Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / January 29, 2023 | Forever Friendship - Loneliness

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January 29, 2023 | Forever Friendship - Loneliness · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning, TBC.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I'd just like to give a little shout out to my peeps over here.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: What's up, student ministry?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm surprised you guys actually did a shout-out, even though I called you peeps.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I use that cool lingo.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey guys, I'm super excited to be here with you guys this morning.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: I told the first service, man, I am just so privileged to be able to serve here as your student pastor.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: I love working with these guys.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I couldn't do it without your support.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I was just overwhelmed this weekend, especially.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was I was a little out of my depth in some areas, and there were some things that I just didn't feel totally in control over.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the volunteers just really came through and did such a fantastic job.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so thank you, you thank you guys for your prayers and support, and for those of you who have served, man, love you so much.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I wanted to share with you guys something, uh, a fun memory I had from Bid Weekend.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's our winter retreat.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: We do play a lot of fun games, we have a lot of good fellowship, but my favorite memory actually doesn't involve a student.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry guys, it involves a leader, but I think you'll appreciate this.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the other night we were playing a game where we turned off all the lights in the sanctuary and the students had to get some glow sticks from one end of the sanctuary to the other, okay?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: But while they were doing it, leaders with that had stockings and a and a tennis ball in the stocking were whipping them around and hitting the students.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Very cathartic, very cathartic.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so and so if they got hit, the students had to go back, bring their glow stick back to where they found it, and then they could start again.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the leaders were doing a little too good of a job, and and we needed to wrap the game up.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started going around to every leader and saying, hey, let's ease up a little bit on these guys, all right?
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let's give them a chance.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember going up to Lori specifically, and and I told Lori and I'm like, hey, Lori, let's let's ease up a little bit.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And she looked at me and she got all serious and she's like, I can't do that.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love this way too much.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like a banshee, she just like whips out and like starts hitting like three students at a time.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what 17 years of pent-up aggression in student ministry will do to you.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so by far one of my one of my favorite memories.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think we're on uh are we up here on the slide?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on before we get into this.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are we up here, Sam, on the slide?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: There we go.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, cool.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hey, before we get into this sermon, uh would you guys join me in prayer as we go before the Lord?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you that you are always with us.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um again, I'm just reminded of that song.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love that song.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: That it's your your breath in our lungs.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh you you make us move and live and breathe.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: You give us all of the good things that we need in which to survive, and you also give us all of the good things that we need in which to find you and to live a meaningful and fulfilling life.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so, Lord, I pray that this morning you would speak through me, and I would rely on your spirit as we entered into this topic, and that uh all of those here at TBC would rely on your spirit to speak into their hearts, to let your word take root, and to affect their lives as they leave this place.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: We love you, Lord, and we pray this in your name.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, big weekend, the topic, as you can see, was on friendship.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is going to be the fourth sermon in our four-part series.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And in the very beginning, we we talked about how friendship is natural and it's needed.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second sermon, we talked about fake friendship, and then we talked about what good Christian fellowship can look like, and we're going to continue on this topic.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: But first, some of you might be thinking, this is a bit of a cheesy topic, right?
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like friendship really?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is there much here?
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think we need to set the stage with really how much is at stake with this topic.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: A study done in 2018 found that 22% of American adults said that they have experienced extreme loneliness and social disconnection.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: In 2019, another study reported that 61% of Americans reported being lonely.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's so bad, in fact, in the modern world that the former Surgeon General declared loneliness as a public health risk.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because loneliness increases your risk for depression, for suicide, and it decreases your lifespan up to the same extent as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's insane.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Loneliness is not something to be messed around with.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's even it's just crazy to me that we're so lonely when we're supposed to be living in this modern culture where we're supposed to be so connected, right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: We we have social media where we we can be connected with everyone at all times and we can travel like in these cars from point A to point B or flights all around the US to visit friends and family.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yet we have this loneliness epidemic.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the reasons is although we're connected, perhaps we're not connected in the right ways.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so I urge you this morning to maybe rethink with me what friendship looks like from God's perspective.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: As we seek to find friendship that eradicates loneliness, brings people together in deep and meaningful connection.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we are going to focus on this morning is I'm going to try to prove this point to you here that the best friendships cannot exist without sharing.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we just have two points for this morning, although the points are extremely long.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's not that much of a grace to you guys.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but the first point, shared goal.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Friends need to have a shared goal.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna talk about how friends need to also share their life.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, uh in the student ministry, I like to ask the students after I've told them what we're doing, I've given them the roadmap of where we're going, I ask them, are y'all with me?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and what do we say when I ask, are y'all with me?
