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Episode 51 // Advent - The God who Gives Peace (audio/video) · #Faith4TodayPodcast

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The world is chasing peace through control, money,
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distraction, and escape. The Bible teaches us peace has a
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name, and His name is Jesus. Today, we're diving into what
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that real peace Shalom actually means and why our attention
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shapes our anxiety and how great quietly we rewires our brain
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towards fear. We'll connect scripture and
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neuroscience to show you how to retrain your mind for trust,
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gratitude, and freedom. And if you've been a living
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rushed, anxious, or worn thin, this episode is an invitation to
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return to the God who gives peace.
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It's episode 51 of the Faith for Today podcast.
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Let's go. Well, welcome everybody to
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today's episode of the Faith for Today podcast.
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My name is Matthew, I'm your host, and it is a delight to
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have you joining us today on the Faith for Today podcast.
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Our desire is to help you be inspired on a Sunday and
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integrate it on Thursdays. So every Thursday we drop a new
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episode for you to help you have loyalty and integrated faith
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into the every area of your life so that you can experience the
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fullness of God in every space that you occupy.
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And we can stay loyal and faithful to him.
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And so, hey, listen, if you haven't already, would you
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subscribe and hit like the notification bell on YouTube and
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on Spotify so that you can be alerted every time a new episode
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And you can always stay encouraged and strengthened.
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I'm going to recap a Sunday message.
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I'm going to share some bonus thoughts and content, and then
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I'm going to respond to some questions on today's episode.
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We're in our season of Advent, and we're looking at the God who
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gives peace today, the God who gives peace.
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Here's a recap from what we shared on Sunday.
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In Luke Chapter 2, the Angel announces good news of great joy
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and peace. Isaiah 96 names the coming
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Messiah, the Prince of Peace, a promise not of mere calm, but of
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restored wholeness or Shalom. Biblically, peace is God's gift
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of restoration to a world that has been fractured by sin,
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ultimately fulfilled and mended in Christ.
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Ephesians 213 through 17 declares this for us, that Jesus
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himself is our peace, tearing down walls of division and
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hostility, reconciling what was once divided between US and God
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and us and others. This Shalom is not just
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emotional relief though, but rather it is the reintegration
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of our lives with God, others, and even our own souls.
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The Christmas story shows us that peace is not found through
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control, escape, or material security, but through God
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stepping quietly into our broken world to make us whole again.
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We looked at Simeon in Luke chapter 2 verse 5025 through 33
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rather, and it shows how peace is formed through devotion,
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through attention. While many miss the Messiah,
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busy with religion, power, protest, even their own
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productivity, Simeon recognized Jesus because his heart was
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fixed on God's promises. Jesus later teaches in Matthew 6
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that where our attention goes, our peace will follow.
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Anxiety grows when our focus is trained on scarcity, fear,
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money, and control. But peace grows when our eyes
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are fixed on God's Kingdom and on Jesus himself.
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Even neuroscience affirms this truth.
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What we constantly attend to shapes our inner world.
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When our attention is scattered, anxiety rises.
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When our focus is rooted in God's promises, peace guards our
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hearts. That's what Philippians 47
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promises. The invitation of this message
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was really simple and yet in it a searching component to it.
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If we will turn our eyes towards Jesus, give him our full
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devotion and let the God who gives peace restore our soul
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relationships in our inner life. Jesus will be our peace.
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And there's real Shalom available for for you and me
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that does it. For our recap, let me share a
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few bonus thoughts. And this is going to get a
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little bit in depth on some things, but there was so much I
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wanted to share, Aaron and didn't get a chance to just just
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forsake of time. The first thing I wanted to
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share, and I only mentioned it in brief in one of our services,
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and that's this phrase that peace is a promise he keeps.
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It's actually a lyric to a song, a worship song entitled Peace.
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And I just had that on loop in my mind, this idea that peace is
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a promise that God keeps. It is a promise for us and He is
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good to His word, which means that if we are not experiencing
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the Shalom of God, the peace of God, the wholeness of God, the
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tranquility of His presence, then, and it is a promise
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available to us and we can receive that promise in in full.
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It takes some activity, it takes some practice, it takes some
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pursuit, but but it is possible. In fact, this promise of peace
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was given in the Old Testament in Micah chapter 5 in verse 2
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through 5. This is what the prophet Micah
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says. This is Bethlehem Ephrathah.
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You are a small among the clans of Judah, the one who came from
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you though, to be a ruler of Israel.
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For me, his origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.
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So Mike is already saying I'm going to send you a ruler to
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rule over Israel. And God is prophesying through
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Micah that this one that is coming, his origin is from
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antiquity. John would write in John one
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that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
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and the Word was God. In other words, Jesus is in the
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origin from antiquity, from ancient times.
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So Jesus has been for all time in all time and has always
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existed, but now is putting on flesh and coming to rule over
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Israel. Verse three goes, I want to say
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this. Therefore Israel will be
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abandoned until the time when she was in labor has given
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birth. Then the rest of the rulers
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brothers will return to the people of Israel.
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I will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord, in
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the majestic name of the Lord his God.
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They will live securely, for then His greatness will extend
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to the ends of the earth. He will be their peace.
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Not just bring peace, but He will be their peace.
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When Assyria invades our land and when marches against our
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fortress, we will arise against even it's 7 shepherds and 8
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liters of men. Now there's a lot of prophetic
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things happening that are intertwined in this, but but the
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core of this is talking about Jesus himself who is coming to
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shepherd his people to be power peace.
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This is what Jesus came to do. Ephesians chapter 2 talks more
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about this and now I read a section of Ephesians 2 on
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Sunday, but I want to read you the full context of Ephesians 2
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verse 11 through 22 and just point out some things about
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Jesus who came to be our restorative peace to bring the
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real Shalom, real reunion and and restored connection and
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communion with God. Verse 11 says so then remember
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that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh called the
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uncircumcised, but those called circumcised, which is done in
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the flesh by human hands. Verse 12 says at that time you
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were without Christ excluded from the citizenship of Israel
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and foreigners to a covenant of promise without hope and without
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God in the world. In other words, there was a time
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where the only people that were in covenant with God, that had
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access to to to an element of God that were that were not
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excluded from citizenship were the Israelites were the people
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were the Jewish people who were operating and keeping the
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covenants of God. Now they weren't keeping them
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well, but they were keeping them.
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And when they weren't keeping them really at all, there was
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great tragedy throughout the story of of God's people.
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But Paul is using this as a backdrop to say, hey, there were
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there was a time when no one was the you his audience, the
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Ephesians church, the church in Ephesus, all Gentiles.
