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4: A Venn Diagram for Discerning Your Callings · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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  isn't just a podcast.
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  It's also an online course.
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  Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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  Our current series is Meaningful Work, Calling, Formation,
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  Service, and Love.
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  As we think about calling, have you ever
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  second-guessed whether something was God's call in
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  your life?
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  I have definitely had this experience where I
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  do something, I think that I'm doing it
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  because God called me to do it, and
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  then I'm facing some challenges with it and
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  I start to second-guess myself.
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  I start to second-guess that idea that
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  it was what God called me to do.
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  And in conversations with friends and family, I
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  found out this is a very common experience.
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  I have friends who moved to LA, and
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  then afterwards they told me, it felt so
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  clear that God was calling us to move
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  to LA, but then like, we just couldn't
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  figure out a way to make life work
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  in LA.
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  Or I've had other friends who thought that
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  they were called to the mission field, and
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  they maybe even got into a nation and
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  a different cross-cultural context to their own,
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  and they were starting to do ministry there,
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  but then it all fell apart.
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  And they came home, and now they're asking,
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  are we called to cross-cultural mission long
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  -term or not?
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  I've had friends with this in the secular
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  world, where you invest time and money in
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  a specific degree.
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  I have a friend who trained as an
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  opera singer, and then the market just isn't
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  there to get a job in what you
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  studied.
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  And so you second-guess, well, when I
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  was praying about what to declare a major
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  in, was I following God's will back then?
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  Is this idea of following God's will even
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  possible, or is it all just sort of
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  a wash in the end?
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  You know, time and chance and fate and
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  serendipity, and this idea that I could actually
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  discern what God wants me to do maybe
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  just feels too elusive, too imaginary.
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  And I think if we pay attention to
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  scripture, we get some really helpful bright lines.
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  Just like imagine a plane coming in to
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  land, right?
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  And that guy waving the orange cones saying,
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  here, come down here.
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  Come down right here.
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  There's lights.
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  There's bright lines that show you, here's the
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  place to go.
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  Here's the place to land.
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  I think we can find those bright lines
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  in scripture in a way that really helps
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  us gain confidence about discerning God's will.
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  And so what I want to do in
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  this episode is give you a framework that
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  I learned from a pastor named Kevin Miller,
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  and he was drawing on the work of
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  a pastor named Frederick Buechner, more of a
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  writer than a pastor in some ways, and
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  then also the work of a leadership guy
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  named Jim Collins.
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  So he kind of took a Jim Collins
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  concept and a Frederick Buechner concept, and he
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  combined them in a way that I think
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  is a really helpful framework.
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  So here's the framework.
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  Imagine a Venn diagram, but it's one with
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  three circles, okay?
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  And one of those circles is what you
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  desire.
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  What I desire.
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  We'll come back to that question of desire
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  and how that has a legitimate and a
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  holy place in God's vision and his guidance
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  in our lives.
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  Okay, then the other circle is what the
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  world needs.
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  So we might think of that as kind
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  of the circle of mission, right?
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  What is God sending us into the world
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  to do to serve people's real needs, both
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  tangible and spiritual?
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  Okay, so the world's need, that's another circle.
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  And the other circle, the third circle, is
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  the economic engine.
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  Where does the money come from, right?
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  Or if you'd prefer and you want to
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  use some more spiritual language, God's provision.
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  How is God providing for what's in these
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  other two circles?
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  Okay, so what I desire, what the world
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  needs, and economic engine.
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  So the question is, what's in the middle
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  there?
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  What's in the exact center that overlaps all
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  three points?
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  Okay, and I want to say a couple
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  things here.
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  The first is, we shouldn't assume that it's
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  just one thing in the center that hits
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  all three points.
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  It may be that God gives us a
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  full-time job with benefits that's an economic
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  engine to provide for us and our family's
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  well-being, that also serves the needs of
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  the world in a way that fits our
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  deep desires and spiritual gifts.
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  That is totally possible.
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  There may be one glorious thing that somehow
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  hits all three.
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  But it's also possible that God will give
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  us a combination of things.
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  Maybe he gives us a job that meets
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  our economic needs, while also giving us a
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  context in our church where we can use
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  our spiritual gifts and serve the needs of
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  the world.
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  Or maybe our job serves a missional purpose,
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  but it's not very remunerative, and so there's
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  some other way.
