0:07

Hello and welcome to the John Mack

0:09

Coma Teachings Podcast! I'm strong, calm, and

0:11

your host and part of the teaching

0:14

team here at Practicing The Way Each

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week on the podcast we share teaching

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from John Mack or other trusted voices

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in the formation space. In

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today's teaching, John Mack introduces us to

0:25

the need for practicing counter formation in

0:27

the culture we're living in or in

0:29

the language of the New Testament. Disciple

0:31

ship the office as concrete places to

0:33

begin and to go deeper in a

0:35

June is so thinking about your own

0:37

habits you might like to keep in

0:39

the back of your mind is you

0:41

listen the questions. What? Can

0:43

I take up. In. What can I

0:45

let go of in the season? Is.

0:48

John Mack. Least.

0:51

During your Bibles to Luke chapter

0:53

six Am. If you don't have

0:55

one again, stick your hand up

0:57

in the air or I feel

0:59

free just to sit that out

1:01

loot. Chapter six: We are nearing

1:03

the end of our practice on

1:05

discovering your identity and Colleen. Says

1:16

Sarah. Can we just talk about the

1:19

new Sam Smith record? Can we do

1:21

that Insurance or I said you have

1:23

this I have. yeah this nine I'm

1:25

not really even are and be and

1:28

I can't stop listening. And

1:31

I think on it is now and I think

1:33

Sam is Sam were friends. And

1:37

I think he is a fascinating case

1:39

that he himself for are not moment

1:41

i'm when he. something i'm up in

1:43

the church he's again so a major

1:45

theme in his songwriting as we wrestling

1:48

with that tension between his the allergy

1:50

and his sexuality this songs of the

1:52

new record it's called pray and this

1:55

second verse of particular but that lyric

1:57

app called my year the first time

1:59

through Oh,

2:01

I'm just playing right here.

2:12

Oh, we're just going to leave it

2:14

right there. It's

2:27

where at some point you have to teach the Bible

2:29

and talk about Jesus, but it's

2:32

all on iTunes. Now, where

2:36

Sam Smith is at with Jesus is none of my

2:38

business. I hope the two of them work things out

2:40

because I would love to have him come lead worship

2:42

at some point. But

2:46

that lyric does

2:48

a great job of capturing the zeitgeist,

2:50

I think, of our generation. You

2:52

know, on one hand it's like we want God

2:54

or some idea of God in our life, but

2:57

then on the other hand, we kind of want

2:59

to do our own thing. You won't find me

3:01

in church? No, you know, reading

3:03

the Bible. But

3:06

I am still here. And

3:08

why are you clapping for that? I'm

3:11

still your disciple. I'm not really a saint.

3:13

I'm more of a sinner, you know, and

3:15

then that great line. I don't want to

3:18

lose, but I fear for the winners.

3:20

And I just think that is

3:22

a gross misreading of what a disciple

3:24

of Jesus actually is. So

3:26

we've said this before, the word disciple in Greek,

3:29

that's the language that the New Testament was written

3:31

in this is method taste. Can you say that

3:34

method taste and it can be translated disciple.

3:36

That's just fine. That's a bit of a

3:38

churchy word that we don't use outside of

3:41

the church. And a number

3:43

of really smart people argue that a

3:45

much better translation is apprentice because

3:47

discipleship was a whole life

3:50

apprenticeship. Under a rabbi,

3:52

for example, take a look at Luke chapter six. If your

3:54

Bible is open, look down at verse 39. He,

3:57

Jesus, also told them this parable. So here's

3:59

a. little mini teaching of Jesus.

4:01

Can the blind lead the blind? What's

4:03

the answer? No, that's

4:06

the answer. Will

4:09

they not both fall into a

4:11

pit? The student, now

4:13

the word there in Greek is mathetes,

4:15

so the student, the disciple, the apprentice,

4:18

is not above the rabbi, but

4:21

everyone who is fully trained

4:23

will be or will become

4:25

like their rabbi. Notice

4:28

that for Jesus of Nazareth, the

4:31

end goal of apprenticeship to him

4:33

was to become like him. Now,

4:36

the question that we're kind of onto at

4:38

this point in our practice is how? So

4:40

if you missed the last bit of time,

4:42

which is more about the why, go back

4:44

and listen, but now really we're onto the

4:46

question how, because it's a little bit easier

4:48

said than done. Like Jesus, you know, the

4:50

bar is set a little high with him.

4:53

So go be like Jesus. Great, okay, how?

4:55

And the answer is through spiritual formation.

4:57

Now again, go back and listen to the podcast.

4:59

If you missed the last week or two, this

5:01

teaching in particular is part two. So I know

5:03

I left a lot of you like on the

5:05

edge of your seat last week, and I'm kind

5:08

of sorry for that, but you're back. So here

5:10

we are. Here's a quick recap of part one,

5:12

if you missed it. We define

5:14

spiritual formation, and if you don't

5:16

know that language, that's just fine.

5:18

We defined it as, quote, the

5:20

process by which we are formed

5:22

to become like Jesus, and in

5:24

doing so, more like our real

5:26

true self. And we made

5:28

the point that spiritual formation isn't a Christian thing, it's

5:30

a human thing. Meaning we're all

5:32

being formed every single minute of every

5:34

single day. The question is not are

5:36

you being formed, but who or what

5:38

are you being formed into? But

5:41

Another way, it's not. Are you a disciple,

5:43

it's who or what are you a disciple

5:45

of? So Last week, we covered our first

5:47

spiritual formation paradigm out of two, what we

5:50

call unintentional spiritual formation. I Know that it's

5:52

lousy language. I Asked all of you who

5:54

work in branding to email me nothing in

5:56

my inbox, all right? So please, tomorrow morning.

5:58

I would love to. Wake up to that.