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And there was a time when when you weren't even in this
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covenant. And that extends to people like
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me, like I'm not of that Jewish heritage.
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I'm I'm born after those things. And I wasn't in that covenant.
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I wasn't a part of that. But here I am now in Christ.
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I have been united in him. I'm now a part of this covenant.
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This is what he says in verse 13.
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But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away, have been brought
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near by the blood of Christ, for He is our peace, for He is our
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peace. He didn't come to just bring
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peace, He came to be our peace. This is what Micah prophesied.
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But now Christ, you were far away, but have been brought near
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by the blood of Christ, For He is our peace.
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Who made both groups 1 and tore down the dividing wall of
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hostility in his flesh. He's specifically talking about
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the Jew Gentile divide Jews that were the covenant people of God
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through now put their trust in Yahweh through Jesus and the
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Gentiles like he's he's uniting all of these these people and
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covenants into one family of God for he is our pace who made both
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groups 1 and tore down a dividing wall of hostility in
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this in his flesh. He made of no effect the law
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consisting of commands and expressed in regulation so that
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he might create in himself a new man from the two, resulting in
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peace. And this word peace is talking
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about a wholeness that things were apart, but now they are
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combined or unified in one. Something was missing and now
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it's supplied. Something was broken and now
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it's restored. Something was missing and now
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it's found, it's in place. It's resulting in a single piece
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and and wholeness. He did this so that he might
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reconcile both to God in one body.
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Through the cross by which he put the hostility to death, He
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came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were
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far away, and peace to those who are near.
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For through Him Jesus, we both have access in one spirit to the
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Father. So then you are no longer
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foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens, with all the
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Saints and members of God's household, built on the
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foundation of the apostles and the prophets in Christ Jesus
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Himself, as the cornerstone in Him.
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The whole building being put together grows into a holy
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temple in the Lord and in him you are also being built
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together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.
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And so he's talking about the Jews who had accepted and put
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their faith in trying Christ, the the apostles, the 1st
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century believers and followers of Jesus and Paul's writing to
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these these now new converts who were Gentile, Pagan, outside of
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the Jewish race and faith. Now because of Jesus we were
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they were far away and now brought near.
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The Jews were near it, but still not a part of it.
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But he brought them near too, because they had followed Jesus,
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because they put their faith in their, their loyalty was to
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Jesus as saving resurrected King.
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And he says, I'm bringing you all together into to peace, into
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oneness, into to this unity of the faith being built up
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together as a temple for the Spirit to dwell and and live.
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And So what we see is that peace indeed is a promise he keeps.
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Peace was a promise he made in Micah.
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And Ephesians 2 shows us the fulfillment of that peace, of
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that promise to be our peace, to reconcile like the glue that
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that binds together a mosaic. It is Jesus who brings us
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together as one family united in Christ.
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Peace, we said on Sunday, is a generous gift of reconciliation
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with God and others. And God's peace is not earned,
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but it is generously bestowed. It extends from reconciliation
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with him to reconciliation among people.
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And so since we've been reconciled to God, there also is
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an element of reconciliation that we are to have with the
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people of God, with with others who are in the faith as well.
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And here's what I want us to see is that the enemy of our soul
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does not want us at peace with God, nor does he want us at
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peace with others. In fact, James talks about how
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where the enemy is present, or excuse me, where division, chaos
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and conflict and disorder, When, where, where there is those
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things, there is every evil work.
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In other words, So, so where there's chaos, where there's
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division, where there's confusion, where there's
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conflict, that's the breeding ground of the enemy creating a
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divisiveness rather than bringing peace and wholeness.
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It is division and individuality.
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It's it's this isolation more so not, not just the uniqueness of
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who we are, but it's, it's a complete rejection of the
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bonding that comes in peace to us being at one with with the
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Father and with each other in Christ.
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It's a it's this way. And the enemy of our souls wants
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us to have nothing to do with that, That Satan does not want
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you at peace with God and Satan does not want you at peace with
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other people. And, and in James it talks about
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how the reason there is chaos and conflict and the enemy is at
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work is because you have greed and selfish ambition operating
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in your souls. That because you are selfish and
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because you are greedy because your default operating system
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has not been renewed and changed out, that there's not been a
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formation into the way of Jesus, you're still operating in an old
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system. Because of that, greed has come
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in and read all sorts of conflict.
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In fact, think about it when whenever money can get involved
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into something, there is often fighting fear and and a striving
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for control. That's like the perfect recipe
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for chaos, isn't it? That's like the perfect recipe
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for division and disastrous relationships, right?
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When you're fighting more, when you're afraid of losing
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something so you strive for control more, all of that often
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is a result of greed residing in our in our hearts.
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I mean, so much of our arguments in our culture today are
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centered around centered around money.
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Nothing will RIP a family apart more than an inheritance.
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I think about it when I can't tell you the number of of times
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I've seen it play out where a loved one dies and their estate
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is murky at best. There isn't great clarity around
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who's getting what, and family members who haven't really been
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involved come out of the woodwork claiming their rightful
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piece of an inheritance, claiming this or claiming that.
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And it rips families apart. I've seen it RIP communities
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apart, this idea of who controls the money, where's money being
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spent, how, what is responsible spending?
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Well, I don't think you should spend it on that.
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Well, I think you should spend it on that.
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And I don't think this is a value.
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And I don't think that's a good ordinance.
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And I don't think this. And it really often just comes
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down to to money and wanting to control, wanting to have power.
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And many people use money as a manipulative way to control
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other people. And, and you see this what and
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what happens, it just creates division and strife and chaos.
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In fact, can I just offer just a, a pastoral observation?
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If you have more than one child and you are over the age of 40,
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you better go ahead and just start writing down what, what
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you want your estate to look at. You need to have a living, will
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you? You need to establish that,
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well, I'm perfectly healthy and I'm going to be fine.
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Yeah, I understand. And I believe that you're going
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to live a really, really long life.
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But don't set your family up for chaos, strife, and division.
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Help them have peace by your planning, by your forethought.
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Listen there. There is one thing that is
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guaranteed in this life. One day you will stop breathing.
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One day your your day and your time on this earth will expire.
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Either by natural death or by Christ's return, one of those
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two things will happen. It is a guarantee.
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So don't be surprised or tripped out or freaked out or, or let
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the morbidity of it just kind of keep you from planning.
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That's, that's don't, don't do that.
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Just just go ahead and begin to make plans for those things,
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even if you don't have a lot, even if you don't have much.
