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Andy Stanley - Icon: It Won't Work Part 1 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: So for those of you who are communicators, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: in business or wherever you communicate, here's a little communication tip.
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  Speaker 2: If you speak from.
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  Speaker 1: Your weakness, you will never run out of material. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: if you speak from your weakness, you'll never run out
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  Speaker 1: of material. So in this series that we're beginning today,
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  Speaker 1: and that's normally the case when I speak. It's one
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  Speaker 1: of the crazy things about being a pastor or a
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  Speaker 1: preacher is you're obviously accountable for your words. And you
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  Speaker 1: know I have Sandra tells me all the time, you.
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  Speaker 2: Have a lot of words.
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  Speaker 1: I'm like, you have a lot. I have a lot
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  Speaker 1: of accountability. But this series in particular is so challenging
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  Speaker 1: to me. I even tell Sandra a couple months ago
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  Speaker 1: when I started working on it, I said, you know
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  Speaker 1: what this is.
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  Speaker 2: This is something that I wrestle with.
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  Speaker 1: I feel like every day I'm not even sure I
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  Speaker 1: should even talk about it. She's like, yeah, you should
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  Speaker 1: talk about it, because that's kind of the point of
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  Speaker 1: all this this.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes it's just not easy.
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  Speaker 1: Because some of the things that are associated with Christianity
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  Speaker 1: are just so non intuitive. So anyway, here's what we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about for the next few weeks, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to talk about a temptation that is only appropriate
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  Speaker 1: or only experienced by Christians. So if you're not a Christian,
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  Speaker 1: or you're not a Jesus follower, or you maybe not
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  Speaker 1: religious at all, after today, you may be gladder than
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  Speaker 1: ever that you're not. This might be like an anti
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  Speaker 1: evangelism message, like whoa, if that's what it's like, leave
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  Speaker 1: me out. But while this temptation is really it's really
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  Speaker 1: just something that Christians wrestle with or should wrestle with,
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  Speaker 1: the tension that is associated with this particular temptation is
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  Speaker 1: something that you can relate to this series kind of
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  Speaker 1: it might make sense of that internal sense of disappointment
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  Speaker 1: that you feel sometimes just with life in general, or
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  Speaker 1: your general sense of discontentment.
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  Speaker 2: Even though you kind of have most of what.
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  Speaker 1: You need, there's just this sort of abiding sense of discontentment,
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  Speaker 1: or the way I describe it to that sort of
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  Speaker 1: constant nagging never enoughness, like no matter what you do,
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  Speaker 1: what you have, and where you go, it's like it's
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  Speaker 1: never enoughness. We're really going to talk a lot of
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  Speaker 1: about that next time, or that kind of if only
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  Speaker 1: if onliness, if I could just go back if I
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  Speaker 1: could just go back. So these are emotions that are
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  Speaker 1: common to everybody, but in terms of this specific temptation
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  Speaker 1: that certainly surfaces these kinds of things in everyone, there's
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  Speaker 1: a there's a peculiar angle that is really appropriate just
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  Speaker 1: for Jesus. Followers are people who are attempting to follow Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: It's actually one of the temptations that Jesus face that
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  Speaker 1: Matthew and Luke both tell us that Jesus was by
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  Speaker 1: himself alone at a very difficult time, physically worn out,
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  Speaker 1: and that during that time he was tempted personally by
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  Speaker 1: the devil. Now, unfortunately, most Christians think the devil is
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  Speaker 1: like God and is omnipresent, but there's no evidence of that.
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  Speaker 1: And you're like, oh, the devil was, you know, messing
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  Speaker 1: with me. I'm like, I don't think you're that important,
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  Speaker 1: but anyway, okay, that's but maybe you are. I don't
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  Speaker 1: know anyway. So the Gospels tell Us and Matthew and Luke,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, Luke investigated this and Matthew was with Jesus
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  Speaker 1: constantly tell us that Jesus was alone, he was physically depleted,
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  Speaker 1: and he was actually tempted directly by the devil and
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  Speaker 1: the third temptation that many of you are familiar with.
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  Speaker 1: The third temptation is the temptation that many of us
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  Speaker 1: as Christians are tempted with, but it is so subtle,
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  Speaker 1: I think most of us don't even know when it's happening.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what the text tells us. That the devil led him, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: to a high place, and he showed him in an instant.
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  Speaker 1: We can't explain this. All the kingdoms of the world,
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  Speaker 1: and Matthew says, and their splendor. Maybe they were up
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  Speaker 1: on a mountain looking at the city of Jerusalem at night,
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  Speaker 1: all lit up that just kind of represented all the
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  Speaker 1: kingdoms of this world.
