0:11

Luke sixteen verse nineteen thirty

0:13

one.

2:34

Now in English, luke sixteen, nineteen

2:37

to thirty one, the Richmond and

2:39

lazarus, There was a rich man

2:41

who was dressed in purple and fine linen

2:43

and lived in luxury every day.

2:46

At his gate was laid a beggar named lazarus

2:48

covered with sores, and longing to eat

2:50

what fell from the rich man's table. Even

2:53

the dogs came and licked his sores. The

2:55

time came when the beggar died and the angels

2:58

carried him Abraham's side. The

3:00

Richmond also died and was buried. In

3:02

Hades where he was in torment, he looked

3:04

up and saw Abraham far away with

3:06

lazarus by his side. So

3:08

he called to him, father Abraham,

3:11

half pity on me and send lazarus to

3:13

dip the tip of his finger and water and

3:15

cool my tongue because I am in agony

3:17

in this fire. But Abraham replied,

3:20

son. Remember that in your lifetime,

3:22

you received your good things while lazarus

3:24

received bad things. But now he is

3:27

comforted here and you are in agony.

3:29

And besides all this, between us

3:31

and you, a great chasm has been set

3:33

in place. So that those who want to

3:36

go from here to you cannot nor

3:38

can anyone cross over from there to

3:40

us. He answered then

3:42

I beg you father, send lazarus to my

3:44

family, for I have five brothers, let

3:46

him warm them so that way they will

3:48

not also come to this place of torment.

3:51

Abraham replied, they have Moses and

3:53

the prophets. Let them listen to them.

3:56

No father Abraham, he said. But

3:58

if someone from the dead goes to them, they

4:00

will repent. He said to him,

4:02

if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,

4:04

they will not be convinced even if

4:07

someone rises from the dead. This

4:09

is the word of God.

4:18

So I awkwardly knock

4:21

on the glass of this front door. And there's

4:23

already a line that's formed outside of the

4:25

stretches and wraps around the sidewalk. People

4:28

are waiting an hour before dinner

4:30

service even begins. They

4:32

let me in early because I'm there to volunteer.

4:35

I'm the new guy. And as I quickly

4:37

learned, I'm actually the only volunteer who

4:40

doesn't live upstairs and take parts

4:42

in the recovery program run by the

4:44

same organization. So I

4:46

shake a whole bunch of hands and I try to remember

4:48

their names then I do the very best I

4:51

can not to be completely unuseful

4:54

to a bunch of people that do this

4:56

every single night. When

4:59

I I first moved to Portland, I

5:01

knew that if I was going to pastor

5:04

in the city, if I was to desire

5:06

to see the kingdom come here, then I would have

5:08

to immerse myself in the needs

5:10

of the city. So I did some

5:12

Google searches and I found an organization where

5:15

I could help dish out food to the hungry on Monday

5:17

nights and That's how that became

5:19

a simple weekly rhythm of service

5:21

for me. And it's something important

5:24

to me, something sacred because When

5:26

I'm there, I'm not the pastor of

5:28

Bridgetown Church. I'm

5:30

not a face that's known by anyone.

5:32

I have no unspoken power

5:35

of any kind. I'm just a slow to

5:37

learn trying to be helpful, but mostly

5:39

in the way of volunteer. I'm

5:41

Tyler. Just trying to follow

5:43

Jesus and there's nothing more to it than that.

5:46

And you all get it. I mean, you you

5:48

have to have environments also where you're

5:50

not mom or boss or

5:52

leader where you're not designer

5:55

or teacher or restaurant server,

5:57

you're just a soul on the same

5:59

journey with other souls trying to stumble

6:01

along this narrow path behind

6:04

the only rabbi worth following. So

6:06

there I am in this food service line,

6:09

aimed to immerse myself in the needs of the city

6:11

that I'm still at this point just less than

6:13

a month into calling home and it was there that

6:15

I met a guy named Felix. And

6:17

we got along, but there wasn't a whole lot of

6:19

time for socializing. And then the program

6:22

director spoke to both Felix and me

6:24

independently and asked each of us what

6:26

we would think getting together with the other one

6:28

for a weekly one to one mentorship.

6:31

He was matchmaking us. And

6:33

that's how we started meeting

6:35

regularly on Monday afternoons. And

6:38

a couple months in, Felix found out that

6:41

I was a pastor And

6:43

so he showed up to Bridgetown Church

6:45

and then he began attending this church

6:47

regularly and he went through Alpha here and

6:49

it was almost Felix,

6:51

I'm looking at you. It

6:53

was almost a year ago today

6:55

that I got to baptized you downtown

6:58

at five PM. And

7:04

last week, when Kirsten

7:07

was out of town and I was

7:09

a single dad for a few days with three

7:11

boys. It was Felix who showed

7:13

up at my house with treats for my kids

7:15

and played a hilarious game

7:18

of two on two basketball with us

7:21

and lightened the load of a really

7:23

heavy weekend. And of course, he did.

7:25

I mean, Felix knows my family. He loves

7:27

my kids. They love him. He

7:30

attended every single one of Hank's basketball

7:32

games. His first year playing basketball. Cheered

7:34

hard and by name right alongside me

7:37

and Kirsten. He put together my kids

7:39

air hockey table they got for Christmas last

7:41

year because I can't turn a wrench. So

7:45

he's not a weekly meeting. He

7:47

is my brother. And

7:49

in the eighteen months that I have lived in

7:51

Portland served as pastor of Bridgetown Church,

7:54

Felix has been the primary place

7:57

of discipleship to Jesus for me.

7:59

He has shown me more of Jesus. He

8:01

knows me deeper than most and he's blessed

8:03

me deeper than most ever can.

8:06

And that is what Gregory Boyle,

8:09

Catholic priest who spent the majority

8:11

of his ministry serving a a greatly

8:13

under resource community in Los Angeles. That's

8:15

what Gregory Boyle has coined

8:18

kinship. And in a

8:20

time when justice has become a buzzword

8:22

with all sorts of different definitions from

8:24

all sorts of different sources, I would argue

8:27

that kinship is the distinguishing

8:29

and defining aspect of

8:31

justice the Jesus way. So

8:34

a house of prayer for all nations. That is

8:36

the biblical motif that captures our vision

8:38

as Bridgetown Church over the next year

8:40

The first half of this vision series is all about

8:42

prayer. The second half has been all about justice,

8:44

but the whole thing about the essential interconnected

8:47

nature between the two. We've been

8:49

exploring the justice side of the coin more

8:51

recently. Justice is

8:53

born from prayer and it's sustained by prayer.