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now let's all do it together, okay?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna say, oh yeah, when I say, Are y'all with me?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Are y'all with me?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let us get into it.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I was reading an article here by a guy named Jeremy Noble, great name by the way.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and Jeremy Noble, he's a public uh health professional at Harvard, he's also a professor, and he specializes in researching loneliness.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: And two of the key reasons he discovered that people become lonely, I just found were utterly fascinating.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: The first is the obvious one, right?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: People get lonely when they feel like they're disconnected from others, that they're not known or supported by other people.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: But the second one I found more interesting.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: The second primary reason he said people get lonely is when they feel that they do not have a place in the universe.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: When they feel like they do not have purpose in their life.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I just thought this was so fascinating that a secular scholar was able to identify something that the Bible has been teaching from the beginning.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: That to feel full and to feel connected, we need to be connected with the divine and his purpose, and we need to be connected with each other, right?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you are thinking, okay, Jeremy, well, I am connected with God.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: I do have a sense of purpose in my life.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I have some friends as well.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I still feel some loneliness.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel like I'm not super deep in my relationships, I'm not super connected.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I have a couple, but the vast majority of my friendships is just not there.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So why is that if I've got both points?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm gonna submit to you that one of the reasons is because we are not prioritizing our shared goal.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna unpack what this means for you as we look at the life of Paul.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be uh kind of just briefly skimming through Acts 20 through 21 as we look like look at what it means to have a shared goal among friends.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you who have gone through Acts 20 through 21, you may have just skimmed through it because it just is like a travel log.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, okay, he stopped at this city and this city and this city and this city, stopped at like 20 cities on his way to Jerusalem.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so you just you can skim through it.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't want to skim through it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I want to look at what he does in every city, because I think we're gonna learn something very important as we get into this.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, in verse 20, or sorry, in chapter 20, rather, um, in chapter 20, verse 7, if you guys want to turn there, um, it says, On the first day of the week, we came together to break bread, and he's in Troas here.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Paul spoke to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're jumping to verse 11, and then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate after talking until daylight, he left.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the one thing I just want to say here is he didn't have a lot of time, right?
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: He was heading to Jerusalem, but he had just a day and a night.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: But he spent that entire day and evening fellowshipping with his brothers and sisters.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: He was awake the entire evening, he preached to them, and then he communed with them because he loved them, right?