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  Speaker 2: Or maybe it was something beyond that.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know, but they're there looking at something, and
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  Speaker 1: the tempter says to.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus, look at it. Take it in.
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  Speaker 1: I was trying to think of something that we could
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  Speaker 1: relate to, and all of my illustrations fall way short.
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  Speaker 1: But here's a you know, I'll take a shot. It's like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you walk into a car showroom. You know
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  Speaker 1: they got all the lights just right, and you see
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  Speaker 1: that car.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, you see all.
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  Speaker 1: The cars, and it's like, I want all the cars.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's just it's good for those of you
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  Speaker 2: who are car people. It's just it's an emotional thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's like I either got to get a car, get
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  Speaker 1: out of here. It's just this, you know, it's just
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  Speaker 1: so much taken. Or years ago, I took my son Garrett.
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  Speaker 1: We went to the Atlanta Boat Show. Oh my goodness.
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  Speaker 2: It was just.
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  Speaker 1: Toys everywhere, shiny toys everywhere. And we were there about
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  Speaker 1: an hour and a half. I said, we got to
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  Speaker 1: get out of here.
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  Speaker 2: Gear. It's like, we got to get out of here.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just it's just sensory overload.
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  Speaker 1: It's like take it all in. Or maybe you've done
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  Speaker 1: a tour of homes. You have done a tour of homes,
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  Speaker 1: and they got all the cool kitchen stuff, and the
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  Speaker 1: refrigerator talks to you, and the Washington dryer you can
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  Speaker 1: start it and stop it from Africa, doesn't matter. And
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  Speaker 1: they got all the windows move and the shades moved.
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  Speaker 1: That's just the first house. Then you go to the
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  Speaker 1: second house and it's it's like it's really the tour
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  Speaker 1: of discontentment is what it is.
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  Speaker 2: And then you get home.
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  Speaker 1: Remember you got home and it's like, does somebody lower
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  Speaker 1: the ceilings.
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  Speaker 2: While we were gone? I just feel like I.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of have to walk around my apartment in my
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  Speaker 1: house like this, you know. So, but when you're in
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  Speaker 1: those environments, it's just so much to take in.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, wow, well this is kind of this moment.
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  Speaker 1: It's like Jesus feasts your eyes on the kingdoms of
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  Speaker 1: this world.
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  Speaker 2: Jesus, I know why you're here. You're here for that.
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  Speaker 2: You're here for them, and I can give it to you.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what Matthew and Luke tell you, tell us because
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  Speaker 1: the Matthew knew Jesus and got this from Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: I will give you all their authority.
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  Speaker 1: You get to be the king of the kings, the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom kings and their splendor, their glamour, the awe, awesomeness,
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  Speaker 1: the wowness of all of it.
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  Speaker 2: It's been given to me, and I can give it
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  Speaker 2: to anyone I want to.
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  Speaker 1: Now, if that's all we knew, if that's that's the
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  Speaker 1: end of the tale, you know the story.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, who would say no to that? I mean
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  Speaker 2: who doesn't want to be the queen? Like, oh, I
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  Speaker 2: don't want to be the queen?
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  Speaker 1: Just maybe the princess, but not the queen, you know
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  Speaker 1: what I mean, who doesn't want to be the king?
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  Speaker 1: You know, who doesn't want to be so extraordinarily wealthy
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  Speaker 1: You can do whatever you want and so powerful, not
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  Speaker 1: because we're evil. Think of the good you could do,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, think of the good you could do if
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  Speaker 1: you're the king of kings, the queen of queens, if
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  Speaker 1: you've got infinite power and infinite resources. And before you
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  Speaker 1: start feigning humility, oh, you know, don't really care about
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  Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. Come on, right, Do you turn
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  Speaker 1: down promotions at work?
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  Speaker 2: No? Do you turn down raises? Ah?
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  Speaker 1: No, I'm not really into money. No, you take the
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  Speaker 1: you take the race. Do you turn down bonuses because
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  Speaker 1: you're so humble? No, of course you take the bonuses
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  Speaker 1: and promotions, right, And do you avoid good opportunities or
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  Speaker 1: better opportunities.
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  Speaker 2: When they come on?
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  Speaker 1: No? And you shouldn't, right, because that's that just feels
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  Speaker 1: like an opportunity. In fact, this this whole story so far,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like a temptation at all. It really
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  Speaker 1: feels like more of the opportunity of a lifetime, right,
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  Speaker 1: opportunity for lifetime. I mean, this is what's being offered
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  Speaker 1: is the goal.
