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Andy Stanely - Who Needs Church_ People Looking for Answers Part 3 · Andy Stanley Sermons

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  Speaker 1: If you haven't been here in a while, or maybe
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: it's the first time in a long time.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: We're in the middle of.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: A series, actually the third part of a four part
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: series entitled Who Needs Church, where we're answering the question who.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I just thought you would follow along, Yes, who, It's
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: not a trick question. Yeah, I'm answering the question who
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: needs church? And perhaps, like me, and we talked about
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: this last or in the part one, perhaps like me,
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  Speaker 1: you would immediately say, oh, I needed church because I
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  Speaker 1: need a church. And perhaps you would even say, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I need church.
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  Speaker 2: I know who needs church? I need church.
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  Speaker 1: But perhaps you would say because you're not a church
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  Speaker 1: person anymore and you had not like a not so
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  Speaker 1: great church experience, and maybe your response to this question,
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  Speaker 1: if you're honest, so let me just go ahead and
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  Speaker 1: be honest on your behalf. Your a response to this
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  Speaker 1: question might be no, been there, done that, and I
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  Speaker 1: am done with that. I am done with church.
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  Speaker 2: And chances are, I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I say this kind of thing all the time, but
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  Speaker 1: I mean it. Chances are if we had experienced that,
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  Speaker 1: or if we had experienced what you'd experienced in church,
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  Speaker 1: I would imagine we would be done with that as well,
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  Speaker 1: whatever that was. But here's the thing, and since I'm
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  Speaker 1: a professional Christian, I'm a pastor, I can kind.
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  Speaker 2: Of poke a little at this bit.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, just because a building has a sign out front
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  Speaker 1: that says church on it, it doesn't necessarily mean that
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  Speaker 1: the people on the inside have embraced the Kingdom of
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  Speaker 1: God message and the Kingdom of Christ's message that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: came to deliver it to the world, that.
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  Speaker 2: The Church was to export to all the world.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily mean that the people on the inside
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  Speaker 1: understand what it means to model the tone and the
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  Speaker 1: approach and the posture of the founder of the church,
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  Speaker 1: the tone, posture and approach of Jesus, because the church
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  Speaker 1: is not just a gathering of people who believe similar things,
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  Speaker 1: although it's kind of been reduced to that in some
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  Speaker 1: of our minds.
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  Speaker 2: But the church is the gathering.
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  Speaker 1: Of Jesus' followers who actually follower, who actually follow, who
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  Speaker 1: do because doing was what makes the difference. And Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was so clear that and the reason the church had
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  Speaker 1: such influence in the first, second, and third century. And eventually,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Rome capitulated and declared that all their pagan
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  Speaker 1: gods were, you know, just things people had imagine, and
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  Speaker 1: they decided.
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  Speaker 2: That or embraced Jesus as a god.
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  Speaker 1: The reason that happened is not because of what Christians believed.
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  Speaker 1: It's because of what Christians did and how they behaved
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  Speaker 1: and how their behavior set them apart from the pagan world.
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  Speaker 2: So that's what it means to be.
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  Speaker 1: The Church, to be a group of people who are
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  Speaker 1: committed to not just believing in Jesus or believing in Christ,
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  Speaker 1: but are committed to christ likeness. And especially if you
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  Speaker 1: got bumped out of church because of a bad church experience,
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  Speaker 1: I think you would acknowledge that this is true.
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  Speaker 2: It is difficult. It is difficult.
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  Speaker 1: It is difficult not to like someone who is christ Like.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, regardless of your faith tradition. If as you
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  Speaker 1: discover more and more of what Christ was like and
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  Speaker 1: what it means to be christ Like, this is who
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  Speaker 1: we want our children to marry. This is who we
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  Speaker 1: hope to have married. If you're single, you want to
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  Speaker 1: marry somebody who is christ Like, not simply somebody who
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  Speaker 1: checks the box.
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  Speaker 2: They believe all the things you do.
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  Speaker 1: You want to marry somebody you want to work for somebody.
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  Speaker 1: You want to employ people who understand what it means
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  Speaker 1: to live their lives and to be as christ Like
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  Speaker 1: as possible. And here's the thing about being christ like,
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  Speaker 1: christ Like people. As we pursue Christ's likeness, we're not
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  Speaker 1: always going to get it right, and christ Like people
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  Speaker 1: are quick to apologize when they don't.
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  Speaker 2: So anyway, back to the subject who needs church.
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  Speaker 1: Last time we were together, Joel answered the question who
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  Speaker 1: needs church? People looking for help, and he died a
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  Speaker 1: fantastic job unpacking that and specifically talked about how your
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  Speaker 1: local church, the church you're sitting in right now, is
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  Speaker 1: committed to helping people who need help, and that we
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't be embarrassed. And I'm a guy, I get this.