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My wife and I, we, we certainly don't have some large estate,
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but we've got some things written down as to what happens
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to our kids, what we want to be done with the property that we
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do own, the little bit of savings that we have set aside,
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like all of that. Like, like we've got it written
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down in paper and we've got it notarized and it's in a safety
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box and it's a, we have digital copies and certain people know
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where they're at. Like we, we've done some of
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those things. Why?
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Because the last thing I want is my to create an opportunity for
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greed to comment, disrupt a process that my family might be
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walking through. You need to do that.
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If you have aging parents, you need to have that conversation
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with them. I'm just trying to give some
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pastoral wisdom on this because when it comes to greed, they're
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greed knows no bad time to show up, right?
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If you're grieving, you can bet greed's going to show up.
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You're if you are in a bad spot and you need some help you
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absolutely can know you're going to something in you is going to
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want to grab for greed grab grab for more and and and move in a
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direction and it's going to not bring you peace in a season when
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you really need to have the peace of God.
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And so as somebody who's walked with a lot of people through
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death and walked with families through things and just had to
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lament with others, I think it's important that you recognize
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that the enemy will take every opportunity to destroy and
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disrupt relationships, relationships with God or
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relationships with other people. And one of the his primary modes
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of getting us to be in strife rather than in peace is around
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the subject of money. So don't give the enemy an
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opportunity to do that. I love that Paul talks about
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that peace has been extended to the Gentiles or to the Pagan
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world or to those who are far away from God.
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Today, peace is continuing to extend to people who are far
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away from God, and it occurs and it can happen through God's
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people who help propel the mission forward.
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In other words, one of the things that we get to do is the
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people of God has recognized we were once far off.
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Even if we were near, we were still separated.
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And whether we were near or we were far, we are coming together
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now in peace in Christ, and we want to help propel the mission
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of God forward. We want to help other people
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find faith. We want to help other people.
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Find the gospel. And so we support missionaries
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and missional endeavors and we give them to the Lord through
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the local church. And in our generosity, we help
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propel the gospel message forward be because of the
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generosity of our church, the fact that this podcast is
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happening is happening because somebody funded the technology
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to help this happen. Someone is helping to fund
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things like this going forward. And this is what the local
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church does. The body of Christ comes
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together and say, hey, we want to help propel this forward.
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And we we there are people who have paid for the seat you sit
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in every Sunday growing and hearing the gospel message and
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letting your love and devotion grow.
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Your kids are being transformed by the Word of God and having
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their imagination inspired to see God in a new way every
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single Sunday. We're able to partner with
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parents to do that. Why?
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Because there are people who are generously providing and making
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it possible for us to create and have resources, teaching aids
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and creating environments where your kids are engaging in
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scripture in a fun age appropriate.
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That doesn't happen for just for freeze because of generosity.
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Somewhere, somewhere, somebody paid, somebody invested in the
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Kingdom of God so that the message can go forward.
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The gospel message of peace in Jesus, peace because of Jesus,
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Jesus being their peace comes because the people of God help
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fund the mission and it propels the gospel forward.
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That's what we do. That's what it is.
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And and there are a lot of ways that that happens, a lot of ways
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that it's funded and a lot of great initiatives for it.
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But that's that's essentially what the local church is about.
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Every time somebody gets baptized in our church, and
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we've had quite a few people get baptized over the year in our
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church, hundreds and hundreds of them.
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What what is all of that is because of the generosity of
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people who are propelling the gospel message forward in one
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way or or another. And, and this is what we get to
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do. We get to be a part of being
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peacemakers who are helping bring peace into people's hearts
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and minds because they encounter the love of God and give, give
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their heart to the Lord. Just on Sunday I heard a
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testimony from one of our staff members.
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Someone came to him at the end of the service and said, I want
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to give my life. I want to give my heart again.
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I need to rededicate my life. I have not been living at peace
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with the Lord, but I want to be reconciled back to God.
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They were near him but weren't really living for him and they
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wanted to come close. Man, I, I, I get a little
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emotional thinking about that because that life matters, that
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person matters to God. And as the people of God, we got
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to be a part of seeing that happen, how to happen because of
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the generosity of the people of God.
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That's how the mission goes forward.
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And so Paul is continually, unapologetically through his
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gospels and through his writing, imploring the church, imploring
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the people of God to be generous financially so that the mission
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can go forward. And when the mission goes
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forward, the peace of God and the gospel of peace is
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proclaimed and people experience reconciled through Christ and,
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and all the people of God. We get to play a part in that.
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When we give to the Lord through the local church, those things,
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those things happen. And that's God's plan.
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And there is something that happens of peace, peace that is
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cultivated in our hearts as we practice generosity.
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A generosity is one of the spiritual acts of protest that
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we can participate in. Things like fasting, silence
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with the Lord, meditation, biblical meditation,
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contemplation, if you will, and generosity.
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These aren't the only spiritual acts of protest, but these are
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spiritual practices that help us protest against the way of the
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world, the way of greed, the way of mam and the way of
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selfishness, the way of self-sufficiency, the the way of
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kind of the the three big false gods of our world that people
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give themselves to power, money and sensuality.
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There are different acts. So when we fast, we're telling
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our flesh no instead of satisfying, being self
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gratifying in our own sensual personal way.
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When we submit and serve and care about others, we we
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relinquish control. Therefore, we are giving a
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spiritual act of protest against the power of of control and,
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and, and force that we would use to try to get our own way or to
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get something done in our life that that abusive way of life
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like. And when we give generously, we
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are living as an act of protest against the spirit of greed,
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against the attitude of envy. That is a natural default system
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and so much every spiritual practice like that reforms us
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into the people of God, into the people of God's love and to
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people of agape and to people who love and bring peace.
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This is why we must practice the way of Jesus and practicing the
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way of Jesus is doing these spiritual practices like
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financial generosity. It's a spiritual act of protest
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against the way of the world, which God cannot and does not
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abide. Because first John says if if
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you love the Lord, you don't love the way of the world, and
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if you love the world, the way of the Father is not in you.
25:53
And so we want to love the Father and love his way.
25:56
Here's the next thing I want to say, and this is going to be
25:59
kind of a chunky thing. But the second thing I wanted to
26:02
mention is that greed can increase our anxiety.
26:07
And we talked a little bit about how there's a neurological loop
26:11
that happens in our lives where what we focus and give our
26:15
attention to wires are the neurons in our brain to to find
26:19
that more often. So if we're or giving our
26:22
attention to fear, if we're giving our attention to possible
26:27
threats or felt lack of safe, then then our brain wires to
26:31
keep noticing that again and again and again.
26:33
That the neuroplasticity of our brain is a brilliant thing that
26:37
God gave US so that we can wire ourselves for the things of God
26:41
so that we can renew our minds and be transformed.