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  Speaker 2: That's why we get up early.
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  Speaker 1: That's why we finished school, that's why we went to
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  Speaker 1: graduate school. That's why we studied hard. It's while we
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  Speaker 1: worked all of our friends. It's why we you know,
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  Speaker 1: we want to succeed. I mean, that's what we're wired
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  Speaker 1: to do. It's what you get dressed up for. Discipline yourself.
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  Speaker 1: We'll not because you're evil, not because we're evil, but
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  Speaker 1: because we are wired for progress. We are wired for creativity.
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  Speaker 1: We are created in the image of God, and God
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  Speaker 1: looks at chaos and brings order out of chaos.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what we do.
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  Speaker 1: You walk into an environment that's chaotic, and what do
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  Speaker 1: you do. You just bring order to it. That's what
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  Speaker 1: we do, whether it's your home or business. We were
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  Speaker 1: made and built to achieve God's most creative being and
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  Speaker 1: created creativity.
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  Speaker 2: We're created. So all of that is good.
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  Speaker 1: We're hard wired for some of that, different expressions, different
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  Speaker 1: senses of intensity around some of those things.
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  Speaker 2: But all of that's good. But as you know, and
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  Speaker 2: the encounter with.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus, there's a traf and this is where we begin
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  Speaker 1: to enter the story, and this is where this becomes
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  Speaker 1: more temptation than maybe opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: All this, the tempter.
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  Speaker 1: Says, I will give you all you gotta do a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of a trade. All you gotta do is
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  Speaker 1: bow down and acknowledge me as your authority. All you
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  Speaker 1: gotta do is acknowledge that I'm the source of all
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  Speaker 1: these good things. You just got to just once, just
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  Speaker 1: for a moment, just acknowledge me as you're king. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if you're not a Christian or not a Theist, you
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  Speaker 1: know I've already lost you. I lost you after my
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  Speaker 1: little opening thing about communication, because you're like Andy, silly Christians.
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  Speaker 1: There's no such thing as a devil. There's no devil.
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  Speaker 2: Come on. There's just what we see and there's what
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  Speaker 2: we get.
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  Speaker 1: So if there's an opportunity to achieve, if there's an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to excel, if there's an opportunity to win, if
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  Speaker 1: there's an opportunity for advancement, it's just that, Andy, it's
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity. It's not a temptation. You've lost me. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: think about it. I mean this is true for all
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  Speaker 1: of us. We're not tempted to succeed, we're not tempted
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  Speaker 1: to achieve.
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  Speaker 2: We're supposed to.
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  Speaker 1: And if that's not what you do, people wonder what's
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  Speaker 1: the matter with you. Get up off the couch, finish school,
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  Speaker 1: go back to school, you know, take the headset off,
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  Speaker 1: shut down the game console, you know, go do something
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  Speaker 1: with your life.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, that's just what we're supposed to do.
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  Speaker 1: We're not tempted to be a successful We're tempted to
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  Speaker 1: be lazy. Right, So the whole thing's a little bit strange.
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  Speaker 1: Back to the story with Jesus. So the tempter says, hey,
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  Speaker 1: all of this I'll give you. All you have to
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  Speaker 1: do is just acknowledge me as the source of all
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  Speaker 1: these things and acknowledge me as your king, and boom
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  Speaker 1: you can have them. And you know what happens next.
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said, away from me, Away from me I, And
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  Speaker 1: this is the important part.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want what you're offering.
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  Speaker 1: You're you're offering the opportunity to rule like every other ruler.
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  Speaker 2: You're offering the.
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  Speaker 1: Opportunity to be a king like every other king, offering
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  Speaker 1: me kingdoms like every other kingdom. And that's not what
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  Speaker 1: I came for. In fact, you can't give me. You
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  Speaker 1: can't give me what I came for because the world
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  Speaker 1: has never seen what I came for, So away from me,
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  Speaker 1: For it is written, and then he quotes from the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament, it is written, worship the Lord's your God,
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  Speaker 1: and serve him God only.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not here to acquire.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not here to improve, and I'm not here to
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  Speaker 1: recreate more of what all ready exists. Not my kind
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  Speaker 1: of kingdom, because I'm not that kind of king where
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  Speaker 1: might makes right, where the people with the gold determine
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  Speaker 1: the rules, where it's all about image management, win lose.
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  Speaker 1: Top down, there are good guys and bad guys, and
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  Speaker 1: if if you're a good guy, you need to destroy
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  Speaker 1: and get rid of the bad guys. I'm very familiar
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  Speaker 1: with those kinds of kingdoms.
