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S1-E22 | Everyday Eurasia | Jason Nike · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Welcome to the special Advent series of the Everyday Eurasia
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  podcast, Inspiring Fate for every day.
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  In the coming weeks, we'll be journeying together toward
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  Christmas, a season of anticipation, reflection, and
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  light in the darker days. During this special season of
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  Advent, we will journey through the Advent themes of hope,
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  peace, joy, and love. This first week of Advent, we
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  will join Pastor Jason Nike. Jason is the lead pastor at
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  Fresh Ground and Nest Wind Church Cafe and community hub
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  based in Battersea, southwest London.
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  He also serves as the Greater London assistant district
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  Superintendent. Jason will speak this week about
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  the team Advent Hope. Our reading today is Psalm 130.
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  Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord, O Lord, hear my voice.
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  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.
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  If you, O Lord, should mark our iniquities, O Lord, who could
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  stand? But with you there is
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  forgiveness, that you may be feared.
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  I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in His word I
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  hope. My soul waits for the Lord more
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  than Watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord.
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  For the Lord there is steadfast love, and with Him there is
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  plentiful redemption, and He will redeem Israel from all his
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  iniquities. May God bless His word to us
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  today. So yesterday we started with my
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  family tradition of watching films together between Christmas
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  and New Year's, and how over time that's become woven into my
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  experience of the Christmas season.
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  Scripture and film, faith and story, all sitting together in
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  my mind as part of the same landscape.
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  And so each day this week, we're pairing a passage about hope
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  with a film that draws out one particular aspect of it.
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  And today's is a very different sort of film than yesterday's
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  eighties, 80s British comedy. Today we're going to outer
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  space. The film I hope you've seen it,
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  is The Martian. And in this film, Matt Damon
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  plays an astronaut who's accidentally left behind on
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  Mars, and everyone assumes that he's going to die.
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  He's utterly alone. He has limited food, and he's
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  stranded on a planet where nothing grows.
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  But what makes this film really powerful is that he refuses to
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  give up. His hope isn't sentimental.
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  It's not keep smiling and everything will turn out fine.
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  Instead, he says this, you solve one problem, then you solve the
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  next problem, and if you solve enough problems, you get to come
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  home. It's hope that works, it's hope
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  that builds, it's a hope that acts, and that is a very Advent
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  shaped hope because biblical hope is never passive.
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  It's not just sitting at a window and waiting for God to
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  airlift us to safety. Psalm 130 says I wait for the
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  Lord. My soul waits, but this waiting
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  is alert. It's active, it's expectant.
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  It's the kind of waiting you do when you've rolled up your
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  sleeves because you know that God is on the move and you want
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  to be ready. Advent hope is not about
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  inaction, it's about preparation.
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  It's about readiness, faithfulness in the present
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  whilst we trust God with the future.
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  Think about the the pattern of Scripture.
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  Noah builds the ark long before a drop of rain falls.
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  The Israelites when they're about to leave Egypt, they pack
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  their bags the night before. John the Baptist prepares a way
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  before Jesus appears publicly. Mary says yes to God before she
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  understands how any of it will work.
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  God's people have always lived this way.
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  Hope that trust. God always moves its feet,
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  always prepares. This is very different from the
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  kind of hope we often carry. Oh, you know, I'll just wait
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  until things improve. I'll just wait until things get
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  a little better. But Advent says no to that kind
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  of hope. Advent says begin now, pray now,
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  serve now, love now. Take whatever small faith you
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  have and use that faith for action.
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  Because hope expresses itself in preparation.
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  Hope expresses itself in motion, and maybe that's what we need
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  today. We look at the world wars,
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  division, exhaustion, cost of living, strain, and it's
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  tempting to think, well, what can I do?
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  There's nothing I can do, so I'll just hang on.
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  I'll I'll, I'll trust that other people will make a difference,
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  that other people will make things better.
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  No, Advent, hope is different. It asks, what can I do today
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  that aligns me with God's coming Kingdom?
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  It reminds us that waiting is never wasting and that often God
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  works through the small faithful steps that we take whilst we
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  wait. Like Matt Damon's mantra in The
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  Martian. Solve one problem and take the
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  next step. Do the next right thing.
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  Trust that God is with you on this planet that you sometimes
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  feel stranded on. Let's pray.
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  Lord, we thank you that hope, Advent.
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  Hope is not passive. Teach us to wait with purpose to
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  trust you as we work. Help us to take small steps of
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  faith each day that prepare our hearts for your coming.
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  Strengthen us for today and awaken us to what you are doing
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  even now. Amen.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Fate for everyday. For more Everyday Stories,
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  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
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  Facebook and Instagram, or our newsletter Snapshots.
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.