WEBVTT 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:06.700 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:09.140 Sermons. This week we're launching a brand new 00:00:09.140 --> 00:00:12.480 teaching series called This is the Way. But what 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.320 is the way? What are we following? What are we 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:20.100 chasing? Everybody is chasing something. Maybe 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:22.699 it's a career. Maybe it's a dream. Maybe you're 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.839 following a set of rules and expectations. But 00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:28.320 what would it look like to follow the way of 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:30.780 Jesus? That's what we're going to start exploring 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:33.320 today and continue throughout the rest of Lent. 00:00:38.199 --> 00:00:41.159 Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 00:00:41.159 --> 00:00:46.960 1, verses 9 to 20. In those days, Jesus came 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.020 from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by 00:00:51.020 --> 00:00:54.579 John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of 00:00:54.579 --> 00:00:57.140 the water, immediately he saw the heavens being 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:00.240 torn open and the Spirit descending on him like 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:09.739 a dove. And a voice came from heaven. The Spirit 00:01:09.739 --> 00:01:12.040 immediately drove him out into the wilderness, 00:01:12.379 --> 00:01:15.439 and he was in the wilderness forty days being 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:19.280 tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, 00:01:19.340 --> 00:01:24.040 and the angels were ministering to him. Now, 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:27.840 after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:31.609 proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The 00:01:31.609 --> 00:01:34.269 time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is 00:01:34.269 --> 00:01:40.670 at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Passing 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:44.510 alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and 00:01:44.510 --> 00:01:47.250 Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net into 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:50.969 the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said 00:01:50.969 --> 00:01:54.170 to them, Follow me, and I will make you become 00:01:54.170 --> 00:01:57.790 fishers of men. And immediately they left their 00:01:57.790 --> 00:02:02.299 nets and followed him. And going on a little 00:02:02.299 --> 00:02:05.459 farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:08.360 John, his brother, who were in their boat mending 00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:12.560 the nets. And immediately he called them, and 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.960 they left their father Zebedee in the boat with 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:18.800 a hired servant and followed him. The word of 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:21.860 the Lord. In the good old days when someone called 00:02:21.860 --> 00:02:23.580 you on your phone, you didn't know who it was. 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:27.159 You just had to take your chances and you answered. 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.120 Now, of course, today we look down and we have 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:32.979 caller ID and that kind of gives us some indication 00:02:32.979 --> 00:02:35.740 of, you know, the person that is calling and 00:02:35.740 --> 00:02:39.099 therefore we're able to respond based on who 00:02:39.099 --> 00:02:41.300 we know that person is. So, for example, if your 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:44.479 spouse were to call, you can pick up and you 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:47.539 can say, hey, honey, how's it going? And if you 00:02:47.539 --> 00:02:49.500 can see that it's one of your children, You can 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:52.599 say, hey. kiddo, what's up right away? You know, 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:55.280 if let's say it's your, you know, your ex -boyfriend 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:58.060 that's calling, it allows you to answer and say, 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:00.479 what do you want? Right? First off, it's a power 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.740 move right from the very beginning. Or maybe 00:03:03.740 --> 00:03:05.960 it's the bishop calling. Has that ever happened 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:07.680 to you? In which case you're like, you can sit 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:09.840 up straight, take a deep breath and say, hello, 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:12.400 it's Robert Herkman speaking to, you know, what 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.900 do I owe this pleasure, bishop? Right? So you 00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:18.680 can tailor your answer depending on who you know 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:21.120 is calling. calling. And for, you know, you would 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.979 never, for example, want to, your ex -boyfriend 00:03:23.979 --> 00:03:26.180 is calling and pick up and say, hi, honey, you 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:28.400 wouldn't want to do that. And if the bishop calls, 00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:29.939 you don't want to pick up and say, what do you 00:03:29.939 --> 00:03:32.900 want, right? But so the thing is, the way you 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.419 categorize the caller enables you to respond 00:03:36.419 --> 00:03:39.919 to them in a certain way. Well, the same is true 00:03:39.919 --> 00:03:44.580 of Jesus. The way you categorize Jesus determines 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:49.080 how you respond to Jesus. Hmm, you say. Well, 00:03:49.099 --> 00:03:52.139 here's what I mean about that. So say, for example, 00:03:52.729 --> 00:03:56.509 You believe that