26:45
But greed and anxiety kind of share the same neurological
26:49
loop. I said right, Like they both
26:52
portraying us in perpetual threat mode.
26:56
Both greed and anxiety train the brain in a perpetual threat
27:00
mode. One says I'm not safe enough and
27:03
the other says I don't have enough.
27:06
And it trains us in a in a way of thinking.
27:08
Anxiety is not just what happens to you, it is what your
27:12
attention trains your brain to expect.
27:15
That's why Scripture says as a man thinks in his heart, so is
27:20
he. Proverbs 23 and verse 7,
27:22
Colossians 3 and verse 2 says to set your mind on things above,
27:28
not on earthly things. Philippians 48 says whatever is
27:32
true, lovely Admiral, just think on these things and the God of
27:38
peace, which goes beyond all our understanding will guard your
27:41
heart and mind in Christ Jesus. What you set your attention to
27:45
it really does matters. Now I put some prompts into
27:48
ChatGPT to help me flesh out those those core truths into
27:54
some real life life practice and to bring about some things.
27:57
So let me share with you some things, both for my own
28:00
research, but also kind of formed and, and shortened and
28:03
condensed into, into a helpful practical way, a way forward.
28:08
Because I want to show you how greed and money anxiety rewire
28:13
your brain for fear, and then how you can rewire it for trust
28:17
in the Lord. And so I want to show you, show
28:20
you this here because greed is not just a spiritual issue.
28:24
Greed and envy is actually a neurological training system
28:28
that conditions our brain to see scarcity, fear and to be hyper
28:33
vigilant in all things. Greed keeps the brain in quote
28:37
UN quote not enough mode. First Timothy 69 says those who
28:41
desire to be rich fall into temptation and many harmful
28:45
desires. Neuroscience shows us that
28:48
repeated focus on more keeps the amygdala activated.
28:53
In other words, the brain begins scanning constantly for loss,
28:56
shortage, comparison and threat because we feel like we need
29:01
more. And this creates chronic low
29:03
grade anxiety even in wealthy people who have enough money.
29:09
Anxiety tends to shrink our peace circuits and our peace
29:13
circuits in our brain. Jesus said in Matthew 624 you
29:16
cannot serve both God and money. Why?
29:19
Because money based security strengthens your fear circuits,
29:23
weakens your trust circuits, and trains your brain to self
29:26
protect rather than surrender. Greed is trying to hijack the
29:32
dopamine system in your brain. Dopamine is the anticipation
29:36
reward. Chemical greed causes us to
29:39
short dopamine spikes when we acquire something.
29:42
So, so when we're always shopping and we're online and
29:46
we're doing things for ourselves, it's all I need this,
29:49
I got to have this. If I don't have this, then I'm,
29:51
I'm not going to explain that short dopamine spikes every time
29:54
when we acquire something new fast dopamine crashes afterward
29:59
and then there's an increased craving, but yet a decreased
30:02
satisfaction. So.
30:03
So you're back on Amazon again, shopping for the next thing to
30:06
buy. This is the addiction loop of
30:09
materialism, not contentment. Greed has a way of eroding our
30:16
gratitude, which stabilizes the nervous system.
30:20
Gratitude is one of the strongest anxiety regulators
30:25
neurologically. Greed says I'll be thankful when
30:28
I have more. Scripture says to give thanks in
30:31
all circumstance without gratitude.
30:34
Express your baseline anxiety will rise and your peace
30:39
circuits will weaken so you will experience less and less peace
30:45
and more and more stress. Money anxiety kind of rewires
30:50
our brain towards a control thing to greed says if I control
30:54
enough, then I'll be safe, which often is the fight in our
31:00
culture, especially in the political realm at every level.
31:04
But control will increase muscle tension.
31:08
When you try to control, you're going to raise cortisol.
31:11
When you try to control things, it's going to produce insomnia,
31:13
insomnia and irritability because you're trying to control
31:16
something that you weren't wired to control because you weren't
31:20
meant to be God in that way. And This is why Jesus says don't
31:25
worry about your life because worry is an attempt at self
31:28
salvation. So let me give you a five step
31:34
scripture and neuroscience practice to retrain your
31:38
attention towards peace and generosity rather than
31:43
materialism and anxiety. Now this is not just shallow
31:48
positive thinking, this is neuroplastic spiritual
31:52
formation. Let me give it to you.
31:55
Step 1. You need to name the threat
31:59
silently. Name what you're afraid of.
32:01
What is it that fear is moving towards or producing in you?
32:06
Is it a fear of lack? Is it a fear of loss?
32:10
Are you afraid of rejection? Is it a fear of being seen or
32:15
really failing in life? As a parent?
32:18
Name what you are fearing. Neuroscience says it like this.
32:24
When you can label an emotion, it reduces the amygdala
32:30
activation. Remember, the amygdala is
32:33
responsible for that fight or flight that that cortisol shot.
32:36
That sense of fear. It spikes your fear, so if you
32:40
want to lower that then you need to name what you're afraid of
32:44
because fear lives in the imagination where your
32:47
imagination runs wild rather than concrete thoughts.
32:52
And so just simply naming the emotion labeling and saying
32:56
aloud, I'm afraid of blank man. You begin to to reduce that
33:02
activation of the amygdala in your brain.
33:05
That's why Jesus where Peter writes in first Peter 57 to cast
33:09
all your anxieties, all of your fear on him because he cares
33:15
about you. You cannot cast what you will
33:19
not name. Step 2 slow your body down.
33:25
This begins to stabilize your nervous system.
33:28
So not only do you need to number one, name the emotion,
33:31
name what you're afraid #2 you need to slow your body down.
33:34
Slow and inhale through the nose 4 seconds, and then slow and
33:41
exhale through the mouth 6 seconds.
33:46
Repeat that five times. This is kind of what's called
33:49
box breathing. Repeat that five times.
33:53
Why? Because this is activating the
33:56
vagus nerve. It's beginning to signal that
34:00
you're safe. It's signaling your brain that
34:02
you're safe. It's lowering the fight or
34:05
flight that your brain is constantly feeding.
34:10
Scripture says to be still and know that I am God.
34:13
Stillness is neurological, not just spiritual.
34:17
So be still. Breathe, create a sense of
34:20
safety. Step #3 Redirect your attention
34:25
to the truth. This is where you begin to
34:27
rewire your brain. Choose one truth.
34:30
Maybe it's the Lord is my shepherd.
34:32
I shall not want Psalm 23 and verse one.
34:34
Maybe it is my God will supply all of your needs according to
34:37
His riches and glory through Christ Jesus.
