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Andy Stanely - Who Needs Church_ People Looking for Help Part 2 · Andy Stanley Sermons

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, whether this is your first time, your first time
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: in a long time, or you come all the time,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We're thrilled you're with us, regardless of what location you're
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: at or where you're watching from in the world. Today,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: we're continuing our series Who Needs Church?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: And last week Andy.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Kicked off this series backing up asking a much needed
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: question as a foundation to begin this conversation. And the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: question we kind of asked last week is what is church?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: In order to figure out who needs it, we got
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to define what church is. And I'll just say parenthetically,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: this is really important. If you didn't hear last week's message,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: you need to go back and listen.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: To it because what you think.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: About when you think about church is critical, and it's
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: so critical that we're spending several weeks talking about it
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: because we not only want to talk about what church is,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: but who needs it and why it exists and why
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: it's important. There's lots of things that are commonly associated
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: with church. Now some of these aren't going to surprise
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you at all, but one of the things that's commonly associated.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: With church is the building.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Now, our buildings don't look like this, and as a
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: matter matter of fact, in the early days, we used
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to take a lot of heat because we didn't have
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: a steeple. People are like, you're building a church, you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: don't have a steeple, But we don't have a steeple
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: if you didn't notice that. And one of the things
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: for us is as we were creating church, we wanted
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: to make sure our church was functional. It did it
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: was strategic, it did what it was intended to do.
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  Speaker 1: And there's lots of different ways. There's no prescription is
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: what church is supposed to look like in the New
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Testament specifically, but we really wanted to create a church
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  Speaker 1: that that fit the context of our current society, in
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  Speaker 1: our current community, and that met the needs of people,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: that removed barriers to people's engagement in church. And so
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: we we created churches. But here's the thing. Most of
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: you know that the church is not the building. In fact,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: you've heard this before. The church isn't the building. It's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the the people. It's not the building, it's people. But
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  Speaker 1: people commonly still associate church with a physical structure when
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: they talk about, oh, yeah, that's Buckhead Church, or that
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  Speaker 1: that's a Woodstock City church, or that's a Decatur City
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  Speaker 1: church or that's Brownsbridge Church.
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  Speaker 2: When they drive by.
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  Speaker 1: It or they talk about it, they talk about a
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  Speaker 1: location oftentimes and a building. The second thing that people
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: associate with church oftentimes, and this isn't exactly what it
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: looks like in our context, is but they usually associate.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Church with its leadership. And some of you remember this.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Not long ago, Andy talked about how somebody was talking
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: about his role in the church and they talked about
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Priest Stanley. So I don't think it's ever been done before,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: but I thought i'd draw up pre Stanley for you today.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: That's not what we call our pastors and our leaders.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: And I'm gonna tell you a little bit why in
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: a minute. Most people just call him Andy or some
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: people call him pastor Andy. But most people associate church
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: with its leadership, especially when there's a well known leader
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: in fact. And here's how that looks is when something
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: happens in the world, we ask, so, what's the church's
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  Speaker 1: response to that? And we don't mean building, and we
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: don't mean all the people. We mean the leadership, Like
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: what's their response to that? What does the church believe
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: about that? We want to know, like what should I
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: believe that? Do I agree, Do I disagree? Or what's
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: the church doing about that? There's a calamity, there's some
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  Speaker 1: something that's difficult. Are we involved? Are we what's the church?
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  Speaker 2: Now?
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  Speaker 1: They're not asking what's the building doing or what's all
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: the people doing? It's what are the leadership doing and
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  Speaker 1: how are they leading? Last week we talked about this
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  Speaker 1: idea of eclecia, which means assembly. And there's an assembly
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  Speaker 1: in a church and it's the people, but and there's
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  Speaker 1: there's leadership for that.
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  Speaker 2: But I want to think about the way.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to just think from anute how you
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  Speaker 1: think about the assembly or another Another way eclecia can
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  Speaker 1: be translated is gathering.
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  Speaker 2: Isn't it true?
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  Speaker 1: When we think about it, we describe it almost exclusively
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  Speaker 1: on the basis of something we attend. I attend East
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  Speaker 1: Cobb Church, I attend Hamilton Mill Church, I attend Buckhead Church.
