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1: Gentle Witnesses · Finding God at Work

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  (Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hi, I'm Chris.
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  This is Finding God at Work.
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  We are kicking off a new series with
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  this episode, Gentle Witnesses, sharing your faith at
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  work in a way that actually makes sense.
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  I want to start with a story from
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  when I was in middle school.
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  I was a burgeoning theological mind, and I
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  was concerned about the masses of people in
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  the world who did not know theological truths.
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  And so I went into Microsoft Paint, and
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  I designed a tract, a little handout that
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  explains the good news.
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  And I painted the fires of hell at
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  the bottom of the front cover of the
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  tract and then printed it out and cut
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  it up and made a bunch of copies
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  and stapled them together and went to the
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  local shopping mall and handed them out.
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  This is a true story, and I still
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  remember the question on the front of the
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  tract was, if you died tonight, are you
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  100% sure you would go to heaven?
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  And I remember there was this like 16
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  -year-old guy, he picked one up, kept
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  walking, and then he shouted back over his
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  shoulder, probably not.
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  And in hindsight, there's so many things about
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  middle school, Chris, easily that I notice.
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  One is my earnestness, my desire for people
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  to know the Lord, for people to know
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  Jesus.
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  That's a good thing.
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  That's a good desire.
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  The other is a very kind of maybe
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  non-relational, more transactional way of interacting, right?
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  Like here's a tract just handing it out
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  of a shoebox, not trying to get to
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  know people, not trying to listen to people,
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  and then okay, some methodological things there.
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  And then also a certain way of framing
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  what is the good news that we have
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  to share that was very focused on hell,
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  and that also was focused on what happens
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  when you die, right?
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  Are you 100% sure that you would
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  go to heaven when you die?
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  So kind of focus not on life here
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  and now, but life far in the future.
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  And I don't know what your story of
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  following Jesus is, or maybe you're even just
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  still exploring what it means to follow Jesus.
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  But I know a lot of people who
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  share that first quality.
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  They have a genuine desire to share what
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  they've experienced with Jesus with other people because
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  it's been life-changing for them, because it's
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  been a joyful, beautiful thing for them.
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  But they're concerned about the other two things.
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  They're concerned about like a bad approach, a
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  bad methodology that's somehow awkward or bad or
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  transactional or not relational.
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  And then they're also concerned about the second
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  thing, like, are we framing the good news
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  in a way that's kind of one-dimensional
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  or manipulative even, or just focused on the
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  wrong things?
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  And so a lot of people I know,
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  they just end up kind of stymied, just
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  kind of stuck in the mud.
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  Like, I know I want to share my
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  faith.
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  I know there's good news to share, but
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  how the heck are you supposed to do
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  it in a way that makes any kind
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  of social sense at all?
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  Is there even a good way to do
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  it?
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  I have some friends who have basically given
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  up on evangelism, they've had conversations with me.
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  And if you guys are listening to this
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  podcast episode, you know who you are, friends
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  of mine.
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  But they're just like, look, I just don't
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  want to do it anymore.
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  It just doesn't make any emotional sense to
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  me.
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  I don't have it in me anymore to
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  try and have spiritual conversations with people who
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  don't believe in Jesus, about Jesus.
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  So this is an immediately emotional topic, the
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  topic of how do we share our good
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  news.
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  And in this bigger podcast of finding God
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  at work, we want to specifically talk about
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  how do you do this in the workplace,
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  which comes with its own set of baggage,
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  right?
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  You're dealing with people that you have long
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  -term relationships with, people you have conversations of
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  coworkers or how you're going to be perceived.
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  This is a high stakes thing to think
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  about what does it mean to be open
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  with your faith and even to try and
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  find ways to share the good news and
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  to do that in a way that makes
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  sense.
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  And when I say makes sense, I mean
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  that a couple of different ways.
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  One is that it makes social sense, that
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  it is relational, that it can be contextualized
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  within friendships and work relationships in an appropriate
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  way, in a way that doesn't have to
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  feel super awkward or strange or somehow in
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  any way manipulative, certainly not, but also even
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  like forced, like it doesn't have to be
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  forced, it can actually be a kind of
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  organic, sensible, social thing.
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  The other thing about how to share your
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  faith, how to share the good news in
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  a way that actually makes sense is that
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  the good news itself actually makes sense.
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  It helps us make sense of life.
