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21: Entering the Kingdom · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Our current series is Gentle Witnesses, sharing the
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good news at work in a way that
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actually makes sense.
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Before we get started, I wanted to share
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a fun announcement.
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Some of you know that Finding God at
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Work is not just a podcast, it's also
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a course that I lead in person live
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in the Illinois Fox Valley region at various
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churches.
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We have just launched an online version of
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the course, so now it doesn't matter where
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you are or when you have time to
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do it, it's a self-paced online video
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course called Finding God at Work.
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We just launched it on Friday, April 4th.
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It's available at FindingGodAtWork.org.
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So if you've been enjoying the podcast and
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this is something significant for you, you'd like
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to dig into these things with just some
1:00
more video content where I have some more
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time to explore some of these ideas and
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there are some follow-up activities in there
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too.
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Just head to FindingGodAtWork.org and you can
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check out the first few things for free.
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The normal cost for the full six-chapter
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course with 50 microlessons is $75.
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But there is a discount code for podcast
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listeners, pod30, P-O-D, for 30%
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off.
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So, just wanted to let you know that
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announcement.
1:26
For the next few episodes, we'll have a
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little announcement like this tucked into the episode
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and then in the future that'll just be
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part of our outro.
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So thanks so much and here's today's podcast.
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I want you to think about seeing a
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toddler become a toddler, seeing a baby learn
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to walk.
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If you've ever had a chance to do
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this, it really blows your mind to watch
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a baby take its first steps.
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This happened to me when my cousin Joseph
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was one year old.
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So I was out there in Seattle where
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he grew up and we were hanging out
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kind of outside of church because he was
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a little too squirmy for church and then
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he walked.
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He like took his hand off of like
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the sofa and walked a couple steps straight
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toward me and it blew my mind.
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It was amazing.
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Now, Joseph is a young man.
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He's a computer whiz.
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He makes lots more money than I do.
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He has a whole life as part of
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a church plant in Seattle.
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He's doing amazing things.
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If he's listening to this, he's probably a
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little bit embarrassed.
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But that was a cool moment to see
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Joseph take those first steps.
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But those were not his last steps, right?
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Those were just the beginning, itty bitty steps.
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And he has walked and run and moved
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for a couple of decades since that moment.
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And that's really exciting.
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It's a good thing for the world to
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have a Joseph who can walk around in
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it.
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Okay, in this series, we've been talking about
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what the good news is.
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We've been talking about how we can share
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the good news.
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We've been talking about this idea of the
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five thresholds from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and from
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Don Everts and Doug Shoup.
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Their book, I once was lost from 2008.
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And we've finally gotten to the fifth threshold,
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entering the kingdom.
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Doug and Don have a great little line
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about this in their book.
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So I just want to cite the Bible
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passage that they use, which is from Matthew
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13, and then their comments about it.
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So Matthew 13, starting in verse 44.
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When our friends want into the kingdom, when
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they have sought and sought and see in
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Jesus what they have always been looking for,
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they have a choice.
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Sell all and get it or walk away.
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To sell all is threshold five.
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Now it goes without saying, for those of
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us who believe in Jesus, that it is
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really exciting when somebody hits threshold five.
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When somebody crosses the line, when somebody commits
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to Jesus and becomes his disciple, when somebody
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puts their faith in him and begins to
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live life in him and with him, what
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could be more exciting than that?
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It's hard to imagine.
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But just like there's been this process leading
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up to this moment in our friends' lives,
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there's also a process after this moment.
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And this can be confusing, especially for those
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of us who might have been raised in
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a certain Christian subculture, where it's like this
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moment was sometimes treated as the only moment
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that mattered.
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You just got to get somebody to cross
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the line, and then they're saved.
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And everything's fine after that.
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Now, that's problematic for a number of reasons,
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not least of which it's not what the
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Bible teaches, right?
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We talked about what does it mean to
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be saved as we actually look at the
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teaching of Jesus, and it has all these
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different dimensions, right?
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We're looking at both the cross, Jesus' death
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and resurrection, and the kingdom, the things that
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God is doing in the world.
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And when we put our faith in Jesus,
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it's because of his death and resurrection that
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we can be forgiven of our sins and
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enter into life in the kingdom of God.