Jesus is a crazy lunatic sort 00:03:56.509 --> 00:03:59.210 of person. Well, then your response to Jesus 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:01.469 is going to be kind of to laugh him off. Oh, 00:04:01.469 --> 00:04:04.949 this guy is off his rocker, right? Let's say 00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:08.189 instead you categorize Jesus as a liar. He's 00:04:08.189 --> 00:04:11.169 this person who is deceiving people and going 00:04:11.169 --> 00:04:14.310 around and he's a con man of sorts. Well, if 00:04:14.310 --> 00:04:16.490 that's the category you put Jesus in, then the 00:04:16.490 --> 00:04:19.170 appropriate response for you is to hate this 00:04:19.170 --> 00:04:22.300 guy because he's totally deceiving people. manipulating 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:24.879 people. Now, on the other hand, if you were to 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:27.279 categorize Jesus as a myth, this is just some 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:29.879 made -up guy, a legend, a fictional character, 00:04:30.220 --> 00:04:32.899 then the appropriate response to that would be 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:36.740 to ignore him, right? Because it's just a story 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:39.620 like so many other stories. If you were to put 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:43.399 Jesus in the category of God, then the appropriate 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:47.120 response for that would be for you to fall down 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:50.600 and worship this Lord of the universe that has 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:56.759 shown up in the form of Jesus, okay? But, so... 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:00.189 So if there's some of us here this morning, and 00:05:00.189 --> 00:05:02.250 you might be like, well, no, I'm not exactly 00:05:02.250 --> 00:05:05.290 sure what category I would put Jesus in. In fact, 00:05:05.329 --> 00:05:07.230 I think some of you would say, I do think he's 00:05:07.230 --> 00:05:10.490 crazy, or I do think he's a myth, or some of 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:13.029 you are convinced that he's God. And so that 00:05:13.029 --> 00:05:15.129 allows you to respond to him in different ways. 00:05:15.189 --> 00:05:17.209 And there's others of you who you're not sure 00:05:17.209 --> 00:05:19.329 which category to put Jesus in right now, and 00:05:19.329 --> 00:05:21.430 that's okay. But what that means is that you 00:05:21.430 --> 00:05:24.949 maybe don't know exactly how to respond to Jesus 00:05:24.949 --> 00:05:27.319 on this Sunday morning. You don't know the kind 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:30.279 of person that you're dealing with. But if you 00:05:30.279 --> 00:05:34.240 had encountered Jesus 2 ,000 years ago, the category 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:37.639 that you would have put him in was the category 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:42.100 of rabbi. And rabbi is a Jewish word for teacher. 00:05:42.259 --> 00:05:44.759 And by the way, out of the 90 conversations that 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.259 Jesus has with people in the Gospels, in 60 of 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:52.360 those conversations, the people refer to Jesus 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.589 as a rabbi. And so really that is... the category 00:05:56.589 --> 00:05:59.930 that Jesus was in in those days. He was a young, 00:06:00.050 --> 00:06:02.110 he was brilliant, he was a little bit radical. 00:06:02.290 --> 00:06:06.769 He was a rabbi from Nazareth. So here's the question. 00:06:06.829 --> 00:06:09.370 If that's the category you put Jesus in, then 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:11.470 what is the response? What is the response to 00:06:11.470 --> 00:06:14.269 a rabbi? Is it to laugh at him? Is it to hate 00:06:14.269 --> 00:06:16.850 him? No, it's not to ignore him. It's certainly 00:06:16.850 --> 00:06:20.430 not to worship him. That's not what you do to 00:06:20.430 --> 00:06:24.970 a rabbi. What you do to a rabbi is you follow. 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:30.670 him. You follow a rabbi. The proper response 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:36.490 to a rabbi was to follow him. And that is exactly 00:06:36.490 --> 00:06:41.189 what we see people doing with Jesus. So for example, 00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:43.610 Jesus is walking along the seashore and he sees 00:06:43.610 --> 00:06:47.189 Simon and Andrew and he says to them, hey, follow 00:06:47.189 --> 00:06:49.709 me. And guess what? They get up and they follow 00:06:49.709 --> 00:06:51.209 him. Why do they follow him? Because that's what 00:06:51.209 --> 00:06:55.170 you do to a rabbi, right? Another time, Jesus 00:06:55.170 --> 00:06:57.470 is walking along and he sees a man named Levi 00:06:57.470 --> 00:07:00.610 sitting at a tax booth, collecting taxes. And 00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:03.629 he says, to Levi he says Levi follow me and Levi 00:07:03.629 --> 00:07:06.689 got up and followed him well why would Levi do 00:07:06.689 --> 00:07:10.069 that because that's what you do for a rabbi, 00:07:10.069 --> 00:07:12.449 when a rabbi invites you, you know, and then 00:07:12.449 --> 00:07:15.290 there's, you know, other disciples, like in John's 00:07:15.290 --> 00:07:18.709 gospel, when Andrew and John start following 00:07:18.709 --> 00:07:20.610 Jesus, they start following Jesus, and Jesus 00:07:20.610 --> 00:07:23.029 turns around and says, hey, what do you want, 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:24.569 right? He picks up the phone, what do you want? 00:07:25.050 --> 00:07:28.589 And they say, rabbi, right? They're following 00:07:28.589 --> 00:07:31.449 him because they see him as a rabbi, and that's 00:07:31.449 --> 00:07:34.949 what you do for a rabbi. In fact, even in Jesus' 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:37.009 own words, Jesus says, listen, whoever wants 00:07:37.009 --> 00:07:40.040 to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:44.759 up their cross and follow me. So it's fair. If 00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:47.339 you think Jesus is a lunatic, if you think he's 00:07:47.339 --> 00:07:49.199 a legend, if you think he's a liar, if you think 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:51.399 he's the Lord, you can follow him, you can hate 00:07:51.399 --> 00:07:53.839 him, you can love him, you can ignore him, whatever. 