
imagine here you are crucified and
agonized and the guy nextto you is blessing people
and praying for peopleand caring for his mother.
Do you think that made sense?
Like you're going through the same thing
and the guy's in agonyand God in his mercy
revealed like this is God.
(39:43):
And he recognized that and owned that.
Like he came to saving
grace dying on a cross next to Jesus.
And when he drew his last here, guesswho was waiting for him in heaven?
(40:03):
That it's never too late.
We cannot give up on people 'causeGod doesn't give up on us ever.
And I know it can be difficult,especially for those who live with
us, the people that we're druggies and
(40:26):
drunks.
It's a hard life.
You are called to.
It's not easy livingwith us as we navigate
that,
but don't give up on God and
what he can do.
Yeah, sometimes it means you changeyour life so it's safe for you
(40:49):
and maybe your children and you do thatbut not to cut somebody out of your life.
Not to say You're beyond
redemption,
because Jesus died for them too,
and no matter what they'vedone, it's not too big for
(41:11):
him.
And we can't let it.
be too big for us
because it's our selfishness and ourpride that says, enough, I'm all done.
That's it.
Last Don't come to me for help again.
'cause it ain't ever
happening.
You're gonna have to find someone else.
(41:36):
And yet, I'm pretty sureGod's got them in your life
because
Jesus.
And that's hard.
And if you're hopeless, let me show you.
(41:58):
So the example of Jesus.
I'll set up for you what washappening before I read it,
or it won't make much sense.
This happened after Jesus.
Had been crucified and rose from the dead.
This was
before
he went back to heaven and there were twopeople that were walking down a road to
a road called Emmaus and they were havinga conversation because all hope was lost.
(42:25):
It was just lost.
Thank you for
They're like, what's the point?
Like we followed him, webelieved him, and I what?
Where crucified, like, everything theythought was gonna happen went out the
window because they were expectingsomebody to sit on a throne in Jerusalem.
(42:51):
Literally,
they had no idea, Like
none of this makes sense.
What are
we gonna do?
Did we believe things that were false that
weren't
true.
Like now what?
Back to the temple.
Like what?
What do we do with everythingwe learned from Jesus
(43:11):
as they were walking?
A third man joins and iswalking along with them,
and they
let 'em join in thisconversation and this person
started
sharing with them, but gave them aperspective on the other side of what
(43:32):
they were thinking and taught themAnd showed them how this fulfilled
scripture, how it wasn't lost,it was actually won, that what
happened was supposed to happen
and then the stranger was
gone.
And Luke 24 32
(43:53):
is this Back and forth they talked.
Didn't we feel on fire as He conversedwith us on the road as he opened
up scriptures for us,it was Jesus himself.
He just
didn't allow them to know it wasJesus himself walking with them.
(44:14):
But He taught them He
taught them that what happened happenedbecause it had to happen that way.
You were wrong in what youthought was gonna happen.
it's not lost, it's not impossible,but the way you are seeing it
does this kind of maybe startto translate into how we can be?
(44:36):
Sometimes your view of things
is only looking at this one little part.
Come with me.
Look at it from and see it in the broad
context of things.
(44:56):
And then our hope, Romansfive, three through
five, there's more to come.
We continue to shout our praise evenwhen we're hemmed in with troubles
because we know how troubles candevelop passionate patients in us
and how that patience in turnforges the tempered steel of
(45:17):
virtue,
keeping us alert forwhatever God will do next.
In alert expectancy such as this,we're never left feeling shortchanged.
Quite the contrary.
We can't round up enough containersto hold everything that God generously
(45:39):
pours into our lives through the
Holy Spirit,
and that's where our hope is.
We
don't have hope because it's somethingthat we were able to do on our own.
We have hope if we arefilled with the spirit
and that
(45:59):
comes through a simple action of faith
that says, I want and I receive the spirit
in
me.
God, please show me
that burning on fire that theyfelt in that conversation.
That was the spirit at work,
it opens and reveals to usthe right and the wrong.
(46:20):
it helps us
to see the good and theworst of situations.
I'm painfully aware of what life waslike when I wasn't spirit filled,
because it was impossible for me tolook at past experiences as anything
other than horrible,
(46:41):
and you know where thatleft me Angry and bitter and
drunk and losing family.
And lonely
and quite frankly, ready,
literally to end it alland just be done with it.
(47:05):
There are some days when it's notlost on me, how dangerously close I
came to that decision Like
and I wanted that
but God,
but God,
I was actually angry whenthose plans were changed.