8:55

Justice is a person. Justice

8:58

is proximity. Justice is a reconciled

9:00

family. And today, we conclude the

9:02

whole of our vision series with

9:05

kinship because that's

9:07

the destination of justice the

9:09

Jesus way. And in the Hebrew language

9:11

and world that the scriptures emerge from,

9:13

Justice is defined in these three

9:15

words, Mishpot, Hessad,

9:18

and Shalom, all of

9:20

which together form this

9:22

concept that we're calling kinship.

9:25

So let's take those one

9:27

at a time. First, Mishpot.

9:30

Is almost always translated into English

9:32

as justice in our bibles, but it's

9:34

it's much more broad than we typically

9:36

understand justice because it involves both

9:38

morality and legal justice,

9:41

and it's almost paired with the Hebrew

9:43

word righteousness. So

9:45

in deuteronomy ten, we're told he,

9:47

meaning God, defends the cause of the fatherless

9:50

and the widow and loves the foreigner

9:52

residing among you giving them food

9:54

and clothing. Now this English phrase

9:56

defends the cause. It's actually just the single

9:58

Hebrew word mish pots. So

10:01

there are material contributions here.

10:03

God gives food and clothing to the marginalized,

10:05

but there's more than just material need being

10:07

met. There's also love. And loves

10:10

the foreigner residing among you.

10:12

The immigrant, the refugee, or

10:15

just the new neighbor that moves in down the block

10:17

anyone easy to overlook by

10:20

human eyes. We're told the eyes of God are

10:22

drawn to that person

10:24

in love. Psalm 103

10:26

says like this, the Lord works righteousness

10:29

and justice for all the oppressed. So

10:31

the Lord is just to the oppressed. He

10:33

is concerned about their suffering

10:35

and cares about their felt need, but

10:38

the lord is also righteous toward the

10:40

oppressed. That's about his character. And

10:42

his heart toward that very same person.

10:45

When Solomon famously asked God

10:47

for wisdom, God responded Since

10:49

you have asked for this and not

10:51

for long life or wealth for yourself, nor

10:53

if you asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment

10:56

and administering Mishpot.

10:59

Justice. I will do what you have

11:01

asked. So Solomon was not only

11:03

asking for proper governing decisions,

11:06

Solomon was asking for a proper heart,

11:08

toward the people that he would oversee

11:10

a proper heart toward the city over

11:13

what he was called king and particularly the

11:15

vulnerable within that city. He

11:17

was asking for a heart like gods. The

11:20

Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez

11:22

writes, insofar as conversion

11:25

is a break with sin, it will have

11:27

both a personal and social

11:29

dimension. And that is the biblical

11:31

understanding of justice. You see,

11:34

when we speak about justice culturally, we

11:36

rarely give it any connection to righteousness.

11:39

Right? Justice culturally is human

11:41

rights. Its basic needs. It's

11:44

material provision of necessities and it's

11:46

a equality and opportunity for

11:48

all people. And all of that is good.

11:50

But biblically, all of that justice

11:53

gets bound to the heart change that comes

11:55

through salvation. Apart

11:58

from a heart like gods, there can only

12:00

ever be an incomplete expression of

12:02

justice teaches the scripture. And

12:05

and equally, the overflow

12:08

of a heart like God's will always

12:10

be justice, which is why the apostle

12:12

John wrote in his first letter to the church.

12:15

If anyone has material possessions and

12:17

sees a brother or sister in need and has nobody

12:19

of them. How can

12:21

the heart of god be in

12:23

that person? See

12:26

the apostle John is plainly saying to the church,

12:29

that if you claim to know and be

12:31

filled with the love of God, and that doesn't

12:33

come out of you looking like Mishpot,

12:36

then there's something deeply wrong. Mishpot,

12:41

and then there's Hessid, which is

12:43

a word that translators really struggle

12:45

to find an English equivalent for. So

12:47

It's often termed in the in the combination

12:50

of English words. So in your bibles, it might

12:52

look like loving, kindness, or

12:54

longsuffering, or steadfast

12:57

love or loyal love. If

12:59

we had to choose one English word that

13:02

matches at compassion is the one that we have

13:04

that becomes closest, but

13:06

only if we know the the

13:08

literal meaning of compassion

13:10

that's born from its roots. You see, compassion

13:13

is a compound root word made up of

13:15

the word calm meaning with and the

13:17

Latin Pacio, which means willing to

13:19

suffer for. The English word compassion

13:22

most literally means to suffer with.

13:25

And it's not to be trapped in suffering alongside

13:28

someone that both of you can't escape. It

13:30

is too willingly enter into

13:32

the suffering of another. That you could just

13:34

as easily choose to stay outside of if

13:36

you wanted. In Matthew's record

13:38

of the sermon on the mount, Jesus says, be

13:40

perfect therefore. As your heavenly

13:42

father is perfect. She's a pretty

13:44

high bar to set. But

13:47

in Luke's translation of the exact

13:49

same verse into English, we we

13:52

read be compassionate just

13:54

as your father is compassionate. And that's

13:56

because these two concepts are linguistically

13:59

so tied together in ancient

14:02

Greek. So to willingly enter into

14:04

the suffering of another is to mirror

14:06

God's character. And biblically

14:09

hessed is joined to Mishpot to

14:11

define justice. Famously in Micah

14:14

six, and what does the Lord require of you to

14:16

act justly Mishpot and

14:18

to love mercy, hesset,

14:21

and walk humbly with your god. Likewise,

14:24

in matthew nine, we read. When the Pharisee

14:26

saw this, they asked his disciples, Why

14:28

does your teacher eat with tax collectors and centers?

14:31

See, they're saying if Jesus was really sent from God,

14:33

if he was really who he says he is, he would know

14:35

the back story of the people that he's breaking

14:37

bread with and he would never want to be associated

14:40

with them. And then Jesus responds this

14:42

way. Go and learn what this means.

14:44

I desire hesid, not

14:48

sacrifice. He's directly

14:50

quoting the prophet Isaiah and

14:52

sacrifice in that context means

14:54

strict observance of a religious ritual.

14:57

So Jesus is saying hessid willingly

14:59

enter in into the suffering of someone

15:02

else gets you closer

15:04

to god than observing another religious ritual.

