1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,920 My name is Greg Hampton. I'm one of the pastors here at the house. If we've never 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:11,680 met I would love to meet you, buy you a coffee, lunch, go bowling. I don't know. What are you into? 3 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:21,000 We are wrapping up our series called The Church Called Tough next Sunday. We'll be 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,560 wrapping that up, but today looks at kind of like the last chapter, the topic of 5 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:30,640 the last chapter. We're not like, none of these sermons have been book reports. If 6 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,920 you read the book you're gonna be like, oh they said stuff that wasn't in there. 7 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:40,360 That's not the point. The point is to to jump off of these topics. The word tov is 8 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:45,560 a Hebrew word that means good. If you read the creation account at the 9 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:51,200 beginning of the scriptures on page one and two, it says that every time something 10 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,840 was created that God said that this is good, but when it got to humanity God 11 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:03,520 said this is very good. That word is tov, good. The reality is that we were created 12 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:10,960 good and we still are good. God put that in us. It is the beginning of who we are. 13 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:17,520 So far we have covered the topics of nurturing empathy and resisting a 14 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:23,200 narcissistic culture of nurturing grace, resisting a fear-based 15 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,760 culture. We've talked about putting people first, telling the truth, and 16 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:36,920 nurturing a culture of justice and service that avoids creating celebrities 17 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:44,560 out of the pastors or out of the people that do the most, right? In the book the 18 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:50,160 last chapter of a church called tov culminates in talking about how there 19 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:55,280 should be a culture that nurtures Christ likeness and resists just having a 20 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:59,120 leadership culture. I'm not going to focus on the leadership stuff because 21 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,400 I've already touched on that a bunch throughout the point, but what I want to 22 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:09,240 do is I want to focus in on what it means to be Christ-like. It seems to be 23 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:14,200 like it should be obvious that if you're a Christian, if you're a church that are 24 00:02:14,200 --> 00:02:21,680 full of Christians, that you should be Christ-like. You should be like Jesus. 25 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:27,320 C.S. Lewis is famous for having said this in mere Christianity. He says every 26 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,240 Christian is to become a little Christ. The whole purpose of becoming a 27 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:38,040 Christian is simply nothing else. Now here's the thing. I'm not sure that 28 00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:45,560 Jesus like or like Jesus is how most Americans would describe most churches. 29 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:53,280 I'm sorry? Like it's alright. Public polling on trust from the year 2023, 30 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:58,360 which is the year we're in, shows that organized religion in America ranks just 31 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:04,960 barely higher than banks and public schools and lower than hospitals and the 32 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:12,680 police. 32% of Americans say that they trust the church, that they trust 33 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:21,200 organized religion a little less than a third of the people you see every day. 34 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:27,520 What's weird about that stat is that 60% of Americans say that they've committed 35 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:35,840 their lives to Jesus, but only 32% of Americans say that they trust 36 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:45,640 organized religion. The church that was formed because of Jesus, because people 37 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:52,720 believed in Jesus, has such a small amount of trust. Historically speaking, 38 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:58,800 churches have created and then denied racism, justified capitalism and war, 39 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:05,640 propped up the patriarchy and misogyny, protected the powerful, and judged people 40 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:13,600 for who they love. But is that Christ-like? I want to read you a story 41 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:21,200 today in the scriptures that I have never preached on. Not once, ten years of 42 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:26,720 pastoring this church, and to my best of my recollection, not once in the 23 years 43 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:31,760 that I have been a pastor have I ever preached this passage. And I'll tell you 44 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:41,160 why at the end, but let's first open our Bibles to John chapter 8. John chapter 45 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,200 8. If you don't have a Bible of your own, we have physical Bibles out in the lobby. 46 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:48,920 You can take one, they're blue, they're on the bookshelf. Otherwise you can 47 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:54,840 download a Bible from any of the digital app stores. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, 48 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:58,800 John, Acts, Romans. See any of those, you know you're in the right neighborhood. And 49 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:04,000 I'm gonna be reading from the new international readers version. We have a 50 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,500 tradition around here to give the scriptures our best attention when they 51 00:05:09,500 --> 00:05:13,120 get read at this part of the service. You can do that any way that makes the most 52 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:17,080 sense to you. If you'd like to stand with me as I read scriptures as you are able, 53 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:23,840 you are also invited to do that. So this is John chapter 8 starting in verse 1. It 54 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:30,680 says, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At sunrise he arrived again in 55 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:35,200 the temple courtyard. All the people gathered around him there. He sat down to 56 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:39,360 teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman she 57 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,360 had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of the group. 58 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:48,760 They said to Jesus, teach this woman, teacher, this woman was caught sleeping 59 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,480 with a man who was not her husband. In the law, Moses commanded us to kill such 60 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:59,280 women by throwing stones at them. Now what do you say? They were trying to 61 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:04,280 trap Jesus with that question. They wanted to have a reason to bring charges 62 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:09,280 against him, but Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his 63 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:14,920 finger. They kept asking him questions, so he stood up and said to them, has any one 64 00:06:14,920 --> 00:06:20,200 of you not sinned, then you be the first to throw a stone on her. He bent down 65 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:25,960 again and wrote, on the ground those who heard what he had said began to go away. 66 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:32,280 They left one at a time. The older ones first. Soon only Jesus was left. The woman 67 00:06:32,280 --> 00:06:36,520 was still standing there. Jesus stood up and asked her, woman, where are they? 68 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:42,800 Hasn't anyone found you guilty? No one sir, she said. Then I don't find you 69 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:51,280 guilty either, Jesus said. Go now and leave your life of sin. Let us pray. God 70 00:06:51,280 --> 00:06:56,920 of every tribe, every tongue, every color, every nation, we thank you for the 71 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:03,280 scriptures, that they exist, that they have persisted throughout the millennia, 72 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:09,320 and I pray that whatever you have to show us today, that it would stick, that 73 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,600 it would become a part of the framework of our faith, that our faith would become 74 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:22,400 stronger, that we would become more like your son Jesus. Amen. You can have a seat. 75 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:30,520 Alright, so back in the first century in Israel, towns, a lot of towns, most towns 76 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:36,840 had what's called a synagogue, like a little local church for Judaism. So 77 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:41,800 imagine like, so if we had grown up Jewish, this would be a 78 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,640 synagogue rather than just generically a church. Matter of fact, back then there 79 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:57,920 was as many as 400 synagogues in just Jerusalem, but there was only one temple, 80 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:07,720 and only certain people could go into certain parts of the temple. But then on 81 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:13,160 the temple property, inside the walls of the temple mounts, if you go to Jerusalem, 82 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:19,240 imagine that this, like there's a big wall, all stone wall, and that this is all 83 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:23,800 elevated, and there would have been a temple right here with a wall around it, 84 00:08:23,800 --> 00:08:27,160 and there would have been a court in here called the court of women. It didn't mean 85 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:31,080 only women could go, it just meant that that was as far as they could go. And in 86 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,200 this place, this is where the priests would do other things, the holy of 87 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:41,000 holies, and then, but all this mount had a wall around it, and this mount was 88 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:44,120 what was called the court of Gentiles, which meant it was basically where 89 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:49,960 anybody could go. Think about it like this, it would be like Christians saying 90 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:54,720 that this room that we're in right now, that the sanctuary isn't only reserved 91 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:59,600 just for Christians, but it's only for pastors and leaders. Get out! Jen can stay. 92 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,640 Chris, just the three of us, we're gonna have church? No, that's what it'd be like. 93 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,520 And then the lobby right out there, that would be where you guys could go listen 94 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:13,520 on the speakers out there, maybe watch on your phones. And then the parking lot, 95 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,560 because the parking lot is still part of this property, the parking lot would be 96 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:23,080 that court of Gentiles, where anybody could go no matter what, but you got 97 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:26,960 everybody, and then you got the Christians, and then you got just the 98 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:30,240 leaders. That's the way if we use the same thinking, that's the way that it 99 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:36,800 would be applied. So now imagine this, you pull up to this property, to