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Andy Stanley - Christmas Its All Good Part 3 Be the News · Andy Stanley Sermons

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Speaker 1: Now, a couple of weeks ago, I finished a book
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Speaker 1: written by an ex pastor who's become an atheist. And
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Speaker 1: in the book he tells his story. And I don't
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Speaker 1: know why I'm so fascinated with deconversion stories, but he
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Speaker 1: tells his whole story. It's a long book. It's wonderful,
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Speaker 1: he's so transparent. And then he goes into why doesn't
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Speaker 1: believe the Bible's true, why he doesn't believe God exists,
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Speaker 1: and you know, it's fascinating. It's both philosophical and his story.
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Speaker 1: But in the part where he tells his story, he
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Speaker 1: had the dilemma of how do you He was in
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Speaker 1: ministry slowly losing his faith, and he was still in
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Speaker 1: ministry when he lost his faith, and so he tells
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Speaker 1: that journey, and it's heartbreaking, as you might imagine, but
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Speaker 1: he tells the story about how he told his family.
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Speaker 1: So he told his wife. He eventually got divorced. She
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Speaker 1: wanted to be married to a pastor. In fact, she
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Speaker 1: remarried another pastor. He remarried later. But the most sort
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Speaker 1: of gut wrenching, like I had to just stop, you know,
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Speaker 1: part was when he told his mom. So he tells
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Speaker 1: his mom that he's deconverting from Christianity, and she's not.
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Speaker 1: It just doesn't bother her the way that he thought
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Speaker 1: it would. And very soon after he told her that
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Speaker 1: he had deconverted from Christianity, she deconverted as well. And
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Speaker 1: she expresses he explains it the book. She expresses her
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Speaker 1: relief of giving up this faith and all the baggage
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Speaker 1: that came with her version of Christianity. And at one
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Speaker 1: point she says, and this is a quote, she says,
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Speaker 1: it's wonderful because I don't have to hate anymore. It's
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Speaker 1: wonderful to be free of this this religious burden because
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Speaker 1: I don't have to hate anyone anymore. So I was
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Speaker 1: talking about this with my son Andrew. He's twenty seven
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Speaker 1: and he does full time stand up comedy. We did
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Speaker 1: not see that coming. Okay, that expensive finance degree. I'm
1:46
Speaker 1: sure it'll come in handy someday. But anyway, so he
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Speaker 1: has this new collection of friends around our city, and
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Speaker 1: now more and more around the whole country as he travels,
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Speaker 1: of stand up comedians that are doing clubs and late
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Speaker 1: night things. And so he's got this new group of friends.
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Speaker 1: So I'm telling him about this book. And what this
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Speaker 1: gentleman's mom said, And he said, Dad, he said, most
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Speaker 1: of my comedy friends, my comedian friends, most of them
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Speaker 1: grew up going to some kind of church, and they've
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Speaker 1: all walked away pretty much from church. And then he
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Speaker 1: said this, and he allowed me to quote him. He said, Dad,
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Speaker 1: if I'd grown up in one of those kinds of churches,
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Speaker 1: I don't think I would still be going to church either.
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Speaker 1: So what is this? A version of faith where you
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Speaker 1: have to dislike a group of people in order to
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Speaker 1: kind of keep your walls up. A version of faith
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Speaker 1: where you basically have to hate a group. A version
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Speaker 1: of faith that you're constantly looking for a way out
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Speaker 1: that you just can't wait to get out of this
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Speaker 1: thing and kind of shake yourself free and move on.
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Speaker 1: I mean, neither of those versions of faith are good news. Right,
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Speaker 1: That's not good news, that's bad news, that's old news. Now,
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Speaker 1: as we've said throughout this series, you know, for some
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Speaker 1: folks that they resistance to Christianity revolves around this question
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Speaker 1: is is it true? But for other people and more
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Speaker 1: and more people, the question they're wrestling with is a
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Speaker 1: different question. It's this question is it even good? I mean,
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Speaker 1: if it causes me to hate, it may be true,
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Speaker 1: but it's not good to hate. If it causes me
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Speaker 1: to feel like I can't live my life and be myself,
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Speaker 1: then clearly it's not good. Now, when we hear news,
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Speaker 1: this is true for all of us. When we hear
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Speaker 1: news that's not good, we hope it's not true. Right,
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Speaker 1: whether it's a medical diagnosis or something with your job.
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Speaker 1: When you hear news that's not good, you hope it's
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Speaker 1: not true. But when you hear news that's good, good news,
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Speaker 1: you hope it's true, no matter what it is, whether
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Speaker 1: it has to do with your health, your finances, your job,
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Speaker 1: somebody you're dating, your marriage. When you hear news that's good,
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Speaker 1: something you read a headline. When you hear news that's good,
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Speaker 1: you immediately hope it's true. So the question that we've
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Speaker 1: been wrestling with that we're gonna kind of land on
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Speaker 1: today is if the message of Jesus is good, then
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Speaker 1: why don't people lean in and hope it's true? And
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Speaker 1: why is it there are versions of our faith that
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Speaker 1: are so un good that people are looking for ways
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Speaker 1: to get out. Because when jesus birth was announced, it's
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Speaker 1: so interesting it could have been announced in lots of
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Speaker 1: different ways, with lots of different words. But here's the
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Speaker 1: initial announcement. Here's the headline, here's the breaking news, good news,
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Speaker 1: this is the terminology used. This was the phrase good
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Speaker 1: news of great joy. That is, when you understand this,
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Speaker 1: it's gonna light something up on the inside of you.
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Speaker 1: And it's not just for the people in that city,
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Speaker 1: not just for people in that part of the world.