15:06

He's talking to the priests of his day, and

15:08

he's saying, if you wanna get closer to me,

15:11

then getting closer to the people you've excluded

15:14

from the temple is going to get you

15:16

nearer to my heart than running another service

15:19

within the temple. So go and

15:21

learn what this means, hesset. But

15:24

even that phrase, go and learn, it can also

15:26

be translated, go and find out. So

15:28

Jesus is not saying, study

15:30

hosea better. He he's

15:32

not talking about library learning or booklet

15:34

learning. He's talking about relational learning. Go

15:36

and find out immerse yourself

15:39

in longsuffering love for someone else.

15:41

And there you will find the heart that you're

15:44

looking for me on the pages of the

15:46

scrolls of the prophet. See,

15:48

we have to find out because distance

15:50

makes it possible for us to

15:52

witness suffering but not have our hearts

15:54

moved in compassion. But proximity

15:57

makes that very thing nearly impossible. Right?

15:59

We've all had that experience of watching a

16:01

a series of distressing news reports and

16:04

you hear there's been a break in for

16:07

a single mom and there's

16:09

a missing child and there's wildfires

16:12

five hundred miles away. And then

16:14

we're just yawn and flip to the next thing.

16:17

But if you were to be near to those

16:19

needs, if if you were to sit next

16:21

to the woman whose home was broken

16:23

into, or if you were to shiver in

16:25

the cold next to the lost and missing

16:27

child. If you were to be with those

16:29

who were fleeing their homes that were about

16:32

to be engulfed in flames, that

16:34

same suffering would move your heart deeply.

16:36

It would be impossible just to yawn

16:38

and turn away because the pain that we interact

16:40

with up close It always

16:42

either softens our hearts or harden our

16:44

souls. The pain that we interact

16:47

with up close, we'll we'll want

16:49

Meggos want to enter into the

16:51

pain of the suffering or build walls

16:53

in our lives so that we can get as far away from

16:55

it as possible. What makes

16:57

the difference of whether it softens us

16:59

or hardens us, hasid, willingly

17:03

choosing to enter into the suffering

17:05

of another, It was Dietrich von

17:07

Hoffer who famously said, only love

17:10

gets close enough to know, and

17:12

hasid is that. It means

17:14

getting close enough to know to suffer.

17:16

With. Hank, my

17:19

six year old and I, we've spent our last few days

17:21

in Colorado Springs, where I was teaching

17:23

in a church that we relate to through twenty four

17:25

seven prayer. And I had a full schedule,

17:27

like all kinds of meetings with pastors and

17:29

conversations and teaching

17:32

engagements and things that are hard for a

17:34

six year old to suffer through. But I

17:36

did have Friday afternoon free, and so

17:38

I wanted to reward Hank for hanging

17:40

through all this. And I've heard rumor

17:42

that there was this indoor waterpark just

17:45

walking distance from our hotel, and that is

17:47

how I ended up at the great Wolf

17:49

Lodge on

17:51

Friday afternoon. Now, This

17:54

establishment, which I'd never been to before,

17:56

is my nightmare under

17:58

a roof. It is it is

18:00

America packed into one build

18:03

It is an indoor

18:05

water park that also has an

18:07

arcade and a Put Put golf course and a

18:09

Dunkin' Donuts and a Ben and Jerry. And it's

18:11

just all rammed into one room.

18:15

But I'm trying to make memories with my son,

18:17

so we're just going for it. I mean, we're doing

18:19

all these slides together and we're having

18:21

so much fun. And then eventually, Hank's

18:23

kinda out of breath because we're going so hard.

18:25

He decides he's gonna take a little break in the wave

18:27

pool. So I'm chilling on the side

18:30

of this pool and there's this other younger kid

18:32

who's in the pool and so Hank goes and approaches

18:34

him because he's by himself And Hank says,

18:36

excuse me, are you looking for your mom and dad?

18:39

And he says, yeah, I am. And Hank goes, okay, come

18:41

on. I'll help you. And Hank just begins to go

18:43

walking up to groups of adults. Or total

18:45

strangers to him going, hey, are you this guy's mom and

18:48

dad? No. Excuse me.

18:50

So sorry about you this guy's mom and dad? No. Sorry.

18:52

That's not them either. And he's just doing this.

18:54

He's just walking around. And

18:57

and in as Hank's going about, which eventually

18:59

he he did locate them, but as he's

19:01

as he's doing all this, he's getting to know

19:04

this kid's story, I guess. And it turns out

19:06

that it was this young guy's fourth

19:08

birthday but he

19:10

had no friends with him

19:13

to celebrate his birthday. He shares this with

19:15

Hank. And so Hank comes back to me and says, hey,

19:17

dad. I know that we had planned to do all

19:19

these slides together and everything, but

19:21

this guy's turning four today. It's his birthday.

19:23

He has no one here to play with him. Would

19:25

it be okay if you played

19:28

with me while we played with him in

19:30

the pool instead? We're

19:37

at the great Wolf Lodge.

19:42

Everything around Hank is

19:44

designed to make him

19:46

go. Let's try this next. Let's do that.

19:48

Can we get an ice cream bunker? Everything

19:51

around him is designed for him to say,

19:53

me, me, me, me, and

19:56

he sees through all of it. To the

19:58

suffering of a lonely kid

20:01

in the midst of that place. And

20:03

he says, dad, could we enter into that suffering

20:06

with him? That's HessED. It's

20:09

HessED. And

20:13

I wondered as I left that place and

20:15

maybe that's something of what Jesus had in mind

20:17

when he said unless you become like little

20:19

children, you cannot enter

20:21

my kingdom. Because, you know,

20:23

Hank wasn't trying to be sacrificial or

20:26

self giving or noble. He

20:28

just saw suffering through the eyes

20:30

of hested love. But

20:32

I know that as the years

20:34

ticked by in his life, every force

20:36

in this world will try to retrain him

20:39

to turn inward. Every force

20:41

he interact interacts with will try

20:43

to take that image of God that so

20:45

effortlessly beams from him in

20:47

a moment like that and dim it

20:49

until it's barely noticeable. So

20:52

here is life Jesus says. The

20:54

fullest kind of life. The only

20:56

for filling kind of life. The eternal

20:58

quality of life here in a dying world,

21:01

it's hessed. Then in

21:03

some upside down way that we can't understand,

21:05

but can discover ghosts suffering

21:07

love enlarges and satisfies our souls

21:09

in a way that self gratification and

21:11

self promotion can never touch.

21:14

So go and find out what this means.

21:17

That's it. But

21:19

as you go, I I need to state something

21:21

upfront that justice In

21:24

the way of Jesus, it comes with a warning

21:26

label. Results may

21:29

vary. Some

21:32

of you have been having a hard time with all this justice

21:35

talk because you've been down that road before.