this church 100 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:42,760 building on a sunny summer morning, just imagine it now, you know, the weather's 101 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:47,120 pretty nice this week so far, but it was really cold last week, so just imagine 102 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:53,440 that, that sunny summer, whether it's not too hot, but it's one of those Sundays at 103 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:56,880 the Expo Center is also doing an event, they're having like a fishing and 104 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,440 hunting event, or something like you've seen all the billboards, and so you're 105 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,880 getting here and the parking lot's already kind of starting to fill up, 106 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:10,720 because they've started to also park in this building's parking lot, and there's 107 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,520 a bunch of different people, people that you don't, you don't know if they're here 108 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:19,560 for that, or if they're here for this, you don't recognize a lot of people, and 109 00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:26,040 then you see Jesus. Yes, I'm pulling Jesus out of first century, physically 110 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,480 putting him here in our parking lot. Isn't that great? Tell everybody the house 111 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:35,720 has Jesus. So you see Jesus, he's teaching outside for some reason, he's teaching 112 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:41,160 over next to the building, and there's a crowd that's starting to form around him, 113 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,400 you can't quite hear what he's saying, but you think, oh maybe he's giving that 114 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,400 whole Fisher's and Men's sermon because of the fishing and hunting event, oh 115 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:52,480 he's doing a little tie-in kind of thing. Either way, you're in, because Jesus is 116 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,720 your favorite teacher, so you, you get the folding chair and the umbrella just in 117 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,960 case it gets too sunny out of your trunk, and you go and you pull up his feet, and 118 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:09,000 you pop a squat. All is well in the world, you've got Jesus and some vitamin D, 119 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:17,640 you're chill, you're happy, then you hear a scuffle behind you. First you, you ignore 120 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:22,920 it, but it's getting louder, you're thinking, can't these heathens see I'm 121 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:29,920 trying to listen to Jesus? As the commotion gets louder, you see someone 122 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:37,240 start breaking in through the crowd, a bunch of guys going up front, it's a whole 123 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:42,200 group of guys, and they've got this young lady with them that looks as hungover as 124 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:48,960 you have ever seen someone look hungover. Turns out last night, Wake Brewery, right 125 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:53,280 over there, the bar across the street, had a big event with metal bands and food 126 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:59,160 trucks, and these guys, they're, they're Christians that went to picket, well 127 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,560 they called it evangelism, but they're, they were holding signs that said things 128 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:10,920 like, start praying now or you'll still be screaming later. They didn't think the 129 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:16,720 city needs another bar, especially not one with death metal and bands. Now these 130 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:21,840 guys were so dedicated, they stayed and prayed all night long, and in their 131 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:27,080 grogginess, in the night, in the, in the morning, right around the same time that 132 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:33,800 you got here, they happened to find a young lady, colored up with a married guy 133 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,320 in the back seat of his parked car. How did they know he was married? I don't 134 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:42,840 know, but they woke them up by tapping on the window with their Bibles. When they 135 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:49,080 heard Jesus was teaching in the parking lot across the street, they knew exactly 136 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:53,960 what they were gonna do. When she finally got out of the car, they, they dragged her 137 00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:58,000 over in front of everyone, they were hollering, Jesus, you need to stop talking 138 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:04,200 so much about sheep and start talking about sin. This girl's probably under 21, 139 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:08,280 she's hungover. We found her sleeping with the guy in the back seat of his car, 140 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:12,040 and we're pretty sure he was a married, married Jesus, because he drove off as 141 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:21,400 fast as he could when she got out. Jesus, the Old Testament says that we can stone 142 00:13:21,400 --> 00:13:25,000 this girl. Someone in the back of the crowd says, I think she's probably a 143 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:32,880 little stoned right now. There's an awkward chuckle across the crowd. They 144 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:40,880 said, Jesus, even you have said that to even look at someone with lustful intent 145 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:47,440 is to commit adultery. So what do you say? Because we're ready to ruin her life. 146 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:54,800 We're gonna post pictures of her sleeping with this guy on the internet. At 147 00:13:54,800 --> 00:14:02,800 this point, she's just crying, but quietly. There's ripples of rumors and chatter 148 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:08,440 sweeping across the crowd, and her accusers just keep on asking, so what's 149 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:15,560 it gonna be, Jesus? You're gonna contradict Moses or yourself? But Jesus 150 00:14:15,560 --> 00:14:19,880 doesn't say anything. He just picks up some sidewalk chalk that was outside for 151 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:27,400 the kids, and he kneels down, and he starts riding things on the ground, and 152 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:35,160 they just keep pushing. Come on, Jesus, justify our anger. Co-sign our sanctimony. 