WEBVTT 00:00:03.579 --> 00:00:07.900 Howdy Today we're talking a bit about What we 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:12.199 do with fear and how oftentimes? We take fear 00:00:12.199 --> 00:00:15.720 that we're feeling and we sometimes try to pretend 00:00:15.720 --> 00:00:20.760 that it's some form of holiness instead Yeah, 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.160 I was going through some some photos that I had 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:26.780 in a in a box. I was looking to put them in an 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:31.329 album so for kids Photos used to be these physically 00:00:31.329 --> 00:00:34.630 printed things. They didn't have phones to scroll 00:00:34.630 --> 00:00:36.329 through them and everything. We had to put them 00:00:36.329 --> 00:00:40.750 in books so that they stayed there. That's why 00:00:40.750 --> 00:00:44.270 floods are such a terrible thing. I was looking 00:00:44.270 --> 00:00:46.530 through some of them and I saw this one from 00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:49.770 my cousin's wedding. I was 18. It was right after 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:51.649 I finished summer camp and I was about to go 00:00:51.649 --> 00:00:57.490 to A &M for the first time. As I was there, I 00:00:57.490 --> 00:01:00.090 remembered, I saw a picture. I had been dancing 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:02.530 with one of the bridesmaids. I was a groomsman. 00:01:02.549 --> 00:01:05.069 There was a bridesmaid. Yes, as cliched as it 00:01:05.069 --> 00:01:07.709 sounds. And it was like, she was cute. She was 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:10.230 nice. I got her number. We were talking a bit 00:01:10.230 --> 00:01:12.670 with each other. And it's like, oh, that sounds 00:01:12.670 --> 00:01:14.890 really sweet. Maybe that was one of pastor's 00:01:14.890 --> 00:01:18.209 first opportunities to have a girlfriend. Nope. 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:27.349 Because I walked away. I was afraid. I was very 00:01:27.349 --> 00:01:29.870 afraid. See, I had absolutely no idea what I 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:31.909 was doing. I wasn't the confident man that I 00:01:31.909 --> 00:01:36.549 am today. I know, I'm never awkward. But, what 00:01:36.549 --> 00:01:39.670 we're realizing though, is that I was about to 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:42.109 leave and I didn't know how to even have a relationship, 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:45.769 let alone a long distance one. And more than 00:01:45.769 --> 00:01:48.290 that, I didn't even know myself. I didn't even 00:01:48.290 --> 00:01:49.650 know what I wanted. I didn't even know what I 00:01:49.650 --> 00:01:54.709 was looking for. And so, even though I had this 00:01:54.709 --> 00:01:57.260 opportunity there, I walked away. But what was 00:01:57.260 --> 00:02:00.939 even more than that is that I told myself it 00:02:00.939 --> 00:02:04.459 was God's plan. I told myself that I had to walk 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:06.819 away because if it were God's plan, everything 00:02:06.819 --> 00:02:08.840 would have been easier. Everything would have 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:09.960 been more straightforward. It would have been 00:02:09.960 --> 00:02:14.280 more obvious. I took my fear and I explained 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:19.280 it away as faith. And that's sometimes what we 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:22.599 do is that we sometimes take what we feel as 00:02:22.599 --> 00:02:26.129 fear and we translate it into somehow being our 00:02:26.129 --> 00:02:31.569 faith. We even use God language to justify it. 00:02:31.689 --> 00:02:35.490 I need to be holy so I have to stay away. I need 00:02:35.490 --> 00:02:38.750 to be careful and cautious. God wants me to be 00:02:38.750 --> 00:02:42.490 meek. God wants this from me. And somehow then 00:02:42.490 --> 00:02:46.210 we put a separation from the very people in our 00:02:46.210 --> 00:02:50.650 lives. Because we turn holiness not into stepping 00:02:50.650 --> 00:02:53.430 away from sin, but instead we see it oftentimes 00:02:53.430 --> 00:02:57.889 as just staying away from people. But what if 00:02:57.889 --> 00:03:02.889 God is calling us to cross the lines that we've 00:03:02.889 --> 00:03:08.530 drawn ourselves? What if we find God especially 00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:12.009 clearly when we stop running from people in fear 00:03:12.009 --> 00:03:15.969 and instead we start moving toward people in 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:21.340 love? We see this when we look at Acts 11. When 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:24.759 the Jewish church is looking at Gentiles entering 00:03:24.759 --> 00:03:28.680 we see it when in John 16 When his disciples 00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:31.300 are about to lose him when Christ is about to 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:35.400 go to the cross we see it in Revelation 21 Whenever 00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:39.039 the world that we see with all its fear and chaos 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:43.060 passes away Whenever we see each of these they 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:46.080 are showing us what it is to step away from the 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:52.259 fear that grips our heart in Acts 11 God is speaking 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:55.759 to Peter, and he needs for Peter to be the one 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.819 to show the rest of the church. It is time to 00:03:58.819 --> 00:04:02.000 end the separation that you've created that I 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:05.360 never had in mind. You see, what we end up seeing 00:04:05.360 --> 00:04:10.219 here is that Peter is seen eating with Gentile 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:13.060 believers. Remember, Gentile just means you're 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:15.969 not Jewish, okay? It's like... Here's the Jewish 00:04:15.969 --> 00:04:17.889 community, and then there's all you other people. 