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Transcript

Becoming a Discerning Church: Finding God’s Movement in Our Time · Faith at Work

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  This morning is going to be a little different kind of
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  experience during the sermon
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  SPEAKER_00: time and the message time.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be more of an announcement.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that announcement,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is going to take 15 or so minutes to talk through,
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  SPEAKER_00: is actually already in your bulletins.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if you are interested in kind of following along,
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  SPEAKER_00: there's going to be some notes and stuff on the screen,
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  but pretty much everything I'm going to say this morning is
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  written in there so
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  SPEAKER_00: that you can take it home.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a lot, so you can kind of digest it.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've been in ministry for almost 30 years,
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  SPEAKER_00: I guess it's been now,
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  SPEAKER_00: and as I progressed and grew,
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  SPEAKER_00: I came into a practice,
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  and it has been my practice as a pastor for quite a long time
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  to reflect on what
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  I feel God might be leading me to pursue biblically on behalf
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  of the congregation
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  SPEAKER_00: in the next year.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of how I talk about it.
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  SPEAKER_00: What am I called to pursue biblically?
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  and theologically and thematically on behalf of the
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  congregation in the next year.
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  And that practice typically begins,
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  you know,
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  mid-year or some time of the previous year.
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  SPEAKER_00: In this case, I think I started this process in May or June and
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  began to reflect and to pray and through personal study and
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  reflection and prayer
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  SPEAKER_00: and conversation with leaders in the congregation,
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  SPEAKER_00: it ends up being a plan,
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  SPEAKER_00: a vision framework for the next year.
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  SPEAKER_00: So all of this discernment ends up being a course,
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  SPEAKER_00: a direction for us of discipleship that will lead me and
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  SPEAKER_00: as a result, lead you in the coming year.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then,
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  SPEAKER_00: at the end of that year,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is 2025,
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  SPEAKER_00: I share an outline and a syllabus with the congregation,
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  SPEAKER_00: which you have now in your bulletin,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I'll be talking about it,
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  SPEAKER_00: and you'll be seeing it up here on the screen.
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  And this provides the congregation the opportunity and all the
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  ministry teams and
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  SPEAKER_00: groups within the congregation to align,
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  SPEAKER_00: as they choose to do,
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  with the biblical themes that I will be pursuing on our behalf
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  in the worship services.
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  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: what follows from now,
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  SPEAKER_00: and also in your bulletin,
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  is the outline and a syllabus that will be our starting point
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  for worship this
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  SPEAKER_00: coming year,
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  SPEAKER_00: for study and also discipleship in 2026.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm fairly excited about this, so hopefully you will be too.
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  SPEAKER_00: As I've returned to ministry,
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  I returned to ministry after about 13 years of not being in
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  full-time ministry here
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  SPEAKER_00: in this congregation.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as I've returned to ministry...
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  SPEAKER_00: I have been asking my colleagues,
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  SPEAKER_00: the various pastors that I'm meeting along the way,
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  SPEAKER_00: other folks that I know that are theologically minded,
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  really interested in the church and what's going on with God in
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  the world.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've been asking them a simple question.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where is the movement of God these days?
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  And it's been a surprising experience because most of them say,
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  I have no idea.
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  SPEAKER_00: And my response is, oh, well, that's kind of scary.
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  SPEAKER_00: Because I believe that there is a movement of God happening.
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  And the reason is because I believe there's always a movement
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  of God happening.
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  SPEAKER_00: We just need to figure out
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  where it is what it is and then after we discern that we need
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  to figure out how to
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  jump on board with that movement and then we need to figure out
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  how to foster that
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  movement in our worship in our groups in our outreach and in
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  our service and so
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  those three questions are going to sort of be a guiding
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  questions for us this year
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  SPEAKER_00: We are going to have a call to action, a primary goal.
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  And that primary goal is going to become a discerning church in
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  the coming age that
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  SPEAKER_00: God is moving us into.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you feel like we are already a discerning church,
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  SPEAKER_00: well,
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  SPEAKER_00: you're going to have a different call to action.
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  SPEAKER_00: your call to action is going to become more discerning.
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  SPEAKER_00: To double down on your discerning and,
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  SPEAKER_00: by the Spirit,
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  SPEAKER_00: help lead the way for all of us in the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here's the plan.
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  SPEAKER_00: First off,
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  SPEAKER_00: There are going to be eight worship series this year,
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  SPEAKER_00: each with a different theme and different guiding questions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Secondly,
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  SPEAKER_00: you've been experiencing this,
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  but there are going to be links to a podcast version of the
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  message with a
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  SPEAKER_00: transcript,
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  SPEAKER_00: a study guide,
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  SPEAKER_00: and a five-day devotional.