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  Maybe our spouse's job or an additional job
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  that we have that's more of that economic
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  engine.
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  Rather than trying to find that perfect needle
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  in the haystack that gets all three, often
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  in life, the path of faithfulness is finding
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  a combination of things, but we need to
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  be sensitive to all three dimensions.
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  OK, now I want to acknowledge that I
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  got this kind of framework from Kevin Miller,
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  but I also want to kind of go
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  to the source material that Kevin Miller was
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  drawing on.
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  So the overall three overlapping circles idea, the
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  three-part Venn diagram, that concept came from
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  a leadership consultant named Jim Collins, and he
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  calls it the hedgehog concept because hedgehogs are
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  really good at doing one thing.
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  They curl up into a little ball.
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  That's the one thing they do, and they're
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  really, really good at it.
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  So in Jim Collins' original vision, the circles
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  were a little bit different.
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  It was more about what you can be
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  best at than what the world needs.
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  Kind of that what's your what's your value
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  proposition?
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  What distinguishes you from the competition?
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  But he's the one that gave us the
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  three circles.
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  So then Kevin Miller, very wisely, was like,
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  OK, well, we should have a more missional
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  take on this.
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  And in order to give that more missional
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  take, Kevin Miller drew on the work of
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  a writer named Frederick Buechner.
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  So I actually want to read the original
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  quote from Frederick Buechner.
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  It might actually be a familiar quote.
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  I think we've used it earlier in this
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  podcast, in a different series, because the final
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  line is the place God calls you to
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  is the place where your deep gladness and
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  the world's deep hunger meet.
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  Have you ever heard that before?
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  But I want to read the paragraph that
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  comes before, because the whole paragraph is actually
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  really rich.
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  It's really good.
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  So this is Buechner speaking about this idea
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  of vocation.
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  It comes from the Latin vocare, to call,
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  and means the work a man is called
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  to by God.
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  There are different kinds of voices calling you
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  to all different kinds of work.
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  And the problem is to find out which
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  is the voice of God rather than of
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  society, say, or the superego or self-interest.
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  By and large, a good rule for finding
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  out is this.
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  The kind of work God usually calls you
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  to is the kind of work, A, that
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  you need most to do, and B, that
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  the world most needs to have done.
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  If you really get a kick out of
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  your work, you've presumably met requirement A.
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  But if your work is writing TV deodorant
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  commercials, the chances are you've missed requirement B.
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  On the other hand, if your work is
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  being a doctor in a leper colony, you
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  have probably met requirement B.
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  But if most of the time you're bored
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  and depressed by it, the chances are you
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  have not only bypassed A, but probably aren't
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  helping your patients much either.
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  Neither the hair shirt nor the soft birth
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  will do.
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  The place God calls you to is the
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  place where your deep gladness and the world's
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  deep hunger meet.
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  It's originally from Frederick Buechner's book, Wishful Thinking.
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  Isn't that wonderful the way he kind of
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  teases it out?
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  Neither the hair shirt nor the soft birth
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  will do.
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  A hair shirt being like an uncomfortable shirt
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  that Christians in certain traditions would wear as
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  like a sign of penitence or repentance because
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  it was uncomfortable.
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  A life where we just resign ourselves to
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  misery and we're grumpy people and we're frustrated
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  people and we're just grumpy and frustrated, but
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  we're very morally dutiful, that's not actually the
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  vision of life that the Bible communicates that
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  we're supposed to step into as followers of
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  Jesus.
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  We actually probably do more harm than good
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  for the cause of the gospel if we're
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  just these sort of depressed killjoys all the
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  time.
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  Now, I don't say that to say that
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  depression is incompatible with following Jesus.
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  We've leaned into that in other conversations and
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  depression is very much part of my journey.
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  But if you're always ignoring your own interior
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  emotional life and emotional needs out of some
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  sort of sense of heroic martyrdom in your
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  walk with Jesus, that may not be as
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  virtuous as you think it is.
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  On the flip side, neither the hair shirt
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  nor the soft berth will do.
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  The answer is not to just simply indulge
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  all of our desires either.
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  No, no, no, no, no.
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  Instead, we're called to kind of find this
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  point of intersection where something that that really
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  does resonate with our soul, with our deep
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  desires is there.
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  And it also it's something that serves the
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  world, serves God's purposes in the world.
