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Politics... Which Side is Right? Sermon · Beyond the Sermon

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You're listening to Beyond the Sermon, the podcast of First
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Methodist Church in Collingswood, NJ.
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On our podcast, the goal is not just to share the sermons we've
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preached, but to go beyond the sermon and talk about what we're
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learning and what God is doing in US and in our community.
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You can find more information about our church at
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fumccollingswood.org. Thanks for listening.
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This morning scripture comes from Ephesians chapter 4 verses
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17 through 32. So I tell you this and insist on
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on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles
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do in the futility of their thinking.
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They are darkened in their misunder, in their
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understanding, and separated from the life of God because of
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the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their
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hearts. Having lost all sensitivity,
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they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge
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in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
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That, however, is not the way of life.
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You learned when you heard about Christ and and were taught in
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Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
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You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put
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off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
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desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to
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put on the new self created to be like God in true
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righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put
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off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for
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we are all members of 1 body. In your anger, do not sin, do
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not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not
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give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing
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must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with
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their own hands that they may have something to share with
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those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk
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come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building
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others up accordance to their needs according to their needs.
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Sorry that it may benefit those who listen and do not grieve the
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Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of
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redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage
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and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
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Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other
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just as in Christ God forgave you.
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This is the Word of God for the people of God.
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Thanks be to God. Good morning everyone, I like to
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consider US1 big happy family. Can't laugh at that.
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Please don't laugh at that. With my own family and
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especially with my in laws and my nieces and nephews, I'm known
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as the Funkel the fun uncle. But this morning I will probably
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be that uncle that at holiday dinners brings up both religion
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and politics. And I hope that afterwards you
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would still love me and invite me to those family dinners.
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You know, I'm sure on your minds this could go many a ways.
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Very few of those ways you may think are good.
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But I wanted to focus in on what God had prepared for us this
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morning. I heard even Pastor Rolando just
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a couple weeks ago preach about how all nations will bow to the
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Lord and that even when God had his people, the Israelites,
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Abraham was blessed to bless the other nations.
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And so after this morning, you may have other questions or
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things that you feel like could be discussed in regards to our
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faith and politics. And you are welcome to e-mail
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myself or Pastor Scott and we'll try and cover as much as we can
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on the podcast. But I didn't want to add things
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just for the sake of talking about them because I do not want
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to be up here as Jeremy this morning.
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Praise be to God on that one. But if we are going to discuss
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politics in a series about denying ourselves, we first need
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to be honest about ourselves and to know ourselves a little bit
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better. And so I'm going to set a
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foundation for us this morning, and I want you to be hyper aware
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of your feelings and reactions as I start us off the words I
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have to say. The Democratic Party, top to
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bottom Congress, House Representatives, presidential
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candidates are incapable, incompetent and unqualified.
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Now, this may be that's what I was anticipating.
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Just wait, Tina. The Republican Party, top to
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bottom Congress, House of Representatives, presidential
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candidates equally incapable, incompetent and unqualified.
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We need laughter this morning, everybody.
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And that is not that there aren't good people in both
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parties with good intentions. Doesn't mean that there aren't
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bad people with bad intentions. Or maybe started off with good
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and then power got a hold of them.
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Doesn't mean that we don't have Christian brothers and sisters
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in both parties. But if your expectation is for
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them to save us from all our problems, they are incapable,
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incompetent and unqualified. If you have put your hope in a
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party or a specific leader of the party to save us, you have
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made an idol and will be let down if you think they can.
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You may have forgotten why we even vote in the first place.
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We understand democracy, not sovereignty.
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We elect our leaders. Democracy has been good for
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people because it seems to cause the least damage, not because it
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necessarily yields the best results.
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Fallen humans have done a lot of damage in history when given
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sovereign power, but God is neither fallen nor human.
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Thank goodness we can thank God's sovereign rule for
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bringing us life and every blessing that flows from it.
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God allows us the freedom to love Him or not.
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He gives us the freedom to love one another or not.
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And that seems to be where we mess up us.
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We are the problem. We have used our freedom to
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cause massive harm through our clumsy trial and error of human
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history. Most nations have learned to
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take sovereign rule out of human hands because it has been too
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dangerous. Democracy is a concession to
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human weakness. The only place sovereignty can
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be trusted is in the hands of God, and God generously used it
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to make a way for all of us. Had God put that to a vote, we
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would have probably messed that up.
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God is the undisputed ruler of the universe, and as it turns
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out, he is benevolent, loving, patient, merciful, and just.
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What a relief. the United States government cannot save people
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and the Church cannot even save people.
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Salvation is found and no one else, for there is no other name
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under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
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That name is Jesus Christ. Now that Christ is the
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cornerstone, we can pray and get started.