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  And that's going to be provided by email each week and on our
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  church website.
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  It's going to come out on Mondays following the Sunday morning
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  service and the message.
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  SPEAKER_00: And these are designed to be used individually or in groups.
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  Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: before I move on,
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  SPEAKER_00: I have been asked by a number of people,
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  SPEAKER_00: not just one person,
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  SPEAKER_00: to share with you and show everyone how to find the podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right?
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  SPEAKER_00: So, how many of you have found the podcast yet?
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so they were right.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right, I know this is unusual in church, but pull out your phone and
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  SPEAKER_00: It's not sacrilegious, I promise.
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  SPEAKER_00: There will be no lightning bolts, I assure you.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is a godly endeavor.
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  SPEAKER_00: So pull out your phones,
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  SPEAKER_00: and in each email,
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  SPEAKER_00: there's a link to the podcast,
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  SPEAKER_00: but you can't really click that right now.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this QR code is going to take you to the same place.
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  SPEAKER_00: So hold your phone up, and I can see you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I can, whether or not you're doing this or not.
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  This is probably the only thing I'm going to ever tell you you
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  have to do.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right.
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  SPEAKER_00: So open your phone and then click on that QR code.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is going to take you to the podcast page.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right.
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  SPEAKER_00: Faith at work.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right, so click on that.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's going to take you, and hopefully this is working.
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  SPEAKER_00: I did try it out on my phone,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I'm super connected,
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  SPEAKER_00: so of course it's going to work on my phone.
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  SPEAKER_00: But it should be taking you to something that looks like this, all right?
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  SPEAKER_00: And then on the top right, it's not for Terry.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I thought I did.
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  SPEAKER_00: Did I not say open your phone and click on your camera?
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  SPEAKER_00: So, see, group discernment.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's how it works in the church.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody knows everything or says everything all the time.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right, so use your camera.
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  SPEAKER_00: Click on this QR code, and it should take you to something like that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it is.
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  SPEAKER_00: And if this doesn't work,
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  SPEAKER_00: we're not going to take way too much time on it,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I'll be in the back.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can help you with it.
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  SPEAKER_00: The top right,
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  SPEAKER_00: there should be some three little buttons there,
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  SPEAKER_00: and if you click on that,
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  SPEAKER_00: you can follow the podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if you click on those three buttons and say follow,
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  SPEAKER_00: you're going to get notifications when this podcast.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just an audio of what I say on Sunday mornings.
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  So click on those three buttons,
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  click follow,
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  and now you are following the podcast.
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  Now,
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  this is really important,
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  at least to me,
• 8:58
  and it's helpful in outreach.
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  SPEAKER_00: So just think about it as an outreach endeavor.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Go all the way to the bottom, right?
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  And I know it's a little small,
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  but there's a ratings and reviews section.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there's some stars there, all right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'd like for you to give me five stars.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't mind, rating the podcast at five stars right now.
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  SPEAKER_00: All right?
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  SPEAKER_00: All right?
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  And even if you don't ever listen to it because you hear it on
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  Sunday mornings and
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  SPEAKER_00: either you get enough of me or you think it's stupid,
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  SPEAKER_00: rating it five stars does something very important in,
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  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: the Internet world.
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  SPEAKER_00: It tells Apple...
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  SPEAKER_00: that there's some people who like this,
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  SPEAKER_00: and just think about it,
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  SPEAKER_00: if all of y'all,
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: however many people are here,
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  SPEAKER_00: would rate it at a five-star rating,
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  that would probably be more five stars than many podcasts get
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  after years of being
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  SPEAKER_00: on Apple,
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: okay?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to tell Apple that
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  people like this and maybe they might want to send it out to
• 10:14
  other people like us
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: who might like it.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: So please rate it five stars.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you don't want to ever listen to it, that's fine.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: But now, you know, at least you know where it is, where it lives.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Moving on.
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  I do a lot of studying throughout the week in order to prepare
• 10:37
  the 15-minute
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  SPEAKER_00: message that I share with you on Sunday mornings.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as always, there are a lot of great insights
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  SPEAKER_00: that I learn about or I read or I listen to.
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  And all of that gets distilled down typically into one phrase
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  or at the most one
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  SPEAKER_00: paragraph in my sermon.
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  SPEAKER_00: So there's five,
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  SPEAKER_00: eight,
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  10 hours of study that goes into a message and then distilled
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  into 15 minutes is
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  SPEAKER_00: kind of how it works out.
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  SPEAKER_00: In talking to some people,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said,
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  SPEAKER_00: well,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: we'd love to talk about some of those things.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if there's enough interest,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I'm saying a minimum of 10 people,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I'm going to explain that in a little bit.