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  Speaker 1: It's so hard at times to acknowledge that we need help.
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  Speaker 2: It's hard to.
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  Speaker 1: Raise our hand and say, you know what, this is
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  Speaker 1: out of control.
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  Speaker 2: I need help.
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  Speaker 1: But the church is for people who need help. And somewhere,
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  Speaker 1: at some point along the.
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  Speaker 2: Way, we all need help, whether.
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  Speaker 1: It's with our family, are parenting, our physical bodies, something
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  Speaker 1: we're going.
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  Speaker 2: Through, we all need help.
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  Speaker 1: And the churches for people who need help, and he
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  Speaker 1: clarified how the church can help, and how our church
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  Speaker 1: helps and how we do help. And here's the thing
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  Speaker 1: I loved about that message last week. If you were
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  Speaker 1: here at any of our campuses, you saw the response
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  Speaker 1: as people responded and said, Hey, I'm willing to say
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  Speaker 1: I need prayer, I'm willing to say I need help.
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  Speaker 1: And a lot of times one of the pushbacks on
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  Speaker 1: big churches is, oh, the churches impersonal. You can't ever
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  Speaker 1: get to know the pastor when I read that, I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: that may not be such a bad thing in my case,
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  Speaker 1: but anyway, the knock on a big church is so impersonal.
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  Speaker 1: How am I going to meet anybody that something happens
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  Speaker 1: to me. I'm going to fall through the cracks. Nobody's
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  Speaker 1: gonna care about me.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm just telling you you stick around.
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  Speaker 1: Our church is long enough, and you will know how
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  Speaker 1: committed we are to literally be in the hands and
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  Speaker 1: feet of Jesus and to be there for you when
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  Speaker 1: you need something, because the church is for people who
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  Speaker 1: need help. Now today we're moving on to the second
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  Speaker 1: group of people who need help, and that is people
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  Speaker 1: who are looking for people who are looking for answers.
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  Speaker 1: So just to kind of get us started to a
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  Speaker 1: rhetorical question. You don't need to answer these out loud.
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  Speaker 1: Number one, where do we go for answers? And number
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  Speaker 1: two where do you go for answers? And I'll answer
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  Speaker 1: both of those. I know the answer for where you
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  Speaker 1: go looking for answers. You go right here, like the
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  Speaker 1: rest of us, this is where we go.
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  Speaker 2: And this is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I mean is this, I mean, this is just the
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  Speaker 1: world we live in is amazing. And these places to
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  Speaker 1: go looking for answers are fine if you're trying to,
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  Speaker 1: you know, create flashcards for one of your kids who's
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  Speaker 1: about to have a history test or a science test.
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  Speaker 1: This is great if you need to fix something, if
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  Speaker 1: you need to figure out how to do something, If
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  Speaker 1: you're in a city you've never been in before and
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  Speaker 1: you want to find a local coffee shop that has
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  Speaker 1: a specific kind of coffee bingo, I mean it if
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  Speaker 1: you need to plan a trip. I mean, isn't it
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  Speaker 1: amazing the information that is at literally at our.
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  Speaker 2: Fingertips in the world we live in. So it's great.
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  Speaker 1: I mean if you if you're trying to set up
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  Speaker 1: a router or fix your router, this is.
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  Speaker 2: The to go if you want to unclog your sink.
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  Speaker 2: This is this is, this is where where you go?
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  Speaker 1: In fact, just for fun, I ask a couple of these,
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  Speaker 1: what is the most frequently asked question on the internet?
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  Speaker 1: Do you know what the most frequently asked question is
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  Speaker 1: on the internet?
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  Speaker 2: Here it is what time is it?
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  Speaker 1: We're so curious and hopeless, and that's the number one question,
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  Speaker 1: what time is it? Now, there's a church version of this.
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  Speaker 1: The church version is how much longer? Because the preachers
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  Speaker 1: like Pharaoh.
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  Speaker 2: He won't let the he won't let the people go.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 1: All the Bible scholars are on the front row where
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  Speaker 1: they belong anyway. Now, so the point is social media
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  Speaker 1: and all these amazing, amazing places we can go to
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  Speaker 1: are great for general for great for general information, But
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to personal advice, when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: getting answers to life's biggest.
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  Speaker 2: Questions, maybe not so much so.
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  Speaker 1: To be you know, honest, I ask Google what Google
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  Speaker 1: thought about people using Google for personal advice.
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  Speaker 2: So here's what Google said about itself.
