Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / October 19, 2016 | Men's Fraternity - Fall 2016, Session 6

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October 19, 2016 | Men's Fraternity - Fall 2016, Session 6 · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: All right, men.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, good morning.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I see a few of you are still getting some uh food.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: So uh continue on.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you know, you've all heard the uh saying too many chiefs and not enough Indians in this tribe.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, I always uh was very comfortable uh you know kind of with the philosophy that well every good general needs uh good lieutenants, and I was you know always pretty comfortable to you know just be a a good lieutenant.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have to be the uh general.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: But um you know this um this issue of kind of leadership versus uh being a servant.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Uh question got asked at our table last week.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, in a given situation, would you tend to kind of rise up and take charge or or maybe uh you know shrink back uh a little bit?
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and guys at our table were really uh you know pretty honest about uh there were some that you know would rise up and and kind of uh assume leadership, and others, you know, I might tend to you know withdraw a little bit.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um you know, so we uh we've got this uh you know, continuing on our discussion about John.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, here was a guy who you know wanted to be a leader, but uh had to learn how to be a servant.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so you kind of think about okay, is it one or the other?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Is it leader, servant, leader, servant, leader?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: So um anyway, we're gonna let uh you know Jim and Derek here kind of continue on with this discussion about um you know leadership and uh and being a servant.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Perfect introduction, Paul.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: As usual.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Paul.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: As usual.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: So if you get that job you had an interview for yesterday, are you not gonna be here on Wednesday mornings?
• 1:31
  unknown: No, we'll see.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, I got really mixed prayers going.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So how you doing, Derek?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I am good.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Over in Kansas City yesterday, um there's a group of 10 of us that went over to the Orange Tour, which, if you guys are not familiar with Orange, it's the curriculum and kind of the strategy that we employ specifically in the children's ministry, but we also take some of their ideas, principles, and things and use them in the student ministry.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so Jason and I had the opportunity to take eight of our volunteer leaders over to Kansas City for this one-day conference um over in Lanexa, and just some great principles on not just working with kids and teens, but just being the church and kind of how we do ministry.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you guys have any questions about that, um let's see, you can ask me, Jason, Brady was there.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, come talk to one of us.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_02: You were there, Brady?
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's pretty cool.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh okay.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: We're doing the uh second, so what do you think?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: John part two?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: John P two.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: John P two.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, uh uh sports history.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, gentry, you're from Oklahoma.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: Were you uh were you rooting for the Wildcats to get spanked?
• 2:52
  unknown: No, I really guess Oklahoma.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you're an Oklahoma State guy.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're an Oklahoma State guy.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Anybody here, Oklahoma guy?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: No Oklahomans.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, isn't Jennifer an Oklahoma fan?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's on that day it's a house divided.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: She's raven, yeah.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh, usually Wildcats playing better, but had trouble.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it's probably the previous week.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Jox got uh spanked.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, this close by Baylor.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: This close.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the seven isn't too far away from nine.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's only two away, and from the four it's only three away.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not I mean, it could be worse.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: Baylor.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: Chiefs, however, they are surprising, aren't they?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: They're uh they're doing great.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: They beat the Raiders and they shut down the uh Raiders' air attack.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: If you guys follow the NFL.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Derek Card thrown for about 10,000 yards the week before, and he couldn't do a thing against us.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: So uh oh, this was a good game.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: The Apostles of Jesus.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm telling you.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh Did Jesus win?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Huh?