6:01

But we said they were all formed First

6:03

offer the stories that we believe. Secondly,

6:05

by our habits, third, by our relationships

6:07

and and forth by our environment. For

6:10

us, it's Portland, and of course, we

6:12

all live in two places at once

6:14

now with the I phone and all

6:16

of this happens over time and through

6:18

experiences. Now when we say unintentional what

6:21

we mean by that is all you

6:23

have to do is wake up in

6:25

the morning. Or. You don't

6:27

have to take notes, You don't need

6:29

a New Years resolution next month and

6:31

like and Accountability group or a mentor

6:33

or a therapist. All you need to

6:35

do is wake up and do whatever

6:37

it is you do every morning through

6:39

your we Just Lives and be. You

6:42

and you be are been formed. You're

6:44

becoming somebody. The question is, who are

6:46

what are you becoming? So are apprenticeship

6:48

to Jesus has to offset All of

6:50

that doesn't make sense to A. We

6:52

don't start with a blank slate. We

6:54

start and the wind is not at

6:56

our back. Is actually in the exact

6:58

opposite direction is a story that is

7:00

told about Bahnhof or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Right

7:03

before World War Two, the Nazi empires

7:06

out of sight and the church in

7:08

Germany is corrupt because of it. and

7:10

so Bonhoeffer goes off into the wilderness

7:13

out into the country to start this

7:15

gonna have seminary for hundred and fifty

7:17

young theology students. He was a brilliant

7:19

intellectual but also kind of half communal

7:22

living and this is back in the

7:24

forties and that's how many have you

7:26

read his book Life Together one of

7:29

the best read? Probably not here. Best

7:31

read: Books on Community which comes. Out

7:33

of this experiments and he's out there in a

7:35

bahnhof or comes from a families a secular family

7:38

not a christian family but kind of fi off

7:40

in German society and at one point a family

7:42

member when I think was his brother went out

7:44

to him and said listen this has got to

7:47

stop. This is an embarrassment to the same name

7:49

as he to come back and take back your

7:51

professor chef and you need to like get a

7:53

wife's you know put a ring on it or

7:55

whatever and like this is just too weird. this

7:58

communal thing out here in the Jesus. Never

8:00

your intuit. Jesus and Bahnhof as has come

8:02

with me and they get in a rowboat

8:04

and they row across the lake that they

8:06

were right next to and on the other

8:08

side of the lake is a Nazi training

8:10

camp for Hitler youth and Baja for walks

8:12

up to the top of this hill overlooking

8:14

the training camp and he says to his

8:16

brother this has gotta be stronger than that's.

8:19

What? We're doing here has gotta be

8:21

stronger than what they're doing their and

8:24

I would say the same thing is

8:26

true for you and me. This has

8:28

gotta be stronger than that. Are apprenticeships

8:31

to? Jesus has got to be stronger

8:33

than the stories he believes are habits

8:35

or relationships. Arms, Ironman rights. As

8:37

ours has to be stronger. Than

8:40

the city that we love and call

8:42

home self. Now we're ready for paradigm

8:44

to or intentional spiritual formation. If we

8:46

had like a giant theater screen out

8:48

that the to right next to each

8:50

other. but we don't so hopefully it's

8:52

there in your notepad or at least

8:54

in your mind's eye. But each piece

8:57

here is counter that last paradigm. So

8:59

and again, this is not scripture or

9:01

the sub. None of that, this is

9:03

just our summary of the teachings. The

9:05

New Testaments Alpha test. Skelter.

9:09

Stories We believe is teaching to

9:12

Jesus was a teacher. With that

9:14

Hebrew word, Rabbi means a teacher

9:16

and that's what he spent the

9:18

bulk of his time doing teaching.

9:20

And that's like on purpose, not

9:22

on accident. We are built to

9:24

need to team. And

9:26

the best teaching out there does

9:29

more than tell you fact from

9:31

fiction or even right from wrong.

9:33

A gets into your head with

9:35

a vision of the good twice

9:38

as why so many Jesus' teachings

9:40

were actually stories they were alternative

9:42

stores was once asked us decades

9:44

a revolution in South America A

9:46

journalist asked and what's the best

9:49

way to change society Is it

9:51

violent uprising or is it slow

9:53

gradual change and his answer was

9:55

neither. The best way to change

9:58

society is to town alternative story. And

10:00

that you see Jesus doing that right and

10:02

laughed and all. It's teaching after teaching an

10:04

alternative story about what it means to be

10:07

human, what it means to be spiritual, what

10:09

it means to be sexual, what it means

10:11

to be. it's as an alternative story to

10:13

the one on offer. and that kind of

10:15

teaching. A gets into your head with a

10:17

vision of a good life and it starts

10:19

to undermine the lies that you and I

10:21

believe with the truth and the reality of

10:23

God. Thank. You

10:25

carol. As if

10:28

you that on a part of the

10:30

seven this is what you miss. Rice

10:32

Now by seed same I mean a

10:34

lot more than like the talk that

10:36

I'm in the middle of right now.

10:38

It is a teaching on Sunday. It's

10:40

also a lecture or a bible study

10:42

to podcasts. More than anything it's reading

10:44

the bible or reading books is also

10:46

what know and scientists now com neuroplasticity

10:48

have zola neurons that fire together, wire

10:50

together with the Hebrew Prophets, com meditation

10:53

with the writers the New Testament call

10:55

prayer Paul. At one point cause of

10:57

the renewal of the mine. That might

10:59

even be a better label for this

11:01

category. I think of Classic line is

11:03

you know Romans which is one of

11:05

the most important writings the New Testament.

11:08

The fulcrum point in that letter. Chapter

11:10

Twelve Verse one after eleven chapters. it's

11:12

the allergies. It's like I now time

11:14

to land the plane. What does he

11:16

say? Do not be conform to the

11:18

world's but be transformed by the renewing

11:21

of your miners Are words Transform house

11:23

by the renewal of your mind. By

11:25

getting but getting right ideas into your

11:28

head is the starting point but as

11:30

happy ending point and are by itself

11:32

it's not enough on for a lot

11:34

of reasons. One is because you can't

11:37

sink your way to Christ like this

11:39

because the way of Jesus is decided

11:41

as a way of life that is

11:43

something that do not only with your

11:45

mine but also with your body right?

11:48

Really it's would Disciples of Diseases is

11:50

all about getting what's in your mind

11:52

down on few inches farther into your

11:54

body. Meaning. Into your whole life. but

11:56

we still live in this post enlightenment sued.

11:59

Aren't her edge? No.

12:03

Doubt about it, but the systemic change is

12:05

yet to happen. So in this western moment

12:07

we still have this kind of i think

12:09

therefore I am mindset this the cartoon you

12:12

know He said human beings are rough cut

12:14

the times or think team things. Benjamin Franklin

12:16

picked up on that and said were a

12:18

brain on legs rights and in that theory

12:21

of what it means to be human you

12:23

are essentially computer and all you need is

12:25

like a software update. you just need more

12:27

data in and if that Syria was right.

12:30

And all you need to do to have

12:32

a healthy marriage is just read a book

12:34

on how to have a healthy marriage. All

12:36

you need to do to lose weight is

12:38

just like watch a youtube video about a

12:40

plant based diet and how to exercise and

12:42

it would be that easy. Data and transfer

12:44

is how's that working for all of you?

