0:07

Hello and welcome to the John Mark

0:09

Comer teaching podcast. I'm Strawn Coleman, your

0:11

host and part of the teaching team

0:13

here at Practicing The Way. Each

0:16

week on the podcast we share a

0:18

teaching from John Mark or other trusted

0:20

voices in the formation space. In

0:24

today's teaching, John Mark explores what it

0:26

looks like to embark on an inner

0:28

journey of self-awareness, confronting what

0:30

the New Testament authors call our old

0:33

or false self. If

0:35

you like, as you listen, maybe consider asking

0:38

yourself the question, How

0:40

am I going on my own journey

0:42

of self-awareness? Here's

0:44

John Mark. Turn

0:49

to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew

0:53

chapter 4. It

0:58

is great to see all of you tonight and

1:00

welcome. And wherever you're at with Jesus, this is

1:02

a safe place and we're just really happy you're

1:04

here. But that said, our church

1:06

is built around this idea of practicing the

1:09

way of Jesus. And because

1:11

of that, every few months we take on a practice

1:13

from the life and or the teachings. Of

1:16

Jesus of Nazareth. And we're three or four

1:18

weeks into our fall practice. That

1:21

is discovering our identity and

1:23

calling. And the basic idea, if

1:25

you missed the last week or two, is

1:28

that our self-awareness or our lack

1:30

of self-awareness has

1:32

a direct bearing on our relationship to

1:34

God. As well as on

1:36

our relationship to other people, our wife

1:38

or husband or co-worker or boss or

1:41

children or aunt or whoever. And

1:43

as well as on our relationship to

1:45

our own soul. Now this is not

1:47

a new idea at all. In the

1:49

fourth century, Augustine prayed, May I know

1:51

you, may I know myself. Thomas

1:55

the Campus, a towering intellect from

1:58

medieval western Christian. Christianity said

2:00

this, a humble self-knowledge is

2:02

a sure way to God

2:04

than a search after deep

2:06

learning. Even John Calvin, that

2:08

most of us don't think of in

2:10

that realm of kind of more mystic

2:12

or spirituality, the opening line of his

2:14

Institutes of Christian Religion, which is at

2:17

home and is thought to be one

2:19

of the most important works in all

2:21

of the Western church, said this, there

2:23

is no deep knowing of God without

2:25

a deep knowing of self and

2:27

no deep knowing of self without a deep

2:29

knowing of God. And then

2:31

more recently, David Benner in The Gift of

2:33

Becoming Yourself, a beautiful little read writes this,

2:36

Christian spirituality has a great deal to

2:38

do with the self, not just with

2:41

God. The goal of

2:43

the spiritual journey is the transformation

2:45

of self. This requires

2:47

both knowing both ourself and God.

2:50

Both are necessary if we are

2:52

to discover our true identity as

2:55

those who are in Christ, because

2:57

the self is where we meet

2:59

God. Both are also necessary if

3:01

we are to live out the

3:03

uniqueness of our vocation or our

3:05

calling. Over and over

3:07

again for thousands of years now,

3:10

teachers of the way of Jesus

3:12

have said, you can't get very

3:14

far down the path of transformation

3:16

until you discover your identity and

3:18

calling. That's a bit tricky in

3:20

the modern era with an identity

3:23

crisis and option after option and

3:25

decision fatigue and the breakdown of

3:27

the family and who am I

3:29

anymore and distraction and numbness. But

3:31

the good news is that identity

3:34

and calling isn't something that

3:36

you create. It's something that you

3:38

receive from your creator. It's

3:41

not something you make up. It's something

3:43

that you discover as you

3:45

follow Jesus. You know, we

3:47

talk about successful people as she's a

3:49

self-made woman or he's a self-made man.

3:51

But the person that you are becoming

3:53

in Christ isn't an accomplishment that you

3:55

brag about on earth. It is a

3:57

gift that you receive from heaven. So

4:00

we have this journey to go on of

4:03

self discovery that is all wrapped up

4:05

in our apprenticeship to Jesus And so

4:07

there's no better kind of Sherpa for

4:10

the treacherous road than Jesus himself Take

4:12

a look here at Matthew chapter 4

4:14

look down at the story in verse

4:16

18 As

4:19

Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee.

4:21

He saw two brothers Simon called Peter and

4:23

his brother Andrew They were casting

4:25

a net into the lake for they were fishermen come

4:29

Follow me Jesus said and I

4:31

will send you out to fish for people at once

4:34

They left their nets and followed him

4:37

going on from there He saw two other

4:39

brothers James son of Zebedee and his brother

4:41

John they were in a boat with their

4:43

father's ebbedee preparing their nets Jesus

4:45

called them and immediately

4:47

they left the boat and their father

4:49

and followed him Notice

4:52

that word called Jesus called them in Greek.

4:54

It's called let out the root verb It

4:56

means to call but it means more than

4:58

you know Hey you come over here is

5:01

all sorts of depth underneath the

5:04

surface It's later translated by the

5:06

Western scholars with this word vocation

5:09

so this is where we get the idea of

5:11

a vocation or put another

5:13

way a calling from Jesus and at

5:16

one level Will level our calling

5:18

is just to follow Jesus But

5:20

that implies that there is a journey

5:22

of some kind that we are to go

5:25

on turn to the right a few pages

5:27

to Matthew chapter 9 Take

5:30

a look down at verse 9. Here's another

5:32

story as Jesus

5:34

went on from there. He saw a

5:36

man named Matthew sitting at the

5:38

tax collectors booth Follow me he told

5:40

him and Matthew got up and followed

5:42

him Well, Jesus was having

5:44

dinner at Matthew's house many tax collectors and

5:47

sinners came and ate with him and his

5:49

disciples When the Pharisees saw

5:51

this they asked his disciples. Why does

5:53

your teacher eat with tax collectors and

5:55

sinners on hearing this Jesus said

5:57

It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the

6:00

those who are ill, but go

6:02

and learn what this means. I

6:04

desire mercy not sacrifice, for I

6:06

have come to call, there's our

6:08

word again, calleo, the righteous, not

6:11

the call the righteous, but sinners.

6:14

Who is it that Jesus calls? Well,

6:17

it's sinners. And if

6:19

you grew up in or

6:21

around Christian fundamentalist subculture, the

6:24

odds are you know that word like the

6:26

back of your hand, but it might surprise

6:28

you that it's actually rarely used by Jesus

6:31

or the writers of the New Testament, but

6:33

it's used three times in this one story

6:35

all to drive a point home. And what's

6:37

the point? Jesus calls, who? Sinners.