21:37

And for you, it ended in disappointment. Your

21:40

investment did not reduce the return that

21:42

you had in mind or maybe it didn't produce

21:44

any type of return at all

21:46

that you can see. A

21:48

few weeks ago, I shared the story of my godson

21:51

Ramon who I met on his way to dropping

21:53

out of high school, and then got to witness this beautiful

21:55

redemption as he met Jesus,

21:57

changed his life, became the student body president

22:00

of the high school. He was threatening to leave,

22:02

became the first and his family to attend and

22:04

graduate from college, and now takes

22:06

care of the ailing mother that he once

22:08

resented. What a story to sit on

22:11

front row seat of. But

22:13

as someone that works in a

22:15

almost exclusively Puerto Rican and Dominican

22:17

context for many years, I want

22:19

a whole lot more than just one god child.

22:22

Because god children are a big deal

22:24

or god parents are a big deal in Latino

22:26

culture. So there was also

22:29

Andre, And he did

22:31

drop out before I met him. And he

22:33

had to get a job as fifteen year old to

22:35

take care of his daughter. And

22:38

so when I met him, he was nineteen and

22:40

he became a chaperone in the youth group that

22:42

I led and he would stay with Kirsten

22:44

and I in our four hundred and fifty

22:46

square foot apartment every single Wednesday

22:48

night. I took him out on his

22:50

birthday as I prayed with him. I laughed

22:52

with him and enjoyed him. I held him

22:54

as he wept and grieved with him.

22:57

I helped him get a job and I dreamed with

22:59

him toward her redemptive future where he

23:01

he could grow into the man that he

23:03

imagine becoming. And

23:06

I also bailed him out of jail more

23:09

than once. And

23:11

I watched him lose himself to drugs

23:15

and moved from my home into the homeless

23:17

shelter down the street where

23:20

his habit could continue. And

23:22

I watched him walk away at least currently

23:24

from the very redemptive future that he and

23:26

I schemed and prayed about together. And

23:30

then there's Mike. I remember riding the subway

23:32

in New York City one day a couple of years ago,

23:34

and it's really common to be asked for

23:36

change on the subway in New York, and that's because

23:39

it's the only place that you can get heat

23:41

in the winter and AC in the summer and

23:43

so much of the house's population just

23:45

rides back and forth across the city underground

23:47

all day. And this particular guy,

23:49

he wasn't just asking for money. He was verbally

23:52

and costing all of the passengers, pacing up

23:54

and down the subway car, ranting

23:56

about how no one sees him and no one cares

23:58

for him and no one cares about him

24:00

and so everyone including me was just kind

24:02

of averting their eyes and waiting it out. This

24:04

guy was unhinged and potentially

24:07

violent. And then

24:09

about a month later, I finished preaching at

24:11

the church that I led in Brooklyn at the time

24:13

and A member of my congregation, Chadwick,

24:16

walked up to me on the front row with

24:18

his arm around someone. And he said, hey, Tyler,

24:20

I want you to meet Mike. He could

24:22

use some prayer, and

24:25

I couldn't believe it. It

24:27

was the unhinged guy from the subway.

24:30

And it turns out that Chad would have met him exactly

24:32

the same way that I did with that same rant

24:35

going on on a subway car only

24:37

instead of averting his eyes and waiting and

24:39

out Chadwick engaged him in conversation and

24:41

learned his name and bought him a meal,

24:44

and that turned into several meals. In

24:46

a couple of weeks into building that friendship,

24:49

he invited him to come to church. And

24:52

two years after that, Mike was still a part

24:54

of our church and Brooklyn. He knew everybody's name

24:56

and everybody knew his and he worshiped with us

24:58

every Sunday. And I watched

25:00

as members of that community fed him when

25:02

he had nothing to eat and had him in

25:04

their homes on Christmas morning when he had no

25:07

family to go to and threw him surprise birthday

25:09

parties and helped him find employment.

25:11

So he went from panhandling to earning a legal

25:13

wage and helped him find a room and an apartment

25:15

that he could afford. And then another room when that one

25:17

fell through and then another room when that one fell through

25:20

and helped him find the right rehab for his

25:22

unique battle with a ditch So I'm the guy

25:24

that averted my eyes and kept going with my

25:26

life. But you know what? The community

25:28

around me did? They

25:31

willingly entered into his suffering. But

25:35

for the last six months that I lived in

25:37

Brooklyn leading that community, I had to wake

25:40

Mike up every morning in order to get into

25:42

my office. And

25:43

that's

25:44

because he started sleeping on a pallet of cardboard

25:46

boxes under the awning that covered the

25:48

office front door. He'd

25:51

committed and recommitted and recommitted

25:53

to rehab, but then we

25:56

would personally take him to the center

25:58

and then he'd always no show at the last

26:00

minute or just take off, right, as

26:02

we were headed for the front door. He just

26:04

could not bring himself to the

26:07

scary journey of healing for his unique

26:09

battle with addiction. And so

26:11

every morning for six months, I'd wake him

26:13

up from an orphan drug induced sleep

26:15

because I couldn't open the door with him

26:17

lying right there. And

26:19

we'd clear the cardboard boxes out

26:21

together. He'd taken

26:24

these two massive steps forward and

26:26

one giant step back and it was heart wrenching

26:28

and it was hope filled heart wrenching

26:30

because I was watching him suffer. Hope

26:33

filled because I was watching a community enter

26:35

into this suffering beside him. Hasset.

26:39

So there you got three true stories.

26:41

One a redemption, another, a heartbreak, and

26:43

one that's hanging somewhere fragilely

26:45

right in between the two. All

26:48

to say results

26:51

may vary. But

26:54

each one of those stories is an ongoing story.

26:57

Not a single one has the ending written

26:59

yet. And all of them

27:01

hanging by this thread called Hessett.

27:04

That we can willingly enter into. But

27:08

what about if you're the one giving the love? I mean, where

27:10

are you supposed to go when sincere, open

27:12

hearted surface. When willingly enter

27:14

any entering into the suffering of another

27:16

results not in redemption, but just in disappointment,

27:19

sadness, anger, and dissolution. Where do

27:21

you take that? To the god who

27:23

spent himself mostly on people who never

27:25

noticed. I mean

27:27

Jesus gave himself on behalf of the poor

27:29

the materially poor and the inwardly

27:31

impoverished. Jesus

27:34

watched as his crowd of disciples grew

27:36

to about fifteen thousand and then shrunk

27:38

steadily down to about twenty, and only three

27:40

or four of those even bothered to show up to his

27:42

execution. So does God know what it

27:44

feels like to be let down by people? And

27:47

Jesus shared meals with laugh, with prayed,

27:49

with cried, with people that he then watched testify

27:52

against him at his own trial,

27:54

does god know what abandonment feels like?