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So following Jesus, putting our faith in Jesus
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always leads to life change.
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It leads to something holistic, not just a
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one-off prayer or ceremony or moment.
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Also, there's different facets of the good news.
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So we looked at how the good news
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is knowledge of God, communion with God, eternal
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life, that's Jesus' own definition for eternal life,
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is knowing God and knowing Jesus whom God
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has sent.
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We've looked at how healing is part of
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salvation, but even the word to heal and
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to save are similar, where they show up
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in the passages that describe the ministry of
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Jesus.
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We've looked at how becoming a follower of
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Jesus is not distinct from the process of
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salvation.
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It's naturally connected to it.
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And I just want to read one more
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quote from Dallas Willard to help us clarify
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this idea.
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He was the philosopher, if you haven't heard
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me quote him all the time before, we
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quoted at the beginning of this series about
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barcode Christianity, this idea that you can somehow
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have some sort of scanning process that's transactional,
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that takes care of what happens when people
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die, but has no connection to the kind
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of human being they're becoming and how that's
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like this pathetic two dimensional version of Christianity
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that has nothing to do with what Jesus
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taught.
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Dallas more positively puts it like this.
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This is in his article, spiritual formation as
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a natural part of salvation, one who really
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understands who Jesus is, sees their own situation
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in a realistic light and wants to take
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measures to remedy their condition by staying as
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close to Jesus as possible.
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Discipleship is a natural part of confidence in
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Jesus as he really is.
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And that just makes sense.
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And that just straightforward.
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Like, yeah, if you really think that Jesus
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knows what life is about and you really
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think that your life has some issues and
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you need some help, then you want to
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just get close to Jesus and stay close
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to Jesus in every aspect of your life
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as much as you can.
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That's that's what faith is all about.
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So it's this whole life discipleship becoming a
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follower of Jesus.
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So this moment, this moment is like a
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like a snapshot moment, but it's not the
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whole story.
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It's like that moment when Joseph took his
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first steps towards me in that church lobby
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in Seattle, but his whole life has unfolded
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from that moment.
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It's not like those steps in particular are
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the steps that count most, it's that he's
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entering a way of life that he's going
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to be able to use all over the
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place in all sorts of different ways.
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So we don't want to undersell the moment
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of somebody entering the kingdom because they're entering
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the kingdom.
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Praise the Lord.
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We also don't want to oversell that moment
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as opposed to the entirety of their life.
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The reason that moment is so exciting is
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because it's the first moment of many more
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to come.
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Earlier, we talked about C.S. Lewis's experience
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of feeling like he was a lobster or
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wearing a suit of armor and or like
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he was a snowman that was starting to
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melt and he kind of had this choice.
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Do I open myself or do I stay
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closed?
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And by the time somebody gets to this
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stage, they've already been open, right?
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They've already been seeking, they've already been vulnerable.
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They've been connecting questions and experiences and feelings.
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This is the moment when they not only
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open the door, but walk through the door.
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And so I want to look at just
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a couple of different images from Christian tradition
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that I think are really helpful for thinking
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about what does it mean to walk through
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the door?
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So one of these comes from the hymn
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writer Charles Wesley, brother of the theologian and
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preacher John Wesley.
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And this was the hymn that he wrote
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to describe his own conversion experience.
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So this moment for him when things suddenly
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became real and it's called An Can It
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Be and I'll just read one stanza of
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it.
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Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in
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sin and nature's night.
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Okay, pause there.
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So he's saying that he's imprisoned.
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His spirit is imprisoned.
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He as a human being is shackled by
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sin and then also nature's night.
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So there's also just like human weakness, human
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frailty as part of his experience too, as
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it is for all of us.
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He continues, thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
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Okay, what does that mean?
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Quickening means making alive, like that old phrase
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like getting cut to the quick, that means
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cutting to where the life is in something,
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in ray, a ray of light.
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So God's eye diffused a quickening ray, something
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from the presence of God, the source of
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life, came into Charles's life like light out
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of God's eye.
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And that made him come alive.
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He continues, I woke the dungeon, flamed with
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light.
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My chains fell off.
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My heart was free.
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I rose, went forth and followed thee.
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Let me read the whole thing without interrupting
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it this time.
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Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in
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sin and nature's night.
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Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
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I woke the dungeon, flamed with light.