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is some intimate time that he shared.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then we go on to the next one.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: The next place that he visited was Ephesus.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're going to be here in verses 36 through 38, and he's talking to the elders at Ephesus.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And after he was done talking to them, it says when Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then they all wept, and they embraced him and they kissed him.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: They shared a really intimate time here because he had just told them, guys, I'm going to Jerusalem, and this is probably going to be the end of me.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: He knew he was probably going to be captured by his Jewish enemies, and his life would be shortly over after that, and he was right, and the elders knew this.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So they wept with him.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: They shared this really deep connection.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But now I want to go to the third one.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because the first two churches that we just looked at, Paul had a hand in planting them.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Paul knew these people.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: These were his friends that he knew very, very well.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: But the next church he goes to, he didn't plant.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, he probably had never met most of them, if any of them.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: The next church he goes to is Tyre.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to be in chapter 21 here.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I want I want to read to you what he does with them in verse 3 through 6.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: After sighting Cyprus and passing the south of it, we sailed on to Syria, and we landed at Tyre, where our ship was to unload its cargo.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: When it was time to leave, we left and continued on our way.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: All of them, including wives and children, accompanying us out of the city.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there on the beach we knelt and prayed.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit of a shocker.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: At least to me.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: He shared all of these intimate experiences with people he knew really well, and then he shows up to a church where he knows no one, and he has an equally intimate experience with them.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not only that, they actually have the audacity, not even knowing Paul, to say, hey, Paul, I think what you're doing is wrong.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, the apostle, the guy who saw Jesus and converted most of the known world, they were telling him he was wrong, right?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Most of us don't let like any of our close friends tell us that we're wrong or encourage us to do something different, but they're telling someone they don't even know who is of God.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's how close they feel to him.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to submit something to you.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Paul doesn't know them, but I think he knows them more intimately than he would his friends or family that are non-Christians.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because he knows that they share the same purpose, the same mission, the same desire, the same passion, and the same love.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Even though he's never met these people, he knows they are totally on board with Christ.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And that makes him closer to them than people that are non-Christians that he knew very well.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why they were able to do this together.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that's just inherent in friendship, guys.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: We know this from like when we were really little kids.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: That to make friends, we had to share something in common, right?
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: You go up and make a friend with someone just because they were wearing the same shoes or the same shirt, or you both hated Sarah for some reason.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, you just bonded over.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a good thing to bond over, but you did.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: But but it doesn't change as adults.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: As adults, we still need to make friends.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: We need to share something in common.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the best things you can share in common is Christ.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna talk about three reasons, three aspects of sharing Christ that make this so.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: The very first reason that sharing Christ is awesome for friendship is that it creates this unifying mission.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: It creates this unifying mission.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Friendship should be based on glorifying God in all things.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's the mission, right?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul tells this to the Corinthians.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: You guys actually just went through this.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: He says, follow me as I follow Christ.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: To what end?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we following you?
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he says in chapter 10, verse 31, follow me so that you can learn to glorify God in all things.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: One of the reasons God has given us friendships is those so that we can watch each other, we can learn from each other, we can exhort each other to become more like Christ.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because we share the same goal.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: No matter who you are or where you're at, around the world, you know that if you meet a fellow Christian, you have this in common, this goal to share with each other in order to grow more like Christ.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: The other aspect that I want to focus on, in terms of why our shared goal in Christ is so unique and awesome, is that it allows us to have all things in common.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Allows us to have all things in common.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, some of you are thinking, Jeremy, you're overstating your point.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: There is no possible way I can have all things in common with my Christian brothers and sisters.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: I want to prove it to you, though, okay?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna prove it to you.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, any of you guys, just raise your hand if any of you guys enjoy putting ranch on your pizza.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, you totally let me down.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're all horrible human beings.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I thought no one was gonna raise you their hand because that's disgusting.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I thought we had this in common.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we didn't.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: That was a bad example.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go to the Bible.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bible will give us a better example, okay?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not making this up, this phrase that we have all things in common.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: This phrase can be found in Acts chapter 2, when Luke is discussing the early formation of the church and how they acted in friendship and relationship with each other.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: And let's read here, verse 42 through 44.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: He says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayer.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: All the believers were together and had everything in common.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, how can Luke say this?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he just listed three things that we have in common.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's take those three things and see what we can do with them.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: The first thing they had in common is that they followed the apostles' teachings.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: What were the apostles' teachings?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Christ's own teachings.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And like we just referenced, Christ's teachings is that all of us share the same goal.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: To be in relationship with Him and to follow Him and to become like Him.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And all of our minds are directed towards that.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're unified in our desire to learn and to grow.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty all-encompassing, right?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we just talked about how Paul said that we want to glorify God in some things?
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, in all things.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so in all areas of our life, they're devoting, these Christian friends, they're devoting themselves to this common goal, to this common teaching that the apostles are giving.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: The second, now that they have this common goal, they're applying it in fellowship with each other.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is fellowship?
