WEBVTT 00:00:04.269 --> 00:00:07.330 Welcome to today's podcast of Pursuing Jesus. 00:00:07.530 --> 00:00:10.609 Today, we're going to spend time talking about 00:00:10.609 --> 00:00:14.349 repentance, digging out the roots and fertilizing 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:17.910 those things. So let's dig right into the scriptures 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:27.750 and hope you enjoy. Well, hi -dee -ho, everybody. 00:00:27.910 --> 00:00:31.210 How we doing? This is Pursuing Jesus. Hi -ho. 00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:37.500 It's off the podcast we go. Hi -ho, hi -ho, hi 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:46.960 -ho, hi -ho. Hi -ho! I wasn't ready for that. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:50.000 I don't know. I feel like I actually held that 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.219 note. You did. That was pretty good projection. 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:56.359 Dang. For my non -singing self. You do have a 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:02.600 singing voice. You just deny it. Okay. Okay, 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:05.799 we'll leave it there. John, I want to make sure 00:01:05.799 --> 00:01:08.099 you caught that. He said okay, which is akin 00:01:08.099 --> 00:01:10.799 to yes. So I expect to see you at choir practice. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.079 It's 8 p .m. Wednesday night. That's the problem. 00:01:13.140 --> 00:01:16.739 I'm busy. I've got to clean up the gym, the youth 00:01:16.739 --> 00:01:19.739 building. Usually I'm out of here by like 8 .30 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:22.579 on most nights. This reminds me of a story in 00:01:22.579 --> 00:01:25.599 the Bible where Jesus called his disciples, and 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:28.099 this guy's like, sorry, dude, I've got to go 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:31.629 bury my dad. And Jesus is like, let the dead 00:01:31.629 --> 00:01:33.310 bury their own dead. And so I would say to you, 00:01:33.329 --> 00:01:38.290 my ministry is don't go down this route. Don't 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:40.250 go down this route. It's not going to look good 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:43.310 for either one of us. John's just shaking his 00:01:43.310 --> 00:01:46.090 head. Oh man. Well, John, I actually have a question 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:48.129 for you to kind of start out with. This is, I've 00:01:48.129 --> 00:01:51.920 been pondering on this really all week. So, you 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:54.019 know, you have Holy Week. You know, you've got 00:01:54.019 --> 00:01:57.379 Maundy Thursday, Good Friday. What is it? Something 00:01:57.379 --> 00:01:59.900 Saturday. Silent Saturday. Silent Saturday, Eastern 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:03.319 Sunday. But on which day of Holy Week did Jesus 00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:05.260 hand out high fives during his earthly ministry? 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:11.300 Huh? Hold on. It's a dad joke. Yeah, I figured 00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:14.539 as much. I'm trying to figure it out. High fives 00:02:14.539 --> 00:02:16.439 on Holy Week. Which day did he hand out high 00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:22.360 fives? Taco Tuesday? Palm Sunday. Gosh, it's 00:02:22.360 --> 00:02:27.120 so obvious. I'm so mad at myself now. It is so 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.879 obvious. I've been sitting on that for a while. 00:02:31.419 --> 00:02:34.699 The amount of strength that it has taken for 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:37.419 me not to tell either of you that in person at 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:39.379 some point in the office today so that I could 00:02:39.379 --> 00:02:43.680 get the real full... Oh, man. That's a good one. 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:47.099 It's so gratifying. No, that is not a good one. 00:02:47.979 --> 00:02:51.620 Oh, it was good. Oh, man. Thank you. Thank you. 00:02:51.620 --> 00:02:59.379 I'll be here all week. Oh, man. Well, I don't 00:02:59.379 --> 00:03:01.680 know what to follow with that one. I think the 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:03.979 best way to follow it up is to dig into the passage. 00:03:04.020 --> 00:03:07.479 It's to dig into the passage. Yeah. All right. 00:03:08.099 --> 00:03:13.599 Well, I took Thursdays, the 21st, from Luke 13, 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:19.509 1 to 5. And I took this passage mainly because 00:03:19.509 --> 00:03:22.330 it's dealing with the idea of repentance. And 00:03:22.330 --> 00:03:27.479 it has a lot of... I don't know. I would say 00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.180 it deals with a lot of things that we deal with. 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:32.560 And I guess the easiest way would be for me to 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.599 read the part that I'm talking about. And starting 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:37.939 in verse 2, it says, And Jesus responded to them, 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.060 Do you think that these Galileans were worse 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:43.580 sinners than all the other Galileans just because 00:03:43.580 --> 00:03:46.159 they have suffered this fate? No, I tell you, 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:49.460 but unless you repent, you'll all likewise perish. 00:03:49.780 --> 00:03:55.349 And oftentimes we think that... based on what's 00:03:55.349 --> 00:03:57.909 going on in someone's life, that because of the 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:00.009 way they're being punished or because of the 00:04:00.009 --> 00:04:02.210 difficulties they're going through, it's because 00:04:02.210 --> 00:04:06.210 they're worse sinners than everybody else. what 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:08.990 Jesus was trying to imply here is that, no, we 00:04:08.990 --> 00:04:11.610 all need to repent. We don't need to gauge it 00:04:11.610 --> 00:04:15.509 or we don't need to categorize it because of 00:04:15.509 --> 00:04:17.829 what happens to somebody thinking they have to 00:04:17.829 --> 00:04:20.750 be a worse sinner than we are. And we're guilty 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:22.649 of that a lot of times, of looking at people 00:04:22.649 --> 00:04:25.649 and thinking that they're worse than we are. 00:04:25.870 --> 00:04:28.269 And Jesus is saying, even though these guys, 00:04:28.310 --> 00:04:31.290 their blood was mingled, and then later because 00:04:31.290 --> 00:04:33.689 of a tower falling on some people, verse four, 00:04:33.889 --> 00:04:36.610 he says, no, he says, the truth is, is we all 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:41.050 likewise perish. We all must repent. It doesn't 00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:44.610 matter how we go. It matters about how we live. 00:04:45.089 --> 00:04:47.629 And so I just, you know, I look at that. I think 00:04:47.629 --> 00:04:51.829 that sometimes we, we want to gauge somebody's 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:55.610 life. based on what's going on in their lives. 