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3: Four Ways to Grow a Garden for Spiritual Conversations · Finding God at Work

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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This is Finding God at Work.
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Just a reminder that Finding God at Work
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isn't just a podcast, it's also an online
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course.
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Check it out at findinggodatwork.org.
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Our current series is A Guide on the
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Side, How to Have Joyful Spiritual Conversations at
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Work.
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So, now in the fall, I'm seeing the
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leaves turn red and brown and gold, and
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also seeing some of the flowers that were
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blooming before start to wilt, and remembering that
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yet another summer has gone by without any
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flowers or vegetables in my front yard or
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back yard or side yard.
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I am not the world's best gardener.
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Katie used to do more gardening a couple
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homes ago for us.
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We had like a tomato garden that she
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managed, but she then went through grad school
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and kind of got out of the habit,
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and it's, you know, not always the best
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for her back to be bending over.
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So, she wants me to build some elevated,
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some raised garden beds, you know, and I've
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said that I'll do that, but I still
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haven't gotten around to it.
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And we just, we just have grass, we
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have boring grass, that's all we have.
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And part of this is a lack of
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effort and intention on my part, yes, but
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part of it is about the environment of
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our yard.
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See, because I tried to plant flowers when
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we first moved in four years ago, and
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they just didn't take, and I realized it
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was that the soil wasn't in very good
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shape.
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So, Katie, you know, had ideas about this,
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just like, well, we can treat the soil.
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So, now every spring, in theory, if I
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remember, I go and I get some weed
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killer and fertilizer stuff from Menards that can
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help the soil grow.
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And so this year, I dutifully was, you
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know, pushing the little spreader thing all across
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the backyard.
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And I was so proud of myself.
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And then I got all done and I
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was going to the shed and there was
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still a whole bunch of the weed killer
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fertilizer stuff left over.
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And as I turned to try and push
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the spreader back into the shed, it tipped
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over and spilled all that extra stuff in
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one little, like, square foot patch of the
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yard.
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And I tried to clean it up.
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You know, I had my work gloves and
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tried to, you know, scoop it all up
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and put it back in the spreader and
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then get the spreader back in the shed.
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But that patch just died, is just completely
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devoid of any kind of biological life.
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I poisoned the soil.
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It was terrible.
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It was overload of weed killer.
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I looked at it today.
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It's still dead.
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And I just, you know, I was feeling
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good.
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I was feeling good for a minute there
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about dutifully preparing the soil, and then I
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still just made a mess of it.
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OK, I have hope.
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I have hope maybe next spring, next summer,
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we'll prepare the soil again and we'll plant
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some flowers or maybe I'll actually build those
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raised garden beds and we'll do the vegetable
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thing.
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And there will be a wonderful redemption arc
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to this story.
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But for right now, as a gardener, I
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feel like I have failed when it comes
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to environment.
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I have not made my yard a hospitable
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place for growing things, maybe for some grass,
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but that's it.
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OK, what does this have to do with
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evangelism?
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What does this have to do with being
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a guide on the side for our friends
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and neighbors, for our co-workers who maybe
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would be open to exploring the way of
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Jesus at some point?
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Before we think about having conversations about Jesus,
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before we think about sharing the good news,
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we want to think about, is our life
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a hospitable place for spiritual conversations to grow?
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So before we think about the planting aspect,
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so to speak, how do we sow the
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seeds of the gospel, to use a metaphor
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that Jesus loved, we got to think about,
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well, what about the environment, right?
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Is my life an environment that's conducive to
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these kind of conversations occurring?
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So in this episode, I want to look
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at what are four things you can do
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to make the garden of your life more
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hospitable for spiritual conversations with people who don't
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yet know Jesus?
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OK, four things.
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And I'm mostly stealing other people's ideas, which
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is a wonderful thing to do in evangelism,
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just like anything else.
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Look to people who are more experienced and
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more mature than you are in the faith.
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So I'll try and cite my sources here.
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But the first one is just a really
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basic concept, doesn't come from any particular thinker,
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and that's do well at your job.
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That's the first thing you can do in
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your work environment to make your life hospitable
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for spiritual conversations.
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Now, here's why.
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If you don't do well at your job,
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that is a terrible witness.
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You know, if your co-workers are unable
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to depend on you, if they can't turn
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to you for help when they need it,
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if collaborating with you is impossible, then if
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there's ever an opportunity to talk about spiritual
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things, their attitude is going to be, well,
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why would I listen to this person?
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Right.
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This person doesn't have life figured out.
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This person doesn't even know how to be
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a good team member.
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OK, so now none of us are perfect.
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Right.
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But as Jesus taught, we need to own
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that.
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We need to make amends.
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We need to ask for forgiveness.