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My chains fell off.
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My heart was free.
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I rose, went forth and followed thee.
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This is so clear.
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When you're in bondage and you get freed,
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then you can leave the dungeon.
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You can walk into life.
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You can take those first steps of Christian
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freedom in the Lord.
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So again, if a conversion is genuine, somebody
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is placing their confidence in Jesus, they're walking
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into a life of following him for the
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rest of their life.
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That's how it works.
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That's the natural result of placing your confidence
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in Jesus.
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My chains fell off.
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My heart was free.
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I rose, went forth and followed thee.
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So when somebody is entering the kingdom, when
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they're putting their faith in Jesus, they're beginning
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a whole life with Jesus.
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One of Dallas's favorite phrases was salvation is
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a life.
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I don't know how to say it better
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than that.
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Salvation is a life.
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Okay.
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Another image, also an older one.
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This comes from the writer, John Bunyan.
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He was a Puritan.
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I'm an Anglican.
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So like my people are the bad guy
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in the John Bunyan story that were the
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ones that threw him in prison.
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Christianity and Christian traditions are messy and complicated.
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But John Bunyan, he wrote this book called
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The Pilgrim's Progress, one of the best selling
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books of all time.
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And I got to see and read a
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children's version of it, an illustrated version, when
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I was a little kid called Dangerous Journey.
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And if I can, I'll try and link
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from our website resource to the Dangerous Journey
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book so you can see the visuals.
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Because the main character of this book is
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someone named Christian, and it's kind of a
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prophetic name because he's going to become a
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Christian later.
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Let me read how he's described in the
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very opening lines of the book.
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I saw a man clothed with rags, standing
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in a certain place, with his face from
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his own house, a book in his hand,
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and a great burden upon his back.
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I looked and saw him open the book
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and read therein, and as he read, he
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wept and trembled, and not being able any
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longer to contain, he break out with a
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lamentable cry saying, what shall I do?
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I hear this incredible pathos in this image,
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and the image that I saw in the
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illustration, the burden that's on Christian's back, looks
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like it weighs about twice as much as
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he does.
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It's this lumpy thing tied on with strings,
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dirty, soiled, and just looks awful, something that
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would bend down on him constantly as an
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irremovable weight from his shoulders.
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And Christian has this journey throughout his walk
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toward faith in Jesus even before he has
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his conversion experience.
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Just like we've talked about, people have these
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different thresholds they go through.
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Christian has these different things that he's exploring
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on the way to faith, but then eventually
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he comes to this point where he sees
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a cross.
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So let me read that little section of
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the book as well.
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Now I saw in my dream that the
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highway up which Christian was to go was
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fenced on either side with a wall, and
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that wall was called salvation.
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Up this way, therefore, did burden the Christian
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run, but not without great difficulty because of
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the load on his back.
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He ran thus till he came at a
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place somewhat ascending, and upon that place stood
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a cross, and a little below in the
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bottom, a sepulcher.
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So I saw in my dream that just
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as Christian came up with the cross, his
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burden loosed from off his shoulders and fell
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from off his back, and began to tumble,
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and so continued to do till it came
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to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it
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fell in, and I saw it no more.
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Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said
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with a merry heart, he hath given me
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rest by his sorrow and life by his
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death.
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Then he stood still a while to look
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and wonder, for it was very surprising to
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him that the sight of the cross should
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thus ease him of his burden.
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He looked therefore and looked again, even till
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the springs that were in his head sent
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the waters down his cheeks.
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So you've got these two images of Christian,
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one where he has his burden and he's
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weeping, and he's asking, what shall I do?
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What must I do?
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He doesn't use this exact phrase, but what
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he's asking is, how can I be saved?
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And then you have Christian weeping for joy
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at the foot of the cross, because upon
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seeing the cross, his burden rolls off his
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shoulders and goes into the tomb, never to
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be heard from again.
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The tomb where Christ was buried, he has
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received forgiveness of his sins.
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But this moment, even though there's several steps
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that happened before this moment, this moment is
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still towards the beginning of the book, like
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it's maybe only 20% of the way
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into the book, if that, because Christian then
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has to live out that life for the
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rest of his journey.
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And it is a dangerous and a perilous
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journey, but he's walking it without that burden
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now.