00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:57.290 In other words, if they're suffering, if they're 00:04:57.290 --> 00:04:59.529 going through a hardship, it's got to be because 00:04:59.529 --> 00:05:02.649 of sin. And that's not the reality. The reality 00:05:02.649 --> 00:05:05.850 is different people go through different stages 00:05:05.850 --> 00:05:08.329 in life because God is trying to teach us different 00:05:08.329 --> 00:05:10.850 things. But the truth of the matter is we're 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:14.009 all sinful. We all fall short. We all need to 00:05:14.009 --> 00:05:17.610 repent. Yeah. I mean, that is absolutely true. 00:05:17.730 --> 00:05:21.290 The universal nature of our need for a Savior 00:05:21.290 --> 00:05:25.089 outside of ourselves. In reading this narrative, 00:05:25.230 --> 00:05:27.730 though, it looks like to me that this was a current 00:05:27.730 --> 00:05:31.629 event. While Jesus is teaching, people are like, 00:05:31.709 --> 00:05:34.509 Jesus, have you heard? It's the water cooler 00:05:34.509 --> 00:05:38.089 talk of the day. Yeah. And like classic Jesus, 00:05:38.170 --> 00:05:42.310 he takes people from the physical to the spiritual. 00:05:42.509 --> 00:05:46.189 But I also think that it's an interesting response 00:05:46.189 --> 00:05:50.660 to what this very thing is. Pilate mingling the 00:05:50.660 --> 00:05:52.920 blood of the Gentiles with their sacrifices would 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.199 have been shocking. Shocking. I mean, this is 00:05:56.199 --> 00:05:58.920 akin to, what was the name of that Greek dude 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:01.779 who, in the intertestamental period? Antiochus 00:06:01.779 --> 00:06:04.620 Epiphanius. Yeah. Sacrificing the pig. Sacrificing 00:06:04.620 --> 00:06:07.920 the pig on the altar. Oh, yeah, that guy. At 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.500 the temple. But this would have been a desecrated, 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:12.759 like a desecrating thing. That would have been 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:17.139 considered unclean. Yeah. But Jesus. Jesus takes 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:20.399 the horror that they're feeling and kind of applies 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:23.660 it to everybody. I almost feel like there's mercy 00:06:23.660 --> 00:06:27.439 in that. Jesus' call to repentance isn't him 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:30.860 standing up there, I'm going to get you, I'm 00:06:30.860 --> 00:06:34.519 going to get you. His design here, I mean, he's 00:06:34.519 --> 00:06:38.579 using a hard, awful, scary thing that happened 00:06:38.579 --> 00:06:40.759 in his time where people saw it, people would 00:06:40.759 --> 00:06:44.319 have talked about it. to show us all how hard 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.800 and scary our sin is. I mean, people assuming 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.139 here in asking Jesus about these Gentiles that 00:06:51.139 --> 00:06:53.660 their bad fate, like you said, correlated with 00:06:53.660 --> 00:06:55.759 their bad sin. But Jesus is like, dude, it's 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:58.199 all bad. Yeah. It's all bad. And so repentance 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:02.319 is offered to you. Because without that repentance 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.920 that he ends up making a way for, we would all 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.160 be dead as the tragedy with the Galileans or 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:11.379 the people that the tower fell on. And I think 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:14.980 it's interesting. Both of these current events 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:18.000 that he talks about were not of the fault of 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:25.079 the person directly. A sacrilegious act was performed, 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:27.300 and then these people just happened to die in 00:07:27.300 --> 00:07:30.649 an accident. And so I think, you know, that is 00:07:30.649 --> 00:07:33.089 once again on purpose of, as you said, Jesus 00:07:33.089 --> 00:07:35.110 was taking these events and helping people to 00:07:35.110 --> 00:07:37.610 see something that they've probably they're dealing 00:07:37.610 --> 00:07:39.550 with in their hearts. But him like, hey, like 00:07:39.550 --> 00:07:42.009 this is this is how you need to view this. And 00:07:42.009 --> 00:07:44.870 then if we if Jesus is viewing it in this way, 00:07:44.910 --> 00:07:46.449 we also need to realize that the opposite is 00:07:46.449 --> 00:07:48.689 true, too, because one of the things I see today 00:07:48.689 --> 00:07:52.509 is people blaming God. for their misfortunes. 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.649 They're like, oh God, if God was real, why would 00:07:55.649 --> 00:07:57.990 he allow this to happen? And that's a dangerous, 00:07:58.050 --> 00:08:00.750 hard question to go down. I mean, one of the 00:08:00.750 --> 00:08:02.750 biggest questions that we know as pastors that 00:08:02.750 --> 00:08:05.329 keeps people from Christianity, from believing 00:08:05.329 --> 00:08:07.990 in God is why do bad things happen to good people? 00:08:08.350 --> 00:08:10.329 Like that is just a big question that people, 00:08:10.389 --> 00:08:13.550 when people can really, truly wrestle with that 00:08:13.550 --> 00:08:16.069 question, but it's going here. It's like, hey, 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:20.959 just your actions does not mean. God is punishing 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:23.519 you for something you've done. We're all on the 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:25.420 same playing field, and we all need the grace 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:28.639 of God. Well, to answer that question that I've 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:30.220 heard many a time is why do bad things happen 00:08:30.220 --> 00:08:32.840 to good people? Simple response is there really 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:35.360 are no good people. That's the problem. We're 00:08:35.360 --> 00:08:37.440 sinful, and that's what this text leads us to. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:40.919 Unless you all repent, we all fall short. So 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:43.559 I know what people are saying because, let's 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:46.879 be honest, we gauge. We gauge how good we are. 00:08:46.980 --> 00:08:50.059 We gauge how bad people are. We gauge all of 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:52.500 these things. And the truth is we're all sinners 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:55.799 in need of repentance and need of a Savior. Plain 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:58.679 and simple. But, yeah, I mean, I've heard that 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:01.460 question a number of times why people don't want 00:09:01.460 --> 00:09:03.100 to become Christian because they say, well, bad 00:09:03.100 --> 00:09:05.379 things happen to good people. Bad things happen 00:09:05.379 --> 00:09:09.100 to all people. That's the truth. That's the reality. 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:12.039 There is. And I think there's also something 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:15.419 to be said here of, like, we're in the middle 00:09:15.419 --> 00:09:20.000 of the story. And I think Jesus would have said 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.179 this at the time too. The fall of the Tower of 00:09:24.179 --> 00:09:27.139 Siloam, the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:30.059 with their sacrifices, the people who died in 00:09:30.059 --> 00:09:33.639 car accidents, even national tragedies like 9 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:40.860 -11. We know how this story ends. I was reading 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:42.820 this the other day. Jesus is going to come back. 