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he Jesus won.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: But he lot he lost the uh game but won the playoffs.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're in uh lesson three, John, part two.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's Jesus right there is looking at John who's sitting, he's a beloved disciple to his left.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Uh John's got the shorter hair.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: Always.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, this is the Last Supper, just in case we got a photograph there.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: He's got a haircut right before.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_02: Judas had a cell phone.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um so anyway, this is uh John.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: He sort of looks he was the younger brother.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: He was the younger brother.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: I put a circle around his head.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_02: He looked uh a little weird when he was younger.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: James, son of Zebedee and his brother John.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: And a fisherman.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't look like a fisherman.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_02: He sort of looks like he plays video games there.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh anyway, so in the uh oh, this is a quick review last week.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: John got an unexpected rebuke.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: He he was sucking up to Jesus, you know, shall we uh call down fire?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: These guys are competitors.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, and Jesus said, come stop them.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Whoever's not against us is force.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Then we asked, can you recall a time when you thought you were going to be complimented, but instead you were admonished.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: And uh then there was the second section was undeserved love.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: That is, he was chosen as a wouldn't it be amazing to have I mean, you know, there's probably been at least one person in your life, Derek, who's who's you know, for whom you were their best friend, maybe.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just I don't know.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: You you'd have to ask other people.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: Probably not.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_02: Can you imagine being the best friend of Jesus?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that would be unbelievable.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you go, yeah, you've got your best friends, but my best friend's Jesus.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: He calls me his beloved.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: He calls me friend.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he calls me to write a song on that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the beloved disciple.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's pretty cool.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh Jesus on the cross gives his mother into the care of John.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: And that's pretty amazing.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: So and the question last week was you uh have you ever had a deep Christ-centered loving relationship with another man?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_02: We had some good talks about that at our table.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh uh, we're moving now to this fits in with Paul's introduction.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_02: John, here's a summary, and it's if you didn't read it, it's on pages 53 of your book and 54.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: By the way, um, who's still missing a book?
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Missing a book?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Brad, have we got we've got you a whole book, and we got sheets if you need uh John's sheets.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, here's the summary, and it's on the screen.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: John, like his big brother James, thought he would be number one, and then turned out that the loudmouth brash Peter uh zoomed to the top past him.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: As you can see from the fact that all the accounts start sliding the name Peter in ahead of John.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: The Lord sent Peter and John to prepare the Passover.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_02: Mary told Peter and John someone stole his body.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: Peter was the Pentecostal preacher, started the church.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Peter and John went at the Temple of Prey, met the cripple, Peter spoke, and healed him.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: So the question we're asking is have you ever been asked to set aside your ambition to be number one in order to assume a supportive role to someone else?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_02: If you look online, the most selfish athletes, uh, Kobe always wins.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_02: And I think this picture was when it was the last uh three seconds of a game that was tied, and Coach Phil, greatest coach of all time, called someone, you know, uh called a play where Kobe was going to be the decoy and someone else is gonna take the shot, and Kobe just went and sat down on the bench.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and there are other stories back in 2010.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: They were in the they were going into game seven of the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_02: And uh in game six, they had lost.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: Kobe had just kept shooting, even though he was like three for twenty.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so Coach Phil Jackson asked him to pass the ball around more in game seven.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so what happened is in game seven, just just he got met and he just refused to shoot.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: He only shot like three times, even when he was wide open.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: He had looked for somebody to pass back to or something, and they got clobbered in game seven and lost the series.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so those are some of the reasons why Kobe, I and I I just thought it was tacky on his why am I taking off on Kobe here?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway, but you know, uh I I loved the uh who's the who's the team that was so good?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Golden State Warriors, you know, and they were setting records that Kobe was on his farewell tour and had to sort of grandstand.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, I thought this was a good question.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_02: Can I ask you a question?
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_02: Can I ask you a question?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: Are you ready for this?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: One question.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Here's the question.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: Have you, Derek, ever been asked to set aside your ambition to uh uh be number one in order to assume a supportive role to someone else?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Never.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, that was really a good section.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I know interviewing is easy.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_02: No, yeah.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_02: So this is a good but this is an interesting topic.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It really is, and this is something that specifically um struck home with me.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually want to read the verses that he puts in here first.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um John 13, 12 to 15.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um starting in verse 12, it says, When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his robe, he reclined again and said to them, Do you know what I have done for you?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: You call me teacher and lord.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: This is well said, for I am.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: So if I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's such a great example.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: One one of the things that I love most about Jesus and and the accounts that we have of him is that he doesn't just give us this lift of list of things to do and says, you know, you need to be kind, you need to be a servant, you need to be all these things.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: But he gives us real life examples of him doing those things as he's telling us to do them, as he's commanding us to do them.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we really have him as a model of the person who was a servant, who did put himself kind of as a lowest man on the totem pole.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he didn't need to be washing the disciples' feet.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was the rabbi, he's the teacher, he's the Lord, and they call him that.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: But he still takes it upon himself to serve them and to be the least among all.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: And one specific example that I can remember from my life that was pretty significant, and I usually don't share this a lot, um, but when I was playing football in college, um I played you know a decent amount of time, even as a freshman on the varsity team.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so I played as a freshman, played as a sophomore.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my junior year there was me and and two other guys, um, another junior and then a sophomore, and we all just kind of rotated.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So one game I would start, one game the next guy would start, one game, the next guy would start, and we would rotate through different series.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what positions?