27:58

Jesus washed the feet of a man who he

28:00

knew would sell his life away

28:02

later that night. Does god know what

28:04

it feels like to be taken advantage of?

28:07

And with the last breath and as long as Jesus prayed

28:09

forgiveness over the very people that who had

28:11

falsely accused him, beaten him, mocked him,

28:13

and spat on him. Does god know what

28:15

sincere love with no return on investment

28:18

feels like? I'm

28:26

just stopping for just a second. Because

28:31

I just have a sense that

28:34

there's someone, maybe just

28:36

a particular individual, who

28:39

you have loved like this, and

28:43

it has resulted in a lot more heartbreak

28:45

than redemption. And

28:49

you have this you

28:53

have this thing in you where

28:57

your your mind is always distracted by

28:59

the state of this person you have

29:01

long suffering love for. And

29:03

I feel like you're

29:05

wondering if that's emotional on

29:08

health or

29:11

something that in some way you're not meant to carry.

29:13

I think that God is wanting to reframe

29:15

that for you right now, that that

29:17

is the love of the father, the prodigal

29:20

father of the lost son who

29:22

wanders back and forth in front of the window

29:24

every day looking at the edge of the property,

29:26

longing that his son might be coming home.

29:29

So I want you to know that that that

29:31

burden that is within you is

29:33

a it's the image of God.

29:36

It is not something that you need to rid yourself

29:38

off. So if that's you, this isn't

29:40

the sermon. I just wanna offer that

29:42

to you. And I pray Lord Jesus in the name

29:45

of the father son and the spirit. That

29:48

if in fact you're speaking and there's someone

29:50

in this room right now that

29:52

has been carrying that for sometime that you

29:54

would meet them in personal way in this moment.

29:58

Would you come Lord? Would you come

30:00

Lord? And

30:03

I pray that what is of you that is within

30:05

them that you would affirm it and draw it to the

30:07

surface, and that you would hold

30:09

them in that longing. And

30:12

that they would begin not to carry

30:14

it and wrestle with it like a beach ball. They're trying

30:16

to hold beneath the surface of the water, but that

30:18

they would bring it to you the only

30:21

one who can steward longing like that.

30:24

Let him redirect it to you in Jesus'

30:26

name, amen. Let's continue

30:28

with the sermon, shall we? Parker

30:30

Palmer says this. What we usually learn

30:33

once we are there is that there is no fix

30:35

for the person who suffers. Only

30:37

the slow and painful process of walking

30:39

through the suffering to whatever lies on the other

30:41

side. Once there, we learned

30:43

that being there is the best we can

30:46

do being there, not as cure,

30:48

but as companion to the person

30:50

who suffered on his or her slow

30:53

journey. Hesid. That's what

30:55

we have to give the world. Not solutions.

30:58

If you were to drive a few miles up the road

31:00

across the west side of the city, you'd get

31:03

into the Walnut Valley wine country.

31:05

And every vineyard there offers a tasting,

31:08

a tasting where you can sit down and they'll pour

31:10

you a tiny little bit and then some Mollier

31:12

is going to offer you an obnoxiously,

31:16

painfully long description.

31:19

Of that little sip that you're about to

31:21

taste. They'll talk

31:23

to you about the way the sun hits the hill

31:25

and exactly where it slopes down and the

31:27

quality of soil there and the wind patterns

31:30

this time of year and what that does to the skin

31:32

of the grapes and and the

31:34

climate and the air quality and how

31:36

all of that is coming together to

31:38

give this particular glass

31:41

of pinot noir, it's flavor. And

31:44

that's because there's a whole bunch of factors that growers

31:46

can troll and they can do to perfect

31:49

the the quality of the grapes

31:51

that you taste in that glass of wine. But there's also

31:53

just as many factors that are totally outside

31:55

of their control that make this year's

31:57

vintage better or worse

31:59

or just different and unique in character

32:01

than last year's. And

32:03

they go through that whole painful description

32:06

because when you understand that what

32:08

you're about to taste is not a predictable

32:10

factory bottled beverage, but

32:12

is a labor of unpredictable

32:15

love. That it causes

32:18

you to savor it a little bit more

32:20

and to taste the notes that they're

32:22

describing. And to

32:23

enter into the story that has come

32:25

together to give you this little

32:27

sip. See, we are so tempted

32:30

to relate to justice like it's a factory.

32:32

Like it's a one size fits all approach, it's

32:34

gonna produce predictable results for

32:36

us. But justice is a whole lot more like

32:38

a vineyard. There's parts of this

32:40

vintage that are under your control, but

32:43

there are so many factors that

32:45

come together to give

32:47

this particular person's story

32:50

its unique flavor and

32:52

representation. But the well

32:54

trained palate appreciates that

32:56

flavor that's bought forth by every

32:59

steadfast, long suffering, labor

33:01

of love. And maybe that's

33:03

why when Jesus describes his kingdom,

33:06

he tends to use agricultural metaphors,

33:08

not factory ones because results

33:11

may vary. This is

33:13

a vineyard, not a factory.

33:16

Why do we pray? Not

33:19

because it works, We

33:21

pray because Jesus is worth it and to

33:23

be with him to know him in the here and

33:25

now to walk closely with him is the

33:27

greatest reward. Is prayer effective?

33:31

Absolutely, in the

33:33

pinot noir sense, not

33:35

the factory sense. Why

33:37

do we do the work of justice? Not

33:40

because it works, but

33:42

because Ramon and Andre

33:45

and Mike are worth it.

33:48

And to spend ourselves on others,

33:51

to enter into their suffering alongside

33:53

them and wear it next to them. That's the greatest

33:55

reward. It's just as effective It

33:58

certainly is in the

34:00

pinot noir sense, not

34:02

the factory one. There's

34:04

two types of action. There's action four,

34:07

and there's action from. Action

34:09

four is action done for a desired reward.

