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Better Together

Live Boldly in a Broken World | Better Together Episode 1178

July 15, 2026 | S8 E1178 | 50:59

Live Boldly in a Broken World | Better Together Episode 1178
Boldness begins with encountering the radical love of God. When we grasp the depths of His love, we find the courage to declare His truth and share this precious hope with everyone we meet! | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000
#Boldness #Love #Truth #Courage #Faith #Obedience #Prayer #WaitingonGod #Brokenness #Testimony #Evangelism #Witness/Witnessing #Shame #Divorce #Judging #LoveofGod #PersonalStory #Discernment #Sanctification #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #JackieHillPerry #ToniCollier #LisaWhittle

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Better Together | Live Boldly in a Broken World | Better Together Episode 1178 | July 15, 2026
  • - actions speak louder than words.
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  • And to live for jesus in a broken world, we must learn how
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  • To love others well and stand for truth.
  • 00:00:05.628 --> 00:00:07.831
  • Come on, let's talk about that.
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  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
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  • - so when i was in my 20s, my father, who was a pastor, had a
  • 00:00:38.862 --> 00:00:42.665
  • Very public ministry fall.
  • 00:00:42.665 --> 00:00:45.001
  • And of course, that was so difficult in so many ways.
  • 00:00:45.001 --> 00:00:50.206
  • But i watched him really struggle with shame.
  • 00:00:50.206 --> 00:00:53.543
  • And guilt over it for all the decisions that he made that led
  • 00:00:53.543 --> 00:00:58.047
  • To that and the way that the family had to suffer the
  • 00:00:58.047 --> 00:01:01.551
  • Consequences with him because that always happens.
  • 00:01:01.551 --> 00:01:05.989
  • But all of that wrestling was exacerbated by then becoming
  • 00:01:05.989 --> 00:01:10.860
  • Sort of a ghost you know because that's what happens when you
  • 00:01:10.860 --> 00:01:13.796
  • Have a public ministry fall you become a ghost to a lot of the
  • 00:01:13.796 --> 00:01:16.266
  • People that you spend your life serving you know all the people
  • 00:01:16.266 --> 00:01:22.672
  • That he would pour into for all the years.
  • 00:01:22.672 --> 00:01:24.073
  • Many of those folks in his church that he preached funerals
  • 00:01:24.073 --> 00:01:27.644
  • And kissed their babies when they were born and just meant a
  • 00:01:27.644 --> 00:01:31.247
  • Lot to their spiritual growth.
  • 00:01:31.247 --> 00:01:33.583
  • And then all of a sudden you are non-existent anymore.
  • 00:01:33.583 --> 00:01:37.287
  • And so that really exacerbated that shame piece that he
  • 00:01:37.287 --> 00:01:42.825
  • Dealt with.
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  • And so i remember after that, he lived in sort of isolation
  • 00:01:44.827 --> 00:01:48.431
  • And despair.
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  • For a while, and i was a young woman watching all of this, and
  • 00:01:51.267 --> 00:01:55.705
  • You know, kids are super intuitive to what's happening.
  • 00:01:55.705 --> 00:02:00.076
  • I knew innately that he was struggling with shame, even
  • 00:02:00.076 --> 00:02:05.415
  • Though i didn't really know anything about shame, but i
  • 00:02:05.415 --> 00:02:09.886
  • Just knew.
  • 00:02:09.886 --> 00:02:11.254
  • And so i remember going to my mother and saying, mom, i don't
  • 00:02:11.254 --> 00:02:14.557
  • Think dad knows how much god loves him.
  • 00:02:14.557 --> 00:02:17.894
  • Now, why i would make that statement, but i remember saying
  • 00:02:17.894 --> 00:02:21.998
  • That to her.
  • 00:02:21.998 --> 00:02:23.700
  • And what was so wild about that was dad had preached hundreds,
  • 00:02:23.700 --> 00:02:27.904
  • If not a thousand sermons on god's love, but never really
  • 00:02:27.904 --> 00:02:32.475
  • Knew it for himself.
  • 00:02:32.475 --> 00:02:35.478
  • And i just sensed it.
  • 00:02:35.478 --> 00:02:37.213
  • And it was like, i knew that the antidote for shame was love.
  • 00:02:37.213 --> 00:02:41.851
  • No one ever really told me that.
  • 00:02:41.851 --> 00:02:44.621
  • I'd never gone to therapy, but i just knew.
  • 00:02:44.621 --> 00:02:47.123
  • And i think there is such an epidemic of shame in the church.
  • 00:02:47.123 --> 00:02:52.028
  • - oh, for sure.
  • 00:02:52.028 --> 00:02:53.529
  • - it's tied to our body issues.
  • 00:02:53.529 --> 00:02:56.232
  • It's tied to our marital issues in many ways, our friendships,
  • 00:02:56.232 --> 00:03:02.705
  • So many things.
  • 00:03:02.705 --> 00:03:03.873
  • You know, we live broken, and shame is such a piece.
  • 00:03:03.873 --> 00:03:07.810
  • Now, we don't really, like, name it.
  • 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:10.913
  • We don't attach to it we don't think it's that we call it
  • 00:03:10.913 --> 00:03:12.382
  • Everything else but i really think it's that and i do believe
  • 00:03:12.382 --> 00:03:16.052
  • That the antidote is knowing how much god loves us but we can't
  • 00:03:16.052 --> 00:03:19.856
  • Love ourselves, we don't understand god's love.
  • 00:03:19.856 --> 00:03:23.760
  • And i also think that we withhold it from each other.
  • 00:03:23.760 --> 00:03:27.397
  • Because we withhold it from ourselves but we also withhold
  • 00:03:27.397 --> 00:03:31.301
  • It from each other.
  • 00:03:31.301 --> 00:03:32.635
  • I think one of the reasons is fear because we feel like that
  • 00:03:32.635 --> 00:03:36.105
  • In some way that we will co-sign to people's behavior if we
  • 00:03:36.105 --> 00:03:39.242
  • Offer it.
  • 00:03:39.242 --> 00:03:41.544
  • - that's good.
  • 00:03:41.544 --> 00:03:43.546
  • - that we will water down theology.
  • 00:03:43.546 --> 00:03:46.082
  • And when we love the bible, we love and are committed to, you
  • 00:03:46.082 --> 00:03:52.288
  • Know, god's word.
  • 00:03:52.288 --> 00:03:54.691
  • We don't want to do that.
  • 00:03:54.691 --> 00:03:55.992
  • And so we sort of either fall into these camps of liberalism
  • 00:03:55.992 --> 00:03:59.128
  • Or legalism.
  • 00:03:59.128 --> 00:04:01.597
  • And we don't know how to hold the tension.
  • 00:04:01.597 --> 00:04:05.034
  • - that's really good.
  • 00:04:05.034 --> 00:04:05.935
  • - that's great.
  • 00:04:05.935 --> 00:04:07.270
  • - and so i think we just think, i'll just withhold love from
  • 00:04:07.270 --> 00:04:10.073
  • Others because i don't know how to do it.
  • 00:04:10.073 --> 00:04:13.009
  • And then we just throw people away.
  • 00:04:13.009 --> 00:04:14.377
  • And i watched it.
  • 00:04:14.377 --> 00:04:16.612
  • I watched it.
  • 00:04:16.612 --> 00:04:17.847
  • And it just, like, exacerbated the shame of my father.
  • 00:04:17.847 --> 00:04:21.918
  • If you're in a place where you feel too broken and too far gone
  • 00:04:21.918 --> 00:04:25.955
  • And you're struggling to let go of shame, i just want you to
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  • Know that shame is never from god.
  • 00:04:30.426 --> 00:04:33.863
  • We know according to scripture that there is nothing that god
  • 00:04:33.863 --> 00:04:36.632
  • Will not receive from you, that god will not forgive you from,
  • 00:04:36.632 --> 00:04:41.871
  • Will not restore you to, that you might live fully for the
  • 00:04:41.871 --> 00:04:46.142
  • Kingdom of god, that you can come to him with an open heart.
  • 00:04:46.142 --> 00:04:52.382
  • He wants really your heart.
  • 00:04:52.382 --> 00:04:54.050
  • That's what god wants.
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  • Your heart, full heart given to him so that he might
  • 00:04:56.619 --> 00:04:58.755
  • Restore you.
  • 00:04:58.755 --> 00:05:00.590
  • And so i would love to just throw that out there and say,
  • 00:05:00.590 --> 00:05:04.761
  • What do you think about the tension?
  • 00:05:04.761 --> 00:05:06.462
  • What do you think about living in the tension?
  • 00:05:06.462 --> 00:05:08.598
  • Because to me, living boldly in a world that's broken is all
  • 00:05:08.598 --> 00:05:11.901
  • About learning how to live in the tension of holding fast to
  • 00:05:11.901 --> 00:05:16.906
  • The word of god and what it is and learning how to love
  • 00:05:16.906 --> 00:05:21.043
  • People well.
  • 00:05:21.043 --> 00:05:22.311
  • - i remember once when joe biden's son died of cancer, i
  • 00:05:22.311 --> 00:05:26.582
  • Felt because i'm a mom of one son.
  • 00:05:26.582 --> 00:05:29.752
  • And my heart just ached for him.
  • 00:05:29.752 --> 00:05:32.088
  • And all i did on social media was saying, praying today for
  • 00:05:32.088 --> 00:05:36.359
  • The biden family.
  • 00:05:36.359 --> 00:05:37.760
  • I got slaughtered.
  • 00:05:37.760 --> 00:05:40.329
  • And i'm like, what is wrong with you people?
  • 00:05:40.329 --> 00:05:43.466
  • This is not, i mean, it's like, if we are not the kind of people
  • 00:05:43.466 --> 00:05:47.937
  • Who can love someone who's broken or hurting, if all you
  • 00:05:47.937 --> 00:05:50.173
  • See is that he wears a different color than you do, then boy, we
  • 00:05:50.173 --> 00:05:53.309
  • Are really in serious trouble.
  • 00:05:53.309 --> 00:05:55.645
  • But you're right, lisa, it is the tension of, you know, oh
  • 00:05:55.645 --> 00:05:58.414
  • Yeah, yeah. everything you're doing is great.
  • 00:05:58.414 --> 00:06:01.517
  • Fine, fine, fine.
  • 00:06:01.517 --> 00:06:02.485
  • No problem. or no, it's not.
  • 00:06:02.485 --> 00:06:04.086
  • So we're not going to talk to you.
  • 00:06:04.086 --> 00:06:05.188
  • Where is that place where jesus walks? - yeah.
  • 00:06:05.188 --> 00:06:08.591
  • I think about acts 9.
  • 00:06:08.591 --> 00:06:10.626
  • Again, i love the apostle paul.
  • 00:06:10.626 --> 00:06:12.195
  • I have a very imaginative mind.
  • 00:06:12.195 --> 00:06:14.831
  • I think i'm still like seven in my mind.
  • 00:06:14.831 --> 00:06:17.333
  • - we love that about you. - thanks.
  • 00:06:17.333 --> 00:06:19.669
  • And so when i read the bible, i just like kind of, i don't know.
  • 00:06:19.669 --> 00:06:22.205
  • I like to just think about like, what was god doing?
  • 00:06:22.205 --> 00:06:25.541
  • And what was jesus doing?
  • 00:06:25.541 --> 00:06:26.742
  • And how's the holy spirit involved in this?
  • 00:06:26.742 --> 00:06:28.478
  • And so i think about acts 9.
  • 00:06:28.478 --> 00:06:30.413
  • 9, the apostle paul.
  • 00:06:30.413 --> 00:06:32.148
  • And, you know, you've got this guy who he not like raggedy,
  • 00:06:32.148 --> 00:06:34.851
  • Like he's very smart, right?
  • 00:06:34.851 --> 00:06:36.319
  • Like he's got something to offer.
  • 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.421
  • It's why he's been appointed to carry out the law, to go and
  • 00:06:38.421 --> 00:06:41.224
  • Condemn people, bring sentence them to death.