(47:26):
Partially his
fault.
Robert.
I know.
I was stepping in.
I was angry at first though.
Humanly, because now what?
Like now what?
What's the point?
Every time I turn aroundloss And loss and loss
(47:46):
And God's like, hold your headup and open your eyes, girl,
and maybe turn around andstop looking at the past.
Mm. Because you're missing
the view.
I remember the first time hope came
(48:15):
and it happened when I started just
serving.
it happened when I said, God, I'm done.
I
can't do it, obviously,because I intended to end it.
So God,
I
don't even have a clue anymore.
What do you want?
Because whatever you tell me to do,I'll say yes to it and had no idea
(48:39):
what I was saying, but I meant it.
I am starting to understand now,
but the hope that you get from the
spirit.
is a powerful thing in every singlemoment of your life, in your hardest
(49:00):
of times, You still have a foundationof joy because of whose you are and the
absolute knowledge that this awfulness isgonna become something amazing someday.
God
didn't
tell us to celebrate the misery.
Don't be excited about that.
You don't
have to be excited.
(49:24):
In the Bible when it says, I countit all joy, when trials, come, it's
not because we're excited about
the trials, it's because God seesus as worthy to go through them.
And that's a completely different thing.
We had talked about Job,consider my servant job.
And little did Job knowwhat was heading his way.
(49:47):
The loss after loss,after loss, after loss.
after loss.
But who was right?
God
was because he knew his heart.
In the testimony that came outof that in the blessings that
came to
him
were
double.
(50:11):
We need to be hope for other
people who haven't found it
yet.
I had people
come into my life who knew hope
and they modeled that for meeven when I didn't understand it.
And that matters a great deal.
It can be a life or
death thing 'cause I'm living,breathing proof of that.
(50:33):
'cause I would've beenlong gone, four years gone.
And I think four years arethe most beautiful things
I've ever seen in my life.
I would've missed it all.
I would've missed knowing my
granddaughter.
I would've missed knowing all of you Iwould've missed out on this ministry.
I would've
missed out on the good stuff.
(50:56):
I would've
missed out on my reward.
And I think
that's the enemy's goal,
because when you get through your journey,
and man, I know how hard that is whenall of us get through the journey,
(51:17):
where he has it for us.
He's just like, you just, it's right
here.
It's right here.
Keep going.
And that's why we're notcalled to live in isolation.
(51:37):
Because without people around you
to remind you of hope.
to show you hope to tell you of hope
Because
of
your testimony.
you know the stories about yourself thatwe quite often don't want to share with
people are probably the things we shouldshare with people because I can promise
(52:02):
you there are people sitting around youthat probably think I'm the only one.
But then they hear somebody share theirstory and it's like I'm not the only one.
There is hope
because if you, are sittingin misery and life is
hard and you feel like you can't win,and it is never gonna get better,
(52:26):
I am telling you, yes it will.
I am telling you it willnot always look like
this.
Living like Jesus in thisworld is so incredibly
difficult because it means we can'tfocus on ourself and we tend to be
(52:51):
really good at focusing on ourselfand everything that's wrong in our
life and all the things we don't like.
And, And,
and, and I could fill in a laundrylist of things in my life that
aren't quote unquote right,
and yet I'm exactly whereI'm supposed to be at
exactly this moment, experiencingwhat I'm meant to experience.
(53:13):
And I don't fight it
anymore.
I don't get angry about, well,I shouldn't say that 'cause
then I'd have to say, I'm sorry.
I just like, sometimes I getfrustrated with my lessons,
You know, like driving a carand other people have to be on.
the road with me.
Yeah,
I'm getting a lot better with
(53:34):
that.
' cause I learned a simple
thing.
praise music is on.
'cause that changes myattitude from the get go.
And I start saying
something, when I feel the emotionscoming, I still don't know why.
Driving just does
it to me.
But I'm
like, I am not late and I'm exactly
(53:56):
where I
need to be.
Oh, okay,
back off a bit.
Enjoy the ride.
There's a reason these people are infront of me or this person is getting in.
I'm exactly where I
am supposed to be.
(54:17):
and that's kind of becomean analogy for life.
You
aren't too late and you haven't missed it.
You're exactly
where you're
supposed to be and theplan God has for your life.
But as you
go through the journey, God didn'tsay only focus on your own journey.
(54:39):
Your eyes have to be
outward to those around you.
