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Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

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with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever

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you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

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by this week's sermon. Almost 12 years ago, Lord invited us to Thailand. At the time,

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I was working as a director of a discipleship program at a college university in Canada,

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and we came to Thailand. And while I was here, something that the Lord had started when I was a

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teenager, just after coming into faith, non-Christian home and family, had a sleepover

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with a buddy of mine who invited me to sleepover. Then they invited me to church, so I went to

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church. There's a promise of free French fries if I memorize scripture. So I memorized it,

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said it, got my coupon, went and got my French fries and came back. An invitation to a sleepover

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in church and free French fries led to an invitation to know Jesus. And I said yes. And

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then that led to trying to understand who God is. What does it mean? At first, I thought it meant

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that instead of saying like four-letter words, then I'd replace them with like Christian

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versions like fric and shoot and gosh. And so I changed all my vocabulary and thought that

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that's what it meant to follow Jesus. And by his grace, I discovered that it's a little bit more

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than gosh and heck and those kinds of words, that there's a lot more depth to knowing him.

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But it began with an invitation. And today, I want to talk about perhaps one of the greatest

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invitations we can get and probably one of the easiest things that we can do as human beings,

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that Christ modeled for us in his person as a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God.

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And it's found in the scriptures. It's found in Mark chapter two and it's also found in Luke

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chapter five and it's the Gospels. And the crazy or cool part about this is actually the story that

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we're going to read about is about a guy named Levi who later becomes Matthew and he actually

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writes one of the Gospels named Matthew. And so if you're like, who is this guy? This is the guy.

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And what does it have to do with me? A lot. And so I just wanted to, as I'm jumping in,

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give a quick shout out to our young adults that are here. They woke up. That's always a miracle

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of the Lord. They made it to Sunday. Way to go. And someone told me I should expect some heckling,

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but they're mature young adults. And so it's going to be a good morning. But Lord, thanks for your

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word and how black and red or whatever color letters on our screen or in front of us in your

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word, you tell us that it is alive. And so this morning would we encounter the alive word of you.

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Thank you, Holy Spirit, that one of the things that you do is you lead us to truth. You help us

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understand truth. And so this morning through my words, Lord, would people hear you more than me?

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God, would you get into a heart? Would you get into a mind? Would you do something in someone's

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hands this morning? We pray. Amen. So the big idea. Hospitality can turn a liar. We'll read it

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together. Hospitality can turn the liar, the cheat, and the sinner into a follower and a friend.

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And so we've just come out of Christmas and we're talking about treasures. And one of the things

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that's a treasure for me is the invitational nature of Jesus. And so we're going to look at that. But

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so the world was expecting a Savior to come. There's a giant star, wise men, shepherds, the

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whole story of Christmas, love, joy, hope, peace, great expectation found in the person of Jesus,

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a babe. Some people were so scared of this idea of a Savior coming as a baby that they tried to

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destroy all the young boys of that time. We know through the story of nativity that that's not what

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happened. Jesus survived and he grew up. And then we have the account of his last few years of his

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life in the Gospels. And as we open the book of Mark, we encounter the person of Jesus who people

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keep saying, man, he teaches with such authority. Whoa, he teaches with such power. Then he forgives

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sins. And people are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, how can a man do something like this? Then he heals

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somebody. And they're like, how can he do that? Just a couple of verses before this story, we've

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got some friends who believe who this Jesus character is making himself out to be is actually

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the Messiah and has the power to change lives. So they drag their friend who can't walk on a

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tarp or something, they pull back a roof, they drop him down. I don't know, like original

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pulley system of the first century into the presence of Jesus for an encounter with him.

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And so this is what's happening. And then Jesus is going from place to place. And rather than

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showing up as a rabbi would in this time, and being known for their great wisdom and their

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interpretation of Scripture, and waiting for these young people to come and say, can we follow you

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and be your student? Jesus flips it upside down. And he begins to go to like the B team, the

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people who weren't chosen by other rabbis who didn't have a career. So they'd entered into what

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their parents were doing, and they become fishermen. And he goes to them, and he invites them to

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follow him. And on this journey of upside down invitation, we read that he makes his way out

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and up from the sea to this town and he encounters this person named Levi. And Levi is a tax

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collector. And tax collectors at this time, really, were somebody who had chosen as a Jewish

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person to sympathize with their occupiers. So he said, rather than hanging on to my own culture

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and family and what I know to be true, I'm going to sell that all out for money and wealth, I'm

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going to cheat, I'm going to steal, and I'm going to make as much as I can off my mom, my dad, my

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brothers, my sisters, and my neighbors. And so some people believe and even like old Jewish

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texts would suggest that tax collectors were seen on the same level as a thief and as a murderer.