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  Speaker 1: AI driven personal advice can be dangerous telling on itself
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  Speaker 1: because the sources often lack reliability, really objectivity. Huh, and
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  Speaker 1: expert validation the key risk. It continued, the key risk
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  Speaker 1: fall into the categories of misinformation, lack of expertise, emotional manipulation,
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  Speaker 1: and the potential for real world harm. So when I
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  Speaker 1: read that, I thought, okay, let me ask it a
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  Speaker 1: different way. So I asked the same question a different way,
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  Speaker 1: and here's what I got. Unlike professional sources that undergo vetting,
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  Speaker 1: social media content and personal advice are often unverified, anecdotal,
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  Speaker 1: and outdated. And then I thought, of course, this statement
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  Speaker 1: may be unverified, anecdotal, and outdated, and round and round
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  Speaker 1: and round we go. So I'm going to give you
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  Speaker 1: a tip, and this has nothing to do with the sermon,
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  Speaker 1: but this is just just a you know, a pastoral tip.
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  Speaker 2: Did you know?
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  Speaker 1: This is I important that words carry far more authority
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  Speaker 1: than spoken words, and this is one of the dangers
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  Speaker 1: of taking advice from things that are written on the internet,
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  Speaker 1: and printed words have always had more authority. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: from ancient times, as soon as some people began to write,
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  Speaker 1: it was almost considered magical that a message can be
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  Speaker 1: inscripted anyway.
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  Speaker 2: And this is why. And maybe I'm just.
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  Speaker 1: Telling all myself, but I don't think so this is
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  Speaker 1: why you will read a headline written by someone you
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  Speaker 1: don't know that you don't know anything about. You won't
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  Speaker 1: even read the article. You'll read the headline and feel
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  Speaker 1: like you're an expert. And then someone you do know
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  Speaker 1: and love says something to the contrary, and you're like, no,
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  Speaker 1: that's not true, because I read and you didn't even
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  Speaker 1: read it.
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  Speaker 2: You just read the headline.
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  Speaker 1: But print listen, printed words, something printed anywhere, it carries
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  Speaker 1: so much authority, So you just need to be careful
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  Speaker 1: about that. Now, back to the sermon that was just
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  Speaker 1: for free. At some point, at some point we all,
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  Speaker 1: all of us. We want answers to two categories of questions,
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  Speaker 1: and the Church provides answers to both. And the reason
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  Speaker 1: the Church provides answers to both of these categories of
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  Speaker 1: questions is because Jesus did. And here are the questions,
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  Speaker 1: the two big questions, why and what? Why and what
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  Speaker 1: and why questions? Why questions are the most perplexing because
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  Speaker 1: the why questions point to our need, and this is
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  Speaker 1: just human nature. It points to our need for a context,
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  Speaker 1: for some sort of framework to make sense out of
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  Speaker 1: the seemingly random events of life, because life doesn't follow
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  Speaker 1: the pattern or the template we think it should and
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  Speaker 1: just when we think we've got it all figured out,
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  Speaker 1: something goes wrong. And when something goes wrong or something
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  Speaker 1: goes bad, or you know, we put the formula together
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  Speaker 1: and the kids didn't, and my husband didn't and the
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  Speaker 1: job thing, it's like we want to know why, and
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  Speaker 1: there's something in all of us that just we kind
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  Speaker 1: of look up actually over the horizon and say why.
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  Speaker 2: We want a frame.
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  Speaker 1: Why did that happen? Why did that happen to me?
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  Speaker 2: Why?
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  Speaker 1: Why did that happen to us? Why did that happen
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  Speaker 1: to them? Why did that happen to our kids? Why
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  Speaker 1: does that happen to children?
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  Speaker 2: Why is the world the way it is?
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  Speaker 1: Why am I here? And then here's my favorite why question?
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  Speaker 1: Why is there anything? Why is it there?
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  Speaker 2: Nothing? Now? To get us where we're going to go with.
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  Speaker 1: This, I want all of us for just a moment,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of where you're watching from, I want you for
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  Speaker 1: just a moment to think about nothing. And you can't
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  Speaker 1: because you're something. Some of you are really something, but
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  Speaker 1: we're all something. It's evidence of the fact that we exist,
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  Speaker 1: that the laws of logical fly to reality. And we
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: could talk a lot about that, but you can't really
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  Speaker 1: think about nothing.
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  Speaker 2: But it leaves us asking the question at some.
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  Speaker 1: Point, I know you didn't walk any wondering about this?
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  Speaker 1: Why is there something rather than nothing? And here's what's
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  Speaker 1: so fascinating, Pase with me. This question is actually the
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  Speaker 1: first step exploring or being bothered by this question is
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  Speaker 1: actually the first step to discovering the answer to most
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  Speaker 1: of life's biggest why questions.
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  Speaker 2: And we're going to come back to that in just
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  Speaker 2: a minute.