6:41

So this journey that we go on to

6:43

follow Jesus has something to do with

6:45

our sin. And just if that word is

6:47

hard for you, just set it aside for

6:49

a minute. And there's one particular sinner in

6:52

the story by the name of Matthew. And

6:54

yes, as far as we can tell, this is

6:57

the same Matthew that later wrote this gospel that

6:59

is open in front of you, which is a

7:01

priceless artifact in human civilization. But

7:03

you can bet that he had to go on a

7:05

journey from Matthew the tax collector to

7:07

Matthew, the author of the Gospel of

7:09

Matthew. All that to

7:12

say, at one level, our calling is

7:14

just to follow Jesus. But

7:16

yet on another level, this implies that there

7:18

is a journey that we have to go

7:20

on. And there are at least two dimensions

7:22

to this journey, inward and outward. The

7:25

inward journey, and what I mean by that, is

7:27

the journey that we have to go on from

7:29

who we are to, in the

7:31

language of last week if you were here, who

7:34

you are becoming in Christ.

7:36

It's internal meaning. It has

7:38

to do with the transformation

7:41

of the core of not only our identity,

7:43

but what we call character. And

7:45

then the outward journey is more

7:48

what we think of as our vocation. It's

7:50

what we go out and do. It is

7:52

our work in the world. Both

7:55

are part of our calling. Often we

7:57

just think of the latter. heart

8:00

of our calling to follow Jesus.

8:02

That said, for this week, the

8:04

inner journey. As soon

8:06

as you set off on the inner journey,

8:09

the first wall that you hit is sin.

8:11

It's a little bit of

8:14

Matthew, the quote, sinner in all of us.

8:16

Now, I know that for a lot of

8:18

you, sin is a loaded word for all

8:20

sorts of reasons from childhood, family of origin,

8:22

upbringing, you were hurt by a church or

8:25

whatever. So the second I said it, your

8:27

limbic system just crashed your prefrontal cortex. And

8:29

like right now, your blood pressure is through

8:31

the roof or whatever. So just

8:33

take a deep breath and set that

8:36

aside for a minute. Remember that we

8:38

live in a culture wide overreaction really

8:40

still to the guilt and shame of

8:42

medieval Christianity and for sure

8:44

to kind of New England puritanical stuff

8:47

in early America. But at the same

8:49

time, we live in the secular moment

8:51

where we now live in a culture

8:53

that no longer believes there's like a

8:55

culture wide denial of what theologians call

8:57

original sin. So right now, pretty

9:00

much every morning, Harvey Weinstein is in the

9:02

news, I think our allegations are up to

9:04

50 plus women allegations of

9:06

sexual abuse. And what's

9:08

surprising to me about sexual abuse

9:10

in Hollywood isn't that it's a

9:13

huge problem. What's surprising to

9:15

me is that everybody is so shocked by it.

9:17

And that's not to

9:19

downplay sexual abuse at all. It's just

9:21

to say this is an industry built

9:23

around sexual immorality and adultery

9:26

and porn and objectification and gender stereotypes.

9:28

What else would you expect from behind

9:30

the scenes? This is what fundamentalist Christians

9:33

used to call Hollywood a den of

9:35

iniquity. It's not exactly post-Hipps report the

9:37

language is it? Sounds like a cool

9:40

bar off division or something. Den

9:42

of iniquity. Like, oh cool, it's a great

9:44

new place, let's go, right? I

9:47

guess what people used to call Hollywood a den

9:49

of iniquity, right? So but

9:51

it's just people are shocked

9:53

that this would happen in

9:55

Hollywood, liberal, progressive, secular, opposed

9:58

Christian, blah, blah, blah. And

10:01

yet there's all this muck underneath the

10:03

surface. And that's because our secular post-Christian

10:05

world, in particular the west coast of

10:07

America, in particular a city like Portland,

10:09

has bought into the lie that you

10:12

can have the kingdom of God without the

10:14

king in Mark Sayer's language. You

10:17

can have a world of equality and

10:19

justice and no more racial tension and

10:21

no more socioeconomic disparity. You don't need

10:23

Jesus for that. You don't need

10:25

to be saved. Hey, we'll take care of

10:27

that ourselves. All we need is the right

10:29

president, the right political party, the right political

10:32

theory, the right form of education, the right

10:34

redistribution of wealth. And I'm for

10:36

all of that, all of it. But there's

10:38

just one minor kink in that idea. It's

10:40

called the human condition. It doesn't

10:42

matter who is in power in Washington, D.C.,

10:44

what president, what party, it doesn't matter what

10:46

your socioeconomic theory is. At the end of

10:48

the day, the wall that you hit by

10:51

your own self and in our society

10:53

as a whole is what theologians call sin.

10:55

You don't have to be a rocket scientist.

10:57

You don't have to get a PhD in

10:59

sociology or psychology to see God. There's a

11:01

part of every single human being that is

11:03

bent out of shape. We all

11:05

do some things that we don't

11:08

want to do and we don't do other

11:10

things that we do want to do. And

11:13

even when we do the things that we

11:15

do want to do, our motives are often

11:17

nowhere near as pure as we'd like people

11:19

to think. I mean, except for me, I'm

11:22

only up here teaching the Bible because I

11:24

love you and want to serve Jesus. There's

11:26

no other motivation at all in my heart.

11:29

But other people I hear really struggle with

11:31

this. And

11:33

so we just have this part and we have

11:35

stuff that's on the inside and patterns

11:38

of thinking and feeling and

11:40

relationship stuff and pain

11:42

and baggage. And if you're anything like

11:45

me, I see this mirage on the

11:47

horizon of who I am becoming in Christ.

11:49

I see me 20, 30, 40, 50 years down

11:52

the road after decades of apprenticeship

11:54

to Jesus. But yet between here

11:56

and there is an obstacle Or

11:59

two. or three, or four. Or twenty in in the

12:01

Library of Scripture that obstacle is called sense.

12:03

Now of course we think of San as

12:05

a religious word that's fallen out of favor

12:07

and or deserve religious word. But it's you.

12:09

Trace the word all the way back to

12:12

it's roots in the Garden of Eden or

12:14

Regenesis. One, two, Three Sin is what is

12:16

sent. It is a failure to trust God.