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was talking to the students about how fellowship has just gotten like really watered down.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you don't know what that word is.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you think it means going to a potluck and eating a bunch of mystery meat.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't blame you if that's what you think, because that's kind of what fellowship has become.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But fellowship is a really sacred and deep word.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: It means to share in common, but it's often used for the deepest of friendships and fellowshipping and communion with each other.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's used to describe Jesus' own relationship with God.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: So this isn't just a mere hangout session.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: They are devoting themselves to the same goal, and then they are pursuing it together, completely together.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're sharing it all.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I didn't read this, but elsewhere in this chapter, it says the people also were selling their homes and sharing with anyone in the church who had need.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So they also shared all of their resources.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so if we think about it again in light of this, can Christians share all things in common?
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Every single thought that we think, every single word that comes out of our mouth, every single action that we do in communion and fellowship with each other is done for Christ.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: Everything we do is held in common through Christian fellowship and friendship.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Finally, the last aspect of our shared goal.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Christian friendship transcends boundaries that other friendships cannot.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Galatians 3.28, it says there are neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: While we do have a lot of differences, and we come from different walks of life, we know that every single one of us in this room and every church that is filled this morning, we all have the same priority.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: We are Christians first and everything else second.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that provides a whole lot of unity.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you an example.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys know that I attended Moody for a couple years, and I had the privilege of actually getting to take some in-person classes while I was getting my master's.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: And the thing I love about Moody is they have a huge international draw.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: We were a super diverse campus.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: And one of my classes in particular, I was just struck by how diverse we were.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: I remember the guy that sat across from me.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was an African-American disabled ex-gangbanger who bred pit bulls.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then the guy, the lady next to him, was this soft-spoken Korean woman who had started a house church with her husband.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: The guy across from her was a Brazilian frat boy, turned military man, who had just started a young family.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then there was me, white bred.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we had we had literally nothing in common.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: We were so different.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: We were from different cultures, some of us were from different countries, we were at different stages in life, we had different interests.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: There are very few groups of people I can think of that I grew with more, that I loved being with, and that I learned from more than these guys.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because Christ was first in all of our lives.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a beautiful thing to connect over, even though we came from disparate parts and walks of life.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's another beautiful thing of sharing the Christian goal.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: We can have friends from anywhere.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do we learn from this?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: What's something that we should take away from this idea of shared goal?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want to quote C.S.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Lewis here for you guys, because I think he sums part of this point up well.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: He says, if someone asks you, do you see the same truth?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And your honest answer is, I don't care about that.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just want you to be my friend, then no real friendship can possibly arise.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, those who have nothing can share nothing.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Those who are not going anywhere can have no fellow travelers.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you want nothing but approval or friends, you will not have friends.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because friends is about something other than friends.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: What I want you guys to get from this is if you want to go deeper with your friends, you must first go deeper with God.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to go deeper with your friends, you must first go deeper with God.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because friendship requires that we share something in common.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have no relationship with God, you don't walk with him, you're not pursuing him, he's not on your mind, you have nothing to share with your friend.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: And you will remain in a shallow relationship.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: A.W.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Tozer puts it this way.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: He gives some, in his book, Pursuit of God, he gives this imagery of a hundred pianos in a room.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: He says it's easier to tune a hundred pianos to the same standard than to try to tune them to each other.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want to illustrate what this means by reading 1 John 1 6 7.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: John says this this is just so cool.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Catch this, guys.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: If we claim to have fellowship with Him, with God, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: If we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did you catch this?