12:46

I'm guessing. not so well. You don't need

12:48

a Phd to figure out that knowing something

12:50

in your head is not the same thing

12:52

as doing something with your body, which is

12:54

still not the same as wanting to do

12:57

that something with your hearts. And the reality

12:59

is what we love. In our hearts are

13:01

we long for and even the way that

13:03

our body is sets has far more of

13:05

an effect on what we do with our

13:07

body than what we know in our head.

13:10

and so t chain it which is aimed

13:12

at the head. It seemed that your mind

13:14

is your imagination is vital but it is

13:16

just the beginning. Your mind is like the

13:18

portal to the whole person next to our

13:21

habits and this is key is practice snout

13:23

right now In between our practices were teaching

13:25

through the Sermon on the Mount. as most

13:27

of you know which is your new to

13:29

Jesus. as a great place to start

13:32

ninety five six and seven it's matthews

13:34

kind a collection of all of the

13:36

most important teachings of jesus in one

13:38

place and it's jesus manifesto for how

13:40

to be suman for what he called

13:42

life to the for what's fascinating about

13:45

some of the not as you know

13:47

anything about church history and tradition is

13:49

the way that it's been interpreted over

13:51

the last two millennia of church history

13:53

i'm ever since about the fourth century

13:55

there has been a running stream of

13:58

people even rocket at an academically who

14:00

have basically said it's a utopian ideal and

14:03

it can't be done. Because

14:05

if you read the summer on the Mount, like the bar is

14:07

kind of set high, am I right? I

14:09

think of the one line teaching, do not

14:11

worry. I have that one down,

14:13

but apparently some people have a

14:15

struggle with that one, you know? A little

14:17

minor issue in our society called anxiety. Or

14:19

think of that line, he who looks at

14:22

a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with

14:24

her in his heart, end quote. So

14:27

the bar, yes, is set very high.

14:29

But what a lot of people miss

14:31

is that Jesus is also incredibly down

14:33

to earth. Like just read the

14:36

sermon on the Mount, it's about Jesus just assumes that

14:38

you get mad at people and people get mad at

14:40

you. That you want to divorce your

14:42

spouse, that you want to lust after and objectify

14:44

a woman on the street or a man. That

14:46

you want to judge other people, that you have

14:48

anger and even contempt in your heart, and you

14:50

look down at your nose at other people and

14:52

think you are better than them. That you worry

14:54

and you get stressed out about stupid things and

14:56

you buy more than you need. Like,

14:58

does that sound at all familiar to you?

15:01

Jesus just assumes basically that you're human. And

15:04

at the same time, yes, the bar

15:06

is set really high. But what so

15:08

many people miss is, listen, that Jesus

15:10

begins and he ends his sermon with

15:12

this idea of practice. So we were here

15:14

a few months ago in our teaching series,

15:17

but this is a little line right before

15:19

his first command. The first of many, you've

15:21

heard it said, but I say to you,

15:23

his reading of Torah. Jesus says this, therefore,

15:25

anyone who sets aside one of the least

15:27

of these commands, and he's about to teach,

15:30

and teaches others accordingly, will be called least

15:32

in the kingdom of heaven. But

15:34

whoever, what? Practices

15:37

and teaches these commands will be

15:39

called great in the kingdom of

15:41

heaven. And then the very

15:43

last paragraph after the last command

15:46

is a story about like two

15:48

kind of home building projects. And

15:51

he says this, therefore, everyone who hears

15:53

these words of mine, like the sermon

15:55

on the mount, and puts them into

15:57

what? Practice. goes

16:00

on and he says lots of really nice things

16:02

about that person and not so nice things about

16:04

the person who hears these words of mine and

16:07

quote does not put them into practice. So he

16:09

begins and he ends this whole

16:11

vision of a new way to be human

16:13

with this idea of practice. He just assumes

16:15

this will take practice. You don't

16:17

read a command, do not worry. And you're like, great, I'll just not

16:19

do that this week. Now you have

16:22

to go out and practice that. Yet very

16:24

few followers of Jesus, at least in our

16:26

cultural moment, even think of apprenticeship to him

16:28

as a kind of practice. Richard

16:30

Foster, most of you know that name, author of The Celebration of Discipline,

16:32

a best-selling book in 1977. Actually, as far as I can tell, it

16:34

was written here. He was a professor at George Fox at the time.

16:39

Any Fox students? Wow. Yeah.

16:42

Whoa. And you all sit together. That's

16:44

kind of freaky, but we're really happy you're here, right?

16:49

So after decades of teaching,

16:51

and he was friends with Willard

16:53

and all of that, after decades

16:55

of teaching on spiritual formation all

16:57

over America, he came to the

16:59

conclusion in his own language that

17:01

most people think we change by

17:03

trying really hard rather than by

17:05

training really hard, when the

17:07

exact opposite is true. So I've used this analogy before,

17:09

and I apologize, but just some of you are new,

17:11

and others of you need to hear it again, all

17:13

right? But think about any kind of

17:15

change. Let's say you want to make a change in

17:18

your life, major or minor. Let's start with

17:20

something major. Let's say, hypothetical scenario, this is

17:22

not passive-aggressive, I promise. Historical

17:24

scenario, you're here tonight, and you're out of shape. Let's

17:27

say you're even overweight, and you're an asthmatic. Let's just

17:29

throw that in on top of it, all right? And

17:32

for some reason tonight, you're inspired to run

17:34

the Portland Marathon this coming October or even

17:36

sooner, the Shamrock or whatever in March. You're

17:38

just like, I want to, I want a

17:41

whole, my whole body, all of it matters

17:43

to Jesus. Okay, and so you're off. How

17:46

do you run a marathon? Or more importantly,

17:48

how do you become the kind of person

17:50

who can run a marathon? By trying? Or

17:53

by training? By trying? It's

17:55

not by training, by trying. What

17:57

would happen if tomorrow morning you got up, you put on

17:59

your running gear and you went out

18:01

and you tried really hard to run 26.2

18:03

miles. What

18:06

would happen? Yeah, you'd feel a lot of

18:08

pain, you'd make it to about mile four

18:11

and then you would die. And

18:15

it would be easy to come to the conclusion,

18:17

it can't be done. Well, that's not

18:19

true. It can be done by pretty

18:21

much any one of you in the room tonight. Unless

18:23

there's a disability or something, it can be done

18:26

by pretty much it just can't be done by

18:28

you yet. So

18:30

how do you run a marathon? Well, not by

18:32

trying really hard, that doesn't work. By training really

18:34

hard. You go out tomorrow morning, you run, let's

18:36

say a mile, and then you take

18:38

a day off. And then you run two miles or a

18:41

mile and a half and then you take another day off.