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  Speaker 1: The second question that we all wrestle with at some level,
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  Speaker 1: at some point in life is this question, what what
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  Speaker 1: do I do? What do I do about this? What
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  Speaker 1: do I do about her? What do I do about him?
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  Speaker 1: What do I do about them? What do I do
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  Speaker 1: about the things that can't change? What do I do
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  Speaker 1: about the things that I can't change? What do I
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  Speaker 1: do about the things that are out of control? What
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  Speaker 1: do I do about the things that I can't control?
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  Speaker 1: What do I do about the things that are broken
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  Speaker 1: that I can't seem to fix or that are unfixable?
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  Speaker 1: What do I do about the things I can't stop?
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  Speaker 2: And here's the interesting thing. The church, The church actually
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  Speaker 2: stewards the.
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  Speaker 1: Answer and sometimes as we saw last time, sometimes the
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  Speaker 1: church serves as the answer to these fundamental questions because
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  Speaker 1: the church is this is so important.
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  Speaker 2: The church is the steward of, or the.
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  Speaker 1: Custodian of, or the dispenser of answers because the Church.
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  Speaker 2: Has been given the words of Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: We have the words of God, and Jesus came to
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  Speaker 1: explain what God is like, and Jesus came to put
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  Speaker 1: a face and a personality on God, and in his
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  Speaker 1: time on planet Earth. This is why I'm constantly telling
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  Speaker 1: you follow Jesus through one of the gospels. Jesus lays
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  Speaker 1: the groundwork, and Jesus gives us a context for understanding
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  Speaker 1: and wrestling with the why questions and specifically.
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  Speaker 2: The what questions.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason that the church oftentimes serves as the
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  Speaker 1: answer is because we're a community that does four and
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  Speaker 1: is therefore and shows up for people who are looking
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  Speaker 1: for answers.
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  Speaker 2: To these questions. And many of you are back in church,
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  Speaker 2: or you're.
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  Speaker 1: In church consistently because you were wrestling with a big
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  Speaker 1: life question and you started coming back to church, You
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: began praying for the first time, you opened your Bible
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  Speaker 1: for the first time in a long time. You joined
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  Speaker 1: a small group, you got into a starting point group,
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  Speaker 1: and you begin to get some answers that weren't all
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  Speaker 1: emotionally satisfying, but they began to make more sense out
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  Speaker 1: of the randomness of life. So let's start with the
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  Speaker 1: most perplexing questions, the why, the why question, why is
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  Speaker 1: there anything?
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  Speaker 2: And then from why is there anything? To why is
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  Speaker 2: there you? Now here's something fascinating.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn't. When we think
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: about going way back in time to the beginning, our
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: natural inclination, if you're Jewish or if you're a Christian,
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: is to think about the Book of Genesis. But did
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: you know in the New Testament, one of Jesus' followers
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: also has a statement about in the beginning, and in
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  Speaker 1: his statement we get extraordinary clarity around some of the
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  Speaker 1: big why questions. So, after being with Jesus for about
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: three and a half years, Ussele John, who wrote Matthew
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Mark Luke John and then wrote three letters to the
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  Speaker 1: Church that survived antiquity and were included in the New Testament,
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  Speaker 1: John begins his account of the life of Jesus is
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  Speaker 1: so fascinating. He begins his account of the life of
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  Speaker 1: Jesus with the words in the beginning, and here's what
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  Speaker 1: he says. John writes, in the beginning, and this is
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  Speaker 1: important because the universe and everything in the universe had
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: a beginning, and we know that now to be true,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: that the universe had a beginning. And a little fun fact,
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  Speaker 1: anything that has a beginning has a cause. Anything that
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: has a beginning has a cause.
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  Speaker 2: But before the.
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  Speaker 1: Beginning, here's what he says in the beginning, was the
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: logos he's talking about Jesus in the beginning, was the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: logos or the uncreated creator, what we would sometimes.
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  Speaker 2: Refer to as the first cause.
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  Speaker 1: Now, some people get all tangled up in this. They go, well,
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  Speaker 1: if God created everything, who created God? And then you
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  Speaker 1: end up in what's to call an infinite regress. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: an infinite regress means we keep asking the question who caused,
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  Speaker 1: what caused?
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: What caused?
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  Speaker 1: If there is an infinite regress, which is impossible, we
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  Speaker 1: never get to now. And here we are now, So
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  Speaker 1: there's not an infinite regress. And if you really want
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: to have fun at lunch talk about this. You can't
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  Speaker 1: have an infinite actual. You can have an infinite potential.