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  Speaker 2: You we think about it in terms of, uh, not just.
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  Speaker 1: A place we go, but a thing we go to.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, what you think about and what I think
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  Speaker 1: about so often, and this is true of all us,
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  Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with this. We think about an
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  Speaker 1: event and we think about things like like stages and
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  Speaker 1: lights and sound. And here's the thing I'll tell you.
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  Speaker 1: We we conditioned many of you in this way because
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  Speaker 1: of the way we built our buildings and because of
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  Speaker 1: how how we do church. The truth is is most
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  Speaker 1: of us, when we think about church, we think about
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  Speaker 1: this event that we go to. We think about what
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  Speaker 1: we do there, and specifically what we do there is
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  Speaker 1: we we spend about an hour, usually an hour, hour
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  Speaker 1: and five minutes, and we spend time singing. The music's loud,
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  Speaker 1: that's why the speakers are so big. There's there's got
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  Speaker 1: to be a TV at church. That's that's like a
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  Speaker 1: thing in our world now. So there's there's there's music,
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  Speaker 1: there's teaching, there's preaching, and you.
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  Speaker 2: Know this is there's always lights. You gotta have lights.
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  Speaker 1: So so this is this is what we think of
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  Speaker 1: we think of church, and and it's it's not wrong
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  Speaker 1: and it's not bad, but we think almost exclusively about
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  Speaker 1: this thing we go to. And just as church isn't
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  Speaker 1: defined by the building, and it's not defined exclusively by
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  Speaker 1: its leadership, it's not either defined by an event, by
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  Speaker 1: something that happens one.
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  Speaker 2: Hour a week that we go to about half the time.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason this is so important is there's a
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  Speaker 1: cultural trend in our world, and the trend just in
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  Speaker 1: culture in general, is toward individualism, and this has shifted
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  Speaker 1: people's view on church. As a matter of fact, there's
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of studies going on nerds. Church nerd leaders
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  Speaker 1: like me pay attention to this stuff, but there's lots
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  Speaker 1: of studies on church engagement in America, especially posts the
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  Speaker 1: pandemic or after COVID, because lots has changed, and what
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  Speaker 1: we've uncovered is a growing trend towards individual spirituality.
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  Speaker 2: Like I'm gonna pick and choose, I'm gonna get for me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna there's lots of content online and I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to focus on individual's spirituality as opposed to the institution
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  Speaker 1: or the institutional spiritual practices.
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  Speaker 2: Which are common people come to.
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  Speaker 1: Church and they practice certain spiritual practices and do that
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  Speaker 1: with other people.
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  Speaker 2: So there's this shift towards individuality versus the institution.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the Pew Research Center, they're one of the
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  Speaker 1: foremost researchers in the church world. They released a study
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  Speaker 1: last February that discovered a significant decrease in institutional engagement
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  Speaker 1: attendance groups serving all sorts of things that this has
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  Speaker 1: happened over a fifteen year period, so it wasn't just
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  Speaker 1: during COVID. It was going one direction. And I actually
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: several years ago I read a book called post Corona
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  Speaker 1: and it talked about how during the pandemic anything that
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  Speaker 1: was trending in a direction sped up by ten years.
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  Speaker 2: Well, this is one of those things.
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  Speaker 1: In the last fifteen years, institutional disengagement the church has
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  Speaker 1: but on the rise, and it's also led to or
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  Speaker 1: correlated with a decline in the importance of faith in
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  Speaker 1: people's daily, daily lives and overall Christian affiliation in our nation.
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  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it went from just over
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  Speaker 1: three quarters of our nation would identify as Christian to
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  Speaker 1: just over half in just the last fifteen years. And
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  Speaker 1: so there's this trend towards individualism and especially amongst the
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  Speaker 1: younger generations.
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  Speaker 2: There was a study done, the National Study of Youth.
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  Speaker 1: And Religion, and during the same period they discovered what
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  Speaker 1: they deemed DIY religion. This is sort of like you
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  Speaker 1: just do it yourself. You pick and choose and you
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  Speaker 1: figure out you curate. This is a big thing in
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  Speaker 1: our world. You customize or you curate your own experience.
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  Speaker 2: And so on.