12:19

More specifically, sin is a failure

12:21

to trust gods definition of good

12:23

and evil. To set it

12:25

aside. To take on

12:27

the place of God yourself, to

12:29

swap creation for create or to

12:31

think that you know better than

12:33

your creator, to redefine morality for

12:35

yourself, your society, your whatever it

12:37

is, and then to live in

12:39

such a way out of your

12:42

new rec redefinition of morality of

12:44

good and evil. to live in

12:46

such a way that causes exile

12:48

from the garden so to speak.

12:50

And in the and death. A

12:52

theologian Cornelius planting that define sin as

12:55

the culpable disturbance of shalom on the

12:57

a theologian would say that, but I

12:59

love it So Mom of course is

13:02

a Hebrew word that was used for

13:04

lice and the garden of eden. And

13:06

and literally Shalom means piece that was

13:09

translated. but it's so much more and

13:11

the regional language it's peace but it's

13:13

house and it's whole mess and it's

13:15

joy without limit. When you

13:18

or I send we are culpable

13:20

in the disturbance of our own

13:23

Shalom. Our. Own peace and

13:25

how and fullness. Enjoy! I

13:27

have mixed feelings about Richard

13:29

Roar, but I love his

13:31

definition of San. It's so

13:33

good he writes this since

13:35

our fixations that present the

13:37

energy of lies god's love

13:39

from slowing freely they are

13:41

self arrested blocked hayes that

13:43

the hot ass off from

13:46

god and hands from our

13:48

own authentic potential. Love

13:50

the imagery of a block. Hey, that's what.

13:52

Sin is a sin. Whether it's a behavior

13:54

were a pattern of thinking or feeling or

13:56

way that you relate on addiction, it is

13:59

a block. Hey. It costs. You are

14:01

from God himself and relationship with God

14:03

or whatever you want code intimacy with

14:05

the father. It's us. blockage of relationship.

14:08

Think of when you're cross ways with

14:10

a spouse or best friend or coworker.

14:12

There's a blockage of relationship doesn't distances

14:14

in a mental and emotional, even a

14:17

spiritual distance between you and the other

14:19

person. That's what soon as we have

14:21

to think about send first and foremost.

14:23

not through illegal category, but through relational

14:26

category. God is your father, years on

14:28

your his daughter. It's not. Just that

14:30

there's a line and you cross the

14:33

line and fifty five mph and you're

14:35

driving. that. fifty seven is that there's

14:37

a father and you're a son or

14:39

daughter and there's a relational breach. There's

14:42

an obstacle now between you and God.

14:44

and because of that between you and

14:46

you read seeing your full potential and

14:49

all the lies that comes out of

14:51

relationship with the father and life as

14:53

God intended it to be. Jesus In

14:56

that story that we read compared sin

14:58

says Jesus language that mine to an

15:00

illness that we need stealing from. What

15:03

it means to be. Say the word Saving

15:05

Greek is so so and it can be

15:08

translated saved or Shield. Did you know that's

15:10

the exact same word in English? We have

15:12

your saved or your sealed with forget that

15:14

in the language the New Testament. it's the

15:16

exact same idea. Same. Concept.

15:19

To be saved, his to be healed.

15:21

To be healed is to be saved. So

15:23

to follow Jesus you know I have to

15:25

go on this journey of self discovery

15:27

but the patent is is that means at

15:30

some point we have to go ahead on

15:32

with our sins. And. bias

15:34

anthem but what was up with that

15:36

oh my gosh this is or that

15:39

tired of sent a bit of a

15:41

marathon church we can buy our sin

15:43

i don't just mean our behavior rubber

15:45

mulholland in his book invitation to journey

15:48

which is on our list of recommended

15:50

reading for the series for sale outs

15:52

in the annex has this paradigm from

15:54

the early church fathers and mothers of

15:57

four layers of sense that we have

15:59

to deal with on our journey. The

16:01

early church fathers called this purgation because it

16:03

was a kind of, that's not exactly Portland

16:05

language either, but what they meant

16:07

by that is it's a kind of purgatory,

16:09

a kind of burning away of our sin,

16:12

one layer at a time, over years,

16:14

if not over decades, of apprenticeship to

16:17

Jesus. Now, this for me just wrecked

16:19

me, so buckle up. The first layer

16:21

is what the early church fathers called

16:24

gross sins. Again, ancient language, not modern.

16:26

This is Paul's list of sins in

16:28

the New Testament. Murder

16:30

and theft and adultery and idolatry, it's

16:32

stuff that most people, even in our

16:34

post-Christian society, would all say, yeah, that's

16:37

wrong. Even in a society that has

16:39

very little common denominator anymore over

16:41

right and wrong, still most people

16:43

would say, yeah, that's not right.

16:46

Then the second layer is what the early

16:48

church fathers and mothers called deliberate sins. These

16:51

are sins that are socially acceptable in culture at

16:53

large, yet are not the way of Jesus. And

16:56

there's a lot of them. An

16:58

easy example is, like

17:00

for a lot of people, the Netflix queue. So

17:03

it's socially acceptable in our culture to

17:05

watch two naked people have sex on

17:07

screen. If you do it for 20 minutes,

17:09

we call it hard porn. If you do it for 20 seconds,

17:11

we call it our Netflix queue. That's

17:14

not the way of Jesus. That's sin.

17:17

That's the disturbance of shalom. That's

17:19

an obstacle between you and

17:22

the life that God has for you. That will

17:24

do no good in your life and a whole

17:26

lot of damage. Not only to your relationship with

17:28

the father, there's a breach there, but

17:30

to your mind, to your imagination, to

17:32

your own sexuality, to your own marriage

17:34

or relationship, if you have one. But

17:37

it's totally cool in our culture. Absolute,

17:39

even cool in the church for the most part. So

17:42

Many other examples. Materialism is even a

17:44

better example, particularly as we think about

17:46

Christmastime. Then Just stuff we don't even

17:48

think about a lot. Gasep or even

17:50

something like Kasim. These are deliberate sins

17:52

that our society is like, oh yeah,

17:54

that's cool, no problem with that. We

17:56

are not the way of Jesus. Now,

17:58

we're just getting started. right? Some

18:00

of your like, I'm pretty good.

18:03

I'm okay. Just wait for it.

18:05

Layers three is are called unconscious

18:07

sins see over time. In a

18:09

lot of you already know this.

18:12

As. These follow Jesus when you're

18:14

ready for and the father's oh

18:16

gracious and is so gentle but

18:18

in love. He starts to reveal

18:21

to you the ugly bits and

18:23

pieces of your person. Heard that

18:25

early on you are not even

18:27

aware of what we think of

18:30

as blind spots Usually but not

18:32

always. they are more internal and

18:34

external, more relational, them behavior own.