Share with the peopleyou encounter, especially
the hurting and the down and out.
They need you.
It's the reason why
God allowed the experiences
(55:03):
and I know the weight of that.
For some of you in here,
experiences, are allowedbecause God has an amazing
plan for it, and that knowledge isneeded for people who are coming.
I recognize that now
(55:25):
the very things I was the most angryabout, I have become grateful for
because it equips me to be therefor people in unique situations.
I'm really
grateful.
I didn't live in easy peasylife 'cause I'd be of no good.
I'm grateful.
(55:46):
I wasn't blessed withan easy, simple life.
'cause my life.
is much richer because of the troubles.
God is more real
because of the pain.
My knowledge of what Jesus did for me
(56:06):
is inescapable.
It's a beautiful thing tonot have shame over a past.
because you have such joy in KnowingJesus loved you so much to cover
that.
and he didn't cover it so you
could sit and live
(56:28):
covered in shame.
He didn't allow pain in yourlife, so you could just sit in
pain and never feel anything
else.
He allows it because of what's to
come
and because of who's coming.
(56:49):
So
to wrap this up,
it all comes down to
we need to both receive
and to reflect God's kindness And mercy.
And Luke six says this I tell
you, love your enemies.
(57:12):
Help and give without expecting a return.
You will never, and Ipromise, he says, regret it.
Live
out this God createdidentity, the way our father
lives towards us generously andgraciously, even when we're at our
(57:34):
worst.
Our
father is kind.
So you be kind.
Don't pick on people, don't jump
on their failures.
Don't criticize theirfaults unless of course you.
want the same treatment.
Don't condemn those who are down,that hardness towards people that can
(57:57):
boomerang.
Be easy on people, and you'll
find that life is a lot easier for you.
Give away your life and you'll find lifegiven back, but not merely given back.
Giving back.
with bonus and blessing
(58:26):
giving, not getting is the way.
Generosity begets.
Generosity
There's truth in that.
(58:48):
So much truth.
I was grateful for the group yesterday.
Christina.
I love talking about what wetalked about because you know,
this dreaded holiday season coming,
I have the distinct privilege ofthis being my 30th year of being
shunned from my family 30 years.
(59:12):
30 years of not being allowed at Christmasand Easter and holidays and birthdays
and weddings and baby showers and
funerals.
30 years for me.
Nieces and nephews have all grown up.
They, most of 'em have
(59:32):
kids of their own.
tell you their names or how oldthey are or where they live.
Couldn't tell you where my siblings live,if they still live in the same place.
30 years And that kind of hitme during the meeting yesterday.
(59:55):
Wow.
years.
I
would dare
say 28 of those yearswere spent in absolute
dread of the holiday.
I would've given anything for thecalendar to stop on November and restart
(01:00:17):
in
March.
I say that 'cause my birthday's inFebruary and I prefer to forget that too.
I don't anymore though becausemy youngest son was born on my
birthday, so God has a funny way of
redeeming dates that are hard.
So like Robert and I
for
ended up getting married on my mother's
(01:00:38):
birthday and it was onlybecause the Riverbank run had
an odd year and they changedthe date from the run from a
spring to a fall event and ithappened to be my mother's birthday.
That works.
Yeah, he does.
But I sat in that meeting yesterdaytalking with people as we all
openly shared about our difficultiesand our losses and the hurt and the pain
(01:01:02):
that holidays especially can bring up.
And it dawned on me that, thank you, God.
I find myself looking forward to theholidays because I'm gonna be here.
Amen.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Godhas been bringing me home for 30 years.
(01:01:25):
I made the mistake in my human
mind thinking home was
my blood family
and God's like, I didn't promise you
that.
And he's
right.
He didn't
promise me that
(01:01:46):
But I no longer say I don't have a family.
And while that includes Robert'sside of the family who has just
been very good to me, what I meanis it's the people that come here.
It's the people I sit in group with.
It's the people I get tohang out with on Friday.
(01:02:10):
It's the ones that roll in the doorat random times through the week.
I had no idea thatfamily looked like that.
I have never been moresurrounded with a loving
family in all my life.
I
thought it was supposed to looka certain way and I rebelled
(01:02:33):
because it didn't, and God's like,open up your eyes and see how good it
is.
If I did a side by side comparisonand I had the choice today, I
will give all of this back to you
in exchange for this, the condition.
All of this
(01:02:53):
right here is gonna come backto you as they are right now,
and it would take me notime at all to say no.