00:04:18.370 --> 00:04:22.069 Gentile was a derogatory word. It wasn't nice 00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:26.069 and fun. It was just, you're the outsiders. And 00:04:26.069 --> 00:04:29.930 so when the Jewish community saw Peter eating 00:04:29.930 --> 00:04:33.250 with them, they saw Peter doing something that 00:04:33.250 --> 00:04:36.389 was just unheard of. Because not only was it, 00:04:36.589 --> 00:04:38.670 you're supposed to eat different things from 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:40.329 what the rest of the world does, you're not even 00:04:40.329 --> 00:04:43.990 supposed to be with them. Not associated at all. 00:04:44.660 --> 00:04:48.420 And they were worried about the idea of being 00:04:48.420 --> 00:04:51.720 contaminated, if you will. See, that's the thing, 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.959 is that they were afraid of losing their identity, 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:58.300 that their sense of being pure, their sense of 00:04:58.300 --> 00:05:03.040 being apart. And I'm sure we've never had that 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:06.519 sense before, right? The times whenever we say 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.329 things in our mind like, Oh, maybe this person 00:05:09.329 --> 00:05:12.170 listens to the wrong music and, you know, heaven 00:05:12.170 --> 00:05:15.050 forbid if they never listen to Christian music. 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:18.509 Or the times whenever we're like, oh, I saw how 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:22.750 you raise your kids. Oof, that is not okay. Or 00:05:22.750 --> 00:05:25.490 even more than that, oh, maybe these people cuss 00:05:25.490 --> 00:05:28.810 too much. Or occasionally, I don't think they 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:32.410 cuss enough. And you're like, which are the people 00:05:32.410 --> 00:05:36.569 I should feel comfortable with? But when they 00:05:36.569 --> 00:05:40.360 saw this, It was this question of who gets to 00:05:40.360 --> 00:05:45.240 be in and who's kept out. See, who is clean enough? 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:47.959 If they already had an issue with the disciples 00:05:47.959 --> 00:05:51.220 didn't wash their hands, how much even worse 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:55.000 if the person themself was completely unclean? 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:01.459 See, fear thrives in separation. The fear that 00:06:01.459 --> 00:06:04.250 they were feeling... was getting stronger the 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:07.389 more they kept themselves away from other people 00:06:07.389 --> 00:06:13.149 because it feels safer to isolate ourselves. 00:06:13.990 --> 00:06:17.629 To say, you stay there and I'll be over here. 00:06:18.529 --> 00:06:20.389 But Peter knew that things had to be different 00:06:20.389 --> 00:06:25.589 because God showed him a vision to go forth to 00:06:25.589 --> 00:06:28.980 the Gentiles. See, one night Peter... is dreaming 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:32.439 and he sees this blanket coming down with all 00:06:32.439 --> 00:06:35.920 of these animals that God says kill and eat but 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:38.660 they were all these unclean animals that he was 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:41.379 not supposed to in his mind eat you know including 00:06:41.379 --> 00:06:43.800 pigs which means that this was the very first 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:49.019 pig in a blanket in history I know right there 00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:55.000 was right there thank you but when seeing this 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:58.139 is that God was communicating Don't stay away 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:01.319 from the people that you saw as unclean. And 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:04.360 he went to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:06.800 And Cornelius had also had a vision that someone 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.939 would come to him. And when Peter proclaimed 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:11.720 the Gospel to Cornelius, and all those other 00:07:11.720 --> 00:07:15.000 Gentiles who were there, God's Spirit was upon 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:17.740 them. They were speaking in tongues, proclaiming 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:20.720 the Gospel in all these other languages, just 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.759 the way they had done at Pentecost with the Jewish 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:27.120 believers. So if God is already with them, then 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:29.600 why should they even avoid baptizing them in 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:32.600 the first place? That's the thing, is it was 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:36.519 the same spirit, the same grace, and it was meant 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:39.759 to be the same baptism as the Jewish believers. 