18:37

They have to do with patterns

18:39

of thinking and ceiling or how

18:41

we relate. To other people's to

18:43

say the gross and his murder the

18:45

deliberate san is to yell at you

18:48

know, a best friend or spouse or

18:50

to screaming your children the deliberate send

18:52

as you've worked through that. but you're

18:54

still seeping with anger underneath the surface

18:57

and you keep your mouth shut. Now

18:59

you don't say anything but inside your

19:01

just full of contempt and superiority. A

19:03

because I'm somewhat better than they are

19:06

or whatever it is and then of

19:08

course you have sins of omission, sins

19:10

of omission or things that you do.

19:13

That are wrong and sins of omission

19:15

or things that you don't do that

19:17

are right been of course you have

19:20

issues with your motivation, doing the right

19:22

thing for all the wrong reasons. Which

19:24

of you have a job? anything like

19:26

mine is literally a daily issue and

19:29

so God has to move so slow

19:31

it is a little bit at a

19:33

time through layer after layer to to

19:35

seal it back because it's so ugly

19:38

or these are blind spots and often

19:40

it's because we've not look there. On

19:43

purpose. Because. It's embarrassing or it's

19:45

harder when I feel good. We already

19:47

have guilt and shame and low self

19:49

esteem and we just don't We're not

19:51

ready for that step. Yeah. And then

19:53

finally you like? Can we be done?

19:55

No, Finally, some of your like I've

19:57

been following Jesus for thirty years. I'm

19:59

good. just. Finally, the fourth

20:01

layer is what Mulholland calls

20:03

are trust structures which he

20:05

defines as quote those deep

20:07

inner postures of our been

20:09

that do not rely on

20:11

God but on self for

20:13

our well being. So.

20:15

What Thomas Keating called our emotional

20:17

programs for happiness meaning the ways

20:20

that we cope with sadness and

20:22

lies and the way that we

20:24

you know get our happiness or

20:26

whatever it is and that the

20:28

reason that they are tricky is

20:30

because often of particular after you've

20:32

been following Jesus for a while

20:34

they aren't sinful per se is

20:36

at all. It's not up a

20:38

behavior or this or that it's

20:40

you know just. Whatever. It

20:43

is. It's too much work or exercise

20:45

or food or travel. But it's things

20:47

that we look to for a sense

20:50

of security that do not go by

20:52

the name of Jesus and the dangerous.

20:54

Every single one of the things can

20:56

and most of them in time will

20:59

be ripped out from under our feet.

21:01

And then, who are you? You don't

21:03

have something to cope with. It does

21:06

not go by the name of Jesus

21:08

Snout notice only the first two layers

21:10

have to do with our behavior. And

21:13

if all you really deal with

21:15

and your apprenticeship to Jesus is your

21:18

behavior then best case scenario your affairs

21:20

see the says he's were really

21:22

well behaved. but it seems like to

21:24

me when I read the four Gospels

21:27

I'm in the wrong here. But

21:29

it seems to me that Jesus was

21:31

even more bothered by self righteousness than

21:33

he was by lousy behavior. and

21:35

that's how because lousy behaviors no big

21:38

deal is because self righteousness is really

21:40

nasty and both both are lame

21:42

but is is. You only deal with

21:44

behavior and you do pretty good job

21:47

there and you don't go past that.

21:49

You are easy prey for self righteousness

21:51

if you don't actually look underneath. Once

21:53

you start to get into layers three

21:56

or four in Purgation you are deals

21:58

what many teachers as away. Over

22:00

the years have called your Shadow

22:02

Side or your Shadows as not

22:04

language that's using the New Testaments

22:06

A bit tricky to find because

22:08

it's not all your behavior Pizza

22:10

Zero Pastor that we love and

22:12

emotionally healthy spiritual at Spirituality defines

22:15

your Shadow Side as quotes: the

22:17

accumulation of untamed emotions. Less

22:19

than pure motives and

22:21

thoughts that while largely

22:23

unconscious, think about that

22:25

feminine strongly influence and

22:27

shape your behaviors. It's

22:30

the damage but mostly

22:32

hidden version of who

22:34

you are. It's like

22:36

we all have a light that we project

22:38

out into the world and your light is

22:40

brilliant and it's beautiful, yet there's a shadows.

22:42

I did too, and almost like a backside

22:44

weakness to your strength. Suzanne over the last

22:46

few days said this a few times. The

22:49

best part of you is also the worse

22:51

part of you. I. Though as I

22:53

was. Yes, that's unfortunately very true. I'm it's

22:55

have one on the any graham. Some people

22:57

aren't exposed to tell people but whatever the

22:59

cat is out of the bag and now

23:02

you all know my deepest darkest secret. and

23:04

like that's why attendances down. Nobody wants to

23:06

come to the church anymore right now they

23:08

know me. but on the up that was

23:10

a joke. It's okay. So.

23:14

Here's. Where I'm going as it type

23:16

one on the on the good side

23:19

I have so I'm motivated by the

23:21

need to be one way to say

23:23

this to be perfect and even better

23:25

ways to say to be good, to

23:28

have a deep sense of right and

23:30

wrong as a good thing type ones

23:32

are the ethicists as society. but the

23:35

shadow side of that is it is

23:37

like takes me two seconds to turn

23:39

into self righteous. I can be judgmental,

23:42

I can be condescending and critical. I.

23:44

Can be serious ethical than the ninth degree

23:46

underside of seriously are a father wound waiting

23:48

to happen right? If I'm not really careful

23:51

in how I follow Jesus and this is

23:53

part of my South Side and we could

23:55

all stand up here and say this is

23:57

what I have to offer to the world.

24:00

And this is the dark underbelly of that

24:02

right? And I could parade some of you

24:04

appear and I could tell everybody else for

24:06

you to. But I was right. So this

24:09

your shadow her is very similar to what

24:11

the writers wrote: The writer Thomas Merton. Called

24:14

your false Self and he played with

24:16

this language from Paul we read or

24:18

there and Romans and it's also the

24:20

New Testament of your old self, your

24:22

new cells and he just seems a

24:24

little bit to yourself self and your

24:26

true self and he said the your

24:28

old self is you are false self.