18:43

And how many of you have done, you've trained for a

18:45

marathon or half marathon or something like that? You

18:48

don't read, you don't exercise, what do you? This

18:51

morning it was like half the church. What is

18:53

up? You know, we're happy you're here, we're really

18:55

happy. This is a safe

18:57

place, you know. All that

18:59

is true. So it's really, it's not rocket science.

19:01

You just add one mile on to

19:04

your quote long run every single week. So that your

19:06

first week, your long run's a mile. Your second week

19:08

it's two miles. The third week it's three. Then you

19:10

normally take a week off and then you do three

19:12

again and then four and then five, then a week

19:14

off, then five, then six, and seven. And

19:16

what happens, I just watched a guy in my community train

19:18

for the Portland Marathon. He trained for a year.

19:20

It's over a long period of time. Six months

19:22

go by, nine months go by, ten months go

19:25

by. All of a sudden your long run you're

19:27

up to 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25 miles.

19:33

And over a long period of time through

19:35

practice, through training, not through trying

19:37

really hard, through training really hard, you become

19:39

the kind of person for whom running 26.2

19:42

miles is hard. It will always be hard but

19:44

it is well within your capacity as a human

19:46

being. Does that make sense? That's how we change.

19:49

Yet very few of us approach our apprenticeship

19:51

to Jesus this way. Most

19:54

of us here are teaching on Jesus, such of

19:56

Jesus, such as do not worry. And

19:58

we go out, we hear a sermon, We're inspired and we

20:00

just go on, we try really hard to not worry.

20:03

How's that working for you so far? And

20:06

most of us make it like maybe to the car

20:08

and then we get a text from our boss and

20:10

it's all over and we're stressed out, right? And

20:13

it's easy to throw your hands up and say, it

20:15

can't be done, it's a utopian ideal, whatever. I'll just

20:17

take communion a lot and watch Netflix, you know? And

20:22

it's not true. According to

20:24

Jesus, and even I struggle to believe

20:26

this at times, but according to

20:29

Jesus, you through discipleship to him, can

20:31

become the kind of person who

20:33

is free from anxiety. Not

20:36

perfect, doesn't mean you never get stressed out,

20:38

this is life after all. But according to

20:40

Jesus, you can become what Friedman

20:42

called a non-anxious presence and man,

20:44

does our world need more of

20:46

that in this cultural moment. How?

20:49

Through practice. Dallas Willard

20:51

used to say that every local church

20:53

should essentially be a school of life

20:55

where people come from all around the

20:57

city to learn the way of Jesus,

20:59

to learn a whole new way to

21:01

be human. I love that idea, that's

21:03

what we're trying to do, training to

21:05

do here at Bridgetown, in

21:07

particular over the last year or two. I

21:10

have this friend down in San Francisco, when

21:12

I was doing a bunch of reading and research around

21:14

spiritual formation that I went down to visit with, and

21:16

he was doing this thing called the Jesus dojo. Exactly.

21:22

And I want any brilliant guy, basically for eight

21:24

weeks, he would take 20 or 30 people through

21:26

practice in the life of teaching, or life

21:28

or teachings of Jesus, and it was great stuff. And

21:30

at one point I said, you know, kind of gentle

21:32

like, so what's up with the Jesus dojo

21:35

name? It's a little odd. So

21:38

what's up with the Jesus dojo? And he said, you know,

21:41

following Jesus, or learning to follow

21:43

Jesus, is closer to

21:45

learning karate than it is learning math or

21:47

science. Yet our churches are

21:49

set up more like university lecture halls. Think

21:52

of this, a stage, a podium, a microphone,

21:55

you sitting there facing me, taking notes, as

21:57

you should. All

21:59

of that. that, then like

22:01

a karate dojo. And

22:03

there's nothing wrong with a lecture. We believe in

22:06

that, but that's the mind, that's teaching. But there's

22:08

only so far you can, if you want

22:10

to learn karate, like a podcast and a

22:12

YouTube series and an instruction manual will only

22:15

get you so far. At some point you

22:17

need a master, you need a dojo, you

22:19

need to wax on and wax off. And

22:22

if you want to learn to live

22:24

the way of Jesus, a sermon series,

22:26

a Bible passage, a church service

22:28

will all, it is the beginning point, it's not a

22:30

bad thing, but it will only get you

22:32

so far. At some point you have to

22:34

wax on and wax, you have to pray,

22:36

you have to live in community, you have

22:38

to do justice, you have to live simply,

22:40

you have to get healing from the inside

22:43

out, you have to follow Jesus. So we

22:45

have to move at some point from theory

22:47

to practice. Now, of course this idea of

22:49

practice is a bit vague, so to be

22:51

more specific, what we mean by practice is

22:53

really the practices of Jesus, or

22:55

what in church tradition have come to be

22:57

called the spiritual disciplines, which are practically speaking

22:59

how we train to become more

23:01

like Jesus. So let's go back to the peace example.

23:04

How many of you want to become a non-anxious presence

23:06

in our city? How many

23:08

of you would love to be, if

23:10

you're wracked by anxiety, you would love

23:12

to be set free by that, right? So

23:15

one option is you just try really hard

23:18

in the week ahead with Thanksgiving and traffic

23:20

and all of that to just not worry.

23:23

Have fun with that. Another option

23:25

is that you train. How? Well, what

23:27

if you were to take the template

23:29

that was set down by Jesus' life

23:31

and his teachings and you

23:34

were to quote, follow Jesus? You were to

23:36

follow, to pour your life

23:38

into that template and to do your

23:40

best with your messy and your imperfect

23:43

and you're like, we're all in process,

23:45

but you were to live like Jesus.

23:48

What if, for example, you were to practice the Sabbath,

23:51

just take 24 hours and,

23:53

you know, or take 12, start wherever you're

23:55

at and turn off your freaking phone And

23:58

just don't buy anything or something. The only thing

24:00

or dream the go anywhere just this

24:03

and were sent. And. Enjoy

24:05

a day and jesus company the with

24:07

life giving for you. that's brunch with

24:09

your friends. if that's a hike and

24:11

forest park that the novel i'm in

24:13

a nap and then another novel that's

24:15

just my style. Whatever you're saying is

24:17

like you do you but do it

24:19

with what is you just were to

24:21

set aside a whole day to let

24:23

your soul catch back to your body

24:25

and just enjoy his company. What

24:28

if you are in the morning? were just

24:30

too as Jesus did on a regular basis.

24:32

practice a little silence and solitude or read.

24:34

This week, the eighty nine percent of Americans

24:36

check their phone before they get out of

24:38

bed in the morning. Or dislike?