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They were expelled from the synagogue. If you touched them or talked and engaged in conversation

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with them, the thought was that you were unclean and your home was unclean. And so this person was

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seen as somebody who had chosen to side with the enemy. This is Levi. And so once again, Jesus is

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beside the lake and a large crowd comes to him. And he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he

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saw Levi, the son of Althea, sitting at the tax booth and he said to him, follow me. And Levi got

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up and followed him. And as he reclined, and so it's seen changes, as he reclined at the table of

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his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there

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were many who had followed him. And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating

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with sinners and tax collectors, said to the disciples, why does he eat with tax collectors

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and sinners? And Jesus heard it, awkward moment, and he said to them, those who are well have no

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need of a physician. Read it with me. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have

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not come to call the righteous, but the sinners. A few years ago, there is a group of people who

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crowd sourced and began trying to produce a series called The Chosen. Has anyone ever watched any

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episodes of The Chosen? It gives an incredible depiction of what they understand or have

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interpreted, perhaps some of the most fond stories of the Gospels to look like. And in episode seven,

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I believe, of the first season, we encounter the story of Levi. And when I watched it, there was

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part of me that just welled with emotion because I felt as though I was drawn into the storyline.

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It's not hard to watch something like that and see the intensity of the moment of what's going on.

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Jesus, God in flesh, making eye contact, knowing the name, the person, all of the decisions that

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this guy had made and choosing to look at him and say, come and follow me. This is incredibly

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scandalous. I mean, it was enough that he had gone to some disciples or students that were like

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fishermen, but at least they were good people. But then he comes to like some of the most despised

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people of the land at that time, a tax collector, the worst of the worst, an enemy collaborating for

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the sake of money, a cheat, a thief to their own person. This is difficult to wrap our minds

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around. And yet Jesus looks at him and says, follow me. I mean, what would Levi have felt in

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that moment? Like had he heard what was happening leading up to this moment? Did he know some of

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the rumblings that were going through the land that this was a rabbi that had called the unqualified,

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that had called the unworthy, a man that was preaching the forgiveness of sins was healing,

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was forgiving, and now had crowds of people following him? Had he heard, did he know? I mean,

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I wonder if Levi sitting in his booth felt despised and alone, getting rich and all the while

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feeling emptier and emptier at some point had something in his heart begin to burn and wonder,

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could it be? Could what has been for others actually be for me too? Does it apply? Does the

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message of hope and forgiveness matter for me too, or am I too far gone? Have I crossed over the

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line? Am I even worth saving anymore? And here comes Jesus walking along the shore, looks at him,

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dead in the eye and not with anger of a mad dad. I know what that feels like sometimes, or mom,

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because we're imperfect. Not with the hatred of a cheated neighbor, but with the love of a savior,

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he invites him in and includes him in. Maybe, maybe there are some of us that are in this place

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right now that have sensed a burning in our own chest and heart. We've heard, we've seen stories,

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we've heard about this good news, and it's maybe not if we wonder, if we don't believe, but we

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wonder if it actually applies to us too. Or maybe we think, man, maybe I'm too far gone too,

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that we've messed up too much, that we're past this point of return. But I can tell you with

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guarantee, and you can look around this room, and you can know that there is person after person

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after person that are not too far gone, where God has reached into this stuck place because of a

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label that somebody else has put on them, that we've convinced ourselves of the narrative in

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ourselves of, that we've messed up too much, that there is a line that we've crossed. But the gospel

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in Christ says that there is no line that we can cross where Jesus says, no, too far, you're too

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far gone, no more. No, he's willing to come after you, whatever your past is, we've heard it said,

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hopefully not once, we'll say it again, but your future is not defined by your past. Because Jesus

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can enter in now, he takes great delight in making something ridiculously beautiful out of our mess.