24:30

What he meant by that was a

24:32

combination of your sin or what the

24:34

writer Paul cause you are/this animals primal

24:36

part of you that is bent away

24:38

from Jesus vision of human flourishing and

24:40

it's your shadow Side effects a dark

24:43

underbelly kind of the weakness. To your

24:45

strength. But even deeper he said it's you

24:47

are. By. Far south he met

24:49

your persona that you liz ensues Somebody

24:51

that isn't actually foods are actually your

24:54

identity or your call. It's not who

24:56

you are becoming in Christ, it's a

24:58

persona and this starts really young. use

25:01

leans how that can be as simple

25:03

as you were born and introvert and

25:05

a society of what suzanne cause he

25:08

extroverted idea I want drag you through

25:10

therapy but as all my own therapy

25:12

for there's all sorts assassinating data behind

25:15

the shift from rural to and urbanization

25:17

and new. Kind of society and capitalism.

25:19

The rise of that and that shifted from

25:21

the introverted ideal to the extroverted ideal. And

25:23

so now if you're an inch where we

25:26

live in a society still looks down and

25:28

so when you walk into a room, you

25:30

have to fake it. Otherwise everybody thinks you're

25:32

rude. And you're not

25:34

ruin your just. you know

25:36

read but you so you have to

25:38

fake and this not all bad there's

25:40

so many other great things about our

25:43

culture but we learn from a very

25:45

early age it's a very easy example

25:47

to be somebody that we're not when

25:49

i walked into a room say hi

25:51

how you doing that's not actually who

25:53

i am right that's that's that's something

25:55

that i am slowly but surely learning

25:57

but how to operate in american society

25:59

and so That's an easy example, but there

26:01

are so many others that are much more

26:03

to the core of our being. For

26:06

the young child that's a creative or

26:08

an artist growing up in a home

26:10

with a jock father or mother, or

26:12

who's laid back and chill and in

26:14

the moment growing up in a home

26:16

that's all about achievement in the 4.0

26:18

and this college or that or whatever.

26:20

Early on, we believe the lie that

26:22

we're not loved for who we are.

26:26

And that lie is so insidious because it's

26:28

not all lies, it's half truth. And

26:30

half truths are always the most insidious kinds of

26:33

lies. Because the reality is when our culture comes

26:35

back and says, you're great just the way you

26:37

are, we're thinking people. We all think, no I'm

26:39

not. Some of me is great just the way

26:42

I am. Some of me is really a jerk.

26:45

Like some of me is really mean

26:47

and selfish and egocentric and lazy and

26:49

irresponsible. So it's really good to hear,

26:51

you're great just the way you are.

26:54

But then we're smart enough to realize, I kind

26:57

of like that, but I kind of don't

26:59

actually believe it because it doesn't actually take

27:01

seriously the sin in my life. So

27:03

because it's a half truth, this lie

27:05

that you're not loved the way you

27:07

are, which is a twist on the

27:10

you're not good enough the way you

27:12

are. It's so insidious. It starts

27:14

to seep into our mind and our imagination.

27:16

And so we start to live into a

27:18

false self to make our father or our

27:20

mother or our culture happy, to make our

27:22

self happy. This is what I need to

27:24

do to fit in or whatever it is.

27:26

And the tricky thing about a lie is

27:28

if you live a lie long enough, the

27:31

terrifying thing is that it becomes true. Right?

27:33

If you live it and you believe

27:36

it and you act that script out

27:38

over time, it what started out as

27:40

a lie becomes a truth. And

27:42

so our false self is a mask that we

27:45

put on and that we see the world through.

27:47

And then over time we forget that we're even

27:49

wearing a mask in the first place. All

27:52

that to say, one of the key tasks

27:54

of our apprenticeship to Jesus is to take

27:56

the mask off our false self To

27:59

face our. That aside in the

28:01

mirror, head on, take a long hard

28:03

look and to purge in the language

28:05

of the early Church sin layer by

28:08

layer from are lies not to feel

28:10

guilt or same, none of that at

28:12

all your love son or daughter but

28:15

in order to step into our identity

28:17

and colleen and experience with Jesus of

28:19

Nazareth called life to the. Full

28:22

know. That sounds okay. Whatever.

28:24

The problem is that we are

28:26

blind So often we are blind

28:28

to our own shadow side. The

28:30

tricky thing about a blind spot

28:32

is. That.

28:34

Device but you to hence you

28:36

can't see it you're blind to

28:38

as a human capacity for self deception

28:41

is terrifying. We notice from scripture

28:43

from psychology and from the morning

28:45

news so we need tools to unmask,

28:47

are false cells to drag are

28:49

shadow side out into the life

28:51

and expose it and just to deal

28:53

with what in the New Testament

28:55

is called are sent to put

28:57

it to death in order to experience

29:00

resurrection on the best tools that

29:02

we know for that is the

29:04

any. Grandpa and Grandma. As a Greek

29:06

word I'm any. As is the Greek

29:08

word for nine, Graham means a point.

29:10

The any Graham is a nine point,

29:13

a geometric image for nine personality types.

29:15

Just to clarify, it's not a pentagram.

29:17

Car looks like one. Very similar. Just

29:19

to make it crystal clear, we follow

29:21

Jesus, not Satan. See, you can just

29:24

take is insisting Case that was in

29:26

question. Take a deep breath. Nobody actually

29:28

knows where the any A Grammy comes

29:30

from. we think there's i

29:32

read over to different there is the leading

29:35

series is this christian monk who came up

29:37

with the seven deadly sins and that it

29:39

was all based on his teaching would on

29:41

that for sure we know for sure that

29:43

was used by the early church and then

29:46

it was used by the desert fathers and

29:48

the desert mother is some people think it's

29:50

older than the early church based on everything

29:52

from greek mathematics or aristotle to other sir

29:54

reality is we don't know but it disappeared

29:57

for a long time from the church in

29:59

the west resurfaced in the

30:01

1970s in Jesuit spirituality, and

30:03

it has since spread like wildfire, in particular over the

30:06

last few years. I was introduced to it about four

30:08

years ago. Now, there

30:10

is no scientific evidence for it at all.

30:13

There is no scriptural evidence for it at

30:15

all. There's no, it is a Greek word,

30:17

but it's not like from Timothy chapter three

30:19

verse nine. In Greek, it's the Enneagram. No,

30:21

it's not there. It is a Greek word,

30:24

not from the New Testament. It's not dogma,

30:26

and it's not doctrine. It's just wisdom and

30:28

truth. And it's basically a

30:30

model. There's that great quote

30:32

from the British mathematician George Box. All

30:34

models are wrong, but some of them

30:36

are useful. And that's kind

30:38

of how we feel about a lot of

30:41

things, church in general, and about the Enneagram.