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  And we can see this combination in a
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  variety of places in scripture.
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  So I want to just give some examples
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  of that because you might be skeptical, right?
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  You might think, oh, I don't know.
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  Does the Bible really teach this stuff that
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  my desires matter?
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  Well, consider this.
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  Proverbs 13, 12.
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  Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a
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  longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
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  A tree of life.
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  A longing fulfilled.
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  Hmm.
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  Seems like maybe God cares about our desires
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  and sometimes he brings them to fulfillment.
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  All right, let's get even a little bit
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  more specific.
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  Uh, the book of Ezra chapter seven, we
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  talked about Nehemiah a couple episodes ago.
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  This is that same overall story with a
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  King Artaxerxes kind of supporting a construction and
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  civic project in Jerusalem.
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  And, uh, this is commenting about that, that
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  this pagan King would, would give support to
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  this project.
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  And this is verse 27.
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  Praise be to the Lord, the God of
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  our ancestors who has put it into the
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  King's heart to bring honor to the house
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  of the Lord in Jerusalem in this way.
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  Did you notice that the God of our
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  ancestors who has put it into the King's
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  heart to bring honor to the house of
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  the Lord in Jerusalem in this way, God
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  didn't just command the King by a robot
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  or by a moral duty.
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  He gave him something in his heart.
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  He gave him some sort of inclination, some
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  sort of desire to help in this way
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  that ultimately served his purposes.
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  So we see in this case, even in
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  the case of a pagan King, God is
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  putting a desire in someone's heart and bringing
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  that desire to fulfillment is fulfilling God's purposes.
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  So how much more if it's true of
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  a pagan King, couldn't it be true of
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  us too?
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  Let's look at an example of that, of
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  a disciple of Jesus having a desire in
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  their heart.
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  That's from God.
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  This is from second Corinthians chapter eight verses
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  16 and 17.
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  This is Paul writing.
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  Paul says, thanks be to God who put
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  into the heart of Titus, the same concern
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  I have for you for Titus, not only
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  welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to
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  you with much enthusiasm and on his own
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  initiative with much enthusiasm and on his own
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  initiative.
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  Again, this language of God putting something in
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  the heart is there.
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  Paul has a concern for the Corinthians, but
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  he says that God put that same concern
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  into Titus's heart.
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  Titus is not just dragging himself to go
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  help out the Corinthians with a sense of
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  obligatory moral duty, even though he hates it.
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  No, he's coming with much enthusiasm and on
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  his own initiative.
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  He has a genuine desire, a desire in
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  his heart that is from God, but it's
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  also very much his own and that's motivating
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  him to act.
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  And that's good.
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  That's the vision of life that we're given
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  in scripture that somehow something inside of us
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  that yes is from God, but it's very
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  much a genuine desire in our hearts, bears
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  fruit in mission to the church and to
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  the world, neither the hair shirt nor the
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  soft birth will do.
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  Okay.
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  So again, coming back to our, our Venn
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  diagram, we can see that scripture has the,
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  the circle of desire that it actually affirms
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  our desires as a place where God's purposes
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  can be established.
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  And then also this, uh, this question of
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  what the world needs, right?
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  Uh, what the world needs, uh, is obviously
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  central there in scripture.
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  We might even think of John 3 16
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  for God.
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  So loved the world that he gave his
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  only son.
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  This even informs in a way God's own
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  vocation, what God decided to do in the
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  world is where his desire met the world's
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  deep need, how much more should that be
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  the case for us?
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  But then what about this third circle?
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  What about the economic engine?
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  Sometimes as Christians, we can either forget about
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  this one or obsess about this one.
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  I don't think either of those are healthy.
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  Instead, we need to discern where God is
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  moving.
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  Okay.
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  So economic engine, the idea here is that
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  sometimes you need money to pay for things,
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  you need a job that pays the bills,
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  or you need something that's going to provide
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  the resources to go do the project that
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  you feel called to do.
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  Uh, and this should not be thought of
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  as some sort of secular or fleshly or,
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  or worldly way of thinking.
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  This is very much a, a biblical significant
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  part of our concerns is to think about
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  how did the dollars and cents go together
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  in our lives and in our work.
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  This is also in the book of Proverbs.