24:40

you know, Tell me I just did this rock and

24:42

roll saying a few months ago we went back

24:44

and we bought alarm clocks. Not an

24:46

app on our phone. we actually bought humor. they

24:49

some of your too young to remember. This is

24:51

like a long time ago back in the nineties

24:53

and we started to put our phones away in

24:55

the kitchen after dinner and we have the like

24:58

every night. like you hear the plant, where where

25:00

where are you set this alarm clocks as cool

25:02

it's like from moments like modern Design and surface

25:04

said very good quality but anyway. What

25:08

is you were to just wake up. And

25:10

just breathe for little that what to see? where does to

25:13

take a moment. Over. Cup of coffee

25:15

or. And your living room

25:17

and just. Enjoy

25:19

Jesus Company. Center. Your

25:21

mind and your body and the reality

25:24

of god and live out of which

25:26

is is called abiding that about place

25:28

such as Restful Grateful. Relationship.

25:31

With Jesus all day. What?

25:33

If you were to live in community and she just

25:35

dust off to share a meal with the same group

25:38

of people on Thursday night or whatever. And.

25:40

The stuff that you're stressed about, that you worry

25:42

and that you carry with you would as you

25:44

were to actually have a family to spread that

25:46

out in to pray for you and comfort you

25:49

and encourage you get your heads back on track.

25:51

See, I'm saying. what did you order to take

25:53

on us for to discipline? It's. Own

25:56

last and by last and saw last and

25:59

Just Lives Well. Simpli.

26:01

With. What really matters at the forefront of

26:03

your life? This is. My

26:08

guess is. Not

26:11

even in a month or even it,

26:13

but over a long period of time

26:15

through training you would become a person.

26:17

Peace. To the shrine and there's

26:20

training. Hard. Hard.

26:23

Over impossible seven days of the week

26:25

And this the imitation of Jesus. To

26:28

practice his way and not

26:30

alone to do it in

26:32

community to adopt the practices

26:34

of Jesus to make up

26:36

your day to day life.

26:38

Now moving on, some practice

26:40

is counter habits. Third, Counter.

26:43

Or relationships is community. There

26:47

was a relationships. We self

26:49

select based on preference. That's not all

26:51

bad in a we meet somebody or

26:53

you just like me or you're my

26:55

age or socio economic. whatever I like

26:57

you or whatever like attracts like communities.

27:00

Bit different though. By community I mean

27:02

the full range of relationships that are

27:04

built around the way of Jesus. So

27:06

this is your bridge to and community.

27:08

It's a best friend it's Steve a

27:10

roommate is also follow Jesus or a

27:12

spouse some or therapist or mentor or

27:15

spiritual director for a pastor and community

27:17

is like an. Incubator for our

27:19

spiritual formation. It is the contacts

27:21

where we grow and mature, we

27:23

succeed and we sail and we

27:25

doubt. Can we believe and we

27:28

arrest soul and we move forward

27:30

And we move backward. All in

27:32

that safe places, community and communities

27:34

as to very important things that

27:36

are pretty hard to get anywhere

27:38

else. Exposure and encouragement exposure. Meaning

27:41

it will expose where you are

27:43

actually arts in your growth and

27:45

your maturity for better or for

27:47

worse. put another way community will bring

27:49

out the best in you and they will bring

27:52

out the worst thing you that's why community so

27:54

amazing and at the same time so hard and

27:56

so difficult because will also do that to the

27:58

people in your community bring out the best and

28:00

bring out the worst. We are, I think 68%

28:02

of our church right now is single. And so

28:05

love is in the air. And

28:07

don't be creepy, but

28:09

whatever. So

28:12

on a regular basis, I see this pattern,

28:14

a young couple at church fall in love,

28:16

whatever, and go through the wedding

28:18

day. And then normally come to me about six

28:20

months, maybe at tops a year in, and just

28:22

kind of like bloodshot eyes like, I

28:25

just, what am I doing wrong? Like I'm so selfish.

28:28

I wasn't selfish before. And

28:31

I'm so like disorganized and I'm bad with money.

28:34

And I thought I'm in debt actually, and this,

28:36

that. And it's like people are shocked. I just

28:38

have to sit down and say, okay, listen, it's

28:40

not that when you got married, you became worse.

28:44

It's that before you got married, you had no idea

28:46

how bad you were, right? And

28:49

it takes that close of a relationship

28:52

to expose where you're actually, and listen, this is

28:54

actually a good thing, not a bad thing. It's

28:57

easy to lose sight of that in a

28:59

marriage, in a community, in a friendship. When

29:01

there's tension, when there's discord, our cultural kind

29:03

of inclination is just to bolt and move

29:05

on to where it's easy. Like

29:07

that's where Jesus does some of his best stuff,

29:09

where you're frustrated and people are frustrated with you.

29:12

Like that's where he will expose where you're

29:14

actually at. And then he's

29:17

so gentle and he's so patient and he's

29:19

so kind, usher you into healing. But

29:22

exposure is just the first step, the second step

29:24

in a healthy community, in a Jesus kind of

29:26

community, there's also encouragement. So

29:28

your stuff is exposed or somebody else's stuff

29:30

is exposed, but then there's encouragement where people

29:32

say, listen, I see who you are, but

29:34

even more so I see who you are

29:36

becoming in Christ. And I wanna

29:38

partner with you to go onto that

29:40

journey into fullness, like that is what

29:42

healthy community does. And honestly, living this

29:45

way is hard. I know for a

29:47

lot of you, especially if you're introverted

29:49

like me, or you have little children,

29:51

or you work a demanding job, or

29:53

you travel or whatever, but

29:55

the reality is it's worth every

29:58

scrap of the effort. And you

30:00

need this. Like Jesus did not have

30:02

an apprentice, he had apprentices. You can't

30:05

follow Jesus alone. I know that is

30:07

so against the grain of our society,

30:09

but you just can't. This

30:11

is about us together practicing the

30:13

way of Jesus. That is the

30:15

context where you and I are

30:18

transformed. Next, down to

30:20

our environment is the Holy Spirit. Notice

30:23

that teaching and practicing community

30:25

all orbit around the Holy Spirit. He

30:28

is the center of gravity. He is

30:30

the source of power for our transformation.

30:33

He is involved in teaching, even right

30:35

now at work, in practice when you're

30:37

there on the Sabbath or with your

30:39

Bible or in prayer, whatever, in community,

30:41

around a table. He is at

30:43

the center of all that we do. And the

30:46

key thing that you need to get about spiritual

30:48

formation is that is it a joint partnership between

30:50

you and God? God has a part

30:52

and you have a part. God has a

30:54

role to play and you have a role to

30:56

play. And it's a both and

30:58

our responsibility is teaching. Like

31:01

Jack, you're doing that right now, but one way

31:03

of doing it, practice, to practice the way of

31:05

Jesus and to live in community. That's about it.