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  Speaker 1: But you can't have an infinite actual. If there was
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  Speaker 1: an infinite actual number of moments or time measures of
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  Speaker 1: time in the past, we would have never got to
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  Speaker 1: this moment here we are. So it all had a beginning. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: again that's lunchtime conversation. So here's here's what Here's what
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  Speaker 1: John says. In the beginning was the logos talking about Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus logos was with God. And I think this
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  Speaker 1: is where John says, don't ask me to explain it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm just telling you what I've seen. In the beginning
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  Speaker 2: was the logos. The logos was with God. And it
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  Speaker 2: was more than that, the logos Jesus was God.
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  Speaker 1: I know, he'd say, I'm just telling you what I experienced.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He was with God in the beginning because he was
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: God and through him all things were created, or all
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: things were made. And this answers one of the big
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Quhi questions. It answers the question why there's something rather
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: than nothing.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: It also answers the question why there is you?
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Because ultimately, as an outflow of God's original creation, you
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: were eventually created.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: Ultimately you are.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: God's creation, which addresses we get started, which addresses the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: question of why you're here. And here's another tidbit, this
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: is another lunchtime conversation.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: This is fascinating as well.
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: Did you know that every created thing, the chair you're
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: sitting on, the building, you're sitting in, the house, you live, in,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: the car you drive, every created thing in some way
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: reflects the creator. You can always tell something about the
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: creator of a thing by the creation. And you are
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: not an exception, which is like, Okay, that's interesting, but
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: that's not helpful. Andy, that's not really what my whi
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: questions are all about. Can we get practical? Let's talk
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: about the real why stuff like why did that happen
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: to me? Why did that happen to them? Why did
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: it happen for them but not for me? Why can't
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: you seem to why don't they?
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: Why? Why? Why?
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: And thanks to Jesus and thanks to the consequently, thanks
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: to the Church, we actually have answers or a response
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: to those practical and perplexing why questions. Now here's something
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: that's interesting too, and you know this, keep getting off
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the object. We rarely question why when something good happens
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: to us. I mean occasionally when something like really good
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and because you're a mature person. It's like, why am
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: I so lucky? Or why am I so blessed? You
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: may have that question from time to time, but for
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: the most.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: Part, we aren't interrupted.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: When life is wrinkled, we're not We don't have a
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: problem with When life is kind of wrinkle free, we
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: start looking up and asking why questions and getting concerned
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: when things go the wrong way. And Jesus knew that
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: because he walked among us, and he addresses that very thing.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: And here is Jesus' response to the question of why
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: have things not gone so well for you?
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Or why are you in the mess that you're in.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Listen to what he says, and here's something everybody believes,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: whether you're a Christian or not, in this world, you
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: will have trouble. Wrote no one on a sticky note
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and put it on their mirror.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I need to remember that. I keep forgetting.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's trouble in the world. I have no trouble
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in my life, but you know some people do.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I need to know.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: This is this is in this world, Jesus. This is
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: a promise in this world. Not you might or if
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: you're unlucky in this world, eventually you will have trouble.
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: So again it's rhetorical question. You don't have to raise
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: your hand, but I mean.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Kind of it's crazy to ask have you ever had trouble?
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Of course, some of you are in trouble. Some of you,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: I don't. Nobody comes to mind, have caused the trouble.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Some of you have created We've all done this. Some
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: of us have created our own trouble and realized we're
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: in trouble, and we cause the trouble. But there's something
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: in all of us that wants to, you know, kind
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: of blame God for all the trouble out there. Why
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: is the world the way it is? Why are things dark?
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Wire things bad? Why do things happen? Why do bad
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: things happen to good people, innocent people? But at the
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: same time, we could all stand up right now and
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: tell the story of how we caused the trouble for ourselves,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: or we cause the trouble for other people, and Jesus says, hey,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I get that in this world you are going to
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: experience trouble. In other words, it's a troubled world and
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: you're in it. And that's why why did this happen?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Why didn't happen?
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Because you're it's a troubled world and you're in it,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: and that's why.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: But let me just say what you're thinking. Andy.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: That may be true, but that is not a very
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: emotionally satisfying answer. Oh I feel better now. My whole
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: life's falling apart. But you know, Jesus said we'd have trouble.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: I'm experiencing trouble. I guess you know. I feel No,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: it's not an emotionally satisfying answer. Fortunately, as we're going
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: to discover, Jesus didn't stop there more on that than
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: a minute. Now. I gotta be fair, okay, because there's
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: more than one.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Answer to this.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: There is an alternative to the answer that the world
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: has trouble and we're in the world and consequently we
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: experience trouble and we recognize the fact that we're in trouble,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: or there's it's a troubled world.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: There's an alternative.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: World view, and it's equally emotionally dissatisfying. In fact, I
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: think it's more emotionally dissatisfying. And whether or not something's
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: emotionally satisfying to determine whether or not it's true. It's
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: just that at times we want answers that make us go,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: I just I feel so much better. Well, neither of
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: these answers really make us feel better about the trouble,
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: or the answers or the problem around why things happen
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: to us, bad things happen to good people? Why bad
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: things happen to us and our family? And the other approach?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: So I'm sharing both. Well, put it this way, there
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: are people who would respond to your questions of why
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: did it happen to you? And why did it happen
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to your family? And why why wi They would respond
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: this way. They would say, hey, shut up and stop complaining.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: What did you expect?