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh running back.
• 11:14
  unknown: Wow.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel Elliott, man.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I got clobbered a lot.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: But then it came to my senior year, and all of a sudden, literally all of a sudden, one practice, um one of our our new offensive coordinators said, Hey, Ro, you're out.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're in practice, and this is my senior year.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I had been playing all three years up before this.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: He said, You're out.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I said, So, like I'm out for this play, or or what does that mean?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: He said, No, you're just not taking any more reps right now.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I didn't take any more reps the whole rest of that practice.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it happened the next day and happened the next day, and went in and talked to head coach and was like, what in the world is going on?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did I do something that was that horrible that I can't even practice with the varsity team anymore after you know playing on the varsity?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of gave me a couple of excuses, still not exactly sure, you know, why in my mind, but that was really tough for me because that was football, it was one of the main reasons that I went to this school in the first place.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And now it's like, man, it's my senior year, it's time to shine, I'm gonna be the all-star.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And kind of looking at this chapter and looking at John, John wanted that top spot.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: John wanted to be right there next to Jesus in the kingdom, asking to be there in a prominent position.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And in my mind, that's what I wanted too.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted selfishly to be the best, I wanted the glory, I wanted to be, you know, seen as a big shot and take part in these big games and things like that.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think God really used that as a way to humble me a little bit and say, look, Ro, it's not all about you.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's really not.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got some bigger plans for you, and I really want you to serve me and not serve yourself.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was at a point where I really had to make a decision do I transfer and go play somewhere else because we're only not even a game into the season, and so I'd still have a whole year of eligibility left.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I really contemplated it.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I even looked at Washburn and see what kind of program they were having down here.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Bottom feeding, man.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing anything feeding, I was Derek feeding, is what I was doing.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately stayed on the team and said, all right, well, if this is how it's gonna be, I will go down to the practice squad and be there and help our defense out.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's what I did pretty much for the rest of my senior year.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it was it was awful, but it was also really great.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: It was awful because I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to, obviously.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But it was also great because I got to build a lot of relationships with those younger guys, um, really help out our defense, kind of get some energy going through the season.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it was hard to take a step back, and I wouldn't even say that's second place.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably like fourth or fifth or sixth place from where I wanted to be, but it's it's difficult, it's very difficult.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Kenny was a big wrestler at Highland Park.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up in a wrestling family, five brothers right underneath me.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: The big conversation in our home during wrestling season was, you know, oftentimes what would happen is you would end up at the same weight as someone else, and then the question was, who's the coach going to make wrestle at a different weight, higher or lower?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that sort of lets you know where you were on the peck, uh, you know, on the totem pole.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, when you know, one of my brothers, and he would and I had a brother wrestle college, and you know, you'd call him, and this was this same issue.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: The coach was always saying, Well, you move to a different weight, you lose seven pounds, you lose eight pounds, you gain pounds, or yeah, move on up and get yourself killed.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: And you know.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: So um this would be a good question to go around at your table.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: Not all of us were in we're sports stars, but um, you know, talk about this and how it how it's impacted you in your life.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good question.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so then we move to, let's move to another page, another discussion idea.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Greatest.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: John's full of stuff.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is the greatest of these is love, the new or the new and greatest command.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: A new command.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_02: This is still at the Last Supper.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus says, A new command I give you, love one another as I've loved you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: This is right after the washing the feet serving thing.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: So love one another.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: So this is um pages 55 and 56.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: And um so uh the point is that got John got the message.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: This is the last paragraph on page 55.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: He used the word love 40 times.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: In um in his epistle to 1 John, he used the flary phrase, love one another, five times.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_02: And he wrote in 1 John 3.16, this is how we know what love is.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: And the question that uh the book asks on page 55 is uh do you think you understand what it means to love others as Christ loved us?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: How would you answer that question?