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Lord, we long for Your promises of heaven, where there is no
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more crying, no more pain, no more death.
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You have called us to bring heaven down to earth.
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Lord, would we remember that there is no more crying when we
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walk with You and receive peace beyond understanding.
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There is no more pain when You heal us inside and out.
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No more death because Your Son conquered death on the cross and
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offered us life. Would we be Your vessels in this
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world, knowing that what we strive in bringing heaven down
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to earth is only completed in you?
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Would your spirit of wisdom and truth guide this time, not I?
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Amen. For those of you that don't
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know, our college students have been going to the Passion
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Conference for the past few years, which is a conference for
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college kids to go worship. We have between 40 and 55,000
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college kids come together and worship and it's usually in
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Atlanta but sometimes in Dallas. And we have a tradition, an
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unintentional tradition, but one of our traditions is to use
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Airbnb for our housing. For those that do not know, you
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may be familiar with AB and BA Bed and Breakfast, right?
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An Airbnb is an Internet platform so you can stay at
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people's houses. We like it, it's cheaper, we can
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all be together. And the unintended tradition is
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how something always goes wrong every single year.
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The first year, I believe it was the first year we are an hour
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outside of Atlanta, an hour before we arrive and we get a
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phone call that our Airbnb had been broken into, things had
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been stolen, and it was no longer safe for us to stay in
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that Airbnb. And so we had to seek another
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location that looked good but was crumbling apart at the
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foundation and a mess outside. And that's just kind of how it
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goes. Other times they get cancelled
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on us for other various reasons or we arrive and it's not quite
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as advertised. Now I've been using Airbnb since
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it started because I was a foolish young man that was broke
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and just wanted to travel and so I would stay on people's couches
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for $11.00. You can't do that on Airbnb
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anymore, but you know, do that where they'd have a tent set up
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in their backyard and charge me 15 bucks.
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And you learn to have healthy expectations for the Airbnb that
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you are going to. We have had the various issues
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on our different trips and now it's come to a point where we
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kind of expect them as we go down.
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And the Lord has provided 1:00 every single year.
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But things can be small to big in regards to how things at the
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Airbnb are compared to their advertisement.
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I think this year we had like a dirty pillowcase and there's
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always like a property manager that you can stay in contact
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with and try and get help with. Sometimes they don't have enough
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bedding for the beds. It can increase to not having
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enough breakfast, right? B&B, half of that is breakfast
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and four granola bars is not enough for 10 college kids over
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3 mornings. I don't know what they were
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thinking, but if things were to escalate, it would be worse if
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there was no mattress right the first B in BNB or that the air
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conditioning was not working in the heat of Dallas.
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We we find ourselves when we get together trying to navigate this
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as a team with the college kids and usually they're very good
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about everything. Very rarely do we have any big
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issues or disagreements about the Airbnb when we are together,
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but I was as I was preparing for this.
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God provided me this image and I will let you decide what is what
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has actually happened to us at our Airbnb's moving forward or
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not, and see if you can catch maybe some of the differences.
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It would be really interesting if my friend Alden, upon arrival
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to his room, said I can't sleep if it's not painted blue, right?
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So if you could call up the manager and let them know they
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need to repaint this room before we go to sleep tonight, I would
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really appreciate that. And then we have Elizabeth
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Boswell. I only sleep on medium firm
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mattresses, not medium mattresses, right, With a memory
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foam pillow. We have certain expectations,
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and sometimes there's a difference between an issue and
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a preference. And some of those things like
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the granola bars, we can go to Walmart and we can refill.
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I don't expect the manager to actually show up and provide
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that. Now, if Elizabeth is unsatisfied
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with the mattress, who would waste the breath in calling the
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manager to say we need a new medium firm mattress?
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Nobody, right? But if there's no mattress at
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all, I would at least go out to Walmart, get an air mattress,
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maybe even offer to sleep on it myself so that we have the
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basics that are needed as we get through our trip to passion can
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need more water. How do I navigate these issues
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when all of us in the Airbnb are equally invested right?
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We all pay the same amount to stay here.
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How have we navigated things within our political climate as
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of recent? Maybe we've spoken poorly
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towards others that we know or have never even met over
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political issues. There's a big difference between
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speaking poorly of the injustices done by someone and
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how we speak towards them. It's easy to put a face to our
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problems, but we need to be reminded, Scripture tells us.
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For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but
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against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,
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against mighty powers in this Dark World, and against evil
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spirits in the heavenly places. If Alden and I were to get into
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a fistfight because he wanted a room painted blue, that might be
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a little over the top. Now words over him not having a
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mattress at all, Maybe that's more of a reasonable
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conversation, but I would be in agreement with him that he
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should have a place to sleep. It's not our fault.