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Speaker 1: This was the shocker. I mean, no one could even
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Speaker 1: imagine news that would be good for all people, because
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Speaker 1: generally good news for one group of people is bad
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Speaker 1: news for another group of people. In fact, the good
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Speaker 1: news is we said it was so good that they
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Speaker 1: actually just titled the whole thing the Gospel, which means
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Speaker 1: the good story. I mean, this is why come up
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Speaker 1: with anything else. Let's just call it, name it what
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Speaker 1: it is. This is a good story. But again, if
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Speaker 1: it's that good supposedly, why the resistance? Why would anybody
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Speaker 1: be looking for an out? Why wouldn't people who don't
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Speaker 1: believe it's true wish it was true. Why wouldn't the
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Speaker 1: resistance to Christianity be this? Wow, it's hard to believe.
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Speaker 1: I'm not sure I can believe all that, but imagine, imagine,
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Speaker 1: imagine if that were true, Because when you hear good news,
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Speaker 1: you want it to be true. You don't resist it,
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Speaker 1: you hope it's true. And the original version, the original
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Speaker 1: version was so good that it was compelling. And the
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Speaker 1: original version was so compelling it was worth telling. And
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Speaker 1: as we said in week one, it was so worth
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Speaker 1: telling that no one had to pay anybody to tell it.
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Speaker 1: That Luke tells us that many people this is and
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Speaker 1: there's no parallel in ancient history, that many people in
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Speaker 1: to document the life and the teaching of Jesus, not
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Speaker 1: because they were paid to do so, but because they
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Speaker 1: knew the story needed to be preserved and it needed
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Speaker 1: to be told. It was for every generation and it
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Speaker 1: was for every nation. So the question that I want
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Speaker 1: to ask to wrestle with a little bit today is
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Speaker 1: this what happened? Well, specifically, what happened to the good news?
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Speaker 1: Why isn't everybody leaning in? Why doesn't everybody want it
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Speaker 1: to be true? And maybe and I'm not pointing my finger,
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Speaker 1: maybe I'm pointing my finger. Maybe what happened is we happened.
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Speaker 1: Maybe it's a little bit our fault because the church
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Speaker 1: has certainly americanized the good News. I don't know how
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Speaker 1: we could have helped it right. We certainly politicized the
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Speaker 1: good news. We even I don't think this is a word.
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Speaker 1: We've prosperitized the good news. We have anti intellectualized the
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Speaker 1: good news, and we've internalized the good news. And by internalized,
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Speaker 1: I mean we've reduced it to something that you just
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Speaker 1: believe rather than what you do. We've reduced it to
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Speaker 1: in some cases, fire insurance. I mean, I'll just be honest.
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Speaker 1: When I pray to prayer as a six year old
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Speaker 1: to become a Christian, it wasn't because I love God.
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Speaker 1: It wasn't because I wanted to follow Jesus the way
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Speaker 1: it was presented to me, as I was trying to
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Speaker 1: avoid an experience in the life after this life. That's
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Speaker 1: why I became a Christian. It was a lot of fear.
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Speaker 1: It was a lot about what it was gonna do
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Speaker 1: for me. But when you read the Gospel, the good News,
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Speaker 1: when you read the accounts of the life of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: it's not primarily about what happens after you die, and
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Speaker 1: it's not primarily about what you believe. It's about how
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Speaker 1: you live your life, and it's about how we treat
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Speaker 1: other people. And when it gets reduced to what's in
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Speaker 1: it for me in spite of how it might affect
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Speaker 1: you you, that's not good news of great joy for
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Speaker 1: all nations, for all people. And that's not the original news.
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Speaker 1: That's the pick and choose news. That's when you pick
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Speaker 1: and choose the parts that suits you that I pick
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Speaker 1: and choose the parts that suit me and my family.
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Speaker 1: I pick and choose the parts that I think are
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Speaker 1: going to benefit me. But the moment we do that,
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Speaker 1: the moment I do that, the moment I preach like that,
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Speaker 1: and that moment, it is no longer good news of
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Speaker 1: great joy for all nations and all people. I'll give
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Speaker 1: you an extreme example, and I acknowledge up front this
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Speaker 1: is extreme. I'd never heard of this until about a
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Speaker 1: month ago. Have you ever heard of the Slave Bible?
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Speaker 1: There are only three in existence, and I actually saw
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Speaker 1: one at the Museum of the Bible, and they don't
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Speaker 1: even own it. It's on loan from another museum. The
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Speaker 1: Slave Bible was actually a bible that was published. This
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Speaker 1: isn't like a one off. This was a published bible
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Speaker 1: in eighteen oh seven. It was published by the Society
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Speaker 1: for the Conversion of Slaves and the British West Indies.
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Speaker 1: So in London there was an actual publisher that published
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Speaker 1: the Slave Bible, and it was used to teach slaves
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Speaker 1: how to read, and it was used to teach slaves
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Speaker 1: the message of Christianity, to convert them to Christianity. But
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Speaker 1: they removed any part of the Bible that undermined the
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Speaker 1: legitimacy of slavery. So they took out the whole Exodus story.