00:07:40.540 --> 00:07:44.800 See, with that, the Jerusalem church finally 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:47.879 realized that they needed to stop. Is that they 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.560 needed to glorify God because even the Gentiles 00:07:51.560 --> 00:07:56.189 have been reached. See, the gospel reveals God's 00:07:56.189 --> 00:07:59.550 desire to include. It's not trying to exclude. 00:08:00.589 --> 00:08:03.230 People may do that with themselves by rejecting 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:06.430 God, but God is trying to bring people in. And 00:08:06.430 --> 00:08:08.670 He wants us baptized into His name because it's 00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:12.569 not just baptism of repentance. That was John 00:08:12.569 --> 00:08:16.430 the Baptist. But it was also a baptism of grace 00:08:16.430 --> 00:08:20.490 where God reaches down and says, this is my child. 00:08:21.290 --> 00:08:24.490 It wasn't just waiting for the Gentiles to get 00:08:24.490 --> 00:08:26.970 themselves like the Jewish believers, they were 00:08:26.970 --> 00:08:30.509 already loved as God's children right then and 00:08:30.509 --> 00:08:34.789 there. But if God's Spirit shows no partiality, 00:08:35.850 --> 00:08:39.809 then should we? Because fear doesn't go away, 00:08:40.269 --> 00:08:42.289 it's not just by saying, I'm going to include 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:44.509 others, but rather there is something deeper 00:08:44.509 --> 00:08:48.809 in there as well. Which shows us how God's Spirit 00:08:48.809 --> 00:08:53.159 was conquering fear even as dealing with the 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:56.220 separation that we might feel. See, that's what 00:08:56.220 --> 00:09:00.279 we end up seeing in John 16, the back and forth 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:02.840 and the back and forth with all of that phrasing. 00:09:03.539 --> 00:09:06.519 We end up seeing that Jesus is trying to help 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.799 His disciples with what they don't understand 00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:14.759 at all. they're going to see that Jesus has been 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.460 taken away. And isn't that one of the things 00:09:17.460 --> 00:09:20.379 that we would end up feeling so much of is confusion, 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:23.799 fear, uncertainty, what is happening next, what 00:09:23.799 --> 00:09:27.379 is meant to be. But Jesus is saying, my spirit 00:09:27.379 --> 00:09:30.659 will be with you. And not only even when he comes 00:09:30.659 --> 00:09:33.120 back to life, but even at the time when he would 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:36.039 ascend into heaven, is that his spirit would 00:09:36.039 --> 00:09:40.929 be there to comfort and to guide. Because how 00:09:40.929 --> 00:09:43.090 do we feel when we feel like we're abandoned? 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:47.830 Because Jesus' death was going to feel like abandonment. 00:09:49.070 --> 00:09:54.649 It would feel like being left behind. But even 00:09:54.649 --> 00:09:57.610 in the midst of that separation, what would that 00:09:57.610 --> 00:10:00.690 have done to the disciples? Because whenever 00:10:00.690 --> 00:10:04.570 you've been following something full force with 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:06.090 your whole life and your whole being, then all 00:10:06.090 --> 00:10:09.139 of a sudden it just fell apart. What would it 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:12.399 be like being around all the other people who 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:16.820 watched you follow someone who now is dead and 00:10:16.820 --> 00:10:20.679 how alone and separated they must have felt until 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:25.460 Jesus had risen again? The resurrection though 00:10:25.460 --> 00:10:29.200 brought a nearness not just with God himself 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:33.019 but also how much more they felt that they could 00:10:33.019 --> 00:10:36.940 then go to the very people all around them. because 00:10:36.940 --> 00:10:40.399 they knew that their sorrow had been turned into 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.899 joy. Now, I may be wrong. I think that this is 00:10:43.899 --> 00:10:47.700 meant to be hyperbole that a woman does not remember 00:10:47.700 --> 00:10:50.120 the pains of childbirth after the birth. I don't 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:53.759 know. Maybe that's surprising. But at the same 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:58.419 time, how wonderful it is to know who you're 00:10:58.419 --> 00:11:02.120 holding in your arms. And that's what it is that 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:05.480 God is doing with us on the other side. of his 00:11:05.480 --> 00:11:09.360 son's death. See, that fuller joy, it's not just 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.559 supposed to be for us, but then for us to bring 00:11:11.559 --> 00:11:13.960 to the rest of the world. Because that same spirit 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:17.279 that led Peter is the one that Jesus then led 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:22.759 him to go find. See, joy does not just come from 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.940 trying to keep ourselves safe. Joy is not about 00:11:25.940 --> 00:11:29.820 trying to cling to control. What can you control? 