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We need to practice reconciliation when things occur
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that were our fault and that were us
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not hitting the mark.
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But in general, if we're attempting to do
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a good job at our job and we're
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in a job that makes sense for us
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to have, it is possible by God's grace
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for us to do well at our job.
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And so that's the first point.
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Just do well at your job.
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That is the starting point for any other
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opportunities that might arise at work related to
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the chance to speak about Jesus.
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OK.
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Two, make an intentional effort to get to
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know people.
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Now, this might seem obvious, but it bears
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stating explicitly.
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There are a lot of people who approach
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work as something I've got to get done.
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And if they happen to meet anybody else
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in the course of doing their work, it's
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just incidental.
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It's just like something that maybe happens, maybe
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doesn't not really their focus.
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It's more about like, OK, we got to
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we got to get the work done.
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Of course, if I have to talk to
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people to get the work done, then great.
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Otherwise, we'll we'll see if it happens.
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This is a bad approach.
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This is not a hospitable approach.
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This does not make the garden of your
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life a place where things can grow.
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And I want to hasten to add, this
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is not about whether you're introverted or extroverted.
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It's about whether you're hospitable or passive.
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OK, so you can be a hospitable introvert
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where you're you're managing your energy and you
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know that sometimes you need solitude and you're
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intentionally protecting that time.
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At the same time, you're still keeping an
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eye out for when can I be relationally
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present to someone else?
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When can I give that gift of energy,
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even though it's costly to me to love
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the people around me?
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If you're an extrovert, maybe the interacting with
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other people energizes you.
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That's great.
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OK, but this isn't just about conviviality.
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This isn't just about, haha, you know, I'm
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talking with people and it's great.
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It's, again, that attentive presence to other people.
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Am I looking around me for ways that
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I can be present in a way that
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actually loves and serves somebody else?
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Am I being intentional about getting to know
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the people around me?
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OK, so this can look really simple.
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It's like when you walk in in the
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morning, say good morning, ask your co-workers
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how their weekend were.
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Now, if you work remotely, right, it's a
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little more challenging, right?
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But you can still figure out what are
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those ways to connect?
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Is it if you're on the call early
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before everybody gets there and you and the
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other person, it's like, OK, that that's kind
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of the equivalent of you walking into your
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cubicle in a physical space.
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It's hey, how's it going?
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How was your weekend?
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Right.
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Like do the small talk thing.
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And I know some people are allergic to
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small talk and they hate small talk because
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small talk can seem so superficial.
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But here's the best case version of small
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talk.
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Small talk at its best communicates I care
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about you and I want you to be
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well in this world.
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Right now, if your co-worker got on
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the same Zoom or Teams call as you
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and it was just the two of you
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for a couple of minutes and you said,
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hey, you know, I care about you and
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I want you to be well in this
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world.
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That would be kind of awkward, probably.
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I mean, unless they were a really close
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friend of yours.
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OK, so like you can't just explicitly say
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that.
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And so instead you say, how are you
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doing?
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How was your weekend?
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That's how we say I care about you
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and I hope that you are well in
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this world.
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Small talk is an expression of love at
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its best.
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OK, and if you hate small talk, come
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up with something else that still works to
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get to know the people around you in
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a deeper way, faster, with greater vulnerability.
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That's wonderful, too, if you can find a
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way to swing it.
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OK, so one, do well at your job
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to intentionally get to know the people around
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you.
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Three, merge your universes.
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OK, this is a phrase that I'm taking
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from an evangelist named Sam Chan and from
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his book, How to Talk About Jesus Without
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Being That Guy.
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Sam is an evangelist in Australia and my
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church community, City of Light in Aurora, Illinois,
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read this book together, or at least our
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leadership team did this summer.
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And it's a wonderful book with kind of
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eight tips about evangelism.
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And the first tip is merge your universes.
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OK, so I want to I want to
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read a couple introductory quotes and then get
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into what Sam Chan means by that.
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So Sam Chan writes, I once heard Timothy
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Keller compare our work of evangelism with Elijah's
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work of building the altar at Mount Carmel
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in First Kings 18.
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Elijah built the altar, but it was God
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who sent the fire.
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Elijah couldn't send the fire.
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In the same way, when it comes to
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evangelism, it is God who sends the fire.
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God pours out his spirit.
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God opens the heart of the person hearing
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the good news.
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Acts 16, 14, God sovereignly and supernaturally rebirths
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the person, moving them from darkness to light,
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from death to life.
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Ephesians 2, 5, only God can send the
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fire.
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But as Keller points out, Elijah still had
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to build the altar in the same way.
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We also have our part to play in
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evangelism.
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Isn't that a beautiful image, a beautiful metaphor?
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God is the one that supernaturally moves in
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people's hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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God's one that sends the fire into people's
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lives.