153 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:40,880 Finally, Jesus stands back up, and they quiet down just enough to hear him almost 154 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:54,200 whisper. He says, anyone that has no sin, stone away. And he knelt back down, and he 155 00:14:54,200 --> 00:15:03,120 just keeps riding right out here in this parking lot. Only now do the accusers 156 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:08,640 start to read what Jesus had been scribbling on the asphalt. You can't 157 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:15,240 really get a good look at it, so you're not really sure what it says, but for some 158 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:22,000 reason, them, they, all of them, they shut down their phones, and one by one they 159 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:27,600 sleek back through the audience, through the crowd, like Homer Simpson going into 160 00:15:27,600 --> 00:15:37,840 a bush. Anyone catch that? And they're all gone. Suddenly, they just leave. Young 161 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:43,480 lady, she's still standing there. Now, in front of the original crowd of people 162 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:52,240 that had gathered to listen to Jesus, and then Jesus says to her, just loud 163 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,600 enough that you can hear, young lady, where'd they go? 164 00:15:56,600 --> 00:16:05,440 Is there anyone left that thinks that you're guilty? And you pause. You, you 165 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:14,680 pause, and you think to yourself, do I think that she's guilty? And you wonder 166 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:21,200 if maybe Jesus wasn't just saying that to her, she was asking everyone else that 167 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:32,960 was still there. And she says, I guess not. Jesus says, yeah, me neither. You, you 168 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:45,720 should go home. But you can leave any sin you have behind here with me. What does 169 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:57,640 it mean to be Christ-like? You have to ask the question, what is Jesus like? I 170 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:04,120 think he's empathetic and gracious. He remembers that people are just that 171 00:17:04,120 --> 00:17:11,520 people. He tells the truth. He serves the person in front of him with a justice 172 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:19,400 that is married to mercy. Listen, if I had to give you one story from all the 173 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:25,440 scriptures that describe what the Father is like, I'd say it's the parable of the 174 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:30,800 prodigal son. And if I had to give you one story from the scriptures that 175 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:39,360 described you what Jesus is like, it's this. Churches were full of people like 176 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:49,360 this Jesus. I doubt that only 32% of people would trust them. Amen? Okay, Greg 177 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:54,680 Bitt, this is what Jesus is like. Why have you never preached a single sermon from 178 00:17:54,680 --> 00:18:03,440 this passage? I'll tell you why. Because this passage, this story, it's not in the 179 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:12,760 original version of John. Dun dun dun. What do I mean? What do I mean that it 180 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:19,080 wasn't in the original? I mean, in the earliest manuscripts, the copies of the 181 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,640 scriptures that we have, in the earliest versions that we have, this story isn't 182 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:29,000 there. Matter of fact, it doesn't start showing up until the 300s. John is 183 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,200 thought to have been written around 100. This doesn't start showing up until the 184 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:42,600 300s. It's what's called an interpolation. By definition, an entry or passage in a 185 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:49,520 text that wasn't written by the original authors. I want you to think about it 186 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:54,840 like this. Follow me in one more. Let's say that you're a historian, okay? You're 187 00:18:54,840 --> 00:19:00,800 like just really down with history. You just love history. And you have been 188 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:10,280 assigned to copy down the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Now, this story 189 00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:16,480 matters to you a lot because your grandmother was there. She was a freedom 190 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:23,080 writer. She was at the rallies. She met Dr. King a hundred times. You grew up 191 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:29,240 hearing her stories of Dr. King and now you, you have the job that you get to 192 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:35,600 write these stories down. You get to copy down the definitive anthology of Dr. King's 193 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,520 life. Most of these stories, as you're writing them down and making the copies, 194 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:46,440 you already know them because grandma told you all these stories already. Then 195 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:54,840 you realize that there's a story missing. You realize that her favorite story is 196 00:19:54,840 --> 00:20:01,920 missing. You trust your grandma. All the other stories that she told you were 197 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:11,800 there confirming that what she had told you was true. And so what do you do? You 198 