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  Speaker 1: The rise in some younger generations is this idea of
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  Speaker 1: DIY religion, and it's this growing preference towards individual spiritual
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  Speaker 1: practices rather than formal institutional engagement. And it seems like
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  Speaker 1: that people in our world, the culture, and the world,
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  Speaker 1: Christians and non Christians in the world are not just
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  Speaker 1: asking the question.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe they're stating who needs church?
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  Speaker 1: And that's why we're doing this, and that's why we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about this because there's all sorts of things that
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  Speaker 1: go on in church and some of you have experienced this,
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  Speaker 1: some of you you don't need to be convinced. But
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  Speaker 1: the truth is is there are certain things, there are
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  Speaker 1: certain practices, There are certain things in the church that
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  Speaker 1: need to be more of a focus and need to
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  Speaker 1: be understood and need to be uncovered.
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  Speaker 2: In today, I want to talk about one of those things.
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  Speaker 1: There's this story in the New Testament that beautifully illustrates
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  Speaker 1: what many people need most from the ecclesia or the church,
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  Speaker 1: and you can't get it through DIY religion. And it's
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  Speaker 1: something that people miss out on either because of this
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  Speaker 1: DIY religion idea, or because they don't know exists, or
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  Speaker 1: because the institution or the organization or the church that
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  Speaker 1: they attend, they failed to facilitate it. And so it
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  Speaker 1: also happens to be by the way the thing according
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  Speaker 1: to the New Testament and much of Paul's writings that
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  Speaker 1: the church was instructed to be. So here if you've
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  Speaker 1: got a Bible and you want to join us, Mark
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  Speaker 1: chapter two is where we're gonna be. I'm gonna give
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  Speaker 1: you a little context. But Mark is one of the
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  Speaker 1: four Gospels. It's one of the four accounts of Jesus's life,
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  Speaker 1: and Mark got most of his information from Peter, who
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  Speaker 1: was an eyewitness.
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  Speaker 2: He was there for all of it. He walked through
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  Speaker 2: all of it.
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  Speaker 1: And at the very beginning of Mark's gospel in Mark
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  Speaker 1: chapter one, we see Jesus comes on the scene and
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  Speaker 1: John the Baptist announces he's the Messiah. And then Jesus
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  Speaker 1: selects his first followers, his first disciples, and.
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  Speaker 2: Invites him to come follow him.
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  Speaker 1: And immediately Jesus begins to travel around the area, around
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  Speaker 1: the broader community there, and he begins to teach and
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  Speaker 1: to preach. And he not only is teaching and preaching,
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  Speaker 1: but he's healing people and he's performing miracles and so
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  Speaker 1: people are taking notice and he's getting this large following.
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  Speaker 1: And in Mark chapter two, this we're told when Jesus
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  Speaker 1: returned to Capernaum, which was sort of home base. When
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  Speaker 1: he returned to Campernaum several days later, the news spread
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  Speaker 1: quickly that he was back home.
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  Speaker 2: Now here. Here's the thing.
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  Speaker 1: The news spread quickly because of what had been going on,
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  Speaker 1: and it spread so quickly that soon we're told the
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  Speaker 1: house where he was staying was so packed with visitors
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  Speaker 1: that there was no room even outside the door.
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  Speaker 2: So the question, the question has to be asked, like.
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  Speaker 1: Who's there, Like who's coming? Like what's what's these people's motivation? Remember,
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  Speaker 1: Jesus just returned. He's not all this preaching and teaching
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  Speaker 1: and doing miracles that he's caught people's attention. But what
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  Speaker 1: we're told over and over is as people, as Jesus
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  Speaker 1: traveled and he taught, he performed miracles, people were amazed.
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  Speaker 1: They were amazed at what he could do, they were
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  Speaker 1: amazed at his authority. And the truth is is the
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  Speaker 1: people that were showing up, the people that were that
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  Speaker 1: were that were coming, that were filling this house, were
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  Speaker 1: people that are looking for help.
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  Speaker 2: They're looking for help. In fact, that's this story.
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  Speaker 1: While Jesus is preaching, he's preaching God's word to the
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  Speaker 1: people there for men arrive carrying a paralyzed man on
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  Speaker 1: a mat. Now, obviously he couldn't get to Jesus on
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  Speaker 1: his own. He's paralyzed. He's completely dependent. Fortunately, he has
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  Speaker 1: four friends who are willing to help. And I think
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  Speaker 1: this is extraordinary. He basically has four friends.
