Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E81 | Everyday Eurasia | Jana Seifert

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S1-E81 | Everyday Eurasia | Jana Seifert · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Hello and welcome to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Faith for Every Day. Each day we are on a journey
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  with Jesus in our churches, our homes, our workplaces, and in so
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  many different places around the world.
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  Is it beautiful that no matter where we are, we can walk with
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  him every single day? Jesus is the one who connects us
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  all and stands at the very center of our lives day after
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  day. Through this podcast, you'll
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  hear voices from across the region sharing devotionals that
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  reminds us of God's presence in our everyday moments.
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  This week we're joining NYI, Nesrin, Jude International
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  Eurasia. Young people from across the
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  region will be sharing their stories and daily devotionals,
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  Voices from Scotland to India. Today they'll be listening to
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  Jana Seifert from Germany. She has been serving as NYI
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  President since 2021 and works as an educational professional
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  for people with disabilities. Jana spent over five years
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  pestering the Church in Action and planted the church in
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  Darmstadt, where she still lives today.
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  When she's not working, you'll find her travelling, doing
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  CrossFit or hanging out with young people.
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  Her heart beats for the next generation and her dream is to
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  see young leaders rise up and comfortably take ownership of
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  the space they are meant to have.
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  First Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12 until 14.
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  Unity and diversity in the body. Just as a body, though one has
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  many parts, but all its many parts form 1 body, so it is with
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  Christ. For we are all baptized by 1
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  spirit so as to form 1 body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave
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  or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
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  Even so, the bodies not made-up of one part, but of many.
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  Unity and diversity, becoming a generation of peacemakers.
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  What if unity is not about agreeing on everything, but
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  about choosing each other anyway?
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  Today we live in a world that feels more divided than ever.
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  Social media polarizes us, opinions separate us, families
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  and relationships break apart, and honestly, many of us young
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  people feel lonely even why we still being connected all the
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  time. Guard himself as community,
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  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and if we are as people created in
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  his image, that means we are designed for connection, for
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  belonging, for real relationships, for deep,
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  committed and holy community. Jesus teaches us a lot about
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  love and unity, but it looks different as we expect it to be
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  if we look at him and his disciples.
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  He put together a group of young people that made no sense at
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  all. Among his closest friends were
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  Matthew, a tax collector working for the Roman system, and Simon
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  the Salalot, A radical nationalist who hated the Roman
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  system. One worked for the enemy, the
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  other wanted to fight. Imagine them sitting together at
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  the same breakfast table with their coffee.
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  Good morning, trader. Good morning, extremist.
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  And yet Jesus called them both to follow him and to be involved
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  in his plan to build his Kingdom.
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  Two people that couldn't be more different.
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  And somehow they became family. That tells us something
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  important. Real unity is not built on
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  similarity, on the same political perspective.
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  It's built on commitment. It means to live in a holy
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  community. But what exactly is community
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  today? We often define it in two ways.
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  First, connection. We have hundreds of contacts,
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  followers, likes. But real connection requires,
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  presents, listening to each other, vulnerability.
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  We weren't designed to deeply connect with thousands of
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  people. We were designed for meaningful
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  relationships. Second, chemistry.
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  We stick to people who think like us, vote like us, talk like
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  us, live like us, that feel safe and comfortable.
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  But it doesn't transform us. Biblical community is something
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  deeper. The word used in the Bible is
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  Koinonia. It means partnership, shared
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  life, people who intentionally choose each other.
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  And the center of that unity is not culture, personality, or
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  opinions, it's Jesus Christ himself.
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  This might sound simple, but it's actually really hard
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  because there are things that keeps us from living in
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  community, like fear. Fear of rejection, fear of
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  conflicts, fear of being truly known as who we are.
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  So let me ask you something. What does unity and community
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  look like in your life? Is there someone you're
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  avoiding? Someone who thinks differently
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  than you? Someone who might hurt you?
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  Someone you tolerate but don't really love.
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  Unity doesn't start with just feeling it.
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  It starts with a decision. Maybe one of your next steps
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  isn't to speak louder, but to listen better.
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  Not to be right, but to stay present.
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  Not to walk away, but to lean in.
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  There was a time in my life when I saw relationships as
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  transactional. What can I get from that person?
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  How does that relationship benefit me?
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  But looking back, I'm grateful to say that God has changed me
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  and my heart, step by step, not overnight, but through a
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  process. And I've seen what Holy
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  Community really looks like. Community is something so
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  beautiful, but it's also challenging.
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  And yet it's the only way we can grow in our life and
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  spiritually. In First Corinthians chapter 12,
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  the Bible describes the church like a body.
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  One body, many parts, different functions, but deeply connected.
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  Paul writes that the I cannot say to the hand, I don't need
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  you, and the head can't say to the feet you don't belong.
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  If one part suffers, the whole body suffers.
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  If one part is missing, the whole body is limited and
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  doesn't function as it should be.
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  Diversity is essential for God's Kingdom.
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  We don't mature despite our differences, we mature through
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  them. God Himself only becomes truly
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  tangible through the diversity of humanity.
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  And this is where our generation is being challenged because we
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  are slowly unlearning how to live with tensions in our life.
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  Instead of working through conflicts, we leave new friends,
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  new church, new job, new relationships.
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  And that's one of the reasons communities and churches keep
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  breaking apart. But transformation happens in
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  the progress. Healing happens in commitment.
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  Unity grows when we choose each other again and again.
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  So here are some questions. What would happen if we become a
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  generation that stays when things get uncomfortable?
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  A generation that doesn't cancel over the differences but chooses
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  conversation. A generation that doesn't run
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  from conflicts but learns how to handle it with grace and love.
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  Not perfect, not always agreeing, but deeply committed
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  over the last years. And why I became my family.
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  And as we know, you don't choose your family.
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  You don't always agree, you don't always like each other,
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  but somehow you still belong. And that's the vision Jesus had.
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  A global family, different cultures, different
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  personalities, different perspective, yet deeply united
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  by love and peace. That's why I dream that we as
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  NYI become a generation of young people who going against the
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  word. We trend, who don't run away
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  from conflict, who don't cancel each other over differences, who
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  chooses to stay, to listen, to forgive and to build bridges.
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  A generation of peacemakers, ambassadors of unity.
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  Living proof that diversity doesn't have to lead to
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  division, but rather shows God's character.
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  This is what God's Kingdom look like, life in deep connection
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  with God and which each other through the Holy Spirit.
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  And honestly, the world doesn't need louder opinions, it needs
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  visible unity. And it starts with us.
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  Let me pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for
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  creating us a relationship and not for isolation.
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  Thank you for calling us into one family even in our
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  differences. Search our hearts.
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  Lord, showers where fear has kept us from loving fully.
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  Give us the courage to stay, to listen and to forgive.
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  Make US1 body with many parts and shape us into a generation
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  of peacemakers who reflects Your Kingdom to the way we love each
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  other. We give you and your heart and
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  our community. Amen.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Fate for everyday. For more Everyday Stories,
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  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.