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, of course, what do you think life is
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a formula? You think if you do A and B
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: you're always gonna get C. Did you think if you
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: always are a good person, only good things? I mean,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: how do you think this world works? Don't you understand
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: that the universe we observe has precisely the properties we
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: should expect.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: If there is at bottom, no design, no purpose.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: No evil, and no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, why do you even think bad? Why do
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you think it's bad? Why do you think it's good?
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: I mean, don't you realize you've just made all of
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: this up, that you live in a fairy tale. I mean,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: there's no order, it's all randomness. You're trying to create
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: order out of something that is by nature random. So
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: why are you even bothered by this? Just go on
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: about your business and get over it. It's closing, prayer, Father,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: thank you so much. You know now, I've never met
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Richard Dawkins. I've read one half of his books. Okay,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: never met Richard.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: And he has a daughter, and I can't imagine. But
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: I don't know, and I'm not judging. He's a brilliant guy.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine this is how he explained the world
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: to his daughter. But maybe I don't know. But here's
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the challenge. If this is true, then why do we
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: even ask why? Why is there something in us that
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: when we experience trouble from the outsider, we experience trouble
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: from the inside, or we create trouble from the inside.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Why is it that we ask? Why? Why why do
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: we care? Why do we expect better?
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: How do we know that something is up, that something
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: is wrong? And it's because every created thing reflects.
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: In some way it's creator, And you are no exception.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: You know from wrong, you know good from evil.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: You desire purpose, you see design, you know trouble when
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: you see it, and.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: You know broken when you experience it.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: It's inescapable, and you can try and try and try
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: to live out the sort of it doesn't matter. There's
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: no order, there's no purpose, there's no reason, there's no
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: good You.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: You can try to live that way.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: But the reason your mind won't let you settle in
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: is because you reflect the nature of your creator, and
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: something in you knows better. You bear the mark and
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the image of God, which leads to our second question
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: of of what. Okay, so I made in the image
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: of God. So I recognize things are broken, So I
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: recognize things aren't right right, But I know that I'm
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: here because God.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: Ultimately, Okay, that's kind of the big why.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: It's not emotionally satisfying, but it's a whole lot better
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: than you know, who knows and who cares. But that
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: still doesn't answer the question what do I do about it?
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: How do I respond to this? What do I do when?
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: What do I do with him? What do I do
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: with her? What do I do with them? And again,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the church has the answer, because Jesus had an answer.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: And this is so important, especially if you're new to
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: faith or considering faith.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: This is why following.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Jesus through Matthew or Mark or Luke John is so important.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: When you follow through Jesus through the Gospels, you realize
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus didn't dodge trouble. He said, in this world you
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: will have trouble. And he could have said and I
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: am no exception, because he was constantly in trouble and
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: he was constantly faced with trouble at the end of
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: his ministry. And these are the narratives that I wish
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I had heard more about growing up in church, but
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: you know, pastors just didn't preach these things. When Jesus,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: at one point, after about three and a half years,
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Jesus decides to go to the most dangerous place on
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: the planet for him, the city of Jerusalem. And he's
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: not dragged there to be crucified. He goes there on purpose,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: followed by his disciples, and his disciples this is not
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: going to end well. And Jesus walked right into the lions,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: and he basically walked up to the trouble cage and
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: threw open the door and invited trouble into the room.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: He didn't dodge it.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: This is why he can be trusted, and this is
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: why his formula for navigating trouble is the formula that
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: you should at least consider embracing if you've never embraced it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Before. He made this promise. He said, in this world
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: you will have trouble, and here's what to do. Take heart.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: Theirsetto is the Greek term. It means to stand up straight.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: It means to be resolute. It means don't surrender to trouble.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: You ready for this, he says, In this world you
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: will have trouble, But take heart. Why, he says, because
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: I have overcome.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: The world.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: I have overcome trouble in the world.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: I know how.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: To deal with this troubled world, and if you will
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: follow me, I will navigate you through it. Trouble doesn't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: have to have the last word.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: So why are things the way they are?