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: John is saying here, guys, if we pursue God, if we walk with him, if he is our priority, if we're with him in prayer, we're developing our relationship.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Does he say that will make it easier to make friends?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: That will make it easier to have fellowship?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: No, he says, you have it.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: You have it with each other.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just as Paul could go to a church that he had never been to and share this intimate time with them immediately without building any other connection.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's because he already had it.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because he had God.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so those of you who are not prioritizing your relationship with God, I urge you to start.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is something that has to happen as we seek friends.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So shared goal is pretty important.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the best goal to share, the most unifying, the one that breeds the deepest connection, comes from Christ.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: But after we seek this goal and we seek God, we need to do something with it.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that leads us to the next point.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: That is that good friendships revolve around sharing life together.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Good friendships revolve around sharing life together.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: To kind of prove this point, we're going to be following Paul as he writes in this letter Philemon.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys might not know Philemon exists, because it's half a page at the end of the New Testament.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: I probably didn't know it existed until I was like 15, so I don't blame you if you didn't know.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So Philemon is this book, this personal letter that Paul is writing to one of his good friends, Philemon.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: And he's writing in regard to one of Philemon's slaves, who we think ran away.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: And this guy's name is Anesimus, and Enesimus actually found Paul, and they developed this really awesome relationship.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so Paul sends Anesimus back to Philemon and he begs Philemon here to set Anesimus free and to treat him as a brother in Christ.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to see how he does it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because how Paul goes about approaching this request shows us a lot about how to share life with our friends.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: So the first thing I want to pause it here, to notice about Paul's approach, is that friendship must be predicated upon growth.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Friendship must be predicated upon growth.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: If we're looking at verse 6 here in Philemon, he says, I pray to Philemon that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: One of Paul's greatest desires and his friendship and his relationship with Philemon is that he would act in such a way, he would say things in a certain way, he would live for Christ in such a way that it would be edifying to Philemon, and Philemon would then grow in his faith and walk.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: As friends, if you are not concerned for your friend's spiritual well-being, we're missing something.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're missing something big.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing that he shows is that friendship must be predicated on growth.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: In Philemon, oh sorry, not growth, friendship must be predicated on equality and vulnerability.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: In Philemon verse 8 through 12, Paul says this therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is none other than I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner of Christ, that I appeal to you for my son Anesimus, who became my son while I was in chains, and I'm sending him, who is my very heart, back to you.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is just this is so cool.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Paul is an apostle.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: He had the authority to command Philemon to do what he thought was best, but he didn't.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't approach Philemon as an apostle, he approached him as a friend.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that stands out when we approach someone as a friend is that we need to approach on equal terms.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're not over our friends.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Don't act in authority over those that you call friends.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: But even more than that, he humbles himself.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: Again, he could have just said, hey, do this thing, be done with it.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: But no, he humbles himself and he says, Let me explain my heart to you.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I love this guy, Enesimus.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was such a joy and a help to me while I was in prison.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: It would break my heart if you didn't set him free.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: He was vulnerable.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think another thing that friendship needs to be predicated on is this vulnerability, this willingness, sometimes it's awkward, sometimes it's uncomfortable, but to humble ourselves and to be vulnerable.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is what draws friends closer.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, um, in this area of uh sharing experience and emotional investment, is this idea of friendship must be predicated on personal investment.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7, Paul says, Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now I think this is really cool.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I was telling the students this uh the other day, that I think one of the best indicators of it is like if you have like a really good friend, is if when something good happens to you, they're just as excited as you are.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_00: Or when something bad happens to you, they're just as heartbroken as you are.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Paul here is saying, Man, I get so much joy from the fact that you are succeeding in the ministry and that people are learning and growing from you.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: That just that keeps me going.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And guys, like I would compare it maybe to some of you guys, Chiefs fan, gonna go watch the Chiefs game after this.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: No one.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we're asleep.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone going to watch the Chiefs game after this?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, there we go.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: So so if you're going to watch the Chiefs game, you know, you guys who are real, real big fans, when the Chiefs win, you feel like you won, right?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: We get really excited.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then some of you actually not only feel like you win, but you feel like you're better than other people because your team won.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Which I don't doesn't make sense.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like while they were playing, you were in your basement shoveling nachos into your mouth.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: What did you do?