  • 00:06:41.224 --> 00:06:46.195
  • I mean, like he's he's got power because he's smart.
  • 00:06:46.195 --> 00:06:48.064
  • And i just imagine, like from the paul that we read, when we
  • 00:06:48.064 --> 00:06:52.935
  • Look at his writings and his letters, like he's just, you
  • 00:06:52.935 --> 00:06:55.605
  • Know, bold and he's straightforward and he's
  • 00:06:55.605 --> 00:06:57.707
  • Passionate and he's direct.
  • 00:06:57.707 --> 00:06:59.742
  • And i think about before he was paul, he was saul.
  • 00:06:59.742 --> 00:07:02.545
  • And he still probably had that same general makeup.
  • 00:07:02.545 --> 00:07:04.947
  • Very passionate, direct, just in the wrong direction.
  • 00:07:04.947 --> 00:07:08.784
  • And sometimes i imagine when god and maybe jesus were like
  • 00:07:08.784 --> 00:07:12.922
  • Talking about the saul character, this guy who's got so
  • 00:07:12.922 --> 00:07:16.559
  • Much grit and fever and compassion, just going in the
  • 00:07:16.559 --> 00:07:19.395
  • Wrong direction that they were like, it's him.
  • 00:07:19.395 --> 00:07:22.899
  • We want to use that guy.
  • 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:25.234
  • And even maybe for a moment, it's like, are we sure?
  • 00:07:25.234 --> 00:07:27.537
  • Because i think about the fact that i know
  • 00:07:27.537 --> 00:07:29.705
  • That the lord probably had the same feelings about me.
  • 00:07:29.705 --> 00:07:33.209
  • You know what i'm saying?
  • 00:07:33.209 --> 00:07:34.544
  • Like, are we sure that we're going to use her?
  • 00:07:34.544 --> 00:07:35.711
  • Because she is a little wild.
  • 00:07:35.711 --> 00:07:38.047
  • She in the club is a little bit crazy, okay?
  • 00:07:38.047 --> 00:07:40.016
  • Paul was just bold in the wrong direction. - yep.
  • 00:07:40.016 --> 00:07:42.985
  • - that's good.
  • 00:07:42.985 --> 00:07:44.253
  • - and i love that his story unfolds in a way where he is
  • 00:07:44.253 --> 00:07:48.057
  • Completely broken and humble.
  • 00:07:48.057 --> 00:07:50.059
  • He's humbled on the way to damascus on this road.
  • 00:07:50.059 --> 00:07:53.062
  • And, you know, jesus is like, what are you doing?
  • 00:07:53.062 --> 00:07:57.300
  • - yeah. - like you... have it.
  • 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:00.703
  • You've got so much in you.
  • 00:08:00.703 --> 00:08:03.072
  • You've got gifts and talents.
  • 00:08:03.072 --> 00:08:04.674
  • Like, i just need you to come over here.
  • 00:08:04.674 --> 00:08:08.077
  • And he humbles him and, you know, he blinds him for
  • 00:08:08.077 --> 00:08:12.081
  • Three days.
  • 00:08:12.081 --> 00:08:13.416
  • And when you think about being blinded, i don't know if anybody
  • 00:08:13.416 --> 00:08:15.451
  • Here wears contacts or glasses, but when i wake up and i don't
  • 00:08:15.451 --> 00:08:17.353
  • Have my contacts, i can't see, think, smell, taste, everything
  • 00:08:17.353 --> 00:08:22.525
  • Shuts down.
  • 00:08:22.525 --> 00:08:24.060
  • It is incredibly debilitating.
  • 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:25.828
  • So he was really humbled.
  • 00:08:25.828 --> 00:08:27.697
  • And then someone else comes in, ananias, and is nervous because
  • 00:08:27.697 --> 00:08:32.401
  • He's like, no, wait a minute, god.
  • 00:08:32.401 --> 00:08:36.172
  • Am i really supposed to help this guy?
  • 00:08:36.172 --> 00:08:38.207
  • This guy whose boldness and compassion and whatever was used
  • 00:08:38.207 --> 00:08:42.378
  • Against you, against the ecclesia, against the movement
  • 00:08:42.378 --> 00:08:48.184
  • Of god.
  • 00:08:48.184 --> 00:08:49.552
  • And i feel like that's what we do as the church.
  • 00:08:49.552 --> 00:08:52.955
  • We don't use her.
  • 00:08:52.955 --> 00:08:55.791
  • She's been through a divorce, two divorces.
  • 00:08:55.791 --> 00:08:57.393
  • She has some mental health stuff going on.
  • 00:08:57.393 --> 00:09:00.363
  • We're really going to use that one, not even knowing that the
  • 00:09:00.363 --> 00:09:04.533
  • Power of our testimony in and of itself is the very thing that
  • 00:09:04.533 --> 00:09:10.072
  • Makes us so radically bold for christ.
  • 00:09:10.072 --> 00:09:12.408
  • Yes, i want to use that guy because if i can turn him from
  • 00:09:12.408 --> 00:09:18.914
  • That direction to this, he's going to write over half the new
  • 00:09:18.914 --> 00:09:21.083
  • Testament and he's going to tell people because he's been
  • 00:09:21.083 --> 00:09:24.020
  • Radically changed by me.
  • 00:09:24.020 --> 00:09:26.122
  • I pray that the church wakes up to see that some of the boldest
  • 00:09:26.122 --> 00:09:29.825
  • Are the ones who cut off ears and had it wrong at first and
  • 00:09:29.825 --> 00:09:35.698
  • Switched and turned to the lord because look at how much bigger
  • 00:09:35.698 --> 00:09:38.668
  • God becomes. - yeah.
  • 00:09:38.668 --> 00:09:41.504
  • - seeing brokenness within the church is wild.
  • 00:09:41.504 --> 00:09:43.572
  • It makes us think, oh my goodness, like we're supposed to
  • 00:09:43.572 --> 00:09:47.076
  • Be perfect here.
  • 00:09:47.076 --> 00:09:48.377
  • We're supposed to have it all together.
  • 00:09:48.377 --> 00:09:49.645
  • And the truth is, i think that's a misconception.
  • 00:09:49.645 --> 00:09:51.547
  • We have put on these veneers of perfection in the church, and
  • 00:09:51.547 --> 00:09:54.850
  • We've convinced people to think that, okay, once you step foot
  • 00:09:54.850 --> 00:09:58.521
  • In here, this is only for the saints, when really church is a
  • 00:09:58.521 --> 00:10:01.557
  • Hospital for the broken.
  • 00:10:01.557 --> 00:10:03.492
  • So it's important for us to remember that we are here in
  • 00:10:03.492 --> 00:10:05.761
  • God's church because we desperately need him.
  • 00:10:05.761 --> 00:10:08.731
  • And so if there was any place...
  • 00:10:08.731 --> 00:10:11.500
  • Any house on the block that's supposed to be safe, it's
  • 00:10:11.500 --> 00:10:13.536
  • Supposed to be the church.
  • 00:10:13.536 --> 00:10:15.604
  • Let people fall.
  • 00:10:15.604 --> 00:10:16.839
  • Let people make mistakes.
  • 00:10:16.839 --> 00:10:18.207
  • What you should be looking for is the fruit of repentance even
  • 00:10:18.207 --> 00:10:20.843
  • When they fall.
  • 00:10:20.843 --> 00:10:22.945
  • - i think for me, before i ever went through my divorce, church
  • 00:10:22.945 --> 00:10:26.248
  • Kid in sydney, australia, i treated the church like the
  • 00:10:26.248 --> 00:10:30.352
  • Mafia. like the christian mafia.
  • 00:10:30.352 --> 00:10:32.221
  • Like if you left our church...
  • 00:10:32.221 --> 00:10:33.856
  • You had to be jumped in, jumped out a little bit.
  • 00:10:33.856 --> 00:10:37.626
  • And if you went to another church, let alone just stopped
  • 00:10:37.626 --> 00:10:41.297
  • Going to church, i was like, i don't know that you're getting
  • 00:10:41.297 --> 00:10:42.932
  • Into heaven, to be honest.
  • 00:10:42.932 --> 00:10:44.266
  • I wouldn't have said that.
  • 00:10:44.266 --> 00:10:45.334
  • But as a church, i really did feel like that.
  • 00:10:45.334 --> 00:10:47.303
  • I felt like that was your decision.
  • 00:10:47.303 --> 00:10:49.805
  • So now, let alone the hurt that when people left our church, i
  • 00:10:49.805 --> 00:10:55.444
  • Could not imagine what you went through.
  • 00:10:55.444 --> 00:10:59.115
  • But the tiny bit of feeling like that ghost of now when they see
  • 00:10:59.115 --> 00:11:04.420
  • Me at the mall, they go on the other side of the mall to me or
  • 00:11:04.420 --> 00:11:07.389
  • They cross the other side of the street and feeling that like i
  • 00:11:07.389 --> 00:11:12.061
  • Have so much compassion for pastors, kids and church kids
  • 00:11:12.061 --> 00:11:15.197
  • Because i'd experienced it. right?
  • 00:11:15.197 --> 00:11:18.934
  • But then growing up, really starting to get that like, well,
  • 00:11:18.934 --> 00:11:21.771
  • I've been a church kid my whole life.
  • 00:11:21.771 --> 00:11:22.872
  • I've been-- i've been in this thing i've done
  • 00:11:22.872 --> 00:11:25.174
  • This thing so i'd see other leaders fall, i'd see people get
  • 00:11:25.174 --> 00:11:27.910
  • Divorced i'd see people struggle with addiction and be like how
  • 00:11:27.910 --> 00:11:32.181
  • Do you even do that how do you even get there?
  • 00:11:32.181 --> 00:11:34.183
  • I was that person only to be the one who got married
  • 00:11:34.183 --> 00:11:39.688
  • In the january of 2017 to the worship leader.
  • 00:11:39.688 --> 00:11:42.291
  • And have him walk out on me in the december
  • 00:11:42.291 --> 00:11:44.860
  • Of that year i didn't even make it a year of marriage.
  • 00:11:44.860 --> 00:11:47.630
  • And so in my head you didn't even make it a year of marriage.
  • 00:11:47.630 --> 00:11:52.234
  • What i had to heal from was my own shame of who do you
  • 00:11:52.234 --> 00:11:55.638
  • Think you are?
  • 00:11:55.638 --> 00:11:58.140
  • But you know, actually, one of the really beautiful things that
  • 00:11:58.140 --> 00:12:00.843
  • Came out of it, it was a new compassion.
  • 00:12:00.843 --> 00:12:03.612
  • God softened my heart through the beating of brutal
  • 00:12:03.612 --> 00:12:06.582
  • Situations. - it washes your eyes again.
  • 00:12:06.582 --> 00:12:10.719
  • - the scales fall off.
  • 00:12:10.719 --> 00:12:12.555
  • - i never saw someone going through heartbreak the same.
  • 00:12:12.555 --> 00:12:15.324
  • I never saw someone falling in ministry the same.
  • 00:12:15.324 --> 00:12:19.428
  • Automatically now it's, has anyone sat down human to human
  • 00:12:19.428 --> 00:12:23.499
  • And talked to them?
  • 00:12:23.499 --> 00:12:25.234
  • Because there are so many sides to this story.
  • 00:12:25.234 --> 00:12:27.937
  • And it took me honestly going through that.
  • 00:12:27.937 --> 00:12:30.539
  • I pray it doesn't take everyone going through something like
  • 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:33.242
  • That to realize it.
  • 00:12:33.242 --> 00:12:34.476
  • But there is something about being humbled through the
  • 00:12:34.476 --> 00:12:37.279
  • Circumstances and pain of life that will take the scales off
  • 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:40.316
  • Your own eyes.
  • 00:12:40.316 --> 00:12:42.251
  • - how kind is god to say, i love you so much, elyse.