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  Speaker 2: See if I can draw this quickly. He has four.
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  Speaker 1: Friends that love him enough that are like, if you
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  Speaker 1: need my help and there's somebody who I think can
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  Speaker 1: help you, I want to get you to that help.
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  Speaker 2: I want to get you to where Jesus is.
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  Speaker 1: So these four friends who love him enough to pick
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  Speaker 1: up his mat, one of them on each corner of
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  Speaker 1: his mat. They bring him to the house where Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is at because they're like, this guy can help you.
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  Speaker 1: You're in need, and this guy can help you. But
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  Speaker 1: the problem was they couldn't bring him all the way
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  Speaker 1: to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a
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  Speaker 1: hole through the roof above his head, which, if.
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  Speaker 2: You're the homeowner, you're not probably not.
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  Speaker 1: Really excited about this. All of a sudden you hear
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: some knocking on the top of the building, and all
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: of a sudden something comes through, and there's dust and
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: there's dirt, and you know, fortunately, unlike our houses, they
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: didn't have like an attic and layers would have been
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a flat roof and sore of some thatching. So they
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: dig open this hole in the roof and then they
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  Speaker 1: lowered the man on his mat, right down in front
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  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Now, I just want to pause for a second.
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  Speaker 1: I want to ask an important question. If you found
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  Speaker 1: yourself in need, in need of significant help, do you
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  Speaker 1: have four friends that you know would know where to
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  Speaker 1: take you for help and stop at nothing to get
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  Speaker 1: you there? Do you have four friends that would come
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  Speaker 1: around you and go, we see your need, we know
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  Speaker 1: where to take you for help, and even if you
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  Speaker 1: don't want it, even if you're resistant of it, we
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  Speaker 1: know where to take you, and we're gonna stop it
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: nothing to get you the help that you need. That's
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: what was remarkable about this man's friends. Jesus seeing their faith,
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  Speaker 1: he says to the paralyzed man, my child, your sins
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  Speaker 1: are forgiven, to which I go. If the story ends,
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: I'm like, what like that is not what he came for.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Like that seems like woefully inadequate. It's like it's not
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: only that it's awkward, it's strange, like it's everybody else knows.
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  Speaker 1: Do you see the lengths these guys have gone to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to bring this paralyzed man and you're gonna forgive his sins.
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  Speaker 1: But here's the thing, we don't recognize it in that context.
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  Speaker 1: In that world, everyone would have assumed that his condition
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: was a direct result of his sin, because that's what
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: we believed. In fact, there was a different time when
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: Jesus was confronted and by the Phair season and he
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: was asking about another man. He said, Hey, do you
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  Speaker 1: think this man's condition is because of his sin or
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: his parents sin? See, this is what they believed. This
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: man's condition was a direct result of what he did.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: But some of the teachers of the religious law who
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: were sitting there, they thought to themselves.
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  Speaker 2: Wait, what is he saying.
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  Speaker 1: This is blasphemy, Like this isn't you're a religious man,
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  Speaker 1: you're a religious eater, or you're supposed to be a rabbi.
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  Speaker 2: This is blasphemy.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't directly against the scriptures, the Old Testament law.
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  Speaker 2: Only God can forgive sins.
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  Speaker 1: Forgiveness happened through the religious system, which is what they did.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this was their job.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: The ritual involved confessing sins over an animal, to transfer
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: your sins onto that animal, and then sacrificing that animal
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: and presenting a burnt offering to God.