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  Speaker 2: Not interested.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not interested into all for one, and I'm number
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  Speaker 1: one approach to anything. It's not why I've come. Now,
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  Speaker 1: this is kind of confusing, Okay, I says, you know,
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  Speaker 1: don't rush your heead. You know if those of us
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  Speaker 1: who are raised in church on rush head in the story,
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  Speaker 1: just sitting in this tension for a minute, it's it's
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  Speaker 1: kind of confusion, confusing, because what's the alternative, what's the
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  Speaker 1: alternative to achievement? What's the alternative to progress, creativity, you know,
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  Speaker 1: taking what's chaotic and bringing orders. What's the alternative if
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  Speaker 1: that's what's being offered and somehow that's a bad thing.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do we just retreat to don't care, don't compete,
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  Speaker 1: don't accomplish, seize get degrees, you.
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  Speaker 2: Know, just roll over and let everybody roll over you.
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  Speaker 2: Here's the thing.
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  Speaker 1: If all there is to this life is what we see,
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  Speaker 1: if all there is to this life is this life,
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  Speaker 1: then it is in fact a win lose world. And
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  Speaker 1: if all there is to this life is what we
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  Speaker 1: see and it's a win lose world, there is no
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  Speaker 1: advantage to losing. If the value system that you work in,
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  Speaker 1: the value system you compete in.
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  Speaker 2: The value system you go to school in.
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  Speaker 1: If the value system that we're all sort of sort
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  Speaker 1: of just you know, dunked into and saturated with everywhere
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  Speaker 1: we go, if that's if that's our only option, then
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  Speaker 1: we're only left with one good option. That is, we
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  Speaker 1: have to strive in order to thrive, and we have
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  Speaker 1: to strive in order to survive because it is a
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  Speaker 1: win lose world. And like it or not, they're winners
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  Speaker 1: and they're losers. And some people can compete better than
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  Speaker 1: other people, and you just got to claw your way
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  Speaker 1: to the top and kind of try to stay there
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  Speaker 1: and then go to church on Sunday sing some songs
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  Speaker 1: and ask God to help you stay there or get there.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, what are the options? Is there
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  Speaker 1: another option? I'm a natural born striver. I was.
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  Speaker 2: My dad was a striver.
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  Speaker 1: And that's not a criticism of him or me, and
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  Speaker 1: it's just it's just in me.
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  Speaker 2: It's in so many of.
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  Speaker 1: You to to strive, right, you were either raised that
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  Speaker 1: way or maybe your father wasn't enough that way, and
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  Speaker 1: you thought, I'm not repeating that family history. I'm gonna
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  Speaker 1: do something, make something of my life. My family's never
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  Speaker 1: gonna go with our ur I'm gonna marry into a
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  Speaker 1: family where I don't have. You just you decided I'm
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  Speaker 1: gonna strive if that's what it takes to survive, because
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  Speaker 1: I've seen what happens when you take your foot off
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  Speaker 1: the accelerator or you just hit.
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  Speaker 2: Hard times and you don't know what to do.
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  Speaker 1: So there's there's some of that in all of us.
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  Speaker 1: For some of you, that's been a matter of survival.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm not even being critical, but is that the
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  Speaker 1: only option.
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  Speaker 2: Well, here's the good news. And if you've been coming
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  Speaker 2: for a while.
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  Speaker 1: We say this all the time, but in different ways,
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  Speaker 1: there is another option, Jesus. According to Jesus, there's not
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  Speaker 1: only another way, there's a better way. He modeled the way,
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  Speaker 1: and it is a way I am tempted to and
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  Speaker 1: ignore every single day, because not only does the way
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus mitigate against culture and everyone around me and
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  Speaker 1: pretty much everything around me, it also strikes up against
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  Speaker 1: and flows against my selfish nature, the all about me
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  Speaker 1: part of me. But as we say all the time,
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  Speaker 1: there's a better way. The way of Jesus is better
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  Speaker 1: the way we say it is. Following Jesus will make
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  Speaker 1: your life better. Following Jesus will make you better at life.
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  Speaker 1: It'll make you a better woman. It'll make you a
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  Speaker 1: better man, a better husband, a better father, son, daughter, employer, employee.
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  Speaker 1: Following Jesus will make your life better. Following Jesus will
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  Speaker 1: make you better at life because he offers a completely
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  Speaker 1: different way of living that is in a completely different direction.
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  Speaker 1: But it is so subtle, it is so not intuitive,
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  Speaker 1: it is so against the flow, that it's easy to
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  Speaker 1: think we're in the stream with Jesus, when in fact
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  Speaker 1: we're just in the stream with culture, except we wear
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  Speaker 1: a cross and we know the songs, and we pray
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  Speaker 1: that God will help us out compete and win against
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  Speaker 1: everybody that we're competing against and trying to win against.