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He's walking it with that gladsome lightness of
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heart and his merry heart as he receives
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the forgiveness and the power of God.
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This is what happens for our friends when
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they put their faith in Jesus, that burden
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of sin, of guilt, of responsibility for living
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life that they can't measure up to.
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That goes into Christ's grave, never to be
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heard from again.
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And they're given what they need to live
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life with Jesus, to walk out a journey
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with him for the rest of their life.
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This is such an exciting and a beautiful
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moment for our friends.
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The question is, how do we know when
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our friend is at that point and what
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can we do to help them?
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Well, the first thing to say is we
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may not know when this moment happens for
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our friend.
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Our friend may not even know when this
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moment happens for our friend, because it's a
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moment in the heart, right?
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It's a gradual process to get to this
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point for many people.
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And so they may not be able to
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name, like, when was the moment when I
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really started believing in Jesus?
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Because sometimes people are like, they're in Christian
15:44
community and they're reading the Bible and they're
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praying and they're trying to discern what it
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means to follow Jesus.
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And then suddenly they realize, like, oh, this
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is real for me.
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And they can't point to it like a
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specific moment when it became real.
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This is especially common among children, among people
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who were raised in the faith.
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But for adults, it's more common to have
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a moment where it's like there was a
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crisis moment when I had to resolve, when
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I had to commit.
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And that's a moment that we can help
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with.
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Now, again, there's still a mystery there.
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Only God can see the heart.
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So even if we think that we've discerned
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that moment with our friend or a friend
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thinks they've discerned that moment and we help
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them make or verbalize a kind of commitment.
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God knows what's going on in their heart.
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Maybe really they cross that line a month
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earlier and they just haven't had a chance
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to verbalize it.
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Maybe they're verbalizing it right now, but really
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they haven't counted the cost and they haven't
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really squared with the demands of Jesus.
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That'll become evident as the next week's unfold
16:32
to see if they really continue to walk
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with Jesus or not.
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But just because we can't see exactly when
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the moment of genuine faith happens for someone
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doesn't mean that we shouldn't help shepherd and
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guide people toward that kind of faith.
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We can help here in a really direct
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way.
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So one way to phrase this that I
16:51
find really helpful is saying yes to Jesus.
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Just like Mary, we talked about her as
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that image, that icon of openness to God
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where she says, let it be to me,
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as you have said, we want somebody else
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to have that posture of just saying yes
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to Jesus, being open, being vulnerable to Jesus
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and yes, what you want, Lord, that's what
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I want.
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And so sometimes that's even in the back
17:15
of my mind, what I'm wondering is, is
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this person ready to say yes to Jesus?
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Now, that's not something that we want to
17:23
pressure.
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Again, we want to help people count the
17:25
cost.
17:25
We want to give people reasons not to
17:27
follow Jesus so that if they do, it's
17:29
actually genuine, but it is something we can
17:32
discern and sometimes asking questions can help us
17:35
discern with people.
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So you can ask your friend questions like,
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what would it take for you to say
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yes to Jesus, or are you ready to
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say yes to Jesus?
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We can reflect back to them things that
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we've heard them saying to us.
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So like, hey, like, as we're reading this
17:50
Bible passage together and you talk about like
17:52
what Jesus can do, it sounds like you're
17:54
saying that you kind of want that in
17:56
your life.
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Like, are you ready to say yes to
17:57
Jesus in that way?
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So again, not boilerplate rooted in your actual
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friendship, rooted in the things that are actually
18:03
unfolding to you as you talk with them.
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Okay, then they may say yes or no,
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right?
18:11
They might say like, no, no, no, I'm
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not ready for that.
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I had this happen with a friend recently,
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right?
18:15
I kind of challenged her.
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I was like, are you ready to do
18:20
this?
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And she's like, I'm not.
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No, no, I'm not like, okay, great.
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That's a great self-awareness, right?
18:25
No pressure.
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Maybe, maybe I'll ask again sometime in the
18:28
future.
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But they may also say yes.
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They may say like, yes, I'm ready.
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I want to do this.
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And if somebody's saying yes, they usually need
18:36
some help.
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So you can guide them in that moment.
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So you might say something like, hey, if
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you're ready to say yes to Jesus, that's
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something you can commit to in prayer right
18:46
now.