30:43

It's not all right, but it is useful.

30:45

We think it is very useful. And here's

30:47

why. Unlike other theories

30:50

of personalities, such as Myers-Briggs

30:53

or disk or strength finders, and there's so

30:55

much great stuff out there now that is

30:57

all a great tool for you in discovering

30:59

your identity and calling. But unlike

31:01

all of the other ones, there's a

31:03

few kind of very significant shifts with

31:05

the Enneagram. One is that it's dynamic,

31:08

not static. So your

31:10

Myers-Briggs or your disk or whatever, it

31:13

does not change over your life. Whereas

31:15

the Enneagram, your type does not change,

31:17

but your character absolutely does. And

31:20

two, unlike just dealing with your strengths, it actually

31:22

deals far more with your weaknesses. So it's great

31:24

to know that I have this, that, and the

31:26

other strength. That's actually quite helpful, especially if you're

31:28

18 and you're trying to figure out what to

31:30

do with your life. But at the end of

31:32

the day, it's not that helpful if who you

31:34

are is a bit of a jerk. You need

31:36

a little bit more help. Is that right? So

31:38

it's really helpful in discovering a career path or

31:40

something like that. It's beautiful.

31:42

But it's not as helpful in dealing

31:44

with your shadow side. And that's where

31:47

the Enneagram is so helpful. My favorite

31:49

part about the Enneagram is it shows

31:51

you, here's a vision of

31:53

your personality type that is unhealthy and

31:56

immature and not transformed by

31:58

following Jesus. Usually you

32:00

look at it and it's terrifying. And

32:03

then here on the other hand is a vision

32:05

of your personality type that's healthy and mature

32:07

and after years of

32:10

apprenticeship to Jesus has been transformed

32:12

to become more like Jesus and

32:14

to become more like your real true

32:16

self, to peel off layer after layer

32:18

of false self and shadow side, deal

32:21

with your stuff and make your contribution

32:23

to the world, which isn't be all,

32:25

you're not one stop shopping, but to

32:27

play your part in the world. And

32:29

then once you get into it, you start

32:31

to chart a little bit of a

32:33

path from unhealth to health, from immaturity

32:35

to maturity, from untransformed to transformed. And

32:37

that is where it is so helpful.

32:40

It's just a tool. It's all it

32:42

is. And all by itself, it's not

32:44

really that helpful. It just makes you feel really bad

32:46

about yourself. But inside the

32:49

matrix of spiritual formation, inside

32:51

the safe place of the father's

32:54

love over you, it is

32:56

a great tool to expose your shadow

32:58

side, drag it out into the light

33:00

and to move forward on the path

33:02

of transformation. The writers of the road

33:04

back to you put it this way. And

33:06

the true purpose of the Enneagram is to

33:08

reveal, I'm a type one. Can I just

33:11

say, Dave, that should be capitalized, is

33:13

to reveal to you, can I say, it's a safe

33:16

place to say that now, right? Your

33:18

shadow side and offer

33:20

spiritual counsel on how to open

33:22

it to the transformative light of

33:24

grace. Coming face

33:26

to face with your deadly sin

33:28

can be hard, even painful, because

33:31

it raises to conscious awareness the

33:33

nastier bits about who we are

33:35

that we'd rather not think about.

33:38

No one should work with the Enneagram if

33:40

what they seek is flattery. But no one

33:42

should fail to do so if what they

33:44

seek is deep knowing of self. Now,

33:46

there are nine types to the Enneagram. Do not have time

33:48

to talk about any of them. But

33:50

there is the best one, the perfectionist type

33:52

one. Then there's

33:55

the helper, my lovely wife. Then

33:57

there's the performer and the individualist.