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  Speaker 2: The Way of Jesus is better for you, and it's
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  Speaker 2: better for the yous around you.
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  Speaker 1: And here's the thing, just so, and we're gonna go
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  Speaker 1: here in week three a little bit more, but just
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  Speaker 1: the heads up so you don't check out. Following Jesus
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  Speaker 1: will not make you less productive.
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  Speaker 2: It will make you better productive.
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  Speaker 1: It will not make you less ambitious. You can't even
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  Speaker 1: help it. For those of you who are super ambitious,
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  Speaker 1: you are hardwired to be ambitious.
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  Speaker 2: You can't shut that down.
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  Speaker 1: That is, in some ways the image of God. And
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  Speaker 1: it won't make you less ambitious. It will make you
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  Speaker 1: appropriately ambitious. It won't make you less successful. But it
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: will change your definition and my definition of success. So
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: in these few weeks, we're gonna unpack all of this,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: and we're gonna learn to identify when we are being
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: tempted to abandon the.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: Way of Jesus and to get us started.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: His response to the tempter is actually helpful in terms
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: of where we're going. Remember, here's what he said when
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: he was simply said, no, no, no, I'm not going. I
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: don't want the kingdoms of the world.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: I don't want you.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: What do you have to offer again, I've not come
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: to replicate something. I've come to introduce something brand new.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only now.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: He lifted this from the Old Testament. From the Old Testament.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Book of Deuteronomy.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Deuteronomy is where Moses is giving the nation of Israel a.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Charge kind of marching orders as they're finally about.
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: To enter their new homeland, what we refer to as
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the Promised Land. And he said, look, when you get
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: in there, you're going to prosper. Don't forget where you
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: came from. Don't forget your roots. Don't forget that once
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: upon a time you also were slaves. Don't forget where
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: you came from, and don't forget who puts you there.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Here's the full text that Jesus is referring to. Here's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: what Moses said to the people. Be careful that you
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: do not forget the Lord, who is the one who
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: brought you out of Egypt. You didn't bring yourself out
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Don't ever
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: forget that you were a slave one time. And then
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: here's the statement that Jesus lifted out of the text.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Fear the Lord's your God, and serve him only.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Don't forget who's and who you are and all that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: God has done for you. Do not adopt the ways
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: of the nations. You are going to be surrounded with.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Now here's something that's so interesting and so confusing sometimes
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: when you read the Bible in the Old Testament, especially
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: in the years leading up to this moment where Moses
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: sent the people to their promised land, and the years
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: leading up to that, God had out pharaohed Pharaoh. You
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: know the story about the plagues and all the stuff
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: many of you do. He how Pharaoh Pharaoh, He dipped
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: into the world of the kingdoms of this world, and
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: he humiliated Pharaoh's gods.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: He destroyed Pharaoh's army.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: That God literally played by the rules of the kingdoms
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: of this world in order to set the stage for
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the coming of a kingdom that was nothing like this world.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: And it was inaugurated by his.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: Son, the Christ the Messiah, the anointed One, King Jesus,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: and now he's on planet Earth unfolding what God had
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: been planning all along, a different way of living, a
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: different direction of living with a different set of values
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that sets people up for a different kind of relationship
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: and a different kind of lived experience. And in Jesus'
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: final temptation, he's actually being tempted, or invited or expected
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: to repeat history. Jesus, just take on the kingdoms of
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: this world and let's just keep this thing going.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: Jesus, this is the way it's always been. This is
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: the way it will always be. You can't change that.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: And I'll just give it to you if you'll just
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: take it and just fuel what exists, you know, make
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: a few changes here and there, but let's not abandon
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the entire paradigm. He was tempted, like we are, to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: embrace the old ways, the expected way, the wind lose way.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: But Jesus had come to launch a brand new way,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: the upside down way, the way of the Cross, as
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul refers to it, as we're going to
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: refer to it in this series.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: So Jesus refused the offer. But here's the problem. With
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: the way of the Cross.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: And here's the problem with the way of Jesus, especially
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: in the first century.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: It was untested. Nobody had ever done this before.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: This was brand new, it was untested, it was risky,
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: and even his closest followers, we talk about this all
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the time. They followed Jesus for three or three and
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: a half years. They saw him live out this new
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Kingdom way. That's why you should read the gospels and
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: ask the question, what do I learn about the Father
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: from the Son? What do I learn about the Kingdom
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: of God from the king?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: They had seen him live this out with people of
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: the wealthy.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: They're not so wealthy when there was trouble, when things
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: were I mean, they saw him live this out. And
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: at the very end, they too are tempted as Jesus
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: had been tempted, as were tempted every single day. They
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: were tempted to opt out of the Kingdom way, to
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: opt out of the Jesus way, and to opt back
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: into the wind lose way of thinking. When Jesus was arrested,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: they hoped for another red Sea moment where Jesus rips
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: off his rabbi robe and declares himself Messiah and king,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: and they defeat the Romans, and they re established Jerusalem
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: as the epicenter of the world. And the world changes.