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But we can build the altar or to
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kind of shift back to the metaphor I
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was using.
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God's the one that brings the growth in
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the garden.
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We can't make things grow.
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We can't decide whether the seed sprouts or
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not.
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But are we making the garden of our
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lives hospitable for spiritual conversations to grow with
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people who don't yet know Jesus?
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Okay.
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So that's, that's just kind of an overarching
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image that I wanted to share from Sam
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Chan.
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Now his little tidbit, his tip on merging
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your universes.
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Sam writes, one of the major reasons our
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friends aren't Christians is that they don't belong
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to a community of friends who also believe
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in Jesus.
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It's not primarily because they haven't heard the
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gospel.
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They probably haven't, but they already think they
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know what you believe.
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It's not because there's not enough evidence for
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the Christian faith, because no matter how much
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evidence you produce, they'll explain it away.
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In many cases, the number one reason our
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friends aren't Christians is that they don't have
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any other Christian friends.
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So what we need to do is introduce
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them into a community of Christian friends.
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How do we do this?
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By getting our Christian friends to become friends
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with our non-Christian friends, merge our universes.
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Typically as Christians, we have two separate universes
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of friends.
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We have a universe of Christian friends and
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we have another universe of non-Christian friends.
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We keep these two universes separate from each
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other.
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When our Christian friends go to the movies,
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we go along with them.
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When our non-Christian friends have a barbecue,
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we go along with them.
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But what we need to do is merge
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our universes.
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So when our Christian friends go to the
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movies, we invite our non-Christian friends along.
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When our non-Christian friends have a barbecue,
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we bring some of our Christian friends along.
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Bit by bit, our Christian friends will become
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friends with our non-Christian friends.
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Okay.
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This is such an empowering and beautiful thing
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when it happens.
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Katie and I, in our lives, are experiencing
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this right now.
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Some of you may know, if you're local,
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that we have started a kind of quasi
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-monthly movie night.
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And rather than just inviting our Christian or
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church friends or just inviting our non-Christian
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friends, we're inviting everybody and they're getting to
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know each other.
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And it's so fun for me because there
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are things that our friends have in common
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with each other that I know nothing about.
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It's like we had a close Christian friend
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recently who Katie and I have known for
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years, recently got to hang out with her
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and her husband at the new home they
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bought, lovely Christian friendship, praying for them, grateful
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for them, or a non-Christian friend that
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Katie has known for years since middle school,
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friend from middle school.
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The Christian friend and the non-Christian friend
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suddenly start talking about some anime show I've
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never heard of and bonding with each other.
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And I'm just like, I'm stepping back.
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And like Sam Chan in the back of
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my mind is like cheering me on.
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Like, yes, Chris, you're merging your universes.
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Do it, do it.
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Okay.
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This is so beautiful when it happens.
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And it's not rocket science.
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It's not that complicated.
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Think about where you have some non-Christians
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that are connected with where you have some
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Christian friends that are connected with you.
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What's the way you can bring them universes
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together?
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Is it a movie night at work?
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Is it drinks after work?
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Right.
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Can you go along and spend time with
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other people?
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Now there might be a caution or pushback
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here, which is, well, okay.
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Sometimes there are certain environments of non-Christians
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hanging out that may not be totally socially
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healthy.
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Like how raucous or vulgar is that, you
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know, time of drinks after work.
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And for this, I think it's really important
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for us to imitate Jesus example.
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So let's look at Mark chapter two, starting
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in verse 13.
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Once again, Jesus went out beside the lake,
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a large crowd came to him and he
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began to teach them.
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As he walked along, he saw Levi, son
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of Alpheus sitting at the tax collector's booth.
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Follow me, Jesus told him and Levi got
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up and followed him.
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While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house,
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many tax collectors and sinners were eating with
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him and his disciples.
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For there were many who followed him.
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When the teachers of the law who were
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Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and
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tax collectors, they asked his disciples, why does
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he eat with tax collectors and sinners?
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On hearing this, Jesus said to them, it
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is not the healthy who need a doctor,
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but the sick.
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I have not come to call the righteous,
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but sinners.
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Okay.
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You see what Jesus has done here?
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There's actually kind of four groups of people
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here that Jesus has connected with, right?
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Levi's the one who's hosting the party.
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And so Levi has tax collector friends, work
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friends of Levi's.
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But then there's also quote unquote, sinners, tax
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collectors and sinners.
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So other people who are not religious insiders
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within that particular context, right, the equivalent of
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non-Christians for us, they're hanging out and
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they're eating with Jesus and his disciples.
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So then you have Jesus's disciples, folks that
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are insiders in the sense that they've committed
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to the way of Jesus, right, and they're
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there at Levi's house hanging out.