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Speaker 1: In fact, they took out most of the story of
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Speaker 1: the hebrew people, you know, migrating to the Promised Land
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Speaker 1: and throwing off captivity. They took out so many verses
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Speaker 1: that the Bible goes from about eleven hundred chapters to
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Speaker 1: maybe three hundred chapters. In the Slave Bible, they took
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Speaker 1: this verse out. The apostle Paul writes, there's neither June
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Speaker 1: nor gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is their male
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Speaker 1: and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
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Speaker 1: Because the Slave Bible was good news for slave owners
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Speaker 1: and it was bad news for slaves. The point being this,
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Speaker 1: if my version and I'm not above this, I could
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Speaker 1: be as guilty as anybody else. If my version of
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Speaker 1: the good news, and if your version of the good
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Speaker 1: news is not good for Jews and gentiles, slaves and free,
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Speaker 1: male and female, rich and poor, righteous and unrighteous, saints
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Speaker 1: and sinners, your sister in law, your crazy uncle, that
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Speaker 1: skeptical cousin, that part of the family that's coming for Christmas,
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Speaker 1: and you're already wondering how long are they actually going
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Speaker 1: to stay, that annoying neighbor, your ex husband or your
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Speaker 1: ex wife. If it's not good news for them, then
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Speaker 1: it's not the original news. It's not the original version. Paul,
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Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul, in his story is so interesting. We're
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Speaker 1: gonna get to a piece of it in just a minute.
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Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul, again, this is an actual person who
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Speaker 1: lives in actual history, who is right at the epicenter
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Speaker 1: of the transition from the law and the prophets to
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Speaker 1: the good News of the Kingdom of God. There was
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Speaker 1: this huge transition. He was a pharisee, he knew the
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Speaker 1: old way of backwards and forge and he becomes a
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Speaker 1: Jesus follower. But here's what he's saying in this verse.
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Speaker 1: He's saying, you have never met anyone you have never
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Speaker 1: met anyone for whom the good news was not good news.
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Speaker 1: The question is what about me? Am I good news?
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Speaker 1: The question is unfortunately about you? If you're a Jesus follower,
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Speaker 1: are you good news of great joy? For all people?
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Speaker 1: Are just the people like you that you like? Because
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Speaker 1: I have a feeling and you're smart enough to know
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Speaker 1: this is the case that if we had gotten this right,
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Speaker 1: our communities, maybe our nation, maybe the world would be
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Speaker 1: in af and pardon my grammar, gooder better. Please remember
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Speaker 1: what Jesus said. I mean, and I know I read
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Speaker 1: this verse to you so many times, you think, Andy,
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Speaker 1: do you do you just read the same verses over
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Speaker 1: and over? No? This is I mean. It was so fundamental,
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Speaker 1: It was so at the epicenter of this transition of
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Speaker 1: God through Christ was introducing to the world the Kingdom
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Speaker 1: of God and the kingdom values. Do you remember, I
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Speaker 1: know you do. Do you remember what he says was
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Speaker 1: to characterize his followers. Was it correct belief? No? He said,
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Speaker 1: by this, all men and women and everyone in the
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Speaker 1: world will know that you're following me by the way
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Speaker 1: that you treat, by the way that you love one another,
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Speaker 1: and the way that you treat and the way that
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Speaker 1: you love other people. That's good news. And every single generation,
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Speaker 1: every generation of Jesus followers, every generation of Jesus followers,
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Speaker 1: is responsible to ensure that our news is the original news,
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Speaker 1: that our news is the good news. Again, Jesus could
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Speaker 1: not have been clearer. How do we miss this? I
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Speaker 1: have a feeling I know how we miss it, but
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Speaker 1: I'll ask the question anyway, how could we miss this?
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Speaker 1: Jesus couldn't have been clearer. One day he's preaching and
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Speaker 1: he says to the people who were gathered to follow him,
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Speaker 1: he says, you and you is you and you and
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Speaker 1: you and me, and it's all of us. He says,
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Speaker 1: you let me tell you who you are if you're
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Speaker 1: gonna follow me. You are the light of the whole world.
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Speaker 1: Not just Judea, not just Samaria, not just you know, Galilee.
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Speaker 1: You are the light of the world. And the group
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Speaker 1: there gathered with him that day, I mean, their world
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Speaker 1: wasn't bigger than twenty five miles in any direction. That
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Speaker 1: was their whole world. He says, You're the light of
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Speaker 1: the whole world. And their thinking we can't be the
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Speaker 1: light of the whole world. I mean we're not going anywhere,
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Speaker 1: he says, No, No, this isn't even just about you.
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Speaker 1: I want everyone who chooses to follow me to understand
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Speaker 1: you are the light of the whole world. This message
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Speaker 1: is for the whole world, and when it's understood properly,
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Speaker 1: it will be perceived as light. Like the lights came on,
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Speaker 1: like suddenly, I see myself in a way that's different
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Speaker 1: than the way I've seen myself before. And I see
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Speaker 1: you in a way that's different than the way I've
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Speaker 1: seen you before. I see my enemies different, I see
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Speaker 1: my responsibilities different, I see everything different. You're the light
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Speaker 1: of the world. Let your light shine before others that
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Speaker 1: they may see something that they may see your good
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Speaker 1: deeds that come from this good news and as a
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Speaker 1: result of what you do, not what you just what
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Speaker 1: you believe, that they may see your good deeds and
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Speaker 1: look up and recognize there is a connection between your
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Speaker 1: good deeds and your good Father in heaven. Because your
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Speaker 1: light may be the only light they ever get. Your
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Speaker 1: light might be the only thing that magnifies. That's what
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Speaker 1: it means to glorified, that magnifies who God really is.
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Speaker 1: In other words, my responsibility and your responsibility is to
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Speaker 1: personify the good news. Now back to the Apostle Paul. Initially,
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Speaker 1: when he heard about the good news, he did not
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Speaker 1: think it was good news, primarily because he didn't understand
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Speaker 1: the news. He got a version of the news, and
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Speaker 1: he was a pharisee. And his future and his finances
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Speaker 1: and his popularity and everything about him was tied to
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Speaker 1: the old ways. And here's something you'll understand. People who
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Speaker 1: benefit most, people who benefit most from the old view,
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Speaker 1: people who benefit most from the status quo, they are
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Speaker 1: least inclined to ever let it go. And this is true.