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't another thing, by the way.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna cause I'm gonna cause some trouble.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you guys get really excited when Mahomes wins because you feel like Mahomes won for Kansas.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Just so you know, Mahomes is from Texas.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: And not only is he from Texas, he's trying to bring Texas here.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lori just told me that he's trying to open up a bunch of Whataburgers.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: So uh he doesn't really like Kansas, he likes Texas, that's all I'm saying, okay?
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm dead by the end of the day and I'm I'm missing, you know that Lori killed me and hid my body in the closet.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so just so you know, that's that's what's happening.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I'm just I'm just causing trouble.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Mahomes is awesome, and he he probably kind of likes Kansas, I don't know.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's uh let's move on here.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: The final couple ways I want to share with you about how we should share our life within friendship is next that we should share our decisions.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: We learned this from in Philemon from Paul.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: In verse 14 through 16, Paul says, But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced, but would be voluntary.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: No longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: He is very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now again, I want to bring up the fact that Paul's not forcing him to do anything.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's approaching as a friend.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: But just because he's not forcing Philemon to do anything doesn't mean that he doesn't share his opinion, and that he doesn't speak into Philemon's life in order to help him to meet the goals that they both have, which is to best honor God.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: And where Paul thinks is the best thing to do is to set Anesimus free so that Philemon can be blessed by a true friend, and Paul can be blessed by a true friend, and the kingdom can be better impacted by a friend and not a slave.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: But guys, even if Philemon disagreed with Paul on this, that this was the best thing to do for Christ, with the goal and mindset focused on God, this is still something we're called to do.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: And this is still something we're called to accept.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, we're not playing our own game, guys.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: We're not on a one-man team.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: We are all on the same team.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And as teammates, we need to encourage each other to follow God, especially when some of us are going the wrong way.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is super important.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, guys, uh, shared life means to share our resources.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: I talked about this a little bit already.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: But in Philippians 18 and 22, Paul says this if he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing more, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayer.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, on the one hand, Paul is being generous with his resources.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I love Anesimus so much.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that he just let me do it.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: I I want to do this for him.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: But then Philemon, we see, is also someone who wants to give of his resources.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Paul, it kind of sounds like he's inviting himself over to Philemon's house, but he's not.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: He informed us that Philemon is actually praying, begging God for an opportunity to have his friend with him again, to be able to share with his friend his hospitality.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's super cool.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: Can any of you guys remember the last time you were just like, God, please, please let me give me a chance to entertain my in-laws just one more time soon, please.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, a couple of you guys really love your in-laws.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: I do too, sweetie.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love my in-laws.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I would love to host them.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but yeah, like that's uh that's just so cool, this giving of yourself that like you really consider their needs as just as important as yours so that you share with everyone that it's your stuff is their stuff, man.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of friendship we're talking about.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to tie this together in a really cool way.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: I wanna I wanna just this is more of just like an idea that I want you to sit on and mull over because I think it's awesome.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself, right?
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we just unpack that today.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we're doing.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: We were unpacking that.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: And some of the ways that we learn to love our neighbor as ourself or to do it well is to make sure that we're submitting our entire will towards God in pursuit of each other, right?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: That everything we say and do would be encouraging to the saints and would build them up.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: We're submitting all of that to them and sharing that with them.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're also sharing all of our resources and all of our abilities in order to help better our friends, right?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Now let's go to this thing called the Shema.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: The Shema is the greatest command.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: And in the Jewish tradition, this is the foremost prayer that they pray every day.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to unpack this because we're gonna find this huge connection between what we're talking about and between the Shema.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes to loving the Lord your God with all your heart, in the Jewish culture, the heart is actually the mind.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we're starting here, guys.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God with your mind, with your thoughts, with what you decide to think about, with what you decide to do, where your mind leads you.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: The second is a soul.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're going out a little bit bigger.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: The soul is your entire being, not just your mind, but also your emotions, also your very will.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then we get to strength.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're broadening it further.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Strength is not a good translation for it, but it means something like muchness or variness.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Literally, what the word is saying is to love the Lord your God with everything that you are and that you have, all of your resources, all of your influences, all of your relationships, all of your connections you use in order to get to God and lovingly obey Him.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, does that sound awfully familiar?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to love God in obedience with everything that we are, and then we're supposed to share all of that with each other equally.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're supposed to love God with everything that we are, and then we're supposed to share all of that equally.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: I just think that's so cool.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now I want to end this point with um with a little takeaway that we can get from this idea of shared life.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've given you a lot of positives, but let me give you a negative.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of positive examples of what a good friend should be and how we should share life.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us don't do this very well.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: Actually share our life in Christ.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was uh I was at a on vacation with my wife a couple years ago and some friends, and I remember we were we were gone for a couple days, and I remember towards the end of the stay, I was just, I was feeling a little convicted.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because all we did, we had fun together, which is fine and good, but but that's all we did.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we didn't really have any edifying conversations, we didn't ask how each other was doing, we didn't try to support each other or bring in spiritual conversations.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: So to remedy that, I decided I was going to bring up a spiritual conversation.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I asked them, hey, what is God doing in your life?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: How can I support and pray for you?