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:44.659 He's going to plant his feet on the Mount of 00:09:44.659 --> 00:09:46.639 Olives. He's going to walk right back into Jerusalem, 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:50.980 and he is going to claim his bride. And he promises 00:09:50.980 --> 00:09:52.899 that there will be a day where he will wipe every 00:09:52.899 --> 00:09:55.720 tear away from our eyes, and death and sin will 00:09:55.720 --> 00:09:58.059 be no more. And then the last thing God the Father 00:09:58.059 --> 00:10:00.960 says is, Behold, I am making all things new. 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:05.879 And so that's a twofold thing. One, when bad 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.980 things happen to, air quotes, good people, or 00:10:09.980 --> 00:10:11.940 when bad things happen to people we care about, 00:10:12.059 --> 00:10:13.460 because I feel like that's really the crux of 00:10:13.460 --> 00:10:15.100 this. That's what it is. People we care about 00:10:15.100 --> 00:10:18.480 or us. We can hold on to that promise for the 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.899 future, but we can also be part of God bringing 00:10:22.899 --> 00:10:26.139 his kingdom in on this earth. Not in a sense 00:10:26.139 --> 00:10:29.019 of we have ownership of when he does that, but 00:10:29.019 --> 00:10:32.100 every time that we make a meal for somebody who's 00:10:32.100 --> 00:10:34.940 hurting, every time that we mow a lawn for somebody 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:37.720 who... can't mow their lawn, every time that 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:39.379 we see somebody crying and we give them a hug, 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:41.299 every time that we know somebody's struggling 00:10:41.299 --> 00:10:45.740 and we slip a 20 in their jacket, we are in small 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:50.460 ways a part of making all things new. And it's 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:55.720 those simple, simple acts that us as pastors, 00:10:55.779 --> 00:10:58.779 as Christians, that we do, that is what makes 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:04.279 all the difference in people's lives. Like today's 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:06.200 Monday. Yesterday we had the graduation service. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:10.580 We did a lot of great things for these graduates 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:13.679 to honor them and to do different things. And 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.399 I stood up there for 20 minutes giving them a 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:18.679 sermon. But I guarantee you the thing that meant 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.379 the most to them was the prayer at the end. It's 00:11:21.379 --> 00:11:25.379 those little small acts of people showing that 00:11:25.379 --> 00:11:29.240 we care for you. And doing those things, that's 00:11:29.240 --> 00:11:30.539 what matters. Like you said, it's just those 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:32.120 little things that we do for people that shows, 00:11:32.259 --> 00:11:34.620 hey, that's what it means to be a pastor. That's 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:36.200 what it means to be a Christian. That's what 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:38.840 it means to minister to other people, is to show 00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:42.360 them these little acts of love. And that's exactly 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:45.480 what Jesus did. Of course, he had the power to 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:47.519 do more than these little acts, these big acts, 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:51.360 but he met people where they were. And even in 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:54.139 this text, he sees the deadness of their hearts 00:11:54.139 --> 00:11:55.600 and the rebellion and the sin and the sickness, 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:58.080 and he says, you guys got to repent. And so this 00:11:58.080 --> 00:11:59.899 is a harsh act of kindness, but it is an act 00:11:59.899 --> 00:12:02.879 of kindness. Nonetheless. Yeah. Now it does beg 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:07.820 the question. So like, what does repentance look 00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:09.700 like? And can we learn about repentance from 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:12.000 this text? Cause I, I feel like there's a, there's 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.580 a tension here. And I've, I've, I've got a friend 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:19.259 who relatively recently has come out of kind 00:12:19.259 --> 00:12:23.419 of the new age religion. like like um like mysticism 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:26.940 eastern like we are god like we are god i am 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:29.860 god god is us um and then like even as their 00:12:29.860 --> 00:12:32.100 process of like becoming a believer like they 00:12:32.100 --> 00:12:33.820 held on this thing they called the christ consciousness 00:12:33.820 --> 00:12:36.879 like jesus is in us all jesus is all and like 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.340 they're past that now which is great but when 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:43.159 you have a individualistic religion to that degree 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.559 i am god you know god is in us then your soul 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:49.440 focus is glorifying yourself genuinely yeah um 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:52.879 But I think sometimes in Christendom, we can 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:55.000 overcorrect and like, okay, no, no, no, no, I'm 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.600 trash. I'm worse than trash. I'm scum. But you're 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.220 really just kind of waiting for somebody to be 00:13:01.220 --> 00:13:03.580 like, no, no, no, no, no, you're not scum. You're 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:06.740 winning. And as I've talked to this friend, they've 00:13:06.740 --> 00:13:09.820 confessed that it's been a hard transition because 00:13:09.820 --> 00:13:11.960 you kind of ping pong between opposite extremes. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.200 So my question for this is a really long lead 00:13:15.200 --> 00:13:18.840 up to a short question. How do we engage in real 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:25.279 repentance? without delving into self -flagellation, 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:31.340 beating yourself up, and seeing yourself as less 00:13:31.340 --> 00:13:33.519 than God would see you versus seeing you than 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:35.960 more God would see you, keeping that consistent 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:39.419 with what he says about you. I'd say that Paul 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:43.360 gives us the answer in 2 Corinthians 7, verses 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:47.929 10 and 11. He says, produces repentance without 00:13:47.929 --> 00:13:50.450 regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow 00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:52.909 of the world produces death. For behold, what 00:13:52.909 --> 00:13:55.289 earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, 00:13:55.429 --> 00:13:57.549 has produced in you, what vindication of yourselves, 00:13:57.870 --> 00:14:00.649 what indignation, what fear, what longing, what 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:03.370 zeal, what punishment of wrong in everything 00:14:03.370 --> 00:14:05.789 you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in 00:14:05.789 --> 00:14:09.269 the matter. Paul says there's seven parts to 00:14:09.269 --> 00:14:11.289 godly repentance. And to be honest with you, 00:14:11.330 --> 00:14:15.690 I think that, I don't know, I don't feel like 00:14:15.690 --> 00:14:18.350 we, grasp or really understand what repentance 00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:21.750 is. I think we soften it a lot. And he says it 00:14:21.750 --> 00:14:24.769 produces in us a sorrow. I mean, when was the 00:14:24.769 --> 00:14:27.970 last time we cried over our sin? It produces 00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:30.289 in us not only a godly sorrow, but it produces 00:14:30.289 --> 00:14:33.970 a vindication. We want to get our names right 00:14:33.970 --> 00:14:36.769 with God. We want to vindicate ourselves, not 00:14:36.769 --> 00:14:39.009 to make ourselves look good, but to vindicate 00:14:39.009 --> 00:14:41.490 our relationship with God, to make amends with 00:14:41.490 --> 00:14:43.879 it. He says, what indignation. I mean, when's 00:14:43.879 --> 00:14:46.100 the last time we got angry at ourselves for failing 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:49.220 yet again? What fear? I mean, do we really fear 00:14:49.220 --> 00:14:52.240 God? Do we fear what that sin is going to cause? 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:54.720 What longing? You know, a longing to get things 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:58.120 right. What zeal? And zeal being a passion to 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:01.039 want to restore things. What punishment of wrong? 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:02.940 In other words, are we willing to accept what 00:15:02.940 --> 00:15:06.059 God brings in our path? So I think Paul says 00:15:06.059 --> 00:15:09.419 that our repentance, honestly, nowadays is not 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:13.200 what it ought to be. If we repented like what 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:15.960 Paul talked about there, I believe we'd see revival. 00:15:16.139 --> 00:15:18.820 I really believe we'd see revival in the church 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:21.720 and in our own hearts. I think there's a genuineness 00:15:21.720 --> 00:15:25.340 that needs to be present too. Oh, yeah. Both 00:15:25.340 --> 00:15:29.019 a genuineness of self, like I, through the Holy 00:15:29.019 --> 00:15:32.000 Spirit, can see myself as I am rather than as 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:36.240 I would like to be, or rather like I pretend 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.690 to be at church. But I think a genuineness with 00:15:39.690 --> 00:15:42.370 others too, like, like one of the functions of 00:15:42.370 --> 00:15:45.250 the church, I believe that, that has fallen by 00:15:45.250 --> 00:15:47.809 the wayside is community confession. That if 00:15:47.809 --> 00:15:50.409 you look at first century Christianity, like, 00:15:50.470 --> 00:15:52.990 like confessing your sins to one another was 00:15:52.990 --> 00:15:56.559 a thing they regularly did. Confessing issues 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.840 they had with each other was the thing they regularly 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.960 did. Can you imagine coming down to the altar 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:05.639 and the Lord convicted you of something and you 00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:07.039 walk up to somebody right after church and you're 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:10.039 like, dude, I'm so sorry. I sinned against you. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.500 Or can we talk through this? Because I'm trying 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:15.960 to let this go, but the Lord wants me to address 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:17.960 this with you. And I'm not sitting here saying 00:16:17.960 --> 00:16:20.100 that I do that perfectly either because I don't. 00:16:20.100 --> 00:16:22.740 I think that's a cultural facet where maybe just 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.710 because we're in a more individualistic culture, 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:29.210 that's not really a, a scene as important or 00:16:29.210 --> 00:16:31.990 a thing, but I do think that there is seriousness 00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:34.750 that comes repentance. And I think the freedom 00:16:34.750 --> 00:16:37.470 in the, in Christ that we feel as a part of that 00:16:37.470 --> 00:16:40.509 too, it's this, it's this wonderful, mysterious, 00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:44.769 double -edged sword of our sin sent Jesus to 00:16:44.769 --> 00:16:47.610 the cross, but Jesus went to the cross because 00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:51.620 of our sin, you know? We were destined for the 00:16:51.620 --> 00:16:54.179 wrath of God, but now because of what Jesus did, 00:16:54.340 --> 00:16:57.539 we're his children. And every punishment that 00:16:57.539 --> 00:17:01.940 we deserved fell on Christ. And so, yeah, that 00:17:01.940 --> 00:17:05.519 repentance has to be serious business. Yeah. 00:17:05.579 --> 00:17:09.539 And the big thing is also getting to the point 00:17:09.539 --> 00:17:11.059 that you realize there's something you need to 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:15.079 repent of. I think one of the things that's hard 00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:20.349 in... modern church is we're so fast to point 00:17:20.349 --> 00:17:24.750 out the sins that anger us yeah it's so easy 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:28.049 for us to point out sins and other people that 00:17:28.049 --> 00:17:30.410 we don't like or even sins in ourselves that 00:17:30.410 --> 00:17:32.829 are just those ones that really like hit those 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:37.299 hot topic buttons right But I think sometimes 00:17:37.299 --> 00:17:40.900 by doing that, we can also hide the fact in our 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:42.700 lives that we have sins that we're not willing 00:17:42.700 --> 00:17:47.279 to deal with. And that's the scary part, is thinking 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:50.839 that, okay, is there something in my life that 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:53.700 I'm trying to hide from myself so that I don't 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:55.420 feel like I can keep doing what I'm doing without 00:17:55.420 --> 00:17:59.140 feeling bad? And going back to everything y 'all 00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:01.160 just said, it starts with that relationship with 00:18:01.160 --> 00:18:04.200 God of allowing the Holy Spirit to speak into 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:07.339 you and realizing, okay, there is something here 00:18:07.339 --> 00:18:09.819 that I need to be bringing before the Lord. And 00:18:09.819 --> 00:18:12.700 it's that heart posture of doing those things 00:18:12.700 --> 00:18:15.920 that John was listing off in 2 Corinthians with 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:18.339 a posture of the heart of true repentance. It's 00:18:18.339 --> 00:18:21.200 not like if it's this checklist thing, like, 00:18:21.299 --> 00:18:23.599 oh, yeah, oh, man, I fell to that again. God, 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:25.640 I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for this. I'm sorry for 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:27.039 this. I know I'm going to do it again in a couple 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:29.140 of days, but I'm so sorry right now. Like, no, 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:31.740 like that's, that's not it. There's truly like 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:35.079 he was saying, grieving over whatever that is 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:37.240 that's going on in your life. Like there's a 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:39.339 difference there. But the grief that you produce 00:18:39.339 --> 00:18:41.900 by yourself is not real grief over your sin. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:45.660 That is correct. You have to be walking in the 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:49.619 spirit for him to give you that. a true understanding 00:18:49.619 --> 00:18:52.279 of how he sees it. Because if you produce it 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.339 within yourself, that is just as fake and just 00:18:55.339 --> 00:18:57.700 as detestable to him. Well, that's why Bertha 00:18:57.700 --> 00:19:00.019 Smith says, ask God to search your heart, to 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:02.220 search out the secret recesses. Did she go to 00:19:02.220 --> 00:19:06.880 our church? No, she did. Old missionary, but 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.740 she did. She used to make that proclamation. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:12.200 She would go in and she'd say, ask God to search 00:19:12.200 --> 00:19:14.799 your heart. But you talked about public confession. 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:17.230 I thought this was an interesting thing when 00:19:17.230 --> 00:19:20.289 I was at Liberty University. Go Flames. Yeah. 00:19:20.750 --> 00:19:23.049 When I was there, they had kind of a revival 00:19:23.049 --> 00:19:27.690 going on at a university in Texas. And they talked 00:19:27.690 --> 00:19:31.269 about it in one of our services. And they had 00:19:31.269 --> 00:19:33.329 talked about how students just started going 00:19:33.329 --> 00:19:35.210 up to the microphone and confessing their sins. 00:19:35.329 --> 00:19:37.789 I mean, just openly confessing. Pornography, 00:19:37.890 --> 00:19:40.890 all these different things, just out there confessing 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:44.630 it and how it went on for days at this university. 00:19:44.670 --> 00:19:46.890 And they had to even shut down classes and they 00:19:46.890 --> 00:19:49.170 were seeing a great experience. And it was funny 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:51.890 because they tried to, I don't want to say manipulate 00:19:51.890 --> 00:19:54.529 it at Liberty, but they wanted to reproduce it. 00:19:55.099 --> 00:19:58.160 And so they talked about it and it's almost like 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:00.339 they had a few students lined up to come up there 00:20:00.339 --> 00:20:03.759 and do it. Yeah. And like after like five or 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:05.960 six, it was over and it was kind of like, oh, 00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:07.819 this isn't what we were hoping for. It's like 00:20:07.819 --> 00:20:10.960 you can't. recreate what the Spirit's trying 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:14.500 to do. You can, I think it was Henry Blackaby 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:17.859 said, find where God is at work and get on board. 00:20:18.059 --> 00:20:20.319 In other words, don't try to create it for yourself, 00:20:20.420 --> 00:20:23.160 but find where God's at work. And I just, you 00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.000 know, I feel like that would be something that 00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:27.480 would be powerful if it came from the heart and 00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:29.420 it came from the Spirit of God. I mean, that's 00:20:29.420 --> 00:20:31.960 like Saul getting, you know, waiting for Samuel 00:20:31.960 --> 00:20:34.519 to come to offer the sacrifices. waiting for 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:36.599 Samuel to come to offer the sacrifices. No, I 00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:38.079 got this. It's like, no, no, no, no. I'm the 00:20:38.079 --> 00:20:40.920 king. That's like close enough, right? Yeah. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.279 All right. Well, Sean, how about you? What's 00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:45.680 your passage this week? Well, we're going to 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:47.920 continue to roll on right into the next few verses 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:51.940 of Luke chapter 13, verses 6 through 9. It's 00:20:51.940 --> 00:20:54.420 a short story, so let me just read it. So, you 00:20:54.420 --> 00:20:57.380 know, we're in Scripture. We're not just jumping 00:20:57.380 --> 00:20:59.559 into a different topic. We're flowing right there 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:01.740 through this idea of repentance. And what does 00:21:01.740 --> 00:21:04.720 that look like? And specifically here, what happens 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:08.500 if it takes a while for you to repent? It's interesting. 00:21:08.619 --> 00:21:10.119 It's a really cool parable. So listen to this. 00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:12.440 It says, and he told this parable, a man had 00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.559 a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. 00:21:14.579 --> 00:21:16.720 He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 00:21:17.220 --> 00:21:19.420 He told the vineyard worker, listen, for three 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:21.660 years I have come looking for fruit on this fig 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:24.339 tree and I haven't found any. Cut it down. Why 00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.660 should it even waste the soil? But he replied 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:30.299 to him, Sir, leave it this year also until I 00:21:30.299 --> 00:21:33.740 dig around it and fertilize it. Perhaps it will 00:21:33.740 --> 00:21:36.660 produce fruit next year, but if not, cut it down. 00:21:37.889 --> 00:21:40.450 The parable itself is referring to Israel. Israel 00:21:40.450 --> 00:21:42.930 is the fig tree here. And a lot of people will 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:45.130 even talk about how the three years was talking 00:21:45.130 --> 00:21:47.529 about three years that Jesus' ministry was trying 00:21:47.529 --> 00:21:50.069 to reach out to these people, trying to reach 00:21:50.069 --> 00:21:52.829 out to the Israelites and get them to produce 00:21:52.829 --> 00:21:56.869 fruit. And so that is first and foremost the 00:21:56.869 --> 00:21:59.369 direction that the parable was going for the 00:21:59.369 --> 00:22:02.710 audience of the time. But I think there's also 00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:05.549 a lot that we can learn from this as well. And 00:22:05.549 --> 00:22:09.670 so you have Jesus here. and you've got this fig 00:22:09.670 --> 00:22:12.650 tree, and it's not producing figs. Now, this 00:22:12.650 --> 00:22:16.829 is not the one that Jesus saw and was like, no, 00:22:16.930 --> 00:22:19.549 dude, you're done. This is a parable. This is 00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:23.470 a story that Jesus is making up. But I love this 00:22:23.470 --> 00:22:26.410 idea because what it shows me is really the grace 00:22:26.410 --> 00:22:28.130 of God. That's what this story is all about, 00:22:28.210 --> 00:22:33.750 that there is... There is grace that God has 00:22:33.750 --> 00:22:37.750 for us in desiring, continuing to desire for 00:22:37.750 --> 00:22:40.109 us to repent. And even the open -endedness of 00:22:40.109 --> 00:22:42.450 the parable here. Like, we don't know. We're 00:22:42.450 --> 00:22:45.630 not told if the fig tree continues to produce 00:22:45.630 --> 00:22:48.369 fruit or not. Once again, showing that there 00:22:48.369 --> 00:22:51.589 is grace of God. Like, God's desire, first and 00:22:51.589 --> 00:22:54.589 foremost, is to keep on giving us those chances. 