31:09

After that, it's on God. And

31:11

of course, people, you know, as a general rule,

31:13

err in one of two sides. Either people think,

31:15

you know, they have to do it all. And

31:17

so they practice the spiritual disciplines until they're blue

31:19

in the face and like grinding down to the

31:21

bone. But far more of a

31:23

problem, at least in a city like ours or even

31:26

in a church like ours, is people just kind of

31:28

want to sit back, relax, and expect God to do

31:30

it all. And that's just not

31:32

God's M.O. What's that famous saying? It

31:34

actually dates back to the fourth century from

31:36

Augustine. "'Without him we can't,

31:38

but without us he won't.'" I

31:41

think that does a better job of

31:43

getting at the heart of God. This

31:45

is a joint partnership. It's

31:47

not about earning, but it is about effort. Willard

31:49

used to say that grace is not opposed to

31:51

effort, but to earning. And the two are not

31:53

the same thing. My point is that you have

31:55

a part and so does God. But

31:58

that's it, here's the good news. Jesus

32:00

does all of the heavy lifting. It

32:03

is a joint partnership, but it's not 50-50. I'm

32:06

not a mathematician. I don't know what the breakdown is. Like,

32:08

I don't know who owns what, but I know

32:10

it's not 50-50. I don't know if it's 80-20 or 90-10 or

32:12

99.9.01. I

32:15

have no clue, but I know that

32:17

Jesus does all of the heavy lifting.

32:20

That as you take on your responsibility,

32:22

as you, the renewal of the mind,

32:24

you think God's thoughts after him, as

32:26

you practice the spiritual disciplines, as you

32:28

live in community, you do your part.

32:30

And in each moment, all you do is

32:33

you open up your mind and your

32:35

body, your whole person, to the power and the

32:37

presence of the Spirit of God. And

32:39

it's just time after time

32:41

after time, God, I'm here

32:43

and you're here too. Have

32:46

your way, like work

32:48

your transformation in me and

32:51

through me. Now, of course, this sounds great, but

32:53

same deal as the last paradigm. All of this

32:55

happens over time. Can we just talk about this

32:57

for a minute? So I'm

33:00

like you. I grew up in a

33:02

culture where I'm used to everything at

33:04

my fingertips, right? FedEx, the microwave, text

33:06

message, all of that. We live in

33:08

this instant gratification culture, but the

33:11

reality is that the best things in life and

33:13

the best things in the kingdom of God still

33:15

take a very long time. There

33:17

is no, thank you, care, there is

33:19

no shortcut to spiritual

33:21

formation. There's no killer app out

33:23

of Silicon Valley. There's this new

33:25

startup on GoFundMe. It does

33:28

not exist. If you are here and

33:30

you're feeling a bit down and out or just

33:32

a bit bummed about how long it is taking

33:35

you to change, there's an area in your life

33:37

where you just wanna grow up and you wanna

33:39

mature and you wanna become more like Jesus and

33:41

you know that's not who you really are and

33:43

you just feel like, man, this is taking forever.

33:46

Welcome to the club. We

33:48

call it the church. Welcome and

33:51

you are in good company. I'm with you

33:53

and so are the people to your right

33:55

and to your left. Actually, you will feel

33:57

this more as you grow and mature in

33:59

Jesus. Because early in your apprenticeship

34:01

to Jesus, the kind of stuff that you

34:03

and Jesus are working on is more surface

34:05

level. The farther down the path

34:07

you get, the more like you and

34:09

Jesus are working on stuff that is

34:11

deep in your person from your family

34:13

of origin, your personality, like your cult.

34:15

It's like deep in you and it's

34:17

lodged in there and there is healing

34:19

and there is freedom and there is

34:22

growth and there is transformation. But

34:24

that stuff is deep and it does not go

34:26

away fast or easy. And

34:29

it just, it's slow and it's time consuming.

34:31

So time here is a bit of a

34:33

double entendre. We mean that it takes a

34:35

long time, like our growth and our maturity

34:38

is measured not in days or in weeks,

34:40

but in years or really in decades. But

34:42

at the same time, it also takes a lot of

34:45

time. Like any relationship or like anything in life, you

34:47

get out of it what you put in. That's why

34:49

some people follow Jesus for two or three years and

34:51

grow and mature more than people who have been around

34:53

church for two or three decades. Because

34:56

it's all at some point about how much

34:58

time you put into it. And with

35:00

Jesus, time always pays back with dividends.

35:02

But just think about how much time

35:04

we waste. So the average,

35:07

this is like a stat from every Gallup

35:09

poll, the average American watches five hours of

35:11

TV a day. I

35:13

just do the math on that. Five hours.

35:15

The average, I just read a study from

35:17

a Neeson a few days ago. The average

35:19

child aged two to 11 watches 24 hours

35:22

of TV per week. My

35:25

children only watch 21 and we're not

35:27

even close, right? We're nowhere close to

35:29

that. Actually, actually TV, watching

35:32

TV goes up the older you get, not

35:34

down. The average millennial is you're like, I'm

35:36

not on TV. I don't even know. The

35:38

average millennial is on his or her iPhone

35:40

five hours a day. If you have an

35:42

iPhone on average, you swipe it twenty six

35:45

hundred, I think don't quote me 17 times

35:47

a day. I

35:50

love that last week in our practice. If you were there

35:52

with your community, my community is actually a week behind. So

35:54

we've yet to do it. But

35:56

Josh Porter wrote up last week's practice and I love that

35:59

he had a great time. had us, were you there,

36:01

scroll down on your phone to check your battery and

36:03

like how much time went D-Jap? Did anybody do that?