34:00

and the investigator and the

34:02

loyalist and the enthusiast, Gerald Griffin

34:04

and the challenger and everybody's

34:06

favorite, the peacemaker. Now,

34:08

just a few things for you as you

34:10

are processing over the last 24 hours or

34:12

whatever over the weekend from the conference or

34:15

those of you that are reading the book

34:17

right now and doing all of the work

34:19

to get ready for your time with your

34:21

Bridgetown community. Just a few things to know

34:23

as you go on the journey. There

34:26

are wings, you need to know about that and just make sure you

34:28

do the reading on it, which is the number to the right and

34:30

the left of you and you take on some of the

34:32

character traits of that. And then

34:34

even more important are the stress and

34:36

security numbers, one of the most helpful

34:38

bits and pieces of the Enneagram. So

34:41

there's a number that you go to

34:43

when you're under stress, when you're overtired,

34:45

when you're under rested and

34:47

at times you take on the negative

34:49

qualities of that personhood, but you don't

34:51

have to. And then there's another

34:54

number that you go to insecurity, when all is

34:56

well and you're on vacation or you need health

34:58

and you need healing, that's the number you

35:00

go to. So I'm a type one, notice the

35:02

arrows there, to four and to seven. So

35:05

when I'm stressed out, I go to four and

35:07

I take on, I tend to take on a

35:09

lot of the like the lower

35:11

part of four. So there's not a

35:13

lot of fours in the world, but

35:15

I get all like super emo and

35:18

melancholy and I just like weep into

35:20

my tea in a dark corner and

35:22

I feel like nobody understands me at all in

35:24

the world and I get all envy is a

35:27

huge thing for me and everybody's so much

35:29

cooler than me and I go on Instagram and

35:31

everybody's so awesome. I was just

35:33

a homeschool for so long and I just,

35:36

right? So that's what happens if I don't

35:38

watch it. But then when I need

35:41

health and healing, I go to seven. Most of my

35:43

best friends are sevens and that's because

35:45

I'm so like uptight and type A and

35:47

my inner critic is just there all the

35:49

time. You just go out with somebody who's

35:51

just fun. Let's have a beer and let's go out

35:53

and order another bowl of nachos. Let's do

35:55

it and just like, that's like, really? You

35:58

can do that. You can have nachos. you

36:00

can have nachos and then you can have them again

36:02

with oh my gosh it's

36:04

like it's like this whole thing right so

36:06

that and we laugh like the root sin

36:08

of seven by the way is gluttony so

36:11

makes it a little hard you know what

36:13

I mean am I like anyway whole other

36:16

thing so that's really

36:18

helpful once you get into that

36:21

and then finally as you're processing and for some of

36:23

you like me when I first read

36:25

type one it was like read literally reading

36:27

my inner psyche but for other people it's

36:29

not that clear at first and it takes

36:31

a bit of time especially if you're a bit

36:33

younger or just like for all sorts of

36:35

reasons don't feel bad about that as a

36:37

general rule the number that you hate the

36:39

most is you so

36:42

there are bits and pieces of us and

36:45

all personality types but as you read through

36:47

the odds are there'll be one that

36:49

just feels like it's reading your deepest

36:52

darkest secrets and you just think this

36:54

is the worst human being on the

36:56

planet congratulations you just found your number

36:58

it's a great great you're

37:00

ready and off to the races now our

37:02

practice for the week ahead again we are

37:04

in a practice together as a church is

37:06

to do the enneagram if you're up for

37:08

it if you're not up for it that's okay if I

37:10

don't go on this journey if you're not ready to do it yet

37:13

if you don't have the emotional capacity or

37:15

the temporal capacity for it yet that's okay

37:18

just wait take your time but please respect

37:20

those in your community and to your right

37:22

and your left who are ready who are

37:25

on this journey don't do anything to hinder

37:27

them that's all that I would ask all

37:30

of our practices at practicing the way.org/identity

37:32

and calling there's a few other ways

37:34

to do the enneagram really the next

37:36

best thing is to read the road

37:39

back to you that's our favorite book and if you

37:41

want another suggestion we have more and

37:43

if you want to take a test you

37:45

can the best ones at enneagraminstitute.com which is

37:47

a great website it's a secular website not

37:50

a christian website but there's all sorts of

37:52

great stuff on there about the enneagram the

37:54

only like heads up you need is the

37:56

test is really inaccurate so Suzanne's quote I

37:58

don't know where this the data was from

38:00

is that 62% of the time it's wrong, just

38:03

from ancetotal evidence for a lot of people. It's either wrong or

38:05

it's unhelpful. I think when I took it, it was like 21%,

38:08

22%, 23% for

38:11

three different types, so it was not helpful

38:13

at all. And the main reason there is

38:15

because the Enneagram deals less with behavior and

38:17

more with the motivation behind your behavior. That's

38:20

why it's really dangerous to diagnose other

38:22

people because unless if you know them

38:24

crazy well, you know what they do,

38:26

not why they do what they do.

38:29

So all that to say, the quickest way to do

38:31

it, go to the website, take your test, I

38:33

think it's 10 bucks, and then read the webpage

38:35

on your number. But honestly, it's

38:37

really not a good way to do it and

38:39

it might point you in the wrong direction. And

38:41

so just the bummer news is there's no shortcut

38:44

for the Enneagram. I'm so sorry.

38:46

There's no app for it. There's no new

38:48

Apple thing at FaceScan and then you're a

38:50

type seven or whatever, you know? Because you

38:52

were smiling or something. Not

38:55

a thing. So there's no shortcut.

38:57

And like anything in life, the

39:00

more time that you put into it, the

39:02

more effort that you put into it, the

39:04

more that you will get out of it.

39:06

Now just a few warnings before you do

39:08

this with your community or even by yourself.

39:10

And please listen to me here because like

39:12

any good tool, it is dangerous. Not bad,

39:15

but dangerous. So if you just please like

39:17

rules. If you do not, I'm gonna type

39:19

one, I like rules, all right? So if

39:21

you do not support our

39:23

church. First off, do not weaponize

39:25

the sucker because

39:27

you can. This is

39:30

a tool for you to help

39:32

you grow and mature. Not a tool for you

39:34

to help your spouse grow and mature. Or

39:36

a tool for you to help your community or your

39:39

mom or your dad. It has nothing to do with

39:41

that. This is not Myers-Briggs. It's not distest that you

39:43

take with six people in your cubicle center and you

39:45

figure out how to work better together. It's not what

39:47

it is. This is a tool for you

39:49

to grow and to mature into

39:51

the best version of yourself. Not for you to

39:53

tear others down to side. So when

39:56

it comes to other people, it actually is

39:58

quite helpful for relationships. That was Suzanne. man's

40:00

main emphasis over the weekend, but

40:03

use it to cultivate compassion for

40:05

other people, not to manipulate

40:07

other people or shame other people or

40:09

as ammo against other people. Use

40:12

it to understand, oh, that's

40:15

why what's easy for me is hard for

40:17

them. And oh, that's why what's easy for

40:19

them is hard for me. Because she's wired

40:21

like that, and I'm wired for that. Let

40:24

it cultivate compassion in you to see them

40:26

the way that Jesus sees them and to

40:28

see the way that Jesus

40:31

sees you. Secondly, do not label people.

40:33

So I don't want to hear, you're such a one.

40:35

Like two people get to say that

40:37

to me, my wife and my therapist, nobody else.

40:39

All right. And neither of them say that

40:41

to me. So case in point, do not

40:43

go around. I don't want to hear that

40:45

such a four thing or if you know

40:47

four, there is no four thing. If there's

40:50

a thing, they stop doing it. Right. So

40:52

see, I just did it. Don't do that.

40:54

All right. Don't do that. All right. Seriously,

40:57

don't label people. Don't throw out numbers. There's

40:59

a lot of wisdom here. Don't like read

41:01

a 30 page book and think you know

41:03

it. Like come at it with a lot

41:05

of humility. Third, do not make the use

41:07

the Enneagram to make excuses for your behavior. So

41:09

it's not a cop out. I don't get to

41:12

say, well, I know I was really

41:14

critical and I made you feel like guilt and

41:16

shame, but you know, I'm a type one on

41:18

the Enneagram. That doesn't mean anything. It just like

41:20

there's just a number for my jerkness. Okay.

41:22

So it's not a cop out at all.