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Speaker 1: So the Apostle Paul, everything about him is bound up
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Speaker 1: in the old way. And then so he goes and
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Speaker 1: gets himself deputized. And he's a violent man. He's an activist.
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Speaker 1: He's a violent activist. And he decides to single handedly,
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Speaker 1: if need be, put this good news thing, this Nazarene sect,
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Speaker 1: that's what they call it, because Jesus was some nazarreth,
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Speaker 1: This Nazarene sect, this thing called the way. He's gonna
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Speaker 1: put it out of the way. He's gonna put it
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Speaker 1: out of business. And then he runs headlong into the
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Speaker 1: buzzsaw of the grace and the mercy of a god
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Speaker 1: he didn't even know. And when that happens, when he
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Speaker 1: understands what the real news is, it's this is amazing.
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Speaker 1: This is the untold part of his story. He lays
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Speaker 1: down all of his violent, coercive, fear driven ways, and
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Speaker 1: he continues to be an activist, and he continues to
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Speaker 1: be an apostle, and he continues to be a missionary.
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Speaker 1: But now he's got a different message. And he says
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Speaker 1: in one of his letters, he says, the only thing
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Speaker 1: that really matters, the only thing that really matters, this
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Speaker 1: is amazing. The only thing that really matters is faith
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Speaker 1: working its way out through love. It's like, wait, wait,
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Speaker 1: you're the guy that arrested people, had people tortured. He
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Speaker 1: would say, I didn't understand the news. I didn't understand
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Speaker 1: how good it was. I didn't understand that it was
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Speaker 1: for all nations, for all generations. And he gave his
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Speaker 1: life to clarify for gentile people just how good this
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Speaker 1: good news really was, and he became a better man.
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Speaker 1: So he writes these letters, and I want to read
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Speaker 1: a portion from his letter to the church in Philippi
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Speaker 1: in Greece, and I've read this before. If you grew
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Speaker 1: up in church, you've heard this before. But just as
17:20
Speaker 1: I read these verses, I thought about just reading them
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Speaker 1: without commenting. But I'm not able to do that. I tried,
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Speaker 1: But I just want you to think for a moment,
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Speaker 1: what if this What if this characterized every single Christian
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Speaker 1: in our community. What if this characterized every Christian in
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Speaker 1: the world. What if this characterized every Christian father. What
17:42
Speaker 1: if this had characterized your father, every Christian mother, every
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Speaker 1: Christian high school student, every Christian college student. What if
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Speaker 1: this was the way we lived? What if our lives
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Speaker 1: characterized and personified the Good News? And that's what the
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Speaker 1: apostle Paul teaches over and over and over and over.
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Speaker 1: He takes Jesus message of You're the light of the world,
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Speaker 1: and he teases it out in ways that we can understand.
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Speaker 1: Here's what he writes to the first century Christians in Philippi.
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Speaker 1: Here's what he writes to me, Here's what he writes
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Speaker 1: to you. He says, therefore, if you have any encouragement
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Speaker 1: from being united with Christ, now that you're in Christ,
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Speaker 1: now that you're in this brand new covenant with his
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Speaker 1: brand new understanding, now that you've entered this new kingdom
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Speaker 1: that's forever. If there's anything encouraging about that, If any
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Speaker 1: comfort from His love, if any common sharing among those
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Speaker 1: of you in the community of these little ecclecy is
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Speaker 1: these little churches in the spirit, If any tenderness and compassion.
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Speaker 1: In other words, if there's anything about following Jesus that's
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Speaker 1: come your way, that's good. If you benefited from the
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Speaker 1: good news from following Jesus, he says, then look, do
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Speaker 1: me a favor. I want you to make my joy
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Speaker 1: complete by being like minded, having the same love, being
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Speaker 1: one in spirit and one in mind. He says. When
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Speaker 1: people look at your little eclacy or your little community,
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Speaker 1: your little church, in those little those prophets Roman provinces,
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Speaker 1: he says, I want people to see something unique about
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Speaker 1: the way you treat each other. Allow the good that
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Speaker 1: has come your way to overflow into your relationships. This
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Speaker 1: isn't simply about something you believe. This isn't simply something
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Speaker 1: you believe about a new kingdom and a new way
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Speaker 1: of viewing God. This is something you do. So Paul,
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Speaker 1: tell us, what exactly do you have in mind? I mean,
19:20
Speaker 1: that's kind of flowery language. He goes, all right, I'm
19:22
Speaker 1: gonna get really specific. Okay, we're ready, and we're like ready,
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Speaker 1: he says, you're gonna be sorry you asked. No, No,
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Speaker 1: we really want to know. We want to get this right.
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Speaker 1: How do we live lives that are so good that
19:31
Speaker 1: people think the Gospel is good? He says, Okay, here
19:34
Speaker 1: we go. Number one, Do nothing out of selfish ambition
19:37
Speaker 1: or vain conceit. Wow, that'd be good, wouldn't it. Wouldn't
19:43
Speaker 1: you like to work for somebody like that if you're
19:47
Speaker 1: hiring people, wouldn't you like to hire people like that?
19:50
Speaker 1: Don't you wish your father had been that way? Aren't
19:52
Speaker 1: you glad your father is that way? Do nothing out
19:56
Speaker 1: of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, he says, in humility,
20:00
Speaker 1: value others above yourself. Value them above yourself, not because
20:03
Speaker 1: they're more valuable. You treat them as if they are
20:06
Speaker 1: more valuable. Why would we do that? He says, I'm
20:08
Speaker 1: so glad you asked, because that's right at the center,
20:11
Speaker 1: that's this point of the sphere of the gospel. Because
20:14
Speaker 1: for God so loved the world, for God so valued you,
20:18
Speaker 1: he put you ahead of himself that he sent his
20:21
Speaker 1: son to die for your sin. You are not more
20:24
Speaker 1: valuable than God, but he treated you as if you
20:27
Speaker 1: had greater value. He says. Now that's the good news,
20:30
Speaker 1: that's the good message. I want you to live your
20:32
Speaker 1: lives in such a way that you do for others
20:34
Speaker 1: what God in Christ has done for you. That's good.