  • 00:12:42.251 --> 00:12:50.125
  • And i want to really like use your voice and your story for
  • 00:12:50.125 --> 00:12:52.294
  • The kingdom. but i got to get this right in you. - yes.
  • 00:12:52.294 --> 00:12:55.297
  • - so i'm going to allow this brokenness to happen to you so
  • 00:12:55.297 --> 00:12:58.400
  • That you can see my sons and daughters differently.
  • 00:12:58.400 --> 00:13:01.737
  • So you can do what i've called you to do differently.
  • 00:13:01.737 --> 00:13:04.840
  • - absolutely. - and that's kindness.
  • 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:05.975
  • - it is kindness.
  • 00:13:05.975 --> 00:13:07.243
  • I had to come to a point where i realized that.
  • 00:13:07.243 --> 00:13:08.978
  • And even with you talking about the psalter paul at the end of
  • 00:13:08.978 --> 00:13:12.715
  • His life, he's talking to timothy, 2 timothy 4.
  • 00:13:12.715 --> 00:13:16.585
  • And he's saying in the future, there's reserve for me, the
  • 00:13:16.585 --> 00:13:18.220
  • Victor's crown.
  • 00:13:18.220 --> 00:13:19.488
  • Which when i was studying it in the greek is the word the
  • 00:13:19.488 --> 00:13:22.157
  • Stephanos crown.
  • 00:13:22.157 --> 00:13:23.525
  • But if you go to acts chapter 8, stephen's name is stephanos.
  • 00:13:23.525 --> 00:13:27.363
  • And so at the end of his life, the very thing that was the
  • 00:13:27.363 --> 00:13:30.199
  • Worst moment of his life, that was the shame on his life, that
  • 00:13:30.199 --> 00:13:33.469
  • Was the scarlet letter on his life, god had actually turned
  • 00:13:33.469 --> 00:13:36.305
  • Into this crown that was waiting for him.
  • 00:13:36.305 --> 00:13:38.941
  • Then if you go into revelation, we're going to lay our crowns
  • 00:13:38.941 --> 00:13:41.577
  • Before him.
  • 00:13:41.577 --> 00:13:43.345
  • And so in a sense, you could pair the
  • 00:13:43.345 --> 00:13:45.581
  • Understanding that if you don't actually pick up the crown of
  • 00:13:45.581 --> 00:13:49.218
  • Grace if you don't pick up the mantle of i've been through this
  • 00:13:49.218 --> 00:13:51.453
  • God has called me to share my story so i need to be healed
  • 00:13:51.453 --> 00:13:53.756
  • Some days not even just for me but for the people that he's
  • 00:13:53.756 --> 00:13:56.191
  • Called me to reach, then when i when the day comes right i mean
  • 00:13:56.191 --> 00:14:01.297
  • His presence i want to have something to lay down in front
  • 00:14:01.297 --> 00:14:04.433
  • Of him to the stephanos crown it's the same stephanos so even
  • 00:14:04.433 --> 00:14:07.169
  • Just back to that story but i am grateful. i'm grateful for the
  • 00:14:07.169 --> 00:14:10.139
  • Humbling and crumbling of it even for the moments that made
  • 00:14:10.139 --> 00:14:12.841
  • Me go, am i even worthy to stand again and tell your story?
  • 00:14:12.841 --> 00:14:19.281
  • Because i think it does do something in you.
  • 00:14:19.281 --> 00:14:21.183
  • Seeing the image of god in everybody automatically orients
  • 00:14:21.183 --> 00:14:28.090
  • Your behavior.
  • 00:14:28.090 --> 00:14:29.591
  • Your thoughts of them in such a way that you have to consider
  • 00:14:29.591 --> 00:14:33.395
  • Dignity. you have to.
  • 00:14:33.395 --> 00:14:35.931
  • And so when you are judgy, when you are self-righteous, when you
  • 00:14:35.931 --> 00:14:39.034
  • Are mean, even in the name of christ, when you do stuff like
  • 00:14:39.034 --> 00:14:43.205
  • That, you undermine the dignity of the person you're talking to.
  • 00:14:43.205 --> 00:14:46.275
  • And so the image of god just automatically makes you check
  • 00:14:46.275 --> 00:14:48.944
  • Yourself so that even if you have a legitimate criticism of
  • 00:14:48.944 --> 00:14:53.082
  • Their ethics, at least you can communicate that in a way that
  • 00:14:53.082 --> 00:14:56.118
  • Honors the god in whose image they were made.
  • 00:14:56.118 --> 00:14:58.554
  • It's important.
  • 00:14:58.554 --> 00:15:00.022
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:15:00.022 --> 00:15:06.462
  • - why are christians known for being so judgy? - oh man.
  • 00:15:06.462 --> 00:15:12.334
  • Even just saying that out loud makes me sweat a little bit.
  • 00:15:12.334 --> 00:15:14.169
  • Because first of all, i do want to acknowledge that it's true in
  • 00:15:14.169 --> 00:15:17.873
  • So many ways.
  • 00:15:17.873 --> 00:15:19.274
  • We have seen a whole generation of believers build churches and
  • 00:15:19.274 --> 00:15:22.411
  • Said, you know, this space is for the saints.
  • 00:15:22.411 --> 00:15:25.280
  • And then all those other heathens out there need to stay
  • 00:15:25.280 --> 00:15:28.617
  • Out. and it has not been the way of jesus.
  • 00:15:28.617 --> 00:15:30.619
  • And so i just want to acknowledge that and affirm it,
  • 00:15:30.619 --> 00:15:32.321
  • That that is not accurate.
  • 00:15:32.321 --> 00:15:34.023
  • That is not the way we should be treating people.
  • 00:15:34.023 --> 00:15:35.190
  • And i think that one of the ways that christians can
  • 00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:39.328
  • Begin to voice convictions without sounding so judgmental
  • 00:15:39.328 --> 00:15:42.331
  • Is that we could honestly just be vulnerable about our
  • 00:15:42.331 --> 00:15:45.501
  • Own convictions.
  • 00:15:45.501 --> 00:15:46.869
  • I think it's easier for us to say, that's wrong, you're doing
  • 00:15:46.869 --> 00:15:50.506
  • That unwell, it's all the things, then for us to say,
  • 00:15:50.506 --> 00:15:53.776
  • Actually, i struggled with this, and this is how god changed me.
  • 00:15:53.776 --> 00:15:57.579
  • So i think if we can maybe practice a little bravery, we
  • 00:15:57.579 --> 00:16:01.083
  • Could sound a little less judgmental.
  • 00:16:01.083 --> 00:16:03.152
  • And some people are just, they find it easy to condemn.
  • 00:16:03.152 --> 00:16:07.222
  • Just know that, jesus never did that. - yeah.
  • 00:16:07.222 --> 00:16:10.092
  • - do you remember even the woman caught in adultery?
  • 00:16:10.092 --> 00:16:11.460
  • And, you know, jesus said, like, whoever is without sin cast the
  • 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:15.898
  • First stone.
  • 00:16:15.898 --> 00:16:17.266
  • Interesting, the oldest people in the crowd, which would be me
  • 00:16:17.266 --> 00:16:18.901
  • Over you.
  • 00:16:18.901 --> 00:16:20.035
  • They were like, we've been sinning for years now.
  • 00:16:20.035 --> 00:16:21.870
  • Let me go.
  • 00:16:21.870 --> 00:16:23.705
  • And it's interesting what jesus said, because he said, where are
  • 00:16:23.705 --> 00:16:26.075
  • Your condemners?
  • 00:16:26.075 --> 00:16:28.043
  • They're gone. there's none.
  • 00:16:28.043 --> 00:16:29.144
  • And he said, neither do i condemn you.
  • 00:16:29.144 --> 00:16:30.679
  • Now go and live differently.
  • 00:16:30.679 --> 00:16:32.214
  • And that's the beautiful choice that we get with jesus.
  • 00:16:32.214 --> 00:16:34.783
  • He'll show us where we're falling short, and then he'll
  • 00:16:34.783 --> 00:16:37.319
  • Say, you know what? with my help...
  • 00:16:37.319 --> 00:16:39.521
  • You can do it differently.
  • 00:16:39.521 --> 00:16:40.756
  • God created us to be in community, and we want you to
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  • Join ours.
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  • - follow us on social media and join our conversation.
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  • - let's keep the conversation going.
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  • Listening platform.
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  • 00:17:01.009 --> 00:17:01.411
  • - one of the important things for me was figuring out what
  • 00:17:02.645 --> 00:17:07.117
  • Wasn't my job.
  • 00:17:07.117 --> 00:17:09.686
  • You know, my job was not to like be the holy spirit in
  • 00:17:09.686 --> 00:17:16.326
  • My dad's life. - yep.
  • 00:17:16.326 --> 00:17:18.728
  • - that was really hard.
  • 00:17:18.728 --> 00:17:20.230
  • My job also wasn't to defend my dad.
  • 00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:22.232
  • That was also really hard.
  • 00:17:22.232 --> 00:17:24.267
  • You know, when you said the word mall and it triggered this
  • 00:17:24.267 --> 00:17:27.237
  • Thought for me, i was 18.
  • 00:17:27.237 --> 00:17:29.706
  • Really, really feisty.
  • 00:17:29.706 --> 00:17:31.574
  • That's a theme in my life.
  • 00:17:31.574 --> 00:17:33.376
  • But the power of the holy spirit was not able to get a hold of me
  • 00:17:33.376 --> 00:17:38.548
  • The way that he would want at that point in my life.
  • 00:17:38.548 --> 00:17:41.351
  • And i remember we had a lot of rumors about my family at that
  • 00:17:41.351 --> 00:17:44.954
  • Point in time.
  • 00:17:44.954 --> 00:17:46.222
  • And i was a little rough around the edges.
  • 00:17:46.222 --> 00:17:48.525
  • And i found out that this girl had spread rumors about
  • 00:17:48.525 --> 00:17:52.228
  • My family.
  • 00:17:52.228 --> 00:17:54.664
  • And i decided i was going to take matters into my own hands.
  • 00:17:54.664 --> 00:17:57.167
  • And i drove up to the mall.
  • 00:17:57.167 --> 00:18:00.970
  • And she was working at a jewelry store in the middle of the mall.
  • 00:18:00.970 --> 00:18:02.639
  • And i decided i was going to go ahead and confront her in the
  • 00:18:02.639 --> 00:18:06.209
  • Middle of the mall.
  • 00:18:06.209 --> 00:18:07.544
  • - lisa whittle.
  • 00:18:07.544 --> 00:18:08.845
  • - i had a little roughness to me.
  • 00:18:08.845 --> 00:18:10.547
  • - i could tell.
  • 00:18:10.547 --> 00:18:11.881
  • - yeah, the boldness that now is for the lord was not funneled in
  • 00:18:11.881 --> 00:18:14.317
  • That direction.
  • 00:18:14.317 --> 00:18:15.251
  • It was in the wrong direction.
  • 00:18:15.251 --> 00:18:16.886
  • So i just confronted her.
  • 00:18:16.886 --> 00:18:19.522
  • And i remember after i left there, my father actually found
  • 00:18:19.522 --> 00:18:22.725
  • Out about it very quickly through the grapevine, what i
  • 00:18:22.725 --> 00:18:25.395
  • Had done.
  • 00:18:25.395 --> 00:18:26.796
  • And he said, you can't defend every you can't defend me.
  • 00:18:26.796 --> 00:18:29.499
  • You can't put out every forest fire for me.
  • 00:18:29.499 --> 00:18:32.101
  • But the lord obviously then began to work in me and also
  • 00:18:32.101 --> 00:18:36.206
  • Give that same message like this is not your territory.
  • 00:18:36.206 --> 00:18:40.343
  • This is not for you.
  • 00:18:40.343 --> 00:18:42.745
  • That's really tough because i'm a- i'm a defender.
  • 00:18:42.745 --> 00:18:46.182
  • I'm a defender.
  • 00:18:46.182 --> 00:18:47.483
  • So i think it's important to know what is and isn't your job.