00:07:54.180 --> 00:07:57.720 But the thing to understand is Jesus truly fit 00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:01.420 the category in those days of a rabbi. And that 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:05.839 response was therefore to follow him, to follow 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.879 him. Okay, so this Lent, we're doing this teaching 00:08:09.879 --> 00:08:12.660 series all through Lent called This is the Way. 00:08:12.860 --> 00:08:15.660 And we began on Ash Wednesday. And by the way, 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:17.160 if you missed what we talked about on Ash Wednesday, 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.639 I would encourage you to go swing over to YouTube 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.860 or go to this website, trinitystreetsville .org 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:25.339 slash this is the way. That's where we're going 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:27.240 to put all the material that emerges throughout 00:08:27.240 --> 00:08:30.579 this series. But what we're going to see throughout 00:08:30.579 --> 00:08:35.039 this is that Jesus's invitation for us is not 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.669 just an invitation. invitation to say, hey, believe 00:08:37.669 --> 00:08:41.289 in me and I will show you a way to get to heaven. 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:46.110 No, his invitation is to follow me and I will 00:08:46.110 --> 00:08:50.730 show you a way to live your life right here and 00:08:50.730 --> 00:08:53.269 right now. So if you're one of those people and 00:08:53.269 --> 00:08:55.730 you feel like you've lost your way in life, or 00:08:55.730 --> 00:08:57.950 if you're out there and you're looking for a 00:08:57.950 --> 00:09:00.809 way of life, Jesus comes along and he says, this 00:09:00.809 --> 00:09:05.600 is the way. Let me show you a way to live your 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:09.139 life. Now, here is something truly fascinating. 00:09:09.460 --> 00:09:13.460 If you go back to the very beginning of, you 00:09:13.460 --> 00:09:15.879 know, before there was any such thing called 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:19.320 Christianity or Christians, people were calling 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:22.019 the Jesus followers by another name. They were 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:27.019 calling them the way, the way or followers of 00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:30.899 the way. So, for example, when Paul was out there 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:33.799 hunting down Christians, oh, wait a second, sorry. 00:09:34.460 --> 00:09:36.720 He wasn't hunting down Christians because there 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:39.120 was no such thing as Christians. What he was 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:42.879 hunting down were followers of the way, right? 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:46.059 That's what he called them. Or when Christians 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:49.519 caused this great big riot in Ephesus. Oh, again, 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:51.000 I'm sorry. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.519 because there were no such thing as Christians 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:54.740 in those days. It wasn't Christians that caused 00:09:54.740 --> 00:10:00.100 that riot. It was the followers of the way. right? 00:10:00.100 --> 00:10:04.259 Even judges and officials like Felix, they knew 00:10:04.259 --> 00:10:06.279 all about Christians, but no, they didn't call 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:08.779 them Christians because that's not what they 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:11.500 were called. What they were called were followers 00:10:11.500 --> 00:10:16.539 of the way. So on top of that, though, on top 00:10:16.539 --> 00:10:19.879 of that, early Christians actually referred to 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:24.320 themselves as the way as well. So, for example, 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:28.580 Akilah and Priscilla were one day they were talking 00:10:28.580 --> 00:10:31.320 to Apollos and were told that they were explaining 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:37.549 to Apollos the way of God. Or Paul, in that same 00:10:37.549 --> 00:10:39.990 exchange he had with Felix, he confessed that 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:43.350 he was a follower of the way. And some people 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:46.750 thought it was a sect, you know, a crazy sect 00:10:46.750 --> 00:10:49.490 of Judaism. But no, he says, this is a way. This 00:10:49.490 --> 00:10:53.190 is the way I'm following. Or the writer of Hebrews 00:10:53.190 --> 00:10:56.169 says that in Jesus' broken body and in his blood, 00:10:56.210 --> 00:11:01.289 we have a brand new and living way. A way for 00:11:01.289 --> 00:11:05.779 us to enter God's kingdom. And then, you know, 00:11:05.779 --> 00:11:08.960 in 2 Peter, Peter refers to Christianity again. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:10.899 He doesn't refer to Christianity as Christianity. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:17.039 He refers to it as the way of truth. So track 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:20.580 with me here. People called Christians, not Christians, 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.980 but they called them followers of the way. And 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:24.799 Christians themselves didn't refer to themselves 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:26.860 as Christians. They referred to themselves as 00:11:26.860 --> 00:11:29.940 people who follow a certain way. They follow 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:34.620 the way of Jesus. And it's also important to 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:38.399 note, I think, that in fact, Jesus himself called 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:45.059 himself the way, right? In John 14, 6, this very 00:11:45.059 --> 00:11:49.000 famous line, Jesus says, I am the way and the 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:53.200 