00:11:29.860 --> 00:11:32.659 What can you hold off? How can you protect yourself? 00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:38.100 Rather, it's being vulnerable to what God is 00:11:38.100 --> 00:11:43.580 doing with us. What God is doing in and through 00:11:43.580 --> 00:11:47.940 us will always be so much more amazing than anything 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:52.419 we'd ever imagine on our own. Which is so striking 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:55.679 about what we see in Revelation. You know, we 00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:57.779 think about Revelation... And we think about 00:11:57.779 --> 00:12:01.299 four horsemen and a bunch of bulls and weird 00:12:01.299 --> 00:12:04.399 angels with eyes and wings everywhere and wondering 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:07.759 what's going to be happening with the pit. But 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:09.440 you know, the thing about Revelation is that 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.460 the whole point of it was to encourage. They 00:12:13.460 --> 00:12:17.139 had lost their temple. It had been destroyed. 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:21.379 They were ostracized. When they were just this 00:12:21.379 --> 00:12:24.240 Jewish community, they were accepted within the 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:26.830 Roman Empire. But now, as people who followed 00:12:26.830 --> 00:12:32.370 Christ, their place of safety was gone. But God 00:12:32.370 --> 00:12:37.070 is reminding them that in Christ, there is a 00:12:37.070 --> 00:12:39.629 kingdom to look forward to. Because that's what 00:12:39.629 --> 00:12:41.389 we end up seeing, is that this coming kingdom, 00:12:41.529 --> 00:12:44.950 it has no fear. It is not about separation any 00:12:44.950 --> 00:12:48.889 longer. See, the new creation is what we have 00:12:48.889 --> 00:12:50.750 in Christ. The new heavens and the new earth. 00:12:50.970 --> 00:12:54.600 And they are together. There is not a separation 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:58.200 between us and God. And it says, the sea will 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.399 be no more. And you can't help but wonder, God, 00:13:01.659 --> 00:13:05.919 why do you not like beaches? What is the issue? 00:13:06.860 --> 00:13:10.100 Don't take away the sea. It's lovely. Just put 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:12.460 a little umbrella. It'll shade you. You'll be 00:13:12.460 --> 00:13:16.360 great. You'll be fine. But the thing about the 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:19.299 sea, though, is that the sea in a dream, especially 00:13:19.299 --> 00:13:22.820 among the people, meant chaos. and fear. Because 00:13:22.820 --> 00:13:25.360 you don't know what's in it. You don't know what's 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:28.039 in the ocean. You don't know what's in the sea. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:31.059 But you also don't know what storms might hit 00:13:31.059 --> 00:13:33.639 while you're on it. Whether you might drown. 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:35.840 And even more than that, whether you can even 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.059 see beyond it. Because if there's no more sea, 00:13:39.139 --> 00:13:40.539 then there's nothing to fear and there's nothing 00:13:40.539 --> 00:13:45.559 keeping you from the rest of the world. Being 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:50.340 united with God ends up bringing us closer to 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:55.299 one another as well, because God calls all people 00:13:55.299 --> 00:14:00.059 to Himself in Christ. The right hand and the 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:02.779 left hand of the Bride of Christ are not meant 00:14:02.779 --> 00:14:05.059 to look at one another and figure out which one 00:14:05.059 --> 00:14:08.679 of them really belongs. They are supposed to 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:12.460 be united in the God who has wiped away all death, 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:17.460 all pain, all tears. Because as God is personally 00:14:17.460 --> 00:14:22.009 wiping away every tear, He is then calling us 00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:25.169 to do the same for one another. Because he says, 00:14:25.429 --> 00:14:27.490 I will be their God, they will be my children. 00:14:27.769 --> 00:14:31.750 That the promise begun in Jesus and seen with 00:14:31.750 --> 00:14:35.370 Peter and the others in Acts is now to be completed. 