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And then interestingly, you've got the Pharisees, right?
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The teachers of the law who are Pharisees
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saw him eating with the sinners and tax
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collectors.
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So it seems like the Pharisees maybe didn't
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join the party, but they were at least
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close enough to see that it was happening
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and then like sidle up to the disciples
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and be like, Hey, what, what gives you,
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or why are you having this party with
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these people?
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Okay.
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You see how Jesus is merging his universes,
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right?
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There's this, there's this universe of Levi's friends,
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right?
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From work and, and other centers.
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Then there's this universe of Jesus disciples and
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other religious insiders like the Pharisees, but who
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are maybe skeptical about Jesus and Jesus is
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merging them all together at a party at
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Levi's house.
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And when the Pharisees ask about it, he
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goes and he talks with them too.
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Jesus is even still kind of drawing the
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Pharisees and trying to get them to see
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things in a different light.
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He's saying, look, it's not the healthy who
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need a doctor.
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It's the sick.
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Yes.
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People, their lives are dominated by darkness and
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sin.
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That's why they need the presence of God.
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So let's make sure we're here.
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To extend it to them.
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So we want to imitate Jesus as we
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think about merging our universes.
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That being said, there is something special about
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inviting non-Christians into a Christian space.
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So like, I love the fact that Katie
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and I get to host in our own
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home, a kind of Christian space, our non
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-Christian and Christian friends together.
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So that's something you can think about too.
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How do you merge your universes in your
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life?
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Okay.
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So, uh, four.
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Talk to your non-Christian friends, like your
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Christian friends.
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And I want to give credit for this
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one.
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This is from a leader in the ministry
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called crew named Heather Holloman.
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I heard her speak at a conference in
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2019.
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And this was what kind of one of
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her evangelism tips was, you know, when you're
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with your Christian friends and something goes really
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well, you might say something like, you know,
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praise the Lord, right?
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She's like, well, when you're with your non
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-Christian friends, say it anyways, right?
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Even though they don't believe in the Lord
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still say the same stuff, right?
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Or if you're talking about something that God
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has done in your life, share what God
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has done in your life, even with your
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non-Christian friends.
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I have found this to be liberating and
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helpful to not self censor when it comes
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to my own faith.
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Now, of course you got to use wisdom
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and discretion, right?
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Are there certain kinds of conversations that maybe
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it wouldn't make sense to have with a
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non-Christian, like some really inside baseball, Christian
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stuff, or things that, you know, are controversial
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and you haven't had a chance to build
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trust and to contextualize them yet.
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Sure.
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Sure.
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But just be yourself, be your Christian self
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around your non-Christian friends.
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I've, I've kind of developed a reputation for
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this at the food bank.
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I say praise the Lord a lot in
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meetings with just mixes of people.
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Whenever something goes well, I'm like, praise the
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Lord.
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And people like chuckle.
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They're like, there's Chris.
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He's so religious.
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He's saying praise the Lord.
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Right.
17:54
But it's like, it's just, it's very genuine
17:55
for me.
17:56
Right.
17:56
And so again, you and your personality in
17:59
a way that's genuine for you.
18:00
Don't feel like you always have to censor
18:01
yourself around your non-Christian friends.
18:03
Again, that's another way to make the garden
18:05
of your life hospitable for spiritual conversations.
18:08
When people realize like, oh, that's part of
18:10
who you are.
18:11
Then as they get to know you because
18:13
you're doing your work well, and because you're
18:15
getting to know them and because you're merging
18:17
the universes, they'll know, oh, this is a
18:21
person who's interested in spiritual things.
18:22
And if they ever have some curiosity, you're
18:25
that much closer to having a joyful spiritual
18:27
conversation at work.
18:28
And we'll talk more about that next time.
18:32
Lord Jesus, thank you that you came to
18:38
love the sick, not the healthy.
18:41
That you are the physician of souls and
18:43
you bring healing and life to people who
18:46
don't deserve it like us.
18:48
Make us emissaries who bring the light of
18:51
your presence into dark places and who love
18:53
everybody around us, regardless of where they're coming
18:56
from.
18:57
Show us how to do well in our
18:59
work, how to get to know people, how
19:01
to merge our universes, and how to just
19:04
be our true selves in our friendships and
19:06
relationships with coworkers and others who don't yet
19:09
know you.
19:11
Jesus, do your work in us as we
19:13
do our work with you.
19:19
Thanks for listening.
19:20
Finding God at Work is a production of
19:22
Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
19:25
dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
19:27
life.
19:28
You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
19:30
listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
19:32
of teaching on faith and work every Thursday.
19:35
To get resources to go deeper with each
19:37
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19:39
about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
19:42
go to our website, missioncentral.church.