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We sing songs about it, we look at art about that, we read books about it, because it's true. Look

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around you, story after story in this room, Jesus reaching in, delivering us from something that we

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thought we were stuck in for the rest of our lives. Things we never imagined we were worth

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being rescued from. And he does this. And as a result of that, story after story in this space,

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person after person, never forgetting it. So maybe for some of us today, right off the cat,

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today's the day where we need to respond to follow him. But he never forces himself into Levi's life,

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and he's never forced himself into our lives, of those of us who have said yes to him. And he's not

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forcing himself into your life today. We got a choice. But we do need to be reminded that you,

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that I, that we are invited. We're invited by Christ. And so Jesus calls Levi, Matthew, the tax

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collector, and essentially Levi, Matthew, as we saw and hear says, yes, the sinner, the traitor,

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the thief, now the follower of a living God, and then he throws a dinner party.

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Well, Jesus is having dinner, we read it, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus

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and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. And then the Pharisees enter the picture,

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and the scene changes. We got a problem at this moment about who Jesus is eating with. I mean,

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the term Pharisees in itself actually means the set apart one. So they're supposed to be set apart.

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And so they believe that salvation, or you being saved, and the forgiveness of sins,

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happen through separation. So you are saved by separating yourself from something. Like,

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that's really not the gospel. But they believed it. And they thought that in order to be saved,

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you need to separate yourself from sinners and tax collectors. And if you got a little bit too

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close, then you could become unworthy. You could become unclean. You could become unholy. You could

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become contaminated by the people that you surrounded yourself with. Sorry to the front row

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people getting my spit. So by practice then, the Pharisees separated themselves, and now

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they were frustrated because Jesus wasn't doing his part. He was too close to them. You can't sit

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with people like that. You can't eat with people like that. You're unclean. And now we got to

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perform ritualistic ceremony in order to clean this place up and everybody else who would sit

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and touch and smoke with these people. You can't do that, Jesus. He was doing something as personal

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as sharing a meal with them. I mean, at this time, it would be difficult to underestimate the

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importance of a meal because in first century times, being welcome at a table was seen as a

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purpose of eating with one another to begin to develop friendship with others. And so Jesus

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was a place of friendship. It was a place where intimacy and unity happened. This wasn't like

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nothing big. A meal, unity, intimacy. You hear what I'm saying? Friendship. And it went even as far

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as being if you had an issue with somebody in your life, you would invite them into a meal with you

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because over the meal is where you reconcile differences. So this wasn't just aromai. Is it

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no, no, no. This is like deep, meaningful, intentional relationship community. Meals were

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purposeful. And Jesus wasn't just having an aromai meal with people. He was sitting, reclining,

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eating, touching, asking questions about life. And the Pharisees who were the most religious people

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who knew the Old Testament scriptures better than anybody else, who had set their lives apart to be

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different and holy, were not okay with this. Sorry. It's a bit upsetting. Think about it. Even meals

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today for us, there's something that unite us together. When you meet somebody and you want to

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get to know them, you don't just say, hey, let's go sit and look staringly and longingly in each

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other's eyes. No. To make the time a little bit less awkward, you put some food between you. And

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so then when you look at each other, you can look at the food from time to time and it feels a

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little bit less awkward. Meals are important. I mean, meals are so important that this university

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in Oxford that conducted a study that called Break the Bread, the Functions of Social Eating,

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and they found that communal eating actually increases social bonding and feelings of well-being.

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So you as a person are better as a result of eating with other people. And not only that,

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but people generally feel more content about their lives and they feel embedded in the community.

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So whether it's a feast or a snack, meals are important. And that's why one of the things that

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I think is fantastic about our young adults and then our life groups are here is that we focus

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over and over again about eating together because something happens over a meal. So if scripture

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shows us that meals are important and the University of Oxford thinks that meals are important,

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then sometimes if you're like me, I think there's nothing transcendent amazing about a meal.

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Sometimes it's actually quite dysfunctional if you've got three kids who don't like food you

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introduced me. Sometimes a meal doesn't feel all mushy, gushy, and you're just wandering rapidly

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getting through. Sometimes some of us, we've got like PTSD to some specific meal because there was

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like a dramatic encounter that happened at a dinner table or a restaurant as a kid or a young

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adult or an adult where we're like, oh, like eating together with people scares me because it means

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that I have to connect. And one time when I connected, this happened. I just don't do that.

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And so we choose isolation over community. And yet meal times for some reason seem to be one of

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Jesus' favorite places to do ministry. Eugene Peterson, a professor and pastor and writer of

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the translation, The Message, he writes, perhaps the primary venue for evangelism in Jesus' life

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was the meal. But as I said, it's not the fact that Jesus was eating, it's who he was eating with

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because he had this reputation of eating and drinking with some of the most unexpected people.