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: No, that's um it's a really interesting question because how did Christ love us?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, he died for us.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, but it'd be far easier for me to say die for my wife one time.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if ISIS came.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'll die for her once.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's a lot easier than than than trying to die a little bit for her every day, you know.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: If she's hurting, give her a neck rub, or if she's, you know, wash the dishes if she's had a or do the laundry if she's had a hard day or something like that.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, uh how's that?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: I think those are terrific examples.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh listen, because this is so vague, I decided, Derek, to throw in four or five of my top ten quotes on love that have that m that I've thought of over the years a lot.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And to be and one of them for some reason is a song I used to really like.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: Anybody ever heard of the group Lobo?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: And do you remember?
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: A song that really made very little sense.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I used to think about it a lot, and I and and and maybe I figured it out, but the song's words go, I love you too much to ever start liking you.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: So let's just let the story kind of end.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I love you too much to ever start liking you, so don't expect of me to be your friend.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: What does that mean?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of was afraid of what I thought it might mean, you know.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: But that's probably in a verse in the Bible or something, isn't it?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, shut up.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, so you know, it is hard to figure out exactly what love means.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: So then here's another interesting, this is just really scattershot.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: So shotgun.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: The first time the word uh a word is used in the Bible, it's often been pointed out, the first time a key word is used in the Bible, it oftentimes sort of shapes the way it's used the rest of the times.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_02: And the first time the word love is used in the Bible is Genesis 22.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, whom he loved, which really is fulfilled when God sacrificed his son, whom he loved out of love for us.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: So we're getting back to the idea that to love as Jesus loved us or as God loves us, we need to somehow die for each other.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: So then uh I have this other quote uh that I keep on a card.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: Tertullian was a church father, lived about 200 AD, and he wrote, Look how they love one another, our enemies say.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Look how they are prepared to die for one another.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_02: And he wrote elsewhere, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: If any of this sparks any thoughts in you, for I mean, John, that's what what John says.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, as as believers, when other people look at us, they will have an impression they'll know that we're Christ's disciples, then they'll know that we're followers of Christ if we love each other, if we show love towards each other, do loving actions towards each other.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of a it's kind of a a benchmark or a telltale sign of Christians specifically, is by loving each other.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_02: And in practical ways, doesn't that kind of go back to the first point where you sort of take the second place deliberately and shove them forward in the in the food line or shove them into the limelight and you stay in the back?
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you guys have probably seen this before just in in really any of our workplaces.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um we notice the people who kind of wait to let some other people go in line at the company picnic.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: We notice the people who stop to, you know, pick up maybe a little piece of trash that they could have very easily just walked by in our office or in our wherever we're at.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um we notice the people who stop to do a task without expecting recognition for it.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think other people notice that as well.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one of the signs I think of love is by making ourselves secondary and really acting as a servant and not just saying that we are servants or that we should be servant-minded or things like that.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: But just in those everyday interactions, we can see those.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: I was in I was so stupid.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_02: I was in my first year of ministry, I think it was, and I was doing a I did a funeral or maybe it was a wedding with another pastor.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: So afterwards, and we're at the reception or the food line or whatever.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: And um I'm embarrassed to admit this, but my practice was always when I was, you know, young, single, 25, whatever.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: I if there was food there, I didn't have to be first in line, but I certainly wasn't gonna be more than about fourth or fifth, you know.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm sitting there and I got my plate of food, and I'm over there, and and the other pastor's sitting there or whatever.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, he was an older guy and he sits there and he looks at me and He goes, What are you doing?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, What?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: You want a piece you want a piece of cake or something?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: He goes, What are you doing going through the line first?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: He said, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll always be going through the line last or something.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: I I mean he spanked me.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: He spanked me good.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I did it changed a lot because I realized that that was like, you know how you started?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus gave visible signs of of these principles that he showed.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: I thought, wow, what a what an what a super visible sign that he pointed out.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: So how Mark, you're smiling, you're going, yeah, mm-hmm.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Been there, done that.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, but you know, uh, I threw in a couple, just a couple quotes about marriage because that's where love, you know, really touches home.