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  Speaker 2: There was a whole way this happened.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: There was, in fact, once a year, there was a
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: whole way that the sins of the nation were put
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: on a goat and the goat was sent away like
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: there was a whole system for this. And this wasn't
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Jesus's job. This was the religious leader's job. And Jesus
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: is bypassing the system entirely, and he's bypassing them, and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: they're not happy about it.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: And he's not doing.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: It because he's cavalier, and he's not doing it to
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: be kind. He's doing it because he's claiming authority. And
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  Speaker 1: he's claiming authority to do things that everybody knows only
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: God can do. He's claiming an authority to do things
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  Speaker 1: that only God is capable of doing. Only God has
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: the authority to do so. Jesus, this is amazing. Jesus
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: knew immediately what they were thinking. Which is terrifying. He
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, why
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  Speaker 1: do you question this in your hearts? At that point,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: that should have been their cue to just walk away, right,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: like leave him alone. They would continue to troll him.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: But it's like, this is the moment where you go.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know about you. If somebody walked
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: up to you and was like answered your question, if
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you were thinking in your mind that he hadn't said
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: out loud, I would be a little freaked out. I
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: would be kind of like, Okay, this this guy might
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: be who he says he is. But Jesus goes on.
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  Speaker 1: He says this. He says, is it easier to say
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: to the paralyzed man your sins are forgiven?
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  Speaker 2: Or stand up, pick up your mat, and walk So
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: which is it?
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: It's not a trick question, but it was rhetorical because
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Jesus continued. He said, so I'll prove to you that
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the son of Man has the authority on earth to
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: forgive sins. Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said,
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: stand up, pick up your mat, and go home. Now,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: if Jesus didn't have this authority, this is cruel if
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Jesus didn't have this authority, this is incredibly insensitive, it's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: out of line. It it would be embarrassing, it would
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: undermine his credibility. But Jesus knew his authority, he knew
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: who he was, and so he said to stand up,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: pick up your mat, and go home. And the man
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: stun onlookers, no kidding, which is which is extraordinary.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Nobody clapped, nobody cheered, nobody went.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Yes he did it, because you've heard the story before,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: but imagine you were there. I love this. It's not
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: just that Jesus heal a man. That's amazing. But Jesus
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: doesn't try to argue his authority. Instead, he demonstrates it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: If Jesus really has this kind of authority and there's
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: hope for those who need help, maybe the reason people
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: have shifted towards an individual faith apart from the institution
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: is because people aren't experienced the kind of only God,
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: hope and help that's possible to the church. You know,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: when Jesus handed the baton, there's one part of one
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: part of our church, or one part of our are
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: the history of the church. That thought he passed it
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: to Peter, but he didn't. He passed it to the church,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: to a group of people. That's why we're the body
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: of Christ. And he said, I'm gonna hand off my
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: power and my authority, and I'm gonna place it by
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: my spirit inside of you, and you are gonna help people.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: You're gonna meet people's needs. Which this leads me back
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to what we think about when we think about church.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Come on, if all we think about is an event,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: if all we think about is a specific leader, if
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: all we think about as a church, it falls woefully
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: short to what Jesus intended we would be toward people,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: to the way we would represent him in the world,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: and to the way in which the apostle Paul instructed
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: us to care for and to love and to meet
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: each other's needs. Let me ask you this, What if
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: the church wasn't known as the place you go once
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: you fix yourself up, but the place you go because
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: you can't. What if everybody just think about this. What
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: if everybody expected that church was where you go when
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you need help? I mean this is this was true
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: of Jesus. Jesus expected the people, people to show up
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: looking for help, and he expected people to show up
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: looking for help because he knew he could help them.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: He knew that that they would find help there. What
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: if when you showed up at church, you knew there
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: were people here expecting that you need help.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: That's not the anomaly, that's not the I gotta be quiet.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: I'm fearful of what people will think when when they
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: find out I'm in need. I mean, the truth is,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: it's not that people don't need help in our world.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: In fact, the need for help seems as greater, greater
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: than ever. I mean, I we've talked about this before.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: The rates of anxiety and depression are historic. They're higher
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: than ever before, and they're connected to identity. Issues of
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: identity and self worth. Both of these things are things