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this is what I got.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: They all just looked at me like, what?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa, that's weird.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, we're on vacation, we're on vacation mode, fun mode.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Am I talking about God?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: And they're all Christian, they're all very strong Christians.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And what's sad to me is that's not an isolated experience.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: I know there are so many of you who, if you were to ask your friends or friend to pray, or you ask them how the relationship with God was going, or you to ask them to serve in some way with you at the church, they look at you like, what?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what we're about?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what we talk about, that's not what we do.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's just so sad.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: You can have a Christian friend, but if you're not truly sharing Christ, you don't have a Christian friendship.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can have a Christian friend, but if you guys aren't sharing Christ, you don't have a Christian friendship.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are some application points we can take from this?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: We learn first that we have to share goals.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: And our goal is equally united and found in Christ.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: And as we pursue him, we then share this with each other fully, not in part.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: We don't just share part of our relationship with Christ, we don't just share part of our life with each other, we share all of it at all times.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what are some application points here?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: First, I'd urge you guys to deepen friendship with God.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: We already talked about this.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: If we're not pursuing God in a deeper way, we're gonna have nothing to share with our friends.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Second, have those spiritual conversations.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ask them what God is doing in their life.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ask them what they are learning, ask what ways they're strengthening or trying to strengthen their walk.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ask them how you can support them or pray for them.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Begin to serve together.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: So many of us, our friendships just revolve around our own pleasure, right?
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: Just revolve around what we can get from them.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: We love the social time when we get to talk about what's going on in all the other people's lives.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: We love the time where we get to just enjoy sports with our buddies, either playing them or watching them.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about this with the students.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Some of us just have friendships that are just revolving around what we can get out of it.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so go serve with your friends as well.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, invite people into areas of your life you previously have not.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't done this, share a meal with someone.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Share a fear, share a prayer.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Again, guys, we need to invite our friends into all areas of our life.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you're uncomfortable with sharing a part of you, pray that God would give you confidence in that.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, guys, share decisions.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Let Christians give you correction, advice, and direction for the sake of meeting the goals of God.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: This topic, um, I have to admit, I told the students this, it wasn't something that I was super excited for.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: I chose it because I thought it was it would be useful, but as I really dove into it, I realized just how bad I am at pursuing friendships as God would want me to.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: There are so few friendships where I have lived this out.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: But that's okay.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: So there's grace for all of us from our Heavenly Father.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: But don't put this off.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Act now and seek a deeper friendship, a more fulfilling friendship with those around you.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you that you created us as relational beings.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is hard because people are hard to deal with and we hurt each other, and it's hard to grow deeper.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: But Lord, this is what you have created us for.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we know, Lord, that to flourish and to find this joy and to find this peace and to find this connection and to conquer loneliness, we need to strive for what you have called us into.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I pray, Lord, that those of us here at TBC this morning would take this to heart.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when we would really start to try and share you and ourselves fully with each other.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: We love you, Lord.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we pray this in your name.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: Y'all are dismissed?
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.