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Ultimately because God created the world and created you in it.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: And why is there trouble in the world Because mankind
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: brought the trouble on.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: We brought it on ourselves.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: And then Jesus entered this troubled world and faced trouble
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: head on, and he says, I will navigate you through
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: it if you will trust me.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: What do I do? What do I do? What I
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: would do? And Jesus would say, let me tell you
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: what to do. Three things. This was the theme of.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: His message throughout. This is why you got to read
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: a whole gospel. Here's what he would say. Number one,
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I want you to trust me, he said to his
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: disciples one night hearing the passed over.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Hey, you believe in God like yeah, he goes, believe
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: also of me.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: In other words, he said, you trust there is a God,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and you trust gods. But yeah, I want you to
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: trust I want you to trust me like you trust God.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: And the invitation for you and for me in this
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: troubled world is trust me. And then he says this,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: and I want you to follow me. I want you
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: to trust me that I know what I'm doing and
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: what I say is true. And then I want you
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: to follow me. If you follow me, I will help
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you navigate trouble and we will navigate it together. And
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the thing is Jesus modeled this, and Jesus instructed his disciples.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: He taught his.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Way through and the Sermon on the Mountain it's amazing.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: The sermon on is the sermon he priests over and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: over and over. This was kind of his go to
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: message because it was all about the Kingdom of God
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and how to live in a different way of life.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: And he said, you've heard it said, but I say,
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: you've heard it six times.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: He says, you've been taught.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: But I'm telling Moses said, but I say, I'm the
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: new Moses.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: I'm the new lawgiver. He just upped the antie and
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: it was it was mind blowing.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: And he would say, look, there's some of this that
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: seems to extreme trust. There are things that seem in
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: practical trust me. There are things that the people around
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: you don't do.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: Trust me.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: He preaches this amazing message, and then he says this,
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: He makes a promise.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: He says, Look, if you will practice what I just preached,
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: we will navigate trouble together.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: We won't eliminate it, but you won't be conquered by it,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: because this is how I've overcome the world.
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: Here his words, those are my words.
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: He says, Look at the end of the Sermon on
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the Mountain, you've heard this before.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Everyone who hears these.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Words of mine and not believes them. Everyone who hears
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: these words of mine and does them, who puts them
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: into practice, who lives by them, who follows them, he says,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: is like a wise man who built his house.
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: He's like a wise man who built his house on
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: the rock.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: And when the trouble came, and when the wind blew,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: and when the rain came, and it beat against that house,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: or in this's an analogy, it's a parable beat against that.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Life, he says, it will endure.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And it will endure because that house or that life
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: was built on the foundation of the.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: Teaching of Jesus.
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: That house or that life didn't dodge trouble, it endured it.
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: So what are we to do. What's the answer to
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: what Jesus says. I want you to trust me.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: I want you to follow me. And then this is amazing,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: and he says, but there's more. I want you to
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: abide in me. This is such such a wonderful invitation,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: he says. This isn't just about following instructions. He says,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: I want every day of your life for you to
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: intentionally lean in on me and rely on me. I
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: want you to invite me to actually live through you
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: and the way that you trigger that dynamic, the way
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: that you make that a reality. I have found that I've.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Been doing this for years, and every once in a
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: while I throw it out there as a reminder to
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: the rest of us.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: It's living every day and waking up every day and
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: declaring either out loud, and I think out loud is
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: a good place to start. Heavenly Father or Lord Jesus.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: I can't you can. I can't you can. It's too
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: much trouble. I've created too much trouble. I'm a face
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: with too much trouble.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: I really don't know what to do.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: I know what to do, but I'm not sure I
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: have the courage to do it. I know what to do,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: but I don't know if I can get through it.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: I can't. You can. I can't you can.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: In fact, if you would, just so you can hear
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: yourself say this. And even if you're from a different
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: faith tradition, I want to challenge you. I'm just asking
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: you to say something out loud. I want us to
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: say this out loud. This is the declaration of faith.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: This is the declaration of trust, This is the declaration of.
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: I believe you.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: The world is troubled, and I'm in it and I'm
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: facing it, and I'm not sure what to do. And
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: I know that following you is it just about here's
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: eight things to do. It's not a system like that.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: It's in a relationship. So I'm just declaring I can't,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: but you can, and I need you to do it
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: through me.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: So can we just say this out loud wherever you
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: are just watching.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Even if you're sitting at home with a group of people,
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: ready altogether, ready, I can't, you can? One more time?
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: I can't. You can. That's the declaration of dependence. Now,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: one thing I failed to mention. All of these things
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: that I've quoted that Jesus said. He said to his
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: original audience, his first century followers.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: But here's the interesting thing. His first century audience.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: They were the first church leaders, They were the first
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: church planters. They were the original guardians and custodians of
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: the teaching of Jesus.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: And when Jesus taught them all.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: These things, you know what he said, He said, Hey,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: by the way, this isn't just for you, This isn't
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: just for the first generation of men and women who
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: actually knew me personally and saw me physically what I'm
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: teaching you. This is for every follower, this is for
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: every generation, this is for every nation, this is.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: For all people of all time.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: So at the end of his ministry, he gathers that
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: group together.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Remember this, He says, here's what I want you to do.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: I want you to go and make sure you teach
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: them everything that I have commanded you, including take heart,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: for I have overcome.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: The world.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: So there is an answer. There is an answer to
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: the why questions. There's an answer to the question of
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: why the world is the way it is. There's an
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: answer to the question of why things are broken and
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: why there's so much trouble in the world, why your
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: world is the way it is, and there is a
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: way forward. Jesus invites us to trust, to follow, and
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: to abide in him.