  • 00:18:47.483 --> 00:18:50.420
  • And the job is to love people.
  • 00:18:50.420 --> 00:18:53.756
  • That's often the harder job, actually.
  • 00:18:53.756 --> 00:18:57.360
  • It's easier sometimes to go up and confront.
  • 00:18:57.360 --> 00:19:00.663
  • It's easier to, you know, deflect.
  • 00:19:00.663 --> 00:19:04.167
  • All of those other roles that we take are easier.
  • 00:19:04.167 --> 00:19:07.203
  • Love, that's harder.
  • 00:19:07.203 --> 00:19:10.206
  • That is much harder sometimes.
  • 00:19:10.206 --> 00:19:12.242
  • You know, it becomes very complicated sometimes with folks
  • 00:19:12.242 --> 00:19:16.079
  • That do things that are hurtful, that lack integrity.
  • 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:21.084
  • All of those things are quite complicated.
  • 00:19:21.084 --> 00:19:23.686
  • And so how do we love?
  • 00:19:23.686 --> 00:19:26.522
  • And it comes from how do we experience god's love for us?
  • 00:19:26.522 --> 00:19:29.993
  • Because ultimately, if we don't understand god's love for us, we
  • 00:19:29.993 --> 00:19:33.963
  • Cannot extend it to other people as a job, right?
  • 00:19:33.963 --> 00:19:37.100
  • Loving your neighbor is really hard, especially when they're
  • 00:19:37.100 --> 00:19:42.105
  • Mean. or rude or lie or spread gossip about you.
  • 00:19:42.105 --> 00:19:45.408
  • The truth is it takes real grit, bravery, and a whole bunch of
  • 00:19:45.408 --> 00:19:49.579
  • Holy energy to forgive someone, to engage with someone, to love
  • 00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:53.783
  • Someone who has not been kind to you.
  • 00:19:53.783 --> 00:19:56.452
  • And the truth is that's what we're called to.
  • 00:19:56.452 --> 00:19:58.554
  • Boldness in christ looks like doing the thing that everyone
  • 00:19:58.554 --> 00:20:01.124
  • Else would say that you're not supposed to do.
  • 00:20:01.124 --> 00:20:03.793
  • It is the upside-down kingdom way.
  • 00:20:03.793 --> 00:20:07.196
  • It's the jesus way.
  • 00:20:07.196 --> 00:20:08.531
  • - before you were talking and while you were talking, i was
  • 00:20:08.531 --> 00:20:11.234
  • Thinking about the sons of thunder and how there's this
  • 00:20:11.234 --> 00:20:17.707
  • Passage where some people do something to jesus and then the
  • 00:20:17.707 --> 00:20:20.710
  • Sons of thunder are like, just call down, you know, fire on
  • 00:20:20.710 --> 00:20:24.847
  • Them boys.
  • 00:20:24.847 --> 00:20:26.015
  • This is, this is the jsp version.
  • 00:20:26.015 --> 00:20:27.317
  • But in some versions, jesus responds and saying, you don't
  • 00:20:27.317 --> 00:20:33.489
  • Know what heart you're speaking from.
  • 00:20:33.489 --> 00:20:35.725
  • Where i think there are a lot of people and even particularly in
  • 00:20:35.725 --> 00:20:40.530
  • This generation who think they are bold and who think they are
  • 00:20:40.530 --> 00:20:45.301
  • Defending the faith and who think they are defending
  • 00:20:45.301 --> 00:20:48.137
  • Righteousness when there is actually an ignorance to the
  • 00:20:48.137 --> 00:20:51.374
  • Nature and the motive of their actual heart.
  • 00:20:51.374 --> 00:20:53.543
  • And that's where love would come in.
  • 00:20:53.543 --> 00:20:55.611
  • I think if there is a felt love from god.
  • 00:20:55.611 --> 00:21:01.117
  • One, i think to know your love by god is
  • 00:21:01.117 --> 00:21:04.220
  • Automatically humbling.
  • 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:06.356
  • And so because i'm humble, now i'm coming from a place where
  • 00:21:06.356 --> 00:21:09.525
  • I'm compassionate and i'm reasonable and i'm curious and
  • 00:21:09.525 --> 00:21:14.130
  • I'm gentle and i'm dealing with you in the same way that he
  • 00:21:14.130 --> 00:21:18.267
  • Deals with me.
  • 00:21:18.267 --> 00:21:19.635
  • And so anytime i see anybody on social media or at protests or
  • 00:21:19.635 --> 00:21:22.672
  • In schools that are just inordinately harsh, i know they
  • 00:21:22.672 --> 00:21:26.642
  • Have not experienced the love of god.
  • 00:21:26.642 --> 00:21:28.344
  • Now that doesn't mean that they're not christian.
  • 00:21:28.344 --> 00:21:30.279
  • It just means that there is a level of maturity that they have
  • 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:33.683
  • Not reached because that love that abiding has not reached
  • 00:21:33.683 --> 00:21:36.452
  • Them and it's coming through you know what i'm saying and so i
  • 00:21:36.452 --> 00:21:40.223
  • Just think that's important is to ask the lord constantly to
  • 00:21:40.223 --> 00:21:45.661
  • Search my heart show me what's in that thing so when i do
  • 00:21:45.661 --> 00:21:49.399
  • Ministry i'm doing ministry how you see fit and being i've said
  • 00:21:49.399 --> 00:21:53.202
  • This before but being mindful of temperament matters you know
  • 00:21:53.202 --> 00:21:57.640
  • What i'm saying so i'm naturally kind of, it is what it
  • 00:21:57.640 --> 00:22:02.412
  • Is, black and white.
  • 00:22:02.412 --> 00:22:04.714
  • And i've had to do a lot of work on my soul to be able to be
  • 00:22:04.714 --> 00:22:07.583
  • Gracious and compassionate and gentleness.
  • 00:22:07.583 --> 00:22:12.522
  • But so much of that has just come from brokenness.
  • 00:22:12.522 --> 00:22:14.123
  • And so i just, i see people and i see myself.
  • 00:22:14.123 --> 00:22:19.362
  • - i have had moments in my life, looking back, where honestly,
  • 00:22:19.362 --> 00:22:25.001
  • I'm pretty embarrassed of how i acted.
  • 00:22:25.001 --> 00:22:29.539
  • But at the time, i was standing for justice.
  • 00:22:29.539 --> 00:22:32.341
  • I was standing for truth.
  • 00:22:32.341 --> 00:22:34.477
  • Now, before you go searching my social media, that has happened
  • 00:22:34.477 --> 00:22:36.512
  • On both sides of politics, okay?
  • 00:22:36.512 --> 00:22:38.080
  • So don't come at me.
  • 00:22:38.080 --> 00:22:39.615
  • But my point is that in the moment, it felt like the right
  • 00:22:39.615 --> 00:22:44.987
  • Thing to do.
  • 00:22:44.987 --> 00:22:46.222
  • It felt like standing for justice was almost like standing
  • 00:22:46.222 --> 00:22:47.957
  • For god.
  • 00:22:47.957 --> 00:22:49.792
  • But looking back, i just wanted to feel important to my friends.
  • 00:22:49.792 --> 00:22:54.564
  • It's not the right motive.
  • 00:22:54.564 --> 00:22:58.701
  • How do we check our motives?
  • 00:22:58.701 --> 00:23:01.771
  • Before we stand on something we call justice, before we stand on
  • 00:23:01.771 --> 00:23:04.907
  • Something we call truth, first of all, before you act, i think
  • 00:23:04.907 --> 00:23:09.712
  • We take it to the presence of god.
  • 00:23:09.712 --> 00:23:12.915
  • And then maybe we take it to some trusted friends.
  • 00:23:12.915 --> 00:23:16.152
  • Hey, here's how i'm feeling.
  • 00:23:16.152 --> 00:23:18.354
  • Can you help me?
  • 00:23:18.354 --> 00:23:19.755
  • And here's why i say that.
  • 00:23:19.755 --> 00:23:22.024
  • It's because i always think in the moment that my motive
  • 00:23:22.024 --> 00:23:24.393
  • Is correct.
  • 00:23:24.393 --> 00:23:26.262
  • But it's hard to know you're in denial when you're in denial.
  • 00:23:26.262 --> 00:23:30.566
  • Because you're in, you get it.
  • 00:23:30.566 --> 00:23:33.503
  • It's very human of us.
  • 00:23:33.503 --> 00:23:35.605
  • There are things in cars with mirrors that help us see our
  • 00:23:35.605 --> 00:23:39.242
  • Blind spots and we need those in our life too, especially when it
  • 00:23:39.242 --> 00:23:42.311
  • Comes to really important things like justice issues, like things
  • 00:23:42.311 --> 00:23:47.016
  • That really grab at your heart.
  • 00:23:47.016 --> 00:23:49.452
  • And what i'm not saying is don't do anything.
  • 00:23:49.452 --> 00:23:51.020
  • But what i am saying is take it to him first and ask him, just
  • 00:23:51.020 --> 00:23:56.292
  • Like david asked, to search your heart.
  • 00:23:56.292 --> 00:23:58.995
  • And show any piece of that that might not be helpful.
  • 00:23:58.995 --> 00:24:02.465
  • And then go to some trusted people around you whose lives
  • 00:24:02.465 --> 00:24:06.302
  • Are worthy of your trust.
  • 00:24:06.302 --> 00:24:08.738
  • And say, hey, any blind spots i can't see?
  • 00:24:08.738 --> 00:24:13.643
  • Because the best thing you could do is stand for truth, stand for
  • 00:24:13.643 --> 00:24:17.613
  • Justice, and know that you're carrying god's heart with you.
  • 00:24:17.613 --> 00:24:21.517
  • That's powerful.
  • 00:24:21.517 --> 00:24:25.187
  • Okay. that makes me think about, there's this line that i think
  • 00:24:25.288 --> 00:24:28.658
  • A lot of ministry people use and it's we're going to build god's
  • 00:24:28.658 --> 00:24:33.429
  • Church. and which is just really not accurate, okay, because
  • 00:24:33.429 --> 00:24:37.233
  • Matthew 16 does not say that it actually says um i tell you that
  • 00:24:37.233 --> 00:24:41.671
  • You are peter and it is on this rock that i will build my
  • 00:24:41.671 --> 00:24:45.641
  • Church. and i was at a mental health collective for
  • 00:24:45.641 --> 00:24:50.112
  • Chick-fil-a this past week.
  • 00:24:50.112 --> 00:24:51.614
  • And there was a guy there, and i really wish i remember his name
  • 00:24:51.614 --> 00:24:54.450
  • Because i want to honor him because this line changed my
  • 00:24:54.450 --> 00:24:56.552
  • Life. he was kind of challenging us as ministry leaders to stop
  • 00:24:56.552 --> 00:24:59.488
  • Thinking that we are somehow the builders of the church, versus
  • 00:24:59.488 --> 00:25:03.326
  • The stewarders of the church, the shepherds of the church that
  • 00:25:03.326 --> 00:25:06.095
  • We get to be.
  • 00:25:06.095 --> 00:25:07.196
  • And he said, i just think we need to stop being
  • 00:25:07.196 --> 00:25:10.666
  • Architects and be archaeologists of
  • 00:25:10.666 --> 00:25:15.171
  • The church. - wow. - i know.
  • 00:25:15.171 --> 00:25:18.507
  • And i need to find this brother's name, okay?
  • 00:25:18.507 --> 00:25:20.309
  • Because i want to follow all the things.
  • 00:25:20.309 --> 00:25:22.378
  • Because, and this is how he framed it up.
  • 00:25:22.378 --> 00:25:25.348
  • He said, at the end of the day, we have been put in these
  • 00:25:25.348 --> 00:25:29.218
  • Environments to find the bones.
  • 00:25:29.218 --> 00:25:30.820
  • Where are the dead things?
  • 00:25:30.820 --> 00:25:33.255
  • Where are they?