Thank you.
I would say no thank you
because I'm understanding now why Iwas taken out of where I came from.
(01:03:16):
I understand that it was graceand love and not punishment.
I
understand now why I
drank for 40 years.
I understand now why thehorrible things happened.
I understand why the losses,
(01:03:41):
when
you come face to calling Godhas on your life, you are gonna
see how uniquely equipped you.
are exactly because of your life.
So I'm willing to plead with you.
Don't hate your life.
because it's what God is using.
(01:04:02):
Every bit of it, becauseyes, it's a broken world that
we're in filled with sin.
I get it.
It is not how God originally intendedfor things to be, but when Jesus died on
that cross, and even more so when he came
out of that grave,
(01:04:23):
the brokenness of this world is nothing.
There is nothing God
cannot use in turn for such good, butif you think it's only your good, you're
not gonna receive your calling untilyou recognize it's for those around you.
(01:04:44):
My biggest barrier
was my ego and my pride.
It is really
difficult when you've been harmed by
people to do things that humanlyspeaking feels like, once
(01:05:07):
again, allowing somebody to win.
And because I had thatmindset I always lost
and I didn't know why.
Why do I feel
like I'm always paying the
(01:05:30):
it was me
and my ego, me and myself.
It was Heidi, Heidi, Heidi, Heidi,
and I had a laundry list.
If this gets straightened out andthis gets fixed and these people
do this and they say they'resorry, and this one, this happens.
(01:05:54):
Then it'll be good.
And I'm, I'm, gonna be mad until then,I'm gonna hate 'em Until then, if
they don't say they're sorry, well,
and this whole time God's like,
child, there's a much better way.
(01:06:16):
But you have to trust me.
And that's really what thisall comes down to do you trust
God that when he says the Jesusway is the way to a joyful rich
life?
Or do you not?
Because if you say yes, and you have tobe willing to do these things, because
(01:06:39):
that's how you experience the goodness,
and it's up to you, you don't
have to,
even
God isn't
making you.
But he's freely
offering it.
It
will cost you nothing
(01:07:00):
except for love.
So it means we need to step dog piling.
We need to step criticizing, shaming,beating people down, giving up.
We
have to support people, But personally,
that means You have todo the same thing with
(01:07:21):
yourself.
have to stop beating yourself up.
You have
to let go of the shame.
You have
to let go of the anger.
You have to let go of all of it
because it's standing between you andthat relationship that's just right there.
(01:07:42):
I'm gonna pull out the doubledog, dare you to let go of
that shame and let go of the pain.
To let go of the desire for it's gottabe fair and I need to just let it go and
say, God, I'm going to do it your way.
You said I could testyou so I'm gonna do that.
(01:08:03):
God, I am gonna do ityour way And prove to me,
and I dare say thatbecause I know he will.
I know he will
because he did it for me.
Because I am quite shocked at times how
radically my mindsethas been turned around
(01:08:24):
like radically.
I wish I could play a five minute snippetthat would let you know who I was before
and
who I was now
I'd probably feel a lot of shame havingyou watch that five minute snippet.
I never thought myself as a
selfish person.
(01:08:45):
I didn't think I was, I thoughtI was good 'cause I was always
helping people and volunteering.
But I was doing thatbecause I wanted to get
does anybody identify with that?
No.
Because how easy is it to trulyserve without expectation of getting,
(01:09:06):
I'm gonna be nice to them anddo what they want because I
want them to do this for me.
We're gonna
hear,
but I don't know you
because all we have to stop and do
is what would've happened to usif that's what Jesus would've said
(01:09:27):
to us.
Well, if you do this, I'll die for you
I'll die for you.
And then you, you have to live perfect
then you can keep my gift.
But if you screw up, you have to give it
back.
what would that mean for us
(01:09:47):
So the Jesus way is literallythat you can't have conditions
on your There can't be motives
beyond.
I love you because Jesus loves Soremember that on the hardest days
when it's the people youleast want to love or forgive,
(01:10:15):
Jesus loves them,
and the only way that they willknow that Jesus loves them is
maybe if you show them that
that
is the Jesus
(01:10:36):
We need to be people who are on a mission
to show the unlovable that theyare loved by the Creator God.
And there's a lot of peoplethat we deem unlovable.
God doesn't,
(01:10:57):
that
'cause my ego stillreally gets in the way.
Some days.
There's number two, nextweek we're gonna wrap up.
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