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  SPEAKER_00: If there's interest,
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  what I'm willing to do is to start a class on a background
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  study class group where
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  SPEAKER_00: we would...
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  SPEAKER_00: talk about it in a little bit more depth,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: 45 minutes,
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  SPEAKER_00: an hour,
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  SPEAKER_00: about some of the background stuff that I used to form the sermon,
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  SPEAKER_00: like,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: going in deeper detail about what the Maccabean revolt was about,
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  SPEAKER_00: and when that was,
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  SPEAKER_00: and why that was.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll be talking about that in a couple weeks.
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  Maybe you're interested,
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  but all I'm going to say in the sermon is,
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  you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: A few centuries before Jesus came, there was a Maccabean revolt.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then you're like, well, what's that?
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  SPEAKER_00: So...
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  SPEAKER_00: If there's a minimum of 10 people, I can start a group.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now, why 10 people?
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  SPEAKER_00: And this goes for the next thing I'm going to say as well.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's not because I feel like unless there's enough interest,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to take my time to do a class.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's not the reason.
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  SPEAKER_00: The reason is because if there's that much interest or more,
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  SPEAKER_00: I cannot manage that individually and personally.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: During my week,
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  SPEAKER_00: while I'm doing study,
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  SPEAKER_00: I've already done the study,
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  SPEAKER_00: during my week,
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  SPEAKER_00: if I say something on Sunday and you're like,
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  SPEAKER_00: oh my gosh,
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  SPEAKER_00: I want to hear a little bit more about the Maccabean Revolt,
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  SPEAKER_00: you show up in my office,
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  SPEAKER_00: you say,
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  SPEAKER_00: hey Harry,
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  tell me a little bit more about where you got this idea about
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  the Maccabean Revolt,
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  SPEAKER_00: let's talk about it for 20,
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  SPEAKER_00: 30 minutes,
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  SPEAKER_00: or let's go out for coffee,
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  SPEAKER_00: or you call me and say,
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  SPEAKER_00: hey,
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  SPEAKER_00: let's go out for lunch.
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, five, six, seven people a week, I can manage that.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love to eat, I love to drink coffee, I love to get out of here and
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  And I love people to come to my office and talk about God and
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  theology and those
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  SPEAKER_00: kinds of things.
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  SPEAKER_00: But if 20 people do that during a week,
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm just not going to be able to manage that,
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  SPEAKER_00: you know,
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  SPEAKER_00: with the time that I have.
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  SPEAKER_00: But if six or eight of you do, that's cool.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if it's 10 or more, we'll start a class.
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  SPEAKER_00: If it's 10 or less and you want to talk, just come by.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'll talk to you about these things.
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  SPEAKER_00: Make sense?
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
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  Don't quite know how we're going to figure out whether there's
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  10 or more of you
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  SPEAKER_00: for a background study,
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  SPEAKER_00: but we'll work on that as we go along.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so we'll either do this by Zoom or in person or whatever.
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  Three,
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  for each series,
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  one book is going to be suggested for further reading.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this is for all eight of the series for the entire year.
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  So theoretically,
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  we're going to read eight books at least together for the next
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  year.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: There will also be supplemental books,
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  SPEAKER_00: resources that go along with that,
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  SPEAKER_00: that if you want to read them,
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  SPEAKER_00: you'll be able to do.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I'm going to be providing information,
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  SPEAKER_00: links to books that go along with each series,
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  SPEAKER_00: things that I'm going to be reading,
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  SPEAKER_00: things that you can be reading.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then that's going to be shared in more detail,
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  SPEAKER_00: kind of like the example that is in your bulletin.
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  SPEAKER_00: And again,
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  If there's enough interest,
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  minimum of 10 folks,
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  in talking about the primary book,
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  we can start a book study,
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  okay,
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  on this and have conversations about that.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's not that many people who want to do it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just stop by.
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  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about the book, all right?
• 14:46
  Each ministry-focused team is going to be encouraged to create
• 14:50
  one activity,
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: just so you know,
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: one creative contribution for each of the series to create...
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  SPEAKER_00: better alignment with these themes,
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  SPEAKER_00: deeper personal applications of these biblical themes,
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: and just a general community feel about what is going on in church.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
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  I'm available to talk to any of the ministry-focused teams that
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  would like to talk
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  SPEAKER_00: about this and brainstorm.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: So now you know, and our board chairs heard it.
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  SPEAKER_00: No excuses there.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't want me to talk about it, that's fine.
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  SPEAKER_00: But if you do, I am available.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: The board is going to be talking about it.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be having a board retreat in January.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Can you remind me of the date?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's one Saturday in January, and that's when we're meeting.