20:37
Speaker 1: And when people see that, they're gonna say that's good.
20:40
Speaker 1: I don't know what they believe. I don't know if
20:41
Speaker 1: I could really buy into everything they believe about the
20:44
Speaker 1: person of Jesus. But I tell you what, what if
20:47
Speaker 1: that were true? What if that characterized the behavior of
20:51
Speaker 1: the people around me, my boss, my friends, my teachers,
20:53
Speaker 1: my coaches, the people I work with. He goes on.
20:56
Speaker 1: He says, not looking to your own interests, but each
20:59
Speaker 1: of you look the interest of others. Why because that's
21:02
Speaker 1: what Christ did for you. The essence of the gospel
21:06
Speaker 1: is that God put you first, not because again you
21:09
Speaker 1: should come first or I should come first. He chose
21:11
Speaker 1: to put you first. He said, Now you're gonna follow me.
21:14
Speaker 1: This is how I want you to treat people, all people,
21:17
Speaker 1: the people that you think deserve it, and even more importantly,
21:20
Speaker 1: the people that you're sure don't. It's what Jesus followers
21:26
Speaker 1: not believe. We got that down. It's what we do.
21:30
Speaker 1: And then this statement, I mean, I don't know how
21:32
Speaker 1: we miss this. I mean, this isn't tucked away somewhere.
21:35
Speaker 1: It's front and center, he says in this is so
21:39
Speaker 1: powerful in your relationships with one another, In your relationships
21:45
Speaker 1: with one another, which relationships, all of your relationships, in
21:49
Speaker 1: your relationships with one another, your husband relationship, your wife relationship,
21:53
Speaker 1: your fiance, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, the guy at work,
21:56
Speaker 1: the woman at work, the person you love, the person
21:58
Speaker 1: you don't like to see him come in, the person
22:00
Speaker 1: you hate to have one on ones with. In your
22:02
Speaker 1: relationships with one another. Ready have the same mindset as
22:08
Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Why because it's good. Because when you have
22:14
Speaker 1: the same mindset as Christ Jesus in your relationships, you
22:19
Speaker 1: will defer to them. You will do what's best for them.
22:23
Speaker 1: You will put them first. You will place yourself under
22:27
Speaker 1: their burden instead of requiring them to place themselves under you.
22:31
Speaker 1: You will not power up, you will step down. And
22:38
Speaker 1: that's unusual and it's not the way the world works,
22:42
Speaker 1: but it represents the value system of the Kingdom of God.
22:47
Speaker 1: That was introduced when a baby was born and proclaimed king,
22:51
Speaker 1: and the earth shook, and King Herod was afraid of
22:55
Speaker 1: a baby, and little did he know, little did he know,
22:59
Speaker 1: he was become a footnote in the story of the
23:02
Speaker 1: birth of the savior of the world. That's good news.
23:10
Speaker 1: He goes on. He says, who talking about Jesus. This
23:12
Speaker 1: is amazing. This is the most amazing part. Now again,
23:17
Speaker 1: don't hear me reading the Bible for a minute. Hear
23:19
Speaker 1: me reading a letter from the first in the first century,
23:22
Speaker 1: written by someone who knew Peter, who knew James, the
23:26
Speaker 1: brother of Jesus, who knew John, who had been to
23:28
Speaker 1: Jerusalem and met with the people, who had spent time
23:31
Speaker 1: with Jesus. And here's what Paul says, talking about Jesus,
23:34
Speaker 1: who being in very nature God. Peter, tell me, tell me,
23:40
Speaker 1: when you think of your Rabbi Jesus, how do you describe?
23:43
Speaker 1: And Peter would say, it was like it was like
23:48
Speaker 1: he was God in a body. I don't, I know,
23:50
Speaker 1: it doesn't make any sense. It's like we were with God.
23:52
Speaker 1: We realized his words were the words of God. James,
23:56
Speaker 1: explain your brother. It's hard to explain, my brother, growing
23:59
Speaker 1: up he was okay. In fact, he was so different
24:03
Speaker 1: than when he began being a rabbi. I thought, you're
24:06
Speaker 1: not a rabbi. And then after the Resurrection I realized, no, wonder,
24:12
Speaker 1: it was like God had come to us. It's like
24:16
Speaker 1: He had come to introduce something new in the world.
24:20
Speaker 1: Listen to this with that in mind. Who, being in
24:23
Speaker 1: very nature God did not consider equality with God something
24:26
Speaker 1: to be used to his own advantage. Wait what Yeah?
24:30
Speaker 1: That God showed up among mere mortals and never powered up,
24:38
Speaker 1: never played the God card, never used his power and
24:42
Speaker 1: influence for his own benefit. Do you know what he did?
24:45
Speaker 1: And I listened to this. This would change your office,
24:48
Speaker 1: This would change your community, This would change our country,
24:51
Speaker 1: This would change the world. In fact, it changed the world.
24:53
Speaker 1: One time. He leveraged his power and his influence for
24:59
Speaker 1: the benefit of those with less power and less influence.
25:04
Speaker 1: He leveraged his power and influence as God, for the
25:08
Speaker 1: benefit of those who had less power and less influence.