34:40
Philippians 419. Maybe it's first John 418.
34:43
Perfect love casts out all fear. Speak the truth aloud and slowly
34:52
this begins to strengthen your prefrontal cortex and it weakens
34:56
your fear loops. It stops, it interrupts that
34:59
anxiety loop that you are in step #4 Activate gratitude.
35:05
This begins to stabilize your emotional baseline.
35:09
Name three specific present gifts, not future hopes, not
35:14
past victories, but present graces things right now that you
35:19
can be thankful for. Present things that you are
35:21
seeing that I am thankful for this.
35:22
I am grateful for this. Gratitude lowers your cortisol,
35:28
it raises your serotonin and it trains contentment.
35:32
That's why Scripture says enter his gates with Thanksgiving.
35:36
Enter his course with praise. Psalm 100 and verse 4,
35:40
Thanksgiving physically shifts the brain toward peace.
35:46
I've often said it like this, that worship is worry in
35:51
reverse, or worry is worship in reverse.
35:54
It's the polydrome of it. You can either worship or you
35:58
can worry, but you can't do both at the same time.
36:00
So worship Thanksgiving, praise out loud.
36:05
It helps gratitude grow and it lowers your cortisol.
36:08
It raises your SERT toning and it begins to train you in
36:13
contentment #5 last step to this process kind of of undoing the
36:19
anxiety loop and and rewiring your your thoughts in your brain
36:23
towards the peace of God #5 is this practice open handed Trust.
36:29
This is what breaks greed's grip.
36:32
You cannot break free of greed without financial generosity.
36:38
Just doesn't work. It will not work.
36:43
You need to say out loud, Lord, I release my need to control.
36:49
I release trust to you. Then practice acts of
36:54
generosity, giving financially, serving someone who can't repay
36:58
you, sharing what you have with other people, glad with joy.
37:04
Encourage someone else even though you need encouragement.
37:07
Send someone a text. One of the things I'll do is if
37:10
I'm having a bad day, I will find a reason to tell someone
37:14
else something good. I will begin to give them.
37:17
I will encourage them. Why?
37:18
Because the Bible says when you refresh others, you yourself are
37:21
refreshed. I need to be refreshed.
37:23
I'm not going to wait around and can you refresh me?
37:26
Can you encourage me? I have done that.
37:28
Tell somebody, man, I'm just having a bum day.
37:31
But more than anything, you know what I do?
37:33
I go find somebody who needs to be refreshed, who needs to be
37:35
encouraged and I'm going to go encourage them.
37:37
I'm going to go refresh them. And in the process, I myself am
37:41
refreshed. That's that's a spiritual act of
37:45
generosity. Generosity breaks scarcity,
37:48
conditioning. It rebuilds your trust circuits
37:50
and it restores your joy. It is more blessed.
37:53
It is more joyful to give than to receive.
37:55
The word blessed basically means joyful, happy and fortunate.
38:00
So, so more happy and fortunate is the person who gives that,
38:04
who sits back and waits to receive.
38:05
That's Acts 20 and verse 35. That verse, please hear me, is
38:10
neurologically true. Neurologically true.
38:15
Greed trains the brain to say I'm never safe.
38:18
Generosity trains the brain to say the Lord is my shepherd.
38:22
I like nothing. The world of the generous,
38:24
Proverbs says, gets larger and larger.
38:27
The second of Corinthians 9, Paul writes, insists that he
38:30
will cause more to abound. And it caused me to abound and
38:34
and and flourish in every way, so that I can be generous again
38:39
and again. Jesus will always bring seed to
38:43
those who are willing to be sowers.
38:45
Those who are willing to give, he will have no problem filling
38:49
up their storehouse so that they can continue to be generous,
38:52
have all of their needs met, and have more leftover to give so
38:56
that it can result in other people giving God thanks.
39:01
Go read 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9. You'll find God's heart for the
39:05
generosity and the benefit of it.
39:07
And it's not just spiritual, it's it's neuroscience.
39:11
It's, it's absolutely helping rewire my brain.
39:15
She's the last thing that I'm going to say.
39:17
And that's this, that one of the hardest things for me in not
39:22
living with anxiety and one of the biggest things for me
39:26
really, and learning how to be generous has been that I need
39:31
God's thoughts on the subject more than I need my idealism on
39:35
the subject. Even like to the point where all
39:40
right, here we go, I'm going to give and then someone's going to
39:42
give this back to me. I remember when my wife and I,
39:45
we had the opportunity to give a car away.
39:48
This is several years ago before we lived here.
39:51
It is in North Carolina. We had, we had another car and
39:54
we, we were ready to just be generous.
39:56
We just want to give it away to somebody who needed it, a car.
39:58
So we did. It was so much fun to give a car
40:01
away. And I had to really fight this
40:04
internal thought that says, OK, I'm going to, I'm going to give
40:08
this car away and God's going to give me a car one day.
40:12
I'm going to get a car and it's going to be good because it's
40:14
one for one. That's just not necessarily how
40:17
it thinks. My perspective on giving was a
40:22
little unhealthy at the time. My vantage point, how I view the
40:27
act of generosity. I give and then I get, well,
40:30
that's an unhealthy view of generosity.
40:32
That's, that's a, that's an evil eye, as Jesus would say in
40:35
Matthew chapter 6 approach to understanding.
40:38
Well, I'm going to give this and then I'm going to get it back a
40:40
hundredfold. That's what I'm after.
40:42
God's going to give me a hundredfold on this.
40:44
Maybe he's actually going to give you a whole hundredfold of
40:46
a sense of peace rather than of worry all the time.
40:50
But you're not going to get an unexpected paycheck in the mail,
40:53
right? Like I, I, we, we've had to do
40:55
this. And I think even in my own life,
40:57
like what do I think an abundant life looks like?
41:01
I have to get over the over romanticized idea of something
41:06
and I have to get the, the, the heart of God, the vision of God.
41:09
I have to stop thinking worldly and start thinking biblically.
41:16
I have to recognize that my thoughts aren't really like his
41:19
thoughts and his thoughts aren't like my thoughts that he doesn't
41:23
think like and and I can live with this over romanticized
41:27
thing. In fact, some of you, if you
41:30
feel a a great deal of shame or insecurity, you're, you're
41:34
probably suffering from some over romanticized ideals about
41:38
yourself thinking that like, man, I should be better than I
41:42
am or I should be different than I am.
41:44
And it's really just a subtle way of comparing yourself to
41:46
someone else, which Scripture commands us to not do.
41:51
Do not compare yourself with another.