  • 00:25:33.255 --> 00:25:34.590
  • And we do, we focus so much on building the thing, on making
  • 00:25:34.590 --> 00:25:37.193
  • Sure the building and the seats and the strategies and all the
  • 00:25:37.193 --> 00:25:40.730
  • Things are great that we have just genuinely missed the
  • 00:25:40.730 --> 00:25:45.134
  • Discipleship portion.
  • 00:25:45.134 --> 00:25:46.369
  • This idea that...
  • 00:25:46.369 --> 00:25:49.238
  • Yeah, we want to be bold but if we don't have the stories to
  • 00:25:49.238 --> 00:25:51.941
  • Tell what are we being bold about? like we're being bold
  • 00:25:51.941 --> 00:25:53.242
  • About look at how many people are here, look at this great
  • 00:25:53.242 --> 00:25:58.714
  • Event we did and all the we're literally boasting about the
  • 00:25:58.714 --> 00:26:03.452
  • Building of something that first of all ain't even ours, instead
  • 00:26:03.452 --> 00:26:06.355
  • Of boasting about what comes out of shepherding, which is did
  • 00:26:06.355 --> 00:26:11.093
  • You see that one person who was all the way over there and lost?
  • 00:26:11.093 --> 00:26:14.730
  • And look at what god did. and okay, i'm going to come at
  • 00:26:14.730 --> 00:26:18.868
  • This from a different angle because i love to look at things
  • 00:26:18.868 --> 00:26:21.037
  • From a different angle.
  • 00:26:21.037 --> 00:26:22.338
  • And i think when we use this way, when we stop saying, i'm
  • 00:26:22.338 --> 00:26:25.241
  • Going to be so worried about building the church and i'm
  • 00:26:25.241 --> 00:26:28.277
  • Going to be an archaeologist, i'm going to look for the broken
  • 00:26:28.277 --> 00:26:30.446
  • Pieces for the dead things and i'm going to help and shepherd
  • 00:26:30.446 --> 00:26:33.382
  • And be a part of it, then i think actually god does say...
  • 00:26:33.382 --> 00:26:37.086
  • Oh, i'm going to build it for you because you're stewarding
  • 00:26:37.086 --> 00:26:40.356
  • And shepherding it well.
  • 00:26:40.356 --> 00:26:42.224
  • And i think that's what boldness looks like.
  • 00:26:42.224 --> 00:26:44.560
  • I think we've just gotten it twisted a little bit with what
  • 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:47.897
  • Boldness looks like.
  • 00:26:47.897 --> 00:26:48.831
  • It's the mic. it's the stage.
  • 00:26:48.831 --> 00:26:50.332
  • It's the led. it's the fog that is choking people.
  • 00:26:50.332 --> 00:26:53.135
  • It's not in that.
  • 00:26:53.135 --> 00:26:55.237
  • And we've just i think we've seen it the next generation,
  • 00:26:55.237 --> 00:26:58.774
  • Which i'm so excited about.
  • 00:26:58.774 --> 00:27:00.142
  • I got to speak at a college and they're just like back to the
  • 00:27:00.142 --> 00:27:01.343
  • Basics. - yeah. - and i like it.
  • 00:27:01.343 --> 00:27:04.447
  • - and it takes boldness to do that.
  • 00:27:04.447 --> 00:27:05.981
  • - to say, i'm going to go against what everyone else is
  • 00:27:05.981 --> 00:27:08.584
  • Doing. to be simple takes boldness.
  • 00:27:08.584 --> 00:27:11.320
  • But the simplicity comes from faithfulness, right?
  • 00:27:11.320 --> 00:27:12.988
  • And so i think it's just so important.
  • 00:27:12.988 --> 00:27:16.258
  • I think prayerlessness is a big part of this.
  • 00:27:16.258 --> 00:27:19.829
  • - we don't be praying. - like we're just praying and
  • 00:27:19.829 --> 00:27:23.666
  • Waiting and discerning what he wants us to do and how he wants
  • 00:27:23.666 --> 00:27:27.903
  • Us to show up do you want it to be big, do you want it to be
  • 00:27:27.903 --> 00:27:30.940
  • Small, do you want it to be this. do you want me to say
  • 00:27:30.940 --> 00:27:33.142
  • This, do you want me to be quiet?
  • 00:27:33.142 --> 00:27:34.577
  • Like i think i think how boldness is
  • 00:27:34.577 --> 00:27:38.581
  • Made manifest really does depend on what god told you to do.
  • 00:27:38.581 --> 00:27:41.317
  • - oh i feel convicted by that.
  • 00:27:41.317 --> 00:27:43.719
  • - i think in discerning what bold work god
  • 00:27:43.719 --> 00:27:47.490
  • Is calling me to do, i think about ephesians often where it
  • 00:27:47.490 --> 00:27:50.493
  • Says discern what is pleasing to the lord. meaning that there are
  • 00:27:50.493 --> 00:27:52.762
  • Very clear precepts and commands in scripture, but there's a lot
  • 00:27:52.762 --> 00:27:56.232
  • Of life that happens monday through sunday that is gray...
  • 00:27:56.232 --> 00:27:59.468
  • That you have to simply be discerning.
  • 00:27:59.468 --> 00:28:02.671
  • I think a part of that discerning work is also
  • 00:28:02.671 --> 00:28:04.540
  • Considering your own call, right?
  • 00:28:04.540 --> 00:28:06.642
  • So there is a boldness that i will have to show when it comes
  • 00:28:06.642 --> 00:28:10.079
  • To being vulnerable with my husband because i'm called to
  • 00:28:10.079 --> 00:28:12.515
  • Be his wife.
  • 00:28:12.515 --> 00:28:14.283
  • There's a boldness that i have to show when it comes to social
  • 00:28:14.283 --> 00:28:16.418
  • Media and how i manage things because i'm also called to
  • 00:28:16.418 --> 00:28:19.188
  • Be a leader.
  • 00:28:19.188 --> 00:28:20.990
  • There's a boldness that i have to have with certain friends
  • 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:23.793
  • Where i'm seeing certain stuff in their life and i'm like, ah,
  • 00:28:23.793 --> 00:28:25.728
  • But i'm called to help you see yourself, right?
  • 00:28:25.728 --> 00:28:28.564
  • And so i just think, what are you called to do and how will
  • 00:28:28.564 --> 00:28:31.267
  • This boldness serve that particular calling?
  • 00:28:31.267 --> 00:28:35.037
  • And i think you always know god is calling you to do something
  • 00:28:35.037 --> 00:28:38.140
  • Bold when you actually don't want to do it.
  • 00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:40.309
  • - i think a lot of us have this idea of boldness.
  • 00:28:40.309 --> 00:28:43.646
  • And i think it's a piece of what jackie said.
  • 00:28:43.646 --> 00:28:47.550
  • I think it's a piece of what toni said.
  • 00:28:47.550 --> 00:28:49.652
  • Because jackie mentioned, like, this idea of what it means to
  • 00:28:49.652 --> 00:28:54.957
  • Live boldly.
  • 00:28:54.957 --> 00:28:56.458
  • And there's this social justice piece to that, i think.
  • 00:28:56.458 --> 00:29:00.429
  • And then i think toni's thought process is
  • 00:29:00.429 --> 00:29:04.066
  • Important because she's talking about the church.
  • 00:29:04.066 --> 00:29:06.302
  • And then we had this idea of boldness, which is sort of like,
  • 00:29:06.302 --> 00:29:09.471
  • Let's reach people through any means necessary.
  • 00:29:09.471 --> 00:29:13.075
  • And then we go to micah 6:8, which is a very famous verse,
  • 00:29:13.075 --> 00:29:18.614
  • Which of course, this is a prophetic word to israel
  • 00:29:18.614 --> 00:29:20.583
  • And judah.
  • 00:29:20.583 --> 00:29:22.451
  • And here in micah 6, framing that like a courtroom, right?
  • 00:29:22.451 --> 00:29:26.355
  • Like, so god is saying, hey, this is what's required
  • 00:29:26.355 --> 00:29:29.725
  • Of you here.
  • 00:29:29.725 --> 00:29:31.126
  • And micah 6:8, this is what is good.
  • 00:29:31.126 --> 00:29:34.263
  • And this is what he requires to do what is right, to love mercy
  • 00:29:34.263 --> 00:29:36.866
  • And to walk humbly with your god.
  • 00:29:36.866 --> 00:29:39.301
  • But i love this passage because what people miss and don't
  • 00:29:39.301 --> 00:29:43.639
  • Always read in context are the verses before, which is
  • 00:29:43.639 --> 00:29:47.142
  • Six and seven.
  • 00:29:47.142 --> 00:29:49.378
  • And this is what the people are saying.
  • 00:29:49.378 --> 00:29:53.015
  • What can we bring to the lord to make up
  • 00:29:53.015 --> 00:29:54.750
  • For what we've done?
  • 00:29:54.750 --> 00:29:55.985
  • It's like paying penance, right?
  • 00:29:55.985 --> 00:29:58.320
  • Should we bow before god with offerings of yearling calves?
  • 00:29:58.320 --> 00:30:01.423
  • Should we offer him thousands of rams and tens of thousands of
  • 00:30:01.423 --> 00:30:06.495
  • Rivers of olive oil?
  • 00:30:06.495 --> 00:30:07.696
  • Would that please the lord?
  • 00:30:07.696 --> 00:30:09.565
  • And then listen to this verse.
  • 00:30:09.565 --> 00:30:10.933
  • Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for
  • 00:30:10.933 --> 00:30:13.302
  • The sins of our souls?
  • 00:30:13.302 --> 00:30:14.870
  • Would that make him glad?
  • 00:30:14.870 --> 00:30:16.906
  • And that's always struck me because we read 6:8.
  • 00:30:16.906 --> 00:30:21.010
  • We have it on plaques in our house.
  • 00:30:21.010 --> 00:30:24.013
  • But we don't read in context what's happening here where
  • 00:30:24.013 --> 00:30:26.415
  • Literally it's like israel is saying...
  • 00:30:26.415 --> 00:30:28.851
  • Should i do this and should i do this?
  • 00:30:28.851 --> 00:30:31.720
  • Can i give you my firstborn children to pay for what i've
  • 00:30:31.720 --> 00:30:34.023
  • Done for my soul?
  • 00:30:34.023 --> 00:30:35.291
  • Like, no, no, this is what i want from you.
  • 00:30:35.291 --> 00:30:38.527
  • And that's critical because we're always saying, can i give
  • 00:30:38.527 --> 00:30:43.132
  • You my church attendance, god?
  • 00:30:43.132 --> 00:30:44.566
  • Like, is that bold?
  • 00:30:44.566 --> 00:30:46.735
  • Can i give you my fog machines now for this to you?
  • 00:30:46.735 --> 00:30:49.705
  • Right. - yeah.
  • 00:30:49.705 --> 00:30:50.940
  • - like, can i give you my social justice?
  • 00:30:50.940 --> 00:30:53.509
  • God's going, no, i want your heart.
  • 00:30:53.509 --> 00:30:54.977
  • I want all of it.
  • 00:30:54.977 --> 00:30:56.812
  • And that results in bold living.
  • 00:30:56.812 --> 00:30:58.981
  • Like that helps us love people.
  • 00:30:58.981 --> 00:31:01.050
  • That helps us actually know how to love someone who is how to
  • 00:31:01.050 --> 00:31:07.056
  • Fall from grace. - yeah.
  • 00:31:07.056 --> 00:31:08.791
  • - it's really tricky.
  • 00:31:08.791 --> 00:31:10.526
  • Honestly, i know i've lived through this.
  • 00:31:10.526 --> 00:31:11.794
  • It's very tricky to hold the tension,
  • 00:31:11.794 --> 00:31:14.196
  • Of staying true to what you believe in the bible and yet
  • 00:31:14.196 --> 00:31:17.499
  • Loving someone who is walking in sin.
  • 00:31:17.499 --> 00:31:22.037
  • Like that's really tough.