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And that's what's happening here. The Pharisees couldn't handle the fact they thought that

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holiness meant separation. Holiness meant separation. One more time, holiness meant separation.

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And I repeat that three times because I think all of us has probably fallen trapped to that thought

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or idea at some time or another. And though it might have led us to some really good things,

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it has the potential to keep us from community at the same time. Jesus embodies the reality that

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the kingdom is built on community. And sitting at a table with candles and crusty bread and a drink

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in his hand, he enters into ordinary life conversations with ordinary people and the

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Pharisees are floored. Maybe, maybe this shows us that Jesus is curious about others, about me,

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about you, but the Pharisees aren't having it. They think that transformation should precede

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invitation. Another repeat. Transformation should precede invitation. What do you mean?

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Well, you should get your stuff together before Jesus invites you in. You can't be in relationship

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with Jesus if you're saying four-letter words. You can't have a relationship with Jesus if

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you're still spending money on packs of cigarettes. You can't spend time with Jesus if you're watching

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R-rated movies. And so we think you need to be separated before you can respond to the

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invitation of Jesus. But wake up to the reality here. Jesus hasn't asked anything of Levi in

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this moment other than to follow him. And so he's still like neck deep in all of his mess

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as he meets Jesus. And then we know because he writes a book about Jesus that his life gets

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turned upside down and he doesn't keep living the same way that he once lived. And so if we're all

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up on our pedestal being like no holiness precedes invitation, we got to get off it right now.

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Because the model that we have in Jesus isn't that. Actually meeting Jesus leads to life

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transformation. The way we think is different. The way that we speak is different. The way that we

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live is different. The way we view our sexuality, our relations, conflict resolution. Man, read the

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rest of the story. Get to Matthew. Read the Sermon on the Mount where he begins to talk about all the

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different radical ways that we begin to look and live in life different as a result of being in

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a relationship with him. So if you're scared by the fact that Jesus invites us to be in relationship

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with him before he tells you to get your clean, clean your life up. This is scary things for you

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to read. Or it's the opposite. It is like I need that. This is great news because it means that

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we're invited to the table exactly as we are. That you're invited to God's table exactly the

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way that you are. And what happens next is transformation. So pull up a seat before you

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believe. Before you behave, pull up a seat. Pull up a seat while you've got questions. That's why

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there's an announcement up here about this thing called Alpha. Alpha's a great place to pull up a

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seat and be like, this thing kind of seems a bit crazy to me. Pull up a seat. You just sat through

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a like Christian ceremony where we talk about drinking the blood of Jesus and eating his body.

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Come and ask those questions. Jesus isn't thrown by them. Your doubt doesn't suspend his desire

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to be in relationship with you. I think it actually excites him. He's like, great. Somebody was

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actually asking questions about who I am rather than being a Christian my whole life, got it all

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together. Holiness, holiness. No. Pull up a seat. You're welcome. Come with your doubts. Come with

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your questions. Come with your mess if you've got it. Jesus welcomes all of us and he's not threatened

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by it. But what about our favorite people, the Pharisees? They're sitting there thinking this

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means that if Jesus is here welcoming everybody, then he must not care about sin and he must not

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care about our behavior, which is not true. I already talked about that. It's not true.

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Read the rest of the gospels. Figure out what happens with everybody else who is living in

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ridiculously perverted sin. They meet Jesus. His kindness leads them to repentance. That's also in

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here. It says that. His kindness leads us to repentance. Being in the presence of Jesus and

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his kindness begins to change the way that we begin to think. So Jesus' table always, always,

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always preaches a radical message of inclusion. God's inclusion. Which means if God invites you

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and he invites I to his table, then part of our responsibility as followers who have been invited

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is to start inviting other people. Invite others to taste and see what is good. That's also in here.

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And one of the easiest places to do that is over a meal. Even when it's inconvenient, which

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oftentimes meals usually are and takes time, which we know it often does, we keep doing them.

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We keep gathering around tables with family and friends and we bring our broken selves just as

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we are to Wednesday evening, night dinners and Saturday breakfasts and work lunches. Why? We keep

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pulling up chairs wherever with whoever live in our lives in close proximity with others, knowing

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that by doing that, they might get a little bit of mess on them from our life and we might get a

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little bit of mess on them on us from their life. But we do that because we, this is the Jesus way.