25:12
Speaker 1: There are communities in our country and there are nations
25:15
Speaker 1: around the world that that one simple idea would liberate
25:20
Speaker 1: so many people, would free so many people, would increase
25:24
Speaker 1: the life span and the lifetime and the quality of
25:28
Speaker 1: life for millions and millions and millions of people. If
25:31
Speaker 1: there would be world leaders who would embrace this one
25:34
Speaker 1: single idea that is at the center of our gospel message,
25:37
Speaker 1: it would bring so much good you wouldn't even be
25:40
Speaker 1: able to measure. It is the message of Jesus good.
25:44
Speaker 1: Are you kidding that God came to earth and leveraged
25:48
Speaker 1: his power and his influence for the sake of those
25:51
Speaker 1: who had no power and no influence. There is nothing
25:57
Speaker 1: better than that. That's the father you hope raised you.
26:04
Speaker 1: It's the father you want to become. It's the mother
26:09
Speaker 1: that you're so grateful for. It's the mother that you
26:11
Speaker 1: look back and you think, if only she had understood
26:14
Speaker 1: this one idea, it would have changed everything for our family.
26:20
Speaker 1: That would be good for the whole world. He's not done. Rather,
26:30
Speaker 1: instead of powering up, he chose to make himself nothing.
26:36
Speaker 1: He chose to make himself in the first century a nobody.
26:41
Speaker 1: And how far did he take it? This is unprecedented.
26:45
Speaker 1: It is still unprecedented. It's why it changed the world.
26:47
Speaker 1: It's why the world sat up and paid attention to
26:49
Speaker 1: this amazing story that no one would have made up.
26:53
Speaker 1: There was no parallel, There was no framework for this
26:56
Speaker 1: kind of story. By taking the very nature of a
27:01
Speaker 1: servant being made and human likeness and being found in
27:07
Speaker 1: appearance as a man, he humbled him self. He chose
27:14
Speaker 1: to place himself under. He humbled himself by becoming obedient
27:19
Speaker 1: to death. And here's the part that for us is
27:21
Speaker 1: nothing but art, because we'll never see one and we'll
27:24
Speaker 1: never smell one, even death on a cross. The moment
27:34
Speaker 1: that your God and my God was most glorified would
27:38
Speaker 1: have been the moment we would have been most horrified.
27:42
Speaker 1: We would have looked away. Do you know what the
27:47
Speaker 1: goal of crucifixion was. The goal of crucifixion was oblivion.
27:53
Speaker 1: The goal of crucifixion was it's as if you never existed.
27:58
Speaker 1: It was so horrible that your friends would never claim
28:01
Speaker 1: to have known you, and your family would have already
28:03
Speaker 1: disowned you, and no one would know where you were buried.
28:05
Speaker 1: It was as if it was as if you had
28:07
Speaker 1: never existed. And this is the end. Your Savior chose
28:13
Speaker 1: to make sure he punctuated his point. I have come
28:16
Speaker 1: to serve and to give my life a ransom for many.
28:20
Speaker 1: I have come to leverage my power and my influence
28:23
Speaker 1: for influence for those who have virtually no power and
28:26
Speaker 1: no influence. Now, I want you to follow me, and
28:30
Speaker 1: I want you to learn from me, and I want
28:32
Speaker 1: you to figure out and your own worlds, with your
28:33
Speaker 1: own family and your own finances and your own opportunities,
28:36
Speaker 1: how to emulate that because that is good, and that
28:39
Speaker 1: is good for the whole world. That is good for
28:41
Speaker 1: everybody in the whole world. Is Christianity good? Are you kidding?
28:48
Speaker 1: Is there anything better than that? He was the king
28:55
Speaker 1: who came to reverse the order of everything invites us
29:01
Speaker 1: to follow. Imagine if the kings of this earth, if
29:07
Speaker 1: the politicians of this earth, if the global leadership of
29:11
Speaker 1: this earth embrace that one single idea, how much good
29:16
Speaker 1: would be released on planet Earth. Yes, it's good. Skipping
29:23
Speaker 1: down to verse twelve, Paul says, Okay, look, you got
29:25
Speaker 1: a part to play in this. So guys, he says,
29:27
Speaker 1: many women, I want you to continue to work out.
29:31
Speaker 1: I love this idea. I want you to continue to
29:33
Speaker 1: allow God to squeeze out of you everything associated with
29:38
Speaker 1: your salvation with fear and trembling, For it is God
29:41
Speaker 1: who works in you. Look at this to will and
29:44
Speaker 1: to act in order to fulfill his there's our word
29:47
Speaker 1: good purpose, and what is his good purpose? For the
29:50
Speaker 1: world to know that there's a God who is invited
29:52
Speaker 1: to the world to call him Father, and that he's
29:54
Speaker 1: sent his son to do the ultimate and pay the
29:56
Speaker 1: ultimate price, and invites us to follow him to set
29:58
Speaker 1: up a brand new wor old order, not a world
30:01
Speaker 1: order as we've ever seen before, a kingdom of conscience,
30:05
Speaker 1: a kingdom where the heart rules and the heart is
30:07
Speaker 1: in sync with the heart of God. That's the invitation.
30:10
Speaker 1: Is that good that changes everything because it changes humanity
30:16
Speaker 1: from the inside out. And when we do that, good
30:21
Speaker 1: things happen around us. The perversion of the Gospel says this,
30:27
Speaker 1: no good things happen to us. The apostle Paul would say,
30:33
Speaker 1: no good things happen around us, and when we embrace
30:37
Speaker 1: that perversion, it becomes about us, and we are no
30:43
Speaker 1: longer good news. He wraps up with this, he says, look,
30:48
Speaker 1: do everything without grumbling or arguing talking about Christians and Christians,
30:54
Speaker 1: so that you may become blameless. Do you know what
30:58
Speaker 1: it means to be blameless. It means nobody can blame
31:01
Speaker 1: you for anything. It doesn't mean you're perfect. Do you
31:03
Speaker 1: know what a blameless person does. A blameless person messes up,
31:07
Speaker 1: and then a blameless person immediately apologizes before somebody can
31:10
Speaker 1: blame them. They've already taken care of it. I'm gonna
31:12
Speaker 1: go in there and talk to her her. Oh, she
31:13
Speaker 1: already owned it and took care of it. Oh, I'm
31:15
Speaker 1: gonna go in there and blame them. No, he already apologized. Uh.