  • 00:31:22.037 --> 00:31:24.239
  • But when we offer god our whole heart and we have that
  • 00:31:24.239 --> 00:31:27.609
  • Relationship with him that is pure, not perfect because none
  • 00:31:27.609 --> 00:31:31.847
  • Of us will have that this side of heaven, but then we can do
  • 00:31:31.847 --> 00:31:34.850
  • What is right, which we want to do what is right as believers in
  • 00:31:34.850 --> 00:31:37.786
  • Jesus christ. love, mercy.
  • 00:31:37.786 --> 00:31:40.723
  • It's really hard.
  • 00:31:40.723 --> 00:31:42.491
  • Like i'm a justice person.
  • 00:31:42.491 --> 00:31:44.760
  • Mercy is harder for me.
  • 00:31:44.760 --> 00:31:46.695
  • Justice is easy. like i know how to live justice.
  • 00:31:46.695 --> 00:31:49.598
  • Mercy, walk humbly with your god.
  • 00:31:49.598 --> 00:31:53.335
  • Selfishness and pride is my bend.
  • 00:31:53.335 --> 00:31:55.170
  • So humility, i think it's tough.
  • 00:31:55.170 --> 00:31:59.241
  • So like if i pay penance, if i offer to god these other things,
  • 00:31:59.241 --> 00:32:05.514
  • That is not what he wants.
  • 00:32:05.514 --> 00:32:09.852
  • And it will not result in me being able to experience the
  • 00:32:09.852 --> 00:32:12.354
  • Love of god for me and thus also then be able to practice micah
  • 00:32:12.354 --> 00:32:15.924
  • 6:8, which i really want in my life.
  • 00:32:15.924 --> 00:32:19.795
  • But i really can't do that by just offering these other things
  • 00:32:19.795 --> 00:32:23.332
  • That, by the way, kind of come easy for us.
  • 00:32:23.332 --> 00:32:25.934
  • Like we can offer a really well thought out church service.
  • 00:32:25.934 --> 00:32:31.907
  • It's not, that's not hard.
  • 00:32:31.907 --> 00:32:34.676
  • We got talented people coming out the wazoo.
  • 00:32:34.676 --> 00:32:36.612
  • But can we do this?
  • 00:32:36.612 --> 00:32:40.049
  • And also social justice is not that hard for us in some ways.
  • 00:32:40.049 --> 00:32:43.085
  • Like that's kind of okay and very acceptable in this
  • 00:32:43.085 --> 00:32:47.289
  • Culture. - yeah.
  • 00:32:47.289 --> 00:32:49.892
  • - but is it coming from a place that is real?
  • 00:32:49.892 --> 00:32:51.693
  • - that's good.
  • 00:32:51.693 --> 00:32:54.430
  • I think striking that balance in not conforming to the world and
  • 00:32:54.430 --> 00:32:57.566
  • Holding fast to what we believe in the word of god, is one of
  • 00:32:57.566 --> 00:33:01.703
  • Those things that is going to require the help of the holy
  • 00:33:01.703 --> 00:33:05.174
  • Spirit in great measure because we've all seen folks who have
  • 00:33:05.174 --> 00:33:10.479
  • Gone down a slippery slope in the--
  • 00:33:10.479 --> 00:33:13.382
  • Maybe even pure attempt to love someone and live boldly
  • 00:33:13.382 --> 00:33:16.752
  • In that way.
  • 00:33:16.752 --> 00:33:18.620
  • And yet there is this really important thing of holding true
  • 00:33:18.620 --> 00:33:23.926
  • And holding fast to the word of god in these really
  • 00:33:23.926 --> 00:33:27.196
  • Difficult times.
  • 00:33:27.196 --> 00:33:28.530
  • I think it's very important to pray for clarity, that god would
  • 00:33:28.530 --> 00:33:32.401
  • Give us clear minds, that he would give us
  • 00:33:32.401 --> 00:33:35.471
  • Pure hearts. those things are very important and so i think
  • 00:33:35.471 --> 00:33:39.241
  • Becoming confused is very easy for us so we have to really
  • 00:33:39.241 --> 00:33:43.879
  • Guard against what we watch and what we listen to and that we
  • 00:33:43.879 --> 00:33:47.349
  • Stay grounded in the church and in the word and so when we are
  • 00:33:47.349 --> 00:33:52.721
  • Doing those things and we have the intention of love, of love
  • 00:33:52.721 --> 00:33:57.826
  • Towards people, but we also are practicing our faith in a very
  • 00:33:57.826 --> 00:34:01.663
  • Grounded way, we're seeking mentorship, we have
  • 00:34:01.663 --> 00:34:05.400
  • Discipleship, we don't have to fear that we're going to shy
  • 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:08.904
  • Away from the faith.
  • 00:34:08.904 --> 00:34:10.806
  • And so i think it's really important that we marry those
  • 00:34:10.806 --> 00:34:13.075
  • Two things and that we pray that the spirit would guide us and
  • 00:34:13.075 --> 00:34:16.578
  • Lead us as we love people.
  • 00:34:16.578 --> 00:34:18.981
  • - i think that's the thing, isn't it?
  • 00:34:18.981 --> 00:34:21.517
  • I like that you said both because often we can lean
  • 00:34:21.517 --> 00:34:24.319
  • Towards one or the other and be like, yeah, get him.
  • 00:34:24.319 --> 00:34:26.421
  • Tell him about the church service.
  • 00:34:26.421 --> 00:34:28.891
  • Or the other people are like, yeah, get him.
  • 00:34:28.891 --> 00:34:30.826
  • Tell him that justice isn't just the thing.
  • 00:34:30.826 --> 00:34:32.728
  • Our natural bent in our day and age and probably since the
  • 00:34:32.728 --> 00:34:36.965
  • Beginning of time was to go into one party.
  • 00:34:36.965 --> 00:34:40.068
  • And i'm not talking political parties, but to go into one
  • 00:34:40.068 --> 00:34:42.771
  • Mindset of one or the other.
  • 00:34:42.771 --> 00:34:45.307
  • And i think that's the piece we just keep missing it.
  • 00:34:45.307 --> 00:34:48.911
  • This pendulum swinging is constantly going from
  • 00:34:48.911 --> 00:34:50.679
  • Extreme to extreme.
  • 00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:51.947
  • And it is not helping with the technology in our world and
  • 00:34:51.947 --> 00:34:54.850
  • Social media in our world and the ability to be keyboard
  • 00:34:54.850 --> 00:34:56.985
  • Warriors, but not want to have an actual confrontation
  • 00:34:56.985 --> 00:34:59.488
  • And conversation.
  • 00:34:59.488 --> 00:35:01.523
  • And i think i saw it when i was living in los angeles during
  • 00:35:01.523 --> 00:35:04.826
  • 2020. it was a time.
  • 00:35:04.826 --> 00:35:06.929
  • It was a time.
  • 00:35:06.929 --> 00:35:08.564
  • And i just remember, i lived alone, which was really
  • 00:35:08.564 --> 00:35:12.935
  • Beautiful until about halfway through that year.
  • 00:35:12.935 --> 00:35:15.070
  • And i remember just seeing so many of my friends like at each
  • 00:35:15.070 --> 00:35:20.542
  • Other's throats and being like, if we could just get around a
  • 00:35:20.542 --> 00:35:25.847
  • Table again, i think we'd be all right.
  • 00:35:25.847 --> 00:35:28.617
  • Like i think we'd be okay if we could just have a conversation.
  • 00:35:28.617 --> 00:35:31.320
  • And i think the enemy will either get us at isolating
  • 00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:34.923
  • Ourselves away from people or getting us to
  • 00:35:34.923 --> 00:35:37.426
  • People away from the table and i think if we can fight for the
  • 00:35:37.426 --> 00:35:41.830
  • Togetherness for the fact that i don't have to agree with every
  • 00:35:41.830 --> 00:35:46.034
  • Single thing that you have and i know that we say that but
  • 00:35:46.034 --> 00:35:48.270
  • Something's getting lost in translation because we're not
  • 00:35:48.270 --> 00:35:50.906
  • Doing it and so i don't know what it is i don't-- i don't
  • 00:35:50.906 --> 00:35:54.943
  • Pretend to but i just know that i've lived in los angeles for 10
  • 00:35:54.943 --> 00:35:58.547
  • Years and now i live in florida.
  • 00:35:58.547 --> 00:36:00.115
  • And that is also, those are two different worlds.
  • 00:36:00.115 --> 00:36:02.851
  • Like they are two different countries.
  • 00:36:02.851 --> 00:36:05.787
  • And i think that god is, and i'm from australia.
  • 00:36:05.787 --> 00:36:08.390
  • Like i think god has allowed me to see three different echo
  • 00:36:08.390 --> 00:36:12.327
  • Chambers because we do live in our own echo chambers, whether
  • 00:36:12.327 --> 00:36:14.930
  • We want to or not, to be able to get more of a universal view of,
  • 00:36:14.930 --> 00:36:20.202
  • At the end of the day, we all do
  • 00:36:20.202 --> 00:36:23.772
  • Want the same thing.
  • 00:36:23.772 --> 00:36:26.241
  • We have different ways to get there. i get that.
  • 00:36:26.241 --> 00:36:27.943
  • But if we would understand the unity and the community and the
  • 00:36:27.943 --> 00:36:30.879
  • Gathering together point, it probably wasn't much different
  • 00:36:30.879 --> 00:36:34.016
  • In the early church, which was maybe why they were commanded or
  • 00:36:34.016 --> 00:36:36.251
  • They were eating together every day because they had to.
  • 00:36:36.251 --> 00:36:38.854
  • Every day they had to remind themselves and maybe that's why
  • 00:36:38.854 --> 00:36:41.456
  • They were being added.
  • 00:36:41.456 --> 00:36:42.791
  • And again, like you said, it's not the outreach event or the
  • 00:36:42.791 --> 00:36:45.527
  • Conference or the church community or whatever it is for
  • 00:36:45.527 --> 00:36:47.663
  • You that feels easy.
  • 00:36:47.663 --> 00:36:48.830
  • The imploring comes from what's the difficult thing.
  • 00:36:48.830 --> 00:36:53.101
  • Who's the difficult person to have a conversation with?
  • 00:36:53.101 --> 00:36:56.738
  • That's the bold statement.
  • 00:36:56.738 --> 00:36:59.841
  • For someone, it is not standing on a street corner saying, turn
  • 00:36:59.841 --> 00:37:02.110
  • Or burn. that's not the difficult thing.
  • 00:37:02.110 --> 00:37:05.113
  • The difficult thing is to invite those people into your home and
  • 00:37:05.113 --> 00:37:07.749
  • Make a meal for them.
  • 00:37:07.749 --> 00:37:08.984
  • And for some people, their difficult thing isn't to get
  • 00:37:08.984 --> 00:37:11.720
  • Around the people that need love and mercy.
  • 00:37:11.720 --> 00:37:15.257
  • Their difficult thing is to actually bring up jesus in a
  • 00:37:15.257 --> 00:37:18.093
  • Conversation and talk about the truth of the word of god.
  • 00:37:18.093 --> 00:37:20.495
  • And so the bold thing for us is actually different for all.
  • 00:37:20.495 --> 00:37:23.765
  • Of us but it is the thing that makes your knees shake and your
  • 00:37:23.765 --> 00:37:25.901
  • Voice feel dry and that's where we access the holy spirit and
  • 00:37:25.901 --> 00:37:30.138
  • Say help me do that thing yeah that's the thing i feel.
  • 00:37:30.138 --> 00:37:36.144
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  • 00:37:47.004 --> 00:37:48.725
  • - the tension i think we're wrestling with
  • 00:37:49.692 --> 00:37:51.828
  • This idea of living boldly in a broken world is that we really
  • 00:37:51.828 --> 00:37:56.799
  • Don't want to pray and then wait.
  • 00:37:56.799 --> 00:37:58.634
  • I think it's because we've confused boldly with quickly.
  • 00:37:58.634 --> 00:38:01.738
  • - that's good.