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Can I guide you in that?
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Is it okay if I put a hand
18:50
on your shoulder while we pray?
18:52
Now, there's nothing magical about prayer, right?
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The thing is the attitude of the heart.
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When somebody puts their faith in Jesus, that
18:58
means their heart is now trusting him, they're
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placing their confidence in him.
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They don't have to pray any special kind
19:03
of prayer for that to be real, but
19:04
praying helps us name that spiritual reality, helps
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us confess it out loud.
19:09
So then you pray and you can guide
19:11
them through a prayer that expresses a faith
19:15
commitment to Jesus.
19:16
I like the model given by Nikki Gumbel,
19:19
who's the pioneer of the Alpha movement, because
19:21
he has just three ingredients, makes it easy
19:23
to remember, sorry, thank you, please.
19:26
So you can pray and then ask the
19:28
person to pray after you, or you can
19:30
pray and ask them to pray quietly in
19:32
their heart if they're more comfortable with that.
19:34
Or you can explain the model of sorry,
19:37
thank you, please, and then invite them to
19:38
extemporaneously pray.
19:41
But the prayer might sound like this, Lord
19:44
Jesus, I am sorry for the things I've
19:46
done wrong in my life.
19:48
Please forgive me.
19:50
I now turn from everything that I know
19:52
is wrong.
19:53
Thank you that you died on the cross
19:55
for me so that I could be forgiven
19:56
and set free.
19:58
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and
20:00
the gift of your spirit.
20:02
I now receive that gift.
20:04
Please come into my life by your Holy
20:06
Spirit to be with me forever.
20:09
Thank you, Lord Jesus.
20:11
Amen.
20:13
Sorry, thank you, please.
20:16
This is simple.
20:17
It covers the basics of repenting of sin.
20:20
That's the sorry, the importance of Jesus' death
20:22
and resurrection.
20:23
That's the thank you.
20:25
And then entering into life in the kingdom
20:26
of God by the power of the Holy
20:28
Spirit.
20:28
That's the please.
20:30
So we're keeping the kingdom and the cross
20:31
together.
20:32
We're inviting people to repent of their sins.
20:34
We're inviting them to name that they're placing
20:35
their faith in Jesus.
20:36
This is all good theology.
20:38
It's good stuff.
20:39
It's not the only way to do it,
20:40
but it's a helpful way to do it.
20:42
Sorry, thank you, please.
20:44
And then if that person prays that prayer
20:46
right with you out loud in their own
20:48
words or not, then you want to follow
20:52
up.
20:52
You want to rejoice and encourage them.
20:54
And now hopefully you don't need to like
20:55
have a checklist in your mind reminding you
20:57
to rejoice.
20:58
You just have an authentic expression of joy
20:59
in that moment that this person is crossing
21:01
that line and entering the kingdom of God.
21:04
Jesus taught that there was more rejoicing in
21:06
heaven over one sinner who repents than over
21:09
99 righteous people who need no repenting.
21:12
And so I mean, in this kind of
21:13
tongue in cheek, because there are no righteous
21:14
people that need no repenting besides Jesus and
21:17
maybe Mary if our Catholic brothers and sisters
21:19
are right about that.
21:20
But the point is God is really excited
21:23
when somebody repents of their sins, right?
21:26
That is an exclamation point moment in the
21:28
heavenlies because it's the beginning of this new
21:31
life with God.
21:32
And that new life is now what that
21:33
person needs help continuing to be shepherded into.
21:37
Now, hopefully they are already connected to a
21:40
community of faith, right?
21:41
Most people, they have some connection to community
21:43
before this moment happens.
21:45
But if for any reason, somehow you've only
21:47
connected with them one on one and they've
21:49
gotten to this point and they haven't been
21:50
part of community, for sure people need community
21:53
to help them grow into this life with
21:56
God.
21:56
We are not saved as individual people.
21:59
We, the body of Christ are saved in
22:01
union with each other as we come into
22:03
union with God too.
22:05
And so you can invite them to come
22:07
to your faith community if for some reason
22:09
that's logistically impossible.
22:10
Like you know them from work and this
22:13
all happened through remote Zoom calls or something,
22:15
right?