truth and the life. And so, so. Christians didn't 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.659 go by Christians in the beginning. They were 00:11:54.659 --> 00:11:56.519 the way. They were the way. And I think this 00:11:56.519 --> 00:11:59.919 is so, so very important because it lets us know 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:02.759 that right from the beginning, when this movement 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:09.500 began, it was about living your life in a different 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:13.059 kind of way in the world. And I don't know about 00:12:13.059 --> 00:12:16.000 you, but when I think about whether I would rather 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:19.590 be called like a Christian. Or a follower of 00:12:19.590 --> 00:12:21.789 the way of Jesus. There's something that resonates 00:12:21.789 --> 00:12:24.610 with me about that. I like that. You know, it 00:12:24.610 --> 00:12:27.230 strikes a core with me. Yes, I want someone to 00:12:27.230 --> 00:12:29.190 show me a way to live my life. And I want to 00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:32.169 follow the way of Jesus. I think studies are 00:12:32.169 --> 00:12:34.610 showing this resonates with millennials. This 00:12:34.610 --> 00:12:37.309 resonates more with Gen Z. People who are looking 00:12:37.309 --> 00:12:43.750 for a way to live their life. David Fitch. who 00:12:43.750 --> 00:12:46.169 is a Canadian scholar, although he's working 00:12:46.169 --> 00:12:49.929 at a university in the States, he writes this. 00:12:50.049 --> 00:12:54.149 The phrase, the way of Jesus does something positive. 00:12:54.450 --> 00:12:58.230 It refocuses discipleship away from merely learning 00:12:58.230 --> 00:13:02.870 and assenting to certain truths to actually living 00:13:02.870 --> 00:13:07.190 a certain way, a more rigorous life of engaging 00:13:07.190 --> 00:13:12.370 the ethical demands of life under Christ's reign. 00:13:13.159 --> 00:13:15.360 And he goes on to say that people who follow 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.980 the way of Jesus, they stand up for justice. 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:20.820 They stand up for the oppressed and the marginalized 00:13:20.820 --> 00:13:23.559 and the poor. And I don't know. I like it. I 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.860 like it. And I don't know. Maybe you like this 00:13:26.860 --> 00:13:29.639 language too. You aren't just here at church 00:13:29.639 --> 00:13:32.360 because you're looking. for a certain something 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.399 to believe. Rather, you're looking for a certain 00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:40.139 way to live your life, a way of life that makes 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:42.740 a difference in the world. You're not looking 00:13:42.740 --> 00:13:46.139 for a religion. You're looking for a way of life. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:49.320 I'm really excited about this. But before we 00:13:49.320 --> 00:13:52.559 can know what it really means for us today to 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.279 follow the way of Jesus, we actually need to 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:59.220 go back 2 ,000 years ago and say, what did it 00:13:59.220 --> 00:14:03.919 look like for a person to follow the way of a 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:07.340 rabbi in Jesus' original day? Now, it's important 00:14:07.340 --> 00:14:10.559 to know that the follower of a rabbi in those 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:15.159 days was a Talmudim. which is very commonly translated 00:14:15.159 --> 00:14:17.139 and all throughout your Bibles, it's translated 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:21.580 as disciple. But Dallas Willard and the amazing 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:25.980 writer and spiritual thinker, he said actually 00:14:25.980 --> 00:14:29.419 the best translation of the word Talmudim would 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:34.500 be apprentice, apprentice. So that means that 00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:40.419 to follow Jesus. was to become his apprentice. 00:14:40.600 --> 00:14:43.740 It was to apprentice under Jesus. That's what 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:47.340 it meant to follow the way. of jesus and i just 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:49.059 want to say as a side note it's funny while i 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:51.740 was preparing this i came across like an ad that 00:14:51.740 --> 00:14:54.679 was promoting all the benefits of doing apprenticeships 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.600 today right like i've got uh you know kids that 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:00.960 are moving through post -secondary education 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.720 right now and i was just like shocked when i 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:06.200 read this you know you know you can either you 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:09.000 know get four years of apprenticeship and 250 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.379 000 plus benefits plus work experience in your 00:15:12.379 --> 00:15:15.470 industry or you can go to university come out 00:15:15.470 --> 00:15:19.289 with $50 ,000 worth of debt and mostly have classroom 00:15:19.289 --> 00:15:21.470 education and have a hard time finding a job. 00:15:21.570 --> 00:15:25.820 I'm like, ooh. This is the way. This is, apprenticeship 00:15:25.820 --> 00:15:30.200 is the way. Now, we didn't invent the idea of 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:33.000 apprenticeship, and Jesus didn't invent the idea 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:36.240 of apprenticeship. There were lots of rabbis 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:40.480 in Jesus' day that were teaching their way to 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:42.919 their apprentices and their disciples, right? 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.519 For example, Rabbi Hillel had 70 disciples that 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:53.179 followed him around. Rabbi Akiva, Had five famous 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:54.980 disciples, but there are really thousands of 00:15:54.980 --> 00:15:57.679 people in Israel who were following the way of 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:01.679 Rabbi Akiva in those days. Plato, remember Plato? 