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: It's all they knew.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: It was the only paradigm they had. And again, of course,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: they forced Jesus into what existed. But Jesus came to.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: Do something brand new, entirely different, to establish a different
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: kind of way of thinking and living. So when Jesus
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: was arrested, they were being tested. When Jesus was arrested,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: they were being tested and tempted just as he was.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: They viewed his arrest through the lens of when Jesus
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: was clearly losing. So they ran because who would choose
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: to follow the loser and who would choose.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: To lose? And then three days later.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: They're back. They're back because suddenly they realized, wait a minute,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: he wasn't kidding.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: He really is a king, He really is a king to.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Establish something different, in something new. And we saw the
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: whole thing, and we missed it, and we ran and
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: we blinked at the last moment. But now we understand.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: And these very same men and women went on to
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: take the way of the Cross, the message of Jesus
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: into the world.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: It's why we're here today.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So the icon, we can't even imagine how crazy this
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: is to first century people.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: This was crazy. We're just so accustomed to it.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: The icon, the icon for our faith, the icon for
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: the church, the icon for the ex of Jesus. It
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: is not a sword, it's not a trophy. It's not
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: a check or flag. It's not an army eating sea.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: It's a cross.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: And in the first century, the cross didn't represent a
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: salvation decision.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: That's not what it represented.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: The cross represented a completely different way of living, a
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: completely different way of life. And the person who understood
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: this better than anyone in the first century was the
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: apostle Paul.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: And the reason he understood it better.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Than anyone else is because he lived on both sides
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: of this equation. He was an expert and fully devoted
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to a religious system that was built in and based
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: around the kingdoms of this world. Thinking win loose, thinking
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: progress justifies violence, thinking that the end justifies any means.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, this was his religion, this was his world,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: This was kingdoms of this world. I mean again, he
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: would say to us, well, what option is there? I mean,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: it's just just this way. It's the world we live,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: and it's the way it's always been, It's the way
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: it'll always be.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: That the end justifies the means that again, there are.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Good people and they're bad people. Paul would say, I'm
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: part of the good people. We have to get rid
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: of the bad people. But Paul understood better than we
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: do where that approach to life, that approached to religion,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and that approach even to the culture of the day.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: He knew where it would lead because he became the
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: leader he became.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: This is amazing. He became the leader on both sides.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: I mean, you know the story.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: When Christianity began gaining traction in the first century, especially
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: around Judea, the Way as it was called, that's what
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: they call Christianity.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: The Way was considered a parasite.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: It had globbed on to Judaism and it was sucking
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the life out of Judaism. It was a contagion. It
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: needed to be eliminated, and Paul volunteered to eliminate it.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: And operating under the Old Way, the kingdoms of this
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: world way, he was free. He felt free in his
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: conscious to track down, arrest, and execute apostate.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: Jews, and his unbridled cruelty.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: His unbridled cruelty and his way of thinking was the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: way of God.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: This was God's will. He was doing God's work, God's way,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: no issues of conscience.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: In fact, when we read about atrocities carried out in
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the name of Christianity, we're like, how in the world
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: could people do that in.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: The name of Jesus.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: And Paul would say, well, I can tell you how
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: you do it in the name of religion. I can
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: tell you how you do it in the name of God.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: Because I did it. I was serious.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: He weaponized and he politicized his religion with a clear.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: Conscience. But and this will be difficult for some of you.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: In fact, it will be so difficult for some of
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: you you may decide, uh uh, not going there.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: We're not coming back. In fact, we might never never
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: come back.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: But I just want you to consider when the read
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: the Book of Acts, to understand how vehemently he persecuted
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the church, how committed.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: He was to the way of God. It was win lose.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: These are bad people. They must be eliminated.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: When Paul became a follower of Jesus, a Jesus follower,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: he could find nothing and the teaching of Jesus to
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: justify violent opposition to those who violently opposed him.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: He laid it down. He let go of the kingdoms
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of this.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: World ways, a way that appeered, that appears at times
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: to be the only way forward, the way, the only
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: way that gets anything done, the way that works.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: And Paul instead took up the Way of the Cross.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: In fact, this is what he talks.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: About throughout his epistles, the Way of the Cross. Here's
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: how he explained it to a group of people.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: And we're going to dive more into this passage next time.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to read you this one verse.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Here's how he explained it to a group of people