41:53
Like, don't do it. Like we can easily create
41:57
unrealistic expectations. And maybe even around the area
42:01
of generosity you're feeling a sense of almost like men, I
42:05
should be giving more or I should be doing this more.
42:07
I should be. I want to caution you, don't
42:11
live with unrealistic expectations.
42:14
Start where you are, not where you think you should be.
42:17
And don't wait to start. Well, I'm going to start when I,
42:21
when I finally get that bonus, I'm going to start being
42:23
generous. No, you won't, because you're
42:24
still going to be selfish. You have to start, start
42:26
fighting selfishness and envy and greed and materialism at
42:30
this stage before you get to a larger stage to, to, to more to
42:34
handle and manage like it's just not going to, it's just not
42:37
going to work right. Like this.
42:38
This is the big part of it. And so I think we have to get
42:42
over the over romanticized idea of what it's going to be like.
42:46
I'm going to, I'm going to do this generous thing and then
42:50
it's going to feel so good and it's going to be like, don't
42:52
over romanticize the results. That's not helpful.
42:55
That's that's not godly even. I feel like it's good to have
42:59
expectation of God and especially of what God has said
43:02
in his word. But I think we need to be
43:05
careful to have God's thoughts on something not our idealism,
43:10
our ex, our unrealistic expectation, or our or a
43:14
romanticized understanding of how it is.
43:16
The end of the day, generosity is an act of our obedience.
43:20
It's an act of gratitude as an expression of worship where we
43:25
are offering all of who we are to the Lord and recognizing that
43:30
he owns it all and we're stewarding it and we want to
43:33
return it back to him. And so now when it comes to what
43:36
does it look like to be at peace with God and hold in our minds,
43:40
it's, it's not going to be perfect all the time.
43:41
It's going to be a practice. The reason it's practice is that
43:45
we are not perfect at it. And we keep doing these
43:48
spiritual practices in the way of Jesus as a way of protesting
43:54
and re and and entering into the redemptive formation that God
43:59
has for each of each of us. The the last thing maybe I'll
44:05
I'll say is I came across this quote from Philip Yancey and
44:09
John Tyson actually shared it out on social media a couple
44:13
weeks ago and it said this, this state God desires for us
44:18
Stallone results in a person fully alive functionally,
44:24
optimally to the designer specifications.
44:27
Let me say it again. The state God desires for us
44:30
Shalom results in a person fully alive functioning optimally to
44:36
the designers specifications. In the words God designed us to
44:39
operate in full Shalom, fully alive for the best life in this
44:43
world. It helps to listen to wisdom
44:46
transmitted from another world. In other words, if we're really
44:51
going to experience that kind of life, that abundant life, fully
44:54
alive in God, the Shalom of God, we've got to get into His Word.
45:00
Peace flows freely when we think about the right things in the
45:05
right way and long for them and care about those things.
45:09
This is why we look to God and allow our thoughts to be shaped
45:14
by His Kingdom, His Word, His Truth, His reality, not our
45:19
worldly reality or our secular viewpoint.
45:23
We need to be transformed in our minds so that we can see, know
45:29
and experience the fullness of God in this life.
45:32
It's His redemptive transformation in our lives.
45:36
It's US receiving His peace. All right, that does it.
45:40
For all of our bonus content. Let me share some responses to
45:44
some questions that we had come in.
45:47
Here's the first question. Jesus says do not worry multiple
45:51
times in in the Bible, but worry appears to be an acceptable
45:56
quote UN quote sin. We just gloss over and maybe
45:59
ignore. It's like believers are OK with
46:02
worry because we can't help it. Can you provide maybe the number
46:06
one way to help us destroy the temptation to worry and the sin
46:10
of engaging and worrying? Yeah.
46:14
I want to specify #1 what we mean by sin, if by sin we mean
46:22
like some gross thing that is so intolerable by God that God like
46:27
has to reject us, like we're somehow like intolerable to him,
46:30
I think that's an inappropriate way of thinking about that, that
46:34
phrase. But if we think about it like
46:36
men, this is part of the brokenness that misses the mark
46:39
of Gray union and trust in God. It's something that moves us
46:43
into unbelief instead of belief. I think that's a great way to
46:47
frame and understand this sin. It's this contagion in our world
46:50
that we often get infected by, and it influences how we live.
46:54
Like we pick up those germs everywhere we go and we need to
46:58
constantly be cleaned of antibiotics to kind of cleanse
47:04
ourselves from that bacteria that we pick up in the world in
47:07
which we live in. I think that's a helpful framing
47:10
in this way because, and I want to bring a distinction between
47:14
worry as an emotion that we feel and worrying.
47:19
In other words, it's this activity that we perpetuate to
47:22
experience worry in a moment. All emotions, I believe, are a
47:27
gift from God alerting us to something that we're
47:30
experiencing and believing. The trouble is that what we're
47:34
experiencing and believing might not be the full truth or the
47:37
reality of God. So you might have a moment of
47:41
worry, but that worry, what you do with it matters.
47:46
So I could sit here and think about my daughter who is
47:50
currently taking her first finals as a college student, and
47:55
I could just kind of allow my imagination to go to all the
47:59
worst case scenarios. Now I'm no longer just worried.
48:03
I am worrying. I am actively creating
48:06
imaginations and partnering with thoughts that are not rooted in
48:10
reality. They're just what if
48:12
imaginations. So.
48:13
So I'm finding myself wiring my brain in a wrong direction.
48:17
It's unhelpful and unhealthy, but I could take that worry, be
48:22
like, Oh my goodness, I'm my daughters taking her exams.
48:25
I don't want her to fail. I want her to do well.
48:28
I want her to succeed. I want her to keep her
48:29
scholarships. I'm worried about her.
48:32
That is an emotion that I need to interpret from the Bible and
48:37
interpret from. What's the right way to handle
48:39
that emotion? For me, I would take that
48:42
emotion and then turn that worry into prayer or turn that worry
48:48
into to take it to the Lord. So I think the number one thing
48:52
to overcome and beat the temptation to live a worrisome
48:57
life is to name it out loud and release it to God first.
49:04
Peter 5, casting all your cares on God because he cares for you.
49:08
All of your cares, all of your anxiety, all of your worry, all
49:11
of your fear, Cast it to God. How do we cast it?
49:14
We name it, we confess it, we bring it into the light.
49:18
So if I'm worrying, I'm going to name what I'm worried about God.
49:22
I am worried and fearful for this.
49:25
I'm worried that I've had to do this many times.
49:31
Complete honesty, right? We, many of you who are who are
49:33
listening to this, we're aware that we're in.