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  SPEAKER_00: 10th, thank you.
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  SPEAKER_00: 10th, 9 to 3.
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  The board is going to be meeting and we're going to be talking
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  about the whole year.
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  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be talking in part about each of the series.
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  SPEAKER_00: So everybody's going to have an opportunity to think about that.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's the first series?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, got a few more minutes.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is what's starting on January 4th.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited about this.
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  SPEAKER_00: I hope that either you will be after I talk a little bit about it now,
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: or at least when we're involved in it,
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  SPEAKER_00: you'll be excited about it.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is going to be a historical study.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some of you don't like to do that kind of thing,
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  SPEAKER_00: but the Bible is a history book,
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: if you didn't know.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we are going to
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  go through a historical study of how God has deconstructed and
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  reconstructed the
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  focus and the practices of God's people in approximately what
• 16:42
  seems to be four and
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: five hundred year waves or arcs.
• 16:48
  It's very interesting and we're going to begin with the book of
• 16:51
  Malachi that was
• 16:52
  written around 400 BCE and we're going to spend seven weeks
• 16:57
  examining God's
• 17:00
  progression and these waves the guiding questions are going to
• 17:03
  be are we in such a
• 17:05
  moment and movement of deconstruction and reconstruction of our
• 17:11
  faith focus and
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: practice and if yes then what do we do with that
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Primary reading is gonna be this book,
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Phyllis Tickle,
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: The Great Emergence,
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Emergent Christianity.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: And in that book,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: she kind of lays out this idea of how every four or 500 years,
• 17:36
  there's a rummage sale of what's going on in the Christian
• 17:39
  church and how that
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: changes things and what the church is responding to in those ages,
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: all right?
• 17:49
  There's going to be three secondary readings,
• 17:52
  and all this is in your thing.
• 17:54
  I'll send out an email with links if you're interested in
• 17:57
  buying these books.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: All the books,
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to make sure that they are Kindle-friendly,
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: and they're as free as possible.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: So two of the three,
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Josephus and the two volumes of Gonzales,
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: which is the history of the Christian church,
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: they,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think,
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: are either free or only cost 99 cents on Kindle.
• 18:18
  So if you have a Kindle or a phone or something,
• 18:20
  you can get those resources for free.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Both of those two are used in seminary.
• 18:26
  They are very,
• 18:28
  very helpful sources as we start to think about some of these
• 18:32
  things.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination.
• 18:37
  An incredible work,
• 18:38
  and we'll be looking at that,
• 18:40
  talking about those things.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: So some really good resources.
• 18:43
  And then over the next seven weeks,
• 18:46
  starting on the 4th,
• 18:48
  we are going to be looking at these...
• 18:51
  these seven moments in history about every four or five hundred
• 18:55
  years where things
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: changed in society,
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: things changed in the geopolitical world,
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: and things changed in the religious faith world.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So Malachi's 8,
• 19:09
  we're going to be looking at the book of Malachi and what
• 19:13
  Malachi was saying at
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: that time.
• 19:15
  We're going to be talking about Jesus' prophetic imagination
• 19:19
  around the time that Jesus was
• 19:20
  around,
• 19:21
  okay,
• 19:22
  and we'll be looking in a very top-down view of the gospel of
• 19:27
  Luke and Matthew.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be talking about the new kingdom.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a misspelling.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Kingdom, not kingdom.
• 19:37
  And looking at the book of Acts and what that teaches us about
• 19:42
  how the world
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: responded to the prophetic imagination of Jesus when he came.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Which is going to give us a bit of a template.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: on maybe what we want to do in our age.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of where we're going to be focusing on that.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a little out of the timeline focus.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to be talking about popes and monks in 589 CE.
• 20:06
  And we're going to be looking at the book of Job because that
• 20:08
  was kind of an
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: important book for them.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to figure out why was that an important book for them.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Great Schism in 1054.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: The Gospel of John was really important at that time.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Folks were thinking about that and looking at that.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: The Great Reformation.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us are aware of that in 1517.
• 20:28
  And we're going to be looking at the book of Galatians in that
• 20:32
  sermon that day.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then the emergence and missional, right?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: 2006.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to be looking at the book of 1 Peter.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be a real rapid,
• 20:46
  fast look at six of these 500-year periods and how folks during
• 20:55
  the book of Acts
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: responded to one of those periods,
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: at least in the Bible.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my prayer for this season.
• 21:05
  That our next year of becoming a discerning church and finding
• 21:12
  the movement of God
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: among us will be a life-giving one.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to do this again, so don't worry about that, for a year.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: We'll do this again at the end of December next year.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully that doesn't scare you away that day.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the journey, folks.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's going to be an incredible 2026.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.