00:22:56.910 --> 00:22:59.009 There is a time that that's going to end. Yes. 00:22:59.029 --> 00:23:01.329 And that's also an important part of this, knowing 00:23:01.329 --> 00:23:05.710 that, hey, God has grace for us. He wants to 00:23:05.710 --> 00:23:10.250 continue to bring people around us to fertilize, 00:23:10.250 --> 00:23:13.490 to dig around, to do the things to get us to 00:23:13.490 --> 00:23:17.150 begin to bear fruit. But there is coming a time 00:23:17.150 --> 00:23:20.529 where all of that's going to stop. You know what 00:23:20.529 --> 00:23:22.490 stands out to me about this verse? What's that? 00:23:24.450 --> 00:23:28.250 In my translation, because I'm rocking ESV, it's 00:23:28.250 --> 00:23:32.069 just what I grew up reading. Are you CSB? Yes, 00:23:32.069 --> 00:23:35.369 right now. Right now. I go back and forth between 00:23:35.369 --> 00:23:38.849 a lot. And John, you're NASB, yeah? Yep. I preached 00:23:38.849 --> 00:23:42.049 NLT on Sunday. My man. So I go back and forth. 00:23:42.589 --> 00:23:47.069 What my translation says, going into verse 8, 00:23:47.190 --> 00:23:49.289 when the dude's advocating for the fig tree, 00:23:49.430 --> 00:23:52.369 Sir, let it alone also this year, until I dig 00:23:52.369 --> 00:23:54.960 it out. Dig out around it and put on manure. 00:23:55.339 --> 00:23:57.319 Not fertilize, but put on manure. And I know 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:00.019 that you can use... It's the best kind of fertilizer. 00:24:00.200 --> 00:24:02.380 Best kind of fertilizer. And sometimes I drive 00:24:02.380 --> 00:24:04.579 to work and I can tell when the farmers are fertilizing 00:24:04.579 --> 00:24:06.700 their fields. Stanley County loves to manure 00:24:06.700 --> 00:24:09.579 for their farms. Amen. Amen. The best fertilizer 00:24:09.579 --> 00:24:12.099 I have ever used on my shrubs has been chicken 00:24:12.099 --> 00:24:14.740 manure. Chicken manure? No lie. My bushes bloomed 00:24:14.740 --> 00:24:16.640 tremendously. Did you have to buy that separately 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:19.400 or did you have chickens? Yeah, I bought it at 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.599 Tractor Supply. Only that's awesome. I've never 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:24.119 been to a tractor supply. I need to go. I'm getting 00:24:24.119 --> 00:24:29.059 distracted. Yes. Sorry. In my own life, sometimes, 00:24:29.259 --> 00:24:31.720 and so this is, this, this pairs interestingly 00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:33.819 with our conversation about the tower of Salome. 00:24:33.880 --> 00:24:38.440 Yeah. There have absolutely been times though, 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:41.380 where God has need to put crap around my roots. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:46.839 I'm serious to, for, to show me repentance, to 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:50.500 show, to finally show me like this, like, things 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:53.920 get bad enough. It's like, Oh, you know, like, 00:24:53.960 --> 00:24:56.380 uh, CS Lewis has this quote in mere Christianity, 00:24:56.500 --> 00:24:59.819 like pain is God's megaphone to a deaf world. 00:25:00.059 --> 00:25:03.279 Um, and I've experienced that in my own life 00:25:03.279 --> 00:25:06.819 where, you know, whether I understood God was 00:25:06.819 --> 00:25:10.740 calling me towards repentance or not. Um, uh, 00:25:10.819 --> 00:25:12.460 that's what happened. Like, like I'll tell you 00:25:12.460 --> 00:25:14.200 a story and I, maybe I've mentioned this before 00:25:14.200 --> 00:25:17.259 on the podcast or not. I don't really know. Um, 00:25:18.349 --> 00:25:21.690 I made a profession of faith as a child. But 00:25:21.690 --> 00:25:23.490 the gospel that I responded to was not a real 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:27.109 gospel. Ben had no understanding of what he was 00:25:27.109 --> 00:25:30.150 doing. The lady that presented it said, among 00:25:30.150 --> 00:25:32.329 many other things, that there's cake in heaven 00:25:32.329 --> 00:25:35.970 and not cake in hell. And little pudgy 10 -year 00:25:35.970 --> 00:25:37.990 -old Ben thought, I know what I'm going to do. 00:25:38.150 --> 00:25:39.650 Oh, you've talked about this before because I 00:25:39.650 --> 00:25:41.390 was about to do the same joke I did last time 00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:43.150 and talk about breakfast in heaven. Oh, that's 00:25:43.150 --> 00:25:48.940 right. So I got baptized shortly after. And once 00:25:48.940 --> 00:25:52.140 I actually became a believer much later in my 00:25:52.140 --> 00:25:54.779 life, I really resisted the Lord on getting baptized. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:25:59.000 I was embarrassed. I was already serving in a 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:02.859 church. I was visible. And obviously baptism, 00:26:03.160 --> 00:26:05.779 talk about corporate confession, you're up there 00:26:05.779 --> 00:26:07.880 and you had a robe on and you're standing in 00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:10.559 a pool of water and somebody's got to dunk you. 00:26:10.599 --> 00:26:12.180 Depending on your denomination, they might pour 00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:14.140 water on your head, but somebody's got to dunk 00:26:14.140 --> 00:26:19.700 you here in the SBC. But the Lord had to put 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:22.859 menorah around my roots. Like my relationship 00:26:22.859 --> 00:26:26.259 with him, once he was like, son, it's time, started 00:26:26.259 --> 00:26:28.140 to atrophy because I kept pushing back on it. 00:26:28.400 --> 00:26:31.759 Like I let my fear and my pride and my anxiety 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:35.279 about what people would think of me keep me from 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.500 stepping forward into obedience. And so God's 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.279 with you everywhere, but he kept moving his felt 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.140 presence in my life back a little further and 00:26:44.140 --> 00:26:46.779 back a little further. and back a little further, 00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:48.920 and back a little further, and then I started 00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:51.980 losing sleep. And I couldn't sleep for a day, 00:26:52.119 --> 00:26:55.819 for a couple of days, for a week. And finally, 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:59.000 I'm just like, Lord, I don't even care. I'm going 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:03.420 to go talk to my pastor. And I did. And so it 00:27:03.420 --> 00:27:05.759 took God putting some manure around my roots 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:10.059 for me to understand, okay, I need to repent. 00:27:10.700 --> 00:27:14.079 And it did bear fruit. That fruit was painful. 