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: that the scriptures and the church speaks to that you
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: can find identity within the church and worth within a
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: relationship with God. Struggles with relationships and loneliness are connected
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: to these things, and specifically the anxiety, depression, and a
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: greater desire for meaning and purpose in lives.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: I mean, these things.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Are at an all time high in our world. And
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you live here in America, We're at an all time high.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: In terms of our prosperity, and we're trying to do
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: it on our own. We're picking and choosing, and we're
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: moving towards an individual spirituality because we think, you know, what,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: if I get enough money, if I get enough resource,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: if I get enough stuff, I get enough power, I
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: get enough leadership, I'll be okay. I can figure this out.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I can meet my needs. But that's not what you
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: were intended to do. What if everyone expected the church
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: to be the place you turned when you need help,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: and what if when you showed up looking for help,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you were met with the same sort of kindness and
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: compassion Jesus offered the paralyzed man. I mean, imagine if
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: this was the reputation I'm.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: Gonna go to church.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: They're expecting that I'm gonna show up because I need help,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: And regardless of what church I go to, I know
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that when I show up, I will be accepted at
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: that church. Regardless of what I did, regardless of what
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: I've done, regardless of where I was last night, regardless
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: of where I've come from. They're expecting me and I
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: know they'll be accepting of me.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: What if that was the reputation of.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: The church you see, the real barrier to people getting
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: help is not the fact that people aren't in need.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: The real barrier is shame. I'll miss this the paralyzed man.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: This is my favorite part of the story. He believed
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: his condition was his fault. So Jesus speaks to his
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: shame first. And here's why. Because shame has a traumatizing
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: effect emotionally and oftentimes physically.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: You know this.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: You've experienced this before. You've been physically sick. You've thought
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna mess, I need help. You're anxious, you're showing up.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're seeking help. You show up at church and
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: you're anxious for the moment you get exposed or you
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: have to talk about out loud, the situation you're.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: In the middle of, and your shame all along is
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: whispering in your ear. This is your fault. You don't
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: deserve this.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: The circumstances you're in, your finances, your marriage, your emotional state,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the mess you made in your family, the brokenness you're experiencing,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the way you've screwed up your career, it's your fault.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: It's not only that the situation's not good.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Shame says you're no good you're bad, you're broken, and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: when you're traumatized by shame, it disregulates your nervous system.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: I know some of you you don't love talking about
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: these things. But the truth is is this is how
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: your brain works. You need to know this. When you're
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: experiencing shame, it disregulates your nervous system in a way
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: that it impairs your brain. It's actually your prefrontal cortex.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: It impairs your ability to reflect and to reason and
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: to regulate emotion. So if you're in a state where
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: you can't reflect, well, you can't reason, well, you can't
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: regulate emotion. Well, how are you going to help yourself?
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: You see, this is the problem with the just preach
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the truth. Just tell people the truth theory like that,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that's the approach to church. You just need to tell
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: people the truth and the truth will set them free.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: This is true. Here's the problem. Before the mind can
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: be transformed.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: The body has to believe it's safe, not theologically, not theoretically, physiologically.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: This is what's brilliant. This is why Jesus is brilliant.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: This is why I think he did what he did.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Jesus creates safety. He says, my child even just say
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: your sins are forging, He says, my child, your sins
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: are forgiven. I accept you right where you are. I
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: hold nothing against you. There's nothing between us. Do you
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: know what that kind of safety does. That safety leads
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: people to honesty, and honesty is the pathway to hope
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: and help and healing. And many in the church today,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: churches all across America sit hiding fearful because they don't
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: think anybody would expect what they're in the middle of.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: Let alone, they hear about it. They feel like.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: People wouldn't accept them, They would feel like, oh, wow,
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: you need to go get your stuff together.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: But what if the church was the safest place to
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: turn for help with any.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: This is why we try to facilitate a safety in
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: a group's model, and we do this at every age,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: at every level. In fact, this is the season that
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: we're connecting people into groups at all of our churches.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: And I can't tell you if you're not in a group.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: You never know the moment that will show up when
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: you need four people to carry you to Jesus.