41:24

And then four on the flip side of

41:26

that, don't take

41:28

your, this sounds a little weird when

41:30

we think about sin, but don't take

41:32

yourself too seriously. Laugh

41:34

a little bit along the way. I honestly think

41:37

that as Jesus would read our Enneagram number, he

41:39

would chuckle a little bit like, wow, you really

41:41

need my help. But don't you just

41:43

chuckle a little bit at yourself, at the

41:45

people to your right into your love practice

41:47

compassion first for yourself. One of the reasons

41:49

that there's so much anger at other people

41:51

in the world is because we have so

41:53

much self-hate. So practice compassion

41:55

for yourself, practice compassion for other people,

41:58

see how God

42:00

sees you, see how God sees your

42:02

spouse, your community leader, your best friend,

42:04

whatever it is. And then

42:06

finally, remember who you are. Remember everything from

42:09

last week. You need to go back and

42:11

re-listen to the podcast or whatever, re-read Ephesians

42:13

1 10 times. Remember

42:16

you are not your sin. You're

42:18

not your Enneagram number. You're not a

42:21

type whatever. You are the

42:23

beloved. You're a son. You're

42:25

a daughter. You are who you are

42:27

loved by. And it's only

42:29

out of the safe place of my

42:32

identity is rooted not in

42:34

what I do or don't do or my Enneagram

42:36

number or my shadow side or my past or

42:38

my present. My identity is rooted in Christ and

42:40

who I am becoming in Christ. I'm a son

42:42

or daughter of the father. It's

42:44

only out of that safe place that

42:47

you will ever have the freedom to

42:49

explore the full range of your personhood,

42:51

the good, the bad, and the ugly

42:53

in order to be saved and to

42:55

be healed by Jesus. Now before

42:57

we end, just for the critic in

42:59

the room, why all this focus on sin

43:02

and on our shadow side? Can't we just

43:04

focus on Jesus? This is a focus on

43:06

Jesus in a way. And the short answer

43:08

for that is because you can't change what

43:10

you are unaware of. David

43:12

Benner, last quote for our time writes

43:14

this, any hope that you can know

43:17

yourself without accepting the things about you

43:20

that you wish were not true is an

43:22

illusion. Nobody

43:24

must be embraced before it can

43:26

be changed. You can never

43:29

be other than who you are until you are

43:31

willing to embrace the reality of who you are.

43:34

Only then can you truly

43:36

become who you are most deeply

43:38

called to be. You

43:41

know, Freud was wrong about a lot of things apparently,

43:43

not that I have the education to say that, but

43:46

I read. But one of the

43:48

things that most people say he was spot on

43:50

was when he said that the things

43:52

about ourselves that we refuse to acknowledge

43:54

actually have the most power and authority

43:57

over our life. His

43:59

line was that which which we avoid

44:01

will most tyrannize us. We

44:04

think that by not dealing with our

44:06

sin, by not dealing with our shadow

44:08

side, it will go away. Close your eyes

44:10

and just wait, but in reality it

44:12

makes a bad problem worse. What you

44:14

don't know can and will hurt you,

44:17

and tragically it will hurt the people that you love

44:19

the most. Ignorance is bliss

44:21

in the short term if you want to feel good before

44:23

you go watch Stranger Things. In

44:26

the long term, it is a disaster waiting

44:28

to happen. And so the

44:30

sooner that you deal with your shadow side,

44:32

the less violence and harm it will

44:34

cause to you, to your spouse

44:36

one day, to your children if you should

44:38

have them, to your family, to your friends,

44:40

to your career. The sooner, the

44:43

better. So many of you in the room

44:45

are young. This is a beautiful gift to

44:47

start the journey now. What in

44:49

your 20s you think of as a quirk, you know?

44:52

Over time is cemented into your character

44:54

in your 30s and into your 40s,

44:56

and at some point you have to

44:58

jackhammer it out, and often it takes

45:00

a crisis to even get started. You

45:02

don't want the time to deal with

45:04

your shadow side is always now. That's

45:08

why Jesus would frequently say, come,

45:10

take up your cross, and

45:13

then follow me. The cross is

45:15

a symbol of death. It was an invitation to

45:17

come and die in order to live. And

45:21

it's not an invitation to die to yourself

45:23

in the sense of your real true self,

45:25

who are you becoming? It's an invitation to

45:27

die to your sin, to die to your

45:30

shadow side, to die to your false self,

45:32

to bury it six feet under the ground,

45:34

and then to come out the other side

45:36

in life. Because on the other side of

45:38

the cross is the empty tomb. On the

45:41

other side of death is resurrection. On the

45:43

other side of you deal with your sin,

45:45

you repent, you come forward, you confess, you

45:47

do what you need to do is freedom

45:49

and healing and all that God

45:51

has for you. This is

45:54

the invitation of Jesus to

45:56

go on the inner journey. You know,

45:59

I think I'm just. old enough now to

46:01

realize the obvious, that is

46:03

the most important thing in life is the person that

46:05

you become and the

46:07

relationships that you cultivate. David

46:09

Brooks, one of my favorite books, is his

46:11

little The Road to Character, and he

46:14

opens it with writing about resume

46:16

virtues versus eulogy virtues. Resume

46:19

virtues are what you put on your resume, and our

46:21

culture is built around resume virtues. And I'm all for

46:23

resume virtues. I'm all for career, and I believe in

46:26

all of that. The eulogy

46:28

virtues are what people say about you at

46:30

your funeral. And

46:32

usually it has little to nothing to

46:34

do with your 401K

46:36

or your IRA or your job or how

46:38

many businesses you started or whatever. It's the person

46:40

that you did or did not become and the

46:43

relationships that you did or did not cultivate.

46:45

And at the end of the day, what

46:47

really matters is your eulogy

46:49

virtues. The main thing that you get

46:52

out of your life, the main thing that your family and

46:54

friends that we get out of your life, the main thing

46:56

that you get out of my life, the main thing that

46:58

I get out of my life, and above all, the main

47:00

thing that God gets out of our life is

47:03

the men and the women that we become through apprenticeship

47:05

to Jesus. And you can't save

47:07

yourself. Self-help will

47:09

get you down the road. It will not get you to

47:11

your destination. You can't save

47:14

yourself. And that is the beauty

47:16

of Jesus. Come follow me, and

47:18

he will save you. He will

47:20

heal you. Come die, and he will give

47:23

you life to the full. Let's

47:25

stand and pray together. Today

47:31

John Mark explored Robert Mulholland's four

47:33

layers of sin God helps us

47:35

work through. Growth

47:38

sins, deliberate sins, sins

47:40

of omission, and our trust structures. As

47:44

you think about your own journey, which

47:46

of those layers do you sense God working

47:48

through the most? Let's

47:50

take half a minute to

47:52

allow a little silence to

47:54

take some deep breaths in and out

47:58

and ask for God's love and light to follow. the

48:00

life in that area. Amen.

49:01

Special thanks for today's episode goes

49:03

to Barbara from Mesa, Arizona, David

49:06

from Portland, Oregon, Josiah from

49:08

Byron Center, Michigan, Renee from

49:10

Cambridge, Massachusetts, Kyle from

49:13

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Thank

49:15

you all very much. To

49:18

join the Circle or learn more about

49:20

running a practice in your church or

49:22

community, visit www.practicingaway.org Until

49:26

next time, may the grace of the Lord

49:28

Jesus Christ and the love of God and

49:31

the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be

49:33

with you all. Amen.