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We do that because we keep on entering in to not stay far off, but to enter in with others because

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he did it with us and he keeps on doing it. So the Pharisees are mad. Jesus knows it and this is the

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awkward dinner party moment. I don't know if you've ever been guilty of gossiping or talking about

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someone else and when you're like talking about them, all of a sudden they enter into the room

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and look at you and you're like, Oh my gosh, do they just hear what I said? But like Jesus is sitting

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down eating and I don't know how these guys got an invite. That's kind of the funny part of the story

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to me actually, because it tells us that like Matthew Levi is hanging out with all of his best

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buddies. He's invited all the other tax collectors of the town. So all the other tax collectors of

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the town, like the most hated, disrespected people are sitting there and somehow the Pharisees get an

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invite to the party. That's comical. And then they've got an invite to the party and they're

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sitting on the outside being like, I can't believe that Jesus is hanging out with disciples. How can

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he's doing this? And Jesus, I'm imagining like looks up and if you watch the chosen, it's kind of funny,

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like watch how he ends up engaging them. They're outside looking in saying this. He hears them.

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He hears what they're saying and then he begins to address it. So

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if I was Jesus, I would have had different words telling you that, but on hearing this, Jesus doesn't

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say, no, I'm not even going to go there. He says, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the

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sick. Come on. I mean, no, he didn't say that. He was probably kinder. I've come not to call the

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righteous, but the sinners. And this was like a well-known proverb of the day at the time. It wasn't

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like a new revelation for them. They would have known this, but here Jesus is saying for those who

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don't quite get that I'm the doctor. I'm the doctor and I've come for those who are sick

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in their soul. I've come for those who feel far, far from God. I've come from those who know they

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are sick. And for those who think they're well, that's kind of those who are sick and those who

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think that they're well, he's come for the unrighteous. He's come for the self righteous.

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And the story shows us that we don't have to come, that we don't have to come. It's optional, which

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is kind of crazy. I think growing up, like as I become an adult, sometimes I just wish that people

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would make decisions for me that I didn't have to choose things. Right? Like sometimes when we get

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to crossroads in life, we're just like, and someone says, you just need to pray and ask the Lord for

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his will. I was like, I don't want God to say choose. I just want him to say this. But as I

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grow up, as I'm maturing in my spiritual life, I'm discovering that a lot of times as I'm growing

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closer to God, he's actually giving me more and more choices. Kind of like I've got kids that are

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becoming teenagers and preteens and whatnot. I don't tell them what to do all the time. I give

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them freedom to make a choice. And so this is one of those moments when you're making a choice as

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to whether follow Jesus or not. He's not standing behind you, twisting your arm, being like, you

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better make a decision for me. If you don't make a decision for me, it's going to be the worst

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decision of your life. You're like, Oh, mercy, mercy. And then he's like, great decision. No,

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that's not how it goes. He gives you a choice. And for us, we could be like the Pharisees. We

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could actually be bad and be like, I'm really sick, but I don't need your help. Imagine that knowing

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you're sick, but then refusing the help that you need to get better. We could be like that. Or we

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could be like, I'm not sick at all. What? Like, yeah, you're good and everything's together, but

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like nobody stays well forever. Even people who are well still need to be better. And so the irony

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of this story is that the bad guys Levi and all of his contaminated homies or friends are sitting

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at the table with Jesus. What? The bad guys are reclining at the table with Jesus and the good

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guys are choosing to refuse the invitation to sit with him. But still, what does that tell us about

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Jesus? Everyone's welcome. The good and the bad and the bad had to make a choice and the good

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have to make a choice. All we need to do is bring our need. And so to be clear about this, I don't

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know if I keep saying the same thing for Jesus. Ultimately, what he's asking you is, will you let

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me heal you? Will you let me heal you? Will you let me enter into your life? Levi did, but the

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Pharisees said no. And so we have the same choice. Jesus comes to us and he says, I have come for

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those who are sick with sin. Now imagine with me for a moment, church. The term church is also an

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interesting one. Actually comes from the term ecclesia. And ecclesia means the sent out ones.