34:11

And that's the type of action that dominates western

34:13

culture. I invest my time or money

34:15

or labor to get something back. But

34:18

action from is action that emerges from

34:20

a conviction. I invest my

34:22

time or my labor or my money

34:24

because I've been given far more than I

34:26

could ever give away. And the work

34:28

of the kingdom is action from. And

34:31

that means it may or may not be

34:33

immediately effective, but it's always

34:35

worth it. And in the end,

34:37

we find out hesset. The

34:40

long, slow sort of compassion,

34:43

it satisfies the human soul like

34:45

nothing else ever could. So

34:49

there's Mishpot and,

34:51

finally, Shalom. Shalom is the

34:54

destination that Mishapot and Hasid

34:56

points to. It it means peace,

34:58

but in its fullest and broadest expression,

35:00

Shalom is complete peace in my internal

35:02

world and complete peace in our external

35:05

world. Shalom is kingdom come.

35:07

Shalom is heaven on earth. Shalom is

35:09

what it looks like when Jesus is king.

35:12

Shalom is Genesis one and two. God's

35:14

original creation, asking intended it before

35:16

it was corrupted. And Shalom is Revelation twenty

35:18

one and twenty two. It's God's Garden

35:20

City when all has been restored. And

35:23

in between those two ends of the story

35:25

sits Isaiah chapter nine for to

35:27

us a child is born. To us a son

35:29

is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

35:32

And we will call him wonderful counselor, mighty

35:34

god, everlasting father, prince of

35:37

Shalom. Shalom

35:39

is a person. And his name is

35:41

Jesus. Shalom is justice

35:44

completely and justice exclusively and

35:46

justice finally. And

35:48

Jesus shows us Shalom, not

35:50

in a definition. It's too big and

35:52

broad and beautiful for that. So he gives

35:54

us a picture. Arguably his

35:56

darkest most cryptic of all parables, the

35:58

one that we read for our teaching texts and the one that's

36:01

usually called the rich man and lazarus.

36:03

Let me refresh your memory. There

36:06

was a rich man who was dressed in purple

36:08

and fine linen and lived in luxury every

36:10

day. At his gate, it was later a beggar

36:12

named lazarus covered with soars and longing

36:14

to eat what fell from the rich man's table,

36:16

even the dogs came and looked to source.

36:20

And then this parable skips ahead to the apparent

36:22

death of both men. The poor man lazarus

36:24

is at the side of Abraham. The rich man is separated

36:26

by great chasm, but he can see

36:28

the two of them together and he calls out to Abraham.

36:31

I beg you father, send lazarus to my

36:33

family for I have five brothers. Let

36:36

him warn them so that they will not also come

36:38

to this place of torment, he said to him.

36:40

If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,

36:42

they will not be convinced even if someone

36:44

rises from the dead. And

36:46

then the band began to play the closing

36:49

worship set Jesus sauntered off

36:51

the stage. What

36:54

a strange ending? I

36:57

mean, it's like the lost television series

36:59

of parables. Like, the

37:01

plot drew me in at first and I was I

37:03

was locked in and then it just kept going

37:06

and going. And going,

37:08

and then it just ended. What

37:11

does it mean? Well,

37:15

the the heart of this parable is hidden away in the

37:17

names and the numbers. So let's take

37:19

a look at it from those angles. First, the names.

37:22

Jesus assigns this poor beggar

37:24

outside the gate, a name, Lazarus. Now

37:27

first, there's just the significance of a

37:29

name at all because in his forty

37:31

plus parables, Jesus only ever

37:33

gives one name to one character

37:36

and it's here. A name

37:38

sets this apart from every other story Jesus

37:40

ever told. That should get our attention. See,

37:43

by giving this poor beggar a name Jesus was

37:45

humanizing him. He is not a

37:47

nameless face or a statistic to

37:49

regret or a pity able stranger. He's lazarus.

37:52

He's someone born to a mother and a father

37:55

and then to a family who carries a story

37:57

just like you and I do. He was dealt a

37:59

hand circumstances at his birth, and he might

38:01

have played that hand as best as he possibly could,

38:04

or maybe he he played it horribly.

38:07

But either way, A name

38:09

means that Lazarus is more than his circumstances.

38:13

He is more than his poverty. He

38:15

is more than the rags that he wears and more

38:17

than the tarp that he sleeps under and more

38:19

than the scraps that he survives on.

38:22

You see, we tend to know the names of the prestigious

38:24

and powerful. Right? In

38:26

in Jesus' day, everyone knew names like

38:28

herod and nicodemus and

38:31

Caesar. And in our day,

38:33

everyone knows the names of celebrities. And

38:36

politicians. But

38:39

Jesus doesn't give a name to the prestigious

38:41

and powerful character in his story. Only

38:44

did the forgotten and powerless one.

38:46

And that's because God's economy flips ours

38:48

on its head. Right? The

38:50

last will be first and the first will be last. The greatest

38:53

among you is gonna be like the one that serves. Oh,

38:55

the widow threw in half a penny, she

38:57

gave the greatest offering of all. Jesus

39:00

names, the name was in the unknown, and that tells

39:02

us something about Lazarus. But

39:05

it tells us even more about Jesus.

39:09

But there's more than just the significance of a

39:11

name. There's also the significance of this name

39:13

because names carried huge significance in

39:15

ancient Israel. Names were given as

39:17

a descriptor of a person's destiny or

39:19

calling. They were about identity,

39:22

far more than just a phrase that

39:24

someone would be named or called by.

39:26

And the name Lazarus comes from the Hebrew

39:28

Eliyazar, which literally means

39:30

God has helped. In

39:32

a cultural time and place, Jesus

39:35

is pointing to the one thought according

39:37

to the priest to be furthest from

39:40

the help of God as the one that God is

39:42

reaching out to to help.

39:44

God is the helper of those who the religious

39:46

system and social structures don't have a place

39:49

for. God is drawn to those that

39:51

we tend to willfully ignore or

39:53

unconsciously overlook or pity

39:55

from a safe distance. Lazarus

39:58

means all of that. So Lazarus

40:00

isn't named charged with meaning in general

40:02

for anyone listening, but Lazarus is

40:04

also, and I'm charged with meaning for Jesus

40:07

personally. Because Lazarus

40:09

is one of the names of Jesus

40:11

closest friends. Lazarus

40:14

is the one whose table Jesus sat

40:16

and ate at again and again

40:18

and

40:18

again. He's the one who's lost Jesus

40:21

wept over. He's the one who's tuned.

40:23

Jesus said come out.

40:26

Lazarus is not a project or a mission,

40:29

but a friend to know and be

40:31

known by deeply. By choosing this

40:33

name for this man. Jesus is saying all

40:35

that. Simply with the

40:37

name Jesus is saying the marginalized, the

40:40

oppressed, the rejected, the forgotten, the

40:42

sick, the suffering, the needy.