49:35
We've been in almost a two year process now of saving money so
49:39
that we can go from dreaming and in designing a facility into
49:44
actually building and constructing an expansion for
49:48
our facility. We are, we are completely out of
49:50
room in our kids ministry, in our services and we're
49:54
constantly running up against space issues.
49:57
And so it's it's urgent for us in in days when I am feeling
50:03
like I'm the the savior of my world, I get worried that we
50:07
won't ever cross this. The longer this has gone on, the
50:11
easier it has been for me to worry that God's not going to
50:15
come through that I'm going to put my trust somewhere.
50:16
So it gets me into unbelief, which is where maybe that this
50:19
sinning or disrupts my communion with God.
50:23
So I've got to name that out loud.
50:25
God, I, I am worried that we're never going to reach this part
50:29
of $1,000,000. I've had to name that and say
50:31
that out loud to God. And when I say it out loud, it
50:34
no longer lives in my imagination rent free.
50:37
It no longer is is creating neuro pathways of things that
50:41
I'm creating agreement with which then rewire my brain to to
50:45
have some anxiety worry loop happening.
50:48
No, no, I'm, I'm naming it out loud to God.
50:50
So I think the number one thing you can do is name it, identify
50:54
what you're worried about and speak it out loud to God.
50:56
Give it to him. God, I'm worried about this, but
50:59
I release the results of this to you.
51:02
God, I am worried about my daughter at college right now,
51:04
but I release her into your hands.
51:06
You love her, you're caring for her.
51:08
You're going to remind her of all that she studied.
51:10
Holy Spirit, you are with her and I'm going to release that to
51:13
God in prayer. That's what it looks like to
51:16
cast all your cares on God before because he cares for you.
51:20
And you have got to get ruthless and aggressive in naming out
51:26
loud what you're worried about and submitting it to God.
51:30
That's that's you've got to get ruthless about that.
51:33
Don't let it linger. Get it over to to the Lord.
51:38
He cares for you. That's the motivation that that
51:43
that gives me trust when I recognize that, that he not only
51:47
wants me to cast my cares on him because it's bad for me, but he
51:50
wants me to cast my cares to him because he cares for me.
51:54
And that's a game changer. Not only is it unhealthy and
51:57
unhelpful for me to carry my anxiety, my worries, my fears,
52:01
but like he doesn't want me to do that because he loves me.
52:06
He wants to carry those things for me.
52:08
Why? Because He can control the
52:10
outcomes, I can't. So I let God be God and I stay
52:15
His Son in that process. Here's the next question.
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How would you incorporate John 1427 with what you taught?
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When Jesus says my peace, I leave with you.
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John 1427. He's talking about, hey, listen,
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I don't want you to be troubled. I'm going to leave you my peace.
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He is specifically talking about the Holy Spirit and specifically
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talking about the Holy Spirit helping us live in union with
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the Father. The reason Jesus had peace in
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every circumstance is because he stayed in constant union with
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the Father. He had unbroken fellowship with
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God. He knew how much God loved him.
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He had heard the affirmation of the Father.
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He trusted in the Father rather than trusted in himself.
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His trust was in the Lord. His trust was in his Father.
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And so when Jesus says my peace, I'm leaving you.
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I'm leaving you a way in which you can be at Shalom with God,
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and it's going to happen through the person of the Spirit who
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lives and dwells in you. So when I think about John 1427,
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I think absolutely about all of who Jesus is.
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He came to be our peace, to bring us peace, and to help us
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live out peace with others, bringing them into the peace of
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God too. And so I, I don't see that as a
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contradiction in any way that Jesus is our peace and he was
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leaving us peace. I think he's talking about it
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from a holistic perspective. Jesus lived in perfect
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regulation of his emotions as a man full of the Spirit, moving
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away from a life of sin. And this is what the Holy Spirit
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wants us to do, move away from these lives of sin, to live in
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union with the Father so that we can experience wholeness of
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Jesus, wholeness with Jesus. The next question is this, in
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addition to Matthew chapter 6, what other Bible verses help
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change our perspectives to see things differently?
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This is a bit of a broad question and I would say the
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scripture is full of insights onto who God's character is.
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So depending on the perspective that you need to have to be more
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healthy, that would be the scripture that you need to find.
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So if your perspective is that God is out to punish you, I
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think you need to start looking at the scriptures that have to
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do with why we were still sinners.
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Christ died for us. You need to look at the
54:54
scriptures that speak of the love and the the union that God
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has with us and for us. If your perspective is that God
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cannot be someone, he won't protect you, well then you need
55:07
to go find the scriptures that help you see the character of
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God as one who protects those that he loves.
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My rod and your stuff, they comfort me.
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You protect me. Though I walk through the valley
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of the shadow of it. I don't fear any evil.
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It is God's word, like in Matthew 6, that shifts our
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perspective to see God differently.
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And so if you're having trouble seeing God, go back and read the
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Scriptures about Jesus because Jesus said if you've seen me,
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oh, you've seen the Father. So if there are areas in your
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life where you're struggling to see God the way he needs to be
55:46
seen, to see a subject the way he needs to see it, we'll go
55:50
read the words of Jesus, Go read the teachings of Jesus, Go read
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about the life of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and
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you'll get a clear picture of who the Father is and who he
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came and, and what he wants to do in US and, and through us.
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So I would say depending on the perspective that needs to change
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is where I would shift and go to in the Scriptures.
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But ultimately it is the word, ultimately it is the person of
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Jesus. Ultimately it is the truth of
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the Scriptures that help us see God correctly.
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All of the Bible is about God revealing himself to us.
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It's the story of redemption and renewal in the person of Jesus.
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And so when we get in the word, when we get into the Scriptures,
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it helps us shift our perspective in contrasting our
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life with with the others. And so I would have to say
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depending on the perspective, that's where I'd go.
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But if it is as we talked about in on on Sunday as a maybe it
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relates to anxiety around financial things, I would go to
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places like Matthew chapter 6. I would go to 2nd Corinthians 8
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and 9. I would go to his instruction in
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I think second Timothy, second Timothy 5 maybe where he
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instructs those who have some wealth what what to do with it.
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I would go to go to those, go to those places, Philippians 3 and
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4. So if you're having trouble
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seeing the the truth of God's word or a perspective healthy
57:28
around financial things, I would go go there.
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I would read the book of Proverbs, great wisdom that
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helps us live in the fear of the Lord.
57:37
Proverbs is a book of wisdom and living in the fear of the Lord.
57:42
And so read through the Proverbs.
57:43
It's going to shift your perspective on probably
57:45
everything, but it's a great book of principles and
57:49
perspectives that are shaped in a God honoring way.