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So church wasn't necessarily a place that you went. Actually, part of Jesus' work coming was to make

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sure that church happened everywhere. And so it's happening right now here. But it gets to happen at

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the bus stop and at your work when his sent out ones go and create connections points with Jesus

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and other people. And so imagine for a moment if church, this building, was like a place that you

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go for a job interview, option t nun, or a place that's more like a hospital waiting room, option t

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song, option number two. So waiting room for a job interview, all right? Imagine you were coming for

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a job interview today. Most people are coming for a job interview, come in and you're here to put

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your best foot forward, you're dressed for success, you've got nice shoes on, whatever it is that you

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can afford in that moment. And you're feeling this pressure to perform, pressure to put your best

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foot forward, highlight the strengths, minimize the weaknesses, or just completely hide them.

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You're in a room and the people that are around you, come on, look around, these are your competitors,

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okay? They're not fellow patients like you'd find in a hospital room, they're competitors. There's

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somebody that you got to beat, there's somebody that, you know, they're not people that you want

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to actually help meet their needs. This is like anti-thesis to authenticity, it's anti-thesis to

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vulnerability, it's anti-thesis to humility, and since these are all the kinds of things that would

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be required in order to actually have an environment of community, a waiting room for a job interview

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is the last place that we would hope to feel community. It's the kind of environment that's

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the enemy, as I said, to all of those things. Option T-tone, over here. Now imagine this is a

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hospital room filled with patients. Look at the sick people around you, come on, look at them,

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yeah? Sick people around you, everyone's waiting to see a doctor, everybody's sick and has a bit of

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a different need, but we know that we're all sick. Nobody's pretending not to be sick. Like you don't

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go to a hospital and I'm like, I'm not sick. No, not unless like your spouse tells you, you've been

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sick for a long period of time and you go and then you like try to be really like, I've got it all

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together and then the doctor opens your mouth and they're like, you've had something wrong with you,

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how long have you had this for? Like 16 days, they're like 16 days, true story, okay? Trying to

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hide our sickness, but in this waiting room, not the case. We're not pretending to be sick, these

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are other patients who need to see a doctor. There's no room for pride, there's no room for one

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upmanship, or at least not here in the Canadian healthcare system where I'm from, like you want

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to be the worst sick person so you can be seen first and so only in places with private and public

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healthcare are things a little bit different. Okay, anyways, the point is, is that no one is pretending

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that they don't need help and this kind of environment then leads to authenticity, it leads

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to vulnerability, it leads to humility and this is the kind of environment that the gospel begins

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to create, a hospital-like environment. That's the kind of church sent out once, people of God, that

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I want to be part of. That's what we're trying to be here, the one we aim to be like because the

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reality is, is you're sick, I'm sick, we're all sick and we're all in need of a doctor and sometimes

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we're really well and the only way to stay well is to continue to make healthy choices and rethink

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the way that we think and act and are physically. Doctors give us the skills and tools that we need

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in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, so a great synonymous metaphor for a relationship with

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Jesus. And so God comes, he comes in and he rescues us through Jesus and he invites you, he invites me

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in. If, we'll let him. And so that message that Jesus comes with is this, that he loves you, that

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he forgives you, that he loves me, that he forgives me and this is a better message than the message

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that we often hear that says, you're just fine the way that you are. Ever heard that one before?

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You're just fine the way that you are. Listen, we want to affirm what's good and precious in other

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people and we don't want to talk about sin sometimes because we're a little bit worried

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that it's somehow going to produce shame in the other person and I think like that's fair but

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let's get something straight. There is toxic shame and this is the kind of shame that minimizes your

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value as an image bearer of God. This is the kind of shame that turns the worst maybe small thing

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about you into the only thing about you. But then there's healthy shame, the kind of shame that can

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actually be a catalyst for change and I like to call this conviction. It's conviction that causes

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us to wake up to the reality of the decision we made. Healthy shame comes as a result of bad

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behavior. Conviction comes as a result of things that we do. Like for example, if I cheat on my wife

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I should be ashamed of that. If I steal I should feel ashamed or conviction that shouldn't be good.

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If I gossip about my friends I should feel ashamed. I should feel convicted about it. Sin

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naturally produces this inside of us but here's the good news. Whether it's toxic or whether it's

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healthy, the gospel declares over you, over me, over all of us shame off of you not shame on you.

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Do you hear me? The gospel declares over your life shame off of you not shame on you. Amen?