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: So here's one.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_02: Billy Graham said to his daughter when she was uh before she was engaged famous quote, don't get married to anyone that you wouldn't be willing to be a slave to, and don't marry anyone that would not willingly be a slave to you.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_02: This sort of ties in.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_02: Ouch.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody, somebody actually mentioned a quote similar to this that you said.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think it was during one of our Sunday morning leader meetings.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we meet with all of our small group leaders, um Brady and and Blaine kind of lead this session for all of us leaders in the student ministry.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if you guys remember this, but there was a certain I said I love it when Melody serves me.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Was that it?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, but I I wanted to say it.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, actually, it wasn't that quote.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was specifically in talking about service, talking about being, you know, second, talking about being slave to others.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and the quote that you used in one of your sermons, and it's probably not exact, but basically, how do you react when somebody treats you as a slave?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that really hit home for me is wow, that that's really a heart check.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just the words that I'm saying or not just the action that I'm doing, but what's what's my motivation behind being a servant?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really when somebody says or or asks you to do something where you're treated as a servant, it's kind of your litmus test to see, wow, is my heart really in that place, or am I just saying that because I'm a Christian, I know that I'm supposed to?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I just thought that was great because I'd never heard that question before.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_02: Doesn't anybody ever um ever come up to you at Derek after you speak, you know, every week, you know, to the students or something.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: Any ever come up and go, here's what you should have done, or here's what you should have said.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, this happens to me on the average, one person every Sunday morning in one of the servers would come up and they'll go, uh, you know, when you gave that point, here's the way you should have said it.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, now it's that's it's it's it's it's fun for me to go, oh that I could have done a lot better in that sermon.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: But when someone comes up and treats you that way before you're ready for it, that's when you gotta process it really quick and go, you know, it's just the Lord's just putting me in my place.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody ever does that to you.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Seventh and eighth graders are usually some of them are asleep, some of them are laying across chairs.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um high school, I'm probably being Snapchatted across the internet.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, no, not really.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: Not openly, anyway.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: Here's my last quote.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: I love this one.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: When she was young, I loved her because she was beautiful.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: When she got old, I loved her because I knew her.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: This is a great quote about love.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: Don't know what it has to do with this chapter, but you know.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_02: Looks like great people.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, the last part of the chapter, then he moves to, this would be real quick.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: He just moves to talking about he just loves this book like we all love this book.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is a literary masterpiece.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: The purpose is that these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that by believing you might have life in his name.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: And the author takes the opportunity then to say, check it.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what do you really believe about Jesus Christ?
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Do you know who he actually is?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: Are you a believer?
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh look at this book.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's a literary masterpiece.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's got seven signs in here, miracles that are called signs because they point to Jesus being uh the guy you need to believe in for salvation.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and the resurrection is sort of the ultimate eighth sign that Jesus is who he said he was.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: And then at the end of the chapter, he's got a couple of principles that we haven't mentioned yet.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Principle two, Jesus Christ wants to uh have a permanent or have a unique, ongoing, and reciprocal love relationship with all of his children, period, including you.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: Principle three, Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to be part of a dynamic community of love that not only meets our own needs but proves to the world that Jesus is the Son of God.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Join the community of love.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the chapter.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and you're at your tables, you got a lot of opportunities there, a lot of meat you can chew together.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: Let's say the verse together, shall we?
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is how we know what love is.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh small group discussion time.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'll just leave this up here.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_02: You can check these pages.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: They're questions on 53, 55, 56, 62 through 64, and then pray for each other.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_02: You want to pray for us?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thanks for bringing us together this morning.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you for the book of John.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for just being able to go through and and see your example of the things that you're teaching us, the things that you command us to do.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, thanks for being our great example.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being our savior.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Bless our conversation in Jesus' name.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Amen.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks again, Tom.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Appreciate the grub.