  • 00:38:01.738 --> 00:38:03.940
  • - in isaiah 40 literally says in verse 31, they who wait on the
  • 00:38:03.940 --> 00:38:10.046
  • Lord will renew their strength.
  • 00:38:10.046 --> 00:38:12.548
  • And this convicts me because i would rather rely on my
  • 00:38:12.548 --> 00:38:17.520
  • Intellect than my discernment. i'm smart.
  • 00:38:17.520 --> 00:38:20.156
  • And i can come up with strategies and i can do
  • 00:38:20.156 --> 00:38:24.127
  • Things quickly.
  • 00:38:24.127 --> 00:38:25.328
  • And i know a lot of people because i'm a teletubbies.
  • 00:38:25.328 --> 00:38:27.029
  • So i'm an extroverted.
  • 00:38:27.029 --> 00:38:28.164
  • And i'm just like, it's cool. i got it.
  • 00:38:28.164 --> 00:38:30.299
  • You need something? i got a friend for that.
  • 00:38:30.299 --> 00:38:31.934
  • You need something? i can do that.
  • 00:38:31.934 --> 00:38:33.169
  • Oh yeah, i can connect you to this organization.
  • 00:38:33.169 --> 00:38:34.504
  • Like, and i like it and i enjoy it because it's about me and
  • 00:38:34.504 --> 00:38:37.106
  • It's about my abilities and what i can do.
  • 00:38:37.106 --> 00:38:38.841
  • It's my intellect.
  • 00:38:38.841 --> 00:38:40.109
  • So it makes me feel smarter, which again, just was rude right
  • 00:38:40.109 --> 00:38:42.612
  • On down to pride.
  • 00:38:42.612 --> 00:38:43.946
  • Discernment, however, is usually slow.
  • 00:38:43.946 --> 00:38:48.584
  • - yeah. - okay.
  • 00:38:48.584 --> 00:38:49.919
  • But it's strong because it's slow because there's a waiting.
  • 00:38:49.919 --> 00:38:53.189
  • There's a praying and there's a waiting and there's a listening
  • 00:38:53.189 --> 00:38:55.725
  • To the lord.
  • 00:38:55.725 --> 00:38:57.293
  • And i feel like we've just gotten it real twisted when it
  • 00:38:57.293 --> 00:38:59.962
  • Comes to this word boldly living for christ, carrying out the
  • 00:38:59.962 --> 00:39:02.632
  • Gospel. and we've somehow like mixed the urgency of letting and
  • 00:39:02.632 --> 00:39:06.235
  • Making sure that everybody hears the gospel with speed. - yeah.
  • 00:39:06.235 --> 00:39:12.608
  • - and it's just time, a man-made construct.
  • 00:39:12.608 --> 00:39:16.712
  • And i think the church is being called to pray.
  • 00:39:16.712 --> 00:39:19.882
  • And to wait on the lord.
  • 00:39:19.882 --> 00:39:22.652
  • - that's how it started.
  • 00:39:22.652 --> 00:39:24.887
  • - we prayed in the upper room.
  • 00:39:24.887 --> 00:39:27.123
  • - go to jerusalem and wait. and wait.
  • 00:39:27.123 --> 00:39:30.726
  • And i don't want to do that.
  • 00:39:30.726 --> 00:39:32.228
  • And what i enjoy about this conversation is that we're kind
  • 00:39:32.228 --> 00:39:35.331
  • Of expanding boldness outside of evangelism because it usually
  • 00:39:35.331 --> 00:39:38.134
  • Sits with how do i talk to my gay niece?
  • 00:39:38.134 --> 00:39:40.203
  • You know, when it's like, i think even in conversation with
  • 00:39:40.203 --> 00:39:43.072
  • You, it's like what i'm hearing is even hebrews like come to the
  • 00:39:43.072 --> 00:39:47.143
  • Throne of grace with boldness for help in your time of need.
  • 00:39:47.143 --> 00:39:51.380
  • And so there's even a boldness in prayer, a boldness when it
  • 00:39:51.380 --> 00:39:54.484
  • Comes to your neediness and all the things like.
  • 00:39:54.484 --> 00:39:57.687
  • We need even courage to approach him with our needs.
  • 00:39:57.687 --> 00:40:00.189
  • You know what i'm saying?
  • 00:40:00.189 --> 00:40:02.425
  • And so for those who are hyper-efficient and competent
  • 00:40:02.425 --> 00:40:05.361
  • Like you, the need is security.
  • 00:40:05.361 --> 00:40:07.563
  • So it would be coming to the...
  • 00:40:07.563 --> 00:40:09.765
  • - we got to hurry up!
  • 00:40:09.765 --> 00:40:11.901
  • - it would be saying, lord, like, i feel insecure.
  • 00:40:11.901 --> 00:40:14.804
  • And not insecure about my looks, but insecure about my
  • 00:40:14.804 --> 00:40:17.507
  • Station, my lot. so i need you.
  • 00:40:17.507 --> 00:40:19.342
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:40:19.342 --> 00:40:20.676
  • - i remember as a younger woman, someone
  • 00:40:20.676 --> 00:40:22.278
  • Telling me, i think it was actually my seminary professor,
  • 00:40:22.278 --> 00:40:26.115
  • That when you feel as if you immediately need to do
  • 00:40:26.115 --> 00:40:28.317
  • Something, see that as a signal from the holy spirit, maybe just
  • 00:40:28.317 --> 00:40:31.354
  • To take a little bit of a breath.
  • 00:40:31.354 --> 00:40:33.589
  • Because if god's involved, then that will not go away.
  • 00:40:33.589 --> 00:40:36.192
  • Whereas if it's just some impulse that suddenly we feel
  • 00:40:36.192 --> 00:40:39.195
  • We're supposed to do something and we rush into it, there's
  • 00:40:39.195 --> 00:40:42.198
  • Great wisdom not only in waiting before the lord.
  • 00:40:42.198 --> 00:40:46.168
  • In seeking what god says in his word, because he will never
  • 00:40:46.168 --> 00:40:49.705
  • Contradict his word.
  • 00:40:49.705 --> 00:40:51.641
  • And then in the counsel of wise and godly friends.
  • 00:40:51.641 --> 00:40:54.544
  • I love the whole micah context, you know, bringing up what comes
  • 00:40:54.544 --> 00:40:58.748
  • Before that.
  • 00:40:58.748 --> 00:41:00.650
  • Because one of the passages of scripture that used to confuse
  • 00:41:00.650 --> 00:41:03.019
  • Me was when moses is told to tell the children of israel, you
  • 00:41:03.019 --> 00:41:06.155
  • Know, the last plague is coming, the firstborn son in all of
  • 00:41:06.155 --> 00:41:08.724
  • Egypt, animal or child, is going to die.
  • 00:41:08.724 --> 00:41:13.029
  • When he's told to take a hyssop branch and put blood on the
  • 00:41:13.029 --> 00:41:16.799
  • Doorpost and the angel of death will pass over, i found myself
  • 00:41:16.799 --> 00:41:20.303
  • Thinking, i don't think i would do that.
  • 00:41:20.303 --> 00:41:23.306
  • I think i'd put a great big cross right in the
  • 00:41:23.306 --> 00:41:24.807
  • Middle of the door. you know, it's like, see it.
  • 00:41:24.807 --> 00:41:27.243
  • Until i began to understand that when you live in a culture like
  • 00:41:27.243 --> 00:41:31.213
  • We do for years, you adopt the habits of that culture.
  • 00:41:31.213 --> 00:41:33.015
  • And egyptians believed in an afterlife, but it was all about
  • 00:41:33.015 --> 00:41:36.285
  • Your name.
  • 00:41:36.285 --> 00:41:37.520
  • So their names were always engraved in
  • 00:41:37.520 --> 00:41:39.855
  • The doorpost of the house on everything, on statues,
  • 00:41:39.855 --> 00:41:46.562
  • Everything. and the israelites had fallen into that.
  • 00:41:46.562 --> 00:41:49.865
  • And what jesus was saying that night was, no, what i'm covering
  • 00:41:49.865 --> 00:41:53.502
  • Up is your name because your name is never going to save you.
  • 00:41:53.502 --> 00:41:58.240
  • It's all about jesus.
  • 00:41:58.240 --> 00:42:00.443
  • And that's why the context you gave micah, because i need to go
  • 00:42:00.443 --> 00:42:03.446
  • Back and reread that.
  • 00:42:03.446 --> 00:42:04.880
  • That is so good.
  • 00:42:04.880 --> 00:42:06.983
  • It's like we think, look, lord, look at me.
  • 00:42:06.983 --> 00:42:08.417
  • I can juggle three balls.
  • 00:42:08.417 --> 00:42:09.418
  • - exactly. - no it's the blood of jesus.
  • 00:42:09.418 --> 00:42:13.389
  • The blood of jesus covers everything.
  • 00:42:13.389 --> 00:42:14.790
  • - it covers everything. even your name.
  • 00:42:14.790 --> 00:42:19.662
  • The thing you take pride in. your church's position.
  • 00:42:19.662 --> 00:42:24.033
  • Your number of followers. you yourself could stand in the way.
  • 00:42:24.033 --> 00:42:27.670
  • So you need to cover that thing up.
  • 00:42:27.670 --> 00:42:30.272
  • This is amazing.
  • 00:42:30.272 --> 00:42:32.742
  • This is for me.
  • 00:42:32.742 --> 00:42:35.511
  • - i think it's for me too.
  • 00:42:35.511 --> 00:42:37.413
  • The idea of boldness.
  • 00:42:37.413 --> 00:42:40.416
  • I think the lord has just taken it where it needed to go.
  • 00:42:40.416 --> 00:42:43.586
  • To your point, you know, boldness being waiting.
  • 00:42:43.586 --> 00:42:46.822
  • I mean, that's beautiful.
  • 00:42:46.822 --> 00:42:48.591
  • Boldness being prayer.
  • 00:42:48.591 --> 00:42:49.892
  • And as i've sat here, i just feel like even the lord has
  • 00:42:49.892 --> 00:42:53.095
  • Spoken over me.
  • 00:42:53.095 --> 00:42:54.530
  • It's like for me, who my bend is to be bold.
  • 00:42:54.530 --> 00:42:59.635
  • I am a natural, bold person.
  • 00:42:59.635 --> 00:43:03.005
  • But for me, gosh, i don't, maybe i might get a little
  • 00:43:03.005 --> 00:43:06.976
  • Emotional about this. to me, yeah...
  • 00:43:06.976 --> 00:43:09.979
  • To me, boldness with the lord is vulnerability.
  • 00:43:09.979 --> 00:43:13.015
  • Like that is a bold move for me to be vulnerable before the
  • 00:43:13.015 --> 00:43:19.155
  • Father, to be vulnerable in this space.
  • 00:43:19.155 --> 00:43:22.258
  • Like that's not my bend.
  • 00:43:22.258 --> 00:43:24.694
  • My bend is strength.
  • 00:43:24.694 --> 00:43:27.096
  • My bend is not vulnerability.
  • 00:43:27.096 --> 00:43:29.598
  • But to be bold and walk in something that i cannot do in
  • 00:43:29.598 --> 00:43:33.736
  • And of myself, that's boldness.
  • 00:43:33.736 --> 00:43:38.407
  • That's what god wants of me.
  • 00:43:38.407 --> 00:43:40.142
  • And so whatever is someone else's need of god to embolden
  • 00:43:40.142 --> 00:43:46.048
  • Us to do that, which we cannot do.
  • 00:43:46.048 --> 00:43:49.251
  • That's the need, right?
  • 00:43:49.251 --> 00:43:53.389
  • That's the need. like for me, it's vulnerability
  • 00:43:53.389 --> 00:43:55.191
  • Today and every day.
  • 00:43:55.191 --> 00:43:57.059
  • And here's the irony of the beginning of all of this today.
  • 00:43:57.059 --> 00:43:59.795
  • You know, i said that my father was in ministry, was this
  • 00:43:59.795 --> 00:44:04.967
  • Amazing orator.