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Sometimes we feel like when we can't hold back our tongue
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right, we may just chop up scripture and just use the
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beginning of James 38 where it says but no human being
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contained the tongue. Now if we continue on it is a
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restless evil full of deadly poison.
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With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we
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curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness.
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Out of the same mouth. Come praise and cursing.
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My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
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Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?
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Now Pastor, this is cute and all, but all my political
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beliefs are based off of scripture.
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It's not my wisdom but God's. Farther down in James chapter 3
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it says in verse 313, if you are wise and understand God's ways,
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prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the
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humility that comes with wisdom. It does not say if you are wise
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and understand God's ways, prove it by quoting more scripture
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than the opposition, humbling them before your knowledge of
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God's word. Though we wish it would.
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This tactic is used inside and outside of the church.
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I was called by a friend about a month ago because whenever
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there's political arguments and Jesus gets mentioned, some
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people like to call their friendly neighborhood pastor and
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try and get him to back them up. And so he called complaining
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about his father, who's a confessed professed Catholic,
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and said he eats with Nazis. Jesus wouldn't eat with Nazis,
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right? I was like, I don't know how to
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tell you that Jesus would definitely eat with Nazis.
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They're not going to have the influence over him.
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He's influencing them, right? He meets with the sinners, but
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for in our time and age, when we think of the Pharisees and
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Sadducees, how could he possibly meet with those sinners?
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He came down for the sick, not for the well.
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And so I had to break it to him. And, and we see from time to
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time that people inside the faith, outside of the faith,
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want to use scripture to push our point, even if we don't
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believe in the scriptures ourselves.
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One of one of these fun examples that came to mind this week was
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that if we want to use scripture to form all of the things we
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could debate. I'm trying to find a bipartisan
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issue here. So if you disagree with me
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again, we can talk afterwards. If we're called to bring heaven
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down to earth, and heaven is described as having gold streets
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as the Main St. in heaven, should we not put our money
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towards having gold main streets in every town of our nation if
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we want it to be more like heaven, right?
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See how we can quickly use and grab what we like to push the
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point across that we would prefer.
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If we are not humbled by the wisdom God has provided, you do
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not understand it. If God has agreed with every
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political opinion you have, it isn't the God of the Bible.
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If you are humbled by the wisdom of God, that means that
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sometimes we see something in scripture we do not like or
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understand how it is best for our world, and we trust it.
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Above our own understanding, I want us to sit and think of the
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last time we've read a scripture that went against our desires
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for the world and we didn't try to twist the interpretation to
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make it go our way, and we submitted to the wisdom of God.
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Many of us may be upset at the idea of a Pride month in June,
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yet we find ourselves celebrating it year round.
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I voted correctly. I have the correct answer to
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each issue if you give me enough context because I am morally
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righteous. Should we not let down our pride
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and submit to the wisdom of God, not seeking to be right in an
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argument, but seeking to walk in the truth?
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James continues in verse 17. But the wisdom from above is
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first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle
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at all times, and willing to yield to others.
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It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds.
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It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.
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And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and
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reap the harvest of righteousness.
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And I'm not ignorant to how we may be feeling in this room.
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You may sense yourself trying to figure out each and every
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metaphor connection while I was talking about the Airbnb's.
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Trying to figure out which side of the political aisle I might
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subvertently be pushing. Hoping for one of two things.
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That I was secretly pushing the agenda of your party and you
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could rest assured knowing you were on the right side.
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Or if you could find that I was secretly pushing the other
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party, then you don't have to listen to whatever follows and
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can turn off your hearing, or more conveniently, your hearing
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aids if that applies to you. Parties can change, opinions can
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change, but the truth of the scripture I read has not.
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So I'm going to reread James 317 through 18.
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But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure.
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It is also peace, loving, gentle at all times, and willing to
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yield to others. It is full of mercy and the
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fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is
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always sincere. And those who are peacemakers
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will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
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But the wisdom from above is, first of all, pure.
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Do we love peace or do we like a little drama?
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Not too much though, just enough to keep things interesting.
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Are we gentle at all times or only gentle with those who agree
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with us? Are we willing to yield to
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others? The question isn't even that we
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must yield to others. Wisdom is that we are willing to
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yield to others. One of the hardest things about
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following the Lord and these political climates with tensions
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so high, is that people are losing relationships with
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friends and family members over their political differences.
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Once you've picked a side, it's hard to even submit to God's
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wisdom on one particular issue because it could mean that
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people within a political party will be upset and disappointed
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that you don't fully agree with the party's agenda.
