Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E126 | Everyday Eurasia |  Chad Gibbons

Transcript

S1-E126 | Everyday Eurasia |  Chad Gibbons · 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'll be journeying together with Chet Gibbons.
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  Chet serves as the Nestwing Discipleship International
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  Coordinator for the Eurasia Region.
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  As a missionary, he lives and serves alongside his wife
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  Crystal from the regional office in Business, Germany.
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  We will take a look together at the five core principles of MDI.
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  Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
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  Am IA slave to my dress, my friends, my work, or my habits?
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  Did the Bible live in me today? Did I give it time to speak to
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  me today? Did I pray today?
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  Do I pray about the money I spend?
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  Am I proud? These are very personal
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  questions. I'm reading some questions that
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  John Wesley's class meetings would ask themselves as they
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  met. John Wesley is one of our
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  theological forebears. John Wesley would go from church
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  to church and around the countryside and around the
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  world, and wherever he went, he would create what he called
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  class meetings. You could think of them like
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  small groups, small groups of Christians that got together and
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  ask themselves those very serious questions that I asked
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  at the beginning. Is Christ real to me?
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  Am I thanking God? And the purpose of that is to
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  get into a deep relationship with one another and be honest
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  with one another about our walk with Christ.
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  This week we're looking at the five core principles of NDI, and
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  we're reminding ourselves that NDI stands.
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  It's just an acronym. That's not important.
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  The important thing is it stands for Nazarene Discipleship
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  International. It's the whole reason that the
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  church exists to make disciples and we're looking at these 5
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  core principles. Yesterday we looked at
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  intentional mentoring and equipping and today I want to
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  talk about authentic relationships.
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  James 516 says confess your sins to each other and pray for each
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  other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person
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  is powerful and effective. In order to have an authentic
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  relationship with God our Father, we have to be honest
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  about who we are and what we've done, and we have to not escape
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  that. We have to take ownership of it.
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  And so we come to Him and in repentance.
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  But this authentic relationship is so important to our
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  discipleship as well. If we are going to be brothers
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  and sisters in Christ, we need to have an authentic
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  relationship with one another and it's a shame that the church
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  is not known for authentic relationships.
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  Unfortunately, nowadays the church is known as a place where
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  people go to not be authentic. We have messy lives and we try
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  to clean ourselves up for Sunday when we get together.
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  The church shouldn't be like that.
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  Church should be a place where we can have real, authentic
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  relationships, where we can ask one another, where the whole
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  world is being superficial and shallow, that we can ask each
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  other important questions. How is your soul doing?
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  How is your relationship with God doing?
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  If we can't have that atmosphere in our churches, where can we
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  have it? If we don't have that, we need
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  to get together in groups where we can ask one another.
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  How is it going with your soul? And here's how you can pray for
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  me. I feel like I'm being too proud.
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  I struggle with prayer. And through this openness, we
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  can form real, authentic relationships where we truly
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  care for, love one another in Christ, help one another,
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  support one another, and grow together as Christ like
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  disciples. Let's pray.
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  Lord, I thank you that whoever calls upon the name of Christ
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  will in no wise be cast out as you say.
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  But if we confess our sins to you, you are faithful and just
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  to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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  Lord, this wonderful freedom that we have in you to come
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  before you in openness and and honesty.
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  Lord, help us to create and foster these relationships among
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  our brothers and sisters as well, where we can love and
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  truly love one another because we know that we are just sinners
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  who have been forgiven by you and we have no pride and no
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  judgement to give anyone else because you've tooken that
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  you've taken all of that already from us.
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  Help us to foster authentic relationships in our churches.
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  Help our churches be known for places where people, for once in
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  their life, can finally be real with themselves and with you and
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  with each other, in Jesus name, 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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  Facebook and Instagram, or our newsletter Snapshots.
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.