36:05

You don't have to raise your hand. You don't have

36:07

to raise your hand. But

36:09

thank you for the hand. I

36:11

was so happy. I went to do it and

36:14

my phone is like ancient. It's so

36:17

old. And it's

36:19

all glitchy and I literally could not get it

36:21

to work. I was like, thank you Jesus for

36:23

your mercy because I don't want to know how

36:26

much time I spent on text

36:28

message app or Instagram or whatever

36:30

it is. But just, I mean seriously, think

36:33

about what else you could do with your time. Twenty

36:36

minutes of Candy Crush, you

36:38

could, which apparently is a thing. I

36:41

never played it because I'm better than all of you. But

36:45

like in 20 minutes you could read through the Sermon on

36:47

the Mount. In one season

36:49

of, not Stranger Things because it's

36:51

great, what's another show that's popular but not, but

36:54

I don't want to pick on Stranger Things. Or

36:56

something else. Friends? Friends? That's

36:59

just time warp right there. I

37:02

don't want to cause a church split or anything

37:04

though. That's a bit of

37:06

a sacred cow. But in one season of

37:08

whatever, like you

37:11

could share a month's worth of

37:13

evenings with your community sitting around

37:15

a table to know and to

37:17

be known. Right? In 20

37:19

minutes every morning, you know, dinking around on

37:22

Instagram or reading the news or whatever, you

37:24

could read through the Bible in a year

37:26

and pray every single day. Like just think

37:28

about it. When people come to me and

37:30

say I'm too busy to live in community,

37:32

practice spiritual disciplines, come to church every week,

37:35

whatever the thing is, I used,

37:37

I don't know, I get in a little bit older. I

37:39

used to just kind of smile and nod. And now

37:42

I smile and I nod. And then as nice

37:44

as I can, I say, no you're not. You're

37:47

not too busy. And

37:49

then I just say, how many hours a week do you

37:51

watch TV, play on social media and

37:54

go shopping? Usually

37:56

people are really quiet and don't come back to our church

37:58

after that. I don't know why. I'm

38:00

so confused, right? Or

38:03

sometimes people will say, no, I work this crazy demanding

38:05

job and I'm up early and I work and I

38:07

don't even have social media or whatever. And

38:09

then I usually just, as nice as I can, I say,

38:12

listen, if you honestly don't have time

38:15

on a Sunday to just come

38:17

for two hours and worship Jesus or to live

38:20

in communion, you honestly don't have time to share

38:22

a meal once a week. No, I don't. I'm too busy.

38:25

Okay, so you eat dinner, right? Yes. Okay,

38:28

so there's an hour. So really it's

38:30

just like an hour and a half or so

38:33

after dinner where you sit and it's in your

38:35

neighborhood, ideally, like you live close to it. You

38:38

don't have time to just one night after dinner sit

38:41

on a couch and talk about

38:43

the practices of Jesus and pray for each

38:45

other. If the answer is honestly,

38:47

no, I don't have time for that, then you are

38:49

too busy to follow Jesus and

38:52

you have to radically reorient your life

38:54

around the way of Jesus. Because

38:57

one of the hard lessons that our church is kind

38:59

of sort of learning right now is that

39:02

to follow Jesus, you can't just add Jesus

39:04

in on top of an already over busy

39:06

life. To

39:08

follow Jesus is a lifestyle. It's the whole

39:10

thing. And if you're not there

39:12

yet, this is such a safe place. Wherever you are,

39:14

you don't even believe in Jesus yet. Totally safe place.

39:17

But at some point, when you go through the waters

39:19

of baptism, you come out the other side, the

39:22

invitation of Jesus is not just to get

39:24

like a little free therapy on Sunday, which

39:26

this is not, so whatever. And

39:29

spiritual like shot in the arm, like to

39:31

make you feel good, or like the invitation

39:33

of Jesus is come, take up your cross

39:35

and follow me, end quote. That's a

39:38

whole life. And if you want to

39:40

experience the life of Jesus, and trust me, I am so imperfect and

39:42

messy and in process, and

39:46

it's not, but it is the best thing

39:48

ever. And if you

39:50

want to experience what Jesus called

39:53

life to the full, then

39:56

you have to follow him with your whole life. Like

39:59

that, that's why Jesus is so important. Jesus said, take up your cross.

40:01

There's a cost to it. Bonhoeffer,

40:03

to quote him again, said, we

40:05

talk about the cost of discipleship. That was his

40:07

best-selling book. But we also need to talk

40:10

about the cost of non-discipleship. Meaning,

40:12

yes, it costs you. It's cost you time, all

40:14

that stuff to follow Jesus, but it costs you

40:16

even more not to follow Jesus. Yes,

40:19

it costs you to practice Sabbath. It costs you even

40:21

more not to. Yes, it costs

40:23

you to be here at church on a Sunday

40:25

night when you could be watching Stranger Things. Such

40:27

a sacrifice. But it

40:29

costs you even more not to. I digress. I'm

40:31

getting preachy. It's kind of what I do, right?

40:34

I'm one of the few vocations in the world where people

40:36

can say, that's kind of preachy. And I'll be like, thank

40:38

you. All

40:41

that to say, it takes a long

40:43

time, and it takes a

40:45

lot of time. And finally, this happens

40:47

through the hard knocks of life. Whether you're

40:50

an apprentice of Jesus or not, life is

40:52

not easy. But it's the

40:54

times of life that we dread, that

40:56

we avoid, that we work overtime to

40:58

escape into our phone from or whatever,

41:00

that have the most potential to catalyze

41:02

our growth and our maturity. We

41:05

live in a nation that is built around

41:08

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet

41:10

sociologists argue that with each passing year, our

41:12

happiness level goes down and not up. It's

41:15

in the wrong direction. More money, more

41:17

stuff, more freedom, more this, more equality,

41:19

all of that. And it's in the

41:21

wrong direction. And that's because happiness is

41:24

not the point of life. It is the

41:26

byproduct of a life well lived. If you

41:28

trace the etymology of that word, happy, back

41:30

to its origin, it's in Greek philosophy is

41:32

the first time that the word was used.

41:35

And it was a synonym originally

41:37

for virtue. For a happy

41:39

person was a good person. And

41:41

a good person was a happy person.