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  And so that's sort of more that like
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  intellectual side of what it means to share
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  our faith and just helping people discern what
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  do I really believe and why and what
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  kind of life am I living and what
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  kind of person am I becoming and presenting
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  Jesus and His way, His path as a
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  compelling answer to our questions about life, as
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  a compelling answer to our question about what
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  it means to be a good person, as
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  a compelling answer to the problem of pain
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  and suffering that we all experience, that Jesus
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  can actually help us navigate the difficulties of
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  life and can guide us into His way
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  of life, a way of life that makes
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  deep, beautiful sense.
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  So those are the two different ways that
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  I mean we can share the good news
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  in a way that actually makes sense.
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  I'm really excited about this series because I
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  have been working on how to share the
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  good news in a way that makes sense
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  for a long time and I've improved a
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  lot on Middle School Chris's approach, but I'm
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  still learning.
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  And so I'm just excited to dig into
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  some of the authors that I'm reading and
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  share some of the experiences that I'm having
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  with both Christian and non-Christian friends.
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  And hopefully just share something that's practical, something
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  that can help you grow in confidence in
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  terms of how you could share the good
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  news in your workplace with your friends, regardless
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  of their religious background.
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  So just to give you kind of an
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  outline of the series, we're going to spend
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  the first few episodes kind of talking about
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  like what is the good news, because it's
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  kind of hard to share that if you
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  don't know what it is or you haven't
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  experienced it for yourself.
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  So we'll be focusing on that.
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  What is the gospel?
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  What does it mean to be saved?
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  How do we understand salvation?
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  Why would we want to share this with
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  anybody?
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  Are we supposed to share it with anybody?
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  Is there actually any command in the New
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  Testament to share the good news with other
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  people?
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  It might be surprising that there's a sense
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  in which the answer is no, but that
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  doesn't mean it's not good to share.
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  So we'll be talking about just what is
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  the good news and then we'll be talking
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  about that methodology.
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  What are relational ways to share the good
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  news?
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  How do we do that in a way
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  that works and that does build trust and
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  that is rooted in a relationship?
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  And then finally, some more theological reflections.
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  So even though we're starting with what is
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  the good news, we'll end actually with some
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  theological reflections as well about how does the
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  good news relate to bigger questions like the
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  idea of mission more broadly than just verbal
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  conversations, like how does it relate to our
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  workplace in terms of the meaning of the
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  work we're doing every day?
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  Like, you know, how does that matter?
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  And so we'll kind of be doing almost
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  like a social theory of evangelism with the
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  ending part of the podcast.
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  So it's going to be a bit of
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  a longer series to try and fit those
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  three phases in.
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  What is the good news?
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  How do we share the good news?
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  And then what are the social implications of
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  the good news?
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  How does it fit into a bigger picture
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  of life with God on mission?
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  And we're going to try and keep it
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  practical by always tying it back to the
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  workplace context, but just really looking forward to
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  it.
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  We're going to dig into the actual topics,
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  starting with our next episode.
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  But I just want to end this introduction
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  episode by praying a prayer from the Book
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  of Common Prayer.
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  And this is a prayer for mission, a
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  prayer for evangelism, for sharing the good news.
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  And I'm also going to read a verse
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  from the Lord Jesus from chapter 13 of
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  the Gospel of Luke, one of his metaphors
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  of the kingdom of God.
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  Jesus said, to what shall I compare the
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  kingdom of God?
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  It is like leaven that a woman took
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  and hid in three measures of flour until
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  it was all leavened.
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  Almighty God, our Savior, you desire that none
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  should perish.
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  And you have taught us through your son
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  that there is great joy in heaven over
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  every sinner who repents.
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  Grant that our hearts may ache for a
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  lost and broken world.
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  May your Holy Spirit work through our words,
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  deeds and prayers, that the lost may be
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  found and the dead made alive and that
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  all your redeemed may rejoice around your throne,
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  through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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  Jesus, do your work in us as we
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  do our work with you.
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  Thanks for listening.
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  Finding God at Work is a production of
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  Mission Central, a ministry based in Aurora, Illinois,
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  dedicated to forming Christians for mission in everyday
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  life.
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  You can subscribe to the podcast wherever you
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  listen to this episode to get 10 minutes
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  of teaching on faith and work every Tuesday
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  and Thursday.
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  To get resources to go deeper with each
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  podcast series, read our blog and get info
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  about upcoming courses on faith in the workplace,
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  go to our website, missioncentral.church.