  • 00:44:04.967 --> 00:44:08.070
  • He preached hundreds of sermons about the love of god.
  • 00:44:08.070 --> 00:44:12.174
  • I saw it and sensed it as a young woman.
  • 00:44:12.174 --> 00:44:14.844
  • And it took me 50 years to realize i didn't know god's love
  • 00:44:14.844 --> 00:44:23.385
  • For me. i was writing a bible study called body and soul and
  • 00:44:23.385 --> 00:44:28.657
  • Learning whole body theology for the first time in my life
  • 00:44:28.657 --> 00:44:32.661
  • Through the word of god.
  • 00:44:32.661 --> 00:44:33.996
  • And confronting things that i had realized about the way that
  • 00:44:33.996 --> 00:44:37.133
  • I held shame in my body for so many years.
  • 00:44:37.133 --> 00:44:39.735
  • And the lord showed me, he said, you don't know how much
  • 00:44:39.735 --> 00:44:43.272
  • I love you.
  • 00:44:43.272 --> 00:44:44.707
  • And the whole time that i was wrestling with one concept or
  • 00:44:44.707 --> 00:44:48.043
  • Another or another about the incarnate christ and the way
  • 00:44:48.043 --> 00:44:51.580
  • That he became embodied and that that relates to the way that i
  • 00:44:51.580 --> 00:44:56.252
  • Walk around embodied and all these things that were blowing
  • 00:44:56.252 --> 00:44:58.554
  • My mind. and i was confronting my own ways
  • 00:44:58.554 --> 00:45:02.658
  • That i had been at war with my body my whole life.
  • 00:45:02.658 --> 00:45:07.363
  • He just said to me, i love you.
  • 00:45:07.363 --> 00:45:09.131
  • Do you know how much i love you?
  • 00:45:09.131 --> 00:45:10.232
  • I love you.
  • 00:45:10.232 --> 00:45:11.300
  • Do you know how much i love you?
  • 00:45:11.300 --> 00:45:12.535
  • And i would weep and weep over just things that i'd been
  • 00:45:12.535 --> 00:45:16.305
  • Through in my body.
  • 00:45:16.305 --> 00:45:17.473
  • And he'd just say, you know how much i love you?
  • 00:45:17.473 --> 00:45:20.142
  • And i had to confront the fact that i didn't know it for myself
  • 00:45:20.142 --> 00:45:24.947
  • Either. and i think living boldly...
  • 00:45:24.947 --> 00:45:26.882
  • Is learning how much god loves us so that we might love others.
  • 00:45:26.882 --> 00:45:32.588
  • And in the space that we need to be bold, we cannot do it in and
  • 00:45:32.588 --> 00:45:37.960
  • Of ourselves, but that he can do it through us.
  • 00:45:37.960 --> 00:45:40.963
  • And so i hope that's a word for someone today in whatever way
  • 00:45:40.963 --> 00:45:44.867
  • That god wants to speak to them.
  • 00:45:44.867 --> 00:45:46.335
  • - i think it's important for us to be reminded every so often
  • 00:45:46.335 --> 00:45:51.073
  • That the moment of salvation is separate to the process of
  • 00:45:51.073 --> 00:45:56.312
  • Sanctification. i get it.
  • 00:45:56.312 --> 00:45:58.781
  • Those are two very big words.
  • 00:45:58.781 --> 00:46:00.349
  • What do they mean?
  • 00:46:00.349 --> 00:46:01.650
  • That moment that you make jesus the lord of your life, you
  • 00:46:01.650 --> 00:46:03.719
  • Become a christian, is not the same moment as that you start to
  • 00:46:03.719 --> 00:46:07.923
  • Walk down the doors, open the doors of spiritual maturity, of
  • 00:46:07.923 --> 00:46:11.460
  • Growth in your life, of fruit, of the fruits of the spirit.
  • 00:46:11.460 --> 00:46:13.929
  • And that can be really frustrating.
  • 00:46:13.929 --> 00:46:15.898
  • Especially if you don't realize that because then you think the
  • 00:46:15.898 --> 00:46:18.701
  • Moment that you get saved and become a christian that
  • 00:46:18.701 --> 00:46:20.936
  • Everything else should work together.
  • 00:46:20.936 --> 00:46:22.872
  • So when you find broken pieces in your life, somehow you either
  • 00:46:22.872 --> 00:46:25.674
  • Feel like you're not good enough or you feel this temptation to
  • 00:46:25.674 --> 00:46:30.079
  • Hide them secret.
  • 00:46:30.079 --> 00:46:31.747
  • But the truth is this, we're all broken.
  • 00:46:31.747 --> 00:46:35.050
  • People that know jesus and people that don't know jesus,
  • 00:46:35.050 --> 00:46:39.021
  • The difference is where we take our brokenness and what we
  • 00:46:39.021 --> 00:46:42.324
  • Do with it.
  • 00:46:42.324 --> 00:46:43.592
  • And so i think avoiding the temptation of cutting yourself
  • 00:46:43.592 --> 00:46:48.063
  • With your own broken pieces as a punishment, letting shame hold
  • 00:46:48.063 --> 00:46:54.837
  • You captive... is when you don't realize that we're all broken.
  • 00:46:54.837 --> 00:47:00.876
  • And that doesn't mean that we stay broken, but we give
  • 00:47:00.876 --> 00:47:03.379
  • Ourselves grace in the moment.
  • 00:47:03.379 --> 00:47:05.014
  • For me, i've learned the discipleship, sanctification,
  • 00:47:05.014 --> 00:47:08.918
  • And it feels a lot like a cha-cha dance, two steps forward
  • 00:47:08.918 --> 00:47:12.054
  • And one step back.
  • 00:47:12.054 --> 00:47:13.689
  • And you know what i also found?
  • 00:47:13.689 --> 00:47:16.425
  • When i'm giving myself grace to not have all the answers, not
  • 00:47:16.425 --> 00:47:19.862
  • Have it all together, suddenly my compassion for other people
  • 00:47:19.862 --> 00:47:24.733
  • That don't have it all together, it's a lot higher,
  • 00:47:24.733 --> 00:47:28.704
  • Than when i feel like i have to have it all together to give
  • 00:47:28.704 --> 00:47:32.007
  • Yourself grace today, understanding that we're all on
  • 00:47:32.007 --> 00:47:35.711
  • The journey.
  • 00:47:35.711 --> 00:47:37.513
  • You are, i am, and that person that's probably frustrating you
  • 00:47:37.513 --> 00:47:42.651
  • Right now is too.
  • 00:47:42.651 --> 00:47:43.953
  • Toni, will you close us out in prayer as we end this time?
  • 00:47:43.953 --> 00:47:46.288
  • - yeah. lord jesus, make us bold.
  • 00:47:46.288 --> 00:47:50.759
  • Not the kind of bold that this world will try to get us to
  • 00:47:50.759 --> 00:47:54.930
  • Define. the kind of bold that relies more on our gifts and
  • 00:47:54.930 --> 00:48:00.235
  • Talents than on you.
  • 00:48:00.235 --> 00:48:01.670
  • But the kind of boldness that the early church experienced in
  • 00:48:01.670 --> 00:48:05.207
  • Acts, the kind that says we will wait, we will pray, we will
  • 00:48:05.207 --> 00:48:10.379
  • Believe even when we can't see it, and we will wait even when
  • 00:48:10.379 --> 00:48:16.585
  • We want it, even when it would make us feel more safe to have
  • 00:48:16.585 --> 00:48:20.356
  • It quicker. we'll wait.
  • 00:48:20.356 --> 00:48:22.958
  • Lord, give us a boldness that actually creates disciples, the
  • 00:48:22.958 --> 00:48:26.528
  • Kind that loves even when it doesn't make sense.
  • 00:48:26.528 --> 00:48:30.833
  • The kind that does not forget and does not throw people away,
  • 00:48:30.833 --> 00:48:35.738
  • No matter what.
  • 00:48:35.738 --> 00:48:37.506
  • Change us, convict us, meet with us so that we would know you
  • 00:48:37.506 --> 00:48:41.710
  • More so we can be like you more.
  • 00:48:41.710 --> 00:48:43.679
  • You're good. so, so good.
  • 00:48:43.679 --> 00:48:48.584
  • And we love you.
  • 00:48:48.584 --> 00:48:51.053
  • In jesus' name, amen. - amen.
  • 00:48:51.053 --> 00:48:53.655
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:48:53.655 --> 00:48:55.090
  • - connect with us on social media and let us know how our
  • 00:48:55.090 --> 00:48:56.892
  • Team can pray for you.
  • 00:48:56.892 --> 00:48:58.627
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:48:58.627 --> 00:49:06.468
  • - all of us have a way that we can take boldness and make it
  • 00:49:06.468 --> 00:49:09.972
  • Practical. but very few of us have the same way.
  • 00:49:09.972 --> 00:49:12.207
  • When i look at the life of joshua in joshua 1, god tells
  • 00:49:12.207 --> 00:49:16.078
  • Him to be strong and courageous multiple times, right?
  • 00:49:16.078 --> 00:49:18.847
  • But i just wonder if that's actually because what god was
  • 00:49:18.847 --> 00:49:22.651
  • Asking him to do was something out of joshua's wheelhouse of
  • 00:49:22.651 --> 00:49:25.254
  • Comfort. joshua was used to fighting battles and going to
  • 00:49:25.254 --> 00:49:28.690
  • War. he just didn't really know how to surrender and let god
  • 00:49:28.690 --> 00:49:31.493
  • Find the way through.
  • 00:49:31.493 --> 00:49:33.228
  • And i think with you and i, when it comes to having courage or
  • 00:49:33.228 --> 00:49:36.265
  • Being bold, it's probably practically the thing that
  • 00:49:36.265 --> 00:49:38.901
  • You've been putting off doing.
  • 00:49:38.901 --> 00:49:40.869
  • I know for me, there is somebody that when i leave here, i need
  • 00:49:40.869 --> 00:49:43.505
  • To call and make amends with.
  • 00:49:43.505 --> 00:49:45.774
  • That's it for me.
  • 00:49:45.774 --> 00:49:47.810
  • But what's it for you?
  • 00:49:47.810 --> 00:49:49.745
  • Maybe you're very confrontational and you're good
  • 00:49:49.745 --> 00:49:51.513
  • At that stuff.
  • 00:49:51.513 --> 00:49:52.881
  • But saying sorry to someone is actually a really bold step.
  • 00:49:52.881 --> 00:49:55.717
  • Maybe for you, you need to invite somebody to church or
  • 00:49:55.717 --> 00:49:59.088
  • Your bible study or pay for someone around you's coffee
  • 00:49:59.088 --> 00:50:03.025
  • Because generosity and having trust in god is something that
  • 00:50:03.025 --> 00:50:06.061
  • You struggle with.
  • 00:50:06.061 --> 00:50:07.796
  • Boldness, at first, we can maybe sometimes confuse it with
  • 00:50:07.796 --> 00:50:11.867
  • Something that's very confrontational, but that's not
  • 00:50:11.867 --> 00:50:14.103
  • All of us.
  • 00:50:14.103 --> 00:50:15.504
  • I think the thing that is going to take boldness from us is the
  • 00:50:15.504 --> 00:50:17.339
  • Thing that makes us feel most vulnerable.
  • 00:50:17.339 --> 00:50:20.342
  • So this week, don't go for broke.
  • 00:50:20.342 --> 00:50:22.578
  • What's one little thing that you might have been putting off that
  • 00:50:22.578 --> 00:50:25.614
  • It takes 10 seconds of courage to do?
  • 00:50:25.614 --> 00:50:28.851
  • You can be bold.
  • 00:50:28.851 --> 00:50:32.154
  • You can do it.
  • 00:50:32.154 --> 00:50:33.489
  • - join the conversation on our better together youtube channel.
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  • Subscribe today and never miss a new upload.
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  • 00:50:48.670 --> 00:50:48.670