41:44

If you want to live a happy

41:46

life, then follow Jesus. Become more like

41:48

him. Become your real true self. And

41:51

let happiness be the byproduct, even in

41:53

the unhappy times of life. Some of

41:55

you are here tonight and you're in

41:57

an unhappy time of life. And

41:59

it's... hard and you just want to get through it

42:02

or past it or escape it or numb the

42:04

pain but if you will just open

42:06

yourself up to Jesus in that moment and just

42:08

stay there. You don't have to do it, just

42:10

stay there. Just stay with

42:12

Jesus through it. Anchor

42:14

yourself through that storm. Just wait

42:17

through it with Jesus. It has

42:19

the potential to transform you to

42:21

become more like Jesus and your

42:23

real true self. Now

42:26

to recap, how do we change to become more

42:28

like Jesus? Through teaching, through practice, through community more

42:30

than anything by the Holy Spirit and this of

42:32

course happens over time and through the hard knocks

42:35

of life. So our practice for the coming week

42:37

because we believe that the way of Jesus is

42:39

just that, it is the way of life is

42:42

on practicingtheway.org/identity and calling. Last week

42:44

was the habit audit. Hopefully that

42:46

was helpful or still on the

42:49

docket for you and now that

42:51

you've identified some habits that are

42:53

doing God bless you that are

42:55

doing something to your heart to

42:57

point it in the wrong direction. Now

43:00

the idea is a habit swap to just

43:02

take that habit and just swap it out

43:04

from a habit from the life or teachings

43:06

of Jesus or a practice or a spiritual

43:08

discipline. Those of you that have been following

43:11

Jesus for a while and kind of want

43:13

the like level two thing, I would encourage

43:15

you to pick more than one, pick at

43:17

least two and pick a downstream

43:19

discipline and an upstream discipline. Meaning

43:22

by downstream discipline I mean pick

43:24

a spiritual discipline that's life giving

43:26

for you. It's fun, it's easy, you just

43:28

love to go hiking in Forest Park and

43:30

pray or you just love to like protest

43:32

something in the name of Jesus or

43:35

type 8 on the Enneagram or you just love

43:38

to Sabbath or you love to read or

43:40

what is just something that's life giving for

43:42

you, be different for every one of you

43:45

and by upstream discipline I mean

43:47

something that is hard and difficult,

43:49

why? Because it's hitting you where

43:51

you're weak and

43:53

we need both. We need downstream so that

43:56

we actually enjoy following Jesus and

43:58

we need upstream so that we don't end up all lopsided

44:00

in our personhood. And so the

44:02

areas of our life where we're

44:04

weak, like the upstream disciplines

44:06

have the potential for Jesus to

44:08

shore up your character in that area.

44:10

So pick one or two, change your

44:12

lifestyle, and out of that your life.

44:14

Now, to end, you're all

44:17

picking up that transformation is

44:19

possible. You

44:21

can change from the inside out. You

44:24

can become more like Jesus. You don't have to

44:26

stay stuck. We all get stuck. Some

44:29

of you are in the room tonight and you're stuck in bitterness.

44:31

You're stuck in a wound from when you

44:34

were seven years old. You're stuck in a

44:36

divorce. You're stuck in a question.

44:39

And that's okay. We all get stuck. But you

44:41

don't have to stay stuck. You can

44:43

break free. You can get whole.

44:45

You can grow. You can

44:48

mature. You can become like Jesus.

44:50

Transformation is possible, but it's not

44:52

natural. My wife will say

44:54

that to me all the time. Remember, John Mark,

44:56

Christ's likeness is not natural. I think she stole

44:58

that from me a long time ago, but now

45:00

it's her line, right? You say

45:03

it to me all the time. Christ's likeness is not natural.

45:05

It's not like you just come to church every other Sunday.

45:07

You read your Bible once in a while. Send

45:09

the Bible Project podcast once a month. And then like

45:11

10 years in, you're like,

45:13

wow, I'm kind of like Mother Teresa the second. It

45:16

just doesn't work that way. It just,

45:19

that sounds, if it sounds too good

45:21

to be true. Yep, exactly. Like it's

45:23

not natural, but it is

45:25

possible if you follow Jesus. And

45:28

please listen to me. We're across

45:30

the room tonight. Those of you that

45:32

are young, the time to start is now. Don't

45:35

delay it. We live in a Peter Pan

45:37

city. Like don't put it off.

45:40

The sooner that you deal with your shadow side,

45:42

that you grow, that you mature, that you adopt

45:44

the practices of Jesus, the easier

45:46

it will be. Your quirk, the

45:48

quirks of your twenties or your

45:50

college years, your high income, aspects

45:53

of your character in your thirties get

45:56

cemented into your personhood by your forties and

45:58

you can change them. and

46:00

you need a jackhammer at that point. The

46:02

sooner you get started on your formation, the

46:04

better. And for those of you that are

46:06

older, and you interpret that to mean what

46:08

you think it means, all right, those

46:11

of you that are older, please

46:13

do not settle for the status

46:15

quo, for what Willard

46:17

called the gospel of sin management, where

46:20

you just kinda get it to where it's like, it's kinda under

46:22

control and then you settle. You can change,

46:24

I don't care if you're 40 or 50 or

46:26

60 or 70 or 80 or north of that. Like

46:30

you can't teach an old dog new tricks. That

46:32

is a lie, from hell it is not true

46:34

scripturally, it is not true scientifically, like this

46:36

all, it's not true. You,

46:38

no matter whether you're 15 or 83, you can change, you

46:43

can grow, you can mature, but you have

46:46

to follow Jesus. And that is the open

46:48

invite of Jesus to every single one of

46:50

you in the room, wherever you come from,

46:52

whatever you've done, wherever you're at, whatever you

46:55

think or don't think or believe or not

46:57

even sure what you believe, the open invite

46:59

of Jesus is to come, to take up

47:01

your cross and to follow Him. Let's

47:04

stand and pray together. John

47:11

Mark has just encouraged us that when

47:13

it comes to spiritual formation, the

47:15

process of being with Jesus, becoming like

47:17

Him and doing what He does, we

47:20

don't get there by trying, but

47:22

by training. Let's just

47:24

take half a minute now to allow the Spirit

47:27

to speak to us about something that stood

47:29

out in this teaching, maybe something He put

47:31

on our hearts or that surprised us or

47:33

challenged us and about the

47:36

areas He'd like to breathe more through in our own

47:38

lives. I'll leave about half

47:40

a minute of silence for us to pray and

47:42

then close with amen. But

47:45

just as we begin that, why

47:47

don't we just take a few deep breaths in

47:51

and out, just

47:54

awakening to God's presence, the reality of

47:56

His love and welcoming

47:58

His Spirit to speak to us. The

48:43

podcast is from Practicing the way

48:45

we develop resources to help churches

48:48

and small groups of friends is

48:50

in the way of Jesus and

48:52

all we make is completely free

48:54

because it's already been paid for

48:56

by The Circle, a community of

48:58

monthly givers who partner with us

49:00

to see spiritual formation integrated into

49:02

the church at lunch. Special length

49:04

for today's episode goes to Dwayne

49:06

from Why and Nine Hawaii, Marco

49:09

from Pilot Sixes Car and from

49:11

Rodgers I can far from Waco.

49:13

Texas and quote from London You can

49:15

thank you all very much to join

49:17

the circle or to learn more about

49:20

running a practice. A new church or

49:22

community is a practicing the Way Total.

49:25

Until next time, may the grace

49:27

of the Lord Jesus Christ and

49:29

the love of God and the

49:31

fellowship of the Holy Spirit be

49:33

with you or?