57:53
So that that would be maybe a great way to to to do that.
57:58
Last question, is this in the sermon you asked how our morning
58:01
routines are. Are they rushy and chaotic or
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are they peaceful? But how do we create a peaceful
58:08
morning if there are other uncontrollable factors that
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cause it to be rushed and chaotic like family is late
58:15
getting around? Fantastic question.
58:18
I love it. To be honest, I think hurry is
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more a condition of our soul than it is of a chronicle.
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Chronicle one, In other words, a chronological one.
58:30
That's what I meant to say. Chronological one.
58:32
It might be true that you have to like kind of with haste to
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get somewhere. That's, that's probably true.
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I, I think that you need to ask yourself, well, why does it
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matter if you're rushing it? Is it more important to not
58:46
disappoint other people because you didn't properly plan in the
58:50
morning or there were things that were uncontrollable?
58:53
Let's say something breaks, you get a flat tire or man you
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overslept your alarm or whatever.
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I I think it's admirable to be on time, but like I I absolutely
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hate being late. I I think it is disrespectful to
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other people to do that, but it is equally disrespectful to
59:10
mistreat those that I love the most in order to save face with
59:16
someone else. It's an issue with my I'm more
59:20
worried about how I am perceived and received by another person
59:24
than I am how I am living and being experienced by the people
59:28
in my house that I love. That that's not an excuse to be
59:31
lazy or unhurried. I think that it helps you to pre
59:34
plan. So are there times where you are
59:36
not going to be able to control circumstances 100%?
59:42
But if that's always the case, I would say there's something
59:45
systemically wrong, not randomly wrong.
59:49
So if you're a chronically rushing, it's because you're
59:52
really bad at time management. That's on you, not the other
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things. That's on me, not the other
59:58
things. If I get up and the immediately
1:00:00
I go straight to my phone and I start scrolling and I get the
1:00:03
news and I and I don't even for a moment pause and invite the
1:00:07
Shalom of God that day, that's on me.
1:00:09
That's not anything I controlled that.
1:00:11
I snoozed on the alarm. I didn't get up and give myself
1:00:15
margin in the morning. I didn't do that.
1:00:17
But I so again I think. Hurry is more an issue.
1:00:22
I'm going to say it this way. This is the way the Lord has
1:00:24
said it to me over over the years.
1:00:27
Hurry is antithetical to the love of God.
1:00:32
You cannot be in a hurry and love correctly.
1:00:37
Why? First Corinthians 13?
1:00:40
Love is patient and kind. It's like, like it's really hard
1:00:47
to be in a hurry and be kind and, and still be impatient.
1:00:52
So, so there are things that can interrupt and intrude on your
1:00:57
day, but they don't have to interrupt your emotions.
1:01:00
They don't have to interrupt your trust in the Lord.
1:01:03
They don't have to interrupt your love for the people around
1:01:06
you and the way you express love to the people around you.
1:01:10
So are there going to be moments where things are rushed and
1:01:13
chaotic? It feels like I got to go.
1:01:15
Yeah, sure, absolutely. That's what the world does.
1:01:18
That's that's the way things happen.
1:01:20
I get that. But I can walk through that in
1:01:23
calm, in peace, in love, impatience and still look to try
1:01:30
to be honorable to other people by getting their screen Just
1:01:34
said, hey, man, I am late. I am sorry.
1:01:36
We're going to get there as soon as we can.
1:01:38
You live with that. What like, I think that we are
1:01:42
often afraid of being late and so we are rushing people we love
1:01:46
and, and being negative to them and speaking down on them
1:01:49
because like we're feeling frazzled.
1:01:51
That's more of a dysregulation about us than it is them.
1:01:54
That's more of an issue of us trying to love ourselves and be
1:01:59
loved by someone else. How we appear, how we look, how
1:02:02
we think like rather than being calm within ourselves.
1:02:05
Again, that's it's not an excuse to be lazy.
1:02:07
It's not an excuse to not plan well, it's not an excuse.
1:02:09
Are there moments where that's going to happen?
1:02:10
100% There are things that are going to show up that are
1:02:13
interruptive of your day, but but they don't have to interrupt
1:02:15
your peace, your love, your trust in the Lord.
1:02:18
And so I think how we respond in moments of hurry and just like,
1:02:24
Oh my gosh, everybody's running. There might be a lot of things
1:02:27
happening, but just because there's a lot of activity in the
1:02:30
house, like a like this person's getting food and this person's
1:02:33
cleaning up the dishes and that one's taking out the trash and
1:02:35
that one's taking out the dog. And you're just ordering the
1:02:38
chaos a little bit that I think that's perfectly fine.
1:02:40
You might have to order the chaos a little bit, but there
1:02:44
are things and practices that you can do on the daily to move
1:02:49
you into being a person of peace and ruthlessly eliminating hurry
1:02:53
from your life so that you can intentionally cultivate love for
1:02:58
people around in your life. We must be formed by God's love,
1:03:04
and therefore we must help others be formed by God's love
1:03:08
expressed in our life too. So it doesn't mean there aren't
1:03:14
chaotic times, that things aren't unexpected, that you've
1:03:17
got to kind of handle things in the moment.
1:03:19
I think it really comes back to what have I built my life on?
1:03:22
What is my perspective in this moment?
1:03:24
And what is this emotion telling me here and now?
1:03:27
It might my my need and urge to rush and make people move and to
1:03:32
control this. And like that says more about me
1:03:36
and what I'm thinking about myself, what I think God is
1:03:39
thinking about me, what other people are thinking about me.
1:03:42
Then maybe it does the love around me, loving other people,
1:03:46
loving the people that I'm, I might be disappointing by being
1:03:49
a little bit late, things of that nature.
1:03:52
And so I think if you can win the morning, you're setting
1:03:55
yourself up to wind more in your day.
1:03:58
And so I think morning routines are really helpful.
1:04:00
They're really necessary. So there are things you can't
1:04:04
control, but what can you control?
1:04:06
I would say start there, start allowing God to show you those
1:04:10
things. And for me it's been a bit of a
1:04:11
process where the Lord has just been teaching me you cannot love
1:04:15
other people and be in a hurry at the same time.
1:04:18
Just doesn't work because love is patient and kind.
1:04:24
That's it. Hey friends, thanks for
1:04:26
listening and watching. Make make sure you share this
1:04:30
episode with some people that you love and it was going to be
1:04:33
helpful for them. And I pray indeed that this has
1:04:36
helped you have faith for today and that you are getting to
1:04:39
experience the God who generously gives his Shalom and
1:04:44
his peace. I love you guys, grace and
1:04:46
peace. We'll see you next week.