22:15
You can help them find a faith community
22:17
near them so that they can begin taking
22:19
these steps if you have some sort of
22:24
regular small group that you're part of or
22:25
a Bible study that you're part of.
22:27
It's great to involve them in that.
22:29
And if you don't, and even if you
22:31
do, it's also great to meet with them
22:32
one on one if possible.
22:34
Now, if you've already been meeting with them
22:36
one on one, you can just kind of
22:37
keep doing that.
22:38
So me and my friend Chris, we're both
22:40
named Chris.
22:40
It's really fun when we show up at
22:42
events together and stuff like hi, Chris and
22:44
Chris.
22:45
But this was how it worked for me
22:46
and him.
22:46
We had been meeting together for like six
22:47
months, like once a week, maybe every couple
22:50
of weeks, one on one.
22:52
And then when he came to faith, we
22:53
just kept doing it, right?
22:54
It's just now we're reading the Bible together
22:56
and he's a disciple instead of considering becoming
22:59
a disciple.
23:00
So there may be a natural rhythm that's
23:01
already there.
23:02
But if it's been more ad hoc, now's
23:04
a good time to get a little bit
23:05
more intentional because a new believer is a
23:07
fragile believer, right?
23:08
There's going to be lots of questions, lots
23:10
of changes coming in their life as they
23:11
try and live out the teachings of Jesus.
23:13
So they need some support and some help
23:15
and some guidance.
23:16
If that's something you're not sure how to
23:17
do, you can get help from people who
23:19
can shepherd you, maybe a pastor at your
23:21
church or other people.
23:23
There's great resources available for young believers on
23:27
the InterVarsity website, for example, and I will
23:29
include links to those in our related web
23:32
materials for this podcast.
23:35
But if you have the privilege, the honor
23:37
of being next to someone, shoulder to shoulder
23:39
with someone when they make their confession of
23:42
faith, the joy is so real at the
23:47
same time.
23:49
This is not meant to be a tallying
23:52
things up, getting notches in your belt sort
23:54
of thing.
23:55
If you have never had this experience, that
23:57
does not make you a bad Christian.
23:59
That doesn't even make you a bad evangelist.
24:01
Right?
24:01
One of my prayers is that everybody will
24:03
get to have this experience because of the
24:05
joy of it.
24:06
But the reality is there were a lot
24:08
of people in my cousin Joseph's life, namely
24:10
my aunt and uncle, his parents and his
24:12
older sisters, he's the youngest of four, who
24:14
did a lot more than I did to
24:16
help him get to the point where he
24:17
could take those first few steps.
24:18
I just happened to be sitting in the
24:19
right chair when it happened.
24:21
And we might be in that situation as
24:23
well.
24:23
We might be the person who gets to
24:25
joyfully pray with somebody as they enter the
24:27
kingdom, as they confess their faith in Jesus
24:29
Christ.
24:30
Or we might be involved earlier in the
24:32
process and not get to see that moment.
24:34
And that's okay.
24:35
That doesn't mean we're a bad evangelist.
24:36
Every one of these five stages counts.
24:39
So if you're just building trust with somebody
24:40
and that's what you're given to do right
24:42
now, that counts.
24:43
If you're just helping somebody be curious, but
24:45
they're not really personally open, that counts.
24:47
If you're helping somebody be personally open, but
24:49
they're not really actively seeking, that counts.
24:50
If you're helping somebody actively seek, but they
24:52
haven't made a commitment yet, that counts.
24:53
And if you get to be there when
24:54
somebody makes a commitment to Jesus, of course,
24:57
that counts as well.
24:58
But it's not about us, right?
25:00
It's about meeting people where they're at and
25:02
helping them take that next step, including this
25:05
most exciting one.
25:09
Lord Jesus, show us how to walk with
25:11
our friends into your kingdom, uh, more deeply
25:14
into your kingdom for us, maybe entering it
25:16
for the first time for them.
25:18
Show us how to not pressure, but gently
25:21
guide and encourage and clarify things for them.
25:25
Show us how to minister your presence at
25:28
that moment when people are ready to say
25:30
yes to you.
25:32
Jesus, do your work in us as we
25:34
do our work with you.
25:35
Amen.
25:39
Thanks for listening.
25:41
Finding God at Work is a production of
25:42
Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
25:45
dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
25:48
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