00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:16.950 But it did bear fruit. Well, even on this side 00:27:16.950 --> 00:27:21.769 of salvation, too, some of the most growthful 00:27:21.769 --> 00:27:27.710 times of my life has been during the storms. 00:27:27.970 --> 00:27:31.769 Yeah. During the dark, dark storms. I can remember 00:27:31.769 --> 00:27:37.069 because I was not raised in church. I got saved 00:27:37.069 --> 00:27:43.079 late high school years. And then within... a 00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:45.440 couple of years of that, I was on the mission 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.779 field. I went to college in Argentina, did mission 00:27:48.779 --> 00:27:52.660 work in Argentina, and I talk about how joyful 00:27:52.660 --> 00:27:56.940 it was now, but at the time, I was dealing with 00:27:56.940 --> 00:28:00.839 incredible homesickness. I was dealing with having 00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:04.019 to learn theology around people that had studied 00:28:04.019 --> 00:28:07.279 it for years, and I'm over here a dumb -dumb 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.740 not knowing anything. And so I was dealing with 00:28:09.740 --> 00:28:14.619 a lot of mental issues during this because of 00:28:14.619 --> 00:28:18.880 where I was, but I pushed through it, but God 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.960 grew my relationship with Him. In incredible 00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:23.920 ways, I don't know if I did not go there just 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:26.960 for that one year. That one year grew me more 00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:29.319 than probably 10 years would have if I would 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:32.420 have stayed in the States. Wow. And so it's through, 00:28:32.539 --> 00:28:35.279 a lot of times, it's through those dark times, 00:28:35.380 --> 00:28:39.160 through those times of manure, as you're saying 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:42.079 in your illustration. I didn't say it. The Bible 00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:46.200 said it. That is true, that the ESV says, that 00:28:46.200 --> 00:28:49.839 we can really experience incredible growth and 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.400 fruit. Seriously. Well, I also want to take it 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:55.680 from this perspective. To me, this is why discipleship 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:59.319 is important. How many times do people get saved 00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:00.960 and then they're just told to come to church? 00:29:02.410 --> 00:29:04.490 They don't really grow. They're not taught how 00:29:04.490 --> 00:29:06.190 to read their Bibles. They're not taught how 00:29:06.190 --> 00:29:09.029 to pray. They're not taught how to do these simple 00:29:09.029 --> 00:29:11.049 things that we take for granted a lot of times. 00:29:11.190 --> 00:29:13.690 And the digging around it and putting in fertilizer 00:29:13.690 --> 00:29:16.450 can be also somebody taking you along on their 00:29:16.450 --> 00:29:20.150 side, discipling you and growing you and helping 00:29:20.150 --> 00:29:23.849 you. And I feel like that that's a lot of what 00:29:23.849 --> 00:29:27.490 we're missing today. We are missing that discipleship. 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:32.720 avenue, that mentoring, that personal one -on 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:36.700 -one, helping somebody get closer. I see this 00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:39.559 on Wednesdays. I'm thrilled with the group that 00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:43.259 I meet with each Wednesday. It's funny because 00:29:43.259 --> 00:29:47.460 I love the way Scott defines Jackie. She listens 00:29:47.460 --> 00:29:50.059 to it. He listens to it. They come on Wednesday, 00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:52.660 but he made this statement to her. He said, you're 00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:55.619 like a sponge. You're just soaking. everything 00:29:55.619 --> 00:29:58.539 up. I mean, she is asking a ton of questions. 00:29:58.779 --> 00:30:01.980 And so the Wednesday study is just so amazing 00:30:01.980 --> 00:30:05.119 because she's asking questions. I get to sit 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:08.519 back, watch Scott answer these questions, watch 00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:10.380 him grow while he's answering these questions 00:30:10.380 --> 00:30:15.509 and reflecting on it. It's so neat to see. This 00:30:15.509 --> 00:30:18.269 whole group, just this small little group as 00:30:18.269 --> 00:30:21.289 they are digging around the roots, fertilizing 00:30:21.289 --> 00:30:24.589 it, and watching them grow. There's just, to 00:30:24.589 --> 00:30:26.950 me, such an excitement in that Wednesday morning 00:30:26.950 --> 00:30:30.450 group where I sit down with these guys at 9 a 00:30:30.450 --> 00:30:33.049 .m. and just really dig into these passages. 00:30:33.289 --> 00:30:35.769 And so I see it from that perspective. It's not 00:30:35.769 --> 00:30:38.250 just God using difficulties, and He does use 00:30:38.250 --> 00:30:40.289 difficulties in our life, but there's also some 00:30:40.289 --> 00:30:43.000 good things that we can put into our lives. that 00:30:43.000 --> 00:30:44.900 will help us to grow, teach us how to, I mean, 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:48.619 we have got to get to that point where we are 00:30:48.619 --> 00:30:52.420 not just doing it on our own. We've got to have 00:30:52.420 --> 00:30:54.539 that community. And I feel like that's just something 00:30:54.539 --> 00:30:58.400 we miss so much today. Yeah. With that community 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:02.319 lens, talking about like adverse circumstances 00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:06.440 and community, one of the things when we, when 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:10.599 I look back on I don't want to say more liturgical, 00:31:10.599 --> 00:31:14.599 but like our older denominations or even like 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:17.299 denominations that aren't around anymore, like 00:31:17.299 --> 00:31:20.819 first century, fourth century worship. One of 00:31:20.819 --> 00:31:23.519 the practices that they had that was so compelling 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:29.089 to me is lament. talking about God shaping us 00:31:29.089 --> 00:31:31.589 in adverse circumstances reminded me of like 00:31:31.589 --> 00:31:35.509 Psalm 13, one of the minor key Psalms, as it 00:31:35.509 --> 00:31:37.910 were, like it's four verses and it starts with 00:31:37.910 --> 00:31:40.269 like, how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? 