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Radical Obedience - Podcast Version · Faith at Work

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I assume,
• 0:00
  I think it's fair to assume that most everyone who attends
• 0:06
  Pleasant Valley Church
• 0:08
  of the Brethren shares a basic assumption that a Christian is
• 0:15
  someone who has,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: at some point in their life,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: made a conscious,
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: intentional decision to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: That,
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: being a Christian,
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  SPEAKER_00: we assume means choosing daily or at least weekly to listen to,
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: to study,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: and to try to understand Jesus' teachings recorded in the New Testament.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Together we believe that Christian isn't a title you inherit,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: it's a trail that you decide to walk.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when we say someone is a Christian,
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  SPEAKER_00: we naturally presume that they are Christ followers,
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  SPEAKER_00: like us,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we like them,
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: bound together by that one common commitment.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yet, truth be told, as soon as we begin to probe what...
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: commitment costs in daily life,
• 1:27
  we discover that our experiences and our assumptions and our
• 1:32
  cultural lenses and
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  biases lead us to interpret Jesus' words differently and apply
• 1:40
  them in different
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: ways.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: We know that that's the case,
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  but we understand or at least believe that there is this common
• 1:48
  core commitment.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: But
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: What if Christian does not always mean follower of Jesus?
• 2:02
  What if in some times or in some places calling yourself a
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  Christian has been more
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  SPEAKER_00: about ethnicity and nationalism and less about obeying Jesus?
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right at the start of Mark's gospel, Jesus announces, The time has come.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is near.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Repent and believe the good news.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: That comes from Mark 1, verse 15.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then with...
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  Without much fanfare,
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  he strolls along Galilee and he says to four fishermen,
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  come,
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  follow me.
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  And Mark notes that immediately they left their nets and
• 2:54
  followed Jesus Christ.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: The early brethren,
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  which we are going to be talking about this morning and
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  throughout the next few
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  SPEAKER_00: weeks,
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  SPEAKER_00: took the words,
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  SPEAKER_00: followed immediately,
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  SPEAKER_00: extremely seriously,
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  SPEAKER_00: as have many of us here today.
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  SPEAKER_00: They read Mark 1,
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  SPEAKER_00: 14 through 20 and heard,
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  SPEAKER_00: "'Jesus is not looking for volunteers to join a committee.'"
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  We are being summoned to a brand new way of life right here and
• 3:33
  right now.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And their nets were family expectations,
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  SPEAKER_00: cultural habits,
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  SPEAKER_00: and eventually,
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  SPEAKER_00: like it or not,
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  SPEAKER_00: state religion.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: They let them drop.
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  SPEAKER_00: They realized that a label without a life behind it is just a sticker.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: That was Europe in the 16th through the 18th centuries.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: At that time, all babies were baptized into the local church stream.
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  SPEAKER_00: Whether that was Reformed or Lutheran or Calvinist or Catholic...
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  SPEAKER_00: They were all baptized at birth.
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  SPEAKER_00: Their names were written into parish roles,
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  SPEAKER_00: simultaneously making them members of the church and the state.
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  SPEAKER_00: Social rank was fixed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Citizenship and religion were fused into one item.
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  SPEAKER_00: And opting out was nearly, if not altogether, impossible.
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  Consequently,
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  at that time,
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  multitudes,
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  most everyone lived as Christians...
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: who had never chosen faith in Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: They had never decided to follow the way of Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: They had never intended to shape their life by His commands.
• 5:19
  And so the result,
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  naturally we would imagine,
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  was a passive church and a corrupt Christendom.
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  They realize that when faith is automatic,
• 5:36
  passion for God's way is almost always absent.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And into this socio-economic,
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  SPEAKER_00: political,
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  SPEAKER_00: religious landscape burst the Anabaptists in the 1500s.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was an Anabaptist awakening.