00:14:35.669 --> 00:14:39.429 So from Jesus' promise to the disciples, to Peter's 00:14:39.429 --> 00:14:42.750 surprise with the Gentiles, to John's vision 00:14:42.750 --> 00:14:45.269 of the future kingdom, it's all been pointing 00:14:45.269 --> 00:14:52.259 to God wants connection for all of us. But what 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:58.059 do we do? How often do we still let fear define 00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:04.120 our faith? How often is it that we still cling 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.360 to separation and we sanctify it in the name 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:14.399 of Christ? Do we face our fears? Are we willing 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:21.159 to know others? Because if we do, that it means 00:15:21.159 --> 00:15:24.899 that we might have to let go of control. We might 00:15:24.899 --> 00:15:27.799 have to let go of thinking we've somehow got 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.360 it all figured out, somehow thinking that we 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:33.120 know where we want to draw our lines, where the 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.120 walls in our hearts are meant to be. We keep 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.919 ourselves safe by keeping ourselves separated 00:15:38.919 --> 00:15:43.299 from others that haven't somehow met our expectation. 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:48.120 But like Peter once did, like we are all called 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:53.330 to, How can we stop seeing our desire for safety 00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:56.330 and separation and pretending that it's holiness? 00:15:57.909 --> 00:16:01.070 Because holiness is not about separation to protect 00:16:01.070 --> 00:16:06.090 us. Holiness is about being different ourselves 00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:09.549 so that others see it and want to be different 00:16:09.549 --> 00:16:13.509 as well. But how can they see it if they never 00:16:13.509 --> 00:16:17.639 see us? Separation is not about protecting us, 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:20.340 it isolates us and hardens our heart, but the 00:16:20.340 --> 00:16:25.039 gospel is on every side of every line. It is 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.580 meant to be on every side of any barrier we put 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:32.580 up. Because the gospel crosses over to Cornelius, 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:37.179 to the disciples, the cross, to each and every 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:40.720 one of us. We're meant to lay down the fear of 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.059 our neighbor to love our neighbor. We're meant 00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:47.159 to let go of the small idea that we have of God 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:51.799 in order to see something bigger. Because isn't 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:54.919 that what He had to do for us as well? How many 00:16:54.919 --> 00:17:00.700 of us in this place needed to be welcomed? How 00:17:00.700 --> 00:17:03.659 many of us here at Christ Memorial had to leave 00:17:03.659 --> 00:17:08.220 a church that fell apart? How many of us had 00:17:08.220 --> 00:17:10.920 to step away whenever there was a controversy 00:17:10.920 --> 00:17:14.579 or a drama that drove us out? How many of us 00:17:14.579 --> 00:17:18.900 had to leave a home, a place that we thought 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.519 we'd never have to abandon, but we needed to 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:23.940 know that there were others who would love us? 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:28.140 How many of us needed to walk away from a life 00:17:28.140 --> 00:17:32.779 that we had, whether we liked it or not? How 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:35.319 many of us needed to know that there was a place 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:37.200 where people didn't care if you had the same 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.119 interests or hobbies, or even the same background, 00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:41.940 but that would just love you? How many of us 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:45.759 needed that here? And how many people out there 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:49.220 need the same? Because the promise of grace, 00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:52.299 it's not just for us. It's not for you, it's 00:17:52.299 --> 00:17:54.720 not for me. It's not just our kind of people. 00:17:55.740 --> 00:18:00.039 It's for everyone. Because everyone thirsts. 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:06.539 And everyone is in need. The gospel changes all 00:18:06.539 --> 00:18:12.799 of us into we. Because the only way to decide 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.000 who is in and who's out is that we proclaim the 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.220 gospel to everybody and then try to bring everyone 00:18:19.220 --> 00:18:23.680 in with the only thing that can. So my hope for 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:26.940 each and every one of you today, let's not walk 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:30.180 away. Let's not try to figure out who we're going 00:18:30.180 --> 00:18:34.400 to separate from. Let's not use God as an excuse 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.940 to keep distance from the people that we just 00:18:36.940 --> 00:18:39.980 don't feel comfortable with. but instead let's 00:18:39.980 --> 00:18:44.440 see that Christ has brought joy and hope to all 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:47.240 people and let's find opportunities to share 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:49.900 that with each and every one of them as we step 00:18:49.900 --> 00:18:53.920 into the fullness of life together. Thanks be 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:54.200 to God.