40:44

I know him. I know

40:46

him personally. I

40:48

know him by name. But

40:51

this whole name thing, it only gets us halfway

40:54

home because the rest of the parable

40:56

is all lost in the numbers. I

40:58

beg you father, send lazarus to my

41:00

family for I have five brothers.

41:05

Let him warn them so that they will not also

41:07

come to this place of torment at

41:09

first glance, the most obvious moral that

41:11

we draw from the stories that the rich man is

41:13

being punished because he was not merciful. He

41:16

did not care for the needs of

41:18

those who were in poverty around

41:20

him, but you gotta push past the first glance

41:22

and look closer at the story and hear

41:24

what Jesus said. The rich man

41:27

dressed in the purple of royalty living

41:29

in luxury allows lazarus,

41:32

a poor lepper. To

41:35

live at the front of his gate and

41:37

eat his excess food. Now think about that.

41:40

This is the front gate of a private residence.

41:43

The movers and shakers of Jerusalem coming

41:45

in and out of Lasers' home for their

41:47

business dinners passing by a

41:49

house less lepper and houselessness

41:51

is one thing. But to be associated

41:54

with a lepper and this time in history was

41:56

thought to associate yourself with spiritual contamination.

42:00

This rich man in some very

42:02

real way is making social

42:04

sacrifices to care for the needs of lazarus.

42:07

He's he's letting him crash at his gate.

42:09

He's feeding him leftover fillet and Yuan after

42:12

the business dinner. On some level, he

42:14

is taking risks to care for him.

42:16

I mean, how many of us? Have a homeless

42:18

terminally ill patient living on our porch.

42:21

So this man cares for the needs of

42:24

the poor. There must be something going on

42:26

here. Beyond just a lack of mercy.

42:28

So what is it? Well, the key that unlocks the story's

42:30

meaning is the rich man's request. Send

42:33

lazarus to warn my five

42:36

brothers. He's

42:39

urgently concerned for his people, his

42:42

siblings, his family, far

42:44

more than he's ever been for the man that

42:46

he's now trying to use as messenger. Doctor

42:50

Leonard Sweet concludes the rich man is

42:52

condemned because he thought he had five brothers

42:55

when God had actually given him six.

42:58

And the theologian Joakim Jeremiah

43:00

referred to this, not this story, not as the

43:02

rich man and lazarus, but he called it the parable

43:04

of the six brothers. This

43:07

was not a sin of mercy. He helped

43:09

lazarus. It was a sin of kinship.

43:12

He did not see him as family. He

43:14

did not embrace him as brother. He did not him

43:17

all the way to his table as his own

43:19

he did not include him in his real community.

43:21

This rich man did not lack mercy. He

43:23

alleviated lazarus' suffering on

43:25

some level, he lacked relationship. He

43:28

did not enter into that suffering with

43:30

him. He did not get close enough to

43:32

know in the words of Bonhoeffer. He

43:34

kept him in a particular space as a particular

43:36

project. Why would he do that? Because

43:39

isolated acts of service and generosity are

43:41

easier than welcoming someone all the way in so that

43:43

they can be fully redeemed. Parker

43:45

Palmer again. This is always our

43:48

temptation when we set out to do good.

43:50

To do it in a way that leaves us above

43:52

the fray. His

43:54

approximate service to the poor

43:56

is the first step. That's where

43:59

we have to start, but we must never

44:01

confuse the first step with the destination. David

44:05

Fitch, while most churches have programs

44:07

to reach out to the homeless destitute or broken

44:09

peoples rarely do we minister to them by

44:11

making them a part of our congregation. Our

44:14

local congregation looks strangely homogenous

44:17

in comparison to our vision and programs.

44:19

The destination is not. Service

44:22

provider and service receiver. The

44:25

destination is the one that I began

44:27

as service provider to I now know as brother.

44:30

The destination is not bread for every hungry

44:32

belly in Portland. It's the one who began

44:35

as a hungry belly in Portland now sits

44:37

across from me breaking bread in my community.

44:40

As brothers or sisters to

44:42

one king Jesus in

44:45

one redeemed family. You

44:47

see the truth is, and anyone who's ever done the

44:49

work of justice can tell you this. The truth

44:51

is, is that person who begins a service

44:53

provider always ends up with at least

44:55

receiving at least as much if not

44:58

more than the one that they've given

45:00

to. The truth is that

45:02

I am the lucky one to

45:05

have crossed paths with

45:07

Ramon and Andre

45:10

and Mike because

45:13

they have introduced me to far more of

45:15

the person of Jesus than

45:18

I've ever introduced them to. Kenship

45:21

is a way of justice that embraces mutuality.

45:25

Justice gets distorted when it's this

45:27

one way relationship. I give you

45:29

receive, then we both go back to our separate lives.

45:31

Justice is biblical. It is Jesus.

45:34

When justice is mutuality, when it's

45:36

an immersion in relationship, that puts

45:38

me and you on level ground. Gregory

45:41

Boyle says in the end though, the

45:43

measure of our compassion lies less in

45:45

our service of those on the margins and

45:48

more in our willingness to see ourselves

45:50

in kinship with them. It

45:52

speaks of a kinship, so mutually rich

45:55

that even the dividing line of service

45:57

provider, service recipient is erased.

46:00

We are sent to the margins not

46:02

to make a difference, but so that

46:04

the folks on the margins make us

46:06

different. Shalom,

46:10

Express between two people. It

46:13

looks like kinship. It's

46:15

feelings. Playing basketball with

46:17

me and my kids on a chilly Friday offering

46:20

to help me on a

46:22

particularly full weekend. That

46:25

friendship might have started with service. Sure.

46:28

But service is nothing more than an environment

46:30

where kinship can happen. And

46:33

it has. Kinship

46:36

is what distinguishes Jesus' vision of

46:38

justice from every other one. And kinship

46:40

cannot happen from a safe distance. It is

46:42

inconvenient and costly and

46:44

involves you in relationship. Kinship

46:47

enters into and relieves the burden

46:49

by sharing it, by loading some

46:51

of it on my own shoulders. It means

46:53

that stranger is not just a mouth to

46:55

feed or statistic to correct or a face

46:57

to pity or a cause to champion. He

47:00

and she is brother and

47:03

sister Shalom means that's

47:05

who he's made us to one another. Jesus

47:07

loves people. Not

47:10

causes. Shane

47:13

Claiborne writes, don't choose issues,

47:15

choose people. Fall in love

47:17

with a group of people who are marginalized and

47:19

suffering, and then you won't have to worry about

47:21

which cause you need to protest. Then

47:23

the issues will choose you.

