Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E47 | Everyday Eurasia | Chad Gibbons

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S1-E47 | Everyday Eurasia | Chad Gibbons · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week, we'll be journeying together with Chet Gibbons.
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  Chet serves as the Nazarene Discipleship International
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  coordinator for the Eurasia Region.
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  As a missionary, he lives and serves alongside his wife
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  Crystal from the regional office in Busina, Germany.
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  Today, Chet will be thinking with us about the new year that
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  is in front of us. Last year at the Eurasia
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  Regional Conference, Jesse Glendenning, the Field Strategy
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  Coordinator for Central Europe, and I talked about this concept
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  of digital holiness. That we need to reflect Christ
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  online just as much as we need to reflect Christ in our regular
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  everyday lives. That the things that we say and
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  the things that we post online need to lift up Jesus and be
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  reflections of his glory. That our sanctification, our
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  entire sanctification as Christians should also include
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  how we act online. And that means looking different
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  than the rest of the world, posting different things than
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  the rest of the world, not sharing and reposting the same
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  things that the rest of the world is content to share and
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  post. We're called to be different.
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  We have a different Lord, whether it's online or whether
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  it's in the real, whether it's in our flesh and blood life.
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  Because the fact of the matter is, it's all the same thing.
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  In the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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  The Word of God is God in the same way that our words are a
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  reflection of ourselves, they are US in a very real way.
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  But so many Christians are just content to live just like the
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  rest of the world online, say the same things, get involved in
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  all the same arguments and sometimes we do it in the name
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  of Jesus. God help us, we enter into these
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  arguments and we end up acting more like Pharisees that we do
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  like Christ and we give ourselves a justification for it
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  because for some reason when it's online, it's OK friends, I
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  want to tell you it is not. And we as Nazarenes are called
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  to digital holiness just as much as we are called to flesh and
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  blood holiness. Sometimes I feel like in an
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  effort to save the world, Christians Dr. people away from
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  the very person that is able to save them.
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  I feel like we're on the Titanic sometimes and the Titanic is
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  sinking and while we should be pointing everybody to the
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  lifeboats, getting as many people as we can on the
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  lifeboats. I go into the dining room car or
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  the dining room of the Titanic and here I see Christians
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  arguing with people about how they're setting the tables in
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  the dining room while the ship is sinking.
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  They're arguing about how the the fork should go on the left
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  and the knife should go on the right and the spoon should go on
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  the right and water is pouring in through the windows and
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  covering the floor. Now, in a sense you could say,
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  well, in that metaphor, the Christians are right.
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  The fork really does go on the left.
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  The knife really does go on the right.
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  I mean, that's somebody set those rules.
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  And if you put the knife on the left hand side, that's not
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  correct. I mean, and we can argue about
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  that, but the ship is sinking. And wouldn't it be a much better
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  use of our time to stop arguing about how we're setting the
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  table in the dining room of the Titanic?
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  And wouldn't it be a much better use of our time to instead tell
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  people the good news about the lifeboats?
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  Let's stop arguing about the good news of the fork and the
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  knife and where they go and point people toward the one
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  thing that can save them. Here we are on the Titanic and I
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  go online and I see all these Christians arguing all of these
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  Christian opinions. That is doing nothing but
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  driving people away from Jesus. By holding up our own opinions
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  and telling us and telling people the good news of some
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  other gospel, we're keeping people away from the one person
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  that can save them. Jesus said when I am lifted up,
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  I will draw all people to myself this year online.
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  Let's lift up Jesus and let him do the work.
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  Let's stop thinking that it's our arguments and our amazing
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  political opinions that is going to save anybody.
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  They're not going to save one person.
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  Instead, let's lift up the name of Jesus and let him draw all
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  people to himself. Thank you for listening to the
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  Everyday Eurasia podcast, Inspiring Fate for everyday.
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  For more Everyday Stories, subscribe on this podcast
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  channel, follow our socials, Facebook and Instagram, or our
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  newsletter Snapshots. For our newsletter and further
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  information about the Eurasia region, visit our website,
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  eurasiaregion.org.