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  So in that same chapter, uh, Proverbs chapter
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  13, where we talked about the desire or
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  the longing fulfilled being a tree of life,
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  few verses earlier, verse four, a sluggards appetite
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  is never filled, but the desires of the
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  diligent are fully satisfied.
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  There's that language of desire again, but here
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  it's connected to a character quality of diligence,
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  right?
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  It's, it's saying, Hey, you can do something
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  to fulfill your desires.
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  You can work hard.
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  You can, you can go get a job.
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  You can work in the fields.
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  You can, you can figure out a way
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  to save, you can do something to accomplish
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  your own desires.
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  Again, that's nuanced in scripture with the reality
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  that time and chance happened to them all,
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  as we talked about in another passage.
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  Um, we don't have full mastery over our
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  own circumstances, but we do have personal agency.
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  That's affirmed in scripture.
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  And so we have a responsibility to look
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  at the dollars and cents of a situation
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  and to take responsibility for that calculation when
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  we decide how to And that may be
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  part of how God communicates.
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  If God is not providing financially for something,
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  he may not be saying that that's his
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  way.
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  Okay.
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  So on the one hand, we shouldn't forget
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  about it.
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  We should pay attention to it.
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  It's there in scripture, the economic engine piece,
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  it matters, but, but we also shouldn't obsess
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  about it.
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  Sometimes people treat the economic engine piece in
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  fleshly terms in the sense of unless they
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  can chart the exact path for how every
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  cent is going to fall into place, they're
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  not going to take any risks for the
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  kingdom of God.
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  They're not going to do anything that's financially
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  risky at all, ever.
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  Uh, even if they have some sort of
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  sense of call from God to do it,
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  that would be obsessing about the economic engine.
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  Again, a spiritual way of thinking about the
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  economic engine is God's provision.
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  If God is being really clear in these
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  other ways, if he's giving you a very
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  clear desire, if he's giving you a very
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  clear movement towards a specific need It could
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  be that God is calling you to take
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  a step of faith and that his financial
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  provision will follow.
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  Now we need to discern that carefully and
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  see if the provision is indeed following or
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  not, rather than just spiritualizing us chasing our
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  own ideas.
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  But we really do need to have an
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  openness to risk-taking to, to moving forward
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  with the plan when there's a plausible financial
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  arrangement for how it could work out, but
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  even if the money isn't there yet, we
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  need to take that step.
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  Okay.
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  So as we think about our calling, it
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  can be helpful to look at all three
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  circles of the Venn diagram.
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  What are my deep desires?
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  Remembering scripture affirms that.
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  What are the world's needs?
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  Of course, scripture affirms that.
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  And what's the economic engine?
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  Scripture also affirms that because it's not to
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  obsess about it.
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  And then see, is there something that fits
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  all three?
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  If there is just one thing, one job,
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  one life pattern that fits all three.
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  Wonderful.
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  But often what's the combination of things that's
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  going to fit all three.
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  And we can just give that over to
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  the Lord and say, Lord, here's my combination.
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  Here's my job and my side hustle and
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  my service at my church.
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  And somehow may they meet all these three
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  things and God will meet us there.
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  And then when things change, we discern it
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  again.
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  We stay flexible.
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  So use this framework as a guideline, as
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  those bright lines for discernment.
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  God's going to give you what you need
• 16:09
  to land where he's leading you.
• 16:13
  Lord Jesus, thank you that you don't leave
• 16:15
  us in the dark.
• 16:16
  You don't leave us with nowhere to go
• 16:18
  or nothing to understand, but you do give
• 16:20
  us just enough light to take our next
• 16:23
  step.
• 16:24
  So help us to keep our eyes open
• 16:25
  to discern what you were calling us to,
• 16:29
  both in terms of our own desire and
• 16:30
  the needs of the world, in terms of
• 16:33
  financial realities and your supernatural provision.
• 16:36
  Jesus, do your work in us as we
• 16:38
  do our work with you.
• 16:44
  Thanks for listening.
• 16:46
  Finding God at Work is a production of
• 16:47
  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
• 16:50
  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
• 16:53
  life.
• 16:54
  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
• 16:56
  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
• 16:58
  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
• 17:00
  and Thursday.
• 17:01
  To get resources to go deeper with each
• 17:03
  podcast series, read our blog, and get info
• 17:05
  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
• 17:08
  go to our website, missioncentral.church.