31:19
Speaker 1: Blameless means I'm not carrying around any blame. Yes, I'm
31:22
Speaker 1: gonna goof up. Yes, I'm gonna do some not good things,
31:24
Speaker 1: but then I'm gonna own it. I'm gonna own it
31:26
Speaker 1: so quickly. You don't have an opportunity to blame me.
31:29
Speaker 1: You're not gonna catch me. I'm gonna find you and
31:32
Speaker 1: confess it. That's good. Blameless and pure. Do everything without
31:38
Speaker 1: grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure.
31:42
Speaker 1: Get this, children of God, like father, like son, without
31:46
Speaker 1: fault and a warped what's in it for me? And
31:48
Speaker 1: crooked generation? And then this is so great. Then now
31:53
Speaker 1: the apostle Paul reaches back and grabs the very terms
31:57
Speaker 1: that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount. He said,
31:59
Speaker 1: when when you live this way, when you lean into
32:02
Speaker 1: not only this good news, but this good way of
32:05
Speaker 1: living because of your good savior. He says. When you
32:08
Speaker 1: do this, and especially when you do it as a congregation,
32:11
Speaker 1: especially when you do it as a group of people
32:13
Speaker 1: in a city or a community or town or a nation,
32:17
Speaker 1: he said, the results of that are going to be
32:19
Speaker 1: exactly what Jesus said. You're gonna shine in the world
32:27
Speaker 1: like stars in the sky. Your selflessness will stand in
32:34
Speaker 1: sharp contrast to the selfishness characterized in the kingdoms of
32:40
Speaker 1: this world. Imagine a world like that. This is what
32:47
Speaker 1: we've been invited to. This is how you change the world,
32:52
Speaker 1: regardless of how the world pushes back, because everyone intuitively
32:57
Speaker 1: knows that's good. So I want to be very specific.
33:04
Speaker 1: How does good news behave? What happens when we personify
33:09
Speaker 1: good news? What positions us to be not just believe,
33:13
Speaker 1: but be good news. I want to give you four
33:14
Speaker 1: quick suggestions. I've already touched on all four of them
33:17
Speaker 1: because they come right out of this text. Four suggestions
33:20
Speaker 1: for the Christmas season. Because during this Christmas season, He's coming,
33:25
Speaker 1: isn't he You know who he is or she is?
33:28
Speaker 1: You invite him every year, but they don't come, and
33:30
Speaker 1: you give yourself credit for inviting, but they don't come,
33:32
Speaker 1: and you're so glad they didn't come, but you got
33:34
Speaker 1: credit for coming. And this year they're coming. It's like, ohh,
33:38
Speaker 1: she said, yes. Not only they're coming, you don't know
33:41
Speaker 1: how long they're gonna stay. They're gonna stay too long, right,
33:48
Speaker 1: And some of you are like me. You've got several
33:50
Speaker 1: days during this season, this next week or so, You've
33:52
Speaker 1: got several days that are you days. They're just for you,
33:55
Speaker 1: and somebody's gonna stay into one of your you days.
34:00
Speaker 1: So for suggestions to be the light of the world
34:03
Speaker 1: in your little part, in my little part of the world.
34:05
Speaker 1: Number one, apologize immediately, Apologize immediately. We're not always good news,
34:11
Speaker 1: are we. I'm not apologize immediately. Let's just own it
34:16
Speaker 1: and own it quickly. Now, can I say something to
34:19
Speaker 1: the guys real quick? And again, I've been a man
34:23
Speaker 1: a lot longer than I've been a pastor, so I
34:25
Speaker 1: understand this. Guys. Come on, I mean ladies, maybe you two,
34:27
Speaker 1: but just meant when we screw up, you know what
34:30
Speaker 1: we do, we're our ego. It just gets in the
34:32
Speaker 1: way and we walk around the house or wherever we live,
34:34
Speaker 1: you know, and we justify and justify, and we and
34:37
Speaker 1: we talk to ourselves, we have imaginary conversations with our
34:40
Speaker 1: wives and our girlfriends and the people we've heard, and
34:43
Speaker 1: we justify and justify, and the whole time we're doing it,
34:45
Speaker 1: we know we're wrong. Instead of apologizing quickly, we spread
34:49
Speaker 1: it out and stretch it out and ruin their afternoon
34:52
Speaker 1: or ruin their day, or ruin their weekend. And then
34:54
Speaker 1: eventually we realize, Okay, I gotta apologize. Let's just not
34:59
Speaker 1: do that for the next couple of weeks. Okay, let's
35:02
Speaker 1: just apologize immediately. Then guess what, Men, you are blameless,
35:08
Speaker 1: not because you're perfect, but there's nothing to blame. You
35:11
Speaker 1: owned it that one shift, that one change for somebody
35:17
Speaker 1: in this room, maybe the thing that opens up a
35:20
Speaker 1: brand new level of love and respect and communication in
35:23
Speaker 1: your family or with somebody that you care about. Number Two,
35:26
Speaker 1: forgive quickly. We have to forgive quickly because we're forgiven.