00:16:01.940 --> 00:16:05.539 He was the apprentice or the disciple, if you 00:16:05.539 --> 00:16:09.659 will, of Socrates. So apprenticeship was part 00:16:09.659 --> 00:16:11.720 and parcel of what it meant to live in the first 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:15.360 century world. And to apprentice or to disciple 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.340 under a rabbi was a high, high calling. It was 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:23.919 like the pinnacle. of the Jewish education system. 00:16:24.299 --> 00:16:28.559 And very few kind of made the cut and were selected 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:33.100 as Talmudim apprentices, disciples of rabbi. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.220 Here's just so you know what the Jewish education 00:16:36.220 --> 00:16:39.139 system kind of looked like. It had three main 00:16:39.139 --> 00:16:42.340 categories. Grade school, if you will, was called 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:47.230 Beit Sefer. which translate house of the book, 00:16:47.350 --> 00:16:50.590 the book being, of course, the Bible. And so 00:16:50.590 --> 00:16:52.669 basically, that's where children would go to 00:16:52.669 --> 00:16:55.169 learn their basics, like, you know, math and 00:16:55.169 --> 00:16:58.230 to learn how to read and write and that kind 00:16:58.230 --> 00:17:00.929 of stuff. But they studied the Bible. In fact, 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:04.089 after your years in Bates' affair, you would 00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:07.930 have memorized the first five books of the Hebrew 00:17:07.930 --> 00:17:11.029 Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 00:17:11.029 --> 00:17:14.220 and Deuteronomy. They would all have been memorize, 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.819 which is such a feat. It's so hard to imagine, 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:18.900 but that's how it worked in oral cultures like 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.519 that. And most children, after they had finished 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.720 that, they were done. And they would maybe then 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:27.200 go and work in the family business, or maybe 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.900 even at that age, 14 years old, 15 years, they 00:17:29.900 --> 00:17:32.740 would go and get married and start a family of 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.380 their own. But my point is, that's where most 00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:38.160 kids kind of ended. Now, there were, I guess, 00:17:38.180 --> 00:17:41.539 the cream of the crop in that graduating class 00:17:41.539 --> 00:17:43.750 would move on to something called Beit Talmud. 00:17:44.089 --> 00:17:48.589 Now, Beit Talmud means a house of learning. And 00:17:48.589 --> 00:17:50.589 what they would usually have on a synagogue in 00:17:50.589 --> 00:17:52.809 those days was they would build a little kind 00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:55.009 of lean -to off the synagogue, and that became 00:17:55.009 --> 00:17:58.190 a classroom for Beit Talmud. And now what you 00:17:58.190 --> 00:18:01.450 did was you kind of full -time with a paid teacher, 00:18:01.569 --> 00:18:04.329 you studied and studied and studied from like 00:18:04.329 --> 00:18:08.589 ages like 12 to 15 or 16. And during that time 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:11.410 of study, I can't even believe this is true, 00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:16.309 but you would end up memorizing like the rest 00:18:16.309 --> 00:18:19.329 of the Hebrew Old Testament, like all the way 00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:22.470 through to like Malachi, which is crazy, crazy. 00:18:22.769 --> 00:18:25.309 But I have to say, once that had happened, just 00:18:25.309 --> 00:18:27.490 about every single person was done. I mean, that 00:18:27.490 --> 00:18:30.369 was a huge accomplishment, right? To have memorized 00:18:30.369 --> 00:18:33.369 all that and then off you go and whatever life 00:18:33.369 --> 00:18:38.670 brings you. But there was yet a cream and even 00:18:38.670 --> 00:18:40.680 more. cream of the crop, like the best of the 00:18:40.680 --> 00:18:44.880 very best of the very best, would be invited 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:47.559 to continue into something called Beit Midrash. 00:18:48.299 --> 00:18:51.500 And that meant the house of study. And this was 00:18:51.500 --> 00:18:54.400 only for the elite. This was only for the Rhodes 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.279 scholars, if you will. And what would happen 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.980 is you would be invited by a rabbi into this 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:03.920 level of education. Rabbis would come in and 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.960 they would sit down and they would grill you 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.279 in the finer points of Jewish law and history 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:12.160 and interpretation. And if one rabbi took a liking 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:13.519 to you and they said, you know what? I think 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.500 this kid's got the smarts. I think this kid's 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:17.640 has got the drive. I think he's got what it. 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:20.799 takes then that rabbi would turn to you and say 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:29.359 come follow me be one of my talmudim be one of 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.200 my disciples be one of my apprentices and let 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:38.559 me show you my way and it was an honor to be 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.359 invited by a rabbi it was also very demanding 00:19:43.579 --> 00:19:47.019 As you now had to kind of completely submit your 00:19:47.019 --> 00:19:52.579 life to the way of this rabbi. Right. So what 00:19:52.579 --> 00:19:55.000 does it mean to submit yourself fully to a rabbi? 