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  SPEAKER_00: Based on Luther's reforms,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Anabaptists emerged,
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  SPEAKER_00: and then the Pietists,
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  SPEAKER_00: and of special interest to us,
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  SPEAKER_00: the Church of the Brethren movement.
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  SPEAKER_00: In 1708,
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  SPEAKER_00: eight,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I love this,
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  young adults led by Alexander Mack realized that they were not
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  genuine disciples
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  SPEAKER_00: because they had never consciously chosen Jesus or their own baptism.
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  SPEAKER_00: reading newly accessible scriptures because of the Gutenberg press,
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  SPEAKER_00: they heard Jesus say,
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  SPEAKER_00: follow me.
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  And then if anyone would come after me,
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  let them deny themselves and take up their cross.
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  SPEAKER_00: They saw Peter write of a suffering Christ.
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  And they concluded,
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  we are not Christians until we suffer in the same way as Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: That verse became their north star.
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  If Jesus' path was suffering service,
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  then the true disciple must trace the same steps.
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  SPEAKER_00: So...
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  SPEAKER_00: When authorities raided their homes,
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  SPEAKER_00: confiscated their properties,
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  SPEAKER_00: imprisoned or tortured or exiled them,
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  SPEAKER_00: the brethren recalled 1 Peter 2.21 and said,
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  SPEAKER_00: we expected this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus said it would come if we decided to follow him.
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  SPEAKER_00: Luke preserves,
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  SPEAKER_00: I think,
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  a fairly interesting and certainly one of the hardest
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  recruitment speeches by
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus.
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  None of us would go out in the world and try to recruit people
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  this way,
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  but Jesus did.
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  Jesus said,
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  whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my
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  disciple.
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  SPEAKER_00: Suppose one of you wants to build a tower.
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  SPEAKER_00: Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost?
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  In the same way,
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  those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be
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  my disciples.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Brethren highlighted that passage in their 1708 covenant meetings,
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  SPEAKER_00: and Alexander Mack,
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  SPEAKER_00: who was the leader of this Brethren movement,
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  SPEAKER_00: wrote it in a hymn,
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  SPEAKER_00: Count Well the Cost,
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  SPEAKER_00: which is a direct nod to Luke 14,
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  SPEAKER_00: which,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: thanks to our illustrious David sitting right here at my right hand,
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  SPEAKER_00: has chosen for us to sing later in the service, right?
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  So we will be singing words written by Alexander Mack a little
• 9:15
  bit later that
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  SPEAKER_00: talks,
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  SPEAKER_00: sings about what does it mean to count the cost.
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  These eight young adults understood that re-baptism and house
• 9:29
  meetings and the
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  SPEAKER_00: refusal to bear arms and serve in the military would cost them something.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet saw cost counting as gospel obedience to Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: They understood that
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  SPEAKER_00: You aren't born a disciple.
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  SPEAKER_00: You become one.
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  SPEAKER_00: You choose to become one.
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  SPEAKER_00: But the religious conviction,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it was a religious conviction,
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  SPEAKER_00: however,
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  SPEAKER_00: created a political crisis.
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  Now remember,
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  church and state were practically,
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  if not altogether,
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  married in one household.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rebaptism meant renouncing infant baptism,
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  which would inevitably wreck civic records that were used for
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  taxes and military
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  SPEAKER_00: drafts.
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  And it meant that they were claiming primary allegiance to
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  Christ's kingdom and not
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  SPEAKER_00: the state of which they were citizens.
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  SPEAKER_00: The state answered brutally.
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  SPEAKER_00: Brutally.
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  SPEAKER_00: Raids.
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  SPEAKER_00: Arrest.
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  SPEAKER_00: Torture.
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  SPEAKER_00: Executions.
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  SPEAKER_00: like for real.
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  SPEAKER_00: Yet persecution only spread the movement.
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  The sight of believers ready to die rather than to betray Jesus
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  proved contagious.
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  SPEAKER_00: They learned,
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  SPEAKER_00: and we learn from these stories,
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  SPEAKER_00: that obedience to Jesus is the most subversive act ever.