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: But it might be right around the corner, or.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Somebody near you needs you to carry them to Jesus
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: to carry them, to help and through our groups model.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Our goal is to create a safe environment for anyone
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: at any age, at any stage of life, where they
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: can experience with a New Testament Church was meant to
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: be what it was instructed to be. And we do
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: this for students, and we do this for children. We
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: do this at every stage and age because we want
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: it to be normal that people are practicing with the
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: Church was meant to practice in terms of the one another.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: You've seen this as you read your Bible, you see
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: this phrase.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Pop up one another if you if you're in the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: New Testament, you see a lot occurs over a hundred times.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: In the New Testament.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: We're instructed, among other things, to love one another, restore
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: one another, carry one another, bear with one another, forgive
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: one another. There's our word except one another, encourage one another,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: submit to one another.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: This is what the church, the ecclesia.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Was meant to do, not the building, not just the leader,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: not in the event, but life on life. This is
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: what This is what the New Testament Church, as Jesus,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you know, pass the baton to us, to all of us.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: This is what we were meant to do. This is
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: what we were meant to be for one another. Lastly,
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: what if people knew they'd find real, tangible support and
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: assistance in the life in the midst of life's most
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: difficult struggles, that whether they're facing financial or relational, emotional
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: or professional challenges, that people.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: When they show up at church.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: They know if I take a step and I get
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: connected and I get connected here, the truth is is
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: I can find the help that I need here in
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: the church. What if people knew they were being expected,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: knew they'd be accepted, and knew that when they took
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a step to get connected, they'd find it. See, people
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: don't avoid church because they don't need help. They avoid
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: church because they're not sure church will actually help. In
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: some cases, church is hurt more than it's helped. And
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: maybe that's you. You didn't feel like anyone expected or
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: accepted you, so either you didn't want their help or
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you didn't stick around long enough to see if they
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: could help.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: And if that's you, I'm sorry, I really am.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Whether it happened in one of our churches or another church,
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: we decided thirty years ago we wanted to be a
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: different kind of church than that.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: We don't always get it right. But we try really hard.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: We try really hard to every week be expecting that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: somebody's showing up and you never know what's going on
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes in somebody's life. And we all get
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: dressed up and you all look amazing, and I'm sure
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: you look amazing at all of our other churches, and
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: you show up here and everything looks fine and you
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: act fine, and we don't want this to be that
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: kind of place. But what if when you showed up
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: at church, when you showed up at any kind of church,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the church expected that you were coming, if you knew
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: you'd be expected, and that from this type of event,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: when you first walk in the door, you knew that
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: was just a gateway to get connected to the help
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: you need. But one of the things I'll just say
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: we haven't gotten right is highlighting all the ways we
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: come alongside people facing challenging life circumstances.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: You need to know this as a matter of fact.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Not long ago, I was down front here and it
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: was a week I wasn't preaching, but I had just
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: finished a series and a guy I know here at
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Bucket Church came up to me and he said, Hey,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: I have a friend here. He started coming a few
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: weeks ago, and I want to introduce you to him.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: He's like, I've been trying to get him to come
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: to church for three years, and he came when you
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: were preaching a few weeks ago, and there was something
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: you said.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: That really meant a lot to him, and he wants
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: to meet you. I was like, great, I'd love to
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: meet him. So he brings him down front and we
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: have a nice conversation.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: He says some nice things and I said, hey, thanks,
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: thanks so much for being here. Let us know how
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: we can help, and he he left the building. So
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: I just said, hey, real quick, you said, you've been
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: working this guy for three years. You've been inviting him,
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: trying to get him to come to church for three years,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: building a relationship with this guy.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: Like, how'd you get him to come?
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: He said, oh, well, just about a month and a
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: half ago, he and his wife decided to split up
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: and he's going through a really difficult divorce. And I said,
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: oh wow, I'm sorry to hear that, But did you
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: tell him about Oasis.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: And what do you think?
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: He said the same thing, You're thinking, what's Oasis? And
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: literally as soon as he said that to me, I thought, no, no, no, no, no,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I have failed you. I've failed your friend. We have
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: exactly what this guy needs. And you know what he
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: didn't need. What he didn't need the last three weeks.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: He didn't need songs and a sermon. Not that it
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: couldn't help, not that that isn't valuable, not that it
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: doesn't build up and encourage the church, not that it
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: doesn't have its place.