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:57.299 It sounds kind of scary. Well, maybe it was kind 00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:00.039 of scary. Because in the first century, following 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:04.349 your rabbi meant complete devotion. You would 00:20:04.349 --> 00:20:09.289 be with your rabbi 24 -7, all day, every day, 00:20:09.329 --> 00:20:12.970 eating, sleeping, waking, walking, learning, 00:20:13.329 --> 00:20:16.509 following. You were completely, completely devoted. 00:20:16.769 --> 00:20:20.309 There is this old kind of Hebrew blessing out 00:20:20.309 --> 00:20:24.569 there that says, may you be covered in the dust 00:20:24.569 --> 00:20:27.710 of your rabbi, which means may you be following 00:20:27.710 --> 00:20:30.869 your rabbi so closely down those dirty, dusty 00:20:30.869 --> 00:20:33.559 Palestinian roads that the very dust Dust that's 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:36.279 coming up off of his sandals is landing on you 00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:39.420 and caking all over you. That was a wonderful 00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:41.099 thing because it meant that you were completely 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:45.440 devoted. Following your rabbi meant complete 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:50.279 and absolute devotion. But it also meant education. 00:20:51.319 --> 00:20:54.920 Rabbis were great, great teachers. And so you 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.900 would sit at your rabbi's feet and you would 00:20:57.900 --> 00:21:00.930 listen to his teaching. And a rabbi's set of 00:21:00.930 --> 00:21:04.089 teaching in those days was known as that rabbi's 00:21:04.089 --> 00:21:08.789 yoke. Okay, so disciples would take on them the 00:21:08.789 --> 00:21:13.170 yoke of their rabbi. Like animals are kind of 00:21:13.170 --> 00:21:16.750 bound together in like a yoke, right? So an apprentice 00:21:16.750 --> 00:21:21.430 was bound together with his rabbi and obeying 00:21:21.430 --> 00:21:24.309 that rabbi's teachings. And they would study 00:21:24.309 --> 00:21:26.450 everything that the rabbi had written. They would 00:21:26.450 --> 00:21:28.890 memorize everything that the rabbi was teaching. 00:21:29.069 --> 00:21:31.809 Every word that came out of his mouth. It was 00:21:31.809 --> 00:21:37.420 complete devotion. education but the other thing 00:21:37.420 --> 00:21:43.019 related to this was imitation The goal of a Talmudim 00:21:43.019 --> 00:21:47.519 was to imitate their rabbi. I know that today 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:50.319 we say, hey, you should just be you and you should 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:53.000 be one of a kind and you're unique and go and 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:54.960 do your own thing. But that is not how it worked. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.319 The goal of a disciple was to become a carbon 00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:02.759 copy of the rabbi they were following. Imitate 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.920 his every move, even his tone of voice, his mannerisms 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:11.960 of teaching, his dress. Plato's disciples were 00:22:11.960 --> 00:22:15.059 said to walk with hunches. A lot of Plato's disciples 00:22:15.059 --> 00:22:17.680 had hunches. And why was that? It's because Plato 00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.339 himself was a bit of a hunchback. And so they 00:22:20.339 --> 00:22:24.019 so wanted to imitate their rabbi that they said, 00:22:24.059 --> 00:22:26.740 oh, I guess we should bend down like this as 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:31.420 we're following Plato, right? They imitated his 00:22:31.420 --> 00:22:35.519 every move. And then the final step, of course, 00:22:35.539 --> 00:22:39.980 would be that one day, once they've been with 00:22:39.980 --> 00:22:42.759 this rabbi for a good long while, the rabbi would 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:47.440 be replicated in the student. And on that day, 00:22:47.460 --> 00:22:49.579 the rabbi could turn to the student and say, 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:51.740 guess what? You're ready. I think you're ready. 00:22:51.819 --> 00:22:53.779 It's time for you to step up to bat. I believe 00:22:53.779 --> 00:22:58.440 in you. It's time for you to go and make disciples. 00:22:59.859 --> 00:23:02.240 So he had devotion, he had education, imitation, 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:07.519 and replication. So that was 2 ,000 years ago. 00:23:08.859 --> 00:23:12.160 What does this look like today? Let's bring it 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.680 back to the 21st century. What does it mean for 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:19.640 us who want to follow our rabbi, Jesus, today? 00:23:20.380 --> 00:23:23.099 Well, here at Trinity, we've kind of taken that 00:23:23.099 --> 00:23:26.819 ancient pathway and we've changed the language 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:28.819 a bit and we have created a mission statement, 00:23:28.900 --> 00:23:31.039 which I'm sure you've heard many times by now, 00:23:31.200 --> 00:23:36.269 but it is a pathway. That helps us follow the 00:23:36.269 --> 00:23:40.549 way of Jesus here and now. So here's what I mean. 00:23:40.609 --> 00:23:43.130 Here's what I mean. We already spoke about how 00:23:43.130 --> 00:23:45.789 being devoted to your rabbi was essential in 00:23:45.789 --> 00:23:47.470 the first century. Well, here at Trinity, we 00:23:47.470 --> 00:23:51.619 talk in the language of love. And our mission 00:23:51.619 --> 00:23:55.839 statement calls us first to love Jesus. To follow 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:00.259 the way of Jesus means first to love Jesus. Then 00:24:00.259 --> 00:24:03.880 Jesus invited his Talmudim. He invited all his 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:08.599 disciples into a relationship of loving devotion. 00:24:08.920 --> 00:24:11.839 And that is why he says to his disciples, he 00:24:11.839 --> 00:24:15.500 says, as the father has loved me, so I have loved 00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:20.940 you. Now remain in my love. That is the first 00:24:20.940 --> 00:24:24.119 and the primary goal of apprenticeship to Jesus. 