00:31:40.630 --> 00:31:42.670 How long will you hide your face from me? How 00:31:42.670 --> 00:31:44.390 long must I take counsel in my soul and have 00:31:44.390 --> 00:31:46.630 sorrow in my heart? And then, you know, there's 00:31:46.630 --> 00:31:49.410 a, and God, and the Psalmist presents his case 00:31:49.410 --> 00:31:51.309 and he ends with, but I have trusted in your 00:31:51.309 --> 00:31:53.170 steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your 00:31:53.170 --> 00:31:58.319 salvation. In like fourth century church gatherings, 00:31:58.440 --> 00:32:00.599 once they had a codified Bible that people could 00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:04.180 read or even snippets of it, they would do this 00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:07.359 corporately. Like they would engage with each 00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:11.359 other's difficulties in public. These psalms 00:32:11.359 --> 00:32:13.680 would be recited. These psalms would be sung. 00:32:14.880 --> 00:32:19.859 And I think that would make us tremendously uncomfortable 00:32:19.859 --> 00:32:23.990 in our church context. Yes. But if we're willing 00:32:23.990 --> 00:32:25.730 to get uncomfortable, that's when the Holy Spirit 00:32:25.730 --> 00:32:27.809 is going to work. It's interesting how that's, 00:32:27.809 --> 00:32:30.230 that there's a willing, like you have to be willing 00:32:30.230 --> 00:32:33.349 to go there because God's not going to force 00:32:33.349 --> 00:32:36.329 us. You know, like there is a day that every 00:32:36.329 --> 00:32:38.009 knee will bow on heaven and earth, regardless 00:32:38.009 --> 00:32:41.589 of your allegiance in this life. But for spiritual 00:32:41.589 --> 00:32:44.269 growth, you have to be willing to grow. I know 00:32:44.269 --> 00:32:46.190 he's the author and the perfecter of our faith. 00:32:46.289 --> 00:32:49.160 And so the forward progress is him. But there's 00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:51.119 a degree of willingness that I feel like we have 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.380 to step into. And I don't know what that would 00:32:53.380 --> 00:32:56.140 look like for our church. I mean, I think it's 00:32:56.140 --> 00:32:59.319 easier to lament when there's bigger tragedies, 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:02.299 right? Like 9 -11, you saw a big resurgence of 00:33:02.299 --> 00:33:05.460 people going back to church after the Twin Towers 00:33:05.460 --> 00:33:10.000 fell. But what it would look like in our church 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.660 context here in 2020, was it 26? 2026 here in 00:33:14.660 --> 00:33:18.059 North Carolina. What limit would look like? I 00:33:18.059 --> 00:33:19.960 don't know. It would take just being honest. 00:33:20.460 --> 00:33:24.200 And we're so, gosh, we are so afraid these days 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:29.599 to be honest. Part of it is our culture has been 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:32.799 defined by social media, which is so fake. And 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:35.660 we feel like we always have to put on this facade. 00:33:36.460 --> 00:33:39.079 And going back to what we said a long time ago 00:33:39.079 --> 00:33:44.769 is this idea of this is why we don't. confess 00:33:44.769 --> 00:33:47.730 as much anymore and we're not real and we don't 00:33:47.730 --> 00:33:53.789 come to that the public confession of our sins 00:33:53.789 --> 00:33:57.849 and what's going on because we would break the 00:33:57.849 --> 00:34:00.250 glass ball that we've put around us if we did 00:34:00.250 --> 00:34:02.589 that and that makes us vulnerable and if the 00:34:02.589 --> 00:34:05.910 people around us aren't also willing to go there 00:34:05.910 --> 00:34:08.510 all it's going to make you is a target but I 00:34:08.510 --> 00:34:10.449 think regardless the Lord honors that kind of 00:34:10.989 --> 00:34:13.150 vulnerability yeah some of the best times that 00:34:13.150 --> 00:34:15.889 we've had at mission serve um you know there's 00:34:15.889 --> 00:34:17.630 there's heightened emotions when you're on mission 00:34:17.630 --> 00:34:20.530 trips with students and because of that they 00:34:20.530 --> 00:34:22.309 are willing to be more vulnerable which is one 00:34:22.309 --> 00:34:25.150 of the things i love um but there's been times 00:34:25.150 --> 00:34:28.210 where one student will open up and begin to share 00:34:28.210 --> 00:34:31.840 something and Be extremely vulnerable. And it's 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:34.320 in those moments where the entire night changes. 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:36.320 And then the rest of the week changes because 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:40.119 other students start to join. And it begins to 00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:45.659 be this incredible moment of being real, of them 00:34:45.659 --> 00:34:48.260 bringing down this facade. I remember last year, 00:34:48.300 --> 00:34:50.800 a young man that went on mission serve came back 00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:55.059 and was extremely vulnerable before the church. 00:34:55.239 --> 00:34:59.639 And when he did that, I was just like, Wow. I 00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:03.159 mean, it was powerful. It was really, really 00:35:03.159 --> 00:35:05.579 incredible. Hey, I think I have a new tagline 00:35:05.579 --> 00:35:07.739 for our discipleship ministry at the church. 00:35:07.820 --> 00:35:10.159 Okay, are you ready? Yeah, we're going to dig 00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:22.480 deep and fill you with crap. Oh, no. Sean, this 00:35:22.480 --> 00:35:27.440 goes on the internet forever. I'm going to close 00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:29.360 with something a little bit better than that, 00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:33.960 just because we need a positive spin. I'm reading 00:35:33.960 --> 00:35:38.860 this book by Robbie Galletti, and he talked about 00:35:38.860 --> 00:35:42.039 how he goes out on his porch and he asks these 00:35:42.039 --> 00:35:43.800 two questions because he wants to be filled with 00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:46.579 the Holy Spirit. And he makes a statement in 00:35:46.579 --> 00:35:51.000 there. He says, he prays, God, how have I quenched 00:35:51.000 --> 00:35:54.800 you today? Lord, how have I grieved you today? 00:35:54.820 --> 00:35:56.460 Or Holy Spirit, how have I quenched you today? 00:35:56.519 --> 00:35:59.340 Holy Spirit, how have I grieved you today? And 00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:02.880 just reading that today, just with what we've 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:06.460 talked about, just hit me like a hammer about 00:36:06.460 --> 00:36:09.420 being vulnerable with the Holy Spirit, having 00:36:09.420 --> 00:36:12.460 Him speak to us and moving us and change us. 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:17.199 So I don't know. I think if we'll get serious 00:36:17.199 --> 00:36:20.360 and really wrap our minds around repentance, 00:36:20.739 --> 00:36:22.579 what a transformation, what a change it would 00:36:22.579 --> 00:36:25.579 make in our church. Yeah. Well, we can pray to 00:36:25.579 --> 00:36:28.239 that end. So if you're listening for the first 00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:31.260 time, we are grateful for your first -time listenership 00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:34.099 to here at Pursuing Jesus. And if you're one 00:36:34.099 --> 00:36:36.480 of our regulars, we'll see you back here next 00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:39.699 week. I'm Ben Smith. I have been Sean Griffin. 00:36:39.860 --> 00:36:43.539 And I'm John Ferguson. And this has been, is, 00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:47.179 and will continue to be Pursuing Jesus. We'll 00:36:47.179 --> 00:36:52.340 catch you on the flip side. Goodbye. Pursuing 00:36:52.340 --> 00:36:55.360 Jesus is a ministry of Memorial Baptist Church 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:57.800 in Norwood, North Carolina. To learn more about 00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:01.800 our church, please visit memorial4norwood .com. 00:37:08.980 --> 00:37:11.239 So how should I introduce it? Today we're going 00:37:11.239 --> 00:37:13.699 to talk about crap, crap, and more crap. No, 00:37:13.719 --> 00:37:15.039 we'll talk about crap about a third of the time. 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:18.119 I only say it one time. Manure and fertilizer 00:37:18.119 --> 00:37:20.860 is another thing, but crap once.