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  Speaker 2: He says, because.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: After all, I have overcome the world, and if you
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: follow me, I will navigate you through the trouble in
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the world, and if you abide in me, you will
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: endure as well.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Now let me tell you why. I can say that
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: with such confidence. I have seen it over.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking just about my life. I have
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: seen men and women endure the most challenging, extreme trouble.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: I mean the most challenging, the most extreme, and on
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: the other side to say, my Heavenly Father got me
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: through this.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: My faith in Jesus got me through this.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: The presence of God in my life, the ability to
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: follow Jesus in trust, That's.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: What got me through. It's not just preacher talk. It's
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: a reality.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: And you are surrounded by people who, in this moment
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: can stand up and tell you their story of endurance
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: because they chose.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: To trust, to follow, and to abide.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Years ago, I used to listen to a pastor on tape.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: Remember cassette tapes, some of you, Yeah, front row, remember cassette? Yeah?
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: Okay, the spiritual giants down here in the front.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: Anyway, I used to listen to a pastor named Adriane Rodgers.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Adriane was the pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: He was pastor of there thirty plus years, passed away
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and five, and on a cassette tape
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: he told this story, and I went on the internet
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: and faullied. It's one of his famous stories. When I
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: say a story, I don't mean I mean this really happened.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: He was flying somewhere, and as was his habit, he
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: would put down, you know, the tray and see back
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: in front of him and read his Bible. This is
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: what he would do airplane, and you know that would
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: create conversations. So on one particular fly, there's a gentleman
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: sitting next to him.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: They began talking.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Found this guy was an attorney, and they began talking
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: about what they enjoyed reading. And you know, there he
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: was with his big black preacher's Bible open, and he
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: said to this attorney, he said, well, I subscribed to
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: a couple magazines, he said, but mainly, to be honest,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: I just read the Bible. And the attorney said, well, then,
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm curious, how how do you know what
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: to talk about to the people in your church if
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: you've kind of limited your your reading that the doctor Rogers,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: who was so humble and so quick witted and funny,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: he said, well, there are only three problems, and this
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: book has the answer for all three. There are only
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: three big questions that people worry about that they ask,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: and this book answers all three, Sin, sorrow, and death.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: And the attorney said, well, there are more problems in
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: life than that, And the writers said, I said, nope, Sin, sorrow,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: and death.
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: He said. Then we both went back to reading. You
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: can guess, he said, in a few minutes, he said.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: The attorney put his magazine down and said, Okay, I've
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: been sitting here trying to come up with something that
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: doesn't fall into one.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Of those three categories.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: And then he says, mankind only has three problems, sin.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Sorrow, and death. Who needs church? People looking for answers
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: to why and what? Who needs church?
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Anybody whose life is touched or will be touched by sin,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: sorrow or death, anybody looking, anybody looking for a way
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: to navigate trouble. So eventually, who needs church? Well, that's
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: all of us. We all ultimately need the local church.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: This is why years ago, when we started, we created
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: an environment you hear us talk about it from time
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: to time called starting point. Starting point is actually an
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: eight week guided conversation with a leader where you get
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: to ask your questions and your church will provide you
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: with answers or resources to help you find answers to
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: your questions. Because we know from time you know, no
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: matter what we preach about and whatever topics We're never
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: going to cover all the topics or get into the
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: details of the questions that you ask, and you ask very,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: very good questions, and we don't want you to spend
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: another season of your life or spend the rest of
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: your life struggling with or tripping over a question for
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: which there is an answer, and to remain distant from
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: your Savior, and to remain distant from the Bible, to
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: remain or to remain distant from faith because you got
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: hung up on a question for which there is an
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: answer or there is a detour around the question. And
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: what we have discovered is this is the place for
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: where so many people would say, that's where my faith
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: came alive, do in part to the information I got,
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: and do in part to the people I met, because
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: thanks to Jesus, the church stewards the answers, and thanks
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: to Jesus, oftentimes the church serves as the answer to
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: life's biggest questions. But people looking for answers are not
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the only people.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: Who need church.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: There's another group as well, and next week Joel is
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: going to talk about that group as we wrap up
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: our
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: Series Who Needs Church