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:29.740 Loving relationship with Jesus. And that's where 00:24:29.740 --> 00:24:32.640 it starts. That's the baseline. And like all 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:36.700 relationships, that love takes work. But truly 00:24:36.700 --> 00:24:40.859 the best part of following Jesus was being with 00:24:40.859 --> 00:24:44.559 Jesus and experiencing Jesus, right? And this 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:47.480 Lent. We're going to learn more as a church community 00:24:47.480 --> 00:24:50.779 about how to nurture that loving relationship 00:24:50.779 --> 00:24:54.920 with Jesus. And I would say the key practice 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:57.640 to this kind of devotion that we're going to 00:24:57.640 --> 00:24:59.720 be highlighting in just a few moments is the 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:02.400 practice of prayer. That's how you grow in a 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:07.720 loving relationship with Jesus. But secondly, 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:09.779 there was the education piece. Well, here at 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:12.980 Trinity, we like to talk about learning from 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:16.609 Jesus. So there's loving Jesus and then learning 00:25:16.609 --> 00:25:19.970 from Jesus. I think it's fair to say that one 00:25:19.970 --> 00:25:22.049 way you could understand what a church is, is 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:25.789 that it's like a school. It's a school of Jesus. 00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:28.730 And here we get together on Sundays and at life 00:25:28.730 --> 00:25:30.950 groups and throughout the week. And we sit at 00:25:30.950 --> 00:25:33.769 the feet of Jesus. And week by week, we learn 00:25:33.769 --> 00:25:38.880 his yoke. from him jesus actually said take my 00:25:38.880 --> 00:25:43.980 yoke upon you and learn from me so to so to follow 00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:45.880 the way of jesus means you've got to be willing 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:48.160 to learn from jesus and jesus was the greatest 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:50.400 rabbi ever he was the greatest teacher ever his 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:55.079 teachings to this day are unmatched right and 00:25:55.079 --> 00:25:59.769 and jesus knows everything jesus knows absolutely 00:25:59.769 --> 00:26:01.630 everything. He knows all about you. He knows 00:26:01.630 --> 00:26:04.009 how to live your life better than you know how 00:26:04.009 --> 00:26:06.990 to live your life. So we need to learn from him. 00:26:07.450 --> 00:26:09.650 The third thing we talk about here at Trinity 00:26:09.650 --> 00:26:12.650 is not just loving Jesus and learning from Jesus, 00:26:12.730 --> 00:26:16.849 but living like Jesus. Remember the whole imitation 00:26:16.849 --> 00:26:20.549 thing, right? If we want to embrace the way of 00:26:20.549 --> 00:26:23.460 Jesus, Then we've got to learn to do what Jesus 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:28.420 did. And Jesus did come, not just to teach us 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:31.119 all the stuff that's in the Bible, but he came 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:34.599 to show us with his life. How to live life in 00:26:34.599 --> 00:26:38.400 the kingdom of God. And that's why he would say, 00:26:38.619 --> 00:26:41.339 I don't want you to just go love people. He said, 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:44.400 I want you to love one another just as I have 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:48.460 loved you, right? To do it the way that I do 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.920 it, right? When we imitate Jesus, we do what 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:53.680 he did. And that might mean that we heal the 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:55.640 sick because Jesus healed the sick. It might 00:26:55.640 --> 00:26:58.180 mean that we do justice because Jesus do justice. 00:26:58.279 --> 00:27:00.240 It might mean we make peace with people. We reconcile 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:02.480 with people because that's what Jesus did. Jesus 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:05.759 did. And we will eat and we will drink with people 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:08.640 who are far from God. Why? Because that's what 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:13.619 Jesus did. And we want to live like Jesus to 00:27:13.619 --> 00:27:17.299 imitate our rabbi. And then fourthly, and finally, 00:27:17.420 --> 00:27:19.880 here at Trinity, we don't just want to love Jesus, 00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:22.960 learn from him, live like him, but we also want 00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:26.400 to lead others to him. Remember that whole piece 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:30.400 around the ultimate goal of a student of a rabbi 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.539 was to be told that you're ready to go and make 00:27:34.539 --> 00:27:38.619 disciples yourself. Isn't that what Jesus' final 00:27:38.619 --> 00:27:43.220 words to us on earth were? Go and make disciples 00:27:43.220 --> 00:27:50.339 of all nations. So friends, so friends, here 00:27:50.339 --> 00:27:55.840 is an invitation to a way of life. Devotion, 00:27:55.840 --> 00:28:00.680 education, imitation, replication. Loving Jesus. 00:28:01.140 --> 00:28:05.599 Learning from Jesus. Living like Jesus. Leading 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:13.500 others to Jesus. This is the way. This is a way 00:28:13.500 --> 00:28:18.759 of life. And this will give you meaning in life. 00:28:20.740 --> 00:28:25.250 But it's a serious invitation. You know, the 00:28:25.250 --> 00:28:29.690 way of Jesus is the way of the cross after all. 00:28:29.769 --> 00:28:34.089 It's the way of death and resurrection. So following 00:28:34.089 --> 00:28:37.170 Jesus can't just be like a hobby. It can't be 00:28:37.170 --> 00:28:40.430 like, well, I like to play golf and I like gaming 00:28:40.430 --> 00:28:45.630 and I also like Jesus, right? No, following Jesus 00:28:45.630 --> 00:28:51.029 only really works when you make... it the whole 00:28:51.029 --> 00:28:53.630 point of your whole life when it becomes your 00:28:53.630 --> 00:28:58.329 whole way of life i am reminded in the scriptures 00:28:58.329 --> 00:29:00.589 jesus was always surrounded by two groups of 00:29:00.589 --> 00:29:03.289 people he was always surrounded by his disciples 00:29:03.289 --> 00:29:07.009 his talmudim his apprentices but he's also surrounded 00:29:07.009 --> 00:29:10.230 by what the scriptures call the crowds the crowds 00:29:10.230 --> 00:29:15.230 now If you were one of Jesus' disciples, what 00:29:15.230 --> 00:29:18.890 you effectively had decided is that, yes, we 00:29:18.890 --> 00:29:22.410 are following the way of Jesus. But if you were 00:29:22.410 --> 00:29:25.029 part of the crowd, then you were still deciding. 