35:30
Speaker 1: There is Jesus, followers, we have no excuse to hang
35:32
Speaker 1: on to bitterness or anger. We have zero. I mean,
35:35
Speaker 1: we're gonna get hurt, We're gonna have to deal with
35:36
Speaker 1: our emotions. But in terms of forgiveness, forgive quickly. Number three.
35:39
Speaker 1: I love this word. We don't use it much. Defer habitually.
35:42
Speaker 1: I love this word. You know what deffer means. Defer
35:44
Speaker 1: means you first, Defer means and no, no, no, you go first. Yeah,
35:48
Speaker 1: but Andy, you know this is you're our guest. I
35:50
Speaker 1: know I'm your guest, but come on to defer. One
35:54
Speaker 1: of the richest men I've ever met, and I don't
35:57
Speaker 1: know them all that well, that lives in a different
35:58
Speaker 1: city and I've met through a friend, but he's like,
36:01
Speaker 1: he's like one of those rich guys where it's like, really,
36:04
Speaker 1: how'd you do that? I mean, I feel like it's
36:07
Speaker 1: the guy that he just makes everybody else feel like
36:09
Speaker 1: a failure, not because of his personality, but it's like,
36:11
Speaker 1: what have I done? I mean, no matter what you've done,
36:12
Speaker 1: you meet him as like I've not ever done anything. Okay,
36:15
Speaker 1: you met people like this, hurt of people like this.
36:17
Speaker 1: So I traveled with him one time with some of
36:19
Speaker 1: the group, and I'd heard about this, but I'd sort
36:21
Speaker 1: of forgotten we had it. Actually, he'd hired a driver
36:26
Speaker 1: in this whole couple of days he would hold the
36:29
Speaker 1: door for the driver to the guy's limo, and it
36:32
Speaker 1: just drove the driver crazy. It's like I I don't
36:34
Speaker 1: know what to do with it, and that He's like, no,
36:36
Speaker 1: this is what I do, held the door for the driver.
36:38
Speaker 1: The drivers like no, no, see, this is a limousine company.
36:41
Speaker 1: I'm working for you, I know. Not just go ahead
36:42
Speaker 1: and get in held the door for the driver. This
36:45
Speaker 1: is what he does. Here, I am talking about it.
36:48
Speaker 1: He deferred. What does that look like in your world?
36:51
Speaker 1: Why should we defer? Why should we put other people first?
36:54
Speaker 1: Come on good news of great joy for all mankind.
36:57
Speaker 1: A king was born, a king who gave his life
37:02
Speaker 1: for his subjects instead of asking the subjects to give
37:04
Speaker 1: their lives for him. And then last is give sacrificially
37:09
Speaker 1: because for God's to love the world he gave. Let's
37:14
Speaker 1: do this because if everybody does this, everybody knows it's
37:18
Speaker 1: good news, whether they believe it's true or not. The
37:20
Speaker 1: good news becomes bad news when I'm bad news, and
37:24
Speaker 1: the good news for somebody becomes bad news when you're
37:29
Speaker 1: bad news. When the news is becomes more about a
37:33
Speaker 1: what than a who, When the news becomes more about
37:38
Speaker 1: a view, than a you. When that happens, it is
37:43
Speaker 1: no longer good news. So one last time and we're done.
37:49
Speaker 1: Are you good news? Am I good news? Because come on,
37:55
Speaker 1: you know this, If the good news lives inside of us,
38:01
Speaker 1: shouldn't there be something about us that's good news for
38:06
Speaker 1: our world? Last thing? If the life and teaching of
38:14
Speaker 1: Jesus doesn't strike you as good news, it may be
38:18
Speaker 1: because the church hasn't been good news for you. And
38:23
Speaker 1: if that's your story, I just want you to know,
38:25
Speaker 1: as a pastor who don't I don't represent anybody but
38:28
Speaker 1: me and our churches, but I just want you to
38:29
Speaker 1: know I am so extraordinarily sorry. And I think that
38:35
Speaker 1: your mistrust and your disinterest and your lack of faith
38:39
Speaker 1: are all justified. And I can't change your past, and
38:44
Speaker 1: I can't change what you've experienced in the past, but
38:48
Speaker 1: I'd like to leave you with this, in the distant past,
38:52
Speaker 1: in a world where might made right, where the pagan
38:57
Speaker 1: God's toyed with humanity and favored the powerful, where the
39:02
Speaker 1: Jewish temple only seemed to favor the religious, that God
39:07
Speaker 1: sent his son into this world to replace both and
39:13
Speaker 1: to establish a brand new kind of relationship. A brand
39:16
Speaker 1: new kind of covenant between God and man. And on
39:22
Speaker 1: that very first Christmas, this brand new arrangement was announced.
39:25
Speaker 1: This way, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.
39:31
Speaker 1: I bring you good news that will cause great joy
39:36
Speaker 1: for all the people who understand it and all the
39:39
Speaker 1: people to whom has proclaimed today in the town of David,
39:43
Speaker 1: A savior has been born to you. And he is
39:46
Speaker 1: the Messiah. He is Christ, the Lord. And when that
39:51
Speaker 1: baby grew to be a man and stepped onto the
39:53
Speaker 1: pages of history as Jesus of Nazareth, he extended a
39:56
Speaker 1: simple invitation to all of you and all of us,
39:59
Speaker 1: he said, And it was an invitation to good people.
40:02
Speaker 1: It was an invitation and not so good people. And
40:04
Speaker 1: it was an invitation to people who weren't sure that
40:06
Speaker 1: there was anything left good in the world. So is
40:11
Speaker 1: the message of Jesus true. That's a question for another day.
40:16
Speaker 1: What was the message? And this the message of Jesus good.
40:20
Speaker 1: It's better than good, and it's good for you, and
40:24
Speaker 1: it's good for me, and it's good for the whole world.