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Who will we pick as our priority, our friends of the
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world or the Lord? In James chapter 4 it says,
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excuse me, starting in verse 4. Therefore, if anyone chooses to
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be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
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Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously
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longs for the Spirit he has caused to dwell within us, but
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He gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says God
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opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble.
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Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and He will
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flee from you. Come near to God and He will
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come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners,
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and purify your hearts, you double minded.
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Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning
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and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the
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Lord and He will lift you up. Now, Pastor, you've gotten a
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little off course. And we were much more invested
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in that Airbnb story. My apologies.
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One of the issues we had with Airbnb was that it got cancelled
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on us once again couple weeks out.
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This was a couple years ago and the property manager called me
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on my cell phone and he's like, I'm the property manager for
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your Airbnb at the end of the month.
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And I was like, OK, what's wrong and how can we fix it?
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And he was caught off guard. And I was like, I know, I know
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something was going to go wrong. It's OK.
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Just tell me what the plan is moving forward.
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And he was so taken aback that I didn't curse him out that he
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ended up sharing his whole life story.
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I, I forget the exact night, but I ended up being in the car on
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the phone with him for like 40 minutes as he shared his whole
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history of growing up in the church.
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And then stepping away from the church, feeling like God's
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calling him back into it. And how whenever he's hosting
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people that go to the Passion Conference, they are holy and
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set apart from those of the world.
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And so my, my willingness to yield, I wasn't saying, OK, I'll
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go find another one. Like, no, you're going to fix
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this. And I'm going to try my best to
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extend the love and grace of our Lord in the process of it.
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I believe you can be discontent with how things are run.
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Continue to seek correction without anger and hatred
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stirring in your heart. We will never be fully content
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with an Airbnb or with our country.
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It will never have all of our preferences and it would be
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silly to put so much weight and tie so much importance to a
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place that is temporary, just like an Airbnb, to change the
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bedding softness and paint colour and all of these things
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for a place we're going to stay in for three nights when it is
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not our home. And I'm always excited to go
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home after Passion. I'm getting very old.
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I take my own pillows. I take a little bit of home.
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Right. You're seeing the connection to
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the Airbnb. But it's always worth it to go
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to Passion because there is a reason why we go to Passion.
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The heartbeat verse of the Passion Conference ever since
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its inception almost 30 years ago is Isaiah 26.
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Eight. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of
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your laws, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the
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desire of our hearts. Reminds me of Paul when he says
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to live is Christ and to die is gain.
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We're called to be Christ in this lifetime.
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That we would walk in his ways and we would not seek the
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lifting of our name and renowned, but that the desire of
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our hearts would be for his name and renowned.
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And as we wait for the Lord, I'm going to save that for the
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podcast Discernment, Discernment.
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It may not be everyone's heart right outside of the church
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especially, but also inside of the church to put His ways
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before our own. But as believers, it should be
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even if we are in exile from the land that has promised us, just
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like the Israelites, we still have a responsibility in the
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exile. And I will leave you with this
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message from God to the Israelites while they were in
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exile from Jeremiah 29 that I believe still is important for
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us today. This is what the Lord of
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Heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives
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he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem.
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Build homes and plan to stay. Plant gardens and eat the food
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they produce. Marry and have children, then
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find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren.
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Multiply, do not dwindle away, and work for the peace and
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prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile.
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Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your
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welfare. This is what the Lord of
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Heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says.
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Do not let your prophets and fortune tellers who are with you
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in the land of Babylon trick you.
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Do not listen to their dreams because they are telling you
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lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the
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Lord. This is what the Lord says.
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You will be in Babylon for 70 years, but then I will come and
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do for all the good things I have promised you, and I will
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bring you home again, for I know the plans I have for you, says
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the Lord. They are plans for good and not
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for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
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In those days. When you pray, I will listen.
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If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find
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me. I will be found by you, says the
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Lord. I will end your captivity and
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restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the
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nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own
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land. We have a lot of dreams and
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fortunes and things sold as the end all be all.
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It's not of God. Would we be good stewards of the
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time and the place that He has entrusted us with and the work
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that He is doing in the world until He comes back again?
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Let us pray. Lord, would Your Spirit guide us
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as we are in exile until You call us home?
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Lord, we know that You desire for us to bring heaven to earth.
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Would You show us what that looks like, not only our
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participation in our democratic system, but how we can bring
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heaven to earth to our neighbors, to our loved ones, to
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our community, knowing that it can only be completed in you.
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We thank you and praise you for this time together in your
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house. Would we be 1 body submitted
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before you for your name and your renown.
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We ask this all in the Holy name of Jesus Christ, Amen.