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: We love the event, we love the gathering, but it's
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: not what he needed.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: But we have exactly what he needs, an environment by
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: people who've not only survived, are thriving after what he's
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: gone through, that it can help him lead the way.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: They can provide the help, exactly the help that he's
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: looking for. And if he doesn't find it, maybe in
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: time the pain will go away and he'll slip out
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the back door. And the truth is is so he
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: won't find the help that he needs through our care network.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: You just need to know this. This is true at
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: all of our churches. We offer support and assistance for
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: people facing marriage challenges. This is on a regular basis
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: who are going through divorce. We have divorce care. We
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: have people that are helping people in financial trouble, not
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: just with financial assistance, but mentoring people in financial difficulty
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: leading them out of that. People who've experienced adults and children,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: families who've experienced emotional trauma, people who going through grief
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and lost, people in addiction recovery who need a safe
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: place of land or need a way to get into
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: an addiction recovery facility. We do this on a regular basis,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: and largely you don't know about it because most of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you don't know about it because you haven't needed it yet.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: But the truth is is, this is the thing that
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: many people in our world, and many people in our
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: churches that are sitting quietly in the shadows, what they need.
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: Through our care network, we can get you connected to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: the help that you need. Imagine if people were convinced
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: that when they showed up at church, they'd be expected,
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: they'd be accepted, and they'd get connected that the help
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: that they need, and not just any kind of help,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: help by people who love them, who are willing to
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: put their hands to work, to be the hands and
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: feet of Jesus in their lives and lead them towards
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: to use their gifts, be led by the spirit, and
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: help them to experience the help that only God can
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: provide in their lives. I'll tell you what would happen.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Churches all across this country would be packed inside and
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: out with people looking for help, just like the house
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Jesus was staying in. It would be filled with our
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: friends and neighbors, anyone who knew, anyone we knew facing
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: significant challenges in life. Because people looking for help, people
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: looking for help need church.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: That's who needs church. That's me. I need help, I
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: need community. I need the people that are in my group.
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: Jen and I for years have relied on the people
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: that in our group.
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Our church has connected us through our counseling referrals to
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: great counselors who've helped us individually with childhood trauma and
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: difficulty in our past, and with our marriage issues, and
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: with counseling and our family.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: We have needed church.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: Today, we're going to conclude our services a little differently
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: at all of our locations.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: In fact, we're going to give you a need opportunity
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: to respond. Today. We're going to finish a little early,
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: so you don't need to be in a hurry to
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: go anywhere.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: But some of you, you showed up and you didn't
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: really need another sermon.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: You didn't need to hear from me today. You're like, yeah,
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: all the things that guy's saying, that's how I'm feeling today.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't need a whole sermon to know all that
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: you're feeling that right now. And you showed up and
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: you need help, and I just want you to know
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: we expected that. We're so glad that you even took
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: a step to want to trust us to help you.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: And I want to encourage you to take a step
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: further to get connected some of you today. You didn't
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: need songs and you didn't need a sermon. You needed
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: someone to talk to. He needed someone that would listen.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: He needed someone to pray over you. He needed someone
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: to encourage you. You needed someone who would point you
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: in the right direction. You needed someone who would accept
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: you regardless of what you've done or regardless of what
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: you tell them. You needed someone who would connect you
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: to the help that you need. You needed someone to
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: remind you it's gonna be okay. You needed somebody to
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: remind you that God loves you, and that he said
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: his son and his son willingly gave his life for
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: you because you're valuable.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: So in just a minute, I'm gonna pray, and then someone.
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: At your location is going to invite you to engage
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: in a response time at your gathering.
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: They're gonna give you unique instructions at your gathering.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And then I want to encourage you to take a
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: step towards what you need today.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: Wherever you are.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: I want you to know that we as a church,
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: we can help, and we're willing to.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: Grab a corner of your mat and get.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: You to Jesus.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: Let me pray for you.
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Got to pray for somebody today who came in and
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: they can't imagine telling somebody what's going on in their life.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: They can't imagine standing up and moving around in a
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: room when other people are still because.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: They're worried what everybody else might think.
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Today, I just pray you'd give somebody, maybe just three
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: seconds of insane courage to take a step in your direction,
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: knowing that your chosen method, You didn't need us, but
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: your chosen method for providing the type of supernatural help
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: that only you can for all of us.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: It's through your church. And I don't know what people's
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: needs are.
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: I don't know what that looks like, but I just
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: pray today that people would take a step towards You
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: and they would find the hope and the help that
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: they need in their lives. God, help us to be
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: this kind of church that's not only expecting and accepting,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: but connecting people to You and to things that will
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: help them in their midst of need.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: We know.
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: The world needs church, your church, because the world needs you.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: That just pray. Empower us to do that, and pray
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: it in Jesus name. Amen.