47:26

See, we live in a city that is absolutely obsessed

47:28

with issues, but is almost entirely

47:31

separated from the very people those issues

47:33

are affecting most deeply. And

47:35

if we're gonna do justice in the way of Jesus,

47:37

we cannot champion issues we have

47:39

to love people. Because

47:41

Jesus, he did do justice. Remember,

47:44

he got into the temple, he started flipping tables

47:46

over, and they brought the blind and layman with

47:48

him. But you know what? Jesus, before he

47:50

ever did any of that, he learned the

47:52

names and the stories and entered

47:55

into the suffering of a whole lot of

47:57

blind and lane people. Jesus

48:01

did justice from Shalom

48:04

from kinship. And so if we're gonna

48:06

be a people of justice, we have to

48:08

start with Shalom between brother

48:11

and sister, and that's called kinship.

48:14

Why does your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors

48:16

and centers? The Pharisees

48:18

were never offended that Jesus would serve

48:20

the marginalized or be a missionary to the outcast.

48:23

They were offended that he would sit down at a table

48:25

with them. That he would treat them

48:27

as equal, count them as family, kinship.

48:31

That's what got Jesus killed. The

48:34

priests

48:34

running the temple didn't mind if Jesus wanted

48:36

to do some volunteer work on the side.

48:39

The offensive part was that Jesus was

48:41

family to the poor, and he would not have

48:43

it any other way. Pete

48:45

Portal says the poor don't need sandwiches

48:47

and shoes. They need a place at your table

48:49

for the next twenty years. And

48:52

that's what Jesus gave to the poor throughout

48:54

his life and gave to all of us in his

48:56

death and resurrection. He gave us a

48:58

table. A heavenly banquet

49:00

table that we can sit at next to him

49:02

for all of eternity. That's what

49:04

Jesus gave and gives to you

49:07

and me. He is the

49:09

rich man who stripped off

49:11

his royal garments, who

49:13

closed the chasm between us and

49:15

who said, I will not let you live

49:17

at my gate as a beggar. I will welcome

49:19

you to the table among royalty and

49:21

treat you as family. I will share

49:24

my rightful inheritance with you.

49:26

That's who he is. And justice

49:30

is the response born from what

49:32

it feels like to sit at that table with

49:34

that king. That's what

49:36

justice is. So

49:39

our practice for

49:41

this week is the same thing I

49:43

keep talking about. It is to enter

49:45

into this regularism of justice, serve the

49:48

city one way once a month.

49:50

And look, I beat this drum as hard

49:52

as I can, but let me just say one more time.

49:55

Service is not the destination. But

49:58

it is the starting place.

50:00

It is the environment where kinship can develop.

50:03

It is the place where justice can happen.

50:05

And justice is not a one off. It is

50:07

a lifestyle. It's not a rhythm that we observe

50:09

so we can get back to our regular lives. It's

50:12

a rhythm we have serve so that the whole of our regular

50:14

lives become motivated by this thing called

50:16

justice, and we go about our day today,

50:18

all the ordinary environments that we come and

50:21

go from as an agent of justice.

50:23

And if you're in a Bridgetown community, there

50:25

should already be a part of your rhythm. And

50:27

do you know what happened to me this morning that

50:29

made me weep at my kitchen

50:31

counter while

50:33

several children were noisy all around

50:35

me. I

50:37

got this email from Gavin And

50:41

he said, Hey, man.

50:44

I want you to know that our people aren't

50:47

just hungry for this They're

50:49

digesting it. In

50:52

less than four weeks, we've

50:54

gone from ten percent of our communities serving

50:57

the city monthly to eighty

50:59

one percent of our communities serving

51:02

the city monthly. Where

51:07

in the place kinship can happen? What

51:11

a joy it is to be a part of a people of

51:13

practice? A part

51:15

of a people that wanna get this stuff left

51:18

is well done. And

51:21

let's keep going.

51:23

Results may vary. But

51:26

let's see what stories he writes. And

51:30

if your community hasn't entered in yet, then I

51:32

just wanna say one last time, don't miss

51:34

out. Don't miss out. It's too good

51:36

to miss out. And

51:38

if you're have no idea what I'm talking about

51:40

as I'm referring to communities, and I want you to know that

51:42

at Bridgetown Church, the whole of who we are is

51:44

built around communities that meet midweek, around

51:47

the table. That's where we get all this stuff live.

51:49

It's the heartbeat of our church. If you're not in

51:51

a community, the way it is through community basics.

51:53

We're running in again in January just with the

51:55

New Year. We'd love you to come and be apart, but you don't

51:57

have to wait to join this rhythm. You can go as an

51:59

individual at Bridgetown dot church slash justice

52:02

and get in on this right now. We

52:04

would absolutely love for you too. So to close,

52:07

not just this teaching, but the whole of this vision

52:09

series on prayer, I've got this phrase

52:11

from the prophets ringing in my mind. It

52:13

goes something like, the

52:15

days are coming declares the Lord.

52:18

You read something like that over and over again in

52:21

the prophets. And then what comes

52:23

after it is these future

52:25

dreams. Of what the kingdom

52:27

is going to look like when this revelation gets

52:29

expressed through people's lives. And

52:32

I've just been dreaming from the beginning

52:34

of this vision series back in tempered through that

52:36

phrase. The days are coming declares the lord

52:38

when. And

52:41

I turned that phrase kind of as a springboard

52:43

into prayer. And so I wanna close

52:45

by reading that prayer over you,

52:47

hoping that maybe some bit

52:49

or piece of it might not

52:52

just be my prayer, but might stay with

52:54

you and be our prayer and

52:56

then become our reality. So would you stand

52:58

with me and I just wanna read this prayer over

53:00

you as we close and then Bethany is gonna

53:03

come and invite us to ministry. Let's

53:08

pray together. The

53:15

days are coming declares the Lord.

53:19

When my people will be wooed, romance

53:22

and drawn to me in prayer. When

53:25

I'll soften hard and hearts with passion

53:27

for the city of Portland and her people as

53:29

they pray kingdom come each morning. When

53:32

neighbor, colleague, friend

53:34

family member whose name you pray at midday

53:37

will worship alongside you on

53:38

Sunday. When ordinary life

53:41

is blessed and savored by

53:43

gratitude,