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:19,880 add it in. And then thousands of copies later, 50 years later, that story, her 199 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:30,500 story has become his story. Somewhere along the line in the time between when 200 00:20:30,500 --> 00:20:41,480 John was originally written and when this story got added, people became 201 00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:49,160 convinced that it belonged. Some of you would say like, well why isn't, I used to 202 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,760 think that it should just be taken out. That's why I've never preached on it. 203 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,480 Because I thought, well it wasn't there in the beginning. It should just be taken out and then there 204 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:00,880 isn't any confusion. If you open up a physical Bible right now, almost every 205 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:05,360 version of your Bible, I don't know of a version that doesn't have this in it, but 206 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:09,560 most versions have it in italics or brackets. At the bottom there's a little 207 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:15,400 star that explains that this story wasn't in the oldest versions of John 208 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:20,640 that we have. And I used to think, well it should just be taken out. And it has 209 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:27,760 taken until now for me to realize that this story getting added later is the 210 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:35,880 best reason to say that this is the best story of what Jesus is like. Why? Because 211 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:41,200 way back then, someone heard this story in the hundreds. Someone heard this story 212 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:46,160 in the two hundreds. Maybe it was even passed down by John, by the author of the 213 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:52,040 book of John to his disciples. And they saw later, man we need to add that to the 214 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:57,560 Bible. That story we've been telling, it's our favorite story. It fits in with the 215 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:02,040 character of who Jesus is. Part of the reason that it's still in the Bibles that 216 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:07,000 you look like, is that scholars and theologians agree that it does not 217 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:13,800 disagree or grate against anything else that we know about Jesus. They accept the 218 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:19,840 idea that it might be a real story that happened that got added later along the 219 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:24,120 way. And so let me ask you, don't we all wish we had a story about Jesus that so 220 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:34,080 perfectly showed us who he is that we would add it to the Bible? Shouldn't we 221 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:42,320 all hope to have a story about Jesus that so perfectly explains who Jesus is, 222 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:52,960 that you would want everybody to know that story. A story where we experienced 223 00:22:52,960 --> 00:23:01,120 Jesus in such a meaningful way. We want everyone to hear it, because we know that 224 00:23:01,120 --> 00:23:10,360 that is exactly Jesus. It's like a story, like a vulnerable woman shoved in front 225 00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:18,880 of a crowd of people by the religious elites, being crushed by judgment and 226 00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:27,680 legalism, but being met by empathy and grace and justice that was married to 227 00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:34,480 mercy. A story where the stuck-up religious snobs are silenced. A story 228 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:39,280 where a crowd full of people, some that didn't even plan on being there that day, 229 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:45,120 got to see that Jesus didn't condemn someone condemned by others. A story 230 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:59,160 where you learned that just maybe Jesus won't condemn you either. Maybe, maybe just 231 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:07,880 maybe we can be a safe church, a trustworthy church, a church that nurtures 232 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:17,400 Christ-like character as we become like Jesus. Not only putting down stones, 233 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:27,240 leading others to put down theirs as well. As we tell people the stories of 234 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:33,920 who Jesus is and what he's like. As we listen to the stories that each other 235 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:45,280 tells, as we become more like Jesus. Amen? 236 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:48,280 Let's pray. 237 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:56,080 God, every single week that I get to preach, I always thank you for the 238 00:24:56,080 --> 00:25:04,280 scriptures. And today in a new way I thank you for this story. 239 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:23,800 I pray that each one of us would be reminded of a story about Jesus. Everyone 240 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:33,920 should know. Everyone should hear. If they just knew this story they would know what 241 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,520 you really like. 242 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:49,160 I pray that story would encourage our hearts as we remember it. And I pray that we 243 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:54,800 would find the words of that story coming out of our mouths and landing in 244 00:25:54,800 --> 00:26:01,960 the ears of the people around us. Whether it's something that happened to 245 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:09,800 us directly or if it's just a story that's in the Bible that maybe someone 246 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:17,600 already heard before. This is why this is so meaningful to me. Help us to be like 247 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:27,720 your son. Let your Holy Spirit guide us. Lead us. Jesus dwell within us. Make us 248 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:34,040 like you. Amen.