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: that really are very similar to us. They were very educated,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: they were thoughtful, they were into culture, they were into winning,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: they were into achievement. They lived in a very metropolitan,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: sophisticated city at Corinth. And here's how he blames him again.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: You can't even imagine. He shows up as a as
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: a pharisee from you know, Judea, who's going to tell
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: these Gentiles and these Romans and these Greeks how to
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: reorganize their whole world, not add another burgher to the grill.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: Here's another god to add to the gods you have
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: no I know we're going to abandon all those gods,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: and I want to introduce.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: You to the way of the Cross that is in
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: conflict with everything you've ever known. How in the world
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: he survived, it's amazing.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Here's what he wrote to them, as he wrote a
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: letter to them later after he'd been there to establish
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the church.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: The king sent me.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Now your English text says Christ. But that's what's so confusing.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: Christ has become Jesus last name. Now this he's a king,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: he's a messiah. Paul writes, the king sent me to
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: preach the good news, but not with wisdom and eloquence.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: And these were these were kind of technical terms in
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: that culture to say, I know there's a way that
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: rhetoricicians explain things.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: I'm not doing that. I know their correct words, and
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: there's a correct way to.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Be I know all about your rhetoric, I know all
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: about your famous speakers. I understand, but I'm not doing that.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: And the reason I'm not gonna do it that way
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: is I don't want the presentation to get in the
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: way of what's being presented. So you'll have to put
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: up with my poor presentation because I want you.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: To understand what I have come to present to you.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: This is good news for all men and all women everywhere.
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: And look what he says. But not with wisdom and eloquence.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: Less the cross of the king, I'm telling you this,
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: There just is no category for this in the first, second,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: or third century. The less the cross of Christ, the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: cross of my king be emptied of its power. I mean,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: there's so many conflicting ideas. It's like, wait a minute, Paul, Wait, wait, wait,
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: your king died on a cross. Wait the Romans killed
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: your king and you want us to worship your king.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I mean you're gonna have to explain that. And what
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: do you mean the cross would be emptied of its power?
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: That crosses don't have power. But listen, crosses are a
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: symbol of power less ness. If you have a cross,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: it's over. You've been defeated. It's bottom of the pile.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: It's oblivion. It's like you never even happened. It's all
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: things to be avoided. And this glaring contradiction, this glaring contradiction,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: actually points to and highlights the otherness, the upside downness
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: of the Way of Jesus, the way that I, the
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: way that maybe you, the way that that We are
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: tempted daily to avoid, to abandon because it's so unnatural,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: it's rarely modeled. You almost never see it. When you
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: see it, you stop and stare. It's so unusual, it's
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: so the word.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: He's gonna use, we're gonna talk about next week. It's
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: so powerful.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: We aren't even aware we're tempted to abandon. In fact,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: currently this is so disturbing to me. Maybe it doesn't
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: disturb you. Currently there are streams of Christianity in our nation,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: Christianity that unapologetically reject and resist the Way of the
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: Cross because it's perceived as too weak and too passive.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: The statement I hear and read all the time on
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: these you know, the crazy social media stuff I.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: Follow, is it won't work. It won't work. It won't work,
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: but it did.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: It's why we're here.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: It's why the cross is the global icon for your
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: faith and mine. It's why it's the symbol, this symbol
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: of suffering and shame, as the old hymn says, suffering,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: the symbol of suffering and shame is our icon. Why
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: because it depicts better than anything else from ancient times,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the otherness, the backwardness, the oppositeness of the message and
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: the way of Jesus, a way of living that's going
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to always feel risky and never intuitive, and that's why
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: we're attempted to abandon it every single day. This is
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: why perhaps Jesus made the following statement. Now, when I
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: read you the statement by Jesus, you've heard this before,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: but we immediately put it into a theological context with
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: because we know the end of the story. But remember
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: when Jesus said this, he had not died on a cross.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Yet nobody understood he's offering salvation from sin. Yet there
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: was no association of.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: Him dying on a cross.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: The cross just represented what the cross represented in the
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: first century Judea.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: And here's what he said.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: He said, whoever me, me and you and all of us.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: He said, whoever wants to be my disciple, which is
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: a follower.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Must deny them. That is, you say no to.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: You, and you take up their cross daily and follow me.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: When he said this, they're like, wait, wait, wait, wha
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: wha wait wait wait, Jesus, you're a rabbi. Maybe you
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: don't understand how this works. Let me explain what rabbis do. See,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: Rabbis take the Torah that we all agree with, and
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: they explain it and new in different ways so we
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: can apply it in our new culture, because you know,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: us first century people, we're modern people, right, those ancient people.