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  SPEAKER_00: in a culture of convenience.
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  SPEAKER_00: Those eight stepped into the Etta River,
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  SPEAKER_00: baptized one another,
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  SPEAKER_00: and birthed the Church of the Brethren.
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  Now,
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  I think it's really important to understand,
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  this was not a political protest,
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  right?
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  SPEAKER_00: They probably knew that these things might happen, certainly they did.
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  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't in itself a political protest.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was a faith declaration.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus alone is our Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: His teaching is our charter.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is our creed.
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  SPEAKER_00: We obey him come what may.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they soon realized, following Jesus is never a private decision.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is public disruption.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think we need to ask, what does this mean for us today?
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  What do the scriptures and this invitation of Jesus Christ in
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  the scriptures mean for us today?
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  What does this story and this radical obedience of these young
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  adults in the 1700s
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  SPEAKER_00: mean for us today?
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  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think that there's some very clear applications for us.
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  SPEAKER_00: First off, we need to examine our assumptions.
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  SPEAKER_00: We assume Christian equals disciple.
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  SPEAKER_00: But is that true?
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  SPEAKER_00: Is that true of us?
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm not asking you to sort of ask that about someone else.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm asking us to ask that about us.
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  Does Christian for us mean disciple,
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  follower of the way and the ways of Jesus?
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  SPEAKER_00: You know,
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  SPEAKER_00: a comfortable believer may be a committed consumer,
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  SPEAKER_00: but a disciple is a costly follower.
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  SPEAKER_00: Second, we need to assess our commitment daily, perhaps, hourly, maybe.
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  SPEAKER_00: Are we devoted
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  SPEAKER_00: so devoted to Jesus Christ and His way that we'd suffer, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Be uncomfortable.
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  SPEAKER_00: Die.
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  SPEAKER_00: Rather than violate Jesus' way in our lives and in our world.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to remember that radical obedience doesn't flirt with the edge.
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  SPEAKER_00: It steps over daily, hourly, minute by minute in life.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to recognize that there is a ripple effect.
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  Faithfulness collides with social,
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  economic,
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  political,
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  and other religious systems.
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  SPEAKER_00: Following Jesus is never a private hobby, brothers and sisters.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is public disruption.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to identify constraining traditions.
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  And I,
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  you know,
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  we're talking about brethren and how,
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  yeah,
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  I don't know.
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  SPEAKER_00: I think it was cool.
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  SPEAKER_00: Certainly inspirational for me.
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  SPEAKER_00: Right?
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  And we come to this place to this day,
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  you know,
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  in that tradition that we can say is our own.
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  SPEAKER_00: And we either...
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  SPEAKER_00: grew up in it or we have adopted it for our own.
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  But there are traditions in that that may or may not be helpful
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  as we move forward
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  SPEAKER_00: to try to apply some of these basic Jesus Way teachings in our lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: We need to ask ourselves,
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  are there inherited patterns that keep us from wholehearted
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  obedience to Jesus
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  SPEAKER_00: Christ in our lives?
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  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I've come to learn,
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  SPEAKER_00: tradition is a beautiful servant,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it is a terrible master.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lastly, we need to count the cost and trust the reward.
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  Jesus promised,
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  be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.
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  SPEAKER_00: I believe that's true.
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  But we also need to remember that crowns in the kingdom of God
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  are forged from crosses.
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  To be a genuine follower of the way in 2025 means letting
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  Jesus' words form our
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  SPEAKER_00: constitution,
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  SPEAKER_00: our creed,
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  SPEAKER_00: our ultimate national identity.
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  The radical obedience of Mack and those first brethren still
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  asks,
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  how committed are we?
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  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
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  SPEAKER_00: to living 100% for Christ.
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  May the lives we live every day outside of this place answer
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  the question by the
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  SPEAKER_00: power of the Holy Spirit.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.