00:29:25.569 --> 00:29:28.250 You were interested in the way of Jesus, but 00:29:28.250 --> 00:29:29.910 you wanted to keep your distance a little bit. 00:29:29.950 --> 00:29:31.289 You weren't sure you wanted to give your whole 00:29:31.289 --> 00:29:33.589 life to this. And I wonder this morning if you 00:29:33.589 --> 00:29:36.190 can figure out where you fit in all that. Are 00:29:36.190 --> 00:29:40.009 you a disciple? Are you a Talmudim? Are you like... 00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:43.720 committed to walking the road with Jesus? Or 00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:45.519 are you still in the crowd? And that is totally 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:49.440 okay. And you're curious about this, but you're 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:54.539 not sure just yet. Maybe over this season of 00:29:54.539 --> 00:29:57.779 Lent, we can help more and more of us move from 00:29:57.779 --> 00:30:02.839 the crowd to true discipleship. But it's not 00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:05.339 just a serious invitation. It's also an open 00:30:05.339 --> 00:30:08.940 invitation. It's open to everyone. When Jesus 00:30:08.940 --> 00:30:12.519 says, whoever wants to be my disciple, dot, dot, 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:16.640 dot, dot, dot, he means whoever, right? To anyone. 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:19.420 Remember, all the other rabbis of Jesus' day, 00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:21.799 they had a really, really, really high bar. It 00:30:21.799 --> 00:30:23.599 was only for the best of the best of the best. 00:30:23.700 --> 00:30:26.220 But Jesus stands up in front of a crowd and he 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:29.319 says, whoever, whoever wants to be my disciple, 00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:33.599 which is actually pretty unheard of. What he's 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:35.180 saying, I think, really, it doesn't matter what 00:30:35.180 --> 00:30:37.769 you've done. It doesn't matter what you haven't 00:30:37.769 --> 00:30:39.369 done. It doesn't matter if you're smart or if 00:30:39.369 --> 00:30:40.789 you feel like you're not so smart. It doesn't 00:30:40.789 --> 00:30:42.910 matter if you're popular or not popular or successful 00:30:42.910 --> 00:30:47.549 or unsuccessful, right? You're here this morning. 00:30:48.569 --> 00:30:51.970 You're invited. I mean, goodness, Jesus' first 00:30:51.970 --> 00:30:55.049 disciples were fishermen. They were the Bates 00:30:55.049 --> 00:30:58.509 affair dropouts, and yet they were obviously 00:30:58.509 --> 00:31:01.049 not the best of the best, but God used those 00:31:01.049 --> 00:31:06.410 men to change the world. Why? because they embraced 00:31:06.410 --> 00:31:13.089 the way of Jesus. And finally, lifelong invitation. 00:31:14.150 --> 00:31:16.410 Learning the way of Jesus does not happen overnight. 00:31:16.750 --> 00:31:21.690 It'll take your whole life. And it also takes 00:31:21.690 --> 00:31:23.789 a community, being part of a church community, 00:31:23.910 --> 00:31:26.369 because so much of the learning we have to do 00:31:26.369 --> 00:31:28.309 doesn't work if we just try to do it on our own. 00:31:28.369 --> 00:31:30.990 So Sunday mornings are important, taking courses 00:31:30.990 --> 00:31:34.549 together, joining life groups. We walk this way. 00:31:36.460 --> 00:31:40.079 That author, Dallas Willard, said it this way. 00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:42.140 He said, the greatest issue facing the world 00:31:42.140 --> 00:31:45.960 today with all its heartbreaking needs is whether 00:31:45.960 --> 00:31:49.599 those who by profession or culture are identified 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:54.720 as Christians will actually become disciples, 00:31:55.000 --> 00:32:00.779 students, apprentices, practitioners of Jesus 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:04.910 Christ. Jesus is not looking for converts to 00:32:04.910 --> 00:32:08.470 Christianity. He's looking for apprentices in 00:32:08.470 --> 00:32:14.569 the kingdom of God. So love Jesus. Learn from 00:32:14.569 --> 00:32:19.329 Jesus. Live like Jesus. Lead others to Jesus. 00:32:20.750 --> 00:32:23.230 This might be your first time at Trinity, or 00:32:23.230 --> 00:32:25.509 maybe it's your second or your third time, and 00:32:25.509 --> 00:32:27.569 you're not sure what you think about all this. 00:32:28.269 --> 00:32:33.319 You're invited. Maybe you grew up in church and 00:32:33.319 --> 00:32:35.319 you've been hearing this stuff for 20 or 30 years, 00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:37.079 but you always sensed you were kind of in the 00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:44.720 crowd. You're invited. You know, maybe you, at 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.839 some point in your life, you kind of hit a wall 00:32:46.839 --> 00:32:50.140 and, you know, maybe you got hurt or burned out 00:32:50.140 --> 00:32:54.119 or you're just running on empty, whatever. You're 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:57.519 invited too. And maybe you're saying, well, I 00:32:57.519 --> 00:32:59.359 can't really tackle all this right now, Rob. 00:32:59.420 --> 00:33:01.819 I'm going through some stuff, sickness or relationship 00:33:01.819 --> 00:33:05.079 issues or job loss or I'm moving or whatever. 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:11.619 You're invited too. Right in the thick of it, 00:33:11.740 --> 00:33:15.579 you are invited. You don't need to have all your 00:33:15.579 --> 00:33:18.859 problems solved. You're invited. I'm invited. 00:33:19.019 --> 00:33:22.680 We're all invited to this way, to following the 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:27.069 way of Jesus. Thanks be to God. Amen.