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: So we're learning to contextualize Torah. So you can illustrate it,
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: you can teach it, you can apply it, you can
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: re explain it, you can tell stories about it. But
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: but you you got to kind of stay with the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: party line. You kind of got to go with the flow,
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: take up across and follow you. That sounds like you're
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: gonna move in the complete opposite direction. Yes, And you're
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: gonna have to deny yourself in order to do this.
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: And he says daily? Why daily?
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Because every day I'm tempted to opt for the kingdoms
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: of this world approach to everything. Every time something doesn't
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: go my way, every time somebody disagrees with me, every
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: time somebody hurts my feelings, just says something bad about you,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: or every time and just I mean every single day,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: because I want to win and I want to come
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: out on top, and I want to look good. In fact,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: I want to leverage my humility to look good. Oh
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: that was amazing the way you responded that. Yeah, I
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: was humble, humble, that's me, you know.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's just in me, it's in you, right.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And the cross and this and when he said this,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: this had nothing to do with dying for anybody's sin.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: God's not asking you to die for anybody's sin.
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: He's asking you and.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: He's calling me to live in a completely different direction. So,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: wrapping up this first episode, I want to try to
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: bring this down to our real world because for some
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: of you it's like yes, finally, For others of you,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: it's like that is so scary. Others he was like,
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: I really don't even know what you're talking about. You've
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: kept my interest, but I still don't even know what
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: you're talking about.
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: So here's what I want to do.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you a little bit of homework to
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: make this practical. I want to encourage you or challenge you.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: And the thing is, if you're not a Christian, you
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: should play along with it.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: It's not going to hurt anything. Okay, just think about this.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: I want to challenge you to take a question with
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: you into this next week.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Okay, I don't want you to act on it. It's
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: too early.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Okay, it's too risky. Honestly, I don't want you to
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: act on it. I just want you to consider it.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: And this is I gotta say this for somebody, some
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: people in the room, or some people listening.
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: This is for you personally.
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: This is not for the future of the United States
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: of America or you know, Russian US policy, or what's
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: going on in Ukraine, or what about the Second World War?
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: What I mean, just don't go there. This is for
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: you personally. And I want to say this. I'm not
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: asking or suggesting that you step back into a toxic relationship.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: This isn't that, or that you stay in a toxic
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: relationship or a dangerous relationship.
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: This isn't that. So take those extremes off the table.
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: Otherwise you're going to talk.
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Yourself out of trying this. And this is for you
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: personally this week. Anytime there's a disagreement or a conflict
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: at home, it could be simple be I had that first,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Well I had it first, I got there first. No,
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: you got there first, you know, whatever, whatever it is,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: I want you at home, at school, wherever you are,
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: to just ask yourself silently, in that point of tension, what.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Would choosing to lose look like in this situation?
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: What would what would it look like if I just
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: let the other person win?
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: What would it look like to let.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: Them go first, even though I was here first? What
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: would it look like to just let them take credit
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: even though really the credit doesn't belong to them.
• 34:33
  Speaker 2: What would it look like to just defer to them?
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: What would it look like in this situation to choose
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: to let them win? And think about this. There is
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: a big difference.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: There's a big difference between losing and choosing to lose.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: Choosing to lose does not make you a loser. Choosing
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: to lose may make you more like your savior. And
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: here's why.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: Because choosing to lose is not a sign of weakness.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: It requires strength, unnatural strength. Some might even say super
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: natural strength. Let's take Paul's word and stick.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: It in there. We're going to come back to that
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: next week. It requires power.
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: It what Paul will refer to in a different book
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: of the New Testament, super natural resurrection power.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: And that's why when you see this you stop and stare.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Because it is so unusual, it is so uncharacteristic.
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: It is so otherworldly and this to some extent.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: And you got to sort this out in your own world,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: with your own family, with your own finances, with.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: Your own situation. At some point I have to just
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: stop and trust you with it.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: This in some way reflects and represents the way of Jesus,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: the Way of the Cross. What would it choosing to
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: lose look like in this situation? And a good place
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: to start.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Might be the parking lot on your way out this afternoon,
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: and we will pick it up there.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: And Part two of Icon, the Emmpowering Invitation of the Cross,