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So it's only good news though if we're willing to admit that there was ever shame on us in the first

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place. Amen? Amen. So to say shame off of you or that your sins are forgiven is actually better

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than you're just fine the way that you are. No you're not. No I'm not. No you're not said

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any parent to their child ever. So friends we're not fine but we're deeply loved.

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We're not fine but we can be forgiven. We're not all well but God can heal us.

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None of us have earned a seat at his table

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but he invites us anyways. He invites you anyways. He invites me anyways and just like he did with

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Levi with all prior knowledge of the very worst things that he did and with all prior knowledge

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of the very worst things that I have done he knows he already knows and he invites you me we us

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anyways and that's good news. So this is the story that Jesus table has always been telling both then

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and now and the rich thing about this story is that it's not just a piece of history or a great

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literary narrative to teach a really nice lesson it actually happened and today you're standing in a

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space you're sitting in a space you're held in the emotion of a space where Jesus is sitting

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of a space where Jesus reaches through history time emotion story into the heart into the mind

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of people sitting all across this room right now. On three I just want you to say your name out loud

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okay with me so I'm going to count to three and then you're just going to say your name out loud

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okay one two three Zach he says your name and then he makes a statement come follow me

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and what's cool about this is that it's alive and it's living and so though it was written

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in thousands of years ago it has the ability tells us to cut through flesh bone like right to the

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deepest parts of where we are and please come in any time we open this we're asked three questions

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minimum what does this tell us what do we just read today what does it tell us about the person

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of Jesus a lot number two what's to tell us about ourself a lot there's a lot that's asked of me

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in this am I a Pharisee am I Levi am I like Jesus am I an inviter am I a gossiper am I a lover

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am I kind do I require separation before responding to invitation am I all about holiness

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but no acceptance asked a lot of me then asked what does it tell us about other people huh

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tells us a lot about other people sometimes that's an easier question to answer but the last question

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that I want to leave you with today and it's both for you me individual but it goes beyond us then

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whenever we open this scripture asks us who needs to hear this and so maybe there's somebody you're

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like that was really good know that made the decision to respond to the invitation already

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thanks yep should probably should have missed that Sunday no who have you shared that story with

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who needs to hear it and so we're going to pray and then we're going to be bold because there's

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some people who need to ask the question of their own heart maybe throughout today or even before

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he came in here you knew like I have been being invited by the kindness of Jesus into relationship

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with him and today's the day that you make a decision to say yes to continue following him

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into that process of growth and development in him becoming all that that you can become in him

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all that he's created you to be maybe you're like got it but you got to be somebody who remembers

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that the invitation to your life didn't stop with you that he's invited you to invite other people

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into that and that's what you got to step into over the next couple days the next couple weeks

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being an invited person who invites other people so all of us have a choice to respond today

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so ask you guys with me to close your eyes I want to pray for you and I want to begin

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with the question is there anybody in this space who hears who feels the burning in their heart

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that Jesus is calling to them by name saying come and follow me and you want to take a step

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today to begin to follow him I just invite you to put your hand up is there anybody here who

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feels like Jesus is saying come follow me the second question I want to ask you and again I

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ask you to raise your hands because sometimes obedience in our own heart needs to be expressed

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in a physical action is there anybody who feels in their heart today that Jesus is saying I need

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you to become somebody who invites other people and shares the story with someone if you feel like

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he's saying to you it's time for you to share this story with someone else I just want you to

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raise your hand and I want to pray with you and join you in that as well and so Lord thank you

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that you hear that you see and that you know not just those who raise their hands Lord but every

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person in this room you've invited them into relationship with you and I pray that through a

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reading of your word today that there would be a deeper understanding towards who you are

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and to what it is that you've called those who are saying yes who are saying yes to relationship

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with you and to to forgiveness of sin to new life in you and Lord to those who have said I feel

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called into being a person of invitation that's a part of my life but I've just laughed I've kept

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the invitation to myself I need to open it up Lord I pray for courage and boldness in those people

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this week in the year ahead we're at the beginning of January to be people who courageously invite

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others into the story of hope and life transformation only found in the person of Jesus

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so thank you that you speak I pray that you would help our hearts and our physical ears if that's

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what's needed God to hear you thank you for your word amen thank you for tuning in to the

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ECB sermon podcast whether near or far if you are looking for community or are in need of prayer

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we welcome you to engage by sending us an email to office at ecb.asia if God is calling you to

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support our ministries you will find giving options on our website and remember to join us next week

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God bless you